2132:Phoenix

Chapter 30

 "You should have just let her decompress," Aunt Yukera scolded. Alexia was sleeping after all the pancakes I made her. I could not believe she dislocated her shoulder, or even why the thought crossed her mind.

"Except she wasn't decompressing. She was breaking, I had to stop it."

"Yes because you did a splendid job." Rozener's arrogant voice drifted around me like air.

"If I could've felt her, I would not have messed up."

"That is your issue, Calepus," Aunt Yukera sighed. She lounged on her throne, both legs hung over an arm, and her elbows pushed against the other. "You can not rely upon your abilities. Just like you must teach her. Rozener said she relaxed when you two reconnected, which is likely a sign she relies on you for physiological stability. She needs to be broken of that if she ever has hope to be an independent being. She is something else entirely, we have to work to help her the best we can. I think the best thing you can do for her is to keep your distance. You have been attached from the beginning. She needs to learn to be on her own."

"I would not recommend it." Hemphin strode into his mother's greeting room with a tablet in his hand. He bowed deeply to his mother then held out the tablet with a hologram. "Humans are pack animals, in the very deepest sense of the definition," The hologram switched between family groups and groups of people the same age, even couplings of males and females of the species. "I think the best course of action would be to expand her pack. With all of the different genetics piled into one, she could be suffering from a variety of mental illnesses, and the only way we'll catch them is if she opens up to us." I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. I couldn't imagine separating myself from her. I wanted to have her everything, and I wanted to give her the things she dreamed about. The freedom she felt when she ran her favorite trails, the whimsy she felt sitting on the rooftop, the happiness pancakes brought her, even when she was distraught. I wanted to make her laugh every day. It wasn't like a song, with a rhythm and melody. Her laugh was loud and joyful and intoxicating. I wanted to die when her eyes were filled with nothing but pain because I feared she'd never laugh again. I couldn't feel her then. I can now. She was sleeping.

"Mental illness?"

"Brain chemistry imbalances. Different species can suffer from different kinds of imbalances, and I have no idea which will spring up considering all of the shit she's been dragged through these years." My aunt seemed perturbed with this, but she couldn't argue with Lexi's basic desire to pack bond. Lexi might have been a cross, but she was born to a human mother and raised among them.

"She's been having nightmares and daydreams. Then that bout of dissociative behavior." Hemphin nodded and wrote it up on his tablet. "You can't take notes on her if you're trying to form a bond. If I learned anything it's that humans hate to be studied, Lexi more so than most."

"If you think I intended on taking this riding with me, you're a fool, Cale." Riding. I had no idea what he was getting at, but Lexi was sleeping, and she wouldn't be doing any riding until her shoulder was healed properly. Would she be able to tell what they were trying to do? Lexi hated the idea of being fixed, and if she found out our goal... She could. I didn't even know what she could do.

Lex must have woken up because she tugged on our link. It wasn't urgent like she needed me, more like she wanted to make sure I was there. I nudged the link back. It seemed sufficient because she stopped tugging, but I could feel her mind stir, even from the other side of the building.

"Is there anything else you wanted from me, Aunt Yukera?"

"Is she awake?" She knew what I was doing it seemed as if she had other plans for me. I knew she only wanted to help Lexi, especially when my Father caused her suffering, but Aunt Yukera didn't know her like I did.

"Yes."

"Rozener. Take her water and sit with her for a while."

"Why not me," Hemphin whined. It was like completely different beings inhabited his body. One minute he was studious and ready to work, and the next he was childlike.

"Because you would scare her," Rozener leveled and turned to walk out. I grabbed his arm, but he didn't fight me. "I will not be cruel," he whispered. "I know you can feel her. You will know if she is in need." I forced myself to let him go, but I couldn't just stand here and wait to feel her. I knew if I barged in on them without just cause Rozener would lock me in a dampener cell himself.

"Do you need any of your fleet serviced?" Aunt Yukera smiled brightly, I knew she'd like my change of thought.

"Hemphin, show him to the hanger." The hanger was closer to Lexi's room. I tried to let that thought relax me, but I didn't know what would happen if she fell into another dissociative fit.