Page 143 of Sway's Peace
“Sway.”
Grace was there, her hands covering his that was holding the other male so tight. She gave him a beseeching look that he disliked greatly. He never wanted such a tender look to come over her face for another, much less anothermale.
“I want to hear him out. Please,” she begged him so sweetly. When Sway remained unmoved, she continued. “He helped me. Remember? I told you how he dropped his combot and that’s how I contacted Tanin. We can at least hear what he has to say.”
Sway didn’t want to do that either. He wanted nothing to do with Vweet or Veesway or any of his own kind ever again.
But he was helpless to those big, gray eyes. He let out a sigh, pulling his hand back – slowly, so he didn’t accidentally hurt Grace.
“Fine. But make it quick.”
Vweet gave him a grateful smile, his hands lowering back to his side. “This is a pub behind me. Shall we talk in there?”
Sway nodded once, putting his arm around Grace again. But as Vweet turned and let them inside, he detached his claws from his belt and secured them on his hands.
The pub was a simple one. It was a place designed to serve drinks as well as good, filling food. It smelled greasy and spicey, too much like meat. Sway was used to that scent since he wasaround it so often, but he fully expected Vweet to turn up his nose and change his mind.
He did not, however. He took them to a booth and ordered all of them drinks. Sway declined his offer of food, but Grace accepted gratefully. She even ordered something vegetarian – no doubt as a courtesy to the two of them, though she did not have to.
The drinks came quickly, floating their way on an automatic tray. Sway took his and Grace’s drink and set them down, letting Vweet get his own. As it was floating back, he finally looked at the other male expectantly.
“So? What did you have to say that it was so important?”
“First, I wanted to apologize,” Vweet said immediately, cradling his drink but not tasting it. He looked first at Grace before turning his gaze to include Sway. His eyes darted to his metallic claws, then back up again without comment. “Both of you. I really didn’t know what Veesway was planning when he asked to talk to you alone. He… I think he didn’t quite trust me around you.”
Sway said nothing. It was Grace who asked, curious, “Why?”
It took Vweet a bit longer to answer this time, and when he did, he was staring into his drink. “When you first arrived, Veesway was so relieved. I don’t think he wanted to ask any questions. I was the one who initially questioned everything. You hadn’t come seeking us on purpose, I know. It was chance because we hired your company. If you weren’t searching for your people, there had to be a reason. Truth be told… I searched your name long before Veesway did.”
Sway gave him a long look. “So, you knew then. Who I am.”
Vweet grunted. “I knew. And I can’t lie, I was frightened at first. I immediately thought the worst. That you must be planning something. That you must be evil. The fact that you were resisting assimilating back into our culture just confirmed it to me.”
“You’re the one who told Veesway.”
“No!” Vweet’s head shot up quickly, his crest firmly plastered to his head. “I-I mean, I was going to. Initially. But then… Then, I saw you with Grace. I saw how you treated her. How she treated you. You didn’tlookevil. And then you started acting like one of us again. Dressing like us. Whistling along with us. And I thought… maybe it would be best if I didn’t tell.
“You’re not the only farasie that didn’t return to us… whole. There are others like you that needed to sacrifice their pacifism for their life. Usually, Veesway spots them right away. He does his own search, sees that they’re the violent type, the type that have taken a life to save themselves, then he turns them away. I think, being his son, it blinded him to his own habits at first. I used to agree with that choice. But seeing you becoming one of us again, I thought that maybe it was possible that others could do the same. That the violence you committed could be justified and forgiven. I thought, surely, if you were capable of change, then others could be too. And if they were, then we could save and rehabilitateso many more.”
Sway was uncomfortable listening to this. It was a weight on his chest he didn’t like bearing, but he couldn’t ask him to stop either. It felt good in the worst kind of way. A bittersweet vindication given far too late.
“I don’t know when Veesway looked you up himself,” Vweet continued, his hands nervously moving around his drinkingglass. “But I think he realized that I’d already done it and was keeping it to myself. And that’s why he didn’t tell me what he was planning. He thought I would sympathize with you and try to stop him or warn you. And… honestly… I don’t know what I would have done if he told me what he planned beforehand.”
Grace leaned in, offering him a smile. “But you helped me. Even after it was done, you still tried to help me get out.”
Vweet gave her a pained smile. “Thank you, Grace, but it’s quite different with you. I wasn’t the only one who disagreed with what Veesway planned for you. You may have been planning to mate Sway, but that didn’t mean you shared his crimes. You hadn’t even met him yet. An argument could be made to exile Sway, but to my way of thinking, you were innocent. Combined with my hesitation over what should have been done about Sway, it made helping you a lot easier of a decision than you might think.”
“Still,” she insisted. “Thank you, Vweet. That was very courageous of you.”
Vweet smiled at her, then up to Sway. After a moment, he inclined his head, agreeing with his female. He may not think it deserved praise – becausenotstealing their young from Grace’s arms then throwing her out into the wild really seemed like the obvious choice – but he was willing to acknowledge the difficulty in what Vweet had ultimately done.
“Is that all you had to say?” Sway asked, ready to leave him, and the others, behind for good.
“No. That’s not what I meant to say at all,” Vweet said quickly. “I just wanted to explain why I was here, asking what I was going to ask.”
“Which is…?”
Vweet hesitated again before sitting up straight. “Despite everything, I still believe in what Veesway is trying to do. Despite what you must think, our Songdoesdo great things for many people. Our goal is to save farasie who have been taken, preferably before they are forced to break their pacifism. But we have saved so many more in the course of that simple task. We have donegoodthings. We’re going to keep doing good things, I know it. And I want to keep working towards that goal. I know it’s the right thing to do.”
