Stormsong gasped as she watched Blue Sky tear through the complex twists and turns. “Oh, shit. I didn’t connect the name. You’re Team Big Sky!”
“Yeah, we are.”
She laughed. “Oh, Lightning Strikes would have been proud. Team Big Sky has always been the clan’s favorite team.”
John trotted down the concourse steps, trying to escape the remorse he felt, but it followed him. He should have told Lightning Strikes that he had a son. If it had been John, he would have wanted to know before he died. I couldn’t be sure, though, that Blue would be safe!
Blue flashed past, spotted John, and pulled in a sharp loop, heading back toward him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” John walked out to meet him.
Blue slid away, keeping out of grabbing range. “I don’t want to be one of them! If I can’t be with you, I won’t be with anyone!”
“Blue, this isn’t solving anything. Cut the engine and talk to me.”
Blue frowned and started to reach for the keys and then spotted Stormsong tucked in the shadows of the stands. “What is she doing here?” He gave John a look full of pain. “You’re just going to give me to them?”
“I don’t want to, Blue, but it might be the best thing for you.”
Blue twisted hard on the power and shot away.
“Blue!” John shouted.
Stormsong made a sound of disgust. “You know—you suck at this.”
“I’m just doing the best that I can. It’s not like I had a great model to work from. When I was little, if I was bad, my mother would say ‘I just can’t take it anymore, I’m taking you to the EIA. You can go live with another family on another world.’ And after Blue Sky was born, it became ‘take care of him, or I’m taking you both to the EIA.’ Okay, so I’m not the best parent in the world. I really don’t have a clue what I’m doing, but I have never, never threatened to give him up.”
“You should have given him to us! We would have done a better job than this!”
“I wasn’t willing to risk his life to find that out!”
“If you’re worried about his life, then stop fighting with me and do something about him!” Stormsong pointed upward.
Blue Sky raced up the tallest ramp that climbed skyward. At the summit, he popped up and landed on the very rim and balanced there. As the bike teetered on the narrow ledge, Blue killed the engine.
When Stormsong had said “hurt himself” she wasn’t meaning by accident.
“Blue!” John shouted. “Don’t be insane! Come down!”
“I won’t be one of them!” Blue shouted.
Stormsong kneed John in the balls. Surprise made him scream at the pain. He didn’t even see the second hit. He went sprawling in the dirt, with black closing in. Distantly he was aware that Stormsong had drawn her pistol and was taking careful aim down at him.
“John!” Blue shouted and the hoverbike’s engine snarled to life.
The gun thundered over and over again, the shots echoing off the stands.
Somehow Stormsong had emptied her gun and missed him. John scrambled away from her, aware that she was drawing her sword. Blue was roaring toward them.
“You promised!” John held out his hand, pleading to her. “You promised not to hurt him.”
“And I’m not going to,” she said quietly as Blue leapt at her. She spun, caught Blue in midair with her left hand. As his weight spun her around, she sliced the hoverbike’s spell chain. The engine’s power diverted into the lift and the hoverbike soared upward on maximum lift. She continued the turn, slamming Blue against the ground and pinning him there.
Blue thrashed in her hold. “You murdering whore! I’m going to kill you!”
“Blue, she didn’t hurt me.” John’s head was clearing; his balls ached and he felt like vomiting, but he was basically unhurt. “Shut up before you make her mad.”
Blue went still in surprise, and then squeaked, “John!”
Stormsong let Blue go. The boy scrambled to him. John hugged him tightly, relieved that he hadn’t self-destructed. The sekasha looked on with sadness in her eyes.
“Why the hell did you do that?” John asked her.
“We protect those we love,” Stormsong said.
Meaning she knew that Blue would come to John’s protection. John supposed this was what she meant by solving all problems with violence.
Blue kept himself between John and Stormsong as they pulled down her floating hoverbike, maneuvered it to his pickup and killed the power. After they strapped the bike down, they drove back to Poppymeadow’s enclave in silence. Blue huddled in the middle, a small ball of hurt. Stormsong cleared them through checkpoints. Thunderclouds gathered, threatening a downpour.
The same servant opened the gate at Poppymeadow’s, letting them in. “Domi is sleeping in the garden room.”
“Again?” Blue sneered.
Stormsong cuffed Blue on the back of the head. “Tinker domi moved heaven and earth to save all the people of this city. She is a good and just leader. But until her injuries are fully healed, she will have to sleep often.”
Apparently they were now considered trustworthy; they weren’t searched, nor escorted through the enclave. The garden room turned out to be a small conservatory filled with a riot of blooming flowers. Tinker slept curled on a chaise with only Pony in attendance. Stormsong knelt beside Tinker, and kissed her forehead to wake her. “We’re back, domi. We found the child and brought him back.”
“Hm?” Tinker opened her eyes sleepily. “Oh, good.” She yawned and reached out for a hand up. “I was worried. Thank you for keeping him safe.”
Tinker hugged the female sekasha. The depth of Stormsong’s affection showed on her face.
We protect those we love.
The sekasha weren’t standing guard over Wolf Who Rules’ wife—they were protecting their beloved domi. She had won their hearts. Nor was the fact all that surprising. Blue had always bordered on puppy love for Tinker. She was courageous in a fight, fiercely loyal, never lied, and kept all her promises.
John supposed that if Blue had to go to someone else, at least it was someone he knew he could trust. “Tinker, I’ve thought about this, and I’m willing to do whatever is best for Blue Sky. I ask that he stays in Pittsburgh, and I want to be able to see him.”
“You don’t want me?” Blue fought to stay stoic in the face of the news.
“This isn’t about wanting you, or not wanting you. This is about what’s best for you. They’re right. You probably would have been better off with your father from the start.”
Tears filled Blue’s eyes and he bowed his head to keep them hidden. “Why does everyone want me to be an elf?”
“Because you are an elf.” John tapped him on his pointed ear tips to remind him. “And without meaning to, I’ve poisoned you against yourself. I know this hurts, but I really think you should come and live with Tinker.”
Blue bowed his head lower, shaking it. “If I become one of them, you’ll be afraid of me. You will hate me.”
“Blue, I swear to you, nothing you can do or say or be will ever make me hate you.”
“I don’t want to lose you!” Blue whispered.
Tinker put her arms around Blue. “When I was thirteen, and Oilcan was seventeen, he moved out. I felt like I was losing him, but I wasn’t. We’re even closer now, because we don’t have to fight over all those little annoying things that come with living with someone. What to watch on the TV and whose turn it is to take out the trash. He’s still there for me anytime I need him. You’re not losing John. You’re gaining a very large family.”