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AARYN

Elreth smiled and her eyes welled.

"Thank you," she said softly. "And regardless, I want you to know, I know you were so right to be Alpha. I know you\'re a leader. I want to use that for all the people, not just the disformed."

Aaryn felt a little shaky on that given everything that had happened, but he nodded to accept the compliment. Elreth was very like her father, and very strong. Neither of them saw others as leaders unless they truly were. Perhaps when he\'d found his feet again… perhaps he\'d be able to find that confidence again.

But then Elreth sighed and sat back in her chair, letting go of his hand. "The thing I don\'t understand, is how you could be Alpha and not know all this about Protectors and the prophecy. I mean, what did they tell you about why they were training with the traverse?"

Aaryn raked a hand through his hair and shrugged. "I mean, it sounds stupid now, with everything that we know. But I really thought it was all just part of this bigger picture of equipping the disformed with something… trying to give them a skill, something that could benefit the crown and ultimately give them honor among the tribes. I mean, you have to understand, none of this was formal. We trained when we could, when our other jobs and family responsibilities didn\'t get in the way. I\'m sure Gar did a lot more with the traverse than even I knew, but it wasn\'t like we were heading out there every day.

"Plus, you already knew that the disformed were going over to the human world to look for mates. I knew that was happening some—not as much as it did. So many of the disformed came in and out of contact with leadership. It was never like a real tribe where everyone was accountable. The disformed that took that kind of role volunteered to be accountable. And we were growing… we never kept rolls or made people answer if they weren\'t part of the training.

"Now that I hear the whole story, it sounds ridiculous, but I never knew… I never thought we were preparing for something so… big.

"The traverse, the training there… it was all just part of the bigger picture. Part of strengthening them. Most of our efforts with the disformed went into creating a tribe—I mean, the feeling of a tribe. The community, the support, the resources… we weren\'t solely focused on the traverse or whatever this Protector thing is. I mean, I don\'t know, right? You\'d have to talk to disformed that went through that training. Maybe they had more of an inkling? I didn\'t. I thought we were just preparing people, equipping them. Like I said… I wanted to present them to you as… as an army, I guess. A force. People you could use. It sounds stupid now, but that\'s what I used to dream about."

"It doesn\'t sound stupid," she said softly. Then looked down at her lists and frowned. "So, what do you know that we haven\'t talked about? Like… what information do you have that I don\'t?"

Aaryn sighed and sat back in his hair, flipping back through his memories. "I mean, I can tell you that I\'m pretty convinced that the disformed are more fertile than other Anima. We seem to reproduce more easily—and that\'s even more true when we mate humans. It\'s one of the reasons I didn\'t pull back on the trips to the human world, and those that wanted to stay there, or spend time there. Everyone should have the opportunity for a mate and family, and so many of the disformed are just discounted as to weak for mates within the tribes. I understood the yearning, I didn\'t want to stop them."

"That sounds great by itself," Elreth said, "But couldn\'t you see the risk it posed to have humans coming here? Learning about Anima?"

"Yes, overall, of course. But I trusted our people, Elreth. It\'s that simple. I knew Gar was a vault when it came to our secrets—and the Anima that brought humans back here were never answering to me. I never imagined Gar would have humans coming here. I always thought the Anima were going over there and that was the end of it. That they found lives and lived in the new world with their new families. But now… now I can see. Of course. But I was in the dark about this too, remember. I would never set you up for that kind of failure, Elreth. You have to know that."

"I know," she said reluctantly. "I\'m just…" she growled with frustration, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I\'m exhausted, and I can\'t rest, because I feel like every time I turn around there\'s some new crisis, or potential crisis. And it all comes back to this human being here in Anima. I mean, we know how Hannah got here, and any others—even if we don\'t know where they are. Remind me to ask Gar about that, by the way." She scribbled something else on one of the pieces of paper, then stared at it for a moment before sigh heavily.

"I need the history of all this," she said to herself, flipping through the papers. "I need to find out how this all started and why—and who began it. Before my mother, I mean. Historically. She said that the past generations knew about the Protectors and hid them from us, right? I need to get her to go back over that tomorrow."

"I believe… I think the person you actually need to talk to is Gahrye," Aaryn said carefully. "He has all those answers."

Elreth caught the tone in his voice as he knew she would, and her eyes snapped up to meet his. "You\'ve talked to Gahrye? When?"

"It\'s been a year or so… and he never told me about the prophecy or anything. But I know every time there\'s been a question about the past, the history of the Anima, especially around the traverse, they\'d always have someone talk to him. And we always got the answers we needed. Or your mom did, but I\'m pretty sure she was getting them from him."

Elreth\'s eyes squeezed shut and her face pinched. "Of course.. Of course she was."