Chapter 1: Break of Dawn

       The world was constantly changing but Merschenez Castle always seemed to stay the same.  The monarchy remained in name only, the Queen having followed suit with other major cities, favouring oligarchies that served the people over the easily corruptible power plays that often came from inheritance of power and complacency.  While remaining a stone relic on the outside, the inside had been updated with modern amenities—running water, electricity, telephone lines, elevators, and so on.

       Cole was one of the engineers that worked on making sure all of it ran smoothly.  His mother, Calyra, had not been happy that he wanted to leave Skyloft years before, but Hope had noticed the boy’s talent early and convinced Calyra there would be no safer or more beneficial place for the young man to be.  Calyra herself had been the child of one of the Reishefolk (human-bird hybrids) and a human and Cole’s father had been human.  Because of this, it had been no surprise that Cole had been born without wings despite having had a hatching birth.  Despite that, he had had a black wing and white wing tattooed over his shoulder blades to honor his mother and uncle Conor.

       Cole had ended up with his mother’s almond eye shape and black hair but his father’s staggering height and electric green eyes.  His biological father had died well before he was born—the man who raised him, his true father, he didn’t resemble at all; Reylon was a Felisfolk (human-cat hybrid) with dark grey skin, black fur and sinister golden eyes.  Despite that menacing look, his father had been more teddy bear than hellcat and he had been helpful in convincing his wife to let Cole choose his own path.

       He hadn’t come alone since he hadn’t been the only promising engineer to come out of Skyloft.  Eden and Solis’s son, Zephyr, as well as Rowan and Cassia’s daughter, Rhysa, had proved adept as well.  They didn’t work as a group and often didn’t see each other for days at a time, but they always met up for lunch midweek.  They had been close childhood friends, along with the other children they had grown up with in Skyloft and even in their mid-twenties, they didn’t allow the friendship to fade.

       Rhysa’s arms were filled with books and a haphazard stack of loose papers when she felt a large hand cup her ass.  She almost dropped her armload of materials, but recovered as she spun around swiftly with a sweeping high kick that might have landed if Cole hadn’t been so quick to dodge it.  For such a towering man, he was surprisingly quick. Rhysa narrowed her eyes and threw him a wan smile.  They had been lovers once, fresh out of high school, but Cole was fickle and she was too focused on her career.  It was a mutual decision, but she still had a soft spot for the big idiot.

       “I think I’ve received a new version of the sexual harassment video for new hires, Cole.  As a senior employee, I should have you review it,” Rhysa told him with cool amusement.  He shot back a look of mock horror. 

       Rhysa was his superior, an ambitious young woman that had given up more of her social life than the others to work for that spot.  Not that it was a difficult decision; despite being the spitting image of her knock-out of a mother (Cole was a sucker for the blue-eyed redheads), she wasn’t socially confident like her twin sister Anisa.  Rhysa always wondered why Cole had pursued her since Anisa was flirty and sociable like he was.  Even now, she still secretly worried that they would hook up.  She didn’t care who else Cole was with, but it would matter if it was Anisa.  Mostly because she still roomed with her sister (who was, oddly enough, a makeup artist) and it would be awkward having her ex around.  He was already plenty invasive enough at work.

       She really hated when he got her so distracted when she had so much work to do.

       Cole shot her his million-watt smile. “Hey, next time they film one, we can replay this scene for a camera.  You’ve gotten really good at pretending you don’t like it,” Cole teased.

       Rhysa rolled her eyes, but didn’t deny it.  She tended to say the exact wrong thing to just feed into his innuendo game and she wasn’t in the mood. She licked her fingers and rifled through her disorderly stack until she pouted with concentration and pulled out a few of them, handing them over.

       “Inspection reports and I need you to verify and sign the proposal to the contractors.  They agreed on your revision,” Rhysa told him and he snatched the papers away excitedly, his eyes scanning the page as he pumped his fist into the air in undisguised celebration.  He grabbed Rhysa, crushing her stack against her generous breasts as he lifted her and planted a firm, quick kiss on her mouth.  She blushed as he set her down and continued dancing like a fool to the amusement of the passers-by.

       “Gods, Cole, we’re at work,” Rhysa scolded, breathless with embarrassment.

       “Oh, would you rather celebrate alone?” Cole asked, wiggling his eyebrows and Rhysa sighed in exasperation, knowing he’d find the exact wrong thing to say.  He knew full well she was dating Taran now, one of the lawyers that worked for their corporation (Gilliad Engineering), but her dating anyone always seemed to make her “safe” and his flirting was more aggressive.  She knew better than to think he was at all jealous.

       “If by alone you mean with Taran, yes.  I know how you hate being a third wheel though,” Rhysa shot back.

       “I didn’t realize you were considering a third, but I hear it’s becoming a trendy fantasy these days,” Cole added, relentless as usual.

       “I give up.  You win Gilliad’s Most Relentless Pervert again this year.  I’m pretty sure Meryn will be more than happy to give you the prize,” Rhysa teased back and Cole surrendered with a pout.  Meryn was one of the secretaries at reception and she seemed adamant about making an honest man out of Cole.  Rhysa hid her smile as she shuffled ahead.

       “Why are you bringing all this work to lunch anyway?  It’s supposed to be a relaxing lunch,” Cole shifted back to casual talk since his flirtatious mood faded.  He might be childish at times, but he was still a brilliant engineer and an old friend.

       “I promise I’m not going to work through it, but I won’t have time to get back to my office then run to my next conference after, so I’m taking my materials with me,” Rhysa explained, setting them down on the round table they always ate at.  It wasn’t reserved but it might as well be—it seemed to be an unspoken rule that they sat there every time.

       Cole plopped down into the chair across from hers and pulled her unruly stack toward him, starting to look through it with a frown.  Rhysa planted her hands on her hips, looking down at him unamused.

       “What are you doing?” Rhysa asked, her tone exasperated.

       “You can’t take this stuff into a conference looking like you rescued it from a tornado,” Cole shot back, taking a pause at his sorting before looking up.  He stood up now and closed the distance between them, even as she took an unconscious step back.  He frowned as he rearranged the pins in her hair and smoothed at the flyaways, then grinned with approval as he sat back down.  She could barely swallow at the unexpected intimacy, but drew her shoulders up as she snapped back into boss mode.  He was back to sorting through her mess.

