Chapter Five
Diena collected the takeout from the front door, and she listened to Ithal laugh in the living room. “This was the best day ever!”
Diena smiled. “It is good to hear it.”
She returned with the best takeout collection she had been able to think of. Ithal sighed. “Too bad Vaken had to go home.”
“I know, bud, but you will see him during your time off or back at school.”
She smiled and set the packets down on the table. She had to remain in a more upright chair and couldn’t join the floor picnic.
Alody smiled. “So what made you set up the play centre?”
“I wish I could have experimented with my activation instead of hiding it. I think I could have been more confident with it.”
Ithal frowned. “Didn’t Mom show you how to answer need?”
“Ithal, Mom and I were separated when I was born. I was tank-born, lab-raised, and trained in a creche. I learned about her in my files and was watched constantly for my activation to happen, but I didn’t even show a flicker of healing.”
“But we all have healing.”
Diena smiled. “I know. My need to hide took over from my need to help. The injured they showed me weren’t actually injured, and we were next to a medical station. There was no need. It wasn’t necessary.”
Ithal nodded with wide eyes and started to load a plate. “Oh. How did you figure it out?”
“I was walking to work, and there was a car accident, and I stabilized one of the injured until first responders could arrive.”
Alody blinked. “You have enough control just to stabilize?”
“Yeah. I had enough time to think about how to keep things moving.”
Ithal got up with his plate and brought it to Diena. “Because you can’t have a floor picnic.”
“I will be able to soon, but thank you, Ithal. Best brother ever.” She got some hot sauce for the spring rolls and went to town on her food. She glanced, and Alody was doing the same.
Ithal started expounding on the fun things he had done. The climbing wall that had catch fields. The running track that was covered and gave them speed readouts. Boxing class with an ex-peacekeeper was fun, and working out with the calibrated projection units was amazing.
Diena smiled. She got a message on her com and looked at one of her business partners. “Hey, Keska. How are you doing?”
“Great. I hear you spent the day at the park.”
“Yup. My brother had a day off and needed to let off some steam.”
A little face tilted into the view. “Hey, Kessie.”
“Miss Diena! You have a brother? How old is he?”
“Ithal is eight.”
Ithal looked up. She smiled at him.
“Is he there? Can we go to the playpark together?”
Diena grinned. “I am not sure. Twice in one week might be a little much.”
Ithal was frantically shaking his head. “No. I am okay. I can do it.”
Diena huffed a little as a strong contraction wrapped around her.
Keska blinked. “Oh, hell. Are you all right?”
“Yeah. The baby should be here tomorrow. Tonight, my mom and Ithal are over.”
Keska’s eyes got wide. “Can we come over and bring takeout? Our new house is just down the road from the academy... and your place.”
“We have takeout, bring your own, and bring desserts.” She looked at Alody. “You don’t mind?”
“I would love to meet your business partner.”
She sighed. “Nice. Okay. Come over.”
Keska grinned. “On our way. Food will meet us there.”
Diena looked around her clean and empty house and smiled. “Thanks. I don’t have a lot of friends with kids.”
Ithal asked, “If you didn’t see the clips, you wouldn’t have come, right?”
“No. There was no need, and that is the saddest thing. I would have missed your very fun day.”
Alody smiled. “It does suck sometimes. But Ithal needs me for the next decade, so I am going to enjoy it.”
She laughed, and Ithal frowned. “I will always need you, Mom.”
Diena smiled. “Ithal, the nature of the need changes into one that doesn’t require constant attendance.
There is still love, but it takes the place of need.
Don’t worry, though. If you need either of us, we will be there, and if we have a need, you will be there.
That is a strong tie, but choosing love for those around you is stronger still. ”
Ithal walked up to her, hugged her, and then went to hug Alody. “I choose my sister and my mother to love.”
Alody smiled. “And one day, you may choose a friend or a partner or children. Then you will experience more chosen love, but your love for your children will start with need and grow from there.”
Ithal smiled. “If it feels as warm as what you two feel for me, I will be happy.”
Diena hugged him, and the doorbell rang.
She heaved herself up, and he grunted and pushed her straight.
Laughing, she went to the door and let in her friend and business partner.
“Hey, Keska. Hello, Kessie. You must be Sorooth.” She smiled and inclined her head at the alpha who loomed protectively over his mate and daughter.
She stepped to the side. “Please come in.”
Ithal and Alody stood. Keska muttered, “Holy crap.”
Diena laughed. “Yes, strong genes. Just like you and Caska. Different source, same effect.”
