Jeanne G'Fellers - No Sister of Mine

by Jeanne G'Fellers

  Chandrey’s eyes never moved from her daughter’s form. “I’m a teacher, Bel, it’s in my nature.”

  Belsas gazed reflectively at her mate then turned back to Krell, who again dominated the screen. “All going as planned there?”

  “As well as can be expected. I had a meeting with an Aut by the name of Starnes Bane this morning. The reconnaissance was right, two of the Branded are holed up here.”

  “Did you find out who?”

  Krell murmured the answer in a tone so low Chandrey wasn’t sure what she’d said. She was about to ask when Belsas’s pallored expression told all she needed know.

  “The Creiloff Twins!” The color drained from Chandrey’s face.

  Belsas collapsed heavily in her worktable chair. “I should have executed them when I had the chance. Why did I believe the reports of their deaths?”

  Chandrey followed to rub her guardian’s bunched shoulders. “How were you to know they would break the Trimar barricades?” she whispered.

  “I knew someone would sooner or later.” Belsas spoke no louder. “Others have tried.”

  “And they’ve been caught,” reminded Krell. “We’ll catch these two just the same.”

  Belsas peered at the viewer to lock determined eyes with Krell. “Whatever you do, First Kimshee Middle, make sure LaRenna is prepared. She should know exactly what she’s getting into.”

  “You have my word.”

  But Belsas continued as if she hadn’t heard. “You have three days to be certain. If she’s not ready, abort the mission. We’ll call it a loss and pull all Taelachs off Langus. The High Council has received serious threats. Autlach authorities have foolishly chosen to ignore them, but for me to do so would be imprudent.” Sinking back into her seat, Belsas let out a weighty sigh. What was LaRenna getting into?

  Chandrey glided across the room to face the viewer close up, her eyes exuding the same concern as Belsas until her hands trembled. “For the love of the Mother Maker,” she whispered to Krell, a fair amount of pleading in her voice. “Don’t let her fall to them. If they find out who she is”—she glanced over her shoulder at her shaken lover, then back at the screen—“they’ll do far worse than just kill her.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The mind phase can be simultaneous in its joy and terror.

  —Taelach wisdom

  Krell woke LaRenna at first dawn. She shook her once, then again, then finally shaking her so hard she almost fell from her chair. “Wake up, LaRenna Belsas.” Krell stood over her with a brooding expression. “Planning to sleep away your post on Langus? I’ve work to do and you’ve things to learn.”

  LaRenna’s eyes shot open, wide but unfocused as they glanced about the room. Disoriented by the new surroundings, she stood, scratching her head with confusion. “What? Where? Ah, stars!” She stumbled to the facilities and reappeared a moment later, feeling a little fresher and much more alert. “How long was I asleep?” she asked in the midst of a jaw-popping yawn.

  “Long enough. Get your boots and cloak on. I don’t like waiting.” Krell stood by the hatchway, tapping her foot. The younger Taelach wasn’t sure how to read her teacher’s moods so she acted dutifully and followed Krell out the door.

  They exited the housing compound, striding silently out the base’s main gates and down the rocky incline to the shoreline, Krell offering cordial assistance at several particularly rough patches of stone. At the bottom, she led the way to her favored dune, drawing into a meditation position atop the boulder as she motioned for LaRenna to settle on the sand before her. “Watch.” Krell’s eyes closed for meditation.

  The spectacle of morning so enthralled LaRenna that she failed to sense the gentle prodding that crept into her mind. It spread throughout her, radiating down her spine in a whispering rush of ecstasy. She shook spasmodically then pushed against the force to find its point of origin: Krell.

  So you have practiced the basics of phasing. The shared thought shuddered another wave of joy through LaRenna. You know there are only two types of mind phase. It would have been cruel to surprise you with pain.

  S-stop, please. A burst of passion accompanied the return. Krell gasped. No student should be capable of such energy! She inhaled, briefly paused in the high, then centered deeper into LaRenna’s mind, her hands resting across her apprentice’s shoulders.

  Show me what you can do.

