Hunger

The new Aenuks were called Winifred – Fred or Winnie, she didn’t mind – and Blink. Sam introduced them after giving them a quick tour of the farm and making sleeping arrangements. He brought them over to the Ajnais as Llew and Jonas finished up the blood transfers.

“I was born at the end of a very long day. The guy who named me had apparently run out of ideas.”

“The guy … Not your father, I take it?” Llew asked.

“Who?”

Winnie also rolled her eyes over a dismissive smile. “I’m just lucky I haven’t taken to pregnancy yet, or I’d still be in my cell growing my part of the latest crop.” She focused her attention on Llew as she said this. Blink looked at her, but Llew couldn’t read his expression. “Honestly, this opportunity to live free … To— to choose … it’s everything.”

Blink scowled at the ground.

“Merrid and Ard, who—” Llew nearly choked up.

“We stayed out of it,” Blink said. “I mean, it didn’t take twenty to do it, so we weren’t needed, but …” He seemed to realize he wasn’t helping and fell silent.

Jonas placed a hand against Llew’s back, the heat immediately radiating through her chemise. While she still wore what would be considered underwear, the material was no thinner than the shirts she’d worn for years, so it was of little bother to her.

Llew swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. It didn’t work, but Jonas’s presence gave her the strength to go on. “Merrid and Ard dedicated themselves to freeing Aenuks.”

Both Winnie and Blink shifted uncomfortably.

“They freed my pa from the Turhmos army and he met my ma who was already free, and they had me – in Quaver, of all places. Unfortunately, Braph the Magician captured my ma, and eventually my pa, too. And me, briefly.” She cleared her throat. Memories of Merrid and Ard brought a sad ache while memories of Braph brought a hot anger. How much simpler life had been when it was just Llew. Alone. “Being free isn’t easy. I had to be taught how to live alone; how to feed myself and get by. Merrid and Ard would want us to do that for you here, and it’s what I want to do. I want all Aenuks to live free of cages.”

Winnie got it; her eyes lost focus on the real world as she imagined.

Blink remained standoffish, skeptical.

“You surrendered for a reason,” Llew continued. “Maybe you just weren’t ready to die with the rest of them, but I reckon some part of you wants to know what it’s like out here; what it’s like to make choices. Well, making choices means making mistakes.” She felt Jonas shift his weight behind her, though he kept his hand in place. “It can mean going hungry. It can mean sleeping rough. It might mean having arguments and fights and maybe learning you’d rather be back in the cage. Maybe it is easier having meals brought to you, knowing where you’ll sleep. Maybe it is easier being told where to go, what to do, who to fuck—”

Blink flinched. Winnie curled a lip.

“—who to fight. But you’re people. Where in there is the chance for love? Friendships, romance, family?”

Both Aenuks grew still.

“That’s what we’re fighting for. There are good people here. You might come to like some of them. That’s what freedom has to offer; the chance to laugh, cry, love, hate. The chance to make a mark on the world all your own. The chance to figure out who you are, be who you are … be a human, not just an Aenuk valued and loathed for what you can do for and to others. We’ll fight with you when Turhmos comes again, so the next time someone needs your healing, you can choose to give it.”

“Did you mean what you said, about Ajnai tree seeds?” Winnie asked.

Llew nodded. “We think we’ve got enough for one tree per Aenuk alive today. They grow fast, so you’ll be able to use them soon after planting somewhere, but they don’t release seeds unless they’re dying, so you’ll need to be sure. That’s why we’re inviting you to stay, learn the basics of life outside of a cage, and then decide where you might like to go.”

“Where would we go?” Blink asked. “Our family is the other Aenuks or some of the palace guards. We’ve no friends, no skills besides fighting.”

“Start here. Family is more than shared blood.” Llew glanced over her shoulder at Jonas. Again, Karlani came to mind. Shared blood most certainly did not family make. “We have water and food. We’ll build more places to sleep. We’re just getting started.”

***

“I’m bored.”

“Hello Bored. I am your father and I am occupied.” Braph pressed his drill to the bark and set it spinning, pushed, in, reverse spin, out, spile in, bucket, magic, sap … very … slowly … dripping … dripping … ever slower.

