Excerpt

          I sigh back into the chair and link the ICM to the ships dashboard. Filtering through contacts, I select ‘Eir’ and wait for the call to connect.
          When it does, it’s her Valinn Sál who responds, of course.
          I wave his visage away. “It’s me; let me talk to my sister.”
          Agnar grunts in acknowledgment, passing the device over. She beams, taking it from him eagerly. “Brother Nox, I’m so delighted to see you again.” She says. “Am I the first you called? Your meeting was supposed to be…just a while ago, now. I don’t doubt you impressed her quickly,” she giggles demurely behind a hand.
          It’s unfortunate that we can’t read one another through these damn devices; so much of Tvöfjägur communication is based on reading one another’s safa, much like body language. 
          I sigh. “I am sorry, little sister. It’s worse than any of us would have anticipated, unfortunately.”
          Her feelers rise, uselessly. “Brother mine, what’s happened?”
          “Something came up,” I tell her, “something that demands my immediate attention. I met with Valdis on my way, to alert her to my change of plans and apologize for wasting her time. She—”
          “You refused her? Oh brother, no; say I’m wrong.”
          I keep my mouth closed.
          She groans in distress, running her hands through her mane and feeling her tall tiara-feathers. “Equinox, you cannot reject a female, as you are. The very notion of even contemplating an ex-horde black is preposterous to almost any other female. You were so infinitely lucky to have caught someone’s interest. And I do mean that with every ounce of my affection.”
          “I know you do, sister. Although lucky isn’t the word I would use.” I say.
          Eir wrinkles her nose. “Was she worse than Aianor?”
          I snort. “Just about even, I’d say. In fact my refusal only spiked further interest in me. She said she would bring the valkyrie down on me, until I submitted to her seed.” 
          “She offered you her seed? And you refused?” She asks breathlessly, bemused. “Brother, what has gotten into you?”
          “It gets worse.” I say. “Though I have no regret for my actions, I wish I did not have to speak them aloud. Least of all to you.”
          She draws in a breath, her attention wavering as she moves through the estate, finding a place to sit. Once comfortable, she sighs. “What has happened, Equinox?” She asks me in a cool, careful tone.
          I clench the tip of a feeler, letting it overstimulate and burn with static. “She would not let me leave. She threatened us. I killed half her horde, and her Valinn Sál.”
          Her tongue snakes out in a show of discomfort, eyes looking away from the comm and the membranes closing over them.
          “And I marked her as Tokuni would.”
          She flinches, letting out some withheld breath and saying my name over the top of it. Then, “Brother, this is news I did not want to hear.”
          “Yet hear it you must.” I insist. “When that Jäggress comes around and spews lies about my insolence, someone must know the truth of it. Even if everyone else believes her, I needed someone to know.”
          “I suppose I am relieved that you wish for me to know the truth, if nothing else. Ahhh…brother. What have you gone and done? Killing her horde during an acceptance battle could have been written off as the laws of the game, as proving your own worth. But injuring a Jäggress…you know our law, Nox. You must reap what you’ve sown. She is owed. There is no way around it.”
          “I have sown nothing and owe nothing.” I tell her. “She threatened me, I defended myself.”
          Eir blinks, and is silent for a few moments. The look she gives me is one that says she’s not swallowing my excuses. After a few moments for me to endure her gentle judgement, she lets out a breath and speaks softly. “Injury to a Jäggress must be met thrice-deep. This is our way, as it has been for generations. It is not a faultless tradition, and it keeps order among the Tvöfjägur.”
          “I know the law, but Valdis was ready to—” 
          She looks up at me and flicks her tongue again. I silence myself at her show of remorse—of course she doesn’t want me to be punished, but this is the Jäggr way. And she, unlike that disgraceful Valdis, is a woman of poise and respect. Quiet contemplation and unbiased opinion.
          “You took their lives, Equinox.” She says plainly, in a soft voice almost like they hurt her to speak.
          I hang my head and growl quietly. “Not all. But more than I should have. She was crazed, sister. I admit I bear fault, but she…she was a threat. When I told her I was leaving, she said she would seed me so my system would turn to her scent and crave her. Even after I assured her I would not hesitate to dispatch anyone in my path, she still sent her men after us. I did exactly as I said I would. She was warned, and sent them to their deaths anyway.”
          “That is troubling. Not at all how a proud Jäggress should behave. Shameful.” She sighs and shakes her head. “Still, there is a debt owed. The situation is more complex than face value, and the valkyrie will need to investigate. If she is found to be immoral and baseless then she will likely lose her horde.”
          I drop my fangs from my gumline. “She is both, through and through. You know I am not quick to judge character, and not one to judge wrong.”
