“You don’t look happy, Quinn. What’s the document?”
I handed it to him to read. His face went pale and his eyes grew large as the document’s meaning became clear to him. “He’s abdicating the throne to you? Now?”
“Looks like it,” I responded.
Del, furious, flung the data pad to the floor shattering it loudly. “They can’t dictate where we’ll raise our children, Quinn,” he shouted. “I won’t let them.”
“We won’t have a choice, Del…”
We both turned towards the sleeping quarters door when we heard the babies awaken and cry. Even though we planned to teach them to settle themselves by crying it out a pang of guilt ran through my chest. I could see Del felt the same. “Since we woke them up it’s only fair we go get them,” I said. Relieved, he nodded his agreement.
----------
The night air and the rocking motion of our walk soon soothed our babies back to sleep. We had ventured along a broad pathway leading into the forest, leaving the broken data pad with its unwanted message behind. The walk had also calmed our nerves.
I stopped by a large log beside the path and set my bundle, Xane, into a crook of one of its branches before sitting beside him. Del laid Saphira, tightly wrapped in her blanket, beside her brother and joined me. To keep his mind off the document a little longer I told him, “You know I was raised in that house? I played out here at night all the time. Used to scare my Second Father half to death.”
“Oh, why?” Del asked, glancing around a little nervously.
I patted his knee assuring him, “Deeper in the wild woods, yes, we need to be cautious. A few dangerous creatures live out there but here near the house the trees are used to us. They keep the wildlife out. But Second Father believes in an old Xolian tale. See those little twinkling lights in the fog by those bushes? Some Xolians believe those are tree spirits trying to trick you into going off the paths and into trouble.”
“Tree spirits?” He asked as he watched the zipping, twinkling lights of small insects.
“From fallen trees like the one we are sitting on,” I pointed out. “So there’s a way to soothe them into leaving you alone, you have to sing to them.”
Del grinned at me. “I bet you sang out here a lot, didn’t you? Come on. Tell your mate the truth. You got spooked out here by yourself, didn’t you?”
I shook my head stubbornly. “No, but my younger brother Braxx did. Poor boy, it didn’t help that I’d be out there where he couldn’t see me and whisper his name sometimes just to scare him.”
“Quinn!” Del replied laughing. “You were a rotten big brother.”
I defended myself, “No, he deserved it, Del. He never did what our fathers told him to so I gave him a good scare every once in awhile. Afterwards he’d stay closer to the house.”
“While you wandered off even further, right?”
I nodded, “Guilty as charged. I knew those were insects because I caught one and studied it. Plus I wasn’t afraid of the trees.”
“Did your fathers ever catch you?”
“Oh yes, got the spanking of a lifetime once when I did something very stupid out there and they found out,” I answered. When he smirked at me I added, “I tried cutting down an old tree way up that pathway. First Father saw the marks the next day, found me and dragged me all the back to the tree. He didn’t even ask if I had done it, he just knew. Maybe the tree told him, I don’t know. But he sat down on a log like this one, snatched my pants down and put me over his knee. I never messed with another tree after that.”
“Why did you hack at the tree, Quinn? I thought you love them.”
“I do now. Back then they just seemed annoying. They’d take things from me and hold them over my head or they’d trip me. I realize now they were just trying to engage me in play. Must get boring being rooted to the same spot all your life,” I said.
“But they move,” Del replied obviously remembering the one from earlier.
I explained, “Only young trees move, Del. After they pick a spot they send down their large feeder root and can no longer relocate.”
“Still didn’t answer my question,” he remarked dryly. “Why did you hack at one?’
“I had a new knife, that’s all. I wanted to see what I could do with it.”
Del said, “Sounds to me like you were the rebellious son.”
“Mmm, true,” I said. “Until Braxx grew older and I left for space service.”
Del said, shaking his head, “Then why do you make off as if you were the perfectly behaved older brother?”
“I swear I was, Del. Braxx did far more mischievous things, took great risks with his life, did outrageous things that brought shame on the royal family even.”
“Maybe Xolians put too much attention on the royal family. So what if one son wants to explore space and one son is out there being a bit wild, having fun. In the end you two will always do as your fathers tell you,” Del stated.
“We are the leaders of our entire people, Del. It’s a big responsibility. If the royal children cannot behave perhaps they will not be appropriate leaders when their time comes.”
Del stood, facing me, his blue eyes sparking under the double moonlit night. He said hotly, “You said once that you’d rather denounce the throne than let it dictate your life. What if you decline being crowned now? Braxx is no longer in the picture. What happens then?”
I rose, stating, “The crown is passed down the family line until someone accepts it, and I do have cousins. However…”
“You don’t want to denounce it, do you? You want to be the king and raise our children on Xolia,” Del replied angrily. “Why did you tell me all that about making your own decisions? That you wanted your career in space service and not be trapped by decisions your fathers wanted to force on you? Was that not true then?”
“Xolia needs me, Del.”
He snarled. “No, it does not! Your father is perfectly fit to carry the crown for years! He doesn’t need to abdicate right now - just after the babies were born! Don’t you see they are just trying to manipulate you? You can’t be that blind or stupid! Your fathers are trying to force you…us, into something we don’t want right now. Wake up!”
