Early on it had be apparent that Jonathan was too adventuresome to be left alone. My friends and I developed a system when we cleaned our rooms. One of us would watch the boy as the other two worked. As we moved from room to room he’d grab the side of my dress or Rose’s dress and babble away to us. Our time to clean was his time to talk. It seemed good practice for him since he was usually too active to stop and converse.


    Most of the time activity was Jonathan’s motto. He ran circles around all of us. When I used a table he’d climb onto it only to jump off. The furniture in our apartment was his own personal jungle gym. He’d bound from chair to chair, never touching the floor. It wasn’t possible to stop him. The word ‘no’ was like an ignition switch. Damienughed and said it was just like Evan.


    Jonathan was like Evan in other ways also. His hair grew so it ran down his back. When it reached a certain point it seemed to stop growing. We kept it tied back to keep it from tangling in everything. Getting a knot out of Jonathan’s hair always resulted in screams that sounded like bloody murder. Damien remembered that having been a frequent issue when they were young also.


    There were things about Jonathan that were certainly human attributes. Curiosity could have been his middle name. He wanted to do everything we did. Meal time was always a challenge. Without teeth he couldn’t really eat the food on our tes. He’d nurse and then he wanted to taste what we were having.


    Lucky for us, as it turned out, I found he’d eat mashed up food. I would crush soft things, like my sweet potato chunks and feed that to him. It didn’t make him sick and he was growing well, so we always shared with him.


    He nursed frequently, but ate something off mine or Evan’s te at most meals. It seemed to make the little one happy. I was always d when he was happy.


    Jonathan was an all consuming task, but we all loved him. He loved us, too, in his own wild, childish way. Jonathan needed more though.


    By his fifth moon something strange started to happen. The first time it did my family panicked.


    We were sitting around the fire in thete evening before bed. We’d finished a note from Hannah and were just talking. All of the sudden the men jumped back out of their chairs. The entire focus was on Jonathan who was babbling happily at my feet.


    My quizzical expression met their wide, shocked ones.


    “He tried to…” Evan said and stopped.


    Jonathan got up and walked toward Evan talking and reaching. He wanted his Daddy to pick him up. Evan backed toward the far wall slowly.


    “What is wrong with you?” I fussed standing to pick up our son. “He just wants to be close to you.”


    In a very human gesture Evan shook his head ‘no’ and stared mutely at me.


    “He tried to…” again Evan couldn’t finish and just stood there.


    “It was like he tried to bond with us,” Damien said slowly. “I felt it, we all did. It was so strange.”


    “For a moment,” Kein said in awe, “he was part of us. That has never happened before. We didn’t know anyone could do that…”


    “He didn’t like it, though,” Bane said stepping toward me. “We weren’t right, we didn’t fit, but he wanted to try.”


    The mens’ postures rxed and Evan finally came toward us. A hand stroked the boy’s head. Jonathan caught Evan’s hand andmenced sucking on his fingers.


    “He is lonely,” Evan said quietly.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    “I cannot remember not knowing you, Brothers,” Bane said resting a hand on Kein’s shoulder.


    Christof came to stand by Evan as Jonathan gummed his fingers. “He is sad. It is like when I was separated from you all after the women had me in the mountains. He knows he has Brothers, but he cannot find them.”


    “Remember what Ronal told us many moons ago?” Damien asked. “When we thought Hannah was a boy he told us they put the boys together.”


    “It needs to be soon,” Evan said sadly. “He needs his Brothers.”


    A tear slid down my face and I saw the same emotions in Evan’s eyes.


    “He will not be lost to us forever, Sister,” he said softly. “Hannah and Kennedy will save him… they must.”


    My family murmured assurances to us. They had saved Bane’s boy already. My girls would help save this son. Again, I had to put my faith in their promises to control my emotions, otherwise sadness threatened to overwhelm me.


    I knew time was short, so I enjoyed Jonathan as much as I could. Every waking moment was spent ying with him and talking to him. He still spoke in that strangenguage he’d invented. I understood him, though.


    Children have no basis for sad and I knew that. Jonathan started to do things that told me he was not happy. He didn’t talk as much and yed with his toys less. He slept poorly and had to be reminded to nurse. I knew Nu-reeh would notice and she did.


    “He needs his Brothers,” she told me as she stalked in one day without warning.


    “Yes, Mistress,” I agreed watching the unusually quiet little boy sitting listlessly by the pool.


    “Usually we wait until they have teeth and are eating on their own, but this cannot continue,” she informed me.


    Nu-reeh left after her promation, but Tosu returnedter to exin what would happen.