Iva and Aevan Sengihr's pre-bond story

** 2024 - pages moved from zekiran_immortal/aevan-iva 1, 2, 3 and 4, and slightly updated
note that the terms have been changed, 'healer' = Sehatan, 'breeder' = Peridian, etc **

10402

"You've got to stop doing this! Aevan, are you even listening to me?" Iva turned her dark face toward her half brother, and rolled her green-blue eyes. "You're not. You're totally in your own world... Great."

Iva tapped her long fingers on her arm, holding herself carefully and hoping for that haughty-look that their father did so well. Her mother did it too. Probably why she was so interested in Vanya in the first place - they were a strange mirror of each other. Iolen Chanay, long-married to a very nice Land Holder, finally Bred to one of the premier gene stock providers of the century.

The results of that breeding came about hardly two years after the results of another rather bizarre pairing. She stared at him, from across the room, as he played with the two children of the Slaves he'd just bought.

Now, Iva could hardly fault him for loving the kids. They were adorable - two years apart like he and Iva, with almost opposite coloration from their father or mother respectively. Those parents sat patiently at the edge of the big desk, in Iva's office, waiting for their Owner to get with the program.

"Aevan!" Iva said sharply, startling the Slaves, as well as the children, into silence.

Grudgingly, Aevan stood up and sat back down in the big black chair across from Iva. He felt like his dads often did, when they sat in that chair. It was the 'Iva's caught us at it again' chair. Their shared joke.

"So, are you going to help with this or not, Iva?" Aevan said, oblivious to the fact that his new Slaves were shocked that he'd refer to the Mistress Breeder that way. Well, not entirely oblivious - but he was concentrating on the great feelings of relief they both still had, and not their panic at his little Status faux pas.

Iva glanced at the paperwork in front of her. It was very clear to her that the female Slave, Nalclar, was Tuned to a strong degree and might even be Hyperfertile. Her mate, husband Ebondil, didn't show much more than a tendancy to plants - that might help but in a court it wasn't going to hold for automatic Raising. Iva wanted to try for that option first, though, because if they were both found to be Tuned - animal or otherwise - no one would actually have to pay anything to change their Status. It would be awarded automatically and by the Area.

Their next step would have to be the harder one, that of suddenly being either Animal Masters or Free Workers, in a world which relied upon money for every small facet of life. They had none.

Aevan kept spending his, and Iva was constantly reminding their father to be more responsible with his own. These two Slaves and their children might mean Aevan would have to sell off some of that vast property he Held.

Or...

"Aevan, do you still Hold that land in Vesi?" Iva asked.

"Of course I do. It's got lots of people on it, Slaves. I think they're having some kind of --"

"Aevan, do you think that either of these people here," Iva waved her dark hand at the Slaves, "would do well there? Is there need for their abilities?"

"Oh yeah!" Aevan said, leaning back and putting his long arms behind his head. His spines stood out, and the Slaves stayed away from them. They didn't want to poke their eyes out. How he hadn't done this to himself was beyond them. "Ebondil could work with the garden - I'm having a big hedge maze built. Nalclar and I have already talked about the dragon nests there."

Iva raised her eyebrow at that. "You've actually put some thought into where they'll go?" She said, half surprised and half snide.

"Yes, I have, I'm not completely stupid you know," Aevan said - he didn't snap at her, but instead stuck out his tongue and the kids both fell into hysterics in the corner.

"Well that makes this much easier then. I'll put this into the service mail and hope we get a response soon." Iva turned to Nalclar and smiled, "your testing shows some great possibilities, which I'm sure you're aware of already if you are around his investments." She nodded toward Aevan. "But let me be honest with you, Ebondil doesn't have as much going for him." The looks on the Slaves' faces changed, and so did Aevan's demeanor. He reflected their desperation. "It's best to just be patient, and it's a very good thing that Aevan will have some place to put both of you should the proceedings go as planned. If there were no post-Raising jobs for you it might not go through." She tapped the papers, then straightened them out to distract herself from their big-eyed stares. "But I think it's almost an entirely done-deal. Since you've both proven yourselves able to Breed easily, I think you may even attract the attention of other Breeders."

"I've been meaning to ask if you could test Nalclar for Hyperfertility," Aevan suggested, and Iva nodded.

"I've got that in the works."

It was odd, to Aevan anyway, that Iva could toss about such statements without really regarding the woman in question - she was right there, after all. But she was still a Slave, still no one worth worrying about until she's Raised. Iva wasn't much for Animal Tunings, however once the idea of Dragon Tunings came along she was right up there with her father's crew.

Aevan worked with the rescue teams and backup Medical help when attacks came - but that was in the off-racing season. When there were Steed races to be held, he was going to be there regardless of the state of the Invasion. He hardly noticed Status, which didn't go without its down side. Few people seemed to take Aevan seriously in social situations - other than at his own parties. Racing, medicine, he was taken quite well. But outside of that?

Everyone knew that this man couldn't hold on to money if it was welded to his hand. How he managed to keep such large Holds under his title was amazing. The lanky green-skinned spliced-together young man knew what he wanted and went out and got it.

Iva reflected that perhaps she could learn a thing or two about bedside manner from him. His way with children was superior to even Vanya's, meaning that he often made the parents feel as at home as the kids - whereas Vanya often just scared the crap out of them while he grinned and giggled with their kids.

"So, we're mostly done here," Iva said, and packed away the paperwork. "I'll get this all finished and we'll be in touch as usual anyway." Iva turned to the Slaves. "I hope that the next time I see you, it's to place a new Status badge on your collar. So be sure to be wearing your best."

Aevan collected the kids, escorted the pair of Slaves to the door, and then turned to his sister. "I'll be sure they've got the best to wear, don't worry."

Iva sighed and sat back down.

***

"Let's celebrate," Aevan said, with a big grin. "They're all where I wanted them to be, and even Iva has to admit we pulled it off well."

"Then that is cause for celebration," Vanya muttered, his dark face drawn into a distracted smile.

"What do you think the kids'll be like, Aevan?" Aern asked, as always interested to see his son really using his talents properly.

Aevan tilted his head, nodding. "They've got their mother's talents, I think. I know they've got her Tunings. And, at least the boy has her fertility level. They won't know what that means for years, though. But I bet they'll become some of the better Breeding stock in the field."

"Then that is the important thing," Vanya said. He was far less interested in the successful placement of the family of Raised slaves, than what exactly they would be doing that evening for dinner. He was going to want to look for some good Breeding stock, wherever they wound up. And, he was hungry for once. A rare occasion like that had even brought him to Aevan and Aern's place at all.

