He turned to Patty, kissing her cheek. “I will see you soon.”
“I’ll be there, big guy,” she said, winking at him.
Dhenea took his lower arm in hers, guiding him into the hallway. “I will escort Rema to the dance hall while my wife deals with matters of state and then come back to help you plan your dance for Heat, Patty.”
“No problem. I’m going to shower really quick. Someone got me all dirty.”
Rema felt his face heat, his ears growing hot as Patty shot him a saucy smile over her shoulder before the door shut behind her.
“I need to get a new shirt,” he explained to Dhenea as he extracted his arm from her grasp to open his door.
“What is wrong with this one?”
All he could do was blush in response and retreat into his room.
Her laughter followed him.
When he returned, freshly dressed she retook his arm.
He patted her hand on his arm. “What did you decide would work for stalling the Unity?”
“Well, you remember how Imma said that we had been threatened by Councilor Thasnan. He said some very damning things about his plans for the out planets. Proof of corruption things. I may have recorded these threats… and Imma may be planning on telling the At’ens that we would upload those recordings to the general link for all the Unity citizens to see. And you know how very much his House’s reputation means to him.”
That might workbut. “That is a dangerous gamble, Dhenea. He could simply turn on us early. Are you sure he doesn’t already know that the Neldre plan to defect?”
Her smile was a thing of cold calculation. “We have set all communications on a returning loop since the moment you arrived. No one would be the wiser. It would seem as if their messages were sending, but it would just return to our storage cache here on the planet. The only open pathway is to your Anu, who has been monitoring closely.”
He stopped, looking down at her. “Did you and Imma always plan to join our fight?”
She leaned into him, bumping his body with hers. “Of course, you silly child. As if we would ever let you fight a war alone. Rema,” she dropped his arm to step in front of him, all of her hands reaching for his, “I want you to look at me and understand something very important.” She let go of one hand to reach up and cup his cheek. “We are doing this for two reasons. One because it will be good for all the Neldre to break away from a corrupt system and move towards change, but the most important reason we are giving our support is foryou. You, the child wechose,have found yourself at odds with a very powerful enemy, and we would not leave you to stand alone.”
She raised her hand when he made to object. “I know, you have Ohem and that he is a dear friend to you. I know that you follow him because you love him and it is the right thing to do. Well, we follow you because we love you, too, and Imma and I above all else, trust your judgment.” She smiled wryly. “And our other children who call you brother have voiced that they would disown us forever if we did not give you our support. I do believe Dhadoi has already decided she will be joining you on the battlefield.”
The mention of his mentor almost broke him. He’d done a good enough job keeping the swelling emotions under control as Dhenea declared him her son. His throat was tight, and while there were tears gathering, none fell. But that the female he had most looked up to his whole life as the example of what a warrior should be was going to come fight by his side? It was nearly too much.
He cleared his throat a few times, trying to find the words. Dhenea waited patiently, ever the understanding parent.
Finally he admitted defeat. “I don’t know what to say. I— I am—”
Dhenea stopped him by wrapping him in a tight hug. “There isn’t a need to say anything, Rema. We know you love us. I’m just sorry you ever doubted that we loved you in return.”
It wasn’t that he doubted it. It was that his mother and blood kin constantly told him otherwise.
When she let him go, he chuckled helplessly. “I hope there are no more emotional revelations today. I do not think my heart can take it.”
“Ah, but those are the best days. Especially when the revelations are good. What others have you had?” she asked, taking his arm again as they continued walking.
“Patty told me she loved me.”
Dhenea squealed, squeezing his arm. “Oh, I am so happy for you, Rema! But of course she does, you are easy to love.”
He hoped he was. He felt like he tried to be, though time would tell. So far he and Patty hadn’t had much to disagree on. There was just too much going on, between her arrival on the Solus, and her falling ill to the war they were now fighting in. When times were calmer, he was sure that would be the true test of their relationship. He knew in his heart that they would work on any disagreements, though he felt that they had covered most of the important topics.
Their agreement on maybe traveling for a while suited him. He wasn’t too attached to any one place, and he had a feeling that eventually she would want to stay close to Jack. How else were they to be the ‘cool’ aunt and uncle?
“Have you decided what dance you will perform together?” Dhenea asked, letting go of him so that she could spread her wings for the descent to the floor below them when they came to the open balcony at the end of the hall.
He followed her down, landing smoothly beside her and folded his wings again. “I think I will do Us’e. It is intimate, and the movements are sexual enough to fit the challenge.”
