Burning Stone

by Viola Grace

  “What about your family?”

  She chuckled. “This conversation requires tea and possibly cookies.”

  She got to her feet and led the way across the rough deck plates.

  “Are you barefoot?”

  “Yes. Are you going to say something about it?” She waited for a response as she continued her way to the galley.

  He was silent for a moment before carefully pronouncing, “No.”

  Leyhara fought a snicker. “And so the discussions begin.”

  She glanced over her shoulder and Bohr was grinning at her. She threw him a wink and went to the machines and summoned a pot of tea and some sweet crackers.

  With everything set out on a tray, she carried it over to the table. “You know that you will have to tell me your story as well.”

  “I do know it, but your history is more recent.”

  She shrugged and settled, pouring tea and setting the crackers between them. “Well, what do you wish to know?”

  “Do you have parents? Siblings?”

  “My mother and father are still alive, as is my great uncle. My parents have no talent, but my uncle was a minor telekinetic. He was one of the sleepers. He had been taken and put into storage for the Raiders’ use at a future date. I have no siblings.”

  “How did you manage to hide your talent? You do pack a lot of power.”

  She laughed. “It wasn’t this strong until I worked my mental muscles. Halwis-Iskan took me out daily for practice.”

  Leyhara sighed and said, “As for hiding my talent, my parents kept us moving. They were geologists, and they chose to do all of their research in volcanic regions. No one could spot my talent because it looked like everything else.”

  “Did no one think it was odd?”

  She shrugged. “No one questioned it. Everyone was afraid to question anything. That is the problem with living under totalitarian rule. You can’t control the people who know how to keep themselves in the public eye for carefully chosen events. I had to attend dozens of university charity events and fundraisers, as well as award banquets. My talent made my brain slippery. It was unusual but not something that I could be arrested for.

  “When Trala-Resicor sent the message across the world that talents would no longer be persecuted and that our world needed our help, I went with others to stop some of the landing craft. I melted their landing gear and turned the ground around them molten until more talents arrived and asked to attack those in the ship. There was a lot of rage, tears and relief that day.”

  He shivered. “I can imagine. In my world, we were dying out. The shifter Drai. Sure, the men were still being born with wings, but they could not take their more majestic form. That form was what shaped our world, defended our people and the genes that the women were to hand down to their sons had deactivated with years of mixing and remixing the gene pool.”

  “Is that why you went to sleep?”

  He nodded. “Yes, with others, we all scattered across the stars, guided by instinct to sleep under the surface of unoccupied worlds and wait until our mates came to us. We are a patient people but that broke my nerve. I came to you.”

  She chuckled. “How did you hide your wings for so long?”

  Bohr lifted his hand and a small crest was in it. She would never have thought it was tech.

  “Basically, this is a perception filter designed to fool your eyes only. The Kremlod could see me as I am, and they have deep respect for the great dragons.”

  “What are the criteria for a match with a sleeping Drai?”

  “Your genetics are compatible with mine in a manner that will allow our sons to carry the ability to shift.”

  “What about the girls? I mean, if we have any, I mean if we…”

  He chuckled. “The girls will be powerful but unable to shift. This is to protect any children they might one day carry.”

  “Which is why all dragons on record were male.”

  His grin was answer enough. He munched a cracker and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know we had these.”

  “They are hidden in the call sign. Instead of cookies, they are sweet crackers. I knew that one. My mom used to do the same in the house, keeping a tin of crackers around that turned out to be cookies when she opened it.” She smiled at the memory.

  “Would you like to visit your family?”

  She nodded. “Iskan said something about a gateway between worlds that Resicor was crafting.”

  Bohr was making his way through the cookies with alarming speed, so she snagged her serving and kept them safe.

  “The Admaryn used to have a similar system. Some worlds still have the portals in them; they just need to activate it. Iskan is referring to a new portal system offered to the sentient planets. Resicor had a lot of energy when she rose, and it sent a ripple through the worlds. Even I felt it.”

  She nodded. “We definitely felt it at home, but we didn’t know what it was. The idea that the world under our feet was alive is something that many are still grappling with.”

  “It takes getting used to. When the Iskanoi were on the surface, it was a different place, but when they left, Iskan himself was finally at peace. His fading race was forced to the stars. He had hoped that they would reach out and blend with other species, but the purity of race that had caused their decline has kept them a shrinking population on their adopted world.”

  “He kicked them out?”

  “All of them with the exception of his Avatar, and even she had to bid farewell to her family. Her children left, and they were only allowed occasional visits. When Kedna arrived, it caused quite the fuss.”

  He told her about the arrival of the weather elemental and how she met Haedock and the life that she put in the Avatar at long last.

  “How do you know all this?”

