Chapter Fifteen
Xexis
He watched her fall into the depths of sleep before pulling away.
As much as sleep called to him, to join her and slumber for hours, the Kannatch was needed.
Ensuring she was tucked in, her drone and data pad placed safely on the stand next to the bed, he slunk from the room.
Immediately upon evacuating his room, he ran into Reevar.
His oldest friend bowed, as was tradition for his position, before stepping back to give Xexis room.
Which means this is an official conversation, not one between friends.
“Kannatch, I was just coming to grab you. We’ve got a few reports for you to go over. ”
“Thank you for watching over it for me.” Xexis took the data pad offered to him and exhaled heavily.
The Council of Beings hadn’t sent him many ‘urgent’ hunts as of late.
He wasn’t sure if that was due to his “mating”.
Xnasis, his brother and the Councilor representing the Vroz, was likely directing traffic despite Xexis’ wishes.
He said he could take care of it.
Xnasis insisted that mating and the mating fever was enough to excuse him from his duties for a short time.
However, it stung to think his brother, and soon to be Korzavic, did not think him sturdy enough to perform his duties and mate at the same time.
Xnasis had not taken a break from his duties, nor had their parents when they mated.
Then again, courtly duties and politics were different than directing the traffic of hunts.
Xexis was often darting from place to place, inspecting hunts, going over reports, and ensuring the training of others.
Now that would all come to a slower, steadier pace at court.
He was a mated Kannatch, which meant he was responsible for not only the hunt but for the brood.
It would be less about being directly in the works, but now an overseer.
The transition was…uncomfortable, but Xexis knew that’s what would come to pass when he claimed Aphrodite.
First, he would return to court. Then, he would train Reevar and Grooug to step into their roles as his generals.
Kiefgr would complete his official hunt before taking his rank among hunters.
And lastly, Xexis would take his place among the chairs in the Vroz Council permanently.
The Korzavic would expect him to focus on teaching the next generation to be the leaders of the hunt. His glorious hunts were now memories.
Memories he would tell their children as they fell asleep, and cautionary tales he would use to keep younglings from making fatal mistakes.
Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t partake in a few hunts…but delegation would be his newest ally.
Xexis read over the files in his hand as he took up station in the office made for him on the ship.
One of many official crafts made for large journeys of political importance.
Normally, a mating hunt wouldn’t call for a large craft…
but he was Kannatch, and there were other beings on the ship to keep an eye on.
He couldn’t forget about the being fighting for his life, suspended in a tank in the lab.
Poor thing, to be so far from home with no better answers.
“How is the Mphronatch?” Reevar cut into Xexis’ whirling thoughts. He dropped into a chair across from Xexis and propped his boots up, ending their official conversation.
“Resting and well claimed,” he chuckled.
“I saw that little dash for the Council room. Shall I have it cleansed?” Reevar teased with a wiggle of his pincers.
“Already done,” Xexis shot back with a mirth. “Old friend, I am not a lustful youngling. I know better than to leave evidence.”
“Mmm, you could have fooled me, Kannatch. With the way you’ve been stalking your prey like a Snortvene in heat.
” The pair burst into mad laughter. Xexis flopped back into his seat, spreading out the memos and hunt requests before him.
Reevar folded his arms behind his head with a dramatic, exaggerated sigh.
“Mating frenzy, so then the rumors are true?”
“It is baffling how hard I feel constantly,” Xexis huffed, rubbing two hands over the top of his head and scratching at the connection portal behind his skull.
“I’m usually much more sensible than this.
One moment, we’re getting the ship launched and she’s having a normal conversation with an engineer, the next I’m painfully stuffed in my own suit.
I like when she speaks, is that bizarre?
Quagmor spoke that his frenzy was beyond strange, that he would wake swollen and aching in the middle of the night because his mate sneezed cutely. ”
“I can’t wait,” Reevar chuckled, shaking his head. “I wonder who will be my mate.”
“Someone less squishy and less stabbable, preferably.” Xexis pulled out his data pad and began the process of sorting the hunts among the available hunters.
“I got stabbed once.” Reevar rolled his eyes.
“By a Snortvene, no less,” Xexis snickered, glancing up from his work. Reevar was trembling in his seat, trying to swallow his laughter. “Maybe your mate is a Snortvene in heat? Do you think you could claim one? Or would its horn run you through a second time?”
“May the stars have mercy.” They cackled, descending pleasantly into Xexis’ work. As he worked through who to put on which hunt with his closest, and dearest friend, Xexis warmed to the idea of this life.
Maybe a life in court won’t be the painful ending but a fresh beginning…one I share with her?