The life of a “royal son”

Following the trial, Suzu spent a lot of her time thinking about what to do with Jana after she gave birth. Jana couldn’t stay in the compound so she had two realistic options: sacrifice (she’d never do it) or banishment. But what would happen to the child? The child could go with their mother but they could also stay in the compound.

She knew she still had some time to think about it. For this she was glad because it allowed her to concentrate on Rigel. She adored him.

Rigel was insightful, well behaved, and helpful around the compound. He only had a few chores but he executed them without even needing to be asked.
He also loved his mother. Some days he followed Suzu around like a loyal puppy. They even wore matching clothes from time to time. Not intentionally, of course, but when it happened it was very cute.
On his own, however, Rigel sometimes ran into trouble. With no other children around to play with, he found himself wandering around the outside of the compound and lacking adult supervision.
He got on well enough with the adults in the clan but he really was in his own category. He was considered a “royal son” (he thought it was a strange title) and unlike the men of the clan he had his own room above the women’s quarters. He used the same facilities as the women but he was also allowed to visit the men.

Of course, this created unique problems…
No one really told Rigel about the rules of the clan but he was able to pick up on them fairly easily after that…

Soon he would learn about another important part of the clan: where nooboos came from.

Despite receiving her wish to be a mother, Tatiana still felt some bitterness towards Phoenix. Usually she avoided him at all costs, but during dinner late one afternoon she chose to sit near him and toss snarky comments his way. He ignored her for the most part until she mentioned how Jana tricked him into her pregnancy and didn’t truly care for him.
Phoenix bristled and threw up a finger.

“Jana does care for me!”
Phoenix stood and started to walk away but turned back after a moment, leaning over to speak to her in a low voice. “You’re just jealous that you won’t ever be allowed to have a real lover…” He raised an eyebrow and turned to walk towards the garden. Tatiana remained at the table, staring at her plate.

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