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Chief Advisor Dirn of Seylph-Nawd
First of Two Yearly Reports to His Tallest the Emperor of Irk
First Year

My Tallest,

I will now report on the events of the first half year in which the two subjects we have spoken of previously have been moved to their schoolhouse.

The subjects have grown the rest of their teeth and now speak without impediment. Presently, subject A is two centimeters taller than subject B. The two bear strikingly similar personalities and react to many situations in the same manner. However, subject B is reported by the nurses to, while in possession of a good memory for words, sometimes displays difficulty in properly communicating with others. Subject A, on the other hand, has less difficulty with conversation but often forgets detail.

Both subjects were able to adjust to the change of setting with relative ease. They have been set on a revised six-year lesson course intended to draw up memory of the information fed to them during incubation. Both subjects were provided with one individual nurse aide as well as three additional aides that oversee lessons, diet and exercise.

None of the nurses sent to staff the schoolhouse are very familiar with dealing with young Irkens. However, the head nurse, Gori, was apprenticed under the nurse Vab, who I discover through records was on staff at the time of my lord's own rearing. My high expectations of Gori and the other staff have so far been met on all occasions. By the time I write this, many of the nurses have settled into the routine and are more or less at ease around the subjects.

I must confess that it is difficult to persist in calling the two I speak of as "subjects". I respectfully request that either my lord issues them names or grants the head nurse Gori to select them on your behalf.

Your loyal servant,

Dirn of Seylph-Nawd
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  "I can't believe this," Gori mumbled, face in her hands.

  All around her, the argument raged. She should have known better than ask for suggestions.

  "All I'm saying," said the head of the exercise program, "is that seeing as they look alike they should have similar names. Or maybe we give the taller one a monosyllabic name and the shorter one a longer name based on it. Like Fen and Fenar. Those are nice names. My cabinmate at the academy was a Fenar..."

  "All the monosyllabic names are very common," Gesh, the aide to subject B said, massaging his temples. This argument was getting on his nerves too. "Then again, it's tradition that Tallest names aren't overexotic. It's a public relations thing. People can relate to a Tet, they can't do the same for, oh, Ividinan."

  "You made that up," someone accused.

  "No, I swear, there was an Ividinan in my class at academy."

  "Probably chose the name himself," the aide to subject A said stiffly. "Anyway, they ought to have hard vowels in them. Best way to be imposing, hard vowels."

  "Emperor Rarg is plenty imposing without one."

  "Yes, but look at the Almighty Tallest Seek from two hundred years ago. There was an imposing figure. Name strikes fear into people."

  "I think..."

  This was a new voice. The other nurses found themselves lowering their tones, and then ceasing completely as, one by one, they turned to stare at the meek female head of lessons. Her eyes were such a dark shade of purple they nearly appeared black, and her antennae were curled into tight spirals.

  Her name was Sut. She was the weird one among the nurses. She didn't yell at the children as much; she didn't stomp when she walked or growled when she spoke. Just weird.

  "I think they should have very unique names. After all, look at them. We'll never see twin Tallests ever again."

  "I believe," Gori said quietly, but forcefully, "that you are mistaken in referring to them as twins. The purple one has always been slightly behind the other since they were a few months old."

  "He's getting taller," Sut reminded sweetly. "But my point is that maybe we should just make up a pair of names. Nothing exotic. Well, less exotic than Ividinan, anyway. I must confess I've never even heard of a name like that..."

  Sut had a tendency to trail off on the end of her sentences. Until people became accustomed to her they found themselves waiting up to half a minute after she'd stopped talking, expecting her to say more.

  Gori nodded, because when someone like Gori nods it is a very noncommittal response. "I imagine, however, that what you have in mind is a name a child wouldn't like to take with him into adulthood."

  "Certainly not, ma'am!" Sut's antennae curled forward in astonishment, although they couldn't get very far due to the purple nurse's cap. "I admit that the names I was considering are a bit, well... weak-voweled, frankly, but..." Realizing this was a time when a half-finished sentence wouldn't suffice, the female Irken continued, "...they are certainly not names I would not mind having myself."

  The aide to subject A was about to remark that you couldn't get much worse than a name sounding like the leftovers of burned wood without starting on mammalian organs, but decided against it when Gori resumed speaking.

  "The next words out of your mouth, Sut," said the head of diet smoothly, "will undoubtedly pertain to the children's nature as brothers" --Gori shuddered at the word-- "and also their genetic similarity to the present emperor, leading, I believe, to the proposal that their names sound--"

  "Princely," finished Sut proudly. "Yes, ma'am."

  Gori looked around smugly. The word had been said, directly from the insolent little schoolteacher herself. None of the other nurses could possibly stand for it...

  But the head nurse's antennae fell as her eyes scanned the table. The other nurses, to her absolute horror, were nodding their heads slightly and murmuring.

  Sut smiled that innocent smile of hers.
 
 

Chief Advisor Dirn of Seylph-Nawd
Second of Two Yearly Reports to His Tallest the Emperor of Irk
Fourth Year

My Tallest,

Sorun and Teir continue well.

