"I'm not going to let you plot and plan out
the rest of my life for me, otyet." Aliana snarled. Her father, Vayer,
could be the most stubborn creature.
"Indeed." He said, then she worried. A plotting
smile almost as toothy as the river pike showed through his silvering beard.
"Then, what are my responsibilities as your father, as you still acknowledge
me as such?"
Aliana backpedaled, mentally and physically.
"What does that have to do with anything?" She got ready to bolt. Aliana
knew her father could talk her into anything if she gave him enough time
to do so and the plane wouldn't wait for anyone or anything.
"We all have responsibilities, Aliana." He
said, looking past her to the door. She gasped and turned.
"Good day, Aliana." Mikhail smiled, almost
as toothily as her father. "Did you think I would let you run off to the
Techton without mentioning it to Vayer?"
"Well, yes." Her eyes flickered to Tzer, tall
and slender behind his mate. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone."
"I didn't. I told my couch." His blue eyes
were far too amused. "It just happened Lord Vayer happened to be standing
in the same room."
"Traitor." She spat, literally.
"Now, now, Aliana." Tzer glared at her. "No
nonsense."
"What, because I'm still a child?"
"You just proved it to all of us." Mikhail
wiped the moisture away with a handkerchief. "Now, what of your father's
responsibilities? I believe that was the question he asked."
"It was." She glared at him over her shoulder.
"He wants me to be a good little slave, like the renSimes."
Vayer sighed. "You know nothing of it, Aliana,
to say a thing like that. Perhaps it would be better for you to see more
of the world."
"Yes, please." She begged him. "Anything.
I want to be free of this moldering heap of stones. I don't want the Demense.
You have another heir now."
"Visarin is a bit young." Vayer noted. "It
will be many years until he is an adult."
"See, you want out of this prison too." She
snarled. "Let me go."
"Why should I?" His midnight eyes held no
anger, surprisingly. Taken aback, she thought for a moment.
"Because Mir would be harmed more by a reluctant
ruler than waiting for Visarin." She bowed her head, finally admitting the
truth. "I don't want the Demense. I would mess it up."
"Experience is the only way to learn, Aliana."
Mikhail told her.
"Then let me get that experience elsewhere.
Maybe I can do some good there."
"The Techton would cripple you if you went
to them." Vayer closed his eyes, as if in sorrow. "They geld their lords."
"Mikhail told me as much." She shivered, still
not entirely sure how bad it would be. "But anything is better than destroying
Mir because I am unsuited."
"Is there anyway I could send Aliana to them
and be sure they would not geld her?" Vayer asked Mikhail, sounding almost
broken. "I would not chain her here against her will, but I would also not
wish to have her crippled."
"I don't know." Mikhail rested his large hand
on her shoulder. Timidly, she reached up and clasped it.
"If you had stated any other reason than the
good of Mir, Aliana." her father sighed again. "If they didn't cripple their
lords so irredeemably. If, if, if ..." He snarled in frustration.
"Vanesa was made entire again." Tzer added
in.
"Yes, at very nearly the cost of her life
and Sevrin's." Mikhail's hand tensed on her shoulder. "I'll see what I can
do, Lord and Ruler Vayer."
"Enough of the formalities, Mikhail." Her
father's grin seemed more than a bit strained. "Can you or can't you?"
Aliana looked back up at Mikhail, pleading
with him with her eyes. Finally he kissed her forehead and said, "No problem."
Jarmin looked up at the worn brick facade
of yet another Sime Center. Did they get the architects of these things
by the gross? With a long suffering sigh, he picked up his bags and pushed
through the unlatched doors. "Sosectu Jarmin?"
"Yes" He blinked sleepily.
"Let me take those for you." His bags were
removed from his hands before he could say anything about it. Blearily, he
noticed the young voice belonged to an equally young channel. Not again.
His eyes closed with weariness. The sun was dreadfully bright this morning,
even though his 'post' reaction was over days ago. "What do you have in here,
bricks?"
"Of a sort." He shrugged, thinking they were
at least a type of fortification. "Lead on." He nodded, wondering if he had
been here before and not really caring.
"Don't want you to get lost." The young man
said and he had to fight not to cringe. Despite the fact his sense of direction
was almost as good as any Sime's, the constant jesting references to Gens
getting lost wore on his nerves. I see this is going to be one of those
months. "By the way, my name is Hajene Farr." Jarmin cringed again as
he thought he could hear glass clink as the young man set his bags on the
bed. "You really should pad your glassware better." With this he vanished
out the door.
Hajene Farr. Jarmin sat on the edge
of the bed and put his head in his hands. That's who I'm going to be having
transfer with this month. No polite introductions, no quiet conversations,
just dump him in his rooms and get back to work. "How did I ever get stuck
in this position?" He asked the wall. It didn't answer. Neither did his heart
any more.
Getting off the plane would have been far
easier if she hadn't sneezed as soon as the door opened. Then again. And
again. Irritably, she tried to rub at her nose.
"Can I take one of those?" A heavily accented
voice startled her.
Still sniffling, she almost clobbered the
young woman with one of her bags. Shyly, she handed the lighter to her, pulled
out a handkerchief and blew her nose. "Thank you." Aliana put it away and
tried to retrieve her bag.
"No, I think we are going the same way." She
pointed towards a collection of blue-gray structures. "My name is Hana Firman."
Catching on quickly, "And mine is Aliana
Fatimanova Mir nee Fatima."
"What a mouthful. Even if I hadn't been sent
out here to fetch you, I would have a hard time mistaking all of that for
any other name." Her grin broadened. "Welcome to Rialite."
"Is that it?" She pointed to the tall buildings
nervously.
"No, this is just the airport." Hana chuckled.
"Where is the rest of your luggage?"
"My father decided it would be a good idea
for me to blend in." She grinned wryly. "All he let me take were a few mementoes.
I think he got the idea from one of his brothers." She thought of Sevrin
only being allowed to take three things with him into exile among the veiled.
"At least he let me have two bags."
"And I bet you packed them full." Hana's nose
wrinkled cheerfully.
"As full as I could." Aliana realized she
was already sweating in the child's motley she had worn on the flight over.
"Is there any place we can find a tailor?"
"Your clothes seem to fit quite well."
"They're all I have." She blushed a bit. "He
wouldn't let me bring anything at all in the way of clothes other than what
I had on my back. We are still hip deep in snow at home, even though it is
melting quite well." And I'm about to. Aliana fanned herself with
her free hand, panting in the harsh sunlight. She sneezed again at the dry
air. "Ugh"
"Lets get your things put up and we'll go
find a clothing store." Hana chuckled. "What kind of price range are we looking
at?"
Aliana thought about her budget cautiously,
not wishing to tie up any more of her money on frivolities until she had
a way to make money than she had to. "Second hand if we can find it."
"I'm surprised." Hana looked her over. "What
you have on your back is worth far more than my entire closet put together."
Hiding a smile, "Perhaps we can make a deal."
Actually Hana looked quite fine in the
multi-colored shirt. "This is warm. What is it made out of, wool?"
"Of course." Aliana blinked, startled. "What
else?"
"Synthetics, of course." She grinned right
back. "They're cheaper than wool, even though I would love to have a pair
of boots like yours." Fortunately or not, they didn't fit so Aliana got to
keep them.
Tentatively, Aliana slid her fingers over
the lightweight, plain shirt she had traded Hana for and looked at the pile
of other garments. They seemed so flimsy, even though they appeared more
sturdy than they looked when Aliana carefully tested a few of the seams.
"If you like, I think I can remember how they are made if you can find a
cobbler."
"No, I couldn't afford anything like that."
She hung her head shyly. "Theoretically, I should turn out to be a fairly
decent Donor, if I don't turn renSime. Maybe then I can afford some fancy
clothes."
"Where are your parents?" Aliana looked around
at the rather plain room, with only a handful of cheaply made, mass produced
pictures on the wall.
"Don't really know at this moment." Hana sat
on the bed with a thump. "Busy, I suppose."
Aliana put her arm around her new friend.
"Too busy to spend time with their daughter?"
"Well, yes." She sighed, face turning towards
a picture on the desk with a glass cover on it. "I've been here for over
a year now, since I'm not likely to be a channel and they didn't want me
surprising them. For the most part I get along well with the faculty, so
they keep me busy and out of trouble."
"My change over should be in about a month,
hopefully you will establish soon." Aliana hugged her.
"I would like that, I think." Hana turned
her face away shyly. "Oh, I forgot. I was supposed to take you to see the
head of the school as soon as I had you settled in."
"Then get changed and we'll go. You have been
doing an excellent job." For a moment Aliana shuddered at how much like her
own parents she sounded. "I didn't mean to be so bossy." I didn't mean
to sound like I've come from thirty generations of nobility, really.
She snorted at herself.
"You're right, we were still getting you settled,
weren't we." Hana chuckled softly and put on some of her remaining light
weight clothes. "I think I'll save those for winter."
"Here, probably wise." It was getting a bit
chill as the sun went down, but nothing like home. "Although I would like
to find my rooms before we go to the head master."
"If you like, you could take the one next
to mine." She offered shyly. "The head master said you were to have the choice
of unoccupied suites on the top floor." Aliana could almost hear the gears
turning in Hana's mind at this unusual thing for a new student, still a child.
"Although I would like to get to know you better."
"I would too." She grinned back, trying to
settle Hana's nerves. "I'm trying to blend in here."
Hana was getting more and more curious with
every little thing Aliana pulled out of her bags. Then she opened the larger
one and Hana couldn't help but gasp. "That is gorgeous." It was a guitar,
but nothing like any she had ever seen before.
"Do you play?" She asked, smiling and running
her fingers over the fingerboard. Aliana pulled it out and set in on a stand
in the corner of the room after examining it carefully.
"A little." Her fingers itched to touch it.
The instrument looked to be quite old and worn, but a true master's
craftsmanship, with all the fine detailing picked out in at least twenty
shades of wood. It also looked very much as if the ebony and ivory were real
and not synthetic.
Quickly, Aliana grinned and tuned it. "Here."
She handed Hana the valuable instrument. Even more nervous, she tentatively
plucked out a simple tune and sang one of her favorite children's songs.
The tone was incredible, even though she finally noticed the strings were
actual gut and not plastic.
"Amazing." She breathed when she was done,
fingers sliding over the strike plate.
"It is not the most common instrument for
us to play, so I got the pick of the vault when we moved three years ago."
Her grin seemed even more shy. "It belonged to one of my father's grandfather."
Huh? Hana wanted to ask, but part of
why she got the job of introducing strangers to Rialite was because she also
knew when to keep her mouth shut. "It is probably the second most common
instrument for us to play, after the shiltpron."
"I've seen those." She wrinkled her nose.
"I'm afraid I'm a bit more traditional than that." Stranger and
stranger. Hana thought, idly letting her fingers drift across the strings.
"One of my uncles is a master harper. You should hear him play some day.
Magnificent."
"I would like to hear you play sometime."
Hana offered Aliana her guitar back. Black lashes closed over almost equally
dark eyes.
"Sure." She said softly, taking it. Then Hana
got an even bigger start. I should have known from the accent. The
language Aliana sang in was as alien as the high cheekbones and arresting
blue-black eyes. Even though not knowing the meaning of the words, the music
itself was fantastically beautiful, more so than many concert performances
Hana had heard. She couldn't help but gape as Aliana finished the song and
set her guitar back on its stand. "You look like a fish, Hana."
"That was incredible." She could finally catch
her breath.
"You should hear my uncle." Was all Aliana
would say.
It should be played, not just looked at.
Jarmin's eyes flitted over the worn guitar collecting dust despite its glass
case. He should have known what famous channel had deigned to play something
other than a shiltpron, but didn't want to bother looking at the plate.
