“Is that why we were summoned to Jasan?” Declan asked, moving to stand behind Vari, startling Salene.
“Yes, it is,” she replied. “And hello, Cousin Declan.”
“Hello, Salene.”
Vari already knew what she had to do. She looked up at Declan. “What do you think?”
He looked at Jay, then Kai, then back down to Vari. “We have no objection to trying to save a dying race if that’s what you want.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, then looked back to the vid screen. “How much longer does Nia have, Salene?”
“I don’t know. A few days, I suppose. I think Doc is tempted to turn off the healing tank altogether.”
Vari turned to Jay. “How long will it take us to reach Jasan?”
“About a week. But we can’t leave right away. We have to attend a meeting on the Ugaztun in the morning, and even if we didn’t, we can’t leave the Leaper unguarded.”
“Are you certain you don’t mind doing this?” she asked, looking at each of them in turn.
“We’re certain,” Declan replied.
Vari nodded, then turned back to the vid screen again. “Salene, please ask Aunt Glory to tell Nia to hold on for a few more days. If she can’t, tell her to wait for me. And do not let Doc turn that tank off.”
“Vari, I don’t under…,” Salene trailed off, her golden eyes going wide as Vari’s meaning sank in. “No, Vari,” she said firmly, shaking her head. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous.”
“I have to, Salene.”
“No. I can’t let you. I won’t let you.”
“Salene, I love you very much. But it’s not your place to tell me what I can and cannot do.”
“Dammit Vari,” Salene said, near tears now. “Please don’t do this.”
“It’ll be fine, Salene.”
“You don’t know that,” Salene argued. She looked above Vari where Jay and Kai had joined Declan so that the three of them stood behind Vari. “Are you Vari’s Rami?”
“We are,” Declan said.
“Then please talk her out of this. I want to help Kinah, but not at the risk of Vari’s life or her sanity.”
“Vari?” Declan asked, placing one hand lightly on her shoulder. She reached up and touched it, then looked at the screen when Salene gasped.
“I can touch people now, Salene.”
“I see that,” Salene said, grinning despite the tears on her cheeks.
“I’m going to go discuss a few things with my men now. Just please tell Doc to leave that tank alone, okay? If at all possible, I want to be right there when…well, at the end.”
“I don’t understand,” Salene said.
“If I have to call her, others may hear me and I’d really prefer to keep this between us.”
“Vari,” Salene began, only to be interrupted by Pandora.
“Pardon me, Highness, but this is what’s meant to be.”
“How can you be so sure of that, Pandora?” Salene demanded.
“The Eternal Pack told me.”
Salene shook her head. “No, I don’t care. Vari has suffered her entire life and I will not be responsible for making her suffer more. She’s found her Rami. They should be allowed to go be happy somewhere.”
Vari saw fresh tears streaming down Salene’s cheeks, and had to fight back her own. “Salene,” she said softly. “You’re so protective of those you care about, and I’m honored to be counted among them. But something is coming, Ahizbaa. Something big, and bad, and powerful enough to destroy all that we know and love. We each have our roles to play and our tasks to complete, and right now, finding Kinah is one of mine. I’m sorry, but I can tell you no more until we get home.”
Salene sat motionless for a few moments, then sighed. “Very well,” she said finally. “I will do as you ask, but I’m holding you to your word, Vari. I want to hear whatever it is you’re not telling me.”
“I’ll tell you all that I can, I promise.”
Salene nodded, then her gaze drifted upward to look at the Dracon-Bats standing behind her. “Even though we’re cousins, we don’t know each other, and I have no right to ask anything of you. But I’m going to do it anyway. If a time comes when you cannot, or will not, remain with Vari, please promise to contact me so that I can come for her.”
Declan stood quietly for a few moments, formulating his response. He couldn’t be angry with Salene for worrying that they’d leave Vari, though there was a part of him that almost wanted to be. Vari had called her Ahizbaa, an ancient Klanaren word which translated as heart sister, a term that meant even more than the words implied. It told him just how much the two women cared about one another.
