Partner

This was actually fairly difficult to write. I got through bits of it, stopped and went "wtf is going on?" because of the oddity that has appeared with Souse. I'm wondering if he's using the excuse of Essuan being pregnant as a way to hide the fact that that he can't use Lillow's powers or something. Or ... someone's powers darn it. The guy seems to have lost his brain.

I've never been pregnant, never been around someone who's pregnant, so I don't know if it's possible for a male to lose his intelligence like I've heard some women complain about happening to themselves. Something about kids eating brain cells.

He's crazy, Paw's crazy and there's something about the next one that makes me giggle more than the look on Mik's face when he saw Taln and Hohi having sex.

Read, Review and Enjoy.





Mik found Lillow in Souse’s arms, the girl was curled tight against the male, eyes closed and her whole body shaking. The man sighed and sat at Souse’s motion.

“Essuan is making tea,” Souse murmured.

“Paw was harsh. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

Essuan returned to the tea and murmured to Souse before sitting beside Mik and smiling at him, “How goes the piglet slaughtering?”

Mik bit his bottom lip for a moment then said, “Paw was stern and annoyed with Lillow.”

“Very chicken fart.”

“Very people, indeed,” Mik muttered.

“Leaping lemurs never leap off tallest mountain.”

Mik looked at Souse. The male hid a bemused smile by turning his head and coughing once. Lillow was too focused on the tea. Her face scrunched up in what might have been annoyance as she sipped at it. Mik forced himself to turn back to Essuan.

“I’ll… keep that in mind.”

“Love, perhaps it would be easier if you took Lillow to bed.”

“Aberdeen not withstanding little else of the mange rabid vermin.”

The girl was already asleep, her tea cup tipping towards Souse’s stomach as she took in a shaky, sleepy breath. Her face pressed into Souse’s torso, right near his shoulder, as if to block out reality. Souse took the mug and handed it to Essuan who left for the kitchen with it. Mik waited until she was gone before sighing.

“I see her language is improving.”

Souse wiped the back of his hand over his lips, trying to wipe away the smile, “It has, hasn’t it? You can understand her, that is the basic concept of language, no?”

“Studying philosophy?”

“Literary theory,” Souse murmured, “Paw is acting strangely, yes, but that is the meaning of love, is it not? To love one no matter how they act, no matter how brash they are?”

“No, it’s not. It’s one thing to love Essuan, because you know once the babe is born she’ll be in a better mood, she isn’t going to be this same person who treats you dismissively, who growls when you tell her to put down the bag of soil. This is not a permanent change, she’s not being infiltrated by… by things that you have never enjoyed and will never enjoy.”

Essuan came back with a blanket and draped it over Lillow’s still form. She settled back beside Mik and blinked at him. She said something in Sidhe and Souse growled.

“She says that a woman’s moods change as easily as the weather, and that perhaps Mik has had Paw so much that Paw is taking on a woman’s-”

“He’s been having me.”

“Oh.” Essuan stood and left the room.

Souse muttered something to himself in Sidhe, “So he has gone native.”

“We are not-”

“The term means the same, Mik. He has gone native and so have you, he liked the changes you have taken on, you do not enjoy the changes he has taken on, so talk to him about it.”

“I tried telling him he was turning into people and he was outraged and didn’t believe me and … was people about the matter. People can’t speak to their lovers about these kinds of things, because the lovers are…”

“Arrogant asses?”

“Yes! Other people have to be a go between. In every relationship I’ve ever had.”

Souse snorted, “You. Have had relationships besides Paw?”

“Yes… like… ten.”

“You are exaggerating.”

“So it was five, who’s counting.”

“Me,” Souse muttered, “I will try and speak to Paw about this. To see a candidate become like your people is not what we want. A people Whisper is… hardly acceptable. Possibly why Whispers did not survive into modern times.”

“What he did to Lillow-”

“Is unforgivable,” Souse growled, “she is not innocent just because she wants to seem that way, Mik, we have kept a great deal from her. She does not understand how to shut such things out of her mind. We didn’t show her how to work the televisions, when the rest of us figured it out, for fear of her watching the news stations and…. And learning about all things people.”

