by Viola Grace
“I have to train first.”
“You will complete your training in no time. Send me communications. I want to hear from you, daughter.”
“I will be in touch, Mother, and I will wear this clothing proudly.”
The clacking of laughter burst out. “Not if you don’t take it off the dummy. I am going for a walk. You go. I love you and am proud of you, now go.”
With a last touch of her mother’s furry arm, she turned and stripped the dummy, packing the silk away in a small canister inside her pack. It compressed to almost nothing, but she could still feel the strength.
She paused, took the coat out of the canister and walked out of the workshop, closing the wide door carefully behind her. She could feel the eyes of her mother on her as she left the house and property, heading for the public transportation station.
Reeda left the place where she had grown up and got on the transport toward an uncertain future. It only took her ten minutes to stop crying.
Chapter Four
Citadel Balen was a good place to study, though when she was assessed, sending her to the new Citadel at Teklan had also been discussed. Her skills would be useful in the law enforcement vein, but at Balen, they had something else in mind.
Balen was training her to use her personality-analysis skills in conjunction with her physical capabilities to identify the nature of talents by touching skin. Her instructors were sure that it would eventually be possible for her to use the analysis from a distance.
Making friends was surprisingly easy. Everyone around her had talents, some had the small, fluffy creatures known as Yaluthu, and others were eager to learn control.
Reeda never thought about it, but living on Amdor, she had the ability to use her talent any time she needed to; she just had to record it if it impinged on the body of another person. It had been a revelation to learn that other worlds had restrictions on their population’s ability to use the potential they had been born with.
“Reeda, what are you doing this afternoon?” Camya sat across from her and grinned.
“I have the afternoon off. I was going to spend it in the combat simulator.”
“Skip that. L’kha and I are heading over to the Guard base across the valley. She has to get a medical scan, and we can check out the guardsmen while we are there.”
Reeda looked over at Camya in surprise. “Why do you want me there?”
Camya sighed. “Honestly? You can fly the skimmer. L’kha is hopeless and I suck.”
Reeda nodded now that she knew the parameters. “Fine. What time?”
Camya looked hopeful. “In half an hour?”
“Fine.”
Camya patted her hand and fluttered off with her robes flapping.
Reeda snorted and resumed reading a treatise on l’nal trade negotiations with the Alliance.
When the thirty minutes were up, she turned off her data pad and got up from the table with her robes swirling around her. She couldn’t flap. Her mother had raised her right.
Reeda met the other two women outside, and they went to take one of the Citadel skimmers out and cruised across the valley. The controls were simple, and she set a path to avoid interaction with the flying members of the Yaluthu species.
Her two passengers were giggling in anticipation of meeting one of the Guards. Reeda simply flew over, landed the skimmer and got out, leaning against the hull while she resumed her education.
“Aren’t you going to come in?” Camya paused for a moment.
“Nope. This is your adventure. I am just here for the skimmer.”
Camya sighed. “You need to start dating.”
“In my own time, Camya. You go on and raid the commissary.”
Reeda resumed her reading, and her friend ran inside the base.
She had been outside for an hour when another skimmer landed. Four men jumped out of the skimmer and headed for the base.
She heard their joking around in Alliance Common, but they were speaking with a Nyal Imperium accent. One of them slowed and turned toward her as he passed. She was watching the boots approach over the edge of her data pad.
“Hello, miss. Are you waiting for someone?”
She looked up and blinked at the man with the soft-green skin. Abrukan. She glanced over, and his friends were of the same colouration. “I am waiting for my friends to gradually flirt their way out of the building. I am just the pilot.”
He nodded and waved his friends on.
One of them called out in Nyal Common, “You can’t take her home, Bilro.”
She didn’t let her comprehension show on her face. “I think your friends want you to go with them.”
He chuckled. “They can start lunch without me. You are with the Citadel?”
She nodded. “I am. I am still a novice.”
“Have you been here long?”
She quirked her lips. “A few weeks.”
“So, you have a lot of training to go through.”
Reeda shrugged. “Probably.” She was just waiting for an assignment now, but they still hadn’t decided where precisely they wanted to put her.
“My name is Bilro Dakma.” He extended his hand, palm up.
She put her hand on top of his, “Reeda Rrkra.”
“Your family is named after the l’nal queen?”
Reeda chuckled. “Apparently. I was just reading up on it.” She lifted the data pad.
He smiled at her, and she jerked her hand away.
“l’nal history?”
She smiled. “Yes. I am familiar with them, but I didn’t have access to a lot of records back home. This is my favourite part of being at the Citadel.”
“You are interested in education?” He leaned next to her on the skimmer.
“I am. I participated in the family business at home. Now, it is time to continue my education.”
“If you ever met a l’nal, you would be less interested in their history and more interested in their eating habits.”
She smiled slightly. “I have known a l’nal. The eating habits do take some getting used to.”