"I was thinking we should go to the beach," Aevan said, almost exactly after Vanya had stopped thinking. He was in fact privy to both his fathers' private thoughts - they knew it, and it did make both of them slightly uncomfortable. At least for Vanya, it was a relief that he didn't have to do some invasive prying to know what was on his mind. That always made his head hurt. Aern preferred to know when someone was knocking on his mental doors - but would never refuse this son of his. None of them, in fact. Aern immediately agreed and started looking for something appropriately small and tight to wear.

Then, it dawned on Vanya what their spliced son had just said. "... You are joking, right?"

Aern stifled a laugh at his friend's trepidation. He continued digging through Aevan's stuff looking for his own clothing. He knew it was in here somewhere...

"No, not joking. I have a great little slice of beach I'm renting," Aevan said, "with the guys. You know, so we can get some sun?"

"You remember the sun, Vanya," Aern sidled up next to the dark-brown skinned Breeder, dropping what appeared to be a thong in his lap and draping himself over his broad shoulders. "It's what makes you warm."

"I remember that beach," Vanya growled, only half serious. He didn't have to turn his brilliant blue eye to look at Aern, who filled the side of his vision - instead he glanced down at the little thong and picked it up with two long fingers. "It's where the water is. You remember water? That stuff I'm afraid of?"

"You take perfectly normal baths, like everyone else," Aevan said, "and besides, we don't have to go swimming if you don't want to." Aevan took the thong from Vanya, handed it back to Aern with a glowering stare, and tugged Vanya out of the chair.

"I couldn't even if I ever *had* wanted to," Vanya muttered, his voice getting smaller and smaller compared to the others. It was quite odd for him, being pinned in by two taller men - Vanya was one of the tallest, leanest men on the planet, and here his son and spliced mate were both half a head higher. He suddenly felt quite oddly out of place. Aern rooted around a bit more in the clothing bin until he found a nice pair of shorts, tossed them at Vanya with a grin, and waited.

"Let's just go," Aevan said, "you'll love it. Just you wait."

He didn't have to wait very long. Aevan laughed at the pair of guys as they strutted around the beach. The property was near a publically sponsored park, where people put together Freeworker parties and kids celebrated their birthing days. The sound of the ocean made all three of them react quite differently.

To Vanya, it was a haze of white-noise, blotting out a lot of the otherwise loud background sounds. He liked it, only for that reason. In any other way, he was terrified to the core of being pushed under the waves again.

To Aern, the constant swelling of the tide over the pebble strewn sand told him how deep the water was out past the shelf, and what point would have been perfect to do a nice dive off the nearby cliffs.

And to Aevan, the waves meant that there were two dozen fantastically healthy women bobbing up and down wearing very little clothing over their colorful skin.

By the time they had hit on the same women, in sequence, they'd gotten Vanya to relax just a little more. Several people mistook them for brothers, so they played to that end if only for a while. They did look like it, Aern and Vanya shared many of the same features physically, perhaps in Vanya they were more drawn and cynical while in Aern they were more playful or easy to look at. It was their son, sitting right between them on the boardwalk barricade, who made them look most similar - his dark green skin and darker hair, long arms with short spines on them, they looked as though he was their middle brother. It was only the fact that Vanya didn't have their two-toned hair, that made him still a bit of an outsider.

"She's cute," Aern said, of a grey-skinned and red-headed woman. "How about her?"

"You've got half of it right," Aevan said. He was using his powers to check out people's genes at a distance. Vanya wanted to use him in the clinic, or maybe as a sort of Breeder's Seeing Eye dog. Of course, he was just jealous. Vanya's own powers of genetic manipulation were wholly internal. He'd spliced up this power from them, turned external, for his son.

"Why half?" Vanya asked, and then glanced the woman over again more closely. "Ah - she's infertile."

Aevan looked a bit deflated. "Yup, that's it. She's quite healthy - dad, you might be able to do something with her though."

"I could. Not right now. I don't have any business cards with me." He smiled.

"Other dad," Aevan said with a grin, "you suck at the Breeder's Eye game."

"I got the last three at least half right!" Aern whined.

"But the last four before those, almost entirely wrong," Vanya said, leaning around their shared miracle. "Quit while you're ahead."

A distant siren came to life, and everyone on the beach sort of froze in place. Then, they began packing up and heading back home. An invader's attack siren.

"Well, there goes this afternoon." Aevan said, grumpily.

***

The convention hall was filled with Breeders, Animal Masters and Dragon-related everyone. Iva stood near a busy hallway, not even really watching the people with her eyes. She felt them with her empathic powers, as they moved by her. Here and there were people who were hungry, one had stubbed his toe and was miserable as he hobbled past - a healer sweetly offered to fix it for him for free. Iva soaked up the emotions hungrily, as though she were a vampire.

Of course her true vampire friends would love to be here, with her, but they had other matters to attend to. Juvon and his disreputable friends were busy digging a hole, somewhere. Fine. Let them.

She was in her element. At this Breeders Convention, hundreds of prominent and up and coming people would show off their abilities and their success stories. Some would gloat, and some humbly accepted the praise that was heaped upon them.

Iva almost entirely wanted to be there just so she could be among interesting people. While the numbers and contract writing were things she could do in her sleep - she often did. They were things that any Breeder would be expected to do. As a Membayar, she had always had it in her blood to work out the right wording, to accept only the best conditions.

As a Breeder, however, she learned from absolutely the best there were. Her father contributed the most odd things to her education, something about how to get the genetic balance of height versus build, but also how to treat a child who's having an entirely awful experience at the clinic. Morgontain did her best at showing Iva the way to locate the right genes (the chart was huge, but to Iva it was almost like a very complex roadmap) and place them with the best choices in mates. Dozens of high ranking Breeders would eventually contribute to Iva's education.

The elderly Morgontain wasn't there, but Iva knew that everyone would still have trouble recognizing her now. Iva suggested, after her half-sister Megami was Bred, that Vanya do something about Morgontain's addiction to pain killers. Every time Morgontain was around, Iva got a splitting headache from her sensing the woman. And if that was what she was like all the time, how in the world could anyone blame her for her addiction?

An entourage of Slaves and Bayaran surrounding an exotically beautiful Lady Healer came sweeping through the hall, and Iva narrowed her eyes. The Slaves had all been bought or bred for the purpose of clouding psionic activity around the Lady, so when they went by, Iva's long bask in the emotions of everyone came to an abrupt end. It did piss her off.

"Well somebody's full of themselves," Iva muttered when the group had passed.

"That's saying a lot, coming from you," a young man's voice carried through the mental air. "I'd have found you earlier, but this lot kept wandering by."

"Essel," Iva said, with a smile, looking for him past the people in the hall, "where are you?"

