In Arcadia (Touchstone Book 5)

by Andrea K Höst

  "Sounds like fun," Sue said easily. "I'm in. Provided I can ever pass this stupid adulthood exam."

  "But what about me?" Maddy protested. "I can't do that exam, but I want to go and see what it's like too!"

  "You were double-dipped in aether the whole of the first month you were here," Alyssa said, with just the faintest frown. "You know what it's like."

  "It doesn't count when you're sick. I don't even remember that. Besides, I want to look at it."

  "She could wear one of those Exclusion Suits," Nick said, mildly. He turned to Gidds. "If they have any in her size."

  "They do. I will process a request for you."

  They moved on to dessert then, and ate the star-shaped keffet, a chewy, jellified citrus pulp, while Maddy interrogated Gidds on the details of Kalrani training.

  Sue: Do I get to call him your boyfriend now?

  Laura: Unless you prefer 'gentleman caller'.

  Sue: I wonder what he'd look like in a natty morning suit and a monocle? But, okay, you've had the meet-cute, the hot-and-heavy, and set him before the family to admire. What comes next? The ex-wife turning up with a spanner to throw in the works? Or the Big Misunderstanding?

  Laura: Neither, I'd hope. Spending some time with his daughters.

  Sue: No more wibbling?

  Laura shrugged at that, and Sue smiled, and gripped Laura's hand in brief, silent encouragement. Laura had to admit she was feeling optimistic. And the next month would at the least involve a great deal of being ruined for other men.

  Although it was the afterwards that she was beginning to look forward to most. She liked to touch him when they were curled together, both too replete for it to be sexual.

  "Are you going to join the crowd to watch Haelin try out Maddy's ice skates?" she asked much later that night, after the exertion, the lingering shower, and the comfortable positioning beneath sheets.

  The faintest shake of his head. "The Setari and Kalrani won't be able to be fully at ease if I'm there. And Haelin—even now my behaviour with Haelin and Allidi is examined for hints of favouritism. That will be why she didn't tell me just why she wanted to delay the outing I had arranged with her."

  Of course. The Principal's daughters: considered privileged, no matter how impartial he strove to be.

  "It bothered your Sights. Not to know."

  "Yes. It's rare that they don't tell me things they know might trigger a Sight reaction. But it is important for me to demonstrate a decision not to ask when information isn't volunteered. Although, on that subject..." He slid his hand down her arm, and linked fingers. "Is the tension that rose around the discussion of the moonfall something you can tell me about? You were annoyed at Julian, but deeply worried for Nick."

  "Yes." Laura grimaced, then sighed. "There's no secret to any of that. Well, not on Earth. Sue handles it far better than I, which is typical of Sue. She is...well, you can't miss that she's a very vibrant person, but she's also had more than her share of hurdles. She started out full of music, you know. Ever since she was tiny she'd play anything and everything she could get her hands on, but particularly the violin. Almost didn't need lessons. But she started going deaf when she was eight. She stuck with music for quite a few years, but lost almost all the high pitches, and then the lower ranges faded, and hearing aids only helped a bit. When she was fourteen she put down all her instruments, and hasn't picked them up since."

  "Even though that has been corrected now?"

  "She's been listening to a lot of music since we came here—Muinan and Terran—but she hasn't gone near any instruments. Back when her hearing loss was shifting from moderate to severe, she took up photography instead. And proved to be extremely good at that as well, making quite a reputation for herself, particularly with landscape photography. She was on assignment in Western Australia—wildflower season—when she met Nick and Nick's dad, Sam Dale."

  Laura lay silent, thinking back to first impressions and happy years. Gidds waited, rubbing a thumb on the palm of one of her hands, and eventually she went on.

  "They married about two days after they met. Sam's a writer—non-fiction books with a sideline of articles—and they ended up collaborating on a lot of things: Sue doing the photography for the articles he wrote. Nick is his mirror image, in looks and personality. Laconic-ironic, I think of it. Nick was ten when Sue and Sam married, and he took to Sue right away. She adored him. Everything was great."

  The kind of life people envied. Shared interests. A beautiful home. Frequent international trips.