“Really? I am impressed.”
“Don’t be.” She quirked her lips. “You and your friends are here to visit?”
He chuckled. “We are Guardians preparing to take our posts across our star system. We are here to engage in safe hand-to-hand combat with willing Guards.”
She smiled. “Good to know.”
“What is your talent?”
She shrugged. “I can determine motivations and do personality assessments.”
“What did you read with me?”
Reeda chuckled. “Nothing. I have also learned to tuck it away when I don’t need it. That was the big breakthrough.”
“Interesting. I was wondering about the training effectiveness of the Citadel.” He extended his hand again. “Care to try it again?”
She twisted her lips. “Sure.”
She touched his skin and reached into him, rifling through his emotions and his conscious thought in a second. She released his hand with a smile. “Flying and fire? Interesting combination.”
Bilro smiled slowly. “You really did see that. Well done.”
“Thank you. It is what I have been training for.”
“If your friends are inside, why are you out here?”
She winced. “I think they were trying to flirt their way into the bed of a Guard. That isn’t my idea of a good afternoon.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t think they care. They are after a night in the arms of a hero.”
Bilro looked at her with amusement. “You are not?”
“I have met heroes, I have met Avatars and I have met strangers from a thousand worlds. None impress me as much as my mother does.”
“She sounds like a special woman.”
“She is.” Reeda chuckled. “She is one of a kind.”
“Were you allowed to use your talent on your world?”
She grinned. “Of course. I mean, we
had to report it if we used our skills against another being, but we were allowed to use it as long as we were registered.”
“Did that happen a lot?”
She cocked her head and did a mental count. “Often enough. I just had to go and make a statement. It was easy once everyone knew who I was.”
“Did your mother help you there as well?”
Reeda giggled. “Oh, yeah.”
The peacekeeper offices had frozen as Rrkra made her way to the desk in defense of her daughter. Reeda had had to calm her down, and it was not her easiest day. She did get to ride her mother home though. That had been fun.
“She sounds very loving.”
“She is. She negotiated for me to go home every eighteen months. It was quite fun to watch the debate over when and how long I would get to go home.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that the Citadel would flex the contracts.”
Reeda smiled. “They had no choice. No one could make my mother part with me, and I would never leave without her blessing.”
Bilro moved closer to her. “She sounds like a paragon.”
“She is. What of your family?”
He sighed. “My father was a Guardian and peacekeeper at home. He came and went at odd hours, but we knew he was saving lives. He has retired now but delighted that I am following in his footsteps. If I am lucky, I will be posted on Ryamash III.”
“You are Abrukan, are you not?”
He was surprised. “Yes, how did you know?”
“I have seen and spoken to many species. I recognised the dark highlighting around your eyes.”
“I wish I could say the same, but your features are strangely exotic. Is short hair traditional?”
She snickered. “No. I did that to irritate my mother when I was a teenager and simply stuck with the haircut. It was easier to manage, and she eventually got used to it.”
“I am curious. Do you have a picture of your mother?”
Reeda shook her head. “Not with me. I have some back at the Citadel, but they are in my room, and I am not inviting you to come and look.”
He blinked. “Why not?”
“I was raised to avoid bringing a male to my bedroom unless I wanted him to end up missing a limb.” A limb would have been conservative.
He chuckled. “My mother kept an eye on all my interactions with the girls in my classes. Just because I was going to be a Guardian didn’t mean she wanted to become a grandparent.”
Reeda snorted. “My mother negotiated for possession of any children I have while under contract to the Citadel. If I do suffer from a lapse in judgment, she will take the child so I can continue to work.”
“That is a very detailed contract.”
Reeda laughed. “You are telling me. All I did was sit there and let my mother and the recruiter chatter back and forth. On my world, a parent has to agree to a child leaving the surface. More come to us than ever leave.”
“Where do you call home?”
“Amdor. A living world that invites any to it as long as they are willing to live by his rules.”
“I see.”
She grinned. “It is claimed by both the Alliance and the Imperium, but it likes to think of itself as independent.”
“I have heard of it. It is a trading hub.”
“Yup. Every city has a speciality and each administrator answers to the Avatar.”
He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.
She watched his deep-green hair tumble across his wrist.
Reeda smiled. “You might want to join your friends. We seem to have run to an end of this conversational vector.”
He tilted his head. “Do you think so?”
“Pretty sure.”
“May I call on you at the Citadel if I think of another conversational vector?” He quirked his lips.
“You may, but you will have to check in with the administration and find out where I am. I am trying to get the most out of my education.”
He grinned. “I will do so, Reeda Rrkra.”
He bowed gracefully before he turned and left her leaning against the skimmer.
Smiling to herself, Reeda resumed her reading, occasionally pausing to think about the man who had stopped to talk. She was used to the men she dealt with being aware of her mother and treating her with a dose of fear. To simply have a male come up and talk to her casually was a novelty. Bilro had set himself apart in five minutes from all the other men she had met.
