Warning -- If you're a prude, or live in a state where prudish people pass stupid laws, you might not want to read this story. There be gay people here. Sometimes violence too. If you can't handle that, too bad for you, go somewhere else. Everyone else...enjoy.
Once more, my thanks to Ed for his help.
Chapter 8 - Distortions on Reality
The gentle voice and soft hand intruded on Justin's sleep, and for a moment he let his thoughts turn malicious. But he was not that mean. Instead he just opened his eyes and looked at the young page that had awakened him.
"M'lord" the boy began. It took a moment for Justin to remember his name - Jasin.
"I told you last time, don't call me that" Justin said irritably, sitting up and shaking the sleep from his head. He knew he didn't need to sleep, but a lifetime of habit was hard to break.
"Sorry, sir" Jasin said softly, shaking his dark mane of hair. "There's an emergency at Sydney Memorial. They've asked for the duty Lord."
"Well, then, I guess they'll just have to settle for me, won't they?" Justin said with a laugh. Jasin had his clothes draped over his arm, so Justin took them and started dressing himself. The big bed felt empty with the twins gone on a diplomatic mission to the Shapers' Republic. It'd be good to get out of there anyway.
He dressed in the camoflauge pants and brown t-shirt. He'd worn this at the Center, and it still felt more right than the robes the twins wore. He knew that if he ever decided to accept appointment to the Lords Council he'd have to switch, but for now he could wear what he wanted. Five months after he'd been reawakened from his sleep he still hadn't taken the oaths required for membership on the Lords Council.
Still, he had taken on many of the responsibilities associated with that commitment. Tonight, like every 8th night (8 day weeks were another thing he struggled to get use to), he assumed duty night. That meant he was on-call to the local hospitals, police, and fire units to assist with anything they couldn't handle himself. Sydney Memorial was the main hospital in this city of several million and handled most of the trauma cases.
He thanked Jasin for his help once he was dressed. The boy disappeared for a moment and returned with the gold medallion that proclaimed him the Duty Lord. With a smile and nod for the 14-year old, he put the medallion around his neck and concentrated on the room set aside for teleportation at the hospital.
Seconds later he emerged from the room to find a nervous orderly waiting outside. The young woman was in her early twenties and her dark skin glistened with sweat in the harsh lighting. She stared at the man emerging from the room, taking in his different clothing, then focusing on the medallion he wore.
"M'lord. They are waiting for you in the surgery theatre." she said after staring at him and bowing her head slightly. She had imbued the title with a lilt in her voice, as if it was a question.
"Justin is fine, and please lead the way." he told her with a smile. He knew the way, but felt it best to let her lead him. It was a quick trip down a few hallways, a set of stairs and through another set of hallways. Less than ten minutes after he'd been woken from sleep, he found himself in the operating room (or theatre as they called it here).
The surgery team stared just as the orderly had. He hadn't taken time to put a gown and mask on, after all, his gift would take care of the problems here quickly. The man who must be the surgeon walked over to him, eyes resting on the medallion for a moment, and spoke to him.
"Dr. Staris, m'lord." the man introduced himself. "Our patient here is a young male, about four years of age. His family was vacationing in Selene, near the outback. Their hovercar malfunctioned and crashed. Parents were killed instantly. The emergency beacon led a rescue crew there and they stabilized the boy and his sister. Medi-flight brought them here."
"So, why was I called?" Justin asked as he followed the doctor to the table the boy was lying on.
"The boy has suffered massive blunt trauma. Broken ribs, both arms, both legs, we think there's spinal damage as well. His spleen's ruptured too. We've kept him alive, barely, but there's just too much damage to repair by normal means. I was hoping to get an experienced Lord here. I haven't met you before." the doctor said in a rush. The look he gave Justin spoke volumes about the man's assumptions of Justin's capabilities.
"Don't worry, doctor" Justin assured the man. "I may have been asleep for the last few thousand years, but I was doing stuff like this long before anyone else here was even born."
"As you say, sir." the doctor said softly, his eyes going wide. Justin could make out the man's startled thought 'It's him! I hope he's really changed.'
The man's thoughts troubled him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He shook his head slightly and put the comment from his mind. He had a boy to save here. As he reached the table and looked at the small form lying on it, his heart leaped into his throat and tears formed in his eyes.
The boy was unconscious, fortunately for him. The body was draped with surgical coverings, but Justin could see where he'd been cut open to save his life. Tubes ran in and out of him, and a respirator kept his lungs moving. Those weren't what caused his reaction though. It was the boy's face. A face he'd last seen, dead in the back of a humvee. Tyler Jordan. His nephew.
