[USS Tempest] Truce

  • From: TKilyle@xxxxxxx
  • To: usstempest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:15:52 EDT

Truce
by Rosemary Le Beau, Callum Adair, Nan Ecitsuj, Nathaniel  Graison, Ek Balam, 
and Aaron Zeeman 
 
“When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths,  it is a sign that 
the enemy wishes for a truce.”--Sun Tzu
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rosie shook her head in amazement as she  picked up the several PADDs she 
wanted to take with her to the Georgetown.   Her staff on Tempest was sharp and 
vital and she liked to think that they were  sharp enough to function without 
her.  She was just another engineer like  them, she often told them. simply the 
one in charge.  And then, she thought  with utter amazement yet again, there 
was the staff on their sister ship.   Their chief gets hauled off to Earth for 
God knows what and the rest of them  fall to pieces?  What the hell was wrong 
with those people?  She was  still grumbling about it when she got to the 
transporter  room.

"Adair," she stated as she plunked her PADDs down on the  console, "the only 
one of 'em over there with any sense is your fellow  transporter chief.  Nice 
fella but he talks too damned much."

"Aye  but he's good banter when there's nothing t'do but chatter," Adair  
grinned.  "Back over there for more purgatory,  ma'am?"

"Unfortunately," Rosie grumbled as she stepped onto the  transporter stage.  
"I cannot believe they got through the Academy without  somebody holding their 
hands.  I can't for them to get a new chief.   Those people are frighteningly 
zombie like."

"Ah wheel, at least they've  got you for the time being," Adair chuckled as 
he typed in the signal for the  Georgetown.  "Ready when you are, ma'am."

"Send me to bogey land,  Adair, and pray I don't throw things at people.  I 
am so tempted," she said  with a sigh.

"Engage."  He grinned as the Chief Engineer fizzled  away to the Georgetown 
then folded his arms across his wide chest.  That  was one seriously unhappy 
bunny.

Nan grinned as soon as the Tempest's  chief reappeared on the stage.  
"Welcome back, ma'am," he said  brightly.  "For once I actually have a message 
for 
you that doesn't include  something broken, lost, or just plain unexplained.  
Suffice to say  I  don't think Mr. Garrity will be back and the message simply 
requests you get to  Engineering as soon as possible."

"Right," Rosie said carefully,  wondering how he managed to say that all in 
one breath.  "But all is still  fine here I'm sure."

"Absolutely," Nan hmmphed.

"Hey  Nathaniel!"

The slight young man grinned as he sauntered over to where  the big boss man 
was buried under a console, only his legs showing.  He  took just a minute to 
admire the view then said, "Yes, oh capitan?"

"Not  a captain," Aaron laughed from beneath.  "Pass me the isolinear  
spanner?"

The boy hummed as he ducked down to scan the set of tools all  laid out on 
the floor by the Lieutenant Commander's feet.  He tapped each  one, grinning at 
how clean they were.  "Ooo gee um, which one's that,  sir?"

"Nathaniel," Aaron said, his voice low and rumbling.  He  clicked his fingers 
of his only free hand, the other holding two pieces of  tubing together.  
"Now please."

Rosie's nose twitched as soon  as she entered the main bay.  Something was 
different already.  That  much she could tell.  What that something was was 
another story  entirely.  People were, as usual, scurrying to and fro as they 
ought when a  ship was in dock but her trained eye noticed something.  They 
actually  looked like they were scurrying with a purpose.  Tucking a lock of 
the  
white that framed her face behind her ear, she strode forward, spying a cadet  
sh
e hadn't seen before.

"Excuse me, Cadet, I'm Lieutenant Commander  Le Beau," she said simply, 
hoping to hell that the kid would know why she had to  report so urgently.

After handing Aaron the tool, Nathaniel turned and  blinked over at the new 
Lieutenant Commander, his violet eyes fluttering.   "Two for the price of one," 
he grinned.  "How can I help you,  ma'am?"

Buried under the console, Aaron didn't pay any mind to what  Nathaniel was 
doing or who he was talking to.  Someone had hardwired part  of this console to 
act as a relay to a shuttle and he damn well wanted to know  who.  So he was 
installing a little gift for whoever it was, not only  stopping them getting 
any information about the ship, but also tagging them so  Aaron could follow 
them.  The whole of Engineering had been adapted and  warped, its specs so 
skewed 
it was driving him crazy and whoever had done all  that had also done this 
little bit of rerouting so he was now doing his own  little reroute.

