Upon Vestia: Chapter Seventeen

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Kay always tried so hard to be sensible and pragmatic. Asher had always loved that about him, and he loved it just as much now. He smiled softly. "No, you're definitely not alone in this."
He wasn't going to leave Kay to look after this little dragon alone. He'd gotten the guy into this situation, so now it was his job to do everything he could to help. Did that make him the other father here? Maybe. This was thoroughly confusing and he was going to need to think it over at some point. "If it wasn't already obvious, I'm here for you. Both of you," he said.

~~
Tala snorted weakly. "I do not like that butterfly well." She let Shane help her.

Tala had things she regretted? Huh, go figure. Kay had assumed she was more a punch now, don't think about it ever sort of person.

He glanced back to Asher. [With our luck, paranoia's about our only defense.]

Asher nodded. That was worryingly true. "Well," he said, "Since the butterfly is caught, I guess we're free to go wherever. Starr, would you mind looking after the baby for a while?" They really needed a name for this girl soon, calling her 'the baby' on a ship full of babies just wasn't going to work.

Starr nodded and smiled "Yeah, for now they all want to eat and sleep and bond with us." She said gently.

Kay looked grateful. [If you need me, just call.] He'd resigned himself to this now, wasn't like he could get out of it.

"Yes, we'll try to stay on the ship," Asher said. "I'll probably come back and check in later, too." He carried the baby over to the incubator to set her next to the other hatchlings to rest. "Thank you, Starr," he added gratefully.

"It is a lot to take in when you were not prepared for it." Starr said then chuckled softly. "The other two probably think Shane is their 'dad' since he is the first male they could hear."

[Does that mean they'll demand to be near him as well?] Kay asked. How did the second parent imprint work? [Do they imprint as strongly on the second parent?]

"They imprint strongest on the female, though that seems to be more because the female spends the most time with them the first month." Starr said and frowned "We don't really have 'single' fathers. Usually the female takes care of the young while the male hunts, or thats the way it used to be." She was a bit confused about that.

Kay looked thoughtful [sounds like we'll just have to see as we go along] hmm, maybe that meant the infant would stay with starr, who arguably was the better person to raise the dragons. Only time would really tell.

Asher nodded. "Who knows what's going to happen. This should be interesting, to say the least." He looked from Starr too Kay, "Come on, I think it would be a good idea for you to get out of here for a while, Kay. That was a lot of information to try and grasp at once."

Kay nodded, looking back at Starr. [We won't go far.] He felt a bit bad just running off like this, but the kids were asleep, and there wasn't much they could do anyway. She'd call if she needed them.

Starr nodded and smiled at Kay and Asher as she moved to take a seat in the chair "We will have to see as we go, there's still a lot that I haven't learned about babies yet, though I have the mirror universe's information, I am not sure how accurate that is for this universe."

"I'm sure there's plenty of information here too," Asher said, "All the information in the libraries, plus the other star dragons and their knowledge. Hopefully we'll be able to learn a lot."

Starr nodded to Asher "I know, Aramin is making something for me to be able to carry them in so I can continue to research without leaving them alone." Everyone was so busy since arriving here, they all had so much to learn and an uncertain timeframe to learn it in

Kay nodded again. The amount left to learn was pretty daunting. He forced a smile to Starr and decided caffeine was a necessity at this point. Coffee and some time to process all this.

Asher gave Kay a sympathetic smile. "Come on," he said, heading for the door.

Kay waved to Starr and headed for the kitchens, rather focused on his mission to get coffee so he didn't have to think about anything else for a short while.

Asher went along because he was totally going to stay nearby and worry about Kay unless Kay shooed him off, dammit.

He was actually fairly grateful for the company. Once he'd made himself a hot drink he found somewhere to sit down and drink it, taking small cautious sips as he slowly calmed his nerves and worked out what he wanted to say.

Asher sat near Kay in silence. He'd discovered over the past few months that it was usually a good idea to let Kay decide when and what to talk about when he was under stress. Besides, just having someone there as silent emotional support could be pretty comforting, right? He thought so anyway.

After several minutes Kay finally set his mug down, took his tablet out and wrote [I am really not at all sure how to take all this.]

"No," Asher replied after a moment, "I'm not sure either. It's very puzzling to me, and I can only imagine how much more disorienting it is for you."

Kay nodded. [I think i'd perhaps feel a little better if we knew for certain how all this worked. There's every chance all three dragons will look to Starr as their mother regardless, but there's also the possibility that the youngest one will, dare I say it, look to me as that role. I admit, I rather hope the former is true, being raised by a member of her own species will in the long run be better for her development and Starr is a far better parent than I believe I could ever be.] He lowered his head. He was scared. [I don't want to hurt the child and I seem to have an uncanny knack for hurting those close to me. ] He shook his head.

"The uncertainty really does make this considerably harder," Asher agreed. "It would be best if she chose Starr as her," he tried to figure out how to put it, "default parent, but of course it's hard to explain that to a baby. We have no idea what she'll do."
He looked at Kay sadly, that eternal fear Kay had that he was going to destroy everyone he cared about was such a crippling thing, and it hurt to see. "I don't know what's going to happen in the future, whether she'll grow up happy, or safe, or even free. This hatchling hasn't exactly hatched into a forgiving world, and there's not much we can do except try to protect her if we can. I know you have every reason to be scared you'll hurt her, but truly, you're do everything in your power to prevent that, and really, what more can any of us do?" He sighed, "We all mess up, we all hurt people sometimes, in ways we can't ever forgive ourselves for. It's scary and painful, but it doesn't mean we're doomed to have that happen again and again forever."

Kay squeezed his eyes shut, no matter how many times rational arguments were brought up, it didn't stop that nagging fear and uncertainty in the back of his mind that insisted he was cursed.
[What's done is done.] He wrote shakily, trying to convince himself as much as anyone else. [At least we have support, she has support. She stands a far better chance here at least. Unlike my siblings and I she won't have to just muddle through, she will have members of her own race around to teach her. She also has a huge extended family, all three of them do, who I know will fight to protect them. This isn't a good time to bring life into the universe, but Starr knew that when she brought them over, and they more than likely have a better chance at a decent life here than they did on that other Vestia. ] He remembered with a shudder how horrible that place was. [I think, for now, I just have to take it one day at a time and see what happens. Maybe she'll accept Starr as primary caregiver, maybe she won't. But until we know for sure, i'm going to try not to panic yes?] He picked up his drink again. Oh he was already panicking.

"One day at a time, yes," Asher said quietly. He hated seeing Kay like this, knowing there was really nothing he could say or do that would help. It was depressing to be reminded just how much misery Kay had been through, and how it still weighed him down so heavily. "Focus on the present. Right now there's a baby dragon who's asleep. She's with Starr, and she's healthy and cared for. You're here, with me, on a ship full of people who will be glad to help in any way they can. You have coffee, and nowhere specific to be right now. If you need to take your mind off this problem for a while, we can find something to distract you with. The baby is safe, what matters right now is you, and whatever you need to start coping with this."

Kay smiled softly. Yeah, she was safe. He should feel good about that shouldn't he? So why did he feel like the choice to intervene had irreparably screwed the poor kid's life up. Eugh.
He leaned into Asher and exhaled deeply. One day at a time, one step...