"Fuck off," Herymi grumbled, not even bothering with a pretext of being nice as his friends tried to drag him out of the nest. Ran'mosy was more than content to stay in the nest with him but the others seemed determined to get him up and working. "I'm a guest at the moment, not a handyman," he moaned.
"This is your home, you are not a guest" O'chetur grinned warmly, kissing Herymi's cheek as the human finally sat up with a dark glower. "And there is work to be done!" Work didn't stop in Tayagwe just because of a little rain.
"I don't live here anymore," Herymi pointed out darkly but climbed out of bed, Ran'mosy and Cha'em smirking at him as they cuddled together comfortably. Ran'mosy was a tailor and Cha'em only worked during the harvest, the rest of the year he took care of the nest and the various chores needed to look after four men.
"Still your home," a familiar voice commented from the living room, followed by a clunking sound as the door shut. "Are you up yet boy?" Flex called, moving to the entrance of the nest room. Accepting a mug of tea from Adar'y, who was also up and dressed ready to go help in the village.
Herymi grumbled as he pulled his top on, currently dry from having been next to the fire all night. "I'm up," he scowled before moving over to kiss Flex on the cheek. Flex hugging him and slapping him up the head.
"I taught you better than not to help out in the community," Flex scolded with an amused sparkle in his eyes as he looked over Herymi's bare skin. "Just how many tattoos did you get?" he asked, taking a deep gulp of tea. Herymi had worn long sleeves at the dinner so Flex hadn't noticed his youngling was inked up now.
"Plenty," O'chetur grumbled, not minding too much but at the same time wishing Herymi hadn't gotten a couple.
"I like them," Cha'em chuckled, having spent the night beforehand searching over Herymi's body for ink and tracing out the patterns. There were a few places Herymi hadn't let him look but Cha'em knew where most of them were now. "You did get a lot though."
"Eh," Herymi shrugged, pulling on some trousers and some outer clothes, having known none of them would be particularly happy with him about them. The k'nairi didn't typically get tattooed. "I was stationed with a man who had been a tattooist before the war. Everyone got some. Then anyone who deals with the assassination guild must get certain marks. As a bodyguard, I was required to get a couple as well," he commented, tying up his cloak.
Flex hummed unhappily but said nothing, instead moving over to retie the cloak in the correct method, passing the empty cup to O'chetur. "Just how much did you have to do with the assassination guild?" Flex asked, O'chetur echoing the question.
"I'm not an assassin or spy now. They just made us do some work during the bodyguard training to teach us what the most common methods of assassination are," Herymi reassured, letting his guardian sort his cloak out. "And ways to combat against them. Also, made us drink poison to develop an immunity to it. It was an extremely unpleasant experience and I don't envy anyone in that field of work."
Ran'mosy snorted. "I'm sure," was the general response of the room. K'nairi didn't really think that assassination was a good way to kill an enemy. They were fine with people having the skill to take someone out subtly but an enemy was meant to be faced head on.
"Come on," Flex smiled warmly at his son and his son's friends. "You three are needed helping at the De'liant's farm. Some of the trees on the bank are threatening to collapse and we need to move the livestock to a different pasture. It's too dangerous at the moment to cut the trees down. Also, the flood defences need some work, the drain channels are already filling up."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning, everyone woke up early but the storm was still raging outside, making people reluctant to move fast. Aw'endo had wriggled himself in between Dyn'ad and Eyeri when he and Tai'ray had returned from dancing. Smelling damp and with cold limbs, Eyeri had grumbled in sleepy protest as his brother had curled up in only his loin cloth next to him. Dyn'ad had just kissed Tai'ray before letting the man bury himself in Dyn'ad wings.
"Why have there been so many storms?" Eyeri moaned softly into Ryraso's chest when it was evident that everyone was actually awake. Eyeri hadn't slept well at all that night, even with the magic keeping most of the sounds out of the room. Eyeri had woken up several times in the night and was now in a foul mood.
Ryraso shrugged, hand rubbing Eyeri's side. "Bad luck?" he offered intensively. "Navat gets its fair share of storms but this many is strange."
"Not really," Nel'os yawned, stretching out like a cat behind Ryraso. "It is more bad luck, I think," he shrugged, settling back in behind Ryraso. "The storm we dealt with a few days ago was the same one which took down the Namya warship. It had moved north so we had to deal with it. This one is a different storm. It's moving east so once it's passed over, hopefully, it will be blue skies all the way to Navat."
"That would be nice," Aw'endo smiled softly. "Do we have to fly today?" he asked with a distinct whine in his voice.
"Thought you liked flying in rain," Eyeri said darkly, not having enjoyed having Aw'endo's wet hair and feathers around him.
"Flying in a storm and dancing is fun. Flying to get somewhere, is not," Aw'endo grumbled, poking Eyeri in the ribs. Eyeri snarled and tried to retaliate but Ryraso slapped him on the hip lightly stopping him.
"Behave you two," Ryraso warned. "It would be nice if we could wait for the storm out if it's not going in the same direction," he sighed, not looking forward to the prospect of flying in the damp air. The delay wasn't something he was going to enjoy, ignoring the fact it gave him a little more time to figure out a plan of escape for Eyeri.
