by Viola Grace
“Ah, about that. Urado has been posted to Teklan. They need a Minder instructor, so you have been posted there as well.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “We are stopping at Balen to see if a Yaluthu attaches to you.”
“Which one of us?”
“Either of you or both. Once I explained what I have been able to determine from the others, it was an order.”
Zeeat sat in silence for a moment. “Take him to Uranak first. If he sees his family, it will ground him and make the rest of the treatment easier.”
“I will see what the navigator says. If it is possible, we will do it.”
“That easily?”
“I trust your judgment on his state of mind.”
Zeeat nodded and slowly leaned forward, crossing her arms and resting her head on them. “Can I just rest now?”
“We will wake you when we land.” Equilar patted her shoulder and left her.
The empty darkness had never been so welcome.
Someone had moved her while she was unconscious. She wasn’t going to lie to herself and call it sleep.
Urado was sitting against the wall at the base of her bunk.
“What are you doing?”
He smiled while his eyes remained closed. “I am watching over you. It is my turn.”
She sat up, and her Masuo changed shape into a simple dress. “Turn?”
Zeeat rubbed her eyes and stretched, swinging her feet off the edge of her bed.
“Yes, we have been watching over you in three hour shifts. You have stopped breathing twice, but the medics have stabilized you.”
She checked and there were definitely a few bruises from hypos. “Ah. Well, that explains that. Where are we?”
“We landed on Uranak twelve hours ago. My parents are eager to meet you.”
She watched shoes appear on her feet. “Ready when you are.”
He chuckled. “You have to go through a decontamination chamber. I will remain with you.”
She groaned. “I hate those. I always end up with a bit of a tan.”
He rose to his feet, and to her eyes, he looked better than the previous day. He took her hands and helped her stand.
“It should be me helping you. You were the one in a static state.”
“I saw my grandmother. She is a contact healer. A little food, a little healing and I am feeling better already.”
He seemed more centred and far more confident. She looked at the landscape of his mind, and the secure dome had expanded. He had worked on the tutorial.
He held her hands and rubbed his thumbs across her knuckles. “You are looking healthier than when I first saw your proper form.”
She laughed. “That doesn’t take much. I am guessing that they were trying to starve me out of your mind.”
His brows snapped together.
She took in the tunic and trousers that he wore. The pants were tucked into boots and looked comfortable. The tunic had a family crest embossed on the shoulder.
The sash wrapped around his waist made her eyes widen. “What kind of a broken contract were you born into?”
He shrugged. “It was an heir contract. I am still the only issue of both of my parents. It is peculiar; they love each other but cannot cohabitate.”
“It happens. When you told me your story, I did not imagine that you were noble.”
He frowned. “Does it matter?”
“If your folk are similar to mine, yes. If they are not, then no.”
“How will you tell?”
She smiled. “I suppose I will meet them.”
The decontamination chamber was just as annoying as she remembered. The surface of her skin felt delicate after the treatment, but she had several smiling faces to meet on the outside of the treatment.
The chamber had been set up in a wide courtyard that had the stamp of an expansive private residence
“Specialist Zeeat, these are my parents. Princess Lamiatha and Prince Ekrom. The lady with the experience in her eyes is my grandmother, Queen Amial.”
Zeeat folded her hands together, and she inclined her head the precise amount taught by the abbey. “It is an honour to meet you.”
Urado’s mother lunged forward and hugged her. “No one could find him. We had given up hope.”
“There is always hope. You have to learn to see it in the oddest places.”
Prince Ekrom took her in a much less crushing hug. “You have a careful turn of phrase. If I didn’t know you weren’t local, I would suspect an abbey education.”
“Good guess but wrong world. I am a Jiankani.”
The royals stared at each other. The grandmother pushed forward. “A pure Jiankani?”
She shrugged. “I cannot attest to the purity of my line but that was where I was born and raised.”
Urado smiled. “She is just like us but with a few strong-minded tips for dealing with my talent.”
Queen Amial linked arms with her and hauled her away from the others. “Where were you raised? Are you of good family?”
“I am afraid not. My parents both have excellent bloodlines, but I was conceived after their trial contract had expired. She didn’t want to take on the pregnancy, so I was born and raised at the abbey. I learned who my benefactor was when I was three.”
“So, your father is the one who supported you?”
“Yes. He paid for my education and lodging. When I was available for a post as aba, I came in to work with teaching his children, and his wife was supportive but did not take to me. I looked too much like him.”
“He remarried?”
“He did. Three beautiful children who are intelligent and see the world with open eyes and an open mind.”
“And you taught them.”
“I did my duty and enjoyed the time with my half siblings.”
“Did your mother have other children?”
“She took on a post in an abbey and eventually made her way to my abbey. She was the abbess when I left.”
“Ah. A broken contract?” She seemed very understanding.
