To Touch the Stars

by Tess Mallory

  "Hello, Mayla. I'm Eagle."

  She nodded and took his hand. She gestured to Zarn and he looked to Sky questioningly. "Can't she speak anymore?" he said. "Did the new power somehow steal her ability to talk?"

  Sky crossed to his side, wrapping her arms around him, still not quite sure everything that had happened was real. "Mayla never talks; not as we do. All of her communication is done mentally. She knows you don't like that and is respecting your decision."

  "I never realized she wasn't speaking aloud," Telles said, his gaze lighting on the girl. Mayla flashed him a smile and he grinned, nodding back at her. "Okay, I see. Sure, I understand."

  Eagle turned to Mayla. "But you can speak to me in my mind, too, Mayla. It's all right now. After all, didn't you just save my life?" Joy bloomed within her lavender eyes and Sky heard her thought, swift and sure, imparted to all of them. "Do you want me to bring him back too?"

  Sky looked at her sister, startled, then at the man lying dead on the ground. Eagle knelt back down beside Zarn and Sky watched the pain dart into his eyes. He bowed his head for a long moment, then stood. Sky knew what it cost him to turn back to Mayla and speak.

  "I must leave that decision to you and your people," he said softly. "It is not mine to make."

  Epilogue

  "Now perhaps you understand why we could not interfere," Shahala said as she stood with Eagle in the shade of a large fern tree. "We firmly believe that all things happen for a reason and must not be altered by our attempts to 'set things aright'."

  Eagle shook his head, one corner of his mouth turning up in amusement. "But we did interfere," he said. "Me and Telles and Sky. If we hadn't, Zarn would have the Cezans' power now."

  "And instead, he has become a convert to our way of life. The Creator has a way of working everything out." Shahala gestured toward two men walking down the path to the great hall. Zarn's dark head was bent as he listened patiently to the elderly, silver-haired man beside him. "It was all meant to be."

  Eagle watched the two for a moment, then turned away, his chest tightening with tension. "Well, I don't understand your philosophy, but I respect it. Still, I worry about the Cezans' decision to let him stay here. How do you know he isn't gathering information from all of you in order to try to seize your power again?"

  "You forget that when Mayla restored him he was willing to open his mind to us and keep it open for the duration of his stay. He is a changed man, Eagle, and is the first of what we hope will be many disciples who will come here to learn the ways of the ancients," her lips curved up and she inclined her head toward him, "of the Seekers."

  Eagle blinked, ran his tongue across his lips, then blinked again. "Are you telling me Garnos Zarn is learning to be a Seeker?"

  Shahala's gaze softened and she reached out and patted his arm. "Yes, Eagle, son of N'chal, it is his desire."

  "It's hard for me to believe. He has to have a motive, a selfish reason."

  "Or perhaps his experience in dying convinced him that there was a better way to live," Shahala suggested. She waved at the two men and Zarn's face split with a beatific smile as he waved back. His gaze shifted to Eagle and his eyes mirrored a sadness, a regret, as he inclined his head toward him. Eagle couldn't say he didn't care at all about the man, and perhaps that was why he had kept his distance since Zarn's resurrection. He didn't respond to the I man's gesture, and the one-time ruler of half the galaxy at last turned away, his shoulders bowed in defeat.

  "Ready to say good-bye?"

  Eagle turned in relief at the sound of Sky's voice. She moved beside him and he put his arm around her waist, drawing her close to him. Telles and Mayla stood behind her and he smiled at the two of them.

  "Yes," he said in answer to her question, "I am quite ready to say good-bye to this world—no offense, Shahala."

  She bowed toward him. "None taken. Your destiny still awaits you, my friend. May the Creator smile upon you in all that you do." She bowed again and with one last lingering glance at Sky, walked away.

  Sky watched her go, her own eyes filled with longing, and Eagle's hand tightened around her shoulder. She no longer wore the silver band that had so long been a part of her life, for Shalala had given her a crystal much like Mayla's that would allow her to use her telepathic powers while protecting her from the minds of others. When they had asked her why she hadn't contacted Sky before now, she would only tell them, in her enigmatic way, "All has happened as was intended."

  "I feel terrible, but I have just had a hard time accepting her decision to stay away from me after my mother died," Sky said with a sigh. "How could it have been for the best? I needed my family and I thought they were all dead. If I had known—"

  "You would have gone to live with her, here on Nandafar, and we'd have never met. None of this would have ever happened." Sky lifted startled eyes to his. "Yes, you're right. But then Kell would still be alive too."

