Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kos was a high profile world in the A-7 Sector, used for transfer of troops and supplies for the empire’s army. It was a highly populous planet, boasting a population in the billions, if Ulaz remembered correctly. Most of the planet’s surface had been industrialized, with massive cities spreading for hundreds of miles, interconnected by various transport lines. Each city had multiple spaceports, making it much easier to get to meeting points, should the need arise. Security had a tendency to be tight, but it hadn’t been much of the problem in the past. However, according to the Blade who was stationed on Kos, patrols had been increasing steadily over the last few months, making it difficult for them to get information off world through the standard means.

Ulaz and Thace had landed in the south-western port of the capital city of Kos-moth, very early in the morning. Within spending twenty doboshes planetside, Ulaz realized it was nothing short of a miracle that one of their own had managed to stay undetected on Kos for almost two years. While he and Thace had successfully navigated the streets without having aroused any suspicion, he had still felt watched the entire time.

“Do they need backup?” Ulaz asked, “Is that why we’re here?”

Thace shook his head. It was an absent motion, and as he had failed to respond verbally, Ulaz questioned if Thace had actually heard what he had said or was just responding to the sound of Ulaz’s voice. Thace watched the street below them intently, though it was difficult to tell where Thace was even looking as they both had their masks on.

“Thace?” Ulaz tried again, “Did you hear me?”

Thace started when Ulaz rested a hand in between his shoulder blades, and turned to meet his gaze. “Sorry, what?”

“I asked if our contact needed backup.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Thace said, as he turned his attention back to the streets. “We’re just picking up information that she couldn’t send on her own.”

“Oh, is that all?” Ulaz commented dryly, before he looked down at the street. He didn’t know who they were supposed to be looking for. Kolivan hadn’t given him a description—he’d only been told to accompany Thace and watch his back. After five years, it was a task that came naturally enough by this point.

“There,” Thace said, perking up. “That’s her.”

Thace didn’t point, leaving Ulaz to look around the crowd. The population of Kos was mixed and not majority-Galra like some of the other colony planets. However, he did notice many Galra wandering in the crowd. Amongst them was a Galran woman wearing a dark-colored cloak. It wasn’t necessarily a suspicious fashion choice, as many others in the street also wore something similar. However, her hood wasn’t drawn up. Ulaz assumed that had been a necessary breach of protocol in order to ensure that the Blades she was meeting with would be able to recognize her from afar. She still appeared to be wearing her armor though, and as her cloak shifted as she walked, Ulaz caught sight of her blade. It was stashed at her hip, carefully hidden in the form of a dagger.

Thace held position until the woman ducked into the shadows of the alley beside the building they had staked out on. Only then did he descend from the rooftop, carefully climbing down the makeshift footholds made from missing metal plates in the walls. Ulaz followed after him.

As soon as Thace’s feet hit the ground, the woman spun around, drawing her blade. Its form shifted away from that of a dagger, to a longer, slightly curved blade. However, upon seeing Thace, she visibly relaxed and sheathed the blade again. Ulaz didn’t know the woman’s name—she had joined the Blade of Marmora before he had been initiated—but she was vaguely familiar and he had probably seen her around the main base a least a couple of times. Kudging by how the tension left Thace’s shoulders, he was very familiar with her.

“There you are, Thace,” she whispered as she approached. “I… I’m sorry if I’m late. There are patrols everywhere.”

“So we’ve seen, Loren,” Thace said, before allowing his mask to dematerialize.

Loren smiled and hurried forward, throwing an arm around Thace’s shoulder to hug him and then rub her cheek against his in greeting. Ulaz deactivated his own mask, figuring it was safe to do so, but he shifted awkwardly as he waited for them to finish. He felt as though he should remind them that they were operating under a deadline, but it was likely already in the back of Thace’s mind.

“And who is your friend?” Loren asked, looking at Ulaz. “Hi, I’m Loren, Thace’s sister.”

In retrospect, Ulaz probably should have guessed that Loren and Thace were siblings—they looked similar enough, having the same shade of dark purple fur with lighter stripes, as well as the same nose. Of course, it made the entire exchange that much harder to witness. Thace had only mentioned his sister a handful of times, and this was the first time Ulaz had met her, due to her being both high ranking and always stationed on outbound missions. If memory served, this was the first time Thace had seen his sister in the flesh in what was probably years.

“Oh, right—” Thace began.

“I’m Ulaz,” he said, cutting Thace off. “Kolivan sent me to make sure Thace stayed out of trouble.”

Loren’s voice dropped to a mock whisper as she gave Thace a knowing look. “Thace, you didn’t tell me you got a boyfriend in your last message… he’s cute—”

When Ulaz attempted to stifle a laugh behind his hand, Thace glared as the fur on the back of his neck stood up. “Loren, not now,” he hissed. “The Commander said you had something for us. Important information, I presume.”

Loren’s expression immediately sobered. “Well, actually…” she paused, as if she were thinking about how to phrase her words. “There’s something else…” She moved the cloak to the side, revealing where her blade was attached at her hip, and then lowered one of her arms to reveal a bundle that was balanced there, previously hidden by her robes.

“Is that a cub?” Ulaz asked, while Thace’s jaw dropped.

The cub wrapped in the blanket didn’t… look Galra. It seemed to lack fur everywhere except on the top of its head and just above its eyes, and what fur it did have was dark enough to pass for black, with a slight purple sheen. It was barely larger than a Galran newborn, with small, rounded ears and a complete lack of claws.

Thace looked at Loren again and frowned. “Please don’t tell me that cub is yours.”

Loren was silent.

Ulaz wasn’t surprised when Thace’s fur fluffed up—a common tell that he was irritated. He didn’t say anything, crossing his arms as he stood back and let the two of them work it out for themselves. Hopefully it would involve less punching than when he had tried the same tactic with Thace and Antok.

“You were only supposed to watch this planet and report back! And instead you had a cub with a member of the local population?!”

“Does this really seem like the time to lecture me, Thace?” Loren deadpanned, rolling her eyes at him. “I’m still older than you, don’t forget that.”

“You certainly don’t act like it, Loren.”

“Thace—” Ulaz cut in, lightly resting a hand on Thace’s shoulder. “Calm down. This is probably why Kolivan didn’t tell us exactly why we were sent out here.”

“You would be correct, Ulaz,” Loren said, voice playful as she smiled. “Kolivan… he owed me a favor. It’s getting too dangerous for Keith on this planet…”

Thace’s ears shifted back, and his gaze moved first to the cub, then back to Loren. “So, you’re coming back with us?”

“No,” Loren stated, voice firm as she shook her head. “I’m staying, Thace.”

Thace visibly deflated at that, and the only word that left him as he turned his head away was a soft oh.

“The reason that Kolivan sent you on this mission,” Loren continued, “Is because I wanted you to take him.”

Thace’s bewildered expression was amusing, but Ulaz managed to keep from snickering—though Loren seemed to be equally amused. It was a shame she was staying behind.

“Please, Thace?” Loren asked, “For me? Your favorite sister?”

Thace scoffed. “You’re my only sister.”

“I can’t abandon my station,” Loren insisted, “If I left, the galaxy wouldn’t be any safer for him… I’m doing this for him, Thace, and for you.”

A heavy sigh left Thace, and his shoulders tensed again under Ulaz’s hand. “I’ll take good care of him…”

Loren looked down at her son again, and tears brimmed in her eyes. She hugged him close, nuzzling him as a faint purr rose in her throat. The cub cooed softly in response, but seemed unable to return the purr as a fully Galran cub would have. “You behave for Thace and Ulaz, Keith…” Loren whispered. She handed Keith over to Thace and then helped adjust how her brother was holding her son.

Then, she gave the cub one last kiss on top of his head.

The sound of metal boots against the street could be heard over the ambient chatter of the city and Loren visibly tensed.

“You two need to go,” she urged, pulling her hood up and fastening her cloak more securely to hide her armor and weapon as well as she could. “Now. Get off-world as quickly as possible.”

“Be safe…” Thace managed, looking away from his nephew to meet the gaze of his sister.

Loren nodded, a somber smile—verging on a heartbroken one—appearing on her features. “You as well, cub brother…” she said. Then her gaze turned to Ulaz. “You look after both of them.”

“Of course,” Ulaz agreed.

Without another word, Loren turned on her heel and disappeared from the alley. She melted seamlessly back into the bustling crowd, and it was as if she had never been there at all.

—

“How is it looking?”

Thace’s voice held a tired undertone as it come over the com, but Ulaz didn’t comment on it. He stood on a rooftop opposite of the spaceport, monitoring the streets down below, while Thace remained about a block or so back, keeping out of sight with Keith. Ulaz had scouted ahead to determine what their best course of action was from here.

With the amount of security that was present, they would be lucky to get back to their ship without attracting suspicion.

“Lots of guards,” he finally settled on, ducking down and out of sight, pressing his back against the half-wall that ran along the roof’s edge. “I don’t know if our ship is compromised or not—”

“Kolivan’s been looking to dump that ship anyway. I doubt it would be missed.”

“Did you remember to wipe the logs when we landed?”

“No, Ulaz, I’m a complete idiot,” Thace said dryly, and Ulaz could almost hear his eye roll. “Of course I remembered to wipe the damn logs. I scold at initiates every day for forgetting to do less.”

Ulaz smiled and hummed. “Oh, I know you do. They complain about you whenever they come to me for training injuries,” he said, “So, thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome. We can’t have you dying from boredom in the medical bay, now, can we?”

Ulaz didn’t have a retort for that. Sometimes, though, it did seem as if the initiates forgot that he was a hybridized officer who still participated in outbound missions as a combat-oriented medic—missions that he was often sent on with Thace. These were the only break he got from initiates complaining about their training with Bladesmith Evren and her assistants, of which Thace was one.

“Should I move up?”

Ulaz shifted, peering over the top of the half-wall without moving from his cover. The street down below seemed to have cleared for the moment, with only a few lingering guards. Mostly, it was civilians.

“Yeah, just be careful.”

He waited all of five doboshes before Thace darted across an adjacent roof and joined him. He had already masked his armor as something far more nondescript, more closely resembling civilian attire than the uniform of the Blade of Marmora. A cloak was also clasped around his neck. Keith was still sound asleep, balanced carefully on one of Thace’s arms as Thace held the cub close to his chest—both to shield him from view and to keep him warm.

“We could steal a ship,” Ulaz suggested, when Thace inquired about getting off this rock.

It wouldn’t have been the first time they had done so. Then again, the last time they had “stolen” a ship, it had been when they were older initiates who hadn’t even passed their Blade trial… and they had even brought Antok for some reason. The exact details were a little fuzzy, but he did remember that nobody had even realized three teenagers had managed to jump-start one of the ships for a midnight joyride until they were gone. However, the highlight of the evening had been witnessing Bladesmith Evren—who had still been the Apprentice Bladesmith at the time—nearly tackle Commander Kolivan in order to keep him from wringing their necks when they had gotten back.

True, they had gotten grounded for it—both figuratively and literally speaking—but Ulaz still thought that it had been worth it.

Thace shot him an unimpressed look and tilted his head to the side, likely remembering the same event. “So, we steal a ship and evade capture once we exit the atmosphere, long enough to escape the system… with a cub in tow?”

Ulaz’s ears twitched and then moved back against the sides of his skull. “Good point,” he said sheepishly.

They settled on chartering a ship off-world to anywhere that wasn’t Kos—outside of making sure it was further towards the edge of the empire, Ulaz didn’t bother checking where exactly they were going. The only lucky break they got was successfully bribing a captain—an Unilu—for two last-dobosh seats on his ship with some of the money they had been given by Evren prior to leaving headquarters. It helped that Thace could lie through his teeth, should the situation call for it. Keith hadn’t come up in the conversation, and if the captain had even noticed him at all, which was a relief.

Seated in one of the far corners of the shuttle’s main cabin, backs firmly to the wall, both kept a wary eye out for anyone suspicious. The shuttle was a smaller craft, and mostly empty—given it was so early in the morning, this wasn’t surprising to Ulaz at all. There were five or six other people on it, and only one passenger who looked Galran. They had spread themselves out around the cabin, as though they were trying to avoid having anything to do without one another. The other passengers mostly ignored them, but even then, Ulaz didn’t think speaking above a whisper was a good idea—Thace had agreed to that point with little more than a nod.

Even when they had successfully left the system, Thace’s clear anxiety didn’t diminish, and it wasn’t helped by Keith being awake, either. The cub looked around the cabin with wide eyes—the first time they had seen his eyes open since Loren had handed him over to them.

Much like the rest of him, Keith’s eyes didn’t seem Galran in any way except for shape—Thace even made a comment on how his eyes looked to have taken the shape of Loren’s. Keith’s eyes had irises, a trait he had clearly gotten from his alien father’s species. His eyes were a dark shade of violet, and they shone silver in the dim light of the ship depending on how he turned his head. The reflection of light in his eyes was a Galra trait, indicating that Keith could potentially have superior vision in low light, like a Galra did, even if he didn’t appear to be Galra otherwise.

Ulaz’s first assumption was that Keith’s father’s species was Altean. He had seen pictures of Alteans before—ancient ones, from before the Empire had become the Empire—and they looked a lot like Keith did. But there was also the issue that nobody had seen a living Altean in thousands of years. Stranger still, the cub certainly wasn't native to Kos, either.

When he first woke, Keith seemed confused, as if he was expecting Loren to be sitting nearby, but he didn’t get upset.

Ulaz had been expecting a tantrum.

“Keith?” Thace said, trying to get the cub’s attention, voice going soft, and the cub turned to look at him with those wide eyes. Keith squirmed, shifting in Thace’s lap so he could give Thace a curious sniff. It was a common enough response for Galra cubs meeting someone new.

Keith’s eyes brightened, and he smiled, holding up his arms and giggling.

The bewildered look on Thace’s face at Keith’s reaction drew an amused snort out of Ulaz.

“You must smell like Loren,” Ulaz suggested, “Enough that he can tell you’re a friend at least.”

Thace wasn’t listening, though. Keith babbled something nonsensical, as if he was trying to form words, and lightly patted Thace on the cheek as Thace leaned down. Once Thace was close enough, Keith buried his tiny hands in the longer fur Thace had along his jawline. Thace didn’t say anything as the cub cooed, but a softer smile appeared on his features and a low chuckle escaped him.

Then, Keith yanked on Thace’s fur.

“Keith—ow! Keith, let go, please—”

“Well, he’s taking this surprisingly well,” Ulaz noted, “Much better than I thought he would.”

Thace hissed in irritation, and the fur on the back of his neck rose, but the glare he directed at Ulaz was half-hearted. It still would have been mildly intimidating if Thace hadn’t had a cub sitting in his lap, giggling while trying to yank out his fur.

“You are not helping.”

Ulaz chuckled, a small smile appearing on his lips. “Hold still.”

He leaned forward in his seat, gently working Keith’s tiny fingers free of Thace’s fur. The cub whined once Ulaz was done, looking rather put out, but he just as quickly became distracted with Thace’s fingers instead. Upon noticing Keith’s new interest, Thace carefully retracted his claws, making sure not to nick Keith by accident. Then he let out a tired sigh, running his free hand over his face.

“Are you going to be alright?” Ulaz asked.

Thace shot him a questioning look. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Don’t give me that shit,” Ulaz said, gaze narrowing. “We left your sister back there—” He stopped himself before he mentioned Kos was a hostile planet, thinking better of it before he continued, “This sister, who I can only assume you haven’t seen in years since you never mention her, asked you to look after her son for the time being since she no longer could.”

As he spoke, Ulaz leaned down, offering Keith one of his own hands. He smiled even when the cub didn’t respond with much more than a soft hum—one of Keith’s hands could barely curl around one of Thace’s fingers. It was… cute.

“So, I’ll ask again,” Ulaz said as he met Thace’s gaze. “Are you going to be alright?”

Thace sighed, looking down at Keith again. He began running his free hand over the cub’s headfur soothingly. “I’ll be fine, given time.”

I’m just glad we got him out of there. It went unsaid, but Ulaz knew that was what Thace was thinking.

After a moment, Thace raised a hand to stifle a yawn.

“Thace, get some rest,” Ulaz suggested, resting a hand lightly on Thace’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “I’ll take first watch.”

Thace didn’t seem to have the energy to argue, and he dozed off within the varga. Keith followed not long after, still clutching Thace’s hand.

—

Ulaz ended up letting Thace sleep through his shift.

As soon as he was out, Thace was dead to the world. Keith, on the other hand, slept sporadically, waking every thirty doboshes or so. Ulaz did try to check on the cub throughout the trip, but Keith still seemed wary of him. He didn’t cry, but he never reached out to Ulaz as he had done with Thace. Ulaz didn’t take it personally, and mostly left Keith to his own devices when he was awake.

Instead, Ulaz spent most of the time searching for information about children and their care requirements on his datapad—his medical training had only briefly covered the topic, since they didn’t often have children at headquarters. If memory served, the last child to be brought in had been Antok, when he had arrived many years ago as a small cub. At the time, Ulaz hadn’t yet joined the Blade, but he had read that Antok's mother had presumably died. According to Antok’s medical dossier, it had taken months for him to stop hissing at anyone who wasn’t Kolivan or Evren. He had only been around five at the oldest, so his reaction had been understandable.

Keith seemed as though he was younger than that, though it was hard to judge given his alien appearance. However, he appeared to be taking the change much better than the archives suggested Antok had. Ulaz considered that perhaps Keith’s father’s species was one with a slow growing rate. He could sit up on his own, and given how squirmy he was, he was likely capable of crawling—though Ulaz didn’t dare try to pick up the cub and set him down on the floor of the shuttle to test that little theory. Keith also had only a couple of teeth in his mouth, where Galra cubs had all their milk teeth in within a year of their birth. If Keith was somewhere around a year to a year and a half old, the cub would appear to be less developed than Galra cub would have been at his age.

Ulaz still marveled at how small Keith was, though. Such a trait could have only come from his father. Were the cubs of Keith’s father’s species just unusually small compared to the adults, or were the adults small to begin with?

He didn’t have as much time to think on it as he would’ve liked. His ears perked as the docking announcement came through. At some point during the trip, Thace had ended up pressed against Ulaz’s side with his head resting on Ulaz’s shoulder, and Keith had spread out, half off Thace’s lap with one of his feet pressed against Ulaz’s thigh. Ulaz carefully turned his head, resting his chin on top of Thace’s head as he checked out the window of the ship.

The hub they were approaching was somewhere in Sector J-16—according to the latest intel, it did not have a heavy presence of Zarkon’s soldiers. They would be relatively safe there until they found another shuttle.

It was the jolt of the ship landing that startled Thace awake. He sat up abruptly, and looked around them as if they were about to be jumped. When he realized they were in no immediate danger, he groaned low in the back of his throat as he cracked his neck.

Ulaz’s eyes didn’t leave his datapad. “Welcome back to the world of the living.”

“You were supposed to wake me up,” Thace said.

Ulaz shrugged. “And you seemed like you could use the rest.”

Thace snorted in response before dipping his head to check on their charge. Keith was still drowsy, whining and sniffling at his abrupt awakening as he rubbed his eyes. Thace smiled, lightly running his nose along Keith’s temple, and the cub let out a soft cooing sound, reaching out his arms to Thace, discomfort forgotten in an instant.

Ulaz watched them for a moment, marveling at the softness of the exchange. Thace had always been good with the younger initiates, but most of them were teenagers or older—even though said initiates often complained about Thace, Ulaz had always gotten the impression that most of them saw Thace as something akin to an older brother figure. It was a comparison that Thace had never done anything to dispute. Watching him interact with Keith was different though—Keith being his nephew probably had something to do with that.

They held their position until all the other passengers disembarked, and then they disappeared into the crowd of the hub. It was an easy enough endeavor, as this was a civilian station, and it was very busy. Small shops lined the main corridor that went along the center of the hub, and the roof was glass, allowing a view of the binary star system the hub had been built in front of. Keith was very observant for a cub, watching their surroundings with wide eyes, seeming to be mesmerized. They mostly kept out of the way and tried not to attract too much attention to themselves.

“I thought cubs drank milk,” Thace said, following a few steps behind Ulaz as they roamed one of the many small grocers they had managed to find while walking through the hub. Keith occasionally reached out to try and snag something off one of the shelves as they passed. He whined whenever Thace caught his hand and his attempts at shoplifting were thwarted.

“Well, I read cubs can eat fruit at this stage. Did you see the teeth in his mouth?” Ulaz asked.

“I did,” Thace said, “But if cubs don’t drink milk they start eating meat—”

“I wouldn’t dare give him meat without Kellun giving him a look over. Fruit is a much safer option…” Ulaz said, shaking his head. He stopped in front of a display and picked up a polan fruit and tested it for ripeness.“I wonder if he’d eat this…”

“As long as we’re not forced to feed him ration bars, I think he’ll be fine,” Thace said, “Besides I like polan fruit.”

The comment earned a fond look from Ulaz.

Following their purchase, they settled down on a bench within the spaceport. Thace held Ulaz’s datapad in his hand, scrolling through departures and arrivals that were listed for the hub, while Ulaz cut one of the polan fruit into smaller slices so that Keith wouldn’t choke on it.

Ulaz offered one of the slices of polan fruit to Keith. The cub peered at the fruit skeptically, before reaching forward and taking it. Upon sticking the fruit in his mouth and chewing, Keith smiled brightly at the sweetness, and quickly began pawing at Ulaz’s hand. He babbled in such a way that it could have been mistaken for a demand. Ulaz smiled and offered him another slice, which the cub took happily.

“At least he’s not going to go hungry,” Thace said, before taking a bite of the polan fruit he held in his hand. It was like looking in a mirror—Thace’s pleased expression was nearly the same as Keith’s.

Ulaz hummed softly in agreement, watching as Keith began licking polan juice off his fingers. Ulaz gently took hold of Keith’s wrist and pulled the cub’s fingers out of his mouth, before offering him another slice of polan fruit.

“Did you find a shuttle?” he asked, leaning over to try and get a look at the screen of his datapad.

“Well, there’s one leaving tomorrow,” Thace said, turning the datapad so that Ulaz could look at the screen. “But it heads back into the A-7 Sector.”

Ulaz frowned, watching the times scroll slowly towards the top of the screen. Going back into the A-7 Sector would just put them further from the base. Not to mention put them on planets with much higher security where they—and Keith—would be regarded with more suspicion.

“Wait,” Thace said suddenly, tapping one of the departures listed. “This one is going to Keron.”

