by Rain Oxford
“Your father is very concerned that Ron can’t talk,” Regivus told Sammy. He regarded my younger son. “Do you know that he worries about you? That other children your age talk?” he asked.
Ron nodded, but as usual, it was Sammy that spoke. “Ron can talk,” he insisted.
We were all surprised by that and I was doubtful. Sammy was talkative enough for both of them, but I figured that if Ron could have talked, I would have heard him speaking in private to Sammy. Ron never made so much as a grunt, even though I never found anything medically wrong with him, his throat, or his hearing.
“He can? Then why doesn’t he?” Regivus asked. For such a powerful god who threatened my life when he first met me, Regivus had a kind voice for children. He had only ever showed them kindness.
Sammy shrugged. “We don’t know. He just never does. He didn’t like to cry when he was a baby and he doesn’t like to talk now.”
“But you know what he thinks?”
“Of course; we are brothers. Like mom and dad.”
“What do you mean?”
“We are brothers like Mordon and Dylan.”
“How does that help you know what he is thinking?”
Both of my boys looked confused. “They talk all the time in their heads. Brothers can talk in their heads. Ron and I talk and when someone asks Ron a question, he tells me the answer to tell them. Usually he doesn’t have to tell me, though, because I know.”
“Oh. That is interesting,” the god said.
Mordon and I looked at each other. We discovered the ability to talk to each other on accident not long after we became friends. I always speculated that it was because I used my book to translate for us, although there was never any evidence, or even a strong suggestion.
“Since I found out about Rojan, I thought it was because of him that we could talk.”
“But Rojan and I can’t talk to each other,” I said.
“Well, I know you two don’t know me very well, but I am your uncle, so I should help you when I can, right?” Regivus asked the boys. They both nodded hesitantly. “I lived a long time. I have one sister and had ten brothers. Now I only have nine brothers. I am the oldest of them.” Two little jaws dropped and four little eyes widened. “I have made some foolish mistakes, but family forgives and forgets. You both will do some things you will regret, and that’s normal, but your family will always forgive you.
“Ronez, you need to listen carefully to this. The first thing you have to do when you make a mistake is tell the truth, and you can’t do that if you don’t talk. The second thing is to apologize. You can’t usually do that if you don’t talk, either. And this is the important part, the part that many people forget; once you say you are sorry, you don’t do it again. Do you understand all that?” he asked.
Ron nodded and took his brother’s hand.
“Does that mean he has to start talking?” Sammy asked.
Regivus shook his head. “No, not all of the time, but think about this. You two talk to each other all the time.” He looked at Ron. “How would you feel if Sammy talked to everyone but you? What if he never talked to you? How would you feel? Now think about how your parents feel when you never said a word to them your entire life.”
I wanted to go out there and get that devastated expression off my baby boy’s face. Ronez was a happy child.
Divina opened the door fully and they all heard it. I was looking right at Ron’s face when he opened his mouth and drew in a shaky breath. “Daddy, mommy, I can talk.” My son’s first words… “I’m sorry. I love you both,” he said.
His voice was soft, probably because he never used it, but his words were clear.
Whatever I was going to say vanished along with the moment as Samorde, Guardian of Enep, appeared before us. He squeaked when he saw Regivus and ducked, but the god made no move to strike him.
“What are you doing here?” Regivus asked harshly.
His expression was hard and his anger apparent. There was no sign of the kindness he showed me and my children. It occurred to me that all of the gods had multiple personalities. Divina smacked me in the arm when she heard my stray thought.
Figures, I can’t get a moment to myself, even in my head. Divina glared at me. I mean, I love my wife. I love my wonderful wife.
“I… where is here? I was just going to bed. I lit a candle and was here.”
I hadn’t noticed until he said that, that he wore satin blue pajamas and was barefoot. The Guardian, trapped in the body of a teenager, was already so small that he looked a bit ridiculous. His hair was golden blond and disheveled as if he never tended to it and his hazel eyes were wide with fear. It definitely wasn’t the cold that caused him to quiver.
