His father gestured to the landing so they could talk further without disturbing Jo's sleep. Gilrack returned the egg to its warm niche against his mate's belly, tucked her in, and followed his father to the other side of the curtain. When his father sat down on the landing and curled his dark red tail about himself, Gilrack followed suit, tucking his wings in close as well.
"Your smell has changed," his father said, just loud enough to be heard. "And your mate's is..."
Gilrack nodded, instantly understanding. What had drawn him in as though he'd had no will of his own had been Jo's heavenly scent. The only reason she hadn't enticed anyone else up unto this point is because she'd had her suit on around everyone except his mother, who either hadn't been affected by her scent, being female herself, or simply hadn't thought it necessary to note it.
His father, however, emanated concern.
"You cannot keep her in a den," he said. "She'll need friends."
"I know." And oh, how it pained Gilrack to know.
His father lowered his ears in sympathy. He, more than anyone else in their family, knew how much Gilrack hated his mother's polyandrist ways. Being quiet and kind, his father had never voiced complaint about sharing his mate with two others, but Gilrack had sensed his pain in rare, vivid moments throughout his childhood. Yet the traits of royalty, the purple coloring, sharper intellect, and growth of wings, was exceedingly rare, and even among many children only he and one other sibling had these traits, and only Gilrack had grown wings through what he was beginning to believe was due to circumstances more than genetics. The rest of his siblings were not considered royalty and would live lives similar to everyone else, without the training or expectations to be chief.
It was only because of this his mother was allowed multiple mates, as would he and his brother, in hopes of a child with the traits to rule.
Still, Gilrack would never take another mate. The thought made his stomach roll and bile rise to his throat.
And now with a divine being in the mix, there was no telling what their children would be like, only that they would have the ability to rule the sky. Part of the reason those with royal traits were given the responsibility to rule was because, according to legend, they were the only ones capable of making war with the divine beings, and therefore protecting the people from them. To have a divine being down here themselves, when they had long faded into myth...
All this passed between he and his father's eyes, felt in his father's warm concern.
"What can I do?" his father asked.
Gilrack clenched his tail in tighter and felt his pupils shrink. His first urge was to admit he had no clue and beg for his father to fix everything like he had as a child, but of course he wouldn't. He was a man now, with a mate and young, and perhaps soon to be chief. He wanted his father to be reassured that he had raised Gilrack well.
"Be with my mate when I have to hunt. I'm worried about who Mother might bring to the nest."
Instantly, his father's calm, soft demeanor twisted into a scowl.
"Only royals and their mates can come here."
"She was talking about introducing Jo to other males. She might take Jo from the nest, and I don't want Jo to leave until she is ready. And..." he hesitated to admit that he simply did not feel comfortable with his mother around Jo.
His father nodded. "I shall be present as much as I am able. I can hunt as well. What does your mate like?"
"I'm not sure. Food of the heaven's is different from ours."
His father's eyes widened. "So she really is from the heavens? You were really there?"
Gilrack found himself rumbling in his chest in amusement and proceeded to leave harder topics of conversation to describe to his father the strange, bright tunnels of the divine beings floating in an ocean of stars.
His story was interrupted at some point by a quiet cry from within. He jumped to attention and was through the curtains and across the large den to Jo's side before he'd even breathed.
Jo had sat up in the nest, her beautiful earthy eyes wet and her mind waves erratic.
Without thinking, he emitted comforting waves and crooned, running his claws feather-light through her silk hair. It took him a moment to remember the divine being's way of comfort.
"You are safe, Jo. What is wrong?"
"Just a bad dream," she said as she rubbed her eyes. She tucked the eggs into her lap and wrapped them up in blankets, touching them one by one before wiping wayward tears from her cheeks.
"What happened?" Talking about it helped. Dreams didn't happen often among his kind, but they did happen.
"The babies were born...all wrong and..." she sniffed. "Your people called me a monster and...but the babies, they were—there was no way they would live a happy life, they shouldn't have been alive at all, they were just all—inside out and too many limbs and..."
Her voice closed off with distress and he found himself crooning in response.
"That won't happen." He crawled into the nest besides her. "They will be beautiful, just like you."
"But I don't have legs like you or a tail or claws or fangs—I'm all wrong."
"No, just different. Beautiful different."
"How can I be beautiful when I'm this different? Maybe it's just you."
"No. My mother and father think so as well."
She sniffed and paused long enough to give him a curious look.
"Your father? Did we meet him and I didn't know?"
"He came by while you were asleep. He's outside the curtains now."
"You sound like you like your dad more than your mom."
He laughed in his throat. He loved how perceptive his intelligent mate was. It reminded him of his favorite traits about his father.
"Would you like to meet? Though he can wait, you are...upset."
