by Pam Uphoff
The twins brightened, looking quickly from Rael to their mother. Who rolled her eyes.
"But . . . it is a good idea. This could easily be the last nice weekend of the year. And the twins sometimes need two sets of eyes on them."
"Do not!" Ryol's indignant retort was tossed over her shoulder as she raced her brother up the stairs.
Rael grinned. "Wait till you see my new swimsuit!"
"Rael . . . "
"Don't look so worried! There's a fair amount of cloth involved. All designed to show off my lack of scars." Rael headed up the stairs after the kids. "Gosh, one more kid and you won't have room for guests."
"Smart ass. I ought to have known you'd notice. And I'll point out that Mom and Dad now have four empty bedrooms."
"Ha! I'd have stayed there, except that the painters and carpenters who are going to turn half the third floor into a library and home office are starting tomorrow."
"Wait, are they tearing out all the walls?"
"Sort of. Haven't you seen the final plans?" Rael grinned. "It's almost like three kids keep you frantically busy. But yeah, all three bedrooms. They're leaving in the room corners and some short walls for bookcases. Partly for structural soundness, partly for ease of rebuilding the walls, should they ever sell the house. But mostly because it will make a really cool library with several private nooks."
"Oh, hmm, that does sound like it will be nice. And still leaves your attic suite for guests. Or to keep alive their dreams of you coming home and somehow converting to normal."
Rael giggled. And pulled out her swimsuit.
Raod studied it. "Well, knowing you, the colors aren't surprising . . . but the holes in odd places . . . Are your scars really gone?"
"Yep. Finally. Xen says the skin is the hardest, because it tries to heal fast. Which means scarring. Plus I wasn't about to drink any of his . . . are they calling it Joy Juice on the street?"
"Yes. Ox wants to strangle you, over that getting loose."
"Bah. Ox just wants to arrest me. He much too honest a cop to strangle anyone. And it wasn't my fault." Rael stripped down. "Ta da! No scars. Well, except for the new one, but it'll fade too."
Raod eyed the back of Rael's left arm and winced. "And you got a breast implant? No? More magical healing?"
"Yep!" Rael pulled on the suit, paused at her sister's expression. "What?"
"Apart from you managing to find that many colors to clash with your hair? It's more hole than suit, but at least it shouldn't fall off while swimming, like a certain bikini I recall."
"Umm, yeah. And I was still young enough to be embarrassed." Rael grabbed a towel and followed excited young voices back down the stairs. "Hey, you guys are right across the street from the ocean. What's the big deal?"
"You're here, and we get to see you do things." Arno was loaded down with some serious sandcastle building equipment.
They set a good example for the kids, walking to the corner and crossing properly to the boardwalk and the concrete storm barrier that stretched for miles along the coast. Down onto the hot dry loose sand, slip sliding down to the firm wet sand.
Not too many people out today. Rael automatically surveyed. Three family groups, four surfers out in the waves a bit further down, where the shape of the sea bottom combined with the wind to create some nice big rolling waves.
Raod chivvied the kids southward, where small close in breakers were providing a safer place to splash for half a dozen kids.
Rael squinted out at one child who was out a bit far . . . not splashing much, but she did come up for air . . . "I think I'll take a quick dip before I start on a spectacular sand castle."
She splashed quickly out. Braced against the first breaker, managed a credible dive over the next and then got to work getting past the outer waves . . . Looked for glow and spotted the kid . . . going under again . . . she kicked over, dived and grabbed hair, kicked for the surface.
The kid, girl, gasped, coughed up water, tried to swim . . . Rael kept a hold on her hair and checked the waves. Towed the girl in following the next breaker. It crashed down ahead of them and carried them into water shallow enough for Rael to get a foot down and resist the backwash . . . then it was just a stroll through foam supporting the kid for a few steps. The girl was shaky on her feet, and bent over. Coughing up even more water. Staggering, looking around . . . running off toward one of the family groups.