  Telles reached out and squeezed her arm sympathetically. "Don't feel guilty, Sky. It was an accident. And the universe is well rid of him."

  "I know," she said softly. "I just keep remembering him… before."

  "Let's turn our energies to things we can change," Eagle said. "Are you ready to leave this paradise and help me dismantle the Stations?"

  Unconsciously, he reached inside his jacket pocket and touched the signed orders from Zarn, giving him the right to take all the children incarcerated on the Stations back to their families on Andromeda. He also had orders that would send the Forces back to Rigel. The fact that the Kalimar had given them so freely still puzzled him. He frowned and turned his attention back to Sky. In honor of the occasion, she wore a silky gown the color of her eyes that whirled around her with as much movement as some of the crazy plants on Nandafar.

  "What's wrong?" she asked, lifting one hand to his face. "Of course I'm going with you. You don't think I'd let a space-boy like you handle something this important without me, do you?"

  Telles laughed and Eagle pretended to glare at him. "At least she's cleaned up her vocabulary a little," his friend said. "For the moment."

  "Just wait until I get him alone," she retorted, slipping both arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. "I have three choice words for him, whenever he's ready to hear them."

  "He's ready, any time," he said lovingly, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. "But what about the two of you?" The humor faded from his eyes. "Are you both prepared for what may await you on Andromeda? You know, just because Zarn is supposedly throwing in the towel, that doesn't mean someone else beneath him won't seize his abandoned power and simply step into his shoes. And there's still the Rigelian Cabinet that must be dealt with."

  "We know," Telles said. "That's why the Cezans approved her request for me to go along as her Chief Advisor. With my military experience, I can help her—and the Cezan Council that's going with us—negotiate with these people."

  Mayla laid one hand on Eagle's arm and once again he was momentarily mesmerized by the warmth and energy he felt at her touch. She smiled up at him, her lavender eyes bright with joy.

  Everything will be all right, Colonel Eagle, she said telepathic ally. Thank you for all you have done for me, and especially for my sister. You've really helped her loosen up. She's always been much too serious. She winked at Sky and her sister sputtered with laughter and outrage.

  "I beg your pardon!" Sky said, pulling away from Eagle and putting her hands on her hips. "If I've been serious it's been because—"

  "Shut up, space-girl." Eagle swung her around into his arms and effectively silenced her with a long, passionate kiss.

  Telles laughed loud and long and as Eagle broke the embrace at last, he saw Mayla looking up at her protector in rapt adoration. Telles stopped laughing all at once and returned her gaze, the same quick admiration in his eyes.

  Eagle relaxed a little. He had worried how Sky would handle being apart from her sister for several months, maybe longer, but now he knew he could reassure her that Telles would take
care of her. His love for the girl was obvious, and perhaps that, coupled with her incredible power, would help them through the difficult months ahead.

  Sky sputtered wordlessly for a moment. "Now, are you quite finished?" he asked.

  "No, I am not, I—"

  He kissed her again, his mouth teasing hers, the warmth of his lips melding into hers. He pulled away, wondering how she could not be as moved as he now felt, but she still glared up at him. "Are you finished now?"

  "Eagle, I—"

  He bent his head to hers again, this time for several burning minutes as he determined to melt her feigned resistance. At last he felt her stiff body relax and her fingers curl into his hair. When he finally came up for air, she was smiling up at him, her turquoise eyes languid with desire.

  "Yes, Eagle," she said softly, "I'm quite finished now."

  Her silver-blond hair cascaded down her back, and as he moved to kiss her again, oblivious to Telles's laughter and Mayla's giggles, he almost wished their little adventure wasn't over.

  She stopped his kiss this time before it started, her fingers pressed against his mouth. He drew back, frowning down at her in mock seventy. So you think the adventure is over, do you? she whispered to his mind.

  His dark brows lifted and one corner of his mouth followed suit. He gathered her into his arms, hardly noticing as Telles and Mayla slipped away, glancing back over their shoulders as they headed for their own destinies.

  Isn't it? he asked as their minds intertwined and a warm rush of contentment pulsated through his veins.

  Sky reached up and smoothed one dark lock of hair back from Eagle's face, tucking it carefully behind his ear before she answered, her turquoise eyes shining with the brilliance of every star in the heavens.

  No, my love, it is only just beginning.