She spotted her 18 year old assistant, darting through the crowd. His burgandy colored skin shone with the bright lights in the ceiling, he really was quite the attractive young man. Iva would probably get to him sometime. For now, though, he was only on Bond to her and would be paid off within weeks if his excellent work was kept up.

"I got one," he said, panting. "The whole place had been stripped of the darn things, because everyone always thinks they're 'unsightly' or something, but they had em on display downstairs in the dealer's hall. Why do you want that, anyway? I didn't think it was safe to have that." After he'd handed her the object nestled in its cloth wrapping, he almost looked relieved.

Iva looked at the small sliver of black stone. "This is a very important piece of ore, Essel. Do you know what it does?"

"Yeah, they told me right off," Essel said, looking around as though he didn't like talking about it here in a crowded hallway. "Plus I could tell, it was hard to contact you. You felt all faint."

"But it's very helpful for people like myself, and like you, too." She said. "With this near by, it will make it more difficult to perform even the simplest of psionic tasks."

"But... I thought the idea was to do those tasks..." Essel said, his brightly yellow eyebrows crossing up on his forehead.

"Well, certainly." Iva tucked it away. It had a tingling sort of feel to it, it was already affecting her. "But with this stone, we'll soon know how much stronger we could be, if only we worked at it."

Surprised, Essel said, "well, I didn't expect that... I thought you wanted it maybe to keep people from doing stuff in your office, or something."

"No," Iva said, "I've got the Alabaster security team working on my office, this is a personal strength issue."

Essel shrugged, and then suggested they find seats at the seminar Iva wanted to attend. As a sort of seeker-psionic, Essel would always have a good place with the Chanay family - or with Alabaster, if they offered. Iva's half brother worked with them, Haesh never seemed the type to be a spy yet there he was.

The seminar went well, and eventually Iva would try out her new stone.

(page 2)

"Why do you hang on to that thing? It makes me queasy." Aevan said, as Iva looked at the small sliver of stone dangling from her neck.

"It makes me strong. I don't know about you." She said. "Are you back to work now, or what?"

"I'll be heading to Kua for the big race, of course I'm hoping to watch a little this time." Aevan leaned back, watching the swarm of colorful Rustit bugs as they danced in the midday light. "But I want to head back to the desert first. Want to come along?"

Iva shrugged. "I've got some contracts I'd like to finish up," she tried to make an excuse, but by the time Aevan asked he'd already gotten up and was indicating the door. Iva rolled her eyes, they were the same stunning green as her hair, though they didn't stick out quite as much as Vanya's blue ones. Iva was much darker in skin coloration than her half brother, Iolen's daughter did resemble her mother greatly, as Aevan took after their father.

Iva still had paperwork to do, but she reasoned, she'd be able to finish it whenever she was back at the office. She wouldn't let just anyone work her files, being rather anal about that. Aevan's light-hearted attitude was easy for her to catch, though.

He seemed unusually affected by her little stone though - it wasn't the first time he'd mentioned it since the Breeder's Convention. Since it bothered him so much, she decided to take it off and leave it in the room. It would be safe there, she supposed. If someone wanted it badly enough they could have it. She could always get another piece.

One of the Alabaster mines she had thought about investing in kept belching the stuff out. Its psionic-dampening effects aside, it was a rather nice solid ore. It could be used to build homesteads, or decorational items. Or, it could be used to block out unwanted minds from private conversations.

Or again, as Iva had intended - to make a psionic stronger by practicing around it. Rather like a runner would train in high altitude to get better use of their lung capacity, Iva had so enjoyed the challenge it presented, that she had rarely taken it off in the three months since she bought it.

Her head swum a bit with the press of minds, when she did so. The people in the clinic building were in various states of mind. Aevan was a rich treat of happy-expectant-nervous, because of the upcoming Kua race and his typical spot in it (he worked the emergency medical rounds, as his Healers degree warranted). There was a woman in the neighboring hall who had just learned that she was hardly fertile enough to carry the child she had - it would be her only one - so the mix of fear, self-loathing and brilliant happiness at being pregnant at all was like a layered cake. Iva stood against the wall for a moment, and Aevan turned to check if she was okay.

"Iva, you might want to try not practicing so hard," Aevan said. His own powers merely reflected hers, though his empathy was much stronger. "Or, you maybe want to try using some other ability with it, instead of just this one... You're making me dizzy."

"Sorry," Iva said, "it'll pass, but it's just so ... well - let's go!" She laughed. She was having a hard time brushing it off, really, but in the interest of getting out of the office and seeing what Aevan might have at his desert Hold she settled her mind and followed him.

The office complex was an open, airy place. Iva's office itself was on the corner of the building, second floor of three, and was open air on one whole side, with screens keeping those big orange and yellow bugs out of her projects. Should bad weather arise, they had field generators which would keep the water out and wind to a minimum.

Aevan always wondered why Iva would even want an office like that. It was totally not her style outwardly. She was so professional it hurt. After all, she was the one who took over Vanya's finances when she got her Breeding degree, and would run his office full time if only he'd let her. She had only been about 22 when she got her 6th degree in Breeding, but was still considered a late-comer according to some of the Sengihrs out there.

Her mother thought she did an admirable job - Iolen had been one of the youngest Suzerinne in the world. Her daughter took a little more time because there were more things to consider. That, and apparently she was distracted by someone along the way.

As the pair of siblings got into Aevan's rented carriage, Aevan turned to his sister and laughed. "Look, you might as well tell me who he is, you think about this guy all the time, but you won't let me look into your head for a name."

"That's not your business!" Iva said, half shocked and half blushing because she hadn't realized how ill-hidden her thoughts really were. Maybe she'd keep that shard of blackstone with her more often, just to keep her own thoughts hidden better.

"Aww," Aevan said, pouting, and setting himself back in the thickly cushioned seat. The Bayaran driving the carriage already knew they were to head east to the edge of town. The trip into the grasslands was pleasant, if a little long. The large hoverport that supported inner-continent flights rested here, rather than on the more busy side of Telva. Over the course of the half hour trip, Aevan continued to pester Iva about her secret crush.

Iva continued not to give in. But by the time they'd reached the edge of the hoverport, Aevan had narrowed it down to "someone who is important, a Breeder's son, and not technically a relative". He snuck that last one in just to see if she was paying attention - and the swat to his shoulder told him she was.

As always.

Aevan arranged payment for the flight inland, while Iva paid the Bayaran for their carriage ride. When he'd finished, and come to meet his sister again, Aevan bounced on the balls of his feet, his very tall frame and pointed hair style attracting that kind of attention that Iva dreaded. He continued to do it, glancing around and grinning at people as they passed.

