Alice South was far shorter in person than Miles had expected. She’d been the face of TTV news for at least the past seven years. Consider his father’s penchant for watching the news, Miles had gotten used to her face. She was attractive, as news anchors generally tended to be, and was the type of woman whose age couldn’t reliably be pegged down. He wondered if that was the magic of the television, or if she was one of those genetically-gifted types who aged gracefully.

Either way, she had to be at least in her early thirties. She definitely carried herself with the confidence of an older woman. He’d spotted her since the five of them had entered the studio.

The stage was set up differently than he expected as well. Gone was the usual news desk emblazoned with the TTV logo. Instead was a small coffee table with a pitcher of water, and three chairs.

Miles realized one of the chairs was meant for him. It was part of the deal for as long as Sizilen was in Canada– he was to be her official translator.

“I’m assuming you’re Lieutenant Brady,” she asked, walking straight up to him. She gestured toward his dress uniform. “Your colleagues aren’t so fashionable.” She turned her head toward Sizilen. “And that would make you Miss Oringard?”

“Sizilen Oringard,” Sizilen replied. “Ah. It is pleasure to meet you.”

Alice seemed taken aback. “I hadn’t realized your English was so good,” she commented.

“I learn,” Sizilen explained. “Miles Brady teaches me much.”

“She’s been a quick study,” Miles explained. “We’ve also been able to learn quite a bit of High Embrayyan.”

“The accent is understandable, at least,” South added. “I admit I was worried when we were told the interview would be conducted directly with Miss Oringard.”

“She’s conversational in English,” Miles added. “I’m here for the more complicated parts.”

“Well at least that’s one less thing to worry about,” she said. “But I have to question how serious the Prime Minister is about transparency after receiving the list of questions we’re not allowed to ask.”

“If I may, Miss South,” Kia interrupted, stepping to the front. “My name is Captain Kia Singh. I’m with the Public Affairs Office. We want as much transparency on the matter as we can get. But there are still matters of national security and diplomacy that need to be considered. This is also in part why we require this interview to be performed live.”

“Public Affairs Office?” Alice asked. She cocked her head to one-side. “I was under the impression you were all Navy Intelligence.”

“You can consider us a Joint Task Force Detail, Miss South,” Miles mentioned.

Alice raised an eyebrow and considered Miles for a moment, then flashed him a knowing smile and turned on her heel. “I suppose I should be thankful for the exclusive,” she announced.

“The Prime Minister felt that since your production team was on Annacis Island when the event occurred, it would be fitting to offer you the first appearance,” Miles said, following her.

“Lieutenant Brady, TTV wants nothing more than the return of Faye Wong and her team,” she said. “But we’re also realists here.” She turned back to him. “Your people identified her team and several others being taken into that tree, but they’ve all been over there for two weeks.” She stopped as she reached her chair on the stage and picked up a binder, looking back at them. “So you can be certain that’s one of the questions we’re going to be asking.”

“And I’m sure your viewers are asking the same question,” Miles said. “The reason we’re here isn’t to hide anything. But you must keep in mind Sizilen won’t have all the answers.”

“Well, no time like the present to find out,” she said, taking a seat.

Sizilen nearly jumped ten feet into the air when one of the studio production crew came up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. He was showing her the microphone battery case. Sizilen only reacted in confusion until Miles explained it.

The two of them allowed the studio crew to fit them with their mics, then Miles instructed Sizilen to sit closest to Alice.

“I do not think she likes me,” Sizilen said in High Embrayyan.

“She doesn’t have to,” Miles replied in kind. “Just pretend to like her. Remember, you’re not here to talk to her, you’re here to talk to the people watching.”

“I’m sorry, what are you two saying?” Alice asked.

“She’s just a little nervous,” Miles said. “First time on TV.”

Alice blinked for a moment. “Yeah,” she said. “I guess it would be, wouldn’t it?” She looked to Sizilen. “Okay, how this is going to work is simple. I’m going to introduce myself, then the two of you. Please don’t speak until I’ve asked you a question. Can you do that?”

Sizilen put on an earnest smile. “Yes, Miss South.”

“Okay, get ready,” one of the studio crew yelled. “Thirty second countdown begins now.”

Miles looked up at the teleprompter as it started a countdown. He couldn’t help but notice Sizilen fidgeting uncomfortably.

“Are you okay?” he asked in High Embrayyan.

She looked at him. “I feel anxious,” she replied. “It is the thought of being carried through the air on invisible waves. To be broadcasted.”

