Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  “How unstable is he? Have you been able to touch his mind long enough to tell?”

  Lijou flicked his ears in a negative. “He picks up even the lightest mental touch. His main Talent is to receive, after all. What I have felt in the past has worried me, though.”

  “Ghezu has another Talent,” said Garras. “He can mentally affect the way you perceive him so that even the most outrageous suggestions can seem sensible when you’re in his sphere of influence.”

  “So that’s what it was,” murmured Lijou.

  “Have all the telepaths you trust monitor him, especially any Guild-trained ones like Vriuzu. He can’t keep his mind guarded night and day,” said Konis.

  “No, but the dampers he plans to have installed in Stronghold can,” said Lijou, his tone grim. “I’ve been trying to work out why he wants them.”

  “That could be the proof of his paranoia that we want,” said Garras.

  “Esken’s had some installed at the Guild because I’ve insisted the Warriors continue to patrol the grounds and corridors at night,” said Konis. “Wanting dampers installed doesn’t prove anything. However, if I were you, I wouldn’t delay in appointing your research assistant. In fact, I suggest you make sure there are a couple of people that you trust around you at all times.”

  “Now would be a good time to acquire a lover,” added Garras. “One of the Sisters, even if it’s in name only.”

  “I’m ahead of you on that,” said Lijou, mouth opening in a faint smile. “I have a Companion already.”

  *

  Carrie hadn’t been sleeping well for the last couple of nights. It was nothing either of them could put their finger on, she’d just been restless and fretful. Today, Kusac had persuaded her to return to bed after first meal and had accompanied her up to their rooms. When she finally dropped off, he rose and went back downstairs.

  He found Meral waiting outside the door of Konis’ office. His tail was swaying anxiously and his ears were showing a tendency to flick every now and then. Kusac raised an eye ridge questioningly at him.

  “I’m to see the Clan Lord any time now,” Meral said in a low voice. “He’s expecting me.”

  “About Taizia?”

  Meral nodded. “He can’t overturn our contract, can he?” he asked, ears flicking even further back.

  Kusac shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t do that. Not now, anyway,” he amended, the edges of his mouth curling slightly in a very human grin. “He might have several months ago.”

  They heard Konis call out for Meral to enter.

  “Wish me luck,” said Meral, stilling his tail and ears before reaching out for the door handle.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” Kusac asked.

  Meral shot him a horrified look and shook his head as he opened the door. Thoughtfully, Kusac ambled off to his mother’s kitchen for a snack.

  The house was run very differently now from the way it had been over a year ago when he left to join the Forces. Nowadays it was much more of a home. Before it had almost been a civic building with the coming and going of all the various officials both his parents had had to deal with. Now, by contrast, virtually no business except of the indirect kind on the comm, was conducted at home. Perhaps his disappearance had rung in the changes he’d longed for after all.

  His mother was finishing her c’shar when he walked in. “Where’s Carrie? Still resting?”

  Ears flicking assent, he sat down beside her. “Mother, I need some advice from you.”

  “Hmm? What is it?” she asked, reaching out absently to flick a lock of hair off his face. Her fingers caressed his cheek before returning to lift up her mug.

  “Well,” he said, picking up her spoon and toying with it. “Do you remember me saying that perhaps the clans have been becoming too inbred, and that might be the reason for the fall in the birth of telepathic cubs?”

  She regarded him over the top of her mug. “Yes.” The word was said cautiously and drawn out.

  “I know you’ve seen Vanna and Jack’s report showing that even among the few Brothers here, there are a couple who could become genetically compatible with us mixed Leskas. Given that that’s the case, and we know all the Brothers are Talented in some way, then do you think there’s an argument for allowing marriages between the Brothers who have a strong Talent and telepaths? I mean dynastic marriages.”

  Rhyasha took a deep breath before replying. “There’s certainly an argument for trying a few such bondings for a limited time to see how productive they would be. Why, Kusac? Where’s all this leading? These matters fall into your father’s province as Clan Lord, not mine.” She stopped, putting her mug down and looking hard at him.

