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“I'm glad everything worked out so well, Rajveer,” Colin said, completely ignoring the whiny yet aggressive tone and instead responding to the actual words. The PR representative assigned to Yaden and his family had just told Colin that the premiere had gone well and that Jonah Gregin, the actor who played Yaden in the movie, had picked up the slack admirably.
Colin had already seen the pictures of last night's premiere in the newspaper while drinking his first mug of tea. It all looked glossy and everyone was smiling and, to his own surprise, he felt a little miffed to have missed out on it. Not for the fame and attention, but because he would have liked to enjoy some cocktails and see the movie snuggled against Yaden in a theatre full of people, all together reliving how they had fallen in love for the first time.
On the other end of the line, he could almost hear Rajveer swallow several snide remarks, but he had learned by now that those didn't fly with Colin. He respected and supported Rajveer's mission— parading Yaden and himself to the public like trophies, but in return, he expected to be treated with professionalism and a minimum of courtesy.
“I am looking forward to going over the first draft for The Windmines,” he reminded Rajveer, to make sure that him and Yaden not making it to the premiere wouldn't be interpreted as a general lack of interest in the process of turning Yaden's missions into propaganda movies to promote the Emperor's greatness. Not that the Emperor's greatness needed much promoting in Colin's humble opinion, the population loved him already, calling him 'The Good Emperor'. And having met the man personally, Colin thought they didn't love him enough. While Colin didn't wield much influence over how his fiancé was portrayed, he was allowed to comment on details and veto abysmal casting choices. Like their first pick for Bridget. Having a sexy witch was all fine and good, but a scantily clad, curvy, platinum-blonde simply didn't work in a movie set on Leichnam.
“Of course.” His honeyed tone told Colin that he wanted something. “I expect I will be receiving details about Sir Yaden's latest mission soon? From what I hear, Squire Ivan fought most commendably.” Always looking for the next action flick opportunity, that one.
“You will receive such details if and when they are deemed non-confidential by Commander Hamilton,” Colin gave the answer Rajveer didn't want to hear.
Again, that certain silence of not-saying-something-impolite followed. “So I will see you in two days to look at the possible wedding venues?”
Rajveer was also in charge of organising everything for their upcoming wedding, and Colin had to admit he was doing an admirable job of keeping track of all the necessary details. He just had to occasionally be reigned in when he was going overboard with how big and lavish he wanted the event to be in order to wring out a maximum of publicity. At least the PR department would also cover the entire bill for their wedding.
“Things are a bit busy on my end at the moment, but I will try very hard to let you know in advance if I can't make it.”
And wasn't that an understatement. He had Rajveer on speaker in the kitchen because he was browsing real estate websites on his data pad while talking to him. There were plenty of apartments and houses for sale and for rent in Agami and the other larger cities of Lagoona, but that wouldn't provide Yaden and Ivan with space to train. Even though Lagoona wasn't very densely settled, pickings were slim to non-existent in the countryside. There, most of the real estate consisted of the literal estates of some nobles who had lived there for centuries. Considering the privacy and status it conferred, they wouldn't sell for any price. Only a few minutes into his search, Colin already felt they were running out of options.
“Anything I can help with?” Rajveer asked, predictably fishing for information.
Considering how many connections he had, he probably could have, but Colin wasn't that desperate yet. First, he needed to decide where on Lagoona they wanted to live, then he would talk to Simon to see if he had any ideas and, only as a last resort, would he fall back on the nosy PR guy.
“Not right now. Thank you for offering, though.” Didn't hurt to be civil.
A sound from the living room distracted him. It almost sounded like a girl's little laugh.
When Rajveer had called, Myriam had just woken up and been understandably confused, with Colin trying to reassure her that she was safe and explaining where she was. Soon, Darios had taken over and sat down with her on the couch. If there was anyone in the Empire uniquely qualified to deal with a traumatised psion peak talent, it was him. After all, he had raised Yaden to be the wonderful person Colin had fallen in love with. And apparently, Darios had been able to make Myriam laugh, which was a miracle in itself already.
