by Biance D'Arc
“Harry, you know about their technology. What can you tell me about this amethyst?”
Harry looked at the stone with a critical eye. “I can tell it’s one of the more powerful crystals I’ve ever seen. It hums with energy.”
“Davin said it was flawless, and that he’d tuned it.”
“Well, he’s the best crystallographer they have. If he did the tuning, no wonder it’s good. I asked a bit about him, you know. As much as I could without raising suspicion. Our parents were a little concerned about him, but as far as I could tell, everything he told them was true. He is a throwback, but he’s also one of the most powerful of the Alvians. He’s the Chief Engineer for the whole planet, and he got that position solely on merit.”
“Sounds important.” Callie fingered the crystal, watching the play of the sun off its natural facets.
“It is.” Harry nodded. “He’s interested in you, I think.”
“What?” Callie blushed and didn’t quite meet her brother’s eyes.
“I overheard Mama Jane talking about resonance mates and I did a little digging in the Alvian histories. It used to be, when they still had emotions, the males would search for their destined mate. They called them resonance mates. Without a mate, most of the males eventually went insane. I guess Davin came to the Waste looking for a human mate who could return his feelings and maybe his eye turned to you.”
“No way.” Her blush deepened as she protested.
“They why did he give you such a valuable gift? He only gave crystals to Mama Jane, Papa Mick and my dad. And I’ve seen those crystals. They’re not half as powerful as the one he gave you.”
“Really?”
Harry touched her hand. “Really. We’re sixteen now, Cal. In the old world we would have been dating other kids already and in a few years we might’ve thought about getting married. I, for one, don’t want to miss out on that if I can help it and I don’t think you do either.” He smiled at her kindly. “Am I right?”
Callie shrugged one shoulder. “I’d like to get married someday, I guess.”
“But where are we going to find potential life partners?” Harry slapped one hand down on the fence railing. “I don’t want an Alvian woman. First off, none of them would understand me and my emotions, and they’d probably only want me because of my Hara DNA anyway.”
“Harry, that’s awful!”
“Awful, but true. You haven’t been around them much, but Callie, regular Alvians are just coldhearted. They don’t understand or want emotion and it’s hard for me to live among them.” He turned back to her. “Which is why I think I understand a little about Chief Engineer Davin. If I were him, I’d be looking among the human women for a mate. Hell, I will be, when the time is right.”
“But there are so few human women, Harry. It may take you a long time to find the one for you.”
“Well, I don’t have anything against having sex with Alvian women. That’s what Dad did to make me after all, right?”
“Harry!” She punched his arm, blushing again at his bold words.
“Well, I’m not a virgin, Cal.”
“You’re not?”
Harry laughed. “One of the benefits of having a mother who’s a scientist. She arranged for me to learn about sex in a rather hands-on way. She even monitors me in my sleep. And she’s collecting my DNA for study and comparison.”
“What’s it like? Sex, I mean.” Callie was bright red with embarrassment, but intrigued.
“It’s hard to describe.” He hesitated. They’d been raised on a ranch. They’d seen animals doing it, but it was hard to reconcile the harsh reality of the act with the rush of pleasure he’d learned could be coaxed and prolonged, or hard and fast. “And I can only guess what it’s like for a woman, but for me, it’s…amazing.”
Callie watched the yearling gallop closer. “I want to try it, but…”
Harry tucked her under his arm and hugged her to his side. “It’s okay to wait. In fact, I think you should. I know that’s old-fashioned of me, but you’re my sister. I love you and I want you to share it with someone who loves you and who you love back. Without love, it’s just sex, Cal. It feels great, but a little empty.”
“Well it’s not like there’s a bunch of men courting me, so I’ll probably never do it. The only men I really know are members of my family.”
“And Davin.” Harry nodded toward the purple crystal still in her hand.
Her breath caught. “I only met him once.”
“But he gave you a tuned communication crystal, Cal. You can talk to him through it, if you want, and get to know him.”
She turned the crystal in her hand. “This is a communication device?”
“Among other things.” Harry reached out one finger to touch the surface, pulling away quickly. “It’s a powerful emitter, and tuned perfectly. It’s probably a direct link to Davin, and totally untraceable because of the way he’s tuned it. The other crystals he left aren’t like this one, Cal. I think he gave it to you, hoping you’d talk to him.”
“You mean it’s like an old-world telephone? I can just call him and talk back and forth?” She seemed fascinated by the idea.
Harry nodded. “I think so, Cal. I’ve seen crystals similar to this in the city, but nothing this small or fine. Davin’s reputed to be the best of the best when it comes to crystals, so I’m not surprised he gave you some of his best work. It tells me he really is serious about you—or at least wants to learn more about you.”
“Really?”
Harry squeezed her shoulder once more. “Really. And Cal, think about it. He’s the only Alvian with emotions I’ve heard about. His work keeps him separate and apart from everyone—even most other Alvians. I think he’s probably a pretty lonely guy.”
“Are you trying to convince me to talk to him?” She eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t think our parents would want me to.”
