by Candy Rae
: Yes, here they come, she will bond with one she makes strongest link to, this is test, all three feel drawn to the youngling, even I can sense her, not as strong as I can you, my vadeln, no need to shout your thoughts by the way, I ‘hear’ you perfectly well without :
: It’s new to me : Peter replied, trying to moderate the loudness of his ‘voice’ : I’ve never consciously tried to broadcast what I am thinking before :
Sarya looked over to where the three Lind males were converging on Tana.
: The girl, she is of your kin? :
“No,” he answered, “but I have been teaching her for some months now and I so wanted her to find a Lind, I was thinking about her so hard, I assume it gave what latent telepathic abilities I had a boost.”
Peter looked round the field. Some students had met their match. Like Peter they were standing beside their Lind life-mates in various attitudes, other Lind were sniffing round the others, trying to find the right human. A few disappointed Lind were exiting the field. They would leave Settlement and extend their search throughout the countryside.
He noticed that some students were being passed over with hardly a glance and a sniff. They stood, some disappointed, others not. He watched as one of the three who were moving towards Tana veered away and began an unhurried walk towards another girl who, by the look of her, couldn’t believe her good fortune as the blue and tan striped male approached. Her face broke into an incredulous smile as telepathic contact was made. Fleetingly Peter wondered how the girl would do, remembering her inept attempts at swordsmanship during the months past.
Tana stood still as the males stopped in front of her.
Peter held his breath, he was sure Sarya was doing the same as the scene unfolded. Tana appeared to waver before the smaller of the two then her hand came forward as she reached out with tentative fingers towards the largest blue-striped male Peter had ever seen, a full seventeen hands in height if he was any judge. The smaller of the two sighed and stepped back, accepting the inevitable. Tana took a step forward and placed one small hand on the muzzle of the one who remained in front of her. He licked it and Tana smiled, a smile of such joy that Peter felt he was about to cry. He wiped the wetness away and looked at Sarya.
“Happy now?” she asked.
Peter nodded.
“A fine match, Tavei come from a most famous line. He can name amongst his ancestors the famous Kolyei and Radya. Our traditions speak much of them. They will do well together as shall we but we need no more worry about them. I am of rtath Ilyei of Vadath, the second rtath to bond with humans. We go away now and find someplace quiet.”
This was easier said than done. Peter’s fellow instructors were clustering around them, offering their congratulations. It was some time before he and Sarya could escape and by that time Tana and Tavei were long gone.
Tana and Tavei spent their first long summer night together in an empty stable which usually held the Garda’s horse-cavalry mounts, the unit was off on patrol and the remaining horses temporarily emptied into the nearby paddocks. The nights were not as warm as they would be later on and there was no way the Lind could fit into the barracks’ rooms with their narrow-tiered bunks. There was nothing to be gained by sending the new paired off to the Stronghold with a plethora of head colds and chills. The Lind were largely impervious to the cold, their human partners were not.
It was warm in the stable block and snuggled into Tavei’s side Tana began to fall into a joyful sleep. She had been chosen by a Lind! She was going to Vadath, her dream had come true; she was to become a full-time soldier!
: A small soldier : Tavei teased.
: Good things come in small bundles : Tana retorted in the same vein, nestling into his warmth. : This is what I’ve always dreamed of but never thought would happen. I was just one of the temporary students and the smallest one at that. How many have paired? :
: Thirty-one : Tavei replied : a fair number :
: What about those who didn’t? :
: We come here first, the unattached now go out in search :
: But we go to Vada : answered Tana with satisfaction : tell me about it :
Tired out, Tana fell asleep before Tavei could.
A few days later the new pairs set out for the Vada Stronghold.
No longer for Peter Littleman the solitary life of the unmarried soldier, he left the Garda, a soldier still but now with a lifelong partner; only death would separate them.
