Keren Tenat sat in a booth near the back of the Lunar Lumiglow, a very mild sort of bar-restaurant place where she was supposed to meet the Minister of Security. Of course, she was very early, and already nursing her second Terisian beer, though there was only a few sips gone from it. The thought of meeting the Minister himself, a very important personage on the station and possible her future superior, on such personal terms made her feel like she needed the drink, if just for something to hold her hands still on. At the same time, though, she had been privy to peeks into his mind on occasion during the past twenty-four hours, thanks to the ochre and black, snakelike xeno... thing who had chosen, randomly, to bond them both the day-- morning, afternoon, evening? Who knew in this place?-- the whatever before.

Of course, early or not, Tenat was not alone. There came a little whine from her lap, and her mind filled with an image of Gavin Vance, the Minister, pulled from her own memory and coupled with a fierce, insistent longing that was not her own. Igess had probably sent something similar to the Minister himself, for even though she had tried assuring the xeno-thing over and over again that it would be seeing its other bond very soon, Igess seemed to have a hard time grasping the idea of waiting. Perhaps because it was still a baby. Her hand fell to stroke it, where it curled in her lap.

:This is ridiculous,: said another "voice" in her head, this one sentient and using actual words. :And a waste of time. You should just give the stupid thing to the man. I certainly don't want it around.:

"Well, you'll have to deal," Tenat told Nekeress, her second bond, a gold and black xeno-dragon who was crammed into the booth beside her, between Tenat and the wall. "Because I doubt Igess will like being with just the Minister all the time, either." The dragon let out a hiss of displeasure, but was silent.

Igess suddenly let out an ear-splitting squeal-- thankfully a brief one, and Tenat warning it silently to keep it down-- and tried to wriggle away from her. She caught it, held it still, and looked where its eyeless head was pointed. Aha, the Minister had arrived. He turned his head, spotting woman, burstling, and xeno-dragon easily with Igess' call "leading" him, and started towards their booth, bringing his own quartet of companions with him-- one white fire-lizard, and three much more colorful xeno-burstlings. Talek hunched timidly on Gavin's shoulder, a veritable bundle of raw nerves ever since the xenos had arrived, while all three xenos swarmed fluidly around his feet and weaved between his footsteps, drawing more than a few stares from other patrons of the bar. Though they hissed and snapped at toes and paws, they did not stray from Gavin in the slightest, and swarmed into his lap when he took the booth-seat opposite Tenat.

Tenat watched him approach, arrow-straight but for a single stumble as Igess literally threw affection at him, taking the poor man off-guard. The echo of a mental shriek and wordless babbling rung in her own head, making her wince slightly, but still grin. For a virtual killing machine, Igess was far too cute. Perhaps that, too, was because it was still a baby-- but then, what she picked up from the Minister about his own three, they were something less than "cute".

"Good afternoon, Ms. Tenat," he greeted, with a small but still pleasant smile-- he was reserved by nature, but not unfriendly. "I hope you did not wait long. Yes yes, Igess, hello to you too."

Though she had been sure that she would be completely tongue-tied and stiff around such an important, capable man, Igess' exuberance was catching, and Tenat found herself smiling as the Minister sank down to greet her. Igess reared up, hitting her in the chin with its head, jaws gaping in an almost dog-like expression of excitement and happiness, both of which were creating a rather pleasant haze beneath her own thoughts. The other three, who also seemed to think that laps were the place to be, hissed and wove around from the other side of the table, but Igess took no notice. She had to snatch it back as it tried to vault the table, right into the Minister's lap-full, where it would have certainly gotten itself torn to bits, or at least hurt.

"I don't think so, little guy," she murmured to it, keeping a firm hold on its shoulders and arms, her hands easily encompassing its narrow body. "Maybe when those other ones aren't there to bite you."

Then she turned a sheepish grin on the Minister, who was smirking faintly at Igess' mindlessly enthusiastic affection. "'Afternoon, sir. Naw, I haven't been here that long."

:Hmph. Lesser mortals,: Nekeress huffed, meaning the bursted xeno-things, turning her muzzle away from the rest of the table haughtily.

"You met Nekeress, yeah?"

The Minister reached across the little table to rub the burstling's glossy brown pate in greeting, then gave Nekeress a nod of the head, folding his hands on the table before him. "Indeed, she's a hard one to forget. How is your arm?"

"Oh, it's fine," Tenat said quickly, while Igess made a happy thrumming sound deep in its throat, filling her mind and probably Gavin's, too, with a heady pleasure for the touch, the greeting, and the presence of both its bonds. "My sister is a Mystic-- uh, that's something of a mage-- and she has a handy little healing spell she used on it. Well, once I convinced Igess and Nekeress to let her come near me, anyway. Protective little things."

