Young Writers Society

Jacek's gaze narrowed at the lion. "And who do you think you are?" he asked, casting a glance over the little lion. "His Highness is my responsibility, and I decide what he needs--"

"Jacek."

That brought Jacek up short and he gaze snapped back to Avi. "Yes, my lord?"

"Stand down," Avi said softly and Jacek deflated, releasing both his Royal Consort and the human--that the lion apparently called Carter. He sat back on his heels and waited, head bowed. Avi sighed. "Thank you."

Jacek exhaled through his nose. "My apologies, my lord. I was worried." He cast a glance up at Avi from beneath his eyelashes. "With good reason. You really shouldn't be doing anything strenuous when you're three and a half months pregnant, my lord."

"Jacek," Avi said with a grimace, but Jacek powered on.

"And forming a bond, even as partial as it is, before you're ready--and so soon after His Majesty--is a very, very bad idea." He straightened up and fixed Carter with a glare. "I don't know what you were thinking, but the risks were definitely not worth it, my lord."

"It's fine, Jacek," Avi said quietly, and Jacek thought he looked a little pale now. "I knew the risks, and I did it anyway--" He broke up abruptly, turning away and slamming a hand over his mouth.

Jacek half-rose. "Avi!"

* * *

Arden was relieved when Lark backed off. He was glad she could concede defeat when it was obvious she wasn't going to get anywhere. But then she seemed to deflate and stumbled back into him. He caught her automatically, twisting to get a glimpse of her face. She liked very pale all of a sudden. Shit...

"Lark?" he asked softly, but she shook her head. He frowned, and reached out for her with his own energy. She immediately latched onto him, and he realised why she hadn't fed. She was struggling to feed on him, for a start--but she also hadn't been able to properly feed for a very long time. "Oh...oh dear..."

"I'm sorry," Lark said with a wince, eyes closed. "I...tried to tell you, but you were always so busy--"

"Don't," Arden muttered, and then turned to face the group. He cleared his throat. "Well, now we're in a bit of a dilemma, aren't we?"

Télos lowered the tip of his sword.

"What's wrong?" he asked, glancing between the two.

Mal tapped his cane against the ground to get everyone's attention. "What's done is done," he said. "Avi knew the risks, and I just want to know if Avi is alright. I don't feel like this bonding thing,much less what pregnancy has to do with it, is the same as it is on my world, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person here qualified to heal people, so I'd like to know what happened." He glared at Jacek. "And I have served royalty before, so shove off."



So much for that. Slipping her dagger back up her sleeve, Enide nodded in Lark's direction. "If I had to guess," she said, "She appears to not have had food in quite some time. What exactly that food is, or what it has to do with sentient creatures, is not a question I can answer. Her, or the young man accompanying her, can."

Arden stared at the gold man and the fox woman, and sighed. “We feed on energy,” he said, gesturing between himself and Lark. “Which she’s attempting right now to a very minimal degree. And yes, she hasn’t been able to feed properly for a while, which is quite odd. We don’t normally lose that ability...” He trailed off, glancing down at Lark’s pale face and frowned. “I’m not sure what the issue is, but I’m sure we can figure it out. Hopefully with Lark’s input?”

She exhaled heavily. “Fed on a guy on a planet listed at banned but only ‘cause I crashed there...”

“That was ten years ago!” Arden exclaimed, worried now. “Why didn’t you say anything—“

“You were busy.” Lark slitted her eyes and peered up at him, then snorted. “Always so busy...with the pretty humans...”

He sighed. “You mean Garnet and the others?” he asked and shook his head. “I don’t even know why I’m bothering. You tried to kill me and buried me alive.”

“Sorry,” Lark muttered, eyes closed again. “About that. Wasn’t personal.”

Arden just sighed and shook his head, then glanced towards the others. The pull on his energy from Lark was waning, and waning fast. She clearly couldn’t maintain it or draw enough energy efficiently enough. “Uh, so. We need to figure out how to help her feed. She’s gonna keep fading away at this rate... Any volunteers?”

* * *

Avi barely heard the conversation going on around him—Jacek was telling the lion doctor something about looking for a bathroom?—as he was a little focused on not peeing himself or throwing up. He’d really prefer not to do the latter. Which meant he’d have to wait it out. He knew the feeling would pass eventually, but it was sure taking its time.

After a few minutes, the urge to vomit passed and he sagged back against Carter, suddenly exhausted. “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely, letting the human take his weight. He rested a hand over his belly and exhaled through his nose. “I’m not sure if Jacek explained...properly. Our species is highly empathetic and very telepathic, and we form bonds with others as a form of...mating, if you will.” He grimaced and pulled his legs up towards him, feeling Carter’s arms tightening around him. “Those bonds...can be platonic or romantic in nature...”

