Author's Note: Please note that there will, sadly, be no new chapter this upcoming Friday (May 31st).
This is because I, due to work and a busy schedule in general, have fallen behind on writing and would like to catch up once more. I want to keep having fun with this story and keep writing the same length and quality of chapters for you guys, which I haven't been able to do recently.
I aim to remedy that these next 2 weeks, and expect to be back on track once more on Friday 7th of June. I hope you'll all understand and that you'll keep on commenting/reviewing - it really does help! :)
Orion
They all watched as Red, together with a couple of soldiers, unceremoniously pulled Caesar down from the X-shaped perch they had tied him to earlier that day and led him away into the Colonel's headquarters. Even with the traitorous gorilla harshly pulling him along by the chain around his neck, Caesar still had that same air of defiance about him that had put him in this very situation earlier that same day. His face, though tired-looking, was set in that severe frown of his, eyes hard and fists clenched as he walked between the two ape enclosures.
But… There was also something decidedly broken about the ape, Orion thought. A hunching in his posture and a staggering in his steps which told the younger chimp that Caesar was on his way to giving in.
To giving up.
A hand, smaller than his own and smooth to the touch, snuck its way across the back of Orion's own, squeezing it as the Ape King entered the dark building and the heavy doors slammed shut behind him.
Orion turned his head to find Mother still staring at the thick metal doors, her expression anxious and – dare he say it? – fearful.
He turned his hand in her grip to reciprocate the gesture, squeezing and giving a soft hoot to gain his mother's attention, trying to draw it away from the fact that Caesar was now inside the madman's lair. Who knew what kind of punishment he would possibly be subjected to in there, after what had happened?
"He will be okay, Mother." He spoke, though he didn't know if he quite managed to keep the doubt out of his voice.
Either way, she merely nodded, brows slightly furrowed as she continued to stare at the imposing building.
A soft, defeated sigh left the young chimp.
Though Orion may have been angry at Caesar for quite a few reasons, he would readily admit that his heart had still managed to get stuck in his throat when the Colonel had put a gun to the Ape King's head earlier that day.
Caesar had become enraged by the abuse of an old, weak orangutan, who had been whipped for causing an accident during the strenuous work the apes were being put through. The Ape King had ordered the abusers to leave the poor elder alone, subsequently regaining the colony's support with his defiance.
Orion, while inspired, had also wanted to pull his leader down and warn him of the consequences of this act.
He had done something similar when the colony had first arrived here and knew that such a display did not go unpunished. Screeching and hissing at a soldier who had used the handle of his gun to brutally shove an elderly female ape forward, Orion had been whipped within an inch of his life for his 'insolence'. Ivy and Tinker had had to clean the wounds afterwards with what little fresh snow they could find once everyone had been ordered back to the pen for the evening.
The days of work that had followed had been excruciating.
And Orion knew that Caesar, being the apes' leader, would most certainly receive a punishment fitting of both his high station and his offence.
He didn't dare think further on what that might entail, and he certainly didn't plan on telling Mother any of this. She knew humans such as these well enough to figure that out on her own, and Orion didn't want to worry her further.
Luckily, his dark fur was thick enough to cover up the marks that remained on his back as a grim reminder of the incident, so the chance of Mother fretting over that was minimal.
She hadn't been nearly as fortunate herself after her public display of defiance yesterday. Besides the wound on her lip that had her wince every time she as much as tried to give a reassuring smile, she now also sported a glaring, dark purple bruise on her left cheekbone, curtesy of Red.
Orion frowned deeply when his eyes landed on the injury.
It still made his hackles rise just thinking about the incident, and the bruise only added to that by reminding him every time he looked at Mother, making Orion want to quite literally rip the traitor gorilla apart for causing this reaction in him. Anger wasn't what Orion wanted to feel when looking at the woman who had raised him, but it was nonetheless what he felt right now. Anger.
Anger at Red for having done it.
Anger at the Colonel for having ordered it.
Anger at Caesar for having led her here in the first place. And for having left her behind, hurt her and failed to protect her like he had promised Father he would…
But no matter how much Orion wanted to lay all the blame on Caesar, he had to begrudgingly admit that the Ape King was only half of the problem. At least when it came to Mother.
The young chimp let his eyes linger on the human woman beside him, taking in every detail as he considered the part she had played in all of this.
