by Lucy Kelly
Hakor stood but before he could bow, Glynnis waved him back. “I will have none of that pomp and circumstance now, young man. You just hold on to your mate.”
Glynnis turned to Maggie and asked, “What’s your name, dear? I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“I’m Margaret Kern. My friends call me Maggie. I was with the women who met their mates during the Sci-Fi convention. Catherine went in to see how Mak’s doing, but she hasn’t come back yet,” she said, tears starting to shimmer in her eyes.
Natalie, wanting to distract Maggie’s mind with other things, brought up what they had been discussing earlier. “Regent Glynnis, do you have the ability to look up Maggie’s medical file?” Natalie asked the older woman. “We want to see which House she’s descended from.”
“That won’t be necessary. Just look at the necklace she got for Christmas. The emblem of her House should be on there. I’m surprised you didn’t remember that, Natalie, you helped make the Christmas presents. And call me Granny. I like to think of all you girls as my granddaughters,” said Glynnis.
“I was so busy doing the armbands, I didn’t realize. Since Jennifer and I are not mated, there wasn’t anyone to explain it to us. That’s great, though.”
Natalie turned to Hakor, “Why didn’t you tell Maggie what the necklace meant?”
Hakor’s face flushed a bright red. “Generally, my eyes veer toward Maggie’s beautiful eyes. Or somewhat farther south,” he confessed, causing Maggie to let out a gurgling laugh.
Glynnis asked Maggie to describe her necklace and Rale was able to identify the House.
“That is the House of Azure. It is in the mountains north of HeVanth. You are a blessing. The House of Azure is nearly extinct. They have less than ten thousand inhabitants now, nearly all males. They are well known for their fighting skills and also for their weaving. They make the best carpets and cloth. They are a wealthy province because of the many valuable ores and rare earths found there,” he explained. “We have emissaries from the House of Azure on the Venger; they will be very happy to learn of your existence.”
Before Maggie could answer him or ask any more questions, Catherine came back in the room and everyone turned to her.
“Okay, he’s got a chance; let me just tell you that first. He’s going to need extensive treatment and will be in medical for the remainder of the voyage. Then he’ll have to be transferred to another medical facility, planet-side. There was a fire within the cockpit of his fighter and he’s badly burned. He hit his head during the explosion and fractured his skull. The surgery is to relieve pressure on the brain. He’s currently in a drug-induced coma because the pain would be too severe to withstand while conscious. Healing the burns will take the longest time, as there was deep tissue damage, but he will heal completely in time,” she said.
“How long will it take?” asked Maggie, as she brushed at the tears on her face.
“Six months, minimum. More likely, it’ll be closer to nine months. Be very glad he’s here, Maggie. As a nurse, I know you’ll want to take care of him yourself. For now, he’s going into a float tank with only his eyes, nose and mouth above the fluid. The fluids in the tank assist in tissue regeneration and will help his body re-grow skin. He’ll be in the tank for the first three to four months of his recovery. Do you have any questions?” Catherine asked.
Hakor and Maggie both had a lot of questions so Natalie gave up her seat on the table in front of them. While Catherine spoke quietly with them, Rale went over to the communications panel and made a call to the Bridge. He informed Arjun of Makor’s status and requested the Azure Consuls be allowed to come over from the Venger.
Arjun hailed the Venger on an open frequency and made arrangements for Lords Peet and Reeko Enlil to transfer to the Explorer as quickly as possible. Ral CaliBan interrupted the transmission to argue against their movements and Arjun quickly explained he had no control over them. He also reminded him that if they attempted to override the lock on the Gate station’s weapon systems, they would trigger the self-destruct mechanism. Ral wasn’t pleased with the reminder.
Two hours later, the two Azure Lords came on board the Explorer and were shown to new quarters.
“We’re putting you on deck six with the other bachelor males. Decks four and five are for those who have been joined,” explained the crewman, as he showed them the way.