:I am not a thing, thank you,: Nekeress sent primly, ignoring the Minister's greeting. :And you're mine, not hers, so why shouldn't I not want her around?:

Tenat didn't deign to reply to that; her displeasure was obvious enough to the dragon, and Nekeress wisely didn't say more.

"Glad to hear that," Gavin responded, not too surprised, which was something of a relief. If Tenat had the magic to summon those great wings of fire she'd displayed the day before, it should have been obvious that her sister probably had magic as well, but not everyone thought about that. "And indeed, the protectiveness is the nature of the breed, more so than true dragons, or so Linaeas tells me-- he's the wolfish fellow who took your names yesterday, you'll recall, and it was his bond that fathered this lot.

"And that one," Gavin pointed a flesh-tone metal finger across the table at the purring Igess, "is a chip off the old block. Cheerful, and a troublemaker."

Igess echoed in both their minds a cheerful, wordless denial, and a feeling of innocent affection that, in effect, said, "Trouble-maker? Me? Never! I love you!" Tenat burst out laughing, making Nekeress growl lightly and rustle her wings. Gavin smiled softly at Igess, his eyes full of amusement even if he, by nature, didn't let much of it onto his face.

"You little rat," Tenat told the snake-like xeno, giving its head something between a rub and a noogie. It just gaped its mouth happily at her, and she flashed the Minister a grin. "If the father is as friendly as Igess, I suppose he can't be all that bad-- I've heard some pretty rotten things about xeno-dragons."

:But, of course, you don't believe them.:

"I do so, miss priss," Tenat replied. "Oh, sorry sir, Nekeress said I shouldn't believe them, but since some of the things I've heard are, like you said, protective and possessive, and arrogant as any Nataki, Nekeress is proving every last one of them." The golden xeno-dragon bared her teeth at her, and Tenat patted her head with a grin. "Violent, too."

"So the rumors are about already?" the Minister mused aloud, reaching a hand back to rub Talek's neck as the tired little flit drooped across his shoulder. "There is not too much about the breed in the city files, and all of it comes from Linaeas, who has had unfortunate dealings with the species in the past... but it does sound like you've been hearing the truth--"

One of the burstlings in Gavin's lap, a dark indigo over its black base, snaked up onto the tabletop. The Minister glanced down at it, but when it did no more than teeth curiously at the handle of a fork, he let it be and resumed. "The majority of xenos, oddities like Igess and its father Taxoness aside, are extremely aggressive towards anything that isn't their 'hive', but willing to fight to the death for anything within it, especially the alpha figure... or figures, as our unusual case may be. You and I, it seems, are an unexpected novelty, Ms. Tenat. Nothing in the city files records a single dragon, multiple bond case as ours, either here in Star City or in any other worlds we keep contact with."

"If there's one thing I've learned," Tenat snorted lightly, "it's that nothing will stop the rumor-factories from churning. Even last night, people'd heard about you taking three of those things, and about us doing the double-bond thing." A slight, almost shy grin. "So yeah, I'd heard it's pretty rare... didn't know it was that rare. Sure is weird...."

Watching the indigo-xeno, idly scratching behind Igess' head-plating, she finally asked what's really been bothering her. "Now, tell me I'm not crazy, but you haven't been-- you know-- seeing stuff I'm doing or thinking? Have you?"

While Ytoss moved on to examine the salt and pepper shakers, completely ignoring Keren's side of the booth, Gavin frowned slightly at the woman's query and shook his head, but not in negation. "Yesterday afternoon, my mind went from being linked to Talek here alone, to having four squalling little newborns clamoring for my attention as well, usually all at once. Igess did bounce some images at me from you yesterday at the hatching, I am certain of that, but since then... well, my head's been so busy it's hard to tell one thing from the next, much less discern its source. I would not dare call you crazy, though. If Igess sent... echoes between the two of us back at the bonding, there's no reason it might not still be doing so."

His frown went away, replaced by the little smile again. "My mind is much more crowded than yours, now, so it may simply be I cannot hear the echoes as well as you do-- too many other things distracting me, outside my head as well as within it."

Tenat wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. "Well, yeah, I'd kind of noticed. How busy you were, I mean." Then, afraid he'd think she'd been 'peeking', she adds, "Igess wasn't very happy that you couldn't give him-- it, I guess, actually; I keep doing that-- more of your attention, so it kept telling me about how unhappy it was you weren't listening. Though-- I do keep getting echoes, as you say. I'm sorry, I'm trying not to, but if Igess is thinking about you, or at you, and I'm not being distracted by something else, I really can't help it."

