by Alyssa Hope
Oki just shrugged and smiled. ‘Well, my work here is done ... ’
‘Maybe not. I was just camping up in the hills – yes, me, camping, don’t look at me like that – and I saw Kasu. He’s half crazy, I think, or maybe more than half. He was sniffing me, and asked if I was bonded. I was able to say no, which was the truth at the time, but he tore up all my gear when I was away from the cave, and basically drove me out of the hills. Although it did mean I met you here, which is wonderful … Anyway, he is trying to trap the ricas, I think, and they were talking to me – well, they were, not just chirping, but talking …’
Oki shook his head. ‘I can see why you needed a holiday, if ricas are talking to you.’
Suki, one of Oki’s beloveds, appeared seemingly out of nowhere. ‘The little people talked to you? They used to talk to me when I was young, and no one believed me either. Kasu can’t be allowed to trap them, Oki!’
‘And there was someone else camping back on the other side of the far valley, and the ricas said he was lost and hiding, and when I reached out to him with my mind I could feel his panic, and then he shut down …’
Oki looked at him with interest. ‘Ah, your third, you think? He’s at risk with Kasu running around loose up there, especially now … ‘
Una just about panicked too, as the implications of that sank in, but the warm arms around his neck calmed him, as did the soft adoring voice.
‘I don’t know all of what you’re talking about, beloved, but surely you and Captain Oki between you can fix anything.’
Oki rolled his eyes, but behind Cori’s back, and where Suki couldn’t see him either. He was a wise person.
‘Alright. We’ll deal with this. Everyone is at risk with that lunatic running around loose.’
They made the rounds of assorted government offices, talking to people and trying to decide whose problem this might be. In the process they collected Caleb, Oki’s other beloved, and several other members of Oki’s crew who had also happily returned to their home planet with their triads and many children, but they shook off everyone who called “Ambassador!” at them.
‘I never thought to just ignore them!’ Una exclaimed to Oki.
‘Well, I suppose that’s why you did a good job, because you listened, but not right now.’
Several of the land stewards joined them and they assembled in the town square near the fountain, expanding a map tablet on a table. They marked where the cave was, which way Kasu had come and gone from there, where Una had seen the campfire, and then the stewards helped them by filling in trails and cliffs and creeks in between. The stewards knew ways that could be taken, and ways that couldn’t, and short-cuts and dead-ends. It was their land to look after, and they knew every inch of it.
Caleb agreed, grudgingly, that he would stay with the children and Kaji’s beloveds, because they thought he might be bearing again and anyway Kasu would probably recognize him and could be holding a grudge. He still had a scar from when Kasu has shot him, trying to kill the human who had dared be in a triad with the Captain and Suki.
Karo, the now-retired Chief Medical Officer of the Crusader, would also stay behind but on standby. Both of his beloveds were bearing, which tied him down in a most happy way. He had experience with healing both people and humans, although hopefully that wouldn’t be needed.
Kaji would take to the air in a small surface craft with a heat sensor that would pick up body heat on the scale of a person, but both of the people they were looking for would probably hide, and there were a lot of large wild animals wandering the area as well. In the end, it would be people on the ground who would do the work, which always seemed to be the case.
Oki and Una both wanted Suki and Cori to stay where it was safe, but were met with firm resistance, and their need to keep them in sight was also great. Just as they were still sorting out who would go with who, and who would stay behind, there was a sudden rain of small purple flowers on their heads.
The birds who had apparently delivered these stopped to rest and drink at the fountain, and Una could have sworn that some of them glared at him.
‘Well, better than being shit on.’ Oki said in surprise, but one of the land stewards cut him off.
‘These flowers are from the top of the hill range, they don’t grow in very many places. It’s very odd that the birds would carry them here, though.’
‘No, it’s not’ Suki and Una said in unison, looking at each other. ‘Where? Where in the hills do these grow?’
That was marked on the tablet, and all of a sudden their search area was narrowed considerably.
The park stewards were doubtful. ‘You’re going to let birds dropping flowers on us tell us where to search?’
‘Yes.’
Chapter 3.
The path up the hill seemed longer today, even though Una wasn’t taking his time and looking around him. Today he just wanted to get to the cave, and get there in a hurry. Too many things were at stake here. Having other people with him seemed to slow him down, for all that Oki, only a few years younger than him, teased him about being an old one.
‘Patience, Ambassador, patience.’
He glared, but his darling gasped, yet again, as that finally registered, and said ‘You’re the Ambassador? Oh, my! Beloved!’
‘And you’re my beloved, so of equal rank, my darling.’
Cori went quiet, obviously trying to work out the implications of that. Una kept looking at Cori and wondering how he had been so lucky to have found such a beautiful and obviously clever beloved for a partner.
‘Maybe because’, Oki said privately, ‘you have done so much to help so many other people, and without the work you did we might not even have been able to rescue Cori and the ones that were with him. They were basically in a zoo, Una, kept for rude beings to stare at and prod … The things tried to claim they didn’t know that our people were sentient, until we pointed out that our weapons weren’t sentient either …’
Una tried to look shocked, but Oki just laughed at him. ‘We didn’t shoot anyone, Ambassador. They managed to remember the treaty, and it all ended well. And I had a feeling about you and Cori, when the others all found their triads right away among our crew, and this sweet one was so afraid that there wasn’t anyone for him. I remembered where I had heard that before, although he was far more devastated than you were. He thought he wasn’t worthy.’
