Aftermath

Not much to say really. Durth is actually trying and seems to be of a mind of being accepting of others.

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“Ah-nee-ehhge.” Una muttered, motioning to his mouth and away.

“Aniege,” Durth responded.

“No. Aneege.”

“Angie?”

“An…” Una sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, “look, Durth, mispronouncing a word can lead to dire consequences. Ancient is not a language for just anyone to learn, you need to know which words to use when, how the words interplay and how one can blatantly lie and still tell the truth. Once you master that in your own language, you can come to some understanding of ancient.”

“But you just said Aniege.”

“Aniege means butterfly or angel, aneege means monster or horror.”

“What is an angel? Wait. Isn’t that Rel’s last name? Aniege?” Durth frowned and glanced around the trailer as it bumped down the rough road.

“An angel is…” Una’s hand spun a little in the air, “is. Uhm. A. Uhm. Air demon. But pure of heart and soul, one who serves the gods willingly and entirely and thinks of nothing but pleasing their master.”

“I’ve never heard of angels.”

“They died when Shay-har died, they were his beings. Born of the stars and the sky, they had wings and beautiful faces. Angels travelled on rays of sunlight and always smiled.”

“But…”

“It has been seen as aneege because people like you,” Una jabbed a finger at Durth, “didn’t pay attention to their lessons and their parents and mispronounced the words before them. If you think aniege and aneege are the same thing, you might as well call ayata and ayato the same thing.”

“But they sound different!”

“One means love, the other lover.”

Durth snorted, “getting a word wrong is not that big of a deal, not as bad as you are making it out to be.”

“Take Rel’s name.”

“His name?”

Una motioned to the female sitting between them who seemed very intent on ignoring the two males, “In Lillow’s language Rel means rape. Rel mispronounced his own last name DeAniege, he called himself but he would sometimes say aneege and sometimes say dah, which means ‘the’ instead of dark. This ‘dah’ means person’s own something. He was broadcasting to the world that he was there to be raped.”

“Oh,” Durth looked at Lillow.

The young female brushed back a stray lock of hair and paused as she tucked it behind her ear. Her eyes shifted from the road and to Durth, then over to Una, “what?”

“Rel does not mean rape.”

“It does,” Lillow responded promptly, “though it depends on the context of the conversation, the body motions that you make.” she rattled off a sentence that made Durth’s head cock to the side. He didn’t even hear the ‘rel’ in what she said, “means nothing much, but if I change my tone it is an invitation to be bent over and to be had as if I am being raped.”

“It’s called gentle … oh the word gets lost in translation, but it’s something like gentle abuse,” Una said around Lillow, “you would be surprised how many enjoy this.”

“S-and-M.”

“What?”

“Slave and master, bondage,” Durth responded, “there are all kinds of people like that. Past likes it if his personal servant gags and beats him.”

Lillow and Una shared a look before the female made a sound oddly similar to a laugh as she directed the horses down a small side lane that was rougher than the main road. Branches threatened to slap Durth in the face as they passed by.

“This is not quite,” Una made a hand motion in front of him, a small spiral, “Slave and master is play. Gentle abuse is.” the man made a sound at the back of his throat.

“The Two Lovers,” Lillow murmured.

“How is it different? Both is about fetish play.”

“Gentle abuse is not play,” Una snapped back, the first time the man had raised his voice or used such a tone on Durth, “it is not a fetish, it is not a chosen lifestyle.”

“He’s never been dominant, Una,” Lillow said in response, “just think, what would Paw say?”

Una’s jaw clenched and unclenched.

“That I’m the product of a broken civilization?” Durth ventured the guess. He was learning more and more about the Sidhe and knew that they, as a race, saw the people as stupid and ignorant. He understood that the Sidhe thought that those who had to live behind metal and concrete were weak and should be either saved or killed out of pity. The people, in turn, had seen the Sidhe as weak and stupid because they had no technology to speak of, at least none that the people hadn’t had themselves.

The more Durth listened, the more he learned and absorbed. Una would allow Durth to steer a conversation whichever way he wanted it to go. Durth could move away from the gods and talk about plants or the stars and Una would gladly talk about that particular topic. The Sidhe came up time and again. A farmer was not just a farmer, he did not just have an effect on his family but on the Sidhe living nearby. A fisherman had to worry about over fishing, not just him over fishing, but how many fish a Sidhe down river or up river might be taking for their food. The people and the Sidhe were intertwined and while one could survive without the other, it seemed that it was in the best interest of both races to co-exist.

The people hadn’t been co-existing when the world had ended.

“They could have saved themselves and instead they only sealed their fates.”

Raya’s words.

It frightened Durth to think that Raya and Una shared similar views. It was odd to him and it stirred something in his chest, something he hadn’t felt stirred before.

Like. He cared about this, like it excited him and made his soul blossom and grow to know about the Sidhe and the people.

Of their second chance.

“Close,” Lillow murmured, “he’s a smart one, Una, I approve of your mating with him.”

“I am not going to mate him,” Una responded quickly.

A little too quickly. There was something to the man’s voice that made Durth not take the words personally but at the same time… something was off.

“If you mate him, I’ll mate Hohi.”

“You’ll mate Hohi anyway, just as soon as you prove to be fertile,” Una said in a tone that made Lillow growl.

The animalistic sound ended abruptly as they came around the corner. There, off in the distance, was a wide, tall oak like tree. At the base of the tree was a group of people who watched the trailers idly. Then one of them stood, coming almost to the bottom branch of the tree, tall of leg and too long arms.

“What the…”

Another stood, a babe, surely, who leapt to the others’ shoulder and whistled loudly at them. Something about the face wasn’t right, something was out of place.

“Ashun’s family,” Una said quietly, “most of them are not viable. Most are chimera but not strong enough to take a place at the gates of the underworld.”

“So they’re all…”

“Fully grown.” Una paused and then opened his mouth to add something more. The little on, on the shoulder of the tall one leapt and bounded the distance between them too quickly, landing on the roof of the trailer, hissing and bearing teeth, claws digging into the hard wood as the wide, flat nose flared, taking in Durth’s scent. Fur covered the creature’s head and down its back, moving around its hip to hide its sex. Snake like eyes blinked, pointed ears twitching for any sound.

“Who…”

Ashun landed beside the creature as Lillow pulled the horses to a stop. The animals were oddly complacent considering the hissing, growling creature on the trailer top. Ashun reached down and scratched the creature’s head.

“Our father,” the female was still naked, but Durth’s eyes were drawn to Ashun’s own eyes. Where in the bright light of the day he could see the elongated pupils. Not round but not quite like a cat’s. “In all his glory and all his madness, created us. We are the progeny of that which no other tribe can accept. Not even the Taln can accept my brothers and sisters into their midst.”

“The Taln are…” Durth looked to Una.

“A very special group of people and Sidhe living side by side. Those thrown out by the other tribes gather at the great tree and petition to be allowed entrance into the tribe. The Taln have the stronger bloods and is a melting pot of the tribes. People are also part of the tribe.”

“Then why can’t they join? Why are they out here as if they are. Diseased?”

“A few of them are,” Ashun responded quietly, “some cannot handle being around normal people, some are viable but do not meet the requirements. I do, so I have many choices and I choose to travel between my mates and my brothers and sisters. Come over, Durth, I will introduce you to my siblings.”

“Why me? Why not the others?”

“Tah would be claimed, Raya would have issues,” Una responded, looking over at Durth, “and because she wanted to invite you, not the others. Go. Meet the DeGlaya.”

“DeGlaya?”

“Dark people, those who the rest of the world will not permit outside before dark.”


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