---A few days later----
The engines of Star Cruisers 591 and 89 as well as the Alliance transport's motors roared in the windy air. The sand under them whirled somewhat, as the jet engine fire melted it from the thick soil frost. Almost the whole population of Kaleva had gathered around one open square on the village's edge, to receive the visitors from the skies. Hearts pumping up in their throats, Team Lightyear and Zarah stood in the front line, with Yoka and some viisaat. Vainamoinen sat in a palanquin further there. Finally the rumble settled, and ramps were thrown out from the space ships. A group of stunned aliens climbed down. Commander Nebula was followed by King Nova, Emperor Zurg and his wife, Booster's family, and lastly Warp stomped out. Yet, their immediate families were suddenly thrown into the background, as a pack of enthusiastic tribe children and adolescents ran to surround the arrivals. Amazed yelps and shouts sprung from the throats of the kids. There if where were strange creatures, now! Odd shapes and unusual skin colors bedazzled the spectators.
"Toinen Sininen!"
"Eipaes vaan kolmaskin!"
"Katsokaa, siellae on moehkoefanttejakin!"
A couple of young girls gripped Warp's hands. He was giving sidelong glances to find his cherished loved one. They started tittering to drag him towards Mira, who experienced a similar kind of assault.
"Sininen! Sininen!" the Kalevans giggled. They brought those blue aliens very near each other, obviously thinking that they were mates or relevant.
"Hey, hey, lemme go, ya li'l gibberish-talking teasers!" Darkmatter tried to drive away his court.
"Don't be mad at these children, they think that we are related or something", Nova sneered.
"Yeah, yeah, although my mug is blue, I'm not any new-age obi-van-kenobi-Tangean. Have ya seen my babe Za? These folks are gonna stamp her flat under their feet!" He leered worriedly furthermore around. It was hard to see over the heads of the eight-foot tall young warrior men, who goggled at the scenery as keenly as the tots. Warp got the suddenly-scared besiegers to flinch, as he activated his rocket boots and hovered for a while in the air to see a glimpse of a certain red-hair. And there she was, somewhere in the back row, trying to push her way forth in the middle of tall native women. Then clearing the way truly began. Not caring about the tight formation of the bystanders, Darkmatter jostled people out of his way with his elbows, fearing that he would lose the sight of his dearest again. A couple of more steps, and she would be in the shelter of his arms. Petty tears glimmered in his eyes, as he poked the last man out of his way, encountering ultimately the stray. Before she had time to utter anything, Warp lifted her high in the air, messing her face and neck with ardent kisses. Teardrops began trickling down her jowls, too, as Zarah apprehended being in his strong arms, clasped against his safe chest. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him as greedily back. The children that had pursued the dashing half-robot, were gawking at the whole show with saucer-wide oculars. That wide blue person with the bizarre arm had after all nothing to do with Sininen? The color had misled.
On the other end of the square, Buzz was traipsing towards Zurg, Yoka a bit shyly swaying behind him.
"Yu fami-lee here now?"
"Yeah… Craters, there!" his smile was drawn from ear to ear, as he noticed Zurg's majestic figure standing against the last beams of the setting sun. Clearing his way as violently as Warp, he darted forth to hug his father.
"Daddy!"
As relieved Zora was, when he could put his arms around the younger male. "Quasars, you shall not comprehend how worried I have been because of you…" He took a bit distance from Buzz, giving a strange frown at his son's clothing. "What on Tatooine have they put you wearing, Buzzy Boy? I have always harped on you that green does not go together with your black hair at all. Purple shall be good, or Bourgogne red. And now there has to be a good excuse why you were so dull to talk to your father during the travel time! What the quasars was there so much better to do than to hear my glorious, nifty paragraphs?"
Lightyear could nothing but chuckle at the extraneous side comments. Zurg was always so strict about outer appearances and unnecessary details, and obviously fifty percent more egoistic in those issues than Warp. And… Yoka-hanen behind the Captain had been scratching her hair for a short while, now. She did not fathom almost at all the discussion subject. Knocking his shoulder, she hawked, "Yu brot-hee com-ee see yu?"
He had blacked out her presence. Putting his hand on her shoulder and drawing her nearer, he pointed at Zurg, "Emh, no, that's not my brother, he's my father. Zoxedas-- Zoxedjzz-- bah, never mind the forename. Zora Lightyear."
