Page 19 of Family Found

Hove bowed his head in relief. “Thanks ancestors. We hear from…hoag…”

“A base camp?” Charles asked.

Hove looked at Charles as if he only now realized there was another human there with us, one who actually knew the language well enough to know that a hoag was a base camp. Not that I knew what a base camp was good for, not really.

“My human father, Charles,” Vergis said.

“Welcome.” Hove bowed quickly. “And you, also.” He smiled at me warmly. “He is better. It is good mate is better,” he told Inkiri in that polite bagu way of speaking as if I weren’t there.

Inkiri clicked. “Kinnek figured out how to help Rory. I’d still like a healer to look him over. And he should rest. He used a lot of his magic. Rest is always good for him after that.”

Charles put a hand on his hip. “We should head back home to tell the others we’re okay. Son, are you ready to hop us over?”

Vergis nodded. “I’ll just need to get some sacrifices from the hatchery, then get Dad.”

“I get you ligua.” Hove called over a copper-clad teen bagu and gave him quick instructions in Lugarra. The teen nodded and went running off after giving me a curious look.

Vergis inclined his head. “Thanks.”

“My pleasing.”

Charles looked for Kinnek in the crowd. He was helping Aragis into the Raiken. It wasn’t very noticeable, but Aragis walked funny. I felt the knowing nip at me, and I had to close my eyes and concentrate on breathing for a second to push it away.

I couldn’t stomach knowing what the cola asshats had done to Aragis. What they’d done to the other bagu whose feet were still in dirty bandages. And more, I didn’t need to be a distant witness to that pain. Why did I have to be settled with magic that didn’t understand boundaries?

“Dad’s gonna stay here for a while,” Charles said. “I’ll go tell him where we’re going.” He jogged after Kinnek.

Hove smiled down at me. “I must report all of…all of everything here. But first, Inkiri, I help your mate inside to the healers. Come.”

“Thank you. Sadir, come, let’s make sure you are fine.”

He put a hand on my belly, and I had a feeling he was angling to pick me up again, so I let go of Vergis’s hand.

“Catch you later?”

He was still glaring, but he nodded.

“What is wrong?” Lissir said when he turned from talking to a group of protectors and saw us head inside the Raiken. “Are we not going back to Canada?”

Inkiri clicked. “I want the healers to see Rory, but Vergis and Charles are returning.”

Hove greeted Lissir with a bow. “If you stay to waiting for Rory and his mate, will you report me everything?”

Lissir nodded. “Yes, of course.”

Another bagu, this one in taupe, called something from the entrance of the Raiken.

Lissir responded with “Shen sa,” which I understood. It meant something like, “in a minute” or “I’ll be there in a minute.”

He looked our way. “They need Kankarra interpreters who are hangua. Some of the hostages are from Kankarraz and not captured from here. They don’t know what the Raiken is at all.”

Hove grunted. “Here, they are all safe.” He tilted his head. “I will find our Kankarra speakers. Them must be explained that the Raiken is not Kankarraz. They have…megape?”

Lissir clicked. “Rights and options, you might say in English.”

“They have rights and options. We will make clear.”

Lissir nodded and jogged up the stairs ahead of us.