Divine Charity

Chapter Twenty: Verserka'al

"Oof," Khamuel murmured, hoping the bantling had not eaten so many, she would be sick later.

Sasha tugged on his beard. "Is Mama here yet?"

"Soon, hertlyfa." Khamuel almost cursed when Sasha pushed her bottom onto the armrest and nearly fell. "Careful now."

"You're getting avan dirty, Leila!" Sasha scolded. "Be careful!"

"Nah-uh!" Leila argued.

"Yeah-huh, you are!"

With a scowl on her face, Leila leaned forward until her face was just an inch from Sasha's and belched loudly.

Khamuel smiled sadly to himself. Would this next three days be his last moments with the girlings? If so, he would spend every moment with them he was able. He entertained them and was entertained by them until the screens appeared.

"Hush now, hertlyfaz," Khamuel said, indicating the screen. "There is your modir."

The girls turned their attention to the screen in front of them.

For the events that could not take place within the coliseum, large holographic projectors would play, showing the events as they were recorded through drones. The families of each recruit would also have smaller projections in front of their seats so they could watch and cheer for their own.

Lena's eyes lit up when she saw her twins. As she took her place on the field, she raised her arm in the air to wave at the girls. The girls waved back, jumping up and down in Khamuel's lap. Once again, Khamuel kept Sasha from falling.

The instructors burst onto the field in their typical rousing manner, yelling to be heard over the din of the crowd and put the recruits through an extended exercise session that strained muscles to exhaustion. As the instructors ran around pumping up the recruits with motivating phrases and aggressive energy, loud music played, adding to the charged atmosphere. The crowd fed the energy with their exuberance.

For three days, Khamuel tried to balance his attention between Lena's progress and caring for the bantlings. He was jealous and heartened in equal parts when the twins would give their attention to Gala or Pnina or Fiadn. Khamuel did not even protest when Kiara made her tentative way to them, and gifted the girls even more crama cups. He wanted the twins to always remember their time on Charity with fondness.

As for Lena, Khamuel silently rooted for her. Impressed by how well she was comporting herself. As she maneuvered through each event, there were times he could see her fatigue and self-doubt. He also saw her perseverance and cunning as she maneuvered through energy sapping exercises, land navigation, tactical assaults, and so much more. Lena became a crowd favorite when another recruit's carelessness caused her injury. Her team was busy scaling the wall of a building to perform "rescue" operations. Another team of recruits was fashioning crude projectile weapons. Clear ballistic glass rose from the floor of the colosseum, protecting the crowd from ricochets. A recruit across from Lena lost his grip on his weapon, causing a round to be expelled prematurely. It caused the wall Lena was scaling to crumble, plunging her from a dangerous height.

For long moments, the crowd was silent, and Khamuel's heart hammered in his chest. Shouts from her team could be heard as they scrambled around Lena to remove the heavy debris that could crush her tiny frame. As Lena was pulled from the rubble, she lay so still, she appeared lifeless. She roused slowly, pushing herself to her feet, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Khamuel could see the defeat in her, the want to quit, but then she raised her gaze and looked at her daughters. Her eyes flashed onyx. Shaking away her pain, Lena awkwardly rose to her feet. To everyone's delight, Lena posed this way and that, flexing her muscles for show. She looked at her daughters, blew them a kiss, then continued on her journey.