“There’s going to be nothing in here to protect him. Without knowing his species, we don’t have any laws that would cover him from their activities. He’s not dead, therefore, they didn’t really do anything wrong. It’s so fucked up.”
“I know,” Cassius agreed.
“And because he is an unknown supernatural, going to Mygi will seem like the safest option. They can study him and try to give him answers. The Tribunal will probably be watching them closely, so the fucked-up experiments would probably stop, but…I can’t send him back there.”
I kept flipping through the pages, not really looking at them. My mind wandered.
Naga protection might be all I have. Declare him a compatible mate and tell them to shove it. Take him home and kill anyone who tries to come on my property, the way every naga does it. Seven hundred years as a Tribunal species has given us certain allowances, since we only joined and accepted the Tribunal authority to have those protections granted. They granted the demands because we were one of the first to join who wasn’t one of the founding species.
The Laws don’t stop anyone from trying to kill us, but they give us legal protection to fight back without anyone being able to demand reparations.
I frowned.
“Can Raphael declare his species and become a protected species of the Tribunal?” I asked myself. I flipped through the book of Law and found the portion about new species’ admittance into the governance of the Tribunal.
It required one of two species leaders to declare intent. If the species was democratic or had shifting leadership, there was a trial period for any of those in the species to fight for the right to lead and remove the application.
None of that mattered for Raphael, though. There was nothing like him in the world, not that we knew of.
“Kaliya? You were saying something?”
“I think Raphael should go in front of the Tribunal to ask to become a protected species,” I said, looking up, the idea settling. I had a good feeling about it. “He could be a species under the Tribunal, then apply for protections under the Endangered Species Law, like the nagas and kitsune. Mygi wouldn’t be allowed to come near him without his permission. He would be allowed to defend himself with deadly force.”
“You can’t declare a species you don’t have a name for, and he’s not the leader—”
“There’s no requirement in the Laws for a name of the species,” I said, pointing at the book in my lap. “None! Because everyone assumes every species already has a name. So what if Raphael’s doesn’t, so far as we know. And for leaders? I’m the de facto female leader of the nagas because I’m the only one. Why can’t Raphael be considered the de facto leader of whatever he is because we don’t know if there are others?”
“You’re mad…” Cassius said, standing up, furiously flipping through the pages of his copy. I watched him read through once he was on the right page. “It might just work.”
“It just might,” I said, grinning. “Cassius…he wouldn’t need either of us. He would have protection on his own. He would be able to go and do as he pleased within the confines of the Law, and the Tribunal could treat him the same way they treat every supernatural, except he’ll be endangered and have all the same protections I do.”
“They would have to give a placeholder species name…but…” Cassius nodded quickly now. “Go get him. Get him in here. We’re going to start working this out. Kaliya, this is genius.”
“I have my moments,” I said, grinning wildly. I ran out of the office and stopped in the hall. “Raphael! We might have an idea!”
He was coming down the hall seconds later, taking long strides.
“We can protect me from Mygi without breaking a bunch of Laws? I don’t really want to have to fight it out for the rest of my life.”
I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the office. I didn’t want any Tribunal people who might be wandering Cassius’s house to overhear. I hadn’t seen any yet, but I had a feeling they were there. Relocking the office door, I let him go and grinned at him.
“We can’t stop people from attacking you, but we can fight to get you legal protection and certain privileges reserved for only a few species.”
“What do I have to do?”
“You’ll have to put in a formal request to the Tribunal to become a species that submits to