  "The Dales had been in a car crash when Nick was just little. Nick came through unhurt, Sam was injured, and Maria—Nick's birth mother—was killed. Sam had been driving, and he fell apart for the better part of a year afterwards, then pulled himself together for Nick. But he'd been left with chronic pain, and when Nick was fifteen it flared up badly. He self-medicated with alcohol—something he hadn't touched since that year after the accident—and…"

  Laura faltered, stomach twisting. Then she remembered just how Gidds would be experiencing this tale, and started to draw back, murmuring an apology.

  Gidds stopped her. "I am more than capable of shifting myself, if there is something I can't face," he said firmly.

  Laura sighed, but then gripped his hand. "One night—past midnight—I got a call from Nick. He was at the hospital. Sue had a fractured skull. Poor kid, he had to tell me how she got it."

  Laura could not stop herself reliving that midnight trip to the hospital, Cass and Julian in tow because they were too young to leave behind and Bet and Steve had been out of town. Nick in the waiting room, outwardly composed, but shivering, constantly shivering, no matter how hard she hugged. Finally being allowed to see Sue: small and bruised and so very still.

  "Sue left the marriage after that. Even if Sam had managed to keep himself sober—which he didn't—there was no way to come back. She wanted custody of Nick, but his maternal grandparents won that argument: Sue could only manage to get him for family trips. After the divorce, Sam tried to dry out—to stop drinking—but couldn't, and has struggled a great deal with depression ever since. When Nick was eighteen, which is legal adulthood in Australia, he moved back in with his father. And that…helped Sam."

  "The boy had an eye injury," Gidds said. "When Cassandra visited your family through the Ena."

  "Yes. Nick pulled Sam out of the hole, but he couldn't move him away from the edge. And when Sam relapses, he lashes out blindly at whoever's in reach. Doesn't even seem to recognise them. But we failed completely to convince Nick to put his own well-being first. He wasn't even going to come here, despite he and Alyssa being so close, and I know for certain he's worried about how Sam is holding up because he's no longer there with him. I'll never forgive Sam for hurting Sue, but I am grateful for the moment of clarity that made him push Nick through the gate to Muina."

  "And you fear the boy might become distressed during a moonfall?"

  "I don't know. Nick faces situations relating to alcohol with complete aplomb. He'll even accept a drink to be social, but I've never seen him finish one. He never gives any hint he's bothered by anyone drinking around him, but we worry about him."

  "I will arrange for Exclusion Suits for all of you, then," Gidds said. "It will allow you to experience a moonfall at its height, and control your exposure."

  Laura thanked him, but searched his expression at the same time. "Will you find yourself being accused of favouritism because of your relationship with me?"

  That brought out his flicker of a smile. "Not beyond those who would criticise me for breathing. I would be more likely held to account if I didn't arrange something like this. Don't underestimate who you are. The debt owed to your daughter is literally impossible for us to repay, because she allowed us to use her to regain our home world, and to save ourselves. Cassandra is the reason we are alive."

  His expression had become very still, although his voice remained clear and steady as he went on: "And, when she was trapped in the facilit
y that was the source of our problems, I am the person who gave the order to detonate charges rather than continue to try to rescue her."

  Laura had known that already, although she'd not thought about it in quite those terms. It had obviously been weighing on Gidds.

  "So you did," she said. "I don't know how I would have felt if she hadn't lived through that, but when the decision is between everyone definitely dying including Cass, or Cass alone possibly dying, I'm fairly sure she and I have similar views." She paused, because his expression had remained very still and shuttered. "It would have made every difference if Cass had died. But, so far as I understand that situation, setting off those charges saved her life, even if the entire building did drop on her head in the aftermath. I've neglected to thank you."

  She raised their joined hands and kissed his fingers, and knew he would feel the certainty that lay behind her words. And perhaps even her clear awareness that Cass and Laura's own positions on this world—where her daughter had the gratitude of millions, but was not allowed to leave—was more complex than it appeared on the surface. It was very fortunate indeed that Cass wanted to stay.