  He looked away, finding the spoon absorbing. “I was just wondering,” he said. “I haven’t seen this spoon before. Have you been getting some new cutlery?”

  “Kusac.” He could hear the warning tone in his mother’s voice. She reached out and took hold of his chin, turning his face to hers. “Out with it, scamp,” she ordered, catching his eyes with hers. “What’s this all leading to?”

  Kusac glanced away again. “Nothing, Mother. Just a question, that’s all.”

  “Kusac!” she said warningly, giving his chin a pinch. “Out with it!”

  He looked back at her, eyes wide in feigned innocence. “Honestly, Mother, it’s nothing to do with me.”

  “Then who? Oh ho,” she said, letting him go. “It’s that sister of yours, isn’t it? What’s Taizia done now?”

  Kusac shrugged. “I really can’t say, Mother.”

  “Can’t, or won’t! Let me guess,” she said, her voice getting tight. “She’s pregnant, isn’t she? And Meral came in this morning wanting to see your father. He won’t allow it, Kusac,” she said. “There’s no way he’ll allow her to bond with Meral.”

  “They’re already bonded. For five years,” said Kusac. He reached out and took his mother’s hand in his. “Mother, I want you to speak up for them. Ask Father to allow them to life-bond.”

  As she began to shake her head and pull her hand away from him, he held onto her more tightly. “Mother, he’s of the Nazule Clan. He’s their second son, and he’s an honorable male. You won’t find one better, nor one more able to handle Taizia. Speak for them, Mother,” he pleaded, lifting her hand up to his cheek.

  “Gods, Kusac!” she said exasperated. “Do you know what you’re asking of me? And don’t try to act like a cub at your age! It won’t wash,” she said tartly, pulling her hand away. “I don’t know what this family’s coming to! I thought I knew you and your sister, now look at you both! You, the quiet one, have a Human Leska. You couldn’t be less like the youngling I knew before you ran away! As for Taizia! I never thought I’d see the day when she’d settle down enough to have a cub, let alone choose it as a way to put off an arranged marriage!”

  Kusac took hold of her hand again, this time in both of his. “Speak for her, Mother. This grandchild will be pure Sholan, and both parents are Talented. There’s a good chance their cub will be, too. As good a chance as with any arranged marriage.”

  Before she could answer, the door opened and Konis strode in. Behind him, Kusac could see Meral hovering anxiously.

  “I see you’ve just learned about what your daughter has done,” he said. “Well? What do you think of this … situation?”

  Rhyasha took her hand from Kusac’s and drew herself up as she looked over to her life-mate. “My daughter, Konis?” she said, arching an eye ridge at him. “Since when did our daughter become mine?”

  “I want to know your opinion on this,” he said, frowning at her.

  Kusac watched his mother look past her husband to Meral. “I think,” she said, her voice softening, “we should ask Taizia to join us.”

  Startled, Konis came farther into the room. “You can sense Taizia’s presence? Meral said she was with his family.”

  “I believe your sister’s in the shrine, Kusac. Go and fetch her,” his mother said. “Meral, don’t stand
out there, join us. You’ve been in here often enough.”

  Kusac got up and left the kitchen, heading down the corridor to the shrine at a run as soon as he was out of sight of his parents. Taizia was already on her way to meet him.

  She stopped, looking anxiously at him. He swept her up into his arms in a hug.

  “Taizia! I’ve missed you,” he said, rubbing his cheek on hers as he set her back down again. “You’re looking and feeling well! In fact,” he said, standing back a little from her, “you look pregnant!” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her toward the kitchen. “Mother sent me to fetch you. I take it Meral didn’t know you were here?”

  “No. I couldn’t let him face Father on his own, Kusac, no matter how much he wanted to. What do you think he’s going to say? Do you think we’ve got a chance?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I’ve been working on Mother, softening her up for you,” he said, then they were pushing the door open.

  Taizia went straight to Meral’s side, her hand going down to take his.

  “I told you not to come!” said Meral quietly, his voice somewhat angry. “I said I’d see to it.”

