by Gail Daley
"How fortunate that you are here to begin that training," Katherine retorted. "Look, Leona, she hasn’t had the kind of secure upbringing that most clan children have had. Violet lost her parents very young, and quite frankly, that Grouter’s was not the best place for a child with her sensitivity. She must have time to recover her sense of security and learn she is loved before I will allow her to be subjected to the rigid discipline imposed on trainees at the Dragon training center."
Leona snorted. "From what I saw just now, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. That child seems quite strong willed to me."
"Yes, and I intend to see she retains it—"
Zack, who had been listening in silence while the argument raged, finally spoke. "Katherine is right. Violet may appear strong, but she is still having nightmares from her experiences with Grouter. She stays with us."
"You always were a stubborn, willful child Katherine," Leona remarked. "So, tell me are you planning to drag the child and the dragon back and forth to town with you when you serve in Parliament?"
If she thought she was presenting them with a problem, she was mistaken. Katherine just smiled, recognizing defeat but not rubbing it in. "I will use the family estate outside of town since it will be better for all the children, not just Violet."
Leona made a rude noise and said, "If you will excuse me then, I foresee a long day tomorrow and I need my rest. Good Night."
When Katherine checked on Violet and Jelli the next morning, she was appalled at the amount of vegetable mash, ground meat, bits of butter and spilled milk covering the child’s torso and clothing.
"I'm making Jelli some breakfast," Violet announced proudly. She had both arms up to the elbow in a large bowl mixing the ground bean curd, meat, butterfat and milk for Jelli’s meal.
"Good morning, Violet, Jelli", Katherine said, casting an indignant look at Leona, who shrugged.
"The child needs to learn how to care for her pet," Leona said in answer to the implied criticism.
"Well, find her an apron to protect her clothes. I expect Morgana still has those her own children used," Katherine said, referring to the woman in charge of butchering meat for the Lodge. "And make sure Violet takes a bath and soaks those clothes in cold water to get out the blood before she comes down to breakfast."
The next day was a busy one. The Lodge’s nursery had not been in use since the new babies born just as the war started had grown out of the need for it. The nursery was the primary day care center for clan members living and working in and around the lodge. Before they left Glass Harbor, Katherine and Corrine had met with several childcare specialists to staff the center. Since Jayne’s young boys would spend a lot of time there, Katherine asked her to look at it and make a list of what would be needed to bring it back into use.
Unlike Katherine's new family to whom she had given their first aptitude tests on Fenris, most children on Vensoog were tested often to check EMPH ratings. They had also been tested on their native aptitudes so they could be steered toward a course of study to help choose a career to make the best of their natural talents. Katherine had tested her new children on Fenris. As a part of schooling, children were also given "hands on" work with mentors in different areas.
Since Violet had more or less chosen her own career path by bonding with Jelli, she would be working with Mistress Leona for the foreseeable future.
After some discussion, Roderick elected to intern in the Lodge’s communications and electronics center as his first choice.
Rupert who had tested very high in chemistry, chose to work in the distillery where the herbs and other items grown by the Clan were compounded into medicines and food supplements. These were used by the Clan and to be sold in the open market at Glass Harbor and Port recovery.
Lucinda opted to work with security where her skill at drawing would be an asset in identifying suspects from witnesses’ descriptions.
Juliette would be understudying Katherine so she would follow her around while either Katherine or Corrine explained how to make Veiled Isle a viable working community.
After introducing each of the children to their various mentors, Katherine took everyone down through the underground passage to the barn dome where a crew was assembling equipment to head up into the hills for the annual roundup due to start soon.
It was almost time for the Passover swarms and storms to start, and the entire populace of the Lodge was gearing up for it. During Roundup, most of the cattle, sheep, goats and Ostumus would be brought down from the hills to the low meadows inside Blue Talon Canyon so they would be close enough to the Lodge to take shelter during the swarms and storms. Food for humans and animals was being prepared and put in stasis to last them through the long season.