  Leave me alone! LaRenna moaned audibly as the phase hold deepened. She pulled her knees to her chest, tucked her head between her thighs then arched back, trying to wrestle free of her mentor’s hold. What was happening to her? This was so much more intense than anything she had experienced with Malley. Let me go!

  Push me out. Krell expanded even further, sending an almost overwhelming stimulus pulsing through LaRenna’s body. Make me go. She immediately swept another wave into her apprentice then drew closer, pressing LaRenna against her boot leather. LaRenna resisted, both of them quick to exhale as their minds collided. That’s not enough. Hurt me and I’ll go. Krell pushed beyond the point of a test, far stronger than the normal ability level of a Kimshee LaRenna’s age, and into the realm of an almost painful grip.

  I can’t! LaRenna was petrified, scared of sharing such intense emotions with one she knew so little of, frightened to realize she actually enjoyed the sensuous mental touch.

  Krell pressed closer to LaRenna’s instinctual core, pulling their physical beings into near oneness as she drew LaRenna into her lap. There is a fine line between pleasure and pain. Cross it and push me out. Krell sent another wave of emotion that made LaRenna’s entire body shudder uncontrollably, scaring as much as it thrilled. Sheer sexual energy shot back on the link, intensifying the experience even more. Control abandoned, Krell forced the emotion again, this time adding a painful flex to the end of an emotional exchange that far overrode the ethics of her position. LaRenna sobbed and wrapped her hands around her head, both longing to be touched by and detesting the presence that held her.

  NO! You’re hurting me!

  Push me out or I’ll do it again. I will not hesitate to hurt you. We have to know what you’re capable of.

  A frustrated anger began to stir inside LaRenna. If Krell wouldn’t go willingly, why she’d . . . she’d . . . Too much! Get out! I don’t want you here!

  You make this far too desirable. Make me go. Undaunted, pleasured to the point of shivering, Krell continued her hold, unprepared for what happened next. LaRenna drew up against her mentor’s physical embrace, bunched her shoulders and slammed an ear-ringing mental blast at her teacher that agonized them both. Krell cried out from the internal slap, pushed back defensively, and the phase broke. Neither of them spoke for several minutes while Krell continued to hold her close. LaRenna pulled her head back down and shook as the sensation faded away.

  Krell raised her hand to stroke LaRenna’s uncombed hair then hesitated and pushed her into the sand. “It was imperative I know what level you phased at.”

  “I didn’t know I was capable of that.” LaRenna’s whisper was almost inaudible.

  “New apprentices seldom are.” Krell looked above LaRenna to stare out over the water. “If you don’t think you can handle the intensity of my training, you may request another teacher.”

  LaRenna dared a venomous glance toward her mentor. “No, that won’t be necessary. You merely showed me how much I have to learn.” She flipped stray strands of hair from her tear-streaked face and stood, knocking the sand from the back of her cloak.

  “Your focusing technique is unstable.” Krell returned her look with one of sheer hatred. This wasn’t right. She was a teacher of Kimshees and, though Kimshee teachers were required to know their apprentices intimately, there could be no love between them. Emotional barriers had to stay in place. Physical barriers were unbreakable. “We’ll work on it the next few days, if you choose to remain.”

  “Few days!” LaRenna turned to observe the way Krell’s lucid face darkened. “But Krell, it takes passes to—”

&n
bsp; “Address me by title from here on out, Third Kimshee Belsas,” interrupted Krell. “You have a natural gift for high-level phasing. We’ll polish a few edges while we can. That should be all you require for this post.” She handed LaRenna a piece of cording and motioned for her to gather back her hair. “Get it out of your face and keep it that way. You can’t work if you can’t see.” She wondered what Belsas’s reaction would be to the bond they had just formed. No matter how wrong it might be, it could not be undone. “You never phased before to any real extent?”

  “Once or twice with my roommate Malley, a little play on a few, um, interesting dates maybe, but nothing like this. Why?” she asked, adding when Krell glared at her, “First Kimshee.”

