Authors: Lisanne Norman
* * *
Noni's surgery wasn't what he expected, but then with Noni, nothing ever was. It was a regular white tiled treatment room with an examination bed and all the paraphernalia associated with it. The only difference between it and the standard ones was it was all laid out so Noni could sit, not stand.
Still smarting at her blatant disregard of his right to mental privacy, he sat down in the chair beside her desk. "I was medically and mentally examined three weeks ago by the TeLaxaudin physician Kzizysus, Noni," he growled. "There's no need for this."
"I think there is," she said, placing her walking stick in a holder beside the desk. "You been hiding from your life-mate for the last week, Kusac. You're distressing her needlessly. I'm telling you this as her birther: you risk her having the cub too early."
"Because of a row?" he asked uncomfortably. "You're exaggerating, Noni. She brought it on herself. She knew how I felt about Zsurtul. Why didn't she think of me before arranging the visit?"
"She did. She thought it would help bring those memories back for you. Why do you see Zsurtul as a threat? Tell me, what harm can he do to you and your family? You're not thinking this through properly, Kusac, you're just reacting like a youngling, not a mature male."
"Letting him visit my estate made it look like I'm endorsing his presence on Shola and I'm not!"
"No one gives a damn about how you feel about the Primes," she said tartly. "You're the one who's left the trail. Everyone but you has accepted the Prime presence on Shola."
"The Telepath Guild has been using Attitude Indoctrination through the media and you know it, Noni! I can see them for what they really are."
"You want Father Lijou to send you for a course of that yourself?" she demanded. "Or worse, have them think your mind's not recovered from being programmed by Chy'qui?"
"What?" He looked at her, hardly able to believe what she was saying.
"You heard. Carry on like this and he'll send for a Guild Telepath to adjust your thinking for the public good."
"He wouldn't," he said, hearing the note of uncertainty in his voice.
"Wouldn't he? You're risking your Triad cub's life— maybe even Carrie's— with this attitude, and you're endangering interspecies relationships by antagonizing the Prime Emperor's son!" She looked at him from under meeting eye ridges. "I'll say this for you, Kusac, you never do things by half! So tell me how this youngling Prime is a threat to you or your family."
"His people were responsible for me losing my Talent! That's reason enough!"
"Is it? If not for the Prince intervening, Carrie would have been more than raped by J'koshuk. Zsurtul fought for you to be released as soon as Carrie was fit to travel. You'd never have been found either. Zsurtul didn't have to do any of this, he did it because he knew it was right. So what does he threaten? Your mate? I think not. He has his own female with him at the Embassy. Your liberty? He's the one who has to be protected from the Valtegans on the Nezule estate!"
"His scent sets my teeth on edge!" he spat at her, knowing she knew this already.
"Ah, his scent," she nodded. "You don't like how he smells. Funny, I hear that mammals smell very different to the likes of him, yet for all he's a youngling, he can live alone among us and put up with our scents. And when you gave him a beating in the exercise hall at Nezule, he was prepared to let it go rather than make an incident out of it. Time you measured yourself against this Prince, Kusac. He's acting more like an adult than you are for all he's only lived ten years! You going to let your senses rule your head, boy?"
She was making him angry with her comparisons. "His people were responsible for our welfare on their ship! They claim we were supposed to be guests, yet they didn't prevent Chy'qui from using my Triad for his experiments, didn't stop J'koshuk from torturing me!"
"Zsurtul went out of his way to save your lives when he knew what was happening," she said. "He is a civilian, not a Court employee. He had no responsibility for you at all! In fact, he has more reason to hate you than you have him!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded. "I never did anything to him!"
She sat back in her chair and surveyed him. "Apart from beating him up, you tried to kill him during the hostage exchange at Haven, Kusac."
He opened his mouth angrily, then the truth of what she was saying dawned on him. "That wasn't me," he muttered. "That was Chy'qui's programming."
