Old Friends/New Enemies

BOOKS BY THERESA SNYDER

The Farloft Chronicles

(Dragon books suitable for Middle-school to Adult)

James & the Dragon - Vol. 1

Kingdom of the Last Dragon - Vol. 2

Dragon Deception - Vol. 3

Too Many Dragons - Vol. 4

Three & a Half Dragons - Vol. 5

Dragon Memories, Dreams & Reflection - Vol. 6

The Star Traveler Series

(Sci-fi suitable for Young Adult to Adult)

The Helavite War - Vol. 1

The Heirs of Henu - Vol. 2

Old Friends/New Enemies - Vol. 3

The Malefactors - Vol. 4

Cataclysm - Vol. 5

A Mear Sleight of Hand - Vol. 6

The Twin Cities Series

(Paranormal Mature Young Adult to Adult)

Shifting in The Realms (Book 1)

Shifting Agony & Ecstasy (Book 2)

Memoir

(Adult Non-fiction)

We 3

Learn more at

www.TheresaSnyderAuthor.com

1. Second Generation

Nor, Taylor and Garrett strolled along the waterfront on Rigil Four. The docks had not changed much since Arr was there almost twenty-five years ago seeking Jonathan's assistance in locating Tim.

The trio was striking in appearance to all they passed.

Nor was the mirror image of his father except for his height - Arr being taller by almost four inches. When he and Arr were seen together, they were often mistaken for brothers rather than father and son. Margaret and Damion found in their studies the Henu grew physically at an advanced rate to humans from birth to eighteen years of age. At eighteen the growth appeared to stop all together and the aging processes slowed to almost a third that of humans. Arr and the others appeared as though they were all the same age as their children. For the past twenty-five years, they gained only eight years. Nor married Tea on their eighteenth spring and they were now the proud parents of five children, four boys and one girl.

Taylor O'Connor Harcourt possessed the best qualities of both his parents. He had his father's black curly hair, deep blue eyes and stature with his mother's light colored skin. He fancied himself quite a lady’s man and had every right to. The women's heads never failed to turn when he walked by. At the age of just barely twenty-five, he had not taken a wife yet and was in no hurry to do so. Jake and Margaret chose not to tattoo him with the rest of the children in the community, but to leave him free to choose for himself. This would have forced him to go off planet for a wife except Arr chose to leave his daughter, Pon, without a tattoo in hopes that a match might be naturally made between the two families. So far, this had not proven effective strategy. The three boys and Pon grew up like a litter of puppies. They were always in each other's company except for the times Garrett was away with his mother and father on trading missions. Pon became just one of the boys. She was strong, agile, and not the least bit interested in either Taylor or Garrett, who was also left by his parents without a mating tattoo.

Garrett O'Malley was a blend of his parents. When the boys fell into line with Garrett in the middle, passersby thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. The three seemed to flow from one being into another. Garrett was large and pale skinned like Taylor, but had red hair and blue Henu eyes like Nor. Though he was the youngest of the three, he was the most experienced. He spent the first six months of his life planet bound. After that, he and his mother traveled everywhere with his father. Other than Jake and Arr he knew the trader business the best of the present population. When Tim died last year of complications from an old wound from his days as a mercenary Garrett made the transition smoothly from co-pilot to pilot of the Sunbird. The loss of his father was a blow to the community. His presence was sorely missed. Garrett picked up many of his father's mannerisms and speech patterns along with the wealth of his stories. More than once in the past year Jake closed his eyes while listening to one of Garrett's monologues and saw Tim in his mind.

The three boys helped Jake celebrate his seventy-third birthday a little less than a month ago on the Henu planet. Jake's birthdays had evolved over the past twenty-five years. Everyone came to the Henu planet for the parties now. The planet had become quite a conglomerate of beings.

The mercenaries always came for Jake's birthday, but they often stopped in between times as well. Sometimes, they were in need of Margaret and Damion's excellent medical care. Sometimes, they were just seeking a non-hostile environment as Jake did so many years ago when he first encountered Arr.

The two MT units from years past kept in contact. MT #2424 made it a regular practice of taking their leave on the planet. Damion's friendship with Margaret, Tim and Lal, in particular, grew over the years. He spent his holidays often buried up to his eyes in Margaret's latest findings helping her brainstorm all her theories until Tim and Lal rescued him for a picnic or evening walk.

The three had a friendship that was rare among married couples and single males. There was no reason for Tim to be jealous. Lal's feelings for him remained the same steadfast adoration she first felt for him the night he rescued her from the men in the alley until the day he died.