He knew it couldn't be his nephew, dead now for thousands of years. Yet, laying there on the table, on the verge of death was a boy that looked so much like his dead nephew that Justin felt torn apart for a moment. The next he moved into action. He ran his hands over the boy's still form while he scanned all of the boy's injuries. The motion was more for the benefit of the onlooking surgical staff than from necessity.
Soft blue light flowed from his hands and rested on the boy's slumbering form. Wherever the light touched, healing moved into the shattered body. Bones knitted themselves back together. Torn ligaments reconnected, providing the support for the bones. Poisons from the ruptured spleen fled out of the body and the fragments of the spleen itself recongealed into that important organ. Rib bones resumed their shape and the protection of the chest cavity, and that small cut in the spinal cord regrew as if it had never been severed.
It was only a few moments of time before the boy's wounds were healed, but for Justin it felt like ages. Healing always seemed more difficult than destroying things, but was far more rewarding. A side affect was that his healing had also driven the anasthesia out of the boy, who sat up and looked around him, scared. Until he saw Justin. A smile filled his little face and he leaped off the table into Justin's arms.
Justin stood there, shocked for a moment. He held onto the boy he had just healed and smiled gently while the boy hugged him tight. His left hand stroked the boy's hair and he whispered "Tyler" softly.
"You the blue light." the boy said loudly after a few moments had passed.
"What, what do you mean?" Justin asked him quietly, pulling his head back a little to look at the boy's face.
"You the blue light. It was all dark and I was scared. Then this blue light came and made the dark go away. That was you!"
"What's your name?" Justin asked softly, smiling at the well-spoken kid.
"Sid" the boy said, "but I don't like. I like what you said better. Tyler."
"Then I'll call you that whenever I see you, ok?" Justin asked. He tried to set the boy down, but the lad wouldn't let go.
"Mommy?" the boy asked quietly, his face going pensive.
"She's not here." Justin said softly, not sure how to tell the boy his family was dead. He turned to the doctore and mouthed 'sister'. The doctor understood and motioned to the surgery theatre across the way. She was still being worked on. Then he motioned Justin to follow a nurse out.
The female nurse led Justin out the door and down a floor to where a room had been prepared. Just as quickly as he'd awakened, the boy fell back to sleep, head resting on Justin's shoulder, arms and legs wrapped around Justin tightly. When they reached the room, he gently pried the boy loose and laid him on the bed to sleep.
"Poor kids," the nurse said softly.
"Yeah, losing parents is always hard. It took me years to get over losing mine."
"How old were you?" she asked gently, both of them still staring at the sleeping boy.
"Twenty. I was overseas in war at the time. I didn't know they'd died until a week later and they were already buried. My sister didn't know to contact the Red Cross."
"Red Cross? War?" the woman asked, confused.
"Never mind," Justin said softly. "It was a long time ago."
"Oh" she said softly. "The girl's in a lot better shape and should be out soon. The Children's Service should be able to pick them both up in a few days. He should be fine after your healing, but we'll keep him here as long as she's here."
"Children's Service?" Justin asked, confused. "What about their family? I know their parents didn't make it, but there has to be aunts or uncles."
"According to the doctor, records were searched shortly after they were identified, before they got here. No surviving family member to the third level. Only third or fourth cousins of the parents. Seems both families lived in Pareth. Their parents survived because they were on holiday here with some friends."
"Pareth?" Justin asked, not sure if he wanted to know.
"It was a city on the border of the Shapers Republic. Word was that it was destroyed by some Guardians a few years back." she answered softly, wondering how he could not know about it.
"Another thing for them to pay for." he told her softly. He looked back at the boy as they left the room, feeling sad about what would happen later with the boy and his sister. Growing up in a foster or group home, bereft of kin. With any luck, they'd at least be kept together. He thanked the nurse and decided it was time to go home.
A moment later and he was back in the apartments he shared with the twins. He'd reappeared in the main room, thinking about getting into the hot tub hidden under the floor there. He was surprised to see the floor boards already moved back and the water boiling away with a soft scent of jasmine filling the room.
"You're back!" Jasin exclaimed when he came out of the bedroom and saw Justin standing there. He then blushed and said "Uh, I mean, welcome back m'lord."
"Thank you, yes." Justin said, eyeing the boy standing there in the hose and tunic of a page. "But I liked the first statement better. I don't like being called a 'Lord'. I've told you that."
