Page 26 of Trusting Warik (Hissa Warrior #9)

Nisha

It was Leader who started asking questions first. “What do you mean she’s your sister?”

“Our mom was Alia Rue,” Nisha began.

Behind Raleen, she saw Mavito’s eyes widen. “That’s the woman who developed the Decanting technology. We searched for her until we found out she’d died years ago.”

Far from looking shocked or interested, Raleen seemed suspicious. “Why do you think I’m your sister?”

“Because she is,” Leader said.

“We can feel a little of us in her,” Advocate said.

“There isn’t as much as in you, but it’s there,” Follower said.

That was news to Nisha. “You can feel me?”

All pupils focused on her. She had to fight the urge to step back at the same time Shift hissed, so freaky!

Follower made an annoyed sound while about half their pupils looked at the relay. “Quiet!”

Advocate ignored both Shift and Follower and spoke to Nisha. “There is a trace of us in you. It’s faint so we didn’t notice it until you were very close to our system. It’s one of the reasons we refused to wait another day. How did your mother gain access to our DNA?”

Before Nisha could answer, Raleen stepped closer, leaving Mavito behind. She didn't look suspicious any longer, now she looked hurt. “Why did she abandon me?”

“She was trying to save you!” Nisha said. She needed to hold something so she pulled Shift’s relay off her belt and rolled it between her hands. The familiar comforting gesture helped her find the words.

“You were the first child she grew for herself. This was years after she found out what the company was doing and left Earth. She was moving from Sentir to Torl because the company had come looking for her. She booked passage on a slow-moving transport that didn’t require her to register her travel with any governing authority.”

Mavito made a worried sound. “Those types of transports tend to run on the edge of legality. They’re not usually up to standards or have any emergency transponders.”

Nisha nodded at him. “That's probably why it was attacked by raiders.” Nisha returned her gaze to Raleen. “She rushed to find an escape pod. When she got in, she realized it only had enough life support to last one person for a few hours. If she sent you off by yourself, it would last longer because you were still only a tiny baby.”

Nisha had to pause because this part of the story made her want to tear up. “Mom got out of the pod, but there were several people who wanted to get in. She fought them off until the pod launched. Then she collapsed against the closed door and waited to die.”

“How did she survive the raiders?” Mavito asked.

“The raider’s ship exploded trying to chase the transport,” Nisha said, without looking away from Raleen’s face.

“That happens sometimes,” Mavito commented. “Raiders can’t get access to repair bays so their ships are poorly maintained. Your mother got lucky.”

“Maybe,” she replied, thinking of how hard her mother sobbed as she told Nisha the story for the first time.

“Why didn’t she come looking for me?” Raleen asked, unshed tears gathering in her eyes.

Nisha tightly clutched the relay cylinder in her hands, making her knuckles ache. “She did! The moment she could, she got off the transport. She doubled back and searched that section of space. She wanted to put out requests for information but was worried that the corporation might see one. She only gave up because she was running out of money.”

“So she replaced me with you?” Raleen asked, one tear sliding down her cheek.

“No!” Nisha denied. “Mom always wanted two daughters. She dreamed about them so much she named us decades before we were born, Devisha and Nisha. As she raised me, she always reminded me to look for you. Every few years, we’d go on Devisha Runs where we searched for you. We visited every planet within the range of the lifepod. We never stopped. After Mom died, I kept searching.”

“She named me Devisha,” Raleen said, as if testing the name on her tongue, then focused back on Nisha. “I didn’t make it to a planet. I was picked up by a Tavarian family. They raised me as if I was one of their own.”

“I read that on the way here,” Nisha said. “I have a little money. I’d like to send it to the family who adopted you.”

Raleen shook her head. “Mavito took care of them.” She looked over her shoulder at her mate. “I wasn’t thrown away or abandoned.”

“Mom loved you with all her heart,” Nisha said before Mavito could respond. “I was almost a little jealous growing up because Mom was always so focused on finding you. Now that I finally get to meet you, I’m glad she made me promise.”

“Promise?” Raleen echoed, turning back to face her.

“On her deathbed, she made me promise to never stop looking,” Nisha explained. Suddenly she felt exhausted. There were no chairs in the room, only a few colorful mats on the floor. Stepping sideways, she leaned against a wall and briefly closed her eyes. “Mom can be at peace now. Her firstborn is safe and happy.”

“Are you satisfied with this explanation?” Leader asked Raleen.

“Yes,” Raleen agreed, another tear sliding down her cheek, but this time she smiled. “I’m very satisfied.”

Leader turned to Nisha. “Then answer our question, how did your mother gain some of our DNA?”