"So . . . where's a good place for a sand castle? Is the tide coming in or out?"
Raod looked from her to the girl, now pointing out to sea.
A faint " . . . told you not to get too far out . . . "
Rael grabbed the shovel. "Shall we start with a basic volcano? Then we can have a castle on the slope . . . "
***
Then a cold front blew in . . . well, cool. Nice walking weather. Rael ran on the beach in the morning, and hauled her mother away from the chaos of the remodeling for a quick lunch. Threw grins and flippant answers to a pair of newsies who spotted her and tried to corral her for a major Q & A.
"Honestly Rael! I think you just lied to the world."
Rael shook her head. "Nope. I'm one of Urfa's agents now, not a Presidential Guard. Silly, really. The only difference is that I don't have to stand watches. I'll still leap right in when needed."
***
"I swear you're a trouble magnet." Puppy—Senior Investigator Uqpy—glared at her as the last of the would-be robbers was wheeled out of the store on a gurney and loaded into the ambulance.
"I told them to not shoot when they were inside a shield . . . " Rael looked over at her cart. "And now all my ice cream has melted."
"Are you going to be here very long?"
"Only through the weekend. Then everything will return to normal, and all the idiots will return to living quietly and peacefully. Never even thinking of committing a crime."
He growled.
The kids giggled and drank the ice cream. Razz made a wonderful mess while sitting on Rael's lap.
"This is why I don't have kids!" Rael's hands hovered, not wanting to touch the sticky toddler. Which is a bit silly when the little grub has already gotten her poor aunt thoroughly anointed.
Raod laughed. "You're the one who just had to go buy ice cream. So it's your own fault."
"I need a shower."
***
Her second weekend was nice and quiet. Until Sunday evening when she drove into Montevideo for the live TV interview. Urfa had arranged it, and apologized as he laid out what he wanted her to say.
Raod and her mother had double teamed her and gotten her into a nice conservative suit. "No! You cannot cut your hair!" "Honestly Rael, it's so cute with just a bit of curl at the nape of your neck and . . . "
But she still giggled and bounced onto the set stage and grinned for the vid cams.
Qies (officially pronounced Keys instead of the Kiss Rael was tempted to use) was a popular local talk show hostess. A bit of friendly chit-chat, and the inevitable reference to the assassination attempt. An awkward pause where usual questions about her romantic entanglement with Xen would first appear.
"And of course we all know Xen's an enemy . . . But surely you wouldn't have pulled the trigger!"
Rael sobered, looked away from the cams. "I am of the One. When it comes down to war, it no longer matters what I think or how I feel. I know how dangerous Xen is." Rael sat back and talked straight into the cam. "Failing in my mission would have raised our casualties.
"I am very glad that I was not able to kill him. I am especially glad that public revelation of our attempt caused enough of a delay that President Orde was able to stop all movement that direction."
"You knew Orde would stop the war. So why would you even try to kill your lover?"
Rael raised an eyebrow and tried to look amused. "Because if Agni had won, we would have gone to war . . . Well, we would have tried. I suspect we would simply have found ourselves isolated."
The hostess straightened with a huff of disbelief.
"Do you actually think a Medieval-level civilization could put up more than a token defense before we smashed them?"
"I don't think we'd have been able to set foot on their world." Rael gave Qies her best nasty grin. "You might have noticed a three day disruption in powered gate travel? That was their warning, cutting power to the gates, but not damaging any equipment. They don't want to fight." Rael leaned toward the hostess. "But they know how to deal with us. In 1397, after they were attacked by Earth, after the Earth's Council continued to make threats, they destroyed the Earth's Gate. Not like this little warning, but a massive explosion that killed hundreds, wounded thousands."
Rael cocked her head and gave the hostess a frosty smile. "If you know anyone who works in Gate City or travels across . . . be glad we didn't experience the same. Nor any escalation."