  Laura watched Gidds struggling not to fall asleep, and thought about Sue's five years of marriage, and her own ten. They had been happy, and then things had changed, and there was no guarantee things would not change with Gidds. They would grow together or grow apart, and she had no way of knowing which it would be until they lived it.

  Admittedly, Gidds' complications might involve interplanetary politics. Would her attempts to promote ties with Earth cause him problems? Would KOTIS' plans for Cass drive a wedge between them?

  Laura closed her eyes, refusing to get drawn into worrying through all the worst possibilities. She would get to know the man better. She would enjoy it.

  She really was enjoying this.

  Chapter Twelve

  "No, I'm not surprised at all," Cass said. "Something similar happened when, oh, I forget which of the documentaries I subtitled it was, but there were horses. I got asked about it, produced some images from the Olympics—show-jumping and dressage and whatnot—and suddenly half Muina desperately wanted to re-enact National Velvet."

  "Are there no horses in all the Triplanetary?" Sue asked, leaning around Laura.

  "Not on Tare or Kolar. They did find some herds on Muina, but they were the short, fat pony type of horses. And really unfriendly, though I gather some Kolaren smallholder has actually managed to bribe a few into letting her pat them. Don't mention that you can ride, Aunt Sue, or you'll have her sitting at your feet."

  "I like people sitting at my feet," Sue remarked. "All my horses have come pre-bribed, though."

  "Fortunately I could just tell everyone I'd never even been on a horse, and they left me alone," Cass went on. "Alyssa isn't going to have a moment's peace after this."

  They all paused as Alyssa, who had been making slow circuits of Pandora Shore's ice-filled indoor swimming pool, leaped into the air, executed a single twist, and landed neatly. Everyone who had been allowed in to watch the preparation—two teachers, the Arcadian contingent, and assorted senior Setari—promptly applauded.

  Shaking her head, Alyssa skated to the end of the pool where Laura, Julian, Cass and Sue were standing on specially-laid rubbery matting behind a pair of benches.

  "I'm so totally out of condition."

  "Show off for five minutes and then offer someone your skates," Cass advised.

  "I need to be ready in case Maddy tries to—" Alyssa began.

  "Even if she tries to do a handstand, we'll be surrounded by Telekinesis talents. She's not going to get hurt."

  Alyssa looked doubtful, then sighed and sat on the nearest bench, looking around the generously-sized hall at the various Setari who were settling down in the modest bleachers, and then at the semi-translucent fence that had been grown around the pool to give new skaters something to hold on to.

  "All this just so Maddy can make a point with a couple of kids in her class."

  "All this so Zee can try it out," Cass said, nose wrinkling. "She's the driving force behind things actually happening. Though Mara's helping it along because she bet Zee that she could stay upright longer than Zee could. Why do you think most of the skates they made are in adult sizes, and all the senior Setari are here?"

  "Not sure I'd invite all my friends—and a bunch of schoolkids—to watch me on skates for the first time," Sue said.

  "I think the gorgeous, naturally-athletic psychic will survive publicly falling on her ass," Cass said, grinning. "Besides, Zee's one of the Telekinesis talents, so I don't think for a moment she'll actually fall."

  "But using a talent will count for losing the bet," said a throaty voice behind them, and Laura turned to appreciate Zee's husband, Nils, who was exactly as described in Cass' diaries: a 200-proof combination of beauty and sensuality that raised the temperature of every room he entered.

  Cass smiled at him, unabashed, and said: "I would never have helped with that translation app if I knew it meant I'd have to stop snarking about people in English."

  "Who needs translation when your expression makes everything so clear?" Nils said, tweaking her nose.

  Cass swatted him away, then waved at further new arrivals, including Zee and Mara. "Are you going to try?"

  "Apparently," Nils said, eyeing the waiting line of skates with a mischievous quirk of his lips. "I must admit dancing on knives is almost as unexpected as your melted rock spouts."

  "Skating's a bit more common," Cass said. "Here comes the horde: we'd better go snaffle some seats. Good luck Alyssa!"

