A Call for Brighter Days: Aeriel Trilogy #2

General Shehzaa nibbled on Shwaan’s collarbone, running her fingers through his hair.

“It’s getting tangled,” she murmured, her nose brushing his earlobe. “Your wings, too. This is why you need to come home more often. You’re getting scruffy.”

“Mmm.” His eyes closed, Shwaan carded his fingers through Shehzaa’s feathers in idle, blissful exploration. “Where’s Minister Qwaan?”

“Your sister’s keeping him busy with work. You know how she gets.”

“That’s disappointing.” He pressed his lips to the base of her throat. “What’s gotten her riled up now?”

“The humans, obviously.” A firebird swooped overhead, raining sparks down on them while chirping joyously. “She wants to initiate contact as soon as possible. But they keep killing off her scouts.”

“Ugh. Can we not talk about my sister right now? Or murderous humans, for that matter.”

She caressed the base of his left wing, making him squirm. “They do get more murderous with every passing year, don’t they? Not that the Exiles are much better. We’ve got spies within every faction, now, and they still keep eluding us.”

“The humans have their reasons.” He pressed closer, pulling Shehzaa from her cloud onto his. “Just as we have ours.”

“You know.” She flipped him onto his back and climbed on top, a diabolical smile on her lips. “Your sister’s right. You’re getting way too attached.” Her tongue flicked out to lick the side of his neck, making him shudder. “To the mortals, I mean.”

“And you’re trying to remedy that?” he gasped. Tangling his legs with hers, he ensconced them both in his outstretched wings. “Because if so…” He pressed his lips to hers. “I can tell you that it’s working.”

“You’re even more enthusiastic than usual.” She smirked. “Qwaan doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”

He giggled, baring his throat to allow her better access. “We’ll help him catch up when he’s back.”

A sudden gust of wind dissipated the mists. Shehzaa’s hair blew into his face, making him sneeze.

“Shwaan!” Safaa snarled. The clouds parted to reveal his sister, her wings unfurled and expression thunderous. “How many times have I told you to report to me as soon as you get back home? If you were half as dedicated to the mission as to your juvenile shenanigans–”

“Safaa, darling...” Shwaan rose to his feet, before pulling a giggling Shehzaa to hers. “You’re my sister and I love you. But you’re the biggest mood killer in existence. Honestly, you could give lessons to Ruban.”

She frowned. “That human of yours?”

“Hardly mine. But definitely human. Annoyingly so.” He shook his head, blowing unruly strands of silver hair out of his face. “And he sounds just like you when he’s screaming at me. It’s uncanny. I sometimes wonder if we misplaced a sibling along the way.”

“Does he display any homicidal tendencies?” Shehzaa asked thoughtfully, straightening her cloak. “That could be Tauheen’s genes.”

“Eww!” Shwaan made a face. “You needn’t have reminded me we were related to her.”

Safaa stepped forward and ran her fingers through his hair, untangling the wayward locks and pushing them out of his face. “You look like one of the strays we used to pick up on earth.” She looked him over critically as he redid the knots of his feather cloak. “Did you get yourself involved in one of the humans’ fights again?”

“Not sure we can call it the humans’ fight when there are Aeriels involved.” He shook her off. “But no. I wasn’t there for the last one. And guess how well that ended. The humans are getting more agitated by the day–”

“The humans?” Safaa growled, her silver-flecked eyes flashing with fury. “The humans killed two of my scouts last week. Cut their wings off and branded them. With reinforced sif. If anyone has the right to be agitated–”

“They’re not a monolith, you know. No more than we are.” Shwaan sighed. “The Hunter Corps is not colluding with the mafia, any more than we were in league with Tauheen. Honestly, you and Ruban are as bad as each other. And you’re the queen. We’ll never establish peaceful contact with the humans if you think like that.”

“How I think won’t matter unless you can end this unholy alliance between the Exiles and these human gangs. I want peace with the humans, too. But I can’t keep risking the lives of my own citizens to achieve it. Like you said, I am the queen of Vaan. And my first responsibility is to my own people; not the humans or the Exiles.”

General Shehzaa pulled Shwaan close and pressed her lips to his. Then, with a wink, she unfurled her wings and took to the air, leaving the siblings alone.

Shwaan combed his fingers through his messy hair, fluffed his feathers, and exhaled sharply. Why could he never fly away from these awkward conversations? Being a prince was as tedious as being a diplomat. He needed to reconsider his career options.