The serious little Tana went with them, perched atop Tavei like a little vuz, her feet barely reaching round the barrel of his torso and clinging on to the riding straps like grim death. Horse riding was not taught until the second term.
* * * * *
The fourth member of the quartet had never in a million years thought she would get the chance.
When, as an old woman, Hannah Knutson looked back on her eventful life she always thought of her childhood as a happy time. She had had the normal upbringing of her class on her parent’s large kura farm north of Loch Stewart, the largest expanse of inland water in the Northern Continent.
Her first fourteen years were uneventful; the farm was too far from the coast to be bothered by the pirate raids that so troubled the inhabitants of the coasts.
She and her siblings had run wild in the paddocks and nearby woods. That had had to stop when the peripatetic teachers came, trying to install some semblance of an education into their young minds and there were chores to be done, but in a large family like hers, these were never very onerous nor time-consuming.
At the time this story opens Hannah had just celebrated her fourteenth birthday. She was a tall, rather overweight youngster with a mass of dark curls that, try as she might, she could never get to lie straight. Only her next oldest sister remained at home by the summer of AL156, a lively and determined young lady of fifteen who led Hannah a fine dance at every opportunity. If there was trouble at the farm, Lucy was in it up to her armpits and she usually dragged Hannah into the mess as well.
Their elder sisters were all married with homes of their own now and did not often visit. Travelling, unless one was rich and could afford a comfortably sprung coach, was a lengthy and uncomfortable business. They had been able to keep Lucy from her greatest excesses but, with them gone, she went her own way.
All the mischievous Lucy wanted to do was enjoy herself; all play and no work was her motto. She wanted adventure and excitement. She wanted to join the Vada. It had been Lucy who had persuaded their father to raise the Blue Flag to tell any Lind who were passing that there was a human here who wished the chance to vadeln-pair.
After the Battle of the Alliance in AL 2, it had been decided that young humans would attend a special pairing meeting in the woods beside the battle plains above Settlement each year but, as time went on, this had proved impracticable. An alternative was found and now, in the first months of summer, any Lind wishing to find their human life-partner had leave to travel throughout Argyll to look. The Blue Flag was a quick and simple solution to show where they would be welcome, for not all Argyllian families were happy for their sons and daughters to soldier with the Vada.
Already five Lind had seen the flag and entered the farmstead, asking Gunter Knutson for permission to meet the one who had raised the flag.
Five times Lucy had presented herself to the visitors and five times she had been disappointed.
Hannah herself had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She didn’t think she wanted to get married and usually unmarried girls stayed at home unless they were apprenticed to a trade. In fact it was traditional that one daughter, usually the least accomplished or pretty, should stay at home to look after her parents in their declining years. Shy, quiet Hannah had accepted this philosophically and thought this her destiny. She showed no aptitude for a trade and her mother was increasingly dependant on her and Lucy (when she could be found) to help her with the multitude of tasks that faced a busy farmwife in a farm as large as theirs. Adela Knutson wasn’t getting any younger and
Lucy did as little work as she could get away with.
So when the farmhands shouted out that not one but two Lind were approaching, Hannah shrugged her shoulders and continued with the washing up.
Lucy, who was supposed to be sharing the task, dropped the platter she had been drying into the greasy water with a messy splash and sped off to the bedroom they shared to tidy herself.
When Hannah did emerge into the sunlight, an extremely excited and vocal crowd was milling around in the farmyard. There was a great deal of noisy shouting and exclamations of congratulations. Lucy must have found her partner at last!
To her surprise it was not Lucy who stood beside the smaller of the two Lind, it was young Robain, son of Gunter Knutson’s foreman who stood, one arm holding on to the female Lind’s neck, tears streaming down his face. Hannah knew that the violet-striped Lind with Robain had to be a female. Male Lind only bonded with female humans and vice versa.
Lucy stood, a thunderous expression on her face and muttering to herself, “it’s too bad,” forgetting in her disappointment that female Lind did not bond with female humans.
