Bird of a Wing - Chapter 39: Chapter 39

"Nel'os..." Ryraso groaned exasperated, not sure what to say to the over sexed birdbrain. If the man didn't start behaving soon he was going to stab the k'nairi in an area he definitely would not want sharp objects. The problem was that when it came to sex, Nel'os had a considerably different outlook on it than most people because he was a k'nairi noble. Sex had rules but also was not a thing to be ashamed of.
"What? I'm serious!" Nel'os defended. "Herymi likes them, they like him. Sounds like Ran'mosy is upset because they weren't your first so just let them claim you. Once you are in the bond, it's not like you can cheat anyway. Or keep secrets. Or hate each other. Plus it helps with finding out what everyone's true feelings are," Nel'os was completely serious and surprisingly thoughtful as he spoke.
"Only you could make having a group orgy sound like good advice to fix a broken relationship," Ryraso chuckled in bemusement, making Nel'os laugh and preen slightly.
"If it gets what all the parties want and needs, might as well do it!" Nel'os declared boldly, making Ryraso roll his eyes.
"Sex fiend," Ryraso teased.
"Hey, I'm not that bad," Nel'os sniffed, raising his nose lightly. Ryraso elbowed him in the ribs, making Nel'os laugh. Nel'os kissed Ryraso on the forehead, making Ryraso flush at the open display of affection. "Don't worry, you'll get a say on whether I can or can't," Nel'os murmured gently into his ear, making Ryraso splutter. Nel'os grinned and passed him a cloth, Ryraso taking it with a dark grumble. Ryraso hadn't thought that far ahead yet. He hadn't thought about dealing with the royal triad's quirks.
"Okay, I can see how sleeping with them might resolve some of the issues, "Herymi," admitted, apparently having been thinking it over as a serious opinion. Ryraso was relieved for the distraction, not wanting to think about the nervous ball he had felt in his stomach at the idea of Nel'os sleeping around.
"Seriously?" Ryraso said in disbelief while Nel'os only preened with smugness much to the healer's annoyance. This time Ryraso gave into temptation and just hit the k'nairi over the head, much like Nel'os had done to him earlier. Nel'os only laughed and dodged easily, his wings fluttering playfully.
"However, I see one major flaw in this plan," Herymi continued, watching them with half a smile.
"What would that be?" asked Nel'os, a big beam on his face from getting Ryraso flustered.
"Namely your mate? Winglord Tai'ray decreed no Caw was to be claimed, or rather fucked until they have the brand," Herymi pointed out. For a moment it felt like ice cold water had been poured over the three of them as the reality of the situation hit home.
"No!" Tai'ray exclaimed loudly, looking directly at Nel'os who was clearly about to say something along of the lines of, 'Just do it anyway'. The table went silent as Tai'ray paused the conversation he had been having to stop his mate from doing something foolish. Ryraso couldn't help but wonder if Nel'os had been keeping him informed using their bond or if the Winglord had just read the mood of their conversation. "I'm sorry Herymi, but I am not changing the rule just for your case. Though I agree, that might help once you are able to so," the Winglord commented seriously, while not giving away the topic of their conversation. Guardian Fl'ex looked between them, his orange eyes curious but said nothing.
'My advice,' Tai'ray spoke over the link, Ryraso surprised to discover that only him, Herymi and Nel'os could hear him. 'If you'll have it, would be to work on the ones who were closest to you first. Ran'mosy is too hurt and raw to be anything but angry at the moment and well...' Tai'ray trailed off, everyone thinking the same thing.
K'nairi submissives were rarely meek despite the stereotypes and even the meek ones did not suit anger well. There was a reason why a lot of k'nairi courting was violent after all. There were times when the submissives were more dangerous than the dominants. Ryraso had only heard of a handful of cases where a pissed off sub had gone up against a raging dom. There had been a lot of collateral damage. A lot of damage in general.
