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AARYN

"So, you tell them about the traverse, then take them across it?" Elreth asked.

Gar shrugged. "Pretty much."

"He does a shitload more than that," Aaryn said, cutting a dark glance at Gar. Elreth turned to look at him, and he went on. "He trains them for the traverse, takes them across for their first times to make sure they aren\'t going to break—which, just in case anyone isn\'t clear, means that if the disform—Protector fails, Gar probably dies with them. But then he takes them into the human world, too and teaches them about that. He\'s spent more time over there than any other Anima who lives in the Wildwood. He helps us understand how they think differently, the difference in their language, how we can accidentally offend or intimidate. He\'s half the reason our trainees can live in the human world without giving themselves away, or getting put in prison."

Elreth gaped. "They\'d imprison us just because we\'re different?"

"No." Gar rolled his eyes. "But we have a really different way of approaching problems—especially conflicts over mates and that kind of thing. Half the stuff we do like breathing is against the law for them. They\'re not as strong as us, so fighting in public and hurting each other… they can get in real trouble if they do that over there."

Elreth glanced at Aaryn who nodded. He\'d heard this lecture countless times.

"Domination for the humans is a lot more subtle. It still works the same way, but it\'s more about your body language and… the unspoken threat. They\'re a lot faster to back down than our people—but the stupid ones don\'t read the signs. Their instincts aren\'t as clear to them. So we have to be careful not to leap into conflict. Because we\'ll win. But the winners in the human world get arrested a lot."

Elreth shook her head. What a strange place this human world must be. More subtle hierarchies, yet they imprisoned people for breaching them? Even after they\'d dominated?

"What… what do they value?"

Gar shrugged. "Mostly the same things we do. But their leadership hierarchy is a lot more distant. The people that make the rules don\'t generally know the citizens, so their decisions can be… a bit strange to us. But the people have less respect for their leaders too. It\'s all very strange. In their culture, the leaders are appointed by the people, but often removed and another put into their position within just a few years."

"How does anyone get anything done if the hierarchy is always changing?"

"Because their laws serve the purpose our Dominant does. Like our traditions—they\'re not often changed. Whatever leaders are appointed usually uphold the laws, so the fabric of their society remains the same, regardless of who is in power."

Their father grunted. "I beg to disagree. Even with the same traditions, their Alphas bring a different flavor to the laws. I watched their appointment of a new leader when I was a child. The process was… hectic and disruptive. And the ways those laws were upheld changed significantly. Humans are not Anima. We do not think the same, and we do not work the same. But we do value the same things." He looked down at their mother who took his hand with a grateful smile. "The human hearts are just as strong as ours… but their bodies are not."

Gar rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Humans are lovely," he sighed. "But you can\'t deny that their family groups aren\'t as strong as ours. They tend to make their own tribes—but they change tribes often in their lives, too. I think it\'s a consequence of their numbers and the huge spaces they inhabit. They can\'t keep the connections with their families that we do because they aren\'t in each other\'s presence as we are. So they pull together in their own groups that they choose instead… kind of like the disformed," Gar said dryly. "I believe that\'s one reason why the disformed find mates among the humans so often. They are drawn to us because of our strength."

Elreth reached for Aaryn\'s hand and squeezed. He gave her a quick smile, but his eyes were distant. She wondered what he thought of all of this.

"So… if they\'re drawn to us, and we can often mate successfully… why are we so cautious to keep ourselves secret? Is that not just laying the path for conflict? Perhaps what the humans need in order to not want to take Anima is to understand us?"

Gar shook his head. "We tell the disformed to keep our secrets for good reason, El. There are stories of Anima who have been too quick to share their truth with the humans—and they\'ve paid for it. When humans become frightened they rely on their technology. And we can\'t fight that. Our strength in their world is seen as a weapon. And they bring weapons against it."

Their mother sighed. "We lost two disformed several years ago because they tried to step in when a human was shooting at other humans. They hadn\'t had enough contact with the weapons, they didn\'t know…" She dropped her head, her shoulders slumped.

Gar put a hand to her shoulder and squeezed. "So, we have to be careful. Because even if they don\'t kill us with their weapons, in their prison system we would be medically tested and we can\'t have that happen." Gar turned to stare at Elreth then, his face a mask of stern warning.

"For those of us who can shift we have a higher risk—we\'re under stress in a new environment full of threats we\'re not familiar with. Our beasts feel our insecurity and push to come out and take control. We can\'t shift in front of a human—and since we come out of the traverse in the city, we can\'t risk being seen in beast form, regardless. That would be… entirely out of place among them. But the disformed—they\'re perfect for this because they don\'t have the risk of shifting. The problem is that they\'re so much stronger and faster than the humans… if they demonstrate their strength, or their senses, in a way that can\'t be denied, the humans will become suspicious. And they rely heavily on technology.

"Any Anima that was discovered in the human world would be immediately tested and experimented on with their technology. It would be torture—and would lead them to Anima without fail. Because our blood heals their bodies—" Gar snapped his mouth shut when their mother made a tiny noise and tensed.

Elreth turned to her. "Mom? What\'s wrong?"