Gabriel’s eyebrows drew together. “You keep
saying things like that. It doesn’t make me feel any differently
than I did before this morning, or remember anything unusual.”
Ini-herit made a sound something like a
grunt, but his face remained impassive.
“But how were you able to attend?” Amber
asked in confusion. “You said my mother was human and not
Estilorian, and you said that not all Estilorians can pass onto the
human plane. So how were all of you able to attend our births?”
Now, Ini-herit’s face showed surprise and
interest. It was almost scary after staring at his unmoving face
for so long, and Amber was rather relieved when the expression
vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Another excellent
question. With your mother carrying children that were only
half-human, and knowing that human doctors would not know what to
do if they identified anything unusual during their exams, we
convinced her that it would be best to receive her prenatal care on
our plane. As it happened, your mother was able to be temporarily
brought over. We surmised that her absolute belief in Saraqael’s
origins combined with the fact that her body chemistry was altered
because she carried three babes of Saraqael’s blood was enough to
allow her to make the passage.”
Amber processed this. “So, we were born on
the Estilorian plane?”
“Yes. Your mother was kept carefully
protected during her term. We had no way of knowing what the
pregnancy and, of course, the birth would do to her. Fortunately,
we have a number of Corgloresti with human medical knowledge and
they were able to help care for her. The pregnancy went very well,
actually.”
“How long did she survive after we were
born?”
“Not for very long. After you—and thus,
Saraqael’s blood—left her womb, she had to be returned to the human
plane. Although Saraqael had cured her disease, the damage it had
already done to her body, compounded by the births, prevented her
recovery. She died soon thereafter. We sent along those Estilorians
who could cross the plane to help care for her as best we
could.”
It seemed they had done everything in their
power for her, and Amber found herself nodding in acceptance. “Then
what happened?”
The slightest frown flashed across
Ini-herit’s features. “As with all societies, we have our darker
side. While most of us saw the births of Saraqael’s children as a
miracle and, indeed, a possible saving grace for our dying people,
others remained unconvinced. Some felt that mixing Estilorian DNA
with that of a human was an insult and an abomination. A few even
thought to keep you imprisoned to conduct experiments on you,
saying it would be to ensure you were not a danger to us. I have
found that sentient beings, no matter their origin, usually fear
what they do not understand. We are, regrettably, no different.
“During the last months of your mother’s
pregnancy, an uprising began. Led by the Mercesti leader,
Grolkinei, they sought to destroy you, cursing you as an evil
plague upon the Estilorians. This was what finally convinced the
rest of us that you would be safer on the human plane, at least
until you were old enough to protect yourself if needed. The
Mercesti have no influence here.
“At the urging of the wisest and most ancient
Elphresti, Jabari, we made a plan before your birth to keep the
three of you together. As a people, we know nearly nothing about
raising children. But after centuries of living among humans, some
of us have made a study out of successful child-rearing. Everything
supports the idea of keeping siblings together. However, once you
were born, we realized immediately that our plan would not work.
The aura of power detected between the three of you was discernable
even to the most untried Estilorian. And there were physical
reactions when the three of you touched. You would never pass for
human, and we were forced to separate you.
“Before a second plan could be effectively
developed, Grolkinei’s followers attacked. They used trickery to
lead the majority of us away from you, leaving you guarded by a
small contingent of Waresti. The dissenters were too many, and
overtook the fighters. But during the fray, three Corgloresti who
had been charged with your safekeeping made their escape.
“In a secret location, the talented
Scultresti elder, Zayna, had created human forms for you and your
guardians to use on the human plane. Although Corgloresti cannot
maintain human forms for extended periods of time and we had no way
of knowing how long your forms would last, we had no other choice.
After meeting with Zayna, the three Corgloresti took you and your
sisters and made their way as carefully as they could to the
locations we had planned to open pathways between the planes. These
pathways open only for the Corgloresti. Joshua, the Corgloresti
carrying you, waited until your sisters had been safely transferred
and then took you to the closest transition point. Grolkinei
himself lay in wait.
“Joshua sacrificed his life. But he managed
to send you across the planes before Grolkinei destroyed him.
Fortunately, he had the ability to send your Estilorian form to
safety using his second power. Otherwise, your Estilorian form
would even now be in Grolkinei’s control.”
Gabriel had released Amber’s hand during this
part of the story and shifted even closer so he could put his arm
around her. Even with his body heat pressing against her, she felt
cold and somehow alone. She realized that was how she had ended up
abandoned in that industrial building shortly after her birth.
Somehow, the unknown Corgloresti’s sacrifice was almost more
saddening to hear about than her parents’ deaths.
“We mobilized immediately, hoping to get a
Corgloresti transitioned to you before you were discovered by
humans. Unfortunately, we had no way of knowing exactly where on
the human plane Joshua had sent you since he had veered from our
hastily sketched plan out of necessity. We were forced to wait
until a Corgloresti already on the human plane learned your
whereabouts and relayed your location to us. It was one of the most
difficult waits of our existence.”
Amber thought the sentence sounded insincere
due to Ini-herit’s monotone.
“Fortunately, the social worker who was
ultimately assigned as your legal guardian was one of us. He did
not get assigned to work with you until you had already been
screened by Child Protection Services and placed with the
Vonneguts, but he seemed pleased with the placement. As soon as he
identified you, he notified us so we could keep track of you.”
“If Amber’s DFCS worker was a Corgloresti,
why wasn’t he able to prevent all of Amber’s disrupted placements?”
Gabriel asked.
If Amber hadn’t already been ridiculously in
love with him, the anger in his voice over that question would have
sealed the deal. She leaned her head into his shoulder and stared
at Ini-herit, who managed to look at least mildly
uncomfortable.