"I wish I knew," Rosie said with a soft  hmmph.  "I'm Tempest's chief 
engineer and I've been coming here helping  your crew get Georgetown back in 
shape 
while yours is off God knows where.   Today I got a message to come straight 
here.  I'm kinda curious who sent  the message."

On the upper deck, Ek froze.  Despite what Aaron  had requested, there were 
some things he could just not control, his senses  being one of them.  He'd 
smelt the coffee when he and Nathaniel first  arrived and now he heard a voice 
that grated him right down to his bones.   "Tz'it hell," he muttered as he slid 
out from a console top.  "Why  me?"

"I did," Aaron said from under the console.  He slid himself  out and grinned 
up at her then jumped to his feet, his energy rolling around  him.  "I'm 
Georgetown's new Chief Engineer and I wanted to thank you for  helping my 
people 
take care of her."

"Oh my lord..." Rosie grinned  outright.  "Aaron Zeeman, nobody told me you'd 
been reassigned.   Captain Craig'll be tickled!"

On the upper level, Ek felt his muscles  tighten and his hair stand up as his 
eyes followed the woman.  He abruptly  stood up straight and stomped away 
from his spot.

Letting out a bright  laugh, Aaron grinned and nodded to Main Engineering.  
"My own little slice  of heaven.  I really do have to thank you for keeping her 
from blowing  up.  Did you see some of the enhancements?  Scary  stuff."

Leaning forward so she could speak softly, Rosie said, "Why do  you think I 
didn't allow these guys on my ship?  They're frighteningly  robotic and my two 
assistants might have killed them.  Well, one of them  would have but, yes, 
the mods...I think they were stonewalling me about removing  things, hoping 
Garrity'd be back."

Ek thought about leaping down and  pouncing but that would have been wrong on 
several levels.  He wanted that  creature away from Nathaniel and he didn't 
think Aaron had any idea what she  was.  By the time he'd reached the main 
floor, his hackles were lowered but  his eyes still flashed dangerously.

"That guy was freaking  dangerous.  I'm slowly putting the place back on 
track, but it's like  wading through water upstream," Aaron snorted.  He turned 
when he saw Ek  approach and almost smiled until he felt the prickling 
irritation coming off him  in waves.  "Lieutenant Commander Le Beau, meet my 
deputy, Ek 
 Balam."

"We've met," they both said, both in ice cold tones.  Ek's  smile was 
blatantly insincere as he added, "The lieutenant commander and I were  in the 
same 
class at the Academy."

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows at the  same moment Aaron narrowed his eyes.  
The older man folded his arms across  his broad chest and stared at them both.  
"And the reason the whole of Main  Engineering just dropped ten degrees?  I'm 
guessing you weren't bosom  buddies."

"Tz'it got that right," Ek grumbled, not even trying to hide  his hostility.  
"I'd rather see a blind Pakled veterinarian  than--"

"Shut your mouth, Balam, or I can shut it for you," Rosie said,  her hazel 
eyes steely.

"Rosie?" Aaron said, now thoroughly confused but  swiftly approaching pissed. 
 "Mind telling me what the hell's going  on?"

"Your deputy there is an arrogant, nasty man, Aaron, and I'd've had  his butt 
in the commandant's office even back then if I thought it'd've done any  
good," Rosie said plainly.

Nathaniel had moved up behind Ek now, watching  Rosie from behind his friend. 
 "Why so mad, Ek?  She's just an  engineer."

"One of them, Nathaniel," he said in a jaguar soft  growl.  "Not the normals: 
one of those tz'it super hero sorts."

"A  mutant?" Nathaniel asked softly, his oddly coloured eyes now very wary 
and fixed  on Rosie.

Ek nodded sharply.  "One of them."

Aaron frowned  first at Ek then at Rosie, his grip across his chest 
tightening.  "I didn't  know," he said with a hard stare.  "You never struck me 
as the 
goody-goody  sort."

"What?" Rosie snapped.  "You, too?  Boy, doesn't that  take the cake?  I 
never hid the fact that I was, Aaron."

"I just  didn't know," Aaron said carefully.  He moved so he was standing in 
front  of Ek, blocking him from Rosie, thus blocking Nathaniel as well.  "I'm 
not  prejudiced, if that's what you think.  It's just...  You're a Xavier's  
kid, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am and so was my mother.  Both my parents  still live there.  What's 
wrong with Xavier's?" she demanded.