“Meaning?”

Thace looked thoughtful of a moment, taking another bite of the polan fruit. “There should be a Blade stationed there, assuming that Kolivan hasn’t been shuffling them around—”

Thace continued, but Ulaz’s ear flicked as he heard the sound of armor clinking over the ambient chattered of the hub. People continued milling around, not truly paying attention to what was going on around them as they ducked in and out of shops or tried to purchase shuttle tickets, but Ulaz was now on high alert. He noticed a pair of guards—not robotic sentries—standing along a wall on the far side of the port. When one looked over in their general direction and shifted before saying something to their partner, Ulaz couldn’t tell if the guard had spotted them, or if they were just looking over the crowd.

It made him fidget in his seat.

“—laz? Ulaz, don’t—”

He was startled out of his trance when Thace grabbed hold of his wrist. It was only then that he noticed he had been reaching for the blade hidden at his hip. Thace didn’t say anything, tilting his head to the side as his brows furrowed in worry.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “What were you saying about Keron?”

“I was saying I’ll get us tickets,” Thace said, rising from his seat and handing Keith over to Ulaz.

He almost started arguing, saying he should do it, worried that Keith would start crying as soon as Thace left. However, the cub took the exchange easily. Ulaz’s ears perked—given how uninterested Keith had been in him not even half a quintant previously, he hadn’t been expecting this kind of reaction. Keith did squirm for a moment, but only until he was comfortable, and then he settled, kneading his tiny fingers into the fur of Ulaz’s arm.

Had he bribed the cub into liking him by giving him food?

He didn’t dwell on it. They both watched as Thace crossed the port, but once he had begun speaking to the Olkari at the desk, Ulaz’s attention shifted back to the guards. Even though the guards weren’t looking in their direction anymore, Ulaz found he couldn’t sit still, and he held Keith closer.

Keith whined, and Ulaz looked down, worried he had held Keith too tightly, but the cub stared up at him expectantly, tilting his head to the side. Then, Ulaz remembered the remaining half of the polan fruit.

“Sorry, cub…” Ulaz said softly, running his nose along Keith’s temple as an apology before he reached for the fruit and knife again. “I forgot all about your lunch, didn’t I?”

—

The trip to Keron took around half a quintant, but it passed quickly enough for Ulaz. He slept through it at Thace’s insistence.

Keron was, to put it mildly, a total backwater planet. While it was mostly used as a transport hub by the Empire for lesser cargo, it was little more than a forgotten colony. It had, at most, one city that could be considered major, with the rest of its settlements being outlying towns and villages. There was only one spaceport on either side of the planet, as opposed to multiple ones scattered across the surface. Even the population was minuscule in comparison to some of the core worlds of the empire. Thus, Keron was considered a low profile world, very much unlike Kos. Still, some important cargo shipments passed through Keron’s ports on occasion, so there was reason for a Blade to be stationed there.

If Loren had been stationed on Keron, it was unlikely she would have had to give up her son. Ulaz spared a glance at Keith as they walked. The cub slept soundly, cheek pressed against Ulaz’s shoulder as his fingers clutched the hood of Ulaz’s armor. At least the cub was safe. Even though Ulaz had only met her once, he was sure that Loren’s main concern was the safety of her son, even if it meant she had to give him up to keep him safe, even if it was only for the time being. If Ulaz had been in her position, he would have done the same thing.

Ulaz didn’t bother asking Thace if he was positive there was a Blade stationed on this planet. As a hybridized officer, he wasn’t as well versed in who was undercover where, or which planets had sleeper agents on them, but Thace was, due to his clearance.

However, as with any member of their order, Ulaz did know how to spot tells amongst people in a crowd, clues towards the whereabouts of a Blade agent that was stationed on the planet. There were many, but the easiest to spot was the kind of weapon they carried. Most Blades who were stationed planetside kept their blades in a dagger form that was vaguely reminiscent of the form a blade would hold in its unawakened state. The hilts were always covered, hiding the mark of the Blade of Marmora that had been etched there by the Bladesmith responsible for their construction. Most civilians or lower ranked soldiers, for that matter, were unable to tell a luxite blade from a regular blade just by looking at it, so it was an effective enough system—both for hiding identities and for discerning them. In these tumultuous times, carrying a weapon wasn’t all that unusual, after all.

There were also signs, marks that could be used to identify the locations of caches that could be used as meeting places, or even just points to restock on supplies. Like the symbol of the Blade hidden amongst graffiti above a small pub on the street they were walking down—it was small and mostly hidden in the rainbow of other colors, but if one knew to look for, they would find it.

Thace noticed it too. Without a word, he weaved his way through the crowd, with Ulaz a couple of paces behind. They ducked into the alley beside the pub, and began scanning the area for signs of the officer who was stationed on Keron.

“Where’s the Blade?” Ulaz asked, looking around the alley. “I could have sworn someone was watching us—”

Thace didn’t answer. Ulaz noticed how his hood shifted as his ears moved underneath the fabric—then, Thace grabbed Ulaz by the arm and yanking him to the side as a blade spun by his head, barely missing. The movement caused Ulaz to lose his balance, but he turned and caught himself before he fell or dropped Keith—the motion did startle Keith awake though, and the cub started whining and squirming in Ulaz’s arms.

Thace drew his blade and its form shifted as he held it out in front of him. Ulaz began reaching for his, hugging Keith closer to his chest as he tried soothing the cub before upset became a full blown tantrum.

“Sorry!”

A younger Blade—age clearly denoted by the make of their armor, and also their size—slid down a ladder and stood before them. They fidgeted nervously, looking back and forth between Thace and Ulaz. They made no attempt to retrieve their blade from where it had embedded itself in the stone wall, four inches deep.

With that kind of accuracy, Ulaz would have expected an older officer. Then again, with that kind of recklessness, it was obvious why this Blade had been stationed on Keron—it was very likely they had only just passed their trial.

“You almost killed him!” Thace snapped as he sheathed his blade again.

“I thought—I thought you were…” the Blade begun, shuffling their feet. They trailed off, before deactivating their mask and hanging their head. “Sorry, sir…”

Thace sighed, running a hand over his face. “Hello, Kyren,” he said, before pushing his hood back.

Ulaz had heard of Kyren before—mostly from Thace’s half-hearted exasperated late night complaints—but he wasn’t prepared for just how young the officer was. He still looked like he had patches of his cub fur, fluff standing out against the sleeker adult fur. Dark tear trails ran down Kyren’s face from the inner corners of his eyes, standing out against his dark bluish-purple fur, curling around his cheeks and ending along his jawline. He also had lighter fur on the lower portion of his face, not unlike Ulaz’s own facial markings.

Kyren definitely recognized Thace, as his entire expression brightened. “Sergeant Thace!” he greeted, very close to bouncing up and down on his toes like an excited cub half his age. “I—I didn’t know you would be coming to check on me! Commander Kolivan didn’t—he didn’t tell me I would be having visitors so soon!”

“This isn’t exactly a scheduled visit, Kyren,” Ulaz cut in before Thace could respond, choosing his words carefully.

Kyren’s ears still perked up. “I haven’t prepared any briefings for you yet, sir,” he explained, “But—but I have all the notes!”

Ulaz forced a smile. “Well, that’s nice of you, but we came here hoping that the local Blade would be in possession of a shuttle—”

A grin broke out on Kyren’s features. “Of course!” he said enthusiastically, “Anything you need, sir! And I can provide you with briefings too, to show Commander Kolivan I’m doing my job! I just need time to type them up and—”

“No,” Thace cut in, “Kyren, listen to me. Ulaz and I—”

“I insist!” Kyren said, waving his hands quickly. “You can stay tonight and get some rest—you two look exhausted!”

Without waiting for Thace to continue arguing, Kyren turned and went over to retrieve his blade from where it was still stuck in the wall of the alley.

“I think… we should take him up on his offer,” Ulaz said. As much as he would have liked to just go straight back to the base, he was exhausted. While he was no stranger to cramped conditions and being forced to sleep in awkward positions, Ulaz would be glad to be able to rest in relative comfort for one night.

Thace nodded, without saying a word—he seemed to be too tired to come up with a proper retort. For a moment, Thace and Ulaz stood there and watched as Kyren tried to pull the blade out out of the wall. Ulaz had to wonder if this was a common occurrence for the younger Blade, given how accurate his throw had been and how nonchalant he was about trying to get the blade out.

“You know, you didn’t tell me you had an admirer—” Ulaz started.

Thace sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ulaz, if you say another word, you are sleeping on the floor when we get—Kyren, don’t do that!” he said, leaving Ulaz’s side to go and help Kyren, who had planted a foot on the wall as leverage as he tried to tug the blade out.

“I do have my own room you know!” Ulaz called after him, but Thace responded with little more than a hand wave.

Ulaz watched as Thace finally just pulled the blade out of the wall himself, but still failed to get a word in edgewise as Kyren continued rambling on about something completely unrelated. Keith babbled something nonsensical then, patting Ulaz’s cheek lightly, and Ulaz chuckled.

“Yes, Keith, that’s a very good point,” he agreed, carefully running his claws through Keith’s headfur as he began treading along after Thace and Kyren. “I don’t think Thace will be in a very good mood for the rest of the evening.”

When they finally arrived at Kyren’s apartment, Ulaz wasn’t surprised to find it was small and haphazardly organized. It only had a single bathroom and bedroom, and was barely furnished with one chair and a low table. There also wasn’t much counter space. However, as it appeared as though Kyren lived on ration packs and assorted fresh fruit he could buy in the nearby market, Ulaz assumed that it wasn’t an issue. Kyren had settled down on the far side of the room almost as soon as they had arrived, sitting on the floor with a datapad in order to get his reports written, but he had offered them anything they wanted to eat beforehand.

“Why do you have a cub with you?” Kyren asked, watching Keith without any attempt to hide his curiosity, even though Keith was completely and utterly uninterested in the new person he had just met.

“Don’t you have a report to write?” Thace retorted. His attention didn’t divert from his task of cutting up slices of fruit for Keith to eat as dinner. Thace sat on the floor, legs stretched out underneath the low table, while Ulaz had taken the chair. Keith sat in Ulaz’s lap, watching the motion of Thace’s knife as he cut the bireak fruit into slices small enough for Keith to safely eat. Thace’s cuts were much sloppier than Ulaz’s had been, and he looked as if he were going to cut his fingers a couple of times, uttering a soft curse under his breath anytime he came close.

Kyren didn’t respond with much more a soft yes, sir before he quickly turned back to his work.

Ulaz leaned forward in the chair, adjusting how he was holding Keith so the cub didn’t slide off his lap as he shifted. “You’re being uncharacteristically rude,” he commented in Thace’s ear, low enough that Kyren wouldn’t have heard.

Thace didn’t respond, pausing his cutting long enough for Ulaz to reach forward to pick up a couple of pieces of the bireak. Keith sniffed the fruit that was offered to him, before he reached out and took it from Ulaz. One bite and a soft hum of satisfaction meant the new fruit met Keith’s standards, and he eagerly accepted more.

“Does that cub really annoy you that much?” Ulaz asked, motioning to Kyren with a slight jerk of his head.

In Ulaz’s opinion, Kyren actually didn’t seem to be that bad—in comparison to Keith, perhaps. However, Ulaz also hadn’t been in charge of Kyren’s training, so he didn’t have room to talk.

“I haven’t slept in nearly a quintant. My fault, not his,” Thace muttered as he set the knife to the side and leaned his head back against Ulaz’s knee, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. He spluttered when Keith smacked a hand against his forehead, and opened one of his eyes to send a mock glare at the cub as Keith began pulling on his fur.

“Hello to you too, Keith…” he said tiredly, closing his eyes again.

“Was Kyren in your last group of initiates?” Ulaz asked, gently dislodging Keith’s grip on Thace’s fur and scooping the cub up. He blew a soft puff of air into Keith’s face, earning a delighted squeal in return before Keith began pawing at his face. “I know Bladesmith Evren spoke highly of them.”

“Evren was likely against sending him out here in the first place,” Thace said, “Probably got into a tiff with Kolivan over it too… you know how she can be about anyone she has deemed her cub…”

Ulaz chuckled. “I’d bet GAC on the winner.”

“And you don’t have any money to your name, Ulaz,” Thace retorted, midway through a yawn by the time he had finished. Before Ulaz could respond, Keith gave a wide yawn of his own, kneading his fingers into the fur on Ulaz’s arm.

“Is he tired?” Kyren asked, looking up from the datapad in his hand. “You can use my room!”

“Thank you, Kyren, but I don’t think that will be necessary,” Ulaz said, leaning back in the chair and carefully adjusting how he sat to keep from disturbing Thace. Keith’s hand lightly curled into the fabric of Ulaz’s sleeve, but he didn’t try to get it free. Instead, he gently worked his claws through Keith’s headfur as a soft purr rose in his throat.

“They’re already asleep.”

—

The base was a sight for sore—and very tired—eyes.

The fact that they had to meet with Commander Kolivan before they could finally get a decent night’s sleep was the only thing that put a damper on it—well, that and Antok managing to weasel his way into the meeting too. However, Kolivan had been kind enough to let Bladesmith Evren greet them as well.

Evren stood between Kolivan and Antok, and while she was smaller than the men on either side of her, she was perhaps the most imposing individual of the three—or at least, Ulaz thought so. Unlike Kolivan and Antok, she had chosen to don her mask for this meeting, making it impossible for Ulaz to discern her expression. Given her stance, she was relaxed, with her hands neatly tucked behind her back and her shoulders lax. Kolivan seemed uninterested in the whole affair, arms crossed as he watched them descend from the shuttle. His ears did perk up ever-so-slightly when he caught sight of Keith, though it was such a minute change that Ulaz couldn’t have been sure he had seen it at all.

Antok, however, evidently tensed when he saw that Thace was carrying a cub. While he did not appear to be pleased by the development—Ulaz thought that perhaps nervous would have been an accurate descriptor—he didn’t say anything.

“Calm yourself, Antok…” Evren chastised him, lightly patting Antok on his arm as his hands curled into fists. Her voice still managed to hold its usual soothing undertone, in spite of the synthesized quality thanks to her mask. “He’s just a cub.”

Antok leaned down to look Keith in the eye and gave the cub a curious sniff. Ulaz noticed how Thace tensed and held Keith closer, but he didn’t tell Antok to back off. Keith seemed more curious than scared, staring at Antok with wide eyes. Then, Antok snorted at him—if it hadn’t been for the loud noise, and Antok hadn’t been so close, Ulaz doubted Keith would have reacted as violently as he did.

It was the first time Keith had actually cried since Loren had given him up. Big tears rolled down the cub’s cheeks as he wailed and squirmed, trying to hide his face in Thace’s fur. It was enough to startle Antok, and his eyes widened as he looked a touch guilty for making Keith cry, but he just as quickly schooled his expression—and Thace hissed, a low sound in the back of his throat as the fur on the back of his neck stood on end and he bared his canines at Antok.

Antok looked amused by Thace’s reaction, even though Thace was glaring at him.

“Antok!” Evren scolded, “Stop antagonizing Thace, please—”

“How does he hear anything with those ears?” Antok questioned, ignoring Evren completely. “They’re so tiny.”

“I think they’re endearing,” Thace retorted angrily.

“You only say that because he’s your kin—”

“And how would you know that unless you read the mission report without authorization—”

“That is enough, both of you!” Evren snapped as she stepped in between Thace and Antok. Thace immediately retreated, half hiding himself behind Ulaz before he began purring softly in an attempt to calm Keith. But Antok stood his ground, though he didn’t meet Evren’s gaze. He did have the decency to look embarrassed as their Bladesmith started scolding him for his behavior, and his ears shifted back against the sides of his head. Ulaz tuned most of it out, turning to check on Keith—he only looked back to Antok and Evren when it seemed like Thace had everything under control, and by that time, Evren was nearing the end of her scolding.

“—and really, Antok, is this anyway to behave? You saw how uncomfortable Thace was with you getting close to that cub and yet you didn’t listen!” Evren finished with a metallic-sounding huff. “Now, go and prepare the initiates for today’s lessons. I will join you shortly.”

Antok’s ears began twitching as his gaze moved to Kolivan and he tilted his head in an unspoken question of who had more authority over him—the Commander of the Blade or the Bladesmith.

“Better do as our Bladesmith says, Antok,” Kolivan said, with traces of amusement showing on his features. “Technically, you’re under her authority right now, not mine.”

Antok scoffed, rolling his eyes, but he said nothing before he turned to leave, tail lashing in irritation as he disappeared from the docking bay.

“And, Thace? Maybe you shouldn’t hiss at people,” Evren said, looking over her shoulder at him.

“Not like he didn’t deserve it,” Thace retorted.

Evren tilted her head and clicked her tongue. Even though Ulaz couldn’t see her expression, Thace seemed to be able to understand her—given Thace was one of her training assistants, this didn’t come as a surprise.

“Sorry, mo—ma’am,” Thace said quickly, “It won’t happen again…”

Seemingly satisfied, Evren turned her attention back to Kolivan. When she spoke, her tone was unamused. “Why didn’t you tell me we were taking in a cub, Kolivan? You didn’t even give me a copy of the mission report!”

Kolivan waved her off. “It was a favor to Loren,” he said simply, “And it is the only one she will be getting. As the cub’s closest kin, Thace is responsible for him. Besides, this is only temporary—once Loren can be successfully removed from Kos, the cub will be returned to her.”

“If you say so, dear.”

“You two are dismissed. Well done,” Kolivan praised them, dipping his head in a nod to them before he turned to leave. Evren repeated Kolivan’s motion, dipping her head. Then, she turned and somehow managed to keep pace with Kolivan in spite of his longer gait.

“I still cannot believe you didn’t tell me about this,” Evren complained. Her voice was a quiet whisper, barely loud enough for Ulaz and Thace to hear, but she sounded ready to grab Kolivan by one of his ears. Ulaz remembered that she had done so to him at least once when he had been an initiate, though he only had a vague recollection as to why.

“You’ve always told me everything since we were cubs—” Evren continued, though what little anger she had held toward Kolivan a moment ago seemed to have been replaced by exasperation.

“It was no trouble of yours, Evren,” Kolivan assured her.

“If it concerns our officers, it is a trouble of mine—” Evren retorted instantly, but the rest of the conversation was cut off by the doors sliding shut behind them.

Chapter Text

Keith was inconsolable for the first few vargas he was on base—in Thace’s opinion fussy was putting it mildly. It had seemed to have finally sunk in for Keith that his mother wasn’t around him anymore, and while Thace’s scent was familiar, it wasn’t the same. Thankfully, the cub’s mood improved in the following quintants. It had changed marginally at best, but it was better than having Keith squirm and kick and scream because he was confused about why his mother hadn’t reappeared.

Thace suspected that Keith’s slowly improving mood was also because he had finally relented and started carrying the cub everywhere with him—just to keep an eye on him. They really should have invested in a cub sling, so that he could actually get work done while he was carrying Keith around. Another contributing factor might have been that Ulaz had really taken to his role as Keith’s self-designated “nap partner”—Thace would sometimes return from an errand to find them curled up in his desk chair, sound asleep.

It wasn’t until almost a week after Keith’s arrival on base that Thace actually returned to his duties as Evren’s training assistant. Evren had been more than happy to give him time off, in order for him to get accustomed to his role as his nephew’s temporary caretaker. However, Thace had seen Kolivan try to talk her out of giving him an entire week off, as the newest initiate class had only just begun training. Evren had said that the class wouldn’t be learning anything crucial that she couldn’t handle by herself until later in the month.

“Honestly, Kolivan, if he misses one or two sessions it won’t hurt anything—” she had insisted during the debriefing that Thace and Ulaz had had to sit through a few hours after they had gotten back to the base. Kolivan had relented then, but not willingly.

The previous initiate class—the first class that Thace had helped train, actually—had already graduated. Well, two-thirds of them had, and it had been a very small class, all things considered. The third member of the class, Myrek, had been held back from taking his trial for reasons that Evren had failed to mention in her report. Myrek was Kyren’s older twin brother, who had all of his twin’s looks and none of his confidence. Myrek had always tried to be his brother during training, because Kyren had excelled, while Myrek struggled to keep up.

While it was true that he had improved over his three years in training, Thace wasn’t going to argue the decision that Myrek still needed more time to prepare for his blade trial.

Myrek’s still unawakened blade ricocheted off of Evren’s arm guard, leaving a series of sparks in its wake. The initiate bared his canines in a snarl before lunging at Evren again, but his attack didn’t phase her. Slowly, Evren stepped backwards, reversing the grip on her blade and blocking most of Myrek’s attempted blows—one did actually land, grazing along Evren’s upper arm. Myrek mimicked her then, reversing the grip on his blade as he aimed a blow at Evren’s right side—the wrong side.

During his years of training, Thace had learned that Evren lacked much of the peripheral vision on her left side. While she wasn’t completely blind in her left eye, it did take her longer to react to attacks that were aimed there, leaving her opponents with an opening to strike. As such, she normally tried to keep her opponents on her right—Thace had noticed that Kolivan frequently stayed on her left side whenever they led doubles training matches for the initiates. And now Myrek was forgetting to use her weakness to his advantage.

Seeing Myrek’s attack coming, Evren locked her arm with his and kneed him hard in the stomach, throwing him off balance. Myrek let out a strangled cough as the air was forced out of his lungs, and he yelped as Evren gripped him by the forearm and easily flipped him onto his ass. He hit the floor with a grunt, and his blade clattered across the training room, out of his reach. Then, Evren’s stance shifted so that she was lower to the ground. She crouched over him, and poised her blade to strike, holding the tip just shy of Myrek’s jugular.

“Do you yield?” Evren asked.

Myrek propped himself up onto his elbow, rubbing the back of his head as he gave a wordless nod.

Evren sighed as she withdrew, standing back to her full height before sheathing her blade at her hip. “Myrek… how can you hope to pass your trial if you can’t best your trainer?” she asked in exasperation, tilting her head to the side.

Thace’s ears shifted back, twitching uneasily at her comment. Myrek would be in for a surprise when he eventually took his trial. It was a well kept secret that the first opponent in the trial was always one’s trainer. He remembered his shock when the first opponent he had faced during his trial was Evren. Initially, he had been confused, after hearing her say surrender the blade, you cannot win in such a detached tone—he had been almost certain it was an impostor. However, she had still fought in the overtunic and sash that marked her one of the commanding officers of the Blade of Marmora.

