'Hmm, once again it was the younger male who spoke first. Is it that in their species, males have a duty to form relationships with others until they determine it's safe for the females, regardless of age or degree of kinship?'
Lucien thought, seeing that the older and younger females remained silent and stared at him. If he could read their thoughts, he wouldn't have arrived at such a huge mistake.
In fact, he wouldn't even need to read their minds to realize that this conclusion would be a mistake, and normally he wouldn't have arrived at this conclusion himself either. After all, hadn't Milian herself demonstrated her strength as a mother before?
So why did he make this mistake?
For two simple reasons.
One reason is that Lucien was primarily viewing them as test subjects and study groups, not necessarily as unique individuals. He was attempting to predict the behavior of the entire species based on superficial initial observable reactions, which for numerous reasons is a mistake in itself. And the reason he made this mistake is directly linked to the second reason.
Lucien is, in essence, a social awkward.
Or he would be if he still had a functional society in his time as a "normal human."
Due to numerous factors, he didn't even have time to realize his own social inadequacy, concentrating all his efforts on survival, and then on unlocking the Nexus, followed by his body enhancements (not necessarily in that order). The fact that he had little contact with other beings, mostly limited to his friends and his two "children," made Lucien's social inadequacy undetectable for a long time, and after the enhancements he made, it was almost eradicated from his lover.
The key word in this case is almost.
And in the current situation, this becomes apparent: Lucien wasn't dealing with others like himself, but with new rational beings about whom he had no prior information. Even sending spy drones to the settlements of other amphibians, the data they collected was minimal.
After all, you can't get an X-ray of an entire species with data from one week.
For all these reasons, Lucien ended up making a mistake in his first (well, second) contact with Movuya and his family, but since neither side admitted their errors, it wasn't a big deal... for now.
But even being partially socially inept, Lucien's millennia of life, in addition to the improvements he made over that time, gave him more flexibility to avoid falling into traps he himself could create. He decided to cross-check the information with the new data from his drones later.
Now he would dedicate 80% of his attention to his family, while the remaining 20% would always be focused on maintaining the Nexus, factories, and laboratories.
"I'm glad to hear that. I hope I-volion took good care of you while I was away."
'I already know he did, but I believe pretending not to know should lessen the feeling of fear I ended up projecting, even if only a little.'
In reality, it would hardly make any difference. From Movuya and his family's point of view, I-volion would be just as intimidating as Lucien, even more so considering his silvery, mouthless "fingers" that looked like claws, and skin that reflected a metallic tone they had never seen before, but they were sure no weapon they possessed would be able to harm him.
"Ah!!, Y-yes sir!!!, Lord Volin was very kind and patient with us, sir!!!!"
Movuya replied again, a little more fluently as he stumbled over his words. The nervousness, reverence, and a certain amount of fear wouldn't go away so easily.
"Kind and patient, huh? Doesn't seem much like the 'Volin' I know."
"Please, I beg you not to start with your annoying jokes, my master. And don't mock the way young Movuya pronounces my name; his mouth can't articulate certain words naturally."
"I would never mock the way someone speaks. What do you think I am? I only expressed my surprise at how the world was described to you, and be honest, can you blame me?"
"I'm honest 90% of the time, therefore no, I can't blame you for your surprise... at least not categorically."
"Hahahaha!!!!!!"
Even after millennia together, I-volion could still make Lucien laugh, a truly impressive quality.
Seeing how comfortably Lucien and I-volion conversed, Movuya and his family finally began to let go of their nervousness. The way Lucien interacted with his subordinate, in a relaxed and honest manner, briefly reminded them of how her family's father interacted with his own subordinates.
In their society, it was common for the head of a clan to look down on his subordinates, except for the closest ones such as hunting captains, wise men, or elders. Even their families were often semi-neglected, with attention given almost exclusively to the firstborn son.
This was the norm, but Movuya's father was different, treating all members with respect and equality, being very close to his family and to several servants of the tribe.
This displeased the elders and some of the captains who valued the continuity of their traditions, but it was a myth accepted by almost the entire clan and most of the wise men. It was partly due to this closeness that their clan managed to expand so drastically and practically in such a short time.
Unfortunately, this attracted the unwanted attention of certain envious and greedy people, both outside and inside the clan. And this led to the current situation: the father dead, almost the entire clan enslaved, and them essentially banished and probably presumed dead.
Remembering his father inevitably made him recall what they had been through and the vows he had made to survive, to grow stronger, and to seek revenge.
Again Movuya's body moved before he had even thought about it; one moment he was watching Lucien and I-volion converse. The next, his face was pressed against the ground, dust and dirt entering his nose and mouth, his arms sprawled forward with palms facing upward.
"PLEASE GRANT ME STRENGTH!!!!"
"""""""""""""""""""
'Strength, huh.'
Lucien was absolutely certain of what the young blue-haired man was referring to; the betrayal that killed his father and enslaved his people was still a fresh wound. From the moment the three escaped until now, two weeks must have passed, maybe three—his sense of time had truly deteriorated after so long in a semi-hermit life. The fact was, it was still an open wound that still bled.
Hearing the young man's voice, the most venerable female—I mean, the young man's mother, Milian—finally emerged from her torpor. Seeing the pose he struck, she immediately understood his purpose: she was going to ask forgiveness from the being she had saved and sheltered.
She was going to ask her son not to bother him with his worldly problems, but as soon as she opened her mouth, no sound came out.
Even though she couldn't see her son's face, she was certain he had a firm gaze, identical to the one he had when he swore vengeance against his father's usurper and murderer. Remembering was painful, no, not just remembering, every breath she took was painful, reminding her that she was alive, and he wasn't.
How could she stop her son from avenging his father when she herself desired it as much as he did, but how could she allow him to follow this path?.
So dangerous and so easy to lose him as she had lost her husband.
Milian was in an agonizing conflict; if she could, she would do it herself, but she knew she had no chance. She had managed to wound that wretched usurper by catching him by surprise before. But even if, by some miracle of his arrogant idiocy, he opened another breach if she surrendered to him, she was certain she wouldn't be able to kill him.
So they would have to live in fear and flee to some inhospitable place, or live here at the expense of their savior like parasites?.
None of the options appealed to Milian, nor to Movuya, and if you asked even little Minbi, she wouldn't accept. She would like to be near Lucien, but she wouldn't accept it if it caused him any problems.
Since Lucien had the metal link activated, he didn't know what was going on in their minds, but this was one of the few times he would be dispensable. Revenge was something he knew well; he himself had pursued it before, had seen others pursue it, had encouraged and dissuaded others from following that path.
After so much time, he had come to a truth about revenge: the only person who could say whether it was worth something to someone or not was the individual.
He couldn't say if revenge was the path Movuya and his family should follow, but he knew that if he left them as they were, they would simply die. He actually spent no more than a few hours with them, perhaps even less. But he saw their memories, and knew how much the betrayal and loss of their father, husband, and tribal leader had hurt them.
Lucien let a good portion of his emotions fade over the years; it was one of the main ways to overcome the endless boredom that caring for the Nexus caused, but seeing these three, his emotions returned with an unexpected intensity. Just like when danger befell his friends or "children" (whom he still insisted were more like siblings).
He and his friends had made a pact not to interfere in the lives of the Ammenso beings who came near the Nexus... but since Movuya and his family were already here, helping them wouldn't count, right?.