Harry sighed. “You’re probably right, but I can’t help but think maybe this was meant to be. I get this feeling…” His eyes took on a faraway look that she’d come to recognize a bit from Papa Caleb. Harry’s amazing gifts were still manifesting as he matured and it wouldn’t surprise her at all to learn he’d somehow gotten the clairvoyant gift as well as all the other things he could do with his powerful mind.
“Did you see something?”
But Harry shook his head. “It’s more a feeling. I don’t know, Cal, but this feels right. Davin is important to the Alvians and I think he’s important to this family too. I think he’s going to be important to you, but I can’t say just how. But I can say this—he needs you, Cal. He needs a friend.” His eyes turned serious as he focused solely on her. “Even if it never amounts to more, he needs to know there is someone out there who can feel¾who can commiserate and talk with him about his day. He has no one. Absolutely no one he can talk to. You could be his friend, Callie.”
She seemed to consider his words. Her empathic gift was no doubt making her feel sympathy for the lonely Chief Engineer. Harry couldn’t say why this was so important, but he’d been waiting for something to give over the past few weeks and he thought this had to be it. There had been a feeling of waiting about the ranch and about Callie in particular since she’d started carrying that amethyst crystal. It was as if the universe were waiting for her to call on the massive power stored within the small shard, waiting for her to bridge the gap between her empathic soul and the lonely man who had given her the means to make contact.
“I don’t think our parents could object to that,” she hedged, palming the crystal more strongly. “I don’t think they’d mind if I made friends with him.”
Harry felt the energies sliding toward completion with some satisfaction. He’d given her the nudge and now she would see it through. He knew he’d done the right thing, but he still didn’t know exactly how it would all play out. His powers were growing stronger as he grew, but there was still so much he didn’t quite understand.
“No, they wouldn’t object t
o your making friends, Cal. You should call him.”
“But how?”
He spent just a few moments telling her how to work the crystal as he’d seen similar crystals work in the city, then left her to it. He’d planted the seed and as he walked away, the flower blossomed.
“Davin?”
Callie’s voice was hesitant, but it was music to his ears, half a world away.
“Is that you, Callie?”
“Yes. It’s me. Harry showed me how to work the crystal. I hope you don’t mind.”
Mind? She had to be joking! He was ecstatic that she’d initiated contact. He quickly secured his chamber and lay back on his couch, ready to hear whatever she would choose to share with him. He hoped he could keep her talking, but he wasn’t much of a conversationalist.
“I don’t mind, Callie. I’m actually very happy to speak with you.”
She could feel that, even over the distance that separated them. Her empathic gift was an odd creature. Sometimes she felt resonances of feeling from people just by hearing their voice. It was that way with Davin, and it was that which had made her sneak around Papa Mick’s office when Davin had been staying there, hoping to hear the deep rumble of his voice and experience the shivers it sent down her spine and through her empathic senses. She didn’t quite understand it all, but she knew his voice, his raw emotion, made her feel good in a way that was entirely different than what she’d experienced with her family members.
“I was hoping…” She took a breath for courage. “I was hoping we could be friends. I know my parents didn’t want you talking with us kids while you were here, but Harry says you might be lonely, and you might want a friend to talk to once in a while.”
Davin was silent and she was afraid she’d said too much. But when he sighed, she felt it down in her bones.
“Harry sounds like a very wise man.”
Callie laughed, liking the respect she could feel in his voice. “Harry’s the best. But he’s going back to the city today. Maybe you’ll see him there.”
“I doubt it. I imagine he’s going to the northern settlement. I live in the Southern Engineering Facility, which, if I’m reading the old human maps correctly, is roughly in an area that used to be called Brazil, though the coastline is much changed now.”
“Wow, you mean in South America? Mom taught us the old geography, but warned us it was probably all different since the cataclysm. I didn’t realize your people had more than one city, but I guess that would make sense.”
“We have several cities, settlements and facilities all over this globe. I’m in the largest engineering facility.”
“Because you’re the Chief Engineer, right? Harry told me about that.”
“Yes. I’m working on the crystal deposits here and will be for many years to come, so I don’t know if my path will ever cross your brother’s, but I’d like to meet him someday.”
“I think he’d like that too. He has a hard time sometimes, being half-Alvian. I know the city life is hard on him, but Papa Caleb is there, so he’s not completely alone.”
They talked for a bit longer and she promised to call him back in a few days. After that, they set a time each week when she would call him. Eventually their calls became more frequent. Davin admitted to being lonely and she did too. With Harry spending most of his time in the alien city, she was missing her brother sorely. Davin helped her as much as she thought she helped him during the lonely times and they talked frequently, long into the night when they both should have been sleeping.
Through all this, she managed to keep the crystal’s communication properties secret from everyone in the family except Harry, of course, but he wasn’t telling. She normally wasn’t a secretive girl, but she hugged her growing friendship with the Chief Engineer close to her heart. It was private and she wasn’t ready to share her burgeoning feelings for the man who talked her to sleep each night.