Gavin nodded, waving his hand in a dismissive manner that meant she didn't need to be concerned. "Oh, I understand completely. I might not have 'heard' anything directly from you, but Igess made it undeniably clear with me that it was unhappy, too. Had to assure it that I hadn't abandoned it, when I was able. It made a particularly large fuss when it woke up from a nap, and wailed at me that it couldn't find you anywhere." He looked at the little brown curled in Tenat's lap, and chuckled softly. "At least it forgives easily."

"Yeah, it does forgive pretty easy," Tenat agreed, almost fondly. Despite its rather disgusting method of "hatching", and its species' reputation for being utterly evil, and its rather weird appearance and way of "speaking", she rather liked Igess. It was rather like an enthusiastic puppy which had decided she-- and the Minister, of course-- was the one it wanted to love. She scratched behind its head-plating again.

:Hmph. More then me? It's just a stupid little burstling.:

:Of course not more than you. The same as you, just in a different way. I'd never in a million years think of you like a puppy.:

Somewhat mollified, Nekeress replied, :...Good. Because I'd hurt you.:

:I don't doubt it. Now hush, I'm supposed to be talking with the Minister.:

Especially since the Minster was talking again. His expression had sobered, and he folded his hands in front of him again. "However, though unintended these echoes may be... well, you know what I do, and so I'm sure you understand that these echoes make for an unfortunate breach of security." Tenat suppressed a cringe-- she'd thought of that, herself, and didn't know how he would deal with it. "As a properly registered citizen, though," he continued, "there is a file on you in our records, and one of the things I did yesterday was review it." That he had reviewed her file, as short as it must be as she'd only been around for a year or so-- though, with all the odd jobs she'd had to take for a week or three at a time, perhaps there was something there to read-- both relieved her and embarrassed her at the same time. It was something she would have done, in his position, but the fact that she was unemployed, and had been hopping from job to job like a common street-rat before her recent stint of said unemployment, made her want to shrink in on herself.

Thus, it was with much surprise that she registered his next words: "It's a good thing you're unemployed, Ms. Tenat, because I know you won't have a conflict of interest when I say I'd like to offer you a job. You certainly have the credentials for it."

The moment that passed while Tenat actually absorbed what Gavin had said was marked only by the soft 'clink' of Ytoss knocking over the saltshaker it had been investigating, and its quiet, annoyed hiss as it backed away and slithered back to join its kin on the booth seat. Her mouth fell open a moment, and Igess chirped quizzically. "A job?" she repeated blankly-- just what she'd wanted, and she didn't even have to work up the courage to ask, and offered by none other than the Minister himself! "Gods and Royals, sir, it's all I've wanted since I got here. Where do I sign?"

The Minister sat back and reached inside his jacket, pulled out a folded packet of perhaps a half-dozen sheets of paper. "Not even I can let you skip the paperwork and the interview and physical," he told her, as he held out the papers, "but your file has been marked with my personal recommendations, so as long as you don't punch your interviewer or sic Nekeress there on the physical examiner, your hiring is guaranteed. You will, of course, have to start out a Recruit like any other applicant, but your file reported your career in Tanazira and everything verified when I had checks made, so I have no doubts that climbing the ranks again won't give you any trouble. Just report to the ministry recruitment office whenever you have those forms filled out, and take it from there."

Tenat took the papers with an expression of long-sufferance. "Paperwork... who woulda thought. Before, there really wasn't much. If you had one of these," she pointed to her forehead, where her bangs didn't quite hide the double-diamonds of her creed mark, "you were pretty much automatically on the force. Some of us were even lucky enough to like it." She grinned, elated by the offer, warnings or not. "I know you can't bypass procedure, sir, and a Recruit is about the best I'd hoped for. Honestly, sir, I never expected to get offered any kind of position-- figured I'd have to fight tooth and nail to get someone to notice me-- so you've already done more for me than I'd ever expected."

:You're babbling.:

:That happens when I'm excited.:

Almost giddy with gratitude and relief, she beamed at the minister over papers and Igess' curious, also-elated grin. "Thank you, sir."

Gavin chuckled softly. "You're quite welcome, though you must realize this benefits me as much as it does you-- I can't say I'm being completely altruistic. I don't intend for this to sound callous, so forgive me if it does, but it is to my advantage to look out for you, now, as much as I must also look out for Igess. If you are happy, he is happy... and yesterday you proved you are a woman of bravery and integrity, and you certainly deserve this opportunity, so don't think I'm simply being charitable because we 'share' Igess. You earned this."