His own fingers itched to feel strings beneath
the now barely calloused tips. Idly, his hand remembered the plucking pattern
for "Three Roses".
"Do you play?" The museum curator was looking
sadly at the guitar as well.
"I'm a Donor." He said and walked away quietly,
as the curator walked the other direction.
The interview in the head master's office
did not start out well. "What took you so much time, Miz Mir?" Headmaster
Harim glared over his desk, tentacles twining around his fingers in irritation.
Then Hana spied the swollen roniplin glands and delicately tried to point
them out to Aliana.
"Oh, that's me." She giggled, hiding her face
behind her hand. "There was just so much to do, Hajene Harim. The plane ride
was so exhausting, I'm surprised I even managed to walk up that long hill."
Aliana breathed, sounding like a giddy idiot.
"That's all right, Miz Mir."
"Oh please, call me Aliana." She giggled again.
"My mother would have kittens at me being a Miz anything."
"As you wish." Harim actually leaned back
in his chair a relaxed a bit. "I can understand about being a bit tired after
a plane flight. I'm afraid I don't know a great deal about you, Miz, er,
Aliana."
"You didn't get the records M ..., uh, Mikal
Tegue sent you." Her stumbling over the common name caught Hana's attention
instantly. It seemed Harim didn't notice it at all.
"Yes, but they were a bit terse and quite
unusual. On parchment, I believe." He picked up a sheet as if it were
contaminated. "Besides, Sosectu Mikal has been AWOL for a number of years
now."
Hana could sense Aliana thinking rapidly,
"Then ask Sectuib Kaon, I believe she is his immediate superior in Kaon."
Suppressing a snicker, Hana wanted to applaud
at this bit of trickery. Who is this young woman to throw around names
like those with such ease?
"I think I'll pass." Harim snapped to attention
and Hana could almost see him zlin around the room. "Although this one
requirement will be very hard to do."
"I trust you, Hajene Harim." Aliana's eyes
went wide and liquid. "My family, well, has had bad experiences with such
conditioning. It almost killed my aunt and uncle."
"But if you don't take it, I'm afraid you
won't be trusted with any positions of great importance. He says both your
parents are high firsts." Harim was looking frustrated again.
"All I want is to be a nobody, Hajene Harim."
She blinked at him, breathing a bit hard. "I don't want anything fancy."
"All right, but I assure you, youngster, I'll
be doing everything in my power to convince you of the wisdom of taking your
anti-kill conditioning like any other channel." Harim said and Hana had to
bite back a gasp. Aliana wants to refuse anti-kill.
"It would kill me as certainly as attrition,
at least from the experience of my family." She said sadly. "Please."
"I'll want to back that up with an examination."
"Go ahead." She smiled brightly. "I wouldn't
lie to you."
These boots do not go with this outfit.
Aliana looked down. "Is there anywhere I can get some more, well, less obtrusive
footwear?" Then she realized there was not a boot pull in sight anywhere
in the room. Good thing I'm flexible. She began the annoying task
of trying to get out of her footwear with her hands alone.
The young man eyed the boots with more than
a bit of avarice. "Not like those."
"If I wanted another pair like those I would
have said so." One of them was being more than a bit sticky.
"Oh, of course." Hajene Jon scribbled down
another note. "Are you usually this defensive?" A tentacle twined about the
pen as he stuck it in his mouth to chew on the end.
Aliana bit back a curse. This person was so
nosy. "Only when my boots won't come off." She finally got it unstuck. "Sorry."
Giving him her best grin, she returned to standing in front of him. "Better?"
"Yes, much." He looked up. "If you would stand
in front of the black screen."
"Certainly." She tried not to sigh. For the
third day in a row, she had been asked to come in for an examination and
she was getting heartily tired of getting run around. "Is any one ever going
to give me an examination?"
Jon looked like a landed fish. "I just did."
He blinked. "What did you expect? Some sort of bizarre out territory ritual?
We don't bleed people here."
Time to get canny again. "Well, I am from
out territory." She dropped her eyes, feigning shyness again. This was getting
even older than the silly excuse for an exam. "Where I come from medical
exams are far more, well, hands on." The phrase, 'hands on', seemed to be
a magic one for some people around here. Jon sat up straighter and looked
towards the door.
"It wouldn't be a appropriate, even with you
still being a child." His tentacles twined nervously. "We, channels, don't
touch people much."
Yes, and if you had children they would
die of neglect for a lack of same before their first birthday. Aliana
was getting more and more annoyed with these idiots every day she spent here.
"Well, it will be less than a month until I am no longer a child. According
to some people's calculations it will be only another week and a half."
Particularly my own. Her own sense of impending change over was as
solid as a clock running backwards, not that she had been asked for any specifics
after she had almost blown her cover by telling one of these foolish people
exactly when it was to occur. "Has anyone found a Donor for me yet?"
"Well, there's a bit of a problem with finding
high First Order Donors, Aliana." His teeth almost bit through the pen he
was chewing on. "We, or at least Hajene Harim, is not entirely certain you
would require such a person."
Aliana suppressed a shiver of fear. "Personally,
I don't much care for the idea of going into change over without one."
"Yes, well, I can understand that." This time
he did bite through the pen. Spitting out the extra piece, he looked her
over again carefully. "Again, could you tell me why you feel such a thing
is necessary?"
A sigh escaped her lips. "Both of my parents
are equivalent of high Firsts, as are all four of my grandparents, beyond
that, about half or more were fairly talented channels or Donors." Finally
giving in and telling the truth seemed to be a good idea at the time. Jon
dropped his pen entirely and gaped at her. "Please, don't tell me it's impossible
for someone to know their ancestors so well. I can give you an entire pedigree
with the high firsts in red."
"Oh, I won't." He gulped. "You really are
from out territory, aren't you."
"Yes." She sat on the edge of the desk. "I
really don't want to be treated any differently than say, any other child
with my potential, but I also don't want to go short in first transfer."
Aliana spread her hands trying to show him how caught she was by the situation.
"From what I have heard, it is very difficult to control in first transfer.'
Jon gave her a snort. "Most would say it was
impossible."
"Impossible is for wimps." She grinned at
him. It had been one of Nashen's best lines, at least until Vayer threatened
to use it for the Mir motto.
"How old are you?" He looked down at his notes
again.
"Over sixteen, I'll be seventeen in November."
He whistled. "Old for change over."
"My mother's and blood grandfather's
establishments were even later." She shrugged. "Seems late maturity slid
over the larity line in my case. Even though seventeen plus is not too uncommon
where I come from."
"You don't expect any problems?" Now he was
thinking. This was much better. Maybe I can work with this one.
"None at all." She gave him another grin.
"It'll probably be a bit long, but not too bad, if I have a Donor. I don't
want to end up with channel's transfer for my first."
"I can understand that." The muscle tension
began to loosen in his face.
Come here little puppet. Aliana thought
in the back of her mind. "So you can understand my concerns?"
"Yes, I think I can." His eyes narrowed in
thought. "If you would sit back on the lounge." He waved to the torture device.
Or at least that was what it looked like to
Aliana. She still was very wary of the piece of furniture and sat on the
edge of it gingerly. "This is very well designed." Her hand slid across the
cold, slick grey vinyl. They could at least make the thing in cheerful
colors.
"It makes our life easier." He misunderstood
exactly the way she wanted. "Please." He gestured again. Cringing a bit at
the plastic she tried to settle back into the lounge. For an instant the
sense of helplessness almost overwhelmed her until she quashed it. "Just
relax, all I want is a full lateral exam." In some ways this was even worse,
the only contact between them was his tentacles on her wrists.
Lie back and think of nothing. Mikhail's
bitter words came to her and she sighed, now understanding far too well.
"Something wrong?" He asked, not yet finishing
with the fifth contact point.
"Only something my brother-in-law said." She
gave him a shy grin.
"Have you had any change over training?" He
asked after he dismantled the contacts and gave her a towel, paper no less.
What am I supposed to do with this? She asked herself, looking at
it curiously.
"Probably very different from what you teach
here." If this is any example. At home she would have simply rubbed
the tiny traces of roniplin into her skin. Gingerly she dabbed at them, as
that was what it seemed Jon would have her do.
"Then perhaps we should go through the basics."
He gave her an unreadable look. "If you would, please go into a state of
complete relaxation."
"Physical or nageric?" Her own skills were
excellent, as far as she could go as a child. With Arkay for a father, she
would have had to be an idiot to get through childhood without those skills.
"Uh, both, if you would." His dark eyes looked
confused again.
"Ok." Figuring there was no requirement for
speed, she let the mental construct fall into place with the grace of a feather
coming to land.
Jon gasped. Only removing the relaxation from
her head and visual system, she raised an eyebrow at him. "You're going to
catch flies like that." She replied to his even more dumbfounded look, setting
her mind to project a few of the insects investigating the gaping aperture.
Aliana knew they wouldn't be visible or zlinnable yet, but the mind practice
was useful. As he stared, she ran through one of the most basic child's patterns,
a rhythmic little dance. "Good enough?"
"Um, yes, quite." He gulped again. "Where
are you from? Gypsy?"
"No." She sat up, desperately wanting to be
free of the feeling of being trapped. Gingerly, she touched the back of his
hand with her fingertips.
"No, you won't tell me where you are from
or your being gypsy?" Jon pulled his hand away as if she had burned him.
Annoyed, she had to fight not to grab him.
The room was chill and the lack of contact between people was rapidly getting
under her skin, or not as the case might be. She was actually starting to
loose touch with what her own body felt like, almost drifting in space without
the nearness of other humans. "No, I'm not going to say where I'm from and
I'm not gypsy."
"How can I get you a first if you won't tell
me why?" The honest frustration set her back.
"Ok, as long as you don't pass in on to all
and sundry." This time she did reach out and capture his face, wanting to
be very sure of who she was talking to. He trembled in her grasp, but didn't
pull away.
"I won't."
"Your word?"
"Yes" He looked straight into her eyes. "I
get the feeling lying to you would be a bad idea. You have my word I won't
broadcast your origins."
"Probably, yes." She winked, grinning. "I
am from Russia, the daughter of Lord and Ruler Vayer Arkayevich and Sharm
Lord Darya Kironova. My father won his rank by being the best for his job,
somewhat similar to the way your Sectuibs are picked." Aliana was not going
to go into the fact it was not his abilities as a channel, but rather his
pure strength of will and mixture of other talents.
A faint grin began to peek through Jon's
previously rather dour expression. "I take it you did not wish to follow
in your father's footsteps?"
"No." She sighed. "I love him dearly, but
I had to get clear."
"I think I can understand." He said. "There
are more than a few who have been known to take refuge with the Techton from
overbearing parents, although they are usually Donors and not channels. Do
your parents know where you are?"
"Yes" She reluctantly released her hold on
him, while her whole body ached for more contact. "Even though I am expecting
there to be more than a few odd things to happen this term at Rialite. All
of my many relatives have a way of making things happen."
"Thanks for the warning." He grinned openly.
"I think I can manage to be assigned your primary advisor here at Rialite,
even though you will probably outstrip me after a month or two. I'm a first,
barely."
"People are people, and you have been far
more interested in me as a person than almost anyone else here I've met so
far." All except for Hana. The loneliness was already beginning to
get to her. "Is there any way you could hunt up that Donor so I could at
least say hello to them before I actually begin change over?"
"I'll try." He said honestly. "I can't promise
anything. We might end up having to kidnap one in transit."
"How awful." She sighed. "Is there anything
I can do to help?"
This month was going very, very badly. "Hajene
Farr, is there anything I can do?" Jarmin was about to chew his fingernails
off with boredom.
