30
(Silnaday, cont.)
Tranas A’mara Retreat
.
Varice Vost sat in the canteen, eating slowly, watching as Darrey & Kimmel moved tables to the very edges of the room. They were obviously excited at the prospect of practicing shaze again.
She looked at Seyth, who was examining every surface he could find, in his search for droppers and cameras that might have been placed. As he neared her, she noticed that his pouch was not empty. “How many so far?” she asked.
“Twenty-three,” he replied. “They are serious, abári.”
“Have you checked any private quarters yet?”
“No. Do you want me to?”
“Please. I’m worried about what they may have found out about us – or whether we should find a new place to live,” Varice replied.
“They will always find us if they are this determined. Better to just keep up with them and limit how much they can learn. I’ll ask around whether we can increase security against such expert cloaking.”
“Good idea.”
“I’d better keep at this if I want a turn with a shaze today!” Seyth excused and kept moving.
Varice wondered when Fain would be up. She longed to tell him what Auraka had told her. Twins!
“Come on, Seyth!” Darrey encouraged. “You can find the shinies after we’re done!”
He looked at Varice.
“Go ahead!” she added. “An hour delay isn’t going to make much difference now! But you being sharp with your skills could make a difference.”
He grinned and hurried over to the others. She shook her head.
“What?” Fain asked, sitting next to her.
“Boys will be boys,” she replied.
“Even the girls should be practicing,” he reminded her. “I’m sorry I slept late.”
“Did you? I couldn’t sleep, so I went to see Auraka.”
“What did she had to say?”
Varice debated mentioning the pains, but there didn’t seem much point. Auraka hadn’t seen anything wrong with her and if it was her connection with Vinnia, there wasn’t much they could do anyway – not more than they were already doing.
“Any news?” Fain asked again.
She looked at him, meeting his green eyes with her own brown ones. “I’m pregnant.”
“Fabulous news!” he replied with a grin.
“With twins.”
His jaw dropped with an “Ohhh! I guess that explains it! Varice!” he pulled her into his arms. His strong, comforting arms. She realized anew what she had done. She’d gone and deliberately got herself pregnant to become bait for the people who took her daughter. She had to be insane!
♥
Anney sat with Syr, watching Hergil duel with the other men. Syr seemed mesmerized by the clashing and buzzing of the shazes. There had been a time when she was excited by the clamor and the glory won by the victors. Now, it was just big boys playing with their dangerous toys that could lop off an arm or a leg or kill someone. Even the training shazes could break a bone if they weren’t careful. Somehow, that sort of sport had lost its appeal when she became a mother. She couldn’t separate the danger from it anymore.
She remembered watching Vinnia spar with Vance and Nampe before the mission that took the two men from them. Nampe’s body had been discovered in Balan, but Vance had never been found, alive or otherwise.
She hugged Syr tighter and hoped that she had been wise in volunteering for the upcoming mission – one which she did not know know when it would begin and had no idea where she would be going…
She looked at Aunt Varice, sitting with Fain… Uncle Fain? They had merged so completely it seemed. She noticed the flicker of new life. So, her new cousin had already been conceived. Fain’s son or daughter – while his grandson or granddaughter grew in her own womb. It seemed so strange, yet so marvelous at the same time.
Anney wondered about the fact that Fain was so recently widowed. Could he really love her aunt like she deserved? Varice seemed happy enough, so maybe she shouldn’t be so worried about it.
♥
Belmara Mountain Institute
.
Euli Harrow felt torn between the needs of Vinnia and Jukanya.
Please come, assistance is required. The message from the stella sounded urgent. That could only mean one thing: Jukanya was awake and in an agitated state.
“I’ll stay with Vinnia. You go see what’s up with Jukanya,” Kendra suggested.
Euli nodded. She gave Vinnia a careful hug and left the room, heading towards the stella’s quarters at the base of the mountain complex.
The hallways were stark and clinical, making her miss the halls of the A’mara Complex in Irola, before the Empress had it destroyed and replaced with her Imperial Palace, spanning several blocks at the street level far above the ground… more of a display of her wealth and power than anything to do with need.
The Complex halls had been warm earth tones with plants wherever they could get away with it. Sometimes a couple of birds escaped one of the atria and lived in the halls until someone was able to catch it and return it to where it belonged. It had always felt cheerful to Euli.
She sighed and hurried towards the one room where she always felt welcome despite Thorsa’s attempts at dividing the stella’s loyalties. Several times, Opuntia had reminded Thorsa that her duty was to heal those who needed healing. That included Thorsa’s ailments as well as those who would be thorns in her side.
She didn’t even need to knock. Rather the door opened before her and closed quickly behind her. One look at Jukanya and she knew they had a problem. She looked more like a wild animal than a woman. She was all rage one moment and all pain the next. Even that didn’t prepare her for what her friend begged the next moment.
“Feed me to the dragon, Euli. It’s the only way left for me.”
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