       “Grab our lunches.  You already know what I like.  Zephyr seems to be running late again, so he can get his own,” Cole mumbled, already bent to the task and not bothering to look up this time.  Rhysa shuffled off without protest, already exhausted by the usual chaos that being around him tended to entail.

       Zephyr joined Cole at the table a few minutes later, just sitting quietly and smirking at Cole who was bent to the task.

       “I thought we had a ‘no work’ rule,” Zephyr lightly scolded in his soft deep voice, startling Cole who hadn’t realized Zephyr had joined him.

       “You know, the whole sneaking up on people thing is pretty creepy, Zeph,” Cole shot back.  “This is Rhysa’s, anyway.  You know how she can’t organize if her life depended on it.”

       “In answer to your first comment, I have three sisters—it pays to know how to avoid people. As for Rhysa, what did she call it again?  ‘Controlled chaos…’ Like it or not, she is still amazingly efficient,” Zephyr countered with a smile.

       “Speaking of sisters, what’s Lyric been up to?” Cole asked with a crooked smile and a wag of his eyebrows.

       “Off-limits.  You know, like my other sisters,” Zephyr shot back coolly. 

       Zephyr was an interesting looking man.  He had white at his temples, a look that most men coveted but only got with advancing age as well as those heterochromatic eyes, one yellow, one grey.  It was like his genes were so torn between his mother’s and father’s coloring that they gave up and threw it all together.  He attracted a lot of attention, but seemed oblivious to it.  Even Rhysa seemed to get a little flustered and overly polite around him.  Cole still thought that was charming about her.  She was a sucker for a handsome face, himself not excluded.  He had no intention of stringing her along; she deserved a good guy like Taran, but he had to admit he liked to ruffle her a bit.

       Zephyr wordlessly grabbed part of the stack and helped, whiling away the time Rhysa was taking getting back.

       “You could always grab something to eat too,” Cole said.  “I told her to hold off on getting anything for you since you were taking too long fixing your make-up.”

       Zephyr smiled lopsidedly, used to Cole’s teasing and shook his head.

       “She always buys too much food.  I’ll end up finishing that anyway,” Zephyr added, ignoring the jibe.

       “I can’t tell if you’re practical or just cheap,” Cole teased again.  Zephyr’s smirk spread.

       “A little of both,” Zephyr admitted.

       Rhysa didn’t have Zephyr’s stealth and they knew she had returned when her happy squeal sounded behind them.  Rhysa inelegantly plopped the overflowing tray down onto the table.  Zephyr rose to his feet and she surprised both men when she wrapped her arms around him excitedly, jumping up and down.

       Cole frowned, pulling the sorted stack together.

       “Gods, Rhysa, he hasn’t even been out of town,” Cole scolded with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.  Zephyr’s job sometimes required him to go out of town at times, but it had been a while since that had happened.

       Rhysa pulled away and held up her left hand, a big sparking gem flashing on her ring finger.  Cole felt like he swallowed it for a moment.

       “Taran asked me to marry him!” Rhysa announced gleefully, hugging Zephyr again in her excitement.

       “In the Castle’s cafeteria!  How romantic,” Cole teased, hating instantly how petty that sounded.  Rhysa put her hands on her hips now, glaring at him but still smiling, determined not to let him ruin her good news.  “Is he joining us then?”

       “No, he’s not here.  He had them write a message on the lunch board and Lorina gave me the ring,” Rhysa gushed, handing Cole her cell phone so he could see the picture she snapped of the message.  Rhysa, you are the meat on my sandwich.  Will you marry me?  Love, Taran.

       A laugh raspberried through Cole’s lips.

       “Shouldn’t he be the meat on your sandwich?  I suppose anatomy courses aren’t really necessary for law school,” Cole teased and she snatched the phone away with a pout.  “Did you text him to say yes yet?”

       “I’m getting some napkins, meanie,” Rhysa shot back, stomping off with a combined sort of skip in her step.

       “Careful, Cole, you’re sounding eerily close to being jealous,” Zephyr noticed with amusement.

       Cole popped a few potato fries into his mouth, leaning back in the chair casually.

       “Don’t be absurd, Zephyr.  I’m happy for her.  I’d be the first to admit she couldn’t have picked a better guy.  She’d be more suspicious if I didn’t tease her,” Cole shot back.

       “You haven’t been serious with anyone since you two broke up,” Zephyr said, grabbing the cookie off of her plate.

       “Because I realized commitment wasn’t for me.  Don’t read into it what isn’t there,” Cole retorted, more defensively.  “I still have plenty of women in my life.”

       “All of them put together don’t come close to equalling her,” Zephyr said around a mouthful of crumbs.  From anyone else, it would have sounded like he was into Rhysa.  Zephyr had never shown romantic interest in her though and he wasn’t a very subtle person.

       Cole frowned as Rhysa came back and sat down, her smile fading as she looked at Zephyr.

       “I knew I should’ve gotten two.  You always take my cookie,” Rhysa said, with a childish whine. Cole bit back the urge to leap at the sexual innuendo and laughed at Zephyr’s sheepish grin.

       Zephyr and Rhysa had needed to cut out a little earlier so Cole stayed behind and ate alone.  Cole stared out of the window as he ate and tried to swallow around the miserable lump in his throat.  Taran was good for her, so what the hell was his problem?  It was selfish to expect her to just pal around with her guy friends forever.  Still, he couldn’t kick the feeling that he really screwed up.  He needed a warm distraction with long legs and ample breasts tonight.

 

       Cole woke up with a wicked hangover and the blinding sun streaming in every window in his large empty apartment.  He groaned as he tried to sit up, tangling in the silk sheets on his naked body and ending up in a graceless pile on the floor for his efforts.

       “Gods, Cole, you’re a hot mess.  I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence that Rhysa just got engaged,” the teasing male voice said.