"Aevan, I swear, I am going to buy a permit to use neural stunners on you, if you don't calm down." Iva sighed as he laughed again. Several tourists and one obviously long-time resident of the area stifled bemused mocking laughter. Aevan thought this was great fun.

Eventually their flight was powered up, and the Land Master who was taking them to the nearby scrubland settlement invited them into his hoverjet.

"So..." Iva said, looking out the window of the enclosed low-flight vehicle, "what are you picking up here?"

"I wanted to check up on a dragon nest, actually. It's a private Hold, but the Land Mistress who Holds it doesn't want to deal with it. She said she'd had enough trouble with vandals and thieves in the area, she didn't want to deal with dragons too."

"What in the world would someone say that for?" Iva muttered. "I mean, if I had trouble with vandals the first thing I'd do is get a dragon as a guard!"

"Tell me about it," Aevan chuckled. Shortly, they'd arrived at the site. It was a single-story dwelling, very nicely constructed it looked like, resting on a bit of a cliff. That cliff overlooked the first stretch of true desert in this area - it wasn't much of a dune, but it was all sand, and no scrub. It apparently turned into a mud pit when the rains washed through it.

Aevan wanted to buy it, Iva could tell, but he'd have to wait until this Land Mistress offered to sell. And from the looks of it, she'd never offer. The woman who came from the dwelling was short and portly, but in a very powerful way. She strode up to the pair of Breeders and looked them over before even cracking half a smile.

"You're here then. Good. The nest is this way." She said, curtly.

Mentally, Iva felt a little ping from her brother. Though he could clearly speak with his fathers, she and he only shared Vanya's genes - and he didn't have true telepathy. She listened carefully, and Iva was happy that her practice around the blackstone was paying off.

Distantly, she felt Aevan's mind saying she's treating this like we're exterminators! As if!

"No kidding," Iva muttered quietly, the woman didn't hear.

The woman pointed at the gulley, and there in a shaded area away from the direct sunlight, was a mound that had several lumps in it.

"There it is. The creature tending it stopped coming back about three days ago. I don't know if it's because they're going to hatch, or because it's abandoned." She looked like she would have spat on the nest, if she could reach it, "so you figure that out, and decide what to do with it. I don't want dragons here. We've enough trouble."

"Certainly," Aevan said, obviously trying very hard to maintain his polite air. Iva, while professional about it, had to hold her tongue. Here was a mere Land Mistress trying to order a pair of Breeders around? Who exactly did she think she was?

They found their way down to the sandy pit, both of them quite adept at finding hand and foot holds, though Aevan felt more in his element than his sister. The day had worn into afternoon, so the angle of the sun didn't beat down on them when they investigated the nest.

"That's a dragon nest, all right," Aevan stated. The eggs were small for dragons, just bigger than Aevan's fist, and were almost the same color pale tan as the sand. There looked to be about a dozen eggs, perhaps more were buried in the soft warm sand.

"Do you think they're alive?" Iva asked.

"You tell me," Aevan said, "you've been working with that dumb stone all this time."

Iva tilted her head and looked oddly at her half brother. "Neither of us are remarkably well Tuned for dragons, you know."

"Both of us are tuned enough to know live from dead," Aevan replied.

"Well then, they're mostly alive." Iva said, taking a closer mental look at the nest. "I can't count them, though, it's strange because there seems to be some kind of interferance."

"... What?" Aevan said, and his Kshau-inherited spines went straight out from his arms. The fact that suddenly Aevan turned from a happy-go-lucky kid to a bristling jumpy warrior made Iva wish she had spines on her arms. Just to show she knew the feeling was mutual.

"You don't think it's their dam, do you?" Iva whispered, though she didn't even know why. These big snake-like dragons didn't hear remarkably well anyway.

"... No, I don't..." Aevan whispered back. "I don't think it's a dragon."

"What kind of predator takes dragon eggs?" Iva tried to ask, but then - three somethings appeared from what looked to be a shadow. Humanoid shaped, but hardly human enough to be real people - real, according to the public.

Iva and Aevan both knew that they had to have been heavily Bred by some expert in a field - and perhaps escaped after being sold to a new Owner. They were long, two of them had no legs, instead they had a torso that ended in a snakelike tail. The other had four arms and looked exactly like the sand they'd just come out of.

And the problem of course, was that neither Aevan nor Iva had weaponry, nor true attacking powers. Both could defend themselves admirably well, their father Vanya saw to that. But Aevan and Iva were healers and socialites, not combatants.

"I can sense too much draconic genes in these," Iva said, as one of the snake-tailed ones penned her in to the crumbling cliffside with a hiss. "Who would have Bred them like this?"

"Doesn't matter," Aevan said, having his own troubles with the other snakey one, who'd been so quick to move that even Aevan couldn't block his arms from being pinned to his sides. "They're here now."

"It does matter," Said the tall, four armed leader of the trio. "It certainly does." His voice was scratchy and impatient, and barely human. "That wench in her little hovel up there wanted us and she got us."

"She's a Land Holder!" Aevan yelled.

"She used to be a Suzerinne!" The creature yelled back.

Both Iva and Aevan stopped struggling at that point, and fortunately for them, their guards allowed them to stand calmly instead of moving in for the kill. They were very likely under the strict control of the tall one.

"They're your siblings?" Iva asked, gulping. Her senses told her she was correct, but would he see them that way?

"They are my brothers, yes. And they will kill you if I tell them to."

"Not a good way to get your freedom back," Aevan muttered.

"Who says we are not free?" Said the tall camoflaged man. "We have been free for years - waiting for her to die."

Aevan and Iva looked at one another from across the mound of eggs, they had been separated and pinned across the nook. "Our father would know exactly what you mean," Iva stated, "you don't have to do this. If she used to be a Suzerinne, that would explain a lot about how she behaved to us earlier."

"If you want these eggs, you could just take them," Aevan said. "They..." He trailed off, having just barely enough good sense in his head to stop talking before he said what was on his mind. A question burned in his head.

Iva answered it readily - her powers were quite strong and included something that could suck the information right out of someone.

"They're yours," she whispered. "We didn't know - Did she do this?"

"It is a lasting insult to me," the tall one said. "You should investigate her more closely before working with her."

"I was just asked to see about this nest," Aevan said, "nothing more. I do it with other clients all the time. She probably just looked me up in the book..."

The pair of snakelike brothers slithered around and acted rather impatient. "My twins would rather eat you." He stated.

"Now, look," Iva said, getting more annoyed than afraid. "You should just take the eggs and go somewhere private with them. This is Kiran - there are tons of places where escaped Slaves find to hide."