Orion knew that she was both reckless and endlessly stubborn and in dealing with that, there was only so much Caesar – or indeed anyone – could do to protect her. That was just how Mother was, and Orion conceded that probably anyone charged with keeping her safe would have eventually failed.
Besides, she had chosen to go after Caesar when he had abandoned the colony. Sure, Orion had understood and even supported it for Cornelius' sake, and Mother had also apologised for doing it at the time, but that didn't mean that it had sat all that well with Orion.
He didn't feel any resentment towards her for it, but rather a nagging sense of abandonment – a feeling that had only intensified when Mother had removed her necklace last night and stuffed it into her pocket.
Orion knew he shouldn't be feeling that way, but he just couldn't help it. Even if he knew she was only trying to protect him… But the necklace, easily-recognisable as it was, would surely have tipped the soldiers off.
Then again, wouldn't Red and the other traitor apes have told the humans long ago anyway? It wasn't like they didn't know that Orion was her adopted son…
The young chimp pressed his rough lips into a thin line at the thought, His green stare growing ever more concerned as he continued to study her. Perhaps she hadn't taken that into account? Or perhaps her conversation with Red last night had been about just that? Perhaps a deal had been struck between them?
But the gorilla had seemed so angry when he had stormed off and furthermore, Mother had downright refused to explain what their conversation had been about… Surely, if it had concerned Orion's own safety, Mother would have told him?
He knew he, even while being her son, wasn't entitled to know everything, but being so blatantly kept in the dark didn't sit well with Orion. It had never been so obvious that she was keeping something from him, and the only solace he could find in this was that it seemed to be the same for everyone else too. Even Tinker, who had worn a none-too-happy expression when Mother had merely shaken her head at the female chimp's continued inquiry.
And just as Orion was thinking about that – his Mother keeping secrets from him, that is – something caught the young chimp's eye. A detail about her he hadn't spotted until now, her dishevelled appearance aside.
There was something there, on her skin, peeking out underneath the collar of her jacket. Was that… a bruise? Another injury, there at the junction of her shoulder and neck? The colour was only a shade lighter than the one on her cheek, indicating that it was at least a few days older and further in the process of healing. Two dark dots, like thick pinpricks, from which the purple colour expanded outwards, getting gradually lighter until it once again became her normal, pale skin tone.
It only took him a few seconds to recognise these marks for what they truly were, the placement and shape of the bruise giving it away, but to Orion it felt like his mind had become suddenly sluggish with the realisation.
"Mother…?" He asked, perplexed. Were those actually…?
At his change of tone, now curious and disbelieving rather than comforting, Mother seemed to be jolted out of her reverie and turned to face him at last. She looked confused at first until her blue eyes widened in realisation and embarrassment once she saw where exactly Orion's eyes were resting.
"What is it, Swee-… Oh!" She exclaimed and quick as a flash, she pulled at her coat collar to cover the marks, her expression akin to that of a startled deer.
It was a strange look on her face. It didn't suit her.
Orion tilted his head, as always quite unaware of the strange tick he had inherited from her, and narrowed his eyes as he continued to stare.
He knew what those marks were. Had seen similar ones dotting the skin of his mother's neck years prior… when Father had still been alive.
Which left Orion with one simple question now.
"Who…?" He inquired in a near-whisper, careful not to draw attention to their conversation. Still, his voice held a firm quality, willing her to answer, even if she clearly wished he would leave the matter alone.
He might as well have, as he knew the question was redundant even before he had uttered it. Even if Orion hadn't suspecting finding something like this out, he already had a pretty good idea of who it must be that had left those marks on his mother.
The quick flicker of her eyes towards the Ape King's now-empty perch was all the confirmation Orion needed.
His posture straightened as he pulled slightly back to look the woman who had raised him, truly look at her, as he took in what had now been inadvertently revealed to him.
Suddenly, it all made sense to him in a whole new way. Mother's fury at Caesar's departure, her insistence on going with him, the avoidance, the careful stares, the utter horror that had been on her face when the Colonel had put a gun to the ape's head earlier today and the crushingly worried look as the ape had been led away just moments ago…
Was this another secret of hers? Another one she intended to keep from him?
That she and Caesar were mates. That his mother and his leader were having a secret relationship? Right under everyone's nose?