          She manages a small smile. “Yes, you have always had a strong sense of judgement. I trust this in you. If she is revoked of her status, brother, I will welcome you into my horde. It will not be glamorous. The ceremony will be short and you will never be promoted above the low station of nátilmí of course. But I could not stand as a proud female of my kind if I left my brother homeless and without means of income.”
          Such a thing isn’t completely unheard of, siblings within the same horde. Brothers certainly is more common, and while sisters occasionally allow their male siblings as a member, it is considered an act of deep kindness—and an equally pitiable act of desperation. Eir would be seen as elevated and benevolent for such a thing, but I would be shunned and guilted by society for having to ride her coattails.
          “You honor me, sister. But there will be no need for drastic measures.”
          She looks saddened as she says, “Equinox, you cannot remain hordeless. It is a social suicide.”
          “More than joining my sisters coven?” 
          She lets out a breath, but doesn’t disagree.
          I turn away from her, finding the little stackbed alcove and spying the figure tucked beneath the blanket. I delicately call to her, “Einsemmi,”
          My little Occo leans forward into view, peeking back and around for a moment. She smiles when she sees me, and oh…gods within us, I don’t deserve her. I give a beckoning gesture and up she rises, no hesitation, just wonderment and companionship in her safa. The blanket is pulled away from her freshly-bathed skins, and her feet pad quietly as she makes her way over.
          “Eir, this is—”
          I halt as she takes up a seat on my lap, as though there wasn’t another chair just beside me. This is her rightful place, so she says with her body, curling her knees up and resting her weight against my chest. She looks at my sister and waves.
          Eir’s voice cracks.
          “She was sold in the workman’s pens, to a Kajji.”
          My sister has leaned in closely. “Is that…an Occo?”
          “I…cannot be sure. At any rate, she must be a mixed breed. Valdis was exceptionally unkind in conversation to her.”
          My sister gives a soft growl in sympathy.
          “The Kajji was taken by his bloodlust. The mortal fear in her safa was so saturated through, I felt it in my own bones even before I laid eyes on her. The Kaijiheun then killed a Tiokahi who tried to intervene, and I took her to flee. We defeated the Kajji together. She…she saved my life, actually.”
          Her coincidental glance up at me as I speak the words makes me blush with pride and adoration. I purr—she moves right in against my throat as I do so, chittering her strange words in a happy tone.
          “You…have fallen for her, haven’t you? That’s why Valdis grew upset, why she attacked you. You chose this female, instead of her.”
          I let out a guilty breath, and give a small nod of the head. 
          Eir groans and laughs in the same sound. “A shared experience like this is bound to give a great sense of comradery, I understand this. But she must return to her people. If she has any Occo blood in her, they would likely not allow her to join with another race. They are purists, Nox.”
          “And I know they are. And being such purists, does that not stereotypically make them the most judgmental and prejudiced against mixed breeds? Enough to cast them out, even their own kin? In any case, she is not Occodosso—her back bears no evidence of wings having been removed, so she must not have been born with them.”
          Shaking her head, “So you assume. Turukai surgery is scarless, brother. There would be no evidence, and if she was of rich blood she may have afforded their extravagant prices. All the more reason to find her family. I am sorry; I see you care for her. Be her friend, Nox, not her heart.”
          She almost got me. Turruk bioenhancements are incredibly precise and realistic, and they could certainly remove an Occo’s wings with no scars as evidence. Had that been the end of it, I would likely have been swayed by my sister’s advice. 
          However…
          “Haven’t you noticed?” I ask her, waiting a moment to see if she has any clever guesses. After a few seconds of patient silence, I look down at my soft Einsemmi and watch her turn up toward me attentively. “She hasn’t said a word.”
          Eir waits a little while longer. Then, “She was nearly eaten by a Kaijiheun, she is understandably in shock.”
          “She’s actually quite talkative, when the mood strikes her. Unfortunately, it is in a language I do not recognize.”
          “You only speak four. Perhaps you should have studied more?” She says in a gently teasing voice.
          “Perhaps, but I didn’t say it’s not one I speak. The sounds are utterly foreign, Eir. I may not speak Tioreo, but I know how it sounds. I know how Saktame sounds. This is altogether foreign. I thought perhaps she was sheltered or abused as a child due to her mixed-race lineage, so I have shown her images of Krowwe, and of Tvöfjägur too. She does not recognize them. She didn’t even respond in a positive way to the Krowwe—she understands they look similar, but she doesn’t think she is one of them. She speaks no language I know of, she has no fangs, no venom sacks, no claws, and no wings. I will not simply hand her back to the workmans association, unable to communicate, when the only being in the known universe that she trusts is right here, holding her.”