Page 42 of Family Found

Rory seemed outwardly happy to be back on Earth with the sentenmen, but it was easy to sense his tension. I could feel it when I touched him, see it in his tense muscles and shallow breathing.

I was less worried about returning to the Stone of Destiny than I had been before, even though the humans were now guarding it. Zeddira would not have intentionally hindered a positive outcome of this mission—he would not have endangered a source of influence like Rory through ill intent—but Hove was a better planner and strategist, and one who did not consider influence in his planning as much as Zeddira did. Hove, more so than Zeddira, as I had learned in Esaka, had selected the Raikengana who would accompany us to the Stone on the basis of their experience.

“Hey.” Charles came toward us from where Vergis, Kinnek, and my mate had brought us in. “We’re having one last planning session with everyone. Kid, you stick with Rory and translate.”

Vergis huffed. “He just needs to not trip over and head toward the Stone with Inkiri and Kinnek. I just told him that. Don’t see where the problem is or why we need to go over everything again.”

Charles crossed his arms and lowered his head a fraction—not enough to indicate deference, but enough to be confrontational. Charles didn’t seem to have any problem with reacting to his hangu son like that, and it always amazed me.

“Vergis, what is the rule in a situation like this where others know more than you do?”

Vergis sighed. “To shut up and do as I am told unless I have a valuable insight to share with the group.”

Charles smiled. “Good boy. We’re in there.”

Charles pointed to one of the tall stone structures that surrounded the lawn on all sides and continued on as far as I could see. I drew Rory with me, and Lissir took Sonyo aside, probably telling our young hanmen to not stray and to keep quiet, observe. With our missions always running across the border before we’d come to Earth, none of us had expected to help in another Raikenga’s training and raising in this way, but there would’ve been no grounds now to reject Sonyo.

We walked toward the building Charles had indicated, then up a set of stone stairs to a building entrance. It said Physical Laboratory above the wooden double doors, and I was reminded of the compulsory anatomy schooling we’d all had. The room in the Uëskona Raiken had been behind a similar door, and the lessons were meant to prepare us for the realities of a battlefield so that, in the face of such realities, we would not hesitate to help our own.

Rory reached for the hem of my shirt and tugged. “You…can you not do anything that might get you hurt?”

I took Rory’s wrist and brought it up so I could plant a human kiss there. “I can promise you I will not take any foolish risks, sadir.”

He looked troubled by that, but I wasn’t sure what to tell him, what would satisfy him. It was hard to know what he wanted. After all, a hangu should enjoy a hangu-na mate who was a skilled fighter, yet slow to anger and caring. I knew Rory liked me close and touching him, holding him, making sure he was always comfortable. That was not at all a problem. Whenever we’d sparred back at Kinnek’s House, Fellisse had happily partnered with me most, and Lissir had made a point of being his meanest while at the same time letting me win our matches on at least two occasions.

And Rory had always watched, so he knew I was a good, competent fighter. He’d always given me his attention and praise after. And yet, when it came to real fights where my skill would be truly tested, he wanted me to be careful and avoid the clash of weapons.

I didn’t understand it. I had taken note of what Charles had said in the sauna once, that you want a person safe when you care for them, and that a lot of “liberal and privileged preppy kids” like my mate found fighting scary. At the same time, it was hard to make sense of how him being scared of fighting meant he didn’t want me to do it for him. Him finding fighting scary should make a good fighter even more desirable.

As such, it was difficult to know how to give him what he wanted in this. The next time we saw Donna, I’d ask her about it. We all always understood her explanations, and despite us having known Vergis for a long while, she’d taught all of us more about Earth culture than we’d ever have been able to learn on Aër. She was also good about coming up with simple rules of thumb that made things generally easier. On second thought, I should tell Hove about her so that he could try and convince her to come here and teach other protectors.

But that would have to wait until later. Now, we all needed to focus on closing off the veil so no more monsters could come here.

I held the heavy door for Rory, and all of a sudden, he jerked. “Oh, shoot. What’s with our bunker ash dude? You guys didn’t just leave him there, did you?”

Charles chuckled. “We brought him. Tied him up in a bathroom stall in here. He’s actually pretty well-behaved and still offering to help.”

“He offered to mate with Fellisse,” Vergis said, something that had been so odd at the time that I didn’t think Rory needed to know it. Vergis often saw things differently, as he did now.

Rory gasped and froze, one foot on the final stair. “He what now?”

“Well, he said he’d let Fellisse fuck him if it got him out of the bunker. Koa Esher are culturally distinct, dare I say depraved, in case you hadn’t noticed, Princess.”

“We don’t know what his true intentions are.” I tugged Rory forward. He followed me inside the building, and we started up a staircase of polished stone that went past a set of tall windows on whose sill plants had died in their buckets…in their planters. This place must’ve been very alive once, no matter the subject human students had come here to study or the dead bodies it required.

He looked at me. “Yeah, but…I mean, that’s pretty extreme. Right?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Not for the Koa Esher, it isn’t,” Vergis said.

A group of Raikengana who’d come with us from Esaka went past us, talking about how odd this place was, how unlike what they had expected. One said he hoped he’d find a mate like the red-headed human koa, and I smiled.

Hove came in as well and stopped when he saw Rory, who was still aghast.

“What?”

“The Koa Esher hangu we imprisoned has been trying to offer his magic and himself as mate,” Vergis said in Lugarra, and once he started climbing the stairs, Rory followed.