A reasonable time after Tim's death Damion requested release from his duties as medical expert aboard MT #2424 and moved to the Henu planet permanently. Even if Lal and Damion did not admit it to themselves yet the community knew that one day Lal would make Henu legend by being the only woman, other than Arr's mother, to marry twice. It seemed the right thing even to Garrett. He called Damion, Uncle. He and his mother both possessed deep affection for the MT Medical Officer. Garrett hated to see his mother hurt again, but if she insisted on marrying humans, she would have her heart broken more than once when her loves died as she stayed young as though fixed in time.

The boys made a delivery to Jonathan today and were going to celebrate their twenty-fifth birthday together before returning home for the community celebration. The Spring Festival had evolved over the years into a Summer Festival due to the size of the community. In the old days, before the Helavites came, perhaps there were enough Henu to gather the spring crops and prepare for a Spring Festival, but with the population the size it was currently every pair of hands was needed to harvest in the bountiful spring months. Therefore, the Festival was celebrated in the summer after the majority of the spring harvest duties were done and the full onslaught of summer had not quite begun. In the tradition of the Henu all the community celebrated their birthdays on the same day at the Summer Festival.

2. Apple Pie

Margaret cut the last of the extra raw dough off the edge of the apple pie she was making. She could have the prep unit produce her a slice of pie, but she received a certain satisfaction from making it herself. She acquired the fine art of pie making from her mother. Apple pie was her father's favorite and luckily for Margaret it was Jake's favorite as well. This was a much appreciated happenstance, because Margaret was a lousy cook with the exception of her pies. She blamed it on the fact that her mind was occupied by more important things. When Jake was home he did most of the cooking. When he was away, like this month on a trading mission with Arr, Margaret either used the prep unit or accepted the offerings of tasty dishes from the Henu population. They all heard Jake's stories of meals whose origin was indiscernible. They all saw the occasional smoke that billowed from the kitchen window of the house that sat by the lake because Margaret experienced an insight into her work and dashed off to jot it down in her lab forgetting the food cooking on or in the stove. They all took it upon themselves to see that Margaret ate properly while Jake was away.

Margaret slipped the pie in the oven just as she heard the light, hurried step of little feet on the porch, the creak of the screen door as it was swung open and a small voice called, Grandma Harcourt?

It had to be a third generation Henu. Margaret was called Margaret by Arr's generation. She was addressed as Aunt Margaret by Arr's children's generation and Grandma Harcourt by Arr's grandchildren's generation. She was looking forward to the day she would be called Great Grandma Harcourt.

Grandma? the child called again, as she searched the house.

In here, Eka. Margaret knew the voice of the youngest of the Henu population.

The small mahogany colored two year old came through the door in an expectant rush. Being a Henu/human mix Eka may have been two chronologically, but she was the size and mentality of a four year old human.

Grandma, they won't let me play! Her lip pouted out and the eyes were beginning to puddle up.

Margaret sat down on the kitchen stool and curled the child into her arms. Now, now… Don't cry. Margaret was the buffer zone for this child and her two brothers Kee and Kel. They were Dol's daughter Fre's children.

Dol was the last of the first generation Henu to give birth and having four children meant that one would be without a mate, as Lal was in the first group. Dol hoped she would have at least three sons. A male without a mate would be easier, but it was not meant to be. She delivered two sons and two daughters leaving her youngest, and the youngest of the second generation, a female without a mate.

Jake tried to waylay Dol's fears and promised to take the child, as he had Lal, to find a mate. He said it was really a good thing that she had the ‘freedom’ to make her own choice. Hence Gat and Dol named her Fre.

When Fre came of age, Jake took her as he promised. In fact, over the next three years he took her seven times, but without the looked for results. All the adults involved were at their wits end. Fre, whose biological alarm clock had begun to ring at eighteen, was verging on desperation when Jake's birthday rolled around and a new young mercenary showed up with the old familiar group. His name was Kahala. He was a human of Hawaiian decent, a striking young man, twenty five years old, with the almost blue/black hair of his race and dark brown eyes. Kahala was working as a mercenary and heard numerous stories about Jake Harcourt. He jumped at the chance when asked by Gutherie, one of Watts' prodigies, if he'd like to tag along to the birthday party. Kahala and Fre almost instantly took an interest in each other as Gutherie believed they would. Kahala returned numerous times over the following year between missions to court Fre. They were married that following spring and Fre bore three fine children.