The look on the four-armed man's face betrayed anger, surprise, and mistrust.

"And you would know this why?" He said, darkly. His brothers leaned closer to their prey.

"Because -- we-" She stammered, but Aevan completed her sentance for her.

"Because we've helped a couple of them get there," he said. "White Valley, ever heard of it?"

The man's nostrils flared wide, but then suddenly he lowered his head as a Slave often would. "I have heard of it. But never found it."

"Then if you take these eggs and promise not to come back to inhabited areas until your time limit runs out," Iva said, boldly, "we'll show you where to go."

"Why would you do that?" He said, still untrusting.

"Because we have nothing to gain by trying to take you back to your Owner or Breeder," Aevan said. "And I hate to see perfectly good Breeding go to waste. You're not suited to live anywhere but White Valley."

"There are already a handful of Renegades there," Iva said. "They would probably worry about you at first, but they'd get used to you if you could get used to them."

"Because we're like this?" The odd long man growled. Iva did not hesitate to nod.

"Yes, because you're obviously Bred. But you of all people would know that you could use that to your advantage. You clearly make exceptional guards or defenders. It would give you a purpose as well as a home."

He didn't seem to be consulting with the two snakey brothers - they were clearly sub-human as far as intellect went. Instead, the tall one seemed to just ponder for a moment, and then nodded.

"We will take the eggs, and go." The pair of snakey ones began collecting up the smallish orbs.

Iva hesitated, but then asked plainly, "they are yours, yes? Not one of theirs?" She indicated the long pair.

"Mine," the taller one said, and his body began to rearrange itself into a more naga-like creature. He kept his four arms, obviously a source of pride for him. But the rest of him could pass for a desert dragon.

Iva looked down, at the eggs. There were still a number of them, buried. The brothers were vaguely digging, but not having much success.

"Most of these are alive," Iva said, "but you've already got two that are dead." She nodded at two that one brother held. The tall one narrowed his eyes and caused the other to drop them. "... Might we keep one?"

Even Aevan looked a bit surprised at that.

"N-..." The tall one said, but then tilted his head again, in deference. "... I suppose that it would be only fair. I can't ask that you find me and my kin a haven and do nothing in return for you."

Iva went and inspected the eggs, helping to dig up the last of them. In all, there were fourteen. A large nest, according to the father. Iva glanced at Aevan, and mentally asked him to check out the four-armed ones genetics. Mostly, checking for hyperfertility.

"Oh yeah," Aevan said. "It's there all right. I can see why you would want to get back at this woman," he indicated the cliffside house. "We'll both want to keep track of you, you know. How you manage."

Iva had selected two eggs - one for each of them, ostensibly, but Aevan didn't know quite what he'd be doing with one at all. Then, Aevan decided it was time to call the hovercraft pilot over.

***

"Well you know I'm going to be totally late for the races now," Aevan said, as they sat back watching the slithery trio head off in the right direction at last. They'd never have made it without help. This far from White Valley, all the way across the whole dune desert? No less than three thousand miles?

The hovercraft driver would maintain his silence, after Iva arranged a payment to his company that would pay off three more craft and maybe even Raise him to Membayar. He was intensely curious himself, about how 'people' could look these days. Most normal people thought Aevan's arm spines were quaintly 'different' ... The Land Master pilot had heard of people with multiple limbs and all, but never actually seen any until now.

Just before they had left, Aevan closed his account with the woman in her house. He left her with the distinct impression that if any trouble happened because of her, she'd be stripped of what little Status she had left and probably be out looking for a place to call home too.

They headed toward Reant, the closest actual city near White Valley. This whole trip had taken them almost two days, even traveling over the desert dunes at nearly three hundred miles per hour they could never have hoped to get these Renegades on a real jet. They had stopped mid-trip to watch the trio hunting, and the Land Master was fascinated even further by this. Maybe he'd want to organize hunts or heck, even move in with the creatures. White Valley could use a nice person like him, now and again, to help out.

Once in Reant, they bid the driver farewell, and watched him prance off to the money exchange.

"We've got two half-human dragon eggs." Aevan said, flatly.

"Yes. Yes we do."

"Why?" He asked, and Iva turned to look at her brother seriously.

"Why not?" She said. "It's a huge leap in terms of what 'human' might mean, brother dear. You saw how he treated his snake like brothers. They were incapable of independant action beyond that of their dragon genetics, but they were ideally suited to take commands from their kin."

Aevan held out first his left hand, then right, "good thing? Bad thing?"

"Good thing," Iva said, "is that they prove that it can be done, that our genetics have finally come along that far that we as colonists to this world share that much in common with it now."

"... And?"

"Bad thing, people won't accept it. They'd hardly accept you if they knew who your other father was. People still aren't comfortable with the idea that they can be chiseled apart and glued back together by Breeders like me. Two fathers - pfah. That's nothing."

"That one kid, Morgontain's prize?" Aevan said, as they hurried to the next jet port open, going to Kua.

"You remember him, he's all slick and shiny. Great hair, good eyes, powers that can't be beat. And he's got no lineage beyond a line of scribbles in Morgontain's Stud Book." Iva smirked.

"So again, good thing bad thing. Why do we want these?" Aevan indicated the eggs which Iva cradled in her arm.

"I want one to see how human it is, and if it's good enough to be educated instead of just trained, I want to use it as a guard for my office."

"And if it's not?"

"Then it gets released back in the wild, where it belongs. I don't have time for pets either."

Aevan looked at the second orb. "But you got two. I don't really have time for it either. I deal in Slaves, Iva, not ... snakes."

"I know, but that's why I chose these particular two. They weren't wholly one or the other - you can tell that, can't you?"

"Sort of. I'm better at it when things are actually born or grown."

"Well then, we'll get our chance soon, I think. They're both squirming in the shell. I hope we get to Kua before they hatch."

(page 3)

Kua was bustling, as usual, when the pair got there. The race that Aevan was meant to be attending had of course already been held the day before, and he'd been missed. There were lots of people with lots of money placed on Steeds in that race, not that he dealt with money there. The race was done, but there were so many people left around, it was a wonder that the transport had a place to land. The bright, tall cliffs behind the city were beautiful as ever, but the press of people concerned both siblings. Their eggs were going to hatch. Where could they go, save someone's clinic?

"Beach hut!" Exclaimed Aevan, startling Iva. There was a bright light in the tall man's eyes, "Ksai said something about getting a beach hut! We can find it. It's got to be nice and warm."

Iva stood still, holding her egg (she'd managed to hand the other off to her brother, only barely, and hoped that he didn't squish it to death) and she licked her lips. "What in the world are you talking about? Ksai, you mean Aern's little blue brat with my sort-of-sister Keenae? And a beach hut?"

