After a few minutes of intense concentration, he knew that his father was searching for Chelle on the lower side of the city opposite where Hankura was. If Ludren found her, he would stay with her until they could all meet someplace.
But finding Chelle in a city of that size was no easy task without help. . ..
Chelle was nearly exhausted by the time she finally stopped running on the beltway. The drug Hankura had given her was working to calm her, but now she was alone. She looked all around her, searching the crowd for a familiar face---his face. She looked up at the tall, pointed towers shimmering like jeweled prisms in the sun. She saw a round, tiered glass tower and unfamiliar domed buildings everywhere with brightly lit signs marking them. She realized she was lost.
By then, she was feeling light headed from her ordeal and the drug. The motion of the belt made her stomach lurch, and she swayed unsteadily. Desperately, she looked around for a place she could get off to sit down and rest until she could decide what to do. Then she saw the great open park that she had passed with Ludren on the way to the Psi Institute.
The thick, reddish-brown moss and tall trees beckoned her. She was especially attracted to the magnificent fountain at its center. Chelle stumbled almost drunkenly from the belt before it came to a stop. As she regained her balance, she was drawn toward the source of the rising water.
Two tiny gresars chattering under a bush drew her attention, and she stopped for a moment to watch them scold and tease each other. Walking on, she stopped once more to gaze at the huge orange flowers pulsing on their thick green stems. Then she continued slowly toward the pool of the fountain. There, she sat down in the moss beneath the statue of Narcaza, crossing her legs and staring raptly at the rising water in the pool.
Vaguely, she sensed a young couple passing near her, but she didn't look up when she heard the young man's disparaging remarks. "Look at that dumb Psion sitting on the ground over there. . .. Ah, an off-worlder patch, what do you expect?"
"Stefan!" a familiar voice admonished. "That dumb Psion is my brother's wife."
"Uh. .oh, sorry."
Chelle looked up as she recognized Capra's voice. She was coming toward her with a reluctant fair-haired young man in tow.
"Chelle, what are you doing here in the Circle all alone? Where's Father?" Capra squatted down beside her.
"I don't know," she murmured with tears misting her deep blue eyes. "I just couldn't stay in that place. Kodric wouldn't get out of my head---he wouldn't stop probing. I begged him--he didn't stop until they made him. I had to get out."
"The evaluation?"
Chelle nodded with a shaky sigh. "I wanted to go home but I didn't know where to go. Hankura wanted me to rest. I just felt like I was going to suffocate in there. . .. I--I ran away."
"I see. Then they are both probably looking all over for you."
"Will you help me find Hankura?" Chelle asked sheepishly.
"I'll do what I can. I won't leave you here alone." she soothed.
"But Capra," protested Stefan. "We'll miss the new Marcellian performance."
"Then you go. Chelle doesn't know her way around, and I'll bet father and Hankura are frantic with worry. I'm not leaving her here like this," Capra retorted and sat down in the moss beside Chelle.
"Oh, good grief!" he muttered, glancing skyward in exasperation. "I don't want to go without you. What's wrong with her anyway. She seems kind of dazed."
"Probably because of the testing," Capra told him and turned her attention back to her sister-in-law. "Where did you last see Hankura?"
"At the Psi Institute. I had to get out. He wouldn't listen. He doesn't know where I am; I don't know where I am. I feel his anger. Maybe he's angry with me. It was a dumb thing to do. I felt like I was going to suffocate." she repeated.
"Well, can't you find him with telepathy?" Capra suggested. "I bet he's not angry with you--but at the people who did this to you. Honey, it's going to be hard to find him in this city without help. I have no idea where to start."
"Hankura tried telepathy, only I can't seem to open my mind to him after Kodric's attack. He kept pounding at my shield until I could hardly think except to scream in pain for him to stop. He wouldn't." Chelle shivered.
"How did they stop him?"
"Some kind of a stunner. I think I heard them say that." She leaned forward with her forehead almost touching her ankles, and covered her head with her arms. "Oh, God!" she groaned. "Why did they do this to me? I wouldn't have hurt anyone with psi. I'm only just learning to use telepathy well with people other than Hankura."
Chelle straightened up and looked at Capra. "All they have done is to set me back so I can't even open my mind to Hankura, now," she sniffed, and tears rolled down her cheeks. "He would find me if I could open my mind---just like I found him after that man shot him on Earth."
"Shot him?" Stefan repeated incredulously. Finally, he sat down on the moss beside Capra.
"Yes. He nearly died," Chelle murmured absently.
"Can't you use telepathy to reach into his mind?" Capra said, looking hopeful.
"I'm not sure I can even do that right now--not coherently." She wrinkled her brows in dismay. "I've been probed and drugged until I can hardly think straight. To top it off, I've got one hell of a headache." She shook her head. "I just don't know."
"Well, why don't you give it a try? Even if you can't make him understand where we are, he'll know you're okay," Capra persisted. "Maybe it would help to think of something pleasant."
"That's why I came to the fountain," Chelle said softly and smiled to herself. Then she turned a pensive stare back to the rising water in the fountain.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Hankura was walking on the pedestrian beltway when he sensed Chelle's telepathy. He stopped mid-step. She was sending a collage of images, and he wasn't quite sure what she meant by them. Trying to ask her was no use. She still wouldn't accept his telepathy. The images came again then stopped completely.
