Chelen City: Chapter Sixteen, Part One

 Notes: Time to settle in our newcomers. Never fear, these lovely soft chapters won't last for long ;)

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Sixteen, Part One

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Chapter Sixteen, Part one

 

Elanus would never have said it out loud, but he was ready for this day to be over. It had been exhausting in a way he rarely felt—careening from discovery to fury to adoration to bliss, and finally to an amount of planning and physical labor that was, frankly, not something he was used to any more. But the guest rooms he had set aside for Xilinn and her son needed to be prepared, furnished, made to look welcoming and deliberate instead of like a space where anybody could live. At least, according to Kieron.

And Catie, for some reason.

“It needs toooooys!” she protested as she surveyed the room for Pol through the house’s system. “Kids need toooooys!”

“He’s bringing some of his own.” Surely. Right?

“He, ah, didn’t get the chance to pack any during our escape,” Kieron interjected. “So whatever he’s got now is whatever the refugee office made available to him, and I doubt he’s going to be allowed to take communal property away from the place they’re living.”

“But…” Communal property? What? “I thought this was a group of political refugees. Why would there be any more kids in the mix?”

“Not from Trakta, from other places,” Kieron clarified. “Gania has a fairly permissive refugee policy compared to planets in the Central System, so a lot of people end up applying for safe haven here.” His lips twisted into a smile for a second. “Like my therapist.”

Oh, right, she’d come from Hadrian’s Colony.

“So there are other kids to play with, I’m sure, even if they’re not Traktan. But that doesn’t mean he gets to keep the toys.”

“So he neeeeds neeeew ones!”

“But he should get to choose them.” That was Lizzie. Elanus was a little surprised—Lizzie rarely bothered with the house speakers, preferring to talk either in person or through the implant. Apparently this was something she felt strongly about, though. “Because we won’t pick right.”

“We won’t?” Catie asked, sounding surprised.

“No.” Lizzie didn’t elaborate, but it made sense to Elanus. He wouldn’t have wanted someone picking out all his toys either.

“Fine. We’ll make his room look good, we’ll get him set up with books and holovids and—actually, are physical books still appropriate for a kid his age?” he asked Kieron, who nodded.

“Turning pages is good for developing dexterity, and Trakta is more old-fashioned about learning anyhow. He’s used to paper books.”

“Fine, then. Books. And he can pick toys when he gets here.”

Things were ordered, delivered, and installed with just minutes to spare by the time the mother-and-son duo actually arrived. Well, “arrived” was a misnomer—Kieron went to get them. He thought it would be nice for them to have an escort through the parts of Chelen City they’d never experienced before, not to mention it would give him a chance to scan them for any devices or biological implants that could be trouble.

Elanus waited alone at the exit from the tunnels for them. Ryu had opted to stay in his room, citing feeling “fine, fine, just like my spinal column is slowly disintegrating and taking my leg function with it,” he’d said with a grimace, and…yeah, that was another thing Elanus needed to figure out—saving Ryu from his particular modifications before they broke down.

There’s always something else. Always something else after that. You’re never done. You’ll never be done.

Elanus gave himself a few seconds to feel a justified surge of self-pity, then forced it aside as the doors to their dock opened. Kieron stepped through a moment later, looking…soft. Soft in a way that Elanus had only seen him look with the girls before this.

Xilinn is his best friend’s widow. Pol is like his nephew. Elanus had known, intellectually, that Kieron loved them, had to love them to go to so much trouble to bring them here, but…he hadn’t seen it so viscerally before. It was one thing to talk about these people in the abstract, quite another to bring them into their home. But they weren’t strangers, this slight woman with dark hair and intelligent eyes, and the boy who clung to her hand while his face was buried in Kieron’s stomach. These were family to Kieron, which meant they were family to him, too.

A year ago I had no family at all. Now my life is full of it. And soon he would be married, and…

“Welcome,” Elanus said, stepping forward and holding a hand out to Xilinn. He didn’t know if Traktans shook hands, but it seemed like a decent starting gesture. Sure enough, Xilinn took it without hesitation, assessing him in silence for a moment before giving him a small smile.

“Thank you for taking us in,” she murmured.

“It’s my pleasure,” he said genuinely. “Kieron’s told me so much about you, and I know that Pol and Lizzie are good friends. She’s really looking forward to seeing you again.” The last sentence he addressed straight to the boy, who turned his face just enough so that he could use one eye to look at Elanus.

“You know Lizzie?” he asked. His voice was high, stressed but sweet. Poor kid. This has got to be a lot.

“Elanus is Lizzie’s daddy,” Kieron said. “Remember, I told you about Lizzie and Catie’s daddy?”

“Yeah…” The little eye looked him up and down. “I thought he would be a ship, though.”

“Ah.” Kieron exchanged a mirthful glance with Xilinn and Elanus before looking back down at Pol. “That’s not how ships are made, I’m afraid.”

“Oh.”

“Would you like to visit her now?” Elanus asked, a little desperate to do something to make this child smile. “Or would you rather go to your room?”

“I think it would be best if we settled into our rooms first,” Xilinn said, speaking for both of them in the manner of parents everywhere.

“All right.” Oh shit. “Follow me and I’ll take you to them. Or maybe you’d rather have a tour of the house first?”

“Rooms first, then tour, I think,” she replied.

“Of course.” As Elanus turned into the house, all he could think was: I really fucking hope they like them.