Page 46 of Carnal: The Beast Who Loved Me

“Farsuitwail.”

“Right. Farsuitwail. I’m not saying they would ever attempt to imprison you. Or worse. In my world different races live side by side without incident for long periods of time. Centuries. But eventually, some greedy maniac with a small penis will decide he needs the power to control other people and their stuff.”

“You’re saying we need to be wary of humans with small penises.”

Rosie tucked her chin and smiled. “No. That’s just a theory, a silly way of talking about a real problem. But you have at least three reasons for needing to find out what the humans know. As I understand it, the Rautt killed everybody who was working in advanced sciences or technology when they destroyed power sources. But they may have missed some people. For your sake, I hope they did.”

“Why do you say ‘for our sake’?”

“Because you’d have a chance of recreating longer range weaponry and then establishing a balance of power. Eventually you might even integrate your society with the humans.”

Free was appalled. “Live with humans?”

Rosie blinked before softly saying, “You’re living with me.”

He looked away and then at Serene, ashamed that he had forgotten that hewasspeaking to a human. But wasn’t that what Rosie was alluding to? That, under the right circumstances, differences might become so familiar as to be forgotten altogether?

“You need to learn what there is to know about the people and culture you’re protecting, Free. The Rautt were created, just like you. Maybe it was for benign purposes. I don’t know. But it’s a mess now.”

“And you think the way to deal with that mess is to exterminate them. That’s exactly what was going to happen to us when Kellareal brought us here.”

“Do you feel kinship with the Rautt?”

“No,” Free said quickly. “Not like you mean it. I might have, but then…” He didn’t need to say Crave’s name for Rosie to know what he was thinking. “Between our son, Blaze, and other incidents, they’ve made this personal in a way that can’t be undone.”

Rosie nodded slowly.

Free sat back, leaving his dinner unfinished, and sighed. “You’re right. We have to find out what goes on behind closed doors in Farsuitwail. We’ve been protecting them for a generation, standing between them and the Rautt, without knowing what the humans think of us.”

“What do you mean?” Serene put in.

“I mean it’s important to know how they see us. If we’re just trained dogs to them, then they wouldn’t think twice about taking our freedom from us. Again. But if they see us as people who want things, like they do, then maybe not.”

“That is a consideration,” said Rosie carefully. “But trust may be a bridge too far. Right now the most important thing is making sure that you know what the humans know.” She looked between them. “Charming said something to me about being smarter than humans. Is that true?”

Free looked at Serene. “Charming is a font of information.”

“I’ll speak to him,” Serene said.

“Yes,” Free turned back to Rosie, “we pieced things together listening to conversations between guards or researchers. Once they were satisfied with our enhanced physical abilities, they selectively bred us for intelligence.”

“So you’re capable of learning anything humans can learn.”

Free nodded. “I would think so. Yes.”

“Rosie,” Serene interjected, “we have a sort of working relationship with the humans. If we upset that relationship, we can’t know what the outcome might be.”

“Yes. It’s a risk, but is it riskier than not knowing what’s going on? I don’t mean to scare you, but let’s look at a hypothetical. What if the humans are just a little less afraid of you than the Rautt? What if they’ve been reconstructing their ability to build long range and rapid fire weaponry and, thinking it’s in their best interest, have a plan to wipe all hybrids out at the same time?”

Serene paled as she sat straighter. Her eyes shot to Free. “I think I’m beginning to understand,” she whispered.

“Humans are not as fast or strong as you. Maybe not as smart either. But humans are wily, fiercely protective of those who are like themselves, and they are capable of abominable behavior, including genocide.

“You made a promise to Kellareal and you’ve lived up to it. But your priority has to be protecting your own people. You can’t do that living up here in the hills, hoping that everything turns out for the best.”

Free sat back and stared at the food on the table in front of him. For a long time. At length, he said, “I believed I was the right person to lead us when we arrived in the Newland. We had to build everything from the ground up. Literally. We had to put processes in place to make things work. I don’t know if I’m the right person to lead us into what we might be facing.”

“It’s always better to know than to not know,” Rosie said quietly.

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