“Our not knowing each other is entirely our fault, Cousin Salene,” he said. “It’s an error we intend to correct as soon as possible.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, Declan,” Salene said, frowning in confusion.
“I know,” he said. “The promise you ask for is given. We’ve already promised to remain with Vari always, in this life and the next. However, in light of this promise to you, we will make arrangements such that, should we cross to the next plane before her, you will be summoned to care for her until it is her time to join us.”
Salene placed her fist over her heart and bowed her head in acceptance and thanks. Then she dried her eyes and cleared her throat. “I’ll have the River House prepared for you. Shall I tell Aunt Saige you’re coming?”
“Yes, please,” Vari said. “Thanks, Salene.”
“I’m not sure I want to be thanked. I feel like I should have kept my big mouth shut about all of this.”
“Salene,” Vari said gently.
“I know, I get it, destiny and all that, yadda yadda, blah blah. You’d think I’d be used to it coming from Wolef all the time.” She shook her head. “I’ll vid Aunt Glory right away, and Doc too.”
“All right,” Vari said, then fell silent when Salene’s attention was diverted from the screen. Her entire face lit up as she gestured to whoever she was looking at.
A little girl with dark hair, and a smaller, younger boy, rushed into Salene’s arms. After a quick hug, they climbed into her lap and faced the vid terminal with smiles on their faces.
“Hi Aunt Vari!” the girl said with obvious affection. “We missed you. When are you coming home?”
“Hello Mali, hi Tab,” Vari said, smiling in a way the Dracon-Bats had not seen before. They noticed that her hands moved as she spoke, but did not interrupt to ask why. “I missed you, too, and I’ll be home in about a week.” She paused while the boy clapped his hands and Mali squealed happily over the news. “My goodness, the two of you have grown since I last saw you. How’s the signing coming, Tab?”
The little boy grinned and made several hand gestures that were much the same as those Vari was using.
Vari laughed. “You’ve discovered something Jinjie isn’t good at, have you?” The boy nodded enthusiastically, then signed some more.
“How is Jinjie otherwise? And Tonka?”
“They’re good, Aunt Vari,” Mali said after looking at Tab for a moment. “Tab can’t remember all the signs for this, so he wants me to tell you that Tonka gave him a really fast ride around the paddock yesterday and he had lots of fun.”
“I thought you had a pony for riding,” Vari said to the boy, signing as she spoke.
“He does, but riding a pony in front of your friends isn't as much fun as riding a Brun,” Mali said, rolling her eyes.
“No, I don't suppose it is,” Vari said, obviously trying to contain her laughter.
Declan, Jay, and Kai exchanged looks of surprise, confusion, and uncertainty as Vari spoke with the children for another minute or two. Then she had a few more words with Salene, and completed her call.
“Vari,” Kai said when she rose and turned away from the vid terminal. “Who are those children with Salene?”
“Her son and daughter,” Vari said.
“How can that be?” Declan asked. �
�She’s only a little older than you, certainly not old enough to have children the ages of those two.”
“I thought Pandora filled you in on all of this.”
“I didn’t finish,” Pandora said. “I got as far as Rayne rescuing Salene from the Doftle space station.”
“Oh,” Vari said. “Well, Salene and her Gryphons adopted Mali and Tab after rescuing them from the first Doftle storage planet.”
Jay blinked in surprise. “Who are Jinjie and Tonka?”
“Jinjie is Jotunn, and Tonka is Brun.”
“Jotunn we are familiar with, but not Brun.”
Vari opened her mouth to explain further, but Declan held up one hand to stop her. “We are very interested in hearing this, Vari, but I believe there are more important issues for us to discuss at the moment.”
“Of course,” Jay said ruefully. “I apologize.” Vari reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, then the three of them took seats at the table. This time Declan took the chair beside her while Jay and Kai sat across from them.
