My Kingdom Come book 1: The Saints We See

665 standard years after the signing of the Alliance

They both packed up all their belongings and Mikhail brought their two bags out to the main room of their quarters. Isca was already there, sitting at the small table eating breakfast. He didn’t say anything to Dachvinder or Mikhail as they sat at the table and quickly ate the light meal that Isca had ordered for them. They all finished eating and the ship still hadn’t docked. Dachvinder fiddled nervously with daer napkin and the silverware before getting up and sitting sideways on Mikhail’s lap. Dae leaned daer head against Mikhail’s shoulder and ran daer finger gently along the chain hanging from his throat.

“Isca?” Dachvinder asked.

“Yes?”

“How much would it cost to buy boy?”

Isca laughed softly. “More than ten of your hives put together. Don’t worry little one, you’ll make plenty of friends in your new home. You wont even remember the boy in a few weeks.”

That truth filled Mikhail with sorrow. He kept perfectly still and hid it behind his emotional shield, but Dachvinder still felt it. Dae stopped playing with Mikhail’s chains and laid daer hand comfortingly over his heart.

The pitch of the ship’s engines changed. They were docking. The artificial gravity worked perfectly, there were no bumps, no changes in equilibrium. The engines changed pitch again, cooling down, getting ready to shut off. An announcement was made that all class one passengers should prepare to disembark.

Dachvinder tensed against Mikhail and he gently rubbed daer back. “We’ve already landed.”

“Oh.” Dae let out a breath of relief.

Isca got up and picked up the bags. “Come on.”

Mikhail helped Dachvinder to daer feet and stood up. He took a quick look around to be sure that they hadn’t forgotten anything and turned to follow Dachvinder and Isca out of the room.

They stepped out into the crowded hall and moved slowly along with the crowd towards the exit. It took them a long ten minutes to get off the ship, then the orderly line of sentients broke out into many directions as they moved out into individual paths of frenzied zig zags, dodging slower moving pedestrians to reach their next destination as quickly as possible. Isca continued towards the public transportation, his steps steady and unhurried. The crowd parted for him, no one wanting to raise the ire of an Ulkaar. Dachvinder and Mik followed in his wake.

A mono-rail train was waiting at the dock station, sentients flooding in through the doors, quickly filling up the seats. Isca stepped onto a car and moved to stand in front of a seat where a middle aged dock worker was sitting. “Move.” Isca said. The dock worker looked up at Isca sourly for half a second then he got up and moved to another car.

“Here, sit.” Isca said to Dachvinder, gesturing at the now empty seat, then he reached up with one of his hands and grabbed onto the rail that ran overhead for standing riders to steady themselves with. Dachvinder perched delicately on the edge of the seat, Mikhail knelt at daer feet. Dachvinder twisted daer fingers nervously in daer lap.

The train began to move.

“Boy?” Dachvinder whispered.

“Yes, sir?”

“What if they hate me?”

Mikhail’s lips twitched, he pressed them together. “They won’t hate you, sir.”

“But what if they do?”

Mikhail laid the tips of his fingers softly on Dachvinder’s shoe. “They wont, sir.”

“Can you hold my hand?”

“I can do anything you’d like, sir.”

Dachvinder laid a hesitant, open palm on daer knee.

Mikhail slid his large hand over Dachvinder’s small one and Dachvinder clutched at him as if dae was drowning.

The first stop was where they were getting off. Isca once again lead the way, parting the crowd for Dachvinder. Dachvinder didn’t let go of Mikhail’s hand, so he walked next to daem, his thumb gently stroking the back of daer hand. He could feel spikes of nervous energy shooting through Dachvinder. Dae was masking, so the sentients around daem couldn’t feel daer emotions, but Mikhail and Dachvinder couldn’t block emotions from each other any more.

“I can feel it!” Dachvinder whispered. A flame of excitement flickered around the edge of daer nervous emotions. “The hive, I can feel it. Can you?”

“No, not yet.”

Dachvinder’s grip continued to tighten on Mikhail’s hand, daer excitement growing.

They rounded a corner and there it was. Dachvinder gasped softly and stopped to take it in. It was a large, square, white marble building, rising in tiers of gradually smaller levels that peered over the tall stone wall surrounding the building. Stairs ran up to large, golden gates in the wall, that were wide open at the moment. The white marble of the building was covered with carvings, each floor of the building had its own theme. One floor was covered in carvings of fantastical monsters, another with carvings of birds, there was one floor covered in carvings of flowers, and another with carvings of animals. The top of each floor had a golden geometric pattern that separated one set of carvings from the next floor’s carvings.

Mikhail took the risk and lifted his eyes to Dachvinder’s face. Dae just stared at the building for a very long moment, then the corners of daer lips slowly pulled up and daer face lit with excitement. “It’s so beautiful!” Dae looked up at Mikhail. “I didn’t…” Dae looked back at the building. “I had no idea it would be like this. It’s beautiful. And you were right, it feels…” dae looked back at Mikhail. “Even from here I can feel the…the pull. The love, the belonging.”

Mikhail dropped his eyes and forced himself to smile. “Come on. Let’s go in.”

Dachvinder nodded and jogged lightly to catch up with Isca, pulling Mikhail along behind daem. They reached Isca just as he began climbing the stairs to the gates. The emotional warmth of the hive spilled over Mikhail as he climbed the stairs. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and allowed the comforting emotions sink into him. Every hive had its own feeling, this one gave Mikhail a strong sense of belonging that calmed his anxiety. In the back of his mind he knew that leaving the hive would be painful, but he ignored that. Right now he needed to focus on getting through these next few hours without falling apart. Dachvinder was shaking with excitement, daer hand squeezing Mikhail’s hard enough to be painful.

