“Among Rownt under two hundred, there are no nutu traders at all.”
Takil waited.
After a few minutes, Liam continued. “Most human palteia do not reveal themselves, and are not easily identified unless they have been damaged in a way that makes their need to serve obvious.”
This was not a fact as much as a reasonable assumption, given human psychology. It was one that made Takil uncomfortable because he knew that his Liam had been damaged by humans, but neither parent spoke of how. They would only say that the humans who had caused harm had died centuries ago. Takil often wished humans had longer lives so that he could have the pleasure of killing them. However, his Ondry would be unlikely to give him that pleasure. If the humans had survived time, his Ondry would have killed them himself.
“Do you not see the connection?” Liam tightened his fingers around Takil’s arm. Takil frowned as he considered those facts. He suspected he understood his Liam's point. “If one shakes the puzzle box often enough, eventually two matching pieces will be brought close together.” Takil acknowledged that the odds of his parents meeting were impossibly low, but eventually a human palteia had to meet a Rownt chilta. Takil was grateful that it had been his parents, and not some random palteia and chilta that he did not know.
“Humans and Rownt had not known each other for long before Ondry and I met,” Liam said. “The puzzle box had not been shaken very often. Some would look at that and say that we were destined to meet, and that God had, like a nutu trader, arranged the pieces so that we would.”
Ondry spoke for the first time. “My memory differs slightly. I did not see a human palteia, not at first.” He rumbled as his gaze grew unfocused as though looking at a memory.
“Oh? What did you see?”
“I saw a trader who knew so few words that every time he spoke, his ignorance was more obvious.” Ondry trilled.
“Truly?” Liam sounded amused rather than offended.
Takil dared not show a tooth, but he flipped his tail at his Ondry. Takil could not imagine any creature in the universe more skilled than Liam when it came to trading words. Takil hoped one day to match his parent, but he knew how far he was from that goal. His Ondry was better at predicting markets, but even he admitted he could not match Liam with language. “Liam’s language is better than most Rownt.”
Liam patted Takil on the arm. “It is now. But your parent is right that Rownt was a difficult language for me to learn. No doubt I did sound quite ignorant. But, in my defense, I was better at speaking Rownt than any other human alive, even then.”
“Yes,” Ondry said, “but other humans maintained the illusion of competence by remaining in the trading square.”
“If you believed I was not competent with my work, why did you invite me to share a meal and to trade with you again?” Liam asked.
Takil looked to his Ondry to see the answer to that, because it was a curious reaction. If Ondry had truly believed Liam was not worthy of his titles, Ondry should have avoided Liam until such time as others realized Liam should be removed from his position.
The skin around Ondry's eyes tightened. “I feared you were dalit, and you had been given responsibilities before you were ready for them.” The skin around Ondry’s eyes tightened. “I declared my independence in the temple so young, that I often regretted my choice. When my parent died, my status prevented me from crawling into another's nest and grieving her as I wished to. I saw in you, someone who needed some small part of the nest where you could rest until you were ready to carry your status.” Ondry rested his knuckles against Liam's fora. “I saw myself in you.”
Liam shifted to face Ondry before he reciprocated. Each rested his hand against the other’s fora and they leaned closer. “I do not know how long I could've survived without finding a nest, and I will always be grateful that you are the one to offer a nest.”
Takil’s eyes ached as the skin around them tightened too much. He knew his Ondry continued to speak of his own regrets with the temple ceremony because he hoped Takil would not claim independence too early. Sometimes, Takil wanted that ceremony. He grew frustrated by his parents’ inability to see that he could trade on his own. He understood Earth was not Prarownt, and that he had to trade differently with these aliens, but his parents insisted on monitoring his efforts, as if he were an eggling who did not know how to steal meat off a parent’s plate.
But then he saw these moments between his Ondry and his Liam. If he left their nest, he would be forever outside the intimacy they shared. They would still be his parents and they would still assist him as long as their hand remained unseen. He had every faith in that. His Liam might even assist when others were watching to judge Takil’s inability to stand on his own. That was a real danger.
But the greater danger was losing access to the intimacy he saw when they touched. He enjoyed the strength of their connection. Of course he knew that Rewa’s parents had the same bond as chilta and palteia, but he would never expect to see Zach and the Grandmother show it where others watched. Being here between a chilta and palteia was a privilege few Rownt ever enjoyed.
His Ondry was right. He did not want to lose his parents’ nest. Not yet. After a few minutes, his parents separated and Liam turned back to Takil.
“Does the improbability of your relationship mean that you assume God put you together?” Takil asked when Liam’s silence continued.
Again, Liam huffed. Perhaps the subject was as confusing for him as it was for Takil. If Liam could not understand humans, Takil was not sure what hope the rest of them had. “I do not know the answer. Perhaps God did make it possible. Perhaps he put me in a place where I could find the one person who would give me what I needed.” Liam smiled at Ondry, and the sides of his eyes crinkled. It was the opposite of a Rownt expression of joy, and yet it was similar.
“Perhaps it was chance, and the great wisdom of your parent in recognizing what I am. I do not know.” Liam turned back to Takil. “Therefore I will not take a position. I will not criticize others who may choose to find joy in the idea that their God looks after them as a nutu trader would, or perhaps as a chilta would. And if they wish to decorate trees in order to better enjoy that feeling of being watched, then I will not speak against it.”
Takil considered the decorations displayed in the shop window. He understood his Liam's explanation, but he was grateful he was Takil and not a human from Earth. He did not require decorations to remind him of an invisible god. Instead, he enjoyed the comfort of two parents who shared their nest with him and who always had his best interests in mind, even when they were being annoying.