He made a wry face, confused yet relieved. At least Capra was with her; that much was clear. His sister must have encouraged Chelle to reach out to him by thinking pleasant thoughts.
He wished he had a better rapport with Capra so he could seek her thoughts. In crowded places, it was a difficult task for even the most accomplished telepath. Even though he had a good rapport with his father, reaching his mind had taken a lot of luck along with his concentrated skill. He wasn't sure he could do it again.
As for Chelle, Hankura could sense her nearness whether she blocked his telepathy or not. But sometimes, like today, his own emotions would get in the way of his sensitivity to hers. He'd been so worried about her Psi Evaluation he could hardly think straight. Now, what did she mean? He read erotic images of their more intimate moments and a huge fountain with ropans swimming in the pool under it. Hankura grinned slightly. Those were enchanting thoughts, but she was obviously trying to tell him something specific, and she was having a hard time making it clear.
Of course! It was Narcaza Circle. Alone and bewildered in this strange city, Chelle would seek out a quiet haven like that to sort things out. Hankura changed directions and stepped eagerly on to the next perpendicular belt. In a matter of minutes, he was walking toward the huge fountain at the center of Narcaza Circle.
Some people crossed his path, paying little attention to him as he passed. He circled the fountain and found Chelle sitting under the statue of Narcaza with Capra and Stefan.
"Chelle!" he chided gently. "Father and I have been searching all over Salla for you."
"You are angry." she sighed, and Hankura could sense that she was still hurt and confused and a little angry with him. Yet he knew she was glad to see him as well.
"Not with you, love. With them for what they did to you and with myself for putting you through it. I knew it would be hard for you, but I--I wanted to believe you wouldn't be hurt because I need to be here right now."
"Well, I certainly didn't need that testing," she muttered, avoidi
ng his eyes.
"I know. I'm sorry, Chelle---and I don't blame you for being angry with me. You have every right to be," he admitted. "But, why did you run away from me?"
"Because I wanted to leave and you were trying to pull me into that stupid lounge," she sniffed.
Hankura lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged in front of her, taking her hands in his. "I only meant for you to rest a few minutes to calm down after the testing."
"I didn't want to stay there," Chelle retorted. "I--"
"I know." Hankura sighed. "You told me. And I didn't listen. I'm sorry."
Chelle looked into his face. Seeing the misery in his eyes tempered her anger some. He hadn't wanted to hurt her. He just wanted to stay on Aledus so badly that he had convinced himself she wouldn't suffer for it. He knew it, and she knew it. He had done this to her by bringing her here. What did he expect?
Yet, as she looked into his eyes, she knew he had been hurt as well. He was hurting now. A part of her wanted him to hurt: he deserved it. But another part of her wanted to soothe his hurting.
"I got lost. I could feel you close, but I couldn't find you. I tried." Tears formed in her eyes again. "I wanted to find you. I was scared that I wouldn't."
"Me, too. . .. It's all right, sweetheart, I'm here. Don't cry." He reached up in a gentle caress and pushed her tangled hair back from her tear streaked face with his fingers. If anything had happened to her . . ..
"After Capra found me, I wasn't scared anymore. I just wanted to go home. I'm glad you found us." She winced suddenly at the pain throbbing in her head. "Can you make this damned headache go away?"
"I can try. Here." He laid his hands on either side of her head and gently massaged two pressure points near her temples with skilled fingers for about half a minute. Then he applied the same pressure on the top of her head and moved gradually to two other points at the base of her neck and on the back of her shoulders. It was an ancient headache remedy.
"Better?"
"Oh, yes! My head was starting to feel like one of those big orange flowers."
"If the pain comes back, I'll do it again. I only had the one tranquilizer with me." After a moment, he turned his gaze to Capra. "Thank you for staying with her. I know you had plans with your friend." Maybe you'd better go with him now. Stefan is embarrassed to be seen with us. . .And I sense you are too.
I'm sorry, Hankura. Capra met her brother's eyes sadly. I'm ashamed to feel this way. It's so hard to be in the middle like this. You know I care about you both; you're family. . .. But you should never have come back to Aledus. This is no place for you--and certainly no place for Chelle.
You're right, but I promised Mother and Father. I never wanted to believe it would be this bad for Chelle.
What about the University? Have you any idea what it will be like for her there? Capra wondered.
"Unfortunately, yes," Hankura admitted. "Chelle is stubborn as hell. She wants to go anyway." He half grinned. "That same stubbornness probably saved her from psi trauma with Kodric. He tried his best to damage her psyche."
"I feel better now," Chelle interrupted softly.
As Hankura smiled and looked into her shining blue eyes, she blinked slowly and sent the image of a blooming yarrel flower into his mind.
Squeezing her hands ardently, he sent it back to her as a whispered endearment caressing her mind. She softly sighed and smiled back at him. That she had opened her mind without conscious effort was a good sign. She would forgive him in time.
"Can we go home now?" she asked. "I'm tired, and I've had enough of Salla for one day."
