Bird of a Wing (Bow 1)

Chapter 25

Sayskel and Kelenn sat silently by the fire talking to each other through their implants. Taidra sitting between them on the ground, his head resting on Kelenn's thigh. It was growing late and Feno was on watch duty; not that that stopped Sakmi's spies from sneaking into camp. Kelenn was sure he had seen Ravn fleeing camp earlier despite not having been caught, the man's white hair making him stand out when he wasn't trying to hide. Obviously, Ravn knew Inai was planning to send Ryraso away.

'He'll be off to tell Sakmi,' Sayskel mused softly to Kelenn, not wanting to startle Taidra with the information. Their cousin was already blaming himself badly for the destruction of the warship. 'To tell the royal triad.'

There was silence for a moment, the implant relaying thoughts but not necessarily emotions unless they were projected. Kelenn looked at the fire and stroked Taidra's chestnut hair, thinking about the royal triad. The twins had their own secrets towards the k'nairi, secrets that even the royals didn't know. Secrets which could have easily been revealed that night if they hadn't been so distracted.

'We can't be friends with Ryraso anymore,' Kelenn commented dully. 'He's too close to them.'

'He lied to us about that,' Sayskel added darkly. The twins had been friends with Ryraso for so long and yet. 'We're idiots.'

'Because we didn't connect the dots between Ryraso being Tai'ray's adoptive son's surrogate father and Ryraso being close to Tai'ray? No, we are more than idiots,' Kelenn murmured, his voice taking on a self-hating tone.

'No,' a third voice murmured, Kelenn blinking in surprise as Taidra's voice came through on their implant. Taidra had his own implant, not one which was a communicator but one which allowed him to join networks. It was very rare Taidra used it to join their private one however which showed how much their cousin wasn't enjoying the silence of camp. 'None of us wanted to admit it, that's all. Ryraso has been so loyal to us all."

'He is loyal to the Namya,' Sayskel exhaled, moving closer to his brother and cousin, eyes watching Eyeri as he moved around the camp doing a last minute check on the people who had been injured. 'He just has conflicting loyalties. Or rather Tai'ray isn't going to give him up and that makes being around Ryraso dangerous.'

'For you two, yes it is,' Taidra agreed. 'I pray Tai'ray will not follow through on his threat once he had calmed. Dyn'ad neither,' he said half scolding, half fearful.

The twin's relationship with the k'nairi had always been a strange one. Taidra was unaware of their secret as well. Kelenn suspected that while the royals were unaware of the secret, the fabled link likely made the knairi react differently to the twins because of it. Still Tai'ray threatening to punish Sayskel for his comments and Dyn'ad threatening darker, more detailed promises down Kelenn's ear during their fight did make the idea of facing the three men again more unnerving.

'I doubt he will,' Sayskel murmured. 'Is it bad I feel betrayed by Ryraso?' he asked, tears threatening to run down his face but he kept them back through sheer will alone.

'I feel it too,' Taidra admitted, cuddling closer to Kelenn's leg. 'He kept Tai'ray's feelings towards him close to his chest. Even if they were only friends... Friends don't adopt a child for you but ten years? The way Ryraso spoke about his time made it seem shorter.'

'Ryraso isn't the only one who kept things vague,' Kelenn pointed out softly.

'You can hardly blame Aw'endo in this. The kid was brave standing up to Dyn'ad,' Sayskel argued.

'Not Aw'endo. Isst. He knew how long Ryraso was there, he just never said,' Kelenn revealed gently. All three were silent for a moment as that fact sunk in. Neither Isst nor Ryraso had trusted them with the truth, even after so long.