Page 46 of His Human Rebel

I don't know if this means that a millennia ago, my ancestors were evil. Were we dispersed? I do not know. No one knows, but it does help us in war, and we are not ashamed. We are, in fact, proud of our appearance. We are a proud people.

But could a human child bond with a parent from a species who looks so unlike him and terrifying in a primal way?

I didn't tell this to Stella, but as I held the baby, even from the beginning, when I cut his cord and I would hold him to her breast and I would feed him myself—I was concerned that at some point his little eyes would open and he'd cry out in fear.

But it hasn't occurred.

If anything, she jokes that he seems to like me more than her.

I don't agree at all, but it's nice of her to say.

I think it helped that he was born at a time when I could focus entirely on him. We were all in lockdown together for that whole first week of his life, just her and I in the house, and we had time to bond.

And now I wonder about Stella. We have grown close, and I love her, and yet we have never said that to each other.

In fact my female was by my side earlier, but seems to have disappeared.

I walk through the front hall and catch sight of my brother Sten, who seems to be engaged in an argument with the new human Librarian. She was hired to upgrade our print books to digital so that they can be found on the nets. Sten has never been happy about this arrangement, viewing this as something that should have gone to a Hyrrokin, not a human. I have no opinion either way and do not understand why he would be angry, but he is. I glance at them again, and notice that they stand close for their argument. A bit too close.

Heh.

I make my way through the public rooms downstairs and make it onto the back courtyard. On the other side of the bushes, I hear human voices approaching. I suspect it’s all three females, including Stella. When I look around, I realize that from where I'm standing, the beings who are approaching won't be able to see me, and I'm about to step out, but then I hear something that makes me pause.

“You still haven't told him yet how much you love him?”

I suck in a sharp breath. I should tell them that I'm here. I shouldn't be listening like this. But how else am I going to learn? I want to give her what she needs so that she feels comfortable to fully commit, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

“I thought you said that your main worry was that he wouldn't accept the baby, but it looks like he does. Has that changed?”

“No, no, he's accepted the baby. And it does seem to me like the baby has accepted him. Well, this is the first time I've seen his family with the baby.”

“So far it looks good.”

“Yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised. And his family is super kind to my mother too, as if she were family too. I guess you know it still seems fantastical to me that I could live somewhere where I don't have to worry. I don't have to worry.”

I can hear her swallowing like back tears. I want to go and take her in my arms.

“I don't have to worry if I'm going to be treated as less than because of my weight or because I’m a woman. This whole weight has been lifted off me. I don't stay with him because of the money. I stay with him because of how I'm treated and how I feel. I've been here for seven months now, and I keep waiting for the ax to fall and it hasn't. And then you two have been here longer, and nothing has happened to you. Oh, and then beyond that, there is Riley, who's been here the longest of all of us. She’s perfectly happy living here, and the others say that one of the number one reasons is because, again, they are treated like equals.”

“It’s one of my favorite reasons for living here,” Lucy says.

“And the weather,” Mica laughs.

“Yes, that too. But I'm also the first to give birth to a fully human baby on this planet, and so, you know, that's been different. I was literally nervous driving up here. I didn't want to tell Rake, because I thought that would offend him, because this is his family, and the thought of me saying that I'm worried his family going to be rude to my baby or reject him because of how he looks…I couldn’t say that to him. Could his family handle raising a child who isn't of their species? But then also, what am I going to do about it? I've already locked myself into this by walking with him to the courthouse. I seriously I felt almost sick driving up here.”

“I'm so sorry. I wish you'd called us. We could have talked you down. Because you know there's something important that I know, there's a secret, a surprise, that…”

And I suck in a breath, worried that the human is going to ruin everything.

“Ouch. What are you doing?”

“Don't say anything.”

“About what?”

“There’s a surprise.”

“What kind of surprise?”

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