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*****

GAHRYE – Human World

Gahrye stood in the hallway of the Big House with Kalle, swallowing, pleading with her silently to understand. He trembled with the gut-wrenching monster of fear that clawed at his insides and wouldn't ease.

He couldn't lose Elia to this.

But how could he do anything to stop it?

She stared up at him, as horror dawned on her face.

"When Anima don't come back from their beasts… it's called… going Silent?

" Kalle whispered.

Gahrye nodded, his heart pounding.

"You've heard of it?

"

"I'd forgotten. We learned about that… like an Anima form of suicide.

"

Gahrye's lips thinned.

"I don't know if they do it on purpose, or if they just get lost and can't get back, but either way… the legends are clear: Anima have to be trained how to control their beasts, and how to come back. Because if they don't… if they give over for too long… they don't come back at all.

" He swallowed hard and clawed a hand through his hair.

"Elia's had no training in this. None. We never even considered it—which has to mean that our people didn't know it was possible. Which means… I don't know what to do. The wise ones and Reth went over everything they could think of with Elia before we left. But they never even hinted at this—and trust me, if Reth had known this was a possibility, he would have covered it. Or Aymora would have told us.

" Gahrye's mind scanned back through those hours at the cave. They'd talked through so much. But there was nothing to even hint that they'd thought about this—

"You know Reth and Aymora?

" Kalle asked breathlessly.

"You know of them?

" he replied. The fact that she knew of Reth wasn't a surprise, but how had she heard of Aymora?

"Everyone who comes gets asked to outline leadership,

" she said and licked her lips, leaving them glistening. Gahrye snarled at himself to focus.

"Aymora has come up more than once. She's a wise-woman?

"

Gahrye nodded.

"And now she's Elia's Second. She is supporting the King while Elia's gone. But… look, if anyone would have known this was possible, it was her and she said nothing. So either this hasn't happened before at all, or it hasn't happened on Anima to be recorded. I need to know if there's anything in your histories. Can you think of anything? Anything at all?

"

Kalle shook her head and Gahrye slumped. But before he could despair, she spoke.

"That doesn't mean we don't have it, though. The human interaction with Anima isn't something I've studied in detail. I always thought I'd need to understand the Anima better. We can go look, right now. And I can take you to the university library. My grandmother is there. She might know. In fact, I'll phone her.

"

Gahrye was about to ask, when Kalle slid her hands away—his chest felt suddenly cold—and pulled something small and black out of her pocket. A perfect rectangle that shone like obsidian, but was far too flat and precise to be the stone—unless they had very special tools here. But no, it had that horrific smell of this place, of things burnt and… unnatural.

Then he blinked as light suddenly shone out of the stone and Kalle tapped something on it, then lifted it to her ear.

"What are you—?

"

"Hello?

" the voice was small and tinny, as if it were at the end of a long cave. Gahrye startled and looked around, but there was no one with them in the hallway. And he couldn't smell anyone nearby.

"Grandma, I know this is going to sound weird, and I don't have time to get into it, but can you tell me if you know of anything to do with humans and Anima getting pregnant together, and… side-effects it might have when a human carries an Anima baby?

"

Why was she speaking to the rock?

Gahrye almost swallowed his tongue when the woman's voice responded.

"I know I've read reports of those unions, and I think I remember something about symptoms. But it's been so long. I'd have to do a search.

"

Kalle nodded.

"This is urgent. Can you gather anything together you can think of, and we'll get over there soon. We just need to sort a few things out here first… maybe an hour or two at the most?

"

"Sure thing, honey,

" the voice said. Gahrye raked a hand through his hair. How was the woman's voice being transported to this stone?

"Thanks, Grandma.

" Kalle pulled the stone away from her ear and tapped it again.

"She's going to help. Let's take a quick look here and bring some things up, then—

"

"What is that… thing?

" Gahrye blurted, sniffing, grimacing at the stench of it.

"What, my phone?

" Kalle asked, then looked down at it, then back at him, smiling. The whole room got brighter when she smiled. Gahrye stifled the mating call and had to look away for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even think. Of course you haven't seen one before. This is a phone. It lets me get information and allows me to talk to people who are far away.

"

"How far away?

"

"As far away as… the other side of the world.

"

Gahrye sucked in a breath.

"Would it let us speak to Reth? Could we contact the—

"

"No, no, I'm sorry. It's not… to speak to someone else they have to have a phone too.

"

Gahrye huffed his disappointment.

"I should have known. We don't have that magic on Anima.

"

"It's not magic,

" she said with a soft smile.

"It's technology.

" Gahrye just frowned until she continued. She pointed at the phone.

"It has… special waves it makes. They're invisible. But other technology can read the waves and turn them into sound, or pictures… it lets us find information or speak to people pretty much no matter where we are.

"

Gahrye frowned at the thing, his nose wrinkling.

"It sounds like magic to me,

" he said.

"It's not, but… it doesn't matter. Come on. We'll go down to the library. I need to show you where that is anyway, in case you want to research when I'm not here. Then I'll take you to Grandmother. In the car. Oh dear, you're going to love that,

" she said, and smiled again.

Her eyes twinkled and she looked up at him through her lashes, and Gahrye groaned. It was thoughtless to pull her into his chest, to wrap his arms around her, to whisper,

"Thank you,

" in her ear when what he really wanted to do was make the mating call and take her. Right there.

She was startled, and went still, but then she dropped her head to his chest and squeezed him back.

"You're welcome,

" she said softly.

"I want to help you, Gahrye. I'm sorry this has been such a rough start. Let me help you. Always. That's what I'm here for. Never hesitate to ask me, okay? And if you need me to keep your secrets, I can do that too.

"

He squeezed her again and had to fight the snarl that wanted to rise—he'd been spending too much time with predators lately. But as he held her, so briefly, felt her warmth and her curves pressed against him for the first time, that burning sense of injustice was churning in his chest again.

He was going to have words with the Creator about this torment.

Very, very strong words.

*****

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