Seer's Hope

by Anderson, Maree

  “That was me, too. Sorry. Is it bad?”

  “Bad enough. How’d it happen?”

  She batted her eyelashes at him, hoping he was more susceptible to womanly wiles than Chryss. “I can’t tell you. It’s part of your surprise.”

  “Really. Any more surprises happen while I was gone?”

  “Just that one. And the disintegrating cooking stone.”

  “Wisa’s wings. Into the washroom with you. Now.”

  “Okay, okay, I’m going.” Phew. She’d gotten away with it. Kind of.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Hope and Blayne’s Joining day dawned cool with the promise of winter, but redeemed itself with clear skies and no hint of rain. Chryss sent his thanks to the beings responsible for the weather—he’d put in his request some time ago but was relieved they’d conceded to oblige him. They were contrary beings.

  Hope and Blayne snuggled beneath the covers, both strangely reluctant to face the day.

  “Are you two decent?” someone called from the doorway.

  “Daryon? You made it!” Hope scrambled for her clothes.

  “Come in,” Blayne invited, and laughed as she squealed and dived back under the covers.

  “Still sleeping?” the Usehani Leader asked. “On your Joining Day? Outrageous!”

  “What are you two up to?” Naytan asked, his smile evident in his voice.

  “Use your imagination,” Daryon deadpanned.

  Hope cooled her flushed face with her palms. “I was beginning to think none you would make it in time.”

  “Nerraya dithered over whether to come or not. It got so bad I was tempted to leave her behind.”

  Oh no. Hope gnawed her lip, trying to recall whether she had— Yes. She definitely had. “I did specifically invite her. So, did she come or not?”

  “Of course she did. After Taran finally convinced her that whatever people thought about something that happened so long ago was neither here nor there.”

  Naytan snickered. “He was a little less diplomatic than that. He asked her why she thought anyone would be interested in her considering it was Hope’s big day.”

  “Ouch.” She mock-winced in sympathy. “Are they still talking to each other?”

  “It was just the right thing to say,” Naytan said. “Nerraya decided then and there she would show her support of you and Blayne, and everyone else could be damned. And here we are, so it must be true. We got in last night.”

  “Who else came with you?” Hopefully Breanna had made the journey. Hope wanted to check on her personally rather than relying on secondhand accounts about how she was coping.

  “We ended up with a few extras,” Daryon said. “Which is why we’re camped on the outskirts of the settlement rather than occupying the visitors quarters.”

  “How many extras? Not that I mind but I’ll need to let Maya know so she doesn’t have a conniption.”

  “Quite a few.”

  Hmm. What wasn’t he telling her? “How many, Daryon? Exact numbers, please.”

  “The entire Usehani population.”

  “All of them?” The words came out in a high-pitched squeak.

  “Yes. When your invitation came we held a public meeting and everyone decided they wanted to attend. We owe you our lives, Hope. So you shouldn’t be surprised we all wanted to be here for you. Besides, it’s a chance to catch up with our Dayamari friends and families openly, instead of sneaking around.”

  She covered her face with her hands and moaned. Since the Usehani had unofficially rejoined the ranks of Dayamari settlements their numbers had swelled. Many of those who had gone to help them rebuild the burned hall had opted to stay. “Maya is going to kill me.”

  “It’s all sorted,” Naytan soothed. “We’ve already spoken to Maya. We brought supplies with us, so there won’t be any shortage. Our best cooks are organizing their signature dishes, and we’ve brought skins of the alcoholic beverages we’re experimenting with. So expect a little bit of friendly rivalry in the food and drink stakes.”