"Yes, shut up already." He snapped. "Sorry,
need." That was always the excuse. Every single time. Jarmin was aching from
his hair to the soles of his feet with wanting a transfer, but forfend he
say anything about it. After five weeks since his last, and that more notable
for its shallowness than its fulfillment, Jarmin was doing his level best
not to climb the walls.
"Apology accepted." He said, not meaning it
any more than Farr had. A thread had come loose from the facing of his zipper
and he idly picked at it.
"Will you pay attention." Farr got to his
feet and began pacing the room.
"Yes Hajene." His throat tightened on the
words despite his best efforts. The channel's nervous stalking about made
him want to scream at the young man.
"Get out of here, you aren't doing me any
good." Farr opened the door.
"But ..."
"No buts, I can find better elsewhere." Farr
was almost vibrating with anger. "I had an offer to shift assignments this
month. I'm going to take it. Even if there's a chance she'll be late."
"Yes, Hajene." He did his level best to project
soothing support.
"Too bad you can't work like that all the
time." The door slammed behind him.
Slowly he made his way back to the cramped,
claustrophobic room he had taken near the top of the building. Even the tiny
little slit of a window, with its triple glass for insulation didn't allow
a great deal of natural sunlight.
A girl was riding a horse down near the river.
Muddy water sprayed up from its galloping hooves to cover her bare feet.
To be so free again. Once he had ridden horses like that, not worrying
about what would happen if he fell off or something spooked either of them.
Her and her horse's mane were matching banners in the light of the westering
sun.
The animal bucked in pure glee and the girl
laughed, digging her heels into its flanks to urge it faster. They raced
through the ford, water sheeting over the height of the girl's shoulders.
I had been free once. He looked at the card on his desk, 'go south',
it said, no destination, no assignment.
Hana watched Aliana try to fit in. It was
a valiant effort, but even half way across the quad, she could still tell
the other girl was from way out territory. Not that she did anything so different
as to be blatantly obvious, but even the way she carried herself was striking.
"Where would you like lunch?" Aliana asked, as soon as she got close enough.
"Who's paying?" She grinned back, knowing
how stingy Aliana was.
"I am, this time." Aliana's guitar case thumped
against her thigh.
"Don't tell me; you've been busking on the
Rialite campus?" Hana closed her eyes, torn between laughter and tears. "You
know that's not approved of."
"So I was told as soon as I set up." Aliana
wrinkled her nose. "So I found the boundary line and set up there. The students
came to hear me. Security couldn't do a thing, stingy twits. They stood on
the other side of the line and listened and then didn't even drop a pin in
the hat."
"You are a troublemaker." Hana giggled behind
her hand. "So, how much did you make?"
"Enough for lunch and new shoes." She waved
at her boots. "These are not the most comfortable things to walk in for long
periods of time."
"You did well, busking for a bunch of students."
"Got a few teachers too, particularly this
graying, dark eyed gentleman in rather shabby orange and grey clothes." She
shrugged as she put up her guitar and began sorting out a rather impressive
pile of cash. Aliana snorted at a few tickets among the mixture. "Suggestions
to improve myself or they didn't want them anymore after hearing me."
"Probably the latter." Hana chuckled, looking
at the performances. "Pretty good, I've always wanted to hear Maria Garlin
sing."
"Go ahead." Aliana waved at the pair of tickets.
"I'm going to be a bit busy in a few days."
"Oh?"
"Yes, change over." She wrinkled her nose.
"I don't know if I should be worried or annoyed. My Donor still hasn't arrived
even though Hajene Jon keeps promising me he'll be here any minute now."
"Can I, well, can I come to your change over
party?" Hana looked at her worn and scuffed footwear timidly.
"I probably won't have one." Aliana grimaced.
"None of my family and friends are here. Besides we celebrate birthdays more
enthusiastically, they're easier to prepare for and too many in my family
have exciting change overs or establishments."
"I didn't know Gens could have problems with
establishment?" Hana felt her eyes go wide.
"It's very rare." Aliana smiled at her, rather
sadly Hana thought. "My grandfather Arkay had a hard time with his until
his first transfer, he was sick as a dog, and my uncle, Sevrin, went blind."
"Wow." She sat heavily on the edge of the
bed, thinking. As usual, Aliana took her hand. It was still quite unfamiliar,
but at the same time she was really learning to enjoy all the contact. The
reminder of another human's presence was something Hana had never really
thought she had wanted before. Hana brushed her fingertips over the thick
callouses on Aliana's hands.
"Come on, let's find me some shoes like the
ones you have." She pointed down at Hana's rather sorry running shoes. "I'm
getting tired of being stared at in the mornings."
"It isn't the lack of shoes." Hana chuckled.
That first morning, when Aliana dragged her out of bed at the crack of dawn
to run had been more than a bit surprising. After the first mile, it had
been all she could do to practically crawl back to the dorms wheezing and
fearing for her very life. Aliana had gone on for another five or so and
come back looking even more bright eyed and cheerful than when she left.
"None of us are very big on fitness." Except for a handful of Donors who
run so they can keep up with their channels more easily. Hana had given
in and decided this wasn't so bad an idea.
"No one exercises here." Aliana gave a great
big stretch. "No wonder you lot look like a bunch of either string beans
or beets."
Hana chuckled again. "More like grapes." She
winked, and then hissed as she stretched out one her seemingly permanently
sore muscles.
"That was before, you're getting a bit firm
for a grape." Aliana got up with her already cat like grace.
"Ok, soft like the inside of a squash." Hana
did like the effect it was already having on her body. "Are you going to
keep running and stuff even after change over?"
"Yes" Aliana said forcefully. "It feels good."
"You won't have to."
"Well, then lets just say I don't want to
look like a winter dried string bean." Her eyes were bright and cheerful.
"Let's go."
Aliana was overwhelmed, to put it bluntly.
Agape, she looked up at the shelves towering over her head. Her feet were
too large for any of the shoes at the second hand shop, so they came to one
of the cheapest places Hana knew of. Boxes and boxes of them. Many of them
looked the same.
Confused, she eyed the cryptic numbers on
the ends of the boxes. None of them made any sense. "What size do you wear,
Miz?" A jittery, older renSime came scurrying out from behind a curtain.
"Um, I have no idea." Size? What's that?
Small, medium, big. None of these boxes have anything like that on them.
"Are you the cobbler?"
"No." She blinked, looking almost a confused
as Aliana felt. "What size are those?" She pointed to the boots on Aliana's
feet.
"Mine?" What a silly question? Are we speaking
the same language?
The woman looked at them again. "Custom work?"
"Yes, of course." Aliana blinked. How else
did one get shoes if they weren't second hand or more?
"I'm afraid you'll have to go uptown for something
like that." She turned around and began to walk away.
"Wait." Hana stepped in. "Hold on."
"Kids." The woman sighed. "Yes?"
"Please, all we are looking for is a pair
of shoes." Hana tapped her toe.
"I don't have anything like those." The woman's
nose twitched as she flicked a bit of lint off her sleave.
"And I don't want to pay a fortune for another
pair because I've worn these out." Aliana finally got her brain in gear.
"I'm new to the area and I've heard you have some of the best deals around.
I suppose I could go down to Erni's." She turned to head for the door.
"No, no, that won't be necessary." The quick
scurry of a nervous renSime almost made Aliana grin. "Here, have a seat."
"Do you have any children?" Aliana put on
her best impish smile. "My name's Aliana Mir, by the way."
"Pretty name." Dark eyes twinkled with renewed
good humor. "Yes, a son and two grandchildren, a little boy and a little
girl. My name's Liza."
"How lucky for you." Aliana watched Hana roll
her eyes. "I grew up in a big family and always wondered what it would be
like to be so close as an only child or with only one other sibling." For
some reason Hana was biting her tongue and looking a bit as if she were going
to explode.
"How many?" Liza looked up from her arcane
measurements with a very odd device.
"Four, all brothers." Aliana chuckled. "As
the only girl I learned really young how to stand up for myself." She tried
to guess this woman would be far more interested in such trivia than in trying
to figure out where Aliana was from. Hana was turning an odd shade of red.
"You poor thing, four brothers?"
"Yes, even though only one older than I am."
Aliana wondered what Tzer was doing these days. He seemed well enough content
with Fatima, of course Mikhail as consolation was a definite incentive. "And
the youngest is still in diapers."
"Goodness." Liza turned from examining the
shelves. "Your mama must be something special."
"She is." Aliana made sure to put as much
emphasis on this as she could and Liza beamed at her. Going splendidly.
"So, as you can guess, I don't have a whole lot in my pockets for fancy clothes
now." She shrugged and tried to look small and helpless. "A close friend
of the family," Yes, the family servants. "made my boots for me, but
now I want to save them for something special." Not the least of which
is the fact they make me look like I have far more cash than I have any right
to.
"I can zlin that, youngling." Liza sat with
a few of the boxes. "Here, you seem to be about a size nine or so, but awfully
narrow."
Quite honestly, Aliana thought they were dreadful.
Cheap canvas and even cheaper rubber soles, but looking at Hana's she realized
it was probably the best she was going to do on her tight budget. At least
they aren't grey. She picked out a pair in bright green and orange. They
fit, more or less.
At least one of the stops along the way was
long enough Jarmin could get out and stretch his legs a bit. Leaving his
bags on the train, not that there was anything in them worth stealing, he
walked down the boardwalk of the sleepy little town. "Would'ya zlin that
Gen." A voice from behind him said.
"Hush." And then a grunt as if someone had
gotten their ribs elbowed. He turned to see a pair of young renSimes staring
at him, practically drooling.
"I apologize if my nager was too provocative."
He tried to hold it as tightly to his body as he could, focusing on his hands
behind his back.
"Too pro-what?" The elder blinked at him.
"Too provocative, too appealing," Still a
blank look. "Too tasty."
"Oh." She chuckled. "Only 'cause my friend
here got a bit noisy, don't you be stoppin' the show." She tipped an imaginary
hat. "Good day, Sosectu."
"And good day to you, renSime." He chuckled
softly as her friend looked back over his shoulder before she could drag
him off. At least someone likes to zlin me. Even if they hadn't been
the most savory, he chuckled at the thought, renSimes. Now feeling much better,
he spied a bakery.
The smell of fresh baked, yeasty bread led
him into the shop by his nose. Gingerly, he felt in his pockets for any cash.
A few coins slid between his fingertips, not enough for anything fancy, but
... then he spied the day old rack.
He looked over the odds and ends left behind
by others more fortunate. There was nothing that really appealed. Better
than nothing. He tried to convince himself as he reached for a loaf of
cheddar-jalepeno bread.
"Wait, Sosectu." A rather surprisingly solid
renSime told him from behind the counter. "What would you like?" His blue
eyes were kind as he looked Jarmin over from head to toe despite the fact
Jarmin knew he was not particularly well groomed at the moment. His eyes
caught on the salt rolls and half a loaf of sweet bread left from samples.
"I'm afraid I'm not ..."
The man just shook his head. "I would be tossing
this." He put the bread with its bright candied fruit and nuts into a paper
bag. "Here." All Jarmin could do was accept it. "And these would be going
to the birds soon." He scooped nearly a dozen of the salt rolls into another.
"That will be one-fifty." One eyelid lowered in a wink.
"Thank you." Jarmin said, letting his gratitude
spill over into his field. He counted out the small amount of money and tried
to hand it to the man.
A heavy boned and heat thickened hand folded
his over the change. "Keep it, you've already paid enough."
Idly, Aliana wished they could have afforded
one of the better eating places. The rather gelatinous noodles with a tomato
sauce were not very good, with a decided lack of seasoning. She sighed, picking
at the remaining mushrooms.
"Something wrong?" Hana had wolfed down her
portion as if she were starving, or it had been Azov cooking.