“What His Highness is trying to say,” Jacek interceded, his tone softening, “is that those bonds are not taken lightly, and can cause harm if they’re forced on someone or broken by an external force.” He nodded to Avi and Avi dropped his gaze to the floor. “His Highness recently had his bond with His Majesty severed, quite violently, and since he was pregnant at the time, it caused a lot of stress on him. He’s very lucky that he didn’t miscarry, so forming another bond so soon—while pregnant—is dangerous. Even as partially formed as it is.”

“Jacek,” Avi said weakly, not wanting to divulge too much information, but his guard just shot him a glare. Avi stiffened. Alright, maybe he deserved that a little bit.

“And that is why I’m so angry and upset,” Jacek hissed, turning on the lion. “It was a very stupid thing to do! We can’t afford to lose the last heir. We don’t know what happened to the others, we don’t even know if they’re alive.”

He closed his eyes again. Avi didn’t want to think about that, and Carter’s grip on him was nice. He missed being held, he missed his husband. He missed the way Neriya would press a kiss to the top of his head, his forehead, his cheek... He missed him so fiercely. So much so, that just hearing about what had happened, even in vague terms, was distressing. Neriya had been so kind to him, so loving. Why did Hakan have to do it? Why couldn’t he just be content to be a lord?

Avi felt tears welling up. He knew why. Hakan wanted power—he’d always been power-hungry—and he was willing to kill to get it. And it was bad for Avi, because when a Baqiran King died—even if they were murdered by a potential heir—then whoever became King next would take all that the previous King had. That meant that Avi was supposed to become Hakan’s, and he just...couldn’t. Royal Consorts were for life, no matter who their king was—an antiquated custom, but one he couldn’t have escaped. And Avi knew that if he’d stayed, Hakan would have killed his baby. He couldn’t let that happen, so he’d fled. And Hakan had pinned the murder on him.

Abruptly, the tears spilled over and he twisted to press his face into Carter’s shoulder with a tiny, half-aborted little sob. Great, now he was crying. Avi just wanted his husband back. He didn’t want to have to do any of this, he hadn’t wanted to run but if he’d stayed, it would have been so much worse. “I’m sorry,” he sobbed in Baqiran, “I miss him... I’m sorry...”

“Oh,” Jacek said and, to Avi, it was as if from very far away. “Oh dear...”

Télos glanced at the others in the group, already knowing that he had to be the one to volunteer. Unless he had misjudged the entire group, he was the only one remotely godlike - which meant he had a relatively unlimited amount of life to give. As long as he wasn't killed by illness or attack, he would just keep living.

He took a deep breath.

"She can feed on me," he said. "Gods have almost unlimited life spans - I think I can give her enough energy."

"If Télos either somehow lacks the energy or the ability to transfer it, I can be of some assistance," Thytes said. He didn't know quite what to make of Lark - her tendency towards violence was a little worrying, but he didn't want to see her starve. She didn't deserve to be that miserable. Nobody did, really. Even his dad.




Ugh. This was why Mal didn't want kids.

"Is there a chance they can fully form that bond if they sit there like that?" Mal said, watching Avi cry into Carter's shoulder. "This, isn't the good time and place for, uh, mating, especially if Avi is pregnant and all."

Jacek sighed, watching Avi cry into the human’s shoulder with a growing sense of dread. “I don’t think that’s much I can do here that will help,” he said softly and then froze when he spotted Avi’s mask on the floor by the lion’s knee. He ducked forwards to pick it up and stared at it. He frowned, turning it over and over in his hands before shooting the lion a dark look. “When did this fall off?”

The lion didn’t appear to be looking at him. He was too busy watching Avi cry on the human. Jacek scowled and sat back again. He resigned himself to watching Avi cry and mumble in Baqiran about how he was sorry and that he missed his husband, over and over again.

“Alright,” Jacek said, tone sharp as he twisted to glance about the room, spotting some strange winged man standing nearby and staring right at Avi, and the colourful one still sitting beside Avi and Carter. “We’re too exposed out here. We need to move.”

Avi’s sobs slowed for a second and he pressed tighter to Carter. “Bathroom,” he muttered, voice muffled. “Bathroom, please.”

* * *

Arden’s gaze shot to the gold man and then to the lion-man. He offered them a weak smile, even as Lark’s clumsy attempts to feed on him stuttered and finally stopped. For how little she’d taken in such a short time, he was beginning to feel exhausted. “Thanks,” he said and swept Lark up into his arms bridal-style. “If we’re gonna do this, we should probably do it somewhere private.”

Oh, the mask. Avi had plenty of reason to keep his identity hidden, but Mal had been a little too concerned about the unconscious Carter to place when Avi had lost his mask. But, before Mal could say as much to Jacek, the lion heard Avi beg to go to the bathroom. The edge and desperation in the voice told Mal that Avi was, at the least, stressed. And, given the pregnancy, probably a tad sick.

