UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Ethan nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Do they execute the ruler, or do they have to keep them alive?" He probably had too many questions.

~~
"Oh, I know that feeling," Vestia said sympathetically. She watched Amari snooze. Aww.

Starr was now thinking of the missing kids and where they might be, since they were away from the parents that had just been freed.

Mourn nodded. "You be fine robot, I good at code." he patted Levi on the head.

---

Armin was delighted by the news, but also wary of getting too excited when so many dragons were still in chains. There was still much work to do.
He rested a hand gently on Starr's shoulder.

Starr looked to Armin and touched his hand, glad for his support.

(Sorry for disappearing! Some visitors arrived sooner than I expected and I had to vanish.)

Levi smiled. "I'm not worried. You know what you're doing." He looked to Moriah, "Come on, let's go see the others."

Moriah nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Mourn!"

~~
Asher knocked on the door lightly. "Starr?"

"Come in" Starr called, looking to the door, though it was probably still open from Armin being there with her

Asher went in. "Hello Starr, hello Armin. It's good to see you," he said, smiling. He'd started to notice that Armin had been spending a lot of time around Starr lately. It was sweet.

Starr smiled at Asher as he came in and stood "It's good to see you too. Shane and Tala helped free the star dragons, I felt them the moment they were set free at the hold." She said excitedly.

Asher looked startled for a moment, and then a grin spread across his face. "The mission is successful then? That's wonderful! Congratulations, Starr."

Starr nodded and smiled happily. "Yes, it is. 50 adults and 20 eggs, but no kids there. I will have to think of a place for them to go that's safe."

"We shall find a safe place, the Star Dragons will all be free." Armin insisted. He had faith in this.

"I'm glad so many dragons have finally gotten the chance to be free," Asher said. "In time, they'll all be found and freed, but this is a wonderful start." He looked thoughtful, "I suppose the safest places would be the Mimosa empire, or here on Vestia. Even the Terran Empire would be happy to help though, I'm sure."

Starr nodded and smiled at Armin then at Asher as they spoke "Yes, the Mimosa Empire would be safer, we do have a friendship with them that still stands even without my people's empire intact.

"Good I'm glad they'll have a safe place to go," Asher said. "And it looks like Hytar really is delivering on his promise. I guess he's not entirely untrustworthy."

"Even the most unpleasant people can be useful if their objectives align with your own." Armin pointed out diplomatically. He bowed his head. "Still, this is a good start. I pray the rest will be located and liberated also."

"He is one who will follow a contract he agrees to, it's making that contract that's the hard part." Starr said with a shrug. "What sdid you come to see me about?"

Asher nodded. He looked sheepish at the question. Yeah, he hadn't just been visiting socially, he didn't do that enough lately. "I wanted to talk to you about Amari. I learned some things about him today that might interest you."

Starr tilted her head at that and sat down again "What about him?" She asked curiously

"Maybe you've been around him enough to know he understands some Common? Today Marcus told me that Amari can speak some Common too, he just doesn't because he sees Marcus as his owner, and his last owner... Trained him... To not speak near him." Asher frowned. Yeah, it was horrible to think about someone doing that to a child. He hated to imagine it.
"I visited with Amari while Marcus wasn't in the room, and he talked to me. He seems like a nice kid. Scared and confused, but I don't think he's aggressive. Vestia told me Marcus asked her about the possibility of Amari staying with us. I think we should let him stay."

"Does he want to stay?" Armin asked, it was a reasonable question.

Starr listened to him talk then shrugged "It would be hard to convince the others, and there's the danger of him possibly hurting the kids when they get here, at least that's what Marcus said when they got here." She said. "He does seem to be a good kid, just unused to being free."

"He seems to like it here, and he seems to like me. I didn't ask him directly if he wanted to stay, because I didn't want to get his hopes up," Asher said softly. He nodded to Starr, "I know there is some amount of risk, but I don't think he's as feral as we thought. I think he can control himself to some extent, and Vestia can help. She's a very big ship, after all. I think you should talk to him sometime, Starr, and see what you think."

Starr smiled softly at that "If it was up to me, I would let him stay, but at the same time, make sure he knows to never use his tail on anyone on this ship. But it is not up to me alone. Matt and Ellie both still cling to the pain of the past and may take that out on him if he were to stay." She said then sighed "Does his father not want to take him now?"

"Marcus cares about him, but he doesn't think his homeworld will be welcoming to Amari, and of course Amari sees Marcus as his owner, and therefore fears him. So I think he thinks this would be a better place for Amari to live," Asher said. "Yes, we need to try and get the approval of everyone on this ship of we can. We're not going to try and let Marcus stay here, which makes it easier, but Amari's still the son of a slaver, and has instincts we don't fully understand. I don't know how we'll convince some of the crew, but we have to try."

Starr nodded then shook her head "Would his staying here make him think any of us is his new 'master'?"

Armin looked troubled. "He will always believe that man to be his master if he simply walks away now." He mused quietly.

Asher nodded thoughtfully. "If we told him that we sent Marcus away, but that Marcus still owned him, he might not think of any of us as his master," he agreed. "It might be painful for Marcus, but I think he cares about Amari enough to agree to do that."

Starr nodded, that was one way around it, if the rest allowed the child to stay, and they could explain about family to him so he could learn.