Alien General's Chosen (Brion Brides 4)(2)

Faren fell two stories from a shuttle that was taking off and hadn’t closed its doors properly. His father killed the pilot the moment he landed, but Faren didn’t say anything. He simply got up, cradling his broken arm, and walked to their healer without making a sound.

“Doesn’t it hurt?” his father asked, perplexed.

“Yes,” Faren said.

That might have been cause for concern, but their father was just proud. His sons could tolerate pain and not show weakness. They would be truly great warriors.

In truth, Faren later figured that he and Gawen had just never learned to react. They felt pain, even emotions, but it didn’t matter to them. Faren barely cared, and Gawen resolved everything with confrontation, usually a very aggressive one. Nothing changed even on the day their mother left. It was just another day.

The only thing they ever seemed to care about was becoming warriors like their father.

Faren’s father considered being a warrior the highest calling for a Brion, and on the day he took his twin sons to the Brion Elders, the leaders and rulers of their people, he was beaming like the valor squares planted in his neck. The bright, crystalline things had always fascinated Faren. When he’d been small enough for his father to still show some clear affection towards him, Faren had often sat in his lap, poking at the squares.

It wasn’t far away now when he would go and join the Elders, become one of them. His gesha, their mother, had left not long ago already. He knew he’d see her soon, connected by the Elders’ stasis-sleep.

Later in his life, Faren considered the possibility his father had held off his retreat from public life to see what would become of them. After all, he made no secret that it was his greatest wish his sons would become warriors like him.

His father was perhaps one of only two people Faren ever felt any emotion for.

On the day of the evaluation, their father beamed. All Brion children were presented to the Elders in their hometowns, their future determined. In truth, it was clear much earlier. Due to their evolution, they grew into their destinies, literally. Those meant to be warriors became stronger and quicker. The healers were of a clearly smaller build, but their minds broadened to encompass all the knowledge they needed without difficulty.

It was said a healer could recount almost everything they’d ever been told, such was their memory. The mechanics developed understanding for machinery that bordered on supernatural but not even close to the perceptive powers of the future scientists and diplomats. The galaxy sometimes took them for telepaths for how keen their understanding of others was.

Their father was certain beyond any doubt that Faren and Gawen would be warriors. All the signs were there, he just needed to hear it.

While they waited, Faren saw a boy roughly their age waiting with them, the only one who stood out besides them, already big for their age.

That boy was going to be a warrior too, no doubt. But it wasn’t his stature or his build that made Faren approach him.

“Who are you?” he asked. Others might have introduced themselves first or been more polite, but he found that getting straight to the point saved time. The boy didn’t seem disturbed in the slightest.

“Diego,” he said. “And you?”

“I’m Faren.”

They sized each other up in the way young warriors did, although they hadn’t even gotten the confirmation yet. They were still just kids.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Faren asked.

The boy’s face was covered in small scars and so were his hands, as much as they showed from under his shirt. He didn’t seem self-conscious about that in the least. On the contrary, Diego smiled just a bit, looking him over.

“What’s wrong with yours?” he asked.

Taken aback, Faren had to take a moment to consider. People told him he sometimes missed jokes. His mind went to its usual track of going through the possibilities quickly. He ruled out all the ways there might be something wrong with him, leaving only two options – the boy was joking with him or he was missing some information.#p#分页标题#e#

“There is nothing wrong with mine,” he said at last.

“Yes,” Diego agreed. “You want to be a warrior?”

That seemed like a needless question, but Faren was slightly intrigued, which didn’t happen to him often.

“Yes,” he said. “I am going to be.”

Diego nodded, but there was something pitying in his posture. Faren didn’t show his emotions often, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t recognize them in others. His fingers curled into fists, ready to give the boy some more scars before they were called to the Elders. Only Diego wasn’t done yet.

“How come you don’t have any scars from the mechs then?” he asked.