       Cole groaned again and sat up, one-eyed against the painful morning sunlight and saw his friend Harlok grinning down at him, looking irritatingly impeccable as usual.  They had grown up in Skyloft together too, with Harlok being a world-class bartender in Merschenez’s famous Chateau Reynard restaurant.  He was Kitfolk, (fox-human hybrid) and definitely his mother’s kid, with the white wolf fur and tail, silver hair and those piercing ice grey eyes.  He wore the typical classy attire of a bartender, the tailored black slacks and matching vest over a white silk dress shirt, a striped silver and blue silk square peeking from the breast pocket.  Another ladies’ man with the unfortunate (for them) provision that he was completely gay.

       “Shove it, Harlok.  And somewhere else.  It has nothing to do with Rhysa.  More like a Jellina…  or Jessina…  whatever, she was a party girl.  What are you doing here?” Cole shot back, sitting up against the edge of his bed, still tangled in the blankets.

       “Rhysa said she saw you stumbling around last night.  Asked me to come check on you,” Harlok said, watching with amusement as Cole’s eyes wavered with anger and confusion.

       “Must be that mothering instinct kicking in with that wedded bliss in her sights.  Since when did you start playing fetch boy for her?” Cole shot back moodily.

       “Since she and Taran came into my bar to celebrate their engagement.  I knew as well as she did you’d be out celebrating a bit harder,” Harlok told him, hitting the button on the wall console that closed the blinds simultaneously.

       “Sometimes it really sucks having old friends.  I make the mistake of dating her once and suddenly every time something happens, it’s because I’m holding a candle to her.  I wanted her and Taran to work out more than anyone.  So what if I’m handling it badly?  It’s mostly because I can’t grab her ass and he’s gonna have more say in our friendship.  Petty shit.  I don’t like being told what to do,” Cole admitted.  Harlok was surprised by how much it made sense, considering his excuses were usually a lot less thought-out or earnest.  He bent to scoop a wayward pillow off the floor and toss it at Cole.

       “Get dressed.  I’ll fix you a hangover chaser and sober you up.  Got a call from Darien.  He wants to meet up with a few of us at Peneschal City HQ, flying us down on his jet at that,” Harlok said, bemusedly.

       “A few of us is who?” Cole asked wearily as Harlok headed to the kitchen, talking to him over the island with the wet bar.

       “Well, me, you, Ash and Kerys to start,” Harlok told him.  Ash was one of Rhysa’s twin brothers, Alder being his opposite.  Ash was an astrophysicist, no big surprise, being related to Hope.  Two sets of twins and one spoiled boy to top off their brood.  Bryfolk tended towards larger families and Rowan had only made that more inevitable having been a triplet himself.  Rhysa had never met three of his and Aunt Hope’s brothers, having all died before they were even born.  Rowan was the reason for Rhysa’s adorable little tail, the only thing that marked her as Bryfolk since she didn’t have the pointy ears or rabbit legs.  Kerys was one of Zephyr’s sisters, the middle one, white hair and lemon yellow eyes, a perky bubbly sort with a fiery temper.  Zephyr was probably miserable at the thought of her being around Cole, her being nineteen and naïve.  She was in college for anthropology and Cole didn’t mind being a test subject for her studies.

       All of them grew up in Skyloft and while all were loyal to Queen and country, Darien was their first priority and the Queen always knew that.  While to the rest of the world, Darien was CEO of Galek-C Corporation, a charitable company dedicated to the distribution of peaceful technology, it was mostly a front for his underground spy network, one that made sure this godless world wasn’t disrupted by the flaws of human ambition.  To anyone who operated under this network, he was Nereid, a name Korus (his mentor) had given him as a boy.  Korus still worked in Darien’s network and he was rumored to be immortal, due to always falling one step behind Death itself.  No one save a select few had even seen him in a quarter of a century.

       “Lemme guess; Rhysa got off the hook by virtue of her happy news,” Cole pressed, his head throbbing with misery.

       “Not quite, although Darien would have done so, if it weren’t for her dealings with Razer concerning that installation for the Queen,” Harlok reminded Cole.  Cole nodded, forgetting about that in his haze.

       “Right…  Time-sensitive and all that.  Got it,” Cole remembered.  “You’re enjoying my misery, aren’t you?  Here for the opportunity to look at my ass?”

       Harlok laughed and raised an eyebrow as Cole ruffled through his closet, looking for something appropriate.

       “You do have a nice ass, but you’re not my type,” Harlok drawled on in amusement.

       “What is your type anyway?” Cole asked for the hell of it.

       “Well, gay, for starters,” Harlok said, not missing a beat.

       “You don’t say? Well, you learn something new every day,” Cole countered with sarcasm.

       “Fine.  I’ll bite.  I like the quiet, thin ones,” Harlok said, sincerely.

       “Yeah, I’m definitely not your type,” Cole said, and they both erupted in laughter.

 

       Cole couldn’t say that he wasn’t relieved that he didn’t have to check in with the boss lady before leaving.  When it came to Darien, there was no hedging with excuses on how it disrupted life, because he was always one step ahead.  Once you got the call, he made sure your life would move on just fine without you and you could slip right back unhindered when you’ve served his purposes.  It was both comforting and disconcerting.

       Harlok could see that Cole was less tense since the rough start this morning and already sending flirtatious looks at Kerys.  They all sat in the main cabin on the private jet,

       Harlok and Cole on one long couch and Kerys on the other one facing them.  Ash had his nose in some book at the large wooden desk complete with executive chair bolted to the floor.  He had his grandmother’s maple colored fur (also his Uncle Reese) and Hope’s violet eyes.   Like Rhysa and Anisa were polar opposites, Ash and Alder were the same way.  Identical twins always tended to be painfully similar or rebelliously opposite.  Rowan had enjoyed the camaraderie of being similar to his brothers, but the legacy of Rowan and his friends had grown even bigger than their parents’ and it was a lot for a kid to live up to. 

       “I thought you were doing better, but you’re entertaining a death wish if you’re even thinking of making Kerys a rebound girl,” Harlok mumbled low enough that she couldn’t hear it.

       “Rebound girls don’t come two-hundred-fifty deep and 7 years after the fact,” Cole retorted from the corner of his mouth, keeping his eyes trained on Kerys.

       “It was only a mutual break-up because you both still care about each other,” Harlok persisted.

       Cole’s eyes narrowed as his nostrils flared with annoyance.

