Chiya and Ketvia had left Cacopheny and his little house behind an hour ago, but Chiya kept looking back towards it with a strangely sad expression. Kevtia, sorting through a stack of messages that had piled up since the last time they'd checked at Sanctuary last spring, didn't know what to make of it. The demon's-get was doing well, for someone psychotic and totally out of his element; his motley little family was doing even better. Ketvia actually really liked that daemon girl he was so attached to, and Chiya seemed quite fond of his little Light bond, Sentio, for all the kid made the Fire laugh. Three years seemed to have done quite a bit for his stability, and he was even starting to tentatively learn how to use that strange magic of his. So why the sad face?
"You all right?" she asked finally, as they found a seat at a cafe on one of Sanctuary's main thoroughfares, after making a request for a meal from the host of the place. They weren't due back on Tris'Hath for a few hours, and there was lunch to be had.
"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine...."
Ketvia gave her mage-partner a hard look over a note from her disgruntled father, which she only glanced at before tossing back onto the pile. "You don't look fine. What's the matter?"
"It's nothing, really!" Chiya exclaimed, and turned her eyes to the tabletop and putting her ears back.
"Don't have to get all annoyed," Ketvia huffed back, focusing on the next letter, this one from an old acquaintance begging her to come visit once in a while. That went onto the "read and answer sometime" pile, as well. "You just look all sad, that's all," she added.
Chiya folded her forelegs on the tabletop and put her chin on them. "Well, I am, I a little...."
"Whatever for?" Ketvia snorted, perking her ears and arching her brows at her friend. "Can't be Cacopheny; whelp's doing just fine, nothing to be sad about there."
"Oh, it's not him... not really." Chiya sighed heavily. "It's just-- Ketvia, I never thought I'd spend my life always at war, like this.... I thought, maybe, there'd be skermishes with demons, or bandits, with plenty of time inbetween for... for... you know, a family."
Ketvia's ears skewed in confusion and a little dismay. "Uh, you want a family?" she asked. "Like... a mate? And kits?"
"Well, kits, yes," Chiya admitted, not looking up from contemplation of her claws. "Not sure about the mate part... I haven't found anyone that I... you know, like."
Well, that made things a little better. Not much, but a little. "You can't really have one without the other," Ketvia pointed out wryly.
Chiya sighed again. "I know. But I can still wish...."
Shaking her head for strange, motherly Light dragons, Ketvia looked down at the next message in her stack. Aedelian Landwerlen... that wasn't a name she'd heard in a while! She broke the seal and unfolded the parchment. Aedelian sure could write... there were three whole pages worth of his small-yet-relaxed handwriting! "Well, look at that!" she chuckled. "Old 'Del's finally settled down again! Got himself a lady-friend on one of those other worlds he's always talking about!"
That was the wrong thing to say, she could tell immediately, for Chiya's ears drooped further. Ketvia put down the letter, reaching over to give her friend's horn a little shake. "Hey... hey, Chiya, you'll have kids someday! Don't get so down about it. You're still young! Demonsblood, you're younger than I am, and I'm not exactly an old biddy!"
Chiya sighed again, but smiled a bit at her. "I know, I know... maybe I'm just tired of the war. Seeing a little new life just sounds so good, after all this death...."
That, Ketvia could do something about, and she grinned. "Well, 'Del's got youngsters, two of 'em, hatched just last year. How's that for new life?"
The Light dragoness' pale eyes turned up at Ketvia hopefully. "But we're supposed to report back this evening...."
Ketvia waved a hand dismissively. "We've got a few months' leave racked up, one for each year we've been in service! I'll just send old Commander Irithisian the message, and we'll hop off to this 'Star City' to see his kids. Come on," she urged, grinning more widely. "It'll be fun!"
Though she looked a little skeptical, Chiya agreed, and Ketvia settled back with their newly-arrived lunch and a very satisfied feeling. If playing around with little Air dragon hybrids didn't cheer Chiya up, she didn't know what would!
Playing around with little Air dragon hybrids didn't cheer Chiya up. Not significantly, and not for very long. In fact, her longing expressions and heavy sighs only seemed to get worse. Ketvia couldn't understand it, but it wasn't getting any better. To be blunt, it was disturbing, seeing her friendly friend so sad, and Ketvia wanted to find some way to help. The trouble was, she didn't have any idea how to help.
Aedelian and his mate, Vyly, were both friendly and didn't mind putting them up for a few weeks, since Ketvia insisted on paying them for the privilage. They didn't have much else to spend their Guard stipend on, really, since for most of the year they lived in Guard barracks and ate Guard food, on Tris'Hath. Ketvia found Vyly rather fun, for she was a young sort of mother, and acted more like a sister to her two kits than an actual mother. The Fire wondered, amused, if Aedelian felt like he was looking after three children, rather than just two, sometimes.