"Yeah, beach hut. And yeah, that Ksai. Know any other ones?" He looked at a small list of names and numbers, from his pocket e-pad, and nodded to himself. Aevan turned to the street, and hailed them a carriage. "We need to get to the beach, north-west shore, on the outlook."

The cabbie, a burly, burgandy-skinned man nodded. "Of course y'do," he said. He helped them into the cab and took the reins of his grounded Steed again into thick fingers. Snapping the leather against the brown-and-black furred Steed's back, they jolted into motion. The street was more crowded if anything, down by the beach.

"What's going on down there?" Iva asked, her powers working overtime on her. She enjoyed being around people - and the convention proved that - but this was a mob! There were so many! And plus, it was at the beach which was decidedly not Iva's favorite place in the world. Aevan obviously loved it there.

"I'd'a thought y'knew, wantin' t'be down'ere," Said the man, "there's'a contest goin - some kind'a strong-man or enduro-thing." He puffed up a bit, "I'd'a entered m'self, but I've'a job t'do."

They finally managed to pull up near a busy corner, where the street was framed by low-roofed businesses and bars, gambling parlours and altogether too many bikini-wear shops. People had fruity drinks in their hands, towels draped across their shoulders, and smiles upon their faces.

One particularly large smile was across a very dark green-teal skinned man, whose cobalt-blue hair faded into a tangle of pale blue and white strands that draped down to his knees. His brilliant white teeth glimmered in the Kuan afternoon glare, as he postured in front of myriad admirers. On a slight pedestal, wearing nought but a small thong, the man glanced around and suddenly his vibrant blue eyes caught sight of Iva and Aevan.

"Aevan! Auntie!" He yelled, leaping from the stage and through the crowd - who ooed and ahhed him even as he abandoned his post in the contest. He waved his long-nailed hand, and Aevan laughed and jumped a bit to make sure he was headed in the right direction.

"We have altogether too many relatives," Iva muttered.

"We have two of the biggest single families in the world, Iva," Aevan said, grinning, "and neither side of our relatives seem to show any signs of slowing."

Right about then, the object of so many women (and men's) desires came leaping through the crowd at them.

"Ksai!" Aevan yelled, throwing his arms around his younger brother. "Oop - don't want to break this!" He said, handing Iva the egg which was gently bumping from within.

Ksai's eyes narrowed in a greedy but funny way. "Hey - that's an egg. What's in it? Can I have it?"

Iva sighed, nestling the eggs into her shirt again, "no, you may not have it, unless you really want it later."

"We've got dibs," Aevan asserted. "So - where's this beach hut of yours? Mighty big crowd today."

"It is," Ksai said, "I can't let my fans down..."

The eighteen year old son of Aern and Keenae led them through the milling groups, pointing out the winners circle and the group of guys and women who had already participated and were now being rubbed down by a host of Slaves, Bayaran and eager fans of all Status.

"This kind of debauchery went out a century ago," Iva muttered.

"It's come back in style. Isn't it great?" Ksai laughed. They managed to get down to a nice strip where private guards stood and kept the mass of onlookers away - a private drive to a slice of beach where pebbles and stone dominated the ground on one side and rich fine white sands on the tidal side lay. A series of smallish houses lined the rock strewn side, with carved walkways around the bigger of the boulders. Each house was perhaps the size of Iva's office, at best.

"How much did this set you back, Ksai?" Iva asked, the Membayar in her flairing up. Aern's side of the family just didn't know how to hold on to money - even worse than her father's.

"Oh, it's not much. It's fourteen Units Kua-base, is that a lot?" Ksai said, oblivious to the open stare that Iva was giving him.

"That's... yes, Ksai, that's a lot. I have to imagine that your dream-healing business is actually pulling in that kind of money for you to have been given this." Iva's quick calculation told her that while the place wasn't bigger than her Telva office, it was about forty percent more valuable for the space. Fourteen Units? That?

She looked over the hut, and thought Ksai was out of his mind for wanting to live here even for a moment. But, other urgent things began claiming her attention.

"Aevan, Ksai, the eggs - they're going to hatch." Iva said. She pulled them from her blouse and tried to find a place to put them.

Ksai was a horrid housekeeper, if this little place was an example. There were knicknacks from all around the world - everywhere on every exposed surface. Ksai stepped up and looked at the eggs, and then nodded. He swept out of the room and came back with a plastic bin, large enough for both eggs to hatch and have space for the creatures which came from them to move about. "Hold on," he said to the eggs, as he ran outside with the bucket.

He came back with it filled with hot sand, a moment later. Iva knew that he was as empathic as his brother and she, but also tuned a bit to animals - so he might have some dragon tuned abilities too.

They placed the pair of eggs into the bin, and all three eagerly watched as they cracked. The one, slightly more pale in color than the other, cracked first - its leathery exterior bulging with the effort of the hatchling inside. A small pale-yellow colored foot appeared through one crack, and then its head came out. It continued to squirm and squeeked a bit, while its companion in the darker shell seemed to find a place to actually bite its way out.

"Wait--" Ksai said, suddenly looking at the pair of hatchlings who cheeped and cooed at one another, from their bin. "That ... they have feet. What - desert dragons don't have feet!"

"They're arms, dear," Iva said, picking up both hatchlings and suddenly going all motherly on them. They were hungry - she unconsciously sent a command out to Aevan to get them some meat. "They're arms. Now... I know I can sense them, but I can't distinguish between my human and my dragon sense."

"So ..." Ksai said, sitting down with a bewildered look, "they're half Zekiran, these dragons?"

"Obviously," Aevan said, smugly.

"They might be little people," Iva said. "We'll have to wait and see."

Ksai nodded, slowly, almost seeming hypnotized by the contented sounds coming from the pair.

One was slightly mottled and darker, the other a sleeker shade of yellow. "One's female," Iva announced, "this one," the pale colored one waved its - her - arms in the air a bit. It didn't look even remotely human, but it was certainly responding to things in a human manner.

"Now, they're going to need a lot of attention," Aevan said. "And you know I travel a lot."

"Sounds like you're trying to back out of something," Ksai observed. "You can leave them here with me for a while, I'm on a break anyway. Dream therapy does take a lot out of a person. Specially me. So I work about two months on and take a couple off."

"Must be nice," Iva said. "Our work is never done..."

They relaxed into the evening and watched the two little half-dragons. They were both full of energy, though they seemed to wind down with the setting of the sun. They curled up next to one another in the still-warm sand in their bin, as Iva and Aevan managed to convince Ksai that yes, they would come back and at least check on the little darlings every few days or as they could.