       “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if she asks me along on the honeymoon then.  Forget it, Harlok.  Whatever fantasy you assholes are ‘entertaining,’ Rhysa is exactly where she should be and I’m happy for her,” Cole ground out.  He shot another smile at Kerys, but it didn’t reach his eyes and he headed for the privacy of the back of the cabin.  He was done with all the good intentions and unsolicited advice.  So he was a little harsh about the proposal.  Damned if they weren’t all blowing it out of proportion.  He had bigger priorities than this in life and he was tired of all of the fixation on it.

 

       Rhysa was a workaholic, but Taran’s proposal had thrown her for a loop and she was adjusting to the fairy-tale of an impending marriage with relative ease.  He was 5 years her senior and had been married before, but after what Rhysa had been through with Cole years ago, she had been celibate since.  Not that she would ever let Cole know that, but it was hard trusting any man when one you grew up with could so easily dismiss you after you were naïve enough to mistake mind-blowing sex for love or devotion.  She obviously didn’t hate Cole for it, had decided to pretend it hadn’t hurt (it was the mature thing to do).  She had actually gotten angry when he said he had no business ever getting mixed up with a good girl like her.  She couldn’t fathom why he thought he was so inferior.  They were colleagues in the same field, both had loving upbringings and somehow he acted like he should feel guilty, not for breaking up with her, but with ever leading her on in the first place.  Being treated like a distraction by her first love was maddening and Taran had been a breath of fresh air.

       Taran was gorgeous—tall, lean and dashing in a tailored suit.  Dark brown hair and eyes, those chocolate eyes always peering through seductive slits that could dissolve into ruthlessness when his work called for it.  He had a ready smile and a wide full mouth.  Rhysa had kissed it many times before and it was hard to remain chaste once those lips found hers.  He had been completely respectful of her wishes, even after dating for two years, and she wondered if he’d ever give up on her or put a ring on her finger.  She had been ecstatic with her patient Prince Charming’s decision and she tried not to seem too enthusiastic about setting a date, but she was really looking forward to being with Taran on their wedding night.  Seven years was a long time to wait.  She had dated many other men, even seriously, but none of them were patient beyond a few months before they weren’t so charming.  At first, it had been her experience with Cole that loomed on the edges of her mind, but she superimposed Taran into her thoughts and let herself indulge in it.

       Taran didn’t have any family so there was no meeting his parents at any point, but he had yet to meet hers.  In truth, this was mostly because she was such a workaholic and not because she lacked faith in whether they would last.  She was sure her mother would love him, but her father was another story.  Her father had been the notorious One-Eyed Jack once and he was a grizzly bear when it came to his daughters.  Anisa thought it was amusing, but Rhysa was always embarrassed by her father’s interrogations.  Cole had had a sense of humor about it, having known Rowan all his life, but it always felt mountainous trying to introduce any men to him.  Taran was not a man to be intimidated so this would be more about playing referee.  She found herself wishing she had been a bit more casual after Cole because it certainly hadn’t gotten easier simply because time had passed.

       Even once she had actually seen Taran face-to-face after his remote proposal though, she hadn’t been amenable to just leaving work so that they could begin celebrating.  She wasn’t sure how he had known she even said yes or if he had just been that confident, but he had pulled her close with that sly smile of his and kissed her without being at all bashful that they were at work.  She had been plenty embarrassed enough for the both of them when onlookers had been applauding and whistling.  He took her to Chateau Reynard that night and Harlok had been working, making sure they had been given the royal treatment.  It could have been a perfect night, walking hand in hand with her new fiancé afterwards, but she had seen Cole stumbling out of a bar with a knockout blond on his arm on the opposite side of the street and had squeezed Taran’s arm in a nervous reaction.  She had shot an apologetic look to Taran.

       “Sorry…  I just worry that when he gets like that he might be about to do something stupid,” Rhysa apologized.  Taran laughed easily though.

       “Where you’re concerned, it’s almost certain he’ll do something stupid.  You’ve had a long day, love.  I’ll take you back home and head out myself.  I want you to consider going away with me for the weekend though,” Taran added, kissing her forehead as they walked in the opposite direction Cole and his bimbo were going.

       “Well, I would ask Cole to cover but he doesn’t look like he’s going to be reliable,” Rhysa murmured.

       Taran nodded.  “Reschedule any important clients or jobs until Monday and you can get anyone to fill in,” Taran offered.  Rhysa nodded with a smile, but in truth, it still made her nervous.  They had never gone away together and she didn’t think it would be easier to insist on celibacy as a fiancé.  It’s not that she thought he would be forceful, she was just afraid her own desire for him would make her lose her resolve.

       “No, you’re right.  In light of my engagement, I don’t think anyone would mind a shift in scheduling,” Rhysa said, smiling brightly and leaning into his shoulder.  Her heart swelled with tenderness.

       Taran had laid a light kiss on her forehead before letting her go inside her apartment alone.  Rhysa had sat down on her couch, hugging her favorite pillow to her chest, fantasizing about being a bride and a wife.  She wished Anisa was there to talk with about it, but Anisa was busy with a gig that kept her away for days at a time. Anisa had been excited and messaged when she could but it was not the same. Neither Taran nor Rhysa had yet discussed how living arrangements would change and she assumed they would both continue their careers.  She certainly didn’t intend to just be a happy housewife.  It would make her restless, make her feel as if her potential were squandered.  She certainly didn’t feel ready for kids yet.  Great; now she was starting to worry over this weekend becoming more tense because of these possible differences of opinion.

       Because she was worrying, her mind went back to Cole and she absently grabbed for her cell phone.  Harlok was one of Cole’s best friends and seemed to be her best bet.

       “Hey, doll, what gives?  Shouldn’t you be celebrating with Taran still?” Harlok answered his phone, making her blush with his usual bluntness.

       “We both have an early start in the morning, so he went home.  Possible weekend plans though.  Hey… ah… I saw Cole looking pretty trashed on the way home, so would you mind making sure he gets home okay?  I’m sure I’m the last person he wants to see right now and to be honest, I’m not so happy with him right now either.”

Harlok laughed, a silky sexy sound.