Veiled Isle was large, but it was divided by a range of low mountains. The Horned Cove Station on the opposite side of the island was almost as large as the Lodge Station itself and catered to several Independent Fishers and the seacoast village. To reach the Lodge from Horned Cove it was necessary to either travel along the coast or go over the low mountain pass.
Traditionally during Roundup, the Lodge assisted those farms closest to it in the western hills. Extra drovers were leaving this morning to travel out to the outlying Stations on the other side of the low range of mountains splitting Veiled Isle. The Roundup crew leaving from the Lodge traveled on horseback and pulled wagons up into the hills once it began. Since neither Zack nor the children had ever ridden a horse, Katherine asked the head stableman to assign them mounts and begin riding lessons.
Leaving them to enjoy their lesson, Katherine went up to operations where she pulled up a map of Veiled Isle. About ten new couples and several single men and women, some with families, would arrive this afternoon. She looked down at her list of the new arrivals, checking the aptitudes and skill levels. Zack had also given her a list of personnel he wanted assigned as security. Four stations abandoned during the war because the former inhabitants had been killed could be re-inhabited, but the new settlers going to those stations needed to be men and women with some knowledge of agriculture. A few of the new couples would join an existing family and would only need basic supplies to set up small domes to be attached to established homes. About half of the singles would take rooms or suites in the Lodge, the others she marked to be assigned to several existing farms. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. These plans would need to be discussed individually with the new arrivals, who might or might not be amendable to her suggestions. Perhaps some of them might even be interested in starting those Bed and Breakfast places Corrine kept talking about. Well, that was for tomorrow and Corrine would be here to help. In the afternoon after regular schooling, Juliette would also be there. Not that she would make decisions, but she needed to learn how these things were done.
The Fisher ship bringing Corrine and Vernal also brought construction materials to refurbish several existing structures and build starter domes for some of the new arrivals. Transportation had to be arranged for materials and people out to the outlying farms.
Roundup Vensoog Style
THE NEXT several weeks were busy, but eventually everyone settled into a routine. After a family breakfast, the children went to the schoolrooms and worked on regular school tasks, overseen by Jayne and the two teachers. The schoolrooms held a mixed age group, with each student using their own teaching module with lessons assigned to by their age and ability.
Early afternoons the children either spent with their mentors or with Zack learning self-defense and combat strategies, or with Katherine teaching a political strategy. Sometimes the family used this time to engage in a mock combat/hide and seek session down in the empty caverns. During the day, Zack and Katherine were coordinating efforts to get the new arrivals settled in amid preparing for the Passover Swarm and Storm season. Corrine and Vernal took advantage of the time to take an extended camping trip around the Isle. Late afternoons were free time for the children to engage in activities with their new friends or priv
ate projects, and evenings were family time. At dinner, everyone discussed his or her day’s activities and the next day’s plans.
Most of the children at Veiled Beach Lodge had been born during the war before the bioweapon hit Vensoog and were much older than Zack and Katherine’s five. Despite the disparity in age, Katherine observed the children were making friends, although they seemed to still cling to each other. Jelli was a wonderful icebreaker because none of the others had met a tame Sand Dragon. Jayne hadn’t raised an eyebrow when Violet brought her pet to class, but the other two teachers protested that if she continued to attend the Sand Dragon would grow to take up too much room. Katherine looked them over, and then at Violet’s tense face, and said, "I fail to see a problem here. It’s a big room and you’re on the ground floor.”
Her daughter’s beaming smile had been reward enough.
The morning Roundup started, Katherine and Zack were rousted out of sleep in the early dawn by the pealing of a crystal bell. "What the Hell is that?” Zack demanded.
Katherine rubbed sleep from her eyes. "It means the first of the Swarms has been spotted out to sea. We have about three weeks to get the livestock down from the hills before they arrive. It will be all hands on deck for Roundup.”
