Path book 1 Jane. chapter 5

"Mommy, I made breakfast!" Vanka shouts. "And I fed Zhenya!"

"Hi, Mom," I say softly.

She doesn't say anything, just comes up to me, squats down and hugs me, I snuggle up to her. We are silent, words are superfluous, everything is already clear. Vanka ran up to us, hugged both of us and said softly:

"You're the best, my mom and my Zhenya!"

We look at him, and his gray eyes are serious. Suddenly he smiles, and from his smile the whole burden of worries falls off mom like a husk. She laughs and kisses her brother.

"You are our darling, Vanya! What would we do without you!"

"We were hungry!"

Loud laughter fills the kitchen, Mom laughs, I laugh, Vanka laughs loudly. Along with laughter, the fear and tension of the last 24 hours go away.

My father comes into the kitchen, and I can feel his joy at the sight of my laughing face. He comes up to me, picks me up and hugs me tightly, I hug his neck and forcefully press against his unshaven cheek. I whisper:

"I was so scared for you! How did you do that?! You're an engineer, you said so yourself!"

"Oh, don't tell me, sweetheart! And there's a hole in an old woman, as they say! I owe you my life now, daughter!"

"You don't owe me anything, Daddy!"

"Why is that?"

"Because! Because you're my daddy, and that's enough!"

The sun is shining brightly outside, flooding the world with warmth. I feel like I want to go out in the sun, sit in an armchair and bask. I tell my father about it. He takes me out into the courtyard, sits me down in a chair. I'm sitting and basking in the greenish rays of our star. There is peace all around, our tree is quietly rustling its leaves, whistles are squeaking in the branches. Insects are flying with a loud buzz. There is a clanging sound from the neighboring plot, it's Uncle Coel who pulled out the lawn mower and was about to take care of the lawn. He saw me, his eyes flew open, and his emotions were one of surprise, joy, and relief.

"Eugene! I see you're feeling better."

"Yes, Uncle Kol! Here, I'm basking in the sun. Call Gina, please."

He goes to the door of the house, opens it and shouts inside:

"Gina! Ginaa! Come here, Eugene is in the yard."

Gina flies out of the house like a disheveled sparrow, peering at me, joy in her emotions. He runs up to the chair and throws his arms around my neck.

"Eugene! Eugene-e! I was so worried, I didn't sleep half the night, I kept thinking about you! Are you okay?!"

"Well, almost! If you don't get off me, I'll fall, and it's still hard for me to get up."

Gina recoiled and blushed deeply.

"I'm sorry, Zhenya! I was very happy about it! You sit for a while, and I'll get some berry juice. Won't you have some juice?"

"Of course I will! Bring it on!" I say with a smile.

"I'll be right there, I'll be quick!" my friend rammed the raid and disappeared into the house.

Coel strapped a plastic grass tank to the lawn mower, checked the battery charge, flipped the switch, and the lawn mower rattled its knives softly. Slowly pushing her in front of him, whistling and dancing, he walked across the lawn in front of the house. Walking along the decorative fence separating our plots, he stopped, turned off the mower and asked me.

"What do you think, Eugene? Will I be able to make... what's his name... an English lawn?"

"Uncle Kol, but according to the British, any lawn becomes "English" if it has been regularly mowed for two hundred years. The British themselves say so."

"Hmm... we Batarians have been living for quite a long time, so I have every chance to verify this statement!"

I tilted my head to my right shoulder and nodded slightly. Uncle Coel smiled, returned my bow, turned on the mower and, whistling, continued his interrupted occupation.

Gina slowly came out of the Natol's house, carrying a round tray on which stood a pot-bellied decanter with a blood-red liquid and two tall thick-walled glass glasses. My friend slowly walked towards me. It seems to be a heavy tray. Gina carefully looked at her feet and often stopped. Deniska appeared on my doorstep, stretched himself sweetly until he crunched, looked around, saw me and smiled. What a beautiful smile my brother has, beaming, Gagarin! My brother looked at Gina hobbling along, chuckled, shook his head, went over to her and took the tray away.

"Tell me, little one, why are you carrying such a heavy load? Just a little more, and she would have fallen or dropped the tray."

"This is a juice for Eugene! I said I'd bring it, and I was carrying it, but for some reason it turned out to be so heavy. Ugh."