"We would have stopped any group large enough to have done that!"
Rael shook her head. "On Earth, Xen did it all by himself."
"Alone?"
"And that's why I was ordered to kill him."
"Just him? Alone?" Qies' voice tones were rising. Incredulous and finally, alarmed.
"Yes. He is their equivalent of a Warrior of the One. I suspect the main purpose of Comet Fall's power cutting demonstration was to let us know that Xen is not the only person who can sneak in and sabotage our gates."
Rael looked straight at the close up vid cam. "We would have lost the war."
Ouch! Damn, I can't believe Orde and Urfa thought I'd be the best person to lay that out in front of the public!
"We can only hope that we haven't destroyed all hope of reconciliation with Comet Fall. And Those Left Behind."
The director was waving frantically and pointing at his watch.
"But . . . " The hostess gathered her wits in time to give the standard sign off.
And as soon as the cams were off, Qies leaped to her feet and loomed over Rael. "Why didn't you kill the son-of-a-bitch!"
And tried to hit Rael when she started laughing.
Her family just shook their heads in disbelief.
"Were you supposed to say that?" Ox was looking thoughtful.
"Oh yes. In fact I was ordered to somehow get all that in there. Almost ran out of time, after the early chitchat." She grinned at his expression. "You see, Orde can now field questions about it, answer that we'll hopefully never find out, and start making war a very unpopular idea. Without there ever being a quote that will come back to haunt him."
"Is he going to repudiate you?" Her mother sounded hopeful. "You could move home and . . . learn how to be normal again."
Rael giggled.
Ox shook his head. "Not possible."
Raod sniffed. "Well . . . at least you won't be around that man any more . . . Right?"
Which was good for a full blown belly laugh.
But Ox was studying her. "You meant that, though. Didn't you. That Wolfson was such an asset in a war . . . "
"Ox, I'm a Oner. I will always fight for the Empire. No matter how much I dislike the man ordering me around. No matter how foolish I think the reason for war. No matter how much it hurts me."
And dear One it would have hurt.
"Xen is incredibly powerful, dangerous. And I am a Oner."
"Oh."
***
Their parents took them all out to dinner. A pleasant stroll of a few blocks, admiring the sunset. Slightly enlivened by a man pushing a woman off the third floor balcony of their apartment. Rael threw a soft shield—which wasn't really a shield, it was a kinetic energy drain that gradually slowed anything entering it—under her, and turned a possible murder into a horrified husband anxiously clutching his barely bruised wife.
Ox growled. "I could arrest him, but the wife or girlfriend rarely testifies in court." He stalked past.
Rael managed to not giggle. He thinks the woman managed that. She changed the subject. "So, we get to see what an Uruguayan chef does to 'Italian' food? I really like this spread of new cuisines from other worlds."
Her mother sniffed. "And how would a Presidential Guard know about other worlds' food?"
"She would probably have to have a boyfriend with the ability to take her out to dinner almost anywhere."
Ryol bounced excitedly. "That's so romantic! Did you really go to the Moon?"
"Yep. The food was lousy, but it sure was fun."
Multiple sighs.
The lasagna was great.
***
Arno, on the last evening curled up beside her. "Aunt Rael? That girl at the beach, she would have drowned, right? And the lady who fell off the balcony, you did something, didn't you?"
"A soft shield. Like a magic cushion." Rael eyed him. Smart and observant.
"I heard Dad telling Mom about the robbers. And there's always stuff about you on TV. Are you a Warrior? Like in the stories?"
Oh . . . Isakson must be mistaken. Must!
"Umm . . . I think the stories kind of exaggerate what the old Warriors could do." I should ask Isakson. "And the Warriors were mostly big tough soldiers."
"Oh sure, but there's no war to fight, so I think maybe you're a new kind of Warrior."
"Me? I just . . . notice things and do something about it. It's just . . . well. I suppose that is what a Warrior would do these days."
Oh One! I don't know what I am.
