Chapter 1
Morning
Ever since she realized that her six-year-old adopted daughter--a mantrin named Stith--would not brush her teeth by herself and would have to be "helped," Sarah Hatcher wished there was some way to grow a third arm. One arm would hold the mantrin still, the second would pry her mouth open and the third would do the brushing. That would have been perfect, she thought, as trying to use only two arms to get all three of those things done before Stith got away was simply impossible.
What made the whole scenario especially frustrating was the fact that Sarah's soul mate, Nodyr--a male mantrin with whom she lived--was considerably more lenient than what Sarah deemed good for fathering. This meant that he did not like trying to do anything to Stith that she did not want, even if he knew that it was in her best interest. Nodyr was also extremely quiet and submissive for a male, of either species. For this Sarah was partly grateful: grateful that he was not a tyrant, but only partly grateful because it meant she had to do most of the disciplining herself.
However, they both feared that Stith would become afraid of Sarah if she carried the entire role of disciplinarian. Nodyr knew this and did his best to raise Stith, though even raising his voice in her direction was difficult for him. What made it even more challenging was the fact that Stith favored him naturally, since he was the paternal figure in her life, and because they were the same species.
The young mantrin sat on the counter, in front of the sink, her tail beating agitatedly against the plastic cream colored material. Splotches of toothpaste covered her loose blue pajamas and her scowling face. There was a large splat of toothpaste on the mirror, the result of an elbow accidentally landing on the tube as they violently danced around the room trying to foil each others' plans.
The brawl, which resembled an elephant and a hedghehog attempting an intricate four-legged version of Russian ballet with one sprained ankle each, had ended. It had come to a low down staring contest, Sarah and her adopted daughter attempting to will each other to their ways. It was not working.
Neither of them noticed Nodyr coming to stand in the door and watch in amusement.
Annoyed, Sarah shook the abused toothbrush at Stith. The mantrin stuck out her tongue in mockery.
"Stith," Sarah eventually said in agitation, "I don't care if you like it. I didn't like it when I was your age, you know. But your teeth have to be brushed."
Stith didn't respond.
"Stith! Open up," she demanded again. "It won't take but a minute."
"Why?" Stith eventually answered, sticking out her tongue again.
"Because your teeth will rot and fall out if you don't."
Stith crossed her arms, mocking Sarah's position and staring at her crossly. "No, they won't!"
Helpless, Sarah stood up and took a deep breath, letting it out in an exasperated sigh. She was tempted to give up, as she had been at this particular project for so long that she threatened to be late for work if it continued. Finally, she noticed Nodyr out of the corner of her eye and looked over at him, her eyes followed by her head. Her undefined cheeks turned a slight rose color as she grinned pathetically, placing a hand on her slender hips and reaching up to brush her slightly curly, shoulder-length brown hair out of her eyes.
"Nodyr? Help?" she pleaded, only to see him grin toothily at her. Nodyr was a mixture of two mantrin races, although the only one that really showed was Sogowan--the same race as Stith. The main evidence of this was his brown skin and large ears that tended to flop around lazily. The other race in his cross was Goureg, the race native to the area, although the most that showed of that was his considerable height, his bright blue eyes and the fact that his skin was a noticeably lighter shade than what was usual for Sogowans. At the moment, he stood in a loose gray T-shirt, and a pair of baggy black, drawstring sweat shorts that buttoned in a long row along his thighs.
"Why?" he said, echoing Stith. He smiled innocently, his ears giving a playful twitch.
"Because I'm thirty one years old and I'm losing an argument with a six-year-old. That's why," Sarah snorted, her eyes pleading in Nodyr's direction. Just as she held the toothbrush out to him it was suddenly snatched from her hand by the uncooperative young Stith, who promptly started to brush on her own at a furious pace and hopped down from the counter. Sarah lurched at this sudden move and nearly jumped to the side to clear room for the mantrin, after which she simply shook her head and sighed. She went over to Nodyr, turned her back to him and leaned into his front. His arms felt around her waist and held her there.
"I'll never understand your kind," she said quietly with another exasperated sigh. "I used to babysit. But even though they were all humans, when we got Stith I thought I could apply the same principals. Turns out she was more work." Reassuringly, Nodyr gave her a little squeeze as they both watched Stith furiously brush her teeth, pausing momentarily to look up at Sarah and giggle before continuing. Bubbles formed on the sides of her muzzle.
"We're just more to handle than a human; short legs and no tail, right? It could always be worse," he told her quietly, an adage of which he constantly reminded her. "I'm sure there are plenty of disobedient humans children too. Besides, Stith is usually a good girl. Isn't that right, Stith?" he added
At this, Stith spat the contents of her mouth into the sink, turned the lever of the silvery faucet so that there was a comfortable amount of hot and cold water running at full force, and plopped the sudsy brush back into its holder. This served no real purpose because she did not do anything with the water, not even rinse out her mouth or the toothbrush. "Done now," she said sourly, then grunted and stomped out of the bathroom, most likely to go and color, or something more obnoxious.
At this point, neither was concerned about teaching her to clean up after herself when brushing her teeth. They were still working on the "brushing her teeth" part. Only when the process itself was implanted would they start to teach doing the process without covering every square meter of the bathroom with toothpaste and water.
"Now imagine taking this imp out camping in the woods. No toys, no running water, and then having to sleep out there," Sarah teased, turning steadily to nudge at Nodyr's barrel chest with a finger. "I swear, you're hell bent on self destruction," she said, grinning crookedly and brushing more of the hair out of her face that had gotten loose from her headband while fighting with Stith.
"Well, it's her birthday," Nodyr noted with a faint shrug. "And there isn't much else to do around here. This is as close to a children activity that's available to us, unless you want to spend a fortune that we don't have, and a few years' wait going to Earth. She hasn't made any friends yet either. It's a shame that there are no children that she's allowed to play with." He traced a finger around her chin, gazing down at her.