Alice couldn’t understand High Embrayyan, but since there was no equivalent word to broadcast in the language, she must have picked it up. She reached out and touched Sizilen on the leg. “Don’t worry about the cameras. I was nervous my first time in front of them too.”

Sizilen shook her head. “The cameras do not frighten, Alice South,” she explained. “I will be fine.”

“Ten seconds,” the director yelled. “Quiet on the set!”

Finally, the clock counted down, and the introduction music played aloud. It caused Sizilen to jump. She obviously hadn’t expected it to be so loud.

“Good afternoon and welcome to a special broadcast of Terra Television News right here on TTV. And hello to our now-global audience,” she began. “Two weeks ago the world was shocked by the events on Annacis Island here in Greater Vancouver, in which a massive tree sprouted in minutes, and was followed shortly thereafter by an attempted invasion of Canadian soil by human beings from another world. As many of our viewers know, our own Faye Wong, and her production team Owen Barnett and Dillon Cavanaugh were present when the invasion began, and were last seen passing through the portal. The event cost the lives of hundreds of innocent people and the whereabouts of dozens more are currently unknown.”

She turned to another camera. “Two days ago, Prime Minister of Canada, Jonathan Pike, spoke before the United Nations and revealed the findings of their investigation in the portal and the people beyond it.” She turned to Sizilen. “Today we have in the studio Sizilen Oringard, who was captured during the military operation Strange Egress, and has agreed to cooperate with authorities, and Lieutenant Miles Brady of the Royal Canadian Navy. Hello Sizilen, Lieutenant Brady.”

“Hello,” Sizilen said.

“Now Sizilen,” Alice began. “We’re to understand that you are something of a noblewoman in your home country, is that right?”

Sizilen nodded. “Our King has promised the right to Clan leadership to me,” she said.

“Promised?” Alice asked. “Was it a gift, or did you do something to earn it?”

Sizilen briefly glanced to Miles, who gave her a nod. “Earned,” she replied, looking back. “My family has given services to our King.”

“And what services were those?”

Sizilen looked down, fidgeting. “My attik. My sister. It was only she who could open the sunyat to this place.” She looked to Miles for help with translation.

“Emptiness,” Miles said, looking to Alice. “Void.”

“Yes, void,” Sizilen continued. “She… spoke to the Astha Dhar.”

“Astha Dhar?” Alice asked.

“Yes, Elder Law,” Sizilen said. “Sorry.”

“So we’re to understand your sister is responsible for the opening of the portal on Annacis Island?”

“She created the Void only,” Sizilen explained. “The seed came after. Others did.”

“Now you mentioned the Elder Law, Sizilen. I’m sure our viewers have a lot of questions about this. Those who witnessed the events on Annacis Island describe things that could only be described as magic. This Elder Law, is it magic?”

Sizilen looked at her for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said, turning toward Miles. “I do not understand the question.”

“Well I mean, you say your sister used this Elder Law to open a void to Canada, and that we understand your culture has a medieval level of technology. We can do a lot of things, but opening portals to other worlds is not one of them. What your people did is something impossible for us to do.”

“Elder Law is not… hmmm,” she trailed off. “Not magic. Has rules. Limits. Costs. Can’t create something from nothing. Only change what is.” She shook her head. “Is your broadcasting magic?”

“Well no, there’s a scientific explanation behind it.”

“Yes! Radio waves are… arkanna. Natural I think is the word. Comes from sun down to the ground and across world. You tell radio waves to carry voices. Pictures. Is not magic.”

“So you’re suggesting this Elder Law is… a naturally occurring force?”

“Yes,” she said. “But not here. Can’t be used.”

“Why is that?”

Sizilen hummed to herself for a moment as she struggled to find the right answer. “Our legends say,” she began. “Nis’brama– Earth does not have Elder Law because of Vaste’lon. Earth tried to destroy Vaste’lon to steal Elder Law. Vaste’lon fought, kept Elder Law.”

“So your legends talk about crossing over before?” Alice asked.

Sizilen nodded.

“It’s interesting you say that because our Prime Minister did reveal results of your ancestry test, showing that your people may have originated here on Earth. What do you think of that?”

Sizilen shifted uncomfortably. “I think… I think nothing of it.”

“You don’t think we share ancestry?”

“I think doesn’t matter,” Sizilen said. “Maybe we are cousins, Alice South. Maybe we are not. But this I know– people of Earth are not demons. There are no demons here.”

“I’m sorry, demons?” Alice asked, clearly shocked.

“Is wrong word?” Sizilen asked.