  She flopped back on the mattress and pulled the covers over her head. Her small, quiet, intimate Joining ceremony was turning into the Dayamari equivalent of a three-ring circus.

  ~~~

  Hope couldn’t help feeling the teeniest bit smug about insisting the celebration take place outdoors. The extra guests had barely caused a ripple. About the only thing she wished could be different was her ability to see. She’d been told over and over she looked radiant in the full-length bronze-colored dress with glittering beadwork at the hem, but a girl liked to see the evidence for herself on her Joining day. And using someone else’s eyes at a time like this seemed rude.

  Now, all that remained before the formal part of the ceremony concluded was the exchange of gifts.

  The man she loved stepped forward to hand her a small but heavy package. She heard him exhale, long and deep, before he spoke. “I wanted to give you something to show how much you mean to me, how much I love you and am humbled you would choose to spend your life with me. But finding the right gift was more difficult than I imagined, so I enlisted help from some friends. I know you’re saddened you can’t see me, and all our family and friends at our Joining. This gift will make it possible for you to see us all whenever you want.”

  She unwrapped the package and turned the heavy ball-shaped thing over in her hands. “I’m sure it’s beautiful, Blayne. How does it work?”

  “We need someone to ‘set’ the picture first. Then it’ll be inserted into this globe. Whenever you think about it, the picture will be transferred into your mind and you’ll be able to see it, just as if you were sighted and were looking at a painting of us. Now, who do you want in the picture?”

  She nibbled her lip, still uncertain how the gift was supposed to work. “Us of course, and my family, too. And anyone else you’d like to include.”

  “My friends are already part of your family,” he said. And her smile faltered a little when she thought of Dayamar, and the family she’d lost back on her home-world.

  He gathered everyone together. “Ready?”

  “But who’s going to set the picture?” Hope asked.

  “Me!” a voice said.

  “Kunnandi?”

  “In the flesh.” He kissed her cheek. “Wisa, stop primping and get down here or you won’t be in the picture.”

  Hope felt the warmth of the goddess’s presence surround her. “As if I would miss my daughter’s Joining,” Wisa said.

  “You cut it fine,” came Shikari’s deep rumbling voice.

  “Blayne, step closer to Hope and put your arm around her,” Kunnandi ordered. “You’re grinning like an idiot, by the way. You might want to tone it down a bit. Cayl, shift over slightly, you’re blocking your lovely life-partner’s face. Good, that looks perfect. Everyone say ‘please’. Perfect! There, it’s done. And a very good picture, too, if I do say so myself.”

  “Not bad for an amateur,” Shikari said.

  “Here you are, Hope. What do you think?” She could sense Kunnandi dancing around her, eagerly awaiting her verdict.

  She cradled the globe in her hands and concentrated. It warmed slightly and after a few seconds, a picture formed in her mind. She gasped. They were all perfectly portrayed—as though they’d been captured in a camera snapshot. And there was someone else in the shot, too. Dayamar’s dear face smiled proudly out at her.

  “Thank you, Kunnandi,” she whispered, overcome by the precious gift.

  “You’re most welcome, my sweet. But it was all Blayne’s idea.”

  “Do you like it?” Blayne asked, his tone just a little anxious.

  “Blayne, it’s the most wonderful thing you could have given me.”

  “Don’t cry, dearling. I can’t bear it when you cry.”

  “They’re happy tears.” She couldn’t help it. She gazed at the globe again and smiled when the picture formed in her mind.

  “Don’t worry about dropping it,” Kunnandi said. “It’s practically inde
structible.”

  “Oh! I have a gift for you, too, Blayne. At least, I hope I have. Johan? Have you got it?”

  “Of course.” The healer handed over a bulky parcel that she immediately presented to Blayne. Now it was her turn to wait anxiously while he examined her gift.

  “This is incredible!”

  She let out the breath she’d been holding. The awe in his voice told her everything she needed to know.

  “Where did you get it?” he asked.

  “I made it. Though I had to ask for help, too. Let’s just say I had a couple of false starts before I got the technique right.”

  “Ah. So that’s what the cooking stone and scorch marks were all about.”

  “Worth the mess, I hope?”

  “Absolutely. Naytan, Johan, you’ve got to see this book.”

  “All in good time, Panakeya,” Elder Evan said, somewhat querulously. “We still have a ceremony to complete.”

  “Sorry, Evan.”

  “Blayne and Hope.” Elder Evan took Blayne’s right hand and Hope’s left. “I now declare you Joined as partners for life.” He clasped Blayne’s hand over top of hers. “May your union be blessed and joyous.”

  Blayne swept her off of her feet and kissed her long and deep. “Well, love-of-my-life. It’s time to celebrate. Let’s see what Maya’s thrown together for us.”

  “It’ll be the best Joining celebration you’ve ever attended, Blayne,” Maya told him, taking the comment meant in jest very seriously.

  “I know, Maya,” he said. “Because you organized it and you could never give anything less than your best. Thank you.”

  “Oh!” She sounded unusually flustered. “It was nothing, really.”

  “Come, children,” Kunnandi said. “Food, drink and merriment await. We’ll start without you if you don’t get a move on.”