‘Beloved, beautiful beloved.’ Una thought to Cori. ‘I am so lucky to have found you. I was nothing, now I am loved.’
Cori gasped quietly again, and almost tripped over his own feet. ‘I’m not worthy …’
‘No, I’m not …’
‘No, I’m not …’
After some rounds of this Cori was smiling happily, and a lot more relaxed. ‘Maybe we both are worthy, and are made for each other?’
‘Yes, that sounds about right, my clever beloved.’
When they finally got to the level area in front of the cave, they were greeted by a small group of anxious ricas, all of whom seemed to be trying to talk at once. They interrupted each other and then rolled around on the rock squabbling, then went back to all talking.
Suki finally went off to one side, but not so far that Oki couldn’t keep a loving eye on him, and several of the little animals followed him. Suki came back looking worried.
‘There was some kind of big scuffle over on the other side, and they say we have to go there right away. And they say we have to watch out for the metal things because they’re dangerous?’
‘The metal things would be the traps Kasu was setting, may he end up in the depths of hell. I warned these little ones not to touch metal, that’s why they’re worried about them.’
When he looked up Cori was staring at him with astonishment. ‘You talk to the little animals? And the birds bring you flowers? You are surely magic, beloved!’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t talk to them, I listen to them.’
His sweet beloved just stared at him and smiled adori
ngly. Una smiled back and thought he could get used to this.
‘What about the traps?’ he asked Suki.
‘Well, they didn’t touch them, but they have left someone – one of their own – guarding each one, and they would like us to do something about them, please, because they’re scared to touch them at all. But I don’t think they have long attention spans.’
‘Right, big scuffle first, traps second. We won’t leave the hills without making them safe for the little people again.’
They followed the little animals over the hill, and the ricas were mostly patient when the big clumsy people had to go around occasionally instead of straight up over the large rocks and through the small crevices. That did, however, give them the opportunity for more happy squabbles.
“You always squabble, little ones?”
‘No, sometimes we sleep, sometimes we eat, and sometimes we make love. What do you do?’
Una thought about it for a second. “About the same. Not enough of the last one.”
They finally reached the small plateau on the other side that the stewards had identified as being home to the purple flowers. It would have been a beautiful sight if there hadn’t been a rock-covered burial mound in the middle of it.
Una cried out in agony, sensing what, or rather who, was under it, but when he did the rocks, most of them, anyway, jumped up and ran for the rocks, the real rocks, revealing a somewhat battered human body lying on the ground. Una rushed towards it with a cry, and his blue beloved was right on his heels.
‘We kept him warm,’ a small voice explained complacently, as though a blanket of rock-rabbits piled on a human to save his life was a normal thing.
Una checked for the human’s pulse, and only started breathing again when he found one. It seemed to be fairly normal, normal for a blue person, anyway – what about for an earth human? He looked up at Oki in a panic, and Oki checked and then nodded.
‘He’ll be alright, it’s a good thing they kept him warm, though. But you, you used to be more stoic than this, Una.’
Una tried to cradle both of his beloveds at once, while glaring at Oki. Oki just laughed. Cori stroked the human’s head and murmured softly to him. ‘Beloved?’
‘Yes, beloved. He is our third, our other beloved to make our triad, forever.’
‘So beautiful, isn’t he? Such soft brown hair!’ Cori looked thrilled, and leaned down to kiss the human gently. ‘I found both beloveds in one day! I didn’t think I would ever have anyone to love, and now I have two!’
He seemed to be certain that Una could take care of any minor problems that presented in the current situation, and that faith made Una believe that he could, too.
‘You deserve love, to be loved, as much as anyone, sweet one, and I’ll spend the rest of our lives proving it to you. And to this little one who has had a rough start as well, I think. But you’re both safe now.’
The young human was unconscious and looked like he had been badly beaten, but there were no deeper wounds that they could find. Una wrapped him gently in a rescue blanket that one of the stewards offered, and held him in his arms, giving thanks to the gods.
“Little ones? Where is the person who did this to him?”
One of the more theatrical ricas turned and kicked a rock so it fell off the edge of a cliff behind him. It fell a long way, and they didn’t hear it hit bottom. The rica made a long drawn-out whistling noise that tapered off to nothing, and then a sharp ‘whomp’ with its front paws, just in case they’d missed the meaning of that.
“He fell off the cliff?”
The rica whistled in satisfaction. It seemed to think that maybe these big things weren’t as stupid as they seemed to be. Just as it was looking smug another one broadsided it, and they rolled around squabbling for a little while.
‘Kaji?’
‘Sounds like you’re having fun down there, Oki.’
‘You could put it that way. Is there a dead body at the bottom of this cliff?’
There was silence for a couple of minutes as Kaji maneuvered into position, then, ‘Yes. Do we need an ID on it?’
