Chapter Thirteen
***Kyllian***
Kyllian began to pace back and forth, wondering exactly how to put his feelings into words. He had known that she was somehow captured and had endured something. He had heard her mention sex trafficking to his father the day they had first met. He shouldn’t have been surprised at her description of exactly what happened to her. It wasn't like that sort of thing didn’t happen on Earth, didn’t grace the news every night if you dared to watch it and become even more depressed with the state of things. But it had always been distant, not something that would concern him. It was different knowing someone who it had happened to and listening to them spill their guts about how they were treated.
"I didn't mean to upset you. I am so sorry," Savanah said in a soft whine, causing him to look up and quit his constant movement for just a moment. The hurt on her face was obvious, and he could feel his throat run dry. He hadn’t realized she might think that this would make him not want to be around her. She felt guilty about something awful that had been done to her, and it just served to make him even more angry about what had happened.
"No, don't be sorry, Savanah. I needed to know. I can't imagine what it has been like for you, recovering from that and keeping it all in because you're afraid people will treat you differently. Look, I will try not to, but I can’t help but be entirely appalled and enraged that this is happening here, right under our noses."
Savanah nodded, a little light returning to her eyes. "That's exactly how I feel. I know that people think I should be moping around or traumatized or something. I am not saying I don't feel those things. I don’t feel normal, and I don't know if I will ever get back to the person I was before, but I am much more concerned with the fact that I know others are still suffering the way I did. I know, so I must do something about it. I have a responsibility," she said firmly.
Kyllian couldn’t believe how wrong his first impression of this beautiful blonde had been. She had seemed scattered and a little off, knocking on the mayor’s door and begging a droid in the middle of the night to let her in. He shouldn’t have been so influenced by Thomas and his opinions, but even if he had believed her story, he had seen her as possibly off when she had shown up there. Now, he knew her to be incredibly strong. To have been used by men, her body nothing but a money maker, trapped and waiting for a way out that may have never come, and to come out and want to save others instead of worrying about herself, that was just something he couldn’t explain. It was a trait he might have seen in his mother, but in no one else he had ever come across.
He took a long look at her and wondered if this was how his father felt about his mother in the beginning before he had become tainted. If this is what it was like to find yourself falling for someone. He had not come to this planet for any other purpose than to figure out what his father wanted and please both of his parents to the best of his ability. The thought of meeting someone had not been on his mind. He had never had anything serious. He wasn’t opposed to it, but the opportunity had just never come his way. The moment never felt right. In a world where there were a ton of alien races, where dragons like him existed, he had to believe in things beyond coincidence, and this was one of those mysterious things. But he wasn’t sure he should say anything yet, especially with what Savanah had just revealed to him.
“I admire that in you,” he opted for instead, his voice soft and low. “I just don’t feel like you deserved this to happen to you. I can’t think of anyone who would deserve to go through an ordeal like that,” he told her, at a loss for words to express the strong feelings he had for the evil that was lurking under the surface of Delti Utopia 6.
“I appreciate that, but it’s too late to wish to be dealt a different hand,” she commented with a shrug, suddenly not meeting his gaze for some reason. He hoped he wasn’t being obvious and making her uncomfortable. He moved away from her a bit with a sigh, running his hands through his auburn hair: a habit he’d had since childhood that had always driven his mother nuts. She said it messed it up, made it stick up in weird ways and she would have to just fix it again. The memory made him ache for her, but he was glad to have found someone worth being around on this man-made rock spinning in space.
“Did you want to meet everyone?” she asked, breaking the silence that had passed between them. He had been there before, and the only introductions he had gotten were an angry mob, ready to keep him away from Savanah and from there. Being the mayor’s son meant that he wasn’t trusted. He got that. But if he was ever going to help them, they would have to learn to listen to him, which meant he needed to earn their trust.
Kyllian nodded. “I think I am ready to make a better impression on them rather than just barging in and looking for you,” he said with a quirky smile. “Hopefully, this goes over better.”
