by Unknown
"Doesn't the thought that we could be chasing a Warlock frighten you?" he asked after a brief silence.
The question caught her off-guard, and she took a second to compose herself before turning to face him. "No. Why should it? I'm Tevingian, Miklos. We don't fear the Coven."
"But it means that the man isn't human, Jalissa."
"The Coven is human," she said, rather more sharply than she'd intended. His words hurt. "They are born and die like all other people. They simply have powers that others don't. Why is that so difficult to accept? You have knowledge that I don't have, Miklosabout spacecraft and weapons and other such things."
"But those things were developed through sciences that can be understood by anyone who wants to study them."
"Nevertheless, I don't understand them and you do, and that doesn't make you different to me."
"I think we're talking at cross-purposes here," he said with that half-smile.
"Probably we are. Vantrans and Tevingians have a tendency to do that."
He laughed, leaning back in the grass to rest on his elbows. "Maybe you're right. You're really the first Tevingian I've ever gotten to know."
And you don't know me, she thought with a sharp pang of regret that had no business being there. She turned to look at him as he continued to recline in the grass, watching her with a lazy smile that was either very realor the practiced charm of a seducer.
"You can be very charming, Miklos. I think you even succeeded in charming my mother."
"I'm glad if she likes me, but what about you?"
Jalissa was startled by the unexpected question, and she saw that he knew it. She turned away quickly.
"You're a Special Agent, Miklosand I'm a Whisperer."
He sat up suddenly, bringing himself far too close to her. "Are you saying that you think I'd try to seduce you for that reason?"
"It's happened before."
"Not with me, it hasn't."
She got up and started to walk through the meadow, intending to pick some wildflowers. He followed her, but thankfully remained silent. His denial echoed through her mind with the unmistakable ring of truth. Besides, she would certainly have heard about it if he had attempted to seduce one of her colleagues. His name certainly came up often enough in their conversations.
They continued to wander through the meadow, and Jalissa found herself wishing they could shed their professions, and become instead simply a man and a woman, both of them bent on seduction.
Still, she thought sadly, even if they could forget their professions for a time, she could not afford to forget what she was. And neither could he if he knew the truth. He'd said it himself: She wasn't human. She wished those words hadn't hurt so much.
"Have you asked your parents about the man we're looking for?" he asked suddenly, breaking the long silence between them.
"Yes," she replied, though of course she hadn't needed to. "They've promised to make some inquiries. I gave them a copy of the holo drawing."
"Would they admit it if they did learn anything?"
"Yes. They understand how dangerous he could be."
"But they could be betraying one of their ownor betraying the Coven," he persisted. "I'm certainly not getting any cooperation from the government."
"They would tell me because they trust my judgment."
"In other words, they might tell you, but you might not tell me."
"That would make no sense, Miklos. I care about the Federation too, you know. Besides, I'm not allowed to take any actions on my own."
Miklos decided not to press her anymore on the matter, even though he knew that if there were some sort of conspiracy afoot, her family was almost certain to be involved. He'd learned from his uncle, the commanding general at the base, that Jalissa's uncle was suspected of bringing contraband weapons to Tevingi on his ships.
At this point, the general was unwilling to confront Danto Kendor. The situation was very delicate. The Kendors were very powerful, and there would definitely be problems with the Federation Council if false accusations were made against them. There was a tendency on the part of the other worlds to sympathize with the Tevingians, who'd been treated so badly after the Coven episode. Memories were very long in the galaxy, especially when it came to complaints against his people.
Miklos watched her as she wandered among the flowers, plucking some for her bouquet. It was a picture he knew he would hold forever in his memory: the breeze that lifted her shining black hair away from her delicate face, the colorful flowers, the madris grazing in the background.
She looked as though she belonged here, walking the meadows and riding the madris, and yet he was increasingly certain that might not be the case. The time he'd been spending in the company of Tevingians had only served to make him more aware of the subtle differences.
That dark voice began to whisper to him againand with it this time came a sudden recollection. Some years ago, he'd seen old paintings of the Coven in the Tevingi capital's art museum. At the time, he'd been reluctant to study them too closely because the Coven was always a difficult subject for Vantrans. Now he asked her about them.
''Yes, there are several of them. Why?"
"I thought that perhaps we could go to see them. Weren't they supposed to have been painted by an artist who'd actually visited the Coven?"
"Yes, they were."
Miklos saw no evidence that she was disturbed by his suggestion. He wished that she weren't so skilled at her profession. Whisperers were highly skilled at concealing their true thoughts, a necessary talent in their work, as it often was in his as well.
"I'm not sure what value that would have," she went on. "But we can certainly go there this afternoon if you wish. I wanted to go into Drasas anyway, to see my uncle. He controls the family's shipping and trading business, and I planned to take the drawing to him."
"Good idea. We can also ask him if he's heard anything about a conspiracy involving the Outer Ring worlds. His ships travel there regularly, don't they?"