“He did try to maintain the placement with
the Vonneguts, of course. Unfortunately, it was his human
supervisor who made the final decision. The witnesses who had seen
Mrs. Vonnegut with you went to the authorities, and it ended up
being broadcast in the media, adding pressure to the supervisor to
end the placement. As it was, though, that particular Corgloresti
had really extended his time on the human plane to an unhealthy
level. Had he remained much longer, he would have lost his sanity
and then his life.”
Amber couldn’t think of a thing to say in
response to that.
“We knew before you were born that because of
our limited time allowed here at any one time, we would have to
rely on humans to give you the strongest basis of your guardianship
on the human plane. In Olaya’s case, her human guardian, Jean, is
what humans would consider a medium, or would be if she opted to
exercise her abilities in any significant capacity. She is highly
open to what humans call the spirit realm and believes in things
that most other humans dismiss. When her human soul is ready to
expire, she will make a prime candidate for The Embrace. After the
births, Olaya’s Corgloresti spent time on the human plane until he
met Jean. It did not take much to convince her to become Olaya’s
human caregiver.
“Similarly, Skylar’s appearance among the
Yupik people here in Alaska was welcomed with open minds and
eagerness. Her arrival coincided with the death of a very respected
and prominent elder, Sky Tomaganuk. She also bore his name, and the
tribe believed her eye color combined with her serendipitous
arrival into their culture represented a sort of rebirth for the
elder. Nick is Sky’s son, and he accepted Skylar into his family
without question.”
An unwelcome surge of bitterness coursed
through Amber as she realized that the two girls sitting out in the
hallway had managed to have fairly normal upbringings while she had
suffered. Had Olivia or Skye ever questioned their worth? Had they
ever dwelled in misery, wondering whether there was something
seriously wrong with them? Had they ever wondered whether they were
worthy of a parent’s love? She had to doubt it.
And was that their fault? she argued with
herself. Of course not.
So get over it.
Centering her thoughts, she asked, “Okay, so
what about my other placements? Couldn’t you have done something to
prevent those from disrupting? I mean, you managed to get Olivia
and Skye into stable enough environments.”
“Yes, but they did not have the surges of
power that you did.” Seeing her surprise, he nodded. “The first
one, when you were three, was thought to be an oddity. As I said,
your sisters did not show any similar displays and we had no way of
knowing what had caused it. When nothing happened for a period of
time afterward, we dismissed it. And you seemed stable enough after
your placement in the Anders’ care. Only after the second surge did
we come to understand that there was something significant
happening to you. As a result, we threw caution aside and arranged
it so that you were placed directly into the care of a Corgloresti.
Called Allison Palmer by humans, she risked everything in order to
remain with you as long as possible. As she is one of our eldest
and most powerful Corgloresti, we had hoped she could maintain her
human form longer than most because of that. At least enough to
raise you to an age where things could be explained to you.”
Blanching, Amber realized what had happened.
“I screwed it up.”
“Don’t say that,” Gabriel argued, giving her
a little shake.
“But she did,” Ini-herit confirmed
emotionlessly, making Gabriel’s eyes narrow. “Inadvertently, yes,
but the placement was going well until the day she had another
display of her power and her Corgloresti was not there to assist
her.”
Numbly, Amber reached up with her left hand
and linked her fingers with Gabriel’s over her shoulder. Their
rings touched and the connection made her feel much better, the
tension easing a bit from her shoulders. It was almost as if she
could hear his thoughts.
You were just a child…you didn’t
understand what was happening to you…you weren’t to blame!
“The placement with the Jamisons was done
without our influence,” Ini-herit explained. “We did not have a
Corgloresti in the child services department at the time or we
would have done what we could to prevent that placement,
narrow-minded fools that they were. Nevertheless, we quickly put
several Corgloresti in place in the school and church you attended
as well as in the DFCS office, trying to prevent another
displacement. Allison had noted the scarring impact that the
changes in your caregivers had caused to your emotional stability,
and we wanted to do what we could to prevent further damage.”
Amber jerked in her seat at being referred to
as “damaged.” No longer comforted and suddenly feeling undeserving
of Gabriel’s touch, she tried to pull her hand back down. His grip
tightened, holding her in place.
Don’t listen to anything this guy says about
emotions. I mean, just look at him!
Turning and catching Gabriel’s gaze, she
cocked her head to the side. Those thoughts had definitely been in
his voice…hadn’t they? Before she could consider it further,
Ini-herit continued his narration and they both tuned back in to
it.
“As the third year of your placement with the
Jamisons approached, all of the Corgloresti in your vicinity were
on guard. Unfortunately, when the anticipated power surge came, you
left the church during the service that the on-site Corgloresti was
performing, and he could not chase after you without drawing the
attention of all of the humans in attendance.”
“The preacher was a Corgloresti?” She had
always thought that he had fed into the belief by the Jamisons that
she was possessed.
“Indeed. And they were so intolerant that
they would not listen when he tried to convince them that you
needed their support, resulting in another displacement. So we made
the only decision we could.
“We sent you to Gabriel.”
On the Estilorian plane, far from the
visibility of the other Estilorian classes, the leader of the
Mercesti, Grolkinei, sat in conference with his team of commanders.
They had gathered in his lakeside manor house and were currently
seated around a hand-crafted wooden table that would have looked at
home in any human Fortune 500 CEO’s office. In point of fact,
everyone gathered there was dressed to impress in business attire.
Custom-made suits, silk ties, dress shoes.
Sunlight winked off the placid lake visible
through the wall of windows comprising half the room. An
intricately landscaped garden started at the edges of their current
location and wove around the lake, across more than three acres of
property. Pots of tea and coffee sat in the middle of the table.
Three of his four commanders had delicate, classically-designed
cups sitting before them.