The emotions that were overtaking Tempest were some of the strongest she’d ever felt in her life.

It was overwhelming.

This wasn’t the first time that she’d been exposed to poverty. She lived all of her life in America. It was an epidemic. She’d seen poor people on the East Coast and even in California where she grew up. But she’d always thought there was someone in the background who would help those people. Always thought there was some sort of infrastructure in place for the ones who needed it. Here on Ustea, she couldn’t believe the lie. She knew that there was no one here to help these people.

She bit back tears as she thought about how soft her life had been with Dron so far. The scientific advancements. The excess of pretty much everything. Things the people of the poor class would literally kill for. She felt so guilty.

The door closed behind, and Pinat was out of the residence.

There was a pregnant silence in the room. Tension that seemed to leak to every corner and crevice of the place.

"I’m not sure what you want to talk about?" Pinat’s father spoke first.

"How about we do some introductions? We don’t need to be strangers in your home." Tempest smiled at the man, and he tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what she was doing.

"I’m Gerax." The stoic man spoke from the corner.

"Dron, " Her mate spoke, shrugging his shoulders once.

"And I’m Tempest." She pressed a hand to her chest. Then she raised her wrist to show the hologram there, "This is Mexyn."

"How do you do?" Mexyn shrugged her shoulders through the hologram.

"I’m Aixen." The crippled man spoke and looked around the room. He seemed to be a little more at ease, but the tension was still oppressive.

"Aixen, it’s a pleasure to meet you." Tempest wanted to put her hand out to shake his hand, but she knew better. She was really going to have to get used to not touching people. It was becoming quite annoying.

"So what do you want to know?" Aixen asked, looking toward Gerax as if he were going to be the one to drive the questions. It made sense. Dron was clearly the muscle, Tempest was only the woman, Mexyn wasn’t actually in the room. Gerax was the scientist of the group; he would be the one to have the most questions.

"How long have you lived in the poor class?" Gerax asked.

"I’ve lived here my entire life. I tried to move up to the military class, but I was found wanting during the trials. It’s where I lost my legs."

"Wait a minute," Mexyn piped up, "you mean you were injured in the military class and they didn’t attempt to fix or rehabilitate you?"

"No, they chopped off the rotting parts of my legs and sent me back home."

"That’s absolutely crazy." Tempest scoffed.

"That shouldn’t be happening. Anything that happens on military class lands should be taken care of by them." Gerax looked over to Dron , who nodded his head as if he were on the same page as the scientist.

"For the military, that is true. But for those coming up from the poor class, we are only given the help that we would get in the poor class. We don’t have life nectar here and only one surgeon who is self-taught. He didn’t have the expertise needed to fix my legs. I’m just grateful I was given my life." Aixen shrugged his shoulders and shifted his weight between his arms.

"What about Pinat? Where is her mother?" Are you here alone?" Tempest asked a slew of questions.

"I did have a wife, but she was offered a chance to go to the omega lands. She left us shortly after Pinat was born. It was too hard for her." Aixen sighed and looked away.

"She just left? She didn’t take her children? That... sounds so cruel." Tempest swallowed agaisnt the frog in her throat.

"It’s not as uncommon as you would think." Gerax replied.

"Aixen huffed. "Uncommon? It’s the norm here. If you haven’t noticed, the only females in the poor class are the children. All the other female omegas were taken away to the blessed class or to take holy orders. They become maids or chamber ladies. Help for the higher classes. It’s almost a crime to stay in the poor class if one is born an omega."

"How many omega women are born in this class?" Gerax asked.

Tempest was confused for a moment. She could see quite a few girls when she walked in, but then she remembered the different genders on this planet. Looks could be deceiving.

"Why do you want to know?" Aixen narrowed his eyes on Gerax.

"Is that a strange question to ask?" Tempest questioned.

"It’s strange because we could be taking a census of which children to pluck from their homes," Dron was the one to answer.

Tempest looked back to Aixen and could see the speculation on his face. He was protecting his community.

"No...oh no! I promise you that’s not why we are here. We’d never do something like that. Or even help anyone who would do something like that." Tempest’s voice cracked as she spoke to Aixen.

"There are four. Pinat is one of them. Every day I worry that the alpha’s close to this class will tire of waiting for her to grow into adulthood."

"Tire of waiting?" Tempest’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked from Aixen to Dron and back again. He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying. None of the men answered. It was Mexyn who had to pipe in and explain to Tempest what was going on.

"It’s been said that in times of crisis, when omega kins is scarce, child brides are taken."

The sadness doubled in Tempest’s chest. Then rage pumped through her veins.

"Child brides? Like Underage?" Tempest screeched.

"It’s not done here anymore. It’s why we’ve been looking to the stars for an answer." Gerax tried to calm her.

"If that was the case, then this man wouldn’t be worried about losing the omega children in his community. That is unacceptable." Tempest jumped up from where she was sitting and started to pace in a tight line in front of everyone.

What could she do? What could any of them do?" This all seemed to be too big. Too much for her to take on. She was never good at politics or current affairs, but how could she just turn a blind eye to something like this when she knew there was no one coming to help them?

"Have you ever thought about leaving? Going to a different land?" Mexyn questioned. "Tempest, stop moving. You’re making me dizzy." She complained.

Tempest huffed but stopped pacing so Mexyn could continue to talk through the device.

"Leaving?" Aixen huffed. "Where would I go? There’s nothing outside of this place. We can’t go up in class. This is the end."

"There is life outside of Thraqe," Mexyn replied.

"What are you talking about? Surely, you can’t mean Uspanx or Skoq?" Gerax spoke.

"Yes, I am." Mexyn snapped back.

"You would be sentencing us to death." Aixen shrugged his shoulders hard.

"No, she’s telling the truth." Tempest spoke. She didn’t want to give up Mexyn’s secret.

"Are you referencing the humans that are supposed to be in the forbidden lands." Gerax asked.

Tempest’s eyes widened and she jerked her gaze to Dron. He had his eyes closed and his shoulders slumped.

"Humans in the forbidden lands?" Mexyn’s yelled which was completely out of character for her.

"No...we don’t have to go into that." Tempest tried to bring the conversation back from what should still be a secret.

"Yes we certainly do." Mexyn snapped. "What do you mean there are humans in the forbidden lands?"

"We don’t know that for sure." Tempest responded.

"But there are rumors?" Mexyn asked.

"We were told it was unlivable there?" Aixen interjected.

"It’s rough but not unlivable. I have ... a friend who lives a good life. It’s just that the royals want us to believe that there’s nothing there for us. We’ve been kept in the dark."

Dron finally looked at Tempest waiting for her to elaborate on what Mexyn was saying. Tempest would wait to say anything more.

"I never..." Aixen scowled. "I never thought there was a chance that we could survive away from here. This could change everything. I could..." Aixen looked down. "No, I couldn’t."

Tempest was confused again for a second. She didn’t understand what he was looking at. "What’s wrong?"

"Even if we did find a place to go in the forbidden lands, I wouldn’t be able to survive. Those islands are mostly steep cliffs and rocks. I’m useless." Aixen moved one of his stubs drawing Tempest’s attention to his legs.

"No. Not useless. We can help you. We will help you." Tempest walked over to the man and got back down to his level.

He didn’t seem as if he believed her. Why would he? All of his life he’d been cast aside and forced to endure what no one should ever have to endure.

Tempest wasn’t sure she would be able to change everything right away but she would do her best to change at least this one thing.

She turned to look at Dron. She didn’t have to say anything, he nodded once. He knew what she wanted to do. He was already moving to create what they needed.