“Do you know why you were held back?” Evren asked as she offered Myrek a hand. He hesitated for a moment before taking it and allowing Evren to pull him back to his feet.

“I have a couple of guesses,” Myrek said dejectedly. The mane of thick, dark bluish-purple fur on the back of his neck had fluffed up, making him appear larger than he actually was. The initiate crossed his arms without making any move to go and retrieve his blade from where it still lay on the ground.

“Kolivan believes you lack discipline,” Evren explained. Her voice had taken on its more customary low and calming lilt, though the synthesized overtone persisted thanks to her mask. She crossed her arms over her chest again, watching Myrek for a moment. “And I am inclined to agree with him…” she finally said.

Myrek flinched at her words and his shoulders slumped. He scowled, canines bared as a low, irritated snarl left him. Tears brimmed in his eyes, but he appeared to be trying to force them down—Thace felt sympathy, remembering his own struggles as an initiate, though he hadn’t been held back from his trial.

“Then why doesn’t he just put me in maintenance?” Myrek said.

Evren gave a heavy sigh, before she moved forward to lightly place her hands on Myrek’s shoulders. Her mask dematerialized as well, revealing her face as she looked up at him. Her gentle expression contrasted sharply with the scarring that marred the left side of her face, standing out against her dark purple fur.

It was a rare sight, to see Evren without her mask on—a sign of complete and utter trust on her part.

“What, and waste so much potential?” she asked, offering a reassuring smile. She gently began smoothing down the thick fur on the back of Myrek’s neck—something Myrek would have hated had it been anyone else attempting it. When Evren did it, though, some of the tension left his shoulders. “If you just keep training, I promise that you will be able to take your trial.”

“But Kolivan said—” Myrek began muttering.

Evren scoffed, making a show of rolling her eyes, though her smile didn’t fade. “You never mind what Kolivan says. He’s an old blowhard—nothing but hot air.”

Myrek tried to stifle a tearful laugh.

“He’ll come around eventually, cub,” Evren said, “He always does…”

“I’m not a cub anymore, Evren,” Myrek argued half-heartedly. While he still had a lingering patch or two of cub fur, much like his brother did, sometimes cub fur had a tendency to linger into young adulthood.

“To me and Kolivan, you’re all cubs,” Evren said, smiling teasingly. “We’re old timers, remember?”

“You’re not that old, Evren,” Thace cut in, reminding her of his presence.

Evren snorted, shooting a look of half-hearted annoyance at him over her shoulder. “I’m the oldest person on this base, so don’t you sass me,” she retorted. Then, she met Myrek’s gaze again. “You will go through your trial, Myrek… I swear it.”

Myrek nodded and sniffed, reaching up to wipe away a few tears that had managed to escape.

“Good,” Evren said, “Now, go get your blade and stretch for another practice match. I have to speak with Thace.”

“Yes, Evren,” Myrek said, dipping his head and bringing a fist to his chest in the makings of a salute. Then, he moved toward the opposite side of the room, stopping to scoop his blade up off the floor as he went.

“And no slacking!” Evren shouted after him, “I don’t think Kellun would appreciate seeing you so early in the morning because you didn’t stretch properly!”

“You need to stop babying him,” Thace sighed, as Evren finally turned her full attention to him. “He’s not a cub—”

“I worry about all my officers,” Evren retorted, “Stars know you and Ulaz got into enough trouble on your own when you were initiates—and now there’s a cub added to the mix!”

Thace held his tongue before he reminded her that it was only a temporary solution, that Loren would be extracted from Kos at the earliest convenience in order to take Keith back. Thace was enjoying taking care of his nephew, but Loren knew far more about the basic needs of her son than Thace did—he had mostly been winging it the last couple of quintants and hoping that he wasn’t doing something wrong.

“This is his first session without Kyren and Nylak, right?” Thace guessed, motioning with his head to Myrek, in an awkward attempt to change the subject before Evren started asking about Keith. It was rather obvious that Kyren had passed his trial, and impressed Kolivan enough to get sent off on an outbound mission immediately. However, Thace hadn’t seen Nylak since he had returned to the base. That was probably for the best, given that she was likely in a bad mood over not having been picked as Evren's apprentice.

Evren’s gaze softened as he turned her gaze back on Myrek. “Yes,” she admitted, ears shifting back and pinning against the sides of her head as her brow furrowed. “He had a couple of quintants off… just long enough for the cub to settle so that you’d be back—Myrek looks up to you a lot, Thace…”

“I know,” Thace sighed—he knew that both Kyren and Myrek did, though he was doubtful about Nylak.

“I was hoping that he’d be able to take his trial sooner rather than later,” Evren said, as her ears began twitching in irritation against the sides of her head. “I want Myrek to be my apprentice eventually.”

Thace’s ears perked in surprise. “You’re sure?”

“He has the heart, Thace,” Evren insisted as her eyes narrowed, “That is why Bladesmith Kader chose me to be his apprentice.”

“But you can actually fight—”

Evren’s glare cut him off. “I know Myrek is capable. He just needs the chance to prove himself.”

“Kolivan really didn’t let him take the trial?” Thace asked, frowning as Evren met his gaze.

Evren shook her head as she sighed and crossed her arms. “Oh, I tried to convince him, but you know how Kolivan is… emotionally constipated ass…”

The second part of her comment was muttered under her breath, more to herself, rather than to him—it wasn’t the first time Thace had heard Kolivan referred to in such a manner, but the last time it had been Kolivan himself who had made the comment. He actually agreed with Evren’s choice of words. Thace had always assumed that Kolivan didn’t take any of it to heart because he had been friends with Evren for most of his life and they were bondmates.

“You can’t win them all, Evren,” Thace reminded her.

Evren scoffed, shaking her head. “Well, it certainly doesn’t stop me from trying, Thace,” she said, “I’m just surprised Kolivan agreed to taking Loren’s cub in for the time being—”

“Keith,” Thace corrected her. “Loren named him Keith.”

A smile came to Evren’s lips as her expression brightened—she had always been fond of cubs. Thace could remember her fawning over him the first time he had visited the main base with his father when he was about seven years old. “And how is he adjusting?” she asked.

“Well, he rarely sleeps through the night, he cries if Antok gets anywhere near him, he’ll throw a fit if anyone besides Ulaz or I holds him…” Thace trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re worried,” Evren observed.

The fur on the back of Thace’s neck fluffed up as nervousness set in. “I am not—”

Evren held up a finger, indicating she wanted silence and his full attention. “Thace, what’s my number one rule?”

“Your blade is your life,” Thace said automatically.

The mantra slipped from his tongue with ease—he had only been hearing it from Evren since he was a cub, back during his visits to the base with his father. Evren had always been willing to tell him and Antok stories. The phrase had come up at least once during each visit. Then, during their training, she had begun to emphasize it. For a moment, he remembered when he had first begun training with Evren, when he still had patches of his cub fur—before he had awoken his blade and begun going on outbound missions, before Loren had been sent from the base for longer and longer periods of time.

Evren clicked her tongue, grabbing his attention back. Her gaze had softened considerably at the words, verging on poorly concealed grief—the look she always had when she was remembering one of the fallen.

Your blade is your life…

“My… other rule, Thace?” she asked. When she spoke, her voice was gentle, but there was a forced calmness there, and her ears drew back. It was a reaction she sometimes had when the phrase your blade is your life was referenced around her without warning.

Thace sighed and averted his gaze as if he were a scolded child, rather than a grown adult and mid-ranking member of the Blade of Marmora. “Never lie to you,” he finally said.

Evren seemed pleased enough with that answer. “It’s never too early for Keith to learn the ways of the Blade, you know…” she said. “Perhaps you should bring him around during your next shift.”

Thace hesitated—it might be Keith’s inevitable future, given that he had been born into the Blade, but Thace still felt uneasy at the prospect of bringing the cub along to the training room with him. Of course, he knew that Evren would never give such a young cub a weapon. Antok had always complained when they were cubs that Evren hadn’t even let him hold a blade until he was nine, and even then, only because Kolivan had coaxed her into it. Besides, Thace doubted his sister would take too kindly to him bringing her son along with him during his training sessions. Or perhaps that was an excuse.

“You know, Kolivan is going to want that cub to be trained as soon as he is able,” Evren reminded him, though she did smile. “Just know that little Keith is always welcome here… especially if poor Ulaz needs a break from cubsitting before his shift with Kellun.”

“I’ll consider it,” Thace said.

Evren nodded, and without another word, she turned from him and called for Myrek to rejoin them and start another sparring match.

—

It was another quintant before Chief Medical Officer Kellun all but ordered that Keith be brought in for a physical. Thace had never really liked being in the medical bay for extended periods of time—it smelled of antiseptic and the faint scent of distress always seemed to permeate the entirety of the sub-deck. He actively avoided having to stay there for longer than necessary unless he was hanging around Ulaz. Frequently, Ulaz would explain whatever he was studying at the time. Even if most of it went over Thace’s head, he liked listening anyway.

When Thace arrived on sub-deck 5 with Keith in tow, Kellun eagerly corralled him into one of the available examination rooms. However, Kellun didn’t begin the examination immediately. Instead, he seemed content to observe Keith from a couple of feet away. Thace had been concerned that Keith would be frightened of the new people and environment—especially given his horrible first meeting with Antok—but Keith seemed to be taking it in stride. He hadn’t started crying as soon as he saw Kellun and Roc standing a couple of feet away, but he also didn’t attempt to reach out for Kellun as he might have had it been Ulaz standing there.

Instead, he still had clumps of Thace’s fur in a death grip, half hiding his face in Thace’s shoulder as he peeked out at Kellun and Roc. Keith was wary, but he was curious.

With his sleek, lightly colored fur and fluffy ears, Kellun could have been considered attractive—however, the bonding necklace displayed around his neck already marked him as taken, so any aspiring officers who would have been interested were out of luck anyway. Kellun wasn’t physically imposing at first glance, and was actually shorter than Thace by at least half a head, but he was often shadowed by his medical assistant, Roc.

Roc stood out amongst the rest of the Blade, not just because of his sheer size, but because he was a hybrid—like Keith was. While his more angular facial features, solid yellow eyes, and short, purple fur came from his Galran mother, certain traits such as his longer headfur and four arms pointed to the heritage of his Unilu father. Roc was a least a head taller than Thace, and two of his arms had been replaced by metallic prosthetics. He also had a scar going across his nose bridge and then curving upwards over his left eye and brow.

Thace had long suspected the only reason anybody considered Roc a “medical assistant” was because neither Evren or Kolivan knew what to do with him. From Thace’s own observations, the only skills Roc seemed to possess were combat-related, even though he never actually appeared to like fighting that much to begin with. He also got antsy when there were too many people around him, or sudden bright lights. However, Roc stuck to Kellun like keeshflies to polan fruit, and being Kellun’s bondmate, the solution was obvious.

Now, Kellun was bouncing up and down on his toes as if he were a cub, rather than one of the highest ranking officers that the Blade of Marmora had. Roc stood behind him, one set of hands on Kellun’s shoulders, while the other set rested lightly on Kellun’s upper arms. While Kellun was staring at Keith in wonder, Roc looked nervous, looking at Keith with wide eyes and brows hiked up on his forehead.

“Oh, look, Roc… he has third eyelids!” Kellun whispered excitedly. “And eye shine!”

When Kellun attempted to move closer, inadvertently dragging Roc along with him, Keith let out a noise that could only have been interpreted as a squeak, and he broke eye contact as he began squirming in Thace’s arms. Then, he buried his tiny hands into the exposed fur of Thace’s neck, pulling a little harder than he actually needed to, but Thace barely winced. Instead, he started purring low in the back of his throat, rocking Keith lightly in an attempt to calm him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, little one,” Kellun said. When he spoke, his voice was soft and calm. His thick accent pointed to him being from one of the colony planets on the fringes of the Empire—if Thace remember correctly, from dossiers he had read in the past, Kellun was from a backwater planet called Zyleth. It was of interest to the Empire for reasons that had been redacted from Kellun’s dossier, but its population was mostly made up of non-Galran species. Roc’s history was obscure and his dossier was so heavily redacted it was almost unreadable to begin with.

“Is he always so shy, Thace?” Kellun asked, tilting his head. He smiled as Keith peeked out at him again.

“Well, Antok snorted at him when he first arrived,” Thace said.

Kellun didn’t look surprised, and he laughed. “Oh, cub…” he said, voice taking on a teasing lilt. “Antok is all hiss and no bite. I highly doubt he meant to scare you…”

Kellun approached again, slower this time and without Roc at his heels. Keith tensed in Thace’s arms, but he didn’t start throwing a fit. Kellun stopped a good foot away, but seemed content to observe from that distance.

“Oh, yes… he definitely has Loren’s eyes,” Kellun said, more to himself than to anyone who was in the room. “His reaction to my presence is normal, so I wouldn’t worry about that, Thace… he just lost his mother—I’m not surprised he immediately latched onto the first adult who took care of him and happens to share a familial scent with his mother.”

“He’s fine with Ulaz too,” Thace said.

“That is likely because the cub is used to him,” Kellun explained as he stood straight again. Then, Thace watched as he began flitting around the small examination room. He handed Roc a datapad—rather than using the automated dictation system that came installed on all the datapads used by the medical staff—before he activated a panel on the far wall and started searching in it. Thankfully, he didn’t pull out needles of any kind, but rather instruments used during more standard procedures, such as a stethoscope and a light he was no doubt going to try shining in Keith’s eye.

Thace set Keith gently down on the table without being prompted. Keith immediately began whining, reaching out for him. As a form of compromise, Thace leaned forward, resting his forearms against the tabletop. Then, he offered Keith one of his hands with his claws already carefully sheathed. Keith immediately latched onto one of his fingers, and seemed content with that.

“Oh, he’s old enough to sit up unsupported,” Kellun observed, setting down the stethoscope, light, and a small scanner—one that was used for taking measurements, which was far more accurate than the standard measuring tape. However, Kellun had also brought out the tape as well. He was careful to set all of the instruments far enough away that Keith couldn’t reach them. “Roc, darling… make a note of that, please.”

The light tap of claws against the screen of the datapad was the only indication that Roc had heard Kellun. He had put a little bit of distance between himself and the examination table—perhaps as a precaution against startling Keith. He seemed to be actively avoiding looking at either Thace or Keith, actually, far more unnerved by their presence than Thace was by his.

“What’s his name?” Kellun asked, tilting his head to the side. He mimicked Thace as well, leaning forward to rest his arms on the examination table. He stood opposite Keith, and given his stature, this put him about eye level with Keith. While Keith seemed wary, he was staring at Kellun with wide, curious eyes. Keith had only rarely left Thace’s room since arriving on base, so Kellun was the first member of the Blade of Marmora he had seen closely aside from Antok and Ulaz.

“Loren named him Keith,” Thace said.

“Keith?” Kellun said, testing his name on his tongue. “Peculiar… phonetically, it sounds rather similar to Keth—that’s your father’s name, isn’t it? Lieutenant Keth?”

“Yes,” Thace said, nodding. It had occurred to him that perhaps, in some manner, Loren had tried to name her son after their father, but eventually decided on a name from Keith’s father’s species. Thace did wonder what the name Keith meant though—it was doubtful it meant “divine man” as the name Keth did, or “divine peace” as Thace’s name did.

“Hello, Keith…” Kellun said, “My name is Kellun.”

Keith perked up and a small smile broke out on his face as Kellun wiggled his large ears. Then, Keith went so far as to let go of Thace’s finger, reach out, and make a grabbing motion with his hand. It was not a request to be picked up, but rather a request to yank out fur, as Thace and Ulaz had learned within a quintant of Keith being on base.

“Careful, sir,” Thace warned, “He took out a chunk of Ulaz’s undercoat this morning.”

Kellun chuckled, making no attempt to hide his amusement. “How adorable.”

Ulaz had thought it was ‘adorable’ too—which had made Thace roll his eyes because it was not behavior they really should be condoning in his sister’s cub. However, Kellun was Ulaz’s mentor, and had been for several years, so Thace wasn’t surprised that Kellun’s unique brand of humor had rubbed off on Ulaz. Rather than respond to Kellun’s comment at all, Thace stayed silent—he really didn’t know how to respond to that, as he didn’t actually know Kellun that well.

“Alright, cub,” Kellun continued, as he offered Keith one of his hands. His claws were carefully sheathed already, and Keith wasted no time reaching out to grab hold of one of Kellun’s fingers. Keith’s reaction was surprising, but Thace was glad that Keith wasn’t throwing a tantrum yet. “We’re going to play a little game. Can you stick your tongue out for me?”

Kellun then proceeded to demonstrate, sticking his tongue out. There was a moment of hesitation from Keith, before the cub giggled and copied Kellun.

“Good, good!” Kellun said, smiling at the cub. “Now, can you say ‘ah’ for me?”

He opened his mouth, revealing his sharp canines as he uttered a soft ‘ah’. Keith seemed to actually think it was a game, rather than a medical examination. He laughed again, before mimicking Kellun, complete with sound.

“There you go, little one,” Kellun said, voice going soft as he reached out to take hold of Keith’s chin. Gently, he moved Keith’s head to the side and then tilted it back. “Okay, his tongue is barbed, and he has some of what I assume are deciduous teeth. Both his top and bottom incisors are present, and I can see a few molars—he might be getting a canine soon?”

Keith behaved well enough, holding still until Kellun let go of his chin and allowed him to grab one of his fingers again. Thace’s gaze flicked to Roc. He was completely absorbed in typing, somehow managing to keep up with Kellun’s dictation as he worked. That was why it was never a good idea to ask Kellun questions. He would start rambling while performing the examination and the question would be answered before the patient could even voice it

“Structure?” Roc asked, voice low and guttural.

Thace’s ears gave a surprised flick. It was so rare to hear Roc speak at all. Kellun wasn’t phased by it though, and glanced over his shoulder to look at Roc.

“No, Roc,” Kellun said, and Roc began typing again as Kellun continued speaking. “I can’t tell the cub’s dental structure without using the scanners, and I doubt he’ll take too kindly to me sticking my fingers in his mouth to check his gums—”

Roc frowned then, tilting his head before he jerked it in the direction of one of the larger scanners that were more typically used to assess injuries. Thace knew, because when he was a fresh-furred initiate, he had sprained his wrist during training and he had made the mistake of asking Kellun what the machine did. He hadn’t fully learned his lesson until he had accidentally sent Kellun on a twenty dobosh diatribe about the cryofreezer, though.

“Well, yes, love,” Kellun conceded to some unspoken point, mock exasperation dripping from his tone. “We could just use the scanner on him, but I don’t want to scare him—hence why I got the tape out for once—”

Keith perked up in curiosity, trying to follow the conversation even though it was doubtful he understood much of what was being said. His tiny hand was still wrapped around one of Kellun’s fingers, and Kellun made no move to try and get his hand free. Instead, he turned at what must have been an uncomfortable angle and tried to look at Roc while he spoke. Roc’s fragmented speech was supplemented by gestures using all three of his free hands. If anyone thought that their conversations were one-sided and mostly consisted of Kellun talking to himself, Thace would have suggested watching them when they were involved in a heated debate about proper examination proceedings.

Keith glanced at Thace, pouted, and then proceeded to whine.

“What?” Thace asked, voice going soft as he lightly ran his hand over Keith’s headfur. Keith let out a quiet gurgling sound—an attempt at purring when his throat clearly wasn’t designed for such a noise. Ulaz hadn’t thought there was anything wrong with letting him do it, since it didn’t appear to be harming him. Thace responded in kind, purring low in the back of his throat as he ducked his head to run his nose along Keith’s temple.

Keith babbled something that sounded similar to pol, and Thace smiled. Keith was likely trying to say polan, which had become the word he’d say when he was hungry.

“Yes, we can go to the kitchens after this and get a snack,” he assured the cub. “But you have to keep behaving yourself.”

Keith scrunched up his nose and stuck his tongue out at Thace, and Thace returned the gesture a moment later.

“Thace?” Kellun said, getting Thace’s attention again. He smiled in amusement and it took Thace a moment to realize he still had his tongue sticking out. His fur burned in embarrassment as his ears pinned back against the sides of his head, but he didn’t make a comment and instead let Kellun continue the examination.

Kellun pressed the stethoscope against Keith’s chest next. The cub pawed at the back of Kellun’s hand curiously, but Kellun paid him no mind. Instead he lightly tapped his claw against the tabletop, keeping time on a ticker that rested on the table while he counted Keith’s heart beats. Then, once he was done, he looked over his shoulder. “Ninety, a little low for a Galra cub—likely a result of his status as a hybrid,” he told Roc, before setting the stethoscope to the side and looking at Thace again. “Now, Thace… is he eating well?”

“We’ve mostly been feeding him fruit,” Thace confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ulaz said we couldn’t give him any meat until you looked him over.”

“Well, I think he should be fine eating it. He seems to have a dental structure fit for an omnivorous diet,” Kellun said. His brow furrowed in concern as his gaze shifted back to the cub sitting on the examination table. “I just wouldn’t give him uncooked meat. His father’s species might not be able to digest it, or he could get sick—”

“Do you know what his father’s species could be?” Thace asked, “Ulaz suggested Altean—”

Kellun gave a bark of laughter, startling both Thace and Keith at the sudden noise. “Oh, of course Ulaz would think that. He does love the archives,” he said, shaking his head fondly. “It is a highly improbable hypothesis of course, given all of the Alteans died thousands of years ago.”

Nevertheless, Kellun tapped his chin thoughtfully, and gave Keith another look over. The resulting procedures including using the smaller scanner to check Keith’s internal organs, looking in his ears, and shining the light in Keith’s eyes. The only procedure that Keith was actually able to sit still for was the scanner, surprisingly enough. However, he whined and squirmed when his ears, eyes, and nose were being checked, but seemed to be comforted by Kellun purring soft encouragement.

Thace knew that Kellun did have a background in xenobiology—such knowledge came from being born on a planet which had a population that mostly consisted of non-Galra, as well as serving for several years in the Gladiator rings as a medic. He had blown his cover during that mission, though, for reasons that were redacted from his dossier. Thace had only heard of it through rumor, as it was something of an open secret on the base. He had absolutely no clue why Kellun had done it, though, since otherwise Kellun had a very clean record of sticking to his assignments.

“I suspect he is half-Terran,” Kellun finally said.

Thace frowned at the unfamiliar term. “Terran?”

Kellun nodded. “Non-spacefaring species,” he explained, “At least, to the point where they can’t leave their home system.”