Anger overwhelmed me in a blaze of heat. Instincts kicking in, I snarled as I moved forward, my sharp incisors elongating, taking a threatening stance. Though Del took a step back, he squared his shoulders and kept his ground, glaring at me fiercely. “I won’t back down on this, Quinn. Not now.”
“I am the Charon, Del. You will respect and obey my decisions.”
“I won’t be intimidated into accepting something I know is wrong for us, Quinn.”
When the babies bawled loudly from log next to us we spun in their direction, instantly forgetting our argument.
“Quinn, the trees!”
The tree next to us had lifted the twins quietly and over our heads gently passed them to the next waiting branch. I grabbed Del’s arm and prevented him from jumping and clawing at the branches. “We need to calm down, Del. We upset the babies and the trees responded. I’m certain the babies are okay up there. The trees won’t drop them.”
“Stay calm?” Del hissed. His eyes were locked on the exact location of our twins. “That’s hard to do when your infants are being abducted by plants!”
I reassured him as we slowly followed, “I know but if we don’t stay calm they will not give them back. They instinctively are protecting the children, Del. Mostly from me, I’m afraid, because I snarled at you like that.”
As we walked carefully along the darkening pathway our eyes ever on our children, he asked, “Why did you get so angry with me? You’ve never been like that before, not threatening like that anyway.”
“I’m sorry, Del. At first I thought I snapped at you because you had been disrespectful but now I think differently. I realize now you had spoken the truth and I was angry about the situation my fathers placed me in. It was wrong of me and I’m sorry. I promise it will never be repeat
ed.”
“Alright, good, Quinn, that makes me feel better but what about the trees? We are calmer but they just keep passing the babies down the line.”
Indeed the trees swayed gently towards each other and the next tree along the path accepted our crying bundles into its willowy branches. Where the pathway ended at the foot of a large elder tree they stopped. It was the final destination apparently. My heart sunk, I informed Del, “That’s the tree I hacked at. See the marks in its bark?”
“Oh great,” he quipped.
I approached it carefully knowing full well that my action was quite dangerous. Such a large tree could consume me or hurt me with its thick limbs. I knelt by the tree quietly trying to soothe it with my thoughts. High above me the top swayed as it rocked my infants. Frightened and probably hungry, Xane and Saphira cried even harder. I said to my mate, “Del, talk to them. See if you can get them to listen to you and stop crying.”
Del wiped a tear of frustration and anxiety from his own face, staring up into the leaves. “Hey babies! Saphira! Xane! Hey guys its daddy. We’re both here. Its okay.”
I envisioned the tree handing back the babies. It answered by showing me a picture of me yelling and snarling at my mate. It couldn’t understand the concept of an apology. I gave up trying to communicate with it, stood up to join my mate.
“We need to do this together. As I was afraid, they think the babies need protection from me,” I told Del.
“You stunned the last one,” he remarked.
“Kasen had to, it was eating you. The babies are safe but we need the tree to return them. Even if I did have my weapon, it might drop them if I stunned it, Del.”
He sighed, frustrated. “Any other ideas.”
“Hold me, show them we are unified. Maybe that will help,” I replied. I wasn’t sure it would work but we had to try something.
“I love you so much, Quinn,” Del said in a singsong voice.
“I don’t think we can fool them, Del.”
My mate hissed through gritted teeth, “We won’t know until we try, do we?”
“I love you too, Del.”
The tree stopped swaying. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Then a new plan formed in my head. I started singing the old tree spirit song my father had taught me. At first I sang it softly, hesitantly trying to recall the words and tune but as I grew more confident I sang it louder. After a few renditions Del had picked up on the majority of words and sang along.
An image formed in my mind of sunlight on leaves. The old tree was happy. Very slowly it lowered the babies into our waiting arms. Quickly we gathered our children, backed away then turned and practically fled back towards the house. Once we were through the rickety gate around the back garden, we halted, panting.
“No one will ever believe me on New Earth when I tell them my children were abducted by trees,” Del stated.
“Please don’t tell my fathers that happened. They would tan my damn hide, for sure,” I begged my mate.
“Speaking of your fathers, what are we going to do? I know this means a lot to you. I guess I can settle here. We can live anywhere, right? As long as we are together that’s all that matters,” Del remarked, his voice heavy with raw emotion. “I’ll miss the life though, in space. I’ll miss the ship and crew.”
“Don’t worry about it, Del,” I said, letting us into the home. “Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
We crawled in bed together, all four of us. Del and I snuggled with the babies between us not wanting to be parted from them again. He was soon fast asleep and I watched him quietly, considering my future, and percolating an idea. It was one my fathers may not like but they were going to have to accept that I had my own desires too. Now that just left telling them. Snorting softly being mindful of my sleeping children and mate next to me I remembered when Del had simply ran away from his new life and I wondered if I could get away with that. It would be an easier thing than standing up to them. I rolled carefully to my side, tucking my son in near my chin and before I slept I whispered, “I promise, Xane. You can make your own life decisions and you can quote that back to me if I ever annoy you.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Del:
I started this damn journey accidentally. I hadn’t chosen Quinn. I hadn’t planned on ever getting married and having kids. But here I was, happily mated to a male Xolian, a bossy Charon no less. When I awoke and found his side of the bed cold and empty it startled me and made me sad. Even the babies were not beside me causing a moment of panic until I found Quinn’s neatly penned message on the kitchen counter. He wanted to talk to his First Father and had taken the babies with him to allow me to get a break. Of course I was grateful but I immediately searched the cold box to make sure he had taken the expressed milk. When I found that he had and had also packed up every diaper, toy, spare romper and blanket we owned I was proud of him. My mate would be a great father.
