-Thanus 31

Kiromir came walking back to my trailer. Krell and Nodak helped me take the canopy down, and everyone went quiet. Dew shook off the eaves of it. I’d need to dry it out at the Sentinels on the off chance that it grew mold. Kiromir could help me unpack it later. In fact, he could help me unpack a lot of things now. The thought made me feel good.

His eyes were on me, a light flush over his cheeks. Gloriously, his eyes shone golden and bright, a little too gold. My fires stirred inside of him hard. I wonder what my own brown, amber eyes gleamed like.

I remembered last night, he made himself drunk off my fire and I on his. His eyes glowed brightly in the dark because of me, and I could feel the blue light from his fire behind my eyes burning like two stars. I looked strange with a blue glow in them. I’d only ever seen Kiromir’s glow blue twice with his ice fire: the day he found Niala and the night before with Gaff. I’d never seen someone so instantly protective. That haunting image of him burned into my mind, and I stayed up late nights just thinking about it with a shiver. I wished that I knew then what I know now. Those sleepless nights would have been a lot warmer.

Kiromir felt so hungry and starved for contact that when he finally had enough, his eyes rolled back, and he went limp to my chest, just as the binding sigils burned. How he stirred with me and took my fires made me sad that he needed something this badly. I wanted to wake him, show him, and watch his reaction. But, despite this, I felt entitled to experience that on my own and waited for him. He needed the sleep, and I just wanted to feel the solid, reassuring warmth of him sprawled out with me a little longer.

Now, he helped me with the tent and folding the stairs up to my camper, retracting the awning. I had a relatively newer model, so every part had been designed to be more complicated than necessary to operate. But, between the four of us, we figured it out. Nodak stayed quiet as he worked, avoiding looking at us. He knew better than to make comments like that in front of Niala.

He had the decency to look ashamed of himself. Krell, however, had a half-grin strewn across his face and fought not to laugh every few moments.

“Got something to say?” I said to him. Krell looked at me and raised a brow.

“Nope.”

I grumbled at him and stuck my hand into the camper to fiddle with the door curtain, then locked the door.

“Come on, let’s go find Gaff, eat and stretch our legs for the journey,” I said.

Kiromir stood tall again, assuming his take-charge stance. He had his ‘no-nonsense’ look on and radiated the fear and authority that most people expected of their flock leader.

He had this thing he did every year since Lowak died. He rallied us for breakfast as the domestically inclined made food for us, then gave a speech. He wrote one for every migration.

We had loads of fruit strewn across plastic containers and plastic tubs of yogurt for the kids. They had kinds with extra protein in them that they swore by, but we could eat it, and that’s all that mattered. Unfortunately, there was less and less human food as time went on that we could eat.

Forty years ago, we could easily get rare meat, fruits, and vegetables in season, eggs and potatoes when things were slim. Now, I swore that synthetic everything would be the death of us.

We couldn’t eat the same things as humans. Corn, wheat, grains, they had no nutritional value, and while our kids could eat them in moderation, our bodies rejected them entirely as we got older. Niala’s first experience with losing her ability to eat grains came when she turned thirteen or fourteen and begged Kiromir for a pizza like the rest of the kids. She didn’t eat that kind of stuff well, to begin with, and it got worse as she grew up. She’d stuck with our adult food since. It hit her hard.

We ate our meat rare, fruit raw, and could supplement things like vegetables that weren’t a grain. Niala, I suspected, took her meat damn near raw. I never actually witnessed her eat a whole meal with the rest of us. Kiromir didn’t say much about it. With teeth like she had and how much he protected her, I called it a safe bet. That, and he snuck meat off for her separate from the communal kitchen.

Alcohol seemed to treat us well, though, no matter the base.

The fanfare for the first night’s journey laid out, elaborate for what it was. They bought fancier fruit, and we had actual tablecloths set up. Of course, we never set out tablecloths. Letti sat at the head of one of the tables, baby in one arm, talking animatedly to one of the other women. They were laughing. She’d probably said something nasty.

She caught my eye and smirked as I approached. Niala and Gaff were already there, looking surly. Someone probably told them off for trying to sneak food before everyone assembled.

“Finally!” Letti shouted as Kiromir walked towards the end of one of the tables, ready to give his speech.

“Alright, everyone, gather round,” Kiromir announced.

“That’s right, everyone, gather around!” Dimal shouted over him. Kiromir looked at my brother like he was crazy.

“Dimal?” He asked, startled as Dimal raised a glass of juice. Slow-motion horror crawled over Kiromir’s face.

The chatter died down.

“Kiromir, you can make your speech next; I promise we’ll all wait. I just have a few things to say,” He shouted.

Curious onlookers and amused others whispered with curiosity as they simmered down to silence.

“We start every migration with Kiromir’s speech, and we talk about new lives, and how we should welcome the new to our flock and be willing to part with family, as they’ll be making a new family. We celebrate love for all that find it, and today is no different,” Dimal announced.

“No...” I breathed under my breath.

Kiromir’s already-flushed cheeks went hot, red, and fierce as his guard dropped. Holy hell, I wanted nothing more than to grab him and kiss him right there, give him a reason to blush. This definitely would cost him some respect. A warrior does not blush. Then again, a warrior doesn’t do a lot of the things we did last night.

Well, this warrior did. I wanted to make him blush again.

“Kiromir! After so many…many…many years, I would finally like to congratulate you on finding a bondmate. We can all gather around and celebrate my brother and welcome you into our flock as his partner. I couldn’t be happier for you two, truly, Thanus,” Dimal announced. Kiromir looked like he wanted to die right there on the spot.

“Welcome him to our clan?” someone whispered.

“He’s a lefty,” one of the women said.

Snickers tittered about.

“Welcome to the clan, Kiromir,” Letti whooped.

Kiromir buried his head in his hand then looked up at the sky in exasperation.

“Let it be said that things change, and may we all be happy by the end of this migration,” Kiromir groaned and threw up his hand. “Pack up; we leave in an hour!”

Feathers… I loved that man.