“You think I’m not doing everything in my power to eradicate the feather mafia? I don’t relish the thought of having my wings ripped off and sold to the highest bidder, you know.” A firebird swooped in to perch on his shoulder. Shwaan tickled it absentmindedly under its fiery chin, wondering if it’d like dry tuna cubes. Kitty was a fan. “But Ruban and Simani are already getting suspicious. I can’t afford to be careless and make them more so.”

Safaa frowned, reaching out to pet the giant bird’s flaming head. “Why do you care if they suspect you? How does it matter what a couple of humans think of you? You need to stop getting distracted with mortals, Shwaan.

“Honestly, you’re worse than our grandmother. How many times have I told you not to get too involved with the humans?” She tapped his nose chidingly. “They’re vulnerable. Irrational. And they always end up dying. Didn’t you learn your lesson with Maya?”

He flinched, cursing himself under his breath even as he did so.

Safaa glared at him, then deflated with a sigh. “It’s been more than six hundred years, and you still can’t forget it. This is why I tell you not to get involved. We can’t afford to get fixated on the individual, Shwaan. We need to focus on the long-term betterment of humans and Aeriels alike. You’re the prince of Vaan. You can’t be so selfish as to sacrifice the future of millions for a handful of your favorite humans.”

Shwaan closed his eyes, blocking out his sister’s voice. Sacrifice the few for the needs of the many. Wasn’t that what Safaa had said when they left Kaheen behind?

And she’d been right. He knew that.

As the queen, Safaa had acted exactly as she should have. When the world was being torn apart by their mother’s chaotic volatility, the judicious stability that Safaa offered had probably saved thousands on both sides of the battle lines.

But a wound didn’t hurt any less because more had not been inflicted. The void left by those cast aside for the greater good still rang as hollow.

“If you didn’t want me to get involved, why did you send me there in the first place?”

The firebird on his shoulder squawked in agreement and took flight.

“Because I want peace. Because peace is the only option. And if we can’t get it in time, Vaan will be annihilated, all of us with it. There’s no one I trust with our future more than you, Shwaan.” She caressed his cheek. “You’re a natural diplomat. But that also makes you vulnerable…to injudicious attachments–”

“Friendships, you mean.”

She rolled her eyes, stepping back. “The development of the reinforced sifblades has been delayed, not halted. Sooner or later, they will be in the hands of those Hunters. And the gangs.

“If Vaan can’t establish contact with earth’s governments by the time the enhanced sifblades are ready for use, Tauheen’s dream might become reality after all. Vaan might actually face an attack from a human army wielding reinforced sifblades.”

“An attack orchestrated by whom?” Shwaan frowned. “The IAW can barely stop quibbling over its own budget allocations. You think they’re planning to overtake Vaan? And for what? Extra solar energy? They can barely use what they already have. We have no resources the humans could possibly want, Safaa.”

“Don’t be naïve, little brother. Tauheen and Reivaa haven’t been dead for a year and the Exiles are already working with the humans again–”

“With the mafia, you mean. With outlaws and criminals.”

“What difference does it make?” she demanded. “They’re humans. Even the smallest of their cities could outnumber us. And with a weapon like reinforced sif, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

“If the humans could reach us, Vaan would fall before any of us could call up a fire shell; much less mount an effective defense. Mother wanted to use a human army to destroy us. And that’s still what the Exiles are working towards. Whether that army is composed of criminals or conscripts is irrelevant.”

“Safaa, you haven’t been down there in centuries. You don’t understand. The mafia has no interest in attacking Vaan. They kill Aeriels to sell their feathers on the black market. They’re only in it for the money. Wars are expensive; that’s the last thing Janak Nath and his ilk would want.”

“And you’ve been down there too long. You’re going native, Shwaan.” Spreading her massive wings, she prepared to take flight. “Humans are irrational, gullible, easy to manipulate. Didn’t you spend all of last year following your Hunter around Vandram, pretending to be a foreign emissary? Didn’t our mother spend the last decade pretending to be the Defence Secretary’s lover, after murdering his wife?

“How much harder will it be for our Exiled brethren to manipulate this Janak Nath – and his men – into doing their bidding? Into attacking Vaan on their behalf?”

“Those were isolated incidents,” he said. “There’s a context you need to take into account. Humans hadn’t interacted with Aeriels – unless it was to kill them – in generations. They couldn’t have known–”

“Use whatever means you have at your disposal, Shwaan. But end this alliance between the Exiles and the human gangs.” She took to the air. “That’s an order.”