I would be really happy if you did. I worry about her. She has never been alone before.
Sincerely,
Makki Ebranik
Turnari stopped reading and looked up at his audience. “What do you think, Ysyr?”
Master Instructor Ysyr cocked his head, “Do you believe it?”
Sitting and having a hot beverage in the Dhemon’s office would have been strange if Ysyr had not gotten used to the ways of the Alliance when he left the Kalorda enclave.
Turnari tapped his clawed finger against the monitor displaying the letter. “I think it is real. It was passed to a transport and from there, it was launched to a transmission satellite. There is a definite need for Citadel intervention on Resicor and I believe that now is the time.”
“I will request this one woman and they will give her to us?” Ysyr raised a brow. His name had come up on the duty roster, so it was his turn to leave the Citadel for recruitment.
“We have been in communication with the Resicor government and they have agreed to release this one woman into our custody, but only this one woman. She will be a test case and we will see how it goes.”
“What will we do with a flier?”
Turnari grinned, “She can be a messenger on a low-tech world, receive training for airships, take atmospheric readings without additional propulsion, who knows?”
Ysyr shrugged. He was one of only three Kalordans in service to the Citadel and his peculiar ability to phase through solid and energy surfaces made him a wide-spectrum instructor, able to work with all physical shifters of any sort.
“When do I leave?”
“You are cleared for launch whenever you are sorted. Wear your robes so that they don’t confuse you with the Sector Guard. They seem to respond to the idea of the Citadel as a pseudo-religious order.”
“I understand. I will go in as subtly as I can, but if needed, I will find our target and withdraw her.”
Turnari grinned, “They have technically agreed to it, so feel free to do as you will to get Makki Ebranik’s Auntie Col out of the dome. Learn what you can, because if they are willing, we will take on several more of their physical talents.”
“I understand. I will take care to learn what I can.” Ysyr finished his tea and set it down with some finality. “Will you transfer the data to my ship?”
“Already done. The Egrin Bor is ready to fly and waiting at the Guard base. You have the full support of the Citadel in any action you choose to take.”
“Thank you. I will bring back the Resicor as quickly as I can.” Ysyr got to his feet and inclined his head. “Good day, Turnari.”
“Good luck, Ysyr.”
Ysyr’s path took him back to his rooms where he packed extra suits as well as robes. If he had to play the religious politician, he would do so, but as soon as he got back to Morganti, he was going for a run.
* * * *
Col held her basket and started her rounds. She was carrying food to the cliff dwellers above the city. It was the least involved of the tasks they had tried her out on and the only one she enjoyed.
She walked to the edge of a curb and stepped off, the tiny fall was now enough to propel her into the air and she rose slowly to the height of her first delivery.
With huge batwings and clawed feet, Useff was unable to walk among the other talents.
“Morning, Useff.”
He stuck his head out of his cave entrance and grinned at her. “You are the most punctual delivery person I have ever had.”
She enjoyed flying. It was the only thing offered to her that had appealed. It made her feel freer than she had felt on the outside of the dome.
“Thank you. I do try. Any excuse to get into the sky, am I right?” She grinned at him as she handed over his food rations.
“You are right. I was on my way to flick through the cliff falls. There is nothing like the feeling of the air surrounding you.” He smiled and hummed happily. “I miss the open air, but the circulation in the dome is enough for me, for now.”
Col’s smile beamed at him. “It was more than I had at home and I am willing to work with this until I am ready for the next step. Have a good day, Useff.”
He waved farewell with one huge wing. “See you in the sky, Col.”
She moved on to deliver rations to the rock crawlers, the ten folk living in the huge lake on the far side of the dome and finally, the light bringer who kept the balls charged at any given time.
“Kiiki, how are you today?”
The summoner of light smiled. “Good. I am on shift for the next ten days before Ashani takes her shift. What do you have for me today?”
