by Lee Morgan
Her eyes faltered when he only smiled from her outburst, she wasn’t a threat. Once she calmed he said respectfully “Yes, you are an old and strong Changer. I guess that you are at least a thousand years old.” Her eyes flared, proving his developing assessments at determining age. “As for your second question, I like meeting new people and being polite is a good start in beginning a friendship. Finally I am not seeking death for I love life and all that belongs within it.” His tone darkened and became threatening as he focused the full force of his eyes on her alone; since it was only the two of them in this room. “Don’t mistake me for your average Balancer either or else it will be the very last mistake of your long life, Liz.” She gasped and her face went sheet white, she realized she wasn’t a threat to him and he wasn’t boasting.
He walked to the front door, stopped and turned to look back at her and altered his to seem calm and comforting. “Liz?” She hesitantly looked back in his direction. “Forgive me for being rash, but I hope that one day we could get to know each other as people and not just what our species separates and dictates us as.” Connor opened the door and stepped out.
He walked by himself through the quiet and almost barren level. A lone Changer remained sitting on a bench, reading a thick book that was on the path Connor took. He was wearing only a pair of solid leather shorts. He passed the reader and he only glanced up. A male and female Keeper entered the bath house while walking on all fours. That was about it. The cavern remained well lit this early as it was before they originally got some sleep.
Checking for the actual time, he made it over to the Keeper’s lodge and read it to be ten till seven. He turned around and walked back to the lodge at a casual pace. He opened the door and Liz finally had some flushed color in her dark cheeks. Her voice strained to be pleasant. “Back so soon?”
He smiled. “Yes. I had to go over to the Keeper’s lodge to see what time it was. It is difficult to tell time without the sun as my guide.”
“Why didn’t you just ask?” She pulled her white sleeve up to reveal a wristwatch. “Next time just ask me instead of making such a long trip.”
He nodded. “Thank you for that.” She smiled, but looked embarrassed.
Connor walked down the hall and into his room. He left the light off and laid down on the top of the bed, still fully clothed. Her snoring stopped as she rolled over and looked at him, barely awake and conscious. “Good morning, Princess. Did you get a good night’s sleep?”
She gave him a wicked smile as she suddenly became awake. “After last night’s workout, I would say so.”
He couldn’t stop himself from laughing a few times. She closed her eyes as she yawned and stretched. Sarah slowly sat up and brought the top of the sheet to cover her top. Her emerald green eyes still makes his knees go weak when she looks longingly at him. Her eyes were his heart, her voice is his breath, her body is touch and her mind remained the reason for his whole life. Connor couldn’t restrain himself from using his hand to cradle the back of her head. He gently brought her lips closer and into a passionate kiss, which she didn’t resist. She dropped her sheet and wrapped her fingers through his hair and kissed back passionately. They kissed for several more minutes than usual and didn’t complain.
When they finally separated she asked “How long do we have until our breakfast date?”
“Less than an hour.”
She slipped out of bed with a fluid move that she’s had centuries to practice, perfect and master. She put on her panties and bra. She then slipped her chainmail over her head and he was proud of himself for making it fit to her form so perfectly. Sarah couldn’t hide a tremor that went through her body when the cold metal touched her warm and fair skin. She easily slid her hair out from under the mail and grabbed the armguards.
Connor slid out of bed as well and started armoring up. He took his shirt off and quickly slid on the chilled metal over his bare torso. It warmed up completely as he tightened the last strap of the armguards. The shirt went back on just after tightening the other armguard securely. He pulled his pants leg up and slid on both metal greaves. The final piece of equipment to finalize his appearance was Tool as he slid the metal shaft into the belt on his right hip.
He turned to see Sarah finished dressing as well, but she began brushing out her waist-length, luscious brown hair. She was wearing a solid black sleeved shirt with matching pants. Her boots were properly laced. Finally on each hip hung Fangs still sheathed in their metal home. She put her brush down in front of the mirror which hung above the dresser. She said “You need to wake up Mark and Kara and I’ll take care of my parents.