‘It’s Kasu, I hope, and it’s not for us to retrieve.’ Oki said. ‘We do have one wounded human to extricate, though. Una’s other beloved, his third. Maybe we’ll carry him out so we don’t scare the little ricas by landing your craft up here.’
The silence was just as long this time, and then Kaji said, ‘I must be getting old. I really have to get my hearing checked.’
Oki laughed. ‘Maybe you could have someone younger meet us at the bottom of the hills on the other side. With Karo.’
They split up the duties going out. The land stewards contacted someone to pick up the body, and Oki and Suki went with one of them to retrieve all the traps, and for the ricas to show them where the bad person’s camp had been.
The other land steward went with Una, not that he was going to let anyone else carry his beloved. Cori went ahead of Una, but behind the steward, so Una could watch him and know he was safe. And just watch him, as the young one brought so much joy to his old heart, which was getting younger all the time. He still had trouble believing that this beautiful one was his beloved. He would have carried both of them if he could have. Although maybe Cori needed to learn to walk on his own, in more ways than one. Kept in a cage? Una had to breathe deeply and work hard to calm himself.
He had two young and beautiful beloveds, even if one of them was a bit bruised and battered right now, and he couldn’t be happier about them. Their youth seemed to be wearing off on him. Cori was practically dancing he was so happy, and regularly turned back to stroke the human’s head and smile shyly up at Una.
‘Beloved!’
‘Yes, beloved?’
‘Nothing. I just like the sound of it. My beloveds.’
Una liked the sound of it as well, and let it roll around in his mind. Beloved. From never having anyone, or even expecting to, to having found two beautiful beloveds, all in one day. He leaned down to kiss the human’s face, more than once. It couldn’t get much better than this.
‘Yes!’ Cori echoed.
Chapter 4.
They waited for Karo at the bottom of the hills, and Una wrapped his human beloved in his tunic as well as the blanket, and laid him gently in a warm place on soft grass to rest until Karo got there. Then he wrapped his blue beloved in his arms and purred happily at that skittish one, while they both watched the human breathe. When the hover finally arrived, Una even ran over and hugged Karo as well, just because he could. Karo sat down on the edge of the hover and smiled at Una, leading Una to finally snap at him.
‘Don’t just sit there, please, you have to examine my beloved, treat him …’
‘I will, Una, but you have to chase him down first. I’m not going to do that for you.’
Una spun around to see his human beloved, over-large tunic billowing around him, blanket tangling around his legs, making surprisingly good time back towards the hills. He tired quickly and began staggering, though, and Una caught up with him easily.
‘Beloved! You’re safe with me, why do you run?’
The young human panted in fear and exhaustion, and stared up at Una, pulling back against his gentle hold.
‘They said it would be safe here, but it’s not, and you’re all really big, and one of you tried to kill me, and I’ve been lost and alone …’ He was practically sobbing by the time he tapered off, breathless.
Una sorted through that, all the while pulling the human closer to him.
‘I am Una, little one, and I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through. You’ll never be alone or unloved again, I promise. Who are you?’
The human hesitated, but finally dropped his head and admitted, ‘Tarran.’
‘Tarran. What a beautiful name! Who was it that told you, quite truthfully, barring a minor mishap here and there, that you’d be safe here? I have to thank them for you being here in my arms. And for teaching you mindtalk.’
Tarran looked doubtful. �
�Two friends of mine, who were slaves with me for a long time. One was born here and the other, a human like me, was his partner, most of their lives they were together. We always said that if we escaped we would come here, and meet up, and all be free. Never be slaves again. Believing in that, it gave us something to hang onto, you know?’
Una didn’t know, but he could see in the young human’s face and hear it in his voice that he had desperately needed a dream to keep him going. The young one obviously hadn’t had an easy life, but Una would do everything he could to make up for that. Una and Cori, who was a ray of sunshine, both of them would love this one.
‘You’re free now, little one. Always. You’re my beloved, do you know what that means?’
Tarran sank into himself with defeat. ‘It means that you own me now? You are my new master?’
Cori had caught up with them, and obviously hadn’t wanted to interfere, but this was too much.
‘No! No masters here, ever. It means that we love this one and each other, and he loves us, forever.’
He was much closer in size to Tarran than Una was, so maybe not as scary, and he reached out to gently hug him.
‘Will you trust us? You don’t have to come with us, but please, it would be wonderful if you do. I’ll be your loved one and keep you safe, the way your friends took care of each other. Please?’
Una could see the exhaustion in the young human’s face, and realized that it wasn’t the time for complicated explanations. His human beloved wasn’t processing anything other than fear right now, and Cori seemed to know it.
Tarran let Cori hug him, and then Cori included Una in the hug. As for the friends, maybe he knew the answer to that. ‘Your friends? Is one Cara and the other Samil?’
Tarran just about fell over, and Cori squealed quietly with his delight at how clever his beloved – their beloved – was.
‘Yes, maybe, why?’ Tarran’s answer was guarded.
‘Come, come see the nice medical person here to humor me, and then we can go see your friends, who did get here safely, and their beloved. They’ll be very happy to see you.’