"So?" she countered. "He sees you personally try to kill him at Haven after blasting this J'koshuk with mind power, then attack him during a training session. He has never raised a hand against you. Think this through, Kusac. Keep up this attitude to Zsurtul and the Primes and just maybe they'll look closer at how you killed J'koshuk, especially now you have your Talent back. Use your brain on this for once!"
Her talk of how he killed J'koshuk worried him. It had been mentioned briefly between himself and Kaid but with no one else, and there had been no official enquiry into it.
"You know the penalty for using your Talent to kill, don't you?" she said quietly, leaning forward in her seat. "They destroy that area of your brain. We're talking about your attitude toward the Crown Prince of the Primes here. The ally who can talk to the M'zullians when we can't because of their psychopathic hatred of us. We're talking possible interstellar war if you harm him. Those who knew what you did at Haven covered it up because you'd lost your Talent then, they knew it was unlikely you'd ever be able to do it again. Now you're in the process of regaining it. You keep this up and they'll be forced to do something drastic, Kusac. You're in AlRel, you know they can't ignore it. You want to lose everything you're in the process of regaining just because you don't like his scent?"
As she spoke, fear had hit him like an icy shower, shocking any vestige of anger from him. "I hadn't realized," he stammered. "Have they..."
"Nothing's been done yet," she said, patting his arm reassuringly. "Nor will it be if it's up to me. That's why we're having this talk. Carrie had a good intuition of what could happen if you didn't overcome your dislike of Zsurtul, that's why she did what she did. Though she'd not be able to tell you that's why."
"What do I do, Noni?"
"You call that mate of yours and apologize. Tell her she was right, that you're on your way back to see her. Stay a couple of days, maybe even visit the Nezule estate and see Prince Zsurtul— you suggest it! Just remember what's at stake, Kusac. We Sholans are more than just our base instincts, you know. And when you come back, come to me and we'll see if I can't do something to start those memories resurfacing properly."
He got to his feet, barely noticing that her steadying mental influence had stopped his shaking. "I'm in your debt, Noni," he said quietly.
"No," she replied. "We're family, Kusac. That's why I'm here."
the
Couana,
Zhal-S'Asha, 22nd day (October)
He could see how blind he'd been to reason and that he should have realized what was happening to him. He'd been too close to the problem and everyone else had lacked the piece of information only he had; that he'd spent a night with Zayshul and somehow it had changed his perception of Primes.
Going back to the estate to see Carrie and Kaid hadn't been as difficult as he'd thought, but visiting Zsurtul had proved impossible. When he'd returned to Stronghold, Noni had not been pleased. As she'd said though, better he came back than made a fool of himself if he couldn't handle it.
Despite Lijou's personal objections, he'd gone to stay with her at the cottage. He'd learned all he could from them, it was time to let Noni try.
Inside her home, with the psi damper on, he'd finally been able to access the beginnings of his returning Talent and start retraining. It hadn't been much, because nothing could be done to help his fragmented memories become whole, but she'd helped him overcome the fear that reaching out for her mind and trying to send to her would trigger the pain.
Yawning, he closed his eyes for a few minutes, unwittingly drifting into an uneasy sleep.
Shola, Governor's Palace at Shanagi, Zhal-Nylam, 21st day (September)
Falma ushered the Prime Ambassador into Konis' office and indicated the less formal chairs round a low table.
"I'll be with you in a moment, Ambassador," said Konis from his desk. "I'm nearly finished. Falma, take this to Father Lijou, will you, please?"
"I'm grateful to you for seeing me at such short notice, Clan Lord Aldatan," said M'szudoe, taking the seat indicated and settling himself comfortably. Curious, he looked around. This was the first time he'd visited the head of Alien Relations in his office. Usually his business was conducted in council chambers or informally over a rushed meal in the refectory.
Two fans, one at either end of the room, spun lazily in the high ceiling, circulating the cooler air that came in through the open portico that formed one wall of the AlRel office. It was beside this that he was sitting. Brightly colored murals depicting the various Alliance species meeting and conducting business on all their worlds covered the office walls. At the far end, he could see the section where his people had been added. A portion of the wall still remained blank, painted the almost impossible deep turquoise blue of the Sholan sky, so that other new species could be added one day.
