The heavy pull of the mind of the planet was throbbing in her veins. She would go where she was called, and hopefully, she would survive to come out on the other side.
“I can’t go with you.” Tyvor was next to her.
“I know. It is all right. I will find my way, and if I can’t find you afterward, I will call for help.”
He stroked the nape of her neck like he did before he fell asleep. “I will be there as quickly as I can in one way or another.”
She leaned into his touch and nodded. In the past weeks, he had defended her from bloodsuckers, grabby tentacles and pheromone-based seduction. She trusted him to get her out.
They settled and the door opened. She released the straps and ran for the dark hole in the side of the cliff face. Out of all the worlds she had set foot on, her own was by far the most dangerous. Other worlds wanted to investigate her for her strangeness, but the government of Resicor wanted her dead.
The open space between the hidden ship and the cliff was the most dangerous, so she used her energy to pass between them before the patrol ships spotted her. Lora was standing by with her weapons hot, but the moment she fired, her location would be identified. With luck, Skiria could get in and out without any trouble.
The weight of thirty worlds was a ball of tension in her mind as she made it into the relative cover of the cavern. The pathway was outlined in bright tendrils of rainbows, and when she could see nothing else, she could still see that path.
She could feel the heat and energy that she was stumbling toward, and while she arrived with scrapes and bruises, she made it to the outcropping over the heart of Resicor in one piece.
I am glad to see you again, daughter. The others are on their way.
Others?
The light and the darkness. They are essential to saving my people.
You mean our people.
Light laughter ran through their link.
No, my people. You now belong to Salass. To save millions and generations past and future, I had to trade my people, the talents that need sanctuary. They are my envoys and will solidify the links that we lock in today.
You could have told me.
It would have made you hesitate, and there is no room for hesitation at this time. They are here.
Skiria looked over and watched the caretakers that had wired her life support. The blonde and the brunette smiled with relief when they saw her.
No words were spoken. The other two knew exactly what to do. They nudged Skiria until her hands were open and each of them touched one of her shoulders.
A ball of light emerged from the depths of the lava and darkness.
Her companions extended their free hands and the orb rested in Skiria’s palms with each of the others pressing a palm to the surface.
Now.
There was no other word or warning. Skiria’s outer shielding was torn apart and distributed across the three others. They all dropped to their knees and the orb hovered as the energy deposited by the other worlds was evenly distributed.
Thank you, Skiria. Your duty is done. The ship is waiting for you to take you to safety. Our plans may now move on to the next phase.
May I know what they are?
It is best that you do not. Your mind needs to focus on starting over on a new world. We will take care of our next phase from here.
After all this, I just get dismissed?
You get set free with my blessings. Take on the form of a Salass and live your life. I have never wanted more than the survival of my dearest children. Survive and thrive, Skiria.
The warm contact between them went silent, and when the light and dark females stepped aside, Skiria was left alone.
She wobbled to her feet and staggered back the way she had come. She blindly shoved her mind out to find Tyvor, and he gripped her thoughts tightly, lifting her off her feet and carrying her through the tunnels and out into the creeping dawn where a riot of weapons was going off in the skies above.
She was yanked into Lora just before the door sealed. With Tyvor holding her with his mind, she felt the shuddering of the ship as it rose and defended itself in the same motion.
They rocked, twisted and spun as Lora clawed her way into orbit.
Tyvor settled Skiria into her seat and buckled her in from his own chair. He extended his hand to hers and she reached out and held it.
As they fought free of the inbound attacks, music filled the command deck. Skiria exhaled in relief. If Lora was playing music, the worst was over.
Tyvor cursed in a low tone, and they were both staring at a huge ship that darkened the path to the stars around them.
Lora snarled, “Eat me.” They disappeared, and a moment later, they were over the purple-blue glow of Salass.
They had made it home.
Lora put them back on Skiria’s island and retreated to the sea to heal. She had taken a few hits but had arrived in one very cranky piece. She would be in touch; there was no doubt about that.
Skiria sighed and leaned against Tyvor. “She has my wardrobe.”
“She will send it to you, I am sure.” He turned and caught her when she stumbled.
Raygar rose out of the water and approached them. “Congratulations. What is your verdict?”
Skiria knew that he was asking for an answer to the only true question he had ever asked her. “Yes. I will take the change. Resicor told me there is no place for me with my people, so I was given to Salass. That does not leave me an option.”
He grinned. “Good, because your bed has been replaced with a tank. We have a series of injections to give you, and then, we will wire you up and drop you in.”
She sighed. “I was so looking forward to a quiet evening.”
Tyvor gave her a squeeze. “I will stay with you and forego my normal return to the water until you can join me.”
Skiria bit her lip. “I don’t want you to go a little water crazy. If it wasn’t for that dip on Yasku, I don’t think you would have made it this far.”
His black eyes were calm. “I will wait.”
Raygar sighed and grinned. “Excellent. Come along. The doctor is waiting.”
Tyvor tensed but walked into her home with easy strides. His mother was waiting with a scowl on her features. “What took you so long?”
Skiria looked at the array of medical instruments and closed her eyes. “You are the doctor.”
“Good guess. Hold still. These will not be comfortable.”
The warning came with the first jab. Skiria hissed and waited out the additional dozen injections to her arms, legs, neck and chest. Her muscles started to jerk almost immediately, and it took Raygar to hold her down while Yinka began the wiring, tubes and mask that would keep Skiria breathing in the tank.
“Tyvor, do the honours. She is going to convulse soon and the tank is the best place for it.”
She looked at him through blurry eyes. Her vision was changing already, and the transformation was barely started. She clutched at his shoulders as he walked up the steps surrounding the tank, and when he jumped in with her, his mother shouted and Raygar laughed.
