Page 43 of Family Found

“I…I think I’m feeling sorry for him.” My sweet mate bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re a bit too soft, is what you are.” Vergis snorted. “And a bit too anti-drugs.”

“I just said don’t let Sonyo have any of your candied flowers and keep them away from me.”

I exchanged a careful smile with Fellisse and Nokim, but luckily, our Earth-raised hangua fell silent when we got to the second floor.

Up here, a hallway with a creaky wooden floor led us to a large planning room with benches and long tables rising up like a terraced hill and focusing inward. In the lower center in the front, I recognized Charles’s laptop on the table. Paper maps and pens had also been laid out, but Charles was focused on the computer.

The paper maps—the printouts—were probably for the Raikengana who were unsure about human technology. I enjoyed using the computers Charles had in Kinnek’s House, but I had to agree that they were mysterious machines.

One evening, my mate had pulled out his phone, a miniature computer basically, and opened his “Insta,” which he’d explained was like a public display of photos. He had shown me his friends. Some of the photos from shortly before the apocalypse had been of the two friends who’d accompanied him to Ireland, and he’d gotten very sad when he’d talked about them. But thanks to the computers, he still had those images of them, and that was precious. It made me wonder how the technology could be used with a Raiken mindset, but that was not for me to decide.

Charles stepped up to the front of the room. “This is so we can all see,” he said, switching to Lugarra and speaking politely. “Please take a seat.”

Rory whispered, “Wow, this is like being back at school. My school was pretty fancy, but this looks like a set from a period movie.”

Vergis snorted, and I let the two of them lead the way to the seats they wanted—in the front, but a little to the side. The rest of the sentenmen joined us, with Nokim sitting down next to me and Lissir, Sonyo, and Fellisse one level higher where Hove joined them.

Seeing Rory sit down behind the dusty but otherwise still functional table made me think how good it was for our people to have chosen this place for the base camp. It would become a proper Raiken eventually, there was no doubt about that, and with the humans so scattered and cut off from important things—like Donna, who needed her hormones regularly—it was good for the Raiken to step in, to offer people a safe place to stay, offer the younger ones important schooling.

With a pang, I realized that Rory might like some such schooling. He often spoke to me about college, about the plays he’d read, and about his auditions, about having a Starbucks, which was a coffee brand we’d come across when we first arrived on Earth. He talked about chatting with his friends from school—Cat and Jacob, the ones from his Insta photos—and the way he spoke told me he missed all that.

He was Raikenga through me. He deserved what the Raiken could give, and if it was schooling in the language or whatever else he might want to learn that brought him close to meeting and making new friends, if that made him happy, it would be a relief. It would leave him very much on Zeddira’s reckoning board, a game piece my brother would try to use to grow his own influence, but I was willing to handle Zeddira. I would bring it up with Rory after we were done with all this.

Charles powered up his computer, and the Raikengana uttered their surprise in hushed voices when a map of the region was projected onto a white area above a black piece of wall, like the drawing boards we used at the Raiken.

The Raikengana pointed at the map as it came into focus. Kinnek came in only now and leaned against the wall by the door rather than taking a seat. People would notice and know he was here as the head of his House.

Charles continued in Lugarra and used a laser pointer, which had some of the Raikengana making noises of astonishment. “This is a map of the area. This is where the Stone of Destiny is.”

“He’s explaining how maps work and where that is,” Vergis translated. He eyed Rory. “It’s the Stone of Destiny, by the way.”

Rory’s face reddened. “I know that.”

Vergis shrugged, the gesture making him look very human. “I never know with you.”

Charles went on. “Our koa will get us here.” He hit a key on his computer, and the spot was marked. The other Raikengana whispered, astounded and excited about the technology. “There is a natural opening in the veils there, one that existed before the Lagasar, and it shouldn’t trip the magical wards the human koa have set. We expect them to be in the area, although Koa Rory should be able to tell us ahead of time if they are too close.”

“He says we’ll hop there through the veils like we discussed before. You’ll do your magic thing and make sure we don’t run into an ambush.”

Rory cleared his throat. “The land says the humans aren’t planning an ambush there at the moment, just watching the Stone, so that’s something, right?”

Kinnek looked at him. “Our human koa says he cannot sense that they expect us there.”

Huh. He spoke about Rory as if of a House member. It was good thinking on his part, but I noticed Luëris on a higher bench to my left tilting his head. In annoyance? I wasn’t sure. Luëris was a lot like Lissir, intentions kept firmly inside more often than not.

The rest of the Raikengana simply accepted Kinnek’s statement, and Charles went on.

“Vergis and I will be the vanguard with human weapons.”

That sent a whisper through the rows.

Rory looked around. “What?”

“Dad told them he and I will be the vanguard.”

Kinnek pushed off the wall and walked over to Charles. “My son is not Raiken trained, that is true, but his human father has taught him all the human military art he knows. Vergis will be more than safe at the head of our force.”