Herymi was strong for a human. He was also very skilled against the k'nairi, having learnt to defend himself pretty quickly from flying attackers who wanted his hunting prize, but he was still human. If he tried to fight against Ran'mosy one on one, or more likely if Ran'mosy attacked him, he would lose. Then Ran'mosy would mostly likely do something both would regret. Either fuck him, which would at best end up with Ran'mosy facing the lashes with Herymi at the Winglord's claws, at worst with Herymi seriously injured and the claim revoked or Ran'mosy would beat him to a pulp which would incur the second punishment anyway.
"I'll stay away from Ran'mosy until I'm branded then," Herymi exhaled with heavy shoulders, it felt wrong leaving things so tattered now. Tai'ray was pleased that the human managed to talk about the branding with little care or fight. The only nervousness Herymi felt from the branding was the lashing afterwards, which he was not getting out of. Tai'ray refused to go back on his word about what punishments people would be facing, but he was pleased that at least one of his Caw accepted it.
The sentence got someone else's attention though, Herymi having spoken out loud and in human tongue. "Branding? Who's getting branded?" Eyeri's words were hesitant but made everyone around him freeze and mentally curse.
"You haven't told him yet?" One of the villager's hunters commented, sounding confused.
"Told me what?" Eyeri's voice was starting to panic, his eyes flashing in alarm.
Dyn'ad pulled the boy into his lap and wrapped both arms around him tightly, cooing soft gentle sounds before Ryraso could stand up. Comforting the human in the only way he knew how, which was how to calm a k'nairi youngling. "We'll explain after dinner," Dyn'ad promised gently.
"But..." Eyeri looked over at Ryraso with distressed eyes.
"Eyeri, it's fine. Trust me," Ryraso called over to him, giving his son an almost pleading look. Ryraso wasn't sure he could calm Eyeri down if he panicked too badly. He had always helped but his brothers had always been so much better at reassuring Eyeri that he was safe. That the slavers weren't back to get him, like what haunted so many of his nightmares.
Everyone watched as Eyeri bit his lip but nodded, trusting Ryraso implicitly. Eyeri leant back into Dyn'ad's embrace, curling up slightly in the warm hold. Dyn'ad just held him close, stroking the boy's hair lightly as the boy's fluttering heart started to calm back down. He was enjoying having the boy in his arms without fright.
Eyeri had come to the conclusion earlier that day that given how the royal triad were treating him, that he was going to be held, petted and cuddled whether he liked it or not. The best thing to do until Eyeri could convince them not to was to enjoy it during the moments he needed to feel a little safer and more secure. Aw'endo tugged on his shirt and tucked in close to the two men silently, resting his head on Eyeri's shoulder. Dyn'ad's wing coming down to wrap around Aw'endo too and the three snuggled together while the table returned to normal conversation.
'When are you planning to tell him?' Dyn'ad demanded over the link, able to feel just how shaken the boy was at the mere mention of a brand.
'After dinner. I enlisted Jak to help explain," Tai'ray hushed his mate gently. 'Jak was one of the few who willingly got branded when I ordered every human remaining marked. Most of the others I had to bribe, blackmail and force.'
'No resentment whatsoever,' Ryraso commented, Tai'ray always keeping the link open towards him. It didn't surprise Ryraso that even the ones who had chosen to stay hadn't wanted to get branded. Though Ryraso knew not all had stayed because they had wanted to. A few simply had nowhere to go and didn't want to fight in a war. A lesser man would call them cowards but Ryraso was not bitter. Everyone had to make their own decisions in the end.
'What else was I going to do? Branding is for life. Everything else is temporary,' Tai'ray grumbled like people were making a fuss over nothing.
'Eyeri is still going to panic and struggle. Tai'ray, can't you delay his until he has a bond and he will understand?" Ryraso practically begged over the link, praying that Tai'ray would take some mercy on the boy if it was just a delay.
"No!" Tai'ray snapped out loud. Everyone flinched at that. The amount of determination in Tai'ray's voice made it as cold and hard as steel. Tai'ray was not about to back down on this issue. No caw, or anyone else associated so close with a caw that they might as well be 'caw' themselves, was getting out of branding.