"No, just a bit homesick I think." She looked
at the rather faded and worn signs on the buildings. Everything here seemed
to be for sale. "Where do people live?" Most of the buildings were single
story, fairly flimsy things. Aliana wouldn't have lived in wood structures
like these if she had any choice.
"Outside town, in their own houses." Hana
blinked at her in surprise again.
"Alone?" Aliana blurted out.
"Well, yes. Most Simes don't like to live
on top of each other." It was a good thing Hana had been apprised of Aliana's
peculiar status.
Realizing the necessity for a distraction
before things went to far, yet again, "What was so funny at the shoe store?"
"I've never seen Liza so friendly to anyone,
even a customer before." Hana took a sip of her wine, and then looked around
furtively, again.
Aliana couldn't help but roll her eyes and
sigh. "Let me guess, children are not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages
normally."
"Well, no, but the proprietor is Gen, so he
missed we are children." Her eyes fell to her plate.
"Let me tell you a little secret, Hana." Aliana
smiled. "Act like you know what you are doing, and most people will believe
it. Check please?" She mimicked the actions she had seen another patron make.
"Certainly, Miz." The waiter replied.
"See, simple." Aliana winked at her young
friend. "People see, or zlin, what they wish to. Liza at the store wanted
to zlin a young girl she could help, so I gave her one."
"Where did you learn such things?" Hana asked
as they went back out to the street.
"My parents I guess." She shrugged, again
getting into an area she really didn't want to go. "To me it is automatic."
"I really don't know how you do it, Aliana."
And this made her feel even more disturbed. Although it might have been the
ill fitting shoes trying to rub her ankles already.
"Magic." She wiggled her fingers and giggled.
Hana laughed and allowed herself to be distracted by a story Aliana wove
about two young people she had seen feeding ducks in the park yesterday.
It was at least a distraction for Hana, Aliana however kept asking herself
why she kept acting so much like the heir to a Demense and not just another
child waiting for change over.
Still her Donor had not shown up. Irritably,
Aliana checked her internal clock again. Less than twenty four hours until
it was all to begin. She paced the tiny room, feeling as if she were a cat
trapped in a cage. A cat would be a pleasant companion. Aliana sighed
as she sat on the bed. Very few people here had pets, and none of the students.
She missed the small and sometimes not so
small creatures who shared the sprawling townhouses of Fatima and Mir dreadfully.
In some ways even more than the human inhabitants. Lying on her bed, she
hugged the rather flat pillow to her equally flat chest. The phone rang.
"Hopefully I'm not too dreadful." She grimace
and answered it.
"Jon here. Your Donor finally arrived, even
though I'm not entirely sure where from." He sounded more than a bit stunned,
even over the horrible electronic device.
"At your office?" Aliana wiped the last traces
of tears from her face. Emotional upheaval is a normal part of change
over, silly. She reminded herself.
"Um, yes, now?" Why else did you call me?
Aliana asked herself silently.
"If both of you don't mind." She had to keep
a tight grip on her temper.
"Uh, no, of course not." And then there was
a click. Something had the man seriously rattled.
"Why me?" Aliana asked the mottled tiles on
the ceiling. It didn't answer. She closed her eyes for a moment.
"I take it you know this person?" Jon gave
her aunt Falyana a wide eyed look.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." She put
her face in her hands. Can I cry again now? She asked herself.
"We all knew when your change over would be,
so when Mikhail, excuse me, Mikal found out no one had found you a Donor
in time, he sent me over here." Falyana's honeyed alto had more than a few
bee stingers left in it still. She was obviously not amused at the situation.
A tear leaked from Aliana's eye and she looked
at Jon pleadingly. "You have relatives, don't you?"
"Not like her." His chair scraped on the floor
as he slithered backwards another few cents.
Falyana was a nice enough woman, but not one
of Aliana's favorite aunts. From the look of it, Aliana was currently Falyana's
least favorite relative, or second least after she caught up with who had
truly set her up in this situation. With a sigh, Aliana said, "I don't think
my brother-in-law had quite the leverage to shove you on an airplane, Aunt
Falyana."
"Well, no, as a matter of fact he wasn't the
only one who dragged me, kicking and screaming practically, into this barren
wasteland." Falyana's voice grew even more harsh.
"Let me guess, my father was in on it." She
sneezed again and managed to get her own handkerchief out before Falyana
could provide one, far too helpfully.
"All of them." Falyana growled, twitching
at the heavy green skirts she wore. "Mine as well."
"Oh shen." This is going quite badly.
Aliana really didn't want to deal with an annoyed sharm lord for her first
transfer. Then she saw the single silver bracelet on her Aunt's wrist. Over
Falyana's look of disgust at her foul language, Aliana added, "Congratulations."
Why me? I do not want a Sharm Lord for my first transfer.
"It was only last month." Falyana growled.
This was even worse. If she was only ascended last month, then who is
taking care of her partner this month? Aliana asked herself. "Ivanya
is with Lord Gitarin Mir this month." Falyana provided without being asked.
Aliana pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, wishing
this would all go away.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Falyana." She held out her
hand to the irate, for good cause, young woman.
"You better be." Her snarl came out in Russian
this time.
"Miz Falyana." Jon couldn't take sitting back
and letting Aliana get hammered on any more. This woman had come stomping
into his office making all kinds of outrageous claims and throwing her nager
around like a weapon. She turned back to him. Her attention almost hammered
him into the floor. I almost had Aliana talking with me. Now
she stood like some kind of statue, her face dead white.
"Yes?" The woman flicked out her heavy skirts
again with an irritated gesture.
"If you aren't Techton, I'm afraid I'm going
to have to ask you to leave." Jon clenched at his own hands, trying not to
flinch back any more than he already had.
"I'm not going to go back after having failed
my niece." She tapped her long fingers against her thigh, making the awful
bracelet shift against her wrist bones.
"You won't have. I promise you I am going
to find Aliana a Techton trained Donor." Jon had almost managed to snag one.
If his luck worked out, the man would be here in about half an hour.
"Then I'll wait." She took the only other
available chair in the office and planted her rather solid behind on it.
"A moment then." He got up and escorted Aliana
out of the room. As soon as he closed the door behind them, he saw Aliana's
lip quiver. "Here, here, little one." Even though now, he still didn't quite
know what to do, and so only touched the side of her face. Another tear fell
from her eye.
"Sorry to involve you with my family." Her
smile only twitched up a corner of her mouth. "They can be a bit much."
"If Falyana is any example, I can well understand
why you wanted to get away from them." That's the understatement of the
year.
"She's not a particularly good example I'm
afraid, or at least right now." She sniffled, like any other child. "My father
probably leaned on her pretty hard to get her to abandon her partner so soon
after ... I'm sorry, I'm babbling."
"You're a child still, Aliana." He held out
both his hands to her this time. Tentatively, she moved closer, as she had
so often at first and then he gave her a gentle hug.
"Thank you." She murmured against his shoulder.
"I think I required that." Her hug back was more than a bit desperate.
"I think you did." He stroked her back as
she gave out one bitter sob. "Now, your ... " He looked over her shoulder.
"There he is." Jon turned her around in his arms. "Hi Sosectu Jarmin."
"Hey you old horse thief." His friend's craggy
face split into a huge grin. "Isn't she a bit young for you?" He looked far
more drawn and hag-ridden than Jon remembered him. There were rumors circulating
about Jarmin's health, but Jon didn't want to believe them. Seeing him again,
now he wondered how much truth there was to the rumors.
"Just the right age for you." He chuckled,
able to zlin Aliana's instant curiosity on her still childish nager. Even
though as he zlinned closer, he realized Jarmin had come just in time. "Good
thing I bombed the tracks so you couldn't get back out of town."
"I was wondering why the conductor practically
tossed me out of my nice cozy berth." He finally reached the two of them.
"Sosectu Jarmin, meed Miz Aliana Mir, Aliana, meet Jarmin Maris, Donor First."
Jon gave her a little shove in the right direction.
Showing some of the first faint signs of reaction
to fields, Aliana quivered a bit as she gave him an elaborate bow. Jarmin's
very high field focused entirely on her. Too high. Jon zlinned the
stresses of inadequate transfers on his friend's field. Most channels didn't
think Donors felt anything, but Jon couldn't help but zlin the way they changed
when they didn't get good transfers.
Once, when Jarmin had been much younger, Jon
had been lucky enough to get assigned to him. Now, unfortunately, Jon was
too low for him, but he guessed he would suit Aliana quite well from what
she had said.
"I have to warn you, I have another high first
in my office trying to claim Aliana." Jon hid his smile at using one of the
oldest tricks in the books for capturing anyone's attention, put them in
direct competition with another. Aliana shivered again and he regretted his
ploy. "Sorry, Aliana. I didn't mean to threaten you."
"Threaten her?" Jarmin gasped, his field trembling
even more unsteadily. "A Donor threatening a channel about to go into change
over?"
Sometimes Jon wondered how high first Donors
could know so much about what was going on around them without being able
to zlin, but wasn't rude enough to ask. It was obvious they did. "Yes, Aliana's
Aunt."
"I have three others." She sighed. "An
embarrassing wealth of relatives." Three Jon's eyebrows tried to run
up off his face. How many close relatives does this young woman have?
"Let's see about this dragon, shall we?" Jarmin
grinned down at Jon's young charge, his field now firm in its decisiveness.
Much better. Jon zlinned Jarmin's field latch onto his young charge
with the tenacity of a bulldog.
Jarmin would have tried to stop the tides
for this young woman at that very moment. When they entered Jon's office,
he felt as if he had as much chance of getting rid of this Falyana as he
did of stilling the ocean. "She is my niece and I was given the duty to take
care of her." Falyana's voice rang with so much irritation she sounded like
an actress in a bad melodrama, with her as the villain.
Aliana trembled against him again. He tentatively
offered to let her under his arm. She slithered up against him so fast he
wondered if she would rather be inside his shirt with him. "I think Aliana
has made her choice." He tried to kick Jon into some kind of action with
his field. There was no place he could stand in this room with Falyana to
make the channel more comfortable, so maybe if they got this over with as
soon as they could, it would be for the best.
Jon's mouth opened and closed without him
saying a word. Of course if I were a channel and Falyana glared at me,
I would probably be tongue tied too.
"She's just a child." The corner of her mouth
turned up in a sneer.
"You were one once." Slipped out of his mouth
Then he heard Aliana whisper. "No she wasn't"
A snort escaped as he tried not to laugh. Then that attention turned on him.
It felt as if someone were hammering at him with the wind. He tipped his
head up and set his jaw, staring back at her.
"You're nothing but a Donor yourself." Her
sneer increased. Total incomprehension of why that should be an insult left
him off balance. "I'm a Donor. I'm the one who should give Aliana first
transfer." This was even more confusing. There was a slight change in emphasis
between her two uses of the term 'Donor', but Jarmin could not figure out
what she was talking about.
Hissing between her teeth, Aliana growled,
"I didn't ask you to be here and I don't want a Donor for my first transfer."
Jarmin had to work not to blink and looked at Jon in surprise. Jon spread
his hands in a confused shrug. Then they began snarling and hissing at each
other in some other language. Jarmin was even more surprised. I thought
Simelan was universal. He couldn't make out a single word either was
saying.
Finally Falyana stalked out the door. "And
to hell with you, Aliana. I'm not going to stick around to see if you survive."
The door slammed behind her. Aliana was now trembling all over.
Gently, slowly, he turned her towards him.
It was only then he realized her eyes were blue and not black, they were
so dark. He brushed a bit of her hair back from her face. Her teeth caught
at her lower lip. "Little one." He breathed, trying not to stress her further.
She grimaced and reluctantly began to back
away.
"If you would like a hug?" He tried to ask
as softly as he could.
