Alien General's Chosen (Brion Brides 4)(3)

They were Brions and they were, for the first time in their lives, terribly hurt. Their pride was wounded.

Faren, who never liked to talk much, knew that Gawen agreed with him without having to explain himself in any words. They returned to their father quietly, without raising the question of the mechs. Instead, Faren told him they’d made a friend like he’d always told them they should.

When he pointed Diego out in the crowd, his father’s eyes lit up, and for a moment, Faren dared to let himself hope he wasn’t lost to them.

“Good, good,” his father said. “I know him. His father was a great warrior too, I always expected his son to be like him.”

And then he added, “Be careful with him, though. With a father like that, he’s bound to be strong and cunning.”

An ugly knot twisted itself for a moment in Faren’s stomach. He looked over to Gawen and saw his feelings reflected. Their look said everything.

Be careful, they both thought, always one of mind.

“We are strong too,” was all Faren said.

They were evaluated and nothing surprising happened. Their father took them to the Elders, and they didn’t waste even a minute on them. Leaving, they noticed Diego in the crowd, giving them a nod, which they returned.

Just like that, Faren replaced one of the two people he ever felt any emotion towards. Neither he nor Gawen went to their father for stories again. Instead, they went to the arena to practice, to make up for lost time, and turned the safety off. Instead of his father, Faren now only cared about one other person besides Gawen, and that was their new friend who didn’t take them for weaklings.

When their father left to become an Elder, neither of his twins were sad to see him go. They’d been waiting for it for a while.

And Faren was left alone with the only person he didn’t differ from. One mind in two bodies, they were called.





CHAPTER TWO





Leiya




She knew she was different.

They told little Leiya that in very many words and often. It would have been perfectly natural for her to feel upset about that, but she never did. Somewhere deep inside her, Leiya never found anything wrong with that. Being different. Even that was considered weird, so she kept it to herself. It didn't mean she didn't notice it, however.

Depending on whether the speakers loved or envied her, being told she wasn't like the others was either a compliment or a thinly veiled insult. Depending on how far the critics were from her very strict senator father, it was also either their lucky day or the last words they ever spoke.

Senator Tawren loved his baby girl more than anything in the world and got furious when he heard that particular comment. He wasn’t a warrior to settle revenges in blood, but he made damn sure one of his warrior friends defended Leiya’s honor – in a very conclusive manner whenever needed, as she quickly found out.

A more vicious person might have used that blind love to their advantage, but it never occurred to Leiya to do that. They were Brions, a species not known for their nurturing approach to life, but that gene just felt missing in her. She caught on to her father’s approach very fast, yes. But then it just warmed her heart. The love, not the killing people. The killing troubled her.

“Must you hurt them, father?” she’d asked.
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It happened after a particularly interesting overheard conversation in which the word “weird” was used in the same sentence as her name. The Brions had a complicated attitude towards difference within their species, Leiya had been told that when she was just a young girl. They liked excellence but not originality that much. It was fine to be different, as long as you looked and acted like everybody else.

Senator Tawren stared at her with the kind of expression reserved for her alone. It was a peculiar mix of mind-numbing love and utter confusion at her confounded questions. Leiya always felt like her father didn't know how to deal with her, but she appreciated him trying.

“Yes,” he said at last, a weird expression on his face. “We’re Brions. We do not forgive slights. At best, we forget them until a more opportune moment arises.”

“But I don’t like hurting people,” Leiya protested. “They bleed.”

Her father rubbed his temples as he was often wont to do when discussing things with her, Leiya had noticed.

“Of course they bleed,” the senator said, sighing. “As they should. And I don’t ask you to hurt anyone, do I? The Gods know you will not be a warrior, little spark. That’s why I hurt them for you.”

“But can’t you – talk to them instead?” Leiya asked, pressing on. It seemed she’d crossed another of those lines the Brions had, but of course she had to be told that too. Because, after all, she was weird. Her father had a migraine that lasted four days after that conversation.

For all the love his father bore towards her, Leiya knew he agreed, in a way. It was kind of clear when he asked the healers if there was something wrong with his daughter.

“She doesn’t have any moods or emotions under the level of the most passive sort of joy,” he told the healer. "Is that normal for a girl... her age?"

All the while Leiya was doing her damn best trying to stand on her tiptoes on the med bay table.

“And she climbs everywhere,” he father went on in a suffering voice.

The healer sent Leiya an amused look, which she responded to, her mouth curling into a smile as easily as she breathed. It was simply her natural look. She'd had the healer all her life and they knew each other well.

“Do you think there’s something wrong with you?” the healer asked her.

Leiya had to think on that. No one had really asked her opinion on that particular matter before.

“Father says there is,” she said at last.

She’d been way too young to properly understand the reaction, but Senator Tawren tensed almost immediately, his lips pressing together into a thin line.

“With all due respect, Senator,” the healer said, giving Leiya a piece of candy.

He caught her before she could topple off the table trying to reach for it without accounting for the distance between them. A sense of restraint was another thing she happily lacked.

“If her being happy and not liking killing is as bad as it gets with her, maybe she’s not the problem.”

It was the tone of voice that had gotten plenty of people killed. Leiya nearly choked on her candy, trying to scream and wave with her hands all at once.

“Don’t hurt him, father!” she squeaked. “I don’t want him to bleed!”

“Oh good gods, child,” was all Senator Tawren said, sighing.

"And Senator," the healer added with the same kind of odd look people sometimes got around her. "There is nothing wrong with her, so to speak. She is what she is, you can't change that. You're only making her feel bad for it."

There was a sharpness in his tone that surprised Leiya. No one spoke to her father like that, but to her surprise Senator Tawren nodded solemnly and that was it. No killing, no blood.

Then he lifted little Leiya into his arms and walked away, leaving a completely non-bleeding healer behind. Smiling a bit, as much as Leiya could see before the med bay door shut behind them. Mumbling, “…She climbs everywhere,” under his breath.

--

It got better after that. Leiya grew with each day, at least that part of her like normal Brions, and started to catch on to things she hadn’t been able to before. Like how her father made a valiant effort not to take revenge on anyone who sent a weird look in her direction.

And also how people liked to listen to her, more and more each day.

Every Brion child grew into what they were destined to be, she'd been taught. Leiya’s mother was overjoyed when her future became obvious. Her father had to go and lie down for a while.#p#分页标题#e#

It happened at a party in her parents’ house. The song just bubbled up from inside her and made its way to her lips. At first, Leiya just mumbled it to herself under her breath, but it wasn’t that kind of a song. She’d just made it up, so she knew better. It wasn’t the kind of tune you hummed under your breath, it wanted to climb, and go up, and show itself. Leiya was no longer a little girl, she should have been long out of her climbing-everywhere phase. Only there still seemed to be some part of her that longed for heights and tall places, longed to be seen. The edge of the balcony fit that end perfectly. Up, up, and up she went, and up went the song.

Everyone was listening now, but Leiya already knew they would. She’d been worried what her job would be, since she didn’t seem to be developing in any way that made sense. Only her voice had been getting stronger and more nuanced. And there it was – her future, laid out in front of her, reflected on the faces of each awestruck listener.

The air around her seemed to bend towards her, like she was literally drawing her audience’s breath away from them. Bright, big eyes were staring up to her. Mouths dropped open and every set of eyes was following her movements. Leiya found herself suddenly hyper-aware of everything and especially herself. She could see and feel all that was going on around her.

All those people down on the grass, looking up at her. Mostly her parents’ friends, but there were hers too. The look on Miren’s face, who was one of her closest friends, was priceless. She definitely had to describe that to him later.