The Rose Garden

by

     


Ann Marie Olson

     


     


Story © 2000 Ann Marie Olson
     

     

     



     


      A bit of warning from the author. This piece has no plot. Or rather it has lots of really short plots crammed together with a smidgen of glue. I may return from time to time to this rose garden to practice other writing tecniques.
     


      "What is that wonderful smell?" Sevrin asked suddenly, his face turning towards the east.
      Vanesa was confused, as she normally was when Sevrin went off on something like this. She looked around to try to see what he had spotted. "The roses, I think."
      "Those aren't roses." He cocked his head, walking forward. Vanesa had to tap his field with hers before he tripped over the retaining wall. His field twined out, searching for the obstacle.
      Good thing there isn't anyone out zlinning this. Many of the local renSimes still went into near hysterics when they zlinned Sevrin. "They are not trin roses."
      "I know that." His twit face made brief appearance, at least until she snorted at him in dismay. "Sorry." He was getting a lot better about it. "So, what are they?"
      "As I said, roses, original roses." She smiled, leading him forward. "I used to sneak out here and care for them when I had a spare moment." Her sigh was almost as sad as the litter and blown blossoms remaining on the canes. "I haven't had the time for them of late." Her hand cupped his far larger one, and she showed him one of the still vibrant red blooms.
      "So silky." He leaned forward and smelled it. "But this isn't quite it." Sevrin cocked his head, searching his surroundings. "This is." He turned and caressed a rather sorry looking specimen. "Ow."
      "They do have thorns, sweet."
      "Now you tell me." He grinned at her. "But smell."
      Vanesa leaned forward and smelled the one he pointed out. It did smell different, almost a spicy tone on top of the heady, rich rose fragrance. "It isn't very good looking." Being more than a bit lopsided and a rather dull, almost brown.
      "It is to me." His fingers caressed the petals delicately. "No one has been taking care of this garden, have they?"
      "No, not for a year or so now." She said sadly. "As I said, I've been busy."
      "Would you mind if I did?" His exquisite smile took her breath away. There was no way Vanesa could say no.
      "Not at all."
     
      Now this was probably not the brightest thing Vanesa could have done, but saying no to Sevrin was not the easiest either. She knew she had to save up her ammunition for those times it really mattered.
      "Did you know Sevrin is clearing out the old rose garden?" Riana asked, bouncing Viasha on her knee.
      "I know, believe me, I know." Vanesa still cringed every time he came back inside with his arms laced with tiny pinpricks left by their thorns.
      "Why don't you stop him?" Arkay asked, playing with Sivaya.
      "I can't stop the weather." She snorted, looking at Nashen.
      "Just because I can, doesn't mean I can do a thing about Sevrin." Nashen tickled Sivaya under the chin. Sometimes Vanesa wondered if those two had decided to live at Kaon over the winters just so they could play with the children.
      "Would I do such a thing?" Nashen's grin was infectious and Vanesa shook a tentacle at him.
      "I missed it again." Riana's field darkened in annoyance.
      "Only that your sister wondered if we moved in here over the winters to play with the children." Arkay filled in the blanks.
      "Oh yes you would." Riana accused. "I know you."
      "Knew me too." Nashen said with a wink.
      "You are a lewd man and no gentleman, my Alamir." Arkay gave him a swat with his field.
      "We all know that." Sevrin walked in. Vanesa sighed and held out her hands. Sevrin clucked at her with his tongue, but let her tease his body into healing itself.
      "You get yourself too badly scraped up and I'm going to end up going short." Vanesa examined his arms minutely.
      "In public?" Arkay looked a bit aghast.
      "This isn't public, this is family." Vanesa caressed them gently, stroking the long, fine hairs on his arms.
      "However that is far more lewd than my comment, which was only factual." Nashen actually blushed.
      "Oh, make him do that again." Riana pleaded.
      "It only works when I'm not expecting it." Nashen looked out the window, away from Vanesa's hands.
      "The real trick is to get Arkay to blush." Sevrin whispered in her ear.
      "I haven't done it yet." Nashen flicked a tentacle at his mate. "He's almost as tough as Avilan."
      "No one is that tough." Riana noted, a bit of color coming to her cheeks.
      "Probably because no one has told him it's good for the complexion." Gears churned in Sevrin's mind so loudly Vanesa could hear them.
      "Oh I did, many years ago." Arkay snorted. "Didn't do me a bit of good."
      "Aren't we going to Moskva this summer for a bit?" Sevrin asked, his field almost still with his plotting.
      "Now, now, Sevrin." Vanesa clucked. "I don't want you doing anything which might harm your father."
      "I won't, trust me."
     
      The last time Vanesa had been to Moskva, she hadn't gotten anywhere near the chance to sight see she had hoped. Leaving the children with the men, she and her sister decided to make the most of their temporary freedom. Bees hummed in the low bushes lining the walls of the tiny park. "What do you think Sevrin has in mind?"
      "I have no idea." Vanesa smiled at a pair of mockers arguing over a single branch on an otherwise unoccupied tree. "I usually don't." She waved forward the pair of renSimes who had been trailing them all day. "Here, make yourselves useful." She handed them the packages.
      "But m'Lord, we but not bein' unbusy." The guard protested, as Vanesa loaded her arms with parcels. Finally she had to hand her spear to her partner. "But"
      "What are you doing, Vanesa?" Sevrin seemed to have tracked down the two women with the unerring instinct of a bloodhound.
      "Shopping." Riana quipped. He glared at her.
      "Sharm lords succumb to the lure of shopping for itself." Sevrin did not look amused. The guard did, however, looking away sharply. "And what has you so happy, renSime?"
      "Glad te be seein' m'Lords so well, Sharm Lord Mir." Her light on snowfield nager danced with high good humor. Vanesa decided she liked this one. Most of the renSimes were far too subservient. This woman had some wit.
     
      *Can we take this one home with us?* Vanesa pointed to the renSime with her field.
      *Now you want a servant.* Sevrin sighed, feeling more than a bit like he was walking into a trap. "What is your name little one?" He had been trying to get Vanesa to hire more than Garin's wife for servants since they set up Mir West. Very carefully he scanned the renSime, noting she had already born her children. *Possibly.*
      "M'name's sargent renSime Tanya Mir nee Sergei, m'Lord." Tanya's field quickened even more, turning to mercury in motion. "P'raps we could be talkin' 'bout this a tech later." Her attention flickered across her partner.
      "Ye be havin' yer mate come wit us?" Riana dropped into dialect as easily as if she had been born to it.
      Before the sisters could get any more out of hand, Sevrin sent to his brother, *Sergeant renSime Tanya and her mate, status?*
      *Better manners than you, Sevrin.* Vayer sounded a bit annoyed, but then so did most people Sevrin mind spoke with. *And yes, you two can have any renSimes you want, just no breeding stock and not my chief!* For Vayer had winkled out another literate renSime from Kirov, of all places, and rescued her from the Hunt. The woman, Kylira, was no where near the philosopher Dorityan was, but instead had learned to read and write for the purposes of setting up her own trade empire from the leavings of Kirov.
      There had actually been a rather exciting little fight over the woman, but since Fatima had a chief, Vayer got her. She had immediately accepted the yoke of Vayer's rule when he set her to not only continue her work, but expand it to encompass Mir. Now she was Darya's second, and the primary interface between the Lords of Mir and her renSimes.
      *I've been trying to get Vanesa to accept servants since we moved.* Sevrin sent back the reply with more than a bit of acid. *Independent, self willed renSimes we have in plenty. Ones who want to serve are impossible to find.*
      *Just try not to steal too many others of the Dorityan-Tanya line, Sevrin.* Vayer sent back with a sigh. *I require at least a few to keep Mir going.*
      Sevrin had thought the woman felt familiar. "No, if you like, you can make your decision now, renSime, both of you."
      Her field went even brighter and she turned her attention to her partner, who must also obviously be her mate. He shied back a bit, and then gasped. "Really?"
      "Yes, and I've even been but hearin' te talk they can but be learnin' there." Tanya's low voice was clearly audible to him.
      "You will both be expected to learn English and High Simelan, although it does mean you can't return." Sevrin pointed out. "We will be leaving in less than a week, so if you have to, please think about it. Because of the odd nature of the situation, this is not an order." Vanesa bristled at him until he got to the last.
      *Easy love. They are both good people who serve well and willingly.* The smooth silkiness of their nagers made it more than apparent neither of them were at all uneasy in harness.
      *You make them sound like work animals.* Her distaste became even more apparent.
      *We are all work animals, love. Only some have more joy in their work than others.* Sevrin sent the sense of her fuming over her ledgers with the smell of ink and paper in the background.
      "Point." She chuckled softly.
      "Are you really thinking about taking these two home with us?" Riana's almost silent whisper was outraged.
      "Actually, yes." Vanesa sounded thoughtful.
      Good, finally, Sevrin was getting truly tired of the loneliness of hired help. He never got to know them, their wants, their concerns, their voices. Hired help disappeared at the end of the day. They were not people you got to know.
      "You are going to bring servants, practically slaves, into Kaon!" Riana choked. Sevrin heard a rustle of wrappings and then noted Tanya patting the young woman's back.
      "Na don't ye be frettin', m'lord." Tanya said. "Pyetr and me be takin' care of ye, don't ye zlin if we don't."
      "I hope you chose to take the position." Sevrin gave her a smile. "You'll probably not be standing guard duty as much as more domestic work."
      "And done, m'Lord!" Her partner said, and then there was a warm glow of embarrassment. "I be meanin' te say, at yer will, my Lord Kaon." I've always wanted to be around children, came through loud and clear.
      "You didn't apply to work as a nurse?" Sevrin asked him quietly.
      "I did, but me mate wanted her own childer." He said, equally quietly. "We were but be goin' te try at Mir, but there not be but much call fer such yet." Sand scraped on the paving stones.
      "Then welcome to Kaon, or Mir West as some call it here, both of you." Vanesa said, even though her dismay at Kaon being called an extension of Mir was painfully obvious to Sevrin. "If you know of two or three more couples who might suit us well, I would also like to speak with them."
      "We been but hearin of te ways ye be havin', m'Lord." Tanya said warily. "I don't but be knowin' o' te many who'd be wantin' such instability. Not te fault ye, m'Lord, but, well, te youngins not but be te happy wit out a strong hand at te hilt."
      "I would prefer older couples, like yourselves." Sevrin gave them both a wry grin. "Preferably those who would prefer a less structured household."
      "And not those who'd be but gettin' carried o' themselves away in sech a thing, m'Lord?" Pyetr asked, field dancing with good nature.
      Good, both of them are quick witted and very placid at the same time. "Yes, very much so Pyetr. RenSimes like you and Tanya." He let his field stroke the man.
      "Fer a treat like thet, ye be gettin' but half me friends, m'Lord." His response was a bit startling.
      "Yes, for ones who don't spook easily." Sevrin did it again, pleased as could be at Pyetr's immediate preening under the attention. Most renSimes were so skittish about Sharm Lords, Sevrin's attention was irritant and not balm.
      "We both but been workin' fer Sharm Lord Darya and she be but bein' te sweetest soul, m'Lords." Tanya's field tingled hopefully. Sevrin chuckled and petted her as well. "At yer will, m'Lord Kaon." Her nager melted into the delighted warmth of soft fur on a winter's night.
     
