Sashti passed one down to him then began gently kneading the muscles across Carrie’s neck and shoulders. This time, Carrie found herself relaxing almost immediately as the scent of the oils filled the room.
“You do realize you could end up with a great many Terran customers, too, don’t you?” she murmured, giving herself up totally to the soothing rhythm of Sashti’s and Jayed’s hands.
“So I could, once I’ve practiced a few times on you.”
“Any time at all,” said Carrie, her voice almost a purr as she let her eyes close.
*
Wrapped in a warm toweling robe, Carrie was ushered back through to the main room where the third meal was waiting for them— not on the dining table, but on a low table set in the center of the floor. Large soft cushions surrounded it.
As they joined the others at the table, Sashti looked around the group of expectant faces. “Since we’ve got Vanna and Carrie with us, after we’ve eaten, we’ll tell stories. I’m sure they have new ones we haven’t heard before.” This pronouncement was greeted with enthusiasm by everyone.
The meal was long and leisurely, consisting of the usual wide variety of hot cooked meats and vegetables to dip into half a dozen different rich sauces. Unlike those in the restaurants she’d eaten in before, these sauces had a fruity base taste to them. There were several different breads to try, all of them baked on the estate. Afterward there was fresh fruit, including several kinds that Carrie had never seen before. One particular one she found greatly to her liking was a rainbow fruit. Shaped like a star, the thick waxy skin peeled off to reveal a delicately colored flesh that shaded from lilac through to yellow in rainbow hues. The taste was unlike anything she’d ever had before.
“Fruit and bread are our Clan’s specialty,” said Sashti, passing her another rainbow fruit. “When it comes time for you to leave, we’ll make sure you take some of these with you.”
Finally the table was cleared and removed, the cushions spread to fill the gap and more wine handed round as they got comfortable for the serious business of telling and listening to stories.
They each took a turn, starting with Vanna and as the evening wore pleasantly on, Carrie’s head drooped lower and lower till she was leaning against Vanna.
“Your friend’s asleep,” said Kikho, looking across at her.
“I know,” she said, twisting round and trying to take hold of Carrie’s limp body.
“I’ll help,” said Jayed, leaning forward from his place beside Kikho. He gently took hold of Carrie and laid her down on the cushions. “From the feel of her mind she’ll sleep the night through now,” he said. “She’s a lot calmer than when she arrived,” he added, gently touching the sleeping human’s face. He sat back, looking quizzically at his sister. “What is it you want us to do for her?”
“I’m breaking up the evening,” Vanna said, looking round the others.
“Not at all,” said Sashti. “I’m equally intrigued as to why you brought Carrie to us, not that I mind in the least,” she added hurriedly, ears flicking.
“She has a problem,” said Vanna, pulling her legs up in front of her and wrapping her arms around them. “Imagine you have a lover who’s Terran, her kind but male. Jayed, you think of her as your Leska.”
Her brother’s tail flicked lazily. “I’ve got the picture, Vanna,” he said.
“You remember what it’s like to leave the life you grew up with, Jayed, don’t you? When the guild found you and you had to leave the estate? Well, Carrie has suffered all that, but in a culture truly alien to her. She’s tried to fit in, but found because of her Leska she can only do that by turning her back on her own kind. Then the impossible happens. She finds out she’s pregnant and the child is her Leska’s, a Sholan child.”
“And?” prompted Jayed.
“The Terrans have no time for her because of her relationship with Kusac. They’re likely to hurl abuse at her when they know she’s pregnant, so she can’t belong to them. Kusac is betrothed, so she has no security there, and finally, she’s afraid her child is going to be some kind of hybrid monster,” concluded Vanna.
“That’s some problem,” said Sashti. “Is she right about the cub?”
“I can’t tell until we’ve done a scan,” Vanna replied. “Carrie’s stuck between two worlds, feeling she belongs to neither. For now, she desperately needs to feel she belongs with us.”
“Vanna, how did she become pregnant in the first place?” asked Jayed.
Kikho laughed, easing her gravid body into a more comfortable position as she leaned against her companion. “The same way I did, Jayed. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what to do since last night?”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Jayed, ears flicking in acceptance of the general laughter at his expense.
“I don’t know the answer,” said Vanna. “It should be impossible, yet there’s a child on the way, and Kusac is the father.”
“You brought her here because of me, didn’t you?” said Kikho. “You hope she’ll accept her pregnancy better after seeing me.”
“Yes, but it’s not that simple, Kikho,” said Vanna. “I want her to feel what it’s like to be part of a family, part of us. All she’s known is the starship and the Telepath Guild.”
“Where is her Leska, then? He should be with her now, helping her feel part of his life,” said Sashti.
“That’s another problem. He’s equally shocked by the fact she’s pregnant. They had a row and she ran from him. I was called to look after her.”
“Does her Leska knows she’s here?” asked Kara.
Vanna shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. He needs a lesson in taking equal responsibility, and to be reminded he had more than a little to do with her condition. She wants a day or two away from him, so I thought here would be ideal.”
