Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (27 page)

His
brother smiled without showing his teeth. He dropped to one knee and moved his head
in
for a closer look. Sarah held her ground while Sorono peered and sniffed the child. He leaned back and mentally thought for everyone.
“Welcome to the world, Hatchling.”
Pearl heard his thoughts because she squirmed just as much as Darrel, but they didn’t cry out.

“Sorono,” his attention turned to
Connor
. “I would like for you to meet someone very special. Meet my son, Darrel.”

His eyes narrowed
when he processed what was said, but he wasn’t the first to speak. “A BOY!” Jack shouted in shock. Sarah turned to look at her father as he spoke again. “What… How?”

“Father, be patient!” Sarah chastised. “Connor said he’d tell us. I’m just as confused as you are.” Everyone went silent as
his mate turned back to him
with expectant eyes
.

His
eyes had remained on Sorono while
his
peripheral visio
n catalogued the movements of his
mate. Sorono
’s expression
went from confused
,
to suspicious
and then
altered
to understanding
within five seconds
. Now he grinned and showed all of his teeth.
“Now I understand. Back when we were”
He looked at his mate and
Sarah
.
“worried for our mates
,
you were about to tell me a theory that had become
a fact
. This
was
it
,
i
s it not?”
Connor
smiled and
Sorono
looked up to process this new and valuable information before reconnecting with
everyone
.
“This future study is looking more promising than I first thought. I’m looking forward to the future, but first
,
may I hold my nephew?”

Sarah then asked defensively. “Have you ever held a child other than a Keeper before?”

“Indeed I have. I was there for the
first
birthing of the first Balancer. Since then
,
I’ve held over a million newborn hatchlings and half of those were human before
we immortals went into hiding
over a
thousand years ago.”

Sarah looked at Connor
worriedly, but knew it would be disrespectful to not allow someone so important to hold
their
son.
He
then looked at Sorono and asked “Alright, b
ut can we have a compromise?” His
brother suspiciously nodded once. “Sit down and get comfortable. I know your strength
,
so please be extra careful.”

“That would be a request, not a compromise. And it is one I’ll gladly accept.”
He then sat completely on the ground and opened his palms and put them together.
He then locked his muscles to become as still as a statue.

Taking the hint Connor
walked forward and gently placed Darrel in the V of Sorono’s
smoothly scaled
palms
,
while avoided the extended
and sharp
claws. Everyone watched in silence as he studied the newborn. He looked impossibly serene despite his
daunting
presence.

After a minute
,
the silence was broken by Shannon.
“Sarah, may I see what your child looks like?”

His
mate looked down at the young
female
Keeper and said “Wouldn’t you rather hold her like your father is doing with my son?”
Shannon’s
little golden eyes glanced at her father and
Sarah
. She returned her excited eyes to
Connor’s
mate and began nodding vigorously.

“Connor, you m
a
y have your son back.”
O
nce
Darrel
came
safely back in
his
arms
Sorono
looked to his daughter.
“Shannon,”
his tone
became
a calm warning.
“Do you remember how
carefully you felt Sarah’s pregnant belly? … Good, now you must be even more careful than that because Pearl is very fragile
right now
. We do not want to harm those we love. In time Pearl and Darrel will become someone you will cherish more than any
physical
object. You don’t want to harm them do you?”

“Of course not, Father. I will never intentionally harm them.”

That
i
s all that Sarah needed to hear. Because of Shannon’s smaller proportions she couldn’t hold Pearl like how her Father did with
Darrel
. Shannon listened intently to
Sarah
’s instructions on how to carefully cradle and hold a
human
baby.

Then before they
knew it
,
Shannon was feeling giddy and letting out a hissing giggle as she held Pearl. She was being extremely careful so as to not harm
the
daughter. Sarah stayed close, just for an emergency. When Shannon began walking Sarah matched the short and careful steps. They walked right up to Veronica
and Shannon introduced Pearl
to her mother
. Veronica gave words of praise to her daughter f
or being so gentle. Sorono and Connor
watched all this with grateful
and serene
eyes.

He
sealed off
his
mind and entered Sorono’s. He felt how
Connor’s
mind
became
shielded
and knew that
they
were going to have a private conversation.
“Isn’t that a beautiful sight
?
Despite our appearances, we are all family.”