When the sun was almost down, the halflings perked up - both of them stood stiffly up on their well-muscled tails and reached for the edge of the bin. Their amber-colored eyes (their heads were only vaguely humanoid, they had cobra-necks and flat, wedge shaped heads) went wide.

"What are they doing?" Ksai said, worried. "I don't-"

"They're reacting to something. How odd," Iva said, and turned to Aevan. He had his eyes fixed on the window.

"They've just detected another incursion," he whispered. Moments later, the alarms rang through Kua's streets. Over the water, a quintet of dark, long ships flew ominously closer.

The half-dragon children gave off a keening noise. Iva picked them up, and that seemed to comfort them a bit, but they were intensely focused upon the ships through the window.

"They knew they were coming," Iva said, "amazing."

"That is amazing," Ksai said, "and you got them from a wandering renegade. That's even more amazing. I wonder if the others from his brood do this?"

"He'll have to find that out on his own," Aevan said, "but if they do, White Valley has nothing more to worry about - these aliens would be stupid to stir up a nest of hostile desert dragons."

***

The Kua incursion only lasted as long as it took to bring a sea dragon up from her resting place nearby. Since the aliens had decided to drop through the atmosphere about fifteen miles out over the sea, that gave the dragoness enough time to gather speed.

From the beach hut, the trio and their little charges watched as a gigantic black-green shape soared out of the water, her jet of brine attacking one ship as her long tail fin snapped another out of its trajectory and into the water. The other three ships broke their formation, momentarily distracted by the sudden attack. That of course gave the Sky dragons time to get out there.

From the cliffs near the city, came four massive Sky dragons, their Masters bravely riding them into battle. Or, crazily, as Iva would say. Why lose riders as well as a dragon, if they were to be attacked?

The Sky dragons were green and white, Zerin's colors flying over their sea. "How patriotic," Ksai muttered.

By the time the invaders had broken off their attack on the sea dragon, they were already surrounded by creatures who could almost match their size - not their speed of course, but there were more where they came from waiting to be sent. A pair of the invaders ships were bathed in the bright flames of the dragons, and went into the ocean without hesitation - the last of the fivesome under its own power began to make its way toward the city.

The dragons pursued it, but there were already reinforcements waiting - and apparently this was to be a suicide run for the aliens, because the ship began to nose down toward the city's crowded business district. It took two of the Sky dragons all their strength (Ksai, Aevan and Iva watched now from the doorway of his beach hut) to push it back out to sea. The engines on the machine screamed, waking the pair of half dragons again. One of the Sky dragons was badly injured, when the engine near it's neck blew up - she had to fly with difficulty back to the cliffs. But the other had already done his job, and the sea dragoness yet again took her cue and lept up to make sure that the ship didn't injure anyone else.

"What about the fifth ship?" Aevan asked, "the one that the sea dragon only blasted? It wasn't downed, I didn't see it go down."

"Neither did I," Ksai said.

"I would imagine that the authorities know about it," Iva said. "But we should make sure."

They contacted the local dragon breeders, and did so.

Some day, probably soon, they would be telling the dragon breeders about their little half-dragon warning system. But until they had grown up, they would have to be shown off as a new breed of dragon - and not a splice. Letting that kind of information out to the wrong people would get a lot of dangerous questions asked. Who bred them? When? And where are the parents? Whose dragon was it?

None of those would be good to answer.

***

Osh knocked at Iva's office door and peered inside. His younger sister was fretting about something, but soon enough she'd have something else entirely to worry about. "I've found a place that you need to see," Osh announced, when Iva barely looked up from her communication board. "It's not urgent, but you'll want to see it, really."

"Is this about that investment property you wanted me to buy?" Iva groaned, "I barely have time to maintain what I've got, let alone..."

"No, not really," Osh said, then shrugged. His tall horns appeared to be a bit dull, not shiny like they would be if he'd been doing proper Zekiran work. "Okay, yes, it is sort of - did you buy it?"

"I ... yes, I did," Iva said, thinking about the smallish property out in the middle of darn near nowhere. The scrub hills past their mother's house in Nakani. It wasn't a place that she really wanted to find herself stranded at, there were no decent roads going to the place, and even less in the way of civilized equipment.

"Good!" Osh said, "Get your coat. You'll need it. Aevan's on his way already."

"... what do you mean by that?" Iva asked, her hand hesitating over her coat. "On his way where?"

"To this place! Come on!" Osh said, and to Iva's eyes he seemed very excited about something. When Iva got outside, she halted at the door to the clinic. Osh's dragon, brown Wimkukith, was standing there. He was almost like a Sky dragon, but he had four legs instead of two, and he was from another world. Ryslen's sands had been kind to Zekira.

"This is about dragons, isn't it?" Iva said. The word about her little half-dragons had spread among family members but as they all valued their brothers and sisters (and aunties, uncles, neices etc) they kept it only with their family.

"Yeah - I've found a place that has a beautiful pair of black-golds parenting. It's called Twin Moon, it's just exactly as cool as it sounds..."

"But since when do I need to be at a ..." Iva blinked at her older brother. "You want me to stand for one of these?" She indicated Wim, who tossed his head and snorted proudly.

"Of course I do. Aevan and you are both Tuned, right?" Osh asked, and Iva nodded mutely. "Then there you go. One of these dragons will be with you forever, not like the others here. And I want to know if a bonded rider like me could also become a dragon master of other types here."

"I would think so," Iva said, absently. She pulled on her heavy coat. "Now, where did you say we were going?"

"Twin Moon, and we're to meet Aevan and T'shen on the way." Osh helped his sister up to the dragon's wide back, where she held on to him and watched for his horns.

"How can we meet on the way? There isn't anything on the way to -" Iva's breath was taken from her as they rose into the air with a big lurch. Moments later, they were soaring over the Telva coastline, making people below pause and admire the great brown.

And as they entered the Nexus, over the sea, Iva knew what her brother had meant about meeting along the way. The Nexus was between worlds, but there was more than just a dark teleporting nothingness there. Spirits of the dead, dragon and rider alike, flew everywhere. From them, a shape seemed to emerge. T'shen on a beautiful blue, with Aevan sitting happily behind him.

The blue rider was not Zekiran, but he was quite handsome, with brilliant red hair, strong yellow-tan skin, and mysterious yellow eyes. He was also one of the more intensely telepathic members of the Kshau Protectorate, and he announced that they were nearing their destination.

When they emerged from the Nexus it was over a beautiful night time locale, a foresty world that was filled with life. Dragons flew around even in the darkness. T'shen landed first, Osh following with his bigger brown.