“What of the Azurian female, where is she?” asked Lord Peet.
“One of her Ankida was in the fighter that suffered coming through the Gate. She is in the main medical bay on deck eight along with her other Ankida, the Regent and her Ankida and others.”
Peet and Reeko stopped and immediately put down the large cases each carried. “Please see that our things are taken to our quarters. We wish to be taken directly to the medical bay,” said Peet.
The crewman gave them a sharp nod and stepped over to a communications panel to relay the request to another crewman.
“You honor your kinswoman. I will take you directly to the medical bay,” he said with a short bow.
Maggie, Hakor, Natalie, and Jennifer were still in the waiting room. Glynnis’s Ankida had urged her to leave when she started falling asleep in her chair. Catherine had gone back in to check on Makor; she was worried about allowing Maggie in to see him. She was trying to come up with a way to hide his injuries from Maggie’s sight so Catherine was consulting with her own Ankida.
Finally, they came up with two things. First, they put a solid polymer coating on the outside of the float tank which could be easily removed when necessary. Second, they put an inert dye in the tank fluid so it was opaque. Makor’s head had not been burned so seeing his face shouldn’t upset Maggie too much. Catherine didn’t want Maggie seeing his wounds. As a nurse, she would have a very good idea of the damage and level of pain he would be feeling. The less she saw, the better she’d be able to cope and the less chance of her going into premature labor. With so many pregnant women on the ship to care for, it was imperative they all maintain their calm. All of the women were between five and seven months pregnant. Addie was the longest pregnancy at nearly eight months, and likely the first to give birth.
Natalie was getting another mug of tea for Maggie when Peet and Reeko were shown into the medical bay. They went directly to Hakor.
“I apologize if we are disturbing you. I am Peet Enlil and this is my brother, Reeko. We understand your mate is also of the House of Azure.”
“Yes, we just found out today. I didn’t realize the necklace was a link to my heritage,” said Maggie in a soft voice, directing their attention to her.
“You’ll find it’s a rich heritage. We’re quite happy to have you joining the House of Empyrea,” said Peet.
“As to that, all of the women who agreed to emigrate decided we would choose which House we would belong to―ours or the House of our Ankida. Hakor says when he left HeVan you had almost no women in your House. We’ll consult with Makor―when he’s feeling better, of course, but we may decide to join the House of Azure. I hope you can tell us more about my lineage and House. The culture I come from is a democracy, not a matriarchy like HeVan. After we discuss it together, we’ll decide,” said Maggie.
“Thank you for your honesty. There are currently no women within our House. The last died some fifty years ago. I hope you and your Ankida, once Makor has recovered, visit and decide to stay,” said Reeko with a smile and a bow.
At that point, Natalie returned with Maggie’s tea. At the same time, Catherine and Rapha entered through the other door to take Maggie and Hakor back to see Makor for a few minutes. Natalie held back, staring at the two new men, as Maggie and Hakor followed Catherine out of the room. She walked over and sat down next to Jennifer.
“Peet, Reeko, I’d like to introduce you to Natalie. She’s kin to Hakor and Makor. Natalie belongs to the Empyrean House and I belong to the House Nirvana. We’ve grown close to Hakor and Makor. So whatever they decide, we’ll go along with that. At least until we meet our
joins. We may decide to go with them. Natalie and I have been best friends since we were small children. Moving to a new world, leaving everything behind that we knew―well, we didn’t want to be separated. Hakor and Makor are very protective of us; it made sense to stick with them,” said Jennifer.
The two men glanced over at Natalie. They had looked at her when she sat down, of course. Manners kept their attention on Jennifer while she was speaking, even though what they really wanted to do was look at the alluring female in the seat next to her. Now they could give her all of their attention. Both girls noticed the men hunch their shoulders and they passed a look between them.
“We look forward to the arrival of you both. We’ll do all we can to make you comfortable there,” said Peet.