After I called the transportation service to arrange a ride I hopped into the shower and enjoyed the luxury of being alone for a few minutes without having to listen in for the two little life changers. By the time the vehicle arrived I was refreshed by a warm meal as well. I felt like I could handle just about anything. I just hoped it didn’t involve any more Xolian trees however.
I had plenty of time to think about my life choices as we journeyed through the forested areas surrounding the capitol city. I knew in my heart that I loved this planet and could survive, even thrive here. Yet there was that small voice telling me that there was something better just past the horizon, something amazing - some adventure I needed to go on. My mate had expressed feeling the same. Could Quinn and I be happy if we settled and gave up that journey? Stay or go. That was a difficult decision but one Quinn and I would have to make together for our entire family.
I arrived at the city center in front of the opulent government building fondly called the King’s Residence although it was far more than that. It was a library of Xolian history and philosophy, it housed over a hundred governmental services and it served as a meeting place between the King and any denizen of his realm that wished an audience with him. Today the building was humming with life as I passed through the open roof foyer quickly and carefully avoided the tree that had tried to eat me once. I sent it happy thoughts hoping to make amends for someone having stunned it to save me. I trotted up the stairs and nearly ran into Quinn’s Second Father as he left the King’s office. Before the wooden doors clicked shut behind him I caught the sound of the Quinn arguing with his First Father.
“Ah, Del, glad you made it in. Listen Quinn left the babies with our Healer. He didn’t want to upset them if this grew into a heated debate and he asked me if I would check on them and see if you’d arrived. Shall we go for a walk in the garden and then liberate your twins after their naps?” Wryth greeted me grasping my elbow and turning me away from the door.
I hitched a thumb over my shoulder indicating the room he’d just vacated. “Shouldn’t I be in there? Support my mate?”
“They are discussing matters of state, Del. I’m certain that Quinn will stubbornly defend his decision not to accept the crown.”
I stopped him with a hand. “He said that? He’s not going to accept it? But what happens now?”
Wryth shrugged, “That is for the King and the Prince to decide, Del. He knows your wishes and will accommodate them as best he can, don’t worry. Quinn really loves you, you know. He’d never fight Grymm for anyone else.”
We made our way back down the ornately carved stairs and out into the garden. By the doorway he picked up two cloth bags, handing one to me. Outside the gardeners were busy gently persuading a young tree to give up the flag it had confiscated and waved above their heads while office workers milled and enjoyed the sunshine. Wryth led me to an open plot of dirt, stopped and dug into his bag. I watched as he brought out a ball of compacted soil and tossed it onto the ground.
He nodded at the bag in my hand. “Toss them out there, Del.
They are infant trees.”
“Seeds?” I said correcting him.
“Mmm, more than simple seeds, Del. This is Xolia remember.”
I chortled. “Yeah, figures.”
“And Xolia has unique needs,” the King’s Consort continued. “This planet is two ecosystems essentially, each with its intelligent species and requirements. Both reliant on the other for survival.”
“The plants and the people,” I said. We tossed more balls onto the soil as we talked. “I know that they must coexist. It’s a very different way than we have on planets humans inhabit.”
“Mmm, sadly, yes. Humans tend to want to control everything beneath them,” Wryth stated.
I took some offense to that. “You are trying to control Quinn.”
Wryth snorted. “Del, if we controlled either of our children you and I would not be patiently waiting for Quinn to decide the fate of this planet.”
“That’s a bit dramatic,” I told him. “Simply select someone else in line to the throne.”
He turned to me, pocketed his empty sack, replying, “It’s not that simple, Del. There are others in line to the throne, yes, in case the Prince Elect is injured or killed. Others could fill his place eventually however Quinn is the only one ready at this time to fulfill his duties.”
I frowned, not following him. “How hard could it be to be the Xolian King?”
Wryth indicated a bench underneath the now flagless tree and I eyeballed it suspiciously before taking a seat. He thought about his answer a while in silence. Finally he explained, “Del, the Xolian King speaks on behalf and must lead the planet, everything on it, in peace and fairness. If he sided with the people over the plants or vice versa there would be another war. It is up to him to guide the government as well when dealing with other planets. He’s learned a great deal from traveling in space carrying out missions on our behalf. It takes years to develop that understanding and confidence.”
“I get that it is important,” I said. “Maybe you think I’m being immature and whiny about this. I assure you it’s his decision too. Space Service is his dream; it’s what makes him happy. But if he wants to stay I will support that. I just want him to be certain he’s making the right decision, not regret it the rest of his life.”
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