“A child is a child,” said Kikho. “They should be happy at this time. She chose to bear one, after all, despite their physical differences.”
“I don’t know if she did. As I said, it came as a shock to her, too. I wonder if human females can control their fertility. Because we do, it’s natural to assume that they can.”
“Is she saying she doesn’t want the child?” asked Jayed.
“She’s not saying anything about it yet. That’s why she’s here. I want to help her feel that she isn’t some kind of freak. Let her realize that pregnancy is a normal part of life for females, even for her. Just make her feel welcome and part of us, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“That part’s easily done,” said Sashti. “She’s pleasant company.”
“I have to work tomorrow, but I’ll be back in the evening. You don’t mind looking after her, do you?”
“I’m glad you brought her,” said Kikho. “We’ll look after her, don’t worry.”
“She must have some wonderful stories to tell,” said Tyan wistfully, his ears flicking.
“Don’t you go bothering her for tales,” Vanna warned her young cousin.
“I can ask to groom her,” said Kara, leaning over to touch Carrie’s hair as it lay spread out on the cushion.
Vanna laughed, leaning forward to flick Kara’s nose. “Yes, you can ask her tomorrow,” she said.
*
Carrie woke with a start to find herself still on the pile of cushions. Levering herself up on an elbow, she realized that so were several of the others. Sunlight streamed in through the open door, as did the morning heat. She reckoned it was probably 25 degrees Celsius already. Another hot day. As she sat up, her movements woke the others.
“Good morning,” said Sashti, coming through from another room. “You were so peaceful last night that we didn’t bother to wake you and ask if you preferred a bed. We sleep in here when it’s as hot as this anyway. First meal’s on the table over there.”
“Did you sleep well?” asked Vanna, yawning and stretching.
“Fine, thank you.”
“Good. I’ve got to go to the guild today, but I’ll be back here tonight. S
ashti and the others will look after you if you still want to stay for a day or two,” said Vanna getting to her feet and checking her wrist unit. “I can’t stop for first meal, Sashti,” she called out.
“Then remember to eat at the Telepath Guild! I know what you’re like,” Sashti shouted back from the kitchen.
“I’m not going back yet,” said Carrie, a determined set to her face.
“Then I’ll see you tonight, cub,” Vanna said, reaching down to touch her face before leaving.
*
As soon as Vanna had landed at the Guild, Kaid came over to her.
“Where’s Carrie?”
“She’s safe, Kaid,” said Vanna, walking toward the medical section.
“I want to know where she is.”
“Sorry, but I’m not telling you. She’s resting, on my medical advice.”
“Vanna, there’s a killer out there after either her or Kusac. He won’t give a damn which one he gets. I can’t protect Carrie unless I know where she is,” he said.
“If you don’t know where she is, then neither does the killer.”
Kaid grasped Vanna by the arm, pulling her to a stop. “I don’t think you realize how serious this is,” he said, ears twitching slightly backward.
Vanna looked at the arm holding her, then back at Kaid. “I realize that her medical condition means she needs a break from all this security and special treatment. You’re isolating her and making her feel depersonalized and frightened, Kaid. I’m not telling you where she is and you can’t make me. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she said, looking pointedly at his restraining hand again.
Kaid let her go. She left him standing in the grounds as she entered the medical building. As she entered her office, one of the nurses popped her head round the door.
“The test results are on your desk, Physician Kyjishi. Last night’s shift ran them through and gave them to me this morning.”
“What tests?” she asked, frowning. She didn’t remember leaving anything out to be completed.
“The Liegen’s. He came in looking for you last night and the medic on duty remembered that you wanted extra tests run, so he took the samples.”
“Thank you,” she said, leafing through the papers on her desk till she found the lab report. She read the summary through, then picked up the attached crystal. Activating her comm, she inserted the cube in the reader and called up the actual data from the test. The medic had done a thorough job. His results even included the enlarged slides of the genetic material he’d been testing.
Getting out her master crystal, she transferred the information and checking through all her findings, began a final analysis.
*
It was well into the afternoon by the time Kaid had to give up trying to trace Vanna’s movements the preceding evening. She’d covered her tracks too thoroughly. He’d only one option left. It meant pulling him out of undercover, but the need to have Carrie properly guarded outweighed that. Using his wrist comm, he placed his call, cursing Vanna roundly under his breath.
*
Vanna was duplicating her work when she heard a knock at her door. She turned round to find Kusac standing there.
“Hello,” she said. “What brings you here?”
“I came to find out the results of the test,” he said.
“Then unless you want me to shout them to you, you’d better come in.” She turned back to her desk.
Kusac sat down in the chair beside her. “I feel like a patient, sitting here,” he said, shifting uncomfortably.
Vanna turned to give him a long look. “You are,” she said. “And I’m about to give you a prognosis.”
“Don’t joke about it, Vanna. I don’t find any of this funny.” Where his tail lay on the seat beside him, the tip flicked spasmodically with irritation.
“No, I don’t suppose you do,” she said. “You’ve certainly lost your sense of humor.”