Nisha shrugged, hoping her answer didn’t upset these guys enough to send her hurtling into a black hole.

“I don’t know and never thought to ask,” she explained. “But if it makes you feel any better, she didn’t have much. That’s why I barely have any of you guys mixed in with my DNA. Mom lost most of the samples and sequencing data when the transport carrying her and Raleen were attacked. Her room was damaged and most of her possessions were burned. She used what little she recovered to create me. By the time I was old enough to learn the science behind Decanting, she decided to destroy all her samples.”

Even though none of them moved or spoke, she could tell they weren’t satisfied with that answer.

We’re going to end up in a black hole! Shift wailed. I’m too adorable to die!

“I heard that!” Raleen said, looking around the room.

“Sorry, that probably came through us,” Leader said.

“Who—”

Before Raleen could ask any more questions with Mavito present, Nisha reached out and grabbed her hand. “Can we talk alone? There’s a lot I want to tell you, but I don’t feel comfortable doing it with everyone here.”

“We’ve gained the knowledge we came for,” Advocate said and no sooner had the words left their mouth than the three Bicoma disappeared.

“Woah!” Nisha said, jumping a little.

Raleen chuckled. “I’d like to say you get used to it, but you don’t. Not really.” She looked over her shoulder at Mavito. “Could you check on Feran? I can feel that he’s woken up.”

He didn’t look pleased to be leaving Raleen alone with Nisha but nodded his head anyway. “Don’t close the door,” he said, then sent Nisha a warning look before leaving.

“What else do you need to tell me?” Raleen asked.

Nisha couldn’t answer, she was too distracted by the way her vision seemed to be narrowing. She frantically tried to figure out what was wrong, but it was too late.

Nisha? Shift said, but his voice sounded really far away. Then everything seemed to tilt sideways. She heard Shift yell something and then nothing.

***

Nisha

“What did you do to her?”

That familiar voice full of fear and anger made Nisha push her way to consciousness. It was hard because her head hurt, and her body felt like lead. What happened?

“I promise we didn’t do anything, not on purpose,” Raleen said calmly. “If you’ll let me touch her again, I can continue rebalancing her body and wake her up.”

“We asked the Bicoma to bring you here because we thought Nisha would feel better if she woke to find you present,” Mavito said, his strong voice calm, but forceful. “I can ask them to take you right back, and you’ll have to wait another day to get here.”

“I’ll shoot anyone who gets close to me!” Warik half-roared.

I can tell you’re waking up, Shift said, keeping his voice soft. Things are really tense, try to hurry up with the consciousness thing, okay?

“I’m trying,” Nisha grumbled, working hard on getting her eyes open.

“Nisha?” Warik’s familiar voice was suddenly close to her ear. “Can you open your eyes, troublemaker?”

“Hurts,” Nisha complained. She was sure that if she opened her eyes, her brain would explode. She worked hard on figuring out what was wrong. Oh, there it was. She was dehydrated, hyponatremic, and her inner ear was giving her all kinds of mixed signals.

She dealt with the inner ear as everyone tried to talk to her at once. She ignored them until she was sure she could move without getting sick.

Opening her eyes, she found way too many people leaning over, all talking and some yelling. “Hello? I could use some water and something salty,” she said.

“I’ll get it,” an unfamiliar voice shouted, and she saw a bit of movement beyond the ring of faces all staring down at her.

Reaching out for Warik, Nisha tried to sit up. He was quick to not only grasp her hand, but also to sit behind her and support her back with his chest.

“You asked for something salty. How do you know you’re hyponatremic?” Raleen asked.

The question confused Nisha. “Because I am?”

“Yes, that’s one of the issues, but how did you know?” Raleen pressed.

“Oh, you mean because most people wouldn’t,” Nisha said. She sometimes forgot that not even other Decanted humans could monitor and adjust their bodies like she could. “I have control of my body just like I can move my hand. It’s kind of like I can do what you do, but only to myself.”

Raleen nodded. “Interesting!”

“Isn’t it?” Nisha said with a laugh. Before she could say any more, a strange Hissa appeared at her side, holding a bowl of food in one hand and a canister of liquid in the other.

“I brought water and colma,” he explained. “I hope you like colma, it was the saltiest thing we had in the kitchen.”

“Never tried it before,” Nisha said. “It smells good!” Before she could reach for one, Warik had picked up a morsel and was holding it to her lips.

A lovely briny flavor exploded in her mouth, and she almost moaned. That was perfect! Warik was quick to feed her several more bites before she shook her head and reached for the water. When Warik tried to take it from her, she held it away.