Savanah’s eyes sparkled as she smiled and let out a little laugh at what he said. He had realized afterward that it was a protected secret that the derelicts were there, finding a little corner of their own to live in. If they were found, they would be rounded up and thrown in jail, or maybe worse considering what he knew of the men in power on Delta Utopia 6 now. He would never betray them, though: not with Savanah under their protection. They seemed to really care for her, but then again, she seemed to pull that out of people.
He followed her to another door as he saw many of the others gathering around outside and beginning to cook together. The pirates, the derelicts as this group was called, apparently had this great camaraderie that he was almost jealous of.
When they knocked on the door, it opened to reveal Irene, Savanah’s sister, whom he recalled from the last time he was there, and her husband, Aisaack and Tann. It was interesting to be around men of his own kind. He had never really met any. He didn’t know if it was because the Naga population on Earth had become so low since there were places like Delti Utopia 6 to come to or because his mother had become a little afraid of being around others after what happened with Thomas.
“Would you like to have dinner with all of us?” Irene had asked Kyllian. “I am sorry for the way we reacted when you came that first time, but we are all very protective of each other. We have a lot to lose if someone finds this place,” she explained.
“I understand,” he replied with a polite nod. “And I would love to stay. Honestly, it has always been my mother and me. It is nice to have others around.” He nodded to Aisaack who broke a smile even in his hardened stance.
* * *
Kyllian foundhimself sitting under the night sky as a fire crackled in front of him where they had roasted their dinner. It was something that seemed like the quintessential human and Earthly experience to do once or twice, but it was new for him. Everything seemed to be new. HHHHHHHe had dared to ask the others what they thought of the whole situation, if they thought there was any chance his father could be involved, and the name Tuuleusse came up. It seemed to make the Naga men uncomfortable, and he wanted to know why.
“I asked you not to bring that up again,” he heard a frustrated Aisaack say to his wife, Irene. He got up and left the area, clearly disturbed by what she had said.
“He told me it was a fictitious name, some boogie man legend Nagas have,” she explained, mostly to Savanah, but Kyllian looked at her strangely. His mother had taught him how to embrace that part of him but said nothing about any stories or culture. But having been only half herself, she may not have known it either. Just because Naga originated on Earth didn’t mean they had felt comfortable staying there or that they had stayed loyal to their ways. In fact, many of the pure breeds had been forced out by people like Kyllian’s father and grandfather.
“I have never heard of it,” he admitted, looking to Tann to gauge if he might be more forthcoming.
“You are a Naga, so you were told the story at least once,” he grumbled, moving himself closer. Kyllian was captivated by the fantastical tale he had never heard, almost like a child for that short time.
As a child, we are all, for the most part, told this story about Tuuleuss. That when we are bad, he will come and get us. I don’t know if the story has an origin in reality, but nothing seems impossible anymore. It goes like this.
There was a man who watched as the Nagas formed and evolved, and he was jealous. Jealous that they could turn into their dragon form and soar through the air and do great things. He wanted to be as special. He was young and decided to study science as his way to be just like them. He used the science that he learned to twist himself and make himself into something else. He became a shifter that was not just a Naga. It was a Dargin, serpent, humanoid creature who was evil and was never meant to exist.
Kyllian had never heard anything like that and was blown away, filing it into the back of his mind to tell his mother about the next time he talked with her. That and somehow sneak in some information about Savanah without giving enough away for her to worry about.
Shortly after the story, he found himself walking Savanah back to her room, lingering around as long as possible. He didn’t want to leave. “I want to help you,” he said to her, genuinely meaning it. “I think that I am going to have to do some of what my father wants to get us more information. I really think he knows something, whether directly or indirectly.”
Savanah nodded. “I agree, but please,” she added, placing her hand gently on his shoulder and sending electric sparks throughout his body as she did, “be cautious. I don’t like the idea of you getting wrapped up in all of this. I don’t want you to get hurt or used, too.” The way she said it let him know she meant it, and it gave him a pleasant chill to think she worried about him. Looking down at her beautifully full lips, he didn’t know how much longer he could resist just letting go and telling her what he was feeling. But how would she react?