He withdrew his hand from hers, placing it in his own lap. Now was not the time for comfort and reassurance… Now was the time for answers.
And he would get them.
Mother only sat there, shivering slightly from the cold and looking like she didn't quite know what to say. Orion couldn't remember the last time that had happened, or if it had in fact ever happened at all. Mother had always seemed to know what to say, at least to Orion she had, but now she seemed truly at a loss for words as his searching, green eyes continued to scrutinise her.
The young ape male imagined that his knitted brows and slight frown didn't help matters.
"Please explain…" He spoke, deciding to help her along when she continued to remain silent and unmoving, still with a hand firmly gripping her coat collar against her shoulder.
"What do you want me to say, Orion? What can I say?" She asked, a hint of frustration and hopelessness in her voice.
In the past, heck, even mere moments ago, such a tone would have made him feel sorry for having asked in the first place. For having pushed her. Now though, it only served to irk him, making his brows draw together even further and make him do something he had never done to his mother before – talk back.
"Perhaps that you are sorry for being dishonest with me?" He spoke in an almost-sneer, so unlike how he would usually speak to anyone he cared about – especially to her. It was still only a whisper, but the force behind it was unmistakable. "When you left with him, you said it was for Cornelius. That you were doing it so that he would not grow up without a father. Those were the words you used, and I believed it. But that was only part of it, was it not, Mother?"
His heart clenched to the point of being painful at the way she looked at him just then, shock and hurt marring her features. He hated that, hated speaking like this to her and seeing her reaction to it…
But Orion had had enough of the lies, the half-truths and the pretending. So many horrible things had happened ever since he had gotten back to the colony and finding out that his mother had kept something like this a secret from him was what finally had him dig his heels into the dirt and demand answers.
"Would you have preferred that I had been completely honest with you? Right there, in front of the entire colony, just before I would've left? Would that really have made you feel any better?" She asked, wrapping the hand not clenching her coat collar around herself in an attempt to keep warm.
Part of him wanted to reach out and pull her to him. To stop those shivers and keep her warm through the night… But…
"No. I would not have preferred it." Came his agitated reply. "But at least it would not have been a lie if you had done it."
A defeated-sounding sigh left Mother at that. She finally let go of her collar and, in a frustrated manner, reached up to run her palm heavily up the side of her face and over her now-slightly untidy hair. She winced when her hand met the tender bruise on her cheek, having obviously forgotten about her injury in her quiet state of distress.
"I meant it when I said that I did it for Cornelius. I'm still doing it for him. And for the colony and Caesar too – that was never a lie… But yes, I also followed Caesar for my own sake, Orion… Because I couldn't bear the thought of losing him like I lost your father. Not when I had just managed to find happiness with someone again."
That statement took the young chimp buy surprise, his gaze losing its hard, critical edge immediately.
"Mother…?" He spoke questioningly, though he didn't exactly know what he wanted to ask anymore.
Mother continued, now undeterred.
"I never meant to keep it from you. In fact, I thought about telling you the very night you came back with Rocket and Blue… I had even talked about it with Caesar several times… I had hoped-" She paused, her blue stare downcast before she corrected herself. "We had hoped… That someday, we could all be…"
"Family?" Orion suggested with a tilt of his head when she didn't seem able to finish, trailing off as if the word would somehow offend him.
There was another brief pause before her voice sounded again, her tone uncharacteristically vulnerable.
"…Yes."
The young chimp pursed his lip at that, letting it sink in. He wasn't sure how to properly respond, as the idea of their family expanding like this had never even occurred to him in the first place. As such, he wasn't exactly offended per se.
Disturbed by how oblivious he had been to this development? Sure.
Suspicious that Caesar wouldn't always have his mother's best interests in mind? Yes, given recent events, that was definitely a yes.
Worried that Mother would eventually get her heart broken? Absolutely.
But she was his elder and his parent to boot, and Caesar was still his leader… And hurt as he might be by having the truth withheld from him, it really wasn't up to Orion who Mother chose to be with – or if she chose to be with anyone at all in the first place.
And when he thought about it, an extended family actually didn't sound half bad…
One thing did bother him, though.
"Why did you choose not to tell me? That evening after we came back?" He asked with a raised brow, watching how his mother's shoulders seemed to slouch with the question.
"It didn't seem like the right time. Besides, I had just gotten you back safe and sound. I didn't want to spoil it by laying something like that on you. That day wasn't about that… I didn't think- I thought there would be some other time for it."