“If they’re not spacefaring, how did one end up on Kos?” Thace questioned.

Kellun seemed surprised by the statement, and he tilted his head to the side as his ears twitched in confusion. “You thought—no. No, his father wouldn’t have been from Kos,” he said, shaking his head. He was silent for a moment before he sighed, ears moving back as he seemed to internally deliberate. “Look, Thace… do not tell Kolivan I’m telling you this, but prior to her assignment on Kos, Loren was sent to observe the only inhabited planet in the Terran star system… I believe it is called Earth in their tongue.”

Thace frowned. That didn’t make any sense. Loren had never gone against a standard observation mission by interacting with a member of the local population. And yet, Keith was proof that she had. “But why would she—”

Kellun’s expression turned pained, but he tried to force a smile. “Above your clearance, I’m afraid,” he said, voice going soft. “I’ve already said too much… but your clearance does allow for me to show you pictures of a Terran from the archives, so…”

He motioned for Roc’s datapad. Roc handed it over without a word, and Kellun uttered a soft thank you, love before his claws began lightly tapping on the screen. It was a good five doboshes before his ears perked up, as he evidently found whatever it was he had been looking for. Then, he wordlessly turned the datapad for Thace—and Keith—to see.

The alien in the picture had many of the same features as Keith. Their body mostly lacked fur, and what fur they did have—located only on their head, above their eyes, and on their face along the jaw—was black. They had large eyes that were mostly white with dark irises, and no claws or large canines. The alien in the picture was clearly an adult, as they had broad shoulders and a well defined jawline.

The adult was nowhere near as endearing as Keith was, though. However, the longer that Thace stared at the picture, the more he realized that this alien looked a lot like Keith—they had a similar eye color, and while Keith’s headfur had a purple tint, it was still near-black, like this alien’s was.

“Is that his…?” Thace trailed off before he managed to finish his sentence.

“It’s difficult to tell, so I’m not going to presume anything,” Kellun said with a shrug as he turned the datapad back around. “I do think most of the pictures we have of Terrans in the archives are of this specific Terran, though.” He was silent for a moment, claws tapping against the screen as he pulled up the information provided with the picture. “According to Loren’s notes, this one is male, between thirty and forty earth years… he apparently comes from some place called Ah… Ahmareecah?”

He looked utterly baffled by the name, frowning at the datapad. “Of course, that mission ended almost two years ago,” he said as he handed the datapad back over to Roc. “Then, Loren was transferred to her position on Kos. So little Keith here is probably around a year to a year and a half old, depending on conception—”

“Small,” Roc commented.

Kellun snorted, clearly amused by the statement. “Well, I will be taking measurements every few months to get a grasp on how quickly he’s growing,” he said. “I admittedly don’t know much about Terran biology outside of the notes that Loren made… and I’ve never had a specimen before now.”

The fur on the back of Thace’s neck fluffed up in irritation. “He is not a specimen.”

Kellun scoffed, though he seemed unconcerned. “You act as if I want to cut him open and harvest his organs. Don’t lump me in with those Druids. They’re nothing but glorified butchers,” he said, voice a low hiss.

Keith started whining before Thace could offer any substantial retort. The cub held up his arms and started making the low gurgling sound that would have to pass for purring. Thace scooped the cub up with a soft sigh. “Are we done?” he asked, willing the fur on the back of his neck to lie flat.

Kellun’s gaze softened as he watched Keith snuggle into Thace’s arms. “Yes, I don’t want to overwhelm him,” he said. “However, I will want to see him again in a couple of days. Let’s give him bi-weekly check ups. So in three quintants, I’m going to do an allergy test—just to be safe. And remember, I want you and Ulaz to try feeding him a little bit of cooked meat. I cannot stress that enough. It has to be cooked.”

Thace nodded, more than a little distracted by Keith squirming and trying to climb up onto his shoulder.

“I’ll also be taking a blood sample the next time you visit,” Kellun continued.

The statement got Thace’s attention immediately. “He’s a cub,” he hissed. “He doesn’t need needles anywhere near him.”

“I need to test his blood type,” Kellun said, in a tone that made it seem as if he thought it should have been an obvious conclusion to come to. “Since nobody on base can serve as a blood donor if something happens to Roc because he’s a hybrid, I have to keep several pints of Roc’s blood in the cryofreezer. I don’t see why Keith would be any different.”

Thace fidgeted as an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. “You need a pint—”

Kellun sighed, rolling his eyes. “No, I don’t need a pint to do a simple blood test,” he said, shaking his head. “However, if the results are what I think they are, once he’s older I will only need to take a couple of pints every five years or so. Just to replace what’s gone bad… actually, now that I think about it, Roc’s supply is due for a restocking—”

The grimace that appeared on Roc’s face was almost comical, and he hissed in irritation as he shuddered.

“Yes, love, I know,” Kellun assured him, lightly patting one of his arms before he turned his gaze back to Thace. “I also want to check his nutrient levels as well—”

Thace hesitated, ears pinning back against the sides of his head. “Can’t Ulaz—”

“No,” Kellun cut him off, a frown appearing on his features. “I know you trust Ulaz more than you trust me, and I’m fine with that… but when it comes to the health of the Blade, I have final say. Besides, I took care of children back on my home planet all the time—you know that… so relax, I know what I’m doing.”

Even with the admonition, Thace still found it difficult to do so.

—

Following the initial rough patch, the quintants seemed to melt together, and Thace found it hard to believe that it had been nearly three weeks since they had brought Keith back to the base. While Keith still rarely slept through the night, he was slowly gaining confidence around the other Blades, and no longer threw outright fits if someone besides Thace or Ulaz tried to hold him. Kellun had been ecstatic to be one of the first to have the honor bestowed upon him, and during Keith’s most recent medical examination, Kellun had been more than happy to hold Keith and let the cub yank on his ears without showing any signs of annoyance.

However, Keith still spent the majority of the day with Ulaz.

“Laz!”

“No, no. Ulaz.”

“Laz!”

Thace paused in the doorway to his room, fully prepared to announce his arrival, but then caught himself. Ulaz sat on the floor in the middle of the toys Keith had slowly been amassing since arriving at the base. Keith stood on Ulaz’s legs while Ulaz supported the cub under his arms. Given Keith’s tendency to yank on anything that he could reach, it seemed that Ulaz had pulled back his long headfur as a precaution. Both Ulaz and Keith completely failed to notice Thace was standing in the doorway.

“I know what you’re doing, you little brat,” Ulaz said, though his voice lacked any semblance of annoyance. “You can pronounce polan, but Ulaz is too much for you? You like fruit more than you like me, cub? I am hurt!”

Keith laughed, seeming amused by Ulaz’s exaggerated frown, and reached out to paw at Ulaz’s face.

“He doesn’t get my name right either, you know,” Thace said.

Ulaz’s ears perked up as both he and Keith turned their attention towards the doorway, and their faces lit up at the sight of Thace. Keith immediately began babbling excitedly, squirming in Ulaz’s hold, and he reached out towards Thace as he approached. Thace smiled as he leaned down to take Keith from Ulaz, and then he pressed his forehead against Keith’s. The cub was ecstatic, pawing at Thace’s fur.

Then, he reached out and grabbed hold of Thace’s nose. “Mine,” the cub insisted.

“Just my nose, or all of me?” Thace joked, gently taking hold of Keith’s wrist to pull his hand away.

It was a habit that Keith had gotten into over the last week or so—insisting everything was his. Mine had been one of the first words Keith had said, following Thace and Ulaz’s names. It wouldn’t have been a problem if it hadn’t meant that Thace had to be very careful where he set Keith down, or what he gave to Keith. There was no guarantee he would be getting anything that Keith had deemed a toy back for a while… at least, not until Keith had lost interest and decided to stake his claim on something else.

Keith had even tried marking his toys, rubbing his cheeks against them even though Kellun had established during his examinations that Keith lacked scent glands in his cheeks. But it was something fullblooded Galra cubs had a tendency to do before they learned actual manners, and Kellun had suggested it was merely a habit Keith had picked up from watching his mother, Thace, and Ulaz.

Toys were also strewn across the floor of Thace’s room. Some of them had been handmade with help from Evren, while others had been bought from a nearby shopping hub. He was often left with the task of cleaning up after he put Keith down for the night, but the mess always recreated itself in the morning, though, so sometimes he just didn’t bother.

“Did you have to make my room look like a battlefield?” Thace asked as he set Keith down by the pile of toys and then carefully stepped over it to go and sit at his desk.

Almost immediately after being set down, Keith grabbed his sippie cup and started beating the floor with it like it was some kind of drum. Thace hadn’t understood the wonders of sippie cups until he realized that having one meant he no longer had to clean up juice every time Keith “accidentally” spilled something when he was trying to get attention while being fed.

“Well, I would have tried to clean, but you know how he gets,” Ulaz retorted, sliding across the floor to sit in front of Keith. The cub perked up when he noticed Ulaz and quickly held up his arms, allowing Ulaz to pick him up and set him in his lap. “But if you want half the base on high alert because of a screaming cub losing his toys, be my guest,” he continued.

Thace thought about it for a moment. Evren, who would have been the most sympathetic towards Keith, was off base aiding in a supply run. Because of this, Kolivan would almost certainly be in a bad enough mood as it was—though, in Thace’s experience, their Commander never made any active attempt to stop their Bladesmith from leaving, and would stew in his office until she got back instead. Because of Kolivan’s poor mood, it was doubtful he would be sympathetic to the tantrums of a one year old who had had his toys taken from him.

It was probably better to just wait until Keith went to bed.

“It’s a shame he’s developed object permanence,” Ulaz said.

Thace’s ears perked up, as he was unfamiliar with the term. “What does that mean?”

“Kellun did some tests during your shift yesterday,” Ulaz explained. “See, real young cubs don’t realize that objects exist after you hide them. But Keith does. Kellun said he behaved about on par with a Galra cub—”

“He is a Galra cub,” Thace said, brow furrowing and voice going terse.

Ulaz just rolled his eyes. “He’s still a hybrid… not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

Thace was silent for a tick, looking away from his datapad to watch as Keith continued knocking his sippie cup against the floor, testing different tunes. One of them sounded vaguely similar to a tune that Thace had hummed for Keith a couple of nights before when the cub had been fussy and refused to sleep—a lullaby that Thace remembered his sister singing for him when he had been a cub.

“Did you hear he tried to insist that Kolivan’s datapad was his?” Thace asked, changing the subject. “While Kolivan was using it.”

“Kolivan stood close enough for Keith to try and take his datapad?” Ulaz asked, ears perking up in surprise.

“Mine!” Keith cut in as he smacked his hand against Ulaz’s shoulder. Even though it wasn’t a very hard hit, it did startle Ulaz and he stared at the cub in bewilderment.

“Keith!” Thace said almost immediately—the cub pouted, nose scrunching up as he seemed to realize he was about to be scolded. “We don’t hit people!”

Ulaz was unable to stop himself from snorting. “Really? You, a man who hits people as part of his job description, are teaching him that hitting people is wrong?”

“He needs to learn discipline before he learns violence.”

As soon as the phrase left his mouth, Thace realized he had been spending way too much time around Evren since he got back. Just over the last week, he had helped her train both Myrek and the newest class of initiates. They showed promise, and Myrek had been steadily improving—with outside help, Thace was reasonably sure—though it would still be several weeks, if not a couple more months before Kolivan authorized Myrek’s blade trial. Thace wasn’t worried though—Evren had never had an initiate fail.

Thace was brought out of his thoughts when Keith began whining, waving his sippie cup in Ulaz’s face. Ulaz smiled, uttering a soft thank you as he accepted the gift from Keith—the cup was almost comically small, sitting in the palm of Ulaz’s hand. Then, the com on Ulaz’s belt beeped twice, and he sighed before shifting, adjusting how he was holding Keith as he rose back to his feet. Keith pouted and whined as he was separated from his hoard of toys.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Keith… but I have to go to my shift,” Ulaz said as he carefully stepped over the hoard. Once he was at Thace’s side, he deposited the cub into Thace’s lap. Thace lifted his arms, allowing Keith to settle before his attention returned to his datapad and he relaxed in the chair again.

“I don’t know how late I’ll be—” Ulaz began.

“I’ll keep the desk lamp on for you,” Thace promised.

With his attention focused on his datapad, Thace didn’t react when Ulaz began lightly working his claws through the fur on the back of Thace’s neck. Ulaz ran his nose along Thace’s temple as a low purr rose in his throat, and Thace leaned into the touch, though his gaze never left his datapad. His attention was only pulled away when Ulaz tilted his chin upwards to kiss him. Thace’s datapad was forgotten for a moment as he smiled and tilted his head, leaning into the kiss—

Then Keith whined, demanding attention at the most inopportune time, and Thace’s ears shifted back as he turned to look at the cub. He wasn’t irritated, though. It was difficult to be irritated when Keith was staring at him with large, innocent eyes and fluffed up headfur that was in need of a good grooming.

“It can’t always be about you, cub,” Ulaz tutted, though Thace was only half listening.

“Mine!” Keith argued, with as much gusto as a small cub could manage.

“No, you have to share him!” Ulaz retorted.

Thace snorted, but said nothing in response as he began trying to smooth down the tufts of Keith’s headfur that stood up at odd angles from the rest. He allowed himself to smile as Keith squirmed and laughed, appearing to have taken it as a game. His ears perked when he saw a flash in his peripheral vision, and his smile immediately dropped when he noticed Ulaz was holding up his datapad with a grin on his face.

“Delete that,” Thace said flatly.

“Not a chance,” Ulaz said, shaking his head. “Don’t you want to surprise Loren with cute pictures when she gets back?”

The com at his hip beeped twice again. However, this time, Ulaz decided to answer it, bringing it to his ear as he rose to his full height before he turned to leave. “Yes, Kellun? Yes, I was just—well, I had to say goodbye to Thace and Keith—”

The door to Thace’s room slid shut behind him.

Thace sighed, setting his datapad to the side on his desk. He looked first at the toys that were strewn across the floor of his room, and then at Keith and his messy headfur. Deciding to start with the easier of the two tasks, he scooped Keith up, and moved to sit on his bed. Then, he leaned over and snatched one of the combs from the side table.

“Let’s see what we can do about this mess, yeah?” Thace suggested.

“Laz…” Keith said as he reached up to pat at his headfur.

“Oh, I agree, cub,” Thace chuckled, moving Keith’s hands out of the way before he began lightly working the comb through Keith’s headfur in order to get the worst of the knots that the teeth of his tongue wouldn’t have been able to untangle. “If I had my way, Laz would’ve gotten his headfur trimmed months ago.”

A couple of vargas later, Keith’s headfur was shiny, soft, and properly groomed, though a few clumps still stubbornly remained fluffed up in places no matter how much Thace tried to get them to lie flat. It was late by then, and he had been trying to coax Keith to go to sleep for what felt like twelve vargas, rather than just one. Utter exasperation at his nephew’s refusal to go to sleep was masked by a smile as he let Keith sit in his lap, and they watched children’s videos on his datapad. Kellun had made several recommendations during Keith’s last examination, in an attempt to aid in the cub’s cognitive development.

Thace was probably going to be humming these damn songs for the next couple of weeks, but Keith seemed to be enjoying them, staring in wonder at the bright colors and the characters that looked like they could’ve been an Olkari and a Balmeran, singing something about different healthy fruits.

His ears perked at the sound of a knock on his door, and they turned in the direction of the noise before his head did. He paused the video, despite Keith’s tired protests. For a moment, he was still, wondering if he had actually heard anything at all—and if he had, who would be coming to speak to him directly during the middle of the base’s night cycle. The main lights in the halls had dimmed nearly two vargas ago.

There was another series of quicker knocks, followed by someone speaking. “Sergeant Thace?”

Thace’s ears shifted back as he recognized Myrek’s voice, and he set his datapad behind him on the bed. “It’s open,” he called.

The door slid open and Myrek’s head peeked in, as if he were trying to keep from entering the room.

“You can come in, you know,” Thace said.

“Right, sorry…” Myrek said, stepping into the doorway, but still not entering. The initiate sounded exhausted and winded, as if he had just had to run halfway across the base. His fur stood up at odd angle, pricked in anxiety.

Keith noticed Myrek’s arrival, but didn’t do anything more than stare. Myrek noticed Keith too, staring back at the cub with wide, curious eyes. This was the first time Myrek had been this close to Keith—Thace still had yet to take Keith with him to one of his shifts on the training deck, even though Evren had been nagging him about it.

“Did you need something, Myrek?” Thace asked. Carefully, he adjusted how he was holding Keith before pushing himself back to his feet. He grimaced as his legs began waking up, but didn’t let out more than a soft grunt. Then, he crossed the room, stopping in front of Myrek, who took a full step away from him, nearly ending up back into the hall again.

Keith babbled something nonsensical, reaching out and making a grabbing motion with one of his hands.

“No, Keith,” Thace said gently, catching Keith’s hand. “You can’t pull on Myrek’s fur.”

Myrek watched them for a moment before his ears shifted back. “Um, Evren wanted me to tell—I mean, she said Commander Kolivan wanted to see you in his office… but he couldn’t reach your com.”

“Oh, is something wrong?” Thace asked. He had turned his com off a varga prior, assuming nobody would need him till the next morning.

“I don’t…” Myrek trailed off, shaking his head. “Evren didn’t tell me what he wanted… just to come and get you. Said it was urgent.”

Thace looked at Keith and sighed. He knew Kolivan wouldn’t take too kindly to Keith being present at the meeting. “Would you be willing to—”

Myrek’s ears perked and his expression seemed to brighten. “Would he let me hold him?”

Thace managed a smile, before passing Keith off to Myrek. The initiate quickly adjusted how he was holding Keith, even as the cub squirmed. Keith only settled once he had gotten a firm grip on the mane on the back of Myrek’s neck, though he didn’t try pulling yet. Judging by the pained look on Myrek’s face, it still hurt, though.

“Quite a grip,” Myrek wheezed. Keith giggled and yanked on Myrek’s mane, earning a soft, pained whine in return.

“Make sure you introduce yourself,” Thace said.

Myrek’s ears gave a nervous twitch as he nodded. His gaze softened again as he looked at Keith. “Hi, Keith,” he said, and Keith's attention immediately turned to Myrek, his eyes widening. “I’m Myrek… um… Sergeant Thace has to go and meet with Commander Kolivan so… I guess I’m watching you now!”

“Hopefully, he’s finally getting tired,” Thace said, “If he does fall asleep, put him in his pen with his blanket…”

Myrek nodded absently, more focused on the fact that Keith was trying to climb onto his head, tiny fingers pulling and kneading at his headfur. However, once the words seemed to register, Myrek started, turning to look at Thace in surprise. “Wait. I’m staying in here?”

“Just don’t touch anything,” Thace said before he reached out to lightly rest a hand on the top of Keith’s head to get the cub’s attention. “Okay, cub… be good for Myrek. I’ll be back in half a varga.”

Keith only got fussy when Thace started to leave—which wasn’t unusual, and Thace had been expecting it—but Myrek seemed to be good at diverting his attention.

“Keith, how about we play a game Kyren and I used to play when we were cubs?” Myrek suggested, voice softening as he mentioned his brother. “Won’t that be fun?”

Keith seemed amenable to the suggestion, as his babbling started up again, and Myrek laughed. Thace’s shoulders relaxed as he turned down the hall and made his way towards where Kolivan’s office was located, two sub-decks away.

It was a slow walk—purposefully slow, as if by walking slowly he would be able to avoid the meeting all together. Since Myrek hadn’t known what Kolivan wanted, it left Thace to assume. It was likely that the meeting pertained to Keith in some capacity—he knew that Kolivan had been wary of taking in Keith in the first place. He was probably counting down the days until Loren would finally be able to return to base to take Keith back so that they could be transferred to one of the secondary or tertiary bases. That was where cubs of Blades were often raised—such had been the case with Kolivan and Evren.

Thace did entertain the notion that Loren might finally be coming home, but he knew that was unlikely. Kos was such a high priority planet that it was difficult to insert sleeper agents there, so pulling Loren out suddenly would be pointless, and draw too much attention. They also didn’t have many officers who could replace her—he would have volunteered, but given Loren’s higher rank and experience, it was unlikely he would have been considered.

When he finally reached Kolivan’s office, he lightly rapped his knuckles against the door. While he waited for what was probably only mere ticks, it felt like a varga. When the door finally opened, Kolivan motioned him in without a word, and then moved to stand behind his desk. When Kolivan did speak, it was the exact opposite of what Thace had been hoping to hear.

“Loren hasn’t reported in over twelve quintants.”

It felt as though his heart had frozen in his chest. For a moment, he struggled to remember to breathe as a pained hiss left him.

“As her next of kin,” Kolivan continued, “I felt you had the right to know—”

“You felt that or…” Thace began, before he trailed off numbly. His voice was barely above a whisper as his claws dug into the soft pads of his hands nearly hard enough to draw blood.

“Our Bladesmith offered to tell you herself, but I said I would handle it,” Kolivan said. His voice was terse, but his ears moved back ever so slightly, just enough for it to be noticeable. “Believe it or not, Thace, I actually do care about the Blades under my command.”

Thace knew deep down, that was true, but in his frustration—desperation for something to lash out on—he had turned his anger on Kolivan. He had known that the moment Loren had stopped reporting in something had gone wrong, perhaps even before that. Knowing the status of Imperial presence on Kos was above Thace’s clearance, but just being on the planet for a couple of vargas had been more than enough time to realize that it was a dangerous posting… and yet…

“This doesn’t mean she’s dead…” Thace said.

“Perhaps not,” Kolivan agreed, “However, it is highly likely that she’s been compromised.”

But Thace could not accept that Loren could be caught so easily. She was one of the best—she always reported on time, she listened to orders without talking back, she only sometimes deviated from the set plan and did so when there was no other option. She always put the Blade fist…

Except when she didn’t.

Thace thought of Keith. If there was one being in the universe that Loren had put before the Blade, it was her son. The cub was probably still playing a game with Myrek right now, oblivious to the possible fate that had befallen his mother. Even if she was alive now, it was doubtful that Keith—or Thace—would ever see her again. And Thace knew that this had been an inevitability, that for all their training, a Blade could still die at a moment’s notice. It was rare to find a fellow Blade who hadn’t lost a loved one or a family member—but up until now, Thace hadn’t been particularly close to any of those who had died. He was unprepared for the feeling of absolute grief that swept over him. He tried to still his shaking hands, feeling as his heart leapt into his throat and he struggled to remember to breathe…

Loren had gotten Keith out because she knew that if she was caught—well, he didn’t want to think about what might have happened to Keith if he had been handed over to the Druids.