"Well done, Ginny! You are a true friend!" My brother said loudly.

He put the tray on the grass, poured the juice into glasses and handed it to us, drank the rest himself, straight from the decanter. I sat and savored the berry juice. Sweet and sour, reminding me of a mixture of raspberry and redcurrant, slightly astringent, leaving a pleasant light aftertaste. It is made from "ground berries", large berries that grow in the foothills, on creeping bushes that seem to spread out on the ground. It is collected every year with the help of collection robots. Juice is made from most of it, and wine is made from the rest. As our blue doc says, "This is not juice, but a straight vitamin and micronutrient cocktail." The local Azari called it "The Gift of the Goddess."

I hear heavy breathing on my right, I see our bear, a shaggy monster, sitting, looking at me, breathing fast, tongue hanging sideways. I must have been hunting again, and there's a happy face. For some reason, I don't feel well as a dog, unlike a cat. He lay down on the grass, put his paws under the chair, put his head on my feet, and took a deep breath. He lies there, only his eyebrows moving when he glances at me. I started stroking his forehead, scratching behind his ears, he squeezed his eyes shut, and I could faintly feel his joy and pleasure. Another shaggy head is thrust under his left arm, there is a slight feeling of jealousy and expectation of affection, a soft "mrrow" sound: "Haven't you forgotten me, little friend?" I haven't forgotten, my cat!

Gina squeaked,

"I'm just!" — and flew into the house, flew back a minute later.

She holds a sketchbook and pencils in her hands. She sat down in the second chair, putting it in front of her. His gaze became thoughtful and detached, his emotions calm and focused. Her brother stood behind her, leaned on the back of the chair, and watched the process. The further he went, the more his delight was felt, because it's so great to watch a truly talented reasonable person work, and no matter what he does. How, seemingly out of nothing, or out of the most ordinary things, beauty arises. I'm sitting with my eyes closed, basking in their emotions.

The gate creaked, and I was overcome by some wild, unbridled joy, thin arms wrapped around my shoulders, the cold tip of her nose was pressed into my neck, I felt a slight bite on my shoulder and a hot, slightly rough tongue went through the same place. Resentment flashed through the feelings, and in a quiet girlish voice in Turian they said:

"Promise me! What! You! Never! You won't do it again! You will never scare me like that! And yet! Promise me you won't die! You are close to me, in my heart!"

I turn my head and meet Nain's blue-blue eyes, like Dakar's. It flashed through my mind that Turians have bites and such licking is a manifestation of very tender feelings! Only between relatives! And close. And the last phrase is an appeal only to a brother or sister. I look into her eyes and answer in the same low voice in the same Turian:

Jane promised, Nainerr Taanir, that she would do everything so that her eyes would not see Eugene's death. "You, cherished by my heart!"

Nain beamed, snuggled up to me, bit me softly again, and sat down next to the chair on the grass, leaning against the hot side of the couch.

He's here! He wrapped me up with his feelings like a warm terry blanket, he's the only sensible person in the village. A four-fingered hand touches my shoulder, the other one strokes the redhead, the cat calmly puts his head under the caress. He is squatting on his haunches, anxiously looking at me with his sky-light blue eyes.

"I heard what you said to Nain" a soft voice in Turian.

"Do you want me to say the same words to you, Ham?"

"Yes, I do! Will you tell me?"

"You're close to me in my heart," and I look straight into Ham's light-blue eyes. I lean into his face and whisper. "Daddy Ham!"

In response, there is joy in emotions.

"I have heard you, cherishing you with my heart! My sworn sister," He sits down on the grass next to the armchair. He looks in front of him, continuing to stroke the Bars. We sit in silence for a while. The meaning of what happened slowly dawns on me. Turians make such decisions with the whole family.

"When will the parents come there? And when did you decide?"

"At night. Yesterday, we all suddenly realized that you mean much more to us than just neighbors and friends. The rest is empty. Everyone agreed. And they're coming any minute now."

"It's unexpected, but very pleasant! So now I have two more brothers, two sisters, and a couple of caring parents to boot. I'm rich!"

"Just like me!" He takes my hand in his. How warm his hand is...