It took half an hour for her friends to emerge, and they were giggling and whispering about the Guards and Guardians.
Reeda got behind the controls and waited for them to get in the vehicle. “Did you actually talk to any of them?”
Camya sighed, “No, but they were all busy talking to one of the men who came in late. The Guardians are here from an Imperium world.”
Reeda checked her passengers and lifted off, heading back across the valley with a small smile playing around her lips.
Chapter Five
Reeda finished her hour in the simulator and exited the arena. Bilro was standing next to one of the administrators, waiting for her.
“Impressive combat display, Reeda.” Bilro smiled.
“Uh, thank you. I didn’t realise I had an audience.” Sweat curled down her neck and ran under her suit.
The administrator smiled and inclined his head, leaving them alone.
“I apologise for my sudden appearance, but I thought of another conversational vector.” He reached out for her hand, and she placed her palm on top of his.
“And I apologise for being all sweaty. If you wait a moment, I will take a solar shower and we can get something to drink in the dining hall.”
“I will wait right here.”
She nodded and stepped past him and into the female’s changing room. The shower was quick, and she was clean and dry when she returned to the gym where female novices were surrounding Bilro.
He made eye contact the moment that she came into view. He nodded, “Excuse me, ladies. I have a lunch date.”
She adjusted the setting of her robes and waved her arm toward the door. “Shall we?”
He nodded to the ladies again and followed Reeda on her way out of the gym.
Outside, he breathed a sigh of relief. “I have no idea why they do that.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”
“Yes. It has been happening a lot.”
“Pheromones. Abrukan males put out enticing pheromones that draw in a surprisingly large variety of females and even males of different species.” She smirked.
“No one told us.”
She cackled. “You are supposed to know. They are supposed to inform you when you leave your worlds.”
His features were grim. “They did not. How do you know about it?”
“Amdor is a trading hub. I have met Abrukan before.” The males that she had met were definitely fascinating, but she was lucky enough not to be a susceptible species. They had purchased scarves for their wives and daughters and enjoyed speaking to her for a moment without the social pressure that came with fending off unwanted feminine advances.
She led him through the halls to the dining area and paused. “What would you prefer for refreshment?”
He smiled and led her to the tea station. He got a tray and set up a pot of tea. She slipped over to the caf station for a cup, put it on the tray and, then, she whisked herself over to the iced water and grabbed a pitcher and two glasses.
She grinned. “Follow me.”
Reeda moved through the crowd with grace and dodged the small Yaluthu who were hopping from here to there at ground level. The children that were present chased the empathic avian, and Reeda completed her way to the quiet corner she preferred.
Bilro arrived a moment behind her. “You navigate like a professional.”
“I worked in a market. This is nothing.”
He sat down and looked out over the gardens. “This is quite lovely. There are more children here than I
imagined.”
She sipped at her caf and poured water for them both. “I asked about that on my first day. Their mothers were brought here before they were born, rescued from a Raider research station. Balen offered them a home.”
He nodded. “That would explain it. They seem happy but unattended.”
“All of the Citadel watches out for them. They are taken care of, and the Yaluthu are good at sounding alarms.”
“The small creatures?”
Reeda nodded. “Yes. The small creatures.”
He sat and sipped at his tea.
She sipped at her caf and sat back. “So, what is your new conversational vector?”
“What did you want to be when you grew up?”
She paused and chuckled. “A weaver. I wanted it more than anything I had ever conceived of, but it wasn’t to be.”
“Why not?”
Reeda grinned. “I don’t have enough hands to do it properly.”
She finished her caf with a happy sigh. “Now, what did you want to be when you grew up?”
His cheeks coloured. “I wanted to be a hero, like my father.”
It was a fair answer. “Tell me about growing up with a hero in the family.”
He sat back and told her tales of being swept up and flown across the continents for research in a school project.
Reeda sat back, and they talked about his family and his past until the sun dimmed and another one of the Guardians tapped him on the shoulder.
Bilro blinked. “Oh, Kimda, this is the woman I was talking about. Reeda, this is Kimda of Ryamash III.”
Kimda gave her a tight smile. “Pleased to meet you. Bilro, we are scheduled for dinner at the base in twenty minutes.”
Bilro sighed. “Fine. Reeda, please, excuse me. It was wonderful speaking with you again.”
She stood and extended her hand, palm up. “It was fun. Think of another topic if you come back again.”
“I shall come back daily as long as I am here.” He pressed his palm to hers and inclined his head.
“I look forward to it; you know how to find me.”
Kimda sighed and pulled her companion away.
Reeda chuckled and tidied up the tea and the cups. Her pitcher was empty, and she brought it all back to the washing station. It was time for dinner, and she was still smiling from the fun of the afternoon.