“Ha ha. Really, though. This is boring. Gardens are boring. I’m hungry.”

“Let your father work, Orin.” Orinia reclined on a bed of weeds she’d pulled over the last couple of days. The garden was almost back to looking like it was regularly tended. The residents of Taither had other things to think about these days, leaving the garden to grow over, and now leaving its daily inhabitants unmolested. “It’s usual to regret when things become exciting. Perhaps find some stones to decorate some spaces with. Or have a sleep.”

“I’m too bored to sleep.”

“Then at least shut up, I’m concentrating.” The sap dried up and Braph’s anger nearly had him yanking the spile from the trunk, but it was delicate enough it might break and he had the wherewithal to control such impulses. He twisted the spile back and forth to ease it free.

Orin sighed loudly. Braph gritted his teeth, then ignored him.

“It will be dinner time soon and we will go for another walk then,” Orinia said.

Orin sighed again and stomped to another part of the garden. Good.

Braph tilted his bucket. Nearly another couple of tablespoons. He withheld his own sigh, and started drilling another hole.

A mechanical buzz announced the return of one of his critters. Braph put up his shield. The buzz continued to approach. Braph paused his drilling and reformed his shield.

“Hey!” Orin cried out.

It took Braph a moment to put the signs together. The contraptions had shown no interest in Orin previously, which meant …

He dropped his own shield as he turned, raising his mechanical right hand, and tried to think how to construct a shield over someone else several yards away. Perhaps a flat wall-like barrier would do. But his Immortal son was already in a battle with the flying contraption, swatting it back again and again. Finally, Orin’s fear turned to anger and he lashed out surprisingly quickly at the machine, smacking it to the ground, smashing its globe and splashing goop. The metal body recovered, flying at Orin again. By now, Braph had his own wits about him enough to jab a blast of energy through the air and knock the contraption off course, swiftly followed by another to send it plummeting to the ground hard enough to deform some of its parts. It whirred, trying to rise again, its wing blades no longer able to lift it.

Orinia was already at Orin’s side. The child didn’t need her healing, perfectly capable of that himself. Still, a cold anxiety lanced Braph. What would the goop do to an Immortal? Surely nothing. It remained possible that none had landed on Orin, anyway.

“It came at him!” Orinia wailed. “It attacked our son, Braph!”

“Yes, love. It sensed his Karan power manifesting.” Braph portrayed calm while his mind ran the tallies of his understanding of Aenuk healing, the source of Karan power attacked by the goop, and the combination in an Immortal. Every which way he turned it concluded Orin should be fine, with no reason for his innate healing ability to be sluggish. He didn’t drain like an Aenuk, though, meaning the goop might very well continue to live inside him. A part of him was curious enough to let it run its course, but he was also a father. Still, there was a difference between using magic to hunt out whatever ailed oneself versus doing so for someone else. Identifying self and not-self was something his body could figure out purely from suggestion. Sending an attack through Orin’s body felt too risky to try as an experiment. That left injecting Syaenuk blood into him and seeing if he had the same ability to use it as a Karan. In theory, he would. But that same theory would suggest Immortals should be innate Magicians, and such was not in evidence, even in an Immortal who had absorbed the power of another Immortal.

A fully fledged Immortal, now, with his strength and speed manifesting, Braph would have to be cautious with Orin. Things should continue as they had been: Braph and Orin, father and son; a team. Braph thought it likely Orin would continue to give blood for Braph’s crystals. Besides, his full strength and speed had years yet to develop. But there would be days when they would bump heads very nearly literally. If Braph had a good stock of crystals from the good days, he might be able to outlast his sons outbursts, but the second his son figured out that he could withhold his blood … And if Orin could use the crystals himself …

Braph looked back at the tree. Already the most recent holes were closing. Somehow, the tree had learned to heal itself. He narrowed his eyes at it. He was going to have to figure out how to overcome such a challenge.

“I’m fine, ma,” Orin said. “But I’m starving.”