“Now if you'll excuse me, other things need my attention,” Colin cut his conversation with Rajveer short. Like checking if there was anything else he could do to make Myriam smile. And finding a new home for all of them. And find some better fitting clothes for Myriam. Simon hadn't had any children's clothes in stock, only some fits-all shirts and jogging bottoms which hung on her bony frame like a tent, even with sleeves and legs rolled up. The timer of his data pad beeped, reminding him that on top of everything else, the chocolate-filled buns were now ready for the oven.
Rajveer had heard the beeping too. “Have a good day,” he said and hung up, not impolitely, but simply not wasting any time. He was a nosy bastard, but also a hard-working one, and he respected other people's time.
Colin checked the temperature on the oven before he put in the first tray of chocolate buns. Because the last thing he needed now was for the treats both for Myriam and the insatiable duo – otherwise known as Yaden and Ivan – to burn. Once he had set the timer again, he headed for the living room.
Myriam and Darios were sitting on the couch where he had left them, Myriam with the green lizard loosely held in one arm. She hadn't parted with it since Colin had originally tucked it in with her and Colin felt a little proud that he had been the one to win it, and that it was now serving such an honourable duty. At an age of maybe twelve or thirteen, Myriam was a little too old for a stuffed toy, but after everything she had been through, she deserved every comfort they could possibly provide her.
At the moment, Myriam was admiring herself in a hand mirror with a shy smile on her face. Darios had bundled up her mane of curly black hair into two pigtails which stuck out at the sides of her head, making her look like a character from one of Yaden's comic books featuring brave girls piloting giant robots. All she was missing was one of Lady Rage's plasma rifles. Which Colin would make sure she didn't get her hands on anytime soon.
They looked comfortable with each other already, proving that Darios was as much of a miracle worker with children as Colin had hoped. It looked like Myriam would be staying with them, at least for a while, so Colin decided to take his cues from the big man. The most contact he had ever had with children as an adult was keeping them from stealing cookies during his time working as an apprentice in a fairly large bakery in Schimmelbach. But he wanted to learn. After all, he very much hoped that he and Yaden would adopt children of their own at some point and he wanted to give them the best home he could. So he watched in silence from the doorway as Myriam shook her head, making her pigtails bounce, as she looked up at Darios and thanked him, and how he smiled at her broadly. It didn't look too hard. But that was true for everything you were an expert at. Making it look easy was part of the magic.
“How about we find some breakfast for you?” Darios asked. “Colin is a baker, you know? He makes all sorts of yummy pastries.”
Colin took that as his cue to duck back into the kitchen – so Myriam wouldn't feel like he had spied on them and also to check on the chocolate buns. Not much time had passed so they had ten minutes on the clock and, while they were rising nicely, they were still pale and nowhere near ready. What else did he have available that had not yet been devoured by Yaden and Ivan?
A quick search revealed that the cookie tin only had a handful of the lemon-flavoured cookies he had made mere three days ago left, while the raisin buns and chocolate croissants were all gone and the stack of flatbreads he tried to maintain was dangerously low as well. Who would have thought that two people could keep a baker busy all on their own? Though the real problem was the tiny oven limiting him to baking one sheet at a time. What he could have done with a proper bread-baking oven like the one back in his bakery on Hagermarsh. Only, that one had been completely demolished when Yaden had used it to smash a demon to a pulp. Colin added 'a proper oven' to his list of amenities their new home would have to have room for.
“Hey Colin,” Darios' deep voice came from the doorway, “are those chocolate buns I'm smelling?”
Colin carefully plastered a welcoming smile on his face before he turned around to face his young guest. “Yes, they are. And they are almost ready.”
Myriam was standing a little behind Darios, lizard clutched under her arm, and peeked around his leg, using him as a nicely bulky cover. Colin made a point of smiling at her as well.
“Can I offer you some tea while we wait? Or maybe a hot chocolate?” Did they even have milk or had he used the last bit to brush the buns? Suddenly he couldn't remember. He was so under-prepared for this.
Luckily, Myriam seemed just as overwhelmed by all the attention. “Tea, please?” she said shyly, clutching the lizard tighter.
Darios stepped inside the kitchen and Myriam followed in his wake, scanning the room with a mix of curiosity and caution that reminded Colin of a kitten following its mother into new territory. Darios offered her the corner seat at their tiny kitchen table, which she accepted, and took the seat Colin had vacated.
