The Bid For Silence

Chapter 1

    Silence needed a shower.  He had just finished dragging logs into a fort shape for the younger aliens, so that they could play.  His muscles were sore and he felt sticky with sweat.  He did not like this feeling.  But the little kids were happy and their mothers wouldn’t stop thanking him for building it for their children.

    “Silence!” one of the little Neros called.  “Can you pwease pway with us?” 

    Silence smiled at her.  He didn’t have the heart to tell her no, so instead he nodded and ruffled her hair.

    “Yay!  We’re pwaying tag.  Come on!  Come on!” the girl shreaked, dragging him along.  One of the mothers sent him a quick apologetic smile and was about to tell her daughter that Silence couldn’t play but he shook his head at her.  He smiled down at the girl.  She reminded him of Moon, he sighed.  He hadn’t seen his family in 9 years.  He could only hope that they were okay.
Together the kids and Silence played until the dome started to dim, artificial lights flickering off so as to create a "night time" for the pets.  Silence sighed, he either went to sleep sticky and sweaty or risked bumping into one of the night creatures.  The rules that his Master had implemented a few years earlier - about predators and prey staying separate - certainly helped keep the peace, so when Calum had decided the rules weren't necessary anymore, there weren't a lot of predators who were violent left.  But a few were cunning enough to hide from Calum and wait until they could have their way again.

Mainly Pack B.

Silence didn't like to feel sweaty but neither did he like to feel like he was going to die.  A hard decision for him.

He went with death.

So he took a shower, taking as little time as possible.  Not that that helped much, since by the time he left the washrooms it was dark.  A few small lights acting as stars provided minimal light, what gave Silence enough light to see was the full moon.  The glowing orb of light made the whole dome seem unreal.

Untouchable.

But that did not stop the blood from freezing in his veins when he heard a howl.  He ran.  And ran.  And ran.  He finally reached the base of the tree not 3 minutes later, though it seemed an eternity to him.
He started to climb up the tree, stopping mid-way and shivering.  The ominous feeling of someone watching him made his limbs tense and the hair on the back of his neck to stand up.  After that he hurried off to Pride’s nest.    He skillfully curled under Pride’s arm, not wanting to wake the slightly older boy.

-        -        -

The next morning Silence awoke to Pride braiding his hair.
“You came back late last night,” he lectured.
Silence tipped his head back and pouted.

“Stay still!  Your braid will be messed up,” Pride snapped.

Silence snuggled back into Pride’s chest, uncaring of his hair.  He tipped his head back a bit more to kiss Pride.  Not long after Pride was caressing him gently and working his lips against the younger boy’s.

“Please don’t do that again, I was worried,” Pride said, letting his cold, uncaring demeanor dissipate.

Silence nodded and curled into Pride’s chest, leaning his head against his shoulder and closing his eyes.

“We need to wake up!  Master’s friend is coming today!  How will it work if we are still asleep?” Pride frowned, pinching Silence’s cheek.
Silence rolled off Pride and into the downy fluff of the nest.

“Lazy!” Pride huffed, yanking Silence up by his hair.
Silence looked back at the Aschimía with a pout, tears gathering in his eyes.

“Oh, no, no, no!  I’m sorry Silence, did I hurt you?  Come here I’ll make it feel better,”  Pride quickly responded to Silence’s tears.  He pushed forward and brushed Silence’s tears away, kissing his face softly.  He took a brush and pulled it through Silence’s hair softly, making sure it didn’t snag anywhere.  Afterwards he took extra time to put every strand of hair into a tight braid.