  Because you pleasure-phase to me with the sensitivity of a long-term lover jumped to Krell’s lips, but she clenched them tight, swallowing the words away as “curiosity” escaped her mouth. “New Kimshees typically are incapable of achieving such depth in a test phase.” She longed to add a few words about how personally gratifying it had been, but stopped short. The wake call sounded across the base as she spoke, disrupting the exchange. Krell rose as the noise faded. “Follow me.”

  “First Kimshee Middle?” LaRenna trotted to keep up with Krell’s wide gait. “That was so unexpected that I have to ask. How close to . . . to . . .” LaRenna’s face scrunched as she struggled for the words. “You seem upset. If I did something wrong when we phased, I apologize.”

  Krell never slowed, but she noticed, she noticed so very much. LaRenna, who was now almost running to keep up, barely reached midway on Krell’s chest, a size difference that made her all the more enticing. Krell hated her for that fact. “I was simply unprepared. It won’t happen again.”

  “Yes, First Kimshee.” No matter how LaRenna tried to shake it off, there was a certain level of their contact that remained, a small piece of Krell that lingered on.

  Krell’s face remained solemn though she was also aware of the bond. A small amount of LaRenna had permanently lodged in her mind and heart, tempting and satisfying her in a way she never thought possible. “After breakfast, you will report to Healer Wileyse at the medical complex.”

  “But there’s nothing wrong with me, First Kimshee.”

  “Your resulting discomfort is not my concern.” Krell paused long enough for LaRenna to catch up. “You’re to report directly after breakfast. Wileyse is expecting you.”

  “Yes, First Kimshee.”

  There was no further conversation between them during the walk to the galley or through breakfast, leaving LaRenna to wonder if the feelings stirring deep within her were justified. And Krell, fully enwrapped in overwhelming emotions that she must deny, could do no more than sip her tea and look away.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Beware the Kimshee in disguise.

  —Autlach saying

  Krell changed seats repeatedly then paced the room until she’d worn ridges in the ornate rug in Wileyse’s office. Finally, losing patience completely, she traipsed down the hallway to see if LaRenna was anywhere near presentable. Wileyse met her at the examining room door. “We’re all but done, First Kimshee Middle. She is changing as we speak.” Wileyse stepped into the corridor, making sure to jerk her heavy skirts free before the door shut on them. “We need to discuss your apprentice for a moment.”

  “It all went well? Nothing’s wrong, is it?”

  “Fine, fine. It went well. Not one word of complaint or even a flinch when she was fitted with the lenses, and you know how uncomfortable that can be.” Krell nodded for Wileyse to continue. “Physically, she’s strong. It’s her mental state I’m concerned about.” Wileyse’s voice often held an arrogant edge that made others feel they were being talked down to. Unfortunately, they usually were. “Her heart rate and blood pressure are elevated enough to indicate her post is stressing her. I want your assurance she can handle herself or I won’t approve her for duty.”

  Krell hadn’t wanted anyone, least of all Healer Wileyse, to know about the phasing experience, but now found it necessary. She sighed.“What you’re seeing is the aftereffect of the rough start we had this morning. You see—”

  “First Kimshee Krell Middle! Have you completely lost your mind?” Krell startled at the healer’s shrill reprimand. “Did you bother to read that woman’s records before you tested her?”

  “Of course.”

  “I mean her medical records, you dolt!” A frown pulled the corners of Wileyse’s thin, painted mouth.

  “Number one, why would I read a student’s medical file? They’re confidential. Number two, I thought I told you never to—”

  “Drop the tough act.” Wileyse pushed the high-glossed nail of her index finger into the tip of Krell’s nose. “I find it childish, bothersome, and unbecoming of your professional rank. If you had thought to read her medical history, you would have seen she’s been capable of high-level phasing since birth.”

  “Impossible!” Krell swatted away the intruding finger. “The only ones capable of phasing from birth are true females, and none of them are old enough to have completed the Training Grounds.”

  “Wrong!” Wileyse took great personal satisfaction in the correction. “Wrong! Wrong! WRONG! Your student is one.”

  “Where’s her file?”

  They went back to Wileyse’s cluttered workroom so Krell could read the fine details of LaRenna’s medical history. A single entry at the bottom of one of the screens repeated what the healer had said.