“Thace?” Kolivan’s voice cut through the silence. His ears had shifted back, but his face remained impassive. “Are you alright? Do you need to call Ulaz?”

Thace’s hand moved to where his com was hooked on his belt, but he paused, and then quickly shook his head. “No… no, he’s in the middle of his shift…” His hands still fidgeted, and the fur on the back of his neck refused to lie flat, but he managed to get his breathing back under control and calm himself just a little. Still, his thoughts raced, and he wanted to get out of this office and back to his cub as soon as possible.

“For you sake, I’m not going to seal Loren’s file yet… if she manages to escape confinement, there is a procedure,” Kolivan said. “However, I think it goes without saying that you’re officially on leave. No outbound missions until further notice. Your emotional investment in this might compromise your judgment.”

“Yes, sir,” Thace replied stiffly. Then, he waited for Kolivan to dismiss him—surely this meeting was over now and he could get back to his nephew. However, it appeared that Kolivan wasn’t finished yet.

“How is he?” Kolivan asked.

Thace glanced up, ears giving a twitch of confusion. “Sir?”

“The cub—Keith—how is he…” Kolivan trailed off, seeming to be trying to find a way to phrase what he wanted to say. “Handling… all this? I asked Evren, but she told me to talk to you.”

Of course she had…

“Kellun writes up reports after every examination,” Thace said—irritation leaked into his tone as he averted his gaze again. “You can just ask him.”

“I wasn’t asking about the Chief Medical Officer’s reports, I was asking you,” Kolivan retorted.

Thace sighed tiredly as his ears pinned back against the sides of his head. “Keith is fine,” he insisted, “Kellun seems to think he’s healthy. I left him with Myrek, so if you’ll excuse me—”

Kolivan hummed softly at that, impassiveness giving way to a touch of discomfort. “Evren was concerned about the cub’s wellbeing, so I will be sure to pass along the message when I see her later.” There was a moment of silence before Kolivan awkwardly dismissed him.

—

Thace had vague recollections of the sleepless nights he had had during his training. Looking back now, he remembered playing it off as Antok’s snoring from the bunk above his making it impossible to sleep—he only rarely acknowledged his anxiety. Only Antok and Ulaz—and Evren—had actually realized he always slept much worse right after his sister left on whatever outbound mission she had been assigned to.

Up until recently, he had been sleeping well enough—except when Keith would wake up in the middle of the night and need attention. However, since finding out about Loren’s disappearance, he had taken to staring at the ceiling of his room, with one arm tucked behind his head. In lieu of sleeping, he would count lines and grooves in the ceiling, listening to Ulaz’s soft snoring and Keith’s quiet breathing. The sound of their peace was a constant comfort, and it was enough to keep him grounded, even if it wasn’t always enough to lull him to sleep.

He never brought up how he hadn’t been sleeping well, certain that it was a phase he would get over eventually. When he was younger, Loren had always chided him for being too sentimental—he was beginning to realize that she was right. He could almost laugh at the irony, almost hear her voice as she ruffled his headfur, teased him, calling him cub brother and—

And he sighed irritably, sinking further into his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.

Watching the solar flare that surrounded the base through the window was much less soothing than Thace remembered it being. The lights on the observation deck had long since dimmed as the base’s night cycle kicked in, so now the flare cast a hazy blue glow across the space—everything else was dark. Had Thace been an initiate, the occasional guard that passed through the room on their nightly route might have told him that he was out past curfew. He had been in this room for at least two vargas and nobody had said a word to him yet.

It was something he had done quite frequently when he was a newer initiate—just stare out at the flare and hope Loren would come back. He had gotten pretty good about avoiding the guards to get up here in the middle of the night, too. Admittedly, staring out into the abyss of space, hoping to see his sister’s ship jump into the system wasn’t the best way to deal with her disappearance… but he had fallen back on old habits.

The door to the observation deck opened with a faint whoosh behind him, but Thace didn’t turn to acknowledge the guard who had just entered. Instead, he continued watching the flare as it slowly opened in a new spot, and a ship was finally able to leave the base. Probably a supply ship, judging by the size and make.

“You’re out here late…”

Thace’s ears perked as he recognized Antok’s voice moments before his scent. However, he didn’t turn to greet him, instead curling up further in his seat.

“What time is it?” Thace asked. He hadn’t bothered to bring his datapad with him, knowing that it was be pointless to try and do any of the busywork that Kolivan had assigned him. He could have been sitting on the observation deck for one varga or six and he’d have had no idea.

“Zero-two-hundred,” Antok said, leaning on the back of Thace’s chair. He was silent for a moment, tilting his head to the side as he stared at Thace. His tail lazily swept back and forth against the floor.

“I’m assuming you came to bother me for a reason,” Thace said flatly, turning his head to meet Antok’s gaze.

“Mom is worried about you—”

Thace sighed, ears drawing back against the sides of his head and twitching in irritation as Antok mentioned Evren. “Antok, I’m not in the mood for this—”

Antok snorted, as he moved to sit down beside Thace. “I didn’t let you get away with this shit when we were cubs, I’m not letting you get away with this shit now.”

Thace shot him an annoyed look—perhaps it would have been more intimidating if he wasn’t so sleep deprived.

“Look, Evren asked me to talk to you, since you won’t talk to her,” Antok explained. “And I think we both know that when Evren tells you to do something, you do it.”

Thace could agree with that point, but he said nothing in response. Instead, he turned his gaze back to the flare—the opening that had been there just doboshes ago had already closed, but it looked as though a new one was forming. Silence permeated the observation deck, only broken by the sound of Antok’s tail tip twitching against the floor—Thace knew it as a motion denoting Antok’s concern, and if he had looked, Antok’s brow would likely have been furrowed, and his ears pinned back against the sides of his head.

“This is about the cub, isn’t it?” Antok finally said, breaking the silence between them.

Thace hesitated. Evren had tried to have this conversation with him once before, but the news of Loren’s disappearance had been too fresh, and he had stubbornly shut Evren out. Ulaz hadn’t even mentioned his change in behavior outside of asking if he had slept well, but Ulaz had been trying to be subtle. Thace assumed that Ulaz didn’t want to pry if he wasn’t willing to talk yet…

Now that he was thinking about it, his dour mood and inability to get a decent night’s sleep the last few weeks weren’t entirely about Keith. It was more about coming to terms with the fact that he had to take care of his sister’s cub now—indefinitely—when before it was supposed to have been a temporary thing—she was supposed to come back…

Considering Keith seemed to have adjusted now that he had been at the base for over a month, Thace supposed he hadn’t been doing that bad of a job, but guilt still gnawed inside his chest. It hadn’t been difficult to grow fond of Keith—it had taken Thace less than a dobosh to do so after all. While Kolivan and Antok both avoided Keith for their own reasons, Kellun and Evren had taken to him almost immediately, and after a couple of examinations, Keith no longer seemed that wary of Roc either. Myrek had begun begging to be allowed to cubsit whenever Thace was too busy doing paperwork to look after Keith in the evenings… and Ulaz already adored Keith, so taking care of him permanently would likely be a welcome announcement.

“Loren, then?” Antok guessed next, bringing Thace out of his thoughts.

Thace didn’t respond immediately. He knew that many people on the base were worried about him. He should have been back in his room in case Keith needed him, not out here wallowing in his own self pity—

He finally sighed, before nodding. “Kolivan thinks she’s been compromised…”

Antok’s eyes had widened, his jaw was slack, and his ears had drawn back, disappearing into his dark headfur. When he spoke, all he managed was a soft, barely audible what as he looked to Thace for some kind of explanation.

“She hadn’t reported in almost twelve quintants, the last time I asked,” Thace continued. “That was maybe two weeks ago—I can’t remember…”

The longer Loren went without reporting in, the worse her prognosis, and the more likely Kolivan was to give up on her entirely and officially close her file. It was likely that her cause of death would be listed as missing in action. At that point, there would be what could pass for funeral on this base, and a plate with her name and designation would be put up in the Hall of the Fallen, down on sub-deck 4.

“Has anyone told your father?” Antok asked.

“I completely forgot—” Thace cut off with an irritated hiss, running a hand over his face before he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Did his father even know that Loren had a cub? It was doubtful she had mentioned it to him, since they rarely spoke anymore. Thace could remember his father complaining on multiple separate occasions about how neither of them wrote enough. One of these occasions had ended with his father launching into a twenty dobosh diatribe about kids these days—and Thace had sat there and taken the scolding, ears pinned back against his head like he was a cub, because that was easier than trying to explain the Empire’s increasing restrictions to his sixty-something-year-old father.

That was different, though—Keth was going to be devastated when he found out that Loren had been compromised. Thace knew his father, and it was likely that he’d blame himself, since their original link to the Blade of Marmora was through him. Whenever Kolivan decided to close Loren’s file, Thace would have to go back home and deal with his family’s estate. His father was already on their home planet, operating as a sleeper agent even though he technically should have been retired by now, given his age.

But that would be a couple months off, at least. Thace had time to prepare for that… but sooner or later, he’d have to face it.

“Well, just sitting here isn’t going to help your mood,” Antok spoke up again, before he produced a bottle that was filled with a deep purple liquid of some kind.

Thace frowned first at the bottle, and then at Antok. He quirked a brow in unspoken question of where and how Antok had gotten the bottle. He doubted it was anything but alcohol.

“I picked up a trick or two from Evren,” Antok said, by way of an explanation. “To hear her tell it, she used to swipe alcohol from Commander Evek all the time—”

Thace scoffed. “Yes, because let’s just break protocol in the middle of the observation deck—”

“You worry too much,” Antok said, smirking teasingly as he waved the bottle for Thace to take. “I mean, my other option was going a few rounds down on the training deck until you felt like talking… but you honestly look like shit so I don’t think that’d be much fun.”

Thace’s ears moved back and twitched in irritation—Antok’s other option would just lead to embarrassment on his part, and he was not in the mood for that right now. He reached over and snatched the bottle as it was offered. “Kolivan is going to kill you, and then he’s going to kill me for being accessory to this,” Thace muttered, even as he tried to get the bottle open. “You probably stole this from his office—”

“Evren’s, actually. I had tea with her this afternoon,” Antok said, “She didn’t even notice me swipe it.”

This time, Thace’s ears flicked in surprise, and his attention fell from the bottle as he managed to uncork it about halfway. “Evren was being unobservant?” he asked, worry leaking into his tone. “Is she okay?”

“She’s been arguing with Kolivan recently. Why’d you think he was in a sour mood yesterday?” Antok sighed, leaning back in his seat and sinking into it as he propped his feet on the chair opposite to his.

“What are they arguing about?” Thace asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew.

Antok snorted, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. “Myrek, what else?” he asked, as if it should have been obvious. “I say, just let the guy take his damn trial. Then maybe he’ll leave me alone—”

“Oh, so you’re his secret sparring partner,” Thace said, and he couldn’t contain his amusement. “I knew I recognized something that was different when I was sparring with him. He’s been adapting some of your moves to fit his fighting style.”

Antok sighed heavily. “Look, he cornered me down on sub-deck 3. Y’know about as well as Myrek could corner me,” he said, barely managing to hide his exasperation. Though Thace doubted it was directed at Myrek, but rather at Thace himself for making a bigger deal out of this than Antok felt was warranted. “He demanded I spar with him to work on his technique, I decided to humor him. End of story.”

“I’m the assistant trainer,” he retorted flatly. “He’s supposed to come to me for that.”

“And I think he’s scared of disappointing you, so he decided to bug someone who wasn’t involved with his training at all,” Antok said. “You’ve also been… off lately, to put it mildly.”

Thace’s amusement faded at that, as he returned his attention to opening the bottle—it gave him something to focus on as he sorted through his thoughts. He had continued assisting Evren with the initiate classes at his own insistence, thinking that if he just kept himself busy, maybe he could ignore everything, but… really, he should have taken the time off that she had offered him.

“Yeah… yeah, I know,” he mumbled, shoulders sinking at the admission.

“Myrek’s actually not terrible, combat-wise,” Antok commented, “And he has a mean right hook.”

Thace wasn’t going to attempt to contest that point, because he knew from experience—and a bloody nose—that Myrek actually did. It was at that moment, though, that he finally managed to get the cork out of the bottle and take a swig. It was sweet, some kind of laika fruit wine, and while he enjoyed the taste, he didn’t take another sip.

“Loren wouldn’t have given Keith to you if she thought you couldn’t handle it,” Antok said suddenly, glancing over at Thace.

Thace met his gaze, ears twitching in surprise. “You know his name?” he asked. Given their disastrous first meeting and Antok’s avoidance of Keith, Thace had assumed the opposite would be true.

“Of course I do,” Antok scoffed. “Evren’s been nagging me to apologize for scaring him.”

“You snorted at him,” Thace reminded him, as his eyes narrowed. “He’s terrified of you now.”

Antok waved him off. “It’s not like I’m going to bite him—”

“No, I know you wouldn’t…” Thace sighed in irritation. He had overreacted then too—he still didn’t know exactly why he had hissed at Antok… protectiveness for his cub, he supposed. Because Keith was his cub now, he might as well admit it.

“Are you going to tell him about her?” Antok asked next.

The fur at the base of Thace’s neck pricked up as a low hiss left him and his irritation grew plainer. Antok, however, was unaffected by it, and fixed him with an unimpressed look. “Of course I am,” Thace insisted. “He has the right to know about her… to know that she didn’t just—just abandon him because she didn’t want him! Loren would never—”

“I never said she would,” Antok said blankly. He sighed, sinking even further into his seat, mimicking what Thace had been doing when he had first arrived in the room. “At least Loren delivered the cub in person… my mother just stuck me on a pre-programmed ship and hoped for the best.” He was trying to make a joke out of it, as evident by his forced smile, but there was a slight shake in his voice. His ears shifted back, twitching nervously against the sides of his head. The tip of Antok’s tail flicked back and forth, sweeping across the floor every other tick or so—it was the only sound in the otherwise silent observation deck.

Wordlessly, Thace held out the bottle, lightly nudging it against Antok’s arm until he took it. Antok sat up, staring at the bottle for a moment before he gulped down some of the wine. Then, with a grimace, he held it out for Thace again.

“I think I would have preferred to kick your ass,” Antok grumbled.

Thace actually managed a genuine laugh as he took the bottle back. He sobered almost immediately though, setting the still half full bottle to the side. “Do you think Keith will grow to… resent Loren?” he asked, voice going soft.

“Speaking from experience, I’ve made peace with my mother—well, the idea of her, anyway…” Antok finally said, brow furrowing as he gritted his teeth. “I only suggest that you don’t act like Loren is going to come back… if she’s been gone for this long, she’s not coming back—” He cut off and glanced at Thace, watching for his reaction.

The bluntness of Antok’s statement stung, and Thace felt the gnawing feeling return to his chest. Because Antok was right, and he would do well to accept that. Thace took a deep breath and dipped his head, indicating that it was alright for Antok to continue speaking.

“I’m just saying, you save a lot of feelings in the long run if you just… just tell them that their mother isn’t coming back,” Antok insisted. “Don’t keep it from Keith like Kolivan and Evren kept it from me… that cub deserves better.”

“Yeah,” Thace agreed, “Yeah, I know…”

It was too early to try to explain the concept to Keith now, but once he was old enough to understand, then Thace definitely would. Perhaps once Loren’s plate had officially been put up in the Hall of the Fallen; that would make it easier.

He made it back to his room sometime just after 0400—a couple of hours before the morning shifts would start. Keith must have woken up at some point in the night, as Ulaz was curled up in the desk chair. Keith was held snuggly in his arms, clutching at the fabric of Ulaz’s undershirt as he slept. Ulaz was dozing, breathing evenly with his cheek pressed against his fist. When his head slipped from his hand, he jerked awake, blinking blearily in the direction of the door when he noticed Thace had just entered.

“There you are…” Ulaz said through a yawn. His gaze darted to check on the cub sleeping in his arms, but upon confirming that Keith hadn’t woken, he looked back to Thace again. His brow furrowed as he frowned. “Keith woke up about a varga ago and you were gone…”

“Sorry,” Thace mumbled as he approached. He wasn’t entirely sure how to admit that he had disappeared up to the observation deck to ruminate over the disappearance of his sister. “I just had to work out some things…” he decided on.

Ulaz tilted his head to the side, gaze softening. “Do you want to talk about it?”

If he had asked Thace a week ago, Thace would have shaken his head, insisted he was fine, and that would’ve been the end of it—sometimes, he did manage to work out his issues himself, sometimes he didn’t. But now that he had talked with Antok about it, the fact that he had bottled it up for weeks on end, leaving Ulaz—and Keith—in the dark was eating at him, and he had to fix it. Looking at Keith now, the cub appeared peaceful, but Thace still reached out and took him from Ulaz when he was offered. Keith blinked sleepily, but uttered little more than a soft whine as he snuggled into Thace’s arms as readily as he had Ulaz’s.

“I talked to Antok, just now,” Thace admitted. “He found me up on the observation deck.”

Ulaz sighed, ears drawing back. “Why were you up there?” he asked patiently. “If she scheduled to be coming back, Kolivan would have informed you ahead of time—”

“Because she’s not coming back and—” Thace said. His voice was blunter than he had intended it to be, but he managed to cut himself off and keep from raising his voice before he disturbed Keith and woke him up. The cub squirmed in his arms to get comfortable again. Thace leaned down to lightly run his nose along Keith’s temple, before closing his eyes and sighing.

When he met Ulaz’s gaze again, he found that Ulaz was staring at him in shock, waiting for an explanation.

Thace hesitated for a moment—but he had had enough of avoiding this topic, and it wasn’t doing him any good anymore. “Loren isn’t coming back,” he repeated, “Because she hasn’t reported in over three weeks…”

Ulaz’s eyes widened a fraction as he sat up in the desk chair, setting his feet back on the floor. He opened his mouth, appearing to be ready to say something—mostly likely in an attempt to be comforting—but he faltered. Silence stretched between them as neither said anything. Thace’s ears began to twitch nervously and the fur on the back of his neck began to prick up as a new wave of anxiety settled in. But he felt Keith shifting in his arms again, and it was enough to remind him that he still had to explain more of the situation.

“Kolivan… informed me after it had been about a week since her last check in,” Thace continued, to save Ulaz the trouble of having to fill the silence. “Since he hasn’t spoken to me again about it, I don’t think anything has changed. That is why I haven’t been sleeping—”

“Or eating,” Ulaz cut in, ears drawing back against the sides of his head as he looked at Thace worriedly. “You’ve only been eating when you feed Keith lunch…”

“Or talking…” Thace added, “and I’m… so sorry for that—”

“You don’t have to apologize for a damn thing,” Ulaz said, though not unkindly. His brow furrowed as he gave a tired sigh. “You’ve just lost your sister—even if it takes time, you’re allowed to grieve…”

Thace tried to think of something to say—because he knew that… it had just taken—would still take a little bit of time to get used to accepting that his sister was gone. Besides, he wasn’t alone in dealing with this, and he really should have taken the help that was offered to him sooner. He hadn’t wanted to drag anyone else into his troubles, even if they would have offered him the emotional support that he had so desperately needed.

“This also means, since Loren isn’t coming back, that Keith is my responsiblity now,” Thace pointed out, hesitantly. Taking care of the cub that had been dropped into their laps unannounced permanently wasn’t something they had discussed at all, and it was a big responsibility and—and he swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat that was preventing him from saying more. This was getting to be too much—he was exhausted, irritated, grief-stricken… he wanted nothing more than for this conversation to be over, but it wasn’t one that he could just walk away from.

Ulaz got out of the desk chair, moving to stand in front of Thace. Without a word, he raised a hand to lightly run it over Keith’s headfur—the motion caused the cub to stir and he groggily raised his head to glare at Ulaz, about as well as he could in his half-awake state. Even in spite of the nervous twitch of his ears and the tension in his shoulders, he smiled fondly when Keith gave a wide yawn, rubbing at his eyes with tiny fists.

“Our responsibility, you mean?” Ulaz prompted, tilting his head to the side as his gaze flicked up to meet Thace’s again. His smile was less fond then, much more bittersweet than anything—but it was comforting nonetheless.

Thace’s head thumped against Ulaz’s shoulder, but he barely managed more than a soft yes. His shoulders shook, but the tears didn’t start falling until Ulaz wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. It had been years since Thace had actually cried, but Ulaz was patient. He began purring softly, lightly kneading into the fur at the base of Thace’s neck as he rested his cheek on top of Thace’s head. They stayed like that for several doboshes at least, until Thace’s shoulders stopped shaking, even though his breathing hadn’t. At that point, he pressed his face into the side of Ulaz’s neck and stayed there.

He was reminded of the cub in his arms when Keith began whining and squirming. Without taking his head from Ulaz’s shoulder, Thace adjusted how he was holding Keith so he could look the cub in the eye.

“Thay cry…” was all Keith said, before he reached out to try and smooth down Thace’s fur where it still stuck up, as if helping it lie flat was the perfect solution. He seemed rather pleased with himself too, looking at Thace expectantly with a smile on his face.

“I think Keith wants you to feel better too…” Ulaz said quietly.

Thace sighed, touching his forehead to Keith’s and letting the cub giggle while pawing at his face. “Thank you, Keith… that helped.”

Chapter Text

Avoiding the cub had been an easy enough feat for Antok—all he had had to do was not go to the training deck whenever Thace was teaching a lesson to the newest initiate class with Evren. He still didn’t understand why Evren was alright with Thace bringing the cub along. When Antok had been a cub, she had only started bringing him to training sessions when he was old enough to actually hold a blade. He had eventually come to the conclusion that the only reason Evren allowed Thace to bring Keith along was because it helped with Thace’s nerves…

Plus, the newest initiates—all young enough to still have large, visible patches of their cub fur—seemed enamored with Keith.

Antok could not avoid the cub when Evren made him see Thace off—even though he had been intending to go anyway. As it was Thace’s first mission in roughly six months, Evren had been eager to join him, but with Kolivan off base on a series of routine base inspections, she had ended up having too much to do. So, she had asked Antok to handle it for her, knowing that Antok and Thace were close friends.