She confirmed that, then suggested they return to the house. Miklos agreed, but still found himself strangely reluctant to leave this place. An opportunity had been lost herea chance to create a small space for themselves. It was a strange feeling to him, a longing for something more than just the pleasure of her body. Stunned by the direction of his thoughts, he hurried to catch up to her as she started back toward their madris.
Moments later, they were airborne once again. Jalissa had neglected to tell him that up here in the high mountains, the madris simply ran off the edge of a cliff, then fell for a time until they caught the wind beneath their wings. Miklos wasn't truly frightened because he realized almost immediately what the animals were doing, but it was still a very unsettling experience.
She turned back to him once they had begun to soar, and gave him a look that seemed to be about equal parts amusement and apology. He could not resist teasing her about it when they landed in the meadow near the Kendor stables.
"I'd say that ranks right up there with the more unsettling experiences I've had," he told her dryly.
She laughed, a low, husky sound that sent ripples of pleasure through him. "I truly did forget to warn you, but hearing a Vantran admit that something has 'unsettled' him is an interesting experience for me too."
They smiled at each otherand in that moment, despite their unwillingness to admit it even to themselves, something began to change for them both.
>
Miklos stood before the huge paintings, struck by a sense that he was seeing ancient history come alive. Or was it ancient history? If the Coven still existed, he suspected nothing would have changed. They had seemed always to have lived outside time.
"They're just as I remembered, remarkably detailed," he said, turning to her.
Unfortunately, she thought, feigning interest in them herself as she wished he hadn't remembered them.
"The artist actually lived among the Coven for several months," she told him. "And during that tim
e, he did all the sketches that he later turned into these paintings."
"I'm rather surprised they permitted that. They were supposed to have been very secretive."
"That's not true. They almost never left their own world, but they always welcomed visitors and hid nothing from them."
"Nothing?" he queried, turning briefly from his examination of the paintings to face her. "I thought they had secret rituals."
"Not that I've ever heard of. Their magic was simply a part of their lives, something they took for granted. Until the Tevingians and then others showed up, they had believed that all people must be like them."
It felt very strange to Jalissa to be discussing her people as though they were nothing more than a part of the distant past. And stranger still, they actually did feel that way to her. It was a measure of just how far she had strayed from the ways of the Coven.
But seeing these depictions of her people going about their daily lives also awakened in her a longing that surprised her. The paintings were nearly years old, and yet they were an accurate portrayal of how her people still lived, right down to the dress. The only difference was that they now lived underground on a barren world that was very different from the place portrayed in the paintings: a small world of unsurpassed beauty, not unlike the much larger Vantra.
"The children are always pictured in groups, and not with their parents," he remarked as he turned back to the paintings. "I understand that they didn't believe in families as we know them."
"They didn't," she said. "Individuality was frowned upon by the Coven. The Coven itself was the unit, not families. Children were raised in one big nursery, as you can see."
"But they did have marriage, didn't they?"
"Oh, yes." She indicated a wedding scene. "But husbands and wives didn't generally live together, and they didn't select their mates either. The gods, speaking through the priests, ordained who could marry whom."
"A very strange society. And how were the priests selected? I assume these are priests?" He pointed to a group of black-robed people who wore elaborate headddresses. "They are. The priests were selected by the gods, and always included both men and women."
"And did they have power in all things, or just in religious matters?"
"In all things because their religion was their life. The Coven was not a democracy, Miklos. No one would challenge the authority of the priests."
He turned to her again, and too late, she realized the implications of what she'd said.
"Then that would suggest that either our quarry isn't a Warlockor that the Coven has approved what he's doing."
"Yes," she said carefully. "It would suggest that. But of course, he could be a rebel. Even among the Coven, they could exist."
"I'd find that hard to believe. It's been my experience that rebellion generally occurs among small, isolated groups like the Coven only if there's been contact with the larger world. Otherwise, fear of being cast out overcomes any desire to rebel."
She couldn't dispute that, since she too knew of numerous cases in the galaxy that proved his point.
Miklos bent to examine a detail of a large painting that depicted a group of Coven children, playing under the supervision of several adults. At first glance, there was nothing unusual in their playuntil you realized that some of them were levitating.
Then he noticed something odd in another play group. They seemed to be playing catch with a big ball. But upon closer scrutiny, he could see that none of them had their hands raised to catch it as the ball was suspended in the center of the circle. He turned to Jalissa and pointed that out to her.
"They're not trying to catch it. The object of the game is to keep it in the air by using their magic. It was a game, but it was also training in working together. As I said, the Coven stressed cooperation, not competition."
"You seem to know quite a lot about them," he observed neutrally.
She shrugged. "No more than most Tevingians. There is a time in childhood when everyone is fascinated by them. They were fairy taleswith the added advantage of having been real."
"And perhaps they still are." He glanced at his watch and saw that it was time for them to leave for their meeting with her uncle. He'd invited himself along, and while she'd agreed, it was clear to him that she wasn't happy about it.