“The closest translation we’ve been able to come to is demon. It’s a collective term for a number of humanoid peoples they describe as being common in their world. Some have been described similarly to our conception of goblins and trolls and humans who have animalistic features like snouts and tails,” Miles explained. “As far as we can tell we’re not speaking of demons as described in Abrahamic religions. They’re flesh and blood, not supernatural.”

“So on top of the giant wolves and dragons we witnessed at Annacis Island, there’s also sapient non-human life on your world?”

“What is word, sapient?”

“Intelligent,” Miles explained. “Like humans.”

“Ah. Yes. Many. But humans dom… domest…” she struggled with the word.

“Dominant?” Alice asked.

She nodded. “Yes.”

Alice didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, so she again looked down at her list of questions. Miles noticed her shoulders fall ever-so-slightly, and he got a bad feeling.

“Sizilen, why did your people attack and kill hundreds of innocent people?”

Sizilen’s eyes cast downward at the question. Thankfully, Miles had warned her it might come up.

“Our King… proud man. His father won wars. His father before him. Caradoc line is one of strength for many years. He wants to be named in history. Our legends say Earth… they say Earth make the demons, send them to us. To hurt. To kill. Many people hurt by demons. When Seed was found, he wanted take Earth’s land for Embrayya. To be remembered. Did not know then what is on Earth. We know now. We make mistake.”

“So the deaths of hundreds was a mistake? Is that what you’re saying?” She asked curtly. “What about the people taken across to your world? Kidnapped and taken from their families? Was that a mistake as well, Miss Oringard?”

Sizilen was starting to fidget even more uncomfortably. Miles knew Alice South would challenge Sizilen. What’s worse is that he knew she’d be dealing with attitudes like this for some time yet to come. There were a lot of angry people out there still seeking answers. He quickly thought of Claire Bishop, whose husband and daughter had been taken to Embrayya. He then realized he was literally in a den of people who sought answers for the kidnapping of their co-workers. Then there were those who had lost loved ones in the attack, which numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands.

To Sizilen’s credit, she did not wait too long to respond. “Yes,” she said. “We made war on your people without knowing why. That is mistake. Regrettable.”

“That still doesn’t answer the question about the people taken. Why were those people taken? Are they being mistreated? Are they even still alive? Do you at least feel guilty?”

Behind her, images of the production crew and other missing persons appeared on the screen. Sizilen looked up at it and, for a moment, froze up entirely.

“I–” Sizilen began. “Yes. Must be alive. Must be. They are… gifts to the King. Only he decides.”

“Gifts,” Alice commented. “We don’t give human beings as gifts here. You mean slaves, don’t you?”

Sizilen froze up. She looked to Miles, the uncertainty showing on her face.

Miles decided to jump in. “It’s important to remember that when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, even we started to round up Japanese-Canadians and put them in internment camps. We’re not as innocent either. Human history is a story about the spilling of innocent blood. One culture against another. Brother against brother. Family against family. Today, we have the benefit of mass education and having learned from our history, but even we still make mistakes. Human trafficking is a worldwide issue. Even here in Vancouver. It’s an open secret. Some of those mistakes come at the cost of innocent lives. The King of Embrayya made a mistake, whether it be out of malice, arrogance or ignorance, and we intend to demand reparations for those mistakes, but if we start judging a culture so far removed from our own by our own imperfect, modern standards, without knowing their history or how they got there, I feel that would be an even bigger mistake.”

Alice shot Miles a brief but intense glare, knowing the camera was off of her. She wanted drama, and he’d managed to turn it around on her. He took some pleasure in seeing her caught off-guard and backed into a corner.

Sizilen, to her credit, could see what was happening, and offered Alice an easy out. “I cannot explain our differences, Alice South,” she said. “But I can celebrate how we are same. We love. You love. We bleed. You bleed. Your science says we are same people. From same place. I am deeply sorry for what Embrayya has done to your people. I will do everything to make right. To show Embrayya we could be friends, not enemies. We do not have to destroy each other.”

Alice seemed to deflate at that. “I’m sure many of our viewers will be comforted by that,” she said. She looked down at her notes again and scanned them. For a moment, her body language was tense, but then she seemed to loosen up a bit.

“How about we approach a lighter subject, Sizilen?” Alice asked. “You’ve been in Canada for two weeks now. What do you think of our culture so far?”

Miles felt a stab of relief at the question. She’d played hardball and Sizilen had hit it out of the park, but he also knew there was a growing number of people just interested in who Sizilen was. Since her name was released during the press conference that morning, it was trending across social media, and millions of people had questions. The rest of the interview went off without a hitch.

Still, he was concerned about how Sizilen had frozen up, and made a mental note to speak to her later about it.