Col looked from side to side as if someone could see them on the two-hundred-foot spire and reached under the rations to the bottom of her basket. “Here. Cookies. It isn’t fair that you only get one day off out of every eleven. I will bring you as many calorific snacks as I can.”
With the wind tugging at them, Col handed over the precious cookie as well as a few days worth of rations to the woman who glowed with energy. Col took a seat next to her on the observation platform and kicked her feet idly.
“I was your last delivery for the day, wasn’t I?” Kiiki broke off a piece of the cookie and nibbled, closing her eyes. “This is heaven.”
“Thanks. My true passion was always desserts, but when I started to make money in the restaurant business, there seemed no option but to stay a chef and work my ass off. I had no life, no fun and no time off. Retiring was great, but I planned to go back into business with a small dessert shop.”
“Think you still will? You could start one in here. I, for one, would be lining up at the doors, day or night.” Kiiki broke off another piece of cookie and chewed slowly.
“It took all of my considerable charm to get the ingredients that I needed out from under the cook for the council.” Col loved the panorama of the dome around her. This vantage point was well worth the price of a cookie.
On Col’s first day, she had wobbled her way up to the top of the spire, much to the astonishment of Wahli. She had rested and she and Kiiki had spoken at length about the height and what it would take for Col to descend.
After an hour of conversation, a short, sharp push from Kiiki had confirmed one thing for Colah. If she fell, she could fly.
She had spent hours flying and swirling around the interior of the dome, her suit providing her with warmth as she moved around objects and worked on increasing her speed.
Col had almost broken the sound barrier, but the idea of a sonic boom within the confines of the dome had made her nervous.
She asked the council about it and they suggested that it was not the proper time to let the military know that there was a fully powered talent in the dome.
Col watched the pennants on the buildings snap and twist in the wind as she sat for a quiet moment with Kiiki.
They both jumped when a message came through Col’s suit.
“Colah Geering, please report to the gateway of the dome. You have a visitor.”
Colah blinked and asked Kiiki, “Do people often have visitors after a few weeks?”
Kiiki shook her head. “No, so whatever it is, get down there. You don’t want to miss whatever contact with the outside you can get.”
Before Col could say anything else, Kiiki shoved her off the observation platform and she kicked into a full glide that took her in a trajectory leading directly to the gateway to the outer world.
Kiiki was right, if there was someone out there who wanted to talk, Col was all ears.
Chapter Five
Col walked the last five hundred yards to the gateway, staying out of the way of the cameras until the last minute. Flying was not supposed to be possible and so the cameras would not catch her in flight.
As she stood on the dome side of the gateway, she waited for a moment before she spoke. “Colah Geering, reporting as requested.”
The gateway shivered and a voice said, “Come through, Ms. Geering. Your sentence has been revised.”
Curious, she stepped through the energy field and back into the office she thought she would only see during family visits.
The man who was standing and waiting for her was not family, but he did answer one question for her. She was definitely attracted to men as long as that man was him.
She licked her lips, “Hello?”
He looked as stunned as she felt and when he spoke, she shivered from the inside out.
* * * *
Ysyr was expecting a woman similar to an Enjel, but the elegant creature in the bodysuit that left little to the imagination and teased at even more stunned him.
Her voice stroked along nerve endings and woke instincts that had lain dormant until she said, “Hello.”
He cleared his throat, “Are you Colah Geering?”
She inclined her head. “Yes. Yes, I am.”
“Is your niece named—”
Her immediate worry was touching. “Makki, is Makki alright?”
“She is fine. She wrote the Sector Guard a letter on a school project, they handed it to the Citadel and after some negotiation, here I am.”
He bowed low and extended his hand to her. The moment she took it, he knew that he would not be leaving Resicor without her. Like it or not, on this world that tried to hide its most powerful beings, he had met his mate.
* * * *
Col’s body heated dramatically, but she kept her hand in his for the polite amount of time. He gestured for her to sit and she looked around. There were no guards, no clerks and no cameras aimed at them.
“Thank you for the visit, but I don’t think that you are here just to tell me you are answering my niece’s letter.”
