by Viola Grace
Lyra looked at Yatal. “Lytal? Or even Lymira?”
“Why not something entirely from Urth?”
She cocked her head. “Lyric. It means the words in a song.”
Yatal nodded. “Lyric is a cute name.”
The little girl in the tiny onesie kicked her stripey hands and feet, giggling at her extended family. Her wings were soft and flexible but very strong. Koron had already held her up by her wings, and she had simply blown a soft bubble with her rosebud mouth.
Yamira was standing nearby with her hands opening and closing. “Lyric. I will register her with the government offices.”
Yatal chuckled as his mother left the room. “She is working hard not to snatch the baby. I never thought to see her in such a condition.”
Koron sighed. “She always wanted a house full of children, but she couldn’t have more than Yatal. He didn’t make it to full term, and his first year was nerve-wracking. That is when she developed her healing enhancement. He didn’t seem to want to stay alive, but she gave him everything she had. When he was stable, we tried again, and we have been trying since. There has been no other child since Yatal.”
Lyra nodded. “Well, I don’t know about a house full, but if no one minds, we could try for another when Lyric is weaned.”
Yatal picked his daughter up and smiled. “I don’t mind.”
Koron chuckled. “If it as fast as this one, I would welcome a whole houseful.”
Lyra’s eyes went wide. “No. Not a whole house. I have seen how many bedrooms you have.”
Koron chuckled. “Who knows. Perhaps the presence of a baby will work some magic between Yamira and myself.”
Lyra looked at him and actually saw him as a man who loved his wife and wanted her to be happy. “Who knows.”
They went to confront the wave of baby paraphernalia that Yamira had arranged. There were the equivalent of diapers, onesies, swaddles, wraps, a baby thermal suit, and stacks more stuff that Lyra was going to need help identifying.
Yatal smiled. “We are going to have to wait until my mother gets home before we can figure this out.”
Lyra nodded. “I have a quick question.”
“What?”
“Did you want kids?”
He smiled. “I didn’t go through my life seeking children. In fact, I went out of my way to avoid having them, but with you, I lost control. Repeatedly. Now, I can’t think of anything better than having that houseful of children my father mentioned.”
“Not going to have a houseful. This place has eighteen rooms, and I don’t want to unleash a Hmrain plague.”
He laughed and looked at their daughter. “But it is such a cute plague. How did she get the colour of the nanite dye?”
She chuckled. “Koron thinks the colour is cute and hopes that she shares my hair texture. What is the deal with the fascination with my hair?”
He moved in close and nuzzled her hair. “It isn’t just silk, but it holds the second-largest cache of pheromones on your body.”
She didn’t need to ask what the first was. He had confirmed that every night since she had arrived at his home.
She took her little one from him, and she whispered, “Don’t listen to your daddy. He’s a good man, but he has some funny ideas.”
The baby sucked her fist and blinked her dark blue eyes. Lyra frowned. “Dark blue eyes?”
“They will darken to black in a few months.”
She leaned down and pressed her cheek to the baby’s. The image of a young woman in an armoured bodysuit with her blue hair in a ponytail and black eyes came to her. “Oh, you are going to be a stunner.”
The baby looked at her and fell asleep.
“Good baby.”
Yatal wrapped his arms around them both. “So, when can we try for another?”
She chuckled. “When my breasts aren’t milk dispensers anymore.”
He grinned. “I will ask my mother.”
She snorted. Lyric snuffled and sucked her fist, so Lyra leaned against Yatal and relaxed for what she knew would be a rare moment. Yatal would have to return to guardian work, and she would end up in a bot. She smiled. “I wonder how your mother feels about childcare?”
“If you are talking about Lyric, she would take her from us if she thought she could.”
“Do you think she will watch her when I have to go to work?”
He laughed. “If she won’t, my father will.”
Lyra smiled. “Good. I am feeling my way around here. I haven’t had much time to plan.”
“No. You haven’t. How are you feeling?”
“If you are talking about my current physical, everything is back where it is supposed to be and in a normal configuration, so I got very lucky.”
He whispered in her ear. “Is everything back to normal?”
She laughed. “Yes. That is back to normal. The accelerated healing is a very handy thing. I was all healed up by the time I was in bed after the delivery.”
“A wasted day.”
“Consider me uncaring. My lady parts had already had an adventure.”
He grinned. “So, what do you want to do today?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Oh. But I do.”
She chuckled and whispered what she wanted to do in his ear.
He looked at her, and he smiled. “So, we will go.”
She glided across the ice with increasing speed. She spun, jumped, twisted, and landed heavily while avoiding collisions with other ice bladers.
She moved as rapidly on the ice as she could, the other bladers around her became slow and easy to track. The music slowed, and she moved faster on the ice until she was tired of blurring past other bladers, so she resumed the normal speed of gliding along. She did half an hour more, and then, she headed back to the exit on the ice, and her blades popped into her boots. She walked up and found Yatal and Lyric surrounded by women admiring the newborn. The baby was wearing her little winter outfit, and she was definitely adorable.
Yatal chuckled as she approached and moved past the adoring crowd to lean down and kiss her. “She was very impressed.” He kissed her slowly and thoroughly with their baby strapped to his chest between them. He lifted his head. “And so was I. Your ability to move at increasing speed is admirable. I look forward to your progress.”
She grinned and kissed him again, just as thoroughly. “I will keep the speed moves outside the bedroom.”
“Good choice.” He grinned, lifted her in his arms, and flew her back to the overseer’s house.