They both sighed for a moment as the thought sunk in like a massive stone dropped into a pond. There were indeed children her age nearby that she could play with, but none of their parents would allow it. This had been one of the extreme reactions to Sarah and Nodyr's coupling. Even though human and mantrin relationships had become more common over the years, most highly objected to it, especially the more conservative of Solbrecht's inhabitants. Their relationship had been called everything from indecent to immoral, and few wanted their children getting such "obscene" ideas from being around Stith. It was a sad affair and something they were prepared to deal with from the moment they had committed to one another. Both had been determined to raise Stith to be more tolerant.
"And this is the big six," he continued after a moment. If we're going to go ahead and put her through public school, this is really her last cha--"
"Nodyr," Sarah interrupted, looking up at him in agitation. "We agreed that she had to be home schooled. The public school here is so crude it's--"
At this, Nodyr shook his head and sighed. His voice was full of concern. "Sarah, you and I both know that she needs to be around others."
Sarah stared through Nodyr's chest, not bothering to say anything. Whether they were going to put Stith through public school or have her home schooled was a debate they had been having off and on ever since adopting her. Both sides of the argument were equally valid, with Nodyr's being that their daughter needed exposure to others so that she could learn to get along with others.
Sarah agreed with this necessity, but as she would point out, Stith may have been seriously hurt as soon as it was discovered who her adopted parents were. She knew how cruel children could be, especially if they were extreme specists, and even some of the school's faculty was that, even with the government's superficial attempts to hire neutral teachers of both species. In both species there were members who loathed the mere name of the others for various reasons, many dating back to the early misfortunate history of their encounters.
But, Nodyr would say, regardless of what they did, once Stith was out on her own she would be forced to deal with that anyway, so why not get her used to it? They could not protect her forever, as much as he wished that it were possible.
"I need to get ready," Sarah said as she finally noticed the wall clock from over Nodyr's shoulder. With this, she quickly separated herself from him and stepped around him to get into their bedroom, closing the door that opened into the bathroom and locking it. Quickly she shrugged out of her robe and stood before Nodyr, clad in her undergarments. Even though she was due at work in forty minutes and had been awake for nearly two hours, she had not bothered dressing yet, or even changing out of the underwear in which she had slept. Sighing, she reached up to rub her temples, the source of the reason she had not bothered to do anything.
"Sarah, you really should see a doctor about those," Nodyr said with worry as she sluggishly started to remove her undergarments to change into clean ones. "You've had a constant headache for the past two weeks."
"Nodyr," Sarah began between movements of fabric, "My doctor is a quack, the others won't accept our insurance, we can't afford any other insurance and it's certainly not bad enough for the hospital, which we also can't afford."
Nodyr stepped up behind Sarah as she pulled on her dress shirt--she always wore a button-up dress shirt with a necktie--and gently brushed a few fingers through her soft, although tangled, hair. "You know Seeva works at the hospital," Nodyr said pleadingly, mentioning one of his friends from before the time he met Sarah. "She might be able to pull a few strings. This could be serious and you know it."
"It's allergies," Sarah insisted, the excuse she always used for her frequent headaches, waving a hand dismissively as she buttoned on the white shirt. Nodyr handed her her characteristic dark blue tie, watching sympathetically as she secured it around her neck. This done, her dressing had been completed, and she leaned back against her larger companion, her head resting on his large chest. He lightly nuzzled through the hair on the top of her head, hooping his arms around her waist and simply holding her with his large, tripled-jointed legs forming a barrier of protection around her.
"One more day," Nodyr reassured her, "and then you go on vacation. You won't have to worry about any of this for a whole week."
Sighing, Sarah nodded once and narrowed her eyes, gingerly stroking a hand over one of Nodyr's warm arms. A blanket of surreal silence draped over them, and even though the clock was ticking against Sarah, time seemed to stand still. Inhaling deeply, she leaned her head back against his chest. She remained there as long as she was able, peacefully sighing from the comfort of his warm breath on her neck.
Returning to work was not going to help her headache in the least, and she knew it, but fortunately there was only one more day. She continued to tell herself this as she reluctantly took Nodyr's arms from her waist and turned to face him. Once more she brushed the stubborn hair from her eyes, and with a lazy smile, placed a soft kiss on the side of his muzzle.
"Hurry home," he said, gently stroking her cheek. He blushed a deep crimson from the kiss. Even though they had been together for nearly three years, such affection continued to embarrass him. Recently, however he was slowly growing accustomed to it, and becoming more open about returning it.
Nodyr's inherent shyness--as well as his respect for Sarah--had led to an amusing situation the first, and as of yet, only time that they had showered together, which had been before Stith was even adopted. Not until the event was nearly finished had she managed to get him to open his eyes, and even then he continued to look away. Afterwards he relentlessly apologized for looking. This, along with how nervous he had been while she scrubbed him, had led Sarah to the decision that they should wait until he was ready to try anything of that nature again.
"I can't go any faster than the clock, as much as I hate to say it," she said, playfully tapping between his nostrils. "I wouldn't even go today if we didn't have any bills. But I'll see if maybe I can leave early." She began to make her way out of the room, picking up her pace upon glancing at the clock that was just above their bed. "Bye," she said.
"Bye," he called after her. "I'll miss you." A few moments later he heard the front door slam, followed soon after by the car door. A smile warmed onto his face as his thoughts turned to the weekend that they had planned, and that he had all of the following week to spend with his family.
Nodyr stepped back into their room briefly and turned a small knob on the wall. Within the same breath, the bathroom lights flickered, and then finally went out. As the door was closed behind him, he called for Stith. It was time to prepare breakfast.