      By the time they left, they ended up with three couples, and one stowaway. "You come out of there right now!" Vanesa snarled.
      "Yes m'Lord." The rapidly rising field and cracking voice told Sevrin immediately the nature of their unwanted guest. Vanesa immediately shifted her public field to need.
      "No!" Sevrin shouted, but it was too late. The young man's field already had begun to respond.
      "That feels so good." He purred, his field rising in a dizzying spiral.
      "Oh shen." Sevrin put his head in his hands. "Why did you induce him?"
      "What?" Vanesa choked. "He's only a boy. Oh, he was." She sighed. "Sorry."
      "Why me?" Sevrin asked the bulkhead. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"
      "I didn't think he was that recently established."
      "I didn't know I had established." The young man's innocence was a plain as the sun in the sky. "I only wanted to see the neat things."
      "Well, you're along for the ride now." Riana chuckled. "What's your name, youngster?"
      "Dimitri, Domi for short." His field twined in desperate embarrassment. "I guess now it's renGen Domi."
      "No, lad." Sevrin corrected. "You are one of the inducted."
      "I what?" His voice cracked. "I wasn't supposed to be. I was supposed te turn out te be a cook." He wailed. "This adventure is not turnin' out the way it was supposed te."
      "They never do, Domi." Sevrin laughed at his suddenly wry and matter of fact tone. "Let Vanesa finish her job on your field and I'll find you something to wear."
      "I have clothes ... oh, a kador." His field was still twining and writhing with the artificial inducement of Vanesa's show of need.
      Where is the lad going to finish? An eyebrow raised as he felt it testing its new environment with ever increasing strength. "Don't you help, Riana." Sevrin warned. "We don't want Domi to run so high he outreaches every channel alive." Sometime the Rus would induct a Gen that hard, but not someone who was expected to remain stable for more than a decade. Finally Sevrin felt Domi's governors kick in, somewhere around twenty six or seven. Wow. He blinked. "Who are your parents?"
      "Maryam, oh, 'scuse me, Mir." The youngster blushed warmly again. "I know m'parents were Maryam, but beyond that, not a whole lot more." This was a fairly typical answer for someone raised entirely by the sharm. "Does this mean I get te learn te read?" His cheerful enthusiasm was infectious and Sevrin had to laugh.
      "Yes, m'lad, it does." *What is the status of the inducted in the West?* Sevrin realized he had never heard anything about them.
      *No different than any other Donor if they choose that path. Why?* Vanesa sent back the surprising information.
      *In Russia, the Inducted are second class citizens. They are considered too artificial.* He sent. Her field jittered. *No, zlin him very carefully* Sevrin pointed out the uncanny uniformity of Domi's nager. *Some of it will fade with age, but not all.* Sevrin heard a soft moan and a thump.
      *Now that you mention it.* Vanesa's field began to shy away from Domi's.
      "Awww, you went away." Disappointment laced through both his field and his voice.
      "I'll take care of you." Riana took over where Vanesa left off.
     
      "Did you ever manage to get Avilan to blush?" Vanesa asked, idly tracing Sevrin's bare flank with a feather.
      "No," He gave an annoyed snort. "Although I did try and if you don't stop teasing me I'm going to do something very lewd to you and make you blush."
      "Oh, like this." Delicately she brushed the very tip of the feather over the inside of Sevrin's elbow. The sensation sent shivers pure pleasure up her spine. Teasing a transfer partner had never really been something Vanesa had done before she ended up bonded to Sevrin, and now she wondered why. His field twined and spiraled into impossible geometric figures. When she reached his wrist, he gasped, trembling.
      "You tease, my love." He finally came back to his senses enough to talk, although his lips were already wet with wanting her.
      "I do." She purred. Leaning over him, her hair tracing over his flank, she nipped at the nerves she had so recently tickled. He trembled beneath her touch, muscles tensing with restraint. Easily, she caught his hand trying to pull her down. "Not yet, my sweet."
      Suddenly he yanked back. Instantly her tentacles lashed around his wrist. "Caught you." He growled, selyn dancing between them.
      Vanesa fought back the urge to grab his other wrist. "Only one of them." She forced her tentacles to loosen, sliding them over his arm in slow, lazy patterns. All of his hair was standing on end, teasing at her gentle touch, trying to call her back and grab. So very lightly she brushed the surface of the gleaming strands.
      His hand slid back, this time trying to tease her into another grasp. She let it go, twining only her tentacles about the very ends of his fingertips. Poised like that, she shifted the feather to her fingers and teased at the palm of his other hand with her tentacles. The very unevenness of the contact set up lighting fast harmonics in the growing bond between them. Intil is such a tame word for this delight. Vanesa noted quietly to herself.
      Very lightly, she let the feather drift across Sevrin's throat. He swallowed, heavily. The very faintest gleams of selyn made visible began to crawl over his forearms. Only Sevrin, of all the Sharm Lords she had known of, would throw off light as well as selyn when he was truly aroused. Vanesa leaned down and licked along one of the traces.
      Immediately his hand entwined in her hair, holding her. Chuckling evilly, she nipped at him again, hard. Sevrin howled, his field a tempest of fire trying to grab her and force her to take him. Its tendrils pulled at her, tugging at her body. Before he could think well enough to marshall his talents, Vanesa curled up against his side, facing away from him this time.
      Easily, gently, she focused on the hand she now had captured for her own as he curled up around her. Very tenderly, she started at the fingertips, slowly nipping and licking at each finger. Uh-oh This position might not have been the best idea.
      Sevrin was gently, but insistently, nipping along the edge of her shoulder. Each tiny kiss or lick, edged him closer and closer to the nape of her neck. His other hand burrowed down through the cushions. It then came up to surround her with its partner. "You couldn't have done better had I asked." His voice rumbled with need. Golden fire teased her tentacles from their sheaths as he clasped her hands.
      "You can't initiate ..." Broke off into an incoherent moan as his lips caressed the nape of her neck with the lightest touch imaginable.
      "Oh yes I can." His breath teased at the sensitive nerves. "But as you teased me so unkindly, I feel I must return the favor." With this he bit, hard. Pain shifted instantly to pleasure with the selyn surrounding her and she howled, writhing in his arms. "Lie still, my lass." He breathed, now licking the sensitized nerves.
      Vision returned, barely. Vanesa quivered with each soft, smooth, sweet touch of Sevrin's tongue. His fingers worked their way in and among her tentacle sheaths. Heat shimmered along her nerves. Startled, Vanesa looked down to see Sevrin just lightly brush his glistening finger towards one of her laterals. This time she moaned, giving into the fiery sensation.
      "Roniplin is wonderful stuff." Sevrin chuckled wickedly. "Wouldn't you say, my love?"
      "Oh, yes, whatever." At this point all she knew was Sevrin and his glorious field surrounding her in a halo of light.
      "Whatever? Then I should stop?" His breath cooled the back of her neck, sending yet more shivers up her spine. Then she realized what he said.
      "No!" She tried to grab him. So very easily he slid his wrists from her grasp. The slipping, sliding sensation only made her desires stronger.
      "Now, now, lets not be greedy." He moved his teeth to the other shoulder, this time being no where near as gentle. Their fiery cocoon darkened to a ruddy amber.
      "Lets." This time Vanesa lashed onto his with all her strength. Sevrin pulled back, almost sliding out of her grasp. She chuckled darkly at his struggles. He slumped against her back, defeated, field graying with remorse.
      Of course she released her hold some, she didn't want to hurt him. Instantly his hands were lose again. She snarled, frustrated. It had been a ruse.
      "That's right, my little Sime." His large hands landed right over her wrists, caging them. The threat of the gesture made her rear back. One breath more pressure. She whimpered at the thought. He struck, biting the back of her neck again.
      Selyn hammered at her, flaring around both of them. Her laterals reached out for it. As they brushed the palms of his hands, the wave crested, crashing down into her system with a demand that could not be denied. Selyn engulfed her, driving her under in its massive drive to live. Heat and life rushed along her nerves and body, filling them to the very edge of pain.
      Vanesa heard the vanishing echoes of her own cry of ecstasy as she fell back into the real world. Sevrin's entire body was trembling at her back. "I love thee, my sweet."
      "As I love thee." Vanesa purred, limp and soft in his arms. His hands slowly stroked the length of her arms. They were wet and slick with roniplin. Another sensation began to rise up within her. Slowly, smoothly, Sevrin began to rock against her. The rhythm called to her, making her close her eyes and concentrate on the delicious sensations coursing through her body.
     
      Soft, silky hair teased at Sevrin's toes as he slid his foot over Vanesa's calves. I am so glad she stopped shaving. It had originally been the silliest argument, and one he only won after a great deal of insistence and the use of his trump card. He absolutely hated using his blindness to talk anyone into anything, but Vanesa's shaving and excessive use of artificial fragrances had been points worth fighting over.
      Thinking of which, Sevrin breathed in deeply, savoring the incredible richness of scent. The sweet, top note of roniplin giving way to the darker harmonies of musk and the very faintest tang of Vanesa's incipient arousal played on Sevrin's nerves like nothing else in the world. Salt and the very slightest hint of copper teased at him as he licked the bite he had given her neck. I think I bit a little too hard. He caressed the slight injury with his cheek, willing it to completely heal.
      Vanesa moaned and pressed back against him. "Not quite yet, little one." He breathed, shifting his hips back to keep from getting bent. Sevrin was more than physically ready for her, but wanted to take his time. Taking a handful of his own hair, Sevrin stroked the length of her body. The silk on skin feel echoed between them.
      Hot, wet velvet twined about his fingertips. Desperately, Sevrin grasped Vanesa's hips for a moment, pulling her to him. She twisted in his hold. In the space of a breath, she had him captured between her thighs. You can't get me like this. Sevrin thought, far too innocently. Silky smooth curls tickled his questing hardness. The heat of her teased at him even more. His hand slid down to stroke her, easily parting her lips and coming to rest on her quivering heartbeat.
      Every lithe, gentle move Vanesa made stroked him as well. Sevrin could feel his wetness seep between his fingers to mingle with hers. The musky tang of her tempted him too much. For an moment, he let go of his hold on her to taste her fragrance on his fingertips. Vanesa's hips tilted just a cent to far and she caught him.
      He tried to pull back, but Vanesa's hold only made him more frantic to fill her. Caught between want and must, Sevrin froze. Vanesa chuckled, sending even more waves of must through his entire body. One small fraction at a time, she took him. As their bodies finally joined to the hilt, Sevrin lost all control.
      Frantically, he held her to him, filling her with his desperate release. Howling, he felt her grasp him with a hold of iron. Shuddering, he tried not to think of how he had failed.
      Then she moved on him, stroking his far too sensitive length as if they had just begun. Sevrin whimpered with the overwhelming sensations. Shivers of nearly painful pleasure wracked his body. Sweat streamed down between them. Slick, wet motion fired through all his senses. His hands tried to cup her entire body all at once, sliding over her silken skin with a heat which only fired his desires more.
      Her soft cries of pleasure rang in his ears. The perfect curves of her body filled his palms as he filled her grasp. Slowly this time, he stroked her, matching his touch to the movement of their bodies. "Yes, my love." She purred, now opening her mind to him as well as her body. In a dizzying spiral, the sensations of filling and being filled fed back on each other. Sweet fire surprised both of them as they came together one last time in loving release.
      "Oh, my sweet beautiful love." Sevrin murmured in Vanesa's ear. "Thank you, my mate, my love, my heart's desire."
      "Thank you, my love." Her hand reached back to caress him gently. "You were more than perfect."
      "Hardly." His kissed the back of her neck. "I got a little carried away." He gently licked some of the salt from her skin. The taste of her made him shiver again, uncontrollably. Or is it her shivers? He nuzzled her soft neck.
      "I liked." Her hand clenched at his hip momentarily. "I like to think I can make you lose control sometimes."
      "That you do, my love, that you do." He purred, beginning to drowse off. "You were wonderful." He hugged her even more tightly to him. Her entire body was so very limp in its relaxation, as if all her bones had melted and all that remained was strong, smooth silk cords. Her jaw popped in a huge yawn, and then she went even limper, slipping into sleep instantly. With one final burst of strength and awareness, Sevrin flicked a sheet over both of them and then joined her.
     
