The Falcoran’s Faith

by Laura Jo Phillips

  Suddenly she dropped the fork and leapt to her feet. “Bathroom?” she asked, her face paling almost to white. Jon pointed and she turned and fled the room, one hand over her mouth. Moments later their sensitive ears picked up the distant sounds of her being sick. Jon stood up, torn between checking on her, and allowing her privacy. When they heard the toilet flush and, a moment later, the water running in the sink, Jon sat back down and they all waited tensely for her to return.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Tristan said softly.

  “Unfortunate?” Gray asked with a frown.

  “She is too thin,” Tristan explained. “I didn’t notice yesterday, but if you look carefully you can see that her clothing is quite loose, and she appears to wear several layers, which gives the impression of bulk. She ate nothing yesterday or last night, and very little this morning. What she did eat, she just lost. As small and thin as she is, that is unfortunate.”

  “We will have to see to it that she eats again soon,” Jon said.

  “I’d like to know why she’s so thin,” Gray said. “She was obviously hungry when we came in here. I confess, I am not familiar with how much women generally eat, but it appeared to me that she became full far more quickly than she should have. She ate only a bit of egg, one bite of toast, a little milk and a cup of coffee. I doubt that’s enough food for a small child.”

  “Until she confides in us, we must take care of her as best we can,” Jon said. “Hopefully, we will eventually earn her trust.”

  When Faith returned a few minutes later she looked a little better, but not much. “Are you all right?” Gray asked.

  “Yes,” she said, taking her seat and shaking her head at Tristan’s silent offer of coffee. “I apologize for that. I guess the coffee and toast were too much.”

  “You barely ate anything at all,” Gray pointed out gently.

  “I can’t eat very much at once,” she admitted. “I’m supposed to eat several small meals a day, but lately that hasn’t been possible.”

  “It’s possible while you are here, with us,” Tristan said. “If you will make a list of what you’d like to eat, and when, our chef will be happy to be prepare your meals for you.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Faith said. “I really don’t want to be that much trouble.”

  “Your health is important, Faith,” Tristan said, surprising her with the use of her name. Tristan noted her surprise and frowned.

  “You used my name,” she explained, reading him correctly.

  “I apologize,” Tristan said, embarrassed.

  “Please, don’t be,” Faith said quickly. “I prefer it, and I did ask you to.”

  “Thank you,” Tristan said. “We ask that you call us by our given names as well.”

  Faith nodded, realizing this was a rather big step for Tristan. “All right.”

  Tristan smiled. “Back to the subject of your meals, we ask that you allow us to provide for you in this small way.”

  Faith hesitated, but she really did need to get back on her special diet. If she didn’t start getting more food into herself she was only going to get thinner and thinner until she was too weak to do anything.

  “Thanks,” she said. “I would appreciate that very much.”

  “Are there any special foods that you need?” Gray asked. “If so, we can have them brought out to us.”

  “No, not really,” she said. “I’m just supposed to eat a high protein diet, and small meals several times a day.”

  “There are several meats available,” Gray said. “Bacon, sausage, ham. I’d be glad to get some for you.”

  “And I’d love to eat them,” Faith said with a strained smile. “But they’re either too spicy, too salty, or fried. I’m sorry, I really don’t mean to be difficult.”

  “Again, there is no need for apologies, Faith,” Tristan said. “We must know what your needs are so that we can provide the correct foods for you. What happens when you can’t eat as you are supposed to?”

  “I had supplements for those times when I can’t eat right, but I ran out on the passenger liner. I meant to get more when I reached Jasan, but I didn’t have a chance.”

  “We have a fully equipped and stocked infirmary on the Eyrie,” Gray said. “If you will give me the name and strength of the supplements, I will have some brought out to us.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Faith said. “As long as I eat as I’m supposed to, I don’t need them.”

  “Faith, I don’t mean to pry, but if you are ill, we have some very good doctors on Jasan, as well as an Alverian Empath Healer,” Tristan said.

  “Thanks, but I’m not ill,” Faith said. “Nor are my problems the result of any disease. There’s nothing any doctor or healer can do that hasn’t already been done.”

  “All right,” Tristan said, letting the matter drop. He cast a meaningful look at Gray, who nodded. He would speak with their new head chef, Joseph, and let him know that Faith’s meals were to be his number one priority whenever she was aboard one of their ships.

  Gray’s vox beeped and he reached up to tap it. “We’ll be right there,” he said after listening for a moment, then tapped it again.

  “Sensors have picked up something that matches the readings of the Sheara 3 jump point Faith found last night,” he said. “Whenever you’re ready, Faith, we can go up to the auxiliary control room.”

  “Now is fine,” Faith said, pushing her chair back. “Did a scout go through the new jump point last night?” she asked as she followed Tristan out of the dining room toward the auxiliary control room.

  “Yes,” Tristan replied. “I’m sorry, we should have told you that. You were absolutely correct. It led to Sheara 3, and back again. And your estimate of it’s size was correct as well. It’s three times the size of any known jump point.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing,” Faith said.

  “You sound surprised,” Gray noted.

  “I am,” she replied. “Like I said, I’ve never done this before.”