Teir has grown rapidly since the last report and is a few millimeters shorter than Sorun now. Sorun's growth rate appears to have slowed. If Teir continues to grow at the rate he has been he will surpass Sorun by my next letter.

Educators at the schoolhouse report that Teir has finished his fourth-year lessons and that Sorun has halfway completed the fourth-year lessons. Tests still report that both are of nearly the same IQ, but Sorun is showing signs of attention deficiency.

It must be remarked that although both Sorun and Teir were fed the same information programs while in the incubation tubes, each seems to have absorbed the knowledge in varying degrees. To give example, Sorun seems to have retained most from Political Conduct 1 and 2, but Tier has superior memory of Effective Threatening 1, 2 and 4. Both seem equal on Effective Threatening 3, however, which I discover from conversation with field experts is highly unusual.

On a darker note, my lord, it appears that one of the nurses caring for Sorun and Teir was caught reading them bedtime stories some two months ago. I have seen to her expulsion as I believe my lord would have had me do. If my lord would prefer the nurse executed I can send out the order any time my lord wishes.

Your loyal servant,

Dirn of Seylph-Nawd
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  Teir found Sorun in the library. Sorun was always in the library when something happened.

  It wasn't as if Teir could blame him. Really, he'd been fond of Sut too. The stories before lights-out had been very pleasant; Teir especially liked the one about the little Irken who survived a fearsome battle by using his dead teammate as a shield, but was then executed for cowardice. It was such a nice story. But then the stories had stopped and Sut disappeared shortly after.

  He didn't like how the other nurses had made excuses. It wasn't as if he and Sorun weren't smart enough to figure out what had happened. Enough of Sut's stories had focused on censorship, disguised in simple ways she thought they needed them in to be understood, that they couldn't help but piece it together. Sut was shut up for trying to teach them things she shouldn't have.

  Teir wondered if she was dead. It was certainly possible.

  The library was unimpressive, architecturally. There were six two-sided bookcases that went from floor to ceiling, slightly curved inward in some vague attempt at artistry, filled with data discs in neatly ordered sections. The back wall was lined with windows that faced the city. It wasn't a very good view of the city, but both Teir and Sorun liked it because it was one of the only views they ever got. Outside excursions were heavily discouraged, and both boys knew that what that really meant was that they were prohibited.

  Sorun's thin shape was outlined in a window by the afternoon light. He was sitting at a desk with a small stack of discs and an active but waiting console before him. The sky outside was a faded crimson with the smog. Buildings were faint smudges in the distance.

  The boy Irken's antennae twitched as Teir stepped too loudly on the metal plating, and Sorun turned his head. Teir could see just a faint red outline of the outer edges of his eyes.

  "Go away, Teir," he murmured darkly. Sorun didn't usually take to adopting this tone. It wasn't one to cross if you valued your skin.

  But Sorun's so-called twin didn't move from where he stood. White clothes washed in the red light from the window, Teir said, "You didn't do your homework all week, and you missed lessons when Gori tried conducting them. Sut's not around but that's no reason to slack off. If you don't--"

  "What's it matter?!" Sorun roared, standing up so abruptly that Teir almost took a step back. "Sut didn't do anything wrong. And now, who knows if she's even alive?! Oh quasars... What if she's dead..." Sorun, looking like a balloon just run out of helium, seemed to shrink and sagged back into his chair. He hung his head and his antennae went limp.

  Teir didn't know what to think. It hadn't really occurred to him to be concerned for Sut. People died all the time, didn't they? The other nurses said that the emperor could have people killed for anything he didn't like, such as bad little boys that didn't eat their vegetables.

  Why was Sorun getting so upset?

  Or rather...

  Why wasn't Teir?

  The purple-eyed Irken turned away, hunched back to the shadowed Sorun. Teir couldn't deal with thoughts like this. They weren't meant for thoughts like this. Their caretakers were supposed to raise them to be cruel-hearted and sharp, with nothing unnecessary and nothing excessive. It was expected of a Tallest.

  But for all the efforts of the other nurses, it was Sut with her caring and her sensitivity that had come through the most. Teir was doing everything to beat it out. He'd never get to be the Tallest if he had those disgusting emotion things, even if he did become taller than Sorun.

  Sorun seemed ready to break. As if all the conflict over which how and which why was amassing weight on his shoulders. He was going to snap.

  Teir didn't know if he should let him. Oh, he could say he wanted Sorun around as target practice, but the violet-eyed boy didn't know if that was entirely correct. Some sneaking little part of him --some part of him, Teir suspected, that Sut had placed there-- was saying "you can't let him go away because what are you without him?" It was a stupid thought and Teir hated that he was thinking it.

  Once again Teir found himself trying to think of a plan. Teir wasn't good at plans. He had the mind for understanding a plan, refining a plan and executing a plan, but he didn't have the imagination to formulate one. And despite everything he was trying to think of one. He had to get Sorun to forget about Sut.

  Maybe frontal lobotomy... No, the other nurses would surely notice if part of the boy's cranium went missing.