by TylerRose.
“I will. I’ll have it for you when you return to the station,” Julian promised.
Another kiss to her cheek and he teleported away.
“Did you lose many people in the invasion?” Pisod asked quietly.
“Too many,” she replied, and teleported to her room.
Mankell was there, one of her journals in hand and open.
“What are you doing?! Put that down!”
“This language, it is familiar and yet I do not know it,” he said of the writing on the page.
She grabbed it from his hand. “Get the fuck out! That’s private!”
“I do nothing wrong, Lar Tyler. It is my prerogative, by law, to look at anything within my property that I choose to.”
“Which is exactly why it’s written in a language you can’t read. If you won’t get out, I will. I’ll call from a hotel in the city,” she said, grabbing up the messenger bag and putting the book into it.
“You will not. You will stay here as you have been.”
“You can’t stop me from leaving,” she scowled. “I’m not your property.”
“No, but you are my charge. If you go to a hotel or take an apartment, then I must go with you by order of the Rosaas. We are stuck with each other.”
The door opened, Pisod coming in with a question on his face.
“Fucking bastard,” Tyler hissed, and teleported out front to the pond to sit with the Tihi birds and their growing chicks.
“What has her in such a state?” Mankell asked Pisod.
“Thinking of old friends whose deaths she should have been there to prevent.”
“I see. When you find her, tell her that we are to have several Gars at the Gathering tonight. They have come specifically to meet and talk with her.”
“You’ve invaded her privacy, poked your nose into personal notes in her role as diplomat, and you don’t care that she’s angry?” Pisod challenged him.
“She is very easily angered by a great many things. I do not take her anger personally.”
“You should. You’re the one who broke her trust right when she needs you to be most trustworthy, and you don’t even see how wrong you are. I’m angry at you too.”
He left Mankell standing there, having a good idea where she’d gone.
“She’s not in there with you?” Ch’Wik said, hurrying to catch up as Pisod jogged to the steps in the front corner.
“She ported out,” Pisod replied, glancing out the window to see her exactly where he’d expected her to be.
Going out to the pond, he was at once confronted by an angry bird that stood nearly as tall as himself. Tyler did nothing to help him get past the bird with the sharp beak and claws.
“Hold your hand out,” Ch’Wik said. “Palm to him so he can head butt it.”
Pisod followed the instruction and received a head butt hard enough to break an arm. Then the male strutted away to his own female and their brood. Pisod walked down the fifteen feet or so to where she sat on the bank. He squatted beside her.
“I told Mankell off too. He should not have looked in your journals. This is more than that, isn’t it?”
“I miss Kevin. I hadn’t realized how much until I asked Julian to find his grave for me. I can keep all that away, pretend it’s too far away for me to care. Then it hits me all at once and I remember and I feel it.”
“Is Mankell much like him?” Pisod asked.
She guffawed a surprised sound. “Too much like him sometimes.”
“We should go inside.”
“I don’t want to,” she said out of hand.
“Tyler, look up. Today is a rain day.”
She looked to the sky over the neighboring land and saw the clouds building fast. The controlled weather system was going to let out a day-long soak that started at the eleventh hour and ended at the twentieth hour.
“Meet me at the table in back,” she said, and teleported there.
By the time he and the two K’Tran had jogged around the South House, she had extended the cement pad under the table, had conjured a tent roof to cover the entire thing and had placed two small sofas with a coffee table. She was already stretched out to relax and write in her journal. Pisod shook his head and took the second sofa. Ch’Wik and Saber sat at the table, keeping an eye out while they played cards. Within fifteen minutes, a line of servants was bringing silver trays.
“Just leave it as is on the table,” she told them to get rid of them faster.
The rain started and they were as isolated from the House as they could be. With all the noise and energy in the rain, there was less noise from the energies around the planet. A page or so of writing and she felt a heavy tiredness coming on fast. While the men ate their midmeal, she closed the book and turned onto her side and fell asleep.
Pisod looked up to see Mankell coming down the walk. Reaching the canopy, a jerk of his thumb sent Ch’Wik and Saber out at once. Pisod was more reluctant to leave the protection of the tent and stand in the rain, and moved instead to the far side of the table.
Mankell lowered himself to face her on the sofa, watching her while she slept. Eventually she opened her eyes to see him looking at her.
“I keep forgetting you do not understand our ways,” he said quietly. “There is no pretention towards or expectation of privacy in a Gar House. I should have respected your space as a diplomat.”
“You do prefer that ‘do first and obtain forgiveness later’ approach, don’t you? That’s only going to work so many times before I stop forgiving,” she replied.
“I realize that. Let us hope I do not run out of chances before you leave us.”
“Just stop pissing me off.”
He laughed, tilting his head back to not laugh in her face while his arm went around her.
“Tell me something, Zitara. How does a man not piss you off?”
“Chi and Saber have done pretty well so far.”
“Turn the sofa around for us,” he said.
“Why?”
“So I can have you in better privacy.”
“I don’t want to be had at all right now,” she replied.