      "Are you sure they're going to be able to make it?" Vayer asked both Tzer and Mikhail.
      "Yes." Mikhail looked up at the gunmetal grey skies. "We've been working to make sure the weather would be reasonably stable for at least a week." Soft, white flakes of snow drifted through the air.
      "It doesn't look like it." He glared at Tzer.
      "I know it doesn't, Vayer." Tzer snorted. "But who is the weather worker here?"
      "You are." He replied automatically. "But it's snowing."
      "I does that in winter." Tzer flipped his silver hair back off his shoulders.
      "I know that Lord Fatima." Vayer couldn't help but growl. "How are they going to land in this?"
      "Easily." Mikhail sighed. "The problems are high winds, thick fog or unstable conditions."
      "This snow is nothing." Tzer smiled at him, shaking his head. "We should be dealing with fifty klick per hour gusting winds and over two meters of snow for this storm right now. If they come in, land and the plane leaves within an hour, there won't be any such thing." He looked up and waved his hand at the sky. "It's still waiting for my call to release, quite nicely actually. There's a lot of water in this storm."
      Actually the day was relatively warm, about minus ten or so, but still Vayer wasn't too comfortable with the idea of trying to bring in any kind of flying machine during the winter. Finally he heard the drone of the engines. "Are you sure leading them in with your talent and Nivanya's is such a good idea?"
      "Quit fussing or I'm going to send you home." Tzer growled and tapped him on the nose, giving him a good sized shock. Vayer twitched his nose.
      "All right, I'm just worried."
      "I know you are, but I can't help, Vayer." Mikhail told him wryly, going to place his hands on Tzer's shoulders.
      "I know, when you're working with Tzer, you have to focus on him. I've seen Nashen and Arkay work before." And it still bothered him sometimes. Arkay seemed to enjoy it well enough, but Mikhail positively reveled in Tzer's lightning storms.
      The two young men really were a perfect couple, even their talents interlacing to a great degree and Vayer offered thanks on a regular basis for allowing Arkay to talk him into taking Tzer out from under ban. Even though, thinking back on it, he realized much of his show of reluctance at Kaon was to drive the two of them together. Tzer, without Mikhail, truly had been a menace to those around him. Only Mikhail was strong enough and controlled enough to curb Tzer's abilities.
      "If you could hold this." Tzer handed Vayer his coat. I feel like a coat rack. Nivanya had already divested herself of hers. Ilyan snickered at him.
      "Hush." Vayer told him. "I'm not working this little pyrotechnics show."
      "And that's why you have two coats, four hats and many gloves in your arms." Ilyan winked. "Warm enough?"
      "Plenty." He grinned.
      "I could help." Nivanya winked and Vayer felt a trace of heat caress his face. She was nearly bare, only wearing her tunic, trousers and boots in the slow falling snow.
      "Please, don't. If you scorch my beard off Darya will never forgive me." Actually he was sweating under the pile of fur lined garments.
      "Ok, time to get to work folks."
      "Don't make the pilot wet his pants, you four." Vayer warned them, hearing the plane circle around for final approach.
      "We won't, even if it would be a lot of fun." Nivanya chuckled. "You first Tzer, I want you to set up the lines."
      "Here goes." Tzer said, leaning back into Mikhail's embrace. A crack of thunder matched the arcs of electricity he seemed to throw across the landing field. In two perfectly straight lines they burrowed through the snow, sending it flying into the air.
      "Perfect." Nivanya said. Ilyan rested his hands on her shoulders. Fire followed the lightning in a rolling cloud. Steam rose into the cold air, making the upwards blizzard of Tzer's work vanish in a heartbeat. A gentle breeze drifted across the field, wafting the runway clean.
      "Nice job you two." Vayer was truly impressed. A twenty meter wide track had opened up right down the center of the huge area they used as a runway. It was ruler straight. There were even two black lines marking off the wheel paths.
      "That was fun." Nivanya crowed.
      "Easy lass." Ilyan kissed her hair. "Easy."
      Tzer turned to him, still showing electrical fire tracing across his normally silver eyes, turning them bright blue. "Acceptable?"
      "Yes, Tzer." Vayer laughed. "Quite."
      "Good." His eyes rolled up in his head as Mikhail's hands caressed his arms. For a moment Vayer thought the young man was going to faint, then he zlinned Mikhail's ecstatic reaction to his own caress. Vayer had to turn away or blush furiously. His own talents were far less showy, and definitely less tied to his own body's reactions. Fatima was decidedly the worst; he caught both Nivanya and Ilyan turning away as well.
      Ilyan sent him, *I hope they're too well clothed to get too carried away.*
      Vayer just nodded yes. Even though Ilyan's hands had slid beneath Nivanya's loosely tied tunic and were completely out of sight. Eventually he had to turn back, as the deafening roar of airplane engines reached a new high. Mikhail had, thankfully, wrapped his cloak around Tzer completely, and while they were intertwined like vines on a stake, at least neither of them were now broadcasting open sensuality.
      A couple of relatively soft thumps and the plane was grounded. It rolled to a neat halt, about a hundred meters away. Its engines threw up huge gusts of snow and ice, but fortunately it hadn't snowed so much yet they touched the white surface. We forgot something. He looked at Tzer.
      "How are they going to take off again?" Vayer asked.
      "Uh-oh." Nivanya looked at him hopefully.
      Vayer could now see the pilot's expression. It was not very faith inspiring. The woman was as white as the snow. "All right, here's the plan." He sighed.
      "Sounds good to me." Tzer piped up. "Although too much more of this and I'm not going to want to wait to get back to Fatima afterwards. We only had transfer yesterday, Vayer."
      "Oh dear." He sighed again. "Well, do your best."
      "Mikhail always does his best." Tzer reached back and caressed his partner's face.
      "I recommend you get the pilot someplace she can't see what we are doing." Ilyan pointed out.
      "Good idea, I think she's about to faint as is." Vayer snorted and began walking towards the plane. Everyone was trying to pile out of the plane. It was a mess. "Hold on, everyone!"
      "Good idea." Arkay grabbed him in a huge hug.
      "That wasn't what I meant." He hugged him right back anyways, neatly divesting himself of the extra garments. Vayer really did miss Arkay during the winters, even if it was for the best he go someplace warmer usually. Then he saw the pilot at the top of the stairs as well. Vayer hurried forward and trapped her inside, asking inane questions about how various fittings worked.
      "But how did you get such a big area cleared off?" Her brown eyes were huge and her nager was quite spiky with worry.
      "Special shovels." He said, caressing her back. "No, how does ..."
      "How am I going to get out of here?" Her muscles quivered beneath his hand.
      "It will be taken care of. By the time we get everything and everyone unloaded, there will be large cleared areas for you to turn around in." A huge thunder crack made the plane tremble. The pilot bolted for the controls. Vayer ran after her. The breeze had picked up and by the time they got there, a large area had been cleared of snow. Even from here, Vayer could see Tzer kissing Mikhail quite enthusiastically before they turned their attention to the other end of the area.
      Of course it didn't help that he too had taken off his shirt and was now only wearing a tunic like Nivanya. "It is freezing out there." The pilot shivered.
      "They are part of the work crew." Vayer gently turned her around.
      "The young man and woman both?" She looked back over her shoulder.
      "Yes, they're working hard enough not to be cold." Not that it was all that cold outside.
      "They're fast." She gasped.
      "Yes, very. It's a form of augmentation." He lied smoothly. "They should have another area at the other end of the runway cleared soon." With that a much quieter thunder clap hit. That one felt like Nashen. Vayer noted the different harmonics. He looked out the open door to see Nashen kiss Arkay passionately. And those two are probably almost as post as the other two. "Will that do?" He pointed over the tail of the plane?"
      "Uh, yes, thanks." Now her field matched the snow as well as her face.
      "We didn't touch the plane, don't think about it." Vayer gave the woman a bit of a shove with his mind as well as his field. He felt Arkay join him, slipping a bit of a calming attitude into the young woman's mind. "Better?"
      "Yes, certainly." She brightened up, grinning. "I have no idea why I'm so worried. I've made the run to the mystics."
      "Then you've seen a lot more excitement than we have." Vayer felt silly for all the overreaction. The mystics were as old as the Tribes, and far more skilled in the esoterics of mental abilities.
      "That I have." Her head turned, following the porters rapidly unloading the plane. "Is all this going back?"
      "No, it's mostly trade goods." He eyed the markings on the crates. "Only a few actually belong to people. Now, if you'll excuse me."
      "Oh, certainly. I didn't mean to keep you." Her bow gave all the indication of someone very well traveled. Being entirely inoffensive to anyone and showing almost no particular cultural origin. "I would love to stay some time though. I never get to play tourist, only mule."
      Vayer laughed. "I'll see if I can talk your supervisor into letting you come play when we aren't meters deep in snow and ice."
      "She's a real stickler for schedules." The woman sighed. "Not that I blame her, the work has to be done. My name is Karla ambrav Kaon."
      "I know I can talk your Sectuib into it." He winked.
      "Who are you, anyways?" She cocked her head at him quizzically.
      "Other than being an occasional coat rack, I'm usually the leader of Mir."
      Karla looked totally aghast. "I've been standing around wasting your time, my Lord. I'm sorry."
      "Hush, little one." He grinned. "Talking with a pretty young renSime is never a waste of time. Besides, you brought something to my attention which has to be fixed."
      "I did?" She asked as they came to the door.
      "Yes, you did." He tapped her on the nose. "I have to make sure people like you, who want to, get the chance to sight see on stopovers. It makes everyone more comfortable when people are happy with their work."
      "It isn't the most efficient thing."
      "Hush." He said. "It is. You are more efficient when you're happy. Besides, it saves wear and tear on the equipment to have someone who doesn't pop out of their skin when the locals set off fireworks to create a runway."
      "Or at least on the furnishings." She laughed. "My first nighttime landing in Deli required the upholstery to be washed on the pilot's chair."
      "I bet it did." He laughed delightedly. "I would love to have you come visit this summer."
      "I look forward to it, m'Lord." The last crate and parcel had finally been taken off the plane.
      "See you then." Vayer skipped down the stairs and noted Arkay had handed the coats off to Sevrin. "Give them back, brother mine." He told Sevrin. Sevrin grinned and bundled up their father.
      "I'm not cold yet." He scowled. "Hey."
      Nashen had bundled him up like a bear already, with the extra garments Arkay looked nearly spherical. "I'm cold, therefore you have to wear the coats."
      "Let's get the slow moving members of this party into the sleigh." Vayer chivied them, Sevrin and Vanesa into the seats and made sure they were bundled up.
      "Warm." Vanesa burrowed into the furs until only her nose showed. "It's cold out here!" She looked like a furry rock her middle was so big compared to the rest of her.
      "I'll agree with you." Sevrin snuggled up next to her. "Let's go, lads." He clucked to the horses. Their breath steamed in the air and they moved off with a lurch before the driver got himself organized.
     
