Chapter 50 #2
The two females stared at each other, Peony immediately protecting Temnavi again as Quvi sneered down on them. Scoffing, she turned and left the small room. Peony tried to see out but was once again blinded and the doors closed before her eyes could adjust.
Sighing, she turned back to Temnavi. He hadn't looked up when Quvi left. Instead, his head was bent over her combot. He had pried open a panel she hadn't seen before and was poking around inside. It sparked a bit, but the color hadn't returned.
She was about to ask him what he was doing when she realized that he wasn't poking around with his fingers.
Instead, one of his little claws had emerged.
It was smaller than Atem's and not just because Temnavi was smaller than him.
It looked like it hadn't fully emerged, and it was the only true, adult claw, but it was still there.
The little boy was maturing before her eyes.
Temnavi's little fang bit into his lower lip as he worked. Peony watched as the combot flickered once, twice, but remained dark.
“Are you trying to fix it?” Peony asked, surprised that it was responding at all.
Temnavi grunted in affirmation. “My engineering studies are only about a third finished. But I'm hoping that will be enough to get it working again.”
“You're studying engineering?” Peony asked, surprised.
She knew that Temnavi had small neural imprints done in place of lessons every few days, and she knew that the imprints were much faster and more efficient than what Peony considered standard lessons.
But she hadn't realized that he was already on subjects like engineering.
“I'm going to be dominani after Atem retires,” he said, his face tight in concentration.
“I need to restore the honor to my clan that my father destroyed. And I want to make Atem proud. But you have to work hard to be dominani. You have to master all eight academic disciplines and to do that, you have to start studying early.”
Peony smiled gently as he confessed his dream to her. Trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach when she thought that Quvi was going to try to steal it from him.
No. Absolutely not.
Temnavi and her miracle baby were both going to come out of this alive and well, no matter what she had to do.
As Temnavi was messing with her combot, she stood and began feeling alone the walls, the door, the floor.
She had done this before, after initially being abducted.
It’s sad how familiar it was to her already.
She had more hands to help her then, but the result was the same.
She couldn't find any weaknesses or openings.
They were well and truly trapped. Not surprising, but she still had to check.
As she was considering the heavy door, contemplating if it was worth the pain of trying to throw herself bodily at it, Temnavi yelled out in triumph.
She whipped around to see him holding the little combot in his hand.
It wasn't flying and the internal light seemed dimmer and appeared to flicker like a fluorescent light about to go out.
But it was humming as it made the call Temnavi had placed.
Both of them remained silent, staring at the little device with bated breath.
Only to cry out in disappointment when it suddenly darkened. Temnavi was quick to dig around inside, this time holding his claw against something as he tried again. It started up its familiar, happy little hum as it tried to connect.
“...Peony?!...”
“Atem!” She yelled, tears pooling in her eyes. Her stomach was twisted up in tight knots and every hair on her body was standing on end with longing to see him. The strangely distorted rumble of his voice wasn't his scent, and it couldn't calm the physiological panic, but it still helped.
“...can... Peo-... I can't...”
“Atem? Atem!” She tried to call out to him, but he wasn't responding properly.
Temnavi carefully, slowly, twisted his claw, brow drawn in focus, until-
“Peony? Can you...-r me?”
“Yes! Yes, I can hear you!” She cried freely, dropping onto her knees beside Temnavi.
“Track her! Peony, keep talking. I can barely...”
She wiped at her tears. “I'm okay. Temnavi is here with me. My combot is broken.
“Vi Dominani, I can't tra-... it.”
“Why not?!”
“The conn-... weak. I can't hone...”
“Atem, I think we're in the desert,” Peony half-yelled at the combot.
“The des-... No. You... -an't. Our trackers... towards the sea.”
“The sea? No! No. It's super dry here. And there's golden sand. I can't see outside. But I know we have to be in the desert.”
“Vi Domi-...-ani, the trackers all point towards... Rock. There is golden sand there. That's where th-... to be.”
“No, we're not,” Peony said, shifting uncomfortably. “I didn't hear any water. This air is super dry. Atem, please, believe me! We're in the desert, I promise you.”
There was silence.
“Atem?” She called to him softly.
No response.
She looked down at the combot. It was still lit up but, even as she watched, it's flickering finally slowed, the light dimmed, until it fully darkened.
“No,” she whispered softly.
No matter how Temnavi messed with it, though, it didn't brighten again and remained dead in his palm.