“Um…are you uncomfortable?” Natalie asked. “You keep wiggling your shoulders.”
“It’s the strangest thing. All of a sudden, the muscles in my back are twitching,” said Peet, with Reeko nodding in agreement.
Jennifer and Natalie exchanged another look.
“When did you notice this discomfort exactly, do you remember?” asked Jennifer.
“A few moments ago, just after you sat down with your tea, Lady Natalie,” said Peet.
Both Peet and Reeko were surprised to see Lady Natalie’s face turn bright red. Lady Jennifer covered her mouth with her hands and seemed to be trying to stifle her laughter.
“You have to excuse Jennifer,” said Natalie. “She’s not laughing at you, she’s laughing at me. You see…” her face went red again. “You see, we’ve seen almost all the women find their Ankida and join with them. The symptoms are the same every time. The discomfort in your backs is your wings,” she said, her voice getting softer toward the end and her blush getting deeper.
“Then why is your friend laughing at you?” asked Reeko with a confused look.
“She’s teasing me. We didn’t expect to meet our Ankida until we reached HeVan,” said Natalie, “Um…we have a couple of weeks to get to know each other better, don’t we? I mean, you’re nice looking guys and all but I’m not ready to just hop into the sack.”
Peet and Reeko were confused and wondered why she was talking about sacks and leaping about. It didn’t have anything to do with joining.
“I think my translator is faulty. Please explain the hop in the sack,” said Peet.
Natalie blushed again, “Um…”
“She means sex,” said Jennifer. “She wants to spend time becoming friends and falling in love before you have sex.”
Hakor and Maggie walked back into the room in time to hear the last sentence.
“Who is falling in love before they have sex?” Hakor wanted to know.
“Nat and these two, Peet and Reeko,” said Jennifer with a fat grin.
“Oh, Natalie, my cousins are your Ankida? I’m so happy for you!” exclaimed Maggie. It was nice to have something to be happy about when she was so worried about her mate.
It was at this time that Peet and Reeko finally understood what the women were saying. They had found the one woman in the universe just for them. Peet couldn’t stop himself, he plucked her out of the chair and swung her around in his arms as everyone around them laughed.
Hakor had plans to make sure the two warriors treated his kinswoman right. But for now, his mate needed her rest. He convinced Maggie she needed to sleep, for the babies’ sakes. Maggie said her goodnights and after congratulating Natalie again, left the room with Hakor.
Jennifer was tired and didn’t see a reason to stick around now since Maggie had left.
“I’ll leave you three alone to say your goodbyes,” said Jennifer and she left the room also.
“Goodbye?” said Reeko.
“It’s the middle of the night, remember? If you want, you can have breakfast with us in the morning,” said Natalie. “I don’t want Jennifer to feel like a third wheel.”
“We will do our best to make sure your friend doesn’t feel like a wheel,” said Peet.
“You don’t understand what that means do you?” Natalie asked them and they shook their heads. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you catch on to the way we speak. For now, how about giving me a hug? We’ll work our way up to first base.”
Both men were eager to embrace this beautiful woman standing before them again. They each held her for a few moments before reluctantly letting her go back to her room.
Then they left the medical bay to go to their assigned quarters, hoping it wouldn’t be long until they were moved to the decks holding the joined families. Peet turned to his brother, “Father was right to send us on this mission. His dream for us has come true.”
“I only wish mother had lived to see us joined. Natalie is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” said Reeko.
“I agree, brother; the Goddess has truly blessed us in giving us this gift.”
Chapter Four
Ben KowLer, Supreme King of the KowLer star system, disliked being awakened in the middle of the night. Generally, he had delegates who could handle problems which arose when he was resting. So he knew this had to be serious. Unfortunately, he’d been up late dealing with a major labor strike. Checking his time piece, he noted he’d had just over two hours of sleep.