"Yes, sir," the boy said sullenly, hanging his head down. "But the Head Page would have my hide if I was disrespectful."
"Let me put it this way, then." Justin told the boy sternly. "Mr. Ackeman is fine. Sir is fine. Justin is fine. You pick, but I don't want to hear 'Lord' again. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" the boy said, raising his head and smiling. "I thought you might like to rest in the hot tub when you got back. It's only an hour till dawn and you have training this morning, then the game you arranged after that."
"Damn you're getting good, Jasin." Justin said with a laugh. The hot tub seemed the right thing to sooth out the muscles knotting up his back. "Any word on when Jas..I mean Frank and Kelly will be back?"
"No change yet, sir." the boy said as he moved to take the clothes Justin was now taking off. "They are still expecting sometime later this week to return."
"Good, I'll be glad when they're home. I can barely feel them from here." Justin said as he finished taking off the clothes he'd worn and slipped into the scented hot water. A groan escaped him as the jets in the tub hit the small of his back and unknotted the tight muscles there.
"Was it serious?" Jasin asked as he put the clothes away and moved back into the main room. He headed to where Justin was sitting and started massaging the neck and shoulder muscles there.
"Yes, and no. That's good." Justin said, relaxing under the young man's ministrations. "It was easy enough to heal, but the boy's got some rough times ahead. It didn't help that he looked like my dead nephew."
"Why does he have rough times ahead if you healed him?" Jasin asked curiously.
"His parent are dead, and so are all of his family except his sister. I assume she's only a little child too."
"That's sad. At least I know my family are safe. They get a good stipend while I'm here and that sure helps them out."
"True, Jasin, true. I understand why you like serving here." Justin said as a sigh escaped his lips when Jasin unknotted a particularly stubborn muscle.
"Thank you....Justin." the boy said after a moment. He stopped his massage for a moment, leaning back on his heels while he mustered the courage to say something he'd thought about for a while.
"Do you like me?" he finally asked.
"Of course, you're a good page and I appreciate everything you do. Besides that, you're pretty smart and make good conversation when they're gone." He didn't have to say who was gone, Jasin would know.
"Then, why, um, why don't you take me to your bed?" Jasin asked hesitantly.
"WHAT?!" Justin exclaimed, standing up in the water, which splashed over the edge at his abrupt movement. He turned and faced the young page who was now sprawled backwards, hands barely holding him off the ground, face pale.
"Please, I didn't mean to offend! I'll just get you a towel!" the frightened boy said hurriedly. He scrambled to his feet and started to rush to the closet where the towels were.
"Hold it right there, young man!" Justin said firmly, climbing out of the tub. He crossed to the boy, not caring about the water dripping on the carpeting. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders and turned him around.
"You didn't offend me, Jasin. You surprised me though."
"I'm sorry, m'lord. I didn't mean to."
"It's okay. Now, why would you ask me that question?"
"Well, most of the Lords bed their pages. It's supposed to help them know things about the people, help them keep us safe."
"First off, I haven't taken the Oaths required to be a Lord." Justin said firmly, but a soft smile was on his face as he looked down at the trembling page. "Second, I have no intention of taking a young man like you to bed. I've got two perfectly healthy lovers who will be back soon enough. There are better ways of getting to know the world around you than bedding people."
"Is that why you are teaching us that game...uh...baseball?" Jasin asked, now looking up into Justin's face.
"Yup." Justin said with a smile. He reached into the closet the boy had been heading for and started drying himself.
"So, what's going to happen to that boy you saved today?" Jasin said, changing the subject quickly.
"Children's Service will pick him up and find a place for him." Justin said. "Will you do me a favor?"
"Anything, sir." Jasin said quickly as he moved into the bedroom to get another set of clothes for Justin to change into. "You don't have to ask, it's my duty."
"Well, this is a personal one." Justin said, following the page. "I want you to have Affairs Office look into the boy's situation and track where he's put. I think I want to keep track of him."
"Then why don't you have them place him here, sir?" Jasin asked, handing Justin a fresh outfit.
"Here?" Justin asked, not sure what Jasin meant.
"Well, Lord Breston has two kids he adopted living with him. He doesn't like to sleep with pages either so he adopts kids. There's no reason you can't."
"Hmmm, let me think about it. Let the Affairs Office know I may do that."
"Will do, sir. Do you want your breakfast here or would you like to visit the cafeteria again?