"Aha… Fa-dher…?" she floundered the different-language word. The tall person in front of her seemed a bit too young-looking to be Proud Crescent's father, but possibly she would need to get acquainted with all kinds of extraordinariness after this.
"And this here is my stepmother, Mariañ Lightyear", he pointed at the girl behind the Emperor. This went over Yoka's comprehension. She had never heard the definition 'stepmother' before, so she was left in the belief that that brown-haired jovial girl was either his little sister or cousin.
Initially Zurg had been surprising that foreign, very exotic-looking, brown-skinned woman beside his son. The boy seemed to be keen on explaining to this stranger all kinds of things, whereas she obviously had never taken English lessons according to that very weird accent. But why did Buzz hold her hand like that? Many kinds of cookings were done in the Emperor's brains. "And this shall be…?" he nodded towards the Kalevan.
Alacrity rose up to Buzz' nose. This was the issue Zoxedasžeĉ had been pestering him for long enough! Feeling triumph in his heart, Lightyear played with the syllables on his tongue a bit before answering. Wining his arm around the girl's waist, he snuggled her against his side. "Dad, this is… Yoka-hanen, chief Vainamoinen's daughter. She… sh-she-sss…" The well-planned sentence turned to sputter. Poor Buzz' cheeks began shimmering crimson red, but he forced himself to cough the subject out. "S-s-ssss-shshsshhh--ss-she's my w-wife. I love her. I love her, Dad!"
The Emperor's jaw dropped. And so did Buzz', as he grasped, what he actually had slipped out of his throat. Love. He had never even mentioned that before to her… not ever before that he loved her. It just had slithered out like that, with the storm of emotions he carried inside. Perhaps he had not even understood it before, either. And for Zurg the news were something so crushing, that he got only some garbled titubation out from between his lips. Yoka was baffled playing with her necklaces, she had again heard new words that were without an understandable meaning.
"Luv-eer… wat ees, Praad Cr'ressaant? Lower? Yu short me tall?" she shook her head. Buzz looked up to her, taking her both hands in his.
"No, no. To love, it's like… when you like someone more than just 'like'. I mean that I like you, but a lot more actually than that. Umh, I mean…"
She smiled confused back, not internalizing wholly the subject.
Behind her, Warp and Zarah had appeared visible from amongst the crowd. A toddler had been picked up from one ship's cabin, perching initially in the woman's arms. Although being so long separated from her mommy, the tiny girl seemed to be the same imp as always. This time it was interested in plucking the fringes of mama's headscarf. If Choi had not given hard scolds, the pest would have obviously destroyed the whole Kalevan handiwork creation with her too-quick itchy fingers. And Agent Z was merrily waving his hand to his friend, "Heya, absconder pal! Did ya find the imperial dynasties already?"
And idea popped abruptly in Lightyear's mind. He forcefully ripped Darkmatter's wrist communicator lid open, beginning to search for a translator device in it. No one of the present around him had a Babelfish interpreter.
"Blast! Where is it? What the jabbering asteroids is this kind of widget?" he pressed the buttons one after another, activating a compass, a little Tetris game, a holo-version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and everything else not relating to assembler work. Of course a Xanedian thingamajig was somewhat unknown for him.
"Hey! That ain't Star Command's coffee automat! Do ya know what these things cost?" Darkmatter pushed him away.
"I… I need to translate one word!" Buzz spread his arms hotheaded.
"What the cratervipers…?" Agent Z glared, "Translate one word? An' because of that ya wanna put my com-gimmick to pieces?"
"No, no, no, you don't understand! Do you got a Kaleva-dialect extended nanodatabase of Sivakka-language in it?" Lightyear panted.
"I dunno. Why's that so important to ya now?"
"It is, it is, it is!" Buzz was to lose his temper, hopping with his feet together on the ground.
"Okay, okay, stop buzzin' like that, ya buzzard. Well ya definitely got ways to welcome your friends after a long alienation…" Darkmatter typed something, then nodded, "Yeah, found. What do ya wanna know?"
"What is 'to love' in Sivakka?"
"Okay, you're weirder than I ever thought. Ya keep playin' a Z Empire Prince, then an Indian and now ya wanna learn to speak Abracadabra, eh? I've seen it all now. Well… it's something like… hm… how do ya spell that? 'Rakastaa'?"
