Anara smiled fondly. ”…It’s something new he’s been doing recently… but I think he is having Lanam try to distract his focus while he meditates. My guess is that he’s trying to improve his ability to concentrate and focus. It’s similar to an exercise adult Kazon males do in their training, if more innocent.”

”What’s the original version?” Kes asked curiously.

”The ones sitting like Tresit is would have dirt and sand thrown at them, and they’d be yelled at and mocked, even be pissed on by the other men, or have refuse thrown at them.” Anara told her with clear distaste in her voice.

”Does it start a lot of fights?” Kes asked – thinking of the Kazon males she’d met in the city, she could hardly imagine it wouldn’t.

Anara shook her head. ”It’s rare. To strike back would be to show yourself as weak, and invite more abuse. More shame. I am… grateful, that Tresit does not have to go through such things. It is one of the few things I was grateful for in all of this, before you came to us.” She finished softly.

Kes felt it through the low level link they had again from the shared sight she was giving her wife, that Anara had seen the effects of some of the things her brother, Ralka, had had to endure in his training as a boy, and she had felt impotent fury that she could do nothing to spare him those things when all he ever seemed to do was to protect her. That she could do nothing to protect him in return had always nagged at her; though, of course, as she’d grown older, she’d come to accept it more that it was simply the way her people were… Still, the feeling had never left her memory.

Kes wanted to say something to Anara about what she sensed, but she also sensed that Anara would not want to talk about it right now. So she sighed instead. ”We should get dressed and go have a meal with them.” She offered.

”Alright…” Anara smiled and closed her eyes, letting Kes know silently that she could disconnect her vision from hers now (it was nice to do while stationary, but could quickly become impractically disorienting if Anara were in motion). Kes did so, and they helped each other get dressed.

Once dressed, Kes stood and held out her hand to her wife. Anara took the offered hand and stood, leaning close to her as they walked across the hot sand back to the shade of their home… or, what was their home for now. ”When should we tell the children about our plans?” Kes asked softly.

”…Before sleep would be a good time, I think.” Anara replied.

”You seem nervous somehow?” Kes asked softly.

”I… It’s only, do you think your people will accept me? Accept Tresit and Lanam?” Anara asked.

Kes sighed. ”No, most of them won’t. They won’t accept me, either. Socially, we’ll mostly be outcasts. But they will leave us alone, and we will have a house. We’ll be safe and always have enough to eat and drink. We won’t have to steal to survive, and Tresit won’t have to risk his life with me while we do it.”

”That sounds wonderful…” Anara replied dreamily.

Kes smiled to herself and squeezed Anara’s hand a little. ”I… guess it’s true though, that I don’t really know how they’ll react… There’s… never been an outsider come to live with us before… except for the sick that the Caretaker has sent to us lately, but you and Lanam and Tresit would not have been sent by the Caretaker. Still, I don’t believe they would turn us back. It’s… just not our way.”

”I believe that… Any race that produced someone like you must have many very appealing qualities.” Anara told her softly.

They went back, met their children, and had a meal together. What followed was a lazy evening. This was the time of day that the heat’s effects tended to really take their toll and make you tired. Once the air started to cool, there would be a time of renewed energy and then sleep.

It was during that time that Anara and Kes decided to tell their children about the plans they’d made.

———

to be continued