Fuck."You know how hard Vivith worked to get your eggs," I said, firm."And that was before you hatched and they could know how wonderful you are.I know they'll do everything they can to come back."
Next to me, Adrathi whined a little."But our Vivith –"
"They're notours, Adrathi," snapped Sadin."Not until our Araxis says so."
The whine grew sharper, and Adrathi's breathing stuttered a little."But Vivith will be sad on their own," she said, and before I could start in on that, Elethenn appeared before us.
"There are dumplings for breakfast," he said."Come along: I have made all of your favourites."Slowly, the children slid from the couch and started padding their way back to the kitchen.Elethenn looked at me for a fleeting moment, and flinched when our gazes met.
I pushed myself up and followed, catching him before he slipped into the kitchen after the children."Hey," I said, grabbing his elbow.He went perfectly still under my touch, like a prey animal caught out by a predator.
I let him go at once – yeah, he definitely had some baggage around touch – and softened my voice until it was quiet and gentle."Don't beat yourself up about that, back in there.It's not a big deal."
He angled his head away from me, staring toward the floor."Respectfully, Sashen, I do not think your grasp of our language or culture is so proficient yet that you can say that."
I scoffed, waving a hand dismissively."I say stupid shitallof the time.In fact, you have catching up to do.Really, it's generous that you'd occasionally put your foot in your mouth so that I'm not left out here on my own.Oh, that's – It just means that we all fuck up sometimes, and it's nice that it's not justme.Don't worry: I'm sure I'll do something really stupid soon and everyone will forget all about you."
Elethenn exhaled, and it wasalmostlike a trill andalmostlike a sigh of frustration.But affectionate frustration, maybe.
"I'll send you a message later, once I know what my new schedule looks like, alright?"I said, turning to go back to the bedroom."So we can head down to Radiant Ward again?"
"As you wish," he murmured, still not looking at me, and then he stepped into the kitchen to deal with the children and I went after Araxis to figure out what the fuck was going to come next.
* * *
What was going to come next was a lot of meetings.So many meetings.Heaps and heaps, endless meetings, because it turned out that a lot of what Vivith had been doing was, well,meetings.
"How did they find thetime?"I asked, horrified, as we stared at the list of all of the creches, provisioners, businesses, and information networks that Vivith had been in the process of coordinating meetings, exchanges, and conversations with.
"They've always been good at multi-tasking," Araxis said, standing in front of the display in our room with his arms crossed and, for the first time since I'd known him, soundingmorose.
I starting tapping at the tasks I could take on – I mean, talking to a provisioner in Central Ward and getting things ordered for the manor on Thelessia?No problem;couldI meet with a representative from Creche Laxni (moderate, small in size but rich in resources, angling to gain sway in the Assembly) in order to set up the next meeting with one of their representatives?I bet I could if I roped in Inmadra – but as I started flipping them over to my own calendar and slotting them into place over the next week, Araxis reached out and caught my wrist.
"You can't," he said as I poked the scheduled meeting with the provisioner to a couple days in the future.
"I can order provisions.I'll even bring you the list to check, so you can be sure I haven't made any mistakes."
He fluted out a hard breath, fingers still wrapped around my wrist.Araxis shook his head."I know that you are capable, but – Sashen, that is your day off."
I jerked my wrist away."So?That doesn't matter anymore."
"It does," Araxis said, insistent."You cannot work on your personal days.You have already filled up the mornings and afternoons you were meant to have for yourself.Your contract –"
"Honestly, Araxis, itdoesn't matter," I insisted, irritated.We had bigger things to worry about.He needed me to step up, and I would step up.I had said I wanted to be his equal, and that meant that I wasn't going to pretend to be taking time off like he was aclientwhen we had to scramble to keep on track for our departure to the empire in three weeks.
He reached out and flicked the massive display off, a sharp, almost angry gesture, and when he looked at me, his chest was heaving – as if something about this conversation was costing him greatly."Itdoesmatter, Sashen.We agreed.It is in your contract.You –"
For fuck's sake.I stepped away, tapping on my wristband and pulling up the encrypted copy of our contract."Cool," I said."Well, we're renegotiating."
"No," said Araxis.
I shot him a dark look."Too fucking bad.You said we could renegotiate at any time.Yousaidyou would give me whatever I wanted.Did I misunderstand?"
"I meant –"
"Oh, did you tell something nice without really meaning it?"
It was a dirty trick, but it worked.Araxis's features spasmed, and he looked at the ground, hard.I could see his chest rising and falling, see his fists curl.Someone else might have seen those fists and felt afraid, but I knew the only person he wanted to strike was himself."Very well," he bit out after a long moment."But we don't have time for this, Sashen."