  Blayne addressed the guests who’d been invited to the ceremony. “Before we begin, I’d like to welcome a group of people who have come a long way to be here with us today. And representing them are two people you doubtless recognize. Daryon, Nerraya, will you come up here please?”

  “Thank you, Blayne,” Nerraya said. “As you’ve no doubt noticed the entire Usehani settlement traveled here to celebrate this Joining. And just as these two young people have been Joined today, I propose another Joining. I propose the Usehani reunite with the Dayamari and that our settlement be henceforth known as the Fourth Settlement. It is our wish that we Seer-less Ones be seer-less no more.”

  Of course First Elder Varon wasn’t at all impressed and didn’t hesitate to show it. “You can’t propose something of this magnitude at a time like this! There are proper channels—”

  “I can, and I did,” Nerraya said. “For your information all settlement elders barring yourself have already agreed to support my proposal. I’m afraid you’re outnumbered, First Elder.”

  “But… but—”

  “Never mind, Varon,” Kunnanadi said. “Have a swig of this to cheer you up.”

  Hope heard the First Elder cough and gasp for breath. Whatever Kunnandi had given him must have been highly alcoholic.

  “Oh look at that,” the god said, sounding surprised. “The poor man’s absolutely overcome with emotion by your proposal, Nerraya.”

  “To the Fourth Settlement!” Nerraya shouted, not about to look a gift-horse in the mouth.

  Loud cheers echoed her. “To the Fourth Settlement!”

  “Happy?” Blayne whispered as the music started.

  “Very.” Hope nuzzled his neck. “Being Joined to you is all I could ever have wished for.”

  A familiar voice resounded in her mind. Well done, girl. You’ve caught yourself a good man there.

  Have you been watching, Chryss?

  Of course. Gods’ peace be with you both. Give Blayne a hug from me.

  I’ll give him more than that.

  He gave a hearty chuckle before his presence faded from her mind.

  Epilogue

  “Congratulations!” Healer Johan said. “You have a baby girl.”

  Blayne cradled his newborn daughter while Johan finished ministering to Hope. The baby gave a lusty howl and he smiled, entranced. “She’s beautiful. She looks just like her mother. Don’t you think so, Johan?”

  “I think she looks a lot like her daddy, too. What are you going to name her?”

  Blayne placed the baby in Hope’s arms, watching with his heart in his mouth as she put the baby to her breast and caressed her downy head. Gods. How cruel that she would never be able to see their daughter save through another’s eyes.

  Johan caught his gaze. The healer’s smile was tinged with a sadness that mirrored Blayne’s own.

  As if she knew she was being discussed, the baby opened her eyes and stared solemnly at her mother.

  “Her eyes are blue, like yours were,” Blayne said for Hope’s benefit.

  “They may change yet. Most babies in my home-world are born with blue eyes. Then they change—if they’re going to, that is.” She paused, and a smile curved her lips. “Her colors are beautiful.”

  “Her colors?” Johan asked.

  “The colors of her aureya.”

  “Ah.”

  “We’re going to call her Romana,” Blayne said.

  Johan nodded like he approved. “That’s a lovely name.”

  A man poked his head through the doorway. “Are you up for visitors yet, girl?”

  “How did you know—? Never mind.” One of these days Blayne was going to sit Chryss down and force him to answer some questions. “Romana, I’d like you to meet your, uh, Uncle Chryss.”

  “She’s a beauty,” Chryss said. “Just like her mother. May I hold her?”

  “Of course.” Hope handed the baby to the big man without hesitation.

  The two regarded each other, one newborn and the other ages old. And then Romana yawned and closed her eyes. Chryss waited until she was asleep before handing the infant back to her mother. “You’ve done well, girl,” he said. “How do you feel?”

  “Content. I have everything I’ve ever wanted.” Was that a hint of challenge Blayne heard in her voice?

  “Perhaps,” Chryss said. “Do you still wish to return home?”

  Blayne’s heart skipped a beat. From the corner of his eye he was Johan’s jaw sag.

  “Go home?” Hope sounded as horrified as he felt. “Here is my home. Are you… are you telling me I have to go back?”

  “No!” The word tore from Blayne’s throat. “You can’t make her leave now.”

  “Be calm, Panakeya,” Chryss said. “I’m only asking. I have to, you know. Hope was taken from her world and given no choice in the matter. Now she’s fulfilled her destiny, I’m obliged to give her the chance to return home. It would take a bit of physical tinkering for her to cope with living there again, but we’d manage. Probably.”

  “I have everything I ever wanted, right here,” she said, her golden eyes flashing. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good,” the big man said. “You can stand down now, Panakeya.”

  Blayne unclenched his fists and allowed the terrible tension to drain from his muscles.

  “Get some rest,” Johan advised, breaking the strained silence. “I can only hold off a gaggle of clucky women for so long. You’re going to be inundated with visitors soon.”

  “Rest is good,” Chryss said. “Plenty of sleepless nights ahead.”

  “Thanks,” Blayne told him.

  “You’re welcome, Panakeya. Just thought you might want to know what’s in store.” And with that, Chryss dragged Johan from the room.

  “If you had wanted to go back I would have found a way to follow you somehow,” he said to the woman he loved.

  “I would never leave you,” she said. “Never. My home is here.” And the truth of her words reverberated through him.