“Why have you not come when I called you?” Regivus demanded. The god had likely been calling on his Guardian to serve as a butler would.
“I have not been able to contact you in half a month!” the Guardian cried. “Not a word.”
“Regivus, this is why we need to get together. Something’s wrong with…” She trailed off and shot me a guilty look.
“With the Guardians,” I finished for her. “That doesn’t offend me. I know you can’t tell me everything just because I’m your mate. You have god business and---”
“Yes, she can,” Regivus interrupted. We all looked at him. “If you were just a Noquodi, we could not allow her to share our secrets, but we take mates more seriously than you Noquodi do. She is allowed to tell you anything.”
“Unless this meeting is about you guys suspecting a Guardian of treason, as is usually the first reaction you all have. Then if she gives me information, I’m the first one suspected of being a spy when someone knows something they shouldn’t.”
Regivus looked at Divina, who had a resigned frown. “Is he normally that quick?”
“When it comes to people and Iadnah, yes.”
“I am confused,” Samorde said. Regivus snapped his fingers, there was a crack in the air, and Samorde vanished.
It was our last peaceful night for a while. I wanted to take a bite of adventure and had no idea that it would bite back.
* * *
Divina woke me sometime in the night to tell me she had to go. We shared a slow, lazy kiss and she told me to go back to sleep. She always woke me so gently. The second time I was awoken, it was as the window shades were thrown open. Sunlight jarred me from my slumber and before I could even open my eyes, a sock was thrown at my face.
“Wake up, lazy, or I’m going to feed the boys chocolate and lock them in here with you,” Mordon threatened. I threw a fireball at the general direction of his voice. “That’s it, I’m getting the kids.”
“No! I’m up! No chocolate!” I got up and found them a few minutes later in the kitchen. Sammy and Ron turned their twin pouts on me as they ate vegetables for breakfast. “What did you do?” I asked them.
Sammy sniffled. “It was an accident.” The boy could pull off a pout like a pro. His hair was dark, intense auburn that always had a shine to it and contrasted beautifully with his vibrant purple eyes. They weren’t the violet-blue that sometimes occurred in humans; they were purple enough to stop people in their tracks and make them stare. When he was sad or ashamed, they darkened.
Ron was small for his age. He had the same dark brown hair and green eyes as me, but it was too early to tell if he would get big or inherit his mother’s slimness. While he rarely cried, his weepy expression was intense and heartbreaking.
“They got into your coffee this morning and spilled it everywhere,” Mordon said. “You were asleep so I had to clean it up. I can’t believe you still drink that nasty stuff.”
“We were trying to get a bowl for fruit and the coffee fell.”
“And instead of cleaning it, I found them sitting on the floor eating fruit.”
I frowned at the cabinets; the treasures inside them were usually locked with magic. Having ‘biracial’ children caused some disagreements about what kind of food to keep in the house. Hon
estly, grilled meat with seasonings, fruit, and bread got old, but the cheap junk I ate on Earth was not good enough for my kids.
“Well, you did a good job of cleaning it up. The next time they make a mess, they will think twice about not cleaning it,” I said.
I reached into the ice box to grab a sack of fruit for my own breakfast. The berries tasted like nectarines but were the size of grapes. Mordon turned away to wash a couple of dishes and both boys looked at me. I tossed a fruit to each of them and they popped them in their mouths. Two more fruits each and I shook my head that more was too risky. I pulled the strips of sweetened jerky out of the cabinet and Mordon frowned at me. He could smell my deceit, but he wouldn’t call me on it in front of the kids. I tossed him one of the fruits.
I sat down at the table and plopped my feet on the only open chair. “What’s the plan, then?” I asked, eating the jerky. My boys pouted harder. Sammy hated meat, but he hated vegetables even more. Mordon came around the table and took half of my loot before yanking the chair out from under my feet and sitting down.
“You’re teaching the boys bad habits. We’re going to Verusta, Mokii.”