As they climbed back aboard the hovercraft for the short trip to the outskirts of the city where Danto Kendor had his offices, Miklos's thoughts remained on those remarkable paintings. The Witches and Warlocks of the Coven were just as he'd remembered them: dark-haired and fair- skinned, but with a delicate bone structure and overly large dark eyes that set them apart from Tevingians, whose looks were generally somewhat coarser.
The woman who sat beside him in the hovercraft could easily have posed for those pictures. He'd been greatly tempted to point that out to her.
Miklos was becoming more and more aware of his failure to listen to the dark voice of his suspicions, even though he was a man who had always trusted his instincts. But he thought back to those moments in the meadow and the ride through the heavens, and he decided that he wouldn't forward his suspicions to headquarters just yet.
Danto Kendor welcomed them to his spacious office with its glass walls that provided a panoramic view of the tallest mountains on Tevingi. He was a tall, well-built man with thinning dark hair that was even more liberally sprinkled with gray than it had been the last time Jalissa had seen him. Soft-spoken by nature, he was still a commanding presence.
Danto was a brilliant businessman, and a sophisticated man who wasn't overly impressed by a visit from a Special Agenteven one with the last name of Panera. Jalissa liked him very much, because beneath that gruff exterior lay great gentleness. He had come personally to take her from her childhood home to Tevingi, bringing with him his youngest daughter, who was only a few years older than Jalissa.
Danto's daughter Kelse was also on Vantra, where she worked for the Federation as a staff aide to the Council, and the two women had remained best friends.
Following the introductions, they talked for a time about their far-flung family, and particularly about Danto's first granddaughter, Kelse's four-month-old baby, whom he had yet to see except by comm.
"The world has become entirely too big a place," Danto said with a sigh. "Or perhaps too small, depending on your point of view." He turned to Panera. "I hear that there is talk again about mounting an expedition to the Raga Galaxy."
"There's talk," Panera acknowledged. "But most of the Council thinks we still have much to do to put our own galaxy in order first."
Danto nodded. "Ahh, yes, the ever-troublesome Outer Ring." Except for a few people in the Special Agency, Danto Kendor was the leading expert on the Outer Ring, since his ships traveled there regularly.
"What's your assessment of the political situation there?" Panera asked.
"Not good," Danto replied succinctly. "At least not from the point of view of the Federation. Except for the usual ongoing little wars, it seems remarkably peaceful right now. But I think that's deceptive."
"How so?" Panera asked.
"I think they may be planning to set up their own federation. You're probably aware of at least some of the secret meetings that have taken place. If you're not, you should consider replacing your spies."
Jalissa couldn't tell from his expression whether or not this was news to Panera, but she suspected it wasn't, or Danto wouldn't have mentioned it. He was careful to cooperate with the Federation, but like most Tevingians, he held back what and when he could.
"We've had some reports," Panera acknowledged. "But I'd welcome any additional information you can give me."
Jalissa listened as Danto detailed what was happening on one world after another. It meant little to her since she knew next to nothing about the Outer Ring. They'd spent little time during her training on the history and cultures of those worlds because Whisperers had never been permitted to go there.
"The belief among most of them is that the Fed
eration would do little, if anything, to stop them," Danto finished. "And I suspect they're right. There isn't much there that we need or want."
"The Special Agency's position is that that should not be permitted to happen. We don't know what they have, since many of those worlds haven't been fully explored. And we also oppose any separate organization within the galaxy."
"I've heard rumors that there might be tactite on Debnos," Danto said, watching Panera closely.
Panera smiled. "Your reputation does not exceed reality, Danto Kendor."
Jalissa watched the two men. Nothing more was said on the subject, but it seemed to her that Panera had confirmed the rumor. Then she realized that what had just happened was a trade. Panera had confirmed a rumor of great business importance to Danto, and now he expected something in return.
Panera told Danto about the man they were seeking and showed him the holo drawing, saying that they believed him to be Tevingian. Danto stared at it and nodded, then gave Panera a smile.
"Or he might be a Warlock, as the rumors suggest."
He went on to say that he would send the holo to his various offices and ship commanders in the hope that someone could identify the man.
Panera thanked him, then went on to tell him about the other rumor: that Tevingi might join the Outer Ring if they rebelled against the Federation.
"I've heard no such story," Danto said, shrugging. "Of course, there have always been Tevin- gians who wanted to leave the Federation. But speaking personally, I'd be a fool to get into trouble with the Federation, since I depend on their re-fueling and maintenance bases, and nearly two thirds of my trade is with Federation worlds other than the Outer Ring.''
What he didn't say, and what Jalissa knew, was that Danto Kendor was already one of the wealthiest men in the galaxy and could easily afford to lose business if he believed that joining with the Outer Ring was the right thing to do. Furthermore, she knew that Panera knew that as well.
And Danto would definitely do just that if the Coven decided such a rebellion should take place. His ties to them were stronger than any others on Tevingi.