"You indicated it was important, Ambassador. Unlike some representatives, you've not been one to take up my time without reason." Konis held out an envelope and a hastily scribbled note to Falma. "Tell Lijou it's the funding he's been waiting for," he said in a low voice. "Say I advise him to bank it immediately, before Raiban gets to hear about this."
Falma smiled. "Yes, Master Konis."
As he left, Konis got up and joined the ambassador. "I see you're admiring the murals," he said, sitting down opposite him. "Beautiful, aren't they? I have to admit I'm glad I work in AlRel and not in Transport or Industry. I couldn't live with industrial scenes. These constantly remind me of the wonderful diversity of our universe."
"Beautiful, indeed," said M'szudoe. "It has been educational for me coming to Shola. Until now our contacts with other species have been mainly limited to our TeLaxaudin allies, and they don't permit Ambassadors to their world."
"I'd noticed," said Konis, choosing a widemouthed glass for the Prime and pouring out a drink of lightly flavored water. He offered it to the Ambassador then poured one for himself. "Glad it isn't just us. Anyway, Ambassador, what can I do for you?"
"Emperor Cheu'ko'h has asked me to approach you on a matter of great delicacy, Clan Lord," said M'szudoe, taking a sip. "General Kezule has left K'oish'ik taking with him one of our small destroyers, the
N'zishok,
and a number of our people."
"Regrettable, indeed, Ambassador, but hardly an Alliance matter," said Konis picking up his own glass. "Do you know why he left?"
M'szudoe hesitated, his forked tongue just flicking beyond his lips as he returned his glass to the table. "As I said, this is a matter of great delicacy. It seems that the dissident Chy'qui who so grievously injured one of your people on the
Kz'adul,
was not alone. They tried to recruit General Kezule to their cause and failed. He dealt with their center of operations, giving us the names of the leaders to pick up for questioning, then left immediately afterward. He claimed if he remained, he'd be a further focus for the discontented. The Emperor does not agree. He wants the General back. He is, after all, family."
Konis, the tip of his tail beginning to flick gently against his ankles in agitation, watched the Ambassador taking another mouthful of his drink. "Does Emperor Cheu'ko'h believe that the General is himself a dissident?"
"Oh, no. You misunderstand me," said M'szudoe hastily, putting his glass back on the table. "The General is held in high esteem by his Majesty. He values his counsel greatly. It is due to the General that our Enlightened One is now living on your Warrior Estate."
"I'm afraid I don't see what we can do to help you," said Konis. "When did you say the General left K'oish'ik?"
"Just over three of your weeks ago. We don't expect you to go after the General, Clan Lord. What we were hoping is that if your new Watcher security patrols out in the Anchorage sector had a sighting of his ship, you'd send word to us."
"Anchorage?" repeated Konis, his expression freezing.
"Clan Lord, we're aware of what your Brotherhood calls our old outpost." M'szudoe allowed himself a small smile. "Will you contact us if your Watchers see the
N'zishok
? We don't want this matter widely known, you understand."
"I'll certainly pass your request over to the Brotherhood, Ambassador," said Konis. "Have you any idea where the General is bound?"
"None, I'm afraid. If you can let us know if there's a sighting, Clan Lord, we'll handle the rest," said M'szudoe, getting to his feet. "Thank you for your time."
* * *
"He came after my son and his family once, Lijou, could he be doing it again?"
"If he is, then he'll be picked up long before he reaches Shola, Konis," said Lijou. "We've got the Watchers and there's the home fleet ringing our solar system. I really don't think he's headed for here. We were aware the General and his wife had disappeared, but not why. They've a— hatchling I think they call them— on the way, and they took it with them. Hardly the kind of thing you do if you're bent on revenge. I'll have our people at the Embassy updated and see what more they can find out."
"Are Kusac and my bond-daughter aware of this? Or Kaid?"
"No, we thought it wiser to say nothing for now. Carrie doesn't need this worry so near her time. It's already a priority with the Watchers. We look after our own, Konis. Trust us."
