The hut was a standard k'nairi style building, which gave Ryraso a weird feeling in his stomach, making him stop in the doorway. Tai'ray put Eyeri down on the bed and pulled his boots off, Eyeri going along with the treatment sleepily.
First because of the nostalgic mixed with the almost painful reminder that it was about to become his normal again. It was one large room with a fire pit at one end of the room, a pit which had a fire going and warming up the hut nicely. There was a symbol on the wall showing whoever had lived here, had left the supplies for travelers to use freely and Nel'os had obviously set up a nest earlier when he had come up by the looks of how the blankets and pillows were spread. The room smelt of burning incense, a type used to promote sleeping well.
Which was the second reason why Ryraso's stomach was twisting anxiously. There was only one nest. K'nairi families co-slept in nest type structures. Often huts which were actually homes to large families had side rooms with smaller nests for when children were old enough to sleep with their brothers and sisters rather than their parents but this hut didn't have that. There was just the one nest for all of them.
"Ryraso, we're not going to bite," Nel'os murmured, wrapping his arms around Ryraso's waist. "Please don't panic."
"Nel'os, I hardly think you are going to rape me in front of two younglings and another caw," Ryraso replied dryly in k'nairi so Eyeri wouldn't understand the dark words, stepping forward into the nest and away from the embrace.
Ignoring the interaction, Tai-ray kicked off his own boots and gently pulled Eyeri to the pillows before sliding under the blankets beside the boy. Eyeri made a confused noise but Tai'ray just wrapped an arm around him and lay down behind him. Eyeri subtly tried to shift away from Tai-ray, but the Winglord only rolled his eyes and hugged him closer. Eyeri was going to have to get used to being petted and hugged. K'nairi were very physical when it came to their children and as Ryraso's foster child, he was now also in Tai-ray's domain.
Aw'endo stumbled in and pretty much just fell by Tai'ray back, curling up in his feathers and yawning. Tai-ray let go of Eyeri and turned over enough to kiss Aw'endo on his forehead, murmuring a loving sentiment in k'nairi before switching back to human tongue. "Rest now little ones," Tai'ray hummed, turning back over to pull Eyeri back to him. Aw'endo nodded, closing his eyes and burying himself into Tai-ray's back, feeling completely safe in his feathers. For all appearances, Aw'endo drifted off to sleep, his muscles completely lax, knowing he was completely safe where he was. Eyeri was not so content.
He shifted uncomfortably, pinned to Tai-ray's side. Tai-ray's talons resting gently on his stomach, rubbing in gentle circles. The Winglord could sense the human's distress but was unsure of the cause. He could understand being worried about being harmed but surely the fact he had carried the child for a day in the air and put up with him peeing over him, surely that was enough to prove he was not about to harm him. Eyeri had also relaxed enough to fall asleep in his arms. This wasn't much difference[different]. In the end, Eyeri let his head rest on Tai-ray's chest but the Winglord knew he wasn't asleep.
Nel'os could see the boy's tense shoulders not relaxing but he wasn't too concerned. Eyeri was in no danger after all and he would likely fall to sleep from exhaustion if nothing else soon enough. Nel'os reasoned the boy was just unused to sleeping with people he didn't know. Most humans were, it was only a few siblings or friendship groups who slept together and even that, unlike the k'nairi, was only normally when unfortunate souls, who had been though a trauma, had nightmares.
'Ryraso...' Tai-ray murmured though the link, it opened up so all but Aw'endo could hear. Tai'ray didn't want to disturb the youngest from their sleep or, in Eyeri's case, peace in which he would fall to sleep.
'He's just a little nervous Tai-ray. You did threaten to kill him earlier,' Ryraso commented back gruffly, knowing why Tai'ray was calling him. His displeasure at the memory was felt clearly. 'He doesn't trust you, so being expected to sleep beside you is a little...'
