"She doesn't want to understand what they would do with most of us. If they harvest our loh for trade exports… becoming nothing more than commodities for them to sell. It would be a horribly way to die."
My treasure had survived what the krelins had done to her, but not without a bit of luck on her side. Many estrelds were not so lucky. It wasn't until we returned to Estreldez that she confessed that she wasn't the only one taken when she was grabbed. At the very same waterfall she spoke of earlier, another female was taken. She thinks often of how an estreld she never truly knew was still gone, and likely dead from being harvested like The Zorn had wanted to do to her. Her experience was one of many the Almder refused to acknowledge.
There was no telling how many estrelds were taken during each trade visit, and none of them were being reported to the palace that we knew of. Hazel stood from her chair and cupped my chin to face her instead of the wall, lost in my absent thoughts of how many I was unable to save. The new radiation net should stop unsanctioned landings on the main planet without notifying us of a disturbance in the links.
It was most likely the only reason the Almder allowed us to build it, and the only acknowledgement we'd ever receive about what was happening to Estreldez outside of the city and the largest clan on the planet.
"Faith will not be taken by the krelins," Hazel promised like she was threatening the goddess should she fail to protect our daughter. She was safely with Ezra on the main planet, deep within the desert, and we would know if a spaceship passed through the net to try to land near there. Ezra was the lead researcher in the clan and an old friend of the woman who took care of Hazel, the estreld she grew up knowing as her mom.
"She has something you didn't," I assured my mate. "She has us, and she will not be sheltered in ignorance of what she is capable of." Faith was born with her mother's attributes of many beautiful loh jewels in a light pinkish hue, and yellow eyes like my own. Her skin is scaled around her loh, and covering sensitive areas to protect her vital organs, but they are the same coloring as her skin, allowing her to blend well with other estrelds. I was saddened to see she didn't inherit a tail, but it was common for estreld traits to be dominated by the mother's attributes. The offspring took on traits more like their mother than their male counterparts. It was pleasing enough to see that Faith had spikes in her hair, letting me know that one day she could defend herself as my ancestors had.
Faith would know how to use her loh in defense, her tincture oils to give her an advantage, and learn to fight as if she had no advantages at all.
"It's our job to make sure she never has to test those capabilities beyond her training," Hazel said with a heavy sigh. "The clan believes training warriors is because the Almder wishes to open up our mating ceremonies to offworlders in the future, that opening up our trade beyond Krelis will protect us from their invasion. None of them realize how close we are to war."
"I'll be ready!" Faith said from the doorway, but what I saw immediately was her lovely green skin marred from her fingers up to her shoulder. I hissed in distress as I made my way to our injured lifeborn.
"What has happened to you," I gritted out while examining for cracks in her loh jewels, she had so few of them, that a single damaged loh could be life-threatening.
"Oh, that happened when I was next to the tarnpul," she said dismissively, like it was nothing.
"What did we say about moon bathing on untreated tarnpul!" Hazel was already beside me struggling between anger and concern.
Faith scoffed. "It's nothing, watch," she said while she concentrated her loh and the black faded from her skin and scales. Until all that was left were a few trace amounts at the fingertips that colored her nails black.
My second eyelid slid over to check on the glow of her radiation, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the beautiful heat pulsing from her like a star. Then she grabbed my claws and concentrated once more. Her skin turned green.
"Your loh are controlling the manner in which the moon's rays are reflecting from your skin…" Hazel said in awe.
"Pretty neat, right?" Faith said with excitement. "It's easier to do around the tarnpul, that's why I've been moon bathing there so often. I almost got my whole torso to be black!"
I paled at the image of my lifeborn bathing with no robes to notice if her whole torso had changed or not. I cleared my throat. "You are wearing your robes?"
She rolled her eyes at me. "Dad," Faith groaned.
"I just don't want anyone spying on you. You are not old enough for mating," I reasoned with her.
"It is important to wear your robes," Hazel agreed, though for different reasons. "I don't want anyone making fun of you for having less loh than them. I've heard rumors of younglings being bullied for the number of loh they have, and you have more scales than loh."
"They are beautiful," I added quickly. The advice was sound, but what estrelds valued in mates wasn't exclusive to loh prominence, as my own treasure could attest. I had none myself. Scales were a blessing.
With a kick of dust at her boots, Faith pouted, "No one is looking, anyway. You both stay on Bina, more than at the palace, or Elder Ezra's place. Almder says that I can't stay with Elder Ezra for a few cycles because the krelins are sending warriors to discuss trade agreements."
"That's why you're back early," Hazel said with a shake of her head, since we were just on a communication with Almder and not a word was said about our lifeborn returning, nor the incoming krelins."
Chapter nineteen
Hazel
"Mom?"
"Mmhmm..." I mumbled, distracted with comparing the skin samples to make sure she was safe.
"Mom," she repeated with annoyance.
"Yes, hmm?" I pried myself from the images I was zoomed in on. It couldn't be possible, could it?
"Dad's going to the mines again instead of waiting for the next link stuff to come in. He's making Loric babysit me," she whined.