  He grinned. “While I slept, Iskan used me as a sort of pen pal. You can’t block out the thoughts of a world, and he needed to share his frustrations. We talked and we still chat nowadays, though the conversations usually revolve around you, or Kedna and Haedock starting a family. Iskan wants a new population, and if everyone on the world has to partner up, he will get what he wants, eventually.”

  She blinked. “I hadn’t realised, although, Halwis-Iskan was asking me if I wanted to have boys or girls. I told her that I wanted to have sex first, and we laughed it off.”

  “Very politic answer. Do you want children?”

  She jerked her head up in surprise. “That is not a very politic question. I suppose I have always imagined having three little ones running around and lighting things on fire.”

  “That is fairly specific.”

  “You did ask. I am not good when it comes to subterfuge about such things.”

  He was still smiling.

  “You do that a lot.”

  “Do what?”

  “Smile like you have gotten an answer to a question you asked a week ago.”

  “Several hundred years, but yes. I finally have my answer and it made me wonder the exact nature of the question I asked. I think I must have been very drunk or very brave.”

  She nibbled at her cookie hoard. “Why very brave?”

  “Because I got precisely what I wanted, and now, I have no idea what comes next.”

  She laughed out loud, and she extended a cookie. “Now, we design a plan together that involves me going out and burning things. You still have to show me your dragon form.”

  “You have seen in.”

  “Dream dragons don’t count.”

  He chuckled. “When we have enough space and some privacy, I will show you my other body.”

  “Good. A girl has her standards. Is the house in the dream yours as well?”

  “Yes.”

  Something familiar about that. “I have to approve of it, don’t I? You had better let me get inside before you jump out again. You were a little too eager. Next time, use some of that practiced patience.”

&n
bsp; He winked. “As long as there is a next time, I will let you see whatever you want.”

  Chapter Eight

  The world of Ciina was bright, serene and in desperate need of her services. They needed a seamless, continuous pathway and maze.

  She wore her robes for this. The stark mountaintop near the monastery was a little drafty. Designs in pebbles and powdered stone covered the plateau. All she had to do was follow it.

  Leyhara looked around at the intricate design and knew it would take her days to finish. A small gathering of priests knelt behind her, and as she took her first step, they chanted in a singsong tone.

  Each step melted the sand and stone into a polished glass, four inches thick and eighteen inches wide.

  She blanked her mind and let the droning chant carry her forward, a slow dance on burning stone.

  Step by step, she created the pathway that the priests and supplicants would tread. It was a tool to clear the mind of those who appealed to the monastery for spiritual guidance, or it would be when she completed it.

  The monks were a global institution. The population of Ciina was passive, and joining the organized religion that ruled the globe was considered a blessing. The monks were chosen for their devotion to their community, and it was what made Ciina a serene and secure place to be.

  The monks also had a highly effective standing army.

  She closed her mind to thoughts of the local infrastructure and walked the path, faithfully following every twist and turn.

  When the chanting stopped, she paused and looked back at her polished path. She skated back the way she had come, and Bohr handed her her meal and some water.

  She sat on the ground with her legs crossed and ate while breathing deeply of the crisp, cool air.

  “Is it difficult?” Bohr sat next to her, his wings folding somewhat awkwardly on the ground.

  “It is simply walking. I could turn the whole field to glass in minutes but that is not my task. I am aiming for precision to last generations.”

  “You seem to be succeeding. Do you have an estimate of time?”

  “Three days to get in all the details that they have built into the pathway to mislead the walkers.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  She was a fan of mazes, so she could answer that. “The act of walking the maze will take hours to do correctly. That will organize and cleanse the mind of those entering the monastery. They will have to begin over and over until they can walk the entire path in one session without error. It is complicated enough to force folk to learn.”

  “Do you think anyone will use it?’

  “I think that this society will have someone walking this nearly every day. It will take away the outside world and give them clear insight as to what they do and do not need.”

  “You really have a grasp on this.”

  “I like mazes, and I have studied Ciina. Their monks are proponents of self-awareness, and this sort of walking meditation is an aid to that.”

  He nodded, taking her hand and holding it gently while she finished her meal.

  Companionable silence flowed between them, and the security of knowing that he was there for her warmed her soul and got her back on her feet, ready to work for the rest of the afternoon.

  She glided along her path and heated the last ten feet of it before walking again. The chanting resumed and so did her relentless work to craft something that would last beyond her lifetime.

  The tunnels of Kremlod had an immediate purpose, but this path reached into an unseen future, and it made her walk and craft with care.

  When the chanting stopped, she returned to the starting point. She was tired and Bohr saw it. He lifted her in his arms and flew her back to the shuttle.

  “Why are you exhausted by this when you were energized by the tunnels?”

  She smiled tiredly as he set her down at the table and he got her meal ready.

  “Here, the wind catches my heat and spins it away. There is no reverberation for me, no echo to absorb. Everything I put out is whisked away and joins the particles of sunlight in the air of Ciina.”

