“You are still injured from yesterday. The town will not collapse if you take a day to rest.”
“Well, we didn’t get much rest last night.” Eleri eyed him, and S’samph was certain there was subtext in her words, but he wasn’t about to comment.
“Will you close the clinic for the morning at least? I would like you to get more rest.” He put strength behind his words. Eleri might ignore him, but he wanted her to at least know his concern. She made a soft noise and then reached for his face.
“I can officially close the clinic for the morning. I’ll just be a bit behind on my practicum hours.” She pulled up an interface screen on the flat desk surface in her room. “Luckily, nothing urgent this morning. I’ll send out a notification to my patients asking them to reschedule.”
“Good. Your hours and patients will wait.” S’samph covered her hand with his own. “Will you come home to our nest now, Eleri? We have mated. There is no reason for you to continue staying here.” He was being presumptuous, but humans expected more of a mating chase from their males, so he suspected his forwardness would not be unwelcome.
“Now?” Her voice pitched higher with surprise at his request. She worried at her lower lip with her teeth. “I think I should at least stay here until Aglao awakens. Also, you’re technically still my patient. I don’t think I should be living with my patient.”
S’samph suspected she might give such an answer. He had prepared for the contingency. “I’m your mate before I am your patient. If you don’t want to come back to the nest yet, then I will stay here with you until you are ready to leave.”
“You don’t…” Eleri stopped mid-sentence and then laughed quietly to herself. “Thank you. I would like that. This bed is a bit small for both of us.”
“It’s temporary. I have slept on worse. It is large enough for whatever we need it for.” This statement elicited a pretty pink color on Eleri’s cheeks. S’samph slid himself up, unused to lingering in bed for so long. The idleness made him unsettled, something he and Eleri shared in common it seemed. “I need to go speak with Pyo and learn what will be done with Minio. There are also a few things I need from our nest if I am going to stay here with you.” He adjusted the scratchy blanket back over Eleri. “Sleep more. I’ll be back soon.”
Although he suspected Eleri would sneak downstairs to start cleaning up the clinic from her encounter with Minio instead of going back to sleep, he was happy enough as long as she wasn’t actively treating patients. He ventured out of the clinic to find K’kaen seated on the entry ramp.
“I was wondering if you were ever going to emerge.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” S’samph had been fomenting a plan in the early hours of the morning while Eleri slept in his arms.
“That would be a first.” K’kaen’s tail twitched with amusement. “You look like a male with a plan, so you had better tell me what you’re going to get me involved with.”
“I am going to accept Pyo’s offer to be the head of security for Laurus.”
“Are you serious?” K’kaen hurried after him, trying to keep pace with S’samph’s longer strides. “You threatened to relocateto Abwele last time he asked you.”
“I’m serious.” He slowed to allow his friend to catch up.
“What changed your mind?”
“There is finally something in this town worth protecting.” He wasn’t about to go into too much detail with K’kaen. Yes, it was for Eleri, but at the same time, he realized if he didn’t make himself someone who could be relied upon, she would never be able to come to that conclusion. He had no skill for farming, and although he’d tried to distance himself from his responsibilities as a soldier, the desire to protect the community never really left him.
“And your clutch sister and I are meaningless?”
S’samph aimed a withering look in his direction. He knew K’kaen was being inflammatory on purpose, but sometimes the other male prodded too much. “You and S’kasia don’t require my protection. I want Laurus to be a safe place for Eleri.” And for any hatchlings they might have. Things had been progressively more dangerous with the raviks growing bold around them. S’samph wanted to ensure Laurus was a safe haven for his mate and future family. He also wanted the authority to throw his weight around after raviks like Minio if the occasion called for it.
“Should I come with you to visit the kyrot?” K’kaen asked.
“No. I don’t know how long it will take. Wait here in case I’m not back in time to escort Eleri to her afternoon appointments. She will feel safer with someone at her side.”
“Fine, but it’s for her sake, not yours.” K’kaen resumed his seat on the clinic steps. “I’m waiting out here though. It’s always freezing inside.”
“As long as you don’t let Eleri leave unattended.”
“I think I can manage to keep track of my small human sister.”
S’samph grunted his assent. As much as he was reluctant to leave her behind, K’kaen was more than capable of keeping her out of trouble for a few hours. After a short walk down the main road, he reached Pyo’s office, which also housed the only holding cell in Laurus. S’samph entered first and found Pyo stooped over his desk, tapping furiously on his datapad interface. The older male didn’t look up at first, as he was too engrossed in his work, but after S’samph stood there for a few moments, Pyo finally registered his presence.
“Ah, S’samph. I was wondering when you would be here,” Pyo said. He rose from the desk and flexed his wings to half-mast.
S’samph prepared himself to ask the necessary question. Pyo was a reasonable male by all accounts, but he wasn’t entirely sure how he would respond to his prying into issues involving his family. “What is to be done with Minio?”
“Well, we still have him in the cell. He’s mostly come to his senses at this point, but he doesn’t remember anything. Not surprising given the massive amount of Iridescence he took.” Pyo shook his head in disgust. “I’m not even sure where he got it from. Myla probably knows, but she’s refusing to say anything about it.”
“What will be done with him next then?”