“No. No contract at all. My father got pregnant, and his family and hers wouldn’t hear of a union. I was given to a volunteer and raised at the abbey. I have been a tutor, a nanny, and now, I work with the Citadel.”
“So, you are not of good family.”
Zeeat smiled at her. “If it works here like it does on Jiankani, I am of no family. That was why I was sent to the abbey.”
The queen blinked and a slow smile crossed her features. “Would you like a family?”
That was not the response that Zeeat had been expecting, and she was at a loss for words.
Chapter Six
Urado’s mother came to Zeeat’s rescue. “My dear, would you care to take a bath and spend some time in meditation?”
Zeeat sighed in relief. “Yes, that sounds wonderful.”
Amial looked at them both and grunted with an indelicate sound. “Take time to pause and think about it. I would be happy to take you on as my daughter.”
Lamiatha steered Zeeat away and from her mother and sighed. “She has been trying to get another woman of power in the family for years.”
Zeeat chuckled. “I thought she was just trying to make me feel better.”
Lamiatha laughed. “She doesn’t do that. My mother is exceptionally calculating.”
“Ah. That explains it. I was to be part of a collection.”
“That, or as her daughter, you wouldn’t be eligible to attach or contract with Urado.”
Zeeat stumbled and caught herself, straightening swiftly. “That was a bit of a surprise.”
Lamiatha smiled. “For you perhaps, but Urado has talked about nothing but you since he landed.”
Zeeat coloured a little. “I have no idea why that would be.”
“You have made an impression on my son, and it is definitely a favourable one.”
“Am I still getting a bath?”
The princess laughed. “Yes. This way.”
The house was definitely a private residence. There were portraits of the family on the walls and the wing that Lamiatha took her to.
The bathing chamber was one of the large communal affairs that were common on Jiankani. It was comforting to see the water gently rippling and feel the heat on her skin.
“May I?”
“Of course. Watch out for the exsko though. They tend to jump in when they have a bathing buddy.” Lamiatha smiled. “The meditation platform is just down the hall. Take as long as you like. My mother and Lady Equilar are trying to outdo each other with the accomplishments of their grandchildren.”
“It is something that most grandmothers do. Let them have their pride and hostility.”
Zeeat shifted the clothing down into a heavy cuff on her left leg and stepped into the water. The feel of the warm liquid closing over her was a luxury that she had forgotten was an option.
When she couldn’t have something, she put it out of her mind.
With a smile, she dove beneath the surface in the wide warming pool and came up to scrub the mass of her hair.
Ten minutes later, she was squeaky clean, the soapy water had been filtered away and she was leaning against the carved seatback at the edge of the pool.
Shadows started to move around the edges of the bathing chamber. With no other warning, three exskos launched themselves into the pool, sending arcs of water skyward.
Zeeat kept her seat as the three beasts played and flicked water at each other, shaking their wings after every dive.
She grinned and giggled at their antics, noticing that they were getting closer to her.
When the first head touched her arm, she reached out and offered her hands. Soon, she was petting them in turn, and they snuggled up against her limbs, touching her mind and seeking an anchor.
She chuckled. “I would love to invite you, but I have enough trouble with me in my mind.”
They rubbed against her and emitted a low rumbling sound that ended on a light trill.
“It is their communing call. They talk to each other and use the sound to bring others into their range.”
She turned her head and saw Urado crouching next to the pool.
“It sounds nice.”
He was looking at her, and now that she was focusing on him and the thick braid over one shoulder, he looked far different from the vulnerable and confused man she had met on Ikappi.
His voice was an amused low tone. “They modulate it for their audience. With our species, they find that we do not respond to the hypersonics. This tone was designed to keep you with them in physical contact.”
“Why?”
“They like the social stimulation.”
“Do you have a favourite?”
He grinned. “The one that is in your lap.”
She leaned to one side. “He is charming. Does he have a name?”
He snorted. “No, he is simply where I would like to be.”
Zeeat blushed. “Right. Well. I don’t know what to say to that.”
“My grandmother mentioned you were raised in an abbey.”
She nodded. “That’s correct.”
“So, you did not engage in normal social interaction with folk your own age.”
“No. I spent time in my studies and meditation.”
“Which is how you ended up with such a unique structure in your mind. Were there other talents around?”
“No. I didn’t meet another talent until I was a teenager.” She stroked the jaw of the exsko in her lap. It rubbed up against her mind and tried to get in.
“So, you were a Minder with open minds all around you. That would cause you to find a defense mechanism.”
“Apparently, it did. How long have you been with the Citadel?”
“Over a decade. I am learning of all that has happened since I disappeared, and I am happy to say that you were right, it has only been three years.”
His relief and relaxation was understandable. He had still been thinking that centuries had passed until he had met his family again.
She eased the creature off her lap and got up. His gaze fixed on her for a moment before he got to his feet and got her a drying cloth.