The children burst through Katherine and Zack’s bedroom door with excited or anxious demands about the cause of the noise. Katherine yawned and reached for her bedrobe. "Hush, now, it’s nothing to worry about. It means we start Roundup today.”
"What’s going to happen?” asked Roderick.
"It means that after breakfast you will have time to use those riding lessons. We’ll be heading up into the high meadows to bring down the stock. We’ll be gone several days.”
"What about Jelli?” asked Violet, "I can’t leave her behind—"
"Jelli will have to ride in the newborn animal cart with the other baby animals who can’t keep up with the moving herds,” Katherine said firmly.
"Everyone needs to go back to their rooms and dress in your riding clothes. Pack a small carryall with a jacket and two changes of clothes.”
Roundup was quite an undertaking. Zack counted forty riders including children of various ages, the supply wagon carrying food, bedding and extra clothing, and portable domes, and two more empty wagons. Katherine explained that one of them would carry baby animals too young to keep up with the moving herds. This wagon was partitioned into four separate sections and already held a somewhat grumpy Jelli.
Just as they were starting out, Katherine’s com chimed. She projected the vid-com in front of her so everyone could see and hear it. Images of Genevieve and Gideon appeared.
"We received a message on the crystal net from the Clan Patrol at Horned Cove,” Genevieve said. "There's a band of Wilders moving into your territory. The word from Karnelon Height is that they’re armed with laser weapons. Apparently, some Wilders have taken over one of DeMedici’s outposts on the edge of N’Sicily Isle and are using it as a base. They landed on Stranger’s Cove and went up the hill to take out Karnelon Station. They were under attack when they called Horned Bay Patrol. I know Roundup is taking place, so you don’t have spare manpower, but I suggest you arm your riders and work in trios in case they make it around the coast to your side.”
Katherine and Zack exchanged glances. "We have to do Roundup,” she said.
"We could leave the children here,” he suggested.
She shook her head. "The families at the Stations will have their children with them; a few more won’t make any difference to our situation.”
He nodded. "Okay, then. Listen up everyone! I need volunteers. I want two armed outriders at both ends of this caravan and two along each side. If we’re attacked, we make a triangle of the wagons and put the riding animals and the children inside the triangle. Older children will oversee taking care of them. The rest of us will be divided up into two groups, one to defend the triangle and the other outside it to attack the Wilders. The strategy is to catch them between us. Any questions?”
He turned to Katherine, "Do you have any heavy weapons we can bring along?”
She nodded. "Anyone who can handle a Plasma Rifle, go to the armory and check one out. Pick up extra plasma bolts for the rifles, your side arms and for the Force Wands. We’ll store them in the second supply wagon. Bring along one of the light Plasma Cannons in case we need one.”
Vernal and Corrine who planned on staying behind because they claimed they were too old to do Round Up, agreed to step up patrols along the coast and to warn Fisher Ships affiliated with O’Teague to watch out for Wilders along the coasts.
Katherine had always loved Roundup. She took a deep breath smelling the sweet scent of dried grasses mixed with the sharp odors of the wet crystal rocks off the ocean. The familiar feel of her horse moving under her and the creak of leather all said this was home. She had only been away three months, but it had seemed longer.
Since they didn’t need to ride herd, Katherine, Zack, and the children rode together a family group next to the Babe wagon because Violet insisted Jelli would feel left out if they didn’t. Katherine took advantage of the time to show points of interest to everyone.
"It’s a well-marked trail”, Zack remarked. "Will we stick to it?”
"Yes,” she answered. "When we reach Alpine Meadows Station, we’ll help Jordan and Mia with their gather and then swing around the mountains and pick up the families and stock from the other four stations. Some of the outposts like Seven Trees will join us at each of the camps with anyone they want to send down.”
"You leave the outposts unguarded?” Zack asked disapprovingly.
