by Viola Grace
“Trying to breed. From the records available, he never managed to have offspring.”
“Then consider his actions the work of a desperate man. He was alone and he didn’t want to die that way. He tried to create his own world, his own family.” Mother and Father smiled. “Perhaps it is time to tell you of my own people. We seeded ourselves throughout the known worlds and many that were unknown. We chose our planets with care and put down roots. When the time was right, we looked at the existing population and we made our own children to match it. Those children went out and found partners who bore the next generation. It continued down the line until the thread of our blood ran thin in thousands, but in some, it began to weave back together again.”
“You never told me that before.”
“You never needed to know that you are descended from beings of power, beings of wild energy and us. We are your ultimate progenitors and we are very proud.” Mother and Father caressed her face with small tendrils of vines.
“Will you tell me why my mother died?”
“Her mate wanted the child but your mother was powerful and his people feared it. They struck him down and chased her while she was near to term. She ran for weeks before she gave birth and she was nearly to safety when they struck her down as well.”
“Who took her while I watched?”
“We are not sure, but your description is of a group called the Watchers. I have never met one, but they match the mode and description that you shared with us.”
She sighed. “How can I learn more of them?”
Mother and Father shrugged. It was amazing; Lieta had never seen that particular move from her guardian before.
“I suppose that you can seek them out amongst the stars, but we have no way of getting you there.” Mother and Father gave her an innocent look.
Smiling with a wry twist to her lips, Lieta said, “Then I shall have to work here in harmony until the Citadel calls again.”
“Can you do it with calm? Can you wait with patience?”
She squeezed Mother and Father’s hands. “Do you know who you are dealing with?”
“Not all of you, you constantly surprise us, Lieta.”
“I am glad. Life gets very long if there are no surprises.”
Mother and Father drew her close for a hug. “You have no idea.”
They both chuckled, and when Lieta left Mother and Father, she was at peace. A footstep in the chapel hall near her reminded her to shed the bark so that when Specialist Valuu rounded the corner she was back to her normal appearance.
“Did you meet with them?” Valuu was curious.
“Yes. They were happy I am back and appreciated your efforts.” She linked arms with Valuu and drew her away from the chapel and back to the dining hall.
Valuu sighed. “I suppose if I return I will have another opportunity to meet them.”
“I suppose you will. Find me another god to remove and you might have the chance.”
“Don’t tempt me. Venila’s ex did make an attempt on the abbey, but I was able to turn him back. I think the next time he comes, he will be bringing a group. He seems tired of trying to do it for his own dignity; there is desperation in his words and movements.”
“I stand warned. Frankly, I am a little more eager for a fight than I should be. The god didn’t put up the fight I was hoping for.”
Valuu chuckled. “I think I understand why you were never inducted into the abbey. You have a line of energy that runs through you. You need to put yourself in harm’s way, to be between the innocent and the attackers. The others have commented on it over the last few days.”
“Yes. I suppose I do. I protect what is mine and this abbey is mine. It is the only home I have known and I will not see those within it harmed.” Lieta shrugged.
“It is a good quest to keep them safe, but I will endeavour to seek out others that need your touch, if only to earn myself an audience with Mother and Father.”
Lieta sat with her and sipped at her tea while they discussed Darhil and the man who was controlling it. When Valuu’s robes chirped insistently, she gave a wry look and sighed. “My time here is at an end for now. I wish you well, Lieta.”
“And you as well, Specialist. Your protection was welcome.”
She got to her feet and escorted Valuu back to the shuttle. Once they were all inside, she flew back to the abbey. She wanted to be back in her own bed.
* * * *
Specialist Heirak looked through the viewer and he cleared his throat. “Ukiss, did you know she could fly?”
“No; no, I did not. It seems she isn’t restricted to the mimicry of skills.”
Valuu came into the cockpit and she strapped in. “I don’t think she has to be in the presence of an active talent to use their skills. I think she can keep them and use them when she likes.”
“Was that what you surmised or what you saw?”
Valuu shrugged. “It was what the locals told me. They have seen her use a multitude of skills in response to an attack, without the original owners of those skills being present.”
“Interesting. Do you think we will have an occasion to return?” Ukiss asked her over his shoulder.
“With the intel we received before we left, this was not the only occasion where a talent was using their powers to subvert the will of a population. I am fairly positive that we will be calling on Lieta again.”
Heirak scowled. “I don’t know if that is a good idea. She had a lot of sympathy for Muraz of Darhil. I could almost see a connection between them.”
Ukiss nodded. “There may have been. The power signatures are similar, as are those who have begun to surface in control of countries and entire worlds. It was like they all activated at the same time. Whether it is genetics or energy, something connects them.”
Valuu shook her head. “Whatever it is, Lieta is stronger and has a selfless energy that makes her approachable. She also doesn’t have an avaricious bone in her body. She wants what is best for those around her and she defends and doesn’t prey on the weak.”
