Jeanne G'Fellers - Sister Lost, Sister Found

• Acknowledgments
  
• About the Author
  
• Cast of Characters
  
• Preface
  
• Introduction
  
• Part I Aware
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Part II Angry
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Part III Alert
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Part IV Adrift
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Part V Anew
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Taelach Words, Clans and Slang Defined
  
• Publications from Bella Books, Inc.
  

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Copyright© 2006 by Jeanne G’Fellers

Bella Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 10543
Tallahassee, FL 32302

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

First Edition

Editor: Anna Chinappi

Cover designer: Sandy Knowles

ISBN 1-59493-056-2

For my mother, who let me prowl the library shelves as a child so I might know the value of books.

Sister Lost Sister Found
and all the novels in
The Silver Kinship
series derived from my need to escape. While my reasons for escaping have changed throughout the years, the need still remains as does the drive to tell the stories of those I met during my escapes. These women live in a plane I reach simply by closing my eyes. Theirs is a less than perfect existence—perfection must be horribly boring to write about—but it is a world built upon my wildest fantasies and deepest fears, a creation that would not have come about if it hadn’t been for those dear to me. My sister Anne G’Fellers is no exception to this. Though we may be far apart in age we are kindred spirits, sister writers who both love to go where our imaginations dare. Her determination as a writer and actress inspires her big sister more than she will ever know.

To everyone at Bella—Linda Hill, Becky Arbogast and, of course, my editor Anna Chinappi, I say thanks again for patiently leading me through the road to publication.

Anna, my love, my dearest, once again I have left you for last but only because it is difficult to put into words the impact you have had on my life. You listen, you appreciate, you care and you’re not afraid to tell me when I am full of it—all things a writer needs in her significant other. Without your honesty and assistance I might not have reached where I am today. Thank you.

Jeanne G’Fellers, her partner and their children share a half-acre plot with two cats, a three-foot-long water dragon lizard and a dozen pampered Arbor Day trees. When not shuttling children or writing, Jeanne is completing her MA in English at a regional university where she also works as a teaching assistant.

Sister Lost Sister Found
is Jeanne’s second novel and the second in the
Silver Kinship series.

Taelachs

Clanless

Rankil Kaelan Danston:
misplaced sister, daughter of Danston Maraloosh

Easton Outbrook:
misplaced sister and resident of The Pit

Serpent Clan

Recca July:
clan leader and mate of Ashklara

Ashklara Reccas:
Recca’s mate and former clan birther

Wikkib Indigo
: assistant clan birther

Larkette Jasmine:
teacher of youth

Kaelan London:
potter and glassblower, mate of Jewel

Jewel Kaelans
: clan birther, mate of Kaelan

Myrla Kaelan:
daughter of Kaelan and Jewel

Hestralandra (Hestra):
infant

Leonor Dakota:
aging warrior

Tekkroon Clan

Harlis Davies:
clan leader

Grethencliff Colony

Medrabbi:
colony mayor and mate of Elreese

Elreese Medrabbi:
skin inker and mate of Medrabbi

Larza:
apprentice skin inker under Elreese

Jefflynn Lewis:
Tekkroon lead well master, twin sister of Serrick Lewis and mate of Dawn

Dawn Jefflynns:
sculptor and mate of Jefflynn

Abbyegale Finces:
seamstress and widow

Webbic:
widow

Healer Augustus:
Gretchencliff lead healer

Dee Astrid:
Easton Outbrook’s attendant

Bowriver Colony

Maestro Lisajohn Marion:
lead musician and choral director for Bowriver colony

Commander Andrea Stiles:
Powder Barrier officer in charge of recruit indoctrination, mate of Annya

Annyalae Stiles:
manager of Bowriver colony stores and mate of Andrea

Adner Colony

Genevic Leed:
Powder Barrier trooper and girlfriend of Isabella Langley

Isabella Langley (Bella):
medic in isolation caverns and Genevic’s girlfriend

Beverlic Redicci:
former Powder Barrier Trooper and resident of The Pit

McDougal Colony

Healer Sarah Garrziko
: mental healer in charge of The Pit

Shaedra:
Burning victim and resident of The Pit

Autlachs

Maraloosh Family:
small, two-house farming compound

Danston Maraloosh
: head of first house, brother of Tisph

Meelsa Danstons:
wife of Danston

Tessa Danston (Tessie):
eldest daughter of Danston and Meelsa

Sallnox Danston
: eldest son of Danston and Meelsa

Tisph Maraloosh
: head of second house, brother of Danston

Quyley Tisphs:
wife of Tisph

Tilnor Tisph:
eldest son of Tisph and Quyley

Archell Tisph (later becomes Archell Kaelan):
second son of Tisph and Quyley

Eloc Tisph:
third son of Tisph and Quyley

Granny Terry:
great grandmother of Danston and Tisph

Others

Serrick Lewis:
Autlach living with Tekkroon clan,
brother of Jefflynn Lewis

Longpass
: High cleric in the Raskhallak temples

Sharillia Longpass
: wife of Longpass

Olitti Longpass
: eldest daughter of Longpass

Paylu Longpass
: oldest son of Longpass

Flynne Longpass
: second son of Longpass

Humans

Captain Tara Conway:
pilot of downed spacecraft discovered by Rankil Danston

When the first human colonists settled on the Saria Two, they didn’t intend on being permanent residents. But, as time passed and hope of rescue faded, they began to make homes for themselves among the Autlach, a humanoid species indigenous to Saria Two, the second planet surrounding the yellow star Sixty-One Cygni. The Autlach, a swarthy humanoid species of stocky build, were slow to accept their multiracial human counterparts but eventually allowed them into their lands, villages and, finally, families, creating a hybrid generation whose descendents understood little of their human heritage and the genetics which shaped a select few of their children. These daughters—the Taelach—were pale, blue-eyed, sterile and telepathic—all things the pious Autlach could not and would not accept. Rejected by their families, the Taelach sought acceptance in each other, forming small clans that kept to the mountains far above the Autlach.

These clans survived for centuries relatively untouched, descending into the realm of the Autlach only for trade and to save infant Taelachs from the cruelty of infanticide. This relative peace changed, however, when Longpass, a high cleric in the Autlach deity Raskhallak’s temple, claimed to hear the voice of Raskhallak speak against the Taelach. Raskhallak, said Longpass, claimed the Taelach were sinful beings—witches, whores, and half-women whose only hope of redemption was cleansing by fire. The resulting crusade forced the Taelach clans higher into the mountains. In this harsh, barren environment, Taelach numbers dwindled but persisted, maintaining their culture through stories and songs that sought to explain their origins, rationalize their continued struggle, and keep hope alive when little else seemed tangible.