“Would you please make up my mind for me when I can and cannot have you? Sometimes you yield and sometimes you refuse,” he complained.
She had to chuckle. “Gars aren’t used to a woman who exercises free will and choice, are they?”
“Once they give themselves to a Gar, choice is no longer theirs.”
“There’s the heart of the matter. I’ve not given myself to you and I won’t. I can’t and we both know it. So some nights I will seek out your attention and others I won’t. I cannot spend all day in bed with you. I have things to do. A rainy day is a good day to catch up on my journal and my sleep.”
“Will you come to me tonight?” he asked.
“Put one of your others in the Favorite’s room if you’re so horny.”
“Do you know? For the first time in my adult life, I can honestly say I don’t want any of them. I want you. I want to be your lover, not just the man to whose bed you come when you have a need.”
“That’s what a lover is on Earth. At least in my society,” she said.
“So paltry a prospect when a lover can be so much more. Lovers know things.”
She reached a hand down to his inner thigh, to that spot Arran had shown her, and gripped firmly until his breath caught.
“Do they? How fast can you be to your room? Under thirty seconds?”
She teleported and he was off the sofa in a flash to run through the rain in a most undignified and un-Gar manner. He ran up the lawn and between the Main building and South House to the corner of bricks. Using them as a ladder, he climbed up to his balcony and was inside his suite.
She was naked on the white fur rug on the floor, the two sofas pushed aside.
“Who taught you to do that?” he demanded, between her legs with pants open, dripping rainwater on her.
She only laughed, and took a riding much more like what Nails u
sed to do with her. This was the intensity she was needing and she let go a great deal of tension and frustration.
Wrapped togetherin the silkiest fur she’d ever felt, watching the rain from the floor, the sky was illuminated and the ship unexpectedly lowered to land on the other side of the House. She hadn’t felt it coming. Hadn’t heard the men until now. They knew the blocks were on board. They weren’t going directly to a drop zone.
[Julian] she thought hard, tossing aside the edge of the fur rug and reaching for her clothes. Mankell was already reaching for his as well.
A few seconds and Julian replied with a simple [Tyler.]
[The ship is here. It just landed. I didn’t feel it coming.] Looking out at the road from the city…[There are two trucks coming from the city. They’ll be on the property in five minutes.]
[Oh hell. Be right there.]
“Julian will get here with the Congressional team as fast as they can, but it may not be fast enough. We need to go ourselves. Are your men still soldiers?”
“I have kept my warriors training in the traditional ways,” Mankell nodded, and went to the panel on the wall by the door.
He pushed the button to reach the South House and his brother responded.
“Get the men ready to go on a seek and capture. Include the last year East House boys.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Tyler asked, pulling on her boots.
“We will need every man. It is expected his village men will come to help him.”
“Leave them to me. What time is the rain supposed to stop?”
He glanced to the clock. “Half the hour.”
“Wait until the trucks get onto the property before you go for your jog. I’ll meet you there.”
She left the room and took Pisod, Ch’Wik and Saber with her. A couple more tagged along behind Ch’Wik and followed out the back corridor of the North House. The group jogged through the rain down to the village and up the village road to the main. Along it and down the hill into the neighboring village.
“You all go through the woods. Get as close as you can without being seen. I’ll be there in a moment.”
“What are you going to do?” Pisod asked.
“Don’t you worry about what I’m going to do. I need witnesses to see a Rosaas engaging in smuggling of Ercoli ore blocks. That’s you. Go.”
They jogged down the road to the line of trees.
Tyler turned a circle to feel what she would feel from the houses. Eyes were on her but she ignored them. Clenching her hands in a hard, intense concentration, she sent out a pulse of fear that would (hopefully) keep everyone inside their houses until morning. She teleported to that hot spot of energy that was Pisod, finding the group clustered behind a tree at the edge where the trees met the road.
The ship’s lights were still on, a ramp opening as one of the trucks backed to it. Tyler brought her vidpad to her hands and opened the camera feature to start taking video footage.
“Which of the Rosaas is that?” she asked, zooming in to get a closer shot as a block of ore was rolled down on a hand operated fork lift.
She zoomed in as the Rosaas watched it go into the back of the truck, Osan standing next to him under the protection of the ship.
“That is…Oel’Akier,” Ch’Wik said, looking at the vidpad screen.
Osan went back into the ship as the second block came down.
“There’s the Gar,” Saber said, pointing while she continued to take pictures.
A rush of men ran in with Mankell, Curry and Rosaas La’Sek’o leading. No one went into the ship. The ramp closed and the ship took off directly upwards, sending men running in all directions.
“Why aren’t they fighting?” she asked seeing Osan’s men and the Rosaas giving up without a fight.
“Because the police force has weapons and they don’t,” Saber said.
“Good reason,” she replied, turning off the video camera. “Did you see the four you sent on board?”
“Yes, they’re back by the drive with Curry,” Ch’Wik pointed.
Without ceremony, La’Sek’o shot Oel’Akier in the chest and killed him.