As in Lillow was seeing the possibility of the war with the Valeasans, “I. Understand. But the war is a large thing.”

“I’m talking about the mustard gas.”

“Oh. Well. Yes, that and his tone and his attitude about the whole thing. But still. Souse. This war is going to happen.”

“A war is a two sided fight. What the Valeasans plan is a massacre. How exactly do they expect our people to protect themselves? Give Paw a computer, oh, how absolutely kind of them. We should all bow down at their feet because he can delay nuclear missiles by a few days, at the cost of his soul. No.”

“Perhaps… you would rather speak to your tribe about this.”

“I am the voice of my tribe. My tribe does as I say.”

“Or maybe Violet?”

Souse growled, then sighed, “it is so easy to ignore the proper routes when surrounded by such things. I will speak to Violet about this and she will not be happy with it. We will argue. We will fight and we will act outside of Sidhe happenings. How will shouting at one another accomplish anything?”

“You’ve never been fully Sidhe, Souse. You’ve lived most of your life with the scars caused by people. But even the Souse of six months ago, he wouldn’t have argued. When your males got rowdy you didn’t argue with them. You threw them around. Bruised them, broke bones. It was your way or everyone can go fuck themselves.”

“Yes but Violet-”

“Is younger and weaker than you are.”

Souse’s eyes narrowed as he watched Mik in silence.

“If she were anyone else, you would have bent her over your knee already, so what is stopping you? Her being leader had nothing to do with it. Her being of another tribe, of them being of another tribe, a battered tribe in a new area and not knowing what was going on, that stayed your hand. Why not show dominance and make two broken tribes one, stronger tribe?”

“To do that, properly, we would need a male and a female to actually breed, to bind the two together. Lillow is not old enough and Hohi will not breed with any of our women except for her. He has only accepted Taln’s attentions on the condition of proving his worth to the rest of the tribe. Our males are paired off.”

“Not the one who isn’t part of either tribe. He’s a puppet, a tool, was before but didn’t know his place. He won’t breed outside of the tribes and he certainly isn’t being of any use to anyone. Take him into the tribe, make sure he knows his place then offer him as a sacrificial lamb. His blood is obviously worth something to both tribes, as you still allow him to see Essuan when he gets hurt or Paw when he needs other kinds of help.”

“Very Sidhe.”

“Very you several months ago. What happened?”

“Females are not the only ones who suffer during a pregnancy,” Souse muttered, “Males become focused, more determined to protect their female. But only focused on the female. I’ve been distracted.”

“Then why are you still leader? The others-”

“If this were people, yes, it would be said that I am distracted and should be removed. But this is not people. This is Sidhe. Paw has changed a great deal, but the others do not have the connection that he does in people, the investment that he does.”

“Well his investment is not happy with him.”

“You may have to show it, don’t walk away. Act Sidhe. If you act people, it will only drive him to acting people, trying to understand you. So. Act Sidhe. Don’t speak to him for the rest of the night. Don’t make eye contact. Sleep in the nest and kick him out of it if he tries to climb in with you. Follow him to the bedroom and kick him out of that as well.”

It did seem like a Sidhe thing to do.

“Paw is quite a bit stronger than I am.”

“My unborn child is stronger than you are. The point is the aggression in the kick, the message in it. That clearly states that one of the pair is not welcomed into a bed because of their behaviour. Tomorrow morning, make a nice breakfast for everyone, make them all sit down and eat. Except Taln, Lillow says he has to go into work early. But get up early enough to make him breakfast as well.”

“To… prove to Paw that being people is bad?”

“Tomorrow is the seventh day of the week, the day of prayer to the gods and rest. Most people have breakfast or supper, or both, with their family. Tonight is the discipline, tomorrow is showing him how he should act, if he is going to act people.”

“I… can’t cook.”

“Easy as boiling water.”

“Apparently I’m so bad that I can burn water even.”

“Who said that?”

“Paw.”

“Oh…” Souse let out a breath and was quiet a moment as he thought, “I don’t want to get up that early, but I’ll come over and help you make breakfast. So long as you feed me as well.”

“That is a given, you cook, you get to eat.”

“Not a given everywhere. So. I will see you tomorrow morning before the sun is up.”



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