So now, what kind of mug to give a girl in her situation? They had the standard, deep green mugs which had come with the kitchen, but Colin had also acquired an assortment of Lotus Knight collectible mugs. His favourite was the Sir Yaden mug he had gotten on his first night on Emperor's Island, but he was using that one himself right now and he wanted to pick one perfect for her. Only, he had no idea what she liked. In the end, he settled on the safe choice of Lady Rage. Everybody liked Lady Rage. His caution proved unnecessary as Myriam seemed much more interested in the tea than in the mug. She cradled it in her hands and deeply inhaled the steam. So there was one hint of something she enjoyed.
“Thank you,” she said.
Her politeness was faultless. Especially compared to Ivan, whose own politeness was a thin veneer used only when he absolutely had to. The thought that her parents had raised her well tore at Colin's heart. She didn't deserve this. Being stuck with strangers after going through such horror. Maybe Yaden would be able to find some relatives of hers that she could stay with. Like he himself had been taken in by his aunt.
He turned away and pretended to check on the chocolate buns again so she wouldn't notice his smile cracking.
“When is Sir Yaden coming back?” he heard Myriam ask Darios softly.
“Very soon. He went out to drop off his report on what happened yesterday,” Darios answered.
“I will be in trouble, won't I?” This question was even softer.
“No, little dragon, you won't be in trouble. Sir Yaden has promised to protect you, and he will.”
“But I have done bad things. I have hurt people. I don't want him to get in trouble for me.”
Colin turned back to them. “You did not want to hurt anyone. It just happened, like when you accidentally drop something on someone else's foot. Folks here at the Lotus Compound know such accidents can happen. They won't blame you. We don't blame you.”
Myriam looked up at him for a long moment, searching for any sign on his face that he was reassuring her with empty words like adults often did with children. She must have heard such reassurances a lot from her father if they had been on the run for a while. She looked too aware for her age. Like there was a sharp spark of intelligence trying to gain the upper hand over the shock of losing her father and her chrysalis and being adrift all of a sudden.
“And if anyone has a problem with you being here, they will have to get through me first because I am not letting anything happen to you.” Colin wasn't sure why he felt the need to say it, but it came from the bottom of his heart.
Myriam noticed too, judging by her frown as she tried to decipher why a man she had only met last night would be so committed to protecting her. She broke eye contact with him and resorted to peering into her mug.
Colin glanced at Darios to gauge whether he had said too much, but Darios was beaming at him like a proud father, so he probably was doing okay. He busied himself with checking on the second tray of chocolate buns he had already prepared and on the various yeast colonies and dough starters he was cultivating for different baking projects. Everything was better than standing there with nothing to do but wait for the buns in the oven to be ready.
Myriam sipped her tea and Darios took out his own data pad.
At first, the silence felt oppressive to Colin, but each time he glanced in Myriam's direction, she had relaxed a little more until she pulled up one leg to sit on it with the other dangling down, like Yaden often did. She jerked a little in surprise when the timer beeped, but immediately relaxed when Colin clicked it off and opened the oven, flooding the kitchen with the irresistible scent of fresh pastries and melted chocolate. He pulled out the tray, set it on the stove and put in the second one, then studied the finished buns critically. The colour was a little off, probably because he had used normal milk instead of a high-fat variant, but they had the shine he had hoped for.
Behind him, Darios chuckled. “Now you do look like a little dragon. All that's missing is the extended claws.”
Turning around, Colin found Myriam eyeing the chocolate buns with hungry eagerness, reminding him of Yaden and Ivan. Yaden had said she was a cerebral psion, so she would need plenty of rest after using her talents, not tons of food. But she was also a teenager and those were always hungry. As thin as she looked, food probably hadn't been plentiful for a while. Well, that was about to change for sure.
He used pastry tongs to transfer two buns to a plate and placed them in front of her. “They are very hot,” he warned, “especially the chocolate inside. So you should wait at least a little.”
Myriam nodded obediently, but at the same time studied the buns with intense interest. “The heat. I can sense the heat in them,” she whispered with a mix of awe and wariness.