      Vanesa had never worn a coat before. Certainly she had seen Gens wearing them, but the idea of having something over her tentacles had always seemed awful before. "I can keep warm by augmenting." She eyed the garment with absolute distaste. "What about a cape?"
      "Not warm enough alone. I am not going to let you get frostbite on your tentacles." Sevrin held out the coat. The cuffs seemed like they wouldn't bind, but still she wasn't sure.
      "Do we really want to do this?" Suddenly it didn't seem like so much fun.
      "Yes, we do." He kissed her nose. "Come on, for me?"
      "For you." She chuckled softly and slid into the warm, ankle length coat. From the elbow down, the sleeves and cuffs were lined with a fur so soft it almost felt like mist. Then he placed a cape over her shoulders.
      He shrugged into his own and they dashed outside before they sweated themselves to death. "Oh, my goodness." Vanesa looked up at the stars overhead. They were as brilliant as diamonds in the clear night sky. "Now I know why you wanted to walk."
      "I thought you would like it." He murmured in her ear.
      "It's absolutely beautiful." She breathed, holding his arm. "Thank you."
      "I can sense their beauty through you, my pretty one, thank you for showing them to me." He said as he began to lead her through the narrow paths cleared down the centers of the streets. Steel cleats on the bottoms of their shoes bit into the thick layer of ice on the cobbles.
      Vanesa could hear snatches of song from many of the houses along the way. "What do people do during the winters, at least those who aren't working?"
      "Many of them sing, or play games, or visit with their friends. Some of the Demense work almost as hard in the winter as they do in the summer, such as Azov and Kirov." He turned his face towards one particularly beautiful snippet of song. "Azov does most of his spinning and weaving during the winters and Kirov does a lot of his gem carving and very fine metal work at this time of year. Perhaps we can hear some of the songs the Azov sharm sings while we are visiting."
      "The entire sharm?"
      "Actually the spinners and weavers have songs they've made to go with the rhythms of their work. Or the storytellers perform for the workers." His smile was very fond, as if remembering times spent listening to such things. "It makes the work go more like play."
      "That is a big thing here, isn't it?" She realized her tentacles had been sliding through the soft fur of her cuffs only when one of them hit the frigid air and slithered back in to safety.
      "Yes." He smiled at her. "We don't have the split between work and play you do."
      "I can zlin that now." She had to stop as a voice of breathtaking purity indulged in a wild display of aural acrobatics. "You don't work so fast or so hard as we do either. I wouldn't have believed it without zlinning it."
      "There is no need to." He said softly, stopping with her to listen to the vocalist. "I use the word need deliberately, as long as we have what we want, there we stop."
      "Sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't be happier here." She sighed as the singer stopped.
      "Na I have te be finishin' te dinner lads, se get busy wit te choppin'" The same voice rang out loudly enough to be heard from the street.
      "That was a cook?" Vanesa looked at Sevrin, stunned.
      "Sounds like." He grinned back at her and kissed her on the nose. "Wonder if she cooks as well as she sings."
      "I have no idea." They walked on together, arm in arm.
      "No, I think I would probably get bored after a few years here." Vanesa sighed. "I want to go on and do new things."
      "As do I, little one." He echoed her sigh. "I love working with Kaon, the sheer vitality and growth is incredibly intoxicating sometimes."
      "When it isn't downright maddening." Vanesa looked around. "I am so glad though this place will be here though for the future as well. It is so incredibly beautiful."
      "I'm glad for the diversity." Sevrin gave her one of his brilliant smiles. "To only have one way in the world is truly the height of folly."
      "And again we find ourselves in agreement." Vanesa twitted him. "I love you, Sevrin."
      "I'm glad." He grinned and then kissed her thoroughly. "I love you, Vanesa."
      Breathless, she simply looked up at him. "Thank you." She brought his hand over to caress her vanished waistline. Their son stirred restlessly beneath their joined hands.
     
      "What took you so long?" Avilan asked, thrilled again to see Sevrin looking so vibrant and alive. His nose and cheeks were red from the cold outside as he handed the servants their ice cleats.
      "We walked." Vanesa grinned up at him, shedding her outer clothes into the hands of the servants. She turned around, startled. Avilan chuckled at her surprise. Shyly, she acknowledged the bows of the renSimes.
      "Be well and do your best, little ones." Sevrin told them softly.
      "At yer will, m'Lords." They spoke in chorus and then scurried off.
      "You walked, when it's less then twenty five below out?" He shivered a bit at the thought. Normally he didn't like to be cooped up, but taking a stroll on a clear night in the dead of winter was a bit much.
      "I wanted Vanesa to see the stars for me." Sevrin winked. *She had to get out. The indoor air and closeness were starting to unnerve her.*
      *I can understand that, but what if she slipped and fell?* Even with the spikes on their shoes, the ice could be treacherous.
      *I would have caught her.* Sevrin's assurance was so glib Avilan could only shake his head. "Did you enjoy the people singing?"
      "Oh yes." Her smile transformed her rather ordinary face into quite stunning beauty. "Sevrin says the weavers and spinners sing as well."
      "Would you like to hear them?" He asked, taking her other elbow. There was a flicker of resistance. Making the shift to sense fields, Avilan found Vanesa's entire body cradled in a nearly physical web of power.
      "Yes, I would, if they're still working."
      Avilan chuckled softly. "It isn't even official dusk, little one."
      "I'm still a bit confused with the way it gets dark so early." She shook her head. "My time sense is one thing, but when it's dark out, the rest of me still expects it to be later. Lead on, otyet."
      "Certainly" He kissed her dark hair at the wonderful complement. "Any thing you want."
      "Any thing?" Her zlinning him up and down almost undid him. It was as if she had wrapped her field around him and petted him far more intimately than he would have expected. "You know I'm going to have to find someone else to have transfer with to make certain Sevrin will be at his highest for the delivery of our son."
      "Well, yes, of course." Not that Avilan had thought things through. He rarely did. Usually he let Karola deal with that end of things. She was much better at it and he knew it.
      "We would like you to be the one to step in." Her hand caressed his bracelets, making them jangle even more.
      "Me?" Came out in a strangled squawk. "I am flattered. Really, I am." He tried to think. Vanesa's tentacles twining between his bracelets were not helping. "I have to ask Karola."
      "We already did." Sevrin said. "Actually Karola was the one who recommended we ask you."
      "She did?" This came out even more strangled. "Oh," he looked at the two of them carefully. "If you don't mind my asking, why me?"
      "Because I would like to know you." Vanesa said, giving the term know all of its possible connotations.
      "Uh," Avilan stuttered, turning bright red, knowing she must have misstated herself. "If I don't hold back on transfer at all you're likely to get to know me a bit better than you might have expected." He couldn't believe she was coming on to him like this. The wall was nice and cool against his back. Both Mikhail and Riana were more than a bit prudish about such things.
      "Even though I'm pregnant?"
      She really didn't have to remind him. Gently, so as not to startle her, Avilan asked to caress their son. Vanesa nodded to him. With the ease of a great deal of practice, Avilan allowed his awareness to feel the young child. The youngster reached back, as if he could grasp Avilan's caress. "Particularly because you're pregnant, Vanesa." He admitted, blushing furiously, all the way down to his toes it seemed.
      "You're blushing, otyet." Sevrin pointed out.
      "So I am." He dropped his eyes. "You've found my secret. I think pregnant women are the most beautiful creations on earth and I'm afraid I don't quite have the control around them I do otherwise."
      "I'm huge and ungainly, Avilan." Vanesa protested. "And, well, neither of us quite know what is safe."
      "You poor youngsters." He gathered them into a big hug. "I'm surprised Sevrin didn't know." Avilan twitted his son.
      "I know, technically." Sevrin shrugged. "But, on the practical side of things, well, that is another matter. I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks."
      "Ask." He said.
      "I did." Vanesa snorted. "My own physician just about ran from the room wailing about my being unnatural and an unfit mother."
      "You poor youngling." He kissed her forehead. "It isn't. As long as you are comfortable, and you don't get too acrobatic, you both will be fine."
      "I suppose you would know." She chuckled softly. "Personally, I've been getting rather frustrated."
      "I can understand that." He grinned. "As long as neither of you have a problem with my age or the fact I really am Sevrin's father."
      "You will never be old, otyet." Sevrin snorted again. "You may garner years, but I doubt they will ever make you grow up in some ways."
      "I hope not." He tapped Sevrin's nose. "And you, little one?" Avilan asked Vanesa.
      "I never really knew you as Sevrin's father until long after I met you. To me, you feel safe, as if you would protect me, no matter what." Her trust warmed him more than he would have thought possible.
      "You hardly know me, little one." But the temptation was so strong to not say anything and just do whatever she wanted it burned.
      "I know you're a good person, Avilan." Her smile was very kind. "You did everything you could to make my sister happy when you didn't know either of us."
      Avilan still regretted how that whole mess had turned out. "If only ..."
      "If only nothing. You went against your better judgement and it didn't turn out. These things happen." Her hand caressed the side of his face. "You never breathed a word of reproach to anyone."
      "I talked about it with Diomid." He admitted, still a bit torn by the whole thing. Riana had been so thrilled and then to have it not work out had been so hard on her.
      "I thought you had enough sense to talk it out." Sevrin chided him. "Unlike some of us."
      "Yes, well. You always did have a hard head." Avilan got himself back under control. "Thank you, both."
      "Then you'll stand in for me?" Sevrin asked, his fingertips brushing lightly over Avilan's face, matching Vanesa's gesture. The reminder of Sevrin's blindness didn't really sting anymore, only a bit of a dull ache. "If you don't want to, I'm sure we can ..."
      "Hush, m'lad." He said, taking their hands in his. "Yes, I'll be very glad to do it, as long as I am not the one to find Karola a replacement."
      "She was going to try to catch Arkay one last time." Sevrin chuckled. "I wished her luck."
      "She's going to require it." Avilan shook his head. "Although he is the only other Sharm Lord who can truly satisfy her who isn't too closely related."
      "I think it was just that she misses him." Vanesa said, with rather unexpected insight.
      "You're probably right."
     