Several people came to greet the riders, and one was obviously a bit more important than the rest. She was a red-furred fox patterned woman, that T'shen introduced as the Causear BrierFox. She explained that there was indeed a small clutch of eggs on the sands - her own Noire had been caught by a stunning flame-black/gold male. Two gold and blacks could only mean that there would be good results from this mating.

Iva was a bit less comfortable with all this than her half brother. Aevan of course jumped right in to everything, he apparently had a bit more warning than Iva had. "Why is it that we were chosen, above anyone else?" Iva asked absently.

"Because you show promise," the Causear replied, taking them to view the eggs, "you are good with dragons and people already, so that is a plus."

"I suppose," Iva said. When she saw the eggs on the sands, her senses flared up again. They were brilliantly alive, and certainly far more sentient than the half-zekiran creatures who were still in the care of Ksai. Iva turned to Aevan, "what about Ksai, he'll be left alone with the hatchlings." There was worry on her voice, but Aevan calmed her.

"We can go back and forth, and from what T'shen has told me, we can do that through time as well as space. So the moment we're able to, we can zip back and see. Or, we could bring them here. How long do you think they'll take to mature?" Aevan asked, as they were led to their cavern.

"It could be years, if they're as human as they seemed. But I would guess more like months. Their lifespan can't be as long as a true Zekiran's." Iva sighed. "Desert dragons only live a couple decades at best, don't they?"

Aevan nodded, somewhat sadly. "They don't have names, yet, either." He said glumly. "But we can flip back there and decide unless Ksai's already done that. Which he probably has..."

Eventually they settled into the routine of life at Twin Moon. They would wait for others to arrive, and at last, for the eggs to hatch...

(site is long gone sorry) (though I did do that logo)

(page 4)

Neither dark skinned Sengihr could believe their ears when they were told the sad truth. The eggs weren't going to hatch. Iva was kind of pissed, that she'd wasted her time here. Aevan was truly disappointed, but distracted by many things otherwise.

But it was the reaction that the one young Zekiran (almost pernese?) woman was having, that really bothered both of them. Siren, the daughter of Mirage and Etan, was pretty much having herself a major nervous breakdown.

Both Iva and Aevan could sense her from half a mile away anyway - she was a Zekiran, after all, and her powers were kicking in. And she was the child of two of the most powerful mentalists there...

And she was just losing it. Outwardly, Siren did nothing more than stare and shamble around the dragonry (when they were still allowed to even wander the halls). But inside, Siren's mind was a cacophony of angry voices - all her own. Demands of why! How! met up with pitiful screaming and fearful doubts.

Iva wanted to try consoling her, but she could barely even get close enough to be in the same room, before her mind had to shut the girl out. Aevan swallowed it up, the Sengihr part of him truly taking a beating. That was his job, suddenly - because Siren began pummeling his high chest with her fists.

"It's not fair!" She yelled, half sobbing, "it's not fair! I can't take this any more! I lost my dragon before, and now there won't be another and everyone promised me! They promised me!"

"Shhhh," Aevan said, trying to hold her arms. She was a lot stronger than she looked, this girl. But eventually her angry cries gave way to a softer moaning sadness.

"Your dragon died?" Aevan said, and that provoked a big wail. "Sorry - sorry, I just... didn't realise that it would be so... Traumatic." He looked at the doorway where Iva was, with a strange expression. "Iva, are you sure that you want to do this now?"

"Are you?" She replied.

Aevan sought something deeper in Siren's mind. Back behind the anguish and anger, there was something. A brilliant spark, a memory of bonding. A sweetness, fulfilment.

"Yes," he said. "Siren, there is still hope. Wherever the Protectorate can go, we can stand. It doesn't matter any more, we'll take you with us, and all three of us can go back home together."

"Zekira is ready for more offworld dragons," Iva said, but just then Siren looked up sharply at her.

"Where?" She said. Both half-siblings grew a little stiff.

".... Zekira?" Iva said. "Where we're from?"

"I'm not from this Zekira place. I am from Pern."

"But you're Mirage's daughter." Aevan said.

"Lady Holder Mirage, yes," Siren said, backing away from the tall green skinned man. "And why are you green? It's not just the light..." She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "I thought it was always just the light..."

"No, I'm... green," Aevan muttered. "My father was blue, and my other father was dark brown, like her-" He was going to toss his head at Iva, but Siren went off on that one too.

"What - are - you - talking about?!"

She then bolted out of the room, and they had to chase her down.

In the process, however, they ran into the last person they thought likely to be sulking around the dragonry. A tall, dark furred male panther morph. Sovereign Fate - the rider of the clutch's sire.

"So she's found out, has she?" Fate asked, and the pair of Zekirans nodded. "Well, that figures. I really hoped that she would find something here... But now, it's gone..."

Even he was acting oddly. Normally somewhat flamboyant and cocky, the panther Kin type breathed a deep sigh and sullenly took the pair out to the sands. What was left there, was not pretty.

Siren was there, clutching on to soft cold eggs. She would run to another, dive upon it, but even the mother of this clutch didn't seem interested in stopping her from doing this to her own eggs.

There was no point, apparently.

The gold flame black sire gave a bit of a snort, and prevented Siren from leaving, blocking the exit with his long tail. The trio cornered her, and Aevan again tried to keep her steady.

"We'll go somewhere new, and we will see what's out there," Aevan said. "Siren, it's not the end of everything. You're quite young. And..." he gave a little smirk, "don't you want to maybe see why I've got two fathers and one of them is blue?"

That made her pause. Iva thought to herself that he was being a clever devil, good job of it. Even Fate seemed to like that line.

"He's got two fathers?" He asked Iva, who nodded, "I see."

"No, you probably don't. Want to come with us?"

"I thought I was the one to bring you where you want to go?" the ex-assassin said. His tail touched Siren's leg while it waved and she stared at it too.

"What is going on here? Where are all you weird people coming from?" Siren asked.

"We're Zekiran, and I don't know what he is." Aevan said.

"I'm Kin, but don't let anyone hear you say that. Just furry, miss. My studly companion here," he indicated Assassinzeth, "will be happy to escort you away from this place. Come on. Maybe you can all take in a concert - the band that stole my name is playing again."

Since he had the keys to their proverbial car, they had to agree.

***

They decided to split up briefly, because Assassinzeth had chosen several places for them to stand. One, a more traditional place that Siren was a bit more comfortable with. The others, chosen for Aevan's free spirit and Iva's strong will, were Xidaver and the Isle of Mirrors.

Follow Siren

Follow Aevan

Follow Iva

Watch as Fate rushes between all those places! Just kidding. Actually, he doesn't want to be watched. He's fine without that.

((Obviously, links for the sites are not working any more))