The young ape nodded, sighing as he stared down at his large hands in his lap.
Thinking of someone else than Father being together with his mother had initially made something squirm violently inside Orion. Had made him protective and possessive, but also indignant and somewhat hurt. Both on his own but also, most especially, on his father's behalf.
After all, he had never imagined Mother with someone else. Had never even considered it an option since Father had died. The two of them had always belonged together – like two halves of a cracked stone, and no one, not even Caesar, seemed fit to become Mother's new half in Orion's mind.
Perhaps that had been naïve of him, Orion mused. To think that she would live the rest of her life alone. That she would stay ever-devoted to Father and his memory and never again take another to her nest. To never seek comfort and affection from someone else.
Perhaps he had been selfish too, thinking that he and the family he would eventually start with Ivy would be enough for Mother to feel happy, loved and needed.
Now that he actually thought about it, it seemed a silly notion, especially given the support that Father had always provided her. A support without which she had seemed so lost and vulnerable in the months after Father's death.
Though Orion, as most other children did, thought of his mother has an elder, she was still young for a human – something the young chimp always managed to forget. Provided that they all somehow survived this, Mother would still have most of her life to look forward to.
Of course, she would not spend all that time alone – she shouldn't spend all that time alone.
And Orion supposed he should be happy that it was the Ape King she had chosen… He had always looked up to Caesar and been loyal to him and knew that Father had too.
Even when facing imprisonment during Koba's reign, a war with humans and his king leaving the colony for petty revenge under the guise of acting as a decoy. Through all of that, Orion had always stayed loyal. Hell, even when the entire colony had rejected the Ape King, Orion had not turned his back on him– no matter how much he had wanted to in that moment. No matter that nobody except Lake had understood it. Not even Ivy quite understood it, really.
But no matter Caesar's faults, Orion had always felt that he owed him for everything he had done for his family. If he hadn't let Mother stay all those years ago, Orion knew in his heart he would have become a lesser ape, somehow. That something crucial would have been missing from his life, even if one of the female apes in the colony would eventually have adopted him.
For having allowed them to stay together, Orion was eternally grateful to Caesar.
But then again, the king had also promised Father to look after their little family when he had died…
Given their current situation, it was safe to say that Caesar had failed to do so, which was part of the reason why Orion had been so brusque with the Ape King when he had first been thrown into the pen with them all.
And now, knowing he had made that promise, then taken Mother for a mate, only to attempt to leave her behind to seek his own selfish end…
Another deep sigh left Orion, his brow furrowing yet again.
"I didn't want you to find out like this…" Mother spoke quietly, her eyes not meeting his own, and he almost expected her to reach out for his hand again, this time in an attempt to placate the anger she probably thought he was feeling.
She didn't, however. Perhaps because she didn't dare, choosing instead to rub her hands together to keep them warm.
That thought didn't sit well with him and so, Orion quickly reached for her hands himself, squeezing them gently between his own and giving a soft gibber to gain her attention.
It worked as intended, and she finally raised her head to look into his eyes once more, her expression cautious, but hopeful.
"Does he really make you happy, Mother?"
She looked startled at first – or perhaps it was confusion? – only for her face to take on a slightly rueful expression seconds later as she averted her gaze once more, this time staring ahead blankly.
"He does. Very much… Most of the time." She spoke softly, her voice barely a whisper.
Then, she shook her head, as if in an attempt to pull herself together, before a particularly chilly gust of wind made her entire body suddenly shiver once more, this time accompanied by the clatter of her teeth.
Unable to keep the urge at bay any longer, Orion was quick to reach out and pull her to his chest, wrapping his long, hairy arms around Mother's smaller form to shield her from the cold at last.
He knew that she was still trying to hide their relation from the soldiers, and she did initially give a weak protest, though Orion chose to blatantly ignore it and only tightened his grip further. Yesterday it had been Tinker and Lake who had kept her warm through her first night in the apes' enclosure, while Orion had kept close to Ivy and her parents – as he had done ever since they all got captured.
Soon, Mother gave up her meagre attempt at a protest and, after having turned to sit with her back against his broad frame, slumped against Orion's chest, resting her head on his shoulder. He couldn't quite tell if her so easily caving on the matter was due to exhaustion after an entire day of hard labour, or because she was just relieved that he wasn't bitter about her keeping secrets. Perhaps it was a combination of the two?