Pulling himself up, Mal nodded at Jacek. "Yep," the lion said, "We'd better find the bathroom."



"To the bathroom, then," Enide said. "It should be easy enough to find, given that a few of us have already paid it a visit. It certainly is private."

Carter had remained silent while everything was happening. Avi was nestled further into his arms now, whispering in a language Carter couldn’t understand, but sobs that he could certainly interrupt. When the man finally spoke in English again, Carter realized the pressing need and that Avi’s mask was gone. He only got a few seconds of a glance before the lion medic was suggesting a bathroom.

Flynn was slightly off to the side and helped Carter lift Avi into the hunter’s arms. Their assorted troupe was slowly making a way across the stilled ballroom.

Most of the guests were huddled into small pods and their identities had been partially revealed. It was enough for people to group together and begin to question the situation happening around them. Flynn tapped into some of these emotions and instantly wished that he could just tune everything out.

He turned his attention to helping the group find a bathroom, and touched two fingers to Carter’s wrist. The man was distracted by the alien in his arms, but Flynn was still assuming the position of helper.

Carter was glad to have the calming influence as he tried to keep Avi steady - in the many ways it applied.

Hopefully they would find the bathroom soon.

"Return to the bathroom," Codix agreed under his breath, helping Tannis back towards the bathroom. He glanced over at Nadira and Charlie - the guy wearing gold was helping Charlie bring Nadira back to the bathroom. For a moment, his gaze wandered. He stared down at Nadira's leg - and at the slit that Charlie had been trying to hide by the way she was carrying her.

Codix felt a knot form in his stomach.

But Télos didn't say anything. He just kept helping Nadira towards the bathroom.

Thytes couldn't decide if the group was moving too fast or not fast enough. On one hand, they really needed to go to the bathroom - too many people had been injured, and it'd only scare the crowd even more if Lark were to feed on anyone (Thytes wasn't sure what all that meant, but got the impression it wouldn't exactly be pretty). On the other hand, he still had no clue where Mal was. Out of the whole group, Mal was the most likely person to get crushed by the crowd, least likely to win a fight, and couldn't even heal himself; in other words, the last person Thytes wanted to be separated from the others.

Fortunately enough, the group had started making their way to the bathroom right on time. For one thing, the crowds had bunched up into groups, so it wasn't long before they could spot the bathroom door in front of them. Secondly, as he glanced around him, Thytes spotted a small lion walking alongside a few people who were heading to the same bathroom.

Breaking away from his own group, Thytes did his best to run in high heels, eventually sweeping up the small lion in his arms. "Mal!" Thytes said, giving him a hug.

Mal mumbled a vague complaint, but returned the hug.

Thytes looked at the group Mal had been walking with, immediately focusing on Carter. Whoop. At least Carter looked okay, though he appeared to be carrying a very disconsolate man.

"What happened here?" Thytes said.

The sight of Thytes teetering on a pair of heels was almost comedic enough for Carter to forget about Avi. He slipped for a moment on a slick spot on the floor before recovering the both of them, and returning his focus to finding a sufficient place for Avi to be comfortable.

Tossing a glance to Thytes he said, "It's a bit complicated. Let me deal with this and I'll be right with you."

Carter turned and kicked a stall door open, moving Avi onto his shoulder, and being thankful for the boots he chose to wear to this stupid thing. Leave it to a bunch of diplomatic delegates to screw up a simple hoedown in a space.

"Avi, how are you feeling now?"

Well, Thytes got the message; setting Mal on his shoulders, Thytes quickly made his way towards the bathrooms.

Mal growled in surprise and dug his claws into Thytes's mane. Sure, his height and speed would've made running through the crowd a little inconvenient, but Thytes could've at least given him some warning.

Then again, Thytes obviously had his reasons. By the time they reached the bathrooms, Thytes and Mal could see Enide and Télos setting Tannis down opposite of the stalls. After taking a little time to yank his claws out of Thytes's mane and climb down, Mal found himself face to face with his very drunk uncle.

"What did he drink?" Mal said, stepping over to Tannis's side and setting a paw against Tannis's neck. Closing his eyes, Mal sent a little bit of energy into Tannis's veins, catching the light as it streamed towards Tannis's brain. No signs of any particular damage, or anything that Mal would recognize as poisonous.

Thytes crouched down by Tannis's other side, gently catching Tannis's head when it started to droop in his direction. "I am not exactly sure," Thytes said. "It might have been something exceptionally sweet? In such a case, I imagine he could simply have not noticed how much he was drinking."

"Then he'd better stay here, because I've got to deal with some weird mating thing that happened and I'm running out of patience," Mal growled, looking into his uncle's eyes. His uncle nodded, waving in the general direction of the other source of commotion in the bathroom.

Mal pulled himself up, turning to Carter and Avi. "Do you need any help?" he said.