Braph glanced over to see his partially-drilled hole closed and his spile now fixed in place. He picked up his flying machine, pulled the crystal free, crushed the contraption in his metal hand, and threw it against the low garden wall. It fell, disappointingly entire, if disfigured. Braph did release a sigh this time.

***

Lyneth proudly pointed out her contributions to the dinner as everyone gathered around a makeshift table outside. Not only did she enjoy spending time with Elka, she was discovering an affinity for the science of food; how doughs and batters came together, and the different flavors she could get out of the small stores they had. Luckily the clouds didn’t seem inclined to rain as yet, as the group remained too large to gather all together in the kitchen.

And Llew wanted to bring more Aenuks here. A problem their many heads and hands could tackle, she was sure.

Lyneth and Elka had managed to put together a range of spring vegetables as finger food with dipping sauces to excite the tongue, and more sourdough had matured and baked, while some of the chickens had also laid several eggs after breakfast, making them available for this evening meal. But Merrid and Ard’s farm had been reliably feeding just two people plus an occasional guest, and while Elka had found Ard’s plans to have some excess to take to Hinden, it was not stocked to feed over a dozen people for any great length of time.

Rowan kept watching the farm entrance, but it remained clear.

Once the food was gone, Karlani, Alvaro, and several of the Turhmos soldiers returned to the paddock of bodies to bury them. Karlani hadn’t said anything as the last morsel went into a mouth, but her lingering look over the empty table before she left spoke of a Syakaran still hungry.

Rowan walked out to the road but saw no approaching cart.

“It’s still within the realms of ‘don’t panic’ for their return,” he said to Llew on his way back to work on his designs by the last of the evening light. “Hopefully tomorrow, though.”

“Thanks.” Llew didn’t love the set of this shoulders as he continued on to the shed. She hoped he was right, and turned her attention to Jonas. “How much more food does Karlani need than you or me?”

“She’s been workin’ hard. About two or three times what anyone else needs.”

Llew asked Lyneth and Elka to make something extra for Karlani that evening and to factor in her added needs as best they could with what they had for breakfast. Luckily, their additional Aenuks didn’t come with such needs.

Jonas practiced with his prosthetic for a while after dinner; he and Llew walked several paddocks, checking water troughs and looking for additional foods. They found a grove of edible mushrooms tucked in the shade of a fallen tree. They wouldn’t feed everybody, but they would extend what fare they had.

Rowan met them at the edge of the porch to inspect the rub marks on Jonas’s thigh before they went to the Ajnai’s for the evening’s blood transfusion. His changes had improved things, but given how little Jonas had worn the prosthetic that day, the marks were still disappointing. But Rowan could do nothing more until their supplies arrived.

While Delwynn and Garnoc transferred Llew’s blood into Jonas once more, Rowan again stood staring down the road to Hinden.

“Tomorrow,” Llew said in what she hoped was assurance when he returned.

He only responded by pressing his lips thinner.

***

“That thing—” Under looks from the staff and the few Quavens dining, Orinia brought her voice down from close to a full yell to a forceful whisper. “—came directly for our son , Braph.”

Orin ignored them, focused fully on his meal.

“I’m aware.”

“ Aware .” As if the word disgusted her.

“He is nearly nine, right at the threshold when Karan strength and speed begin to manifest. It must have detected it.”

“It splashed him. Do you know what that stuff will do to him?”

“Probably nothing.” Braph shifted his attention to his food, took a mouthful, and sliced off his next mouthful of juicy steak. He rotated his fork, studying the shades of brown through gray and pink. Avoiding meeting Orinia’s gaze? Perhaps. It was a good cut, though, cooked close to perfection.

“He’s our son , Braph.”

Braph swallowed, filled his mouth, and cut another bite while he chewed. He swallowed again before responding. “He’s Immortal, love. Do you know what that means?”

“Of course I do.” She was still angry, but her sails deflated some. “He can still be—” She censored herself, glancing Orin’s way.

“He’s an Immortal who has absorbed the power of another Immortal. He is the most naturally powerful person alive. Almost nothing can hurt him.”

“Almost …” Her voice held skepticism, but her demeanor relaxed. Much better.

“Can I get another serving? I’m still hungry.”

Braph held Orinia’s gaze. Orin would be fine.