"That's it! Thanks!" And so he sprung away, leaving the eyes-rolling bluish man snorting to himself.
As the fervent Captain achieved Yoka again, he gripped her from her arms, bending her down to him. In his sudden spell of fondness, he paid no attention that he had tens of people around him.
"To love, do you understand, Yoka? To love, rakastaa. Do you understand what I try to say to you? I love you", he breathed against her cheek, squeezing the slender girl in his embrace.
Her mouth flopped open, her large, gray eyes shining with bewilderment. Was that now it, the little comforting message she would have wanted to hear from the beginning on? It would have had soothed her fears and anxiety in the sorrow days, but instead there was only that insulting. But Buzz had desperately begged her to forgive him, begged to let him compensate all the bale and angst he had so stupidly made her suffer from. Love. Did he truly mean it? That this man dropped from the sky really would feel love towards the person that had been lower than a slave for him? But… the previous eras with him, his beginning affections, they had showed, and showed coherently. The fondles, kisses, the humble apologies… they had evolved love?
"Yu… me… l-l---?" she gulped as he had began to caress her cheek with his lips.
"Shht… Yes, I love you. I want to share my life with you, and… I'm still so sorry about all the nasty things I made you go through because of my savagery… I want you to come home with me, settle down, be mine…"
The language barrier did not break them apart any more. Emotions went over it, and as Lightyear picked her up from her armpits and poples to rest completely in his arms, she for the first time shyly dared to answer to his kisses.
Zurg and the others were left squirmy to envisage the Captain, as he went on carrying the girl away through the multitude. Their existence had fallen to the sea of oblivion in his vision, he saw only her, sensing the fiery burn in his heart. Yoka quivered with abashment and certain kind of intoxication in his tight clasp, also no more paying attention to the spin of world around her. Lightyear clogged the flap of his teepee behind him, closing the night only for the two. Mildly, gently, he began showing her his devotion, but now as a lover, as a husband. And no outsider dared to step even close their chambers that night. They were left in their own, soft heaven.
Emperor Zurg could not get a gasp out of his throat. Eyes round as flying saucers, he still gawped after the hurriedly vanished couple. A long index prodded mindlessly the air molecules.
"Th---thr---bzz--- zzz--- grohh--- Z?" some weird gurgle was heard.
So was the male Darkmatter also thunderstruck, his visage expressing the same stupefaction. "Lightrocket is a… hubby?" he grazed his facial hair.
"Uh-huh, Darkie. I guess you'll hear the whole story from himself… uh… tomorrow." Zarah under his arm smiled. "It's uh… kind of long. But yeps, he's married."
"Hum, neato. And he kept complaining he had trouble in getting the gals to swirl around him. But kinda wondering his taste, unless the lass was walking with stilts. Since when has he started liking taller girls? I mean, that one… well drat, his crown barely reached her mouthline!"
However, Zurg's sudden spluttering cut short his sarcasms. He was sneezing his nose into a huge purple handkerchief, and emphatically his young wife patted his arm.
"There there, hun, my own big Googly Bear!"
"Sniff! My little Buzzy Boy is all grown up and married! Snuff! Spurf! Wahaaahhhaaaaaah!" the sturdy ex-dark lord burst into a fountain of tears. "I am so happy! Sne-eef! Buzzy Boy is in love with a dandy girl!"
"There, there, Zurry Purry, I'm happy too. Here, hun, take another tissue." Mariañ patted his bowed head and passed a hankie to him.
"Uff what's wrong with this people?" Commander Nebula arrived on the spot. He had been badly lost among the teeming natives, then with efforts had shooed a pack of children away that had come to laugh at his height and his big moustache. He had also supervised that King Nova met his daughter, and that the royal was safely escorted back in the ship. Unfortunately, the noble Tangean had been horrified to see where he had landed. The Planet of Apes –as he had decided to call Kaleva- was even more devolved than he had originally assumed. Huffing and puffing Mira had pursued her father inside the spacecraft, muttering something about racism and dignity. There Zeb had been left at the mercy of the tittering kids. Now he was hands on hips astonishing what was going on here.
"Alright, where's Buzz? I've been waiting for the last few months to meet him!"
