"My ID," Norian produced his badge from a pocket. Reedy frowned as he looked at it.
"Could be fake," he muttered.
"These aren't." I let my claws slide out, and I pointed one of them at Reedy. "I can smell your blood, Reedy, or whatever your name is. Now, I truly don't want to be responsible for killing Norian's brother, but it sounds like you have a little blood on your hands already. I suggest you get your parents in here. We need to have a pow-wow before the moon comes up and you all get scaly and hissy."
"How do you know anything about that?" Reedy still didn't sound convinced.
"Let's take a little trip," I suggested, and folded all of us to Le-Ath Veronis, where the full moon, thankfully, was six days away.
"Little girl, tell me where you have been." Cheedas had hands on hips as we showed up in his kitchen.
Reedy looked around him, shock showing in his face. "Where am I?" he whispered.
"You are in my kitchen, in the Queen's palace on Le-Ath Veronis," Cheedas snapped, lifting a ladle and waving it at Reedy. "And you should have more respect for my Raona, or you will not receive the best of food."
"He can make good on that threat," I said mildly, smiling at Cheedas. He smiled back at me.
"Are you staying for dinner, Raona?" Cheedas asked.
"No, honey, we have to get Norian's brother back home before they call out the dogs," I said. "He was just having a hard time believing we are who we say we are."
"Avilepha, you should come home soon," Kifirin appeared beside me, shocking Reedy further. Kifirin blew smoke as he looked around me at Reedy. "Lay a hand or a scale on my mate and I will kill you slowly," he said.
"You're threatening me?" Reedy huffed.
"I do not threaten. That is a promise." Kifirin's smoke grew heavier.
"You probably don't want to talk to Kifirin that way. You're one of the dark races, after all, and he won't waste a minute doing away with you," I informed Reedy. Truly, it was for his own good.
"Kifirin? I heard he was a myth." Reedy kept digging the hole deeper. If I didn't stop him, he'd bury himself in a self-made grave.
"Yeah? Well, lion snakes might be myths to some people, too, yet the reality is right here, is it not? Let's go find your parents, you stupid shit." I folded us away again.
* * *
"Mother, I couldn't stop them. This one claims to be Queen of Le-Ath Veronis, and this one says he's my brother." Reedy rushed to give out information when we landed in front of Norian's mother. The scent was all over her. She'd given Norian his eye color—I saw that right away. We stood on the edge of a large wheat field under a tent of some sort. A small table occupied part of the space, and it was covered with a water jug and cups. Machinery was working out in the field, harvesting the wheat crop and raising dust.
"Nori, I think you're going to have to change." I looked at Norian, who shrugged before his clothing puddled around him and he rose up, hissing, his hood spread out. It resembled the mane of a lion, which most likely gave them their name.
"See, not so far-fetched anymore, is it?" I had a claw at Reedy's throat again. He was staring at Norian, who snaked to my side and lifted himself to drape over my shoulders.
"Honey, now might not be a good time," I kissed his head and he dropped down again.
"Is that my son?" Norian's mother was looking at him closely, now. "The pattern belongs to the family, but that can't be my Lirokalif."
"Is that why you called him Keef?" I asked. "The name was too long for him to say it properly?" Norian was gathering his clothing, after he put the claw crown ring on first. He got points for that, in my book.
"And we called Yaredolak, Reedy, for the same reason," Norian's mother agreed. "Is this my son? Is it? Will someone explain where he's been all this time?" She was about to have a meltdown, too, and Reedy just looked bewildered, now.
* * *
"The Alliance boarded the ship—it was a freighter smuggling other things besides me," Norian sat at a table inside a large kitchen at the family manor. Norian's mother, father and his doubting brother sat with us while Norian told his story. "I couldn't tell them my real name, I could only say Keef, umma and pap," he went on. "They almost killed me when the full moon came along. Ildevar Wyyld showed up, made arrangements for me to be brought up and schooled and then convinced me to work for the ASD."
"And now you're the Director." Norian's father was still in shock.
"Yes. And only recently made Ildevar Wyyld's heir. After I married Lissa Beth." Norian put his hand over mine. The claw crown ring was prominent on his finger.
"But you've been gone so long, I'm not sure how to fit you into the family," his mother sighed.
"You don't have to fit me into the family. I just wanted to find you. Make sure I hadn't dreamed you, or something. With the way Reedy greeted me, it's probably just as well." Poor Norian. If he'd expected a tearful reunion, he wasn't getting it.
"It's the full moon, and we'll be going out in a while," Reedy was still acting grumpy.
"What is wrong with you?" I asked. "Norian isn't taking anything away from you. And now, your parents can rest easier, I hope, knowing that their child wasn't tortured, killed or held in somebody's zoo. Norian has a job to do, so he isn't going to be hanging around, depending on you to support him. And I'm still a little pissed over the fact that you tried to kill us without knowing whether we were good or bad. I get a slight itch, looking at you. Why is that, Reedy? I know you're fifteen years older than Norian. That would have made you nineteen or twenty, when Norian was abducted. Who did you make a deal with, Reedy?" I'd done a little Looking. Reedy had given away sensitive information.
Norian's father was now staring at his oldest son. "Nori, I think it's time we left," I said, rising. "You can turn here, or I can take you back to Wyyld or Le-Ath Veronis. Whatever you want, honey." I looked At Norian's mother. "I am Queen of Le-Ath Veronis," I said. "If you'd like to visit with your son again, get a message to me. My assistants will know to pass it along immediately." I folded Norian back to Wyyld.
* * *
"My own brother gave us away?" Norian couldn't believe it.
"Honey, you were taken on a full moon. Reedy told the kidnappers where the three smallest ones were going to be. Who knows what he gained from all that?"
"Maybe I'll have him investigated." Norian was angry, now.