Understanding hit Keska’s eyes. “Oh. Wow.”
Sorooth ushered them into the room and closed the door. “Thank you for inviting us over.”
Kessie walked up to Ithal and stuck her hand out. “I am Kessie.”
“I am Ithal. Do you go to school here?”
“I start this week at the academy.”
He grinned. “That’s where I go. My sister has a big backyard; do you want to race?”
Kessie grinned. “Mom, can I?”
“Yes, but your dad will be keeping tabs on you.”
“Okay.” Kessie nodded and darted.
Diena said softly, “Kessie, have you eaten?”
Kessie paused. “No, ma’am.”
“Then, take some handheld food and a bottle of water and eat.”
Ithal blushed. “Sorry, sis. Yes, she is hungry.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Sit and eat. When you come back from playing, there will be dessert, or I have invited a doppelganger in instead of Keska.”
Keska grinned. “I haven’t been to this place. It is nice. When are you going to personalize it?”
“When the baby is with their parents, so basically, I will start tomorrow night.”
Keska stared. “What?”
Alody helped Diena back to her spot at the taller table. “Yeah, sometime before dawn, I am going to have to head to the maternity centre to let this little one meet their parents.”
Diena smiled and had a sip of lemon soda. “Yup. Tomorrow, I start to get smaller. Huzzah.”
Sorooth frowned. “You are a surrogate?”
“Yes. I was unsure of what it would feel like, so before I used my own genetics, I let someone who can’t bring a child to term any other way hire me for this.
This way, they get at least one child that they would not otherwise have had.
From the vague information in the file, there was an issue with the male side of the genome and some damage to the mother.
So they get one, and they get it very soon. ”
Sorooth sat on the floor with Keska and the food. “What next then?”
“I go looking for a mate. Maybe lay out a trail of cupcakes. Guys are ridiculous around good food.”
Keska laughed and looked at Sorooth. “You aren’t wrong.”
Diena smiled. “I am just a low-visibility active and not an omega, so I can’t just exude pheromones and use that to haul one in.”
Alody smiled. “Ithal has already seen her match and a child for her in fourteen months.”
“Yeah, so I am going to be hella twitchy for the next five months.”
Sorooth asked, “What was said about the match?”
Alody smiled. “Just that he is sparkly.”
“Interesting. Diena, have you known Keska long?”
Diena nodded. “We met nearly eight years ago. She had gotten into an automated vehicle collision, and I was able to help. There was a need. Well, there were two needs at that time.”
Keska nodded. “I was in a transport on the way to an appointment. There was a short in the system, and two vehicles collided. I was in one of them, and Kessie was very far along.”
Sorooth stared. “I didn’t know.”
“Nope. Because no sooner had the vehicles locked together than Diena was there pulling them apart, healing my wounds, and stabilizing Kessie. We were dirty and scuffed five minutes after the accident. I removed traces of myself in the transport, and Diena flew me to the appointment. After that, we went for hot chocolate.”
Keska smiled. “And then, we were friends. She told me she was a registered active with no particular activation, and that was intriguing to me. She explained the need issue, and it stunned me. That kind of activation had not occurred to me.”
Alody smiled. “It is odd. I am on record as a healer because that was the first manifestation.”
Sorooth looked at her and Diena. “You are very similar.”
Alody grinned. “Diena is my clone. I was a sold Sethir child and raised in the capitol program. When my healing manifested, they were impressed enough to put my genes into the new canister gestation program.”
Diena sipped her beverage. “That is why I wanted to try my body out. I wasn’t started that way, so I didn’t know if I would be able to give birth traditionally.”
Alody smiled. “She had a need and went to fulfill it.”
Sorooth nodded and winced. “They are looking to offer poor families funds to surrender their daughters to a new educational facility. The girls will get standardized education, and if they activate, they will get training. Sethir is learning that for the last fifty years, they have lost a lot of powerful women due to financial needs when the girls are small.”
Alody nodded. “That’s good. There are a lot of Sethir-born young women, both omega and not, who are actives and are out here where they rise and fall without their traditions or family.”
Sorooth focused and then winced and put a hand to his temple.
Keska went to his side in concern, and Alody smiled blandly. “He should have asked.”
Keska looked at him. “You touched her mind?”
He winced. “Yes. I apologize. I was curious as to your family and when you left.”
Alody got up, walked over, and smacked her hand to his forehead. “There. Fixed. But I was in the time of the current king’s grandfather.”
Sorooth stared. Alody grinned. “I moisturize.”
Keska snorted, paused, and asked, “Do you know Nelith?”