Book 4

Siha: Rise of Rakhana

Part II

Tetonbaum palms his eyes with the red heels of his hands, waiting for the surgeon to finish cleaning his knee. He prefers no local anesthetic and patiently awaits the agonizing process to pass. Pain does not bother him…He has been trained for it.

The kiss in the ship comes back to haunt him…With lips that remind him of Kasumi's soft, moist human touch, her mouth's caresses…

Tetonbaum shivers inwardly…The feeling of Braith's body helps him spur himself with memories of his late wife, hard visuals and flashbacks that are as bad as an addiction to venom…He opens his eyes to the drell at his knee, sitting on the floor while he lifts a bandage with a caliper, removes another blood-stained wad of clotting material aside, ( …Almost finished here, Sered Soterios, this is a very lucky wound... )

( Thank you, Master Ro'tahnad, I am in your debt… ) The surgeon resumes his work after giving a pleasant grin to Tetonbaum—who looks to the nearby hall of blown-rock, the sound of chuckles.

…Ah, the twins.

Jaspin comes round the corner of roughened stone, worn-down to make it less dangerous and obtrusive, and then there comes Jenner. Both are smiling. "Uncle Tetonbaum," Jaspin makes a worried look with his eyes dropping to the knee, "…You haven't been hurt too badly, have you?…Now who will I wrestle to show off to the burrellas?"

Tetonbaum chuckles…Reclining half-stripped on the ground, a fresh matting of reed under him, his left pant is cut off to give the surgeon access to his injury. "It is nothing but a scratch," he waves it off, setting his hands atop one another in his lap, "…Your father helped with the initial care and your mother…provided excellent cover…"

Jenner's smile disappears.

"…What have the pair of you been up to since we left," Tetonbaum notices this but ignores it.

Jaspin comes to stand by his shoulder, looking down at the surgeon's work. "Trying to spend more time learning what we can, Jenner and I—inside the war room, if ever we get the chance to not be chased out by Cousin Kolyat…" He glances at his uncle, who tilts his wavy crests back to look up, "…Cousin Kolyat will not permit us to be witnesses, neither does his grouch of a grandfather…Mum's the word—"

"Literally."

Tetonbaum looks now to Jenner who has said this, and the emerald eyes make him feel uncomfortable, as if reading something he is not meant to be reading.

…Impossible.

"…How did the mission go from your perspective, Uncle Tetonbaum?" Jenner asks, trying to sort through his data in his head, "…Mum and Papua seem pleased with how everything went. What was your experience…"

Tetonbaum turns his gaze from Jenner's—preferring to make eye contact with Jaspin...The younger twin's gaze is too troubling.

"A most ambitious plan by your mother and father," Tetonbaum says with a grin to Jaspin, finding it easier to speak to him, "…We destroyed the largest nest…The Silver will have trouble redoubling their numbers as they were forecasted by Braith to do before this effort. Ysuphet the Terrible, himself, would have been most impressed."

"And how did you get yourself hurt…"

"I was caught in a mine, fleeing a Silver after attending to the task I was down there to do…One of those tasks went off early—took a bit of my knee." He holds the other's eyes...Tetonbaum has found a terrible dislike for the twin since Jenner's powers manifested…He had always seemed the weaker one, the straggler, the twin following Jaspin who was bigger and promised to be more than he had turned out so far…

…Both were still young and a lifetime sometimes it would take for one to reach his or her true potential.

…Look at Braith…

Tall and thinner than his elder twin, Jenner would be far more the lethal one day…If he survives that long…Tetonbaum knows the price they have paid to keep both nephews alive…

…His power like Braith's is superbly stronger than anything I have encountered in my life…It grows exponentially faster, day by day. The signature of his power is almost exact to Braith's own…Due to the morthwyl parasitism in all three, Tetonbaum thinks, not liking that reminder.

The mother and sons' connections were anticipated to be stronger between her and Jenner, and Braith might possibly experience what Jenner feels and sees—to some degree.

Which meant that Jenner could have a suspicion about he and Braith…A veritable problem, Tetonbaum thinks and looks away from Jenner's anxious expression, …I will have to mind myself…but I do not know if I can help it…

…She owes me…They all do…