       “I’m not surprised.  He does tend to act pretty stupid around you.  Not a problem though, doll, I’ll swing by in the morning after my shift.  We’re pulling a big crowd here still so I’m staying on late.  Don’t worry too much.  He doesn’t really deserve it,” Harlok purred, his voice soft as if he were soothing a scared animal.  Harlok was an incorrigible flirt like Cole, but he had way more finesse.

       “Probably not.  I might be upset with him, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to him,” Rhysa admitted.

       “Gods, he was an idiot for letting you go.  I still don’t get what he was thinking,” Harlok rushed on with a sigh.  The sincerity and suddenness of the compliment stunned her and made her glad he couldn’t see the blush rising to her cheeks.

       “It’s been seven years, Harlok.  I think the rest of you are taking it way harder than we ever did,” Rhysa teased, making him laugh again.

       “True enough.  Don’t tell him I told you, but it’s still a lot of fun teasing him about it.  I’ll let you go.  I’ll shoot you a text once I catch up with him.”

       Harlok hung up but Rhysa held the phone to her ear for a moment before swiping End on the touch screen.

 

       Harlok had been good on his word and in the wee hours of morning, he had sent her a text, not only to say Cole was sufficiently hungover but okay and that the two of them were heading off at Darien’s behest.  That completely killed any hope of Cole filling in for her, but also eliminated any more awkward run-ins with him for the time being.  She would see about Darien’s suggestion still—after tossing and turning last night, she decided this weekend needed to happen sooner rather than later.  He was probably centered on romantic planning, while she couldn’t help but make lists of things she needed to know about their future together.  Taran was practical enough of a man that she didn’t think he’d be too put-off by it.

       Rhysa frowned as her cell phone went off again and she saw a picture message from Harlok this time and made the mistake of opening it despite the “Bonus Gift” caption line—to see a head to toe shot of Cole’s naked back side.  With an exasperated sigh, she slammed her finger into the Home button and headed out the door to work.  She really didn’t need proof that his body only got better with time.  She always loved the wings tattooed on his shoulder blades too.

       Once Rhysa finally got to her office, she set about rescheduling her highest priority appointments and the hopelessly romantic Nepalia was more than happy to take over the light duty work for her.  She realized that maybe she had been overly efficient since she now had precious little to do for the rest of the day even.  She had been daydreaming about the weekend when Taran had slipped into her office, closing the door behind him.  Her heart leapt into her chest and pounded in her ears as he leaned on the back of the door, crossing his legs and arms and gazing at her with those smoldering dark eyes.

       “You’ve been busy,” Taran purred, sending a shiver over her skin.

       “With favorable results.  I happen to be free for the weekend,” Rhysa said, smiling with demure femininity.  It always made his eyes flash with pleasure when she did that, so it was entirely intentional.

       “Then it was worth it.  Can you cut out early?” Taran asked, pushing off the door to saunter to her desk and prop himself over it.  Her throat felt dry.

       “I’ll let my secretary know,” Rhysa murmured breathlessly, not even minding the victorious smirk as she fumbled for her desk phone.

 

Chapter 2: Down to Business

       Darien stood on the top floor of his high rise, the headquarters of Galek-C Corporation, looking out through one of the floor to ceiling glass panes that covered the entire wall and ceiling.  It had a surreal effect of looking like it wasn’t encased at all and although he could see out of it crystal clear, from the outside the entire building looked like shining silver chrome.  He could hit a button and decide which windows could turn black or just semi-opaque.  Most technology today he could thank the over-achieving Hope for.  His sister Tia hadn’t been wrong when she had once said Hope was going to be the future of their world.  He would have traded all of it to have his sister back again though.

       At thirty-five years of age, he cut quite a picture.  He was broad shouldered and lean, honed by his lifelong training in stealth and espionage.  He had his father’s violet-tinted shade of brown hair that he shaved short save for what he slicked back at the top.  He had the same stunning shade of green eyes his father had as well.  Tia had been more like their mother.  His father still lived, but he didn’t see him as much as he liked and his father was understanding, given Darien’s very public reputation as a philanthropist and entrepreneur.  He still saw his father for the Summer Festival, even got him some amazing sponsors for his chain of inns (before he retired and sold his shares), and for the winter holidays, but seeing his father more than that was extremely rare.  Most men might have been embarrassed by a parent showing up out of the blue, but Darien was never annoyed by it.  After losing his sister, he never took family for granted.  He might have married and had kids of his own by now if not for the demands of work.  He wasn’t foolish enough to believe he could run the corporation single-handedly and be a good father and he was not yet ready to give up the thrill and pace of his career.

       Darien heard the buzz of his intercom and touched the button on his lapel to signal to his secretary that he was able to hear her.

       “Darien, your guests are here to see you,” came Olyse’s cheerful but trained voice.  He pressed the button below that now.

       “Send them in,” Darien said back, sternly.

       In fact, as busy as he was, he had been too anxious to meet up with the others and ended up with way too much of a wait.  He had done nothing but look out onto the city below in his bottled impatience.

He didn’t turn when they entered and they had simply stood there, knowing he would speak when he was ready.             Darien was a master at the dramatic pause, the air of authority, as well as the poker face, but when he turned, his smile was much warmer than most people ever saw it.

       “I’m glad you all could come.  I have a very… unusual concern this time around and I’m not sure I want my usual network privy to this one,” Darien started off in his softest voice, enigmatic and introspective.  Kerys had none of Darien’s stoicism and looked at him with open eagerness and anticipation.

       “We’re more than happy to serve,” Ash said, his usual solemnity in place.  Cole tried not to smirk.  Darien was an old friend, but he was never amused when Cole teased any of them for showing respect.  He didn’t begrudge Cole his casual approach, so he didn’t tolerate any disrespect of their methods either.  He was a strange mix of benevolence and absolute authority.  It was easier to hold back his mirth for the simple fact that Darien’s eyes held a troubled look that he couldn’t miss.  Maybe because of his reckless personality, Cole could seem obtuse at times, but he had a knack for reading people that he liked to keep quiet.  Far more advantageous to be underestimated.

