Gunth’s gruff voice broke through the intimate moment. He and his family looked angrily at Damien and his Brothers as he spoke.
“You are not to be with that female,” he said harshly. “We will remove you if-”
I cut him off and moved several steps away from my family. “It was not intentional, Gunth,” I said politely. “During the excitement I jumped on their transport. Their only choices would have been to shove me off or take me with them.”
Gunth moved through the men with his family after I moved away. He’de from a different part in the tunnel. He was monitoring the events above ground using a pad like the one Kennedy had given me. Once it was safe to move up, he’d signal all of us waiting below ground.
“We felt The Great Spirit for just a moment after you all came down here,” he announced, “but the sensation faded. What has happened?”
The men around us looked sheepish, but stayed silent. One of Abram’s Brothers called Gunth over to show the Administrator the reason for concern.
“He was bitten by a scar outside. We breath for our Brother,” Abram exined. “The human, Ciara, did it first and showed us how. We will do it for as long as we need to.”
Gunth’s family turned to look at me and I just stood stoically. “How did you get near an injured man with his family here?” Gunth asked, inly confused.
Evidently the way Abram and his Brothers had acted was normal. Tapping into Damien’s memory I suddenly knew that was right. I should not have been able to approach him.
Healers had to be respected to get near an injured man. Only a family of Healers with great skill, or those under the tutge of a skilled family, would be allowed near the injured. I was not of that caliber when it came to healing.
“We trust Ciara and let her through,” Abram said quickly. “She convinced us this was the right thing to do.”
Men around us quietly agreed with the statement and I was shocked. It was a lie, a tant, outright lie. My family had forcibly restrained Abram’s family giving me the chance to help. I waited for someone here to say that, nobody did.
Gunth’s Brother indicated action on the pad and the Administrator’s attention was diverted. I looked at Abram who looked at Damien and then me as he smiled.
Christof’s voice was gentle in my mind. The confusion was evident on my face. It would be considered a heinous crime to force his Brothers away from one that was dying. That was a sacred time when they had to be close. What Damien and the family had done should be judged very harshly. The other men’s forgiveness was shocking.
“Stay here until we let you know it is safe,” Gunth ordered looking around. “Continue to do as you are doing for Ruse. We will get you out of here quickly.”
The men around us all agreed and promised to continue to help the injured man. Gunth took onest look as Abram breathed into his Brother’s mouth before boarding his transport. The Administrators glided away into the caves, intent on checking on another group of men waiting below ground.
The silence was very ufortable for a moment. I stepped back toward Damien and ran a hand down his arm. He smiled back at me and was d for the contact, but we said nothing. The only sound was Abram and his family breathing for their Brother.
“We don’t think it is wrong if you stand near Damien’s family,” a man I’d only met once said quietly as he sat down on his transport to wait.
Murmured agreement all around us told me that no one here objected to me being with Damien. He’d done what I wanted, at his family’s grave peril. Obviously the men they called “vers” didn’t think of us as ves anymore. They’d listened to me, at great personal risk, and that was notable.
Basin and his family were getting the same treatment as my men and me. No one objected if Rose wanted to be with them. They’d listened to me, a human, and risked the wrath of the whole camp. They obviously respected us.
Rose and I both took the opportunity to be close. As I hugged Damien and his Brothers, Rose hugged Basin and his family.
We sat on the transport and I sat on Damien’sp.
“How long will that man stay like that?” I asked Damien softly.
No one in my family knew. Damien called to men across from us and asked them. Would this family live forever breathing for their Brother? I shuddered thinking what horror I might have just created.
“When the women are bitten,” a man called back, “they feel ill and weak. It onlysts a day and then they are better.”
There was murmured conversation around us, perhaps men were the same and this would onlyst a day. A man had never survived the bite of a scar, so there was no way to know. This was a unique circumstance.
I sat quietly with my family. The strange new bond pulsed and ran between us. When I wanted to, I could dip into it and be one with my family. Unlike before I could also pull away from them, mentally, and have my mind to myself.
“It’s so strange,” I whispered against Damien’s neck and I felt them all feel surprised.
“It isn’t strange,” Evan whispered, pulling my legs until I sat on hisp, “we always knew we were family. This is how it should be between us.”
I nuzzled his neck and kissed his lips. This bond, this closeness, was wonderful. It was what I had always wanted. It’s what we had always wanted.
A man I didn’t know well approached and my family all stood, pulling me up with them.
“I am Mund rescued from the Barnaspound. The Administrators must be made to see reason,” he said watching us.
“Ciara, from Earth and they won’t,” I said bitterly. “They can’t understand how Damien and his family see me. They can’t understand how I see them.”
The man and his family stood considering. They must be powerful because I sensed Damien’s desire to protect me. He was fighting the urge to pull me away. Instead he stood calmly and I stood next to him. Basin’s family joined us and we all talked. No one knew how to exin this to the Administrators without telling them what Damien’s family and Basin’s family had done.This content ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.
Even if the oue was good, it was still a crime the Administrators would want to sanction. Fighting within the camp and pulling a dying family apart were two separate crimes. The other men seemed sure the Administrators would be angry at Damien’s family and Basin’s family, just because it was them. Administration had much hate for vers and may not understand they were changed men.
It took a while, but we were eventually told we could leave the tunnels and return above ground. Except Abram’s family and all those who came to help at the rm, we went back to the field to collect our day’s work. We could not leave the day’s pickings to rot on the ground. It was veryte by the time we got back to the camp.
Rose and I freshened up in our room upstairs and walked to the evening meal. It had been a long, eventful, and strange day. We were looking forward to a nice, quiet evening.
The dining room was in turmoil when we got there. The men that had witnessed Damien’s actions earlier had decided the isted families should join the camppletely. They insisted Damien, Basin, and Stayne join them for the evening meal in the dining hall.
There was yelling and arguing. Finally the powerful man, Mund, from earlier stood on a chair and made a promation.
“The Great Harmonious Spirit is not about division!” he argued. “We have taught our cousins and they have learned. The Spirit calls us together and we must answer!”
As Rose and I had already learned, that was the correctrhetoric. The men couldn’t argue that The Spirit was wrong. It quelled the room to quiet grumbling as everyone got their food.
We got in line with everyone else and picked out a healthy, full meal for ourselves. Rose and I were both quite hungry and took filling items. I could tell by the aromas alone that the men leading the cooking tonight weren’t as adept at it as Abram and his family. Those men would be missed until they returned.
We chose our regr table and scooted close to one another. An extra family or two may join us. It would be rude to take up too much space.