Chapter 3
Maurice was understandably shocked by the situation he found himself in. The moment he had been awaiting for years was finally here. The child he had heard so much about yet there was so little known about him.
His student had finally inherited.
And was living on Earth (expected) with three nyturas (unexpected).
Maurice raised his hands in the universal sign to show surrender and looked at the protective nyturas calmly.
“I am not here to harm Harry. I am here as I am his mentor,” Maurice said and two of the nyturas settled down though they were still alert.
The third and smallest one, the size of a lion, was just as threatening as before.
Harry, Maurice vaguely noticed, was slightly dazed still from his inheritance but he perked up at Maurice's answer.
“My mentor? Are you from Nevarah then?”
Maurice turned from the snarling nytura and looked at his student in his gold flecked green eyes.
“You know of Nevarah, then?” he asked. It was a fair assumption to make, what with the nyturas, but Maurice didn't make such a mistake as to take assumptions as truth.
The teen nodded his head in agreement, an interested gleam in his eyes.
Maurice felt a small smile grow on his lips at the sight. Remus looked just like that when learning interesting information.
“That's great, then you know more than I expected you would. When you weren't a part of the Earth realm evacuees a couple years ago, we weren't sure what to expect from you,” he admitted, thinking back to his bonded's devastation at the boy's lack of arrival in Nevarah when the mass evacuation of the Earth realm was ordered by the royals.
The boy tilted his head in confusion.
“I have a few questions, but first, we?”
“Ah, right,” he said, remembering he hadn't introduced himself, “My name is Maurice Elswood. I'm a joker. And the we I mentioned was myself, Remus, and Sirius. They have been waiting for you to show up for years.”
At his statement something unexpected happened. The smallest nytura snarled harshly and looked ready to attack him at any second.
Harry's eyes narrowed and a dangerous look appeared in his eyes.
His voice had a growling undertone as he asked, “Why would someone who abandoned me care?”
Maurice was shocked by the vehement anger in the boy's eyes and his cutting words.
“Abandoned you? Harry, are you speaking of what happened on the night two of your parents died? Sirius was only trying to get rid of a threat to you. He planned on coming back to you right away. It may not have been the right handling of the situation but it was the choice he made at the moment.”
“Well you're right about one thing,” Harry growled back, “It was not the right way to handle the situation.”
Maurice just looked pained at the anger and distrust written into every bit of his body language.
Sirius had told him of his regrets over that night on multiple occasions, lamenting away about things he could've done differently. Maurice had been angry when he learned what happened but he didn't allow Sirius to mope as he so wanted to whenever he got in that mood. The past is the past and there's no changing it. No do over button or spell. He made the choice he made then and now he has to live with it.
And living with it now apparently includes a righteously angry and hurt teenager.
The large wings of his student were spread out as an instinctive show of challenge.
His own instincts demanded he put the youngling in his place but he pushed those more gheyo instincts away. He wasn't here as a gheyo, he was here as Harry's mentor, and the bonded joker of what was left of his family circle.
“I understand your anger, but I ask of you to please give him at least one chance. He's has been wanting to make up for that mistake for years,” Maurice said compassionately.
Harry frowned and his wings flapped a little at his obvious struggle with his emotions.
But eventually the boy's shoulders slumped and the anger trickled out of his frame little by little.
He was still miffed and turned to the smallest nytura.
“Mera, what do you think? Should I go with him to Nevarah?”
There was shock running through Maurice's whole body at the question. Had Harry just called the nytura Mera?
Harry, seeing his shock and confusion, made an incorrect assumption as he said, “I assume that's what you want to do, right? Take me with you to Nevarah?”
The nytura probably said something as the boy's eyes reached hers.
Maurice was slightly stunned that now his mission lied on the goodwill of a protective nytura.
The boy's wings shook his wings out at whatever he heard before giving Maurice a long look in his eyes, studying him.
Finally, he relented.
“Fine. One chance, and if it doesn't work out, I want you to take me back here to my territory.”
Maurice paused at the word choice, a suspicion arising in his mind but he shook it off for now. It wasn't important in the long run. Harry was his mentored student and the child of his circle, even if he wasn't a part of that circle until long after his birth.
Maurice had never had children with his first circle, or even a student, so the idea of a child was still as terrifying and intriguing as it had been since he first learned of his student. But now he had Harry who was both to him.
The young alpha was small for his rank but even minutes within such a short time since inheriting, he had the power and wielded the presence of an alpha. And calling a nytura Mera… Maurice had a feeling that Harry would make life much more interesting in Nevarah, at least for him.
He couldn't wait.