“What are you trying to do, Vanna? Sweeten the medicine? Don’t bother. Just tell me what you’ve found and be done with it. I must know most of it by now, there’s not a lot more that can happen to us.”
“When your gestalt Link has been triggered in the past, it’s initiated physical changes in you, like Carrie’s eyes and the endocrine system changes. Can you remember any other times it’s been triggered?”
His eye ridges met as he frowned. “What’s this got to do with anything?”
“It’s important. Try and remember, please.”
“On Keiss, before we met up with you,” he said.
“Forget that,” she said, making a dismissive gesture. “That was before I started my tests. Any other times?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Are you positive? Think hard.”
“I’ve told you, Vanna, not that I can…” He stopped. “Wait a minute, there was another time, but it didn’t affect Carrie.”
“Don’t be so sure. Tell me about it,” she said.
He looked away from her. “Rala came to the guild one night, toward the end of one of our Link days. They sent for me because she was refusing to leave until she saw me.”
“What happened?”
“I came down, we fought, and I sent her home with Meral and Sevrin.”
“Kusac, do I have to drag it out of you?” she asked, exasperated.
He breathed in sharply then looked up at her, eyes narrowed, ears flicking. “I was angry about the betrothal, about Rala. I went to see a friend at the Temple to find out if there was any way to break the contract.” He was angry, and it showed now in his eyes.
“I wanted Carrie, not Rala, and as I arrived at the Temple the gestalt triggered. It can’t have affected her because Kaid told me he’d given her a sedative so she didn’t sense Rala at the guild.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Some time ago, about three months, just before we went down with that fever. Look, what’s the significance of this Vanna? Are you going to tell me what you’ve found or not?”
Vanna leaned forward on her elbows, clasping her hands together in front of her. “I can tell you now,” she said. “That gestalt triggered more than you think, and it did affect Carrie, too, because shortly after that she became pregnant. You’re the one responsible for making that possible, not her.”
“What’re you talking about, Vanna?” he asked angrily. “You know as well as I do that she chose to become pregnant!”
Vanna shook her head. “Forget that rubbish about her choosing. You chose for her because you wanted a normal family life with her, not Rala. That gestalt changed your reproductive system so you could have that life— it changed you to the point where you’re infertile with anyone but Carrie. The tests from last night prove it. Not only that, you changed Carrie’s system in a similar way. It’s impossible for her to have Terran children now, only yours. If you want to apportion blame, then you’ll have to shoulder it yourself, since your Leska was lying doped up to the eyeballs at the time!” she said, equally furious.
“You’ve treated her like shit, Kusac! How would you feel if you were the one who was expecting an alien child and your Leska turned round and blamed you? That’s without taking the whole mess of your betrothal into account! You were a fool to hide that from her. It’s time you pulled yourself together and started thinking about her and your cub.”
She saw the anger in his eyes fade as he flinched under her words. “Am I hurting you?” she asked. “Good! Someone needed to tell you. You’ve blocked your Link, cut her out, and left her on her own. What do you think she’s feeling? You can pretend to run away from all this, she can’t. You’d better do something fast while you’ve still got a lover and not just a Leska.”
“I didn’t realize I’d caused the changes,” he said quietly.
“Well, now you know. And I also think you’ll find that human females can’t control their fertility the way we can. Here, have this,” she said, taking the crystal from her comm. “I was doing this copy for you. It has all the data on the
physical changes in you both and my conclusions regarding them. I’m still working on the hows of the reproductive genetic changes, but that’s going to take longer.”
He took the cube and sat there toying with it. “She didn’t come back last night,” he said. “I don’t know where she is, neither does Kaid.” He looked up at her. “Have you any idea where she could be? I know she’s safe, but that’s all. She’s shut down our Link again.”
“Funny, I thought you were the one who’d done that.”
“I did, but I attempted to reach her this morning only to find I couldn’t sense her.”
“Sorry, but I can’t help you,” she said.
“I need to find her, Vanna. Our Link day starts tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow!”
“With the Link shut off and her gone, we’ll both start suffering from overload within the next twenty-six hours,” he said.
“Damn,” she said. “I’ll see what I can do. You’ll have to excuse me,” she said, getting up. “You’ve reminded me I want to check in on Raill.”
“I saw him earlier,” said Kusac, following her out. “He’s in pretty bad shape. My father’s been talking to the Terran leader, but he doesn’t believe him either.”
“It seems you were lucky to get the one sensible Terran around,” said Vanna, shutting her office door.
“It was seeing Raill that reminded me how lucky I am,” he said, before walking back down the corridor to the Guild entrance.
*
There was little they could do for Raill, except try to keep him alive with drugs in the hope that if the Terran girl died they’d be able to save him. Vanna looked at him lying there in the intensive care unit and roundly cursed the Terrans responsible.
She returned to her office to find she had another visitor. “Garras!” she said. “Where have you been? How did you get here?”
He got up and came toward her. “Later,” he said, taking her face in both hands and beginning to bite gently at her cheek and neck. “I didn’t think I could miss you as much as I have,” he said, his hands moving to press her close against him.
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