'Much,' finished Tai-ray with a mental sigh, curling tighter around Eyeri, his wings curling around Aw'endo. 'You realise I'm not going to hurt him? Not going to let him go, but not going to hurt him either,' he murmured.
'Why do you think I'm over here instead of resting by him to make him feel safer?' Ryraso said back a little bitterly, as he began pulling his boots and clock off. His feelings on the matter flowing through the link and making it perfectly clear he understood that fact and if Tai-ray ever hurt Eyeri, Ryraso would never forgive the K'nairi. 'You do realise you are going to have his four brothers coming after him, don't you?'
'I suspected as much,' Tai-ray gave the mental equivalent of a shrug, unafraid of the idea. 'If they come, they will be kept. When I have a bond with him, I'll put them under the 'don't kill' list.'
Ryraso grumbled unhappily but was too tired to fight over a situation he knew there was nothing he could do about anyway. Part of Ryraso was whispering that to be honest, the brothers would be safer in Navat anyway. A lot of people would be. The k'nairi had a bad reputation because of the D'mar but the k'nairi knew how to treat those who were weaker than them right. Even if the fact they treated people who were less likely to fight differently was wrong. The D'mar did not, they only abused those who were weaker.
'Glad you think so,' Tai-ray drawled, hearing the end of the thought spiral. 'And not all D'mar are bad. Loror is actually quite a good man. He has a temper but he's not unlike a K'nairi really' Ryraso and Herymi snorted at that as Herymi walked in with Dyn'ad, the fire down below put out and safe.
'When I see it, I'll believe it,' came from both caw.
'Speaking of weak. Why did you choose the boy as a son Ryraso?" Nel'os asked bluntly, not impressed with what he had seen so far of Eyeri. Neither was Dyn'ad, but as a dom Dyn'ad was more likely to give the boy some slack. 'He's not exactly what I would imagine as someone you would care about?' Nel'os said brashly.
Tai'ray winced as Ryraso growled loudly, making Eyeri shift slightly to look over at them. "Sleep," Tai'ray demanded out loud, bobbing Eyeri on the nose. He whined unhappily but put his head back down. Nel'os and Dyn'ad made back off gestures at Ryraso who looked about ready to swing at them. Tai'ray had wondered about the boy himself but after seeing the youngling's scars... Meek or not, Eyeri was a survivor and Tai'ray would always respect a survivor.
Herymi was also glaring at them. Fierce displeasure came over the link at that notion, along with a bit of anger and almost... disappointment? That Nel'os would think so low that he would not care for someone quiet and weak. That Nel'os would even consider that normal.
'How dare you,' Ryraso growled, 'How dare you think that about him!'
'Ry...' Nel'os whispered.
'No! Don't you dare 'Ry' me! Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it isn't safe with the K'nairi anymore' Ryraso growled. It physically hurt all three K'nairi to hear Ryraso consider that thought, 'The K'nairi I knew never had great compassion for the weak but you never disregarded them as nothing before!'
'I didn't mean it...' Nel'os tried to backtrack realising his error.
'Yes, you did, Nel'os! You know nothing about him! You have no right to judge him on anything. Yet you...' Ryraso lost the control to form sentences in the link at that point. Instead, waves of protectiveness so strong it could almost be called possessive, or even be compared to how strong the K'nairi were protective when it came to their children, came though the link. Herymi sent his own anger and disappointment at the fact they would think that. Softer due to the fact he had no strong ties to the boy but there nonetheless.
'What happened to him?' Tai-ray asked gently, his hands not stopping the gentle circles on the boy's back, trying to coax him to sleep. He kept nodding off and then fluttering back to being awake again. Tai'ray was glad at this moment that Eyeri was not in the link. It had taken a lot to block Aw'endo from feeling Ryraso's anger because of proximity. Two people would have been almost impossible and it would not be good for the boy to find out they were talking about him. 'I saw the scars.'
