Kits and Space Stations: Chiya and Ketvia's Story

Every morning, like clockwork, Chiya woke at dawn. She couldn't help it. Even if she had been up well past midnight the night before, she always woke up bright and early, with the sun. If she was really too exhausted to make it through the day, she could convince her tired body to go back to sleep, or at least rest it for a while, snuggled up next to Ketvia's sleeping warmth. This morning, however, wasn't one of those mornings. She only managed to lay abed for a short few minutes after she woke, her muzzle buried into Ketvia's heavily-furred neck, before she was restless and uncomfortable and altogether ready to get up.

So, she slid out of bed, yawning widely and stretching out one wing at a time, one hind leg at a time, then her back and tail, shoulders, and hips, in that order. It was a morning ritual, and helped her wake up the rest of the way. Ketvia, still buried under a combination of blankets and her own heavily-furred wings, grumbled something unintelligible and buried herself deeper. Smiling for her friend's laziness, Chiya gave herself a quiet shake and padded quietly out of the room Ketvia could sleep a little later, but Chiya had to wake the rest of the household.

After she had a little something hot to drink, to wake herself up. Though she'd staunchly refused to give into Cacopheny's addiction to Star City's coffee, she still liked a little tea or, if she was feeling decadent, hot chocolate before she started her day. Today she was feeling decadent, so once she started the hot water, she pulled out the cocoa. Unsurprisingly, by the time she was stirring in the powdered stuff, Ketvia was lumbering downstairs, yawning toothily and scratching at her hindquarters with a wing-tine. The smell of cocoa combined with the sounds of someone alive downstairs usually brought her down, especially if it was Chiya, and the other half of their bed was empty.

Regius was the next one out-- not down, since he and Vir had rooms on the bottom floor-- looking remarkably awake for it being just past dawn. He'd even gotten his short-clipped nest of head-fur, the fluff on his wings, and his tail-tuft in order after sleeping on it all night. He was naturally an early riser, despite his laid-back demeanor. Some mornings, he even made it into the kitchen before Chiya, even though he went to bed later than she did. But then, he was much younger: maybe he had more energy for mornings.

Oh yes, so much younger, she giggled to herself. Though he was already in late adolescence at just barely two years, she was hardly an old woman! She was, actually, still quite young: barely sixty. She had her whole life ahead of her... and her three children were already catching up to her. She'd intended to spend years on her offspring, decades even, but now she would have two years, maybe three, before they were grown and chafing to be out in the world. If they were not already chafing, now.

Determined not to ruin her good mood-- she still had all three of her children, after all!-- she turned a smile on Regius as he leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Morning," he rumbled; his voice had changed early, even for their accelerated growth. Vir was still squeaking, the poor boy, and Fidelan on Atu had only begun to crack every now and then.

"Sleep well?" she asked, pouring him a mug of the hot chocolate and letting it float its way over to the table where he was settling down.

"Mmmhmm," he muttered, immediately hiding behind the mug. One of his few vices was a distinct love of chocolate, though he refused to actually make it for himself. He said it was because if he did, he'd drink them out of house and home, but Ketvia cheerfully accused him of simple laziness. Regius never bothered to contradict her, though whether that was because it was true or because he didn't like arguing was debatable.

The next one up would be Tripudia, but only because Vir usually had to be rousted. He was a late sleeper, even when he didn't stay up until all hours of the night pouring over some old book, or practicing cantrips, or just doodling. Trip, however, had a much more average sleep schedule than either of the boys, and she could rarely resist coming out to join them all when they started getting moving in the morning. With two years of habit behind her, Chiya filled another mug and set it at Trip's usual seat at the table. She'd be out in a moment with a sleepy smile and good-morning kiss to claim it.

She sat down at the table, herself, while she waited, and while Ketvia cooked breakfast. Chiya might be the one with dreams of motherhood and home-making, but Ketvia was the one who insisted on doing the cooking. She liked to cook, and was remarkably good at it for such a boyish dragoness. Chiya wasn't going to protest: she tended to make far more of a mess than was necessary, whenever she tried to make something other than the simplest of meals.