“As much as we’d like to discuss the reason you brought us in here, I think we need to know what Salene was talking about, first,” Declan said. “In particular the risk to you that she mentioned.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s necessary.”
“You don’t want to tell us?” Kai asked.
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” Vari said, reaching across the table to touch Kai’s hand. “It’s just that I haven’t spoken about this since I was five and I don’t particularly want to talk about it now. I don’t even think about it if I can help it.”
“This is about what happened when your mother asked for help from the Eternal Pack,” Declan said. “The thing that nearly destroyed your mind.”
“Yes, it is,” she admitted.
“Are you sure it’s safe to talk about this right now?” Pandora asked quietly.
“I’m sure, Pandora,” Vari said, understanding that Pandora wanted to be sure there were no shadow people around to hear them. She bit her lip nearly hard enough to draw blood, but it was no use. She had to ask her own question. “Are you sure this is meant to be?”
“I’m sure,” Pandora said. “I checked a couple of times. I’m just nervous about it.”
“I know, so am I.” Pandora nodded but said nothing further, so Vari turned her attention back to her men. “I can see and speak with those who no longer walk the plane of the living.” Once the words were out of her mouth she held her breath, waiting for their reactions.
“Zerua gainetik, Vari,” Declan breathed, his eyes full of compassion. “I cannot imagine any abilities more difficult to bear than those you’ve been gifted with.”
“Not gonna argue with you on that,” Vari said with a smile that didn’t fool them in the slightest.
“Will you tell us what happened?” Kai asked.
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“We’ve nowhere else to be at the moment, and if we did, you’re more important anyway,” Declan said.
Vari smiled, warmed by not just his words, but the emotion she felt behind them. “About a year after I had to be isolated, I started seeing people that no one else could see. I called them shadow people. I didn’t realize they were dead, of course. At first I was excited because I couldn’t read their minds. Then, about an hour after I spoke to the first one, half a dozen more appeared. And they just kept coming.
“Within just a few days there were hundreds of them. After a couple of weeks there were thousands. They were everywhere, all crowded together so that I couldn’t move without walking through them, which I hated. They all wanted me to do something for them, and they didn’t care that I was just a little girl.” Vari paused, then decided she’d said enough. If she told them about the screamers, they’d go into a blood rage, and there was no need for that.
“Everyone tried to find a way to make the shadow people go away, but nothing worked. That’s when Mom sought help from the Eternal Pack, and why they sent Pandora to help me.
“By the time she came I was in bad shape. I found out not long ago that even the Tigrens were surprised I lasted as long as I did. Everyone expected my mind to break under the stress.”
Vari glanced down at the Sylph on her shoulder, who was now wearing the form of a black and white striped dragonfly. “Pandora saved me,” she said. “She told me to never speak with the shadow people, or look directly at them, or react to anything they said or did. I had to pretend they weren’t there at all. It took weeks for the last of them to give up, but eventually they did. I haven’t spoken to or even acknowledged the presence of a shadow person since.”
“After all you went through, you now think to speak with Nia once she becomes a shadow person,” Kai said. Vari nodded.
“Salene is right,” Jay said. “You can’t do this. The risk to your sanity is too great.”
Vari smiled, touched that their first thoughts were for her. “How can I not do this?”
“What if these shadow people start crowding you again?” Kai asked.
“That would be bad,” she admitted. “But, I don’t think it’ll happen. Or at least, if it does happen, there won’t be very many of them.”
“Why not?”
“For one thing, as Pandora said, I’m meant to do this. After all their efforts so far, I don’t think the Eternal Pack would suggest I do something that would drive me insane.”
“Good point,” Declan said. “What’s the other reason?”
“Salene will do all she can to be sure Nia knows to wait for me if possible, or at least stick around until I get there. That way I won’t have to risk calling her. If I have to do that, my secret will be out.”