Ryraso's anger simmered, sadness replacing it at the thought of how many scars Eyeri had despite being so young. Tai-ray could see some on the boy's scalp and also down his neck. An image of what Tai'ray had seen at the river fluttered through the link and Ryraso grimaced as he learned what had happened. The fact that Eyeri had been too scared to ask to land for the toilet wouldn't have helped the royal triad's views on the boy.
'Ry, what happened to the little one?' It was Dyn'ad who spoke this time. His voice full of concern and dominance at those images. He wanted to know. Dyn'ad was the quiet one of the three. Tai-ray was the loud one, he had to be after all. He had to be powerful and make an effect when he entered a room. Nel'os was the troublemaker. He was curious and playful. Sometimes too much. Dyn'ad was the one who controlled the other two. He was actually more dominant than Tai-ray, despite being weaker, so when he spoke, people answered pretty quickly.
'Slavers.' In that one word was all they needed to know. A cold chill filled the link before a shared hate crossed it. Slavers were the bane of the land. Evil men who captured the innocent and naive and sold them to cruel nobles who lived in different countries. They had been a problem in peace, but during the war, they had become a much darker threat.
'How old was he?' Dyn'ad asked, his voice forcibly calm. Getting angry over something which had already happened would be no use but it explained a lot of what they had seen from the boy. Every action they had seen from the boy so far had shown that Eyeri was quiet and meek, something which was trained into slaves. Meek, obedient slaves were the ones who lasted the longest, survived the longest. Loud, disobedient slaves either learned to be meek or were broken and killed in the process.
'Eight,' Ryraso answered, sitting down on the edge of the nest finally, his hand resting on Eyeri's ankle. 'His brothers managed to get him out the night before he was due to be branded.' Slaves were branded on their thirteenth birthday. Eyeri had been a slave for five years of his young life. The fear of the brand never went away. 'Tai-ray, if you intend to brand him like the rest of us...' Ryraso's fear for Eyeri flooded the link.
'We will explain it to him before doing so. Make sure he understands and accepts it before the occasion,' Tai'ray promised gently. 'We have branded former slaves before, we won't rush it if things are safe."
They would need to make sure the boy knew that this brand meant something different than slavery. This was to mark someone as k'nairi, as part of the flock. A brand which gave protection from even slavers. Few slavers were brave enough to touch a K'nairi, or rather foolish enough.
'Please do,' Ryraso whispered. Ryraso wasn't happy Tai-ray wanted to brand Eyeri, but the fact he was willing to make sure the boy understood and accepted was a lot. The last thing Ryraso wanted was to have to deal with both Tai-ray's claim and a traumatised Eyeri.
'I think we will get the boy to sleep easier if we aren't all standing around,' Dyn'ad suggested calmly, 'Ryraso go by Eyeri, Herymi by Ryraso.' Tai'ray said nothing to contest this and Nel'os fell in behind Aw'endo.
Scowling at the order, Ryraso fell down by his charge, wrapping an arm around Eyeri's waist and leaning up enough to press a kiss on his head. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and let himself drift off into an uneasy sleep, dimly aware as Dyn'ad helped Herymi move to beside him. He could only pray to the gods that he could convince Tai'ray not to brand Eyeri, or possibly given a chance to free the boy from something which had nothing to do with him.
'Sleep well all,' Tai-ray murmured affectionately. Everything was going right at the moment and soon, he would have three glorious mates. Maybe even four or five possibly given someone had caught Dyn'ad's eye and Tai-ray was hardly going to reject the idea considering how much he wanted Ryraso with them. Not to mention he would have two sons, more if Eyeri's brothers did come after him. He would have to place them under his protection after all. He would have a family.
Slowly, the Winglord fell to sleep the happiest he had been in a long time. However, there were a few doubts. After all both Herymi and Ryraso had been serious when they had wondered if it was still safe with the k'nairi. Tai'ray had already started changes to undo some of the damage done to k'nairi morals during the war but maybe it was time to find out what else needed to be readjusted.