The alert chime sounded again as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He pressed one of the buttons on the console beside him on the table. He was surprised to see Ral CaliBan on the view-screen. He had appointed Ral as Master of the Gate and had every confidence in his abilities. If Ral were contacting him, and the commander on duty had forwarded the call directly to him, the problem must be serious indeed.
Half an hour later, he was fully briefed and making plans to get to the Gate Station as quickly as possible. He was also trying to hold back his rage at being put in this untenable situation. He rang for his manservant and then went into the cleansing room. He hoped immersing himself in ice cold water would wake him up sufficiently to think coherently. He was in for some delicate negotiations.
“Sire, you rang?” asked GrumIo from the doorway.
Ben climbed out of the cold pool and looked at his manservant. He’d only rung the bell ten minutes ago and GrumIo appeared before him dressed neatly in his royal uniform. Only a bit of puffiness around the eyes belied the fact he’d had as little sleep as his master, perhaps less. He had no idea how the man did it; he was just thankful for his organizational abilities.
“I need to get to the Gate Station as quickly as possible. It may be an extended stay,” he said.
“I’ll start packing right away, Sire. When will we be leaving?” he asked, knowing he’d be going along.
“We need to lift off as soon as possible. I plan on leaving within thirty minutes. It will take time to re-fuel the ship and re-fit from planetary travel to space travel. Have my sister’s servant awaken BianCa. The HeVanians are matriarchal. The negotiations will go better if we bring along a female,” answered the king, as he stepped over to his wardrobe to dress.
GrumIo knew this would normally mean bringing along Duke PietRo LucenTio. Since he was away at his country holdings while his wife visited her brother, there wasn’t time to get him. He would not be pleased at the king for putting his wife in danger. GrumIo hoped this wasn’t the case; his own sister, GremIo, was servant to the princess.
Just as the king finished dressing, GrumIo brought him a cup of strong koohii. A few minutes later, a serving girl brought him a full breakfast. He ate while GrumIo packed. The king read over his agreement with Regent Malpha.
The KowLer didn’t have the same lifespan as the HeVanians, so he hadn’t been born when the ship they were currently detaining passed through their system last time. His father, the previous king, had been a child at the time and didn’t recall the event. All he knew of it were generic reports of various comings and goings they had reviewed when they took over manning the Gate. There weren’t many; the HeVanians hadn’t traveled this far away from their world for at least two thousand years prior to the last time.
When he boarded the ship, he was happy to be told his sister was already on board and ensconced in her own stateroom. After giving the pilots their instructions, he went to his own room to rest. He considered staying awake―for all of two seconds. He knew if he stayed up, GrumIo and others would feel it their duty to remain awake as well.
As he was falling asleep, he told himself he was only doing it for the sake of his people.
****
Addie didn’t want her Ankida to fret. So when Arjun and Kylan left the bedroom, and Rune started rubbing her back, she pretended to fall asleep. She would make them tell her what was going on when they came back in a while. After fifteen minutes, she could no longer stay awake and her pretend sleep became real.
Pregnant with six babies, she never slept for more than a few hours at a time. So she was awake by six hundred hours. They had set the ship to a twenty-four hour day back when they were visiting Earth and decided it was easier on their passengers to keep it that way. She didn’t say anything while her Ankida helped her to bathe and brought her something to eat. She waited until she was comfortable in her special gel chair. She then asked Arjun to take the dogs for a walk, asked Kylan to bring her a movie to watch from the disks in the ship’s store and asked Rune to make her a plate of breakfast foods with one of her special protein shakes. Once her Ankida were out of the room, she picked up the special communicator she kept with her at all times and called her grandmother and her sister to come over and bring their Ankida with them.
Arjun was happy when Addie asked him to walk the dogs; it gave him a chance to check on things without upsetting her. He handed the dogs over to one of the warriors on duty and went to the Bridge.
Kylan was happy Arjun would be getting a status check so he went straight to the storage room. He knew just what movies to pick. He’d grab more than one so Addie could have a choice.