"No. No, I'll be okay." Gilrack wished she wouldn't wipe her eyes so roughly. "It will help remind me I'm awake. Does he want to see the eggs?"
"He did. No need to push yourself."
"Does he like them?"
"He loves them." It warmed him that she sought his father's approval. It meant she knew how much his father meant to him without needing to ask.
"Then, okay."
Gilrack only needed to let out a few sound clicks to cross the distance and his father reappeared through the curtain, bowed forward to look as unthreatening and small as possible. This was right of any visitor to a female sensitive from birth and distress. His father was always deeply considerate like that.
He only approached the nest within a few feet before kneeling, keeping his head bowed. Gilrack could sense his mate's growing concern and confusion.
"Father, her kind don't have as sensitive instincts. She doesn't know what you're doing."
"Ah." His father scrambled mentally for a few minutes on what to do then, before looking to Gilrack plaintively. But Gilrack didn't know the procedures for this among the divine beings either and looked to Jolene.
She blinked, then smiled. "Is this some kind of greeting?"
"He is being respectful of your instincts," Gilrack translated. It felt weird to work as a translator. There were only two languages that he knew of among his kind, and it wasn't nearly as different as the divine being's language was. "He does not wish to scare. He is showing, uh, no harm."
"Oh. That's sweet of him." She looked to his father, who met her gaze cautiously.
Wonder radiated off his father before he quickly shut down his mind waves. It was considered very rude to let one's mind waves broadcast to anyone, especially to those in a sensitive state. Only children, who had yet to learn how to guard their mind, did so.
"I'm Jolene. What's your name?" Jo said in her halting, slow way with their tongue.
His father bobbed his head. "Horack."
"Oh, that's like Gilrack's name."
Gilrack huffed a puff of amusement. "Of course. He's my father."
"Do you name your children after their father?"
"Yes."
He felt her pleasure at learning this before she was once more focused on what to say to his father, her nervousness returning.
"Wait, wasn't that guy in the tunnel your brother? From, uh, the same brood?"
"Hochak? Yes, his name is like father's too. The 'rack' sound." It was the sound of stone against stone, the sound of impact and force.
She tried repeating it and did quite good at it, considering her kind's propensity to softer sounds.
His father watched on, his ocher eyes dancing across his mate with curiosity. Jo noticed quickly and tried to hide the jolt of discomfort her mind gave off, but his father picked up on it instantly and looked down.
"I shall leave," He moved to his feet.
"No, it's okay," she clicked quickly, impressing Gilrack. "I...I am not good at tongue—no know what to say. I want practice."
It was what she had said to Gilrack a lot when they practiced his language. That she wanted practice.
But his father wasn't an eloquent speaker either. He was more of the quiet, observant type who spoke only when he was sure what to say, so this put him on the spot. Gilrack got the entertainment of seeing his always calm and collected father become scrambled.
"I...uh..." He looked to his son, then back to the bemusing female. "I...don't speak well either. Is there anything I can do for you? You...it must be strange and...frightening being in an unknown place."
"Oh...um...no now."
It was funny how they kept looking at Gilrack. What, did they expect him to magically make the connection between them? It was obvious they both wanted to, but were at a loss of just how to do so. What made it funny was that they were the two most capable beings he knew. He was the one that should be asking them for direction.
Thankfully, he happened to have an idea.
"I brought my dowry this morning," he told his father. "If it's alright with her, would you help me apply some of it?"
His father perked up and croaked an agreement, so he turned to Jo and asked her, in her language, if he and his father could braid her hair and put some beads in it like his mother had. She too perked up and readily agreed.
Thus he ended up in his nest side by side with his father and the box of his wedding gift open between them, where many carefully carved jewel beads glittered in the stone light. Gilrack was particularly proud of his collection. It was larger than most and had a larger variety of colors. His mate would never want for hair adornments.
Jo's hair, despite its softness, was thick and long, perfect for holding the beads.
It also gave his father something to bond over. Only family was allowed to touch, and even if it was just her hair, he felt welcomed and started up a quiet purr.
"We will be family," he murmured to her at some point through Jo's clumsy attempts to click a conversation. "You left your family up in heaven, so we will fill the space. There is no need to fear. No need to be alone."
Of course his father would sense that far into her mindwaves, to her deep insecurities. She needn't speak a word. That was his father's specialty.
"We will help with young," his father continued softly when Jo fell quiet and her mind waves began to waver. "You are not alone. You are welcome."
Gilrack and his father tactfully didn't react to the tears which dripped from her face, focused on braiding her hair with as much gentleness as their claws could muster.
It would in turn be one of the warmest memories Gilrack had.
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Author here. Hi...now I'm gonna slink off again. Nothing witty is coming to mind. Just here to remind you I exist.