In retrospect, he should have suspected that both Ulaz and Keith would end up being there to see Thace off as well—seeing as Ulaz wasn’t going with him. With Keith still being rather young, Kellun had advised against sending both of his primary caretakers off at once. It would have caused him too much stress, apparently. Antok didn’t know how long Thace was going to be gone, because Evren had neglected to tell him, but he assumed it would be for several weeks at the very least.

“Remember what Kellun said about—”

“Thace, love, relax…”

Even though they were friends, Antok still thanked the stars that Thace’s fretting would be leaving with him. He couldn’t remember Evren being anywhere near this protective when he was a cub. Then again, Antok had been a little older than Keith was when he had been brought to the main base. He did remember Evren hissing at people who so much as implied that he was weird or strange because of his non-Galran features—namely, his tail and his three fingered hands. Antok had seen Thace respond in a similar manner whenever someone implied the same of Keith.

It didn’t happen that often, thankfully, but when it did, Antok had half a mind to remind the officer responsible that he was half-Galra too. After all, he had never made it a secret that he had no qualms about fighting someone to work out disputes—when he had been a teenager, he had tried to pick a fight with someone who had insulted Roc behind his back, and gotten a bloody nose for his trouble, plus a stern talking to about biting off more than he could chew from Kolivan. And then Kolivan had handled the officer. From what Antok had seen—and experienced—almost all anti-hybrid sentiment came from Imperial-born officers, rather than Blade-born ones.

“You’ll be back within the month,” Ulaz continued. “Everything will be fine—”

“But what if he needs me?” Thace asked. Judging by the way his ears were pinned back and the hesitant tone of his voice, he was very unwilling to part with the cub he was holding in his arms. Keith hadn’t yet realized that anything was amiss, pawing at Thace’s cheek until he got Thace’s attention. “I could… request Myrek be sent instead,” Thace suggested, smiling as he rubbed their noses together, and Keith giggled.

“Thace, no, we discussed this last night,” Ulaz said, leveling Thace with an unimpressed look, as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve been cooped up on this base for six months, and it will be good for you to get out there and stretch your legs a little bit.”

Thace frowned, turning his attention back to Ulaz. Once Thace was looking elsewhere, Keith noticed Antok standing nearby—or rather, looked at him and acknowledged him for the first time since he had gotten there. Antok wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, since he still hadn’t tried to mend the rift he had accidentally caused by startling Keith horribly within ticks of him arriving on base. It was an uncomfortable feeling, knowing that a cub was scared of him, but Antok had mostly been trying to ignore it… by avoiding the cub every chance he got.

Keith watched him warily now, with wide eyes. However, he wasn’t screaming or throwing a fit as Antok had seen him do in the past—most of Keith’s fits were not directed at Antok these days anyway. Instead, they were directed at Kolivan. During the last fit Keith had thrown, he had nearly whacked Kolivan in the face. While Antok had gotten a good laugh out of it, he had immediately gone silent when Kolivan had leveled a stern glare on him—one that could only have been rivaled by Evren’s.

Antok really didn’t like having to wait to talk to Thace, but he knew that making sure Keith didn’t immediately start having a tantrum took precedence over saying goodbye to one of his closest friends—if only for a couple of ticks. However, the longer Antok stood there awkwardly, tail tip flicking back and forth against the floor, the more confidence Keith seemed to gain. After a couple of ticks, it almost appeared as though Keith was glaring at him. And then, Keith went so far as to stick his tongue out, as if it was the most insulting thing he could think of. His newfound courage was likely the direct result of being held by Thace. He knew he was safe and thought he could do whatever in the Void he damn well pleased.

Which was probably true—Thace was very protective of his cub.

Antok’s gaze flicked to Ulaz and Thace. Neither appeared to notice Keith’s sudden courage, too caught up their own conversation. Antok’s ears gave an amused twitch before he mirrored Keith, sticking out his tongue. A look of complete and utter confusion appeared on Keith’s face. He didn’t appear to know what to make of it.

Without any further acknowledgment, Antok turned his attention elsewhere. Across the vehicle bay, he could see that Lieutenant Kost—the officer in charge of overseeing all departures and arrivals—was beginning to get annoyed about having to wait for Thace to finish his goodbyes. When Antok had arrived on sub-deck 11, Kost had already been pacing, but now he was standing on the other side of the bay, ears twitching angrily at the sides of his head as he glared.

Kost had a reputation for dragging officers across the vehicle bay by their ears, so Antok hoped for Thace’s sake that he would hurry up and get on with it.

“Thace, please, would you just—”

“Fine, fine!”

Keith was handed off to Ulaz without any further argument, aside from a terse look from Thace. The cub settled in without any problems, happily rubbing his cheek against Ulaz’s, and Ulaz responded in kind. Then, a soft rumble emanated from his chest as he ran his nose along Keith’s temple.

Thace still seemed hesitant to leave, though. “But what if you or Myrek…”

Ulaz sighed, balancing Keith easily on one arm as he fished his datapad out of the pouch on his hip and motioned to it with his head. “I have the list, don’t worry,” he said patiently. “Myrek has it too.”

Antok snorted before he could stop himself. “A list?” he asked as both Ulaz and Thace turned their attention to him—and he noticed how Ulaz’s ears twitched in amusement.

It was a hilarious mental image—Thace staying up late the night prior to his first mission since he had been given leave, meticulously typing up a long, drawn out, and downright exhaustive list of guidelines for properly taking care of his cub. Antok remembered he had done the same thing back when they were initiates, except for the different blade forms—stances and basic attacks they had been taught by Evren, which were part of examinations to gauge how well they were progressing.

“Yes, Antok, I made a list,” Thace said, rolling his eyes. “It’s just in case anyone else has to watch Keith so they’ll know what to do—like if, stars forbid, you have to watch him.”

Antok glanced at the cub again, tail tip sweeping across the floor as he thought. Keith was ignoring Antok’s presence entirely now, having become distracted by Ulaz’s long headfur instead. Even though he had gotten bigger over the last couple of months, Antok was sure that if he were to try holding Keith, the cub could sit in the palm of his hand rather comfortably—perhaps he would be as tiny as Kellun was when he was grown up, or he’d end up going through a late growth spurt, like Antok had. It could be difficult to tell with hybrids, after all.

“I kind of doubt that I’ll be watching the little drisiil anytime soon,” Antok said.

“Drisiil? Really, that’s what you’re going to call him?” Thace asked with a sigh, patience wearing thin.

“Well, he’s as small as one,” Antok retorted.

“Sergeant Thace!” Lieutenant Kost shouted from the other end of the bay. “You are running late and I have other departures to oversee! This cycle, if you would!”

“Just a tick!” Thace called back. Then, he turned back to Keith and Ulaz—which Antok noticed was not what Lieutenant Kost had wanted him to do.

“You’re just going to Keron,” Ulaz reminded him. “We’ll be here when you get back.”

“You had better behave yourselves,” Thace said. “No shuttle stealing.”

“We’ll be model Blades, won’t we, cub?” Ulaz asked, turning his gaze to Keith, who perked up when he was addressed directly.

“Model blade!” Keith mimicked him, throwing his hands up in the air—his pronunciation of the words weren’t… the best that Antok had ever heard, but it seemed like he had just been trying to mimic Ulaz, more than anything else. It was doubtful that Keith knew what exactly he was agreeing to.

Thace seemed to be placated by that, smiling fondly at the cub, but he was still rather reluctant to leave. Antok noticed that Lieutenant Kost was about two ticks away from dragging Thace to the shuttle by his ear, so Thace was going to have to leave sooner, rather than later. Thace touched his forehead to Keith’s before running his nose along Keith’s temple, and then, he turned to Ulaz. When they kissed, Antok averted his gaze to give them some semblance of privacy, even though the vehicle bay was mostly deserted at this varga.

“Take care of yourself,” Antok said when Thace turned to him. “Evren’s orders.”

“Tell her that I will,” Thace said.

Antok’s tail tip moved back and forth against the floor as his ears twitched in amusement. “Good, because she’d be pissed if you came back injured.”

Thace gave a tired sigh. “Antok, please watch your language,” he said. “He’s started repeating words. He’s already picked up on some of Kellun’s more… colorful Zylethi-Galran vocabulary, and I don’t need him learning more from you.”

Though he still seemed reluctant to leave, Thace didn’t have much of a choice when Lieutenant Kost started yelling at him again—although he did not grab Thace by the ear. Antok, along with Ulaz and Keith, stuck around until Thace’s shuttle had gone… and it took all of five doboshes for Keith to become inconsolable. Previously, he had sat still enough in Ulaz’s arms that Ulaz only needed to hold him with one, but now Ulaz nearly dropped him before scrambling to adjust his hold as the cub began squirming.

“Keith, enough of this…” Ulaz scolded, though not harshly in the slightest. But Keith was already crying, tears streaming down his cheeks and face red. He kept repeatedly asking for Thace, as if just asking would bring Thace back.

Antok could feel a headache coming on, but he withheld his grimace—it wasn’t Keith’s fault, after all. He could remember that being left behind on the base was never fun, especially when both of the people who were responsible for your care left at the same time. At least Keith had one of his caretakers here still. However, it was also very early in the morning, just before the start of the early shifts, and there were more people on this base who were far less forgiving than Antok was.

“Ulaz, he’s going to wake up the entire base…” Antok pointed out, raising his voice to be heard over Keith’s crying.

“You’re a paragon of compassion this morning, Antok,” Ulaz muttered—and Antok frowned in response as the tip of his tail lashed back and forth. However, he didn’t respond verbally, as Ulaz was trying to calm Keith down. He shifted how he was holding Keith so that the cub’s head rested against his shoulder. Then, a purr rose, low in the back of Ulaz’s throat, as he ran a hand up and down Keith’s back. It took a couple of ticks, but Keith slowly began to calm down. By the time Ulaz’s purring had evened out, and his shoulders had relaxed, Keith had begun to show signs of dozing.

Antok glanced around the bay, and thankfully, nobody had come in except for the Head Communications Officer, Tyran—she was one of those who was more likely to be sympathetic towards an upset cub.

“Is he always like this when Thace leaves?” Antok asked—if that were the case, he felt as though he would have heard more screaming on a daily basis.

Ulaz shook his head. “He’s just cranky cause he had a rough night. Which means I had a rough night,” he said dismissively. His ears flicked as he stifled a yawn. “So, if Bladesmith Evren needs me at all today, I’ll probably be sleeping.”

“I didn’t know you knew how to sleep,” Antok said.

Ulaz shot him a half-hearted, tired glare before he turned to leave the docking bay.

—

With Kolivan gone on a series of routine base inspections, Evren had been left the task of running the main base by herself. Antok had still gone out of his way to offer his help, even though this was something she had done many before, since he had some spare time when he wasn’t helping Major Rei’an with supply rationing or his guard shifts—even if the errand Evren needed him to run was less than ideal.

After receiving his task from Evren, he had gone down from her office on sub-deck 4 to the communications hub on sub-deck 7. He had been hoping that the one officer he didn’t want to deal with was off-duty at that time, and he could deal with Head Communications Officer Tyran instead, but luck was not on his side. Though, Myrek also being there was a surprise.

“Hello, Sergeant,” Nylak greeted him, voice smooth as running water. She didn’t bother to look him in the eye while addressing him, though, and one of her large ears shifted back into a relaxed position at the side of her head. She continued filing one of her claws without further acknowledgment of his presence.

Nylak was pretty enough, as Imperial-born Galra went—tall, with dull purple fur, a light off-white mask and throat, and a long face and neck. Her fur was short, appearing more velvety in texture than fluffy. However, she also had darker purple fur at the base of her skull, which grew longer and reached just past her shoulder blades. Supposedly—according to Myrek, at least—that fur was very soft, much like cub fur was. However, Nylak had evidently been an early shedder, as Antok couldn’t remember ever having seen her with cub fur, even though she was only a couple of rotations older than Myrek, and he had only just finished losing his despite his age.

“Antok!” Myrek said, raising a hand and smiling at him. He sat in the middle of the floor, with Keith in his lap. The cub sat still, pulling at the loose fabric of his pants, which appeared to be a little too big for him. However, Myrek seemed relieved that Keith wasn’t trying to yank out his undercoat. Keith noticed Antok when Myrek greeted him, but the cub did little more than reach up to clutch at the mane on the back of Myrek’s neck while pouting.

Myrek now wore the standard officer uniform, rather than the initiate one, as he had passed his trial a couple of weeks before—Antok was proud that he had finally made it, as he had grown fond of Myrek while sparring with him. In the quintants following Myrek’s trial, Evren had gushed incessantly about it. Apparently, he had been quite resilient, eventually escaping through one of the ducts, after using Lieutenant Kost as a stepping stone and kicking Lieutenant Tyran square in the jaw when she made a grab for his ankle to pull him back out again. Antok wished he had been allowed into the observation room because he would’ve paid GAC to see the two lieutenants’ reactions to that. He only knew about it because Myrek had been fretting about needing to apologize to Tyran when he had met up with Antok a couple of quintants later for one of their still on-going sparring sessions.

It certainly explained why Myrek was in the communications hub, seeing as Tyran was head of the communications division. Another reason that Myrek was in here was probably—unfortunately—Nylak.

“Don’t you have better people to keep company with, Myrek?” Antok asked as he stopped opposite Myrek.

Nylak scoffed at Antok’s question, and her ears gave an irritated twitch. “Oh, very mature, Sergeant…”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Antok hissed.

Myrek’s ears shifted back until they almost disappeared into his headfur. Even in spite of his obvious unease and discomfort, when he spoke, he tried to keep his voice firm. “Could you two not argue in front of Keith, please?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. Then, his voice started wavering slightly. “It’s just… he’s been behaving really well, and Ulaz says it’s good for his development to be exposed to lots of different people, so I thought maybe—”

Nylak’s ears gave a couple more irritated twitches before she spoke up, cutting Myrek off. “You’re right, Myrek,” she said stiffly. Her gaze snapped up to meet Antok’s. “I would hate to upset the cub.”

“And I have better things to do than pick fights with a fresh-furred Corporal who has a grandiose opinion of herself,” Antok conceded dryly.

“Oh, do you really?” Nylak questioned.

“Antok, stop,” Myrek said, looking at him pleadingly.

Nylak’s lips gave the slightest twitch upwards—had Myrek not been there, it was likely that she would have continued arguing with Antok, but most of her usual brand of restrained vitriol towards him seemed to have faded. Myrek’s discomfort with the situation was noticeable, but he turned his attention back to the cub that was sitting in his lap. Keith, however, was focused on Nylak, and he appeared to be far more uncomfortable with her presence than he was with Antok’s. Keith was actually displaying his canines, as if he were preparing to hiss, but Myrek quickly grabbed his attention back before he could.

If Nylak had seen Keith nearly hiss at her, she gave no indication.

“Did you need something, Sergeant?” Nylak asked, as she went back to filing her claw. She only stopped when she seemed satisfied with the edge on it, before moving on to the next one.

“I would hate to interrupt your threat display with more pressing matters,” Antok said, crossing his arms over his chest as the tip of his tail lashed back and forth, sweeping across the ground. Nylak’s ears gave an amused twitch at the sound of it, and Antok’s own ears perked when he heard Myrek’s soft, irritated groan. However, his gaze didn’t stray from Nylak.

She flexed her claws, watching as the light caught and glinted on them in the dimly lit communication hub. “There is nothing wrong with a little claw maintenance, Sergeant,” she retorted. “Don’t be so sensitive… Myrek isn’t bothered by it.”

Myrek said nothing to confirm or deny that—instead, he focused solely on Keith, as he tried to fix a flyway lock of Keith’s headfur that was refusing to lie flat.

“No!” the cub whined, batting at his cubsitter’s hands as he pouted, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

“Oh, hush,” Myrek chastised lightly under his breath. “Your headfur is a disaster…”

Antok’s ears perked up then, as he heard something scuttle across the floor. It took him a couple of ticks, but he caught sight of the bug. It was a small blue-and-black stripped thing with six legs and long antennae, but it wasn’t much more than a pest that had stowed away on a supply ship—not really worth his time. Myrek’s head and ears darted about until his eyes landed on the bug, but while Nylak’s ears twitched and turned at the sound, she seemed largely uninterested in it. She didn’t even look up.

It took Keith several ticks longer to the spot the bug—his hearing was likely still developing—but once he had, he watched its movement intently.

Myrek purred softly in amusement, giving the cub a gentle nudge. “Go on,” he encouraged. “You can get it.”

Keith grinned, showing off his canines again. From what Antok had heard from Ulaz, they were blunter than Galran canines, but still seemed oddly sharp in comparison to the rest of his teeth. The cub tumbled out of Myrek’s lap, eagerly giving chase as he began following the bug around the hub.

It was something that all cubs did, at one time or another. Evren had certainly encouraged Antok to do so after he had arrived at the main base. Amusingly, though, she had always suggested Kolivan as the target.

Myrek watched Keith, tilting his head to the side fondly. “I remember doing that when I was a cub. I once caught a ruthiil viper… my mother was so impressed!”

Now, Nylak looked up from her claws to watch as Keith pounced, missing the bug by a hair—and Antok had to admit that Keith’s technique could use some serious work. The bug scuttled away from Keith’s clawless hands, but the cub didn’t give up. If anything, he looked more determined, frowning as he watched the bug get away from him. He quickly got back to his feet and continued following it around the room.

Nylak’s ears twitched, but she did nothing except grimace as she continued filing her claws. “Well, my mother used to scold us when my older brothers and I did that,” she mused. “Unbecoming, according to her…”

Myrek scoffed at the notion. “But it—it’s a cub thing. All cubs do it.”

“My mother believed that once you hit a certain age, you had to grow up and start representing the clan—she thought very highly of that position of ours,” Nylak retorted. She flexed her claws again, and then, seeming satisfied with her work, she began filing the claws on the other hand. Without looking up, she continued speaking, and a fond smile appeared on her features as she reminisced. “I remember that the youngest of my brothers would often sneak me out of the house so he could teach me how to hunt lizards—”

Antok was only half-listening at this point, largely uninterested in where the conversation was heading—and he had half a mind to butt in just so he could get what he had come for and leave…

But then, Keith bumped into his leg. The cub appeared to have been more focused on following the bug than he had been in watching where he was going, and he paused, staring up at Antok with wide eyes. Antok stared back—he knew he must have looked just as startled as Keith did, if not even more so. He barely managed to withhold an awkward flinch.

Up until this point, he had only interacted with Keith in the capacity of an outside observer, while Keith was being held by someone else. Antok had never really interacted with cubs that were younger than teenagers before, period—not since he had been a cub himself. Cubs were a rarity on the main base, so the only time he saw them was when he was out performing routine base inspections, on bases where Blade-born cubs were being raised. Even then, such inspections never involved him cubsitting.

Now that Keith was no longer being held by anybody, all of the courage he had when faced with Antok’s presence had vanished. Keith’s continued wariness of him didn’t surprise Antok at all, but maybe—just maybe—this could be his first attempt at ‘peace’.

Antok’s ears twitched as he heard the bug scuttle away, towards the station opposite to Nylak’s. He broke eye contact with the cub, turning his ears as he tried to locate where the bug had gone. Once he had, he slowly crouched down so that he wasn’t towering over Keith, and used the tip of his tail to gently nudge Keith in the direction the bug had gone.

Still, Keith didn’t move, and Antok knew he had to think of something fast before Keith started crying… what was it Myrek had said?

“Go on,” Antok encouraged—his voice was higher than he would have liked, and his fur burned in embarrassment, but he tried to keep his tail tip from twitching too much as he motioned vaguely in the direction of the bug. “Go—go catch it.”

He internally cursed as he heard his own stutter, but he pushed down his embarrassment as he gave the cub another, firmer nudge with his tail. Keith looked in the direction he had indicated, and visibly perked up as he seemed to hear the bug again. The cub shyly said something that Antok assumed was his attempt at thank you—Thace’s influence, no doubt—before he turned to give chase.

Antok’s shoulders sagged in relief as he let out a deep breath before he pushed himself back to his feet again. Judging by how Myrek’s ears were moving, he was tracking where Keith was in the room, but Antok still took it upon himself to keep an eye on the cub, since Myrek was distracted by his conversation with Nylak. While watching Keith, Antok noticed that Keith only crouched down when he was preparing to pounce, whereas young Galra cubs were more likely to awkwardly move around on all fours when they were practicing their pouncing.

When Keith finally caught the bug in his clawless hands, he remained crouched, half-pressed to the floor as he held the bug up to try and observe it in the dim light of the communications hub. Almost immediately, Myrek’s attention turned back to the cub.

“Keith!” he said, practically beaming. “Bring it here, lemme see.”

Eagerly, the cub hurried over, falling into Myrek’s lap before he handed over his catch. Myrek accepted the bug and began looking it over in the palm of his hand—and Antok took half a step closer to get a better look. It wasn’t the biggest bug he had ever seen, and he was sure he had caught larger when he was a cub, but Keith seemed extremely proud of it.

“I caught!” Keith said, mirroring Myrek’s grin. Antok couldn’t help but fondly tilt his head to the side, though he managed to keep a straight face.

“Yes, I think this is your biggest catch yet,” Myrek said, voice going softer. Even though he was still excited, Keith did seem to be getting a little tired—running around and trying to catch bugs had a tendency to do that to small cubs. Myrek had to stifle a chuckle as Keith tried—and utterly failed—to stifle a yawn. “Sergeant Ulaz is probably expecting you back for your nap, huh?” Myrek crooned as Keith snuggled into his arms, firmly shoving his head under Myrek’s chin.

“You leaving, then?” Nylak asked. Her eyes never left her claws, as she appeared to be almost done with her other hand, but her ears shifted back ever so slightly.

“Yeah, gotta get him back to his dad,” Myrek said, as he balanced Keith on one arm and tried to push himself back up to his feet without disturbing the cub. Antok offered him a hand and Myrek took it without any hesitation, allowing Antok to pull him back to his feet. “Thanks, Antok…” he said, ears twitching. “Oh, also… I probably won’t be able to spar this afternoon. With Sergeant Thace gone, I have to watch Keith more than usual. That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Of course it’s not,” Antok assured him, even if he was a little disappointed. The twitching of his tail would’ve been enough to confirm that, but Myrek didn’t seem to notice. “If anything changes, just try to reach me on the coms. I’m helping Evren all day.”

Myrek looked relieved. “Thanks, again,” he said sheepishly. “Say goodbye to Antok and Nylak, Keith…”

The cub let out little more than a sleepy mumble, which in no way sounded like a goodbye, but Myrek was out the door before either Antok and Nylak could respond.