Heirak chose his words with care. “Perhaps that is how they gain the loyalty of those around them. Nothing is more powerful than a charismatic leader with a loyal core of followers.”
Valuu shook her head in denial. “Lieta will not be a god, nor will she be a leader. She is content in the role of protector, but the stars help anyone who attacks those in her care. I am fairly sure that she would turn them inside out without another thought.”
It was the last sentence stated until they were far away from the abbey and on their way home to the Citadel outpost on Norfing. It was time to wait for another beast to raise it head, and they would assess and swoop down. Policing talents on untalented worlds was their business and business was booming.
Chapter Five
Three weeks later, Redol struck again and he was not alone.
They were finishing the pear harvest and Lieta felt the waves of hostility. She ordered everyone into the abbey and she left the orchard. There was no sense in harming the trees.
There were hundreds of metres between the orchard and the abbey. She spread Specialist Valuu’s shields out and pulled them from the abbey gate toward her. The cursing made her smile. They hadn’t expected her to know they were there.
A rushing sound behind her made her hurry. She jerked on the two weights against her shield and threw them toward the bodies attacking her turned body.
She turned slowly and faced Redol once again. “You are certainly not a quitter.”
“She is mine and she knows it.”
Lieta felt the ripple in the energy behind her and she sighed. She knew that Venila had to do this, but it created additional tension.
Venila came forward in the robes of a monk. “I am not returning to you, Redol. I am not yours. I am my own woman and I will remain here at the abbey where I am safe and my contributions are honoured.”
Venila came and stood next
to Lieta. The wind blew the fabric against the slight swell of her belly and she put a reflexive hand over her child.
Redol reeled back. “They have brainwashed you.”
Venila chuckled. “On the contrary. They left me alone and only touched me when I touched first. I have had another lover since I have been here and it was an eye-opening experience. To be touched with gentleness and not with rage nearly brought me to tears.”
He looked like he was going to cry. “I had to keep you in line. I had to earn the respect of the men around me.”
“I am a healer, Redol! My talent calls me to the wounded as yours calls you to battle. You never understood that. I needed to go to the injured and weak no matter what your men thought. That is the price of being with a healer. Beating me until I couldn’t walk didn’t show your strength, it showed your weakness and lack of control.”
His jaw worked and balls of wind gathered on his fists. “Where is your lover? What does he do?”
“She sculpts the stone with her bare fingers. Her strength is incredible and her gentleness is more so. She fills my soul and holds me when I cry.”
Lieta was proud that Venila was declaring her preference. Her internal struggles had eased the moment she knew what she was in all aspects of her personality. Mind and body had finally found harmony and she glowed with it.
Redol flinched and he screamed, “Abomination!”
Lieta caught the riot of wind and held it a foot away from Venila. She was unruffled by the storm and was completely confident in Lieta’s ability to keep her safe. It was humbling.
She gripped the wind and pulled it away from Venila, splitting it and firing it at the two men who had regained visibility.
“Leave, Redol, and do not return. There is nothing for you here.”
“They will think me weak.” He wavered.
“Your wind redirected has left both of your men broken and bloody. If Venila wishes to, she has full permission to heal them, but if you attack her, I will pin you to that tree through your chest and rip out your heart.”
He nodded nervously but she could see his eyes calculating as Venila moved forward. It was time to see if he had any self-control.
Venila helped her back into the abbey, the blood on her gown was alarming but none of it was hers. Having to carry out a threat was always difficult, but it had kept the abbey from incursions for two decades.
“I hate to say it, but I am glad it is over.” Venila whispered it to Lieta as she walked her to the bathing pools with the inhabitants giving them a wide berth.
Lieta sat and Venila unlaced her boots, and Lieta stood to let the gown slip up and off her body. Once she was naked, Lieta dove into the pool and went for a swim. The water was part of Mother and Father, so anyone bathing in it, they knew from skin to soul.
She stayed under the water for ten minutes, feeling the peace of the deep water. When she was ready, she stood and walked along the bottom of the pool until she surfaced.
The three specialists from the Citadel were standing at the foot of the pool. She nodded and continued to approach them wearing nothing but the water. Sister Esrai was waiting for her with a towel and robe.
In silence, she towelled off and slipped the robe on. Tea had been prepared and was waiting for her at the nearby table. “Join me, please, and tell me what you need.”
The specialists looked at each other nervously. Valuu asked, “Did…you just kill someone?”
Lieta sighed. “I did. He beat a woman nearly to death and when she ran here, he followed. You met her and dealt with him. Redol. This time, he brought reinforcements. I had to stop him or he would have raised an army to destroy Venila.”
Valuu asked, “Why?”
“His clan doesn’t hold with same-sex bonding. Unfortunately, Venila’s psyche does. She found love and support here, and she is flourishing. She told him that, told him that she wanted nothing to do with him and he would not take no for an answer. He could have walked away, but no, he brought witnesses. With those two men there, he could not back down. I struck them down and gave him an out. He held to his fury and there is nothing to do with a man who gets his validation from other men and not those who love him.”