"Here's fine. Isn't it about time for you to go home for the day?" Justin said, remembering the uproar he'd caused last time he visited the cafeteria.
"Yes, sir. Barstie'll be here soon with your breakfast."
"Thanks, then. Have a good time. Enjoy your days off."
"Will do, Justin." the boy said with a smile as he headed out the door.
A few hours later, Justin was ready to throw that breakfast back up. This training session was not what he had expected, and was far more tiring than anything that had come before it. He groaned again as the needles of pain resumed their march up his skin.
Before him, a solitary flicker of flame burned in on itself, fueled only by his will. There was no atmosphere in this room, and it took all his strength of will to keep the flame from guttering out. The penalty for that was more than he wanted to think about.
On the other side of the flame stood Bester. His face was calm, and the curly brown hair framed it perfectly. His features were what most would describe as ordinary, the pockmarks of teenage acne still visible. To Justin, it was a mystery as to why the man didn't wipe that away with a thought. After all, most of the gifted had changed their physcial appearances to what their ideal appearance of themselves were.
'Pride' was Bester's answers to the unspoken question. Justin's mental shields were down for this session, so Bester had been able to hear the mental ponderings. 'This is who I am and I'm proud of myself, all I've achieved. Why would I want to change it'
A soundless grunt was all Justin could muster as Bester increased the feeling of needles running along his skin. He almost lost the flame when a sensation like that of his hand melting was added, then the burn of his other hand freezing until it was little more than a chunk of ice.
'Enough' came another mental voice into both their heads. The voice belonged to Bester's twin, Jerod. The sound of atmosphere hissing into the room filled the chamber, and Justin's body returned to feelings of normalcy...except for the lingering bits of pain. The flame he'd been holding winked out as Justin raised his own personal shields that he usually kept around himself.
"Good job!" Bester said with his kiwi accent, coming over to Justin and slapping him on the back. "Now I see why everyone makes a big deal about you."
"Still not good enough to keep from being caged up." Justin murmured, referring to his imprisonment of the last few thousand years.
"You were caught by surprise." Bester said softly, and Justin was surprised at an image welling up from the man of Justin in bed with the twins. It was gone in a flash and Justin shook it from his mind.
"That was a rough bit, there. How'd I do?" he asked his trainers when they met back in the control room.
"Very good," Jerod said. "Only five others made it that far during the pain test. Most of us can't really accept, down deep, that we really are so different from regular people. They let the pain take control and act like animals, fighting the pain instead of ignoring it."
"It really is irrelevant to us." Bester added. "All that matters is our will."
"Sounds like a lecture I gave the twins a long time ago." Justin chuckled, rubbing his hands idly, remembering the pain. "But I never did think of this way of getting the point across."
"You're too nice." Bester said matter-of-factly. "This test is too cruel for someone like you to come up with."
"Who did?"
"The Parkers did." Jerod answered his question after a pause.
"Funny, I never thought of them as being that cruel. But I'm glad they did." Justin said softly.
"They'll do anything they can for our land, they're dedicated to our cause." Jerod stated.
"Is that their friend or the High Lord talking?" Justin asked, his voice still low.
"Both. The four of us have traded that office between us for the last few thousand years." Bester answered for his brother.
"We will not see our land swallowed by either the Guardians or the Shapers." Jerod's voice was soft, but passion filled it. "We are the small guys here, always under the threat of being swallowed by one side or the other. We almost made it a while ago with the space colonies, but that plan really backfired on us, big time."
"How?" Justin asked.
"That's a discussion for another time," Jerod said quickly. "We have a meeting to go to, and you have a game, I understand."
"Yeah, a sport I use to love a lot. Hope you don't mind me bringing it back."
"No way! We might even go watch a game sometime!" Bester said, then added more seriously. "Have you given more thought about joining the Council?"
"Yes, and I'm still not ready to say yes." Justin answered honestly. "But I must say each day brings me closer to it."
"Good, just let us know when you're ready." Jerod said with smile.
"That confident, eh?"
"Of course." Bester said as they left the room. "We're the best."
With that, they were gone and Justin followed the other hallway back to the main area of the Palace. It was now shortly after noon, and the teams would be forming up at the field. He decided to jog the rest of the way and had managed to use the exercise to shake the last feelings of the training session out of his mind by the time he reached the field.
There he found all in readiness for the day's game. The baseball diamond looked perfect, and there were even people in the stands to watch. Two teams were formed up, mostly Pages from the Palace, and the few adults he'd suckered into being umpires. When they noticed his arrival, still in his cammies, he was greeted by excited shouts of thirty-odd teenage boys.