      "Arkay, my Alahin, why are thee so restless?" Nashen asked softly, worried. It wasn't at all like him to pace the room like a caged beast.
      "I don't want to hurt thee, my Alamir." He sat heavily at Nashen's feet, resting his head against Nashen's leg, bare beneath his light robe. Gently, Nashen stroked Arkay's long hair, now loose and trailing around him like a silver waterfall. His light blue eyes were wide with distress and his field sharp with dismay. "I would never hurt thee if I could help it."
      "I know, beloved." He let his tentacles twine in the heavy weight of Arkay's hair. "But you love her as well."
      "If ..."
      "Hush, my friend." Nashen rested his fingertip on Arkay's lips. "There is no fault in thee for loving. If thy heart were so stingy as to only be able to love but one, thee would not be my Alahin."
      "Thy words do bring shame to my heart, beloved." His soft smile made Nashen's heart beat faster, even still. "I am no where near as pure of heart and soul as thee."
      Nashen chuckled softly. "Thy words flatter me beyond all reason. I am but as human as thee." He kissed Arkay gently. "My love for thee is so boundless I have no fear for thy abandonment of me. For as long as we both shall live, my heart shall be thine, no matter who thee may touch, or in what manner."
      "Thou art a poet as well, my beloved Alamir." He sighed. "Why do you put up with my moods and my foolishness?"
      "I had only thought to have thee once, and that but for the needs of the moment." He thought of that night so long ago in Jaffa. "Every moment since has been beyond price and beyond my wildest hopes. I've never done aught but count my good fortune in your love and given thanks for every heartbeat you've shared with me."
      "I love you, Nashen Fatimovich Fatima, with every fibre of my being and every moment of my life. Your faith and love brought me back from despair and the darkest reaches of hell. Your humor and light showed me life as it could be, not the shadows I had been living. All I could bring thee was distress and pain, yet thee loved me still." His hand reached up to twine with Nashen's. The cool, rough skin was almost more familiar than his own now.
      "No, I can't cut in." Karola said from the doorway with a small grin. "I love you Arkay, but it can't be."
      "Do you mean I don't get Vayer this month?" Nashen finally played his trump card. Certainly he was nervous about having transfer with anyone but Arkay, it had been so long, but he still wanted to know Vayer's touch.
      "What?!" They said in chorus, both looking completely startled.
      "You never ... ." Arkay gasped.
      "Why didn't you ... ?" Karola blinked.
      "Because I didn't want to try to force either of your hands." Nashen gave them a grin. It was true, as far as it went. Truly he would have rather they didn't worry about him at all. He wanted to give Arkay a gift, free and clear.
      "Hush, Nashen." Karola came over and echoed Arkay's position. "You think too little of yourself."
      "As I often think too much of myself." Arkay snorted.
      "Yes, you are a good pair." Karola kissed Nashen's knee. "Too good sometimes. I would have liked to have known you had someone else set up, Nashen."
      "I didn't think it all that important." He said, stroking her hair as well.
      "I knew he did, but not whom or why." Arkay rolled his eyes. "Why do you always play your cards so close, beloved?"
      "Because I enjoy it." He made one of those funny, scrunched up faces Arkay loved so well, making his lover chuckle. "Also, I wanted there to be an out if something went wrong. I'm a little cautious where you're concerned, my Alahin."
      "Good, someone should be." Karola grimaced. "Everyone knows it isn't Arkay."
      "Too true there." Vayer chimed in. "What is it, too much exposure to Simes and Sharm Lords start trying to drown in the rain too?" He set his sword belt on the hook by the door.
      "I think so." Nashen let his tentacles twine about Arkay's ear, distracting him from answering. He actually managed to distract him so much, Arkay nodded yes. Karola chuckled. Arkay blinked, field zlinning more than a bit confused. "Got you." He grinned.
      "So you did." Arkay's eyes were unfocused and rather dreamy. Nashen zlinned the ambient. All three of them were showing need. No wonder Arkay was a bit distracted. Arkay's eyes finally closed and his wings zlinned into being.
      "Come and sit on the floor with us, Nashen." Vayer sat and offered his hands.
      "I should put more wood on the fire first." He protested, getting to his feet.
      "Quit, Nashen." Karola snapped. A rather large log added itself to the fire.
      "You win." He sat.
      "Congratulations, Karola." Arkay said, coming out of his distraction a bit. "I never win an argument with him."
      "I know how to pick my fights." She stroked his hands with her tentacles. Nashen and Vayer simply cradled Karola's and Arkay's hands in theirs. For an instant Nashen shivered in dread as her tentacles moved up to Arkay's wrists. "Easy love." Karola said, retreating slightly. "Nothing either of you are uncomfortable with."
      "I know." He said, taking a deep breath. "It's hard though. Let me try something."
      "Go ahead." Arkay's field was a bit unsteady as well.
      "Come on." He got up and waved everyone to the bed. "The floor is a bit hard for some of us skinny old Simes."
      "Cold for the lone Gen here too." Arkay concurred. "Even with the fire."
      Soon he had them all the way he wanted them. Nashen rested his chin on Karola's shoulder. "Now, let's try this again." Vayer grinned at him from behind his father. This time Nashen could tease out Arkay's reluctant field, twining his own about Karola's. Arkay's eyes went black as he finally locked in on Karola. "Yes." He whispered, holding them both close. Before he could lose his nerve, Vayer reached around Arkay and caught Nashen's hands.
      The lifeline reassured him and he held on to his need. Then Karola bound him to her wrists with her tentacles. Vayer chuckled softly. "Catch." He said.
      The next thing Nashen knew was the feel of Arkay's field rising up before him. He moaned, reaching for it, forgetting all about what he was doing. Nashen grabbed him, almost at the elbow, above his bracelets. Cool, wonderful fog with Arkay's so signature firefly lights teased at the darkness within him.
      Leaning forward, he hesitated.
      Feathered wings wrapped his soul in their embrace and Nashen felt himself borne up in their glory yet again. Love and life renewed coursed through him, with a softness he had only dreamed of. He sighed, feeling the warmth of Arkay's care banish the night. Slowly he opened his eyes, more than a bit dismayed. This wasn't what I planned. Only to find himself looking into Vayer's eyes. He blinked, stunned.
      "Caught you, father of my heart." Vayer kissed him gently. "Thank you."
      "Thank you, son of my heart." He grinned wryly, realizing what had happened. "You did a wonderful job." Karola's deep moan distracted him. As gently as he could, Nashen tried to extricate himself from the tangle of tentacles and hands before she and Arkay got too carried away. "I don't think they noticed."
      "I don't think so." Vayer chuckled, gingerly pulling himself loose as well. It did not bother Nashen at all when, as soon as he and Vayer had gotten free, Arkay pulled Karola onto his lap, quite forcefully. "I think this is my cue to exit." He winked, nodding to his parents
      "I think so." He chuckled, feeling more than a bit inclined to join in their sporting. "Thank you again, Vayer. That was excellently done."
      "Avilan is my father too." He pointed out, put on his sword belt and let himself out, whistling a quite bawdy song.
      Freed of Vayer's inhibiting influence, Nashen realized he was very post. Tentatively, he teased the laces of Karola's shirt open.
      "I'm not exactly untouched, my old friend." Karola said softly, capturing his hands on her ribs.
      "Neither am I, sweet." He kissed her neck, opposite Arkay. Her soft skin teased at him like no woman since Darya. "I don't much care for maidens who look like half starved hounds." Actually he had always enjoyed looking at Karola.
      "That I'm not." She released his hands. "I only hope you aren't too disappointed."
      "Hush." He let his hands slide downwards, as it seemed she was uneasy with his earlier endeavors. Her strong, full body made his breath catch. Annoyed, his hands ran into a rather tightly bound corselet. "Silly woman." He growled.
      "Huh?" Arkay looked at him questioningly. Nashen took advantage of Arkay's distraction to remove Karola's shirt. He almost snapped the laces on her corselet in his irritation getting it off.
      When Karola took a deep gasping breath Nashen did snarl. "Foolishness." His hands traced over the angry red lines on her skin. "You are beautiful woman, silly." He kissed at the lines where the boning had cut into her fair skin.
      "See, someone else agrees with me and Avilan." Arkay chided her.
      "You win." She laughed, stretching her arms over her head. Nashen had to refrain from doing something horribly rude, like pulling her onto his lap. Instead he settled for sliding his hands up Karola's exquisite body. He met Arkay half way, on Arkay's way down. Easily they changed course, with Nashen reaching around to cup Karola's wonderfully soft breasts and Arkay pulling her to his chest by cupping her buttocks beneath her pants. "Oh my, I'd forgotten what it's like to have two men at the same time."
      "Then let us help you remember." Arkay murmured in her ear. "I love you, Karola."

     She stiffened in surprise. "I love you, Arkay, ever since I met you."
      "As it should be, both of you." Nashen encouraged.
      Then Arkay chuckled softly. "I see someone was prepared."
      Karola blushed furiously. "I had hoped." It was only then Nashen realized the lacing pattern on Karola's pants did not go all the way from front to back for show. "I got tired of either Arkay or Avilan tearing my pants when we got stuck in this position."
      Nashen had to laugh. "You are a delight, Karola." He pulled the bit of cord from the back. Impishly, he looped it around Arkay's back and pulled his love in for a kiss.
      "And you two are absolutely stunning together." She replied.
      "He's the beautiful one." They said in chorus, and then laughed. "You are silly, beloved." Again they spoke together, this time making Karola laugh as well.
      "Hmmmm." Nashen nipped at her neck. Her sliding about was definitely getting his interest up. As if they had choreographed it, Arkay mirrored his gesture. Relaxing into it, they let the bond between them dictate their movements. Karola moaned, spurring them on.
      They chuckled together. Pressing her between them, they rose on their knees. Nashen felt Arkay's kiss as if he had parted Karola's lips himself. All her muscles gave way as she focused entirely on Arkay's kiss. With a wicked grin, Nashen nipped the back of her neck at the same time. Responsive Nashen noted as she shivered between them.
      Very Arkay replied.
      "There's more than room for two." Karola murmured. ? Nashen nuzzled her neck.
      "Patience, my sweet." Arkay purred, lifting her even higher between them. Nashen felt him slide into her. He groaned at the sensation. Then, ever so slowly, Arkay let her slide down even more, trapping him as well, one slow bit at a time.
      "Oh my." Nashen clenched at her hips, slowing her movement to catch his breath. Arkay slid against him, within her hold. "Oh my goodness." He bit at her shoulder. She howled, grasping at both of them. The nearly crushing pressure gave lie to her protestations of size.
      Gently, Arkay began moving her between them. All Nashen could do was try to hold back. His hands grabbed Arkay even closer. "Yes, my Alamir." He purred, rocking his hips in time with the motion. Again and again, Karola called out her passions.
      Finally he could stay still no longer. He began driving himself into her. Together, their rhythm sped up. Arkay's deep growl drove him over the edge. "Yesss!" He hissed, biting at Karola's shoulder and filling her with his release. She screamed as Arkay struck at the same time, also filling her. White hot passion blinded all three of them as they came together completely.
      It was a very, very limp Karola between them. Nashen kissed at the bite mark he had left on her shoulder. She shivered again, gasping. Arkay chuckled and sent him Karola's completely sated expression.
      "Thank you, beautiful lady." He murmured in her ear, licking at it gently. Her quiver reached all the way down to her toes.
      "Yes, thank you, my beloved Karola." Arkay murmured in the other ear. She melted, trying to slide out of their grasp.
      "Hmmm, soggy spot." She murmured as they all slowly disengaged.
      "It's a big bed." Nashen steered them to the other side.
      "Good thing." Her body offered absolutely no resistance. "Nap time?"
      "Nap time, love." Arkay kissed her brow.
      She looked back over her shoulder. Her eyes were nearly closed and heavy lidded with contentment. Nashen kissed her softly. Then was taken aback by a yawn himself. "Like?" She grinned at him.
      "Thank you, yes, very much." He caressed the line of her shoulder lightly. "From both of us."
      "Had both of you too." She pulled him down to curl up around her. "Happy, happy." Karola purred, sounding very young.
      Arkay chuckled as he curled up around her and caught Nashen's hand. "Happy?"
      "Yes, thank you too, my love." He grasped Arkay's wrist with his tentacles.
      "You were the one who made it possible." Arkay said softly.
      "So." He shrugged, grinning. "I don't really care. All I care about is that my family is content."
      "There are worse things in the world to focus on." Karola's hand wrapped around their clasp.
      "Very, very true." Arkay smiled, as young looking and carefree as Nashen occasionally imagined him being as a youth. It was more than plenty.
     