“I really enjoy talking to you, Davin. You’re as sensible as Harry, and you don’t treat me like a child.”
She was wrapped up in bed, snuggling into her blankets against the chill mountain air. As she did almost every night, she called Davin, knowing that he was alone in his quarters, relaxing, his workday having drawn to a close as well. She cherished these moments when they could talk.
They talked about all sorts of things. He told her about spaceflight and the wonders of his people’s homeworld, now gone, and he told her stories from their ancient past. She told him the things her mother had taught her about the old world and the way things used to be. Sometimes they talked about their daily routines or funny things that had happened to them that day, but always, they talked.
She felt she knew him perhaps better than she knew anyone, including Harry, who now spent so much time away from home, she felt a little estranged from him. Davin had filled a place in her heart that had been emptied by Harry’s embrace of his mother’s culture, and though she loved Harry dearly and always would, she found there was room in her heart for Davin as well.
“Are you trying to tell me your esteemed brother treats you like a child? I refuse to believe it.” Davin’s voice was pleasant, warm and entirely yummy, she thought, especially when he was engaging in teasing banter with her.
“Well, you should,” she protested. “He’s been here for two days and he refuses to answer any of my questions seriously.”
“What sorts of questions have you been asking him?”
She hesitated. “Well, I heard something perhaps I shouldn’t have heard and I wanted to know more. From his expression, Harry knows what it means, but he won’t tell me. He keeps teasing me so much, I’m ready to punch him.”
Davin’s chuckle warmed her as she snuggled further into her bed. “What is this thing you perhaps shouldn’t have heard? Maybe I can clear it up for you.”
“It’s a term. I heard Papa Mick say something about something called a resonance mate, and then he saw me and got all quiet. I think they were talking about me and I want to know what it means.”
Davin’s sigh filled her ears. “They probably were talking about you, Callie, and I’m sorry you had to hear it, but I will tell you, if you wish. It has to do with an ancient tradition of my culture and the way my people used to join with their mates. While I was at your ranch I passed on the information to your parents and we discovered that they were true mates, much to my surprise. I didn’t realize our traditions could apply to humans as well, but then I realized that you all have at least some Alvian DNA, so perhaps it is that side of your nature that allows the tests to work.”
“Tests?” She was more confused by his words than enlightened, but she was willing to let him explain.
“In ancient times, when my people still had strong emotions, males would seek their life mates by the use of three tests. If a pair succeeded with all three tests, they were proven as true mates and they joined forevermore.”
“Like marriage,” Callie thought out loud.
“Yes, but there is no way true mates can divorce. There is no recorded history of any true pairing ever wanting to divorce. This joining is permanent. Resonance mates are each others’ perfect matches. Theirs is a bond that is completely unbreakable and soul-deep. Or at least, that’s what the ancient texts all say.”
“So when you were here my parents took these tests and passed?”
“Yes. To my amazement, your mother and her mates are all truly bonded in the ancient way of my people. I’ve done a lot of research on the matter since returning here and I’ve found only rare instances in my culture’s past where more than two people were mated together.”
“But there were some,” Callie prompted him. She knew her parents’ arrangement was different than the way it would have been in the old world. Her mother had been honest with her about that once she’d been old enough to understand, but she also knew that every one of the O’Hara men loved her mother truly and deeply. They belonged together.
“Under extraordinary circumstances there were a few notati
ons in the ancient records of unions of three or more resonance mates and they all were happy, true unions, but they were a rarity.”
“What sort of extraordinary circumstances?”
He sighed before continuing. He sounded tired, she thought. “In one case, there was a crashed interplanetary shuttle that landed several families on a small moon with no way to communicate their location. They weren’t found for many, many years. In that time, the children had formed true bonds and there were several multi-partner joinings. There was an overabundance of males in relation to females, so somehow more than one male managed to resonate with each female. The phenomenon was studied once this group was rescued, but each of the joinings was true and legitimate, and lasted the rest of their lives.”
“Well, isn’t that like what happened here on Earth? There are so few women left, maybe God or nature or whatever made allowances for the lack of women.”
“That’s something I’ve been tossing around in my mind as well but I don’t know how to prove the theory. It’s not my area of expertise, after all.” He chuckled and she relaxed a bit. This was, by far, one of the more interesting conversations they’d ever had.
“So what are the tests? Are they hard?”
“Not especially hard, no,” he told her softly. “Actually, you’ve already passed the first one, without even knowing it.”
“What?” She felt a bubble of excitement shoot through her at his sexy, low voice in her ears. His tone had turned rumbley and she felt her skin heat, though she didn’t quite understand her reaction.
He chuckled intimately in her ears. “The first test is called the Hum. When two compatible people touch, a Hum sounds as their energies join and multiply. Every time your mother touched one of her mates, I heard the Hum.”
“But I’ve never heard anything when Mama touches one of my dads.” She was truly confused.
“The sound is outside the range of human hearing but I proved my point to your Uncle Mick. He had equipment that could pick up on the sound energy and he was satisfied it was real.”