"I expect you're right, Lijou," he sighed before heading slowly back to his own office.
Kij'ik, the same day
Silently, like a shadow, Shaidan padded behind Kezule. The General was pleased, he could feel it despite the collar he wore. As he'd been trained, he was beginning to learn the range of Kezule's moods. Following him into the lab, he found himself an out of the way niche near the entrance and crouched carefully down on his haunches to wait.
"The hydroponic area is up and running, Zayshul," said Kezule. "The seeds we brought with us are growing well in their accelerated stasis fields. And Maaz'ih has gotten the protein vats started. We should have fresh food within a month."
"Kezule, in the name of the God-Kings, if you must take Shaidan everywhere with you, send him to sit somewhere more comfortable! This is his first day out and about, his ribs are nowhere near healed yet," said Zayshul, looking up from the screen where she and Giyarishis were working.
"He's fine," said Kezule, glancing back at the cub. "He's not complaining of being in any pain."
"He wouldn't," she said. "You've left him with K'hedduk's programming. Unless you ask him a direct question, he'll not tell you anything."
Kezule sighed. Ever since the child had been able to get out of his bed, he and Zayshul had argued over him.
"Has pain," said Giyarishis suddenly, breaking into their conversation.
Kezule turned to look at him, surprised at the interruption.
"There you are," said Zayshul, turning around on her stool. "I'm taking him to the sick bay, then back to our quarters to rest."
He was beginning to recognize when he was beaten. "Tell me about your work first. Shaidan, go to the sick bay and wait for the Doctor there," he ordered.
"Yes, General," said the cub, pushing himself slowly to his feet.
"Tell Ghidd'ah she's to give you something to eat," Zayshul called out after him.
"You spoil him," said Kezule, frowning. "You treat him like a pet."
Zayshul stiffened. "I treat him as I will treat our child."
He didn't want to go down that corridor right now. "Talking of which, have you had any success encouraging our females to breed?"
"Some, but only among those already in a relationship, and they're not too sure about bearing their own eggs. You need us too, Kezule. With so much needing to be done to the station, you can't afford to lose almost half your people to egg-bearing."
"True. I'm not used to counting females as part of my forces," he said. "What about your research on the feral females of my time?"
"We're finishing analyzing the data now. Giyarishis' family was one of those involved in bringing us females out of the breeding rooms after the Fall. We think that their situation was exacerbated by their food and the slave collars. The raw meat was heavily laced with la'quo and the collars had the resin in them. They were being slowly poisoned every day of their lives, just as the Jalnians were so long ago."
"Jalnians?" The name sounded familiar, but he was more interested in what she'd said about the TeLaxaudin.
"The indigenes of Jalna, the world near which we picked up the M'zullians and the Sholans. Around the time of the Fall, our ancestors were farming laalquoi on that world but it mutated into a toxic version that sent locals and Valtegans alike into uncontrollable rages. A version of that plant might be what they're still using to control the females on M'zull and J'kirtikk even now."
"I always assumed the slave collars were to control them as we controlled the telepaths." He stopped, thinking over what he'd just said.
"Perhaps it wasn't intended they become feral, it was just a side effect," she said.
"No. I told you," he said automatically. "There was a coup led by a group of Warriors. They took the power from the females and imprisoned them. Surely they'd have noticed the contaminated la'quo products from Jalna and stopped using them?" Pulling up a stool, he sat beside her. "And you females were kept in breeding rooms for at least two hundred years before the Fall. Ask Giyarishis."
Zayshul looked at the small being perched on her other side.
"Is true. Memory he has," agreed Giyarishis.
Her small silence made him look back to her, catching the strange expression on her face.
"When they discovered what it did, yes," she said hastily. "I can't see any reason why they'd make the females feral in the first place, nor why you males didn't refuse to go near them at all."