They left their room soon after, fully prepared for anything. After Connor locked their room door, they walked one door down the hall and Sarah kept walking. He knocked on Mark’s door twice and waited for a response.
The door unlocked and opened up half way. Mark only wore a bed sheet that wrapped around his waist. He took his hand off the door to rub the sleep from his eyes, but the other remained on the sheet. “Connor…? What is it?” His silver eyes glanced down at his left hip where Tool rested. He became instantly alert and scanned up and down the hall. “Is there trouble?”
“Nothing like that. Stop making your eyes glow… thank you.” His expression finally cooled. “Listen. We have less than an hour to get ready. I invited Veronica to breakfast with us and she was looking forward to it. Get dressed so we can go get some more to eat.”
Mark sighed and smiled weakly. “Ok, that’s a relief… I thought someone was trying something already… That’s truly a relief. I’ll go ahead and get Kara up. We’ll be out in a few minutes.” He shut the door.
At about that same time Sarah walked up to him with a small smile touching her rosy lips. “Mother answered the door and she is waking Father up at this moment.”
It took about five minutes until they all finally came out from their rooms for the beginning of the day’s events. Mark and Kara were wearing their leathers while Jillian and Jack wore their same clothes from yesterday. Jack wore a blue t-shirt whereas Jillian wore red. Jack had Haunt hanging from his shoulder and Jillian had her two sided dagger strapped to her right hip.
The six of them walked down the hall together. As they passed the front desk Liz spoke up and sounded cheerful, but Connor could hear her strain to break old customs. “Have a good day everyone.” He turned so she could see his smile of approval and she meekly returned it.
The others greeted her back in kind.
When they reached the central pillar Mark said “That was really strange. As long as I have been here Liz has never sounded so…pleasant. She either looks angry or bored out of her mind. I wonder what happened?”
“I did.” Connor said, looking at him from over his shoulder. “This morning she about chewed my head off until we had a nice and short discussion.”
“In other words,” Sarah said lightly to gain his attention. “she threatened you and your look alone froze her pulse instantly. You scared the life from her and she caught tiny glimpse of how dangerous you really are.”
“Yep! That sounds like Brother to me.” Kara chirped and skipped up to Sarah’s side. “Hey Sarah? How’s my niece coming along?”
“SHHH!!!” Sarah clamped a hand over Kara’s loud mouth. “Kara, I’m keeping it a secret until later.” Kara mumbled since Sarah still had a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
They all started stepping down the stairs and Kara could finally speak. She decided to annoy Jillian and she didn’t mind since they were more like sisters anyway. Sarah and Connor were getting pounded from both sides of the family.
They made it down about fifteen minutes before they were supposed to. There were already more people down here for breakfast than were here for supper. There wasn’t any music except for all the chattering that came from the people. Connor looked through all the Keepers eyes that were in the room. There were so many colors; reds, blue, brown, purple, white and every color in between individualized the gre
at creatures. And none had the exact shade that belonged to Veronica.
She wasn’t here yet so they all sat by the closest table to the stairs and waited for the arrival of the eldest companion.
Sarah swung her legs back and forth over the empty space between the bench and the ground to keep from becoming more impatient. She grabbed Connor’s hand and he looked at her and smiled softly. She still felt well rested and relatively excited about having a first meal with a Keeper of untold secrets. She has only heard fragments of rare stories about Keepers sharing their company with that of the younger species. She had never actually seen it done herself before, but those stories are very old.
About five minutes before it was eight a large black shadow began winding down the steps. When the shadow got off on this level golden eyes began scanning the room and stopped upon their group. Veronica continued wearing her white robe with the ruby and gold belt. The egg she carried everywhere remained wrapped and held in the bend of her left arm. It was Veronica without a doubt and she walked right up to them, wearing a tight lipped smile on her leathery lips. Sarah felt the touch of her strong mind as she wanted to communicate with everyone. A Keeper’s vocal cords cannot alter into human language so they all use telepathy to speak. “Good morning, Hatchlings. Did you all sleep comfortably?”