He sat next to her. “I am not. You have been granted a conditional reprieve and are being removed from Resicor to enter service at the Citadel.”
Now that she wasn’t simply staring at him, she noted the long robes that concealed his body. He looked like a priest and that would definitely appeal to the administrators of Resicor.
She didn’t know if they could believe he was a priest though, his jaw and neck showed intense muscular development and his high cheek bones and seductive eyes were definitely give-aways, as was his long black and red hair. It was confined in a neat tail that draped down his back, but there was no doubt that he would look amazing with it flowing loose around those wide shoulders of his.
Her body shivered again as she catalogued the fascinating nature of his anatomy. She watched as his lips moved and quickly tried to cover her gaff, “Pardon?”
“You are being removed from Resicor on a trial basis and placed with the Citadel. If it is a successful transfer, you will be the first of many of the Resicor physical talents who are sent elsewhere.”
“I get to leave?” Her heart pounded in her chest. “What about my sister and my niece? Can I still see them?”
His intense expression faltered. “I am afraid that unless you are recalled here for an assignment, the answer is no.”
She frowned. “Then I will have to refuse. Four hours with them per year is worth more to me than my freedom.”
He raised one brow at her. “Will you accept unlimited communications?”
Col perked up at that. “Done.”
She extended her hand to him and as he gripped it, he grinned, showing sharp canines and an intense look.
“Colah Geering, I promise to hug you on behalf of your family at least eight times per year.”
She chuckled and then sobered, retrieving the hand that he was caressing with his thumb. “Can I see them one last time before I go?”
He nodded. “They are waiting outside. Say your goodbyes and we will be on our way.”
They got back to their feet and she tried not to notice how imposing he looked with his robes swirling around him. His steps were silent and graceful, a predator in motion.
The daylight outside the small building had a different feel than the filtered light coming through the dome and the wind came to her with a thousand scents of the city in the distance.
Her family was facing her. Her sister was standing, surrounded by twenty guards and Makki was standing with her mother. The moment that Makki saw Col, Col opened her arms and Makki ran for her.
The little girl sobbed in relief and Col felt her own tears make their way down her face as Cabbili came and embraced her as well.
“I was so scared when they took you, Col.”
“I am a little unhappy myself, Cab. If not for Makki here, I would be facing a life inside the dome. Now, I may not be able to hug you during visitations, but we can speak more frequently. Mak, I want you to tell me all about your day every chance you get. I will try and do the same whenever I can.”
Mak had her face buried in Col’s neck, so she felt the nod more than heard the muffled, “Yes.”
Cab had to ask, “How long have you been…”
“Since the sand slide at the beach. I didn’t tell anyone, not even Mom. I knew what it would do to her if one of her kids were taken away. I kept it to myself.”
Cab sniffed and smiled, “Until that jackass threw you off the roof.”
“Yeah, my freedom was not worth my life.”
“You made the right choice, Col. I trust that you will continue to make the right choice even if I am not there to see it.” Cab smiled and brushed her hair away from her face.
“By the way, Col, your suit is stunning.”
She smiled and Mak moved her face away, “It looks very pretty, Auntie.”
She looked at her sister and put a pleasant expression on her face. “I am glad you like it, because it is grafted to my body. It goes where I go and it holds my power at bay.”
With a slight wink to her sister, she let Cab know that what she just said was a lie.
“Good. It looks nice, you should keep wearing it.” Cab’s reinforcement of the comment let Col know that she had gotten the hint.
It was something that they had done as children and it had gotten acres of information past their parents.
“Auntie Col, where are you going?”
Col looked down at the young lady in her arms. “I am going to the stars, Makki. I thank you very much for that letter. It freed me from the dome and gave me a chance at life.”
Makki turned in her arms and stared at the man from the Citadel. “Who are you?”
He bowed gracefully to the child and smiled as he rose. “Master Instructor Ysyr of Citadel Base Morganti, at your service.”