      Sevrin stuck himself with a needle again trying to darn a sock. "Would you quit that." Vanesa snapped, finally loosing patience with him. He growled and headed for the door. "Don't you dare run off on me again." Last time he had gotten himself well and truly lost in the sham.
      "Then what should I do?" He snarled, lights already tracing along his hands again. It had been getting worse and worse with each day since their missed transfer.
      "Easy love." She got up with a lurch and went to him. "It won't be long."
      "It's already been over ninety three hours and forty two minutes!" A wind blew all his hair about in a mad snarl. "I can't take this any more." He put his face in his hands, sobbing dryly. "I can't!" He wailed.
      *Avilan, help!* She called out and took Sevrin's hands in hers. They were burning hot, with thick, almost viscous, shimmers of energy tracing up his arms. "Easy love." She tried to get his attention.
      "No!" He howled, sounding like a wounded animal. "It hurts." His hands clenched on hers. "I love you Vanesa, but it hurts." She had never zlinned anything like this. Even underdraw didn't hit this fast or hard. Sevrin slid down her front to kneel at her feet, clutching at her desperately.
      Carefully, Vanesa knelt down with him. She tipped his face towards the light. His pupils were completely dilated to black. Normally they didn't respond at all to light, and she worried about him even more. "Avilan will know what to do, love." She made very sure she was showing no traces of need. "Wait until he gets here." Normally she could barely carry a tune in a bucket, but this time she managed a very soft lullaby he had taught her for Sivaya.
      "Pretty song." He caressed their child. "Pretty."
      *Would you hurry up!* She mind shouted to Avilan. "I love you Sevrin and I don't want to hurt you." Vanesa stroked his hair, gently untangling the snarls with her fingers. For what seemed like forever, she held him as closely as she could, singing to him.
      "I'm here, little one." Diomid walked in and knelt with them. "Yes, I can see you have a bit of a problem." He caressed the side of Sevrin's face. "You aren't dealing well with underdraw, I see."
      "That's an understatement." Vanesa glared at him. "I think there's something more here as well."
      "Ah, yes." His fingers delicately probed Sevrin's forearms. Sevrin howled like a lost thing and grabbed at him. "Easy m'lad.
      "How much have you been tossing things around with your mind, little one?" He asked.
      "Too much." Vanesa told him. "Each time he gets stressed, he gets more active as well."
      "Like this?" Diomid pointed out the tracings of energy crawling along Sevrin's arms.
      "Yes." She nodded, restraining herself from brushing at them. "If I touch them it makes it worse as well."
      "That's what I thought." He looked far more grim than Vanesa had ever seen him. "Shen, I hate doing this."
      "What?" She asked, picking at her lower lip with her teeth.
      "His body can not tolerate underdraw at all." Diomid caressed Sevrin's face. "Have you ever gone over twenty eight before this?"
      "No, never." He shivered again, even though his skin was burning hot.
      "Do any of the Veiled Sharm Lords?" Diomid asked.
      "No, not if they can tolerate regular transfers." His teeth chattered even with sweat dripping down his face. "I didn't know why, only that it was so. Please, I want be there for our son's birth, please." He grasped Diomid's wrist. "Anything."
      "Finally." Diomid glared at the newly arrived crowd. Vanesa zlinned him examine their son again. "Do you really mean anything, Sevrin?"
      "Yes, please."
      "You are a good man." Diomid smiled, pressing Sevrin's hand to his face. "Here's what's going to happen, if you three Lords feel up to it. I want you to take shifts, taking him down to about six hours under twenty eight every six hours. I get the feeling Vanesa is going to be relatively quick when she gets around to finally delivering, but I don't want Sevrin too frazzled."
      "Yes, certainly, m'Lord Sergei." Tzer piped up, even though he eyed Sevrin warily. "Although won't he get a little worn with all the exercise?"
      "Probably, as well as you three." Diomid sighed. "Go ahead and drop him down to twelve under this time though, give him a chance to pull himself together before we really give him a workout. I don't think Vanesa is going to surprise us."
      "I hope not." She blinked, startled. "Isn't this a bit drastic? Can't you just put him into a partial dormancy?"
      "Yes, it is drastic, but I don't know what else to do." He sighed. "A partial dormancy might damage his governors worse if you ripped him out of it. They've already been modified by some of the things done to him by the Veiled."
      "Who would you like first, Sevrin?" Nashen asked softly.
      "Your choice." Vayer added.
      "Actually, if you don't mind, I would like Tzer." He had an impish grin on his face, despite all the obvious discomfort of his rebelling body. "If I have to be treated like one of the inducted, I'd like to satisfy my curiosity first."
      "Besides, I'm the greenest of the three of us." Tzer knelt down with them, offering his hands.
      "Hush, m'lad." Sevrin said. "You are also the bond mate of my beloved's brother."
      Mikhail rested his hand on Tzer's shoulder. "How, exactly, do you want us to do this, Diomid?"
      "Do you know how to do a hard strip?" Diomid asked.
      "I've never really yanked as hard as I can with anyone but Mikhail." Tzer replied, and then narrowed his eyes at Sevrin, zlinning. "He zlins even tougher."
      "He's a bit quicker, with a lot more of a rasp." Vanesa supplied. "I've taken transfer from my brother."
      "You did?" Sevrin cringed. "Yuck."
      "It wasn't a complete transfer, love." She kissed his cheek. "We definitely didn't consummate it."
      "I'm glad." Mikhail shook his head. "We were both much younger and very well indoctrinated with the idea one should not have sex with one's transfer partner."
      "Good thing at the time." Diomid shook his head. "Do you have the mark, Tzer?"
      "How far over is he?" Tzer asked, zlinning between her and Sevrin.
      "About a hundred hours? Is that right?" Diomid asked.
      "Probably close to one hundred and eight, I think I've been overproducing." He sighed. "I can probably make up for a few hours off if you miss, Tzer."
      "Which is the other reason you wanted me to go first." He chuckled softly to let Sevrin know he was kidding. Vanesa smiled at him in thanks. Too many people forgot Sevrin couldn't see and didn't add audible cues to their visual ones.
      "Quit being so harsh on yourself, love." Mikhail chided. "You'll do fine."
      "I'm probably going to lunge for you as soon as you set your tentacles, Tzer." Sevrin warned. "Be ready for it."
      "Thanks for the warning."
      Smart lad. Vanesa noted as Tzer made the lip contact first. Sevrin's eyes closed as he relaxed into it. Tzer's tentacles came out, and hovered over Sevrin's arms, like a bird of prey looking to strike. Very clever. Finally they danced into just the right position and froze for an instant. Faster than Vanesa could see, they struck, clasping his arms all at once. Selyn flared with a harsh, blue-white flashover and then stopped.
      "Very well done, Tzer." Diomid breathed as Tzer undid the contacts, kissing Sevrin gently.
      "Yes, excellent." Sevrin said. "I feel much better, in need though still." He shivered all over. "I never thought I would say that."
      "I hope I was quick enough." Tzer said shyly.
      "You were delightful." Sevrin said. "Mikhail is a very lucky man."
      "I had to lever off him to get the momentum up." Tzer chuckled. "I hope I didn't bruise you, my love."
      "Not at all, but it was an interesting experience." Mikhail caressed Tzer's face. "It was more than a bit like being used as a trampoline."
      "How did you know where to place your tentacles like that?" Nashen asked.
      "How did you move so quickly?" Vayer joined in.
      "Enough tech talk you three." Diomid laughed. "We can get it all settled out as we go along. Right now I think someone here requires a bath."
      "Yes," Sevrin sighed. "I stink."
      "No you don't, you smell delightful." Vanesa purred. "If a bit strong."
      "Ok, to everyone else I stink." He gave in.
     
      Sevrin was, to put it bluntly, overwhelmed. "Thank you, all of you. I really and honestly don't know what to say." The feeling as if his skin were sloughing off his body was completely gone. Only the memory of the frantic, crawling pain remained. "Tzer, again, you were wonderful. Don't be so hard on yourself. I never even had the chance to strike out at you and it was quite fast enough to strip out the awful cloying feeling of excess selyn."
      "I'll try not to be so hard on myself in the future." Tzer said clearly. "I respect you a great deal Sevrin and to hear such praise coming from you means something to me."
      "And not from me?" Mikhail gave a soft chuckle.
      "You're my mate, that's different." Tzer replied and Sevrin gave them a smile. It was so like some of the discussions he had had with Vanesa. Sevrin caressed her face and found a matching smile.
      "Yes, thank you." Vanesa echoed. "I'm not sure where you all want to sleep, but if memory serves me correctly, there are two suites adjoining this one."
      "Hush, silly." Arkay told them. "We were all sitting around gossiping in the main Kirov suite when Diomid called us. Why don't you join us?"
      "Because neither of us really know any of the people you are bad mouthing." Sevrin grimaced. "We didn't want to intrude."
      "Sevrin, hush." Tzer said, quite unexpectedly. "Neither do I or Mikhail, but we have fun anyways. Come on, get cleaned up and we'll see you there."
      "All right, you've convinced me." Vanesa told them. Sevrin still wasn't too sure, but didn't want to be any more of a problem than he already was.
     
      One quick shower later and Sevrin felt at least close to human again. "Are you sure I look all right?" He ran his hands over the soft indoor kador his father had loaned him.
      "You look and zlin wonderful Sevrin." Her hands slithered up inside the sleeves of the robe. "Dark red isn't quite Kaon colors, but it does look gorgeous on you."
      "What?" He squawked. "I thought I was wearing green." This was one thing which never failed to annoy him. Not being able to even visualize colors, it was very difficult for him to trust others to dress him. At Kaon he had finally had to submit to Danyel's reportedly excellent taste in clothes. Admittedly the garments he picked out were not the horrid slick synthetics, and had the smooth textures and hand of good cotton, but he always worried someone was going to dress him in child's motley because they could get away with it.
      "No, sweet." She pulled him down for a kiss. "Your father is as much of a clothes horse as Danyel. He wouldn't put you in anything less than gorgeous. Trust me Sevrin, I wouldn't let anyone make a fool of you."
      "I know love." He hugged her back, trying to wrap himself around her completely. "It's just that I can't see. To have to rely on other people for something as basic as clothes is hard."
      "What did you do as one of the Veiled?"
      "Worried," he admitted. "I was always fretting someone had gotten into my closet and replaced some of the black for something else. I can tell if there are holes or stains in my clothes, but not what color they are, or even worse, what colors go together." Hearing himself say the words made it seem so ridiculous. "I mean, what I look like, I know, isn't that important, but ..."
      "Hush" Vanesa touched his lips with a velvet tentacle. Sevrin automatically licked at it, reveling in the touch against his tongue. Now his need for her was purely of the heart, and in some ways even deeper. "Yes, you are beautiful, no matter what you wear, but I know you don't wish to look the fool. I would never let you do so, my love, for I know it would hurt you."
      "I know you wouldn't." He said softly. "I do trust you, but, I wish I could do something so very simple for myself."
      "Something so simple, like tuning a harp?" She tapped him on the nose.
      He chuckled. "True." For while Vanesa was not tone deaf, her sense of pitch was very poor. "You win." And he realized it didn't really matter all that much. Just as he had enjoyed Vanesa's singing, for all her creativity in the endeavor, what he wore was not going to harm his reputation so much as to be worth worrying about.
     
      Arkay could sense Vanesa's restlessness, but he wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Unlike most women, she had become rather quiet and passive as her time neared. Her rather sharp features were often drawn into an almost plaintive look. Of all the odd things, someone, probably Nashen, had scared up some dice and everyone was sitting around playing. The forfeits were often quite amusing, with everyone ganging up on Sevrin for a song occasionally, or Arkay himself, for a short tale.
      Vanesa sighed and began pacing again.
      He got up and went to her after excusing himself. "What is it little one?"
      She smiled up at him. "I don't know. I'm just tired of all of this." Her hand waved towards the window, draped in heavy cloth.
      "You are far more used to being out and about at all seasons, correct?" He caressed the side of her face.
      "Well, yes." She sighed, peeking out the window. "It's so cold and grey outside." A shiver passed through her slight frame. "And, of course, I have to excuse myself again."
      "Certainly." He took her arm and tried to lead her off.
      "You don't have to be so solicitous." She growled, sounding far more normal.
      "I want to." He caressed the inside of her elbow. "Would you deny an old man the chance to escort a beautiful young woman?"
      "Darya is busy trying to get Vayer so indebted to her he owes her another bracelet." Her eyes shifted back to the covered window. "Nivanya is also trying to get another earring out of Ilyan."
      "Hush" He urged her towards the restroom again. "You are beautiful, Vanesa."
      "But you aren't old, Arkay." This time she gave in to his direction.
      "I am, my little one." He shook his head. "I've seen far more years to my life than I had ever expected to."
      "That still doesn't make you old."
      "It does some times." He sighed. "I've outlived most of my peers and all of my elders. Losing Valentine in the way he died, was not a kindly thing."
      "No one ever did tell me Nivanya's story." She said as she came back to him.
      "Then let us ask her."
     
      "I was always a reckless child." Nivanya began. "Constantly getting into things and causing more trouble than any of my sibs. Admittedly my oldest brother, Itanir Sergeyevich, was something of a stick in the mud and my sisters were not much more active. Finally, completely driven to distraction, my parents decided to foster me with the Azov Horde.
      "This was much more to my liking. Valtanir is only a month younger than I am and we got into all kinds of trouble." She chuckled softly and stroked Ilyan's hand. "I'm afraid I was rather difficult to Ilyan here, having quite firmly set my sights on Valtanir even as a young woman."
     