Arno smiled and nodded.
Chapter Three
29 Rajab 1404 yp
Paris, One World
"Myths of the Warriors." Rael clicked down to the Table of Contents . . . "I don't care about origin myths. Nor bloodlines, because who knows which Prophets my genes came from. Half of them. The Mythical abilities of the early warriors . . . all right. I'll start there."
She hummed a bit as she started reading . . . started taking notes.
Fear spells that routed entire armies.
Telepathy over thousands of kilometers.
Slice through solid steel at several hundred meters . . . One! I'm going to have to take these seriously, aren't I?
Flying.
Seeing in the dark.
Possessing the body of another person. Highly illegal, but it is known to be possible.
Living to extraordinary ages. All Oners have double or triple the lifespan of the Multitude.
Surviving fatal wounds with healing comas that lasted a year. Like a Comet Fall God.
Rael sat back and stared at her list.
"Oh One! Those don't sound nearly as impossible as they did even just a few weeks ago . . . " She broke off as Urfa tapped at her door.
He walked in at her wave. "What's not impossible?"
"Things the Warriors were supposed to be able to do." She looked back at the list. "I think I'll ask Isakson to teach me how to fly."
***
"And how do you think a Warrior would make himself fly?"
Rael blinked. "Umm, levitation and push?"
Isakson looked up at the ceiling of the gym. "This? This is what I get from a modern woman? Well educated and an expert with modern tech? Probably she had flown in an airplane! Yet has she the faintest idea of how they fly? Apparently not!"
"They have wings! Engines! Tails. Rudders and things . . . "
"Ah. Now continue to think."
"They're . . . airfoils . . . shaped to channel the airflow over and under to produce lift." She frowned. "Can shields do that?" She held her arms out and frowned at them.
"You will practice outside, after I have finished sparring. There are others here who should watch you."
That he didn't call her out to spar was a little alarming.
Wsca and Ohhe, she expected. Uzmo and Ixpu. Not too surprising. That he sparred with, but did not select Fool or Mac . . . Shocked her a little. Four more Black Horse guards and two Directorate agents . . . sparred with and found somehow lacking.
"So. You four will observe first, and then attempt to copy what Rael is going to do."
Wish I was as confident as he is!
"Come with me. Bring a
table." Isakson walked off. Wsca and Ixpu swapped glances and headed for the cafeteria.
Isakson walked around to the north side of the stables. "Put the table there. Note how the wall of the barn channels the wind here. A strong wind is very useful for learning. Rael, get up on the table."
Rael hopped up and spread her arms. Started to shield them . . . "Umm, you guys might want to step well away while I figure this out . . . "
She pictured her shield as a sheet draping over each arm. Front side flat, back side arching over her arms and sweeping down, curving to meet the front part of the sheet. Extending out . . . a few centimeters? Half a meter? The wind staggered her, as the shields formed up.
"Lean into the wind."
She leaned, let the force of the wind hold her up . . . and twist the shields back.
She yipped, windmilled and got her hands out to catch herself. Barely in time to soften the impact of her face hitting the ground.
"Flight is a matter of controlling the airfoils." Isakson lectured as she picked herself up.
:: A perfect four point landing. Nose, chin, both palms. You're bleeding. ::
:: Shut up, Scar. ::
She pretended to not see Wsca's not-well-suppressed grin and she climbed back onto the table.
How the One Hell do you keep the airfoils from rotating? If I let them drape down further, I could wrap the corners around my ankles . . . which might help with steering . . .
She crashed again.
"And not being designed for flight, humans need rather large wings."
Now he says that!
She had to extend her "wings" out two meters each direction before she felt the lift . . . lift her. And blow her back a meter and tip her flat. And drop her.
She picked herself up off the ground and climbed up on the table. "Can I use a push spell to try to move?"
"Certainly. I recommend you push against a platter-sized piece of ground below and a bit behind your center of gravity."