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Chapter10
“Isee you haven’t learned much during these weeks on assignment,” Zherist observed with a pointed scowl.
Agor’s lips thinned in response, but he didn’t so much as twitch a wing. He just wanted to get this over with so they could get out of there and return their attention to something more important.
“You’ve been inattentive at best and borderline negligent at worst. And it hasn’t gotten any better. In fact, I would say just the opposite. I would assign you more time if it weren’t for the fact that I’m just as eager to get rid of you as you are to leave. You’ve been made a sufficient example of and that’s all I’m willing to tolerate punishing myself with.”
Agor just somehow kept himself from chortling gleefully. Just barely.
“It has been a difficult time for us, Aerhal,” Brydis replied stiffly at Agor’s side. “We’ve been separated from our talia, as we explained to you.”
Zherist huffed irritably. “And as I told you then, it’s impossible. Whatever these humans have that mimics it—and trust me, I know from experience how well it does so you can rely on my word—it is not taliazon. If you had come to me earlier as some of the other males had, I would have explained it to you then as I had told them and saved you much pain. But this insistence and unruliness after all this time is unnecessary and disappointing. I believed better of you two than rebelling for no other reason than fulfilling some selfish desire and infatuation with a female from an alien species.”
Agor stared at the aerhal in shock. He had seen his talia and had ignored it—for no other reason than she was from another species. He must not have done a very good job at hiding his surprise, however, because Zherist sat back in his seat with a disgruntled look.
“You disagree with my assessment. An assessment informed by Geminidae scientists that were stationed aboard the Zarkanida. I am not just saying this to be cruel but to express to you the reality of your situation.” He sighed reluctantly. “Of our situation. Trust me when I say that you need to put your fascination with the human behind you. There are databases that have been made available to you and every other unmated avrhast pair on Ganymede to arrange meetings with unmated females on Geminos. Thankfully, unlike species who are prohibited by pheromone signature in which they require to be in the physical company of potential mates, we can see the taliazon just as clearly through video feed.”
“I can’t forget about her,” Agor replied stiffly. “And I want no other.”
“Nor do I,” Brydis confirmed.
Zherist sighed and regarded them sympathetically. “And what good will come of that? Will I receive a complaint within days or weeks of your dismissal that you are once again demonstrating inappropriate and unwanted behavior toward a human female?”
“It was not unwanted!” Brydis objected, his crest snapping up angrily in an uncharacteristic display of hostility before a commanding officer.
Though his own crest had been extended since before entering the room—as it had been to some degree daily since being sentenced to labor in the building of the rookeries—Agor expressed himself with an outraged sound of agreement.
Zherist raised a pacifying hand. “I am not saying that it was. I was saying that these were the complaints, and they were ones that we had to treat seriously considering our own precarious relationship with Earth. Our agreement explicitly forbids us from inflicting harm upon the human population here, and that can be interpreted in many ways.”
Agor was fairly certain that he now knew exactly how Officer Miller had spun the situation. Although the matter had not been elaborated upon outside of being told that a complaint had been issued due to an aggressive interest in females of the lower decks, it did not take much imagination to work out what they had been accused of regarding their talia. If Officer Miller were wise, he would stay far, far away from both Agor and Brydis.
Practically vibrating with anger, he glanced over at his twin and noted the way Brydis clenched his jaw, his entire body stiffening with uncharacteristic hostility. Typically, being of mellower temperament, and being the cool-headed male between them, even if he often had his tail in a knot over the regulations, Brydis was not prone to fits of temper. In fact, though he had become increasingly broody since their separation from Jill, he had been the voice of reason keeping Agor in line as they served their time building up the rookery. Now, with what this revelation implied, in addition to the weeks of strain they had been under, it was as if his twin’s carefully maintained calmness cracked, releasing a torrent of emotion barely kept in check. Agor almost wanted to see it crumble away entirely if it weren’t for the fact that he was certain that the consequences would keep them separated from Jill even longer.
