She noticed the remaining heads twitch her direction, including Sil's but his face was still covered.
"Quinn summoned a man. He had a sword on his back with a chain on it. He used the same shadow ability as Quinn."
Lana nodded slowly. "How is Quinn so injured?"
It was Logan, "When we got to him, he had killed the demon-tier but Arthur got to him first. He took Quinn into his shadow power then tossed him out all broken like he was trash."
Lana nodded. "Oscar, I want to remind you our contract on my planet is only for dalki. If it's someone else, stay out of it." Lana looked between him and Owen, "Did either of you see Mona Bree's body when you came up?"
They both looked at each other.
"I'll take that as a no. In that case, she's missing. They say bad things happen in three's. That's more than 3…" Tears were streaming down her face, forest green in color. "I need Mona Bree found if it's within your power to do so." Lana took a few deep, slow breaths trying to get herself back under control.
She turned to Owen, "Can I assume you are Owen Graylash, leader of the Graylash Family?"
"You can, my dear. May I ask who you are?"
"Noone of significance… I wanted to thank you for what you did for my family. For the information you gave Quinn." Lana hugged the babies tightly and stole a slight glance at Quinn.
Owen still caught on, "I was not positive it would work out, I'm glad it did. Please, your name. You are not insignificant if you are in the presence of these people. You clearly know Oscar."
Lana looked Owen in the eye, "Lana Plantwell, sir and I owe you a debt I can never repay."
Owen smiled brightly, eyes shaped like crescent moons "My dear, I'm afraid you have that wrong. Unless it was a different Lana Plantwell who saved one of my family from a Sunshield attack on the Eagle's planet? The girl that overfilled her ship prior to escape to save as many lives as possible? The girl I have been looking all over for to thank her?"
Lana was now blushing. This was the first Sil had heard of this and he was suddenly listening with rapt attention.
With a soft smile, "I guess you got me…" Lana replied.
"This makes us even. Are you willing to tell us how you knew our attacker was Hilston Blade and why you seemed to know the name Arthur?"
"Answering that would be a betrayal of two people I care about. Sorry."
Owen smiled, "I like your honesty and your loyalty. Has the Bree Family been informed Mona is missing?"
Lana shook her head, tearing up again. "She was helping me with something very important. She said someone would contact me. But now… She's been so kind to me. I'm not even a member of her family!"
"Wait, are those the babies Mona had with her during the duel?"
Lana nodded, "she insisted on being their god-mother."
Owen took her hands and held them gently, "Oscar and I will go to their ship and make sure they are aware of the situation. And remind them of their responsibility to you as well. Take care of your beautiful family."
With that, everyone left the ship to go their own way, Oscar carrying the deceased. Lana, Shalt, Sil, and Logan intentionally walked slowly to create distance. "Logan, the rest of us are going home, I need Sil with me tonight. I need Quinn to know that Arthur may choose to join the dalki."
"Why would he do that?"
"I sent Max to the settlement on my planet. He over heard a conversation."
Logan nodded and split off to go check on Quinn.
Sil had his head down and simply followed Lana as he would have done Hilston if Logan hadn't gotten into his head and made him think.
Lana turned around, "Sil, do you want to go see Quinn before we go back home? Are you okay with coming home? I just realized I made the decision for you. I apologize for that."
Sil shook his head, too emotional to speak.
"No to visiting Quinn?"
He nodded.
"No to going home?"
Sill looked up sharply as if he wanted to. She passed Owen to him and held his hand as they entered the teleporter room. Shalt entered all the codes and the family walked through.
Lana was very worried. She had never seen Sil like this. She just wanted to get him home as quickly as possible.
As soon as they entered the house, Shalt took the babies into the nursery. They had fallen asleep on the way home anyway. It was time for their nap when Lana went to the ship. He called and had the nurse-cat sit with them while he posted himself at the front door. He aimed to make sure Lana and Sil were able to have this talk. He didn't understand everything but based on the story Sil told about his life, Shalt had a good idea there was potential danger heading their way.
Sil held his head low as he told Lana all the details. How he was going to go with Hilston to keep everyone else safe. Logan talked him out of it. Oscar was the first to fight because Hilston killed Duke. Owen joined him. Even Chris from Pure was there helping, though how he got there, Sil didn't know. Chris somehow knew Quinn and Quinn put him in his shadow to heal for a bit. Sil was the last to attack while Logan, Quinn and Fex stood to the side. Logan wasn't a fighter and Quinn needed to call for help.
Quinn killed the demon-tier while the fight against Hilston was going on. When Arthur showed up, everyone else attacked the supposed mother and father, leaving Hilston for Arthur.
Ultimately, Hilston was losing and he teleported away, taking the parents with him.
Lana listened but didn't feel any better hearing the tale. The two strongest men were both on the wrong side.
Lana stared into her husband's downward-staring face. She decided to go get a particular book. She opened the cover and began reading the first page. She watched as Sil slowly returned to life after hearing the words. Halfway through the book, the babies woke up hungry. They fed them together and changed them together. After placing them on a blanket on the floor, they cooked dinner together and ate. Then Sil recited the rest of the book to the family, even acting out parts.
After placing the babies back in bed at their bed time, the couple chose to retire as well, informing shalt of their intention. He told them the girls had come to ask about lessons and he turned them away due to a family emergency. Lana smiled and nodded letting him know he did the right thing.
Climbing in bed, both were too emotional to go to sleep. Lana decided to wrap herself in his arms and tell him the various stories of how all her people in her shelter came to be there.
Sil held her tight listening to every detail. At the end all he had to say was "My wife is a bigger super hero than I am."
Lana chuckled, "I'm no super hero. I was just in the right place at the right time. Super hero is your department."
"Some superhero I turned out to be… Look at the state Quinn is in."
"Not a fair comparison. You know this." Lana caressed his chest and slid her hand up to rest it on his cheek. "Sil, do you understand how much I love you? How much I miss you when you're away? Do you think I could feel this way about you if you didn't deserve it?" She gently kissed him. He returned it with a bit more emotion. Soon the kiss became a passionate one.
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