Tides of Change

by Susan MacIver

  Everyone jumped to comply. Kyla moved to support Na-Kai and the men picked up Mer-An’s pallet. Ni-Cio lifted Daria. Her head lolled limply against his chest and Na-Kai heard his fear-engraved thought. “Na-Kai, will she be all right?”

  “I do not know…the energy transfer taxed her…she is weaker than she should be…take her to your chambers…I will be there as soon as I can safely leave Mer-An…”

  Ni-Cio entered his chamber with Daria’s lifeless form draped across his arms. He hurried across the room and placed her upon his bed. Her eyes were open, but nothing registered. Dark smudges were visible beneath her bottom lashes. She was deathly pale and cold to his touch, and her golden hair fell in slack ropes across the pillow. Ni-Cio gathered all the blankets he could find and piled them on her. Finally, he slid under the covers to lie beside her and supply additional warmth.

  He made no attempt to speak nor did he send the smallest thought-form. He knew the less effort she expended, the quicker she would regain her energy. He prayed she would fall asleep, but even that seemed to require an effort she did not possess.

  If he had not been so still, he would have missed the thought that sighed into his mind. “…Mer-An…”

  Ni-Cio raised himself onto an elbow and peered into Daria’s eyes. He wanted to believe that he saw a flicker of acknowledgment move through aquamarine depths. He tried to keep the fear from his voice. “Na-Kai is with her.”

  He didn’t want to risk any more of her energy, yet he didn’t want her to expend any more thought worrying about Mer-An. “Her breathing has returned to a more normal state and her color has improved. Because of you, she will live.”

  Ni-Cio watched Daria’s eyelids flutter and close. He knew she suffered from extreme exhaustion, but he was frightened. She looked shrouded in death and her sleep did not feel natural. He tried to touch her mind, but the blackness he encountered felt more like oblivion.

  Kyla sent an Atlantis wide thought-form to allay any fears regarding Mer-An’s recovery, but she also needed to convey the extent to which Daria had been the factor in Mer-An’s continuance. She had to be certain that should anyone harbor a single doubt as to Na-Kai’s choice of successor, there would not be one soul who could disregard the miraculous healing that had transpired. She flashed a record of all that had taken place within the close confines of the entry pool, and took a deep breath when she reached her conclusion. “Mer-An is not out of danger…even now, Na-Kai administers her healing energy…she will not leave until Mer-An can be left to another’s supervision…however, Na-Kai is depleted and Daria is in total seclusion…do nothing to disturb our Healers…they must have time to regenerate themselves…”

  Kyla grimaced and muttered, “How much time is anyone’s guess.”

  She sifted through her memories in a silent review of other times and other Healers. She observed the duration it took for Healers to gain in strength, stamina and conditioning. No matter their ability, everyone began under the tutelage and close supervision of the Most Sovereign Healer. The young Healers started with minute energy transfers, and once those transfers had been mastered, the difficulty increased until the limits of their abilities had been defined. Always the lesson was reinforced that they must hold enough energy in reserve so that they could reenergize themselves.

  Once they recognized how much life force could be used without depleting themselves beyond the point of no return, the Most Sovereign Healer released them to work on their own. Kyla was certain that Daria had not known her limits.

  She added the final touches to the special meal and hoisted the heavy tray onto her shoulder. She almost groaned under the weight. She hurried from the kitchens. The nourishment was critical for Na-Kai, and the longer the healing, the more food was needed to help replenish the energy.

  Aris and Rogert stood outside the entrance to Na-Kai’s chambers, and they nodded as Kyla entered. She crossed the room and placed the tray on the dining table. As Kyla began to unload the food and glanced up, she almost dropped the tray.

  Na-Kai sat, hunched over Mer-An. Her hands covered the ugly slash, but Kyla had never seen their beautiful Healer in such a state. Her robes were in disarray and her elegant, unlined face showed unbelievable signs of having aged. Kyla took a moment to collect herself, then carried a plate of food to the bedside table and lowered herself onto a chair next to Na-Kai. The severely weakened woman raised her head to let Kyla begin feeding her.

