family (jay)

After what the falcon told us, I tried to sneak away off to the balcony to think about it more. There are others like us out there. But Cat called behind me before I could get far enough. "Jay."

I stopped and turned my head to look at her.

"I couldn't help but notice, during your little spiel you mentioned not having met your nieces yet."

I shrugged. "Yeah. So?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to?"

I froze, letting that sink in. "Would I…of course I would bloody like to."

She grinned and chuckled. "I'm sure we could arrange a visit. They can come over, stay a while…"

Meet my nieces. All I could do was stand and stare…then slowly I started to laugh. I can see my family again. All thought of the other Serioun children fled my mind. I thought of little other than this till next morning when I saw Thia stood staring out a window near the balcony. "Hay, have you heard? My Family might be coming here.

She didn't look up as I came over. "Yeah, I heard." She started to walk away.

I jogged up to her "Hay. What's got you all down." I called, slowing down next to her so we were walking side by side.

"I mean…aren't you worried they might get hurt? Your nieces?"

I honestly hadn't thought of that. "Umm. Not really. I mean, they won't be coming alone. Adison and Helen'll probably be with them. And anyway, I'll probably stay with them so if anyone does try to harm them, I'll be there to protect them."

I'd meant it to sound confident. Even uplifting. What I wasn't expecting was for her to suddenly grab the collar of my shirt and slam me against the wall with surprising strength. "How are you still enjoying this!?" She yelled. "There are people out there trying to kill us and destroy everything we know and love. Doesn't any of this frighten you?"

Given that she was quite a bit smaller than me, it made the fact that she was the one pressing me against the wall and I was the one looking down at her a little awkward. Her stunning eyes burned with a desperate sort of anger.

"Well, no, I…I guess I never really - thought that they might win…I always believed that - that we could beat them."

She let go, her expression changing to a mix of shock and relief. She turned and walked towards the balcony.

"Does it frighten you?"

She didn't turn or say anything but I could tell from the way her ears sagged that the answer was yes.

"Hay." I made to follow her, reaching out a hand to her shoulder. "We got this, Thia. You saw Your dad the other day. He wrecked it and he's just one of us. We don't know if the Emperor even survived that…"

"He did." She said with sudden certainty. "I know he did."

I blinked but didn't question it. "Well even if he did, we beat him once we can beat him again. Whatever they throw at us, we'll throw it back."

She leaned with her hands on the rail, looking out over the city. "I just…when I first came here, I thought I might actually get the chance to live a normal life. That's all I really wanted, was a normal life. One where I could fit in and not have to worry. One where I was accepted and respected." She looked up at the sky with a sad smile. "I thought that was exactly what I was going to get here…but after only a few months those guys show back up and take it all away…again."

Her voice was starting to break and I noticed a tear fall down her check. She's crying, I realised.

"I'm sick of it." she said, thumping the rail. "Sick of all the danger. Of always having to worry…"

Keeping one hand on her shoulder, I gently turned her to face me and put my other arm around her. "But you don't have to worry." I let her sob onto my back. "We look after each other, remember. None of us have anything to be afraid of, as long as we stick together." I pulled away and held her at shoulder length. "Hay, listen. My family I left behind in England, my dad and Adi and all of them. I love them. I miss them. And yeah, if I ever get a chance to see them again, I'm going to look forward to it. But this…" I took a lock of her hair that had fallen in front of her face. "What we have right here and now, this is important to me. and I am going to fight for it." I looked at her right in her tear-stained eyes. "I am not going to let anything take this away from us. And that is all that matters."

She sniffed. "Well, that's easy for you to say. You're always disappearing, running off in the woods, riding through the city."

I smiled "Ok." I held up a finger. "I can make that up to you. Next time I go out in the woods, you're coming with me—Sam and Noaba too—and I will prove to you, you have nothing to worry about."

She blinked at me in surprise. "I don't think dad'll let me go out…"

"Your dad always let you go wherever you wanted. As long as he knew you were safe off course." Putting an arm around her shoulder, we both looked out over the city. "So, don't worry…you'll be safe with me."