“Ah, I rather hoped he might.”
“He said his Leska’s a Terran.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, what’s she like?”
“Haven’t you received the pictorial data on the Terrans yet?”
“Rhyasha, that’s not what I mean and you know it,” her husband growled.
“She’s small and appears vulnerable but is fiercely loyal to him. She was prepared to take me on if necessary,” she said with a grin.
“And Kusac? What does he think of her?”
“He’s changed, Konis,” she said. “Having to look out for both of them has made him grow up. I’ve never known him feel so content and happy.”
Her husband raised an eye ridge. “You surprise me, Rhyasha. To hear you speak so well of her she must indeed be special. I take it you approve of his Leska?”
“Yes, I do. He calls her cub, and she has that quality about her. You’ll see for yourself when you meet her.”
“What about their Link? Can they work together? Is their Talent similar?”
“What he allowed me to sense of their Link is different from any Sholan Link I’ve known,” she said slowly. “They have a barrier that won’t allow one to read anything from them. Yes, their minds are in phase and they work well together, but she has more than one Talent.”
“You’ve noticed the barrier, too. I haven’t sensed anything from him since their Link was completed and what I felt then was more the sudden flare of this barrier going up between us.”
“You were monitoring him, Konis,” said Rhyasha, her tone one of disbelief and anger. “You had no right to intrude on his privacy like that!”
Her husband’s ears flicked backward, then stilled. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, Rhyasha. I sensed very little from him,” he said. “I only did it because I was worried at what I’d been picking up.”
“You should have called and spoken to him.”
“I did! That damned Adjutant Myak kept giving me the runaround, saying Kusac wasn’t available for one reason or another. Don’t tell me you didn’t try to pick him up, Rhyasha, because I won’t believe it!”
“Well, I didn’t,” she said, “and you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“At least he’ll soon be home,” said Konis. “Try and get him to travel back with you. I need to find out all I can about these Terrans and their Talents. If there’s been one mixed Leska Link, there could be more. I want to know what caused it. Perhaps her Talents can be passed to other telepaths just as we pass on languages.”
“Konis, just remember your son and his Leska are people entitled to their own lives. They aren’t to be put under your scrutiny and torn apart so you can examine what makes them work,” she said.
“Nonsense, it’s nothing like that, Rhyasha. At least now we’ve found him we can get that marriage settled. News of Kusac’s Leska has been spread over the public information channels, and Rala’s family are becoming concerned. I’ve assured them there won’t be any problems. They don’t know she’s Terran yet.”
“Konis, I should go easy on this with Kusac if I were you,” warned Rhyasha. “Now is not the time to talk to him about marriage.”
“Rubbish. Now is the best time. He’s found a Leska, and you say he’s happy. What better time? It might have caused a problem if she were Sholan, but she isn’t. Besides, I’ve already spoken to him about it. He knows his duty to the Clan. He won’t cause any trouble over it.”
Rhyasha briefly closed her eyes. There’s no fool like one who refuses to see what’s under his nose, she thought, making sure to keep it to herself. He’s already left us once because you pushed him too hard, Konis. We could lose him again, this time for good. You have enough clues, you should know he won’t come to your heel. Already he can block us out mentally. He doesn’t need us any more, and you could push him till he realizes that.
“Leave it for now, Konis. Believe me they have enough on their minds with the guild trying to gauge her Talents and find out how many of them Kusac now has.”
“There’s no point in me pursuing it now anyway. I’ll leave it until they return to Shola,” he agreed. “Now tell me how the treaty negotiations are going.”
*
Dzaka had been waiting for upward of an hour before Vanna allowed him in. Kaid was lying propped up against a pile of pillows. He looked tired and in pain.
“How are you?” Dzaka asked, lifting the chair from the other side of the room over to the bedside.
“Annoyed,” he said. “I’ve got work to do, and I feel as weak as a cub.”
“What happened?”