  Na-Kai’s hands never faltered and her tonality never ceased, but she continued to open her mouth to take the food like a helpless baby bird. Kyla knew that Na-Kai could not continue her efforts through the night. The rejuvenation of sleep was just as important as the food, but Kyla kept those thoughts to herself.

  Between spoonful’s, Kyla checked Mer-An’s progress. She could see small improvements. That it had taken so long to bring her to this point was testimony to how close she had come to leaving them. It was that thought that had plagued her throughout the afternoon. She whispered, “I think she almost died.”

  “She did die,” Na-Kai’s voice fractured the silence, but the thin, reedy voice that Kyla heard made her doubt its source.

  She apologized, “Na-Kai, forgive me. I didn’t mean to disrupt your concentration.”

  “Do not trouble yourself, child. I am through for a time. I can do no more.” A bone-weary sigh slipped from her lips. Her head fell forward and her body swayed.

  Kyla grasped her arms and tried to shift her to the bed. “You must sleep.”

  Na-Kai struggled against that suggestion and a trace of thought, inflexible in its exhaustion, entered Kyla’s mind. “Take me…to Daria…”

  Before Kyla could offer another objection, Aris and Rogert appeared. They walked in with the pallet they had used to transport Mer-An and placed it next to Na-Kai. Aris lifted her slack body and Kyla saw the shock on his face when he beheld the transformation of their beloved Healer. He placed a tender kiss upon a forehead once unblemished by lines, and Kyla heard the deference in his voice, “As you wish, but we will convey you to her.”

  Kyla knew that their Most Sovereign Healer had not heard Aris’s words. She had fallen into a deep sleep the moment he had lifted her into his arms.

  Prepared to cease at the slightest disturbance, Travlor censured his breath and exhaled in increments. He had camouflaged himself so that he was indistinguishable from the rock walls of the cavern and had closed his eyelids, prepared to wait.

  The thought-form that bound him to Atlantis had lessened, and had he not been supine, thoughts suspended, he would never have felt the shift. And so, he had abandoned his quarters to stand sentinel before Ni-Cio’s rooms. “Like an unopposed virus, I come to feed upon the weakened host.” Appreciating the metaphor, he almost chuckled until he heard a worried exchange echo from the far end of the corridor. Travlor suspended all movement, all thought. The words he heard covered him like a balm.

  “Aris, I have never seen our Healer like this. She requires sleep.”

  “I agree, Rogert, but her anxiety for Daria supersedes everything. Careful, we’re nearly there.” The men hustled past.

  Travlor cracked his eyelids and smirked. His thoughts erupted. “By all the monstrous gods ever invented, I knew it would happen! Na-Kai, your time draws to a close and the topsider abomination will die too! Atlantis, spawn of Poseidon, I am done with you. Evan! Where is he? I must contact Evan!”

  Travlor raged with hatred, but one thought stemmed his jubilant tirade. “You are not out of here…yet.” His gaze slithered across space and he scrutinized Ni-Cio’s door. One infinitesimal heartbeat and then another. “I can wait…what is a few more days?”

  Na-Kai’s eyes were closed as she was carried into Ni-Cio’s chamber. She was aware that everyone thought she was asleep, but she was hoarding her remaining energy. She slowed her breath until her relaxation was complete.

  Ni-Cio lifted her into his arms and held her against his chest. The rapid beat of his heart told her of his fear, but her sole focus
centered on the daughter of her heart as he lowered her into the comfort of soft bedding. She inhaled the crystalline scent that surrounded Daria and she knew she was ready. “She sleeps too deeply, Ni-Cio…place my arms around her…”

  Ni-Cio adopted the deference of her title, trying to intervene. “Most Sovereign Healer, I know that she sleeps far below a normal slumber and I would do anything to take this burden as my own. But, please, you must have a care for yourself.”

  Na-Kai did not expend the effort to respond. She suppressed the beat of her own heart so that her system decelerated almost to a suspended state.

  Ni-Cio could do nothing but honor her request, so he gently turned Na-Kai onto her side. He placed her arms around Daria, and Na-Kai cradled her as though she were a newborn.

