10 Amiri

Watching her yank her hair had made me flinch. That she hurt herself more than she hurt us was shocking to me, if not all the others. She seemed to be ignoring our presence. She had looked us over when she came in and then decided we were not in the room.

We had allowed her to look. It was expected that she would. No hot blooded male would deny a female the right to look him over. It was in our best interest to let them look. With any luck she would like what she saw and consider the pack for more.

Sorrel has been upset seeing her turn away. All of us had light fur. Dark fur and consistent patterns were more desirable to Leoc'ain females. Nothing about us was consistent. Dimatri and I were the darkest of our siblings. Yet, even we had light patterns. Our mother had been upset when we had grown into adolescence and saw the pale fur coming in. She had been a lighter female of dusky grey. Her fur color was considered muddy like Kylian. Had she been male she would have found it hard to find a pack to take her in. The five of us had never been chosen to sire cubs before.

That she had not left the room had calmed us all. She wasn't turning from us, not really. She was simply doing what she had come in here to do. It had relaxed Kylian enough to approach her. An event that no doubt made her like him even less. She had gotten 'soap' in her eyes that seemed to cause her no small amount of pain. Her eyes were red even now. Sorrel had reprimand him for his stupidity. She had made sounds that even we could understand. We couldn't translate the words by any means but we could understand her tone. It was a tone that normally meant someone was going to get hit.

As is my way I reached her the fastest. I had tilted her head up hoping it was an easy fix. When she looked at me I caught sight of her eyes. Her eyes which were normally surrounded in white were now red. She had opened them just enough to look at me before snapping them closed. Seeing her rub at them I figured there was a reason so I used the back of my paw to rub my fur gently over her eyes. She did eventually open them to look at us all again. She seemed unhappy with us even as she told us it wouldn't do any lasting harm.

We all shot a look at Kylian. We would all beat him into the ground later during training. The others had caught sight of her eyes when she spoke to us and they were still red. They were not as bad as they had been but they were still red. When we turned back to her she was staring down our reflact like it had caused her pain. It didn't take long to figure out why. I looked around the room and realized just how much short she was compared to everything around her. The ship was built to fit us not her. She was a head and a half shorter than the shortest of us.

Watching her yank her hair had made me flinch. I couldn't stand letting her go through that pain so I grabbed hold of her hand. Lightly, of course. She looked at me and I breathed a sigh of relief seeing her eyes lightening further to white.

'You are hurting yourself,' I told her. No one should cause her pain. Not even her. I noted the irregular patterns of her skin. The black marks were bold and drew the eye. As close as I was I noticed the lighter patterns of her skin. The pale lines on her back were jagged but pecked between the black. On her arms were white raised lines.

'Better to get it over with fast,' I heard her huff. It was the huff my people made when annoyed with whoever they were speaking with. I considered it may be because she was in pain.

'Let me help?' Talking had never been my strong suit. She stared at me for a bit. Clearly debating if my help would actually help or cause even more pain.

'Very well. You could not possibly cause more pain that my Aunts used to,' her head moved up and down slightly. It was a movement I had seen her make before and assumed it had meaning like many other species had. She turned her head back to face forward and lowered her arm. Her acceptance told me that it had less to do with her trust in me and more to do with her past.

I used my claws to work the tangles from her hair. To my surprise they were all closer to her head. Typically our fur developed tangles at the ends not at the base. Although if left alone those same tangles would spread to the base. I had to wonder again about the clear differences between humans and other races. That she even looked at us was proof enough. We were far beneath her station but I do not believe she cared.

From what I had heard many royals had little say in their marriages. Many married other races for the protection a marriage bond created. Those same marriages were rarely happy ones. They tolerated eachother, to be sure, maybe even become friends, very few knew true affection. So royals found the affection they craved elsewhere. Keeping them close but unable to give them anything.

'What is it like being a royal human?' She tensed a bit but did not snap at me.

'Do you mean for me? Or are you asking what being a royal is normally like for humans?'

Around me my brothers had slowed their own grooming. We realized last night that her telepathy was much weaker than our own. Likely due to the fact that her race used verbal communication more often. They wanted to know more about her. We all wanted to know more about this creature that found us appealing. 'Are they different?' I asked.

'Very,' she replied. I would have thought since she was a royal that she would have had a normal royal human upbringing.

"Both then,' I said.

'Nope you can get one or the other. I will answer your question as payment to you for helping with my hair.' That made me tense. That she considered the information as payment meant the workings of human Royalty were at least in part secrets. Telling me both her upbringing as well as the typical royal upbringing would normally be very expensive information. Yet, she was giving me one or the other for a simple act that was an honor to me. That a female would allow me to help maintain her fur, hair, was an honor any male would be excited to receive.

'You then,' I finally decided.

'I was born of King Mars Bast and his wife Queen Anastasia Crimson Bast. By all accounts the King loved her dearly she did not love him. As is a woman's lot she was picked by my father when he was still prince and forced to marry him. When she fell pregnant she had been both happy and terrified. Father had hoped my birth would bring them closer together.

He never got the chance to find out. My birth was the beginning of the end. My birth was a hard one. My mother did not make it. She died in child birth leaving me to be raised only by my Father. I cannot say he was a bad Father. Rather he was never there. I was left to the wet nurses and nannies for the first couple years.

My Father wanted to be with Mother enough to leave me alone. The staff kept the death of my Father and my survival a secret for years. That was until his brothers came to find him. Instead they found me. A four year ophan. My Father had killed himself figuring, rightly so, that the staff would care for me. As the last of my line I was the only Bast. The other four kingdoms who were ruled by my uncles and their respective wives took turns over seeing my education and growth.

Rumors began shortly after that I was a Royal Bastard. A child born outside of the marriage. The King's and Queens allowed it to run rapid in the streets. As long as everyone thought I was a bastard they would not come after me for power of the throne. I was left alone with my own brothers. My Aunts all had sons and the four of us were raised together. Since no one knew which King had sired me, the boys and I were called siblings.

Unlike my brothers I held no respect or fear from the Nobles or castle staff. Breeding is everything and I was a child without pedigree. I was sneered at and pushed around. I had to cook my own meals. As I got older I found that I liked cooking. The kitchen staff got used to seeing me and even became friends with me. I had Noble Friends but they only hung around in hopes that one of my brothers would take interest in them.

I learned so much while cooking in the kitchens. That the girls could take a guard they found attractive up to the hay loft for fun. They would speak openly about the size each man had been born with. We would sit around the cook pot and laugh as some girl would tell us how bad the guy was in bed.' She was laughing. A smile stretched her lips.