"You  want a list?" Ek asked.

"Ek, shut up," Aaron snarled over his  shoulder.  He kept his eyes on Rosie 
and something slid behind them,  something dangerous and primeval.  They 
glimmered golden for just an  instant as his energy flared.  "They're arrogant 
and 
they give mutants a  bad name.  They think their way is the only way, even your 
Brotherhood of  Mutants are arrogant.  They look down on people who don't 
want to play  their silly games.  They have no respect."

Rosie gaped for a moment,  unable to control the shock.  "First of all, the 
Brotherhood isn't 'mine',"  she began carefully, her hand curling at her side, 
wanting desperately to either  hit somebody or throw something.  "Second, not 
every mutant is like you're  saying.  We're Human just like you and we have 
the right to be as we were  born."

Ek said nothing, deferring to Aaron's request, but, still, he  snorted in 
disgust.

"So do we," Aaron growled.  "So go tell it to  your school.  Everyone has a 
right to be who and what they are."  His  body was actually shaking slightly 
with contained rage.  It was an age old  argument.  The mutants thought that 
all 
mutants were the same, so they  should all adhere to their happy clappy 
pointless mindset, they refused to see  the Lupus as different, as unique and 
thus 
separate.  "We do not bow to the  X-men nor Magneto."

Nathaniel blinked between Aaron and Rosie.   Aaron was getting really mad but 
so was she, but Aaron was blowing their cover  too, right out in Main 
Engineering.  "Sir," he whispered soothingly, "maybe  we should go somewhere 
else."

"Ah, yeah," Ek said carefully, edging up to  Aaron's other side though 
keeping his back turned on Rosie in contempt.   "We normal people, who don't 
get to 
go to super hero schools, have a lot of work  to do.  There are still coffee 
choices listed on the replicator in my  quarters for one thing."

"Ek, seriously, shut up," Aaron said  flatly.  But he turned to look into 
Nathaniel's worried eyes and  nodded.  The kid had never experienced the 
snobbery 
of the Xavier kids, his  background just hadn't allowed for anything quite so 
normal as envy or  prejudice.  For a moment Aaron had forgotten and thought 
of Nathaniel as  the same as he was, as Ek was, just prejudiced, but the only 
reason Nathaniel  would hate or distrust was if his Alpha hated or mistrusted 
something.  And  since Aaron was the Alpha right now, he had to work on not 
letting his  prejudices influence the younger man. 

He reached out, caressed  Nathaniel's cheek and smiled.  "Let's go into my 
office.  I think we  need to explain to Rosie why we think like we do."  Those 
deep, dark eyes  turned back onto Rosie.  "We're not prejudiced for the sake of 
it, we're  not like other baselines.  Let me explain, but not out  here."

"Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly," Rosie said  with a very 
unladylike snort but then she shrugged.  "It isn't like I can  just go back to 
the captain and tell her why I left without finishing what I was  supposed to 
do."  Ek she expected nothing better from, not since he made  his disdain for 
her obvious years ago.  She was disappointed in Aaron,  though, having served 
with the man on Fenchurch and having seemed to be as  congenial as he'd been 
until Ek showed up.

Nathaniel stayed close to  Aaron but not touching again until they were in 
the Chief's office.  Aaron  leaned against the desk and stared at the three of 
them in there with him,  watching them carefully.  When the door was closed he 
nodded again.   "Rosie, our prejudice isn't a baseline look at a mutant in 
envy or fear.   We don't fear what you are because we'd be fearing ourselves.  
If 
I'd known  you were one of the normals, the Xavier kids, you'd never have 
seen me as who I  am, I'd have avoided you.  Painful, but true.  But there's a  
reason."

The young shapeshifter hovered close to Aaron and Ek, his purple  eyes 
staring at them as if he wanted to memorise their faces.  "Aaron?" he  
whispered.  
"I don't understand."

"I'll explain," the older man said  as he pulled Nathaniel close, holding him 
and letting him curl against  him.  "We're Lupus.  Disdain has been shown to 
us and we reflect it  back, that's why we're at the best cautious around 
normal mutants, and at the  worst..."  His eyes glowed amber, filling with his 
wolf, strange in his  handsome, tanned face.  Those eyes settled on Ek and he 
let 
out a soft  growl, "At worst, we're prejudiced.  Even me."