Still, to realize that they had been accused of forcing their attentions on Jill in such a vile way, and of harassing females of the lower level in general, made him feel ill and angry all at once. And it conversely made him even more determined to find Jill and make sure that she was kept safe beneath their wings. Brydis met his gaze with a hard glint in his amber eyes. Understanding passed between them. Determination. They would find Jill. Only she would be the one who could send them away. No other. Not from among the humans, nor from those who claimed authority on the matter from Geminos. They promised to find her, and they would.
Zherist took in their expressions and sighed unhappily. “I see. Very well. I know that I cannot keep you from your courtship of the female and that we have laws in place to prevent me from trying to do so in any shape or form. I am also aware of the fact that I am likely not going to be able to convince you to abandon this course. I am just asking that you exercise caution. The humans living here, while most have accepted our presence on Ganymede, are not exactly comfortable in our presence. Any show of the smallest amount of aggression from two much larger Geminidae could cause a panic. If you go after this human, I do not want to hear of a situation arising because two of the males I am responsible for can’t control themselves.”
“We will exercise control over ourselves unless a human is foolish enough to attempt to take her from us,” Brydis bit out slowly. “What Officer Miller attempted to do should not have been stood for, even to keep Earth happy, and regardless of what our own medics think they know.Weknow.” He squinted at the aerhal. “Andyouknew as well. With all due respect, you chose to not pursue the taliazon, but we will not allow anyone to make that choice for us or for her. And wewilldefend that should the situation arise again.” Brydis’s scarlet wings stretched. “I will not be so restrained under direct interference again.”
The aerhal regarded them cooly from behind his desk and slowly nodded. “I will make a note to have the rookery informed to not interfere with any conflict that arises between your avrhast and any humans foolish enough to block your courtship of the human. But if anything happens, and I hear that the female is in fact unwilling, understand that your actions will be answerable directly to me.”
Agor huffed as his twin let out a bark of grim laughter. “If she tells us that she does not desire our courtship, then there will be nothing to come to pass that will require punishment from you. We will suffer enough as we return to the rookery. Now, if that is all?” Brydis tipped his head in polite inquiry.
Zherist waved them away with his hand. “Go then.” He glanced at them one last time, his crown feathers flattening in an expression of misery. “And may the gods who bring the winds of fortune be beneath your wings.”
Brydis nodded and turned away to stalk from the room, leaving Agor behind for only a moment. Agor looked back once more at the aerhal and fluffed his wings boldly in a gesture of supreme confidence. The male’s lips tipped faintly in response, but he said nothing. He merely folded his hand on his desk in a relaxed manner until Agor hurried out after his twin. The secretary eyed them sternly as they left, his expression as cold as his steel coloring and icy blue feathers. The male’s wings gave a single flex that betrayed his annoyance before the door closed behind them.
Stepping out into the pale light of the sun, Agor glanced over at Brydis curiously. “So, now that we are free males—where exactly should we begin?"
The male’s wings shrugged, an expression of frustration passing briefly over his face. “Mercurium Port would be the best bet as to where to begin.”
Agor groaned. “What kind of suggestion is that? I had hoped you had something a bit more specific in mind. That maybe Jill had made mention of something in passing. Something. The port alone is huge and Rhapsody City even more so. How can we hope to find her there? It will be like looking for a quill in a field of straw.”
Brydis smirked grimly and slapped him hard on the back with one wing. “It is a good thing that you were so eager to drag me into this when I begged you to just keep to our duties. Not that I regret it,” he hastily added when Agor gave him an affronted look on their talia’s behalf. “I could not bear to give up Jill any more than you could. But my point is that surely you can summon that determination against all obstacles now as you had then.”
Agor grunted and turned in the direction of the port, his wings expanding around him. “I suppose you do have a point.” He shook his wings and drew in a deep breath before turning a wild grin upon his twin. “All right, then, let’s do this. If we need to raise the entire port in the process, so be it. I’m sure information will turn up somewhere as to where she went.”
“I would say ‘that’s the spirit’ if you didn’t have that particularly crazy look in your eye,” Brydis replied with a dry chuckle.