“The craft suddenly went out of control. Either there was something wrong with the vehicle or Maikoe tried to fake it and crashed. Have they examined the wreck yet?”
Dzaka nodded. “The explosion damaged the remains of the crew to the extent that that couldn’t say how many bodies there were. Officially, there were no survivors. Three died in the crash, and the fourth in the sick bay.”
Kaid sighed. “I was hoping they could tell how many bodies there were. One of them, the ringleader Chyad, could have got away. He and I were the only survivors and he was trying to kill me. He and Maikoe— had she survived— were intending to hide on the planet’s surface.”
“Did he break your cover?”
“No, thank the God. It was simply that I could have told the authorities he had escaped the crash, too. You haven’t heard anything, have you?”
“Nothing. I’ll get Rulla onto it. The troopers will know if a stranger turns up in their midst.” He looked down at his hands for a moment, reluctant to carry on. “How has the rest of your contract gone? Have you assessed the pair yet?”
Kaid closed his eyes and laid his head back against the pillows. “Ghezu,” he said succinctly. “So far, nothing they’ve done or said leads me to believe they are in any way dangerous, Dzaka, but I need longer. They’ve only been on board the Khalossa for some thirteen or fourteen days, together for six of them. Normally when we do one of these missions, the Brotherhood and the Telepath Guild has been observing them for years. Not this time. Officially, I’m their adjutant, and I’ll be returning to Shola with them where I intend to continue my observation. Tell Ghezu that.”
“I had to ask,” Dzaka said.
Kaid opened his eyes again and reached his hand out to touch Dzaka’s briefly. “I know. Ghezu is testing your loyalty.”
Dzaka stirred. “I realize that,” he said, moving his hand away. “Why did you never contact me?” he asked abruptly. “I wanted to leave with you. You were all I had then. Gods, Kaid, I was almost an adult with the right to choose for myself, and you refused me! You were all the family I’d ever known!”
“I had to leave you. Ghezu made it a condition of my release that you were to remain. It proved that he’d beaten me, and he needed the Stronghold to see that.”
“Why did you want to leave?”
“I couldn’t stay after what he did to you, and I knew that he’d use you again to get at me.” Kaid turned his head to look at his grown fosterling. “The past still lies between Ghezu and me, and it touches you. Be careful of him. The Brotherhood means more to him than anything, even friendship. I’ll give him his due, though, he’s led the Brotherhood well these past ten years.”
“You still haven’t said why you never contacted me.”
“What would I have said, Dzaka?” There was a touch of anger in his voice. “Having a great time, wish you were here— where you’re a target for any Brother who wants to kill you? If I’d have gotten in touch with you, you’d have left— you know it as well as I do. I couldn’t let you be killed because of loyalty to me! In his own way he was right. He’s made a better leader than ever I would have done. He had the ruthlessness to see it and do something about it.”
“And you had the ruthlessness to risk your own life to escape him, and leave me there,” said Dzaka bleakly, getting up and turning away.
The door had just slid open when Kaid sp
oke again.
“Tell me I was wrong, Dzaka. Tell me I should have taken you with me, or stayed at the Stronghold, if that’s what you really believe.”
“I can’t tell you that, Kaid. You did what you did,” he said before stepping into the corridor.
*
The restaurant Kusac chose was on the concourse near the viewing window. As they left the elevator to cross over to it, Carrie was aware of the many speculative looks cast in her direction, looks that took in her appearance, then backed off. She remembered Skai’s reaction to her and the words she’d used to the Mentor— to shock, not because she believed them. Now she began to wonder.
They waited outside with Sevrin while Meral went in first to conduct a security check.
We need to talk, Kusac, she sent.
I know, he replied.
She felt him pull his gaze away, eyes focusing somewhere around the top of her head.
Don’t do that!
He looked back at her. I’m sorry. I’m not used to them yet. It makes you seem more Sholan.
