Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ra’Cha stalked onto the flight deck, passing Michael where he lay on Randall without a glance. She skirted around Paul, then reached out in blaze of claw and fur and grabbed Gryth and Brent by their ears. “Husband. Cub. A word.” Her voice whispered out of clenched teeth, shaded with a growl that left no doubt that it was not a request. They scrambled out of their chairs and she towed them to the map room where she pushed them both ahead of her, then slammed the bulkhead closed.

“DID...”  She took a deep breath... “Did you know what he was going to do?”

Brent took a step behind Gryth, who shot him a dirty look. “Wife. It would help if you told us what he did that has made you so-”  

“STOP. TALKING.  Did. you. Know?”

Gryth looked at her for permission to speak. She waved her claws through the air dismissively.

“What he was supposed to do was walk in here, lay a small rune on the nav sphere, touch it with his blood, cast a long series of spells that represent the oaths of the librarians, and then test the map.”

She snarled. “Oh, he tested the map. He tested that map. He tested us all the way back home. 17 jumps in less than an hour. All by his damn fool self. Because my ship doesn’t answer me. I. Can’t. Pilot. My. Ship. Your ...cub sat there and apologized, because he doesn’t know how to let me pilot my ship. Did you hear what I said, husband? He doesn’t know how to LET ME.”   Her fur stood on end. Her eyes were red and glowing at the edges and her lips were drawn back from her teeth. Her throat vibrated with a snarl she couldn’t supress.

“Your stupid asinine tribunal-blessed cub has jumped MY SHIP 4 light-weeks out beyond Earth, because he says YOU told him to. And YOU promised to explain and he didn’t want to get in the way. And also he thought it was hard to breathe with my claws in his throat. YOU PUT MY SHIP BACK. NOW. YOU PUT IT BACK.”  

Brent backed away from Gryth and bared his throat.  But Gryth didn’t back down. He snarled and let out what Brent could best describe as a roar. The noise was awful. He covered his ears. It lasted forever. Finally, Ra’Cha bowed her head, and long after bared her throat. Her eyes were back to their normal brown, and her fur was smoothed, her lips covered her teeth. Her claws were barely visible at the ends of her hands.
“Wife. Ra’Cha. Love. Come here.”  Gryth’s voice was soft.  

She came to him and he pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry wife. It was a chance. If he didn’t have to change too much, the ship would still answer you. The spells must have run too deep. Their family has touched the nav sphere for ages. I thought it would still know you. I’m sorry. When we can. As soon as we can I will teach her again. You can run the stars together. I promise.”

She was weeping quietly against him. “My ship. Mine.”

“I know, love. I know.”

‘You put it back.”

“Soon, wife. As soon as I can.”

“What do you mean ‘when you can?’”  Her voice was suspicious.

“The spells to add a navigator are here. They were in the library. And the navigators could always pilot. But the spells for the pilots... we couldn’t find them.”

“What does that mean?”

“They are either locked in The Library, or the Archmage has them, or...”

“Or they are lost.”

He nodded mutely.

“If they are lost. If the old bastard will not give them to you. I will rip your throat out and eat your heart.”

Michael’s weary voice came from a doorway that should have been closed. “No, Ra’Cha. Mother of my pack. Even if it takes me til the end of my days, I will rebuild the spell for you. I will give back your ship. I did not want to take her.” She snarled.

“It is an honor. She is a glory and a treasure, a jewel in the darkness of space. But she is not mine. I have honors enough. Burdens and to spare. I could not care for her as you can. I will return you to her. I swear it.”

Music swelled in the room, and they looked around for Jo. Michael looked rueful. “I think that was me actually. I could hear it when I was casting earlier, too. I think there may be some thing about being Jo’s child we hadn’t actually touched yet.”

Gryth sighed dramatically. Brent closed his eyes.

Ra’Cha laughed. “Well. At least something is normal. Still, the old fool does not understand his cubs. They always outstrip him. When you meet your packsibs, you will see. But you still owe me an answer. Why HERE?
It will take us forever to get back to Earth from here. I’m seeing light from before we left.”

Gryth’s ears perked up. “What did you say?”

“I said why here-”

“He meant about seeing light from before we left. It’s true. We’re actually 6 light weeks out. We’re seeing the light from 2 weeks before we left.”

“Fool boy. We can’t teleport back to when we were there.”

“No. I thought we probably couldn’t. I can’t imagine what would happen. But we still have some things to do before we can go back. I have things to learn, and training to complete. Randall needs to learn his wings, and his craft. And we need to find her. Jo has to find her sisters.”