The exosuit was coming along, Yatal was home as much as he could manage, and his parents were willing caregivers if she had to run around for fittings. The older couple were more visibly affectionate with each other, and that gave Yatal hope that he might be an older brother one day.
His wings carried his entire family, and when they were home, Iula called them for dinner. The family assembled, and Lyra fed Lyric while they explained their discoveries during the day. Lyra talked about the exo progress, Yatal mentioned the rescue from a sinkhole in the city, Koron mentioned that he had a present for Lyra, and Yamira shared the final authorization of Lyra onto Nazua as a citizen. Everyone had big news, and they all had time to share it.
Epilogue
Lyra moved her suit out from under the shuttle and helped to open the door to the cargo hold where the crew had been trapped.
She crouched down and used her light in the interior. “Is everyone accounted for?”
The men moved into her beams, and she grinned as she recognized the fellow who had aged ten years. “Drakus, is that you?”
He blinked at the lights. “It is. Do I know you?”
“You do. You assigned me here.” She chuckled. “We can have a better conversation later. Do you think you can find your way to the overseer’s home?”
He paused. “Uh, yes.”
“Come for dinner at five. We are eating early these days
.”
“Right. Um, who are you?”
Lyra backed up, and she opened her helmet so he could get a look. His shocked expression was proof that he knew who she was. “Right. See you at five.”
She stepped back and took off, heading toward home. The falling shuttle had been a simple catch, and now, she had to help Lyric with homework.
When she had landed, she opened her suit and stepped out, heading inside where the family daycare had its favourite teacher today.
Lyric smiled, “Mommy!”
She hugged her daughter and looked at her mate, carefully helping with a puzzle.
Lyko was enjoying the puzzle with her father. Lymir was doing math quietly at the table as he always did. Lytal was still in the bassinet, and Lyron watched his little brother with his customary sober expression. Yarona was next to Lytal. Aunt and nephew side by side.
“I have invited an old friend over for dinner. He’s going to be surprised.”
Her mate nodded, and Lyric waved her over. “You are breaking the law. You have to kiss him in the first three minutes. It’s the law.”
Lyra walked over to her mate, threaded a hand through his hair, and kissed him. “You are making laws now?”
He grinned. “The children are on board to help enforcement.”
She laughed. “Of course they are.”
“So, who is coming?”
“Drakus. He was the trainer who saw my potential to work in a security unit. He had me tested and sent here.”
“Ah, Koron will want to reward him.”
“For helping to spawn little monsters who have destroyed his house?” She looked at her children.
“No, for finding a woman who was smart enough to take care of herself and generous to take care of others.”
She teared up. “That is so sweet.”
He laughed. “It is true. Even Gryemor got over your rescuing his ass, and he sends you birthday presents now.”
“They all reference birth control. I am not in charge of that. It is all on you, babe.” She grinned.
“You have to agree to try. It isn’t my fault that I can tell when you are susceptible. If your designers didn’t put that skill into you, it isn’t my fault.”
She laughed and smiled. “Well, we have our five.”
“And my parents have one more. There are still over a dozen extra rooms.”
“And I have hundreds of years to live now. So, we have time. Let’s let these grow up and discover this world or perhaps others.”
He looked at her and smiled. “You are so sexy with the pointed ears.”
She snorted. “Don’t distract me from the subject. And it was a nice mod from your father. Now I look more like the kids.”
She now sported her long blue hair, and perky points had been installed on the tips of her ears to make her blend in a little more with the Nazuans. There was still a lot of xenophobes, still a lot of nasty talk, but when the image of their family was hosted on the news after their public appearance on the winter float, the crowd got so excited, and so did the kids. Their Nazuan stripes were bordered with purple, their hair was blue, long and silky, and their eyes were all the black of the Hmrain. They were definitely a mix designed on Nazua.
“How was your catch?”
“Pretty easy. That is how I found Drakus.” She smiled. “I am going to shower and change into something elegant, and by that, I mean something without breast milk or baby vomit on it.”
She smiled and headed for the shower. Six hours in that suit definitely worked up a sweat, and they now had a cleanser mounted on the wall of their bedroom. Good thing it was a huge room.
She was in the shower and trying to get at her back when hands started to scrub her spine. She smiled. “I thought you were watching the kids.”
“Mother is home. She just finished Lytal’s registration.”
She chuckled and leaned into his hands. “That’s a good thing.”
“It is, although, have you seen their formal names? It is going to be a lot to write out.”
“Lytal op Lyra ven Yatal. Right?”
“Lytal Urther-Hmrain-Nazuan op Lyra Urther ven Yatal Hmrain-Nazuan dec Yamira Nazuan vil Koron Hmrain. That is the actual name.”
She blinked. “Damn.”
“Indeed. Now, about your worry about filling the house. Koron is willing to put on an addition.” Yatal soaped his hands and moved them over her.
Throughout the shower, she stood fast. It was only later that she wavered. He was very persuasive.
Author’s Note
This book was completed on US Thanksgiving, so the theme of family and food was in the air.
I was going to have her more involved in the heroes’ lives, but when she got pregnant, plans changed.
She was a fun character who knew that there was no going home. I have been toying with the idea of having a woman come out of a coma, due to a vehicular accident, in the education station with her bond already signed based on her brain scans. Someone wants her for her mind.
Should be interesting if it happens.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around, and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
In real life, she is now engaged in beekeeping, and her adventures can be found on the YouTube channel, Mystery Bees Apiary. Just look for the cartoon kittens.