Severed Bonds

by R S Penney

  Jack looked over his shoulder, smiling down at her, and she found herself lost in those gorgeous blue eyes. “Takes a little getting used to,” he said as if reading her mind. “I can't remember the last time we walked like this.”

  “The night we went for frozen yogurt, and you kissed me by the Ottawa River.”

  “Oh yeah…That was a good night.”

  Anna leaned her head against his upper arm. I love you, she thought, and the words almost spilled out of her mouth, but she stopped herself. Not because she didn't want to say them, not because she thought it might scare him off, but because she wanted the first time she said to him in a romantic sense to be special.

  A set of steps led down to a well-lit train platform where the tiles on the floor and the pillars that supported the ceiling all gleamed as if freshly polished. There were a few other people waiting to catch a train.

  And they didn't have to wait long.

  A train came rushing by with very little noise except for a soft whoosh, and then it settled to a stop at the platform. Doors slid apart, allowing them to board a car with blue cushions on every seat.

  Anna chose one across from the door, sitting primly with her head down. “I have to warn you,” she said. “My family has been getting extra political lately, and many of them have started listening to Dusep.”

  Jack sat next to her with an elbow on the arm of his seat, his chin in the palm of his hand. “Seems everyone's doing that,” he said, brow furrowing. “I came to Leyria just in time to watch the fascism set in.”

  “Not if I can help it,”

  He gently nudged her.

  A moment later, the train was gliding through a tunnel, suspended above the track by an electromagnetic field so that there was very little friction. The posters on the walls caught her attention. One advertised a new arts program at U-D. Maybe she could apply as a part-time student.

  Closing her eyes, she rested her head on Jack's chest and offered a quiet murmur of contentment. “How are you holding up?” she asked. “With Ben and everything, I mean. I know you're putting on a brave face, but-”

  “It's a little easier, now.”

  “Oh?”

  His lips brushed against her forehead in a gentle kiss. “Yeah,” Jack whispered. “Because I have you.”

  She squeezed him tight.

  Deep down, Anna knew that she would stand between Jack and anything that tried to harm him. She would always protect him. Because she loved him, and it was her great shame that she hadn't made that clear. Well, she thought. Now's a good time to start.

  The wedding took place on a field just outside of Thaladrin. Several rings of white chairs were centred around a large oak tree with branches that stretched in all directions, its foliage providing shade for the bride and groom. Leyrians had a thing for trees; most of her people's culture involved trees in some way.

  Of course, Alia looked beautiful in a pale blue dress with straps that tied behind her neck, leaving her back exposed, her hair tied up in a long braid. Her smile was the kind of smile you only saw on someone who was truly in love.

  Across from her, Soral wore a simple pair of black pants and a white tunic with an open collar, and he too was smiling.

  And then there was the Reverend.

  A short little man with a ring of silver hair around his bald head and glasses over his beady little eyes, he stood before the crowd in full regalia – a flowing green robe with patterns along the hem. “Today is a glorious day,” he said. “For today, we celebrate the union of two lovely people in the light of the Holy Companion.” After a brief pause, he added. “Who stands lenshar for this man?”

  To Anna's left, a young man in a blue tunic rose from his seat, a handsome fellow with pale skin and dark hair. “I do,” he said, nodding to the priest.

  “Then come forward.”

  A moment later, he was standing beside Soral.

  “Who stands lenshar for this woman?”

  Milli rose from her chair in one graceful motion, and she looked lovely in red, her black hair falling in ringlets. “I do,” she said. And then she joined the others in the shade of the oak tree.

  The man's speech, extolling Soral's virtues, went by quickly enough. Anna found herself distracted by work, wondering if there was any chance that anyone would answer her APB. Not likely. If the ship that had carried Leo to Leyria really did work for Slade, then chances were it was staying away from all commercial trade routes. Space was vast with lots of backwater planets to hide on.

