[ WP ] Two earth like planets occupy the same solar system ...

The night was falling on the western hemisphere of Nephthys. With her grip tight against her mother's hand, Grace pressed her face against the leg to her right and gripped her free fist in the linen of her mother's pants. The woman knelt down to brush her fingertips against the forehead of her daughter. 
 
 `` Now, now,'' Olivia smiled her soft smile. `` There's nothing to be afraid of. We only get a view like this once a year. We've got to take advantage of it.'' 
 
 The young girl was looking at her mother with eyes seemingly turned down at the edges from her upset. Her lower lids served as small bowls for the tears that were gathering there. 
 
 As Olivia began to speak again the body of a young boy ran into the both of them. He made a sound of exaggerated wobbling before he pretended to fall down backwards onto the plush green grass. 
 
 `` This is taking too long,'' he said up to the sky. It was just beginning to darken. Around them families and couples were making their way across the field and planting their blankets. Olivia clicked her tongue at her son and then reached her hand around to feel for the blanket she had packed away into the basket. 
 
 `` Come on then. Let's go,'' she said to Grace. 
 
 Grace reluctantly took her mother's hand again and let Olivia pull her along. She dragged behind a bit, looking down at the ground and kicking. Every once in a while Olivia would tug on Grace's arm and Grace would jump or run to keep up. Ahead Adam had found a blank spot of grass and was in a constant span of motion as he waited for them. 
 
 `` I want to sit next to Grandpa!'' he declared as Olivia stretched out the blanket. She nodded and pulled Grace into her lap. Grace began to idly play with Olivia's necklace, making a babble of noises. 
 
 `` You're a bit old for that,'' Olivia said. There was the small pull of a smile on her lips. Grace looked up at her and blinked - her eyes so green and large that Olivia thought she should have named her daughter *owl* or something of the like. 
 
 Her father arrived and Olivia folded out a chair for him. He sat and put his hands on his knees, pressing his spine into the chair. He craned his neck up. Grace and Adam - curious from this motion - repeated it. 
 
 `` Ma*ma*,'' Grace went back to playing with her mother's necklace. The woman brought her hand back to the girl's small head and brushed back her silk black hair. 
 
 `` Tell us the story again, Mom,'' Adam said. Adam was older - seven to Grace's four. 
 
 Grace had gone back to babbling. She tipped back in her mother's arms. Olivia - far used to her daughter's motions - slipped a hand behind Grace's neck to support her as she arched her spine back and stared up at them with her large eyes. 
 
 Olivia looked to her father. He seemed too busy setting up the telescope. She felt heat rise to her face as she considered what he might be thinking. She moved her gaze away with careful attention as to the speed of it. The last thing she needed was Adam asking her why she'd moved her head so quickly. 
 
 `` Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a war,'' Olivia began. 
 
 `` It was n't so long ago! I remember!'' Adam cried. Olivia gently quieted him with a finger to her lips. 
 
 `` Let me tell the story,'' she said, not unkindly. `` A long time ago there was a war.'' 
 
 Grace fussed in Olivia's arms. The young girl reached above her head and grasped the blanket, twisting it in her arms. Olivia was n't sure if the young girl could hear, or was listening, or was just lost in her own world. 
 
 `` Khepri used to have people that lived there. It used to be just like Nephthys. Millions of people all over its lands. Animals, too. Exotic birds like you've never seen. A people entirely the same and entirely different from the people we have here.'' 
 
 `` What was different about them?'' Adam asked. He already knew the answer. 
 
 `` At first it just appeared that they looked different. Their skin was almost translucent. White like they were cut from moonbeams. Their eyes were wide and green or blue, and their hair was brown or yellow or even red. 
 
 `` It took us a long time to make contact with them. But eventually we learned how to interact. We shared technology with them. The medicine we have now that keeps us safe from the hearing sickness is all thanks to Khepri.'' 
 
 Olivia took a breath. Grace had quieted. The stars were reflected in her eyes. 
 
 `` But nothing can stay fresh forever. It turned out we *were* different, right down to our core. It was n't just their looks. They began to run out of resources on their planet. They asked for ours. At first we have freely - Nephthys is closer to the sun and is a bigger planet overall. Khepri had more advanced technology. They needed the resources. But then they began to take more from us. More, and more, and more. 
 
 `` It ended in a war. The War of the Worlds. Men from every place in Nephthys were asked to fight. It was the largest allying that has ever happened on this planet.'' 
 
 Olivia grew silent and Adam reached out to shake her arm. Olivia's father had long since finished putting together the telescope. He sat with his hands on his knees, looking curiously into the darkness as though he were pretending not to hear his daughter's tale. 
 
 `` Tell us about Dad,'' Adam said. 
 
 `` Your father was a soldier. He was brave and strong. He was part of the last wave of soldiers ever sent to Khepri. But the people there were truly black and twisted in their hearts. They had weapons - weapons that I'll tell you about someday when you're older. But they were long beaten. Nephthys had better numbers and the war was n't being fought on this planet. It was over there. It was so far away that I slept through the ceremony of surrender. And I slept through the planet of Kephri destroying itself - killing a billion of its own people and three million Nephthysite soldiers - in one last final attack. 
 
 `` Nothing lives there anymore. There were a few survivors - spies and soldiers who had come to Nephthys and who hid and tried to blend in with society or hid. In the end they were pardoned by our overseer. Many people still shun them - they blame the survivors for the actions of those few who decided to kill women and children to spare themselves shame. And it was so ordered that every year on this day all the people and their families gather to look up at Kephri and know what was sacrificed. What was lost for the peace of Nephthys. What comes of greed and war. Nephthys is a utopia. We must never forget that.'' 
 
 `` You-tou-pee-ahhhh,'' Grace mimicked. She came back up and curled up in her mother's lap. A moment later she seemed to be asleep. 
 
 `` What happened to the people? Did they ever become happy again?'' 
 
 Olivia sighed. `` I do n't know. The older generations still seem to hate them. I think some of them find happiness. Maybe even love.'' 
 
 `` Is that why Grace looks different?'' Adam asked. Olivia looked down at her sleeping child, wide eyes closed and fast asleep. Her father cleared his throat and sent Olivia a pointed look. She put her hand on the back of Adam's head and stroked his black hair, looking into his small black eyes. 
 
 `` A story for another day,'' she said. `` Go look at Kephri. Go think about what we've lost.'' 
 
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