Ek settled a  reassuring hand on Nathaniel's shoulder.  His own self 
confidence was never  in doubt, Ixchel often telling him it was entirely too 
large for 
one man, but  Nathaniel was younger and definitely had not been what Ek had 
been.  "And I  am not the worst.  I would rather avoid you people, walk away, 
yet there  are those who would..." Ek shrugged.  "There are worse tempers than  
mine."

"You're mutants."  Rosie said it flatly, her eyes  taking in all three.  She 
wished she could smell like Logan did but she  couldn't.  She had to trust her 
own eyes and she did at that moment but it  didn't make sense.  "I've never 
heard of whatever it is you  said."

"Not mutants, Lupus," Aaron said with deep insistance.   "We're not the same 
as you.  We are genetically unique."

"Same  difference," Rosie replied.  "Your code says Human under a scanner 
doesn't  it?"

"It doesn't say homo-sapiens superioris, if that's what you mean,"  Aaron 
snorted.  A look almost like disdain filled his face and he fought  hard not to 
growl with irritation.  It was only Nathaniel pressed close to  his side that 
stopped the beast from surfacing more than just the yellow  eyes.  "It says 
Human but not baseline.  My code would say I'm  homo-sapiens superioris lupus.  
It may seem a small difference to you but  it makes a world of difference to 
us.  If you really think all Humans are  the same then you're deluding 
yourself. 
 Baselines don't see you as just  another Human.  Some of them may not be 
prejudiced and they may not treat  you differently but you're just as alien to 
them as a Vulcan or Klingon.   You fit in because the aliens do, you're 
accepted 
because they are, not because  you're Human."

"Then why the hell are you--him--" she began, pointing an  accusing finger at 
Ek, who promptly narrowed his eyes at her, "so dead against  me and my kind?  
Because the professor wants all Humans to get along?   Because Magneto wants 
to squish all non-mutants like bugs?  I don't even  know of either of 'em 
knows your kind exists but now I do and I still don't get  why you paint us all 
with one brush.  That'd be as pointless as me thinking  your cadet is an idiot 
just because Balam here is."

Nathaniel lifted his  eyebrows at Rosie and smirked, chuckling softly under 
his breath.  "See,  Ek?" he whispered, "she does know you!"
 
Under his breath, Ek spit a rude mutter at Rosie in Mayan but then  he gave 
Nathaniel a friendly smack in the shoulder.  "Hush, cub," he  snorted.

"We object  because you refuse to see us as different but in the same breath 
don't offer us  the same liberties as you take for granted," Aaron continued, 
biting back the  snarl he had for Nathaniel.  "Mutants want all mutants to be 
alike but not  a single Lupus has ever been to your precious school.  We're 
not welcome  there.  And don't even try to say your Professor doesn't know 
about 
us, he  does, so does Magneto.  My brother has spoken to them personally, so 
has  Luca.  They're both members of our ruling council and after the last 
time,  we've been forbidden from going near the school.  I've never seen 
Richard  
so angry."


 

Rosie opened her mouth to say something then shut it, knowing it  would be 
heated and probably inappropriate.  As it was, she wanted to punch  the smug 
smirk right off of Balam's face.  She took a deep breath and tried  again.  
"That 
I know of, the Professor's never forbidden anyone at the  school without good 
reason," she said in defense of the man.  "I can't say  a thing 'bout Magneto 
because he's a bit nuts to put it mildly."

"The  official stance was that we are too dangerous," Aaron said sourly.  
"Some  of the weaker ones can't always control themselves around the full moon 
without  an alpha.  Your school wasn't willing to employ a Lupus teacher, can't 
have  the kiddies taught by a monster, after all."
 
"And we are much too rare to be cut down by ignorant people:  mutant or 
baseline," Ek added darkly.  "Ixchel told it happened once and  that was enough 
for 
her."
 
"That's...something must have happened," Rosie  protested.
 
"Yeah, your resident geniuses have poor knowledge of animal  behavior, that 
stinking creature that lives there aside," Ek snorted.

"I  don't know what," Aaron nodded slowly, "but I do know Richard was furious 
about  it.  We'd never put someone with poor control in that position but  
prejudice isn't just a baseline quality.  We're treated like animals,  Rosie, 
so 
you can see why some of us act like it."
 
