Lariah thought she saw curiosity in Bean’s eyes, but her voice and her expression revealed nothing, which was decidedly odd. “She told me only that together, you and she could open a path to see what must be seen in time.”
“In time?” Bean looked at Zaza. “You’re clairvoyant?”
“What do being clear voynt?”
“You can see what’s happening, or about to happen?”
“Noooo,” Zaza said slowly. “Not do being that. Do being…message getting.”
Bean taught third grade so she had lots of experience with deciphering what children meant when they didn’t have the right word for something. “You and I, together, can receive a message. Or messages.”
“Do being right, that,” Zaza said, beaming at her.
“Where are the messages coming from?”
Zaza’s little face scrunched up again. Then she looked at Bean, her eyes solemn now. “Not do being know that, but do being know that Bean must go.”
Fear crawled over Bean’s scalp with icy fingers. Years of practice allowed her to hide it, but she knew Zaza sensed it. Somehow.
“She’s right, Bean,” Iffon said. “You have to do this. There really is no choice.”
“I’m not having any trouble feeling scared right now, Iffon, and I don’t like it at all. Are you sure I have to do this?”
“I think you’re supposed to do this, Bean. If you don’t, well, there are worse things to feel than fear.”
Bean knew he was right, just as she knew that something truly horrible would happen if she refused. “Yes, I must go.”
“Where is it you need to go?” Saige asked.
“To wherever Vari and Ria are. Not right now. But soon.” She glanced at Zaza. “Three months?”
“Do being think yes, that.”
“Bean, you can’t just pack a bag and go there,” Saige said, trying not to reveal how frightened she suddenly felt. “They’re too far away.”
Bean looked at her mother, then Aunt Lari, Aunt Hope, then her mother again before glancing down at Zaza. “This is real, Zaza, right?”
“Yes, do being real,” Zaza replied solemnly.
Bean nodded, a little embarrassed that's she’d even asked the question. She was trying to figure out what she was supposed to do or say next when she felt a sudden, sharp pain in her abdomen. She gasped, her face turning white as she pressed her hands to her stomach.
“Bean?” Saige asked worriedly.
“Ria,” she whispered. “She’s hurt.” Closing her eyes, fists clenched tightly, Bean scrambled for calm and composure. “It’s really bad, Mom.”
Saige turned as white as her daughter. Her gaze then went to Zaza who was as distressed as Bean. After a few moments Bean turned to the Jotunn.
“Is this real, Zaza? Or am I being punished for doubting?”
“Do being real, but do being not punish.” Bean searched Zaza’s eyes for the truth, then nodded before closing her eyes again.
A minute later, cheeks wet with tears, Bean opened eyes that revealed a flicker of hope. “Her Rami are with her. I can actually feel how much they love her. It’s incredible.” She swallowed hard, fresh tears pouring down her face. “They won’t let her die if they can help it.”
The relief that washed through Saige was so powerful that she knew if she hadn’t been sitting, she’d have fallen. She looked up just as her men appeared on the lawn behind Lariah and Hope, knowing they’d sensed her distress.
“Saige, what’s wrong?” Faron demanded, taking in Bean’s pained expression and the other women’s worry in a glance.
“Something’s happening to Ria,” she replied shakily. “Her Rami are trying to save her.” Faron paled but asked no more questions as Saige turned her attention back to Bean. “Are they in time?”
Bean remained silent but Saige didn’t repeat her question when she saw that both Bean and Zaza were concentrating. She wondered how it was possible for Bean to suddenly be able to see this way. As far as she knew, Bean’s only psychic ability was her talent with wild birds. And yet, she didn’t seem very surprised to know what was happening to Ria, who was so far away. Had Bean, like Ria, hidden her talents out of fear? Bean had told them she had other secrets to share, so it was certainly possible. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought.
No one moved or spoke as they waited, though the tension building in the air around them strained everyone’s nerves. Finally, Bean sighed softly and turned toward her mother.
“It’s working. She’ll be okay.”
