Young Writers Society

"They were trying to get information earlier with Codix being here - I think it was because he's the Sixen prince, but everyone thinks he either died or went missing."

She glanced back at her friends.

"But Nadira got hurt when the ship lost power earlier," she said. "Codix was going to stay as himself, but we needed to get Tannis out of the bathroom, and your wife couldn't carry him on her own. Codix isn't strong enough as himself, but John is."

She didn't clarify that he was drunk - she thought it was something that Thytes could probably figure out if he knew him well.

She thought for a moment on his other questions.

"They do recognize you," she confirmed. "And I think it's okay for you to talk to them - you just have to be secretive about it if you want to talk to them about being them."

Thytes bit his lip. He knew that Charlie was being honest - that was Codix's real identity, Nadira really had been hurt, it absolutely would've taken that much effort to haul a drunk Tannis out of a bathroom. Which only made his own lies all the more hypocritical and rude.

Ugh, Enide wouldn't be happy, but Thytes could trust Charlie. Crouching down, Thytes whispered in Charlie's ear, "How would you take it if I were to tell you that Enide is not necessarily my wife?"

She gave him a smile.

"...I guessed you were lying about something earlier," she admitted. "I didn't know that was what it was, but I knew you probably had a good reason for it."

Well, at least Charlie had some trust in him. Enide, on the other hand, would be a tad miffed at how bad of a liar he was (though he couldn't help but wonder if she even cared about their fake identities, given how quickly the diplomatic gala had gone south). Might as well add to the fire.

"A correct judgment, then," Thytes said with a nod. "Enide is not my wife, Mal is not my son, and Tannis is not my attendant. I can explain more, but I am not sure if we should reunite with the others. What would you be fine with?"

Charlie thought for a moment.

"...I think I would be alright with either one," she finally said. "I know the truth now, and I wasn't too worried about it. We both need to get back to our friends, and it will probably seem suspicious if we don't return soon."

"Alright," Thytes said with a nod. "We might as well return to the others. Thank you for telling me the truth, and I hope I can tell you the whole truth soon enough. Is there anything you would like me to do in the meantime? I would like to compensate for my lying, I suppose."

She shook her head.

"It's alright," she said. "I'm sure you had a good reason for it."

Inside of his head, Carter could feel the worry from Avi. They were slowly melting together and even with not being familiar with this alien species, he was going to assume that was inappropriate thing. It seemed a bit like holding hands on Vulcan and he wasn’t up for being charged with public indecency.

One last focus on the signals from the outside brought him back to where he needed to be and the people he needed to protect.

———

Carter shot up suddenly from the floor, knocking over the man with his fingers to Carter’s temples. Flynn watched as Carter slowly appraised the scene and then picked up the man lying on the ground beside him.

It felt wrong but he still asked, “Carter, are you okay?”
He watched his friend recover for a moment and slowly answer, “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Flynn didn’t have the patience to answer that question.

Thytes wanted to argue against that, but, well, it'd turned out his group did have a lot to worry about at this ball (even if it wasn't what he'd been expecting), and Thytes and Charlie really did need to get back to the others. So he chose to nod, turn around, and make a beeline for Tannis (the biggest and the one who most stood out like a sore, drunk thumb).



And now Carter was conscious. Somehow.

Mal had been able to lean back and avoid getting knocked over like Avi, but still had to scoot back when Carter picked Avi up. "Are you sure?" Mal said, looking at Carter. "Do you think you can walk? Will you be able to carry someone like that?"

Lark watched the strange lion in a dress as he moved away to speak to someone else and exchanged a loaded look with Arden. He scowled right back at her and she huffed out a disgruntled little breath. Then she turned back to the two remaining humans and the other two. She cast a glance over them all and grinned.

"Lark," Arden said, a warning edge to his tone of voice. She ignored him. "Lark, don't."

"So," Lark purred, gliding closer to the fox-woman. "You look ravishing, m'dear. I wonder... How lovely would you taste?"

"Lark," Arden groaned from behind her, and she just knew we was shoving his face into his palm. Lark's grinned just grew wider. "Please."

* * *

"Ow," Avi protested softly, hand flying to his stomach even as Carter immediately catch him before he hit the ballroom's hard metal flooring. "You could have warned me." He straightened up in his crouch and then abruptly sat down on the floor, stretching first one leg out and then the other even as Carter's hands lingered. He glanced about again, looking for Jacek but still unable to see him. His legs had started going numb and now he really needed to pee. He grimaced. "Can any of you see my attendants?"

* * *

While the entire group was distracted, Jacek slipped away and headed out into the crowd. Especially since the woman--Lark--was easily distracted. He'd never been so glad to get away from such a deep well of hunger before. Jacek puffed out a little breath of relief and scanned the crowd for Avi's stunningly white outfit and even whiter hair, but failed to see him. Someone almost stumbled into him in a panic, and Jacek side-stepped them, gripping the hilt of his blade tightly.