       “You rarely pull us away if it’s not top shelf, old buddy,” Cole shot back although it failed to be as optimistic as he had tried to make it.  Darien had just nodded, the slightest crease of uneasiness between his brows as he raised a hand to his forehead.  He sat on the edge of his desk now and the rest of them filed onto the couches in view of him, knowing this was serious indeed.  Darien was not the sort to show weakness and even the most oblivious could see this was serious.

       “There was… a report of a disturbance in Wellspring Valley and when my father saw… a certain photograph I had left on my desk, he went pale,” Darien explained, tossing a blown up 8x10 onto the low table in front of them.  “You wouldn’t recognize them and I didn’t either but my father was absolutely positive that the people in that picture were Lyria and Pierait, looking every bit as young as the day they disappeared.”

       Kerys went pale too, losing all of her usual sparkle.

       “My… my grandparents are dead.  Pierait was undone by wild magic and my father himself saw his mother step into the Fount of Souls and disintegrate.  There’s no way!” Kerys said, her voice trembling and high, getting louder and more distressed as she finished.

       Darien nodded, holding up his hand in a gesture of comfort.

       “I thought the same thing.  Only in truth, no one had witnessed Pierait’s disappearance and the Fount had disappeared with your grandmother.  When I contacted Solis for clarification, he admitted that it resembled what Hope is working on with teleportation now.  It is very likely that they had simply… gone into hiding somehow.  It’s hard to say and I don’t want anyone getting wind of this if they are still trying so hard to not be seen.  It was hard to keep this quiet.  The sighting was half a year ago, but I wanted to see if they would try to contact anyone they knew first.  Now I would like to be more proactive in gathering information without endangering them if they are indeed still alive.”

       Kerys was stunned and Ash reached for her hand shyly to hold it.  It was a bold move from him and her shock said as much, but she leaned against his shoulder, welcoming the comfort.

       Harlok’s tail swished behind him, a certain sign he was suitably intrigued.

       “I have to know why a bartender, an engineer, a budding anthropologist and an astrophysicist are necessary,” Harlok added.  Darien always had a really good answer for this sort of thing.

       “Kerys studies people academically and you will need her knowledge of crowds.  Cole on the other hand is more practically a people person like you, Harlok.  No one says no to you and that’s all I really need.  Cole is more aptly a genius engineer and Ash has superior navigation skills.  Which you’re sure as hell going to need because you’re leaving all of Hope’s conveniences behind and going off the grid for this one.  If anyone is the least bit suspicious, you could easily be tracked,” Darien explained to Harlok’s delight.

       “Which begs the question: even if they are alive, why is it so important beyond sentimental reasons?  Not saying you’re cold, but there’s no way this is so simple if you’re involved,” Cole asked now, drawing a small smile from Darien.

       “Someone central to my interests had asked this of me and it’s all I can say for now,” Darien added, sufficiently apologetic as he looked at Kerys who was miserable with the information overload.

       “Someone who has more interest in this than their own family?” Kerys squeaked.

       “I understand your distress, my dear, but it’s a delicate matter that I have held in confidence.  Your grandmother’s lineage caused her hardship, for one.  The Diviners debated on whether she would even be allowed to live.  I don’t wish to dig up old wounds if this turns out to be a hoax,” Darien explained gently.  He wished he could tell her about her great grandfather and who he was to Darien now, but Korus had insisted it was too dangerous if it weren’t completely necessary.  It wasn’t something he could trust in an email, a phone call or a letter.  It had to be this way.

       Still, it was why he also insisted that Korus be absent for the meeting.  He would be more than happy to stage a family reunion once this had been taken care of, but until then she would need to focus, however hard the wait was.  Cruel or not, she wouldn’t be more focused once the floodgates were opened.

       Originally, Darien had wanted Rhysa to come along too, but he knew Cole’s usual ease around her was shot once Taran had proposed to her.  Zephyr would be mother-henning with Kerys around so one engineer would have to do.  Darien bit back the urge to sigh as he looked around at the sobering mood he had inflicted on them.

       “I’m not sending you off immediately, but I need you to leave your phones with me and go off the grid until we meet up again.  Kerys, I do not mean to be cruel, but what I told you cannot leave this room and there will be steep penalties if you violate this.  There might be more experienced anthropologists in my pocket, but you, my dear, are the only one I would trust with this and I can ill-afford a breech over your emotional response.  If you need to talk to someone, seek out someone to talk to, you may speak to these three or I can make a more secure anonymous arrangement,” Darien explained as kindly as he could, but with a tone that brooked no room for negotiation.

       Kerys looked crushed, as only a young girl can when she is told not to be honest to her loved ones, but Darien held her gaze with unbreakable resolve.  He loathed the idea of causing her pain, but he demanded total respect. It wasn’t easy for him to leave it at that, to not let her know he intended to make it up to all of them to the best of his ability, but he needed her to be angry, be scared, be enough intimidated to really resist the urge to defy him.

       He certainly hadn’t expected to fall into bed with her that night.  She had come to him after crying for hours, full of her fury and defiance, and when he grabbed her to calm her down, that rage had exploded into lust.  She had thrown her legs around him and he had fucked her against that formidable desk of his.  Neither of them held any illusion that it meant anything (she was 16 years his junior and sexual compatibility was all they had in common) and she had left with a quiet dignity and a bit of a wobble in her stride.  He allowed himself a satisfied smirk at that and set out to sort through the tornado of his desk.

 

       Cole hadn’t slept a wink and the morning sun was only slightly less painful than it had been the day before.  He would be operating on sheer exhaustion as they set out today.  Yeah, he spent too much time wondering how Rhysa was doing.  He hoped she was love drunk and happy, but he also knew she had been naïve when it came to Taran and knew she’d start to realize that, was probably already making a list of things to ask him pre-nuptial that she didn’t before.  Did he want kids?  Would he expect to her be a housewife?  He had laughed out loud knowing what wouldn’t make her list and hoped it wouldn’t be a deal breaker.  Taran had a bit of a reputation for kink, but he couldn’t imagine Rhysa thinking to ask if he liked role-playing or bondage. Wouldn’t that be something she already knew by this point anyway?  Before he knew it, the sun had interrupted his musings and he had welcomed it with a groan, an obscene hand gesture and a colorful string of inappropriate words.