“We are not doing that,” she declared. “I want this water in my mouth, not down the front of my top.”

That made a few people chuckle and reminded her there was an audience. After drinking half the container in a few long swallows, she returned her gaze to Raleen. “Feeling perfect, thanks.”

Raleen nodded. “I think Follower might’ve been a little rougher with the travel than he meant to be. The moment you got close enough for them to sense, they’ve been going a little crazy. Well, crazy for them.”

“We do not go crazy,” Leader said with obvious disdain. “We were only intensely curious.”

“As long as you don’t make me do that again, it’s fine,” Nisha said. She wished they hadn’t returned to the room. It was disquieting having all those pupils on her again.

“You’ve answered our questions to the best of your capabilities,” Advocate said. “There is no reason to transport you anywhere unless you request it.”

“That’s good,” Nisha said with a little nod. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not requesting it.”

“Understood,” Leader said. The three Bicoma looked at Raleen. “Your son is calling to us.”

With those words, they vanished. Nisha was expecting it, but their sudden disappearance made Warik jerk.

“I don’t like that,” he muttered.

She patted his hand and looked over her shoulder to meet his gaze. “We probably won’t see them much while we’re here.”

“How long do you plan to stay?” Raleen asked.

“Long enough to get to know my sister,” Nisha answered, feeling the back of her eyes burn with unshed tears. “We looked for you for so long that this almost doesn't feel real. I’d like us to be family.”

“I want that,” Raleen agreed, looking close to tears herself. “I want to know all about Mom and your life growing up.”

“Same,” Nisha said. “I’d really like to meet my nephew.”

Raleen smiled widely. “I’m not sure if you're sensitive to psychic energy? The Bicoma tell me he can be psychically loud.”

“I’ve been hanging out around a lot of kids,” Nisha said with a soft laugh. “I’m sure I can handle the noise inside or outside my head.”

“Well said,” Raleen commented as she stood up. She held out her hand to help Nisha stand while Warik pressed on her back from behind. Once she was standing, she didn’t let go of Raleen’s arms.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to meet you,” she murmured.

Raleen gifted her with an open welcoming expression. “Same.”

Me too! Shift chimed in, making Raleen jump.

“Who is that?” she said, looking around the room.

“I’ll explain as we walk,” Nisha said. “I’m not the only family you have.”

***

Warik

“Did you see how adorable Feran is? I swear he has Mom’s eyes,” Nisha said between yawns. “I’ll have to show Raleen an image capture of Mom tomorrow.”

“I know she’ll like that,” Warik said as he set her down on her feet next to the bed. She swayed a little but didn’t topple. Since the Bicoma had plucked the two of them from the ship, it had been a non-stop whirlwind of meeting people, being shown the vast underground network of tunnels, and conversation. By the time they’d all sat down for a meal many hours later, Nisha was obviously exhausted but reluctant to leave Raleen’s side.

It was only when Mavito picked Raleen up and carried her away that Warik was able to do the same to Nisha.

“This is a nice room,” she said, gazing down at the only piece of furniture in the room, a bed. Sitting down heavily, she made a happy sound. “Oh, soft!”

“That’s good, because we could use some sleep,” he said, tugging her shirt over her head. “I don’t think you slept much the entire way here.”

“I was so nervous,” Nisha admitted as Warik stripped off her shoes. “I was scared Raleen might not like me or would be too angry to let me talk to her.”

You’re not the only one who was nervous, Shift commented. I think I fried a relay because I was running through so many scenarios.

“Neither one of you had anything to worry about,” Warik said. It only took a gentle push to tumble Nisha onto her back.

“Sexy time!” she sang out even as her eyes closed.

“Rest time,” he countered with a chuckle. He pulled off her pants, then rolled her to the center of the bed.

“I guess I could sleep for a while,” she agreed.

Raleen and I are talking about how long we should stay, Shift commented. We’ll have the whole visit planned out by the time you wake up.

Nisha mumbled an unintelligible response.

“I think she’s mostly asleep,” Warik said. He climbed into bed behind her and pulled the covers over them. When he pulled her against him, she nestled in close with another incoherent mumble.

“It all worked out,” he murmured as Shift chattered in his ear about all the things they’d do the next day. It didn’t occur to him to tell Shift to be quiet. Except for intimate moments, he never shut Shift out.

Never did he think the Moons would find him a family, but they did. He was whole again and every night, he went to sleep looking forward to the next day.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Love you too,” Nisha mumbled.

Of course Shift had to chime in too. And I love both of you two. That means you’re stuck with us forever!

“Then I’m the luckiest male alive.”