Whilst llhaesa spent a night in a darkened room at Langley absent any water or sanitation, Ronnie, Addison, and Serada were staying in a nearby hotel, quite comfortable in their miniature enclave, albeit they were unable to enter or leave the building as they wished.
While the interrogator pushed Ronnie hard at times in questioning, overall she remained respectful of Ronnie. Two different investigators met with the children, each taken to a different room, without their mother present, and over Ronnie’s vociferous objection.
Ronnie worried, especially with Serada given her young age, but her argument fell far short of convincing anyone she needed to be with either daughter while questioned.
Both daughters shrugged when asked to share the questions asked of them, though over a few hours Ronnie pieced together parts of questions, elements of which came out tangentially through other conversations.
Among the first comments they revealed was of Addie and Serry’s like concern for llhaesa’s well being. Both were emphatic in expressing love for llhaesa. When they asked Serry if she missed her dad, Serry simply replied, “My dad is here with us, that is why you are asking me questions!”
Medical staff drew blood, as well as took DNA swabs from the mouths of both girls; both underwent extensive physicals, to the point Serry cried and asked to see her mom. They stopped further testing; evidently realising they pushed the envelope with the children and needed to back off, though it also was likely they had the answers they looked for and need not go further.
Ronnie underwent a cursory physical, only to check overall health. The investigating staffers were not concerned with her DNA and genes, only the information she could provide.
Questions asked of Ronnie were asked multiple times, mixed up in ways designed to trip her up in case she tried to deceive. Since Ronnie told the truth, there was nothing to trip on. One question puzzled her initially: ‘is it possible Tim was real, and that the alien took his place?’
Ronnie had not thought of this as possibility, and in retrospect, found it silly and insulting, insulting to her, insulting to llhaesa. Ronnie trusted her intuition, her intuition left her believing llhaesa was the real deal, that she was honest, caring, and everything claimed in what she shared with the family.
Though Ronnie had yet to give voice to thoughts she held close, part of her – a strong, growing part of her – was intrigued by the eventual possibility of one day visiting Arrhazon. One who rather loved the prospect of adventure and experiencing new things, Ronnie silently wished to see Arrhazon before she died. Add in this was the home of the other parent of her children, of one half of their ancestors, and well… since llhaesa strongly felt Jahrae was aware llhaesa was alive and would find her one day, Ronnie held close this rather extravagant hope.
As it would turn out, this was a rather prescient wish on Ronnie’s part, though there would be another quite significant reason why she would ultimately go; one she would never have guessed at, even if given an unlimited number of tries at the answer, and one Ronnie would have rolled her eyes over the very suggestion of possibility.
Snapping her thoughts back to their current dilemma, Ronnie feared for llhaesa. When she inquired into whether the family could be with llhaesa, the response was a terse “no.” Ronnie followed that question by asking if llhaesa was ok; she received no reply.
The interviews of the girls lasted for about two hours, while Ronnie’s interview lasted almost four hours. There were basic questions about llhaesa and Tim’s habits and inclinations, about Tim’s dreams, about Tim’s gender dysphoria.
Ronnie shared of the language that surfaced in Tim… llhaesa’s dreams; it seemed pointless to hide this fact given everyone now knew why she spoke words of a different language.
She sensed an attempt was being made to discredit llhaesa; they kept citing how llhaesa ‘is different than we are,’ that she is highly intelligent, gifted as a musician, very tall, etc. All of these things are no big deal, but they tried to form this into some collective package to market to fear, as if llhaesa were Bigfoot or something akin to Bigfoot.
Ronnie laughed in their faces, and they were not at all happy at hearing her laughter. Ronnie’s words with the investigators came back into her mind, and she reflected on the incredulity of the moment, “Sweet llhaesa, who cares about the well being of me and the children and willingly surrendered in order to protect us? That llhaesa is your bogeyman!
You have that all wrong, though I am quite certain you will continue to grasp at these illusory straws. She is no more a threat to this world than I am. In fact, we all could learn a bit from her – her understated internal strength, her idealism, her dedication to equality and peace, to other human beings. From where I sit, this world is the threat, not her or hers.”
Though the interrogators refrained from responding to any points Ronnie made, she could read the expressions on their faces. One fleetingly seemed to exhibit a bit of embarrassment, as if somewhere deep inside she agreed with Ronnie; but this proved but a momentary glimpse through the façade. Thereafter, they returned to an all business demeanour.
Just then, Addison diverted her attention from the Go Fish! Game she played with Serry on the carpeted hotel room floor, calling up to Ronnie, “Mom, I forgot to mention that when they asked me if I knew of anyone else who might be here with llhaesa, I told them no. After a moment, I mentioned that llhaesa felt Jahrae was coming, that she sensed it through reiki; they were quite interested in this titbit of information. Did I say something wrong?”
Ronnie felt her insides tighten, but Addie did nothing wrong by innocently mentioning llhaesa’s intuition on Jahrae. “No, Addison, there was nothing wrong with sharing that with them. We all have our intuitive moments.”
Ronnie knew the investigators would jump all over that information, the very sort of thing someone who watched one too many science fiction movies would think. She would bet anything they now planned to test llhaesa in some way for extra sensory perception; the thought of their inquisition would be laughable if it were not actually a miniature replication of that very event from history. “Ignorance and insecurity – it is a tried and true combination through time!” Ronnie sarcastically thought, appalled to watch it unfold and affect her family.