Zarah and Warp looked uneasy. Zurg cried like a cascade, and XR (who had also just found his chums) tried to whistle something.
"Now what's this fooling about? Where is he?" he tapped the frosty soil with a boot.
"Buzz umm… well you'll see him tomorrow", Warp mumbled.
"He… went away with his Kalevan wife. He understood something deeply important about himself and his life just five minutes ago", Choi added.
Zeb fell on his hinterland for thunderstruck. Somebody calmly told that Buzz was married?
"What in the name of antigravitons? You… you must be throwing in bad jokes!" he wiped his forehead sitting on the snow. But, it was not a jest. The explains were tossed back and forth, and lastly Zeb went on scowling about people's strange habits to bind more and more often those 'secret marriages'. The Darkmatters could nothing but chuckle, whereas Zora had got rid of his tears, gloating something about being one day a grandfather and able to knit little tiny dandily purple baby socks.
In the night, at the common square, were kept grand celebrations once again. At the bonfire, four full moons gleaming as silvery plates above there, were danced, told legends and heard stories from beyond the clouds. The most honored hero was not present, but it did not much flatten the almost magical atmosphere. The songs reached the stars, enchanting the listeners in the frosty nocturne. Kaleva rejoiced, although it knew it would lose its new brothers and sisters soon.
However, somewhat bitterly the two following days trudged by. Arrogant were some of the new skyfallen, triumphing in their gleaming huge chariots. Sininen had a father, who wanted not to receive the old Vainamoinen's respect. And he drew his daughter away, suuremo Sininen did not any more share her people's wisdom. Leaning to his cane, the aged chief stood at the entrance of the Council teepee. Those fine, high, glistering carriages, ready to vanish inside the clouds… standing initially behind the huts, taller than those. He sighed, turned about and sat down on his throne. Future… what would it bring now along?
Yoka-hanen's diurnals were sealed. Or so had the sky-walking man decided. She was his, and would follow his footsteps… further than the infinity. Everyone that passed by Buzz Lightyear, could understand he was crazy about her. The disgust had turned to fiery love, the detestation to tenderness. And the laws announced his rights concerning the gift… she was his property, he was free to lead her in the clouds if he wanted.
The girl had turned melancholic, a smile did not brush her features. Kaleva was now history for her, just a tale of past… she was made to float away, away from under the fresh winds. But what did she have here, after all? Her father… towards whom her feelings were very mixed. She honored him in her heart, cultivated, but he had turned so distant. She would not have wanted to whisper goodbye, but it was a must. However, in the shades of Proud Crescent's hut she stayed, not willing to see her patron's wrinkled brows. He was distant, merely a shadow.
Yoka watched, as her property was packed up, and carried inside one of those white giants. What kind of teepee was in the stars? He had talked about houses like Suur-Kaleva possessed, strange races that teemed along wide streets… in some kaupunki. Weird places… weird stories. Angst… fear… excitement… her emotions could not decide what to express. Occasionally a couple of tears trickled down her cheek, being wiped away by a thick thumb… or by a pair of lips. Insecurity… Yoka was not certain yet about her feelings towards him. But by the time, they would establish, a love would evolve. There was only a small barrier to climb over any more. And Buzz, he would not push her. He would have patience, mild patience, this time. He could see beyond her fright, he was assured. Love was there, just an inch away.
Oddly enough, her owner had actually asked if she wished to pursue him, or stay in Kaleva with him. Buzz had gulping prepared also to the latter, against all the odds also ready for it. But used to the differing traditions, she could not understand being able to have any counterargument against him. She could not see that it was an option for once her to decide. If Yoka was given to this noble sankari, his path would be also hers. Thus… perhaps the plains of Kaleva would fall into nothingness. Although being the chief's daughter, she was none kind of 'princess'. The grand ruler was elected from among the viisaat, and granted with a responsible career of lifetime. When the old Vainamoinen would finally pass away, some other viisas would step on the throne. And Proud Crescent, although being an honored Kalevan, had no tapping among this enlightened elite. Someone who could not master a single rune, was immediately kicked out of the council if he tried claiming a position there. So, this hero space ranger could never become the highest in this culture. However, he was an esteemed Brother, a man who was a legend, himself.
