Page 47 of Bred By Zyros
“Sssaryth, it’s time.” Zyros' voice finds me all too soon as I sniffle, giving them all little goodbye pats before heading toward him. I don’t look to see where they hop off to. My eyes land on the dark colored male instead, noting the holo pager gripped in his claws.
Zyros and he share a few more words in their native language as I take our daughter from him again, passing him the slimy stone instead. He grimaces, and if I didn’t feel so damn sad, I’d laugh as I nod goodbye to Zaelshar and head inside, settling down in my seat as I hum to Elaria. So long passes, I fade in and out of sleep. Right as a heavy thud jerks me awake, spinning in my chair, my eyes slam open as my hulking mate dumps an arm full of my five favorite little dudes on the bridge. My half laugh, half sob barks out of me when I see the barbs littering his scales.
He rolls his eyes, plucking one from his neck. “Hush, female. They were trying to get on board, anyway. Too stupid to figure out the ramp. If I am lucky, they will explode once we hit hyperdrive.”
I’m still laughing, wiping tears from my eyes when he settles beside me, slamming at the controls until we launch into flight. Most of the little dudes settle around my feet, while some hop off to explore. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you’re nice.”
He smirks.
My finger runs down the length of our daughter’s tiny tail, feeling for the first time a kind of quiet, happy peace I never thought possible. My thoughts still run a mile a minute with plans for our future and where we’ll end up, but now the buzzing is softer, kinder. There’s not a single doubt in my mind that I’mdoing exactly what I’m meant to do. That I’m precisely where I should be.
The End
Read Further for the Epilogue….
Epilogue
MelodyTwoYearsLater
Panic hits my chest as I duck around the vines hanging from the ceiling of Elaria’s room on Nyvalis. We were lucky to find the place that offered a similar environment to Nyssara, being in the same quadrant as well as largely more advanced. “Elaria, enough of this. We’re going to be late!” I call, my heart pounding in my chest. I know what’s going to happen. That’s the worst part. I just don’t know when. “I’m getting your dad!” I warn, forcing my tone to be stern when all I want to do is laugh.
“Back right corner.” Zyros offers from where he leans against the wide-open archway of her room.
My head slams in that direction just as our daughter swings down from the vines, making me scream. I huff, snatching the giggling child from the vines as I whirl to level a very fake glare at my mate. “You lied.”
He just shrugs. “It’s funny.”
“It was funny the first few times, slightly amusing the first few kentics even. Now every morning, I start my day by being jump scared by my sweet little baby.”
I bare my teeth in a fake hiss at the little girl, still giggling like mad in my arms, before passing her off to her dad. “You can get her dressed. The quad opens soon!”
“Good job, little one,” he coos at her, letting her wrap her tail around one of his arms before dropping her, letting her dangle much to her amusement.
My chest warms, and a sappy smile spreads on my face before I remember I’m supposed to be acting annoyed as he turns, heading toward her closet, filled with cute dresses as she can’t wear pants. We always give her the option to choose herself, as Vrirciks traditionally don’t wear coverings. But she sees mommy in pretty dresses and obviously wants in on it. I peek out of the window of our home, ushering a little dude out of the sunken living room where we have our central living nest, like a couch, but Vrircik version.
Nyvalis is unique in the sense that it’s more or less a no man's land. A merchant hub where displaced species, or anyone who is lacking a home, settle. We keep to ourselves, and honestly? It’s perfect. Everyone minds their own business and fends for their own, all save for one day out of a kintic when the quad opens. Residents and passersby set up shops and sell their wears or shop and trade for things on other stalls. I’d like to think of Nyvalis as Nyssara’s cooler little brother. Where Nyssara was small in its own right, our home is considered a dwarf planet. We’d stumbled on it much by accident when leaving Nyssara.One of the Thryss had chewed through a stabilizing cable, which called for a very intense emergency landing before we’d even hit hyperdrive.
At the time, we didn’t have the parts needed to fix the ship, so we just stayed.
Soon enough, a part did come through, yet here we are.
This is home now.
Zyros, with the help of some of the other locals in trade for his art installations and my retained credits from my work as a breeder, built us our home. Its layout is open and airy, but not unlike our first cave, traditional rooms traded for a more chamber style. The natural hot springs on this planet are fewer than its big sister, but we have a warmed pool that acts mostly the same. Getting to watch Zyros adapt to modern living was adorable and hilarious.
One of the first things we traded for was a food processor, although he still hunts for himself and Elaria, who, much to my horror, prefers the taste of raw meat to anything else. Vrircik children mature very quickly, physically at least. By age six, she should be more or less the size she’ll be fully grown. The Kalzait doctor, who Zyros all but threatened to give her a checkup after he bought some crystals, had said her smaller size was likely due to a defect in her birth. My prolonged labor and inconsistent contractions were what he called contributing factors. When I put my shoes on, the date on my new holo pager grabs my attention.
Mom's birthday.
It was perhaps a selfish decision to go no contact, to not accept them as approved senders when setting up the device, especially considering it was my dad who helped us do…well, pretty much everything in terms of helping Nyssara. The peace I felt when we traveled to Vortara to have my implant removed only confirmedthat I wanted to make the wrong decision for their family. The right one for mine.
For the first time in my life, I wanted to be a bad daughter.
A selfish daughter.
A daughter who chooses her found family over her old one.
If I’m all those things, I’ve made peace with it.