  The upside was that most of those planets did not provide the essentials for human life; the food – if there was any – would be inedible, the atmosphere inhospitable; they would need supplies.

  When the young man was finished assuring Alia that she had made the right choice, it was Milli's turn. She stood before Soral with a warm smile and began her speech. “I've spent many hours reflecting on this,” she said. “What can I tell you about Alia. She was always a good friend, always willing to help me study…”

  This was a bit odd for Anna; she loved her sister very, very much, but she had never bonded with Alia in the way that Milli had. What got her through it was Jack holding her hand the whole time.

  He smiled at her, his blue eyes full of love and compassion. “Just in case it wasn't clear,” he whispered. “You're the most amazing person I've ever met.”

  Anna blushed, hanging her head, then rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. “You're determined to melt me into a great big pile of mush, aren't you?” she whispered. “Thank you.”

  He put a hand on her back.

  The ceremony carried on with all the usual cliches – “I pledge myself to her,” “To my last day, he is my one and only” – and when it was over, Anna was grateful for the chance to stretch her legs. Sweet Mercy, why did they have to make these things so long and stuffy? Even Seth was bored, and he usually found human ceremonies fascinating.

  “So, what now?” Jack asked.

  Pressing her lips together, Anna looked down at the ground and forced out a breath. “I have to join my family for pictures,” she said. “I guess you're free to wander, but we'll be attending the party later.”

  “Right. Gotcha.”

  “I'll see you in an hour.”

  “Wasn't she lovely though?”

  The banquet hall was pretty much what you would have expected: white walls and gold crown molding, chandeliers alight as they dangled over round tables with a vase of tulips in the centre of each. There was just enough background noise to make it necessary to raise your voice if you wanted to be heard.

  That last question had come from Anna's aunt Mianda, a woman who leaned over the table with a huge smile. “Your sister was gorgeous, don't you think?” she repeated. “I have never seen such a beautiful bride.”

  Popping a forkful of green beans into her mouth, Anna chewed thoroughly before nodding to the other woman. “Oh yeah,” she said. “Alia was a goddess.”

  “She was indeed.”

  Her uncle Davis – a portly man who kept his graying hair slicked back – frowned at his plate. “Yeah, yeah, she was gorgeous,” he replied. “But really, did it have to go on so long?”

  “Alia wanted a traditional wedding,” Mianda said.

  “You think that was long?” Jack teased.

  Thankfully, he was right next to Anna, and he had taken to occasionally holding her hand under the table. She didn't know what she would have done if she'd had to listen to her aunt's ramblings without him.

  More subtle indications that Alia was the perfect daughter, the perfect niece, while Anna was the troublemaker who caused an uproar with her outspoken opinions. This was why she hated these damned parties. In any other setting, she would know exactly what to say, but here…

  “You didn't think it was long?”

  A sly grin blossomed on Jack's face, and he shook his head. “You should have seen my sister's wedding,” he answered. “Long sermons about how couples put their marriage first with all the cliché
bible verses you could ask for.”

  “So, Leana,” Mianda said. “When do you think you'll get married?”

  Anna froze in the middle of a drink of water, spluttering some of it over her chin as she coughed violently. Damn it! It was like her aunt was trying to stir the pot. “Well…to be honest, I don't think I ever will.”

  Mianda turned that appraising gaze of hers on Jack and smiled like a cat closing in on a mouse. “And how do you feel about that?” she asked. “I'm told that marriage is a big part of your culture.”

  Anna struggled to keep her anxiety in check; she'd only just gotten to a good place with Jack, and she really didn't need her meddlesome aunt stirring up trouble. Companion have mercy, why did she ask him to come? This always happened. At every single family function, something like this happened. Her heart was pounding.

  “I'm pretty ambivalent, actually,” Jack said.

  “Are you?”

  Jack was sitting back with his arms folded, frowning across the table at the woman who was clearly trying to rile him. “I've never cared very much about marriage,” he said. “I decided a long time ago that if I fell in love, and my partner wanted to get married, I'd do it, but if she didn't, that would be fine too.”