  “I couldn’t let you tell them on your own,” she said. She looked over at her father and Kusac saw her jaw tighten before she spoke. “I want him, Father. He’s not a telepath, but he’s got enough Talent to receive me. He’s obviously got the genes, and that’s what you really want, isn’t it?”

  Konis looked over to Rhyasha.

  She sat for a moment, tapping a claw tip on the table. “You’re a second son I’m told. You’d be prepared to leave your clan for ours?”

  Taizia’s face lit up with hope as she looked at Meral.

  He looked from her to Kusac, then Rhyasha. “Yes.”

  Rhyasha continued to tap the table thoughtfully for a moment or two. “You have my retrospective permission as Clan Leader to bond,” she said abruptly.

  Konis sat down at the table and ran his hands across his ears, looking from one to the other of them.

  “The world we knew is changing drastically,” he said. “It doesn’t belong to our generation any more, Rhyasha. It belongs to Kusac and Taizia, and their partners. In the space of less than a year we’ve had the first Sholan/Human Leska Link, their first child conceived, and discovered that for hundreds of years we’ve ignored every mental Talent but telepathy in our desire to breed more of ourselves.” He sighed.

  Rhyasha reached out to touch his arm, but he took her hand in his instead. Kusac couldn’t believe he was seeing it. His father particularly wasn’t given to public shows of affection.

  “I nearly lost my son because of the female he loved,” Konis continued. “I don’t intend to risk losing my daughter. You can have your Warrior, Taizia. For now, I’ll sanction your bonding for five years. After that, we’ll review the situation. Agreed?”

  They all felt not only Taizia’s but Meral’s mental exhilaration.

  “Father …” She flung herself at her father, arms going round him. “You don’t know what this means to me!”

  “I think I do,” he said, his voice droll as he looked over his daughter’s head to Rhyasha. “I know another female who did the same as you to ensure she had the husband she wanted.”

  “Konis!” said Rhyasha, her tone one of shocked outrage. “You’ve no business telling them that!”

  “So that’s why you called Taizia Mother’s daughter,” said Kusac with a grin.

  “If it’s time for truths, I can tell you a thing or two about your father,” Rhyasha began.

  “Rhyasha,” Konis interrupted blandly as Taizia gave him one last hug before going back to Meral. “You’ve a bonding ceremony to record. Don’t you think you should take these two younglings and get started on it now while I work out how I’m going to justify my decision to the Clans? I’ve also to approach Meral’s family and ask them.”

  “Oh, they won’t refuse, Clan Lord,” said Meral hurriedly. “They wouldn’t have looked for such a marriage for my older brother, let alone me.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” said Konis dryly as chuckling, Rhyasha got to her feet.

  “Come on, you two,” she said, gathering them up and sweeping them toward the door. “You’ve your brother to thank for this, Taizia.”

  “Bless you, Kusac,” Taizia said over her shoulder as they left for Rhyasha’s office on the floor above.

  *

  Carrie had slept till she’d been called for second meal. Afterward, with Kusac busy on the new estate, she’d decided to work on Kaid’s book. So engrossed was she that she failed to notice that T’Chebbi was standing at the doorway to the lounge.

  “Liegena, sorry to disturb you. A vehicle’s arrived from Dzahai village with a message from Noni,” said T’Chebbi. “She wants you for a checkup.”

  Carrie looked over at her. “A checkup?”

  “I know the pilot. Noni told him it was important. She wants only you.”

  “Alone?” she said in disbelief.

  T’Chebbi flicked her ears in agreement. “Without the Liegen. I’m only the messenger, Liegena,” she apologized.

  “Noni shouldn’t even think of asking me to go without him, T’Chebbi, and Kusac agrees with me. What’s she got against him coming anyway?”

  “Don’t know, Liegena. You ask her. I’ll go with you.”

  “Kusac’s as displeased as I am about this. I think I’d better contact her. What’s her comm address?”

  “She doesn’t have one. The only way you can contact her is by going there.”