"If it's okay with Ryraso and Herymi, I'm sure we can wait another day," Tai'ray commented as he rolled out of bed. Picking up some clothes as he went and hanging them up to dry near a fire which had been heating the room all night. "I'm going to get some food and more firewood," he commented as he pulled on his own wet clothes.
"I'm coming too," Aw'endo declared, quickly slipping out of the bed himself, Eyeri groaning again at the jostling. Ryraso smirked and kissed the boy on his forehead.
"Why don't you go with them," Ryraso murmured, but Eyeri quickly made it clear that he didn't want to. Preferring to stay in the warm and dry.
Most of the day was spent doing not much but sheltering from the storm. Flex appeared with some books and playing cards which had broken up the day. Dyn'ad and Aw'endo teaching Eyeri some k'nairi card games when he was awake. Eyeri spent the day drifting in and out of sleep with a distinct grumpiness to him which Ryraso enjoyed seeing. If Eyeri was being grumpy, he felt safe with them.
As for Ryraso and Tai'ray, they barely spoke to each other but Tai'ray spend most of the day leaning on Ryraso in some fashion, even if it was just his wings touching Ryraso. Part of Ryraso wanted to growl and snap at him for it but another said to just let him get on with it. Tai'ray clearly didn't know what to say or possibly wanted to do it in private.
As the day progressed, Tai'ray and Dyn'ad left to go help some of the villagers but Nel'os stayed, half curled on the nest. Aw'endo and Eyeri were in the main area, Ryraso found himself drifting over to the k'nairi. "Are you just here to babysit or weren't you in the mood to go help out?" Ryraso asked dryly.
"Bit of both. Mostly they don't quite need me at the moment. I'll go later if they still need some extra hands," Nel'os yawned. "Herymi has been dragged into help," he smiled warmly. "The community have spent all day teasing and picking on him while making him feel at home. It is a nice thing to feel."
"Of course this is a close community," Ryraso said dryly, thinking of his own hometown before the war. "Rural towns always are. The only thing which I missed from my hometown in Navat. Or not, I lived happily without the teasing."
Nel'os chuckled and nodded. "Can I ask you something Ryraso?" he asked softly.
"You can ask. No promises I will answer," Ryraso commented, feeling his stomach tense. He had a suspicion about what this was going to be.
"Last night. Before you said..." Nel'os paused, looking almost scared to repeat the words in case Ryraso took them back.
"Before I said I love you?" Ryraso said calmly, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. You felt hurt. Why?" Nel'os asked, sitting up and looking at Ryraso seriously and intently.
Ryraso hummed and looked away from Nel'os over to his charges. Neither had noticed what was happening in the nest area. "When I was with Ran'mosy I did a lot of thinking about the past," Ryraso commented softly. "Including when Dyn'ad told me you guys were finding a way for me to return to Navat in the Oak pub," he added.
"And that hurt?" Nel'os frowned. "I know it's a fairly big change in circumstances but..."
Laughing at that comment, Ryraso felt himself beam on Nel'os' simplification of the different in the two moments. Nel'os frowned unhappily and the boys glanced over at him before carrying on with whatever game they were playing. "Wasn't the change, Nel," Ryraso smiled before the smile turned sad again. "Or I guess it was. Do you remember Millie? Did you even met Millie?" he mused thinking back.
"No, but you used to talk about her. She was Isst's wife," Nel'os said slowly, not entirely sure why the woman was coming up now.
"She was," Ryraso nodded, looking at his feet as the memories returned to him. "They loved each other so much. Yet, when the war happened things fell apart," he said softly. "Isst's job as the Inai's bodyguard put a wedge in the relationship and then her brother joined the D'mar." Ryraso frowned. "I still remember the argument Isst had with her. Millie was pregnant with their fourteenth child but she wasn't backing down. She wanted to leave the Namya and live in one of the neutral colonies. Isst wouldn't go."
"Isst has fourteen children?" Nel'os exclaimed.
"Well, no," Ryraso shook his head. "Not anymore."
"What happened?" Nel'os frowned.
"After their last big argument, Millie packed up their stuff and went to see her brother. I don't know what happened between them but Millie ended up dead, her baby was killed too," Ryraso said darkly, the memory of the mutilated bodies making him feel ill slightly. The memory of Isst's face making his heart break.
Nel'os let out a vicious curse. "Ryraso..." he murmured, not sure what to say. Such an action was unthinkable to the k'nairi.
"Isst's not over what happened. Those first few months were the worst. His older children blamed him and he blamed himself for not protecting her. His children still don't talk to him because of that blame. She wrote him a letter before she left. Saying she still loved him more than the moon but her family was the sun and if he was willing to join her in the light, she would happily welcome him. I think if things had played out again, he would have gone with her," Ryraso admitted, curling up slightly. "I don't want to end up like that."
"I don't really see how you could," Nel'os commented gently, tugging Ryraso close for a tight hug. "We aren't going to divide your loyalties. You are effectively moving to a neutral location. Not every k'nairi agrees with the D'mar."
"I know that but it's the heartbreak over losing the people you love, I was referring too," Ryraso half smiled at Nel'os, the look sad and heavy. "They let the war get between them and they suffered for it. Isst lost his wife and his children. I don't want to lose anyone I love, Nel'os. I really don't."