Nylak turned her gaze on him then, eyes narrowing once more as she set her file to the side. Seeming to have realized this meant that she had to finally help him, her shoulders slumped for little more than a tick before she righted her posture once more and turned back to her station, already booting up the console. “Alright, what did you need?”

“Evren wanted a compilation of incoming transmissions,” Antok said—preferably decrypted transmissions. Evren knew how to decrypt them herself, but it was less of a burden for her if the communications division had already handled it. Plus, they were much quicker at it. The problem was that lower ranking officers didn’t have the means to decrypt most transmissions.

Nylak snorted at the notion. “That would be more in line with Lieutenant Tyran’s job description,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him and quirking a brow. “And I am sure the Bladesmith would want all of the transmissions, not just the ones that I personally know how to decrypt.”

“Well, Corporal—”Antok began, ears twitching in amusement when Nylak’s expression shifted to a scowl in distaste as he pointed out her low rank. “I don’t see Lieutenant Tyran around—where is she anyway?”

“Lieutenant Kost asked for her,” Nylak said. “She remade one of his timetables for him and he wanted it delivered in person.”

“So, she’ll be back soon,” Antok guessed—more hopefully than he really should have.

Nylak shook her head. “She said she was taking the next two vargas off, I’m afraid. If you need her faster, then I would suggest using that com you just mentioned to Myrek—”

Antok really didn’t want to bother Tyran if he didn’t have to, though—especially since, if Kost had asked for her personally, it was likely a social call. Besides, Evren needed something now, even if it wasn’t all the communications. There was also the fact that he just really didn’t want to deal with Nylak any more than he absolutely had to at this point.

“Just give me what communications you can,” Antok suggested, voice a low hiss. “Maybe I’ll put in a word for your promotion.”

Nylak’s answering hiss caused the fur on the back of his neck to prick up, but he said nothing else in response. He had pushed her a bit too far already, and he knew that neither Evren or the medical staff would appreciate it if he got into another fight with Nylak that drew blood. Kellun and the rest of the medical staff were already busy enough as it was.

It was several doboshes later when Nylak finally handed over the datachip he had requested—she practically threw it at his head, actually. He left the communications hub without even offering her a short thank you, and she hissed at his back, though she never left her station.

Thus began the trek back to Evren’s office, which was located on sub-deck 4, in the direct center of the sub-deck, hidden deep underneath of the rocky exterior of the base. Her office was connected directly to the vault that hid all of the blades that were currently not in use. The numbers of the Blade of Marmora had shrunken substantially since its creation, leaving a large number of blades unclaimed. However, they would be eventually recycled and given to new initiates. As luxite was difficult to come by, the Blade of Marmora was very protective of whatever weaponry they still had in their possession—and it wasn’t just blades, either.

Antok had been in the vault once before, when he had first been given a blade, but he had seen other kinds of weapons in there too. Ceremonial pieces, mostly. The only time anyone other than the Bladesmith, their apprentice, or the Commander was let into the vault was when new initiates received their weapons. Antok didn’t know who had last wielded his blade, only that Evren had been very insistent that he receive the blade that he did.

The door to Evren’s office was one of the most heavily fortified doors in the entire base, with multiple automatic locking mechanisms in order to ensure that the blades hidden beyond were safe in the event that someone attempted to break in. It was nearly impossible to pick the locks without activating a total lock-down of the base—the same defenses protected the archival vault on sub-deck 7.

Antok stopped in front of the door and lightly touched the keypad beside it, inputting the entrance code that he knew by heart. The door opened with a hiss and he entered the Bladesmith’s office without waiting. When the door slid shut behind him, he heard the series of locks fall back into place.

“Evren?” he said, announcing his presence.

Evren stood in front of her console, pacing back and forth and worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. She acknowledged him with a brief look and silently held a finger up, indicating she needed a tick. It was then that Antok noticed she was currently in the middle of a call with someone over an audio feed.

“Were there any survivors?” she asked, voice heavy in the back of her throat.

“We found two officers in critical condition.” Kolivan’s voice came over the audio feed, sounding distorted, as if he still had his mask on. It didn’t appear that they had a video feed going, meaning that Kolivan was either in dangerous territory, or any means of producing a video feed weren’t available to him. “But I don’t know if they’ll survive long enough for the Chief Medical Officer to look at them…”

Evren’s shoulders slumped as she leaned forward against her console, ears drooping and claws scratching against the metal surface of it. However, she didn’t say anything in response.

“They should be arriving within the next cycle on board my ship,” Kolivan continued.

Evren’s head shot up to look at the screen of her console, even though Kolivan wouldn’t be able to see her. Antok saw how her ears shifted back, how her brow furrowed—she was not happy about what he had just said. “And where are you?” she questioned.

“I will be following them after I have ensured that nothing important was taken,” Kolivan explained. “And after I destroy what remains of the base.”

There was a brief pause where Evren appeared to consider this, but her eyes slowly widened as shock set in. “I’m coming out there—” she started.

“No. You are staying on the main base,” Kolivan stated firmly. “If you came out here it will draw unnecessary attention to the remnants of this base, as well as the hyperspace lanes. I’m fine. I can handle it.”

“Love, you don’t have any backup,” Evren retorted, and she didn’t seem to notice she had slipped up and referred to him by an endearment over an audio feed.

“Someone needs to lock down and destroy this base, just as someone needs to escort the wounded back to the main base,” Kolivan reminded her. He sighed, and there was the sound of metal scraping against metal in the background, as if he had kicked some debris out of the way. “It might take a while to rework the circuitry. I am not the Chief Communications Officer.”

“Shall I send her?” Evren suggested. Antok’s ears shifted back at the underlying desperation in her voice—she really didn’t want to leave Kolivan alone out there. Perhaps she thought that he’d accept someone else’s help if it meant she didn’t have to put herself in danger to help him.

“No, I already said I can handle it,” Kolivan said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Evren’s shoulders slumped, but she seemed to have accepted that he did not want anyone coming out to join him. “I’ll feel better once you are,” she hissed, though it appeared her anger was born of concern. Her gaze softened and she fiddled with the scarf around her neck, averting her gaze to the floor. When she next spoke, her voice was quieter than it had been since Antok had entered the room. “Be safe.”

“I will, dearest,” Kolivan said before the communication cut off.

Evren sighed once more, as her gaze flicked to Antok for a brief moment. “Hello, kitling,” she said, offering a smile before she turned back to her console and began powering down the communication feed.

“Where is he?” Antok asked.

“S2-79, Raymear Base,” Evren said curtly, gaze not straying from her console. A couple of files appeared on the holoscreen, as Kolivan had sent them directly to her terminal, rather than having sent them through communications—only the highest ranking lieutenants and Kolivan had the clearance to do that. Evren splayed her fingers, and the files spread out across the screen, allowing her to look at each one individually.

Antok was silent, knowing better than to press her for more information about the base, even though he was worried too. Slowly, he approached her and set the data chip he had retrieved down on the console for her. “Do you need anything else?” he asked, more terse than he meant to be.

Evren’s gaze flicked back to him, and her brow furrowed in concern. “No, you can take a break for now…” she said. Then, she tilted her head to the side. “Antok, is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” Antok said stiffly. He tried to keep the tip of his tail off the floor so it wouldn’t make noise, even as it twitched back and forth almost incessantly. Evren, however, did not look convinced.

“I do not need to hear your tail to know that you’re bothered by something, Antok,” Evren said, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned to face him. “I might not have birthed you, but I still raised you…”

Antok frowned—though Evren would be more inclined to describe it as a pout if asked, he was sure. When he spoke, his voice came out as little more than an irritated grumble. “How much trouble would I be in if I started a fight with Nylak?”

Evren’s ears flicked, twitching irritably against the sides of her head before she leveled him with a stern look. “You two need to sort out your issues,” she said. Then, noticing how Antok’s ears had perked up and he had opened his mouth to offer a sarcastic retort, she quickly added, “And Kellun has bigger things to worry about than two officers involved in cub squabbles.”

“She’s annoying, though,” Antok mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. He averted his gaze as if he were a scolded cub, and he didn’t try to hide the lashing of his tail back and forth against the floor of the office.

Evren sighed as she ran her hand over her crest, working her claws through her headfur. “Antok… kitling, I’m getting too old for this…”

Antok’s ears twitched as a guilty feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. She was being oddly curt—and normally, when she said something about her age, she was joking. The tip of his tail paused and then curled as his ears perked up. He should have realized that cub squabbles were the last thing she needed to be worrying about when she was already busy enough as it was—and now worry about Kolivan and his safety on top of all that too?

There was a moment’s pause, before his tail tip began twitching and his ears shifted back against the sides of his head. “Sorry, Evren…” he said. “I’ll try to… not fight her?”

Evren took a deep breath, which seemed to steady her as well as brighten her mood. Even if his answer hadn’t been the most eloquent, she still seemed to understand that he meant it, and her gaze softened. “Well, you both have very strong personalities,” she admitted. “But I trust that no claws would be involved?”

She offered a smile, tilting her head to the side, but Antok didn’t get a chance to respond. Evren’s ears perked as another incoming notification appeared on the holoscreen and she turned around to read it. Watching her shoulders deflate, Antok noticed then how exhausted she looked, as if she was about to drop where she stood. Her ears drooped further and further the longer she read over the report that had just been sent—likely another from Kolivan.

“How many did we lose?” Antok asked. He tried to meet her gaze, but she kept hers trained on the floor.

“Too many,” she said heavily. “Enough that the current initiate class and the previous one don’t cover our losses…”

“I thought Raymear was a tertiary outpost—”Antok began.

“Doesn’t mean it was safe,” Evren retorted, far more terse than she likely meant to be. As soon as she noticed her own tone, she looked up apologetically. Then, she turned back to shut down her console, carefully locking it, before she picked up the datachip he had gotten for her. She hid it underneath one of her claws.

“You’re free for the rest of the afternoon, unless Major Rei’an needs you for something,” she said, before fixing him with a look of mock sternness. “And make sure you stay out of trouble.”

“I learned how to cause trouble from the best,” Antok said.

She laughed sarcastically, before motioning with her head. “Now, come here, kitling.”

Antok did as she said, leaning down so she could run her nose along his temple. A soft, comforting purr rose in the back of her throat as she did so, and Antok mimicked it a moment later, closing his eyes.

—

It was several cycles later when the Raymear survivors finally arrived. Antok knew, because a dark, depressed cloud had descended on the base.

Rumor had begun circulating—what had happened, how many officers they had lost. Antok heard whispers in the halls, in the commissary. Older officers seemed to take care not to talk about it in front of the initiates, but that didn’t stop them from finding out about it and trying to find some rational way to explain it. Kellun had forbidden the survivors from having any visitors, due to their injuries, and Antok had heard from Ulaz that he, Kellun, and the rest of the medical staff had been working tirelessly to try and save their lives. However, because of Kellun’s inattentiveness towards his own com, Evren had sent Antok down to the medical bay in order to ask for a status report on the survivors.

He wouldn’t have minded so much, if he hadn’t been sleeping when his com had gone off—eyes still bleary from sleep, Antok had blindly pawed at the table beside his bed, nearly falling out of it before he finally found his com. He hadn’t questioned Evren’s request, and instead hastily gotten dressed so that he could catch Kellun before he turned in for the night. He had decided to forgo the chest plate and gauntlets—not only were they tedious to put on, but he was only going down two sub-decks and he doubted that it would actually take that long.

When Antok entered the medical bay, he was immediately met with an overwhelming wave of distress scent, as well as the metallic smell of blood—no doubt from the two critically wounded officers who were on the verge of joining the stars. He swallowed down the bile in the back of his throat, took a deep breath to steady himself, and then slowly made his way through the medical bay, unsure of where to start searching for Kellun. Though the medical bay was normally pretty active, right now, in the middle of the night, it was practically deserted. He only saw one other medical officer, and she passed him without paying him any mind after giving him a once over to ensure he wasn’t a late night patient—since she appeared to be heading off the sub-deck, Antok decided not to bother her. Medical officers at the ends of their shifts could be a little twitchy.

Under normal circumstances, Antok would have just tried reaching Kellun on his com, but given that Kellun hadn’t been answering Evren’s calls, Antok doubted that Kellun would answer his.

He paused when he spotted Kellun in one of the medical rooms through the observation window, along with a medical officer whose name he didn’t know, who must have been operating as his assistant for the time being. Kellun flitted about the room as he checked the monitors that had been hooked up to the Raymear survivors, dictating observations for the other medical officer. Judging by the way his ears had shifted back against his head, and the look of exhaustion on his face, not only had Kellun been caring for them around the clock with minimal sleep—probably since they had arrived—but the prognosis wasn’t looking good. Even if they had managed to survive the attack that had killed the rest of their unit, that was about all they had managed to do.

Looking at them now, Antok could see why their outlook was so grim. One appeared to have been badly burned, with bandages covering half his face, much of his upper torso, and one of his arms. As if he had been in explosion of some kind. The other looked as if he had lost one of his arms, as well as taken a pretty bad hit to the head, in addition to much more minor burn scarring. Antok’s ears shifted back at the sight, and he quickly averted his gaze.

“Oh, hello, Antok,” Kellun said as he exited the room. He looked over his shoulder at the other medical officer who was still in the room. “Lani! I’m stepping out for a tick to check on Roc. Com me if anything changes.”

“Of course, sir,” Lani said as they brought their fist to their chest, dipping their head before they turned their attention back to their datapad.

Then, Kellun put his hand on the pad beside the door, and it slid shut behind him, locking in place. Kellun sighed, massaging one of his temples as he looked back at Antok. “So, Evren finally sent someone to bug me in her stead, huh?”

“Well, you haven’t been answering her calls,” Antok said dryly.

Kellun gestured towards the room he had just exited. “Well, I’ve been a little busy.”

Antok glanced back to the Raymear survivors again, ears twitching uncomfortably against the sides of his head. He didn’t know their names, but he was sure someone on base would be mourning their passing. “Did you know them?” he asked.

Kellun shook his head. “Not well, but…” he trailed off as his large ears shifted back against the sides of his head again, and he ran his hand over his crest. “I was serving under Matron Lok when one of them broke his arm during a training mission… the other one visited him while I was overseeing his physical therapy. They were sweet boys… it’s a shame that this—” He motioned again towards where the two officers lay. “—this is what the stars decided was going to be their fate.”

“So, they’re not going to make it?” Antok sighed.

“No, Antok… I don’t think they are,” Kellun said, shoulders slumping as he crossed his arms over his chest. “At this point, the only thing I can do for them is make their passings as painless as possible for them…”

“Evren is going to want all of this in writing,” Antok reminded him stiffly. He wanted to get out of the medical bay. Now, preferably. The scent of distress and blood was beginning to overwhelm his senses and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand to be next to the room it was emanating from. How Kellun, Roc, and Ulaz managed this on a daily basis was a mystery to him.

“Well, I have a report somewhere, but I don’t—” Kellun began.

“Kellun!”

“Oh, stars, what now?” Kellun grumbled before he could stop himself.

Ulaz hurried up to them. He was dressed in his undersuit without armor, as if he had only gotten dressed to come down to the medical bay. Keith was tucked comfortably against his chest, wrapped up in a blanket. However, the cub looked downright miserable, with a red face and eyes. Antok could see a couple of tears still running down his cheeks, too, as he sniffled pitifully, pawing at one of his ears.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” Kellun said, ears flicking in annoyance. “You just finished a twelve varga shift, Ulaz.”

“I know, but Keith has an earache… he couldn’t sleep, and because he couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t sleep,” Ulaz explained, carefully running his claws through Keith’s headfur. Ulaz looked exhausted—probably from a combination of the aforementioned twelve varga shift and his cub being sick. “I didn’t… it’s just he’s so small and I didn’t know if I should adjust the dosage or if he’d react to anything—”

Kellun sighed, and his gaze softened as he massaged one of his temples again. “Alright, come on,” he said, sounding about as tired as he looked. “Roc is in room three. I can do an examination in there. Antok, you can come too, so I can get that report you need for Evren.”

He led them to the next room over, where Roc was busy organizing and putting away some of the medical equipment. His ears perked and turned when he heard the door open, but he didn’t do anything besides make a gesture that Antok recognized as his form of greeting—specifically, the way he greeted Kellun, by drawing one of his hands away from his chest in a sweeping motion. Kellun mimicked the gesture without missing a tick, and then motioned to the examination table with his head.

“Set him down there, please,” he said, before turning his gaze back to Roc. “Darling, find the otoscope, I need to check the cub’s ear.”

Antok settled a couple of paces away from the table, leaning back against a nearby counter as he watched the examination with a mild sense of curiosity. Once Keith had been set down and Roc had returned with the necessary equipment, Kellun began carefully looking into Keith’s ear. He apologized gently whenever Keith made a noise of discomfort—clearly, Keith didn’t like having something shoved into his ears any more than other cubs did. Ulaz’s claws tapped nervously against the table until Kellun stepped away.

“Well?” Ulaz asked. “Is it bad?”

“I’ve seen worse,” Kellun said simply, before looking over his shoulder at Roc. “Darling, find a compress, would you? There should be one already in the cryofreezer.”

“Do you need to keep him overnight?” Ulaz asked.

Kellun snorted, looking rather amused at the suggestion. “No, I wouldn’t worry about this at all… cubs get ear infections all the time. You just need to keep an eye on it—he might be more susceptible because he’s a hybrid,” he said, before thanking Roc softly as he was given the compress. Lightly, he pressed it to Keith’s ear, positioning it correctly. Then, he moved to the side, letting Roc take his place so that Roc could help Keith hold the compress against his ear. Keith appeared to be too drowsy to be of much help in that regard, only perking up slightly when he noticed who was helping him.

“Back on Zyleth, I treated more ear and urinary tract infections than anything else,” Kellun said, shrugging. “Cubs bounce back fast. Now wait here. I’ll be right back.”

And then, he was gone, presumably to get both the medicine that Keith needed, as well as the report for Antok. With a patient to attend to, he wouldn’t take too long.

One of the claws on Antok’s toes tapped against the floor once—twice—with a soft click noise. Ulaz seemed to be getting impatient as well, leaning forward on the examination table as he watched Roc and Keith. Roc carefully signed something to the cub with his three free hands while Keith watched the movements intently. He even tried to sign back after watching for a moment. He couldn’t quite manage it with the finesse that Roc did, though. Roc was being patient, and gently correcting his signs where he could. Ulaz, however, appeared to understand better than Keith did, and when he recognized a sign, he would respond—with more jerky motions than Kellun, but Roc seemed to understand.

Kellun returned within five doboshes, carrying a small bottle, and Antok caught sight of a datachip hidden underneath of one of his claws. However, Kellun went directly back over to Keith.

“Alright, this is for cubs his age, but not his size,” Kellun sighed—he sounded even more tired now than he had when Antok had first run into him on the sub-deck. Ulaz’s ears perked as Kellun started speaking, and he listened intently. “I’m going to halve the dosage. Two drops. Keep an eye on him tonight and if he has some kind of reaction—increased fever, rash, swelling, that kind of thing—bring him down here immediately—”

“Kel,” Roc cut in, before motioning to Keith with his ears. “Drops first.”

“Shit—right,” Kellun grumbled.

“Kellun… language, please,” Ulaz said tiredly, even though it didn’t appear that Keith had heard Kellun’s slip up.

“Sorry, I’m just… exhausted,” Kellun said.

“It’s fine,” Ulaz assured him. “We’re all tired…”

Antok wasn’t surprised when Kellun put on another smile for Keith, though. He gently turned Keith’s head to the side so that he could administer the first drops into Keith’s ears. Keith’s face scrunched up at the feeling—evidently, he did not take too kindly to the feeling of the drops. However, he only squirmed and whined, not exploding into a full blown tantrum.

“There you go, little one,” Kellun praised the cub, voice soft even as the tips of his ears twitched. Roc lightly touched Kellun’s shoulder and signed something too quickly for Antok to catch, but Kellun sighed, shaking his head. “I’m fine for now, love… now, find something so that he doesn’t have to hold his head to the side like this.”

Then, he held the bottle out for Ulaz to take. “Two drops, just for the next couple of days,” Kellun repeated. “Lani is on duty until morning shifts. They can get in touch with me if Keith needs something.”

“Thank you,” Ulaz said, gently picking Keith up. The cub snuggled into Ulaz’s arms and yawned wide. However, it didn’t appear as though his ear was bothering him anymore.

Only once the cub had settled did Kellun remove the datachip from underneath of his claw and hand it over to Antok. “Evren’s report,” he said, as Antok looked at the little chip sitting in his palm. “If I missed anything, she only needs to ask.”

Kellun then excused himself—he looked ready to pass out where he stood—and exited the examination room. Roc waited until both Antok and Ulaz had left before he put his palm on the pad and the door locked behind them. Then, he followed after his bondmate, and they disappeared further into the medical bay.

“Long day?” Antok asked as he and Ulaz began walking in the opposite direction.

Ulaz nodded. “Myrek was worried sick,” he said. “Keith’s never had an ear infection before so he wasn’t sure why he was pawing at his ear…”

“You seemed pretty worried too,” Antok pointed out.

Ulaz snorted and cracked a smile. “A little bit,” he said, glancing down at the cub, who appeared to have finally dozed off, hand clutching at Ulaz’s undersuit. “He’s a tough cub, though. He’ll be fine.”

They walked in silence for a couple of ticks before Ulaz’s ears perked. They were passing the room of the Raymear survivors again. Lani was still in there, although they were standing with their back to the door and going over something on their datapad.

After a moment, Ulaz’s ears shifted back. “They’re from the same initiate class as Lo—” Ulaz cut off, and cleared his throat awkwardly as his ears began twitching against the sides of his head. He held Keith closer as well.

Antok’s own ears moved back as they continued past the room. “Oh… the first class Evren taught…” he surmised, and Ulaz mutely nodded. Antok had only been a cub when they were in training, but they couldn’t have been that old. Younger than Kellun, perhaps, but not by much. Certainly too young to already be dying.

“And Kellun is running himself into the ground right now,” Ulaz sighed. “I keep telling him I can handle the sub-deck so that he could get off base for an afternoon… but he doesn’t listen.”

“I thought he had some bounty on his head,” Antok said as they entered the elevator to go back up to sub-deck 3.

