Chapter 5 No.5

Ghoad made clucking noise that suggested she was snickering. No matter how long had known her, Young still found her species strange. Her speech pattern gave him goose bumps while her lack of human expressions made it impossible for him to really understand what she was thinking or feeling. He wished he understood more about her and her kind, but his job required him to focus on humans, not svellik.

"I have my own method of trrransssporrrtation, " she said, gesturing to her large insect wings.

"Right." Koris nodded, embarrassed. "Of course." He quickly changed the topic. "Where were you tonight?"

She did not give him an answer, and he did not push her for one. Her species was strange to him. If she could not or did not want to give him an answer she wouldn't.

"Arrre you alrrright, sssirrr?" Ghoad asked via earpiece as she flew beside him through the night's sky. "I am ssso sssorrrrrry about Lorrrd Finn Yuan and the otherrrsss."

"Thank you, " Koris replied with a trembling voice. He was still in shock. "I'm fine for the time being. Everything just feels so surreal."

"I underrrssstand, " Ghoad hissed sympathetically. Out of everyone in Manticore Metropolis, she understood loss the most. "Wasss Lady Andrrromeda Sssun at Parrrliament Houssse tonight?"

"No, " Koris shook his head although Ghoad would not know that, "she was at home in her office."

"Have you told herrr you arrre okay?"

"Yes, I texted her."

"Ssshe may dessserrrve a call."

"Nah, " he smirked despite the dark situation, "I'll see her in a few minutes anyways."

Ghoad dove down so she was flying right alongside Koris and tapped the glass. He glanced out at her and shrugged with a smile before returning his attention to the front. He had a very worrisome expression.

"Arrre you going to sssee a doctorrr to make sssurrre you arrre okay?"

"Eh... Wǒ méiyǒu need to."

"Parrrdon?"

Koris blinked. Fracturing Mandarin and English and taking word from each language to form a sentence was so natural to him that he did not think twice. Bhoad's brain did not work that way. She understood both Mandarin and English, and yet she could only process one language at a time.

"I don't need to see a doctor, " he repeated fully in English.

"Andrrromeda will be the judge of that."

Koris waved goodbye to Ghoad as he waited for his garage to open. She zipped away, off to help Nikhita Kothari with the investigation.

One figure stood in the doorway of the garage while a second bounded forward before putting its paws on his stomach.

Koris smiled sincerely for the first time that day. He scratched the grey-haired dog's head as he gently pushed him down. "Hey, Kiddo."

Young looked back up at the figure in the doorway. A part of him had expected her to run with outstretched arms and embrace him, then he remembered that he was married to Lady Andromeda Sun.

"A text message?" She held up her silver phone to show him the message. "Zhēn de ma?"

Her tone suggested that she was more annoyed than relieved to see him. Koris did not care. He knew that's just how she was. At her grand age of nearly two-hundred she found there was little time to be anxious. However, there was always time to be irritated.

"I felt like it was better for me to just send you a quick text confirming I was alive and then... No, Kiddo." Koris pushed the dog down when it tried to jump up on him again. "... And then I thought it would be better to talk to you in person instead of over the phone."

"Uh-huh." She nodded along sarcastically. "I'm sure."

In a brief moment of heart; she ran her hand across his cheek before leaning in for a kiss. Koris knew better than to miss this opportunity to kiss her back. She rarely expressed her emotions physically and when she did, they were in private so that the rest of the world wouldn't know.

After the tender moment, Koris followed her out of the garage and into the lounge where his children were waiting. Most important politicians lived in large apartments or, if you were Lysander Jordanis, up on top of the canyon outside of the city in a large estate, but Koris and Andromeda lived a more humble life in a moderately sized apartment. Neither of them saw a reason to get a larger home as they did not spend much time in it anyways with their busy schedules.

Silently, Melody and Flick jumped off the white couches and ran to Koris. Andromeda had told them to stay in the lounge until she had seen him first and they both new better than to defy her. Flick slowed down so that Melody could hug her father first. He knew that she always had first rights to their parents.

Few words were exchanged between Melody and Koris. She just hugged him before taking a step back and sniffing. That was when he saw her red eyes.

"Nǐ okay, sweetie?" he asked with a smile.

She nodded, but was too afraid to talk because her voice would be croaky. Flick glanced at Melody, voicelessly asking permission for his go at hugging Koris. She looked at him before looking away. He took that as a 'yes' and proceeded to hug Koris.

"W-we saw the footage, " he stammered in a higher voice than most would expect to come out of a man his age.