       While they wouldn’t be setting out on anything so primitive as on foot or by horseback as their grandparents might have done, they would be using older vehicles (even less advanced than one of Hope’s first builds)—ones with no on-board GPS or such.  They’d be using old school paper maps and even more primitive tools like sextants and compasses.  It would clearly draw attention, looking like time travellers of a bygone era, but Darien had done well to disguise old technology beneath the shell of newer models and they could find some out of the way places to track their movements without drawing odd looks.  Darien had no shortage of resources and it was beyond disappointing that they would be using next to none of them.  The four of them easily fit into one car with room to spare for more.  It was more of a van, but in some instances, it might very well need to be sleeping quarters.

       Cole didn’t fail to notice that Kerys had gone back to her bubbly self (and wondered if Ash had gotten a bit bolder than holding hands, but quashed that idea when he saw Ash’s shy smile at her).  Harlok was out (in more ways than one) so he was also out of guesses.  He wondered if Darien’s help might have extended to sex workers.  He had no doubt Darien had his thumb on every occupation in existence, but Kerys just didn’t seem the sort to request that.  She was a free-spirit, so that was far too much a formality.

       “You’re thinking something dirty, aren’t you?” Kerys chirped, causing Cole to grin.

       “Aren’t I always?” Cole shot back with ease, not missing a beat.

       “Mmmm,” Kerys hummed, a non-committal curious sound. “I heard about Rhysa’s engagement.  Must be a relief to get away for a bit.”

       Cole nodded shortly, walking away to mask his annoyance with the familiar misguided concern from his Skyloft family.  Not far enough away, was all he could think.  Sometimes, he just wanted to go somewhere where people didn’t suppose they knew him so damn well.

       Darien had flown them in a cargo plane to a remote place just northwest of Maharyjab but that was as close as he could get them on the Stoneweld continent without attracting suspicion.  The Barri Range began there and they would follow it south then west, across the river that marked the entry into Wellspring Valley.  From there, it would be up to them to investigate without arousing suspicion.  Wellspring Valley, being in approximation to one of the oldest and most prestigious kingdoms (next to the Vieran continent’s own Ersenais), was also very advanced and populated at that.  Not overly so as Sionnach, the Kitfolk territory, had been before it was liberated, but still a place with dense cities separated only briefly by pockets of agriculture and farming.

       Something about this place really spoke to Cole.  It was a place his parents and theirs didn’t have much experience with, even if some of their friends did.  Melchior and Rienna (Eden’s uncle and mother—Eden being Zephyr and Kerys’s mother, as well as two other daughters and the reason why Zephyr was so over-protective) had visited a time or two, having been the monarchs of the nearby kingdom of New Myceum.  He knew the family met up in New Myceum on rare occasion but they didn’t wander into Wellspring Valley either.  In their generation, the Wellspring Valley was truly foreign— as far as he could possibly get from everything that he was.  It had occurred to him it would be a good place to ‘get lost’ once he had fulfilled his obligation to Darien.

       It had taken them a full day to reach the river they sought, but the van that Darien had provided had been far from all-terrain and traveling off the beaten path to navigate more efficiently had its downsides.  There was only one way into the Wellspring Valley so it was fortunate that they didn’t draw a lot of attention on the toll bridge into the area.  There was still a large area to the northwest where, even now, people didn’t settle.  It was once a place where wraiths and Furies had resided, creatures out of one’s worst nightmares, and there were still rumors that settlers had the tendency to disappear.  Pierait had been one supposed victim of this phenomenon and a king disappearing had a way of not being forgotten.  It was there that they were not only set on navigating, but the reason why they needed their particular skill sets.  They would need to be both self-sufficient and extremely clever in dealing with whatever sort of people might be ballsy or crazy enough to lurk in an area that millions of people avoided like the plague.

       The last of Darien’s generosity ended at their booking in a lavish hotel just past the river, a quiet and exclusive resort called Royal Oasis.  They’d stay the night there and it would be their last luxury before fording the unknown.

       Despite that area being uninhabitable and believed to be cursed, it seemed like a lush paradise from afar, overgrown and untouched by human ambition.  Royal Oasis sat a ‘safe distance’ away, but provided an amazing view for the patrons.  Cole was exhausted, the others not far from it, but they had decided to take a late dinner in a glassed-in lounge close to their suites.  It had been a quiet dinner though, all lost in their own thoughts on this trip.  Cole’s head was muddy with chaos and lack of sleep, Harlok was already wondering what he could bring back to his work, Ash was tactless in his concern for Kerys and she was oblivious to him in her anxiety to possibly meet her presumably dead grandparents.  It made them seem morose and moody, but when they chanced to pull away from their musings at all, they at least exchanged smiles.

       This time when Cole had found his bed, he made damn good use of it.

 

       Kerys had gotten up in the middle of the night.  She hadn’t felt quite right since they had crossed the river and although she had managed to only sleep a few short hours, she was wide awake with no hope of going back to bed. It felt surreal that she had been asked to come along at all—it was always the older ones that went on these missions.  Harlok’s younger brother Merik was still older than her by a few years, Alder was Ash’s twin, and she had an older sister named Lyric-- they all seemed like better choices.  She had been seen as one of the ‘babies’ along with Reyn and Shiori, who like her, were still in high school or college where the others had careers.  She couldn’t help but feel like an impostor and had expected that Darien would have stopped her advances and insisted she were still a child.  Instead he had gone above and beyond in comforting her.  It hadn’t gone unreciprocated; baby or not, she knew her way around a man.

       She left her room to do a little night sightseeing.  She had no intention of wandering away from the resort.  There was plenty on-ground to see, even at night when some things were closed even to the guests.  There were gardens, open air pools and fountains, gyms, laundry rooms, arcades—she had plenty to find and to be perfectly honest, was rather nervous about how much truth lie in the superstitions and was in no hurry to get any closer to that area now.

       Kerys hadn’t bothered to get dressed up.  She wore enough to be modest, a thin tank top and shorts, and headed out.  She felt silly as she tip-toed towards the elevators, knowing that her companions wouldn’t hear her through the walls of a five-star hotel (privacy was a huge incentive in such high rated accommodations), but did it more out of habit.  Having an overprotective older brother made sneaking around a necessity.

