by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 41
Orion and Tanya were in Orion’s den when Empress Anita burst into Orion’s room with King Frederic, Joshua, and Rick following.
“Orion?” she called frantically. Her eyes darted all over the room searching for him.
“We’re in the den!” Orion replied.
“Oh, Orion!” Empress Anita threw her arms around her son as soon as she seen him. “I’m so sorry, baby, I’m so sorry!” She cried into Orion’s shoulder.
“Mom, don’t!” Orion tried to pry her arms off of him, “Not in front of Tanya!” He blushed as he glanced at her. She reluctantly released him.
“When I heard what happened,” she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, “Oh, Orion!” She squeezed him again, sobbing harder and louder. Rick, who had followed her in, nudged her. She turned to him and took the plastic box he was holding. The box gave a shudder as Empress Anita turned it around. “Look, sweetie,” she said, still sniffling, “I brought someone to see you,” she pulled a furry animal, about two feet high, out of the carrier. The animal had black fur on it’s back and white on it’s underbelly, with a long stripe of orange fur separating the black from the white. Two large tufts of black fur on it’s back wiggled independently as the animal was lifted up and passed to Orion.
“Star!” Orion exclaimed as he reached out to take his zupzie. He set her on his lap and stroked her fur. She began purring. “Wow, you’ve gotten big!”
“That’s what happens to animals, Orion,” Empress Anita stiffled a giggle, “They grow up, whether you’re there or not, which reminds me,” she set the carrier on the floor, “why didn’t you come back with your brothers?”
“I kinda had other things on my mind,” Orion said as images of Kelia floated in his mind.
“Yea,” Joshua said slyly, “things with light green eyes, right?” Orion shot him an angry glance.
“What I want to know,” King Frederic said loudly, causing Empress Anita to look up at him, “is why you sent your warriors here in the first place.” There was a note of anger in his voice.
“But I didn’t!” Empress Anita sobbed, “You’ve got to believe me, Frederic.”
“And what about you, Rick?” King Frederic turned his attention to Orion’s older brother, “From what I understand, you’ve been closely involved with the lunimorf warriors for a while, now.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Rick asked defensively before lashing out at King Frederic, “Our warriors didn’t attack you! You have no right to accuse us of something like that!” King Frederic glared at Rick.
“That’s right,” Joshua spoke up. King Frederic turned to him, still amazed at how much he and Orion looked alike. “There’s a radical group on Lunspae called the Anti-Telblec Association, or the ATA for short. They have rallies, fund raisers, public demonstrations, and stuff like that all the time, trying to convince people that telblecs should be completely eliminated. We’ve put up with them because they’ve never done anything harmful.”
“Well, I think they’ve done enough harm this time!” King Frederic yelled, his anger getting the best of him.
“I know,” Empress Anita sniffed, standing up to face King Frederic. “As soon as I received a letter from Josh telling us what happened, I immediately sent warriors to arrest as many members of the ATA as they could find.” She wiped her eyes. “So how are you doing, baby?” she turned her attention to Orion.
“I’m doing alright, but I don’t like being called ‘baby.’” He scowled at her. “Josh’s been giving me physical therapy, though.”
“Yes,” Tanya jumped on the change of subject before the tension between King Frederic and Rick turned into a fight, “and he says that Orion’s making progress!”
“That’s wonderful, sweetie,” Empress Anita smiled, although there was still a hint of sadness in her voice. “Who’s this?” she asked, gesturing to Tanya.
“She’s my, uh, friend, Tanya,” Orion replied. “Her ship crashed here a while back.” He proceeded to tell her all about the jisbae and the largretoi. The mood lightened as they talked long into the evening, not stopping until Joshua insisted that Orion would miss a session of physical therapy. Empress Anita and Rick decided to stay on Olhoe, giving Orion moral support as he coped with being paralyzed.
