The Hunter's Song

24: Blood-Loss (Eh'kt)

"I had a twin brother," Shale confessed. "His name was Tharu. He died saving my life in the middle of our ninth cycle."

I put down my flank of lamb and scanned the empty officer's commissary for abnormalities. No, I wasn't dreaming. Shale requested I join him for an early meal before the standard day shift, and I was instinctually concerned that he arranged for us to eat alone. I could only surmise that this unscheduled meeting resulted from a deficiency in my performance as his Adjutant.

But THIS... It was completely unexpected!

"I've never spoken of him to anyone after my first Dread," the red Forged warrior continued. "It was pointless talking about it with my bearer and my sire struggled to understand the connection between identical twin brothers."

It had been two days since Mourning Crow sang to her sire's gravesite. I remember the shock of seeing her visage on multiple monitors while unknowingly sharing an intimate performance over a citywide broadcast. She looked invincible and her voice... I could see it on the razkurs' faces. Mourning Crow's songs had invaded their hearts like wildfire.

And then she collapsed.

My first impulse was to hurry back to the Black Needle, but I made sure to smooth the incident over with Karwarak's ruling council. However, it appeared Mourning Crow's emotional breakdown quashed the unfounded doubts in her identity. Plus, Shale's swift intervention, despite demonstrating one of our most potent technological armaments, became widely admired.

According to all of my interactions and collected data since that night, the merger was going well.

None of our crew questioned Shale's actions, and I was grateful that he responded quickly. Mourning Crow was a member of Jahaa. We protect one another.

Shale returned her to our quarters and sat with her, letting her cry on his chest until my arrival. He tried to exit quietly, but Mourning Crow insisted I stay beside her and refused to release Shale's arm until morning.

"As you know," Shale kept his eyes on mine. "Our training as pups is strict from the moment we're able to stand unaided, a necessity for redirecting the fury in our blood, and as offsprings of a member of the Council of Ancients, Tharu and I were given no option for failure."

"I knew you had a sibling. That much was documented," I commented. "I had no idea he was a twin. Though that explains why I never came across his birth notation in a neighboring cycle."

"To our bearer," Shale frowned. "His death resolved her dilemma of which of us was the more worthy to nurture. His life was so brief she didn't waste time on detailed documentation."

"Preparing one unDreaded pup for its final cycle before the trial is a difficult all-consuming task on its own," my eyes wandered down. This was something I often reminded myself of many times after my own bearer abandoned me.

Creating an honorable Zhaguai takes more than a few fleeting seconds. Every solo-bearing female is responsible for her pup's training before their Dread Ritual. The choice of bearing a pup is a prestigious rite of passage unique to females that requires decades of preparation, endurance, integrity, a quality suiter, and the ability to make painfully decisive decisions. More than honor is on the line. Producing consistently weak pups who fail to survive their initiation trial could result in deadly consequences.

"Two at once, I imagine, must be daunting," I reflected. "Even for an Ancient."

"I make no complaint, nor any excuses," Shale nodded and sighed. "I only wish to convey that I understand what it is to carry an internal burden in silence."

Mourning Crow and I suspected the Shale was keeping something concealed, but my guess was that it was connected to a Dread or his time serving in the military. But a twin... They're extremely rare. It's common during gestation but for Zhaguai, one twin always absorbs the other in the first trimester.