  Carrie hesitated, finally overruling Kusac’s mental objections. “I’ll go, but this is the last time I’ll go without Kusac.”

  “Has the Liegen found anything about Khemu?” asked T’Chebbi as they left.

  “He’s managed to locate her Clan records and is checking through them now. He says it’ll take him a while yet.”

  *

  The trip to Noni’s was quickly over, and as the pilot brought his vehicle down in the roadway outside Noni’s cottage, Carrie felt the old female’s mind touch hers lightly in greeting.

  Noni was waiting for them at her gate. “Don’t know what you think you’re doing, T’Chebbi. You and that pilot can just take yourselves off to the inn. There’s no place for you useless Brothers here!” she said tartly, opening the gate for Carrie.

  T’Chebbi backed away from the gate. “Peace, Noni! I’ll wait here.”

  “Suit yourself! More fool you for preferring that aircar to the inn!” She turned to walk back to the house. “Give me your arm, girl,” she said, reaching out to take it.

  “Why did you want me to come, Noni?” Carrie asked, matching her pace to the elderly Sholan’s. “You know I’m fine now.”

  “Wait till we’re inside, girl,” she said, pushing open the door.

  As soon as she’d stepped inside, Carrie turned angrily to Noni. “You’ve got a damper on! Why? I demand to know what this is all about!”

  “Sit, youngling,” said Noni, pointing to the table. “It’s not for you, it’s for that mate of yours. I need to talk to you about the Margins, and Kaid, but first, let me see that crystal you found.”

  “How do you know about it?” demanded Carrie.

  “Let me see it,” said Noni, sitting down and holding out her hand.

  Reluctantly she fished it out of her trouser pocket and held it out.

  Taking it between thumb and forefinger, Noni held it up to the light, squinting through it as she studied it. “Sit, sit,” she murmured as, finishing her visual examination, her hand closed over it and a distant look came into her eyes.

  Carrie sat, waiting to see what Noni could learn from it.

  A look of pain crossed the Healer’s face and with a low moan, she reached out and gave the crystal back to Carrie.

  “Take it!” she said, getting to her feet as quickly as she was able. Rubbing her hands together, she went over to the sink.

  “What’s wrong, Noni?” asked Carrie, hurrying over to her si
de. “Can I help you?”

  “No, child. It’s what you thought it was, an eye from a statue of Vartra. The impressions are stronger than I expected, that’s all.” She turned on the faucet and ran her hands under the stream of water for a minute or two. “You go on and sit down now. I’m fine.”

  After drying her hands on a towel, she moved over to her stove and began busying herself pouring out two mugs of c’shar.

  “What did you find out?” asked Carrie, putting the crystal away.

  “Patience,” said Noni, bringing the mugs back to the table and placing one in front of her. “And keep that crystal out. We’ll need it awhile yet.”

  Once she was settled, Carrie asked her again. “What did you find out?”

  Noni took a sip of her drink. “Like I said, it’s an eye from the image of the God.”

  “I knew it! What else did you discover?”

  “These crystals can store memories and feelings,” she said. “There are many in this one, as you’d expect. What I picked up was a confusion of emotions that shouldn’t by rights go together. Yes, there was peace and tranquillity, but that was in the past of its existence. The later emotions are quite different.” She stopped, and peered across the table at Carrie.

  “Is there something wrong with the way I make c’shar? You haven’t touched yours yet.”

  Carrie made a noise halfway between exasperation and anger as she picked up her mug and took a large swig of the drink. Noni was stringing her along on purpose. “Well?” she demanded, putting it down again.

  “They conflict with each other. The feelings of anger and frustration are strongest.”

  “I picked up the same from the actual ruins,” Carrie said nodding. “I got very little from the crystal, though.”

  “If you can read the stones of buildings and the land on which they stand, then you can read this crystal.”

  “How? At the shrine, the feelings just came to me. I didn’t go looking for them.”

  “Hold the crystal in your hand and just reach into it with your mind.”

  Carrie looked at her. “What?”

  “I told you, girl! Hold it and reach into it with your mind!” she repeated tartly.