Meral returned to beckon them in. They followed, only peripherally aware of the stir their arrival was causing.
That’s what we need to talk about, and I mean talk.
While we eat, promised Kusac as he moved in to sit at the table Meral had selected.
Automatically, Carrie sat opposite him, sinking down into the soft bowl at the center of the seat. Surprised, she found her feet no longer touched the floor. She took stock of the chair, realizing its cushioned seat curved up to a high back, making it perfect for lounging in. Glancing round the other tables in the softly-lit room, she noticed many of the customers were curled up in their chairs. She could feel their air of studied involvement in their own affairs.
Carrie looked back to see Meral hovering uncertainly. “Where are you sitting?” she asked.
“With us,” said Kusac, pulling the chair adjacent to him out. “You need to eat, too.”
Hesitantly, Meral and Sevrin sat.
“We’ll still talk,” Kusac said to her in Terran. “What do you want to eat?”
“Order anything,” she said, trying to settle herself comfortably into the chair. She felt dwarfed by it and finally ended up pulling her legs up beside her.
The meal ordered, Kusac gave her his full attention.
“Kusac, have you any idea what’s happening to us? Why are we changing?” she asked, leaning across the table.
“Vanna told us about…”
“I’m not talking about what Vanna said,” she interrupted. “I’m talking about the other changes, ones you’ve noticed in me.”
He stretched out his hand to her. “I haven’t noticed any changes in you.”
“You keep telling me how Sholan I seem.”
“That’s just a figure of speech, cub,” he said, his ears giving a tiny flick.
“No. Your thoughts give you away. You really did mean it at the time. Today, even the Valtegan recognized the touch of my mind. You’ve trained in this field, Kusac, you know the feel of a Terran mind and you know mine. They’re not the same, are they?”
“No,” he said quietly. “They’re not.” His hand tightened on hers. “I find my own outlook is changing, too. I’m challenging the codes I was brought up to believe. They seem too rigid to me now.”
“Where’s all this taking us, Kusac? Where will it end? What are we becoming?”
“I don’t know, Carrie. The Sholan mind has only ever been telepathic. Yours is much more flexible, not only in what you can do but the way you think. A lot of what we do is dictated by the past, by following guild rules. Now I find myself questioning everything just as you do.” His ears flicked again briefly. “Our minds have merged to the point where we’re neither of us Sholan or Terran but something else, and I don’t know what that is.”
“But I’m changing in other ways. Look at my eyes,” she said, tugging gently at his hand to make him look up. “Even you’re uncomfortable with me now. I’m still the same person, Kusac. Don’t make me feel even more isolated than I am,” she said, a catch in her voice as she looked into his amber eyes. “I’m frightened, Kusac. What else about me will change, and why is it only me that’s changing physically”?
“Carrie, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make you feel isolated,” he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly. “Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of either our people or yours. I don’t understand it either.”
She could feel his helplessness, his frustration at not having an answer for them.
“We don’t know that you’re changing physically. Yes, your eyes are different, but that was after you triggered the gestalt. I think we should make a point of avoiding using it if we possibly can. Apart from that there’s nothing we can do, cub, except see this through together.”
“I didn’t trigger the gestalt, Kusac. It just happened.”
Kusac looked dubiously at her. “The other times it happened, you seemed to do it at will.”
“I didn’t this time.”
“Maybe strong emotions trigger it. I think that if either of us feels it building again, we both have to fight it.”
“If we have it and can use it, there has to be a purpose to it,” Carrie pointed out reasonably.
“I’m sure there is, but at the moment there’s so much we don’t know about our abilities that something as wild as the gestalt is better left till after we can control what we know we have. We could end up doing great harm to ourselves or others through ignorance if we trigger it again.”
“That sounds fine to me. I’d really rather not wake up out of a faint and find I’ve acquired a tail!”
“Oh, I don’t know, it could be quite fetching,” he grinned, ducking when she threw a handful of paper napkins at him.