  SUBJECT DEVELOPING PRIMARY SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS DISTINCTIVE TO THOSE OF AUTLACH FEMALE. CAPACITY FOR REPRODUCTION CONFIRMED. NEW TAELACH VARIATION DEFINED—TRUE FEMALE.

  Krell handed the recorder back to Wileyse. “So, she was the first.”

  “Yes, she was.” There was a hint of superiority in the healer’s tone. “So, I wouldn’t phase with her again unless I was up to the level of control it demands. She’s vulnerable, hasn’t a notion of what she’s truly doing, and would be an easy target for someone without discretion.” Wileyse’s arms were folded across her small, rounded chest and she drummed her fingers knowingly against her bony elbow.

  She knows more than you’ve the capacity, thought Krell as she taunted Wileyse in a low tone. “Are you implying that I can’t handle myself?”

  “Kimshees are never much for control, discipline, or commitment when it counts.” Wileyse’s distrust was common among well-off Taelach families. Kimshees were considered a necessary evil, reckless in their manners and morals. They spent far too much time among Autlachs, picking up the worst of their mannerisms.

  “Sounds like a comment from a disgruntled ex.”

  “It is.” Wileyse sneered. “One who knows your fear of commitment.”

  “Commitment wasn’t the problem with you, Tatra Wileyse. Your habit of looking down that skinny nose of yours at everyone is what turned me away.”

  Tatra’s slender fingers trembled against her arm. “I do not peer down my nose! What gets me is your need to seek out and sustain friendships with Auts. Aren’t your own people good enough?”

  “It’s my job. It’s my post. It’s how I was raised. I’m a Kimshee, for the Mother’s sake! Try talking to Auts instead of down to them and you might find a friend or two. And if you’d ever stop obsessing over yourself—”

  “Obsessing?” The healer chewed her bottom lip while she struggled for just the right retort. She wouldn’t give Krell the satisfaction of winning this argument. “I am not obsessed with myself. I’m a healer. Caring for others is what I do. How can I focus on myself when saving a life?”

  “It’s the afterglow that slays me, Tatra, that smug look that crosses your face when you succeed. You’re so damn self-absorbed that I could never obtain a full pleasure phase with you, much less enjoy your mind. It was full of self-satisfaction before I ever phased in. The most important person in your life will always be pampered and spoiled, powdered and painted Tatra Wileyse.”

  “What a hateful, vengeful bitch you are.”

&
nbsp; “It’s been rumored.”

  Tatra opened her mouth for another rejoinder when something familiar caught her eye. Krell had that look, that conquering look she always had following good sex. “You didn’t?”

  Krell happily fed on the healer’s shock. “I said it was an intense interaction, didn’t I?”

  “And intense means?”

  Krell raised a brow. “Better than you.”

  It was more than Tatra could take. “You mean to tell me you found a first phasing with that inexperienced little apprentice Kimshee better than anything we had in a pass and a half together?”

  “Take it as you will.”

  “Of all the—” Tatra quelled her barrage when her Autlach assistant appeared in the open doorway. “WHAT?”

  “Healer Wileyse,” the young medic whispered his response. “Your patient is ready to depart.”

  “Thank you.” Krell passed the Autlach, who promptly saluted. “Good to see someone around here has a few manners.”

  Tatra stood in the doorway, hands balled on her knobby hips. “I hope you two are deliriously happy together,” she shouted.

  Krell spun in the middle of the corridor. “The only thing I’m sorry for, Tatra, is ever thinking you’d be able to let me in! You never understood me or my ways. Who am I kidding, you never even tried.” She offered a final heated glare, spun back around, and stomped down the hallway.

  “Oh, Krell.” Tatra swallowed hard as the Kimshee disappeared around a corner. “In hindsight, it’s surprising we lasted as long as we did. They say it takes a Kimshee to understand a Kimshee. Maybe it’s true.”

  “Third Kimshee?” The examining room appeared empty when Krell entered. There was a shuffle and a hand waved from behind the changing screen, fingers wiggling a quick greeting.

  “Here, First Kimshee.” LaRenna walked from behind the screen and whirled around, her multilayered skirts billowing as she turned.