  “Really?”

  “It's just a formality.”

  Davis turned his head to direct a squint-eyed glare at his wife. “Oh, leave the boy alone, Mianda,” he admonished. “Can't you see he's not gonna bite? Perhaps we should move to another table and let these two enjoy their dinner.”

  When they were gone, Anna breathed out a sigh of relief. Mianda was her mother's sister, and she shared some of Sierin's more strident opinions on Justice Keepers. It was the same refrain every time: Anna had given up her chance to have children, Anna had forfeited any hope of a normal life. This wasn't the first time that Mianda had pressured her about marriage.

  She sat forward with her elbow on the table, fingertips touching her forehead. “I'm sorry she did that,” Anna muttered. “The woman likes to create drama.”

  “It's fine,” Jack said.

  His mouth was a thin line as he studied her, but then his lips curled, and he shut his eyes tight. “That's what relatives are for,” he added. “I'm sure you remember my family's disastrous Christmas dinner.”

  When she glanced in his direction, Anna smiled and leaned in close to bonk him with her forehead. “Well, I'm glad you're here,” she said. “And you know, I never really gave much thought to getting married, but if you wanted to-”

  Her face was a supernova when she realized what she had almost said, but Jack just kissed her nose and said, “Don't worry about it. Honest to goodness, Anna, I really don't care one way or another.”

  “Okay.”

  For a little while, they made smalltalk as they finished their meals. Anna told him about the family members she had never mentioned in their long years of friendship – her uncle Aidan, the oceanographer, her cousin Siala, the shinjala dancer – and then two of Soral's brothers asked Jack to join them for some “guy time.”

  Well, that was all right; the manners instilled in her by her diplomat father told her that it was her job to mingle with the other guests. She just prayed that Soral's mother didn't want another verbal sparring match. Anna Lenai had many talents, but keeping her opinions to herself was not one of them.

  She sat on the edge of a table with a drink cradled in both hands, working up the willpower to suffer through her mother's latest rant about uncivilized immigrants from Earth or her aunt's latest attempt to pry into her love life.

  “He really makes you happy, doesn't he?”

  Her father stood before her, looking classy in a blue jacket and high-collared shirt, his red hair parted in the middle. “The young man from Earth,” he added. “I can see the way you look at him.”

  Anna smiled into her lap, shaking her head. “You have no idea,” she said softly. “It feels different with him. Like I don't have to try as hard.”

  “That's usually a good sign.”

  “Usually.”

  Slipping hands into his jacket pockets, Beran shuffled forward with his head down. “I'm very happy for you,” he said. “But you do know that your mother won't approve of this, don't you?”

  Turning her head to survey the room, Anna squinted at her mother. “Oh, I know,” she replied in a breathy whisper. “But as I've told her a hundred thousand times before, it's not her life.”

  “The older I get, the more I realize that my daughter is going to find her own path in life.” Beran offered a wry grin with that. “And I can either help her or get my Bleakness-kissed ass out of her way.”

  “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you too,” he said. “Go find your boyfriend; he's probably feeling a little out of place, surrounded by all these people he doesn't know.”

  Boyfriend.

  It was the first time anyone had put a name to what Jack was becoming, but they had just discussed the prospect of spending their lives together without flinching – hinted at it, at least – so, she figured that “boyfriend” was appropriate.

  And that was just fine with her.

  When his multi-tool beeped, Leo pressed a button on the metal disk to answer the call. A hologram appeared before him, depicting a man with pale skin, short gray hair and a mustache. “They've gone to Thaladrin,” he said. “Lenai's sister is getting married.”

  “Is she now?” Leo murmured.

  “Do you have instructions?”

  Leo smiled, chuckling softly as he considered the possibilities. “Far be it for me to miss a good party,” he said, shaking his head. “I think it's time for you and your men to make your presence known.”