The Head Page, one of the adults Justin had harangued into being an umpire, trotted over to greet him. The boys from both teams followed him, all of them talking excitedly. It was all Justin could do to keep from breaking down laughing. Of course he didn't have the heart to tell them that they were all wearing their ball caps backwards. It just made them all look a little to devilish.
"Well, sir." he began, just slightly breathing heavier, "We're ready to try this game of yours out."
The rest of the morning passed quickly for Justin as he tried to lead the teams in a game that had been dead for a few thousand years. It was a lot like the little leauge games he remembered as a kid, complete with two outfielders banging their head together when they went after a fly ball. At the end, though, the red team had won. Justin was pleased that their team captain had been Jasin.
He found himself leading both teams of youths, almost all of them Pages, to the refectory where lunch was provided. He'd given the cooks there careful lessons on a form of food long dead here...pizza. Like teenagers from his youth, the Pages took to pizza like crazy, quickly devouring everything in sight. As the boys left the refectory, he relaxed for a moment, sitting beside Jasin and the Head Page.
"You know, I might actually like that game." Jasin said with a laugh.
"Well, I must say that today brought back a lot of good memories." Justin said with a chuckle. "Of course, the major leagues rarely saw collisions like that."
"I think that was the best part!" exclaimed the Head Page.
"Yup, well..." Justin's voice trailed off as one of the older Pages entered the room, followed by a strange adult in a suit, carrying a young boy Justin recognized from last night. The boy was crying on the adult's shoulder, but his head perked up when he heard Justin's voice trailing off.
"Blue LIGHT!" the boy yelled, retracting himself from the adult's grip and crossing the refectory room in a flash. He leaped into the air, fully expecting Justin to catch him, which Justin did.
"Looks like he's safe." Jasin murmured to the Head Page.
"Pardon me, m'lord." the man in the suit said. "I'm Lucin Markel with CPS. I was given to understand that you might be interested in adopting the young lad here?"
"Depends on what the circumstances are, and where his sister is." Justin said slowly. Sid, no..Tyler had buried himself into Justin's shoulder and wasn't letting go any time soon. Justin motioned Lucin to a seat and sat across from him.
"His sister?" Lucin said a little unsteadily. "I'm sorry, she didn't make it through the night."
"What do you mean she didn't make it?!" Justin shouted, rage filling him. The boy still clasped in his arms whimpered a little, but gripped him tighter as Justin got to his feet and loomed over the hapless Lucin.
"Um, m'lord!" the man gasped as Jasin and the Head Page each grabbed one of Justin's arms to calm him down. "She, she had some type of poison in her and the doctors didn't recongize it until too late. The anasthesia, combined with the poison lowered her respiration to the point where she lost it after they took her off the respirator."
"Damn them!" Justin nearly shouted, but lowered his voice so as not to scare the boy he was holding. "Why didn't they call me back?"
"She passed too quickly for you to be summoned sir. After that, well they didn't know until later this morning that you'd taken an interest in them. Do you still want to take care of the boy?"
"Of course" Justin said, pulling the boy away from his shoulder for a moment, looking deep into the four year old's eyes. "Tyler, son. Do you want to stay with me?"
"PLEASE!" the boy shouted clasping his hands around Justin's head.
"Jasin, I know you're off duty, but would you get in touch with Barstie and make sure the room is prepared for our young one here?"
"Of course, sir. Happy to." Jasin said and scampered out of the room, a smile on his face. The Head Page took Lucin towards his office to take care of the paperwork necessary to complete Justin's adoption of the boy now known as Tyler.
After a few moments of holding the boy, Justin could feel him fall asleep, and then he let the tears flow. The boy looked, sounded, and acted so much like his long dead nephew that it hurt, and made it a joy to hold him. Silently he promised that this boy at least, would grow old, get married, and have a big family. Just like Alan.
'Who's Alan?' he thought for a moment, but was distracted when Barstie, his day Page came into the room and told him that the room was ready for the boy. He followed them and was a little confused when they passed the rooms he shared with the twins and entered the next one down the hall.
"Why not with us?" he asked Barstie.
"It's in their file, the Parkers don't like little kids." Barstie explained as they entered the next set of rooms. "So I got the next room over for him. You can come over here to spend time with him, that way the Parkers won't be bothered by him, m'lord."
"Bring my stuff over here too, then." Justin told the page.
