know we respect her human ways. “Welcome to the house of Borak, Queen Chantel. It is a great honor to care for and protect a warrior queen such as yourself.” She smiles up at me, and I scramble to add soothing words about her dame. “Know also that we harbor no ill will toward your dame. She is welcome to visit with you anytime she wishes.”
Her smile falters. “About that. I’m really sorry…”
Before she can finish, I interrupt. “There will be none of that. In this clade we all apologize for our own misdeeds, not the misdeeds of others.”
Her hand comes up to touch my chest. “Thanks for understanding. We need to get your bandages changed out. This can’t be good to have against your wound.”
I motion for the new queen to approach, since moving is momentarily difficult for me. “Come Queen Pelop, I wish to welcome you as well.”
Her face lights up, and she practically bounces across the room to my other side. I bestow the same human kiss upon her head and welcome her as well. She’s giddy with the offer of clanship and moves back to continue speaking when Molly moves forward with a stack of new dressings. Molly and Chantel carefully remove my bandages and clean my wounds before patching me up again.
All the while, I listen to Pelop talk about how we’re not saying her name correctly, but she likes the nickname we have bestowed upon her. She can’t believe how fortunate she is to have been offered protection by our clan. There are several sentences about how excited she is to be going to a planet with clean air and lots of vegetation. There is not a mention of my failure to protect her rights. It’s as if that is the furthest thing from her mind. This frail little queen has many words that appear to be dying to get out of her mouth. Perhaps others would be annoyed, but I find her chatter charming and easy on my ears.
She’s still talking when the more industrious queens have brought me a hot morning drink and human food to eat. I accept their offerings with the most humble gratitude I can convey. Never did I dream in my remotest imaginings that a queen would show this kind of deference to a warrior, much less that three precious queens would find something worth respecting about an old blood like myself.
As Queen Molly slips away, I grab her hand and bring it to my lips. “Thank you for all that you do.” My hand goes to her stomach, and I murmur quietly, “No matter how many queens join our clade, you were the first, and that makes you special in our eyes.” We both know that her easy acceptance of additional queens and her extra effort to make them feel comfortable among us must have factored strongly in their decision to join with our clade.
She smiles down at me and squeezes my hand. “You and your sons deserve all the blessings the ’verse has to offer. I’m proud to be part of your family.” A moment later her smile morphs into a worried expression. “Do you think the creatures our warriors are hunting pose a significant danger?”
I would never lie to a queen, so I am careful with the way I phrase the truth. “The Sonadraid are holy warriors. From what I read in our database, they are deadly. Queen Chantel can tell you they are much like huge felines with sharp claws and tusks. They prowl and hunt like an animal but with the mind of a sentient being. That makes them quite deadly.”
Without looking away, she whispers, “I’m worried about Eltran and Korak.”
“My scions are capable warriors, well trained in the art of war. The Sonadraid caught us unawares yesterday.” Smoothing my free hand over the wealth of thick bandages the queens have secured around my body, I try to reassure her. “Today we are well aware of the danger we face. Therefore, Mathadar is sending larger numbers of warriors and weapons that shoot stasis darts that will drop them from a distance. Trust me when I say your mates will return to you in one piece this day.”
Although Queen Molly relaxes a bit, Queen Chantel well knows how unpredictable battles can be. I can tell by glancing into her eyes that her anxiety will not come down until Korak is safely returned to her arms. Still, the two of them take my dishes and