  A tender healing tonality floated into the moist air. Na-Kai wrapped the last reserves of her energy around Daria. She infused the comatose topsider with strength and tenderness and affection. Daria was on the brink of death, but Na-Kai sent her own essence into the very marrow of Daria’s body.

  At last, Na-Kai felt a change. The young woman’s sleep rose to a less threatening pattern. The Healer’s thoughts wound through Daria, seeking some form of consciousness. However small the recognition, it would be enough. It had to be. “Daria, child of my heart…I am here…hold to my voice and grow in your strength…all will be well…”

  Several silent heartbeats passed until a blessed murmur whispered through Na-Kai, soft as down. “Mama?”

  “Yes, child, I am with you…”

  “Where are we?”

  “In a very safe place…”

  Silence for a time. “Why are we here?”

  “So that you will know I am with you…always and forever…in this place, time has no beginning and no end…”

  “Will we come here often?”

  “Whenever the need arises…I will be here…”

  So endless, the peace. Na-Kai could feel the music of their souls bathing them in light and love and joy. A shared timelessness.

  “Mama, I don’t want to leave…”

  Na-Kai’s sigh touched Daria in a loving caress. “You have to, child…I will give you everything you need, but then you must leave…”

  “You won’t be coming with me…”

  The least hesitation before she answered. “No…”

  “What do I need that you would give me?”

  “Knowledge…”

  The quiet stretched between them.

  “Mama, I love you…”

  “I love you too, sweetest…”

  It seemed that the blackness held him immobile. But for Travlor, the eons he had been forced to traverse the worlds had endowed him with patience beyond revenge. A motionless state was as comfortable as breathing. Thus concealed, he lost track of time. Whether hours passed or days, he could not tell. And yet he waited. It was almost at an end, and he could feel it with every fiber of his existence. So it was that in the blink of an eye, the thought-form that had surrounded his every movement for thirty-five years, vanished. With the flash of emerald green, Na-Kai was no more. He was finally free.

  He rammed his body out of the shadows and flew down the hallway. “Now…Evan, I need you, now!”

  Evan ended the call, pocketed his phone and walked out onto the veranda. Scarlet bougainvillea leaves, buffeted by the sea breeze, tumbled across the concrete with a gentle rasp. He relaxed against the balustrade and felt certain that he had contacted everyone who might have questioned Daria’s whereabouts. He didn’t want her absence to cause alarm, so he had invented a plausible explanation, their elopement, followed by an extended honeymoon.

  The hotel manager had been eager to accept an exorbitant amount of money to cover her expenses, and to believe that Daria’s hasty departure was due to a family emergency.

  Because he had regained a measure of control, Evan experienced the first feeling of relief since the onset of this burgeoning debacle. His gaze wandered over the startling landscape. The luminous Greek sun had begun its stately descent into the ocean, and rays of cloud-softened light drenched the island in gold. He took a deep breath and massaged the back of his neck. “It’s going to be all right. I will see you again.”

  The glow of lamplight began to dot the island against the coming night, and Evan almost convinced himself that everything would turn out. But his sense of calm detonated as Travlor’s command blasted through his mind, “Now! Evan, I need you, now!”

  Evan scrambled out of his room, jumped into his car and sped toward the waterfront where his OceanusVI was docked. Within thirty frenetic minutes, he was belted into the pilot’s seat and he had fired the startup sequence. He detached from the moorings and shoved off. As soon as he dogged the hatch, the interior cabin was illuminated in a soft green glow. Evan motored toward the mouth of the harbor as fast as maritime law allowed and booted the onboard computer to access his nautical maps.

  Travlor had rendered a rather vague idea as to his destination, so Evan had charted a course based on assumption and guesswork. But his estranged father had assured him that once he was within close proximity, he could guide Evan straight into the heart of Atlantis. Evan held a secret hope that the closer he came to Atlantis and to his father, the more his telepathic ability would become enhanced. If he could locate Daria on his own, he wouldn’t even have to deal with Travlor.