Saige saw the relief in her daughter’s eyes. She swallowed hard, put an arm around Bean and hugged her tightly, forgetting about Zaza who jumped nimbly away. When Bean straightened up again she wasn’t surprised to find tears on everyone’s faces, including Zaza’s, who jumped back to her shoulder.
“Do you know what happened?” Faron asked, wondering how Bean had known what was going on with Ria, but not questioning it for the time being.
“Sort of,” Bean said, wiping her tears with her fingers. “Star was stabbed and Ria ran to her defense. She was stabbed too, but she managed to kill their attacker.”
“Who attacked them?” Saige asked.
“That’s the weirdest part,” Bean said, looking at Zaza. “It was something called a jabberwocky, right?”
Zaza nodded her agreement. “Self do being not hear of that before.”
“Jabberwocky?” Hope asked in surprise.
“That’s the name we got. Oh, it’s probably someone’s name.”
“I doubt it,” Hope said. “A jabberwocky is a fictional creature from an ancient poem. An enormous fictional creature much like a dragon. An evil dragon.”
“How would an enormous dragon get onto a ship traveling through space?” Saige asked.
“I don’t think it did,” Hope said thoughtfully. “A jabberwocky is big, and deadly dangerous. But in the end, it’s defeated by a single person.”
“Aunt Hope, does the term snicker-snack mean anything to you?”
“Yes, that’s from the poem too. It’s a description of the sound the vorpal sword makes when it kills the jabberwocky. Ria always uses old stories and rhymes to distract herself when she’s stressed or tired. She must have been thinking of that poem when you were seeing her.”
“I think you’re right,” Bean said with a glance at Zaza. “It feels right.”
“Yes, self do being agree.”
“What of Star?” Lariah asked. “Do you know how she is?”
“She’s wounded, but not too seriously, and the cubs are fine.”
“Ria saved Star’s life, and risked her own, but emerged victorious,” Faron said, his voice choked, but proud.
“Yes, Ata,” Bean said. “And she got her empathic abilities back, too.”
“She did?” Saige asked. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” Bean said, nodding, a fierce light flashing in her eyes, there and gone so fast Saige wasn’t entirely sure she’d really seen it. “She took the attacker’s dark and twisted emotions and threw them back multiplied a thousand-fold. She sort of…ruptured his brain.”
“Good for her,” Lariah said with a brisk nod. She watched Zaza for a long moment, curious about the strange bond she could feel growing between the Jotunn and Bean. It was thin, but already strong, and much different from the bonds she was accustomed to.
She sensed that Bean was fighting it, but she didn’t know why. That didn’t surprise her, though. Bean had always been something of an enigma to her.
What did surprise her was the fact that she hadn’t seen a single bright ear to ear smile on Bean since she’d arrived. Aside from a few very tiny smiles, and the tears for Ria, her face didn’t express any emotion at all.
“Bean, you mentioned a time period of three months,” she said. “Does that mean you need to leave in three months, or that you need to get there in three months?” Every eye was suddenly fixed on Lariah in surprise.
“Go where?” Faron asked.
“I have t
o go where Vari and Ria are, Ata.”
“No,” he said at once. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Not going do being more dangerous,” Zaza said quietly. “All things do being die.”
Faron paled, but shook his head stubbornly. “You can’t get there in three months anyway, Bean. They’ve been gone more than seven months now, closer to eight, and they haven’t even reached Kinah yet.”
Bean wanted to argue with her Ata, but she’d spent too many years not arguing to be able to suddenly do it now. But she wasn’t going to agree with him, either. Not this time. She couldn't. “We need to be ready to leave in three months. After that, any delay will cost lives. We’ll need a big ship, too.”
“Big ship?” Dav asked.
“For the refugees. There’ll be a couple of thousand, I think.”
“Do being not forget need room for others, too,” Zaza said. “Do being…two more of thousands?”
“Yes, I think so. And some Brun.”
“There are more Brun?” Lariah asked hopefully.
“Yes. Not many, and not on Kinah. They’re on the other worlds. If we can get to them in time.”