“Of course you can,” Darios replied, as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a teenage girl to say at the breakfast table. He didn't bother looking up from whatever he was reading on his data pad. It seemed to be exactly the right thing to say, though, as Myriam let out a breath and relaxed.
Cautiously, she let her fingertips hover over one of the hot buns. “I wonder whether I could draw out some of the heat. It feels like I could.”
“I'd advise against any experimenting until you have more control over your powers.” Darios' voice again showed no hint of worry at a powerful pyrokinetic considering using her powers so casually. “And you will definitely want to wait for Yaden or Ivan to help you make sure your fire doesn't escape.” This time, he did look up to wink at her, taking the sting out of his warning.
Myriam looked pained nonetheless.
Darios reached over and gently squeezed her hand with his much bigger one. “Don't worry about it. I'm sure they are looking forward to helping you learn how to use your fire in a way that will help people instead of hurting them. They do love to play with their talents and they will teach you how to do that, too.”
Before Myriam could voice any doubts about that, the front door to their apartment opened and Yaden's voice called out, “Hey everyone, I'm back.”
“We're in the kitchen,” Colin answered his fiancé.
Yaden had left early, while Myriam had still been asleep, to talk to Commander Hamilton about the Shiraz mission and the follow-up investigation into Myriam's parents. He had been a little nervous, as this was the first time he had ever chosen to poke his nose into something without the Order of the Lotus prompting him to do so. But it was a time-honoured Lotus Knight tradition. Colin had calmly pointed out that gathering information and putting it together to find the responsible party was what he had done on Hagermarsh and Bora Bora, too, and on some of his smaller missions.
It continued to amaze Colin how someone so talented and invested in his job could constantly doubt himself so much. Well, only until Darios had pointed out that he himself was exactly the same, endlessly criticising his own baked goods. And he did have a point, there.
Colin knew he was a good baker, but there was always room for improvement. Maybe Yaden's self-doubts were the same, only on a different scale.
Yaden entered the kitchen, already sniffing appreciatively. “Am I smelling chocolate buns?” he asked, heading straight for the baking sheet Colin had parked on the stove. He picked one up and immediately dropped it again, grimacing at his burned fingers.
They all heard the suppressed giggle from Myriam and all managed not to look at her.
“Serves you right for being greedy,” Colin admonished, but turned on the faucets for Yaden to cool his fingers. It took some careful manoeuvring so Yaden could reach the sink, though. With Myriam and Darios sitting at the table and Yaden and Colin standing, their tiny kitchen was crammed.
“Thanks, love.” Yaden kissed Colin in passing and smiled at Myriam. “I see you are wiser than I was,” he noted with a glance at her chocolate buns. “How are you feeling today? Any headaches?”
She shook her head. “No. Darios asked me that too already. I feel ... well, my head is okay.”
Yaden ignored her obvious pause at saying 'fine'. “That's good. After my chrysalis, I dropped like a rock and slept for a day. So you did pretty well.”
Now Myriam's eyes lit up. “Yes, Darios told me. About how you tamed the volcano. That is such a brave thing to do.”
“Not like I had much of a choice.” Yaden shrugged shyly. “That's what a chrysalis is like, your powers take over and you do your best not to be dragged under, but in the end, the current is just too strong and you let it all flow through you.”
The expression on Myriam's face was such open wonder and hope that Colin had to keep himself from hugging the girl. But she only had eyes for Yaden anyway. “Yes,” she said softly.
Yaden turned off the tap, hunkered down next to her and took her hand. “I understand,” he answered as softly. Myriam looked at him like he was the most wondrous thing in the universe and Colin pretty much agreed with the sentiment.
“Would it be okay if I asked you a few questions about your mom and dad and what happened to them?” Yaden asked. “The Psions Guild will send me their reports on the matter, but I want to get both sides of the story and you are the only one I can ask.”
Myriam tensed up for a heartbeat, but then straightened her back and nodded bravely.
“Darios, can you take notes for me please?” Yaden asked his guardian. “I can't read and write particularly well,” he confided in Myriam, who looked first startled and then, for some reason, even more in awe.
“I can take notes,” she offered.