He smiled and turned his
large
eyes to his daughter.
“Indeed it is. That was the main reason that I created the Mélange. Before humans became sentient the Keepers had a meeting
once
every one hundred years. Back then there wasn’t much to do except live day after day and survive against dangerous animals and the
harsh
environment. You’re lucky you didn’t live through the ice age. Just the memories keep me cold at night.
The only thing I miss from that time is mammoth meat.
I could live
two
year
s
off just one, ten if I chose to hibernate.
But Mélange
was made for everyone to come together and become one greater family. It is like the human’s United Nations. Only we get more done because we work together
,
like a family
.”
Sorono grinned.

“I cannot dispute that.”

Soon after Shannon returned Pearl to her mother
,
their
link
severed
. Sarah walked up to his
side with a grateful smile. “Do you think it
’
s time that you finally explain Darrel’s situation?”

“Not
just
yet, Princess.” He
turned to look at the impatiently waiting group. “They need their turns.”

Together they walked up to the crowd. They
stopped a few yards back and Sarah spoke confidently. She even surprised herself. “Please come up two at a time. If you swarm us again you won’t get to hold them. Got it!
?
”

“YES, DRILL SARGENT!” Kara shouted and saluted.

His
sister grabbed her mate’s arm and drug him across the lawn. Jack grumbled that he wanted to be first.
Rhoda
said
t
he
y
could go next.
Kara stopped in front of Sarah and
opened her arms into a cradling position. Soon she
started
cooing to her new niece.

Mark had cut his hair earlier because it was
now
short and spiky. He
still
wasn’t wearing a shirt
,
which made his muscles stand out. The firelight made him look dangerous, but his silver eyes were
serene
. Connor’s
best friend is well centered, but in a fight
,
he
’d hate to be
the target of
his
anger. Mark
smiled at
him
with pure white teeth and then looked down into the curve of
his
right arm. He was calm in asking “May I?”

“Sure, Bud.”

Like Sorono, Mark locked his arms in pla
ce as he
sat Darrel in the arm cradle. Mark
began
gently swaying back and forth while Darrel was sleeping once
again. Then Connor
recognized
from
the stillness of their eyelids
,
that they weren’t sleeping at all.
Mark then said happily “I hope you’ll be as much trouble as your father.”

“He’s already being a trouble maker.” Mark looked up at
him
with
a confused expression. Off to the
right the other women
matched his expression. Connor
looked at Pearl and saw that she too wasn’t truly sleeping. “Right now they aren’t really sleeping. Alright kids stop pretending and open your eyes.”

“Connor, what…” Sarah said and he
watched
as her expression changed when he
pointed at Pearl.

Both of
their
children reacted to
his
words
,
just like they did with Sorono. Pearl
seemed
a little more active and she was the first to open her eyes. Sarah gasped when she finally saw
their
daughter’s eyes. Pearl’s had slightly more green in her irises t
han Darrel did, but she still held
a lot of hazel.

Then Mark stated
in wonder
“His eyes are open too.”

Both Pearl and Darrel tried focusing, but they had a difficult time
.
Connor
knew how to help them
out
. “
Mark, may I have Darrel back.”
His
best friend nodded and returned
his
son to
him
. Once cradled in
his
arms
he
spoke softly. “Alright son, focus on my voice. Use your eyes to calmly find mine. Take as much time as you need.”

Remarkably it only took a
little over a
minute for his eyes to learn on how to focus on
his father’s
. To
his
right Sarah was doing the same with Pearl.
She also coach
ed
softly
.
Soon her eyes were locked on her mother’s. While staring at Pearl
,
his
wife asked “Connor, what is going on? Do they understand us?”

He
spoke to her while keeping
complete
eye contact with
his
son. “Not entirely. Right now they are learning our words. Here let
m
e show you.”
Connor
held
his
left hand
,
open and between Darrel and
him
self. “Darrel, this is my left hand. See those moving things. Those are my fingers. Can you show me how you can move your fingers?”

Darrel’s eyes studied his father’s
fingers for a moment and then began trying to free his arm from
his towel. Connor
helped him by loosening it. He brought out his right hand in front of his face and looked at them with
strange
interest. Then he began wiggling his tiny fingers. “Very good.”
He said with honesty
.

As he kept wiggling
his digits,
he
turned to see Sarah with wide eyes. “How can he understand? Most Balancer children cannot do anything
remarkable
for
over
six months
,
when they learn to talk
.”