All of them rushed to soothe me, “No, Mama,” Kennedy said. “The issue is we can not take him. It was put to a vote and it was determined that a family of children should not be removed from the Child Keepers. Nu-reeh has no reason to harm Jonathan, because he has no knowledge and his owners would not permit it besides.


    The issue is that if we start rescuing sons of the revolution, the women like Nu-reeh will not let our boys join with their families. We have an uneasy truce regarding the boys right now. That just cannot be endangered.”


    My breathing slowed and I leaned on the wall. Hannah disappeared with Ra, presumably to go get Evan.


    “The rebels in the camps had already found a way to ess the cameras the ving women use to monitor the boys. Hannah and I thought it would be good for you to see Jonathan,” Kennedy exined.


    “You can’t save him?” I asked quietly still fighting the desire to scream and cry.


    I would never be with my little boy again.


    “No, not now, perhaps one day…” Kennedy trailed off looking ufortable.


    Nodding silently, I looked up at my daughter and sought to ept thistest blow to my life.


    I followed Kennedy into the Administrator’s main room. She took us into a smaller room and we waited.


    “Jonathan is in apound near the one you were at, Mama. The men call the mountain near it the red mountains, we call them the T’ylene Mountains. Thepound is called the Barnaspound. It is about as far from us here as the T’aran Mountains and the Caraspound you were in. Right now, you reside in the T’lynien Mountains,” Kennedy exined politely.


    I nodded and stared at her, just trying to process how close and yet how far away Jonathan was.


    Damien and his Brothers came in a few momentster with Hannah. Hassar followed the entire group in.


    “This is not appropriate,” she growled looking between Hannah and Kennedy. “I do not want them contacting the woman they used as a ve.”


    “Evan is Jonathan’s male breeder and I am his female breeder,” I choked out. “On Earth we would have lived in the same ce and cared for him together. If I am being told I will never hold my male offspring again, I at least wish his male breeder here forfort.”


    “You may turn to your female offspring or your female friend-” Hassar said and Ished out at her.


    “Allow me this moment with my men!” I demanded. “You offered us no time to say good-bye and that is all I am asking for. Comfort from those whom I love and a chance to wish them well in their separate future.”


    Hannah didn’t give the woman any time to answer and flipped on the screen. It was in ck and white, but that did not matter to me. I took Evan’s hand as we watched a recording of Jonathan, Hannah said it was the first time he entered the Children’spound.


    Tears poured down my face when I saw him look at the monitor. There was no sound, but I could read his lips. He asked where Mama and Daddy were. The Child Keepers herded the new little boys into the bunk house and the camera changed.


    We stood and watched for what must have been hours. My girls had made sure to keep a record of Jonathan for Evan and me. The children were kept intentionally very busy. Hannah told me it helped them forget their breeders. Jonathan’s owner also would have given them subtlemands that only their Brothers mattered. Soon the only focus of their world would be on the four other boys in their family. Their first home in the mountains would be a dream or distant memory. Eventually, they would not remember it at all.


    Within the first several moons they had them using thecquered pots and learning to dress themselves. Games were set up that they yed every day to build endurance and strength. I watched Jonathan get stronger and more coordinated quickly.


    As I stood, totally fixed on the monitor, I saw his bond with his Brothers get stronger and stronger. He touched them and tasted them constantly. When he slept it was often wrapped around a Brother and sucking the other boy’s fingers. The entire little family seemed to sleep in a pile most of the time. They were never separated.


    Less and less did I see the motions of his mouth that told me he was saying Mama or Daddy. He was forgetting us, as he was being forced to do. It broke my heart.


    I didn’t remember dropping to the floor as the crushing sobs gripped me. I clung to Evan as I mourned the loss of the son we would never know. He had been so sweet and wild. I would have loved to watch him grow and learn with his family. Now all I had was pictures on this ck and white monitor of a boy who would find me alien very soon.


    “It will not be forever, Sister,” Evan whispered over and over again. “He will grow and we will take him. No more tears, please, he will be safe there.”


    “There is a cream,” I heard Damien beg, “that will help her feel better.”