“If Nia is asked to keep your ability to herself, will she?” Kai asked.
“I’ve never met her, but from what Salene told me about her, I think she will, yes. If not, Glory will know.” She paused for a moment, then asked, “What about you guys? Can you tell me whether you’re leaning toward going or not?”
“That’s easy,” Jay said. “If you’re going, we’re going. That’s non-negotiable.”
“Thank you,” she said, relieved.
“It appears we’ve made a decision,” Declan said.
“A tentative decision,” Vari corrected.
“Tentative in what way?”
“In that it depends on your reactions to what I brought you here to discuss. If you don’t mind, I’d like to record this so I don’t have to repeat what I’m about to say over and over again.”
While Jay got up to activate the recorders, Declan studied Vari’s expression. She seemed nervous, but determined. “This is about the Doftle who was different, isn’t it?”
“Rodnil was his name, and yes, it is,” Vari replied. She waited until Jay was seated again and signaled that the recording was activated. Then she took a deep breath, tried to pretend the camera wasn’t there, and began speaking.
“Before I got the mass data dump from Rodnil, I asked him how we could stop his people. I was in his mind, so I watched as he raced through memories and images so fast it was hard to follow until he settled on one. Did you hear him tell me that the only way to save the Thousand Worlds was to find the Colony?”
“No, I was speaking with Captain Finch,” Declan said, a shadow of fear clouding his eyes at the memory. “After we returned to the Bihotza, Jay was able to clean up the recording so we could hear the conversation you had with him.”
“I’m glad to know that,” Vari said. “When Rodnil spoke of the Colony the image in his mind was beyond massive. It was bigger than any living thing I’ve ever seen. And there was something about it that tickled my memory. I spent a lot of time the past couple of days trying to figure out what it reminded me of, but I couldn’t. Then I started researching the word he used. Colony. Are you familiar with siphonophores?”
“The word is not familiar, no,” Jay said.
“Some of the more commonly known examples of siphonophores are the migratin
g coral reefs of Zifendi, the nearly sentient sky high forests of Korin 2 which are, by the way, the only land siphonophores I was able to find, the Cloud Herds of Qasim, and the Portuguese-Man-Of-War of Earth. Are any of these familiar to you?”
“I’ve heard of the Cloud Herds,” Declan said. “They absorb the methane gas emitted by the swamps that cover most of Qasim, and, after a complicated internal process that I don’t remember or understand, they expel it as oxygen.”
“Do you know that the Cloud Herds are made up of living organisms?” Vari asked.
“No,” Declan replied in surprise. “I know they’re not ordinary clouds but I didn’t know that.”
Vari set her hand terminal on the table and projected an image onto the wall of a creature they’d never seen before. It was varying shades of purple and blue with a bulbous body and a multitude of long, thin tendrils extending from it.
“What is that?” Jay asked.
“It’s a Portuguese-Man-of-War. This is what I was reminded of when I saw the image in Rodnil’s mind, which is why I chose it from among the various marine siphonophores of Earth.”
“It looks very much like a jelly fish,” Kai said.
“Yes, it does,” Vari agreed. “It looks like a jelly fish, acts like a jelly fish, hunts and eats prey like a jelly fish. But it’s not a jelly fish.”
“What is it then?” Jay asked.
“Like the Cloud Herds, it’s a siphonophore, an entity made up of individual animals, commonly referred to as a Colony. This one stings its prey with those long thin tendrils, and consumes it like any animal would, except that each function is undertaken by different groups of animals working together as a whole. The main difference between this jelly fish and the image Rodnil showed me is that the long stinging tendrils looked more like tentacles.”
“Tentacle,” Declan repeated. “That’s the word Rodnil used.”
“Yes, and it’s not the first time I’ve heard it, either,” Vari said. “Wolef the golden dragon told Rayne that the Doftle referred to their group as a Tentacle.”
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