  ~~~

  Hope awoke with a start. Her seer-senses told her it was the dead of night. She climbed from the bed and tiptoed to the crib. She chec
ked Romana’s temperature with the back of her hand and listened intently to her daughter breathing.

  The baby’s breaths sounded labored and forced. Something was not right. Damn, not being able to see!

  “Blayne. Blayne!” She shook him. “Wake up! Something’s wrong with Romana’s breathing. I’m worried.” She waited anxiously while he checked Romana over.

  “She’s fine, dearling. She’s fast asleep.”

  Thank the gods. Hope crawled back under the covers and tried to calm her racing heart. “Are you sure she’s all right?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. You’re overtired—trying to do everything yourself instead of accepting help. I’ll get you something to help you sleep and please, let me see to her next time she wakes.”

  “Thank you.” The wait while Blayne prepared his concoction seemed interminable.

  He handed her a cup. “Here, get some of this down you. I’ve flavored it with sweet syrup, so it shouldn’t taste too bad.”

  She drained the cup and lay down. Blayne soon drifted back to sleep but she remained awake for a long time, counting her daughter’s breaths and minutely scanning her aureya.

  ~~~

  The next episode occurred two nights later. Hope’s distress lasted much longer and ended with her insistence Johan be brought to examine Romana. But Johan, too, found nothing wrong with the baby.

  Blayne’s concerns grew. He woke one night to see a shivering Hope leaning over the crib, her sightless gaze intent on her baby. When he tried to coax her back to bed she was unresponsive, as though sleepwalking.

  As the days passed, Hope became more withdrawn and strangely reluctant to touch her daughter. Desperate, he consulted Johan for advice. “What can we do? I’ve never seen her like this before. I have to remind her to feed Romana. Do you think she’s depressed?”

  “I’m at a loss,” Johan admitted. “She seemed so content immediately after the birth. And she didn’t strike me as the type to succumb to post-birth depression. Perhaps another nursing mother could help with feeding?”

  “Only as a last resort. Having her baby close and needing her may help pull her through this.” Blayne raked his hands through his hair. “I wish Dayamar were still alive.”