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Jace wasn’t fully recovered. Khoth could feel that now even as he’d guessed it before. In order to fully evolve into the Altaeth he would become it would take time that they did not have under the circumstances. But Jace’s current state of readiness was more than enough to stop the Councillors.

“Yes, people still cannot quite believe that Haseon is not compromised and soon to be gone,” his father mused. “Jace’s decision to stay here after the battle is helping to soothe those concerns. I do wonder though if, in the future, this place will be a draw to people. The area where the battle against the Khul turned. Or shunned as somehow still unclean.”

Khoth realized now that his people were superstitious. His father’s words confirmed that. In the past, though, he would not have given such a statement any further thought. He would have understood both sides of the issue and gone on. But now he saw how logic and superstition were held in his people’s minds at the same time without any cognitive dissonance, rather like Chili as a beloved pet and also a creature that produced sustenance.

We are not so different from humans after all, he thought.

“I do not think Amana knows how to treat me,” his mother said. “As a guest or invader.”

His father looked down at the ground, offering no counsel. She glanced over at him for a moment, but then quickly looked away. She had disowned Khoth and his father had disowned her. Yet the three of them were in the same room. Acting like a family.

“What are your intentions, Mother?” Khoth asked. She half turned, her lips parting at the use of “Mother” instead of “Nova”. He grimaced, but pushed on, “This is Amana’s problem, but more it is mine and Father’s. We do not know your intentions.”

His father turned his back on her, shifting himself on the couch, so that he could reach out and stroke Chili. “It is not a problem I have, my son. Nor you. We are of House Moturin now. She is of House Voor.”

His mother jerked at his father’s cool words. He thought he actually saw tears in her eyes.

“Those are words, Father,” Khoth said.

“Words have power, my son.” His father smiled at him. “I am an old Justiciar. Words are the most powerful thing I wield.”

“But what is…” Here Khoth grimaced, but forced himself to go on, “what is in your heart?”

“That is a human expression,” his mother said quietly.

Khoth nodded. “One of many I have come to appreciate. And not the last I will likely adopt.”

“The humans fought well. Very well.” His mother let out a breath. “None can deny that. Not even Ulgax.”

“It is no longer a question of whether or not humanity will be accepted into the Alliance,” Khoth said. “It will if it wants to be. After what happened here, it would be seen as churlish at best to block them.”

His mother crossed her arms over her chest. “It is not in my power to assist any longer.”

“Which brings us back to your intentions.” Khoth gently placed Chili in his father’s hands as he stood up.

“Oh, she’s so warm and soft!” his father breathed as Chili nuzzled his hands.

“She is precious. Like many creatures from Earth are,” he said.

Khoth turned to his mother. He crossed his wrists behind his back as he regarded her. For the first time, she ceased her pacing and stood still, mirroring his position. They were the same height. Both of them towered over his father. He and Daesah had gotten their builds and athleticism from her. He saw now that they got their empathy from their father.

“I spoke rashly before,” she admitted. “I was angry. Shocked. Pushed into a corner.”

To admit these things was unheard of for her. Khoth was nearly flattened by every word, but he held himself still. Not reaching for her. Not staggering away. He felt his connection to Jace. And that connection was warm, but tingling as if Jace had suddenly lifted his head and was sniffing the air, sensing his emotional turmoil.

“But, as I told you, the arrival of the Khul cleared my mind for the first time in… I don’t know how long.” Her gaze grew distant. “I had feared many things that our growing weakness would be. I thought that we would see outer planets fall at some point. A rush to the center of Alliance space. I imagined cities overcrowded with refugees and more yet in anything that could still fly in space. Starving. Rioting. All of it.”

Khoth could imagine the fear these people would exude. Fear had a smell. It was oily and bitter and awful. He’d smelled it on his sister and his crew when they had gone after her to end her suffering. When he had chosen to break the Rule.

She licked her lips and a tremulous smile appeared there for a moment. So much emotion! Had he ever seen so much from her in all his life? He thought of how easily Jack had embraced him that night. His Diane had looked upon him so fondly that afternoon. They had accepted not only him, but the knowledge that they were more–or different–than what they had long believed.

“Yet, despite all of these horrible visions of our future,” his mother continued, “I never thought to see Khul land on Haseon. To break through our defenses as if they were rotten branches!”

She swung one arm through the air as if she were breaking those branches herself. That arm dropped to her side.

“And I realized that my nightmares had never encompassed the truth of what could happen,” she said as she lifted her head to meet his gaze. “So maybe I hadn’t dreamed big enough either. Maybe what I had believed about the Pilot and the promise of the Osiris was not large enough. And that ended up being true.”

“The Pilot will see us through this crisis. He will defeat the Khul,” Khoth said with no hesitation.