Rebellion and New Life

Chapter 26

Later that night, Sil and La put Ryuu to bed in his own room.

This time, he was going to sleep alone.

The two of them knew they had to get started right away with the orders they had been given. They went down to their secret spot to have privacy, no one knew about that place so no one would snoop on them there.

It had been so long since they had last made love.

La knew that her mate had had seriousness in his voice. He wasn't making this up, and it was later confirmed to her from hearing the Slave Master and Garthim Master talking that they thought it was crazy and wouldn't work.

Despite this coupling being an order, they made sure to be as romantic and natural as possible. That was probably why it had worked the first time around. Not just the physical mating, but the emotional aspect of it felt important; the feeling of being completely safe with another and actually loved by someone was extremely unusual for Skeksis, and it was probably a motivator for Sil having gotten pregnant before.

That same feel of safety, comfort and love was having an effect on Sil's body again, he didn't know what it was, but he could sense it. La told him she had felt the same too.

But it would still take more tries to make sure that their attempts would work.
...............

The next morning, as Sil and La made their way to the breakfast table, some of the others could smell their scents mingled with one another, obviously from the order. The Emperor too. It was clear that his orders had been taken seriously.

Ryuu was completely unaware of what had been commanded. That he might soon get a new sibling, or a few. Hard to tell.

Sil and La kept to themselves about anything they did last night even if everyone but Ryuu knew about it. It wasn't anyone's business. Now, none of the others could have a claim against them for it. The Emperor's order had been given and the permission was granted.

As SkekSo smelt the scent in the air closest to him, he was pleased to have been swiftly obeyed. But it would take time to see the desired results. At least one cycle of the moons to be for sure if something had happened at the earliest.

Breakfast was pretty silent that morning, but everyone had thoughts on their minds about what would possibly happen and were watching Sil and La curiously because they could smell their mingled scents and that felt just odd to them.

The Scientist wanted to know most of all. But he knew it would be a few days or weeks at the most. It still seemed like something impossible.

In the meantime, Ryuu's Skeksis education continued. Today, after breakfast was over, he followed his dad around all day to see what he did. He learned about the scroll carrying, the secret scheming, advising others, the Emperor, authorizing the Podling musicians, etc. And there were times that they had free moments to even drop in on SkekLa to say hello, but if the irritable SkekOk was around, they had to make everything look like strictly business.

Sil avoided the Scientist today. He didn't want his child in that scary lab. He wanted to keep him away from the Gelflings so he would hopefully forget about them for good. Until the Gelflings were all drained, Tek was not to take part in Ryuu's education. Only the others were allowed to, for the moment. One day at a time.
...............

Over the course of many days, Ryuu's education was enriched by each Skeksis and he learned much about what they could do, and why they deserved their title names. He was quick to learn and seemed always eager to know more, which made him a very good apprentice.

Many days later, after Sil and La had spent many a night together, when the Chamberlain was alone, dragging scrolls from Ok's library to the Emperor's throne, the Scientist came upon him, seeking him.