“What are you talking about?” Faron asked with an edge of frustration.
“There’ll be about four thousand people who will need new worlds to live on, Ata.”
“Are these all Kinahns?” Ban asked.
“No, about half. Kinah is going to…die.” Bean looked at Zaza again. When the Jotunn nodded, Bean had to fight not to be sick right then and there.
“Die?” Saige asked. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“It’ll be like Garza was before Tani released the dragon’s magic. Grass, trees, animals, everything will die, including half of the few Kinahns who still exist. If we don’t send a ship big enough to hold what’s left of them, they’ll all die. We’ll also have to take enough supplies to replenish those the first expedition will use to keep the Kinahns alive until we arrive.”
“Did the Doftles do it?” Faron asked.
Bean looked at the Jotunn. “I think so. Zaza?”
“Do being yes, that. Not do being done yet, but soon. No do be can stopping it though.”
“How do you know all of this, Bean?” Dav asked. “You’ve never been clairvoyant before.” He paused, then asked quietly, “Have you?”
“No, Dede, I haven’t and I’m not now, either. It has something to do with Zaza and me being together. She says that together we’re receiving messages, but she doesn’t know from who and neither do I.”
Every eye shifted to the Jotunn, who shrugged. “Do being not know more. Self do being must say to work on real power, though.”
“Summoning wild birds?” Saige asked, frowning as she tried to imagine what good that would do.
Zaza looked at Saige in surprise. “Not do be power, that. Do being…,” Zaza broke off uncertainly, then turned to look at Bean for a moment. “True power do being of heart,” she finished.
Bean was trying to figure out what Zaza meant by that when her mother spoke. “You have a psychic ability we don’t know about?”
“I’ll tell you about it later, Mom,” Bean replied in a low voice.
“All right,” Saige said, blinking back tears as she wondered, again, how she’d managed to raise three daughters and know next to nothing about any of them.
“It’s Chaos, Saige,” Lariah said in a low voice. Saige looked at her friend and nodded. “Bean, since you know three months ahead of time, can you leave now? Or do you need to wait the three months?”
“It’s not that we have to wait, exactly. It’ll take three months to finish the ship that’s being built and prepare it.”
“What ship?” Faron asked.
“I don’t know, Ata. I just know it’s big, and that its already being built, but some changes need to be made before it’s finished. A lot of supplies need to be gathered, and a new barge built, too. One much larger than anything Jasan has right now.
“There’s something else, too,” she said, a frown creasing her forehead for just a moment before smoothing out as though it had never been. “From the day we leave Jasan we’ll have forty-two days to reach Kinah and rescue the survivors. Any time after that, even one day, will be too late.”
“That’s not possible,” Faron said.
“Do being possible, that,” Zaza said. “Borat do being make possible.”
“Who?” Saige asked, but saw from Lariah’s expression that she recognized the name.
“Then we’ll have to make sure he has what he needs to accomplish that,” Lariah said. “Do you have any idea when the expedition will reach Kinah?”
“Around the same time we’ll be ready to leave here,” Bean said without hesitation. Zaza nodded her agreement.
“Well then,” Lariah said, putting her hands on her hips. “I suppose we best get started.”
“Started?” Ban asked blankly, still trying wrap his mind around everything he’d learned in the last few minutes.
“Thanks to Bean and Zaza we know a little about what’s coming. Enough to give us a head start. We can’t afford to waste it.”
Faron nodded almost absently as he watched Saige, Bean, and the tiny Jotunn. He had questions. Lots of questions. But now was obviously not the time for them.
“The first thing we need to do is share all of this with Garen, Trey, and Val,” he said. “Amada, vox us later please, when you have time.”
“I will,” Saige promised.
“Ask her about future messages, Bean.”
“Zaza, will you know if new messages come before I have to leave?”
“Do being yes, that,” Zaza said, then patted her shoulder. “You do being get, too. Together we do being open…road? Path? Self think path do being right word. Both do being get message now. Me for here. You for there.”