Through some genetic trick Kahala's children inherited the Henu eyes, which were proving themselves to be dominate when paired with a human. The trick was they had no fur, but retained the hair color of their parents like the Henu. Eka had mahogany like her mother and grandmother, but the boys were both blue/black haired like Kahala's.

Teg was very pleased with the birth of Fre's children. It was discovered with the birth of the rest of the second generation and the third that the color of the Henu was based on the color of the respective gender parent. All four of Nor's boys, Tur, Ral, Ean and Ord were his red/gold and his one daughter, Mrn, was red with pale black shading on her arms and legs like her mother. With Qwe having only one female child Teg's black coloring looked as though it would die out in the colony until Kahala changed that. The new parents asked Teg and Qwe to be Kit to their children and Teg jumped at the opportunity. He immediately took the three children under his wing, the boys in particular.

Teg was not the only one pleased with the birth of Fre's children. Margaret sighed in relief. All the years Garrett was growing up as the only mixed child of a Henu/human marriage Margaret prayed he would not sustain an injury serious enough that he would need a blood transfusion. His blood picked up properties from both his Henu mother and his human father. Neither human nor Henu blood was compatible with his. At first, she tried to store his own blood. The plan did not work. The mixture of the two blood types made it extremely unstable. Once out of the host body it began to break down and within hours was totally unsuitable for transfusion.

With the birth of Kahala's children there were donors. Incredibly, with a chance of one in four that such a mixture would happen again it had. Tim and Kahala both had type O, the most common blood type of humans, and with the Henu all possessing the same blood type, the three had Garrett's exact blood type. They would need to be in their teens before they could give any large amount of blood, but at least survival in a crisis situation was a possibility for Garrett now.

Margaret drew her attention back to the child in her arms. Eka was forcing out a recounting of the events between gulping sobs which brought her to seek Margaret's help. It was the same old problem. It wasn't that they wouldn't let her play. It was that she wanted to be the Galactic Official in their games. Eka had a very strong personality and will for a two year old. She always wanted to be the leader, the boss. The older children of the third generation, who were three times her age indulged her sometimes, but other times they insisted she play a lesser roll.

Margaret dried Eka's tears with the hanky she learned years ago to keep handy in her smock pocket for just such an occasion. Then she took the child by the hand and led her out on the porch.

She could see a group of six children down by the lake. The identity could be easily determined even from this distance. Two of the group were chestnut colored. The problem was immediately clear to Margaret. Chestnut was Nad's family. Therefore, the two in the group were Res' sons, Dep and Han, both very strong minded children in their own right. Their father, Nad and Eel's only son, had chosen to become a mercenary. Dep and Han, even at the age of six, looked as though they would follow in their father's footsteps.

Margaret called to Dep. He was the older of the two by just a few minutes, but in the Henu population order was strictly observed. Dep came to Margaret's summons. However, there was no spring in his step. He knew what was coming. All the Henu were born, like humans, with moral instincts. They instinctively knew right from wrong. Unlike humans though who shed their instincts as they grew older the Henu kept them and carried them into adulthood. Margaret had never known any of them to lie when asked a direct question.

This led to concern on Margaret and Jake's part when the children of the second generation began to space travel because they worked very hard in keeping the location of the Henu planet secret except to the MT and mercenaries, which were sworn to secrecy. Margaret even planted a virus in the Mother Ship's computer specific to destroying just the information of the location of the planet before she left the ship over thirty years ago to come here with Jake.

Dep came to stand at the foot of the stairs of the porch. Yes, Grandma Harcourt.

Eka tells me you said she couldn't be a Galactic Official in your game. Is that correct? Margaret knew the answer before she spoke.

Yes. But Grandma, she's just a baby. Dep considered himself just short of being an adult even though he was only six, soon to be seven.

This comment sent Eka off in a sniveling torrent again. The child buried her head in the tail of Margaret's smock.

I know she's younger than you, but couldn't you let her be a Sergeant or a Medical Expert?

Dep scuffed his foot in the grass. I guess so. He relented.

Margaret pulled herself free of the clutching Eka. She looked down at the child. Now that would be good, wouldn't it? she asked the child optimistically. You can play a doctor like Grandma and Uncle Damion.

Eka's tears were drying on her cheeks and a smile crested across her face like a spring sunrise as she nodded her head.

Margaret patted the child's head lovingly. Well then, go play and let Grandma get back to her work.

The two hurried back to the rest of the group expectantly awaiting the outcome of Grandma Harcourt's decree.

Margaret knew it was only a momentary truce, but she felt eventually with enough truces perhaps a final peace could be established. She looked after the two young opponents. They were