“Yes dear.”
“Where’s the book on the Flo… the Flotiller?”
“The Flotilla, do you mean?”
“Yeah! The Flotilla. The book about the moon ships.”
Alceo Farriese chuckled and closed his ledger. Celese had rushed into his office with her questions - she did knock, which was an improvement, but hadn’t bothered to wait for his answer. The Port Admiral at Nivolani was always busy, but never too much so for his granddaughter.
“Your parents had kept it in your nursery, once. It’s been a while since you’ve asked for that particular story.”
“Well, yes,” Celese huffed, “but it’s not there anymore, and Mother said most of the books went back to your library.”
Before he could interject, she had already found his bookshelves, on the far wall framing the window. Alceo rose from his great pine desk, as scuffed with age as he was, and walked over to meet the little girl as she eyed the tomes. The pair stood in intense contemplation of the shelves for a bit, side by side - Alceo with a glint of amusement as he watched his granddaughter out of the corner of his eye. He wondered how long she might remain focused on this task, in particular.
“I can’t find it.”
That didn’t take long.
“Hmm, I doubt it was moved here. I don’t keep many children’s books on my shelves I’m afraid. But… you’re not a child anymore, are you?”
Celese ceased her pouting and looked up defiantly. “No, I’m not a child! I’m six!”
Her grandfather chuckled and quickly pinched her cheek with a wink. She giggled. Child or not, she was certainly growing up fast. He quickly scanned the shelves again and, finding a somewhat drier Itherian history book than she had been looking for, pulled it down.
“Then, how about we look at this book? It’s the same story, but for grown-ups like us.”
The two then turned and walked together towards Alceo’s high-backed reading chair, an heirloom of the office and common reading spot for the both of them. Celese had fallen asleep in his arms many times there when she was a toddler, looking at picture books with him or listening to gentle recountings of tales from his youth. He had no few of them, having opted to continue his naval service beyond the mandatory years. It had proven to be quite a career.
Alceo sat, and Celese hopped up onto his lap. The book was large and clearly hadn’t been opened in some time; dust had begun to gather at its edges, and the leather binding was cracked with age. No matter, he knew the story as well as any Itherian, so Alceo thumbed through until he found a suitable picture to help him set the scene for his inquisitive granddaughter.
“Now, where did this sudden interest in the Flotilla come from, Celese?”
“Teacher was talking about it in school today. But then Tommi said he didn’t believe it, that it was just a fairy story, and I… I wasn’t sure.”
Alceo smiled knowingly and nodded down towards the picture in the book. Celese followed his gaze, now attentive. “In a way, your classmate is right, my dear. We can’t be sure what happened in the early days of the empire - really, before there even was an empire. It all happened a very, very long time ago. No one is left who could remember it, to tell us.”
“Not even you, Grandfather?”
“No!” The precocious question stung, silly as it was, but he laughed all the same. “Not even me. Not even your grandmother!”
At this, they both shared a grin.
“No, no one remembers. But those who were there passed stories down to their children, and their children’s children, and eventually all the way to us today. Maybe those stories aren’t completely true, but they aren’t false either. So, your picture book may have told you the same story Tommi disbelieved, today. But other versions are written into books for grown-ups, like this one.”
Celese regarded the book with a new reverence. “What does this one say happened?”
“Well,” began Alceo, leaving the page on the image he’d found, “it tells a very similar tale. Long ago, our empire was grander than it is even today. It was in a far away place, which we cannot return to anymore. Something bad happened there, and the people had to sail somewhere new. They boarded ships that could travel among the stars, eventually finding their way here.”
“Did they really fly through space?” Celese looked up, as though the roof weren’t there.
“Perhaps. Most grown-ups think it’s a metaphor. You know, words that say one thing, and mean another?”
“Like when Father says he’s under the weather, but really he’s just not feeling well?”
“Yes, exactly like that.” Alceo was somewhat impressed that she could grasp that at her age. Growing up quickly, indeed. “Either way, they sailed for a very long time, an enormous fleet of ships looking for a new home.”
“But what if they got lost?”
“Some did, as a matter of fact. Not every ship made it to safe harbor. A smaller group eventually split off and found their way here. Today, we honor those ships as the Flotilla: the vessels that founded Ithero.”
“And what about the moon?
“Your parents have taken you to church, right? Don’t you say your prayers at night?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
"Good girl. When the Flotilla separated from the rest of the fleet, they were lost, too. But soon, the Intertwined came to them, like twin moons in the sky. The captains of the Flotilla followed their light and eventually found their way here.”
Celese furrowed her brow, deep in thought. Suddenly, she looked up at her grandfather, eyes wide. “There were two moons?”
He nodded. “Yes there were, for a long time. But the Intertwined made them into one moon, to reflect their image.”
“How did they do that?”
“A story for another time, I think.” The old admiral closed the book and smiled again. “Shouldn’t you be getting home?”
His granddaughter huffed again, but hopped to the floor so he could stand. He walked over to the shelves and set the book back in its place.
“But, you said some of it is true. How do we know which parts?”
Alceo pondered for a moment as his hand left the book. How to explain thousands of years of theological studies? The relics found by philosophers, digging deep beneath Itherian cities? Even discourse with the gods themselves, while they walked among the people? It was challenging for him to wrap his own head around, let alone convey to a child.
He turned towards her and winked again. “When you’re even more grown-up than you are now, you’ll learn, too.”
Satisfied, Celese thanked her grandfather and ran out the door, before remembering to hurry back and close it as she left. At least this time, she remembered. Alceo moved to sit back down at his desk, but somehow his duties as Port Admiral seemed less interesting than they had before. Instead, he walked to the window, looking out over the city towards the sea. The great arch of Nivolani Cathedral glinted in the evening light, framing the darkening sky beyond. Soon, the moon would rise, and bells would call the most pious to service. Perhaps tonight, the Port Admiral would attend as well.