Ek's face was flushed and he had to force down a snarl of warning  at Rosie.  
People who make Ixchel cry were not people he wanted near  him.  Ixchel had 
cried that day when she told him.  It was only out of  respect for Aaron's 
position as their odd pack's alpha that he didn't lash out  even now.  Instead, 
he 
moved closer to Nathaniel, drawing calm from the  cadet even if the boy had 
teased him.
 
"You are as bad as the baselines who treat us differently then,"  Rosie 
pointed out, her eyes sparing Ek a flash of lightning.  "I didn't do  anything 
to 
you yet I get the same treatment.  Fine, you're entitled but I  damned well 
better get the respect that's due my rank and position in the  Fleet."

"And I'd damn well better get mine," Aaron replied calmly.   "I missed you, 
y'know.  You were a friend and someone who helped me when  Leotie died.  I'm 
sorry we have to part this way, I regret my feelings but  I'd find them very 
hard to change.  Thank you for taking care of my  department for me."
 
Rosie regarded her fellow chief with a mixture of sadness and  regret in her 
eyes.  "I don't regret it any of that at all.   You were a good man,  and 
maybe you still are, but you're also not the  man I thought you were and that 
disappoints me.  As for what respect you  deserve, I don't ask for something 
without expecting to return  it."

Nathaniel stared up into Aaron's strong features and saw the hurt  and grief 
there, it was so raw it made the young man both flinch and wish he  could do 
something about it.  "Would Leotie have felt this way?" he asked  softly.  
Aaron's gaze shifted to him and pinned him to the spot but he  didn't flinch in 
the face of it.  "Would she have turned her back on a  friendship just because 
of species?  Was she really that  prejudiced?"

His anger washed through him and Aaron lashed out, lifting  Nathaniel by his 
shirt front, holding him at arm's length as easily as a normal  person would 
lift a feather.  "Never assume you knew anything about my  wife," he growled, 
his whole body vibrating with contained rage.  "She was  good and pure and 
sweet.  Do not ever EVER imply she was less than that." 
 
Ek had been standing rather close to Nathaniel and jumped back  when Aaron 
grabbed him, unable to move for a moment afterward, stunned as he was  by their 
alpha's action.  After that moment, though, he approached slowly,  gently 
bumping Aaron's shoulder with his own.  He stood a good chance of  getting 
swiped 
at himself but he could take that easier than the kid  could.  "Calm down, 
Aaron," he said in a soft purr that came from deep  within.  "It was a 
rhetorical 
question.  He meant no harm."

"He  meant harm," Aaron snarled, shaking Nathaniel sharply but the boy put 
his warm  hands over where he was held and stared into Aaron's swirling golden 
eyes, his  calmness filling his own.  "She would never..." Aaron whispered as 
his grip  lessened.

Nathaniel spread his hands up over his Alpha's wrists, up his  arms until 
Aaron let him go and he landed comfortably on his feet.  He slid  his hands up 
until Aaron held him tightly, his purple eyes on Rosie steady and  sure.  "We 
are pack," Nathaniel said softly, "we are so different to you,  we're alien.  
We 
are instinct.  We are blood.  We are the  hunt.  We are what we are and if 
you can accept our differences, we can  accept yours."

Aaron gripped the younger man so tightly he  trembled.  How had Nathaniel 
grown so wise?  He knew so little about  the young man's past but in that 
moment 
there was an age to his gaze that was  almost ancient in its understanding.  
For the first time, Aaron realised  Nathaniel would one day be Alpha, that that 
had been what Luca was grooming him  for.  But not today, not now and maybe 
not for years to come.
 
Rosie was even more stunned than Ek had been but she offered the  cadet a 
smile, her hazel eyes bright.  "I never had issue with you being  different and 
I 
didn't know y'all even existed til a few minutes ago.  I  honestly thought 
Balam was just a jerk but even that's understandable in light  of what you're 
saying.  He's protecting his family.  That I can  understand."

"We keep ourselves separate because we don't want to hurt  people," Nathaniel 
explained.  "And people are afraid of us.  We're  were-animals, that's never 
going to have great connotations."

Aaron  slowly eased back but he kept his death grip on the boy, as if scared 
to let him  go.  "We're animals but we're people too.  Some never quite come 
to  terms with the beast inside.  After all, for baselines to produce a lupus  
is a one in a billion chance.  It's a one in a half billion chance for  normal 
mutants to produce one.  It's better odds for lupus to produce lupus  but 
it's not a certainty."