      "I don't want Ilyan breathing down my neck." Nivanya snarled. "He's a great big lump, just like Itanir."
      "Nivanya, your parents gave you into our keeping." Avilan sighed heavily. "No matter what you might think, you are still a child and you are not going to the market alone."
      "But otyet." She stomped her foot against the tile floor.
      "Exactly, Nivanya." His dark blue eyes narrowed. "I am acting as your father and you will do as I say."
      "Just because my father's crazy."
      "You will not speak so of your blood father, Nivanya." Avilan's hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist. "Do you hear me?"
      "I hear you." She might have heard him, but it didn't make it any less true. Her rebellion must have shown on her face, for Avilan pulled her across his lap and swatted her, quite firmly on the behind, three times. "Yes, otyet." Now she really meant it as he set her back on her feet. "I didn't mean to do wrong."
      "You never do Nivanya, but you have to learn to think before you open your mouth." He shook his head. "Now, do you still wish to go to the market, or would you rather stay here this afternoon?"
      "I would like to go, otyet." Even if I have to put up with the lump.
     
      "Why do I have to go with this little tag along?" Ilyan growled, swinging his hands around so wildly he almost hit her. "Get Valtanir to do it. He's a big boy now."
      "He's busy working in the stables, leaning his adult responsibilities." Arkay's voice was more than a bit ominous.
      Nivanya hissed between her teeth, "If you don't go with me, I can't go."
      "Good." He turned and tried to walk away.
      Arkay grabbed him by the back of the collar so hard he fell, smack, right into a mud puddle. Admittedly it wasn't very big or very dirty, but it was probably cold. Ilyan yelped and glared at her.
      "I didn't do it." She protested, pointing at Arkay.
      "It's your fault." He still glared at her, dragging himself to his feet.
      "No it isn't." She snapped. "Arkay grabbed you."
      "Because you were being rude to your foster sib." Arkay shook him. "Now, apologize."
      "I'm sorry." It was a very insincere apology, as Ilyan's eyes slid towards a rather young renSime carrying milk from the dairy to the main house through the yard.
      "Ilyan." Arkay shook him again. "Have you been playing around with her?"
      "No" His lie was so obvious even Nivanya could tell it.
      "You are going to be the death of me, Ilyan." And much to Nivanya's surprise, he sat down on a bench, lifted Ilyan's robes and paddled him firmly. "If you're going to act like a spoiled child I'm going to treat you like one."
      "Yes, otyet." He was blushing furiously, probably more ashamed than hurt.
      "Now, enough of this childish nonsense." Arkay growled. "You are going to take care of Nivanya this afternoon and if I hear one word of complaint from her, I'm going to do far worse than embarrass you."
      "Yes, otyet." Ilyan said, quite meekly. "May I get changed?"
      "Ask Nivanya. I don't know what she has planned or how long it will take." Arkay's bracelets jangled on his wrists in punctuation, as if he were washing his hands of the entire matter.
      "I'll meet you down here in half an hour." She tried to give him a smile. Nivanya really hadn't wanted to get Ilyan in trouble with his father.
     
      It actually ended up closer to an hour, but at last they were off. Nivanya had hoped to find an earring for Valtanir, for when they were old enough, but every time she tried to stop and look at any of the jeweler's wares, Ilyan hissed and sighed so much, she couldn't really pay them any attention.
      "Would you quit fussing?" She finally growled at the overgrown, overbearing nuisance she had been saddled with.
      "I'm bored." He said, looking off into the distance.
      "Aren't you going to want to find a partner some day?" She asked, looking up at him.
      "No, I have my friends." He looked down his nose at her. "I don't want to be stuck with some Lord running my life."
      "So instead you play around, like with that little renSime." She hissed between her teeth.
      "There's no harm done." He shrugged. "I certainly didn't force myself on her."
      "No, but I bet you can't talk with her either."
      "What I want has nothing to do with talking." He looked down at his spread hand.
      "You are a rude creature, Ilyan Arkayevich." She rolled her eyes at his nonsense. "I hope you don't force any of them."
      "I don't have to." He boasted, looking far too smug.
      "If you're so good, why are you playing with the renSimes?" She accused.
      "None of your business." He glared at her. "Why don't you finish your shopping so we can go home?"
      "Because you're being such a pain I can't concentrate." She snapped back. "Why don't you go sit by the fountain and leave me alone for a bit?"
      "Because I'm supposed to take care of you." He snarled back. "You're the reason I haven't had a decent transfer in the last three months and I'm not going to let you out of my sight until it's over with."
      "What are you talking about?" She gaped up at him. "Valtanir changed over three months ago, not me."
      "They've been holding me in reserve for you ever since."
      "That's foolishness." She groused. "I'm going to be a Sharm Lord, like my mother and my older sibs."
      Ilyan snorted. "Like shen you are." His blue eyes seemed to flare with irritation. "Don't you ever listen to anything?"
      "Yes, I listened to Avilan forcing me to drag you along today." Finally the Kirov stall opened near the gates. Nivanya headed for it, her eye caught by a brilliant ruby and platinum bracelet.
      "I meant your own body." He growled in her ear. "You're far too slight and small to establish now, Nivanya."
      She had been slimming down from her rather chunky childhood, but, "Kir is not very big."
      "So, she's still built like a Gen." Then he leaned down and delivered the final blow, "You're probably going to change over in no more than a day or two. Your body has already begun to change, I can feel it."
      "No!" She shouted, running for the open gates. The guards crossed their spears. Easily she ducked beneath them.
      Furious, Ilyan snarled, "Get back here, Nivanya!" The guards must have managed to stop him. She bolted for the sharm. Showing her bare arms, she easily managed to make it through the blast doors. Panting, she tried to remember where she could hide. Ilyan was probably right behind her.
      There, Nivanya ducked into a side passage. The lights refused to respond. Carefully, she made her way through the darkness, brushing cobwebs from her face. She tripped on a loose floor tile. A yelp escaped as she banged her forearm. That hurts, she rubbed at it gently.
      Finally she got back to her feet. The corridor continued to narrow. The ceiling lowered until she was finally crawling through what must be one of the old ventilation ducts. Even though from the thick coating of dust on everything, it was one no longer in use. It dead ended.
      Frustrated, Nivanya pounded on the wall. A panel loosened and fell away. It clattered on the floor. She reached through the opening and waved up the lights. Nearly blinded, Nivanya could only blink. Finally she could see again. Poking her head through the opening, she saw a clean, nearly bare room with only a simple cot and chest of drawers. This looks promising. She let herself down onto the bed.
      I'm filthy. She looked around. There was only one door. Gingerly, she listened at it. No one seemed to be on the other side, so she opened it. A clean, but purely functional bathroom greeted her. The door on the far side was locked from the other direction.
      "I seem to have a problem." Now that she thought about it. "One thing at a time." as her foster parents often said. "First thing is getting cleaned up."
      Taking a quick shower did help a great deal, as did finding some clean clothes. The trousers were even close to her size and she only had to roll up the cuffs a few cents. They were very light, but then most sharm lords didn't wear much under their kadors. Sometimes Nivanya tried to imagine what it would be like, being able to give of oneself to another in that way. For all of the arguments over the years, she had always looked up to Avilan and Arkay a great deal, and not just literally.
      It was strange, being so completely alone. She couldn't even hear anyone else around. Nivanya rubbed at the back of her neck. I must have cramped it up crawling through the air duct. She tried to loosen it up some with her fingers.
      The gesture reminded her of Ilyan sometimes. No, I won't think of that. She snarled, pushing the image from her mind. "He's a pain and a lump, just like my brother Itanir." Nivanya told the dresser. It didn't answer. Not that she thought it would. The silence was unnerving.
      Her restless shifting on the bare cot was loud in her ears. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore and went to the locked door. "This is a really silly arrangement." She glared at it. It didn't answer either and it stayed locked.
      She bent down and looked through the keyhole. The other room seemed to be very much like hers, but less occupied. "Of course they couldn't have left the key in the lock." Many of the sharm tales she had been told dealt with ways to get through locked doors, but they usually required a key in the lock at some point or another.
      "You were dumb, Nivanya." She told herself. "Ilyan didn't want to be a lump, he was just born that way."
      Her answer from herself wasn't a great deal more illuminating than from the furniture.
     
      "Actually I would like to step in here, if you don't mind, love." Ilyan said suddenly, breaking into the story.
      "Go right ahead, there are some things I always wondered about as well." She caressed his hand, now smiling up at him. Arkay remembered the very headstrong and rather whimsical child Nivanya had been. Her storytelling, with all of her whimsy made the rather grim story far more charming that he could have thought possible.
     
      Nivanya bolted across the court. For the past hour or so, Ilyan had felt her begin to shift from child to Sime. Keep a close eye on her, Ilyan. Avilan's voice reminded him. She's likely to bolt on you the instant she feels change over come on. Simes do that, particularly very high talent ones.
      "Now I remember." He muttered to himself, running for the door. The renSimes' spears appeared in front of his nose. "I have to catch her." He reached between the shafts, almost cutting his own arm off on the crossed blades.
      "Na then, Azov. Where ye be goin?" The guard's eyes narrowed.
      "That was Nivanya Kiranova ..."
      "Ye, right, an me mum's te queen o' Rus."
      "I but be seein' a childer bein' chased by a sharm lord." The other guard glared at him. "Are ye te lord we been but hearin' about chasin' after any skirt te cetch yer fancy?"
      "No, no, I have to go catch her."
      "A child?" They said, their spears bracketing his throat. Ilyan stood as straight as he could, not daring to move.
      "I was supposed to be taking care of her."
      "Yer fer te Sargent." The woman said and shifted her spear to prodding him in the back.
      "But I have to get Nivanya." He protested.
      "She'll not be but leavin as quick as she come in, not wit how she been runnin' from ye." The guard's spear plucked at the back of his kador. "Get movin'"
      Frustrated and worried, Ilyan let his field get the better of him. The guard shrank back. He bolted for the sharm. Ilyan almost dove down the first set of stairs, the guard right on his heels. At the first sharp turn, he left his pursuer to collect a wall. Finally he made it to the blast doors. Good thing I remembered where they were. Not even hesitating a moment, he shouted, "RenSime!"
      The doors slammed behind him with a heavy crash. Ilyan threw the floor and ceiling bolts himself and then panted, leaning against the cold steel. Where could she have gone? It would probably be hours until the Lords Kirov could be found to reopen the sharm. Unlike Azov and Sergei, later Demense, Kirov only had the single entrance and exit for the sharm. With Ilyan throwing the main bolts, the only way out was blocked until both the inside and the outside cam systems were activated at the same time.
      There was no one in the ante room inside the sharm. A thick layer of dust covered the desk and a few tattered outdoor kadors hung limply from the rack beside the door. This was not healthy. Ilyan took another deep breath and sneezed. The main Kirov sharm was far outside the city, but this one should at least be lightly populated, at least by the handful of sharm lords who preferred to live below.
      Thinking things through, Ilyan decided to exchange his green of Azov for one of the rather worn kadors. They were so threadbare, they wouldn't be too warm. He hid his own under one of the remaining ones. Not entirely sure of the reason for his subterfuge, he figured better safe than sorry.
      As he made his way down into the heart of the sharm, he noticed there were very few people about and almost none of them took note of him. It was as if they were trying to ignore him. Some of them even skittered back into the shadows. Lights were low or flickering in half the less used corridors. The hem of his kador stirred up more dust, pounded from the sand normally spread on the floors of the sharm.
      His sense of unease grew as he looked into the communal dining room. It was empty. Only a handful of the baskets on the sideboard were filled with bread and fruit, none of it looking very fresh. There are problems here. Ilyan knew Valentine and Kir had fostered out all of their children, the youngest only a year or so ago, but this was uncanny. He made his way to the nursery. It was empty as well.
      Panic began to make his heart pound. A broken doll lay abandoned on the chair in the corner. Ilyan knelt before the chair. It was too sad. He tried to at least make the doll look less like someone had simply left it to rot. Gently, he straightened out the figure's red hair and made it sit upright.
      Sighing, he resumed his search, now carefully looking in the dust for any tracks. Most of the prints were left by either indoor shoes or bare feet. One slow meter at a time, he searched through each and every corridor of the Kirov sharm finding no trace of Nivanya.
     