"They won't like you moving out, m'lord." Barstie told him as he led Justin to one of two bedrooms off of the main room.
"Not their concern. He is my concern now." he told the page, and realized that the boy did mean more to him than his loves. Strange how fast the world changed. Tyler murmured a little in his sleep, reminding Justin that he was still holding the boy in his arms. It had seemed so natural that he'd nearly forgotten the weight in his arms.
He set the boy down gently on the large bed in this room and stood there, staring at the sleeping figure for the longest time. He felt something swelling in his heart that he remembered from a long time ago. Unconditional love filled him and he wondered where it had been these last few months.
Silently he followed Barstie out and looked at the other bedroom in this suite. It was smaller than the one he shared with the twins, but it would do. He gave the Page some directions on setting things up and changing the furniture around. He also wanted a hot tub in the main room. Definitely a necessity.
It was a few hours later that he found himself satisfied with the changes made, and the schedule for the rest. Toys for Tyler occupied one corner of the main room, and a larger bed filled Justin's room. Some paintings he'd liked occupied spaces on the walls, and gentle light flowed through a skylight he'd made himself with a few thoughts.
Just as he was finished admiring his new apartment, he heard the door to Tyler's room open, and the blond-headed boy padded out, a small frown on his face. Then he saw Justin standing there, staring at him. His face lit up and with a shout of "Blue!" he ran and jumped into Justin's arms. The next few hours passed quickly as Justin got acquainted with his newly adopted son, playing with him, talking to him, feeding him some food. Altogether one of the best afternoons he could remember in a long time.
He was surprised, though, to be interrupted when he and Tyler were eating dinner. The door to the hallway opened, and in came the twins, followed closely by Bester and Jerod. The look on their faces, and the feelings through the bond did not bode well for this confrontation.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kelly asked in a harsh tone, voice thick with his accent.
"This is no time to be going and picking up strays!" Frank toned in at the same time.
Tyler scrunched back in the chair he was sitting in, fear plain on his face. Justin gave his lovers dirty looks and crossed the small round dining table took the scared boy into his arms. He didn't realize he was now surrounded by a golden shield, protecting them both.
"Calm down!" he said to his two loves. "You know why I took him in, and as sure as we're bonded you know damn well I'm not going to let him go now!"
"So why did you up and move out?" Kelly said fiercely.
"Because you two don't like kids, according to the pages."
"So?" Frank asked. "Just leave him hear with nanny and stay with us."
"No." Justin said firmly, one hand patting Tyler on the back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. "He needs a parent figure with him right now, and I've adopted him. End of story. You know how I feel about kids."
"Yes, yes." Kelly said sarcastically. "You love 'em and want the best for them. But why do you have to remove yourself from our lives?"
"I'm not." Justin said softly, finally giving voice to the thoughts that had filled his head all afternoon. "But even you two have to admit things are not like they were between us."
"What do you mean?" Frank asked, fear in his eyes.
"I love you both, still, but what we had before his gone. The passion just is not there anymore, is it?" Justin said softly, realizing the golden light in the room was the shield he'd brought up, and released it.
"So, what, we're over, is that it?" Kelly asked, fear now in his eyes too.
"Kind of." Justin said, his voice still soft. "But I still love you both. Let me have this room, this time with Tyler, please."
"Fine." Frank said in a huff. "Spend your time, he'll be gone eighty years or so just like all ephemerals.
"Enough." Bester said from where he and his brother stood in the doorway. "He's made his decision and we'll all have to live with it."
"I'm glad your both here, too." Justin said to Bester and Jerod. "I've reached another decision today as well."
"You better watch it," Jerod said with a little chuckle. "We're gonna start thinking you do know to make up your mind."
"I do, I do." Justin said with a smile as Tyler pushed back from his now wet shoulder and gave him a look that asked if everything was ok. "I've decided that I'm ready to take your oaths and join you on the Council. I've got a son here now and I want to make sure he's safe for the rest of his life."
"You sure about this?" Frank asked, a smile fighting its way onto his face.
"Yes." Justin said firmly and witrhout hesitation.
"Good, we'll announce a full installment ceremony next week." Jerod said, also smiling.
"Take care of that boy!" Bester said as they made their way out.
Justin sat Tyler back down in his chair and the boy sat about digging back into his food. Justin dragged a chair closer and sat in it, staring down into the face of his newly adopted son, feeling at peace with the world. From somewhere deep inside, the thought came up 'Adam would love to see this.' and disappeared just as quickly, barely noticed by Justin at all.