Kaadi and Dakar enter the gate, with Saleen, the youngest of the Tanirs, born on January 20th last year, waddling next to them. The little one sees Polkan and runs to him with a squeak, sits astride, hugs him. That's it, now he'll be sitting on our dog for at least an hour.

Mom stands on the porch and looks at Kaadi coming up to her, holding a glass of juice in her hands, a smile on her lips. He goes down the stairs, puts an unfinished glass on the top, turns around. Kaadi approaches, takes his mother's right hand in his left hand, covers it with his right hand, leans close and says something. Mom's amazement is visible to the naked eye, her left hand is pressed to her chest, and her emotions are a real storm. It's not every day that Turians make such an offer to people... I don't think I've ever heard of it. Although, of course, they don't shout about this on all corners. Mom tilted her head to the left, tears glistened in her eyes, she hugged Kaadi and whispered something in response, there is no doubt that!

"Did I miss something?" Deniska's voice came from the left. He was already sitting on the grass next to Ham.

Nain got up, walked around the chair and hugged her brother, whispered a phrase in his ear, Ham bent down and repeated it after his sister. Denis sat in silence for a few seconds, just clapped his eyes wide open.

"Are you serious about this?" emotions are in turmoil. He just can't believe it!

Turians look serious.

"This is not a joke, brother!" I say. "What do you say?"

He hugs Nain tighter, bends down and hugs Ham with his other arm:

"I hear you! Those close to me! Cherished by my heart!" the brother whispers a ritual phrase in Turian. I watch as Dakar approaches Mom, the ritual repeats, but Mom continues to stand, pressed against the Turian's chest. He raises his head and looks intently into each other's eyes. I read lips:

"Thank you, brother!" Mom speaks in Russian.

His father, Leshka and Vanka come out from behind the house, his father has a folding table in his hands, Leshka has two folding chairs, Ivan, puffing, drags another one. Seeing the gathering on the lawn, the father smiled broadly. Slightly surprised, Kaadi approached him, ran her hand over his cheek, bent down... The table that had fallen out of his father's hands clattered loudly. Her father took Kaadi by the shoulders and fixed his gaze on her face. He looked at her for a few seconds, smiled broadly at her, hugged her, and answered. Then he pulled away, walked up to Dakar, the men held each other's forearms, looked into each other's eyes, said the ritual phrase softly, and then hugged tightly. Nino broke away from Deniska and skipped over to Leshka, who put down the chairs and bent down. Nain hugged his neck, his brother straightened up and picked up the girl, she bent over to his ear ... from what she heard, Leshka's eyes became — well, just like an anime character. He hugged the Turian tightly, answered, and just stood there for another minute, hugging Nain tightly.

"Have you forgotten about me?" a clear voice from the right. I turn around and meet Tam's shining green eyes. Behind all this, Coel watched with a smile, barely hiding his delight. And Gina, who manages to sketch something in an album with incredible speed. Then Ray and Vaska came, and Azari gave me a box of glass balls, saying that this was the best simulator for a beginner biotic.

In the evening, I heard my parents talking in the kitchen.

"Mishka! Is everything going to work out for us! Is this whole multi-species colony thing really going to work?"

"Yes, Dayan! Now I'm absolutely sure of it!"

"You were right! You're right! It's a pity that my father doesn't see it. All his arguments would have been shattered in dust!"

"Contact Steve, let him bring the old people to visit, and he hasn't come for a long time! My best friend completely forgot about me."

It looks like my dad is at the origin of the colony. So it's not easy! I'll have to ask him and the other seniors about it!

I emerge from the depths of memory, forcing the balls one by one to dive into the box. The gate slams, loud laughter is heard from the lawn, interspersed with heavy breathing. I go to the window, and the brothers are lying on the grass with their arms outstretched. Deniska's skin glistens with sweat.

"13:50, Hame! We have improved our time!"

"Oh, yes! I thought at the end that I would just fall and die!"

"Look, Eugene is looking at us!"

"We see you, Little Fox!"

I look at the vacationing brothers, and an amazing meeting that took place last June comes back to my mind. A meeting that finally set the record straight, gave me amazing knowledge, taught me how to control my empathy, and allowed me to feel this world much more deeply. I realized with all doom that I would have to face a living nightmare... the Reapers!