  “What made you decide to reveal your ability?” Gray asked.

  “Seeing a jump point outside the Skyport when I arrived the other day,” she replied. “Even I know enough to know that no one would put a Skyport right next to a jump point. Then there was that ship. It was just...creepy looking. When I asked a guard what kind of ship it was, he had no idea what I was talking about. I knew I had to say something even though I was pretty sure no one would believe me.”

  Tristan opened the door into the control room and they all filed inside. He went straight to his vid terminal and sensor control panel in front of the viewport and began tapping on the keyboard while Gray and Jon led Faith to the viewport.

  “Do you see it?” Tristan asked. “It should be straight out there in front of us.”

  “Yes, I see it,” she said. “This one’s as big as the last one, and it’s ragged around the edges, too. And there’s something else, but I can’t quite see it. Can you move the ship a little so we’re facing it at an angle?”

  “An angle?” Tristan asked. “How do you mean?”

  “Imagine you’re looking down a tube straight on. You can only see what’s directly in front of the opposite end. But if you shift to the side, and the tube isn’t too long, you can see a bit more on one side.”

  “Oh yes, I see what you mean,” Tristan said. “One moment, please.” He picked up a vox from the panel in front of him and put it on, then spoke quietly to the Captain. A moment later the ship turned just slightly.

  “Yes, there,” Faith said. Tristan spoke into his vox again and the ship stopped. “Wow, I see a ship that looks a lot like the one I saw outside the Skyport the other day. There’s one of those Door things nearby.”

  “What’s it doing?” Gray asked.

  “It looks like it’s just sitting there to me,” Faith said with a shrug.

  “Can you see enough to tell us where it leads?” Tristan asked.

  “Yes, I think so,” Faith replied.

  Gray went
to the panel on the wall and a moment later the room was filled with planets and stars again. It took Faith just a few moments to identify the location on the far side of the jump point as Terien.

  “Excellent,” Tristan said. “Gray, send a message to Jackson, high level encryption. Let him know that we have a new jump point to Terien, and that they have a Door, and a Xanti ship in their space. He can decide whether or not to let the Teriens know.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” Gray said.

  “Sensors indicate what may be another Door,” Jon said.

  “Set course for it,” Tristan said. “ETA?”

  “Twenty minutes,” Jon replied.

  “I’ll keep watch for more jump points,” Faith said.

  “All right,” Jon said, “but let me get you a chair. There’s no reason you need to stand there the whole time.”

  “I thought everything was bolted to the floor around here,” Faith said.

  “Not everything,” Jon replied with a brief smile. Faith stilled as she watched Jon walk away, stunned by her physical reaction to his smile. She’d never felt anything like the rush of heat that raced through her body, and wasn’t altogether sure how to react to it. She wondered why she hadn’t felt it before. Probably because she’d been so tense and worried, she decided. She was suddenly glad that the Falcorans weren’t prone to smiling on a regular basis. It took the full two minutes before Jon returned with a chair for her to compose herself.

  “I suggest we plot a new route to Onddo making use of the Sheara 3 jump point,” Gray said, hiding his reaction to Faith’s response to Jon. She was obviously uncomfortable and, he thought, confused by her body’s reactions. She probably wouldn’t be happy to know how clearly they could read her responses.

  Tristan glanced up, met Gray’s eyes, then looked away and cleared his throat. “Agreed,” he said. “When its ready, send it to High Prince Garen. Some political maneuvering with Sheara 3 will certainly be necessary before they’ll agree to allow our military task force to pass through their space, so sooner is better.”

  Chapter Nine

  Darlene Flowers left her guest house, glanced at the ground car parked beside it and decided to walk to the garrison clinic. This was one of the rare times that she’d requested a guest house for herself. She usually stayed in the Katres’ house when she was visiting the ranch, unless they were there. Then she stayed with the Lobos. She nearly smiled at herself. Two years earlier she never would have guessed that she would not only be welcome on the Dracons’ ranch, but a trusted friend to both Saige and Lariah. She honestly couldn’t understand why they had forgiven her for the things she’d done. She was grateful for it though, and would never do anything to betray either of them again.

  Even so, her greatest loyalty was to Summer Katre, and always would be. She was the first person in Darlene’s entire life to give her the benefit of the doubt from the moment she met her. Even when she’d learned of the terrible crimes Darlene had committed, Summer had stuck by her, believing that there was good in her, even though Darlene hadn’t believed it herself.

  She cut across a grassy meadow, wet from the previous night’s rain. Winters on this side of Jasan weren’t too bad. Nothing like the winters of her childhood in the American mid-west on Earth. She shivered at the memory and pulled her jacket closer around her.

  She reached the top of a low hill that overlooked the valley that held the garrison. The new clinic wasn’t finished yet, but it was getting there, along with the new research center. There was no sign of the destruction caused by the explosion just a few weeks earlier. This was the first time she’d seen the progress on the two buildings in a couple of weeks, and she was impressed with how much had been done. Since the explosion, Darlene had been going to the clinic next to the Lobos’ house to help Doc when she was on the ranch, but today he’d asked her to meet him at the new clinic to help make some decorating decisions.