"You're female," he said absently, reaching out and taking hold of her hand. "You wouldn't understand the sheer physical drive to reproduce that the ordinary male Warrior possesses. It can rob them of all reason. We had to lace the water supply with la'quo to suppress it or we'd have had riots for the use of the drones on the ships. The only thing that kept them away from the true females was their ferocity." He looked up at her, wondering again about her uncanny knack of following his thoughts, wondering if it could be the reason the females had been put in slave collars in the first place.
"I visited my own wife only four times in as many years because she had to be sedated to the point of unconsciousness before she could be brought out of the breeding room. Then there was the fear she'd waken before I was done."
"There were the drones, though."
His mouth twitched slightly at the corners. "True, but they didn't smell female. When all was said and done, I preferred my wife."
"And the Sholan pets?"
He put her hand back on the bench. "Mine was a male telepath," he said, getting up, the moment shattered. "A few of our people tried mating with the Sholans. Several court officials were savaged— Sholan females are as ferocious as our own when taken against their will, and none submitted willingly— a few succeeded but had to inject sharroh poison with their bite, chemically binding them to the female until they'd mated. It was a practice I found abhorrent." He remembered the Sholan female that had shared his captivity and how he'd had to bite her in order to heal himself after a beating by the Sholan interrogator. It was yet another grudge he had against Kusac and those who'd brought him forward in time.
"It must have been a very strange culture," Zayshul said. "I can understand your reluctance to marry again."
"Marriage is to breed, nothing more," he said. "We've spoken of this before. Now go and see to the child, I want to talk to Giyarishis."
He waited until she'd left. "What else do you know about the time before the Fall?" he asked the TeLaxaudin.
Giyarishis began to hum, mandibles opening and closing gently. "Little. Before me. Can process stored memories."
"Mine?"
"Yes. Answer in you."
"Do it. I need to know more about our past."
"Tomorrow come. Test take."
"I need you to do something else for me. I want you to mark the Sholan child who was here so he gives off a Prime scent as well as a Sholan one."
"Make Sholan seem Prime? Why?"
"I need him to be thought a Prime hybrid."
Giyarishis hummed and the translator made a few untranslatable sounds. "Impossible! Too different. Why do?"
"I need to bring someone here, a Sholan. The child's father. He's more likely to come if he thinks his child is also part Prime."
The TeLaxaudin was silent for a moment. "Need samples both."
"What kind of samples? I'll get them for you."
"I do. Who else?"
"My wife, the Doctor."
The humming grew louder as the alien's hands began to twitch. "Not like."
Dammit! Surely the TeLaxaudin wasn't getting moralistic on him?
"Why? Tell or not do."
"Because I need his cooperation. I need to make him think this Sholan child is his, and my wife's."
Eyes swirling, Giyarishis looked away. "Go. I think. Maybe do."
"I need it done soon, Giyarishis," said Kezule, getting to his feet. "I have to send a message to him within the next few days and I need the scent to go on it."
Valsgarth Estate, Zhal-Nylam, 23rd day (September)
The beginning of autumn had brought a welcome coolness to the air after the long, hot summer. As Kaid approached the tables outside the training center mess that evening Garras looked up, catching his eye. His friend's mouth split in a Human grin, showing white canines against his dark brown pelt.
"Your drink's waiting," said Garras, pushing it toward him as he slipped into the seat they'd kept for him.
Gratefully he picked it up, taking a large mouthful before putting the glass down. Slumping forward, he rested his elbows on the table and his chin on his hand and began to relax.
"Let me guess," said Rezac, his voice full of amusement. "You've been moving furniture all day. Jo was just the same in her last month."
Kaid turned his head fractionally so he could see him. "That was yesterday." He sounded tired even to himself.
"She wanted to go for a walk," said Garras. "I know, I saw you. Vanna did that a lot too. She'd get some food from the kitchen then drag me off into the woods on the pretext of a picnic and spend the time searching for the ideal spot to eat. Except she was looking for a den."
"That's a Sholan trait," said Brynne. "Not a Human one. Keeza hasn't started nesting yet."