Orion pressed the side of his cheek to the top of her head, pondering on their conversation – or was it actually an argument? – and on the idea of the four of them being a family. Could they be? A father, a mother and two sons?
The young ape wrinkled his nose.
"Mother…" He ventured, still with his cheek resting against her hair and making no move to let go of her.
"Mhm?"
"I just have to tell you… That Caesar…" Orion spoke, pursing his lips as he chose his next words. He didn't want to sound rude or unaccepting of his mother's new relationship – she had said Caesar made her happy, after all, and now that he knew about the two of them, that was all the information Orion needed… But he just had to get this off his chest. "He will not be my father."
She tilted her head as she stared up at him, studying his face.
"Of course not, Orion. I never expected that of you either." She spoke after a few, short moments, the softest hint of a smile on her face. "But… Would you consider Cornelius your brother, at least?"
Orion rubbed his thumb against her clothed arm in thought, remembering the brotherly bond that had developed between himself and Blue Eyes during their two-year journey together. Thinking of how this bond had almost naturally extended to include Cornelius when Orion had come home to see him cradled in Mother's lap. And remembering the desperate cries of the child when he had witnessed Orion's whipping about a week prior – how he had reached for him like he had for Mother and Caesar yesterday, signing the word in-between sobs and gibbers.
Brother!
"He already is." The young ape male spoke resolutely, giving the woman in his arms a reassuring squeeze, to which she turned her face to gently nuzzle his cheek, telling him without words how happy she was for that simple fact. For his acceptance.
It was quiet between them for a long time after that, the two of them sitting huddled together on the cold, hard ground. Outside their cage, soldiers as well as traitor apes occasionally walked by, on their way to changing shifts on guard-duty and whatnot. Inside the cage, most apes had laid down to sleep after another day of hard work and no food or water, many having very nearly collapsed as soon as they had entered the enclosure and been shackled for the night.
We will not survive long like this… Orion mused, eyeing Ivy and her parents in particular as they slept just a few yards away. Juniper especially looked exhausted, even in her slumber.
"See those stars, Sweetie?" Mother asked suddenly, reaching one of her arms out of the safety and warmth of his embrace to point up at the night sky high above. It was a clear night, not a single cloud to obscure the twinkling specks of light. "Those three that are lined up right there?"
The chimp let his eyes follow the line of his mother's arm, lowering his head to her shoulder to get at a better angle, and soon found the three bright stars, which did indeed line up neatly and close together against the black void.
"Yes?"
"Those three stars are named Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. They form a belt." Mother spoke as if this information should somehow be meaningful to him as she let her finger move a fraction upwards with each name. They all sounded quite strange to Orion, but he continued to listen nonetheless, glad that the subject from before had been dropped, and to have been pulled out of his own gloomy reverie.
"Now, if you draw a line to the top left of Alnitak, you'll see a really bright star over there. That one is called Betelguese and together with Meissa and Bellatrix over there, they form the torso and head, while Saiph and Rigel to the bottom right of the belt form the legs."
He nodded against her shoulder as he followed her finger, easily finding the stars she was pointing to. They were all quite bright compared to the ones around them, making them easy to identify with Mother's help.
"I never knew stars had names…" Orion spoke quietly, still not understanding where Mother was going with this, but sensing that somehow, there was a meaning behind it. There usually was where she was concerned.
"Not all of them have proper names, but many do. And some of them form constellations, images seen by humans in the sky, which have then been given names of their own." She spoke, still in that soft voice as she squeezed the limbs he kept wrapped around her arm and torso. "And this one up there is called Orion."
The young chimp was deeply confused for the first couple of seconds, his eyes narrowing as he stared up at the bright stars his mother had pointed out to him. Then, as realisation of what she was saying hit him, Orion's green eyes widened, and his mouth fell agape.
He looked down at her as she sat there, cocooned in his arms and resting her head against his shoulder, still with her deep, blue eyes glued to the sky above.
And now with a fond, reminiscing smile on her face.
"You named me after the stars?" He asked with just a hint of awe in his voice, feeling something in his chest tighten at the idea. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling like the constricting sensation that accompanied sorrow and anger, but it wasn't quite dissimilar to it either.