Lieta poured tea for all of them; her hands shook.
To her surprise, Heirak helped her steady her hand as she drank. His eyes held understanding and compassion. “Sometimes you have to do what you are forced to by circumstance. It doesn’t mean you enjoy it or that you are not glad, but the regret of the necessity of it is always with you. He knew you meant what you said. He had no reason to doubt it, but his pride allowed him only one way out. For the safety of everyone in the abbey, you had to do what you did.”
Her tremors stopped. “I appreciate your understanding, but you are not here to give me therapy. What do you need?”
They brought out a data pad, and in the dimly lit confines of the bathing pool, they showed her horrors that made her actions of the previous hours look like finger painting.
“He flays anyone who crosses him. He is forcing his armies across the continent and folk are dying by the hundreds.” Ukiss leaned forward with his brown gaze urgent.
She nodded. “Sister Esrai?”
“Mother and Father are waiting. They also wish you to bring Specialist Valuu.”
She got to her feet. “Come along, Specialist, this is the moment you were waiting for.”
“Heirak, Ukiss, I am sure that the sister will see you situated in the common room. We will return when Mother and Father have finished their conversation.”
With her robe whispering around her legs, she began the trip to the inner garden with Valuu scrambling to catch up.
Lieta didn’t feel like talking. She pressed her hand to the door. “Place your palm next to mine. If two are summoned, two must ask for entrance.”
Valuu pressed her hand to the wood and the click was audible. “How do they know?”
“You will understand.”
They walked the halls and entered the garden. “This is the inner garden. Remove your footwear if you can. It helps Mother and Father communicate directly.”
She waited while Valuu pulled off her boots. Once her silvery feet were exposed, her eyes widened. “They are…we are…”
“Come this way and sit on the bench.” Lieta pulled her wooden skin around her and registered Valuu’s gasp.
“Valuu, I know you asked everyone about the scope of my talent. You were subtle but no one keeps secrets from me. They lined up to tell me everything that had gone on here the moment I arrived.”
She took her seat on the bench and showed Valuu where to sit. The specialist was nervous.
“Relax. Mother and Father are merely entities in a different form. They are not bipedal but they can support and cherish those who are.”
The tree shifted and opened with Mother and Father stepping forward. Lieta made the introductions. “Mother and Father. This is Specialist Valuu. Specialist Valuu, this is Mother and Father.”
“Dearest child, thank you for the introduction. I have asked to speak with the specialist because she knows about the surge in the children of my kind. Though she does not know what they are.”
Mother and Father sat between them and spoke of the race of the Aruda, told of the pairs of seeds scattered across a thousand worlds. Explained about the children made to become one with the populations, but the Aruda could not always choose where they landed and some floated to worlds with spacefaring technology. Over hundreds and thousands of years, those children evolved into something extraordinarily powerful and if their progenitors did not check them, they could become an unstoppable evil and spread like a cancer across the universe.
The entire time that Mother and Father were speaking, tendrils caressed Lieta’s hand as she learned the same information that was being illuminated to Valuu.
Mother and Father were trying to calm her, but she was still on edge. Killing was her least favourite activity,
but based on those images, she was going to have to do it again.
She now knew the reason that she wasn’t in charge of the abbey, and it had nothing to do with her being a better guard than an administrator. She was a danger to herself and the people around her and a better tool than an abbess. Her fate was sealed.
Mother and Father turned to her. “You are wrong. I love you and you would be a fine abbess, but you have other things that must be done first. You are the only child of the Aruda to become what you are. All others are powerful, but their skills lie along one line only. You are strong and born to protect others. You have done an amazing job here and I want you to continue to develop your skills. That can’t be done in dribs and drabs. I am putting you into the fire, and I know you will be stronger for it.”
The wooden fingers caressed her temple and cheek. “Go and shake the universe, little light. Break the gods, and then come home to be with those who love you.”
Lieta dragged in a deep breath and hugged Mother and Father. Next to Sister Esrai, it was the closest thing to a family that she had. She memorized the feel of the bark, the scent of green, loam and wood. She would need to hold that memory when she was in space. She got the feeling she was going to need it.
Chapter Six
One month later, she had arrested two Aruda and killed one. She had never been so glad to see the stone walls of home.
The path through the fields skimmed under her feet as she rushed to the rear entrance of the abbey and raced through the halls. She burst into the square and froze at the image in front of her.
The standard monks and acolytes were there, but so was Muraz. He was piling autumn vegetables with one of the acolytes and he was laughing.
Lieta let her power run under her skin, and it was only when a startled Specialist Valuu saw her that anyone noticed she was there.
Valuu must have seen something in her eyes, because she approached with her hands out in a calming pose. “Easy, Lieta. He is here as part of his probation. He was offered the chance to meet Mother and Father and learn from them. Muraz is safe to be around now.”