"Like one." She almost wailed and threw herself
into his arms as if she were drowning. Her hands frantically explored his
back, clutching at him desperately.
"I have to keep those ribs." He chuckled softly,
wallowing in her so enthusiastic touch. When was the last time? He
wondered if anyone had ever been so glad to simply touch him.
"Would you like some tea?" Jon asked, still
feeling a bit raw and bruised around the edges.
"I'm about to fall over, I'm afraid." Aliana
finally relaxed some as Jarmin managed to convince her to sit on the small
couch with him. "Sorry to have put you both through that little scene." As
Jon's ears were still ringing from the woman's invective, even if he hadn't
understood the meaning of half the words, he could sympathize even more with
Aliana's position.
"Then rest here with Jarmin for a bit while
we have some." He poured hot water over the tea leaves ready in the pot on
the sideboard.
"I'm not going into change over until tomorrow."
She yawned, showing quite a fine set of teeth.
"You've already started to change slightly,
little one." He didn't know why he wanted to use that phrase, but it seemed
to fit Aliana in some strange way. "You'll require all your energy for tomorrow."
"If you say so, Hajene." Her eyes threatened
to blink closed. She shivered again and straightened up.
"Here, let me." Jarmin put a cream colored
afghan over Aliana's shoulders. But it was only when he put his arm around
her again did she truly relax into a light doze. "You like the contact already,
do you?"
"Missed it." She snuggled against him more
tightly and then truly fell asleep. One of Jarmin's eyebrows rose in question.
"Wait." Jon mouthed, pointing at the girl.
Finally she settle all the way into sleep, latched onto Jarmin's side like
a limpet. "Now, to answer your question, she doesn't come from around here."
"I'd guessed as much." Jarmin smoothed Aliana's
black hair away from her face. His friend's expression was more protective
and gentle than even the normally caring Donor showed. "Does she have any
friends here yet?"
"Only Hana." Jon smiled wryly, handing Jarmin
his tea. "She's made a number of fans, but has been quite standoffish to
most adults."
"Fans?" Jarmin asked.
"Yes, she's been making a fair bit of change
busking right outside the Rialite limits." He chuckled, thinking of the little
coterie of followers who regularly went to hear her sing and play. Sometimes
he even managed to sneak in when there were enough of them to hide his presence.
"Then why is she wearing nearly rags when
her aunt was wearing a fortune in wool and jewelry?" Jarmin's face was gently
rubbing against Aliana's hair.
"Because she's a miser of the first order."
He chuckled. "Her brother-in-law is Mikal Tegue."
"Oh" Jarmin chuckled softly. "I thought he
vanished a few years ago."
"He did, that's the strange part." Or at
least part of the strangeness. Jon wondered how far he should go. "She
doesn't want this broadcast to the world, all right?"
"Oh, certainly, Oath of Firsts." Jarmin held
up his tea in salute. "She's probably going to be one of us, right?"
"Definitely, from all I can zlin." Jon returned
the salute. "She's probably going to require someone a bit higher than you
in a few months, but by then I should have the evidence to get one." It was
so frustrating sometimes having to fight for Donors.
"Is that why you kidnapped me?" He winked
as he took a sip of his tea.
"Exactly. I didn't have enough proof I had
to have a high first, particularly one as close to four as I could get."
Days of arguing with asinine schedulers with all twelve tentacles up their
own ass had made Jon more than a bit short tempered. "You saw what her family
sent in way of threat."
"I don't know Falyana was a threat, Jon."
Jarmin's brows wrinkled. "But then I couldn't understand half of what she
said."
"Neither could I, but from her nager it wasn't
friendly." That was the understatement of the year.
"I'm pretty good at reading people, and she
did not read friendly at all."
"Aliana said her father or fathers, I'm still
not entirely certain through her accent, made Falyana come here." His fingers
drummed on his desktop, tentacles providing counterpoint.
"I caught that too, fathers, plural?"
"Some sort of alternates, or oath parents,
I have no idea." He shrugged, feeling far too out of his depth. Actually
he felt as if he were a rag tied to a post in a windstorm. "All I know is
Aliana wants nothing to do with them."
"Let's see if we can give at least one person
in this madhouse something they want." Jarmin smiled and kissed Aliana's
fine black hair.
Oh, this feels good. Aliana purred
as she cuddled up against a nice, human, body in her bed. It had been so
long since she had ended up close to someone else in the morning, she didn't
want to think about anything else. Sometimes, in the dead of winter, her
and her brothers would all pile into the same bed together to share body
heat like a litter of puppies.
"Good morning." A strange voice whispered
in her ear.
"Good morning." She mumbled back.
"What language is that?"
"Oh, sorry." She chuckled. "Russian." Aliana
repeated her comment in English. "I'm not entirely awake yet."
"I wouldn't have guessed so." He chuckled
back. "I hope you don't mind my sleeping here with you."
"Not at all." She breathed. "I've missed having
people close ever since I got here." Aliana captured one of his hands and
held it to her face.
"I take it you are a lot closer at home."
His voice was sliding right past her censors.
"Yes, my brothers and I would sleep together
sometimes in the winter." She snuggled against him even closer. "We were
all children, so it didn't really matter. Winters were much colder there."
"Where is there?"
"Moskva." She murmured, still feeling far
too drowsy and content.
Jarmin was stunned at this. He had heard of
barbaric peoples being found beyond Europe and the far side of the Middle
Sea, but to actually meet one. Aliana didn't act or look a thing like a
barbarian, even though her aunt was certainly a piece of work. "Then you
don't mind finding me here?" Actually he wanted to stay in bed with her all
day. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept with anyone else even
in the same room. Or failing staying in bed, at least stay in this room.
"Not at all, you make me feel safe." Her body
temperature had already begun its slow climb to Sime normal. An ecstatic
moan at even the first signs of changeover was a really bad thing, in Jarmin's
opinion.
He tried to get a grip on his galloping hormones.
"That's because I'm a trained Donor." He really didn't want to get her too
fixated on him, but didn't quite want to pull away either. No, I really
don't want her to go away. Her lithe body next to his was like a dream
come true, despite her age.
"I know that, silly." She nipped at his finger,
startlingly intimately for one so young. What do these people teach their
children? For an instant fear made his heart pound and then she squirmed
uncomfortably. He quashed it and felt her settle back down. "No, I only meant
to try to get closer to you for our transfer."
"I didn't think there was anything else to
it." He tried to reassure her.
"Don't lie." The first hint of adult growl
entered her voice.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you do and don't
expect." He said, entirely honestly this time.
"Thank you. I didn't meant to snap, either."
Her hands began to run over her own forearms. She didn't give me the same
excuse. Jarmin had to hold back a wildly inappropriate cheer. Gently,
he caught her hands and held them in his own. Her fingers fluttered against
his like tiny birds. "I think this is finally it."
"I think so." He let his own hands run over
her arms, finding the traces of fever begin under her skin where her tentacle
sheathes would be. "Actually now I know so. Is there any sort of ritual or
oath taking you go through?" He thought about some of the households with
their quite elaborate rituals for first transfer. Figures they don't do
anything for establishment. Bitterness threatened to eat at him again,
despite the reassuring presence of someone who was almost a Sime.
"No, none." She shook her head. "Only, I would
rather this be quiet, if at all possible." Bless you. Jarmin hated
all the wild goings on when a child became an adult, as if the adults had
something to do with the child's success.
"Do you mind if Jon witnesses?" He asked,
wishing he could do more for this rather brave young woman. Even though he
did want to be sure she wasn't going to turn out to be more than he could
handle. Killed by Sime in First Transfer. Was not what he wanted for
his obituary. "Most youngsters want their families around and have plans
for a party afterwards."
"I know, Hana told me about it." She shivered
slightly in his arms. "Once upon a time, I had wished for my family to be
there with me too. And no, I don't mind if Jon joins us." But she tensed
up in his arms anyways.
"What was that you said about lying?" He asked
gently.
"Caught me." She sighed. "Actually, if I had
my preferences, I would like this to be quiet."
"Your wish is my command, Aliana." He said
in jest. She shivered violently, as if terrified. "Hush. I didn't mean to
scare you."
"Only that phrase is too similar to the words
of submission." She whispered.
"Then I won't use it. I was only joking."
He tried to caress her entire body at once, running on instinct and entirely
forgetting his training. Aghast, he almost stopped.
"And I am often far too serious." She sighed
and softened against him. "Don't mind me. My hormones are simply making me
act the idiot." Maybe I shouldn't. He let his hands soften and idly
stroke Aliana's body, even though the thin clothes. It was like petting a
cat; she purred and pressed back against his hands. Thinking of it that way,
he continued and she almost melted into a puddle in his arms.
"And there you go being too serious again,
Aliana." Even the best trained children didn't usually react this smoothly
to change over. Maybe I am doing some good. He kissed her head, as
he would a child of his own, if he had one.
"Would you like some tea or bread?" Despite
how much he was enjoying the purely sensual satisfaction of being allowed
to touch, his stomach was growling. How embarrassing. He noted with
dismay. How Gen.
"Do you have any real bread?" As they sat
her expression of desperation became obvious. His chest felt cold without
her back against it.
"Yes, I do." He chuckled, realizing exactly
what she meant by some sort of intuition. Carefully, he reached into his
satchel and pulled out one of the salt rolls he managed to hoard all this
way. It would not do to show some of the things in that bag. She fell
on it as if she were starving.
"Bless you, bless you." She mumbled around
a mouthful. "This is like heaven."
"There was a little bakery I stopped at on
my way here where you could get such things. I brought as many as I could
carry." This little tiny lie he felt would never be noticed. He handed her
a cup of tea and sat next to her, nibbling at his own. "I think they were
immigrants, although I never really found out for certain."
"Probably." She grinned at him. "For some
reason it is hard to get good bread here. Most people think it is simply
to keep salad off their fingers so they can eat it on the run."
This description of a sandwich made him laugh.
"I'll think of you now every time I eat a sandwich, Aliana."
"Is that what those things are called." She
shook her head. "I had wondered."
"I'm surprised you are up for food." He eyed
the faintest red lines beginning to make their presence on her arms. Her
exceedingly odd normality was beginning to make him worry.
"I've been so desperate for bread, I would
probably have eaten it right up to breakout." She licked the last crumbs
from her hand. "Now we wait." Her sigh seemed so very lonesome.
"If you don't mind, I've always liked to sing
while waiting if I get some time alone with the young person." He inquired
shyly, for some reason feeling as if he could say anything to her.
"Go ahead." Her smile was inviting. He did,
an old ballad of lovers torn by distance and feuding families. She caught
the complex refrain after the first time through and sang along with him,
her voice already shifting from the clear treble of a child to the richer
tones of an adult. When it was over, he looked at her and held out his hand.
"You have a magnificent voice, Aliana."
"I should after nearly fifteen years of training."
Her wry half grin was becoming quite familiar. Stunned, he realized she must
have begun training to sing almost as soon as she could talk. "I brought
my guitar as well, but I don't think playing it would be a good idea right
now."
"I couldn't bring mine." He sighed, thinking
of it collecting dust back countless Centers ago and almost as many years.
It was something he regretted having to give up, but too many channels complained
at the occasional blisters or hand cramps.
"Go down to my rooms." She gave him directions.
"You could play it."
He did so, and very carefully brought it back,
with its stand. For all of her shabby clothes, the instrument would be worth
more a year of his income. He saw Hana lurking about and waved her to follow
him. "I brought a friend."
"Hana" Her eyes brightened immediately and
he felt his breath catch. "Come in." She looked at him. "I didn't mean to
invite someone into your rooms without your permission."