“Okay, Zaza, thank you,” Bean said. She felt like she should say more, but she had no idea in the good great galaxy what one could say in a situation like this. She watched the Jotunn leap back to Lariah’s shoulder and knew in that instant what she had to do.
“Iffon, it’s time.”
“I know. Don’t worry, Bean. It’ll be as it’s meant to be.”
Bean wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad, but this was the biggest secret she’d been putting off revealing. It had to be done because…well, she wasn’t sure why. She just knew it was necessary.
“Ata, will you, Dede, and Popi stay for just a few more minutes, please?”
“Sure,” Faron said, sensing she was suddenly nervous, though nothing about her expression revealed that.
Bean and Saige thanked Hope and Lariah for their concern and Zaza for her help, then watched as everyone left, leaving them alone. Bean took a long, deep, calming breath and released it slowly as she watched her fathers move closer to where she and her mother sat on the steps.
“Do you know what a tutelary spirit is?” Everyone shook their heads. “How about a familiar? Do you know what that is?”
“Isn’t that an animal spirit connected with a particular person?” Saige asked.
“Yes,” Bean said. “I have a guardian. He’s a lot like a familiar, except that he’s not spirit. He’s real.”
Bean tensed at the expressions of shock on her parents’ faces. She waited quietly for one of them to say something. Anything.
“He?” Faron asked finally.
“His name is Iffon.”
“Where is he?”
“At the moment he’s melded with me.”
“Melded?” Saige asked weakly.
“Iffon, you’re on,” Bean said silently, holding her right arm out. They all watched as an image of what appeared to be a black bird’s beak peeked out from beneath the edge of her t-shirt sleeve. The image emerged slowly, still melded to her skin so that it looked like a moving tattoo.
No one spoke or even moved as they watched the unusual red and blue bird gradually slide down her arm until it’s beak just touched her wrist. Then its head rose, becomi
ng three dimensional as soon as it left her flesh, its dark eyes fixed on Bean’s fathers. When it had peeled itself completely off Bean’s arm it appeared to be nothing more than a bird standing on her knee.
He was about fourteen inches tall, with a short curved beak and bright black eyes. The feathers on his head were bright red, as were those on his back. His chest was royal blue, going down to his feet, and around the edges of his wings. The wings themselves were bright red, as were his tail feathers.
The bird reminded Saige very strongly of a parrot in appearance, though her loboenca senses warned her that there was much more to this creature than her eyes could see. It was intelligent, and very powerful.
The bird stood there, eyeing each of them carefully. Then he hopped up to stand on Bean’s shoulder.
“Well,” Saige said, then swallowed. “That’s certainly different.”
Bean caught the humor in her mother’s tone and relaxed a little. “This is Iffon,” she said. “Iffon, my parents.”
“It is an honor to finally meet you properly,” Iffon said, speaking in their minds the way the Brun did.
Bean tensed again while waiting to see how they’d react. When her fathers dipped their chins in a polite nod, she relaxed again. A little.
“Thank you, Iffon,” Faron said. “I apologize for staring. We’re just a bit…surprised.”
“That’s understandable, Lord Faron.”
“Why haven’t you ever told us about Iffon?” Saige asked Bean.
“Those with guardians such as myself are incapable of sharing our existence,” Iffon answered. “Unless the guardian grants permission.”
“Why didn’t you tell us, then, Iffon?” Saige asked curiously. She was surprised to sense Iffon’s reluctance before answering her.
“Those with clouds before their eyes cannot see truth, Lady Saige. Therefore, it is generally unwise to show it to them.” Saige’s eyes stung, but she set her emotions aside and nodded her understanding.
“Why are you showing yourself now?” Faron asked.
“In part because the clouds have been cleared, Lord Faron. But mostly because my first and last responsibility is to preserve Bean’s life. To achieve that during the events that rapidly approach, I must build up the ability to become corporeal, which I’ve done little of in recent years. This is necessary so that I can, in time, remain corporeal for the extended periods that will be required of me.
Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7) Page 3