"Better odds if we choose someone from our own  type," Nathaniel added softly.
 
Rosie hmmphed softly at that.  "That's a better worldview of  it than my 
grandmother, that's for sure," she said with a smirk.  "She  hates my fiance 
because he's a baseline."  She shook her head then.   "I always thought y'all 
were 
just legends and stories but even those have basis  in fact.  I'm willing to 
try if you are."

"Ek?" Aaron asked  softly.  If the younger man wasn't interested, none of 
them would try, but  if he was willing to, they all would.

Purple eyes flicked to his friend  and Nathaniel reached out fingers to brush 
across Ek's shoulder.   "Please?"
 
It was a struggle for Ek.  He stared at them, arms crossed  over his chest  
in an effort now to keep his temper under control.   Aaron was asking for a 
lot.  He well and truly loved Ixchel, the jaguar on  their council, seeing her 
as 
a substitute mother, and Rosie's kind had caused  her pain.  He knew the 
Lupus were better than the damned super hero  sorts.  He knew it as surely as 
he 
knew he was Ek Balam, the Black  Jaguar.  He was about to tell Rosie to get out 
of his sight when Nathaniel  touched him.  He was very fond of the younger 
man and Aaron, too.  He  didn't want them to resent him if he said 'no'.  He 
didn't want to be cut  off from the pack, even emotionally, if they accepted 
his 
stance.  He was  lonely enough as it was.  "Fine," he said grudgingly.  "I 
won't spit  at her."

"It's a good place to start from," Aaron nodded.  "We can  both of us work on 
it.  Nathaniel?"

"Yes?" the young man asked,  still staring at Rosie but his lips turned up in 
a smile.

"I want you to  be this pack's liaison to the mutants.  I think we need one 
if we're going  to function as a group.  The Georgetown doesn't have any that I 
know of but  I don't want what happened here to happen again," Aaron told him 
firmly.   Then he looked at Rosie and smiled.  "No more prejudice if we can 
help  it.  Okay?"
 
"Fair enough but fair warning.  There is another mutant  aboard Tempest: my 
cousin Lexie.  She's one of our fighter  navigators.  I won't tell her about 
you all if that's what you want but I  don't want y'all thinking I was hiding 
anything," Rosie replied, smiling still  at Nathaniel.

"Please don't," Nathaniel asked sweetly.  "If you  really need to talk to 
someone about it, call me?  Now I'm pack liaison, I  can answer questions."
 
"No problem, cadet, but i your name really Nathaniel?" Rosie  asked, charmed 
by the cadet's nature.  "Because if it is, I knew there was  a reason I liked 
you."

"Nathaniel Graison, ma'am," he  nodded.
 
"It's a good name, same as my fiance's," Rosie said  brightly.  "Aaron, 
chances are, if any of y'all contact Tempest, you'll be  talking to him sooner 
or 
later.  Chief Lynley's the captain's  aide."

"You chose a baseline," Nathaniel asked carefully, though it was  more 
statement than question.

"I thought most mutants chose other  mutants," Aaron added.
 
"I chose Nathaniel who happens to be a baseline," Rosie  countered.  "He's a 
good man on so many levels.  I don't differentiate  people by their genes.  I 
really didn't mean to offend you all  before."

"We did," Aaron said with a shrug.  "I'm sorry for it but  it's true.  Most 
of the time, we're so introverted we don't even see  there's an outside world.  
It's good you found someone though.  It's  good to be in love."
 
"And I'm still so very sorry about your wife, Aaron," Rosie said  softly, 
stepping forward despite the glare she was still getting from Ek, truce  or 
not.  
 
Ek bit back a sigh.  How the hell was it that even a mutant  could find a 
match and he couldn't?  He didn't think Ixchel had it right:  there was no 
lycanthrope out there for him.  He certainly wasn't going to  look elsewhere.  
Just 
thinking about it made Rosie annoy him all the more  and he wished she would 
just leave.

"It's fine," Aaron said  stiffly.  His grief had shown for just a moment but 
he had to bite down on  it or he'd go mad with it like he had before.  "I miss 
her but I'm strong  for my children.  I have to be."
 
"And there's the pack," Ek finally said, his hand reaching to  squeeze his 
alpha's shoulder.  "We can be strong for you, too,  Aaron."






















































 
So said  Surak: Kaiidth. What is, is.



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