  As the reef dropped away and plunged to exceptional depths, Evan’s angle of attack steepened and his descent gathered speed, his gaze locked on the computer screen. Although the outside lights were on, the murky depths became impenetrable as darkness closed around him. His concentration intensified, but Evan dared not slow his descent because if Travlor was free, something monumental had occurred to bring that to pass. He couldn’t waste time in the execution of a technically safe dive.

  The small submersible plummeted. Beads of sweat gathered at the base of Evan’s skull and he felt a slow, sticky trickle wind down the back of his neck. He gripped the steering mechanism so tightly that his hands ached. He took quick gulps of air. His heart felt like it would beat a way out of his chest, and an irritating itch settled itself on the bridge of his nose to challenge his focus.

  He blinked his eyes and risked a quick swipe of his brow. Several deep breaths helped him to lower his heart rate and regain some composure. He riveted his attention and his faith to a set of maps that had never known of the existence of a sunken colony. A world that had only ever lived shrouded in legend, mystery and once-upon-a-time longing.

  At the precise moment the emerald flash blazed through Atlantis, Daria awakened from the netherworld that bound her. With the infusion of Na-Kai’s healing energy, she had been strong enough to help the Healer transcend, so that Na-Kai had not been subjected to the trauma of a physical death. And although everyone was aware that their cherished Healer had forfeited what remained of her life in order to bestow the gift of a new beginning upon them, every heart in Atlantis was filled with deep sorrow at her unexpected passing.

  Daria was transported to Na-Kai’s quarters, and Atlanteans lined the way in tribute to their new Healer. The indigo color of their sad faces reflected their heartfelt mourning, but as she reached to touch their outstretched hands, traces of gold glistened through their sorrow, and she knew that they honored her with their love.

  By the time they entered Na-Kai’s chambers, Daria was ready to sleep again. Although she had regained quite a bit of strength, a full recovery would still take a while, and she was relieved to be back in the comfort of soft sheets and downy pillows.

  Ni-Cio fluffed the covers and tucked her in, and he worried over her until Kyla pushed him aside so that she could lower a heaping tray of food onto Daria’s lap. Ni-Cio moved to a nearby chair and sat down.

  Daria marveled at the sight of the only man she could ever love, then glanced at Kyla. “I’m stuffed. You forced me to eat so much food after I woke up that I can’t take another bite.” Daria pushed the tray away and leaned back into the mountainous pile
of pillows.

  Kyla crossed her arms, and Daria was surprised to hear her deferential tone. “You are still not well, and in order to speed your recovery, you must consume a variety of foods in varying combinations and portions. This nutrition also helps accentuate your healing powers. So, even though you are full, I must try to entice you to continue eating. In that way, I am assured that you have received the additional calories you need to offset your accelerated metabolism.”

  Daria shook her head and signaled Kyla to remove the tray. “I’m sorry, Kyla, I am just too tired right now. Maybe later.”

  Kyla lifted the heavy tray and Daria heard an element of teasing tinge her voice. “You are doing quite well, Most Sovereign Healer. Certainly you have gained enough strength so that tomorrow we will force you out of bed to run the halls of Atlantis.”

  A mischievous glint lit Kyla’s eyes and Daria was grateful to have her friendship. The nourishment Kyla had provided had increased her wellbeing, but she was still exhausted. “Kyla, I doubt I’ll feel much like a footrace, but if you keep calling me by anything other than my given name, you will be surprised how fast I can climb out of this bed and come after you. Besides, I don’t feel like a Most Sovereign Healer.”

  A deep rumble came from Ni-Cio, “If you rise, you will have to pass me, my lady. And I warn you, I do not mind seeing that you stay in that bed.”

  Though his tone was light, he was in earnest. Ni-Cio uncrossed his long, muscular legs and leaned forward, all pretenses aside. “You are our Most Sovereign Healer no matter your feeling. In our history, no healing has ever taken place such as you performed. Do not make light of the importance you hold for us.”

  Daria felt the heat rise to her cheeks and she ducked her head. Kyla rested an edge of the tray on the bedside table. “My brother is right. The sooner you get used to hearing the title, the faster you will move beyond that title. Your powers are as yet untapped. And I agree with him, you are probably the greatest Healer that Atlantis has ever seen.”