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“Perhaps we should come with you…” she began but Brydis stiffened behind her and Agor shook his head with a contrite grimace.
“There are those who do bring their mates, but until we have met with the High Rookery, Brydis and I have agreed that it is better to not stray too far away from the protection of our rookery. We don’t officially have recognition from the High Rookery for the formation of our avrhastal so you don’t have any official protections or rights among our people outside of our walls and with the current situation, everyone is feeling particularly wary. While we can closely control who approaches our territory, there is no such guarantee out there. We don’t even feel comfortable taking you to the human farms for supplies until this is resolved in case we meet with those of our brethren who might react poorly to the presence of a human with us. It could be a messy conflict that we all wish to avoid. This is for the best… for now,” he amended as his thumb-claw gently brushed her bottom lip.
Jill sighed heavily, but she couldn’t dispute his reasoning. “I understand. I can’t dispute with efforts to keep me safe.”
Brydis laughed softly. “It’s not your safety that would be questionable. Agor says it would be messy because the both of us would tear apart any threat to you… even from kin. Which wouldn’t be looked on favorably by the High Rookery.”
“Oh… I see,” she murmured in surprise. “Yes, you’re right, then, of course.”
In that case, it would definitely be foolish to just recklessly run about until they had the matter settled. It was honestly strange that they still hadn’t received the ominous visit from the High Rookery, but then she could understand they were probably busy with the current tensions with the human populations that had drawn into a hostile stalemate. All the same, she was about to go mad with waiting if she were to be honest.
“I know this feels strange and new for you,” Brydis murmured. “There is a lot of this that has required you to adjust to, but this particular thing is not something we can put off or ignore as we would otherwise want to. This is how we support our avrhastal.”
She understood that as well. She actually had the luxury of spending a lot more time with her mates than she ever got with her parents or saw them ever enjoy together since they always seemed to be working odd jobs to keep food on the table. In the broader scheme of things, this was a small sacrifice for the well-being of their rookery.
“Alright,” she muttered unhappily. “I do hope, however, that this pays off.”
Agor grinned at her words, entirely unruffled by her sour disposition over the whole thing. “Don’t worry, it will. There is an extra incentive for us all to come together and get the sheering done quickly. Not only will we conclude our work at the other rookeries within a very short amount of time, but I will return quickly with our own small force of workers to prepare our wool as well. No one is going to be difficult in getting this work done when our division received a good offer from the marketer on behalf of the textile exporter at Mercurium Port. With its incredible softness—and apparently because of its anti-allergenic properties for your species—there is an even higher value in it than we anticipated. The more product that we get together and the faster, the better.”
Jill’s eyebrows flew up. On one hand that was very good for them, but on the other, it made her earlier concern resurface though there had appeared to be no trouble from that arena yet. It felt like it was all gathering to a head, however, and she couldn’t help the quiver of anxiety that ran through her.
“I know that the farms near here have treated Brydis civilly, but I can’t help but worry about you going into the port by yourself.”
Agor shook his head. “I won’t be by myself. I’ll have other males of our division with me. We will be taking our product down together.”
She groaned quietly, trying to imagine how people would react to several Geminidae suddenly descending on the port out of nowhere. “I think that is one case where I really need to go with you.” He gave her a quizzical look in turn for which she hurried to explain. “With people a bit uncomfortable with the presence of Geminidae, the presence of an unharmed human happy to be with you might set them at ease a bit. At least enough so that it doesn’t feel like you’re there as a display of aggression. Historically, the presence of women and children is usually a sign that a group is peaceful.”
Her mates gave her thoughtful looks as they considered her words.
“There is logic to what she says, but I can’t help but remember the confrontation with the one male that we had when we retrieved her,” Brydis observed.
“I will point out that was an isolated incident regarding a particular asshole who thought that he should have anything and everything he wanted without contest. People generally have avoided you at best. Diane said that no one even appeared to notice when those other males you were with approached her. There is no reason to imagine that I wouldn’t be safe there and that you wouldn’t be better off for my presence there.”
Agor gave her an uncomfortable look and glanced over at Brydis. “I don’t know. Zherist was very clear on his orders.”
His twin gave him an amused look. “Since when do you concern yourself so much with orders?”
“Since it had to do with our mate’s welfare,” Agor shot back, his wings and aguila fluffing out as his crest lifted in annoyance. “Since when are you not?”
“Since realizing that the High Rookery and Zherist know less about our situation and being mated to a human and the care for one than we do. Especially since they haven’t bothered to communicate with us at all in weeks. And that means trusting Jill’s input. When it comes to moving among humans, Jill has a good point. I’m sure that the other males will agree that traveling as family units would be a reasonable way to approach Mercurium Port without rousing hostilities at our presence.” His expression softened. “And I admit that I would worry less.”
“As I would I,” Jill agreed.
Agor reluctantly nodded. “I will discuss it with the other rookeries to see if they agree. For now, however,” he murmured as he leaned down and dragged her forward to press a kiss on the top of her head, “know that I will be missing you while I’m gone and try not to worry.” His eyes lifted to meet Brydis’s gaze over her head. “And keep her safe.”
“Always,” the other male replied, his wing clasp subtly tightening around Jill.
She had an idea that there wouldn’t be any force in the world that would be able to remove her from Brydis’s protections. Despite being quieter, his solid aggression in the face of any threat felt deeper and incredibly reassuring. Brydis was just as capable of destroying all obstacles and enemies as Agor, but it wasn’t entirely of his nature either so that silent promise possessed a comfortable weight behind it. She leaned into his solid presence as she watched Agor leave. The taliazon stretched thin and protested as the distance between them increased the entire time. When his wings unfurled, she was hit with the reality that he was actually leaving and would be gone for days. She wanted to call him back and demand that he remain there with them. That she would bundle up and help with the shearing. Even as the thought came to her, however, she dismissed it as ridiculous. She wasn’t physically comparable to even one Geminidos and he’d said himself that neighbors helped each other even on their own planet. He needed multiple pairs of hands.
Aware of her distress through the taliazon, Brydis’s arms wrapped around her waist and his tail around her legs in a full body hug beneath the cocoon of his wings as Agor left and the door swung shut behind him.
“It will just be a few days,” she said aloud to reassure herself.
“It will pass quickly,” he whispered, and she wondered how much of that was for her benefit or to reassure himself as well.
Turning in his embrace, she rested her cheek against Brydis’s torso. Duke squeaked unhappily at her feet, his keen eyes fastened on her as if he, too, understood her emotional state. Brushing the tears from her eyes, she gave the pup a tremulous smile.
“Okay, let’s go find something to do.”