  "I'm going to need it," Alyssa said, dubiously eyeing Maddy's class streaming through the door, although she brightened when Nick came in with Maddy.

  Cass had similarly lit up because Kaoren had appeared with Ys, Rye, Lira and Sen, and Mara's husband and two older sons as well. They settled into the bleachers next to the cluster of highly amused Setari, and listened as Alyssa—her voice transmitted to the audience through the interface—began to set out basic ice etiquette and safety while Nick helped her three tall students with their skates.

  Rather than watch the show, Laura studied her daughter as she answered additional questions from Kaoren and her children. Content, settled, and unlikely to cause KOTIS difficulties. Not precisely in a gilded cage—Cass had made a deliberate and clear-eyed choice to stay on Muina—but Laura wondered if it was possible for her to not look at every treat, extravagant or small, and think of it as 'placation'. Kaoren's position was no less complicated, especially since he would be more aware of the apparently fractious internal politics of KOTIS, and the debates over how Touchstones were to be managed.

  How much of a conflict of interest Laura represented for Gidds she could not guess.

  Reminded, Laura studied Maddy's class, and spotted Haelin easily: not only because she was one of the few in Kalrani uniform, but because she was sitting relaxed but upright, with her hands neatly arranged on her knees. Too cute.

  Quite possibly because of her Sights, or because she had also been paying attention to Laura, Haelin turned her head and they looked at each other. Laura smiled faintly at the girl, but was saved from any awkwardness by Maddy, finally permitted onto the ice. Maddy promptly sped around the pool, then reversed the direction she was facing and did a circuit backward, smiling triumphantly at her classmates while she did so. Haelin joined in the applause, apparently pleased. Zee, Nils and Mara, in the meantime, were clutching the circling wall.

  It would not do to go too much longer without a proper meeting with Gidds' children. Even without Sight Sight the girls might be hearing rumours through the KOTIS gossip channels. Speaking of which...

  "Did you want to go with us on this trip to witness a moonfall, Cass?" Laura asked. "I know you had more than enough aether early on, but we've worked out a way around that."

  "Yeah, Kaoren said Tsur Selkie had agreed to line up Exclusion Suits for you. They didn't even have those a couple of years ago, but they had
to figure out a way to deal with looking after people who kept heading into the platform towns during moonfall and passing out."

  There was no hesitation at the mention of Gidds. It seemed either word hadn't reached Cass, or she was going to follow Julian's lead and not ask questions. Which, frankly, suited Laura, who didn't have all her answers yet.

  "I want to go," Lira said, from where the kids sat in a line on the lower tier of the bleacher.

  "Can we?" Rye asked, looking from Cass to Kaoren and back again.

  "They wouldn't have told us about it if we couldn't," Ys commented, but then seemed to recall herself and added: "But I would like to too, please."

  As they discussed technicalities—and a timeframe that now did not depend on passing adulthood exams—Laura reached back and touched Julian's foot. He had gone quiet as soon as they'd reached Pandora Shore, and Laura could not help but contrast his silence with the chatty boy who had interrogated Gidds a short week ago. Was it just his bashfulness around pretty girls, or had Gidds' presence last night been more of a shock than Laura had expected?

  Laura: Muina has enhanced reality gaming locations—and a few nightclubs—that disguise identity. You could be thoroughly anonymous if you still wanted to meet your guild friends—and any minders would be a lot more inconspicuous.

  Julian: Knowing my luck, they'd assign Siame to me.

  Siame, Kaoren's delicately pretty and highly disconcerting sister, had recently been made captain of her own Setari squad—for all she was only a few months older than Julian. With the Ruuel plethora of Sights, she was one of the people Julian avoided most assiduously.

  Laura: I think her squad's going to be assigned to Tare soon. Maybe wait until after she's left?

  Julian: You'd let me go?

  Laura: I don't technically get a say in it any more. Now that you've passed that exam I can't even monitor your school work or do half the parental rights related things the interface used to let me do. I'd prefer it if you didn't try to ditch your minder, but I don't expect you to give up every freedom just because it's easier on KOTIS. Though if you do go to a nightclub, think about inviting Nick and Alyssa along.