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“It looks like a lightning bolt. Ragged,” Jace murmured. It had been a rip in his soul so the look of it had always made sense to Khoth. “So, obviously your first ta’na appeared when you were born and this one--”

“Appeared after that first battle. They reflect moments of great emotional resonance,” Khoth answered. “That battle solidified for me that I would do anything to stop the Khul threat. Little did I know how incapable the Alliance was of accomplishing that task.”

“Even with everything against you, the Alliance has fought bravely,” Jace said gently. “Now with all we can add just imagine how much more can be done.”

“Yes.”

He hoped so. He truly did. Jace had performed wonders on Haseon in such a short time under terrible circumstances. But at what cost? Jace seemed back to his former health after the medicine and their mating. Yet he felt that for all Jace’s strength that there was still a fragility there. As Jace’s mate even more so than his Commander, he had to protect the young man. Would Jace let him?

“Does every Thaf’ell gets these spontaneously occurring ta’na?” Jace clarified.

“Yes, sort of. They are different for each of us,” Khoth explained. “One of our poets might receive a mark for their first epic work of art rather than a battle. But they mark pivotal moments in our existence.”

“And your body just does this? So wild. So much more fun than mine,” Jace muttered the last almost as if he were disappointed not to have such ta’na himself.

“Your body is quite fun,” Khoth contradicted with a smile as he remembered just how fun it had been. Jace’s reactions alone were so very fun.

“Yeah, well, not ta’na on me. Spontaneous or otherwise,” Jace sighed.

Khoth thought to ask him about getting tattoos on his back the old fashioned way with needle and ink, but he found himself holding off. Jace was so new to this. It wasn’t right for him to ask Jace to mark his body permanently while the first flush of their mating had occurred. Not that he thought Jace regretted their mating. Well, not anymore. But still, this was new for the young man. New for him, too, but newer for Jace.

“You have gifted us the ability to communicate telepathically, Jace,” Khoth pointed out.

“Oh, yeah, and that is totally cool! I wonder if that’s what the Osiris meant when it was interrupting us earlier,” Jace mused.

“What do you mean?”

“It reminded me that I am Altaeth. I love how these sentences by the AI are supposed to mean so much more to me than what they say,” Jace harrumphed.

“You could command the Osiris to explain it to you in such a way that it would be clear,” Khoth reminded him.

“Yeah, but what would be the fun in that?” Jace chuckled. “I mean there were times when we were making love when I wished I knew more, but the discovery was so awesome. Knowing and experiencing are so different anyways.”

“That is true.”

Khoth stretched out his right hand towards the sunbeam that had filtered its way through the window and the trees. The golden light played over his blue skin. He felt so different that he kept expecting to see more than just the binding ta’na on his back. He felt he was transformed and that should show in other ways.

“Okay, what’s this one here?” Jace lightly touched the third ta’na. It looked like a black sun.

Khoth shifted uncomfortably when he did so as if it still pained him. There was residual pain from the cause of it. “Daesah’s death.”

“Oh. Oh, I’m so sorry.” Jace lightly brushed it with his fingers as if attempting to heal a wound.

“I am sure my mother and father have similar ta’na. Maybe theirs are even more extensive and painful. But we’ve never discussed it,” Khoth admitted.

“Why not?” Jace asked. “I mean… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t judge. I know things are different for Thaf’ell about how much you talk about your feelings and such.”

“But they are my family. I should be able to confess these things to them when we are in private,” Khoth pointed out. “But we have always kept our secrets even from one another. Perhaps especially from one another.”

“Why?”

Khoth rolled his lips, comparing how easy it was to tell Jace everything and how difficult it had been to say anything to his parents at all. It had not been even as easy to speak to Daesah as it was to Jace. But Jace was his mate so that made sense. Not for the first time, he wished his sister was alive to meet Jace.

She would have given her whole self to him.

“I think it was because of the roles my parents had in public life. To be a leader like my mother is to be alone in many ways,” Khoth answered. “My father’s position as a justiciar meant that he had to keep his counsel private so he could not share his burdens either. And I believe Daesah and myself were quiet about our burdens because we didn’t want to weigh our parents down further, but also because we did not wish to disappoint them.”

“You thought if you told them how hard it was for you that they would be disappointed?” Jace guessed.