    “No,” Hassar told him sharply, “grief is normal. This is normal. This woman does not have to be a perfect creature to represent your family’s health anymore. If she wishes to be sad, she can.”


    “This is pain,” Damien argued. “It will harm her. She does not survive well when she is sad. We must protect-”


    “Daddy,” Hannah cut in, “please don’t worry. Humans can feel sad. Kennedy and I will watch her. It will not be like it was before. She is not trapped and she will not break like that again. We know this about her.”This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    “The sadness is too powerful for her-” Damien started to say and Hannah interrupted.


    “The bonds of very were too powerful Daddy, the emotion is normal. You have to let her be free. She can be sad or happy. Kennedy and I believe she will make the right choices now that she has the option. We will help her and she will be well.”


    Damien was silent as Evan soothed me with strokes to my hair and back. We knelt together and I knew the men were confused.


    “You all maye separate from the female if you wish to view him,” Hassar said after a moment.


    “Thank you,” I whispered squeezing Evan’s hand and pulling myself together.


    I stood with Evan and looked into his eyes. “I love you,” I told him simply.


    “As I love you, Sister,” he responded.


    Hassar made a bitter, grunting sound and tossed her head in irritation turning away. I took her moment to take one of my own. I moved to hug and kiss each of my men before she made them leave.


    “Boys grow up in the Keepers all the time,” Christof soothed when I hugged him. “Don’t mourn him, Sister.”


    Hassar broke in and demanded the men leave. She also demanded they stop calling me Sister. It offended her that they would use the sacred bond she shared with her family to imply very.


    Damien didn’t flinch as he faced her. “You will understand one day,” he promised her. “This is not our ve; she is our Sister.”


    My men were taken away and Hannah handed me a small, wooden square. Inside the square was a ck and white drawing of Jonathan surrounded by his Brothers.


    “One of the families here can draw,” Kennedy exined. “We brought them here and told them what we wanted them to do. There is nothing in this camp like a printer. They exist, but we do not have ess.”


    Hannah had tears in her eyes as she ran a finger over Jonathan’s image.


    “This is from just a moon ago. The boys saw something in the sky and they all looked at the camera at the same time. It struck me as something you would want,” she said softly.


    It was something I would want. I would put it on my shelf in my room and look at it every day.


    “This room,” Kennedy said, “is not the formal observation room for working. It is for mothers like you and fathers like Evan toe and see their sons. We have programmed the pad to recognize your human hand print and associated it with Jonathan. Any time you wish to see what he has been doinge in here and follow the instructions.”


    My tears refused to stop falling as I held the small picture to my chest. I’d kept what I could of Jonathan’s baby clothes and nkets, but those were all at thepound. This was all I had of him.


    Rose took my hand and I saw her drying the tears from her own eyes. She had helped raise Jonathan with me, as if he were the son she could never have. She felt the pain of losing him as much as any of us did. We all suffered for this decision.


    “Dinner will be served soon,” Hannah said pulling herself together. “Go put your things in your room ande down to meet us.”


    I shook my head and looked down at the picture of Jonathan’s happy face.


    “I promised to eat with someone named Arik,” I said softly. “He grows things.”


    “Good,” Hannah said decisively, “that will please the Administrators, keep doing things like that. The faster they see you acting like a free woman, the sooner we can start working on changing their minds about Daddy and his Brothers.”


    “Damien’s family is going to have to change, too,” Kennedy said softly. “Did you hear Damien ask for cream for her? They can’t keep her like an orchid anymore. We need to talk with them. They have to understand.”


    “Let’s take them hunting to make sure they eat and show them around,” Hannah said and Ra agreed.


    All the girls nned to spend some time with the men tonight.


    Rose and I walked slowly up to our little room. I put Jonathan’s family picture up on the carved shelving and sat on the bed staring at it. Rose joined me and held my hand tightly. We sat in the quiet until the dinner bell rang.


    “Will youe with me?” I asked her softly. “I agreed to eat with these strange men, but will youe, too?”


    Rose sighed and squeezed my hand. “I’m not leaving through those damned portals,” she said bluntly, “so I best do what they want.”


    I smiled at my friend and was truly d she was here with me. If we had to change, at least we could do it together.