The two guests had plenty of fun playing babysitter for the two kits, Chiya's strange sadness notwithstanding. Or, at least, Ketvia did, and thought Chiya did. There was bronze Dyva, who really did seem like she'd grow up to be something of a diva, and black Audaxo, who, though a laid back sort in general, still enjoyed rough-housing with Ketvia as much as listening to and watching Chiya's stories-made-real with illusion. Not much ever got past Aedelian, though-- when one had no concept of "privacy" and very strong psionics, not even thoughts were safe-- and he drew Ketvia aside after only a week.
"You know, I think I might have something that will help your friend, Ketvia," he told her without preamble. "If you don't mind taking an extended vacation from adventuring, that is."
"Don't tell me you're going to fix her up with some man," Ketvia warned with a growl. "She doesn't want a mate."
"Yes, I know, and you don't want her to find a mate, either." Aedelian looked far too smug when he said that; Ketvia had to resist the urge to whack him with a closed fist.
"What? She's my partner; as much as I hate to say it, I'm dependent on her. We make a good team, anyway." Leaving Chiya behind with someone else, while she went out to vanquish evil all by herself, was just plain out of the question. Even leaving Chiya behind without someone else was better than that. But still not something she wanted to do.
"Well, I didn't plan on playing matchmaker, anyway," Aedelian replied, brushing aside her excuses. "I know of a way for her to have children without having to have a male's help. Well, not in that sense, anyway." Ketvia coughed pointedly, suggesting without words that he get to the point. He smirked at her. "There's a man named Doctor Schroeder in a space ship orbiting the station who offers his services as a gene artisan and amniomancer, of sorts, to dragons who otherwise would not be able to have children. This is including barren pairs, same-sex pairs, situations meriting multiple parenthood, physically incompatible species, and even unpaired dragons."
"Gene artisan?" Ketvia repeated suspiciously. "He's a daemon?"
"Oh no, no," Aedelian chuckled. "He's human. His artisanry and amniomancy isn't magic, really, it's technology. Genetics and synthesis."
"Say what?" Ketvia said blankly.
"He can give Chiya children," Aedelian explained more simply, "without her needing a mate or even going into heat to do so. I would be glad to take her to his ship and apply, if that's what you both want. I would have already mentioned it to her, but I didn't know what you thought on the matter."
Ketvia didn't know what she thought of the matter. "So Chiya'd have kits."
"Mmmhmm."
"Real, honest to gods, blood-related kits."
"Mmmhmm."
"I've gotta think about this," Ketvia muttered.
"Take your time," Aedelian chuckled. "But not too much time. You'll want to time it so that you can say she simply got pregnant, and take leave from the Guard for that."
"Right, right," Ketvia snorted; she could have told him that. "I'll get back to you well before then."
"You do that," Aedelian replied, looking far too satisfied for her comfort, and left her to think.
It was Ketvia who broached the subject with Chiya. She still didn't know her own feelings on the subject, but Chiya's thoughts figured considerably in what her decision would be. It would be pointless to come to the decision that she'd like to help Chiya raise a couple kits, only to find out that this particular method was entirely disgusting to the Light dragoness, after all. So, after treating her friend to a nice dinner at one of the many, many restaurants on the crowded, metal station-place, she cleared her throat and asked, "So... you wanna have kits, you said?"
Chiya blinked at her, presumably for the odd subject matter. Ketvia hardly ever talked about that, and for good reason: it made her uncomfortable to think of Chiya tending a hoard of little brats, with a mate doting on her, and not in small part because she was certain Chiya would be quite happy to be nothing but a mother. Since Ketvia was selfish on top of all her other faults, she didn't want to encourage that particular outcome, so she didn't talk about Chiya's newly-admitted dream of motherhood.
"Well... yes. But it just doesn't seem possible...."
"What if it were?" Ketvia asked, tracing a claw along whorls in the fake wood tabletop. "What if you could have a kit or two, no mate needed? Would you do it?"
"What are you talking about?" Chiya asked, frowning. "That's not possible."
"It is," Ketvia said, eyes still on her claws on the tabletop. "'Del told me about this place called Abstract Destiny, where they'll give you kits, mate or no mate. It's some kind of gene artisanry-amniomancy sort of thing, only without the magic part. I don't really understand it, but 'Del says it's had two batches of gene-manipulated little mutts, so far, and it's open for more...."
"Oh, that would be so...." Chiya's voice trailed off mid-sigh, and she looked solemnly at Ketvia. "But I shouldn't. We're at war, we're due back in two months...."