  She ate slowly, sipping at the tea he brought her and answering what he asked.

  “How is it that you are so at ease with this situation? The priests ruling the world, I mean.”

  She smiled. “I looked into what they do and how they do it. All funds donated to the monastery are put back into community welfare. They do not stockpile it. Those who give to the monastery are provided with medical care, financial assistance if they need it, infrastructure and counselling. The person who contributes the smallest amount reaps the same benefit as those who donate more.”

  “You are in favour of this?”

  “I am in favour of any system that benefits all, no matter their situation. I have grown up in a world where the elite were selected, and any who would challenge them were punished. It was a stressful way to live, and there was nowhere to go. I just remember the living contained, existing in fear. It has made its mark on how I view the worlds around me.”

  He nodded and took her free hand, rubbing his thumb along her skin.

  They sat in silence until the meals were done and he had taken away the dishes. She chuckled when it took three tries to get her body up and out of her seat.

  “What is wrong?”

  “I am simply drained.” She stood and smiled at him, clutching him when her knees went weak and she dropped.

  He caught her and lifted her against him, carrying her to the medical scanner and frowning at the readout. “You are fine, merely tired.”

  “I told you. Just a little lightheaded.”

  “Share my bed so that I can keep an eye on you.”

  The challenge hung in the air between them.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Come with me and sleep in my room, next to me, so that I can set my mind at ease and get my own rest. I promise not to molest you in your sleep. It is not our way.”

  He knew that she slept naked, and she knew that he knew. She opened her mouth to decline and she heard. “Fine. I am tired now. Let’s go.”

  Her heart had spoken out of her lips. Her body was exhausted and she was vulnerable. Having someone to watch her back and protect her while she rested was intensely important. It was not something she had ever had before.

  They went to his quarters, and he folded back the sheets on the side of his bed that she was being offered. He left the room, and she smiled at the privacy that he offered. She removed her boots, unlaced her top and shimmied out of her briefs. When they were all folded and set aside, she scooted into the bed and covered herself.

  The moment she was tucked in, he returned and his bodysuit came off him with flexing of his wings and shoulders, along with a releasing of the closure that held fabric between his wings.

  He settled in next to her, on top of the covers and rested on his side. To her surprise, he reached out and pulled her against him, the sheet between their bodies.

  She inhaled and exhaled slowly, taking in the scent of his skin at close range. She smiled when the rise and fall of his chest showed that he was doing the same.

  She felt his breathing and it lulled her, much as the monastic chanting had, sweeping her into sleep.

  He sang in her mind and she did not dream.

  Her next day of walking included a second chorus of monks as she carefully melted and pulled up the stone into the raised path she had begun the day before. Each step was carefully considered as she crafted the path that completed the journey.

  During her lunch, she sat and sighed. “Now for the tricky bits. The false paths.”

  Bohr smiled. “You seem to have a good grasp of what is needed in this situation. You have risen to all challenges and we have many more to embark upon.”

  She looked at him shyly. “We are still going on them all?”

  “Yes, and more as your skills gain you greater renown. I have my home, you will
come to it one day, and if you deem it suitable, we will officially become mates at that time.”

  “What are we now?”

  “Partners.” He smiled. “In the tradition of the Citadel and Sector Guard, we are partners. I take you to where you can do the most good.”

  She smiled and finished her meal. “Or whoever calls out for my peculiar talent.”

  “That also. I do not tire of watching you at work.”

  “Because your people are made for patience.”

  He winked. “And that.”

  She laughed and got to her feet. “Back to the dance. This is where it gets tricky.”

  The rest of the day was lost in a blur as she pulled the false paths up and connected them to the swirling arcs of the existing labyrinth.

  When the sun tinted purple and caressed her skin, she stopped and left the pattern. She stepped into Bohr’s arms and silently asked him to take her home.

  The next morning, she woke plastered to him, and out of curiosity, she pressed a kiss to his shoulder and tasted his skin. There was a zing of energy that accompanied her tiny touch.

  His voice rumbled above her head. “Hungry, are we?”

  She blushed and ducked her head. “Just wondered something and now I know.”

  He chuckled and gave her a quick hug. “My body is yours to do with what you will. You are its only purpose.”

  She sighed. “I am unsure how to progress.”

  “Do what feels natural or normal to you at any given time. Well, not to ruin this little moment, but you have work to do.”

  She sighed, and the moment he released her, she rolled out and got to her feet, grabbing her clothing, heading for the lav and a quick solar shower.

  When she emerged, he handed her her robes and winked at her. “Your turn to make breakfast.”

  Smiling, she headed to the galley and got breakfast ready. By the time he had finished getting ready for the day, his food was waiting and she was into her own meal.

  “So, I should finish the pathway by midday. It won’t take too long. I can see the pattern when I close my eyes.”