"How about you grow the food, put up the kitchen then we go lie down for a bit."
Lana giggled, "with or without clothes?"
Kyle laughed, "with for now. Kent will need to eat soon. I suggest we feed him before we eat so you are more ready…"
Tanisha cleared her throat, "why don't we do our sparring now before everyone else gets here, then you can go to your room after dinner?"
Lana nodded, "sounds good Tanisha, let me go change."
A few minutes later, the two ladies stood under the tree. Blaine was back in charge, healing ability ready.
"One last time to back out of this," she said.
Lana nodded, "let's do this."
Tanisha had never seen the shorter female fight but thought her 4 inches over her would be an advantage. Lana was ready. She backflipped and landed on the table, bringing up her leg, fully extended in a kick to Tanisha's jaw. The taller girl was forced to take a few steps back reeling from the pain.
She placed her hand on her jaw and tried clenching but there was no movement. Did she break my jaw in one hit? Tanisha thought while she waved Blaine over. She needed his healing and it was embarrassing. Lana forced the first required healing of their spar. Then she chuckled to herself.
"I underestimated you. I should have known. Kyle chose you above all others and you took out the monster…."
The girls were back at it. They were fairly evenly matched, trading blow for blow. Lana was shocked, Tanisha was matching her speed. Neither used an ability, yet each was surprised at the other's capabilities.
A non-Abel person was able to keep up with Tanisha. The servants could never do such a thing. For 45 minutes, they went back and forth. Their only breaks were to get healing from Blaine.
Lana started to show signs of fatigue as her injuries were getting worse. She always thought she had great stamina until she met her husband and his family. It just showed her where she needed to work on herself.
Lana and Tanisha were both covered in blood from the various injuries and breaks. However, neither showed any signs of injury. Lana made sure there was enough food grown then Blaine teleported them to Tanisha's room. Kattie would be returning soon, and Tanisha would walk back with her. He then teleported himself and Lana to their room. Kyle switched out and kissed his wife.
He leaned into her ear, "watching you kick Tanisha's ass was so sexy…" He kissed her still-marked neck then grazed his teeth over her ear lobe. "Let's go get in the shower…"
Lana giggled then ran for the bathroom removing her clothes on the way. Kyle raced after her doing the same. Kyle made sure she was clean. In every way possible.
Dried and dressed, Lana scooped the sleeping panteri from the bathroom floor. Kyle teleported their little family back to the tree for dinner. Kattie and Tanisha were already there with Kattie teaching her how to cook.
Lana smiled, "smells good in here!" She giggled as she observed Kattie teaching her sister how to hold a cooking spoon.
She sat next to Dobin and Kyle sat on her other side. He fed Kent while she pulled out the present Blaine got her.
Report on Lana and Dobin Plantwell's Family
As requested, by Master Blaine, the records indicate as follows:
Loralei Plantwell arrived on planet Amazonia 16 years ago with two infants who were just a few days old. Her body was beaten and she had strange injuries on her back and was bleeding. She was weak and fading. The Beastiary family found her, but their settlement was not yet established.
To ensure the babies were taken care of, one of her care-givers took the babies from her and provided them to the military. Their base was more established but not by much. The mother was deep in fever. It took months for her to recover.
The twins were given an item which belonged to the mother and their names were documented. The military produced this data, the item and the babies and handed them to an orphanage called Black Rock Orphanage.
This is all that is known at this time.
Lana elbowed Dobin and made sure he read it. Dobin just shrugged. He never showed any interest in their family. To him, he was abandoned and his only family was sitting next to him. He read it only because Lana forced him to. She then placed it carefully back in her bracelet and stowed it securely in her closet.
"So, we know our mother's name was Loralei."
"Which means nothing."
"Dobin…"
"Don't Dobin me. If she wanted us, she would have found us."
Lana sighed. They had this conversation many times. It always ended the same way. Dobin being cold. Unforgiving. Unyielding.
"Well, I want to know. I need to know, to understand. Why are we different?"
"Because the gods hate us?" Dobin scoffed.
Lana looked at her brother, knowing he was seconds from skipping dinner and walking out.
She looked in her bracelet and set something resembling a mason jar from ancient times in front of her brother that contained a light brown liquid. To prevent her husband from being upset, she gave one to him as well. She shrugged then got out one for herself. She opened her jar and thought it smelled funny. The boys were already drinking it. She took a sip and realized it had fermented. She gave her jar to her brother.
"Sorry Dobin, I shouldn't have forced this on you."
She left the table and went to her room. Kyle was upset and almost went with her, but he decided a conversation with his brother was in order.
While his wife was lying on her bed with Kent, Kyle was looking at Dobin. He was drinking the contents of the jars, gulping them down. On an empty stomach.
"Are you okay?" Kyle asked him.
He drained the last drop from the second jar and set it down. "I'm such a shit brother… Why can't I do anything right by her?"
"Only you can answer that. Do you even know that she needs you? Do you understand that?"
"How? Why? I do nothing for her!"
Kyle shook his head. "You really don't understand how much you do for her? You have kept her grounded your whole life. You are the sole reason her fear hasn't consumed her. Don't you get it? It has never been just her saving you. You've been saving each other this whole time. Your opinion matters, has an impact. You may be content with just the two of you, but she wants a family. The bigger the better. Do you really think these meals are just about forming strong teams? She says they are but watch her. Her body language, how she acts, how she talks. If you are at this table, she considers you family."
Dobin held an empty jar in each hand. They clinked as he brought them together. "You are such a better man than me… and I'm glad she chose you to be my brother."
Dobin looked up at her room then back at the jars in his hands. "I think I should return these…"
Kyle smiled and nodded. Dobin stood under the branch and asked the tree to put him in her room, praying she would allow the tree to do so.
Thirty seconds later, Dobin was standing beside her bed in a room lit by candles staring at a girl forced to grow up too fast by a society that refused to care. He smiled as he saw her arms around that damned cat. He chuckled to himself, forcing himself to admit the little guy is quite cute and a perfect member of their family.
Dobin knew there was no way he was in her room without her knowing but she had yet to say anything. He also knew she wasn't asleep. You don't sleep next to someone for years and not learn their breathing patterns.
"I …. thought you might like your jars back…" he said as he placed them on the table.
He sat down next to her and put an arm around her. "I'm sorry… You've always had a bigger heart than I do. Been more forgiving. We were forced to grow up without them. Why do you care?"
"How can you not be curious about where we come from? Does it change the future? Probably not but it's hard to look forward when the questions keep resurfacing. I need answers, Dobin. Whether you do or not is a different story. I guess I just won't share those with you in the future if I get any more. I don't want to upset you."
Dobin scoffed, "more secrets?"
"Secrets are required when you don't want to know the information. You made that clear."
"All these secrets create distance. It feels like there's an ocean between us!"
Lana sighed, "what do you want Dobin? If I share everything with you, you get upset. If I keep it from you, you get upset. It doesn't matter what I do. Everything upsets you."
Dobin took a deep breath. He slowly exhaled like he's seen her do so many times.
"Tell me. Let me work through my emotions. It's time I started acting like a man instead of a child. Okay? Can you do that for me?"
Lana rolled over and sat up embracing her brother in a hug. "Deal."