"I already invited her." He sat in the chair
when Hana decided to sit on the floor. After carefully tuning the instrument,
his fingers trembling a bit on the ivory of the tuning pegs, he began a lively
change over song. Hana knew all the words and sang along enthusiastically,
if not very skilled, but then when Aliana joined in on the choruses, her
soaring voice, even in the child's tune, was incredible. His sharp ear picked
out footsteps in the hall and he smiled down at the guitar.
Song after song, even though the transitions,
Aliana kept insisting on yet another until Jarmin had to finally tell her
enough. "You're almost in stage five, Aliana." My hands are about to fall
off. Even though the strings were far more gentle to his soft fingers
than he would have thought possible.
"I know, I've just been having such a wonderful
time I didn't want it to stop."
"We can sing and play together another time."
He promised, hoping against all common sense he could make it come true.
"I would like to hear you play your own guitar."
"Then I'll have to keep you chained to my
wall so the Techton won't steal you away from me." Her eyes were clear and
bright, despite the need he knew had to be making itself felt shortly.
"Come along, Hana." Jon stuck his nose into
the room quickly.
"I know." The girl smiled. "Thank you for
this afternoon."
"You are quite welcome." Aliana said as he
put her guitar up.
"May I zlin you quickly?" Jon asked, almost
shyly.
"Certainly. I didn't mean to kick everyone
out." Her eyes got wide as she saw the audience in the hallway. "Oh dear."
"It's all right." Jarmin sat next to her,
not yet engaging her fields so Jon could zlin her clearly.
"We would like to watch." One of the boldest
of them said. "It would be a privilege."
"All right." She chuckled, looking almost
matronly despite her obvious youth.
"You don't have to if you don't want to."
Jarmin reminded her quietly.
"They have been more than kind to me this
last week and a half." Then her breath caught, and her eyes closed briefly.
"Oh my." Her unique grin showed again. "That was interesting."
"Transition to stage six, Jarmin." Jon warned
softly. "And yes, high First, well over three, should end up four plus."
"Slick." He noted, realizing how smoothly
Aliana was drifting through the stages of change over for himself only when
he saw the membranes on her tentacle sheathes begin to thin to near invisibility.
Her breathing was smooth and easy, as if she were riding on each wave of
premature contractions with the skill of those fools who insisted on spending
half their lives on a surfboard. "May I?" He asked, reaching for her arms.
She breathed a word which sounded like consent
and he gently let his fingers explore her arms, although when Jon reached
for her she nodded no, quickly. Her breath hissed between her teeth and her
eyes turned truly black as she slipped hyperconcious, her tentacles still
not broken out. "This looks like some kind of Zaor exercise."
"Easy, Jarmin." Jon breathed. "She knows what
she's doing better than we do."
Aliana's breathing returned to its steady
pattern, although Jarmin could see her pulse pounding at her throat. He fell
into her pattern, sliding towards offering her transfer. Her field still
didn't quite engage, so he held steady, waiting. The waiting began to make
his own body tremble. She's waiting for something. He realized suddenly.
In a flash of insight, he knelt in front of
her, as close as he could and still let her grab his arms. With a short,
sharp almost bark of triumph her hands clamped on his arms, followed in a
flash by her tentacles. He froze and waited for her next clue. Her trembling
increased. What do I do? Her laterals still hadn't made contact. He
leaned forward and made the lip contact himself. Wracking his brains, the
only thing he could think of was to pull back and try again.
Her tentacles reseated and her laterals dropped
into place. A savage yank nearly pulled him under. Fire flashed behind his
eyes as she drew with more brute strength than he had ever felt before in
his life, but surprisingly slowly. Giving in to her wild demand, he felt
himself soar with her in the stunning glory of a near perfect first transfer
at last. Yes! Howled in his mind, reveling in the nearly forgotten
sensations of a transfer at his very limits.
Aliana had never felt anything so wonderful
before in her life. The cold darkness which had almost swallowed her whole
was now lying sated beneath the most fantastic rush of warmth and life
imaginable. The downward slide continued gently until she found herself looking
into a pair of soft, warm brown eyes almost as dazed as her own. "Thank you."
She breathed against his lips, meaning it with all her heart. The world of
light and heat had vanished completely now and she could so clearly feel
every single hair of the man's arms under her hands and what had to be her
new tentacles.
"Thank you, Aliana." His voice was breathy
and thrumming with tones she could barely recognize, but knew were good.
He swayed slightly and she slid her arms around him to hold him safe.
Mine She tried to wrap herself around the wonderful man who had pleased
her so very much. Then a tremor of fear shook her. She looked up at Jon.
"Jarmin?" She asked quietly. There was something wrong.
"Let me get these people out of here." Jon
turned away and she heard him shoo people out the door.
"Don't teach her to zlin just yet." Jarmin's
soft baritone murmured in her ear, no where near loudly enough for Jon to
hear, she thought. "I'll be all right in a bit." He swallowed heavily. Now
his voice was thready and uneven. His heart raced beneath her hands.
"Now, what happened, you two?" Jon sat by
them, stroking his friend's back and tracing over her hands in the process.
She still hadn't quite figured out how to hold him tightly without squashing
her still new tentacles. Jarmin took another deep breath and leaned back.
Reluctantly, she let him go. He swayed a bit and she saw his pupils pin as
he grimaced.
"I burned you a bit, didn't I?" She asked
sheepishly. "I'm sorry."
"More like it feels a bit like a few tons
of rocks went galloping through my head." He gave her one of his warm smiles,
slightly crooked this time. "I wasn't quite sure of what to expect." But
despite his obvious physical unease, there was still a look of incredible
warmth in his eyes as well.
"Neither was I." She grinned back at him.
"Not too surprising." Then he took another
of those deep breaths. "I don't want you to zlin because I'm afraid I'm going
to end up with a rather sick headache."
"Fosebine?" Jon asked softly.
"Probably should." He grimaced, "Although
sometime I wonder if I shouldn't just suffer so I don't have to deal with
the taste of the stuff." Tentatively, Aliana caressed the side of his face
in wonder. Jarmin's eyes widened at her caress and then he smiled shyly and
leaned back into it. "Thank you for a wonderful opportunity, Aliana."
"I hurt you." She grimaced and then wished
she knew how to heal him. "I didn't mean to."
"I know." He kissed the palm of her hand softly.
"Even though I would like to get the chance to talk with you before I have
to leave though."
"Leave?" She croaked out. "You just got here."
"It's my life, far too often." He looked down.
"Jon had to do some fast footwork and we're both going to be dealing with
snarls of red tape for weeks."
"But what about next month?" Her hand shook
and she tried to still it.
"He'll get you someone better." Jarmin held
her hands still.
I could ... She thought of using some
of her leverage to try to get him to stay. No, if I'm going to become
one of these people, I have to learn to deal with them on their level.
"I would love to get a chance to talk with you, Jarmin." Aliana said finally.
Even though I think he is plenty good enough.
Finally Aliana came into the room after what
had to be a short nap. "Surprise!" Hana shouted along with a dozen of the
other friends Aliana had already made. Jon jumped a foot in the air, but
Aliana just laughed delightedly.
"Thank you." Her dark eyes sparkled as she
looked around the small dining area for their part of the dorms. "I was wondering
why Jon brought us down this way." The furnishings weren't fancy and the
cake was a bit uneven, but Hana had done her best. "You are wonderful friends."
Aliana's warmth seemed to encompass all of them and turn the display into
a fantasy of crystal and silver, not the cheap paper streamers and plastic
forks of reality.
"Let me see." One of the other children currently
living in the dorms with them piped up. Hana turned to shush them, but Aliana
only laughed and made a face at her own tentacles. "Where's the instructions
on these?" She looked up at her Donor, grinning.
"Right under the label." He replied, ruffling
her damp and newly washed hair. It stuck up all over.
"Now look what you've done." She tried to
smooth it out. Her tentacles twined in it and tried to help. "Ack, where
did these come from?"
"Your arms." Hana pointed out, teasing. Aliana
was the most comfortable new Sime Hana had ever seen. Soon laughing and joking
with every one equally, she brought them all together as if she were Sectuib
of a Household and not just another channel. Sectuib from hundreds of
years ago, at that. Hana watched as she made everyone feel at home, including
her Donor and Jon in the mostly child crowd.
"Now, who gets to cut the cake?" She asked,
then looked at her Donor slyly. Everyone shouted Aliana should. "No, I think
the real hero of this story should." Without a hint of hesitation, she offered
him the hilt of the knife. "Donor Jarmin?" Jon sucked in a deep breath and
his tentacles twined in nervousness.
"Thank you." He breathed, looking like she
had offered him the Controllership. His dark brown eyes gleamed with such
incredible gratitude, Hana had to look away for a moment. Aliana caught her
eye and nodded. Yes, I see. Hana nodded back, proud of the way her
friend showed her trust in Jarmin. I would follow her anywhere. Hana
vowed in her mind, Particularly if I become a Donor.
Aliana was about to fall on her face, but
the children were so thrilled she would spend time with them. She stifled
another yawn. The brief nap had barely been enough to get her back on her
feet. Jarmin caught her eye and tipped his chin towards the door. "Thank
you again, all of you." She smiled broadly, tapping a bit of icing onto young
Suzi's nose. "I'm afraid I'm exhausted though."
"Then go to bed." Hana rescued her, smiling.
"I'm glad we could do something for you though. To not have a change over
party would have been awful."
"We had it earlier, when we sang together."
Aliana fought to keep from swaying on her feet. "Thank you, Hana. I really
appreciate the time you spent with Jarmin and I today. It made everything
so much more comfortable." The way her friend's eyes lit at the slight complement
was so very sad. "You are like family to me, Hana."
"I hope not." She chuckled gayly. "Not after
some of the stories I've heard."
"Ok, the family I wish I had." Her new won
ability to zlin was beginning to make her even more unsteady. Tentatively,
she reached out for Jarmin and found him right at her elbow. Trying not to
jump at the surprise, she looked back at him. He ducked his head and his
field seemed to bow obsequiously. It was altogether too slimy. "Jon isn't
here anymore." She pointed out to him. "You don't have to act for me."
"But I don't want to upset you."
"You almost did by sneaking up on me." She
wished he would take her arm so she could get out of here.
"So I did." He finally got the rather unsubtle
hint. "I'm afraid I'm only a Gen and have to get to bed early."
"I don't dare let him out of my sight, someone
else might steal him." Aliana tried not to sigh in relief.
"Then we'll go on without you." Hana said
finally.
Aliana turned her face from the youngest of
the children and mouthed, "Thank you." She let Jarmin lead her from the room.
"Now I know what my brother means when he
calls something a 'lats up'." Aliana shook her head and took a deep breath.
"That was not an experience I wish to repeat."
"Then why did you stay so long?" Jarmin was
confused. His headache was mostly gone, but when Jon had insisted he accompany
Aliana back to her room he knew something was up. A party with a bunch of
children had not been in his game plan.
"Because they deserved it. They all worked
so hard to try to make me happy, the least I could do was play along with
them." Her face was now drawn with stress as she released her absolutely
amazing control. She isn't even twelve hours old yet. "It wasn't as
if it cost me all that much."
"You look wiped out." He said quite honestly.
"Let me show you to your rooms."
"I'm afraid my bed is tiny." Her wry grin
was rapidly becoming a thing to tug at his heartstrings every time it appeared.
Then her words hit through his own muzzyness.
"Uh, I didn't mean for us to ..." Her face fell as she pushed herself away
from the wall she had been resting against. "Sorry, if you would like, even
though you just had transfer, I have room for you as well as your guitar."
He tried to cover his faux pas.
"Not if it's a duty, Jarmin." Her jaw clenched
against what he guessed might well be a truly vile temper beneath all her
superficial smiles.
"Only that most channels don't like to be
reminded of their dependance on Donors." What made me say such a thing?