I paused. Mordon hated going anywhere near his homeland for fear of facing his father. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Verusta.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s a desert.”
“Okay. I don’t think deserts make great vacation spots. Any particular reason we’re going to a barren wasteland?”
“Yes. We’re going dragon hunting,” he said. Seeing as how he was part dragon, this came as a shock to me. However, Mordon and I liked to trip each other up; we pretty much made a sport of it. He rolled his eyes when I didn’t speak. The boys gaped at him like he lost his mind.
“Mom, you are a dragon,” Sammy said, as if he were telling the man a horrible secret that Mordon should have already known. It was a phrase that should have followed, “I hate to break it to you, but…”
“A dragon has been sited bothering nearby kingdoms, including my father’s.”
“So you want to go take care of a pest problem?” I asked. He gave a blank stare. “I didn’t think so, but it’s early in the morning and you just woke me up. Give me the whole picture.”
“The dragon sited can blend in with anything- it can change the color of its scales,” he said.
I got it. “Like Rojan. Does Rojan have any long lost family?”
“Apparently, his mother may or may not still be alive. There are people hunting this dragon to kill it, and we need to go and help.”
“Even more so because this particular dragon may be your dragon’s mother. I remember you telling me she was cruel.”
“Well, she was, but that was about three thousand years ago. Maybe she changed. And either way, no matter who that dragon is, whether they are related to Rojan or not, we need to save them.”
“I guess the faster we get going, the better. You pack some bags while I go tell Edward what’s happening,” I said. He nodded and I flashed to Edward’s cabin. This had been my home for three great years and I missed it sometimes.
I always flashed to the porch because I didn’t want to interrupt anything. Unfortunately, I discovered he didn’t always keep everything behind closed doors. If Edward were my biological father instead of uncle, I probably would have been much more disturbed to see him making out with a woman. The woman in question was startled by the flash.
Edward didn’t appear to be bothered by the interruption. “This is my son, Dylan,” he told her. “Dylan, this is Meri.”
Meri closely resembled Divina, with long black hair and porcelain skin. However, her eyes were green instead of Divina’s blue and she looked a bit more delicate. She also lacked the mischievous glint in her eye that Divina had. Whereas Divina appeared to be in her middle twenties, Meri seemed to be in her late twenties to early thirties. Of course, I knew that people of this world were very rarely the age they looked.
Sago were friendly with magic, unlike humans, but their suspicions of other-worlders were inherent. Once, religion and politics were equally weighed, and now even with religion diminished, fear of the gods remained in their hearts. To their knowledge, only the gods and their chosen “demons” could travel the worlds or flash. However, Shomodii was a very rural place and among my family I grew lenient with my power. I expected Meri to freak out.
She reached out her hand on reflex and I shook it. My magic reacted to her touch with a slight static spark. “Not from around here, are you?” I asked. It took a few seconds to recall where I felt that magical signature before. “Kahún, yes?”
“Yes. Kiro has told me a lot about you,” she said in perfect Sudo.
Funny… he never mentioned her. “How long have you two been seeing each other?”
“We met a few years ago, but I just found her again a couple of months back,” Edward answered. “Did you need something?” he asked.
“No, I just wanted to let you know the house will be empty for a few days. Divina went to talk to her brothers and said she’ll be gone for a while. Mordon and Rojan want me to help them track down what may or may not be Rojan’s psycho mother and we’re taking the boys.”
“Are you sure the boys should---”
“Mordon and I can take care of it, and if we get into trouble, I can call some of Divina’s brothers to help, or you or another Guardian if you are…” I glanced at Meri. “Busy.”
“If you need help, call me. If one of the boys needs help, call everyone and anyone,” he said. “Now, make sure you close the house up and put up the ward. There’s a storm coming.”
I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. My uncle wanted nothing more than to protect me, and I refused to give him any cause to doubt his parenting skills when he was the only parent figure I had. “There’s always a storm coming,” I said instead.