“That would be great.” Yaden settled more comfortably on the floor next to her. “Let's start with where you are originally from, so I know which branch of the Psions Guild I have to prod.”
The next half-hour passed with Yaden asking careful questions and Myriam answering them as best she could and writing down her answers while she ate her two buns and Yaden finished the rest on the first sheet.
It turned out that her family was originally from Espen, from a larger city on the southern continent called Bocklewitz. While her father was an Espen native, her mother had come to the planet with her own parents after the Black-and-White War, as the daughter of householders of a minor Ndewane baron.
When Yaden subtly asked if that mixed marriage had been a problem for her, knowing how skin colour was a touchy subject on Ndewane worlds, it launched Myriam into a lengthy explanation of how her parents had made it work. It had been tricky, but, mostly, her parents had managed to make it work in their favour. They had managed to integrate with the native population while not being excluded from the better jobs and opportunities that were usually reserved for those at least similar in colour to the Ndewane conquerors. Myriam's father had taken on his wife's last name, Tambô. While there had been some incidents when Myriam had started going to public school – where she was called a traitor and other slurs by the white kids – that had stopped instantly when she switched to the private Psions Guild school.
Which got them to the subject on how the family had ended up with the Guild. Her mother had been a telepath, her talents noticed early on, and she had managed to secure a good job with the Guild. Rating pretty highly on the psionic scale, she had quickly made it onto the team of Espen Vertex and been assigned as the regional focus for the southern continent. There she had met Myriam's father, a moderately skilled telekinetic. The way Myriam told it, it must have been love at first sight.
After Myriam's birth, they had been a happy little family for a while, but eventually, the stress started getting to Myriam's mother. What started out as anxiety had morphed into full-blown paranoia, and she had been under constant therapy and medication, treated by a Psions Guild expert. Only she hadn't gotten better. Things had gotten worse and worse.
Her father had shielded Myriam from most of what was happening, but like any child, she had picked up on more than anyone noticed. Things like her mother begging her father to run away with her so Myriam would be 'safe from the Guild'. Or her father having a shouting match with her mother's therapist about how she wasn't getting better.
In the end, her mother had committed suicide, or at least that had been the official version. Which her father didn't believe. Myriam wasn't sure what exactly he had done, but at some point people from the Guild had come to their home and taken her away to a Guild shelter, telling her that she would see her father again when 'he was better'. That same night, her father had broken her out of the shelter and fled with her. He had never given her any details, only told her that the Guild had killed her mother, that they were dangerous and could not be trusted ever again, and that he would protect her from them.
His flight had been well prepared. He had stolen two low-grade aura-cloaking devices from the Guild’s vault and they had moved to Bakubane, Espen's capital, so they would be close to the spaceport if they needed to run again. For a little while, it had looked like they were safe, her father working construction, keeping his psionic powers hidden, and Myriam going to school again. Until suspicious people had appeared at Myriam's school, asking questions about a brown girl being raised by a white father. This time, Myriam instantly realised what was happening and had run away to find her father.
They had fled again, leaving Espen behind and going to Shiraz, hoping to lose their pursuers on a more rural planet, ruled by a different Noble House. They didn't settle down but kept moving from village to village, Myriam's father working whatever short term jobs he could find. They had been fine for several months.
And then the town guards in Mirabelle had tried to arrest her father.
At that point, Myriam started crying again, at first only a little, but then in earnest, and she ended up in Yaden's arms on the floor. Colin watched, helplessly wringing a kitchen towel wishing it were the people who had hurt this little girl so much. He wanted to do something so desperately and had no clue what. When Yaden reached out and pulled on Colin's trouser leg, he at first didn't know what his lover was trying to tell him, but when he kept insistently pulling, he knelt next to them and hesitantly put his arms around the huddle of Yaden and Myriam. He had no idea whether it helped Myriam in any way, but it definitely helped him, so he leaned his head against Yaden's and they let her cry, cocooned between them.
Finally, her tears died down to dry sniffles.
“I will find out what happened and I will tell you,” Yaden promised solemnly.
“What if they hurt you, too?” Myriam asked in a small voice.
Yaden bared a canine in a cocky smirk that would have done Ivan proud and made him look very sexy in Colin's eyes.
“They can try. But they won't like the result.”