“This calls for a celebration,” exclaimed Hannah’s father, “a celebratory feast!”
Lucy stalked off, ignoring the larger of the two Lind, who was standing a little distance away and watching the scene with considerable amusement.
Hannah wondered what to do. Should she go and comfort Lucy?
She half-turned to go after her sister and had taken not two steps when a ‘voice’ stopped her with a question and a command.
: Where are you going? Wait :
She turned back. Who said that?
: Wait : the ‘voice’ repeated, louder this time. It was very insistent.
That’s strange, thought Hannah, where did that voice come from? Nobody else was acting as if they had heard anything. Confused, she stood there.
: Why are you upset? :
“What do you mean?” she said aloud.
: I can ‘hear’ what you are thinking and you are very loud :
“Me?” The question emerged as a squeak.
: Yes. I ‘felt’ you as we arrived at your domta :
“Can I speak inside your head like you are doing to me?”
: Try it :
Realisation hit her. She shuffled sideways so that she could see the male Lind standing at the farmyard gate.
: Open your mind to me Hannah, accept me :
Hannah’s thoughts tumbled. It was Lucy who was to pair and embark on a life of adventure, she was to stay here and help her mother.
: I do not wish this Lucy. I wish you. Don’t you want me? : The ‘voice’ was wistful.
: I don’t know :
: Don’t you like me? :
“Oh yes,” breathed Hannah. Indeed, the Lind was a most handsome creature. He was fully the size of a horse, perhaps some fifteen and a half hands in height. Unlike most Lind she had seen, he wasn’t brown and striped all over. This Lind was black; the pale lemon stripes were few and only on his back and forelegs.
: Push your thoughts out and join your mind with mine :
There was a hint of command there and Hannah obeyed.
Tentatively she pushed her awareness towards him and found herself enveloped in a warm glow of belonging, of love and acceptance.
: See how easy it is? : The ‘chuckle’ whispered inside her head.
Hannah nodded.
: Walk towards me Hannah. We are together at last and we are as one :
Hannah stood frozen to the spot.
: Come over here silly :
Hannah stumbled towards him. The crowd around Robain and Balindifya parted in disbelief as she made her way to her life-mate.
Another cheer erupted from the onlookers. Two vadeln-pairings from one farm on one day! A dumbfounded Gunter Knutson watched; Hannah, he thought, shy Hannah is vadeln-paired. His heart was bursting with pride. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that she of all his children could be the one.
He and his wife had been apprehensive about any child of theirs joining the Vada, they had refused permission to put the flag up until Lucy was almost sixteen and here was the fourteen year old baby of the family surprising them all.
Hannah and her Lind stood there, impervious to the tumult around them, lost in their own world of joyous sharing.
“I don’t know your name,” she whispered in his ear.
: Did you not manage to pick it out of my mind? : he teased, wagging his bushy tail.
Hannah pressed her face closer into the warmth of his neck as he whispered, “my name is Kolyei.”
The celebrations in the Knutson farm continued into the night. Hannah was dropping with exhaustion by the time the crowd of well-wishers began to disperse although some followed Kolyei to the barn where temporary accommodation had been prepared.
Kolyei lay down in the soft walda grass with a sigh of relief and Hannah cuddled down beside him, ignoring the camp bed her tearful mother had prepared for her.
Under Kolyei’s watchful eyes, her father lifted the downy off the bed and arranged it over his slumbering child. She looked so young and defenceless, how would she manage so far from home?
“Thank you,” said Kolyei and sensing Gunter’s unease, added, “I will look after Hannah.”
Gunter smiled.
“We will all miss her.”
“We come back to visit,” Kolyei promised.
“When will you leave for Vadath?”
“With the sun.”
Gunter nodded, he had expected no less. He glanced over at Robain and Balindifya. Robain was snoring, a smile on his sleeping face.