"Oh, it makes sense," Tenat admitted, letting her mind gloss over the compliments so she wouldn't go all red and tongue-tied. "Especially with that whole 'breach of security' thing, too. Can't have someone outside the force knowing what you're up to randomly, and all." Then, a wry grin. "But I hope you don't end up having to look after me too much. I like to think I can take care of myself, in most situations. When I'm not standing in the direct path of dangerous felons and dragons, anyway." Nekeress purred contentedly at the mention, and at Tenat's scratch along her neck.

"Speaking of sharing Igess, though," she continued. "What are we doing to do about him-- it?" At the sound of his name, again, Igess let out another curious chirp and lashed its tail around lightly under the table, slapping against Gavin's legs while its eyeless face looked between them both.

"You seem to handle yourself just fine even in the path of felons and dragons," the Minister answered, smiling. "I daresay I'm lucky you where there-- that Tycharis you helped us stop is not one I would've liked to see gain the loyalties of a xeno-dragon." He smirked faintly, wryly, and looked at Tenat's gold-black. "Though maybe it's you, Nekeress, that I should be commending...?" He looked back at the dragon's bond. "For all that her method was definitely not by-the-book...."

Nekeress rustled her wings and preened slightly under the compliment. :As if I'd do anything "by the book",: both Tenat and, she could guess by the faint echo, the Minister heard. That his brows suddenly went up to meet his hairline proved that he had, and Tenat was hard-pressed not to chuckle. :It wasn't as if I'd ever choose a weak-blood like that one, anyway.:

Shaking her head, Tenat gave her dragon a pat. "You? By the book? Royals forbid." Nekeress snapped playfully at her hand, nowhere near actually putting teeth to skin, but Igess hissed warning, Nekeress growled another right back, and they lunged for each other. Tenat rolled her eyes and, holding the snake-like xeno with one hand and pushing against Nekeress' chest with the other, kept them from causing each other harm. "I sure hope yours aren't like this," she commented to the Minister, already sounding, even to her own ears, like a harried mother.

Gods and Royals, what a terrible thought.

"No, not with each other," he replied to Tenat's query, but with a jerk of a thumb at the white fire-lizard dozing soundly on his shoulder, he added: "Though they do keep trying to torment poor Talek here. None of them seem to comprehend, or care, that Talek was here before any of them. The three of them together act almost like a single unit, though. Perhaps because they specifically mass-bonded me-- the three of dubbing me as 'theirs,' instead of each singularly claiming 'mine.' Linaeas called it a hive-mind."

"As for Igess...." Gavin spread his hands a moment, and shook his head. "Honestly, I'm not quite sure. As I told you, our situation is a first, and there is nothing for us to go by as an example. For now... I suppose the best we can do is take turns, so Igess gets to spend equal time with each of us. It might not be happiest with that, as clearly it prefers us to be together like this, but that isn't realistically possible. At least now we'll share the same workplace-- we can trade him off each morning... and meet like this now and again, so the poor thing doesn't pine itself away."

The Minister reached over to pat the little brown's head again. "I can't help but wonder if it knew what it was in for when it claimed the both of us...."

The distraction of attention from its second bond brought a thrumming noise, much like that of a flit only more basso, from the previously-incensed Igess, and, forgetting his anger at Nekeress entirely, nuzzled up into the Minister's hand. "I guess that will work well enough," Tenat admitted, stroking Nekeress' neck and cheeks soothingly so that she settled. "We'll see if he-- it takes to that. Gods and Royals, I hope so... I don't know what else we'd do, otherwise." She shook her head gently. "I can't imagine it'd known, or it probably wouldn't have done it."

The Minister gave Igess a final fond chin-rub, before pulling his hand back to give the same to each of his own three, as they lifted their heads from where they were quietly curled and hissed softly with jealousy. "If Igess does not or cannot adapt... well, we will find a way to deal with that obstacle if it presents itself, and hope that it doesn't in the meanwhile. That's all we can really do."

"Looks like the 'theirs' mindset doesn't seem to apply to Igess, either," Tenat commented. "Interesting idea, though. The mass-bonding and hive-mind. You were talking about 'hive' earlier, too. Wish these two would get some kind of hive-situation worked out, it'd be easier than keeping them from mauling each other."

:As if I would share my thoughts with that,: Nekeress said disdainfully, once again privately to her bond.

:I said "wish", not that that I expected it would happen.:

:Just making sure you knew.:

:I'd guessed.:

With Igess whimpering at the sudden lack of attention from the Minister and flooding her mind-- and obviously trying to flood the Minister's mind, though whether it affected him any with the other three was debatable-- with loneliness and sadness, Tenat succumbed and picked up the petting where he left off. Accepting his observation with a nod, she turned to other things, and the discussion turned into small talk until they finally parted ways again, the Minister taking Igess with him, this time, and Tenat promising she would have the papers for him the very next day.

Chapter Four

Back