Brent looked at Michael through narrowed eyes. “And?”

Michael sighed. “And I have to change. I have to let this go for a while. It’s not time yet. If I we go back like this the empress will come for us. We have to find the lady first. We have to free her. We can’t fight them both. Not and him too.”

Gryth looked grim. “Michael, it was never the plan to fight him. Leave him to rot there. We’ll cut the lady free, and together we’ll stand against the empress.”

A new voice filled the air. “That won’t work. I can hear their songs now. His song is all tangled in hers. Unless we pull him free, my dark sister will ensnare us all and we will all die or worse.”  For the first time, Jo became visible in the room. A patch of light slowly coalesced into the form of a woman. Not a young woman, as the Lady presented herself, or even a mother like the Empress. Her hair was soft silver, hanging long down her back. Age lined her face with the shadows of smiles and laughter. “Once, we walked together. I was the oldest and it amused us, once the builders were born, to walk among them so. My youngest sister, the light, she made this for me. Do you like it?”

Michael nodded. Brent found words. “It’s beautiful.”   

She smiled at him. Music chimed through the air. She turned to Michael. “I cannot take it back forever. But I can hold it for you for a while. But I will take a price. My other child will stay here. He is no fighter. He is not made for war. I will not chance the loss of both of you. And you will give him a child before we go.”

Michael was stunned.  “We’ve...We’ve never even. We aren’t even married. I don’t know if he WANTS my child. Our child. I can’t agree to that.”

Randall turned him around, from where he stood in the hall, and kissed him softly. “I do. We will. I agree.”

Michael looked doubtful. Randall stepped back from him barely an inch and looked into his star-filled eyes. “Do you still love me, Michael?”

Michael nodded dumbly.

“Then marry me. Give our mother your wings and let her hold your stars. All but the one you will share with me, and go get my world back so we can raise our beautiful child there.”

Michael nodded. Randall poked him gently. “You have to say yes”

Michael stammered, his newly-musical voice choked with emotion. “Yes. I’ll marry you. You can have my stars.”

They turned to Ra’Cha, clearly ready to ask her to marry them, when Paul chimed in.

“Oh, HELL NO. Ain’t nobody gettin’ married in a second-hand kilt with no flowers. Shame on you both! You just go sit your asses down. Go on. You don’t have to get married today. On second thought, don’t go sit. You go take that boy back to your cabin, Randall, and you do whatever kinky thing you were planning with his stars. A little practice before the wedding never hurt anyone.” He winked outrageously, then when they didn’t move, smacked Randall on the butt, and pushed them both out into the corridor, closing the door firmly behind him.

He looked around the room and bowed to Jo. “Ma’am. You look lovely.”

“Brent. If you don’t mind. I’m going to need your help with some clothes.”  

He narrowed his eyes at Gryth. “And you.”  Gryth looked startled. “Flowers. Lots of them. White ones. With some green. Randall likes green.”  Gryth’s eyes widened considerably..  

Paul turned to Ra’Cha. “Captain, den-mother, alpha, would you do my pack-sib the honor of wedding him to his mate, bound by the laws of the stars?”

She laughed softly. “Definitely.”

“And when may we do so?”

She considered for a moment, then looked out through the viewscreen at the edge of the room. “Do you see that planet? When that planet crosses the line of that star tomorrow, we will come here. Michael will put the window here so that all can see, and I will bind them with their vows.” She smiled wickedly. “Hopefully they won’t already be with child.”

Gryth thought his heart was going to explode when Jo laughed. “I promise they won’t be. Although...Goodness knows they’re trying.”  Her laugh echoed around the room, dissolving into a merry tune that swept her body away on a mad glissando of sound.  

Brent and Paul left the room, smiling and holding hands. Gryth growled softly into his wife’s fur, a happy sound. “You couldn’t have just said noon?”

“You’re such a curmudgeon. A little romance won’t kill you.”

“It might. Where the hell am I going to get flowers?”

“If I recall correctly, for our first date, you conjured mine on my front porch because you forgot and you thought I wouldn’t notice.”

Anyone expert in the expressions of Hysthaal would instantly have identified Gryth’s expression as a blush. “Maybe.”

She poked him in the ribs. “Alright. Alright. I did.”

“Well then husband, I guess you’d better get to work.” She strolled out of the room, then poked her head back in. “And don’t forget mine. I hope you remember which ones I like.”  She grinned wickedly.

Gryth began to swear.