  “We'll attack immediately.”

  “No,” Leo said. “Let Hunter and his bitch enjoy their celebration. Allow them to get tired, maybe even to imbibe a little, and when they're nice and relaxed, move in and destroy them both.”

  Chapter 21

  As the night wore on, there was starlight in the large window and most of the tables had been cleared by serving bots. Candlelight now provided a relaxing atmosphere with most other sources of illumination having been dimmed.

  “You can't be serious.”

  That came from Tellin, a young man in a gray, high-collared shirt who sat hunched over with his arms folded on the table. All Anna could see was the top of his black-haired head. “You gave her a name?”

  He looked up at them, bleary-eyed and trying to fight off the haze that came from imbibing too much alcohol. “You gave your symbiont a name,” he slurred. “I thought that Keepers didn'…do that.”

  Jack was smiling into a glass filled with fizzy blue liquid, a Stellar Cascade unless she missed her guess. “Why wouldn't I give her a name?” he asked. “Summer is one of my best friends.”

  Tellin was one of Soral's cousins – at least, she thought he was – a young man of nineteen who had only just gained the ability to drink large quantities of alcohol and who had not yet learned how to pace himself. Soral and Alia had departed half an hour ago, as had most of the guests. So, she was left here with maybe fifteen people around her age, people who seemed so innocent to her.

  Being in life-threatening situation after life-threatening situation, seeing the horrors of war first-hand, had a way of making you feel old inside. There were days when Anna forgot that she was only twenty-four. “I thought that the Nassai didn't have names,” Tellin said. “Because they're not individuals.”

  “Well…That's not entirely true.”

  “They live in a collective.”

  Tired and hazy, Anna sat with her elbow on the arm of her chair, her mouth pressed into the palm of her hand. Her eyes were closed as she tried to find the energy to keep on talking. “They form distinct personalities.”

  When she found the willpower to open her eyes, she found Jack frowning at her, concern evident on his face. “You wanna go?” he asked in a soft voice. “It is coming up on midnight.”

  Her lips curled into a small s
mile, and then she took a deep breath before nodding to him. “Probably wise,” she murmured. “We do have to go all the way back to Denabria, and I am aching to get reacquainted with my pillow.”

  “All right.”

  “You can't go yet,” Tellin insisted.

  “We'll talk another time, bro,” Jack said.

  Their table was near the dance floor, where Teli and several of Soral's other young cousins were still moving to the music. Unlike her older brother, Teli was stone sober, and she often glanced in their direction with a quick shake of her head. Most of the tables were empty, and there was a small cylindrical robot moving between them, vacuuming the carpets.

  Anna got up with a sigh and then spared a glance for Tellin. “Nice to meet you,” she said with a tiny, almost imperceptible bow. “If you're ever in Denabria give us a call; we'll get together.”

  On their way out, she paused at the long, rectangular table at the front entrance and took a moment to sign the guest book. Her eyes were drawn to the collage of photos of her sister and brother-in-law.

  There was Alia standing cheek to cheek with a gorgeous woman with tanned skin and dark eyes, Alia and Milli up on stage and crooning into a microphone That one was probably taken during her sister's college years.

  Anna had never had such experiences.

  Was it odd that she didn't feel as if she'd missed out on anything? Sure, college was an amazing experience, but Anna had Bonded with an alien, had traveled the stars. When Alia was twenty, she was going to parties, taking finals and learning the theory behind warp travel. And that was great! But when Anna was twenty, she was discovering the lost homeworld of her ancestors and quite literally making history.

  The sound of the door swinging open pulled her out of her reverie, and she turned to find men in black flooding into the room with pistols gripped tightly in both hands and pointed down at the floor.

  There were five of them, all fanning out to cover every possible avenue of escape, all pointing their weapons at the fourteen or fifteen guests who still remained. Bleakness take her, who would attack a wedding?