Breakfast was almost ready, and Trip still hadn't come out. Neither had Vir, but that wasn't surprising. The lack of Tripudia's presence, however, even after Regius had emerged from his chocolate mug to engage both mothers in conversation, was more marked. Maybe she wasn't feeling well. The three children had been relatively healthy so far over their short life-- Doctor Schroeder had quite likely increased their immune systems to compensate for having such a brief period of time to develop-- but there had been the occasional cold or stomach bug between the three of them.

"Better wake the rest, or they'll miss breakfast," Ketvia said gruffly, and Chiya nodded, getting up to do just that.

"Vir, sweetheart, time to get up," she said, first poking her nose into her second son's room.

"Fifmorminusemom...."

"No, Vir, breakfast is ready now."

It usually woke him up when his covers peeled back all by themselves-- though he could control his own body-heat, he seemed to prefer to stay buried under several layers of blankets, even in summer-- and this morning was no exception.

"Mom!" he yelped, grabbing for them too late and merely succeeding in lunging awkwardly off the bed and into a heap on the floor.

"Breakfast," she reminded him, then pulled her head back out, leaving him to sort himself out with grumbles and growls while she checked on Trip.

Tripudia had the singular room on the ground floor, technically the basement. Vir had wanted it badly when they first chose the house to move into, when the boys grew out of being able to share a room and Ketvia got that job with the city police, but after his first few attempts at going down the exceptionally steep stairs met with disaster, he grudgingly relinquished it to his sister. Chiya made her way carefully down the stairs and around the corner into the room itself.

"Trip?" she asked gently. "Tripudia, dear, breakfast is ready."

No one answered, the room quite silent. In fact, the room smelled... oddly empty, as well. All of Tripudia's scents were cold. Chiya frowned and touched the spell-switch that controlled the lights. They flickered on obediently and confirmed what her nose and ears told her: Tripudia was not in her bedroom.

"Maybe she got up early to use the mage lab upstairs," Chiya murmured to herself, confused by the change in routine. She cast her mind up to the top floor, which was taken up entirely with the shielded laboratory and library, but it was empty, as well. That didn't make any sense. She trotted back up the stairs and passed the kitchen, ignoring Ketvia's puzzled query, to continue up to the third floor. Her eyes confirmed what her psionics told her: Tripudia wasn't here, either.

This time she loped all the way back down, pinpricks of panic stirring deep in her belly. Something had happened to her daughter. She'd been kidnapped-- she'd been whisked away somewhere-- she was in trouble, certainly--

Ketvia was already in Trip's room when Chiya made it back there, and she held up an unrolled slip of parchment. "She's gone, Chiya," she said, eyes serious.

"Of course she's gone," Chiya agreed worriedly. "She's not anywhere in the house. I can't imagine how anyone got past the wards-- maybe they lured her out--"

"Chi," Ketvia interrupted gently. "She left. Of her own accord. She even left a note. See?"

Chiya blinked, train of thought derailed as Ketvia shoved the parchment under her nose. She didn't do more than glance at it, noting Tripudia's loose handwriting and immediately shying away from it. "But-- she wouldn't have. She wouldn't just leave, in the middle of the night--"

"She told us herself she wanted to leave, remember?" Ketvia said. "Just last month. Wanted to wander, see the world-- explore the Nexus."

She remembered. Oh, yes, she'd remembered, because though she'd kept herself under control during the conversation, she'd cried herself to sleep afterwards. Ketvia probably remembered that, too. "But-- I didn't think she meant immediately-- and in the middle of the night--"

"Looks like she took some of her stuff, too," Ketvia was saying, looking around. "Some clothes, some books, that pretty bag you bought her to put it all in...."

How could she be so calm? "Ketvia, she didn't even say good-bye--"

The Fire dragoness turned back to her, came over and put one hand on her shoulder. "Yes, she did, Chi," she said quietly. "She did it a month ago when she told us she was leaving, and in the note she left last night, and every day in between. We just weren't listening."

Chiya hiccoughed on a sob, just now noticing that she was crying. "My little girl...."

Ketvia sighed and wrapped her wings around her. "I'll call in sick at work today, okay?"

With another sob, Chiya just buried her face in her friend's fur and cried for another lost child. It would be a while before she could read the note this one had left her. But at least she still had that much.