Connor dropped to the ground and didn’t even make a sound as he landed. Even though he weighs two hundred and forty pounds she couldn’t believe he didn’t made a single audible sound without using his abilities and she could sense when he does. Sarah followed and landed as well, but she still made a quiet landing. They closed the distance to the newest companion and from behind, Sarah heard two heavy landings and two lighter ones. Connor offered his right hand saying “We all rested well. And you, Veronica?”
She knew what to do from first meeting Kara. She bent forward and extended her right clawed hand. Connor wrapped his hand over two of her fingers and shook it twice. “I cannot complain, Connor.” She raised herself back up and looked behind her shoulder. “I hope you do not mind, but I also invited my son Firon and his mate Clarein to join our breakfast meal. Is that alright with you?”
Sarah spoke up to the ten foot tall Keeper. “That will be perfect. They are all welcome to join.” Veronica’s gold eyes looked to her and smiled slightly widener to reveal only the points of her teeth.
Connor suddenly looked up and Sarah followed his line of sight. Two more Keepers kept winding their way down the enormous staircase. They quietly waited for them to arrive. The first to get off the walkway was Firon. He looked as big and strong as he did last night. His white robe and silver belt was as contrasting as possible to his black scales. There was a gold chain necklace holding the Guard pendant. Two crossed swords over a golden shield is their symbol. The pendant hung down to the center of his sternum. His yellow eyes immediately looked over all of them. Beside him walked his mate Clarein. She looked exactly like Veronica, with the same height and build. Calrein’s eyes were amethyst purple and her robe was dark brown, sleeveless and her belt matched Firon’s as it wrapped around her waist. Her arms weren’t half as thick as Firon’s, but they were far from weak.
Firon waited for his mate to be directly at his side and then they all walked over to them, on their back legs. They both moved perfectly together. Their tail’s moved back and forth with the same motion of each step. They were completely synchronized. Sarah felt a new mind entering. The female bowed saying “Honored mother, we are here.” Her mental voice was soft yet crisp.
Veronica bowed back. “Welcome Clarein. These are the companions I spoke of last night.” Her hand waved over their heads. “They are the ones who invited us to share a pleasant morning meal together.”
Suddenly Connor walked away from the group and walked straight up to the pair, without fear. He bowed politely and said “Good morning, Firon. It is good to meet you once again.” Connor raised his hand.
The yellow eyes of Firon blinked down at Sarah’s mate. “What are you doing, Hatchling?”
“It is a greeting.” Veronica answered her son’s question. “They shake hands or in our case claws. It is just a harmless gesture of greeting and good faith.”
“This is an odd greeting, but very well.” Firon reached down and the two males shook hands.
Connor then walked up to Firon’s mate and the two carefully watched him. “Hello Clarein. My name is Connor. It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Are you hungry this morning?”
“Famished.” She smiled down at him. They too shook hands.
Connor then turned back to them all. “You heard the lady. Let’s go and get something to eat.” and started walking to Sarah and they took each other’s hand and walked towards the cafeteria line. They were fifth to wait in line and there were two mated Balancers and one Changer ahead of them. Sarah turned to see her parents behind them and they both just smiled at her. Behind them is Mark, Kara and Veronica. Firon and Clarein took the rear. It felt like her world became so diverse lately yet felt stable. It was the oddest feeling that also seemed so natural.
Kara looked up at Veronica. “Hey Veronica!” The giant’s golden eyes looked down at her. “Have you come up with a name for your child yet?”
“Yes I have. I am trying to hatch a female, but it could always turn out to be male despite my best efforts. I have came up with Shannon for a girl or Daniel for a boy. Human names have a pleasant sound to me. What do you think?”
Kara grinned. “They are both good names.”
It was finally their turn in line. They all bowed to Elder Adela. Her falsely young features softened. “Good morning to all of you. We received a shipment of milk and coffee beans a few hours ago. We also have freshly squeezed orange juice. What would you like to eat everyone?”
