Chapter 8 #3
“He knows there are monsters on Earth, right? And why—I don’t get it. What does he want with us?”
Weirdo Husband tilted his head. “I’m not quite sure I understand, sadir. Vergis or even Kinnek would happily take the child to the Raiken, I am sure. He could learn much from the sentenmen. I would have liked such an opportunity at his age, especially for the language.”
My jaw dropped. “Uhm, wait. You’re saying we should tell the kid he can, what, come live with us and help around the house? Take him away from here? From his home?”
Inkiri tilted his head, but I got the sense he wanted to nod. “If he does not feel like he belongs, he can always return. Hanmen positions for someone his age are only permitted if the Raikenga is exceptional and shows consistent progress in his studies. Sonyo knows that.”
Sonyo tilted his head, and said, “Please?”
I was so not built for this. I was being made to do adulting, and doing adulting well wasn’t me. Was I supposed to tell the kid no and look into his face when I crushed his dreams? That was not in my skill set.
“Okay, look, Ink. I’m not even sure why the kid is asking me. I honestly don’t know enough about Lugarran culture and norms to know what is best for him, so can you please… I don’t know. Can you please handle this?”
From the way Inkiri tilted his head this time, that tripped him up as much as the thing about me wanting him to be safe had.
“If you were bagu,” Inkiri began carefully, “if you were hangu, and a koa, most would expect you to decide things for the senfesmen, but also for our sentenmen.”
“The senfesmen, that’s you and me, right, just to be sure? And the sentenmen, that’s…the guys?”
He nodded. “Yes, sadir. It’s just what is expected. Interacting with others is easy when everyone knows how things are done, but of course not all hangua wish for that kind of influence, while some hangu-naga crave it. I’m not that kind of hangu-na, sweet thing, you must know that.”
Okay, I could tell when I was being given important cultural information, at least most of the time, and this was that. As far as I understood it, he was telling me the definition of what a bagu jerk looked like, in essence, and confirming that he wasn’t one, according to the cultural standard.
I nodded. “But, you know, seeing as how I’m human and don’t know the ins and outs of, uh, the culture and the Raiken ways? If I tell you to make a good decision because you know more stuff that’s important in this situation, that’s me making a decision, right?”
Inkiri visibly lit up. “Very true, sadir. It’s how all Raikengana work in the field.”
“We’re so in the field right now.” I nodded, which—fudge.
Sonyo made a happy little sound, his mouth falling open.
Inkiri smiled at the kid and then at me. “You mean it? That I may decide his application?”
Well, that sounded formal. “Sure thing.”
I felt good about this. This was what a trophy mate would say, although with this new information about decision-making, becoming the trophy mate I wanted to be might require a good deal more work than I had initially thought. Darn it.
Inkiri squatted so that he was closer to Sonyo’s eye level and handed him the notebook back. After the first sentence out of Weirdo Husband’s mouth, the little bagu jumped, squeaked, and looked back at me again.
“Thang-you-sh,” the little bagu said. “Al-lesh, al-lesh!” He followed that up with a lot more talking I couldn’t follow. The kid had a future in whatever the Raiken version of the debate club was.
Inkiri said a few things back, and Sonyo made a serious face all of a sudden, nodded, and dashed off just as fast as he’d ambushed us.
I looked after him. “That was something.”
Inkiri looked up at me before straightening. “Yes. He’s eager. His school records are very promising, but I told him there isn’t going to be any excuse you’ll accept for his performance dropping. He understands that.”
That didn’t sound like me at all, but okay. Inkiri clicked and pushed my scarf aside so he could lick my neck.
That felt so good. It seemed like it had been a long time since he’d licked my neck, but of course that was just my imagination, probably as a result of us going on a dangerous rescue mission that had somehow worked out for everyone. Except the Koa Esher trying to get us, of course.
A group of three bagu teens looked at us and ooh-ed. I blushed, but I wasn’t even sure it was because of them. It was because of my sexy bagu mate who, apparently, had just hired a page.
I grinned. The land did like to call my guys knights, so that fit, but I wouldn’t let Sonyo clean anyone’s armor or whatever.
Maybe I could get Charles to teach him about astronomy so the kid would actually learn something when he went to Earth.
That would be good. Earth had lost so much, so many people, when the apocalypse happened.
This felt like a way to make sure we didn’t lose anything else by sharing what knowledge and traditions were left.
I smiled. Yes, Earth was going to gain one tiny, enthusiastic bagu.