“Well, I guess there’s your speedy trial,” Tyler said.
“The Rosaas would not have tried him anyway. He was caught red-handed by a Rosaas, so that’s the end of it,” one of the other men said. “He delivered justice, both the remaining Rosaas bump up a chair, and tomorrow someone will be voted into the third seat.”
“That fast?” she said, seeing the Congressional security force arrive.
“That fast.”
[Tyler, where are you?!] came Julian’s voice in her head.
[Hidden. Where are you?] she replied.
[On the ship. Osan isn’t here. He teleported off when we came on board. He trashed the teleport unit. We can’t see where he went.]
“Pisod, meet us back at Mankell’s. I can’t port you. Osan isn’t on the ship. He could be anywhere,” she said, and teleported herself and the K’Tran to the Gar Hall.
Rather an anti-climactic event, the capture of space pirates and downfall of a Rosaas; but she needed to not be in the middle of the bust. She needed to be absent from the operation.
G’Ven was there, eating his own supper. She got a plate and filled it herself, the men in a line behind her, and she sat opposite him at the table.
“I suppose nothing like this has happened in a long time.”
“A very long time, Lar Tyler. The atmosphere in this room was much like it used to be, with the clan getting ready to invade another for some petty slight. At least today there was good reason. I’m pleased I lived long enough to see it. I will tell Mankell that, when I pass, I want you to have my walking stick.”
“You hardly know anything about me,” she replied.
“I have seen the expression in your eyes when you touch something old. The object speaks to you. My walking stick has seen fifty years of history of this house. You are the only person in the galaxy who can appreciate it. I don’t want it to be silent, forgotten in a storage room.”
“You talk like you know it’s going to be soon.”
He shrugged. “We never know when the Raas will require us to give account for our choices.”
“You mentioned wanting to paint me. How’s tomorrow?” she asked.
He smiled the genuine joy of an artist. “I would be honored. I will find you in the morning, when I am set up.”
“Who gets the painting?”
“That would be up to you. You can keep it yourself or bestow it on the person of your choice.”
She grinned…and he grinned.
“I think I know that expression, Lar Tyler. If you will excuse me, our Gar returns.”
The room began to fill with men returning from great conquest. A person would think they’d conquered an army, the way they celebrated. They attacked the buffet with gusto, cleaning the dishes out in a matter of minutes. Mankell got his own plate for once, and sat at a table with his men. Competitions began immediately afterward. Wrestling mostly. She found she had no interest in any of it.
She left for the House Room, to browse through the Mondragoon again, and found Mankell writing in it.
“Should I not be here while you’re writing in the book?” she asked from the doorway. “Is there a protocol?”
“No, there is not. I am merely writing in tonight’s events. When I am done, I will give you a copy.”
“How are you going to give me a copy? Doesn’t it need to go to a printer like the ones in the library?” she asked.
“Are you not the telepath who conjures and makes duplicates of items that already exist?” he asked in return. “I will allow you to make a copy of it. Thus, I give you a copy.”
He put the ornate pen into its holder and took a step back to gesture her forward. She stepped up to close the book and place her right hand on the cover, concentrating until a copy appeared balanced on her left arm.
“Thank you,” she said, as sincere as she’d ever
been in her life.
“Thank you, Lar Tyler. It is because of you that we can end the shame of piracy and remove a corrupt Rosaas. We are not a telepathic people. We may never have known what Oel’Akier was doing.”
“Who do you think will be voted Third Chair?” she asked.
“One never knows. First there will be nominations tomorrow. The Gars will put forth nominees. The top five will be voted on the day after.”
“Only the Gars vote?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“No one else on the planet ever votes for anything?”
“Correct. Will you now turn your equality for all eye on letting the populace vote on matters which they have no knowledge in the first place?”
“Works in my country. Sorta. Whether or not people can vote is not on the application for membership in the Congress. However, I suppose I’ll let this one go for now.”
“Shall we retire for the night?” he asked.
“I am going to my own room. I’m very tired. Making 150 people remain in their homes is a difficult thing.”
“Is that why none of his villagers came when the Gar rang the bell?”
She nodded. “It took a lot of effort and I’m quickly feeling it.”
“Then let me walk you to your room.”
He handed the book to Pisod to carry and walked her to her door with Ch’Wik, Saber, Barad and Sten following.
“It pleases me these other two men took it upon themselves to see to your safety. These four will continue to work as their own unit and stay with you until you leave us or Osan is found. Whichever is first.”
“Is it common for there to be little groups and teams loyal to a particular man other than you?” she asked.
“Very common. These boys grew up in my East House and were educated with Curry.”
“I was his rooming mate,” Ch’Wik put in from behind. “We slept in the same bed for several years while we were young children.”
“They are the men who will help my son run this house when he inherits. I expect them to be loyal to him while they serve me,” Mankell admitted.
She said nothing, finding it very interesting. “Will you accept back the four who went with Osan?”
“They are already accepted back. I declared their break had been a ruse for the undercover operation. I gave them back their patches. You were in the House Room or you’d have seen.”