"Pah. You just tell them you got pregnant. It's sort of true. They're not going to make a pregnant mage fight. They're not going to make a pregnant mage do anything; you know how hard having kits can be."
"What about you?"
Ketvia shrugged awkwardly. "What about me?"
"What do you think about this?"
"I don't know yet," Ketvia answered truthfully. "I just want you to be happy, that's all, and you haven't been."
Chiya reached over and stilled her restless claws, taking her hand. "Will you stay with me? Help me, maybe?"
There was, of course, only one thing to say to that; Ketvia squeezed her partner's fingers and grinned. "If you want me there, wild demons couldn't keep me away."
The pair's visit to the Abstract Destiny was brief, simple, and relatively painless. Relatively, because the good doctor Schroeder had needed to draw blood from Chiya to use in the creation of offspring for her. Aedelian accompanied them, since he knew about how things worked much more than they did, and could "translate", if needed, the more technical language into something simpler, and vice versa. He could reassure Chiya that the blood draw was necessary, and reassure Ketvia that it wouldn't hurt her more than a prick.
Chiya had been very disappointed that she wouldn't actually be able to carry her own offspring, but Doctor Schroeder was adamant that putting the developing kits into eggs was both safer for mother and for offspring and firmly refused. The Light dragoness had to be content with merely taking watch-and-entertainment duty over the eggs themselves, rather than letting one of the Abstract Destiny personnel take the job. Ketvia, of course, promised that she would be enough protection for both of them, if need be, to reassure the ship's head of security.
To Aedelian's surprise and immense amusement, while Chiya had been ensconced with one assistant, getting blood taken and answering a small hoard of questions, Ketvia actually presented herself to Doctor Schroeder with the gruff, embarrassed demand that she donate, as well, since such a thing was possible. She had even surprised herself with the spur-of-the-moment decision, but Schroeder took it in stride and took her aside, as well, with the promise that no, he wouldn't tell Chiya, at least not yet. He did ask, with some amusement of his own, whether Aedelian would like to donate to the mix, as well.
"Oh, goddess, no," Aedelian had laughed. "I already have a mate and two children to raise, begotten in the normal way, and that is quite enough for me."
As a somewhat stunned-seeming Ketvia and a hopeful Chiya made their way out, leaving behind contact information and the promise to return as soon as eggs became available in the Alpha bay, Aedelian hung behind for a word with the doctor himself.
"Excuse me," he said, "but if I could have a word, about my friends' offspring...."
"But of course," Schroeder replied, sounding surprised. "Should I call them back?"
"That won't be necessary," Aedelian said, shaking his head.
"Whatever would you need to tell me that the mothers do not need to hear?" Shroeder asked, looking confused, but Aedelian guessed that he wasn't confused at all, or not just confused, but a little suspicious-- guessed, because the man was under a powerful mindshield that made his usual snooping quite impossible.
"My mate and I had a much larger clutching than anticipated," Aedelian explained. "Fourteen, when I'd expected no more than seven, and only knew how to care for two or three. So we had to put most of them up for adoption-- I'm sure you heard about it, we were in the public bays at Star City." At Schroeder's cautious nod, he continued, "Avengaean dragons do not bond naturally, and we had one daughter who was... extremely injured that we wanted to 'abandon' her to strangers, as she put it. If she'd only told me how she felt, we would have gladly taken her in, but...." He sighed heavily at the old pain of that rejection. "I don't want Chiya and Ketvia to have to go through that, too, nor would I want to see a kit of theirs so bitter."
Shroeder nodded again, this time in understanding; he could undoubtedly see where this was going. "That is understandable."
"I could get you bonding scrolls from my homeworld, the way we did for my children," Aedelian continued, "but you would have to make certain that every child knows what is in store for it, and is happy with that future, if that is at all possible.... Or find some way to include in their genetics that bonding comes naturally to them, so they will not feel so... abandoned."
"I'm sure everything will be fine," Doctor Schroeder chuckled. "There's no need to be concerned."
"But you will contact me if you need any bonding scrolls?" Aedelian pressed lightly.
"Of course, of course! I know you don't want to see your friends hurt, but I promise, we won't be sending out any unhappy children, if there's anything we can do about it."
Aedelian sighed, just once, thinking of Lha. "All right, I just wanted you to know."
"And thank you for that. Go on, congratulate your friends," Doctor Schroeder chuckled. "If we need you for anything, we'll know where to find you."
There wasn't anything more to be said, so Aedelian nodded, gave his things, said his farewells, and went to catch up with Chiya and Ketvia and do just that: congratulate them. They were, after all, going to be parents!