Chapter 9
Later that day Kusac received a message to report to Tutor Rhuso. While Kusac accompanied his tutor into the less formal inner office, Meral remained in the waiting area.
“Thank you for coming so promptly. Please, take a seat,” said Rhuso, indicating the form-shaped chairs around the low table. “C’shar?” he asked, going over to the dispenser as Kusac sat down.
“Thanks.”
“You look much improved from when I last saw you,” said Rhuso, returning with two mugs.
Kusac took the one held out to him, sipping it as his tutor sat down opposite him. “If you’ll pardon me saying so, Tutor, I’m aware of your concern not to offend me,” he said. “Perhaps it would be better if you just told me what the problem is.” He felt the other’s surge of surprise before Rhuso retreated behind a stronger shield.
“I’ve been asked to speak to you on behalf of the Mentor,” said Rhuso, putting his mug down. “We need your cooperation on a matter of some delicacy.”
Kusac raised an eye ridge as he took another drink.
“It’s with regard to your Leska.”
“I rather thought it might be,” murmured Kusac.
“We’re all aware of her lack of experience and training and are making allowances,” said Rhuso, “but we can’t go on doing that for much longer. From what happened today with the Valtegan, it’s obvious that she has a powerful Talent— in fact, I’d hazard a guess that it was on a level with yours. Given her lack of discipline, and the fact that your Link allows her access not only to all you know but to your power as well, the potential for disaster is immense.”
Kusac held his ears still by an effort of will, but on the seat beside him the tip of his tail began to flick from side to side.
“I would hardly say her Talent is potentially disastrous,” he said quietly.
“I’m afraid I would. She’s been on board some ten days and in that time she’s had to be drugged to stop her broadcasting her distress to the entire complement of thirty-five telepaths, and two days ago she drained one telepath completely of energy. She would have affected more people had your mother not been able to prevent her. Then there was today’s incident. Her Talent is wild, Kusac. She n
eeds to be trained.”
“I wasn’t aware any request for her to start training had been made by the guild.”
“It’s being made now,” said Rhuso. “And it isn’t a request. She must be brought into line and made to conform.”
“Why?”
Rhuso looked as taken aback as he felt. “You’re asking me?”
Kusac’s ears were beginning to swivel sideward in anger. “The first two incidents were due to fear, Tutor Rhuso. Today, I consider she was in the right. There was no time for her to ask, only to act. I would have done the same. We’ve been at peace for so long that we’ve forgotten how to fight. Her people haven’t, neither have the Valtegans. Her sister was tortured to death by them, and because of her Link, she was the one who suffered both the pain and the injuries! How can you expect her to show a nicety of feeling toward them? I think she did remarkably well in not causing any injury to the Valtegan!”
“I’ve read the files,” said Rhuso. “I’m well aware of what she suffered.”
Kusac looked at him, eyes hard. “You didn’t experience her pain. I did,” he said coldly.
Rhuso looked away. “Nonetheless, she has to follow our ways; she has to conform.”
“She’s not Sholan, Rhuso! Why should she follow our ways?”
“Because you made her part of our world, and she accepted it!” Rhuso locked eyes with him.
“Kusac, you’re a contender for the Leadership of the Sixteen Telepath Clans,” he continued in a quieter tone. “You’ve also been brought up with the knowledge that one day you will succeed your mother. You’ve been trained to always put the good of the Clans and Shola first. You must see that your Leska presents a threat to our way of life if she continues like this. She shows no respect for our authorities-dammit, she can’t talk to the Mentor like that! Surely even you realize she was in the wrong!”
“Perhaps I don’t want to be heir either to my own Clan or the Sixteen,” said Kusac evenly. “Maybe that’s why I joined the Forces in the first place. There’s a lot that’s good about the Terran outlook. We’ve become stale over the years of peace. Just pray that we don’t find the Valtegans, because mentally we aren’t ready to face the kind of war they wage.”
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