First dinner home, some Kallon, and a random bit of something
Kallon's reaction to the news that the whole school found out is mixed. His knee-jerk to anything disruptive is anger or frustration, which can look a lot alike. He's hounded to be careful and reminded constantly of how bad it could be if someone found out and then HUNDREDS of people find out on Sray's "watch." Of course he's the one that's held the secret his friends know for the last two years. And they know pretty much everything at this point while the majority of Engema is oblivious to Teigan's extant status.
Not a minute later the back door opened. Teigan pulled off his hat and gloves and then shed his outer coat before finally turning and spotting Sray. "You have returned!" He exclaimed and embraced her before cupping her face in his hands and pressing their foreheads together. "I have missed this face!" He pulled back, grinning broadly. "How are you?"
"Much better now that I'm home." She put her hands on his and pulled them down between them. "I missed you too, Tafa. So much has happened this last week; I don't know where to start."
"Your last letter was a bit vague." Kayrin noted as she passed them, her tone made Sray think her mother was fishing for some explaination, but half expecting Sray to avoid it.
"Not much seemed safe to write." She admitted.
"Come, you two," Kayrin beckoned as she knelt down beside the table, "we can talk as we eat."
"Well," Sray began as they moved to the table. "It started on Seltan," she knelt down, "A man announced I am half Klamon in front of the whole school."
"We know." Kayrin said. "Danrick Mishor had a letter delivered to me personally on Remstan."
"He sent someone here?" Sray asked, she thought she had left dread behind at Engama.
"He did." Kayrin confirmed. "Right to the door."
"Who was it? Did you get the messenger's name?"
"He said his name was Kenbin Mounthyuns."
Sray sighed in relief. That was a safe enough name at least. Mishor trusted him. Mounthyuns was the one that discovered she was half Klamon and only told Mishor. He seemed trustworthy enough. He already knew where they lived. "He was the one who found me and one of thr first to know I am hybrid."
"He said he was the first to know." Kayrin confirmed.
Sray considered how to respond to that. What else she should say concerning how deep the Meim's knowledge went about them. She fingered the edge of her plate and frowned. They didn't need that burden. Not yet at least. Not her first night. "I have seen him around, but haven't actually met him. What else did the letter say?" She asked, trying to push the burden of telling away.
"That you would be safe and protected." Kayrin responded. "He feels your presence there is valuable. What happened after Seltan? Kayrin probed. "Again, your last letter was vague."
"Well," Sray began, trying to find the words she wanted. "They posted watch outside our door and I had an escort any time I was outside the room to discourage anyone from causing trouble." She found her appetite waning, though it appeared that no one else was digging in to the meal either.
"Was there any trouble?" Teigan asked.
"No," Sray replied quickly. "Nothing I couldn't handle, but it was probably the hardest week of my life." She admitted. "I thought the first week was difficult, but this last one..." She shook her head. "It was exhausting. I expected the worst, but was surprised at how readily some people accepted me as I am. Like Kem Aldai, I wrote about her, she didn't really react or treat me any differently afterwards. Others weren't so ready. There is still a lot of hate and distrust. I think a lot of them are suspicious of why I am there, but I feel like there is a chance for real change. Not right now, maybe not for years, but maybe some day Klamon and Man can be together again." She looked up at them all. "Mishor says we're protected, though. Within Engama's bounds from the Anlizer river to the Solnerrith, from the Anlizer mountains to the end of the NAME plateau [?]."
Hyuns is an Ela'yan name, it is often a suffix and I think it means something along the lines of maker/creator/builder. Pogenhyuns might be a line of smiths and the last name might reflect either blacksmithing specifically or smith/metal work general.
Don't know what Mount means in Ela'yan. Kenbin is a cartographer, but I don't think that would be the meaning of his last name, mapmaker.
"I should go with you. If Sray's in trouble I want to help."
Teigan paused after he pulled the heavy coat off it's hook. "If Sray's in trouble, Kallon, we're all in trouble. You need to be here for your mother and Janef. Do you understand?"
Kallon nodded. "Yes, Tafa, understood."
Kallon would be itching to come to his sister's defense. I don't think he liked that she left to begin with given what the Meim had done to the Klamon. He didn't trust them and assumed the worst. He was probably a little extra on edge while she was gone the first six weeks.
Part of me thinks this is a Lemy'es thing. I'm wanting to say it is Klamon, but not sure.
She ran her fingers over the woven fabric. The weave was tight and fine and flowed effortlessly like water under her hands and over the still form it covered. They were ceremonial robes, reserved for one's final resting place, designed to honor and glorify the fallen. Parts were delicately embroidered with fantastic scenes depicting moments of valor. She traced the stitched figures with her fingertips, the soft texture of a hundred threads pushed through the fabric in tight parallels and sunbursts of vibrant color.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sense that she was not alone. Subconsciously jerking her hand back she turned to see a man standing in the doorway, resting a hand high on the frame, an ornately carved wooden staff in his other hand, varnished and polished to a high sheen that reflected the warm evening light filtering through the windows.
"It is time." The man said. "We are ready for the final rights and ceremony."
The woman looked back at the still figure laid out on the platform. The polished handles on the edges awaited many hands that would lift and carry the body above their shoulders.
"They say he died with honor." The man offered. "He saved many of his comrades in arms."
She frowned at him. "He still died."
"Can you imagine what would have happened if Jona and Dantel did not already know?"
"It could have gone very, very badly for all of us."
Dantel and Jona knew for four years before Kallon was abducted. Had they not known it could have gone very differently. I don't know if Kallon (sober) ever told them anything about the Meim. Bets are off when drunk and, of course there's whether the pair would remember it as the three of them tend to get thoroughly plastered together.