Forgiven

[Caira Ayryn]

“Let’s go for a walk.” Daniels said to the blond Prime and they exited through the front door, where no bedroom windows could see them leave.

Merik strolled casually, though his eyes contemptuous as his hands sunk deeper into his pockets. He was nervous, and tried to combat his fidgeting by hiding it. Not a good solution. They made some space between them and the house, and Merik guessed that this is where Daniels would come clean. “What’s wrong with yer eye?” the secondary heard his own thoughts ask.

“That’s uh, what-” he felt his own tongue crippling his words, it wasn’t an unusual feeling, but usually the cursed prime avoided this, or kept it hidden. On his mind, he had the answer perfectly laid out, and being a decent public speaker and diplomatist, Merik could convey his thoughts well. That was before his life went to shit, though. He fought it, the sensation that supernaturally paralyzed his tongue, and had a little leverage. “There was a Prime who helped me break one of the how you might call “locks” on my... current situation. Anyway, I think she implies that meeting my son and confessing will be another key to correcting my issue. She reads a lot of books.”

Daniels smirked, that was one of the worst explanations ever. It was even funnier that Merik could read his mind. Merik smiled back, though part of it showed up as a frown. It was silly, but this was surely what they called “sharing a moment” and though Daniels had raised his son, Merik had always wanted another child ever since the tragedy that happened to his entire family in Coruscant. Worse than Hercules, Merik’s curse, it felt like, had started at that exact moment.

“So, where is he?” Merik asked. Daniels turned to face him, the orange sun, rising in his eyes.

“He ain’t here.” The news was delivered to the prime bluntly, and it felt like the wind had been knocked out of the Prime.

“What? Where is he?”

Daniels continued, “Heard what you did to that Ayryn girl, we saw how you got free, and abandoned those men down there-”

“Technically, they abandoned me down there-” Merik protested weakly.

“But it wasn’t just that, your son’s almost a man now, he’s got decision to make. He wanted to travel, he was considering moving to Camelot, considering becoming a part of the Navy in Vasty Deeps, and well, who are we to stop him from followin’ his heart?” Daniels made too good of an argument. Merik was infuriated however, had they waited to permit this until Tom was actually eighteen, which was more of an unspoken agreement than a promise, Merik would have a chance to be a father, or at least admit the truth.

“Are you serious? Do you know how dangerous it is out there? Surely my experience has taught you something! They killed my family in Coruscant, when I was a trusted employee. Then they tried to banish me, kill me, leave me for dead. I was exiled to the dunes, where I was cursed by the creatures who dwell here. And what, you think you can let him go into that danger unprepared?” Merik sounded like a parent.

“He is prepared. We raised him well, and he’s got your gifts. Life’s short. There’s no time to waste. Illness and death take men ev’ry day.” the old man said solidly.

“He’s got... Telepathy?”

He paused. “No. Can’t you read minds? There’s been speak of what we call Prime lineage. Not every secondary gets it, but if the Prime has powers based on special genes, sometimes it carries over, see.”

“So what can my son do? How long have you known?” Though Merik didn’t have to ask, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’