Again, Faren had to consider whether he was being teased. The mechs were AIs the Brion warriors practiced with in their leisure time. Many families that had a clear warrior growing up bought their own as well, for the children to get exercise before they were sent away to the military academy to become warriors for real. Only…

“The mechs don’t hurt a fighter,” Faren said, but just as the words were coming out of his mouth, he was beginning to think there was something wrong with that picture.

If he’d thought Diego’s look had been pitying before, a whole new word was needed to describe how he looked now.

“Yes, they do,” he said and Faren believed him. “You just need to turn off the safety.”

Safety. So he’d been fighting a machine with the safety on. That’s why Diego had scars and he did not.

“Fighting mechs with the safety on is what children do,” Diego was saying, although he barely reached his father’s waistline himself. “You can’t…”

“Really experience a fight like that, yes,” Faren finished for him. “I understand. I didn’t know it turned off.”

Alright, better. The look in Diego’s eyes was no longer one of pity, but curiosity. It was one of Faren’s gifts. Without experiencing many feelings himself, he knew what they looked like in others with an almost eerie precision. And he knew how to replace them with the ones he wanted. Right now he’d wanted there to be respect.

“Good,” Diego said. “Then you can turn it off when you get home and maybe catch up to me.”

No, emotions didn’t come easily to Faren, but right then, he found his mouth smiling, just a bit.

“I will,” he said. “I want to fight for real.”

Diego was smiling too, then.

“You should come over sometimes,” he offered. “We could fight. You look like you could be a challenge for a while.”

Faren had never met anyone like him before. All the children he and Gawen had ever met had thought them too odd to be around. The Brions didn’t fear but just kept away. All the fights they’d ever had with them had been disappointingly one-sided. The only match Faren had ever known was his brother.

“I would win,” he said, or rather stated. “So would my brother. We’re bigger than you.”

“Is that your brother?” Diego asked, pointing to Gawen, who had restlessly paced a little further from them.

When he saw the boy pointing, Gawen thumped over, teeth already bared in a snarl. It wasn’t the first time they’d gotten into a fight with other children, not even close.

Faren stopped his twin before he could punch Diego. That was the one thing that he could be certain of, that Gawen would listen to him. He knew his brother was always on the edge of anger and it was difficult to see clearly when you were that unhinged. Gawen trusted him, because for all that most people thought, his fiery temper didn’t make him stupid. Faren knew that, as he knew everything about his twin.

Gawen stopped, Faren’s arm barring his way to Diego. He took a breath only Faren noticed and simply glared then.

“Who’s this?” he demanded.

“Diego,” Faren introduced. “He invited us to fight. He will be a warrior too.”

Gawen’s laugh was dark and humorless.

“We can fight right here.”

“No,” Faren said. “He thinks he can match us. If we ruin the evaluation by fighting, we won’t get to see if he does.”

Gawen measured Diego up slowly. To his credit, Faren noticed, Diego didn’t seem concerned. He appreciated that. Moment by moment, he was beginning to respect this boy who was honest. Not only in his words, but in his opinions. Faren liked that.

“Maybe,” his twin allowed. “We’d still win.”#p#分页标题#e#

“Yes,” Faren agreed, just as Diego said,

“No.”

Gawen laughed, but Faren was interested. Diego didn’t seem to be a fool to him.

“Why?” he asked.

“I’m faster,” Diego said, shrugging. “And while you may be bigger than me, my mechs don’t have the safety on. As I said, you need to catch up.”

“Safety?” Gawen asked.

Faren explained, dryly and quickly to the point as always. Then they exchanged a long look. Gawen looked even more furious than usual, but underneath there was the odd calmness he only ever had around Faren. The calm of knowing he was being understood.

Faren knew they were thinking the same. Their father who was so proud of them didn’t believe in them at the same time. He wanted to keep them safe until they could be warriors, but what kind of warriors could they be if they never experienced danger? He was supposed to know better. Diego was the same age they were, and he knew better. Neither Faren and Gawen were mad at him for taunting them with that. They were grateful to him for telling them. Now they could be better, now they knew they were being cradled.