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Mama always brought gifts when she traveled, books, food, toys, she even took him to pet tigers after she was absent for five weeks. After a month and a half, he wondered what she was going to bring with her this time.
Her arrival wasn't simple or silent, Damian's nana always made sure to dress him in his best clothes, wait for Mama on the beach, and, after she talked with Grandfather, they would spend a whole day together.
Today she arrived in a helicopter, his nana had woken him at midnight, dragging the half-asleep boy to the heliport, Damian stared at the open door of the helicopter, where Mama sat, she climbed down, and Damian rushed to be at her side.
"I've heard a lot about you," she said, her hand reaching Damian's shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze, "after Father and I talk we could take breakfast on my balcony."
Damian beamed, letting himself smile at her, being at her balcony meant no one was watching them, and Mama talked freely, usually, she told him stories about Baba. She winked at him, shushing him to go back with his nana, behind her, a strange man went down the helicopter, looking at Damian with curious eyes, when Mama moved her hand he walked to be at her side, following when she adventured inside the palace.
An hour after, Damian was brushing butter in a toast, standing upright when Mama came back to the balcony, the strange man carrying a plate of fruits, Damian stared at him, dresses in black and tight-fitting clothes, his hair fell at his back, curled at the height of his shoulders, his eyes were strange, a bright blue, like robin’s eggshells, with specks of gold in the iris, dark veins curled at his temple, neck, and hands, the skin unusually pale. He stood behind Mama when she sat, leaving the plate in the middle of the table.
“Talk to me, My Love, good things.”
Damian nodded, taking big gulps of warm milk before talking, keeping an eye on Mama’s expression, raising up at Mama’s proud smile, he talked until she finished her coffee, peeling an apple lazily, cutting bite sizes pieces for Damian.
“Did you bring something?”
“You had been pretty insistent on having a pet, I think you are capable of taking care of another living creature, Father believes you should be tested,” she let the hearth of the apple on the plate, looking back at the strange man. “We had decided you would take care of Talon until I deemed necessary, and, after that, we could talk about a more… conventional pet.” The man looked at Mama, head lolled to the side, he looked back at Damian, those estrange blue eyes burning on his skin, his right eye twitched, but his face stood as blank as it was before when Mama pointed at Damian. “I can’t be here for more than a few days, take good care of him.”
Talon was very strange, he stood at the entrance of the rooms he followed Damian, his eyes appeared to absorb everything around him, he never talked, face blank, he followed every order Damian gave him, no matter how ridiculous it was, he barely ate, Damian needed to offer him food, but he always rose the corners of his mouth a little, barely perceptible, he didn’t sleep unless he was told, and appeared to be a corpse, static, his chest static, the first times Damian put a little mirror under his nose, to check if he was alive.
But he cracked, when he was alone with Damian he didn’t appear to be tense, there was a certain cheerfulness when they were alone, eyes full of questions.
“Why you don’t talk?” asked Damian “I give you permission to talk.”
Talon shacked his head, hand going around his neck, Damian blushed, remembering Grandfather’s most personal guards, necks tore apart to assure they silence.
Two weeks after Talon’s arrival, Mama came back, it was his birthday, eight years old, and she took wooden swords, for their annual battle, this time Damian got a kiss on his forehead, after keeping his own for fifteen minutes, sad, he went back to his room, Talon glaring at him from his favorite spot under the window, curled over the loveseat Damian had.
In a few steps he was at Damian side, careful hands brushing the sweaty hair out of his forehead, despite himself, Damian winced when the hands brushed the blossoming bruise on his cheek, lips moving in soundless words, he dragged Damian to the bed, moving all worried over the room.
He looked funny, searching for clothes and ointment, fawning over Damian when he tried to get down the bed, pillows and plushies were accommodate around him, Talon’s cold hands tugging his shirt lightly, making faces when he saw the mess his chest was.
“It’s nothing, Mama shouldn’t hold herself back if she wants me to be the best,” Talon frowned, smearing the thick and smelly paste on his chest and back.
Damian knew this was pointless, tomorrow he was going to get hurt, and the day after that, and every day that followed, his ankle was still sore after he tore the muscle last month, his shoulder cried in a dull pain after he fell from a horse, just last week the cuts he got on his arm were healed, but Talon looked happy after helping him, unlike the cold and quite sad demeanor he had most of the time.
“You can sleep, or do whatever you want, I don’t mind,” Talon went back to the window, golden and blue eyes watching over him, “turn off the lights… and thank you.”
For the first time, Talon’s smile wasn’t just a twitch at the corners of his mouth, he smiled widely, bright white teeth, warm, blowing off the candles on the room, petting Damian in the head before going back to his seat.