Hannah’s father did not get much sleep that night. When he entered the farmhouse he was faced by a tearful and angry Lucy who was blaming her sister for stealing away her Lind at the top of her lungs. Exasperated when she would not see sense, he locked her into a small bedchamber at the far end of the rambling house. She was still shouting expletives when he did fall asleep.
In the morning Hannah woke to a gentle voice ‘sounding’ within her head.
: Wake up sleepyhead, time to go :
: What? : Hannah’s eyes snapped open.
: Have you forgotten so soon? :
The ‘voice’ was filled with an abiding love for Hannah and for all that she was, no matter what her faults and imperfections.
“Sorry,” she apologised aloud, “I’m still not used to this inside head thing.”
“Speak aloud for a while then,” Kolyei offered, “it does take effort, even when we are next to each other. I will, however, still know what you are thinking. Does that bother you?”
“You mean nothing is secret between us now?”
“That is correct, but you will learn how to shield your most private thoughts if that is your wish. Some vadeln do, others feel that there is no need, but that is for the future when you are older.”
Hannah looked relieved and Kolyei nodded with understanding, it is different for us Lind. What you humans call telepathy is built into us. Not so most humans.”
“It is you that makes us able to, isn’t it?”
“Yes, we Lind can sense thoughts of some humans. Not many.”
Hannah sat up. She heard people talking outside the barn.
“What is that?”
“Your family are waiting to say goodbye to you. They have ‘things’ gathered for you to take with you.”
The way Kolyei spoke the word ‘things’ told Hannah that Kolyei found the human necessity to carry along possessions just a little strange. The Lind had different needs and that didn’t include clothes and keepsakes.
The great Kolyei of legend had owned some possessions. He had left quite a library of books behind, owned jointly by him and his partner Tara. This was not however a usual thing, on the whole the Lind thought of personal possessions as being superfluous to the enjoyment of life. They had a vigorous and ancient tradition of oral history and literature instead, shared now with the humans with whom they lived.
The goodbyes were subdued. Laughing through her tears, Hannah hugged her parents, then her brother and his wife.
“Remember to write,” ordered her mother. “Use the Express, it doesn’t cost much.”
“I promise. Lucy?”
“She’ll come round in time, don’t fret. By the time you return for your first leave period she’ll be glad to see you I’m sure.”
“I hope so. Tell her that I love her will you? I’m positive she’ll find her Lind some day soon.”
Hannah did not see the look that passed between Kolyei and her father. Gunter’s glance asked the question he could not utter and Kolyei answered the same way. Kolyei doubted very much that anylind would find Lucy suitable. All the Lind could sense something from most humans, even a little. With Lucy he had sensed exactly nothing, her emotive broadcasting a blank.
Gunter did not relish the next few tendays with the distraught Lucy.
“Good luck,” he said as Hannah scrambled on to her Kolyei’s back.
Then they were off, Robain and Balindifya running by their side.
* * * * *
Lokrhed (Third Month of Summer) – AL156
Convergence (4)
It was the start of the Vada training year.
Jessica Crawford approached the Vada Stronghold that evening with trepidation mixed with excitement. This excitement communicated itself to Mlei whose tail bounced high, swishing right and left with every step he took. His paws impacted with the dusty roadway and little puffs of dust marked their passage.
Her Great-uncle James and his Lind Siya would be waiting for her.
It was not, Jessica was thinking, as if her and Mlei’s vadeln-pairing was an unexpected one. Like others of her family, Jessica had known she was destined for the Vada from a young age.
In the mountains lived the wral and the gtran who preyed on the farmers and townsfolk who inhabited the highlands. They were becoming more troublesome of late, the recent winters had been colder than usual and these beasts had been forced down in search of food. Kura, zarova, jezdic or human, it did not matter to them. Her uncle had told her many an exciting tale about his encounters with them when he and his Lind Siya had been younger and members of one of the active Ryzcks.