       She had been happy to feel that the outdoor pool on ground level was warm and had sat there for a while, swinging her feet in the water, until it only seemed to make her feel more restless just sitting in one place alone.  Even the disturbance of the water as she stood up seemed overly loud.  Kerys headed back into the hotel and saw that the hotel even boasted a library.  She wasn’t an avid reader herself, having plenty of that being mandatory in college as it were, but she was still curious.  There was something intriguing about the smell of books, the little nooks that readers favored, in a world taken over by electronic information and hurried lifestyles.  In a world becoming obsessed with efficiency, books were still a romantic link to a simpler time.

       It hadn’t surprised her that Ash was in there, angled in a way that he wouldn’t see her or anyone else enter, hunched over whatever obsession he found in the pages.  Kerys suspected it could be a repair manual and he would still be enthusiastic.  Ash was simply obsessed with words and she imagined he’d read a shampoo bottle with the same gusto if it were all that were available. 

       Kerys leaned in the doorway, positive that even if she moved intentionally quieter, it would still alert him to her presence.  She liked watching people engaged in their passions.  Whether you could call it voyeurism or observation, it was that purity of how people acted when they thought they were not being watched that had drawn her to anthropology to begin with.  Sure, it might extend into watching people have sex, but it certainly wasn’t exclusive to that.

       Again, she watched until standing there simply made her more restless.  She intended to just back out quietly, but Ash had turned at that moment, nearly falling out of his chair.  She had tried to seem like she had just stopped by, but even someone as clueless as Ash could notice when someone had been staring.  It didn’t just flick off even the most schooled face.

       “Gods, Kerys—I really hadn’t expected to see anyone this late,” Ash admitted sheepish with the intrusion.  His cheeks flushed and he looked boyish in his shyness.  She walked over, her own confidence building as she saw his discomfort increase.  It was clear that Ash was into her and she enjoyed that power over him.  He was handsome but not her type and it seemed cruel to string him along, yet she couldn’t seem to help herself as she bent close to him to get a look at what he was reading.  He slammed it shut and started coughing at the dust cloud that engulfed him and Kerys pouted, the cover having no words to give away the contents.

       “Hmmm, you wouldn’t be reading pillow books, would you?” Kerys teased, but rather than look guilty, he seemed to look angry.

       “Sure, because all nerds are perverts and virgins,” Ash shot back.  It wasn’t like him to get so snippy with her and it deflated her a bit.  She frowned and shook her head.

       “Point taken.  I suppose it’s way too complicated for a bimbo like me to handle,” Kerys countered and Ash lost his own steam, looking apologetic now.

       “You know I don’t think you’re a bimbo,” Ash mumbled in a gentler tone.

       “And I don’t think you’re a virgin,” Kerys countered, intentionally leaving nerd and pervert up in the air.  That seemed to startle him and make him frown a bit.  “You’re pretty secretive though, so I’ve always been curious who punched your card.”

       Ash’s face didn’t reveal anything; he just shook his head.

       “That was intentional.  After all the shit Cole gets about Rhysa, discretion was imperative,” Ash countered and she nodded in agreement.  She could see Ash with some pretty little bookworm who was just as nervous as he was and it made her smile.

       Kerys simply nodded, but she still wanted to see what was in the book.  She reached for it again and was stunned again at his forcefulness as he grabbed her wrists.  This time he stood up and looked down at her.

“Leave it, Kerys.  I promised my mom I wouldn’t show this one to anyone.  It’s from the restricted section in Skyloft,” Ash said in a strict tone.  He let go of her wrists and she lowered them but tried to lunge forward again.  This time, he grabbed her midsection and pushed her into the wall.  It hurt but she laughed at his building anger and frustration.  He had that effortless Bryfolk strength, atypical of any stereotype of a nerd she had known.

       “What’s your game, Kerys?” Ash hissed, and suddenly she felt all of her neuroses make her all warm and fuzzy inside.

       “Middle child syndrome,” Kerys whispered and yanked his hair, pulling his mouth over hers as she wrapped her legs around his hips.  She knew he wanted her and his lust grew hot, but she felt him push at her, detangling her from him and he stepped away.  He struggled to catch his breath as he snatched the book from the table, refusing to look at her.

       “You might be something of an expert on people, but I’m not going to be a toy or a distraction for you, Kerys.  You’re going to have to work out what’s bothering you.  If you want to talk, you know where to find me,” Ash said, his back to her before he hurried out.

       She knew better than anyone that people could easily break out of character and surprise you, but this was a horrible time for Ash to get noble on her.  She didn’t doubt that Cole would be happy to accommodate her, but that had ‘mistake’ written all over it.  Cole was a dominant sort like her, for starters, but he also didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘discretion’. Darien had been a pleasant surprise there, how he had dominated her, but let her turn the tables too.  With men, her supposed innocence was something that worked for her but getting tangled up with Cole wouldn’t benefit either of them.  He might be accused of seducing her whereas she would either be pegged as naïve or taken advantage of.  In a different world, she’d fuck him in a heartbeat, but in their world, it was nothing but headaches.

       Kerys began over thinking what happened between her and Ash as she wandered more, oblivious to the opulence as she shuffled through the hotel hallways.  She wondered if he thought less of her now, if his affections would cool and he would avoid her now.  He might not be her type and it might have been selfish of her, but something about his ardor had made her feel pure.  She hated to think her impulses might have destroyed that.  It was a stupid way to leave things because there would be no privacy to talk about it once they left here.  He had left her the invitation to do so, but it was a fresh and baffling wound still oozing.

       Kerys had hoped that a cold shower and some brainstorming would offer clarity but when her head hit the pillow, sleep had swallowed her.

 

       Despite an awkward start, Harlok had been the one to rally them together in the morning although Kerys had been so slow to rouse that he had very nearly broken down her door just to make sure she was okay.  She apologized for it, but noted with a sinking feeling that Ash wouldn’t make eye contact and it wasn’t due to the usual awkward shyness. It looked more keenly like indifference, which was worse by far.  Cole had been a lot more upbeat, impatient to set out and shifting like he had to pee and Kerys had laughed more from a need for release than his oddball way of cheering her up.

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