A few moments later, he caught a glimpse of white and blue and silver on the floor amongst a small knot of people and made a beeline for it. He arrived just after one of those people jolted upright, and slowed a little. There was something...off about the entire group.

"Your highness," he said as soon as he was close enough to be heard over the chaos. Avi turned towards him immediately and his eyes widen in recognition. "I thought I'd lost you!"

"Jacek," Avi said, and then Jacek caught sight of the human touching him. He stopped short and Avi switched from pleased to see him, to confusion. "Jacek?"

"....you didn't," he whispered, staring right at where the human's hand rested against Avi's bare wrist. "Please tell me you didn't..."

"Jacek--"

Jacek swept forward, grabbed the human's hands and yanked them away from Avi. "How dare you," he hissed, shooting the man a glare. "How dare you lay hands on--" He choked off the words abruptly as he felt the man's confusion and Avi's distress--and the tiny, partially formed bond between them. He felt all the blood drain out of his face. "What. Did. You. Do."

"Leave her alone," Codix said, nothing in his voice betraying how terrified he felt when he heard the woman's comment about Enide. He didn't even know how he could handle the implied threat when he was like this instead of himself, but he had to protect a friend of a friend.

Charlie arrived with Thytes just as the words left his lips, but there was nothing that Charlie could do, either. It was only when a sword made of gold appeared out of nowhere to block the woman off that Codix felt safer - the man with the golden eyes that was helping Nadira in Charlie's place had moved himself and Nadira forward so he could prevent the woman from doing what she had been planning.

Hmm, and here was a strange woman making strange threats. Enide couldn't help but get the feeling that the stranger was being quite literal - the fox could spot fangs, and everyone either yelling or pulling out a weapon told Enide that she could be a bit of danger.

That didn't stop Enide from putting on a smile. "I hardly think you would find me appetizing," Enide said, dagger slipping down her sleeve towards her paw. It was hard to do that with Tannis leaning against her, but she figured a little more defense couldn't hurt.



Before he could stop himself or think things through, Mal found him grabbing Jacek's arm. "What's your problem?" he said. "I don't know what they did, but Carter was unconscious, and Avi helped him wake up. Leave Carter alone."

Carter tried very hard not to think about the man currently sitting across his lap, telling himself that now was not the time to be aroused. He turned his concern to the guard identified as Jacek, who was exchanging harsh glances with Avi.

Flynn continued exchanging glances with Carter, wondering what stupid thing the man had done now. Jacek had a fiery look in his eyes - enough to say that Carter was probably in a whole mess of trouble.

He reached out to Jacek, tugging lightly on the guard's sleeve while asking, "Is there a problem here, sir?'

Jacek turned on the little lion with a scowl, still feeling pale and now somewhat shaky. And currently ignoring the man trying to get his attention. This was not happening... “What’s my problem?” he hissed, annoyed and slightly in shock because how could Avi risk this knowing what he knew? “What’s yours?” He yanked his arm out of the little lion’s grip, but not before he caught a glimpse into his emotions and his mind. He seemed furious and slightly confused. Jacek gestured to Avi. “Are you blind, little lion? Can you not see—?”

“Jacek,” Avi interjected and Jacek’s attention snapped back to Avi, who was apparently in the human’s lap now. Jacek swore, violently and in Baqiran. “Stop it. Please.”

Jacek switched to Baqiran. “What in all the hells were you thinking? You’re pregnant! And you went ahead and formed a partial bond with some stranger?” he demanded, leaning in towards Avi. Avi cringed back. “You know the risks! And after what happened three months ago! Are you mad? You were supposed to be careful and yet here you are with a partial bond with a human! WHILE PREGNANT!”

“Jacek,” Avi whispered weakly, “please...”

Little? Little? Nobody called Mal little. Well, except for Lasan. And Tannis, if Mal was in a good mood. And Thytes could probably get away with it, but he'd consider it mean.

But that wasn't important. What mattered was that Jacek was angry, Mal couldn't guarantee that Avi was alright, and Jacek was poking at Avi's personal space. As the group doctor, Mal figured it fell on himself to do something. Besides, Jacek's comments about what Mal couldn't see, combined with Avi's small bump, elevated Mal's suspicion that Avi was pregnant to a confirmation. Apparently, alien pregnancies weren't all that different from the ones he was used to, except for whatever Carter and Avi had done.

"I can see just fine, thanks," Mal said, glaring up at Jacek. "I'm not sure Avi and Carter are alright, and it's kinda my job to make sure people are, so why don't you give Avi a little space?"