She patted herself dry and wrapped the sheet around her hair as she formed a comfortable, long, slit tunic and blousy trousers.
The exsko left the water and headed to the far edge of the pool before they shook violently, throwing water off and lashing their tails so rapidly that her buddy fell on his butt.
She smiled and removed the towel from her head, finger combing the blue, green and white locks into even waves.
“I am going to meditate. Would you care to join me?”
“I would enjoy that.” He stayed near her but didn’t touch her.
They walked to the doorway that his mother had pointed out, and when they were on the warm wood, standing in the daylight and overlooking the purple mountains, Zeeat could see where he had gotten his safe place.
Pillows were arranged in front of a swirling design in coloured woods. She knelt at the edge, and her exsko settled next to her.
She sighed and placed her hand on its back. He let out a low huff and lay his head flat on the polished wood.
Urado smiled and knelt near her. He was once again close but not touching.
The other two exsko flanked him, and the silence around them was warm and comfortable.
Zeeat looked to the mountains, opened the outer shield on her mind and breathed deep.
She could feel the moment that Urado touched her thoughts, and she let him in. It took a few minutes but he asked, “What is going on here?”
“It isn’t here. I have a special project in the works. Part of my mind is at a distance. It is what is making me so tired.” She smiled slightly but kept her gaze to the horizon.
“What are you doing?”
“I am finishing my assignment. You were not the only one that I was sent to find.”
She could feel his astonishment. “Your mind is attached to others?”
She sighed and looked over at him. “Yes. I got in contact with all of you at the same time. I spoke with all of you, and I deprogrammed all of you.”
He frowned. “I didn’t sense you doing that.”
“You were not supposed to.” She smiled slightly.
It was depressing to see the disappointment in his features. She got to her feet, walked to him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
“Have a good life, Urado.”
She walked away from him with the riot of conflict in his thoughts. Slowly, she closed her mind as she walked back to where Equilar’s thoughts were glowing like a candle.
The matriarchs were sitting at a small table in the courtyard, and as Zeeat passed them, she nodded to each of them.
The press of Amial’s mind on hers surprised her, but she kept walking to the shuttle and settled herself on a bunk, watching the other Minders approach their destinations.
This was all going to be over soon, but her mission was still ongoing until those Minders were at their destinations.
“He is remaining here for a few weeks to recuperate. You did something to him, didn’t you?” Equilar asked her softly when they were lifting off and heading for Teklan.
“All I did was tell him that he was part of my assignment.” She looked up from her data pad for a moment and then continued to watch the tracking on her screen.
“That wasn’t it. You told him something that changed the way he thought of you.”
Zeeat shrugged. “He was too vulnerable. I didn’t want to take advantage of his moment of weakness.”
“What did you say?”
“I let him see the part of my mind that is attached to the others.”
“You pushed him away.”
“I told him the truth. He was part of my assignment.”
Equilar groaned and rubbed her face with her han
d in a very indelicate manoeuver. “He could have been your match.”
“No. Not by the laws of his people or mine. I am a non-entity under the law. It keeps me from being a legal parent or mate.”
“What?”
Zeeat gave her tutor her full attention. “As a half-born woman, I have no rights, no existence, no legal personage under the Jiankani law. That is why the abbey had to take me and others like me in. If our mothers reject us, we need a place to go. We are groomed to be serving citizens. That is all we are allowed to be. I have no dreams for the future because I have no future. I have today and that is all.”
Equilar sat in shock. “I thought you were just stiff because you were raised in a religious organization. I knew that your mind was considered ideal for espionage, I just didn’t know why.”
Zeeat shrugged. “There you go. It is very simple. His family claimed him, mine didn’t. We can’t be together in any way other than assignments or business.”
“How are you holding up?”
“The pull is wearing on me, but we don’t know what she asked them to do yet. I need to track it and make sure that the order comes forward before the charge can be laid for anything more than kidnapping. If the Citadel is seeking a full wipe, they need to know everything.”
“How much longer?”
“Two days to destinations. I will be relieved when this assignment is complete. Are we heading to Balen?”
“Yes. You are still looking drained. Urado promised to go on his way to Teklan. His family will make sure that he follows through.”
Zeeat turned back to her tracking and kept her mind calm. She was stretched across the stars, and it hurt.
Sleep was light and monitored, so her only escape was monitoring the folks surrounding the Minders for any unusual activity.
A part of her was upset about how she had had to cut ties with Urado, but it was for the best. She knew what her future held; she didn’t want to ruin his.
Chapter Seven
“Instructor Zeeat, how can you encapsulate your mind? Doesn’t your expanding experience push itself out of the confinement?”
“Lobic, I have been teaching this class for two weeks and that is the best question so far.” She smiled and turned to the display, marking a straight line and drawing a small city on it.