She gave a gentle nod as she began sifting her fingers almost absent-mindedly through the long fur on his arm, and Orion felt how it soothed him exactly as it always had when he had been a child.
The tightness in his chest didn't disappear, though.
He wanted to ask her why. Why had she done that? Why had she never told him? Why was she telling him now?
Perhaps it was to rectify the fact that she hadn't told him about her and Caesar? Perhaps she had now decided to tell him everything she never had before? Or perhaps she had simply forgotten to mention it? Like those photos she had taken with Father on their journey, which had then been hidden inside Mother's old picture frame, only to be remembered once more after Father's passing.
But those had been tucked away and out of sight, so it had been easy to forget them, Orion supposed.
The stars, though… The stars were out most nights, and Orion himself had often found his mother gazing at them, lost in thought. How could it never have crossed her mind to tell him? How many times had Orion himself been staring up at those same stars, not knowing what exactly he had been seeing all this time?
But as had been the case so many times before, it seemed like Mother was able to read his mind.
"I suppose I never thought it was really important. It's not common knowledge among the apes, so it doesn't really hold any special meaning to anyone else but me now." She spoke, her sentence followed by a soft sigh tinged with melancholy. "But I figured it'd be a nice topic of conversation right now, especially after the conversation we just had… Besides, there's not much else to talk about in this hellhole that doesn't just make you more miserable."
Though he knew she was being honest, Orion also suspected that Mother had decided to tell him this in case they didn't survive. If they would die in the struggle between the soldiers, if the Colonel decided to kill them all off prematurely or if Mother succumbed to the strain of the hard labour they were subjected to – then she would at least have told him now, before anything happened. At least that was what he managed to garner from her tone of voice.
He tried not to think too hard on that and chose instead to steer the conversation away from it with his next inquiry.
"What meaning does it hold to you, Mother?" Orion asked, his eyes returning to the stars she had pointed out to him and tracing the invisible lines between them to make out the image she had described.
A belt, a torso, a head and two legs.
The shape of a human – or an ape.
"It's my favourite constellation. The first my dad ever showed to me back when I was a kid." She spoke quietly, her warm breath creating clouds of steam as it hit the frigid winter air. "That's why it was the first name I thought of when your father asked me what name I would choose for you. I was stargazing at the time, you see, and it was only then I realised that you didn't have a name at all. At least your biological mother never told either of us what it was."
Mother had always worn a sad look whenever Orion's first mother, Mara, was brought up during conversations. It wasn't because of any form of jealousy, Orion knew, but rather because Mother had always felt sad on his behalf for having her taken away at such a young age. That, and the guilt of having somehow benefitted from it by gaining a new family as a result, though Mother had never mentioned that herself. Orion could reach that conclusion on his own.
But honestly, if that had never happened, he knew there would be a lot of things he wouldn't have had the chance to experience at all – in fact, he would probably have been dead if Mother had never at least tried to save them all back then. And if Mara had survived, Orion wasn't quite sure he would have ended up with Caesar and his apes in the first place.
Then he would never have known Blue Eyes, Ash or Lake… or Ivy, for that matter. And he would surely never have gotten to go on this two-year-journey with the eldest Ape Prince and Rocket. He wouldn't have been taught by Maurice or met Alex, Malcolm and Ellie. Wouldn't have lived this life that he valued so much.
Besides, Orion couldn't even remember his first mother. Sometimes his mind conjured up glimpses or sensations or smells – perhaps the memory of soft, green eyes staring lovingly down at him, the whisper of rough fingers brushing his cheek, or a brief, comforting scent carried by the wind, gone before he could sample it.
He never really dwelled on it, though. Didn't feel the need to.
It was the human woman in his arms who had raised him. The one who had taken him in as her own and crossed what seemed like endless distances to give him the upbringing she thought he deserved. The one who had fed him, sheltered him and even fought for him.
The one who called him son.
And so, he was and always would be. No matter what truths she withheld from him, no matter what everyone else thought of their bond and no matter if they lived or died here.
"I am glad you told me, Mother." Orion spoke softly, still with his eyes trained at his celestial namesake.
"About the stars or…?" She trailed off, obviously unsure whether or not she should bring up the discussion from before right now.
A soft smile pulled at his rough lips and Orion once again rubbed her arm with his thumb – this time in reassurance.
"All of it."