"It's exhausting," said Kaid. "I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be hovering over any female so protectively, especially one as independent and capable as Carrie. She must have dragged me on a five mile hike." He flicked his ears back slightly in an equivalent of a shrug. "I don't know where she gets the energy."
"Nervous energy," said Garras, taking a drink of his own ale. "They're psyching themselves up for the birth I've always reckoned. At least for most of the last month their bellies are too big to walk upright comfortably so they stay in."
"Not Carrie," said Kaid as Rezac echoed him with a "Not Jo!" They shared a grin.
"Humans are different. They're designed for upright walking," said Rezac. "Jo had endless energy. It was me that got exhausted. She had me reorganizing the kitchen store cupboards, the linen cupboards— the nursery room was redecorated three times...I could go on for ever."
"But there's something good about it," said Brynne quietly, a gentle smile on his face. "I wasn't ready to be a father when Marak was born so Vanna didn't involve me much. This time it's different. This time I'm sharing it with Keeza."
"You're just being sentimental," said Jurrel with a laugh. "You moan like mad to me when Keeza can't hear you!"
"I think we're entitled to moan a little considering what our females put us through," said Garras. "Don't you, Kaid?"
He smiled vaguely. He'd learned a lot from hearing the problems the other males had and were facing, but none had mentioned what Carrie was going through.
He felt a hand close over his wrist and looked up to see, and feel, Garras' concern.
"What's wrong, Kaid?" his friend asked quietly. "I can sense it. What's worrying you about Carrie?"
Aware the others were trading grumbles in a lively fashion, he decided it was time he asked Garras' advice. "She wakes crying most days," he said quietly, moving his head till it was only inches from his friend's. "And the walking, it's not just nesting, she's distressed about something, deeply distressed. Even Kashini can't make her smile the way she used to. I've tried everything I can think of to cheer her up, but..." He shrugged, then gave a wry smile. "I've even taken her to Valsgarth to go around the stores for toys and such for the cub when she's born. Can you imagine that? Me going round infant shops?"
"You're no different from the rest of us, Kaid. You're as proud as any of them," said Garras, flicking an ear at the group around the table. "Us," he amended with a large grin. "How long have you wanted to share a cub with Carrie? Since you were three! That's well over forty years, Kaid! I'm glad to see you enjoying this with her."
"But is she when she's so distressed? I think she's feeling torn between me and Kusac, even more so now the birth's so close and he's staying up at Noni's."
"I thought that row was over."
"It is, but he's still staying away. I miss him too, Garras."
"I heard you two had become closer. It must be very difficult for you all at this time."
"His lack of Talent makes misunderstandings between us easier," sighed Kaid. "He experienced an emotion similar to what the Humans call jealousy over T'Chebbi being pregnant, but that lasted a very short time. He's looking forward to our cub almost as much as we are, and is pleased for us. But it doesn't really help."
"I know. No matter how much they both love you, memories of their sharing Kashini are bound to be affecting them, particularly now. The villa is full of reminders of what they've lost."
"Perhaps I should take her to my home up in the Dzahai mountains," he said. "There are no memories of Kusac there."
"I think you should. You'll be nearer Noni for one thing. These last days should be yours to make your own wholesome memories, ones not touched by what's been lost, only by the joy of waiting for the daughter you're sharing. You take her there. I can manage here, you know that."
He thought about it seriously for a few minutes and nodded. "You're right. I'll suggest it to her when I get back tonight. She should be more relaxed. Vanna and Sashti are visiting her and T'Chebbi— they're having a females only evening testing Sashti's new blends of oils," he grinned. "I got thrown out on my ear."
Garras laughed. "Let's hope T'Chebbi's not giving Sashti any Consortia recipes, otherwise we'll all have to watch out!"
"T'Chebbi was a Consortia?" asked Jurrel, pouncing on this tidbit of information about the enigmatic Sister.
"It's all right, Garras," said Kaid, feeling his friend's embarrassment at giving away information about his Companion. "If she told you, then she's not wanting to keep it quiet any more. T'Chebbi was training as a Consortia to be her foster-father's hostess. He was a merchant in fine arts."