  She grimaced. Doc’s guess that she knew more than most people about interior decorating was correct. She’d once prided herself on her knowledge of such things as designer fixtures, fabrics, furniture, and colors. The most luxurious, and most expensive, of course. But that had been another time, another life, another Darlene. The more she embraced her new life, the more worried she became of falling back into her old one. Which was why she maintained outward reminders of her inner changes.

  The network of fine, thin scars that covered her face and body were far less noticeable than they’d once been, thanks to Doc. Darlene knew very well that, if she’d wanted to, she could have easily hidden them with make-up. But, while she did wear make-up to accentuate her arresting blue eyes, she did not attempt to hide the scars. Nor did she allow her hair to grow beyond the short, blonde fuzz Doc had given her that first day of her new life. She was still a woman, still feminine, and still beautiful, in spite of the scars. She was also strong, and physically confident in an entirely different way than she’d been before.

  Darlene Summers had been transformed during her trial by fire, and though she still had occasional nightmares of that time, she liked the woman she had become. In her old life she’d been afraid of so many inconsequential things. Losing her beauty, her youth, her status, her power over members of the opposite sex. Becoming used up, washed out, forgotten.

  She was afraid of only one thing now---reverting to the person she’d once been. Still, as much as she disliked revisiting the past, there were two people in the Thousand Worlds that she would never refuse, no matter what they asked of her. Summer Katre. And Doc.

  She saw Doc’s ground-car parked next to the new clinic and let herself in the front door. Even though the interior was still bare walls and floors, she could see that it was going to be even nicer than the previous clinic, and that had only been a couple of years old before it was destroyed.

  “That you Darlene?” Doc called from somewhere in the back of the building.

  “Yes,” she replied, following the sound of his voice to a large room that, when finished, would be the best equipped pre-natal care and delivery room on Jasan. She stepped through the doorway and gave Doc one of her rare smiles.

  Doc was about the same height as Darlene, and very thin and wiry. He had bushy white hair, a white mustache, and dark blue eyes with a fine network of laugh lines radiating out from the corners. Doc appeared to be about fifty years old. Darlene didn’t know how old he really was, and didn’t care, but she did know that he was far older than he looked.

  “There you are,” he said, returning her smile. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” Darlene replied, surprised, as always, by the sudden tightening in her stomach that she got when she saw him for the first time each day. “Is Dr. Honey going to join us?”

  “No, she’s in Berria,” Doc said, his smile fading. “Sheila Gryphon went into pre-mature labor last night, so the Falcorans speed-traveled her over there.”

  Darlene had met Sheila a couple of times while assisting Doc in the clinic. She was a sweet, soft-spoken human woman who’d mated her Gryphon male-set forty or fifty years earlier. She’d had several failed pregnancies, and seemed to retreat further into herself with each one. The Gryphons and the Dracons were the two smallest clans of the Jasani, so every single child was enormously important to the entire clan. But, more than that, Sheila wanted desperately to be a mother, and each failure took something from her heart.

  “How premature?” Darlene asked.

  “Two months,” Doc replied. “It’s not a lost cause by any means. Honey was unable to stop the labor, but she thinks that the infants have a good chance. They’re small, but strong and healthy. Her biggest concern right now is for Sheila.”

  “Why?” Darlene asked.

  “She’s terrified that she’ll lose the babies,” Doc said. “Her blood pressure is too high, her heart rate too fast, and she’s nearly hysterical with worry. If they don’t get her to relax, it could be a problem. Merrick Falcoran just took Jared over to help out. I’m confident that, between him and H
oney, all will be well.”

  Darlene nodded, far more relieved than she appeared, but Doc understood her better than anyone, and hadn’t missed the subtle signs of her true feelings. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Sheila will be fine, and so will her sons.”

  Darlene’s eyes crinkled a bit at the corners. That was practically a grin coming from her. “Thanks.”

  “No problem,” Doc said.

  Darlene’s head tilted to the side. “Why are you here instead of in Berria with Honey?”

  “Because I’m stuck with choosing colors and the like for this clinic while Honey’s delivering babies,” he said with a grimace that reminded Darlene of her own feelings on the subject. “We’ve been putting it off, and now it’s crunch time. The builders need this information before they can go any further, and since you and I are leaving for Onddo in a few days, Honey insisted I do this today. She says she did her share picking out all the machines and equipment, and that she don’t know diddly about decoratin’, her words, not mine, and that I wasn’t gettin’ off the hook just cause I was leavin’. She actually threatened to stop construction till I got back if I put it off again. Behind that sweet smile and gentle manner lies the heart of a true tyrant.”

  “I like her,” Darlene said, her eyes crinkling again.

  “Yeah, you would,” Doc said with another grimace, though this time he winked at her. “Hell, if it were me, I’d paint it white and call it done. As a matter of fact, why not? I think that’s a grand idea.”

  Darlene resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The idea of painting the entire clinic white, particularly the portions dedicated to pregnant women, offended her deeply buried sensibilities. So she took a deep breath and opened a tiny door on the past, glad that she and Doc were alone for this.