Sarah said “I’ll have scrambled eggs, a platter of sausage links, buttered toast, pancakes covered in maple syrup, apples and a glass of orange juice. I think that should do it for me, Elder.”
She smiled and looked at Connor. “I’ll have the same.”
The elder walked back into the kitchen and delivered the orders to the staff. She walked back out and grabbed two mugs and filled them both with the liquid citrus. She handed them each a plastic mug and Sarah took a testing sip. It had freshly squeezed orange pulp, which is the way she like it. About three minutes later the elder walked back into the kitchen and brought out two huge tray’s of food. She easily balanced the trays on each hand as she slid them onto the counter. “Here is your order, you two.” It was a mouthwatering spread. The eggs were piled into a six inch mound, the sausages were stacked, the loaf of bread was all toasted and smeared with butter, there stood two large stacks of pancakes soaked in syrup and lastly were ten green apples.
Connor handed over his drink as he picked up both large trays of food. He looked over her shoulder and said “We will meet all of you over where we sat last night.”
“We will join up with you shortly.” Veronica replied.
Sarah followed Connor and glanced back one last time. She saw Elder Adela wearing a confused expression as she looked between Veronica and them.
Sarah’s parents showed up at their back table first with a tray of eggs, toast and sausage links. They took the opposite side of the table so they could look at them with ease. Sarah could smell the coffee aroma that came from across the table. Mark and Kara joined and had sausage, pancakes, a flank of salted pork and two large muffins. Veronica soon after brought a large tray with three fully cooked pigs resting on top. They were complete pigs minus the innards and cooked to perfection. Veronica sat between Sarah and Kara. Clarein also had the same order as Veronica as she sat. Firon had a large, single cooked bull that was missing only its head. They both sat across the table, with Sarah’s parents.
“Now that everyone is here, let’s get started.” Jack announced, breaking the awkward silence.
After Sarah took the fifth bite of her plate of eggs she heard a loud crunch. She looked up to Veronica as she had half of the pig in he
r mouth. Veronica bit down again with her massive and powerful jaws and the other half of the pig was torn away. To the right she heard Connor say “That is an interesting way to eat.” Veronica turned her gold eyes to him as she chewed the pig, bones and all, with her leathery lips closed. She chewed slowly and in an exaggerated manner. Her head moved forward as she swallowed and her meal made its final descent.
“How do you mean interesting?” Attention turned to Clarein and her purple eyes. “Are you being disrespectful to an Honored Mother?” Her eyes darkened slightly and a low rumble escaped her throat.
Uh oh. Sarah thought.
“I meant no disrespect. It is just an interesting way that your species eats.” He took a sip of his drink. “I have never witnessed a reptile chew up their food before, but the way you jerk your head to swallow reminds me of an Monitor lizard. I have only ever seen reptiles rip apart their prey and swallow the chunks whole. It is a huge advantage because you expend less energy digesting your food if you chew it up first. If you didn’t, you would be more lethargic while you digested the solid pieces like that of snakes.” He smiled at her. “I think it is just fascinating.”
Clarein picked up one of her pigs and smiled before she bit through half of the meat. Connor then started laughing.
While they resumed eating Sarah finished the eggs and sausages. She took a bite of the pancakes when Firon ate an entire leg of his cow. By the time she finished everything except the apples, Connor ate everything on his tray except for an apple that he handed over with a smile.
Sarah finished the last of her food and took a drink of the last of her juice. She looked at Clarein and caught her staring at something. Following her sight revealed how she stated at Veronica’s egg, with longing in her amethyst irises. Sarah sat her cup down and said “You want one don’t you, Clarein?”
Clarein immediately looked to Sarah with her eyes only. “What do you mean?” There was a hint of shock in her mental voice. Sarah waited quietly and patiently until Clarein knew she had been caught. She looked down at her empty tray and admitted “Yes, I do.”