“Ten thousand GAC, apparently,” Ulaz said, though he didn’t appear as though he fully believed Kellun—perhaps about the bounty, but not about the price. Keith made a soft gurgling sound in his sleep, then—and Ulaz responded with a low purr, until he had settled again.

“Has there been any word from Thace?” Antok asked as the elevator doors opened again and they exited. “He’s been gone almost two weeks now.”

“Any messages he does send are intended for the Commander and Bladesmith,” Ulaz said, shrugging. He didn’t seem concerned about it—or if he was, he was doing a very good job of hiding it. “But Evren did tell me that he’s fine… he asks about Keith in every single message. How he’s doing, is he behaving… my personal favorite was ‘does he miss me?’ That was cute.”

“Something tells me that Thace didn’t ask about Keith in messages he was sending to Evren,” Antok said, tilting his head to the side as he looked at Ulaz in amusement.

Ulaz’s ears twitched against the sides of his head as he cleared his throat awkwardly. “If you are suggesting that Thace has been sending me personal messages—which I remind you is against protocol—then you would be wrong, and I would ask that you never bring it up again.”

Antok snickered, trying to stifle his laughter behind his fist. “How sweet.”

—

Myrek’s room was located on one of the lower levels, with the rest of the newer officers and initiates. Technically, he had to share a room with his brother, but as Kyren was off base for another year at least, and as the Blade wasn’t currently pressed for space, Myrek had the rare luxury of having a room completely to himself as a young, newly recognized officer. The rooms that the initiates and young officers received were much smaller than those held by the older, more experienced officers. There was only enough room for a bunk bed on one side, and storage and a minimal working space on the other. As most of the officers would be spending very little time on base, and were often sent away long before they could receive the more sizable rooms on the upper levels, there was little need for anything else.

Antok remembered how he had been shoved into one of the too-small rooms with Thace from the time they started training until they were sent off on their first official missions. Of course, he hadn’t been down to sub-deck 8 to look for a specific room since he had been a new officer himself—and he had shipped out almost immediately after becoming one to help with efforts on other bases. Granted, that had only been about six or so years ago, but the barracks hadn’t changed at all. They still looked like a labyrinth of identical doors that were too close together, leading into rooms that certainly would have looked far too similar.

He had come down here with the intention of physically dragging Myrek back up to the training deck, since they hadn’t sparred in nearly a week. However, upon finally finding Myrek’s room, Antok realized that it wasn’t going to be an option that day. Myrek was watching Keith again, it seemed.

“Having fun?” Antok asked. He barely managed to withhold a snort as Keith started trying to climb up onto Myrek’s shoulder, smearing green paint into Myrek’s bluish-purple fur in the process. He seemed to be in much higher spirits than he had been the last time that Antok had seen him a couple of nights previously down in the medical bay—it seemed that his ear was feeling better, and Keith was too young to have been saddened by the passing of one of the Raymear survivors.

Myrek acknowledged him with a glance before grimacing and lightly plucking Keith off his shoulder. “Oh, yeah… loads,” he said, setting the cub back in his lap. Lightly, he tapped the large sheet of paper that was laid out in front of him, trying to turn Keith’s attention back to it. Once Keith had started slathering paint on the paper again—deep purple this time—Myrek leaned back on his hands and heaved a sigh.

“He is definitely going to need a bath after this,” he said, lightly running a hand over Keith’s paint-stained headfur.

Judging by the glare Keith threw Myrek’s way, he knew exactly what Myrek had just said—or perhaps he just recognized the word bath and realized it meant he had to take one. He looked about as menacing as a two-and-a-half year old was capable of being. “No!” he insisted, sticking out his tongue for good measure.

Myrek smiled, trying to keep from bursting into laughter as he mimicked Keith and stuck his tongue out back at the cub. “Yes, Keith,” he said.

“Aren’t you a little old to be getting into arguments with two-year olds?” Antok questioned as he ducked past the threshold into Myrek’s room.

“He’s two and a half, actually,” Myrek said, leveling Antok with a flat, unimpressed look as he stopped just shy of the foot of Myrek’s bunk. He was trying to keep some distance between himself and the cub, hoping that Keith wouldn’t take offense to his presence. “And aren’t you a little old to be scared of him?”

Antok scoffed, as if the idea was ridiculous. “I’m not scared of him.”

Myrek tilted his head to the side, looking unsettlingly amused by Antok’s statement, as a sly smirk appeared on his lips. “Oh yeah? Then, why don’t you hold him?”

“Because he would throw a fit if I tried,” Antok retorted.

“That’s because he can smell your fear,” Myrek said, trying to sound teasing, though his ears twitched as he sat up straight again and worked his claws through the mane on the back of his neck—a nervous tic of his, from what Antok had seen. “Sorry, that was probably mean… but Bladesmith Evren was telling me that I should try encouraging you to—”

“Oh, here we go…” Antok sighed as he sat down heavily beside Myrek. Keith took notice of him, and while the cub was still wary of his presence, he didn’t look nearly as scared as he had in the past. He actually looked just a touch curious.

But then, he reached out to pat a tiny hand against Myrek’s chest. “Rek mine,” he said firmly, as an irritated pout appeared on his features.

Antok snorted at the cub’s attempt at being intimidating and staking his claim. “Look, cub, you can have him,” he said, and the tip of his tail flicked back and forth against the floor in amusement—the noise of it caught Keith’s attention, and he tracked its movement with his eyes. Keith’s attention was only drawn back to Antok when he spoke again. “He’s your cubsitter, not mine.”

Keith’s pout returned and he stuck his tongue out at Antok. He was more than happy to respond in kind.

Myrek tried very poorly to conceal his laughter. “Now who’s too old to be getting into arguments with cubs?”

“He started it,” Antok retorted.

The com on Myrek’s belt beeped twice before he could respond, and he shot Antok an apologetic look before quickly retrieving it. “Yes, Bladesmith? Yes, I can—oh… no, no. It’s no trouble—I can definitely find someone else to watch him—”

Dread settled in the pit of Antok’s stomach when Myrek’s eyes flashed to him for a tick before they returned to Keith. Antok couldn’t be sure, but Keith seemed to realize that he was not going to like the coming situation, as he had started whining, clutching at the fabric of Myrek’s hood.

That unease was quite mutual.

“No,” Antok said firmly, before Myrek had even made the suggestion.

Myrek sighed, looking at him pleadingly. “Antok, I do not have time to hunt down Ulaz—”

“Myrek, no!”

Myrek’s ears pinned back, twitching in irritation as his mane fluffed up. “—not that Ulaz would even be able to watch his cub right now anyway. He’s still on shift, and they’re really busy because of the—”

“Do you really think that Thace would want me watching his cub?” Antok countered, cutting Myrek off before he ended up rambling. “When he left, he said, and I quote, ‘Stars forbid you ever have to watch him.’”

“Antok, please. It’ll just be half a varga,” Myrek said pleadingly. “Bladesmith Evren needs me for this errand and then I’ll be right back. You don’t even have to take him anywhere—please, just take Keith.”

Antok wasn’t entirely sure why he decided to give in—it could have been the look of utter desperation on Myrek’s face, or a need to help his friend—but he sighed heavily. Even as his tail twitched back and forth in irritation, he nodded. “Fine—fine, give him here.”

“Oh, thank the stars,” Myrek said as he handed Keith over, even as the cub squirmed.

Antok held Keith out at arm’s length, more petrified by the prospect of actually having to watch this cub then he had been of anything in a while. But if Myrek noticed, he didn’t let on, and before Antok could argue any further, or back out, Myrek had already crawled over his lap and scrambled to his feet and out the door, which slid shut behind him. Antok was left there, holding up a cub that seemed to be roughly the size of his palm.

Antok took a couple of slow deep breaths—it was just for half a varga, and then Myrek would be back. Just half a varga…

Keith was staring at him with wide eyes, but had stopped squirming, thankfully. However, he was dripping paint—he really was going to need a bath. Antok tilted his head to the side curiously, wondering what had led to the cub’s sudden change in demeanor. He was surprised when Keith copied him. He had seen Ulaz do the same thing with the cub on at least one occasion, as some kind of bizarre miming game. He tried not dwell on how if Ulaz was the one holding Keith up like this, then the cub would be giggling happily and trying to reach out for him.

But now, Keith was silent, watching him like a shriik hawk.

Antok knew that Keith grabbed fur, often with the intention of tearing it out—and he laughed while doing so, as if it was the funniest thing in the world. He didn’t fault the cub for his tenacity, but Antok was happy that his fur was far out of reach. However, he also couldn’t hold Keith out at arm’s length forever… with a sigh, he resigned himself to his fate, and brought the cub closer.

Then, Keith smacked his forehead against Antok’s. He sputtered and actually dropped the cub into his lap, but Keith was quick, and had already crawled away before Antok could catch him again, leaving a couple of purplish-green hand and foot prints on the floor. Antok watched the cub move away as a sense of bewilderment came over him. Keith hid himself in between the wall and the storage unit on the far side of the room, watching Antok with an irritated pout on his face.

Well, at least he wasn’t crying, and there was no way that he’d be getting out the room since the door was shut and Keith was far too short to activate the door himself.

Awkwardly, Antok fumbled for his datapad—he had a couple of supply lists he was going through for Major Rei’an, checking the numbers on their provisions before another supply run went out. Since Keith seemed fine on his own, there was no need to keep an active eye on him. He quickly became absorbed in his work, occasionally glancing up to make sure Keith hadn’t gone anywhere else in the room besides the spot he had hidden himself away in. The reports were not the most entertaining things to go through, and he would have preferred to be helping Evren with some of the training sessions, but as long as he was being helpful, he didn’t care.

His ears perked up when he heard Keith stumble a little bit, and he turned his head in the direction of the noise. Keith was crouched on the ground, a couple of feet from his hiding place, watching the tip of Antok’s tail intently as it twitched across the floor, flicking upwards on occasion. Amused, Antok carefully flicked his tail in a wider arch, brushing it against the floor. Keith’s expression turned determined as he watched it, and he inched forward slowly and carefully. Then, he noticed that Antok was watching him. Antok quirked a brow, letting out a deep purr of amusement, which seemed to calm Keith just a little bit. He didn’t look nearly as startled as he had when he had accidentally run into Antok’s leg the week before.

“Go on,” Antok said, and when he flicked his tail tip again, Keith’s attention snapped back to the movement. He carefully crouched down, preparing to pounce, before looking at Antok warily. “Go on, cub…” Antok encouraged. “I’m not going to bite you.”

Keith pounced, managing to pin down the tip of Antok’s tail underneath his clawless hands, and he giggled, seeming to be satisfied with his catch. Antok tilted his head to the side fondly, before he carefully reached out to ruffle Keith’s paint-stained headfur.

“Nice catch, little one,” he said, purring in amusement. Keith responded with some kind of gurgling noise as he climbed into Antok’s lap and got comfortable, seeming to think it was a safe place to sit now. The gurgling noise didn’t stop either and Antok frowned, unsure of what to make of the noise—until he remembered Thace mentioning offhandedly once that Keith couldn’t purr.

Well, that was… cute, he supposed.

Keith sat easily in his lap, occasionally reaching up to try and paw at the screen of his datapad, leaving streaks of half-dried paint on the screen. However, Antok found that the cub could be easily distracted if he lightly swished the tip of his tail across the ground. Keith spent the rest of the half-varga carefully stalking around to try and get the jump on Antok’s tail as he worked. However, he eventually gave a wide yawn and got comfortable, snuggling into Antok’s arms.

Antok purred deep in his chest, taking care not to disturb Keith as he leaned over to clean up what was left of the paints, though there was nothing he could do about the hand and foot prints Keith had left all over the floor of Myrek’s room. By the time Myrek returned—nearly tripping through the doorway in his haste—Keith was sleeping peacefully.

“He… he’s taking his nap?” Myrek asked in surprise, making sure to keep his voice quiet.

Antok looked Myrek up and down, and barely managed to keep from snorting. “Yes, he’s taking his nap… and you went running errands for Evren covered in paint.”

Myrek’s fur fluffed up in embarrassment. “Ugh, no wonder Lieutenant Kost couldn’t keep a straight face,” he groaned, holding his head in his hands. However, then he glared at Antok. “Wait… you saw me leave—why didn’t you tell me?!”

Antok held a finger to his lips, unable to contain his smile. “Shh… you’ll disturb the needy little drisiil.”

Myrek frowned, and elbowed Antok hard in the arm after plopping down beside him.

—

As it turned out, once Keith decided he liked someone, he was actually rather well behaved.

With Myrek being sent out on a mission of his own, there weren’t many options available for cubsitting—some of the younger initiates might have been about to watch Keith, but Ulaz had stated that he felt better if an older officer was doing it. Since Keith actually seemed to like him now, Antok had offered to watch Keith for the day. As he had been intending to spend part of the morning with Evren anyway, it didn’t seem like an awful way to start his cubsitting experience. If he became overwhelmed, Evren would be able to step in and help.

Keith toddled along behind Antok, trying to keep pace with him even in spite of his much shorter gait. He had insisted on walking on his own, and was holding onto tightly to the end of Antok’s tail. It was slow going, and Antok had to stop every couple of steps to keep from pulling Keith over, but they were almost there.

“Ani!” Keith said when he caught up with Antok. The cub held up one of his hands and made a grabbing motion. “Up, up!”

Antok leaned down to let the cub grab hold of his fingers, and then he carefully lifted Keith up onto his shoulders. Keith grabbed onto his ears, seeming content with his new perch. This was the first time he had been to sub-deck 1, or so Antok had been led to believe.

“Where?” Keith asked, and Antok hissed softly as the cub yanked on his ear a bit too hard.

“I already told you,” Antok said through gritted teeth. “We’re going to see Evren—”

“Ev!” Keith chirped.

Evren’s quarters were located on sub-deck 1—technically, they were the Commander of the Blade’s quarters, and the Bladesmith was supposed to stay in the blade vault as a last ditch form of protection against the vault being broken into. However, as such an event hadn’t occurred in several centuries, and Evren was Kolivan’s bondmate, leniency was allowed.

Evren had left the door unlocked, so Antok let himself in, ducking low to ensure Keith didn’t hit his head on the door frame. If there were any quarters that could have been considered luxurious on this base, they would be Kolivan and Evren’s quarters. Not only did they have their own bathroom, but they also had a kitchenette with an actual stove top on it—even if Antok knew they only ever used it to make tea, and took most of their meals with the rest of the officers down in the commissary. They also had a desk with an attached console.

“Oh, you’re early, kitling!” Evren’s voice came from beyond the decorative, dark gray screen that served as a barrier between the rest of the room and the bed. She emerged a moment later, adjusting her overtunic and sash as she hurried over to greet him and Keith. “I haven’t even put on the tea yet!”

She stood up on her toes and Antok leaned down so that she could rub her cheek against his as a soft purr left her throat. She noticed Keith, and reached out to take him from Antok. She pressed her forehead to his and then rubbed their noses together as Keith giggled. Then, she set Keith gently down on the floor and motioned to the other side of the room, where a small box was sitting.

“I found some of Antok’s old toys in storage, little one,” she said softly, nudging him in the direction of the box. “Go on, find one you like…”

Keith grinned widely and hurried over to the box, beginning to dig through it. Antok recognized several of the toys that Keith pulled out of the box, but he hadn’t seen them in a long time—probably not since he was seven or eight.

“What kind of tea did you want, Antok?” Evren asked as she approached the kitchenette and began digging through one of the cabinets. “I don’t have any sweets this time, unfortunately… I could have made those laika tarts you love so much…”

“I’ll have whatever you have, I guess,” Antok said, sitting down heavily on the couch and stretching out his legs to rest them on the table in front of it, even though Evren always told him off for doing that.

Keith came up to him, holding one of the toys, and proudly presented it to him with a big grin. Antok quietly thanked him, and only when he had accepted the gift—which was a stuffed yupper that had seen better days and was far smaller than Antok remembered it being—Keith hurried back to the box and continued digging around in it, looking for more toys that he liked. Carefully, Antok set the stuffed yupper on the couch beside him and started looking around the room.

His eyes fell on one of the many frames that Evren had used to decorate the space—at least, Antok assumed that the frames were Evren’s idea, unless Kolivan was far more sentimental than he ever let on about. The only picture Antok had ever seen Kolivan keep around with him was a picture of his and Evren’s bonding ceremony. Antok had never really paid much attention to it, though.

One of the frames had a picture of Evren and Kolivan when they were younger—judging by the thick cub fur and their small statures, they couldn’t have been older then seven or eight. The picture showed them being caught in the act of raiding the kitchen on the base they had been raised on, as Evren had a polan fruit held in her teeth as she reached out to snatch a second one, and Kolivan had been trying to boost her up onto the counter. Kolivan looked petrified at being caught, while Evren looked annoyed, glaring irritably at whoever had taken the picture.

Another picture showed Antok when he was small and extremely fluffy with cub fur—both he and Evren were smiling and laughing as Evren attempted to groom his fur. There was another one of him and Kolivan, from when Antok had first started training with a blade—one of the wooden practice ones, which was the only reason that Kolivan wasn’t wearing his chest plate or his gauntlets in the picture. Though, if Antok remembered correctly, he had whacked Kolivan in the shin a couple of minutes after that had been taken, hard enough that Kolivan had lost his balance and fallen over.

The last picture he saw was of the three of them, and Antok remembered the day that had been taken, because it had been shortly before Evren had her accident. It had been a couple of months after Kolivan had gotten promoted, following Commander Evek’s death, and Evren had left the day after the picture was taken. Antok had been… maybe thirteen or fourteen—a teenager, but not yet old enough to officially undertake training, and he wouldn’t for nearly four years after that.

Evren had come back from that mission with half her face in shreds and several broken bones. Her partner on the mission hadn’t made it out alive. She had collapsed in the docking bay and had had to receive emergency treatment for her injuries… or so Antok had heard. Kolivan hadn’t let him see her until nearly a week later.

“Alright, move your feet—honestly, kitling, how many times do I have to tell you—” Evren said as she shoved his feet off of the table so she could set the tray down instead. She pouring him a cup of tea, then handed it over to him, and he tried to carefully hold the cup that was far too small for his hands without scratching it with his claws. Then, Evren poured herself a cup as well.

Keith hurried over, this time holding a small blue and silver ball in his hands. Carefully, Antok reached out to take it and thanked the cub again. Keith beamed, and then ran off again.

“So, you’ve finally given in and taken a liking to him,” Evren said before taking a sip of her tea. “That’s good, I was worried that you never would… Myrek told me that he came back and found Keith taking a nap in your lap last week…”

“He seems to like chasing my tail,” Antok said, shrugging.

“Thace used to do that too, remember?” Evren asked, eyes sparkling as she laughed. “When you were both cubs, you used to get into fights about it. Once you knocked over one of Matron Lok’s beakers, and you both came running to me as if I was some kind of shield…”

Antok smiled, tail tip flicking in amusement. “And then you told her off because we were little and couldn’t have known any better.”

Evren snorted. “Except you two did… little brats, the both of you.” However, there was no malice in her tone, and she took another sip of her tea before speaking. “I supposed I should also thank Myrek for making you take care of Keith for half a varga… did you know that I want to make Myrek my apprentice eventually?”

Antok frowned at her. “He hasn’t mentioned that… and I usually can’t get him to shut up.”

“Oh, that’s because I haven’t told him yet,” Evren said as her grin returned. “I decided a while ago, actually… shortly after Kyren was sent off.” Then, she fixed him with a stern look. “And don’t you go telling him—”

“Me, ruin a surprise?” Antok snorted into his tea cup. “Never…”

“As I recall, you are the reason that Kolivan’s fifth anniversary present was ruined,” Evren said, shaking her head.

“You told me you already knew!” Antok said, whining as if he were a scolded cub. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed how Keith perked up at the noise, looking at them in surprise. However, when Antok didn’t address him directly, he lost interest and went back to digging around in the box.

“I did, but I was going to at least act surprised,” Evren said, “And then you come scrambling into my office, like a shriik hawk straight from the Void, as if someone was dying—”

“In all fairness, Kolivan was chasing me, so how do we know I wasn’t going to die?” Antok cut in.

Evren gave a fond tilt of her head and sighed, before averting her gaze. Then, she raised a hand, lightly running her fingers over the pendant of a sydak wolf’s head that hung from her neck. Normally, her bonding pendant was hidden underneath her chest plate, but today, she had left it out.

“He’ll be fine,” Antok said, in an attempt to cheer her up.

Evren scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. “If I were more worried, I wouldn’t be on this base right now, and Kellun would be in charge of every single one of you.”

Antok snorted, unable to contain his grin. “Stars, please no,” he pleaded half-heartedly.

“Ani!” Keith said suddenly, trying to clamber up onto the couch with another of the toys from the box. However, he couldn’t quite manage it himself, and Antok purred softly in amusement as he caught the cub by the back of his shirt and lifted him up onto the couch. Then, Keith proudly presented a third and final toy—which looked like some kind of lizard creature—to Antok.

“Thank you, it’s very nice,” Antok said, patiently as he could. Then, he gave the other two toys back to the cub. “Now, you have a set.”

Keith beamed as he settled down on the couch between Antok and Evren, seeming to be pleased now that he thought he was being included in their conversation. Evren smiled, lightly tucking a stray lock of Keith’s headfur behind one of his tiny ears.

“Did you never want any of your own?” Antok asked suddenly, against his better judgment—it wasn’t a topic that Evren liked discussing. “Cubs, I mean…”

She scoffed. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “I raised you, didn’t I?”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Antok said.

Evren’s ears shifted back, but she took another sip of her tea before answering. “We tried for a while, but… well, in the end, we decided it was better if we didn’t,” she said stiffly. Then, her voice turned wistful, as her eyes shifted to look at the pictures she had displayed, lingering on the one of her and Kolivan as cubs. “Besides, Kolivan and I know better than most what can happen in the worst case scenario to cubs who are Blade-born… seeing as we lived it.”

It was the best explanation he had ever gotten out of her—it was a topic she always avoided, even when he had been a cub himself. He decided to let it go, not wanting to upset her any further.

Evren’s dour mood didn’t last long, however, as she turned her attention back to Keith. Her wistful expression melted away to one of fondness as she watched him. He had become distracted from the toys in his lap by the sound of Antok’s tail swishing back and forth against the floor, and seemed to be trying to locate where the noise was coming from by turning his head this way and that. Evren tried to hide her amused grin behind her teacup.

It took Keith a moment, but he finally crawled to the edge of the couch and peered down. And then a grin broke out on his face as he readied to pounce.