Four Ulkaar guards wearing hive colors were standing at the top of the stairs still as statues. Their eyes scanned guests as they passed. Hosaik at the gates were greeting guests and leading them inside. A small group of Hosaik were waiting to the side, their eyes fixed on Dachvinder as they and Mikhail climbed the stairs. They wore brightly colored veils over the lower half of their face. They bowed to Isca and moved towards Dachvinder like moths to a flame. They reached for Dachvinder’s hands, and Mikhail loosened his grip, but Dachvinder only let them have one of daer hands. Daer grip on Mikhail tightened.

The little group of Hosaik were emotional. Tears were glittering in their joyful eyes. There were whispered cries of “Sibling!” And, “welcome home!” There were quite a few questioning glances thrown Mihail’s way, but he didn’t feel any animosity from them, only curiosity. They each warmly embraced Dachvinder and Dachvinder returned their embraces with equal feeling.

One of the Hosaik took Dachvinder’s hand again. “I’m Adi. If you ever need anything, let me know and I’ll take care of you.

“The queen is waiting to meet you. There will be a public presentation tomorrow, if you’re up to it, but the queen wanted to meet you in person first.” Dae glanced at Isca and then lingeringly at Mikhail. “We can show the others to their rooms.”

Dachvinder lifted Mikhail’s hand, daer grip had relaxed a little. “Boy will stay with me.”

“I will remain with the boy.” Isca said.

Adi nodded, dae looked at Isca. “You will not be allowed in the queen’s hall, only Hosaik are allowed there.”

“I understand.” Isca answered.

“Let us take your baggage, then.” Adi motioned to three other Hosaik. They came and took the bags from Isca. “Take these to the quarters for our special guests.” The Hosaik that had taken the bags bowed and giggled and went inside.

Adi turned back to Dachvinder. “Follow me then,” dae smiled and lead the way past the hive gates still holding Dachvinder’s hand. They went inside the front doors of the hive. A sudden hush swept over the lobby and every Hosaik in the lobby paused what they were doing and looked over at their little group. There were quiet sounds of exclamation and excitement. The guests scattered around the room glanced over, puzzled. Adi made a gesture and the Hosaik around the room turned away with giggles. The room resumed its noise and movement.

Mikhail watched Dachvinder from the corner of his eye. Dachvinder was blushing but dae was relaxed, the nervousness was gone. Only excitement remained.

Adi led the way up the grand staircase, taking the left side where it split half way up, then went down the hall to an elevator. Adi pressed the call button and the doors opened immediately. Dae gestured for the rest of the group to enter before daem, then stepped in and pressed a button. The doors shut and the elevator began to move up. Dae turned and took Dachvinder’s free hand again in both daer own. Mikhail watched as dae affectionately stroked the back of Dachvinder’s hand. He could feel calmness spreading though Dachvinder at Adi’s touch.

“How was your journey, Dachvinder?” Adi asked.

“It was good. I was very nervous, I didn’t know what to expect when I got here. Boy kept telling me that everything would be fine, but until I arrived, I…I just didn’t know what to expect.”

Mikhail could feel Adi looking at him. Something in daer emotions towards him felt reserved and uncertain. “Yes, the Hive is like nothing else in the galaxy. Has boy been a comfort to you?”

“Yes. Boy has been a very good friend to me.”

“I’m glad you had him.”

The doors to the elevator opened. “This is where you and boy must part, Dachvinder.” There was a note of finality in their voice that Dachvinder also must have picked up on. Daer hand tightened on Mikhail’s again.

“Please.” Dachvder whispered.

Adi shook their head. “No, my love. Only Hosaik are allowed here.”

Mikhail could feel the uncertainty and concern in Dachvinder. Isca would probably punish him later for breaking protocol, but he was here to support Dachvinder and Dachvinder needed help to get through this moment. He gently pulled Dachvinder close to him and tipped daer chin up with his finger. Dachvinder’s uncertain eyes met his. Mikhail locked his true feelings into the deepest part of himself and smiled softly down at Dachvinder. “You’re home now. You’re going to be fine.”

“I know.” Dachvinder’s other hand came up and fastened near the hem of Mikhail’s shirt.

“My job was to get you home safe. I’ve done that, you have a job to do now, yes?”

Understanding lit Dachvinder’s eyes. Dae nodded. Dae opened daer mouth to say something, but daer lip trembled and dae shut it again.

Mikhail kissed Dachvinder softly on the forehead. “Go. Enjoy yourself.”

Dachvinder nodded. Dae let go of Mikhail and stepped back. Dae sniffed, looked down and brushed at Daer clothes. “How do I look?”

Mikhail swallowed. “You’re perfect. Beautiful.”

Dachvinder looked up at Mikhail again and smiled. Dae turned and took Adi’s hand.

“Please show them to their quarters, Rurie.” Adi said. Dae and Dachvinder stepped out of the elevator. The rest of the Hosaik followed except one. They pressed a button on the elevator and the doors slid shut. The elevator dropped down.

Isca laid a hand on Mikhail’s shoulder from behind. “Dae will be fine now.”

Mikhail nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You did well. Chentzo will be pleased.”

“Thank you, sir.”