"I'm ready to go, too. I just need to find Father and let him know. Will you let me try and not run away?"
"I'm not letting you out of my sight," She grinned sheepishly.
The four of them sat in silence while Hankura closed his eyes and concentrated, blotting out everything but his sense of oneness with his father. It was almost like trying to pick out one special ant in an anthill of thousands.
"Aah!" Hankura exclaimed, exhilarated by his success. He opened his eyes, blinking several times. "He's going home, too." Then he stood up, untangling his legs a bit awkwardly. He drew Chelle to her feet and hugged her for a moment. "Thank you both," he said to Capra and Stefan, releasing her.
"Maybe you will bring Stefan to visit us," added Chelle graciously, taking Hankura's arm to steady herself. "He isn't so bad either."
"Chelle, you must be more discreet," Hankura told her. "Not everyone appreciates your kind of honesty."
Stefan chuckled a little uncomfortably. "Serves me right, I guess." He watched them turn for Hankura to give silent tribute to the statue of the great Narcaza. When they continued on their way back to the pedestrian belt, Stefan looked back at Capra.
"They are very different from the other psions here on Aledus. I'm not sure what it is---but they have a certain dignity about them. Sludge, I'd have been mad as a gresar if you had done that to me. He hardly seemed annoyed."
"Probably because he was so glad to find her unharmed. You know what could have happened to her alone in this city." Capra muttered. Stefan nodded grimly. "They are different. Their minds have always been free."
"Doesn't that worry you--living so close to people like that?"
"Oh, I'll admit I was nervous about it at first. But they are hard people not to like." She shook her head slightly. "Mother and Father should never have made Hankura give that dumb promise. They're going to have a hard time because of what they are. What the Psi Institute did to Chelle was just plain cruel--and unnecessary."
"Maybe it seems that way," Stefan admitted. "Still, they are psions. . .."
Capra glared at him.
"Okay, okay---so I don't know that much about psions," he admitted. "I guess I'll learn."
A few people stared at Hankura and Chelle with obvious disdain, but no one accosted them when they entered the Enrollment Hall in the Admissions Dome at Salla University. The two walked down a long wide corridor and paused in front of a computer information terminal.
Chelle placed her thumb on the black ID plate, and the machine ejected several plastic sheets into the catch bin. She picked them up in order and started glancing over them as she and Hankura walked back out the way they had come.
"Blast it all!" Chelle exclaimed in disgust. "Look how they've got us listed." She handed the sheets to Hankura, although he already knew what she had read. All of the students for Med-Tech Level One classes were listed in alphabetical order with their ID numbers, sex, origin, and psi status listed beside each name.
"They don't even give me half a chance," Chelle mused. "They didn't need to put all that on there for everybody to know. It's not fair. By the time the others finish reading this refuse, no one will come near me, let alone talk to me. Wearing this stupid psi-patch is bad enough."
"Aw, Chelle," Hankura sighed as they walked down the nearly empty corridor. It had emptied since they arrived. "Capra and Trevin haven't been exaggerating at all. I'm afraid that's exactly what you can expect." I wish you'd change your mind about this.
"But you were the one who suggested it in the first place!" She gave a sudden toss of her long auburn hair.
"That was a mistake on my part. I can certainly see that now." He took her arm, and they stepped onto the beltway together.
You don't think I can do it? You want me to quit before I even start? She flashed him a tight-lipped glance.
"Woman! Don't read thoughts into my mind that aren't there. I'm just telling you that no one is going to give you a fair chance. Even the Aledan psions will probably avoid you. Those gorgeous blue eyes of yours have you marked as a double genetic recessive.
"The other students will only work with you when they're forced to. You'll be alone in there, and if they ignore you, you will be lucky." Chelle, I don't want you treated the way they will treat you. Kodric hurt you enough.
I got through it okay, and I can do this, too. She looked at him persuasively. If that's the way they w
ant it, that's the way they will get it. I did what you wanted, now let me do what I want to do--just until we're ready to leave Aledus. I've got to try. If I don't go to the University, what will I do? Sit at the complex and watch the yarrel flowers grow?
"You've got me there. I know you hate to be idle, and you're eager to learn the things I know. . .."
"Hankura, I need something to do while you're working at the Medical Center. I want to do this. Besides, do you really expect them to treat you better than I will be treated here?"
"I'm not a Terran Psion with blue eyes," he pointed out. Mother of Life! I should never have brought you here! I should have taken you anywhere but Aledus. They won't see anything beyond how different you are.
"But you do. That's what matters to me." She offered him a fond smile. They stepped from the beltway and walked toward the subway tubes to board a capsule and cross the city.
"If you help me, I can do it. And just in case anyone might get nasty, you can teach me some more of your chackrin." We can't be afraid to do everything because they won't make anything easy for us.
Of all the women in the Galaxy, I had to find an impossibly stubborn Terran for a wife. What am I going to do with you? He cast her a sidelong glance. The hell of it is, you're right. If we stay here for any length of time, we'll have to face the situation. If we can't do that, then we may as well leave now.
The Aledan PSION: The Aledan Series Book 1 Page 12