      "What in hell are you doing here, Ilyan?" Valentine snarled at him.
      Ilyan woke from the short nap he had stolen in the small resting room near the blast doors. He looked up to see a man's face, twisted into harsh lines and wide staring eyes.
      "Val, don't." Kir's face was so white Ilyan thought he was looking at a ghost.
      "Nivanya ran in here." He said as softly as he could, trying not to upset Valentine any more.
      "She's here?" He bolted.
      "No, don't." Kir grabbed Ilyan's arm before he could follow. "It's not safe."
      "But there are still a few people here." He put his hand over hers. She hissed in pain. "I'm sorry." He looked at her hand and saw weeping blisters tracing over her arms. "What happened to you?" It looked like someone had poured boiling oil over her forearms.
      "It's nothing." She shifted her sleeves down to cover her hands.
      A thundering crash sent clouds of dust through the air. Kir turned towards the end of the hallway. "Val, NO!" She screamed and began running.
      Ilyan thought he could figure out where the sound came from and soon overtook her. He ran for it. Fortunately, it was a fairly straight shot. When he got there he almost screamed as well. He held Kir back.
      "VAL!" She wailed, trying to force her way into the room. Val turned on her and snarled. Nivanya was trying to get past him.
      "Ilyan." She reached for him, tentacles at full extension. The sound called Val's attention back to her.
      "Mine." Valentine's low growl was completely inhuman. Fire lashed around Nivanya's wrists. The smell of burning flesh made Ilyan gag. Kir whimpered, reaching for her mate.
      Nivanya collapsed to her knees, still reaching for him. Suddenly her tentacles were bathed in more fire. She howled.
      "No Val." Kir said. Val turned to her. Nivanya came up off her knees in a single leap and landed on her father. "No!" Kir shouted again and slipped from Ilyan. She pulled at Val's shoulders.
      Val, caught between the two of them, hesitated. Nivanya grabbed his wrists. Ilyan tried to get to them. Fire roared up between them, engulfing Val and Kir entirely. Nivanya's hair seemed to echo the raging blaze as she reached into the heart of it. The wrenching sensation of transfer hit. Ilyan had to look away.
      Finally the heat lowered to the point where he dared look back. Nivanya stood alone. Ash spilled from her fingers. The rug smoldered beneath her now bare feet. Her eyes were still black, unseeing. Slowly, Ilyan stepped forward. Nivanya took a step towards him and then she looked down. The room twisted around them and Ilyan closed his eyes for a moment. A black whirlpool of night reached out to him.
      He held out his hands, offering himself. Nivanya shook her head and looked down, denying him. "No, not after ..."
      "Come to me, Nivanya." He said softly. "I won't condemn thee."
      "I killed them."
      "Yes, you did." Finally he was within reach and stroked her soft hair. "You had no choice."
      "I killed my parents." Need denied her even her emotions and she spoke the words as if they had no meaning. "I am condemned to death, Ilyan. Let me go."
      "No, love." He dared say the word for the first time. "You are now Lord Kirov."
      "No one could love me, Ilyan." She turned her back on him. "Please, I want to be alone."
      "I do love you, Nivanya." He wrapped his arms around her. "And, while I know you don't care for me and would rather have Valtanir, I am here and he is not." Then he thought of the broken doll and sighed. "You would do well to work together to restore Kirov."
      "No, I don't want it, not at this price." She leaned back against him. "I'm a monster Ilyan. Look." She turned suddenly, pointing to where her parents had stood.
      "No, Kir knew, even if Val didn't."
      "How can you say that?" She looked up at him.
      "Why do you think she sent you and your sibs away to fosterage?" He asked grimly, now realizing what had happened. "It wasn't because they didn't love you, far from it. They were both afraid you might come to harm."
      Her chuckle was brittle and harsh, "So I killed them." The muscles in her jaw clenched and released.
      "You gave them peace." He let his fingers stroke her forearms. The new, delicate tentacles came out and wrapped around his arms automatically. Nivanya gagged and pulled away. "No, little one, no, my fire heart." he tried to wrap her in his field. "You're still in need."
      "I can't, Ilyan." Her body tried to revolt again.
      "Easy, Nivanya, easy." He caressed her back. "I'm here for you. You can't hurt me."
      "Yes I can." She clenched her arms to her chest. "I'm evil."
      "No, beloved." He stroked the insides of her wrists with his fingertips. "You are only human."
      "Avilan likes to say that." Her field finally began to open up to him.
      "Because it's true." He finally managed to get her tentacles out again. "Trust me, Nivanya."
      "I should have before I ran off." Her wry grin made him smile.
      "True, but I should have kept my eye on you better." He kissed her on the forehead. "Now, you are in need and I think we should do something about this, what say you?"
      "Yes, I think so."
     
      "It wasn't anything like a normal first transfer, since I was only low field because of the firestorm, but still it was very sweet. Many months went by until I realized Ilyan really did mean what he said that day, when he told me he loved me." She caressed Ilyan's face gently with her tentacles. "I could be more than a bit dense when I was younger."
      "You are still occasionally a bit reckless, but I love you all the same." Ilyan kissed her hand.
     
      "What, exactly, happened in the Kirov sharm?" Vanesa asked quietly, after everyone else had gone on to listen to Sevrin sing. "Where had everyone gone?" Arkay had never heard Ilyan's part of the tale before, and was still shaken by it.
      Trying to distance himself from the rawness of the reopened loss of Valentine, he took refuge in the logistics of the situation. "Val," he had to take a deep breath, "sent everyone he could from the town house. The only people left were a handful of guards and servants. Almost the entirety of Kirov was held in trust by Krasna and Yosef at the main sharm and the Kirov summer house."
      "So he knew what was going to happen?" Vanesa twined her fingers through his. They were so fine and small, and so very much like Val's. The image of Val's laughing, changing grey eyes flashed into his mind.
      "Yes, he did." Arkay's voice cracked and he looked towards the red draped window. "Both of them knew. We all knew what was happening." He remembered holding Valentine as a tiny infant in this very room, wondering at how brilliantly alive he had been. "There was nothing any of us could do but to wait and hope one of their children could take the Demense from him. When Nivanya's older sister established, we lost hope of being able to save him the descent into madness."
      "He didn't go as far as Ilya, love." Avilan and Karola had arrived. They sat at their feet. "You were the one who bore the brunt of Ilya's depredations."
      "I only wish I'd had the wisdom to do what Val did." Regret tore at him. "Instead I turned son against father in hopes of some salvation."
      "Valentine left a diary of his last years, Arkay." Nivanya added.
      "He did!"
      "Yes, the Veiled hold it." Sevrin turned his face towards them. "If you wish, you could ask to see it. However I wouldn't recommend it."
      "I read it, Arkay." Nivanya sighed. "He left it for his heir. It was not pleasant reading. Much of his madness he took out on paper when he began to fail. His diary helped him maintain a facade of sanity, but the venom in his writing became its escape.
      "Although, he did say he wished he could somehow convey to you, Arkay, just how much your strength and example made it possible for him to let loose the reins of Kirov before he could no longer control himself."
      "Thank you, Nivanya." He tried to smile. "It does mean a lot to me."
      "What happened to Krasna and Yosef?" Vanesa asked quietly, as if afraid to interrupt.
      "They took the veil shortly after Nivanya and Ilyan settled in to running Kirov." Sevrin said.
      "I didn't know that." Ilyan looked at him oddly. "I always thought they went to one of the other Demense."
      "That was the fiction they desired immediately after they took the veil. They are together in the womb of Rodina." Sevrin's hands teased an odd chord from his harp. "They will not return to the light of day."
      Vanesa shivered in his arms and he hugged her tightly to him. "What is it, little one?"
      "Only my own time there." She said, tipping her chin up. "It was a unique experience. I am glad they are content though."
      "As am I." Arkay sighed, remembering the quartet of wild young people, now all gone. Krasna with her so well hidden desire for Arkay as a young woman. Yosef, the tremendous fighter, dancing with energy and strength. Kir, with her often wicked sense of humor and shyness, always veiled except in the sharm or absolute privacy. And Valentine, with his fine autumn gold hair and boundless love for his people and his family, even in the depths of madness able to shield them from himself.
      Images of Valentine, learning to dance by trying to lead Arkay himself in a simple waltz and ending up laughing so hard at Arkay's obstructions he cried. Images of an even younger Val on his first pony, fighting to get the animal's head up out of the grass and ending up sliding down its neck and landing on the grass himself. Images of agate hard eyes as Arkay turned Val away from home and family in hopes he would take the Demense. Images of a toddler's first steps, lunging for Arkay's hands. All of the images blurred together in his mind as he blinked back tears.
      "If you'll excuse me." His voice cracked again and he tried to get up.
      "No Arkay." Avilan's hand was joined by Karola's. Nashen came over behind him and rested his hands on his shoulders. "Not this time."
      "I'm simply being a foolish old man." He protested, thinking of how silly it was. Valentine had a good life, even as short as it had been. "I have a great grandchild." And Val never even saw all his children reach maturity.
      "Actually you will soon have two, my beloved." Nivanya smiled up at him.
      "So soon?" He gasped, now grinning from ear to ear.
      "Well, I have to keep up with the rest of the Azov Horde. I was raised with them." She stroked Ilyan's hand possessively. "Besides, I should probably make the best use of the fine breeding stock you've given me."
      Arkay laughed, delighted.
      "He is the second strongest Sharm Lord in Russia, after all." She continued impishly.
      Ilyan blinked, looking around the room. "Ok, I admit it, I haven't been keeping up with rank around here. Who took my slot? It can't be Sevrin."
      "No." Sevrin grinned, striking a proud major chord in punctuation. "Guess again. I'm not truly of Russia anymore and I cheated."
      Arkay scanned the room and then had to laugh again. "Oh my goodness, you're right, Nivanya. I hadn't been keeping up either."
      "Mrmph?" Mikhail said, holding a hank of Tzer's hair in his mouth while working on a rather elaborate bit of braiding in Tzer's silver hair.
      "Yes, you." Arkay grinned, pointing a finger.
      Mikhail blinked and dropped the hair he was holding. "Me?"
      Tzer zlinned the room and chuckled, "Yes, you, silly."
      "But Arkay can flatten me in the salle." His blue eyes got huge. "I thought that status went to the best fighter as well as the highest field."
      "You share my power, Ilyan doesn't share Nivanya's." Tzer told his partner, stroking his hand with the very faintest flickers of light. "In unlimited combat, you would be more powerful."
      "Oh" Mikhail looked even more startled. "Because I can do this?" A faint grin played across his face as he stroked Tzer back the same way. Tzer's eyes rolled up in his head and he purred, audibly and nagerically.
      "Boys." Arkay reminded them they were not alone.
      Tzer looked up at Mikhail with hooded eyes and sighed. "You are wonderful, Mikhail and I love you more than I can say."
      "As I love thee, my Tzer." Mikhail's hand caressed Tzer's face. They are so cute. Arkay grinned, enjoying their obvious and quite deep love for each other. Absently, he kissed Nashen's hand on his shoulder, rubbing his face against it. Someone painted little cartoon hearts and flowers on the ambient. Arkay chuckled.
      "Does anyone have a cure for sugar sickness?" Sevrin teased the first few bars of "Love's Lament" from his harp, a horribly overdone ballad of two lovers speaking of their affections for each other.
      "Speaking of sugar sickness." Kirina and Diomid wedged their way into the room, accompanied by Alexandrya and Valtanir.
      Everyone seems to have d