Caged With The Alien Warrior

46.

Aanya

Ronan had been gone all morning. Well, since last night.

He'd come home at some point after his meeting with the High General because he'd left a note by my bedside. But not a regular handwritten note, a voice note. How that worked, I didn't know, but I didn't question it.

I just clicked the red flashing light on my bedside because that made sense. Click the red thing, Aanya.

Ronan's voice came out of the air, "Good sunrise, Aanya and Lani. I was called back to the High General for further questions. I should be back later today. My aunt has told me she will be of assistance." He cleared his throat. "I hope you are well. This should all be sorted soon."

The message ended.

I chewed a hangnail. What did the High General want with Ronan? If it was about our captivity, which it probably was, why wasn't I involved too? And why wouldn't–

Lani's cries broke through my thoughts.

"Look who's awake," I cooed at her, picking her up.

I took her down to the kitchen to get her set up with a bottle. Formula was already on the counter. Ronan must have gotten it yesterday. Smiling, I made Lani a bottle and fed her.

Mae swept into the room, wearing a long, pristine white dress. Her long hair was perfectly smooth, not a strand out of place. "Ah, you're awake, Aanya. Good sunrise to you and little Lani."

"Morning," I said while I fed a blinking Lani.

"I'd like to introduce you to the staff, if that's alright. Eco is just setting out our sunrise meal, if you'd like to join me?" she asked.

"That would be great." My mouth moved without my brain, my brain still focussing on the fact that she just said staff. They had staff? How rich was Ronan's family?

Mae led me into the dining room, food laid out like a buffet. Wow. "I wasn't sure what humans liked, so I had Eco make a little of everything."

She introduced me to the Rhodinian male, his voice soft. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am. I'm in charge of the household. If you need anything, please comm me."

Comm? What was that? I'd have to ask Ronan, I didn't want to sound dumb in front of Mae.

Before I could reply, Mae was ushering me to a seat and dishing me a plate. Eco left, leaving us to eat.

"Thank you!" I called out after him.

I set down Lani's bottle and Mae sat next to me, motionting at the newest entrant to the room. "This is Vrux. He's been employed by our House for years. He raised Korath, helped me with Kallum and Kier." Her voice caught on Kier's name but she pressed on, blinking quickly. "I'd like to suggest he help you with Lani as well. He's very good with younglings."

Vrux was a tall, strapping man. He wore a uniform of sorts, all black with white accents. His skin was a moss green, in contrast to his stark white hair. I couldn't tell his age, but be had to be older than Korath and Mae.

He inclined his head. "I would be honoured to help you, ma'am."

"That would be great, Vrux. Thank you so much." God, this was a lot to take in. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "And just Aanya is fine."

"My pleasure, Aanya. I can present you with a schedule for Miss Lani by the end of day today for optimal enrichment. It is my understanding that she is half Rhodinian and half human." He sounded out the unfamiliar word. "I researched humans but was unable to find anything on your species. Is there anything I should be aware of, specifically?"

He took out a datapad to take notes, both Mae and Vrux looking at me intently.

"Erm, well," I started, squirming under the pressure. What did I really even know about raising children? Nothing, that's what. Just what I remembered from my own childhood and TV. I took a bite of food to think, the fruit much spicier than I was expecting. I coughed and swallowed some water.

I fiddled with the tablecloth. "I'm really not an expert. I didn't have kids on Earth, I don't think I ever held a newborn until Lani," I said honestly.

"I completely understand. I felt the same way when I had Kier but I had my datapad to search anything I needed to know. And I had Vrux and a whole support system. I know this probably wasn't what you were expecting for motherhood, but I promise, we all feel like we don't know what we're doing." Mae gave me a soft smile.

"I had years of schooling in childcare to learn what I know now," Vrux offered as well.

"Well, that's a relief. What I wouldn't give right now to do a quick Google search." I laughed. I tried to remember more about kids. Jeez, why didn't I pay more attention in biology class.

I sucked in a breath and started with what I could remember. "Humans are newborns for about three months–"

Vrax looked up from his datapad. "Apologies, what is a month?"

"Oh, right. Spans are weeks," I remembered what Ronan had told me. "So a month is about 4 spans."

"Understood." Vrax nodded.

"Newborns, you know, cry and can move their head I think. Infant after that, up to like 6 months. They sit up, I think. 6 to 9 months they switch from milk or formula to more solid foods and start growing teeth. Then, 9 to 12 months it's like crawling and walking. 1 to 3 years it's talking and moving. Oh, and a year is 12 of the months I was saying." I took a deep breath after my ramble.

"Understood." Vrax wrote everything down. "Rhodinian ageing is substantially faster, so I wonder if she will develop at an average rate between human and Rhodinian development. I'll keep track."

"And I'm sure Krono will want to be apprised of her growth," Mae added. "Krono's the best healer we have." She added for my benefit.

"Yes, I'm aware. If it's best for Lani to see him, I'll let her. But I don't want her treated like some sort of lab rat." My gaze darkened, remembering what the lizardmen did.

"Lab rat?" Mae tilted her head, confused.

"Like some sort of specimen to be poked and prodded. Like what our captors did to me." I looked away from both of their pitying looks.

"No, we would never allow that." Vrux said, passionate. "Younglings are cherished, not experimented on."

"Even though she could be part of saving your race?" I questioned, raising a brow. "Ronan told me that a disease killed a lot of Rhodinian females. And now humans are biologically compatible, so this could be the future of your race. I want to help but I don't want to be an experiment. Me or Lani."

"And you won't. I swear it." Mae promised.

I hoped she could keep that promise.

Eco poked his head into the dining room. "Sorry to intrude, but there's a delivery here for Aanya Patel?"

Huh? I frowned. What delivery? 

✶ ☾ ✶

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hmmmm... what do you think the delivery is?? What do you think Ronan's up to? 

I'm having fun writing these chapters but I'm really looking forward to a 🔥 scene coming up soon...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! What did you do on NYE? I went out with friends and it was so fun!

Don't want to wait until next week to read chapter 47? Get early access to it now through my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rosinghwrites

Comments and votes are much appreciated.

Virtually yours,

Ro

P.S. I have a super fun giveaway planned for 1 million reads on CWTAW so if you wanna give the book a reread or share it with a friend to help reach 1 million reads I'd appreciate it!!