He cursed his own tired tongue. "Sorry, I meant to say, I don't like to sleep
alone either." Now there was an understatement. Usually within twelve hours
after transfer he was so shenned depressed he was well on his way to an alcoholic
stupor. Even with the slight headache remaining, Aliana allowing him to stay
with her was more than tonic for his chronic sense of unease and despair.
"The first is certainly true, the second?"
Her hand tipped up, as if she were offering him a snifter of brandy. It was
yet another odd gesture, as if she weren't quite as aware of what her body
said as her voice.
"Admittedly, I do like to have some time alone
so I don't have to worry about clobbering you with my field." He took her
fingertips in his. One of the few things he had already learned was that
she expected to be touched, a lot.
"We'll worry about that when you are high
enough field for it to be a problem." She pulled him closer by his fingertips.
"Right now you would hardly disturb a renSime, much less a channel." Her
yawn almost turned the last word into something like lord.
He shook his head and nearly stumbled. "You
would think I've been drinking." Like usual.
"Only that vile white stuff." She made an
awful face. "I figured out how to zlin again right before you drank it. Yuck."
"I should have simply slept until it wore
off." His tongue ran off with him again. "Sorry, ..." She put her fingers
against his lips.
"Please, stop apologizing for not being perfect."
Her touch was gentle. "If you keep doing so, then I'll have to work even
harder to try to be perfect as well."
Jarmin kissed her fingers. "Yes, Hajene."
"Not yet, not quite yet."
The class was deadly dull. After barely four
hours of sleep, Jon had quite annoyingly roused her out of bed and handed
her a list of subjects. All her classmates were bright eyed and cheerful
even though the sun hadn't even risen yet. She stifled another yawn and felt
her eyes try to droop closed.
"What's the limit as sin x over x approaches
zero, Aliana?" The teacher broke into her near nap.
"Uh, 1." She tried to blink the fuzz from
her brain as the teacher glared at her. Then she looked up at the board.
Oops, she hadn't gone through the proof yet.
"I think you may well be in the wrong class,
Aliana. Please see your advisor." The teacher's field was spiky and disturbing
the other students. "Now, Aliana." She said as Aliana almost fell asleep
over her notebook.
"Yes Hajene." She clumsily gathered everything
together and trudged out of the room to the hissing murmurs of her fellow
students. Finally safe in the brick lined hallway, she slumped against the
wall for a moment. This isn't going to work. She staggered back to
Jarmin's room after blearily examining her schedule. After rather awkwardly
dumping her books on a chair, she slipped off her shoes and slithered back
into bed. Aliana was back asleep even before her head hit the pillow.
Waking up the second time was much, much better.
"Good morning, sleepy." Jarmin chuckled softly in her ear. "I would have
thought you would have been up hours ago."
"Jon tried. Calculus, which I learned ages
ago, was not enough to keep me awake." She yawned, popping her jaw so loudly
she was surprised the window didn't crack. "I am not that much of a morning
person. History and regulations are after breakfast. Maybe by then I'll be
awake enough to deal with new subject matter."
"Simes aren't supposed to require much sleep,
only a few hours a night."
"Could have fooled me." Then she chuckled.
"Maybe someone forgot to tell the rest of me I changed over."
"I don't think so." He kissed the back of
her neck and then yawned himself. This was a very interesting experience
for Aliana and she focused on him as his field twined and twisted through
his muscles as he stretched. It was already picking up again, a steady pulse
of life growing from the so dim recesses of yesterday. "You wouldn't happen
to be hungry as well, would you?"
"Starving. Jon seemed to think I had no interest
in food at all." She turned around so rapidly she almost bopped him on the
nose. "Would you happen to be able to spare another of those wonderful salt
rolls I seem to remember from about an aeon and a half ago?" Her mouth was
already watering in anticipation. After having missed dinner entirely last
night, and no breakfast this morning, her stomach was bitterly complaining
about its proximity to her backbone.
"You are an odd little Sime, my new friend."
He kissed her on the nose. "It'll be interesting to see what you look like
when you slim down."
"I have absolutely no plans on doing so any
more than I have to." She said forcefully, kissing him back. "However your
nose is starting to look tasty."
"Food, I understand." He chuckled, then her
stomach rumbled and he stared at it. She shrugged in embarrassment. "Let
me sit up." Aliana did so and he pulled an entire bag of the things out of
his carry all. Three salt rolls later and two cups of tea, Aliana felt a
great deal more like facing the world.
"Much, much better." She sighed, leaning back
against the edge of the bed with him. "What time is it?"
"Isn't that my line?" His arm had gone around
her shoulders again, where it should be. If only I could manage to have
him sit with me in my classes. She wished.
"I know what time it is, but not in relationship
to anything." She shook her head and chuckled again. "No one has given me
the instructions for my time sense yet either."
"There's still more than an hour until breakfast
is officially over." He looked over at the wall and she finally saw the clock.
"Would you like anything else to eat?"
"No, not right now, but probably about lunch
time I'll be starving again." She grimaced and then tentatively added, "Would
you mind if I went out for my run?"
"You don't have to." But he sounded more curious
than forbidding. "But if you like, go ahead. I'll join you even as long as
you promise not to augment too much."
"If I augment at all, it's cheating." She
grinned at him and got to her feet. "Let me go get something I can get sweaty
in."
"I'll meet you out front."
Jarmin felt his jaw try to bounce off the
ground. Admittedly, yesterday, he hadn't seen a great deal of Aliana's body
but still after having slept with her all night he should have felt something.
She was as sleek and fit as a jaguar, albeit a juvenile jaguar. She is
going to be irresistible as an adult. He tried to force his thoughts
away from such inappropriate thoughts. Then she grabbed her ankles and pulled
herself down to them.
Oh, my. No matter how young she was
even the thought of what she would look like in a few months would have caused
a rather embarrassing reaction if he hadn't gotten singed yesterday. Reminded
finally to stretch some, he tried to copy her actions. It had been a number
of years since he had run regularly, and he hoped he could keep up.
Looking down he finally noticed she was barefoot
and cringed. "You know there are a lot of rocks and sand out there."
"I've been running barefoot for years, Jarmin."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "I don't want to wear out my one good pair
of shoes." And with that she was off, running towards a faint path winding
through the hills near the campus. Caught off guard, he struggled after her.
Breezily, she waved to a few of the gardeners,
who made a spectacular double take. He chuckled under his breath at their
surprise. "I wonder if it's because you're in the lead, or because you are
running un-augmented?"
"You want to chase me?" She grinned wickedly
back over her shoulder and took off at a grueling pace. After the second
mile, Jarmin was determined not to give up. After the third, he wondered
what he was doing out here. After the forth, he didn't even have the breath
to think. Somewhere around five and a half miles or so, she slacked off the
pace at last. His lungs were heaving like bellows and he could feel the sweat
soak his clothes even in the cool morning air. Finally he caught up with
her as she slowed to a walk.
"Have fun?" She asked, still breathing deeply
but evenly. He gulped, speechless, trying to catch his breath. "Oh, you poor
thing." She cooed, taking his elbow. He was too tired to even quibble about
being called a thing, which he felt like far too often. Salt stung his eyes
and she reached over and brushed the worst of the sweat away. "You could
have quit. Hana did after her first mile the first time we went out." She
pointed back over the hills where he could see quite a few youngsters all
running together.
"But." He gulped again, trying to breathe.
"Hush" She put her fingertip against his lips.
Finally it felt as if he weren't going to die. Then as they walked back onto
the quad, he did quail.
"Uh, Hajene Jon." He managed to pant out.
"And where were you this morning, Aliana?"
His voice was in its most irritated rasp, which Jarmin knew from being a
student of his a number of years ago.
"Lets see, after making my calculus teacher
zlin like a fool, myself as well, I gave up and went back to bed. After finally
getting something to eat I decided I would feel much better after my morning
run. I was going to get cleaned up and make it to my history class in, oh,
about twenty minutes, so I would be a few minutes early." She blinked at
him, looking far more innocent than anyone with her obvious brains had a
right to. "Did I miss something?"
"You were supposed to report to me immediately
after the teacher kicked you out of her class for mocking her." He glared
at both of them now. "And what's the bright idea with Jarmin anyways, are
you trying to murder him or something?"
"No" Jarmin leaned back and almost fell on
his behind.
"Walk, friend." Aliana said under her breath.
His knees trembled, but he felt much better as he walked in tiny circles
in front of his lecturer. "He said he wanted to come with me on my morning
run and was too stubborn to give in when he should have." Her wink was directed
purely at him, hidden from Jon by a turn of her face.
"Although if you keep us standing out here
on the quad, neither of us will be getting our day going on time." Her crisp
words in response to Jon's fuming made Jarmin want to cheer. She was handling
him perfectly.
"Your day was supposed to start about six
hours ago." His fingers tapped on his thigh.
"My body thought that was a completely ridiculous
idea, Hajene Jon." She said respectfully, even though the glint her eye told
Jarmin volumes about her rising temper. "As was the lack of food."
Jarmin cut this off before it could go too
far. "As her Donor this month, it is my duty to see to my channel's welfare,
is it not?"
"Yes." Jon admitted after having looked as
though he had swallowed a bug. Or perhaps it is simply his being down
wind. Jarmin checked the air briefly and grimaced at his own over ripeness.
"Then let me do my job, Jon." He used the
channel's bare name quite intentionally. "If Aliana is not the same as the
other channels, like say a Tegue is not the same, would you be entirely
surprised?"
"Oh, no, of course not." He finally gave in
and smiled at them, even though his nose twitched slightly as Jarmin tentatively
tried to stretch out his hamstrings. "What would you recommend?"
"Set the schedule for a Tegue pace and then
slow it down some more. Go ahead and leave out anything Aliana says she has
already studied." He saw her grin wildly and had to fight down an answering
grin.
"I think I probably know almost anything but
the most advanced subjects and Techton specific things, such as history and
regulations." She used her shirt to create a draft for herself. "Math, biology,
economics, general politics, general sociology, don't bother with, please.
I scanned the books before I started today and I've already gone as far or
farther than you go here. I would really like to make sure I have an hour
or two in the weight room and gym in the afternoon as well."
Jon blinked at her, looking like a poleaxed
steer. "Um, yes, sure." He muttered to himself some. "If I rip out all of
those, it should leave you with enough time to still sleep as you prefer
and have the time for this." He waved his hand at both of them. "Not that
I understand it at all."
"Food?" She pleaded. "Time to eat, too!"
"Um, yes, why don't you set up your own schedule
and run it by me?" He bit at his lip nervously. "All I ask is that you don't
put off the channeling or other exercises."
"Of course not, that's what I'm here for,
not falling asleep in my calculus class." Her grin was too irresistible this
time and he joined in, now feeling entirely human again, although a bit more
to eat would not have been found amiss. "Me too" She admitted under her breath.
Only when they had gone their separate ways, did Jarmin realize he had not
spoken his comment out loud.
Aliana's hands slapped at the smooth wood
of the parallel bars and slipped. "Shen." She cursed under her breath as
she fell to the floor again. At least as a Sime, she didn't fall on her behind
as often. Looking up, she remounted and tried the back flip again, this time
with more success. The changes her body was still making were messing up
her natural balance something fierce and she hated having to rely on augmentation
to make up for it.
Counting out the rhythm in her head, she hand
walked down to the end, did another back flip successfully and called it
quits with a fancy dismount her brother had taught her years ago. The sound
of applause made her almost gape, then she turned and bowed to her tiny audience
of one. "Impressive." Jarmin bowed back to her.
"Hardly." She picked up her towel and wiped
the sweat from her face. "Now the rings, there I'm good."
"I bet." He grinned, taking her hand. "No
augmentation?"