Lightyear's heart also suffered, amidst all the elation. He did not know what he would become when getting back home. All the usual things of his 'normal life' felt so scattered… as if they had never existed. He was supposed to be a space ranger? But why returning to the everyday chores felt somehow so foreign? Why did he feel himself being so outgrown about everything? With a strange mien, Commander Nebula had been listening to his mental odyssey here. This home-coming male was not one hundred percent the Buzz Lightyear he had used to. No, there was something a lot more mature in him, now. And a touch of glumness.
As the topic was pondered furthermore, both Zeb and Zurg admitted that obviously the Captain would need a break from his everyday. So, no space ranger activity at least now. The Morphean had far something else to think about, he would need to establish a new life as a married man. Not a soul could come to know another human being in such a tiny time as Yoka and he had spent together. No… they would both need time to learn to know each other. For the past's Buzz, a family had been an unknown definition. Suddenly Star Command was not his whole life any longer… he could not recover so quickly. A Sabbath would be for his best. Well, not the first time. His career had been cut short because of the mental illness a few years ago. Now… because of love and other kind of confusion. So, he was not a space ranger today, nor tomorrow. When again, not even his synapses concluded it.
The day came when Kaleva would be left behind. The wakening culture would perhaps pull through… find its origins, grow in wisdom. Commander Nebula had mentioned to Vainamoinen about the possibilities to contact the worlds beyond the stars. Some communication devices were left in the hands of viisaat, if they would want to stay in touch with him, or something. Time would show… perhaps, perhaps.
The starships were ready to vanish from the village's outskirts. One after another, the space rangers and their relatives walked up along the slopes, disappearing inside those metallic giants. A teeming concourse of natives was escorting them, giving goodbyes. Perhaps some day the white wagons would come back to greet them again. Still no one seemed to notice that one person was missing… or was there someone to perceive?
Yoka measured the crowd with her regard. Waving hands, whistles, it was blurry. A fist softly pushed her shoulder, asking her to step along the ramp. In the ashen hull was a door, black like a toothless maw. But the hand assured, that it was not a road to death, not a road to desolateness. But her eyes did not meet the one she had been searching for. Gone. He did not want to see her, did he? He was distant. Vainamoinen was gone.
"Hyvaesti, kunnioitettu isaeni…" a small whisper gurgled out of her lips. It had no meaning for these bizarre aliens, only for her it had a meaning. Goodbye, father…
The roar of the crystallic fusion engines echoed distantly inside the Council tent. Abandoned it was, only a hoary, wizened figure sat in the shady corner. The Kalevans cheered out there, in the brisk frost morning. But here, a moody, tiny kantele's melody played in the air, soon accompanied by a timid, raspy voice. Long fingers caressed the zither's strings.
Poika tuonpuolen pilvien, sankar takaa revontulien
Kerran saapui Kalevaan, saapui Kansan asuinmajaan.
Voimaa uhoten ja tahtoa manaten
Kilvan ylpisteli kanssa punarevon, kilvan keekoili kanssa aamukilon,
Kunnes putosi puusta poikanen, sankar suurivoimainen.
Paistatteli aikansa, aikansa kilvoitteli,
Kunnes lehahti Kokkolintu vuorelta, pulu harjanteelta tuli ja nokki.
Vasket, rintakilvet rikki raapaisi
Poikaselta rautaiset helyt raastaisi
Nyt oli sankar ilman kunniaa, sisin vailla suuria.
Nyt oppi poika kuun, oppi kautta kannon ja itki,
Ettei keekoilla suo, venhoa korskeudella varustaa.
Oppipa poika, oppi ja itkun tirruutti.
Ja sankar suurempi sijan sai, mies nyt ulos astuvi kai.
Uudet vasket takovi, kupariset kalvosimet tekevi,
Kunnian sai sankari, uuden elon mestari.
Ja venhoineen pois liitelee, mut oppina kokemus kiittelee
Ei keekoile poika kuun, vaan sankar suurempi sikisi,
Kuun taa katosi, sinne kipusi.
Ja kunnian soi Kalevalle, kansalle virren sorean.
A new legend was sung. A teardrop silently fell onto the floor… And the clouds shrouded the vanishing vessels…
The End.
Thanks for reading! Reviews/Feedback would be welcome (Especially if someone spots illogicalities or really terrible grammar errors.).