After that, Damian learned things Talon liked, he liked to be outside, and, knowing Damian’s rooms was a safe place, he gave wide and bright smiles to the boy, hands always toying with his hair or the necks of his shirts, he liked when Damian talked to him. And Damian, he had started to enjoy the time with Talon quite a lot, after his birthday his nanny had been fired, and Talon was the only constant in his life, he was an attentive listener, always melted next to Damian when he read out loud for both of them, always happy when Damian sneaked candies for the both of them.
When he was five he had learned he was too old for nightmares, and running to cuddle with Mama because he was afraid was not acceptable, his nannies were only around to help him get dressed and take him to his lessons, but Talon was always there, and he was fast at the side of his bed when Damian woke up in shivers and shacky breaths.
“Stop looking at me like that!” Damian yelled, pulling the covers over his head, “Nothing happened!” Damian peaked under the covers, looking at the hurt and worried face, feeling the guilt pool at his belly, he caught Talon’s eyes, sad and preoccupied, with bravado, Damian rose on the bed, sat in front of Talon. “There is nothing to worry about.”
The man rolled his eyes, long and cold fingers wrapped around Damian’s hand, unimpressed when Damian started to protest, he dragged him to the kitchen, sneaking around the shadows, winking mischievously at Damian when the kid pulled his hand. He pulled Damian up, sitting him on the counter despite his angry squawking, searching things in the cupboard, heating a pot on the stove.
“We shouldn’t be here; the head cocker would kill us.”
Talon just shrugged, serving what he was heating on two cups, passing one to Damian, he smiled at the kid, sipping the hot cocoa he made, brushing Damian’s hair, already a mess.
Sometimes Grandfather took interest in Damian’s training, hands crossed over his chest, he waited for Damian to act, the little ducklings quacking at his feet, he felt Grandfather’s eyes on him, the expectations heavy on his back.
“I don’t have all day, Grandson.”
Gulping, Damian picked one duck, small on his hands, the feathers soft under his hands, somehow, the duckling looked happy on his hand, moving his wings, looking right at Damian.
He didn’t want to kill the duckling.
“I bet your pet can do a better work than you,” Grandfather mocked him, “he will kill one, and, if you don’t do as I say in the next minute, you will have to kill two, and so on, understand?”
Damian gulped. “Yes, Grandfather.”
The man smiled, wickedly, Talon looked immutable, walking to be at Damian’s side, he picked up the duckling, snapping the neck in one motion, then, looked at the one Damian hold in his hands. Damian bit down a sob, cracking the neck of the little duck, feeling the limp body on his hands, still warm.
“Good boy, now go back to your room.”
Talon dragged him away.
Damian felt stupid, this wasn’t the first time something like this happened, but, for some reason, it always hit as hard as the first time, Talon washed his hands, despite not getting dirty in the whole test. He dragged his feet to the window, looking at the beach, not paying real attention to what happened outside.
The man picked him up, wrapping his hands around Damian’s ankles, he rose his hands, dangling and shacking Damian, the kid yelled and trashed, trying to get away from the hold, Talon threw him at the bed, tickling his sides, he only stopped until Damian was red and breathless from laughing, taking big gulps of air. Talon smiled at him, ruffling his hair.
A week after the test, Talon took Damian to the rooster inside the compound, where the chickens spend their time, he brought corn and chicken food, throwing it at the animals, sitting peacefully on the ground, waiting for them to get closer, Damian sat at his side, holding a handful of food, waiting for the cocks and chickens to pick the food from his hand.
One chicken, white body and brown head, walked towards him, a little chick trotting behind her, they picked the food from Damian’s hand, and, after Talon’s encouragement, he petted them. They feed the rest of the rooster, and helped to shush them back to the corral.
“You are good with animals,” lamented one of the people that worked there.
Talon and Damian warmer to the other, Damian couldn’t pinpoint when, but one night Talon slept on his bed, and, one day he woke up trapped inside his arms. Talon stopped sleeping like a corpse, breathing a little exaggerated, knowing it gave Damian some peace, he was cold, but the room was always hot, and it helped Damian sleep better.
Damian liked Talon, liked to feel listened to, liked the constant company, and the knowledge his actions wouldn’t be told to Mama or Grandfather, he liked the nightly cuddles, Talon hugged like Mama when he was accepted at her bed, leaving a warm feeling on his chest, he liked when the man tried to make him laugh, juggling things, stretching his body to unthinkable positions, and cooking for Damian.
Somedays he feared Talon would be taken away from him.
One night he heard Mama walk inside, trapped inside Talon’s arms, he faked being asleep, wondering what Mama was doing in his room at these hours.
“What am I going to do with you two, Richard?” She asked, sitting on the bed, one hand caressing Damian’s head. “What should I do?”
Something passed between them, because Mama chuckled, snapping her tongue.
“Is not that easy, but I’ll see what I can do.”
She walked away, leaving Damian and Talon alone.