"Only when I'm about to hit my wrists on
something." She told him, looking into his wonderful, warm sable dark eyes.
"Or about to fall on my butt again. It isn't very well padded."
"I had wondered what you did here, when everyone
else was off at class." He looked around the room. "You should have a spotter."
"I know, but if I waited for a spotter, half
the time I wouldn't get the chance to do anything." She contemplated asking
Jarmin if he had the time, but figured he would be too busy.
"Tell you what." He said with his impish grin
making the strong lines in his face crinkle so fascinatingly she had to zlin
as well. His field was full of bright good humor, despite being almost on
turnover. "If you can stand for a Gen to spot you, I'll move our afternoon
session in here with you."
This was a hard decision. She hated giving
up any of her time with Jarmin. She so rarely saw him now except for their
daily run and the occasional session in his office. He must have sensed her
indecision, as he followed up with an offer she couldn't refuse, "And I'll
make it so we get to spend even more time together."
"Yes" She snapped it up. "Anything. I'll even
teach you something."
"You have been, Aliana." He caressed her face.
"You certainly have."
"What?" She didn't feel she had done anything
all that unusual. Other than a few odd preferences, it seemed she had made
very little effect on the people around her here. Remember, this is what
you wanted. She told herself bluntly.
"You gave me my self back, Aliana." His thumb
caressed her cheek bone. "I was dreadfully lonely and felt as if no one wanted
to spend time with me for anything but my selyn."
"I like you, Jarmin." She said, holding his
hand to her face. "Even if we never see each other again in our lives, I
would like to know you are doing well and are happy. How could I not?" Sometimes
she worried she had given Jarmin an example no one else here would ever live
up to. "You are a very kind person."
"Few people have said so, Aliana." He sighed,
letting his eyes fall and his field flatten out. "Most would say I am rather
cold."
"Only compared to Sime body temperature."
She stepped forward and hugged him tightly. He started as he so often did
when she reached out for him, but each time it became less and less. "You
aren't resisting because I'm all sweaty, are you?"
"No, not at all." He finally relaxed against
her. His field twining about both of them was heavenly and warmed her to
her toes.
"Did you get in trouble for asking to stay
here with me?" She asked quietly, realizing something was bothering him from
the slight tremors in his nager.
"No, although I think the controller's exact
words were 'and shen both of you'."
"Ouch" She flinched at the vile oath until
she remembered, yet again, that word was no where near as vile here. "Sorry
..." Surprisingly, this time he silenced her.
"I know, little one." He grinned at her. "You
don't use such language unless you think no one can hear you. Even though
I can't understand a word you're saying when you swear in Russian."
"Then let me teach you something substantial."
Plots clicked into place in her head with an astounding suddenness. "The
Techton will probably, eventually, want to send some of their own people
to Moskva, why not you?"
"Because I ..." His grin turned feral. "If
I know the language, I'll be one up on everyone else. And it will be a quite
valid excuse to stay here and spend time with you."
"Exactly." She grinned right back and hugged
him till his ribs creaked. "You already have a start on it." Aliana hummed
a few bars of one of the songs she had taught him.
He threw his head back and laughed, sending
wonderful shimmers through his field. The song she had taught him had been
more than a bit bawdy.
This class looked to be rather interesting.
"The care and feeding of Techton Donors, by guest lecturers, tba" Hmmm,
who in the world could they have gotten for this thing? She asked herself.
It was only a week long class, one of many very short courses scattered through
the regular curriculum. As she looked around, she realized there were many
unfamiliar faces, including Hajene Jon.
Blinking, she turned her face and attention
away, realizing she probably shouldn't be here, as now she noted there were
almost no other very young Channels in the lecture hall. They're the ones
who require this class the most. She thought after having heard some
of her classmates talking about their Donors as if they were walking meal
trays and not living, breathing, feeling human beings like themselves. Then
she saw a whole gaggle of them herded in by Hajene Harim. Gaggle is
right. She zlinned their shifting and flickering nagers.
The lights dropped in the auditorium and she
dropped her pen. There, front and center stage, was her brother Tzer. She
looked over at Jon. Then she felt Jarmin's sweet, comforting presence sit
at her side. Jon winked at her and turned his attention back to the stage.
Nervously, she took Jarmin's hand and twined her tentacles with his fingers.
"I didn't think you required this?" He whispered
to her under her breath.
"I was curious." She realized her eyes must
be huge and then when the channel in front of them gave her a glare, she
toned down her own nageric display.
"So I see." He patted her hand.
"Now that I have your attention, our lecturer
today, is actually my partner, Mikhail Fatima." He bowed slightly and stepped
to the side. With a grace Aliana had barely realized she missed, Mikhail
glided forward in full black robes and veil. Even at this distance though,
she could still see his arresting blue eyes.
"I had my mate, Tzer Fatima come forward first,
because I know, far better than many, most of you would tune out my little
talk as simply being a disaffected alien and not having the brains of a pin
because I am Gen." Mikhail's voice carried the heavy accent of the East.
"Who is that?" Jarmin whispered to her.
"My brother and brother-in-law." She whispered
back.
"Oh" Jarmin's field quivered, earning them
another black look from the channel in front of them.
"Now, lets get one thing straight. I had been
a Techton Donor. I grew up here. I was trained here. I left." His voice grew
almost harsh. "It wasn't everyone, but many channels did treat me like a
side of beef. All of you most likely find that analogy highly disturbing,
think on it.
"No, Simes don't eat meat, they don't kill
here anymore, but while the treatment of Gens has improved tremendously here
since Unity, there are still issues which have to be resolved." Now Aliana
realized why he was veiled. It wasn't just to protect his identity, but to
protect the poor channels near him from his nageric feedback. "It isn't enough
to give the majority of humanity here rights. Words on paper don't mean a
great deal to someone starving in the street."
"We pay good money for selyn donation." A
rather well cued heckler snapped out.
"Oh, and so you make sure they feel nothing."
His eyes blazed behind his veil. "Did you ever think we might wish to be
equals?"
"Gens don't feel anything in transfer." The
same male snapped out.
"You are quite a useful heckler, can we hire
you for our next appearance?" Tzer's grin was as sharp as his knives. The
man physically backed off, but even from here Aliana could zlin his field
still full of fight.
"You deny we have any chance at the most
tremendous pleasure know to mankind by your own blindness, Hajene." Mikhail
let his sleeves slide up to bare his arms and the brilliance of his nager
was stunning, laced with the sense of barely tamed lightning. "I'm not going
back." The heckler slid down in his chair.
"Certainly, in the days shortly after the
kill and still in many places on the territory borders, Gens do have to be
handled carefully." He let his sleeves fall down again. "But isn't a carrot
better than a stick?"
There was dead silence. Jarmin clutched her
tentacles, his field twining about them in a stunning display of hope. This
time the irritable channel in front of them didn't dare move.
"I would say so." Mikhail answered his own
question. "Techton Donors are the first group who could benefit by being
included in humanity." He still wasn't pulling his punches though. I'm
glad I'm not down in front. Aliana thought to herself. "All you have
to do is show a little consideration."
Jarmin was sweating like a horse by the time
Mikhail's little lecture ended. "I never would have dared say any of those
things." He breathed after almost everyone had left.
"But I bet you've thought them." Aliana said
to him quietly.
"Well, yes." He admitted, turning to her,
fearing she would have the pinched and angry look of most of the other channels
who had attended. But instead she just smiled at him wryly, that wonderful
crooked smile. "I still wouldn't have been so forward."
"Mikhail had some help." She stroked his hand
softly. "Those robes he was wearing shielded the audience from his nager."
"Oh, I was wondering why half the audience
didn't faint or run gibbering in terror." He returned her smile, more relieved
than he would have thought possible. "So, is he representative of ..." Then
his eyes widened. "That was Mikal Tegue."
"Yes" The now familiar voice told him and
he turned around as quickly as he could. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
Up close, the clear silver eyes of Tzer Fatima were even more fascinating.
"Oh, have a seat." He tried to hide his rather
awkward grasp on Aliana's hand. I doubt I am good enough for someone related
to him. She wouldn't let him go, as if she had caught a particularly
tasty fish.
"A good one, Aliana." Tzer sat down with his
partner. I'm not so sure I want to think about that too hard. "Even
if he is still a bit squirrely." Jarmin tried to still his sudden attack
of shyness. "I don't bite unless invited, Jarmin." Now those silver eyes
were trained directly on him and he could almost imagine he felt Tzer zlin
him.
"I don't think I'd be doing that." He licked
his lips nervously and Tzer took a deep breath.
"However he does flirt quite nicely." Tzer
blinked a few times. "We will be going into seclusion right after the lecture
series, since someone here wanted to do it as high field as possible." He
squirmed his way in under Mikhail's arm.
"It got their attention." Mikhail sighed.
"I swear you have to beat some channels over the head with your nager to
get them to open their ears and stop zlinning all the time."
Jarmin chuckled at how many times he had thought
the exact same thing. "True, very true. Maybe that's why I find Aliana so
fascinating. She listens to me."
"I'd better, or I'd have all my relatives
breathing down my neck." Then she muttered. "If they didn't break it."
"Hush now." He rased her hand and kissed the
back of it, as she had taught him to do. Never before would he have taken
such liberties with a channel and still he looked around to be certain no
one would correct him for the forwardness. "So you're going to be in fairly
hard need by the time you're done?"
"Both of us actually." He shrugged, a particularly
boneless gesture while plastered to Mikhail's side like an oversized cat.
"Part of the lecture for tomorrow, not snapping
at your Donor for being irritable after turnover." Mikhail gave him a grin.
"We get pretty cranky too sometimes. I thought there would be at least a
few more Donors here."
"Most of us thought it was yet another round
of 'Don't make too many demands on their busy time' and 'Be very careful
not to ever, possibly, scare them'." He grimaced at some of his friend's
snapping about the upcoming lecture series this morning. "We didn't believe
it."
"Case of boy who cried wolf?" Tzer asked them
all.
"Too many times." Jarmin said quite forcefully.
"After what seems like the thousandth time you've been told 'you can't feel
any of this' or 'you're making it all up', it becomes really hard to change."
"So you came because of Aliana?" Mikhail held
Tzer even more closely, as if he were trying to wrap himself around his partner.
Aliana sighed and tentatively, Jarmin echoed their postures. After a quiver
of unknown origin, she gleefully burrowed under his arms and almost into
his lap. Mikhail chuckled.
"Yes, it was a chance to be with her." Awed
at her enthusiastic response, he kissed the top of her head and she settled
down even more tightly to him, this time in his lap. "I wouldn't have
missed that for anything, even another round of 'dumb Gen baiting'." A sharp
pinch on his ribs made him yelp. "There are problems with this sort of
closeness." He mumbled into her hair.
"Not from my perspective." Her slender hand
rubbed away the sore spot.
Mikhail laughed at them, not unkindly. "Too
bad you won't be able to stay a pair."
"I know." He caressed her lean body again
his own. "Maybe once more I'll be able to satisfy her, but after that I'll
have to hand her over to someone else."
"But, your governors aren't that low."
"Hush, Tzer." Mikhail murmured.
"What?" He straightened, so startled he forgot
about Aliana. She almost came out of his lap spitting and hissing in fury.
"Easy little one." He said, eyeing the two other men cautiously.
"All right." Mikhail said, almost seeming
to zlin him, but from what he had said earlier, Jarmin knew that might well
not have been impossible. "Most Techton Donors are working below their potential,
as are Techton channels.
"Most Techton Donors are not trained to their
limits, because of the fear of a possible burn." Mikhail's blue eyes bore
into his with a startling intensity. "Remember?"
"Yes" He nodded sadly, thinking of all the
times he had been turned down for assignment because it was too close and
a safe, much lower, channel could be found for him. "But