Both Ryraso and Herymi looked at the table, making themselves smaller, able to feel Tai'ray's anger in the link that it even had to come to this. That people who had been more loyal to the k'nairi then their own people had betrayed them despite everything the k'nairi had done for them. Herymi in particular felt that bitter sting given they were in the place he had run from. He had been away long enough not to feel it but Tai'ray's presence seemed to amplify things.
Apologising to the people around him, Tai'ray calmed himself before speaking over the link to Ryraso and his bond to Dyn'ad again. 'I understand Eyeri will struggle. I understand he will probably try to escape or fight. He is allowed that right. Anyone with nightmares because of slavers is allowed that right...' Tai'ray's words were still serious and solid, but they were gentler. Showing he did have some concept at looking at this from the human's point of view, even if he seemed blind to it for the person closest to him. 'We have branded former slaves before. As long as we explain to him the reasons and make sure he understands this does not make him a slave it should be...' Tai'ray paused before the word 'fine'. Everyone knew it wasn't fine at all but it would be better than the alternative.
'I understand,' Ryraso murmured reluctantly, not agreeing with Tai'ray at all but he felt like he should say something.
All of them watched as Aw'endo poked at Eyeri and got him to react again. The two bickering around Dyn'ad much to the older male's annoyance. Good signs that Eyeri was starting to feel comfortable. The boy wasn't as far gone as people would think by his nature. When he felt safe enough not to act meek, he was as loud and cheeky like any teenage boy. Both Isst and Ryraso had taken him and his brothers over their knees before for some of their actions. Some things would never be tolerated by parents or guardians, even if there was nothing wrong with the actions from a military point of view.
"May I ask Winglord, how long will it be until you are in Navat?" Guardian Fl'ex asked, deciding to try and distract the men from whatever topic they were being secretive a normal k'nairi, at a normal pace, it would take about a week to fly to the capital but at how fast Tai'ray and his mates could fly, they could be there in a day and a half. It just depended on whether the Winglord wanted to rush or not.
"Might as well relax. From what I can tell at least three other caw will be there by the time we arrive. So add three and that makes six to be dealt with," Tai'ray mused. "Provided none of them run, there is no real reason to rush back."
"Are you doing all the ceremonies then?" Fl'ex asked curiously, on purposely not using the word branding, having picked up on it being a bad word to use until everything had been explained to the youngest at the table. Ryraso was grateful, listening to the conversation as he ate. Eyeri was playing with Aw'endo again, but he was still clearly shaken, not having moved from Dyn'ad's lap.
The royal triad nodded. "For now" Tai'ray nodded, "Until we have a large number of caw to deal with at once, it seems fair that we do." It also meant he would be able to meet everyone in person and see what would be best for them. Until there was a big influx, Tai'ray could afford to meet people on an individual basis.
Tai'ray was already making plans in his head relating to letting Caw live in their old villages instead of being trapped in Navat like traditionally. He was also was aware that some of the caw weren't related to the fighting and also reintegrating people into the lives which had joined them to the link in the first place seemed like a good idea. Already he was aware of a nineteen-year-old caw. Someone whose parents had worked with the k'nairi and he had grown up in Navat. He was k'nairi but his only crime was being a child whose parents chose to leave. Why should he have to live in one place his entire life because of his parent's decisions? There were other cases as well. Not to mention a lot of k'nairi caw had humans they cared about.
"So five days?" Ryraso murmured rubbing his arm lightly. Nel'os blinked as he noticed the scar on it. A familiar scar. An odd feeling went through him as he saw it. The first time the royals had seen Ryraso on a battlefield.
"Unless you would rather hurry?" Tai'ray offered loudly, sensing unease from both caw from some reason. Neither was thrilled about the branding but they accepted it was going to happen, to them at least. He wasn't sure why they were not at ease about the timeline, however.
"I'd rather get this over with sooner rather than later," Herymi commented softly, "I have a lot to deal with by the sounds of it."
"I'd rather not drag this out either," admitted Ryraso, neither of the caw were looking at Tai'ray. Instead vastly concerned with their dinners. Tai'ray hummed lightly, debated to push at them for more answers but was distracted as one of the village elders stood to make a toast. He would have to dig later to find out what was bothering the men.