She shrugged. "The storms make it hard for anyone to move around enough to attack anything. Wait until you’ve been through a season here, you’ll see. But we leave a skeleton crew manning the outpost in case someone camps close enough to attack while the outpost is under-manned.”
He grunted. "Depending on weather as a defense isn’t always reliable. Maybe after the season passes, Vernal and I can take a little trip out to the outposts to see if we can improve security. That’s for later though. We have other fish to fry. You know this area better than I do. If you were planning an ambush where would you do it?”
Always so business-like, Katherine thought ruefully. Their union had been more than satisfying but she couldn’t help wondering what his reaction would be if she proposed to make it permanent.
"Hey!” he snapped his fingers under her nose. "Zack to Katherine. I asked you where you think the best ambush place will be.”
Abruptly jerked back from her nostalgic dreaming, Katherine replied. "There's Blue Talon Canyon at the base of the hills. We usually hold most of the herds there for a few days before we move them down into the low meadows near the Lodge. The ground gets hilly as we approach it and they could pick us off from concealment.”
"Okay, then we need to get there ahead of the herds and scout it out to make sure we aren’t walking into a trap when we arrive. I’ll take a small team of fighters and scouts with me and cut across to it. We have six fighters from my old unit with us, I’ll take three of them and I need you to pick three more of your people who can guide us there. We’ll leave as soon as we arrive in Alpine Meadows Station.”
Camp was the usual first night muddle with everyone running around trying to get organized. Chores had to be assigned, the animals fed and camping domes set up.
Never having slept in the outdoors before the children were excited, Katherine decided they would all share a porta-dome. She had left Sooka behind with Corrine because her pups had just been born. Besides her and Zack Violet insisted that Jelli sleep in the pop-up with them. This meant everyone had to step over or around her if they needed to get up in the middle of the night, and when Zack rose quietly to check on the night guards, he accidentally stepped on her tail. Jelli’s squeal of outrage woke up not only their dome, but those on either side of them.
The next afternoon they arrived at Alpine Meadows, and the next morning Zack left wi
th his fighters on the scouting trip.
Zack and his scouts could cover more ground than the slow-moving herds. He told Katherine and the children he would meet them before they arrived at Blue Talon Canyon. Watching Zack and the seven fighters ride off into the pre-dawn chill was hard. Katherine had smiled at Zack as she kissed him goodbye, swallowing a knot of fear for him. When she saw some of the distress disappear from her children’s’ faces, she was glad she had made the effort. She remembered one of Corrine’s teaching mantras—confidence was contagious. When he left, Zack got a hard hug from all three girls and at Violet’s insistence a goodbye whuffle from Jelli. From Rupert and Roderick, he got a manly handshake as he instructed them to "look after the girls while I’m gone.”
"We’ll look after each other,” Katherine had retorted. She then made sure that all her children were too busy with morning camp chores to have time to fret. Unlike herself at that age, her new children acutely knew of the idea a parent could be taken away from them. She and Zack were their security, she reminded herself; she couldn’t afford to for them to see her fear for Zack unless she wanted them to take matters into their own hands.
They probably would do something anyway, she thought resignedly as Juliette and Roderick caught up with her when the herds and flock moved toward the next station. "Are we going to be attacked?” Juliette asked.
Katherine studied her, judging how frank she ought to be about the situation. There was fear there, but resolution too. "Well, I hope not, but it’s always possible,” she replied.
"We want to learn to fire the plasma rifles,” Juliette stated.
Katherine’s eyebrows rose. "You've been learning the Force Wand so you can defend yourselves.”
"Yes, but that’s for close-in fighting. I think it will be better if I don’t have to fight them close up, don’t you?” Roderick insisted.
Katherine nodded. "All right. This evening we will hold a class for anyone who wants to learn how to load and fire them. I can’t let you fire them, though’ because we might need the ammunition for actual fighting later, but you can practice aiming.”