“Welcome to Shomodii.”
After saying goodbye, I flashed back home. Mordon was holding Ron in his arms as the child struggled. Sammy was chasing after Shinobu, who had his stuffed dragon. The bookshelf, marred with char marks, had been knocked over. Sammy shot a fireball at Shinobu, but Mordon killed the fire before it could reach the small creature.
“What’s going on here?!” I asked. Everyone froze, even Shinobu. Ron’s eyes were watery, but no tears fell yet.
“She took my dragon,” Ron said.
This was the second time he spoke and I was ecstatic that he was making an effort.
Shiloh gave the stuffed toy to Sammy when he was a baby, and Sammy gave it to Ron when my son was born. Sammy was never a selfish child when it came to the youngest member of our family; he shared everything from his toys to his food. He even wanted to give Ron his clothes when they were too small for him.
“Shinobu! Drop it.” She did instantly, but Sammy didn’t make a grab for it. “Sammy, why did she take the dragon?”
“I don’t know. Ron and I were playing with it and she ran up and took it.”
“I was packing so I didn’t see anything,” Mordon said. “I think she wanted the toy for herself. It’s not like she has any toys.” He let Ron go, who immediately ran to get his dragon.
Sammy grabbed his arm to hold him back. “Wait for Dad to say it’s okay.”
Wow, talk about support. I loved my kids so much.
I reached out with my magic to take the dragon. As it moved away, Shinobu pounced to pin it, claws extended. Her tail swished. Something was activating her hunting instinct. She hunted her own food outside, but was always calm inside and normally didn’t want to play with toys. I went to open the door and she ran outside, leaving the dragon behind. “Go ahead,” I said.
Sammy used his magic to pull the dragon towards them and Ron snatched it out of the air. Mordon muttered something about the plan, but I ignored him. Mordon and Vivian came up with a plan when Sammy was a baby that was basically to keep the monster occupied until I arrived. Shinobu was no monster.
“Maybe Shinobu should be an outside pet,” I said. I hated to sugg
est it; she had saved my life at least twice and was a loyal and protective pet. She was smarter than any dog I knew, cuter than a kitten, and more friendly than some friends I used to have.
“No, Daddy. Shinobu is an inside kitty,” Sammy declared. Shinobu wasn’t a cat, of course, but he always called her one.
“We need to get going if we’re going by ship,” Mordon said. “Do you think we can flash there?”
“Ron hates traveling that way. I can only flash to a place if I can see it or if I’m flashing to a person I know, though I should be able to flash to somewhere I have seen in a picture. However, the better I can imagine the person or place, the more accurate I will be. Sounds and scents help a lot. Still, even then it’s not a good idea to flash somewhere where there could be people.”
We grabbed the bags, locked down the cabin, and headed out. One bag was full of fruit, bread, and other snacks, because there was nothing worse than a hungry little boy on a road trip. I was carrying Ron by the time we made it to the docks. He was a little trooper, but he was only four. We nearly missed the ship because Sammy wanted to go back for half a dozen things he forgot. Because there were no family-sized cabins, we paid for two rooms. Sammy and Ron got one to themselves since they shared a bedroom at home.
Over the next few days, the ship was their playground. At one point they decided to make the crew think the ship was haunted. Ron tried to scare me and Mordon by hiding in weird places like barrels and popping out, yelling “boo.” We tried to act frightened, but it was hard not to notice a wiggling barrel, especially the third time he hid in it.
Sammy somehow flooded one of the storage rooms, which had steps leading to an elevated door, and spent most of his time swimming. Then he “found” a random detached door, so he and Ron played sharks and fishermen.
The one-day trip to Mokii took three days because the captain decided to go around Mijii and circle back to Mokii. Rumor had it there were pirates in the water between Shomodii and Mokii. By the time we reached land, we were all going out of our minds. The boys were bored and had resorted to pranks using their magic. Mordon and I were constantly putting out fires and preventing fights. The poor travelers had never encountered anything like my boys.
