“We should discuss your actions in coming back for me–”
“We’re not discussing that,” Jace cut him off and made a movement like a slice through the air with his arm. “Leaving you behind was not an option for me.”
Khoth frowned. “That is not logical.”
“It doesn’t matter if it is logical or not. It simply was not–and never will be–an option for me,” Jace told him.
“We just met.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s not even been 24-hours since this insanity began.” Jace made a movement of looking at a watch he didn’t have on. But the suit’s computer did show him the time not only on Earth but on other planets. “Look, humans, ah, packbond with people they are in dangerous situations with. They also pack-bond with toasters if they have googly eyes on them, but let’s not get into that.”
“You pack-bonded to me?” Khoth was doing that eyebrow lifting thing.
“Yes, yeah, I have. You’re someone I trust,” Jace told him awkwardly. “You’ve saved my life a bunch of times. You were there from getting me to Gehenna to jumping into the dark void of space. I’m pretty bonded with you.”
Khoth’s forehead furrowed. He was quiet for long moments and then said slowly and carefully, “We have something called the Rule of Duuskukeh.”
“What’s that?” Jace asked, even as he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it.
“It is difficult to explain in one sitting,” Khoth stated, “but its most concise meaning is: to put the needs of the many over the needs of the one.”
“Okay,” Jace said slowly, too. “And what does that have to do with me going back for you.”
“I think you know.” Khoth’s blue-on-blue eyes were fixed on him. They glowed a little in the low light of the kitchen. “Your survival is more important than mine for the sake of all in the Illumen Alliance. Your pack-bind to me is less than your duty to the whole.”
But Jace was shaking his head. “I don’t work that way.”
“You may not now, but you must learn–”
“No, I won’t,” Jace said fiercely. “There’s a concept in our military where they swear that they will leave no one behind. They will do whatever they have to do to bring that person back with them from battle. If that person is captured, they will go rescue them. If they are killed, they will do all they can to bring their remains back.”
“And that–”
“Makes everyone take risks to protect each other and to protect the whole that they wouldn’t take otherwise,” Jace said. “They know that they are valuable. They know that they will not be forgotten about. It adds to their courage or maybe even gives it to them in certain situations. Knowing that they won’t be treated as if they are replaceable makes people act selflessly. I may not be a Marine, but I believe in this. I believe in leaving no one behind, because the whole is made up of individuals and the moment we stop caring about them… Well, the whole doesn’t mean a lot now, does it?”
Khoth’s brow was furrowed again. “We have learned the Rule of Duuskukeh, because of the danger of bringing the infected back. The reason I will not ask for our battle to be marked with a ta’na is because…” Khoth paused and looked down at his hands in his lap. He twisted them together. “Because I went back for my sister, Daesah.”
That’s the one I told you about, Gehenna whispered.
Yeah.
Having seen what the Khul did to their prisoners, Jace’s heart lurched in his chest. Seeing Mrs. Lo and other neighbors in those pods had been bad enough, but to see his mom or dad or Sami or George… He felt like throwing up.
“Daesah was more than my sister. She was my commander. She was the High Commander of the Illumen Alliance’s military,” Khoth explained. His mouth tightened as he said her title.
“Wow… that’s… that’s impressive.”
“She was impressive. The best of us,” Khoth agreed and then swallowed hard. His hands trembled, but with a seeming force of will he stilled them. “I went back for her because…”
“Because she was your sister,” Jace said as the silence stretched on too long.
Khoth nodded jerkily as if admitting this was gut wrenching. “I told the Council that I did so because of my concern of the Khul gaining all of her insight and our strategy. That is true. But I went because she was my sister. I broke the Rule of Duuskukeh and was exiled here because of it.”
Jace could and couldn’t understand such a punishment. Terror of infection would require the need to have people abandon those they cared about to cut down on risk. Jace understood this. He even understood why they would punish people who violated that. It was too great a threat. But such a rule came with an incredible cost. Leaving those loved ones behind would make anyone cling to logic, because the emotional scars otherwise would be debilitating.
“I should have been ordered to remove this ta’na because of my actions,” Khoth finished. “But I will consider this ta’na now for actions taken after my exile.”
Jace nodded. Again a long silence fell. What was there to say about a fallen sister? The breaking of a rule that was both good and bad? The horror of this unending war with the Khul?