The Avatar leaned toward the tank and touched it. “We will increase the oxygen and nutrients, but come out now and then, Tyvor.”
Skiria listened to Yinka shouting, but she was too busy starting to thrash to listen to the rage of her lover’s mother. Tyvor held her tight and stopped her convulsions; his mind wrapped around her body and kept her limbs from striking the interior of the tank.
Ten days of soaking and watching her body change inch by inch were surprisingly fun when Tyvor shared the tank with her. After day one, he restricted his time to three one-hour sessions per day. With him inside the small space with her, she learned to use her budding fins to rise and fall in the water, and when her gills emerged, he kept her from freaking out as the cool liquid came in and she could remove the mask.
Breathing through her neck and chest was a strange arrangement, but as he kissed her and she didn’t need to stop for breath, she conceded that it was a solid system and she supported it wholeheartedly.
As the days passed, she realized that there was a new taste to the oxygenated fluid that she hovered in, it was mingling with salt water.
On day eleven, Yinka stood in front of the tank and nodded. “The change is complete, though if Raygar hadn’t been driving it, I don’t think it would have been successful.”
Tyvor was already in the tank with her, and at his mother’s words, he started to unfasten the wiring, pressing each tiny hole shut as he pulled the tube from it. When she was free, he held her close and nodded to Yinka.
The idea of being flushed into the ocean had never occurred to her. With a tremendous pressure of air, she was propelled downward, and she slipped through a tube and was ejected out and into the depths with Tyvor holding her close.
Her gills fluttered and her fins expanded as she stopped holding her breath and felt the rhythm of the water pulling at her.
Tyvor slowly released her, and she floated free, moving around carefully before moving with purpose toward the surface.
Why do you want to go there?
I want to see it with my new eyes. I can feel the changes, but I want to see what the world looks like through these eyes.
He followed her and swam circles around her as she propelled upward. She blinked away tears as the first stages of Salass courtship began. It seemed she wasn’t just the exotic fling she had convinced herself she was.
She could feel his affection burning between them, and her own attachment to him made her heart ache. Twenty feet from the surface, she stopped and remained in place. With nervous uncertainty, she looked into Tyvor’s dark eyes and aligned her inner shields, allowing him inside.
She felt him sliding his mind into hers with care, but he merely stopped at the seventh level and waited.
What are you waiting for?
For you to meet me. I do not need to delve into your thoughts to know you love me, just as I don’t need to tell you the same for you to know it. Some things go beyond words and some things lie beneath them.
Physically, he was still a few feet away from her, but her heart pounded as she worked through the shift of knowing that he knew how she felt.
I can see by your face that you are a little surprised. A woman like you does not seek out men in an observatory because they are bored or hormonal. We are connected beyond the obvious; even my mother had to admit that we are well matched once the DNA samples were registered.
Registered where?
He grinned and slowly circled her. She turned to keep him in her vision.
At the mating office. While you were sleeping, your new colouration was recorded. It is lovely by the way. Reds and bright yellow is a rare combination.
She looked down and blinked.
That wasn’t there earlier!
It happened when you were completely within the sea. Our children are born on land and enter the water at age two when their lungs and gills function. That is when they receive their colouration. Until that moment, they are the same base green as this stripe on my cheek.
She watched his finger tap his cheek, and she smiled.
Do they also have silver freckles?
Raygar bequeathed them to all his descendants. I would rather have had his way with women, but one will do me.
Skiria looked at him and laughed.
Not anymore she won’t.
I believe I can be persuasive.
He reached out and skated his fingers up her ribcage and then down to her waist.
Persuasive or not, I still need clothing. How will that be sorted?
He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Come this way. Raygar has arranged living quarters for us. Your clothing is there, though I do love you in nothing but your colours.
As I do you, but if I am going to live here, and it looks like I will, I need to fit in and nudity was not something I saw in the crowds of the city.
He squeezed her and shrugged.
The folk of the city are not the standard you need to live up to.
They skirted the city and the populated areas, leaving her tiny island behind. A gleam of silver under the water caught her eye. It was Lora, nestled at the base of another mountain.
I thought she was near the visitors’ quarters.
She was, now she is near our home. The mountain extends up and provides heat and power to this segment of the hemisphere. Raygar used to have a summer home here, but now, he has offered it to you, or us, rather.
Once they were even with the mountainside, they began a quick surge toward the surface. The freedom from the suit was amazing, but it left a vulnerability in its place. She wasn’t a Salass, she was only a mimicry of the species and hiding her differences seemed very important at the moment.
The sprawling summerhouse was lovely, and it contained clothing for both of them, as well as bots for housekeeping purposes.
Raygar was making lunch, and he complimented her on the dress she was wearing. “Thank the spark of life. I can finally see you as an appropriate mate for my great-grandson.”
She looked down at the halter-top that exposed her gills, the red sides of her body fading to orange, yellow and finally cream in the centre. Her skin was marked all over with the strange ombre pattern. Her lips and chin were their original colouration, but the rest of her was all Salass colours.
She looked around. “Where is Tyvor?”
“He is out getting fresh mint for tea. Now, I know this has been difficult for you, but you have been entrusted to my care, and I will make sure that you live to the heights of your abilities. You are being enrolled in the Citadel as a Master, and you and Tyvor will be available for missions that can use your talents. You will be the strongest team Salass has ever had.”
She blinked and looked at Raygar as he easily sliced vegetables for a salad. “I don’t know that I qualify as a member of a Salass Citadel.”
Raygar paused and walked over to her, cupping her chin in his hand. “Why not?”
“Resicor rejected me and you took me in. I am grateful, but I don’t feel an attachment to this world, beyond Tyvor.”