by 1
Since the first time they had met, he had been the yardstick by which she measured all the men who had tried to get her attention.
“I am feeling better. How has your time at the Citadel treated you?” His smile curved the corner of his lips as his colour returned to normal.
“It is very nice. I have all the food I could want, a safe place to sleep and an occupation I enjoy.”
“You are wearing instructor’s robes.”
She smiled. “Ah, yes. That. I have become a compassion and assessment instructor for the apprentices. I teach them to recognize signs of illness and stress by using small rodents as an analog.”
He quirked his brow. “I thought you would be working in the healing arts.”
She laughed lightly. “My particular talents are not really in demand here at the Citadel. I do a lot of night calls to local farms as my primary duties.”
He smiled, leaned back and closed his eyes. “You were very good with animals and you have a very gentle touch.”
She paused and when his rhythm stuttered, she resumed her stroking. “You are one of the few folks who have said so. Most find my touch unsettling and they stop me before I am done.”
“Their loss. What would you say to switching assigned locations?”
She blinked. “What?”
“There is a position available for someone with your particular skills. One of the Guards on Teklan has a farm and I believe having a vet on premises would be a good thing.”
She drew her hands down him one final time. “There really isn’t a position as a vet on Teklan, is there?”
He opened his dark eyes and looked into hers. “There will be.”
Chapter Three
She paused and smiled. “You had better get checked out at the medical centre. They were not happy that you asked for me.”
He grunted as he unclasped his harness. “Tough. You are my healer of choice. All the other ones I have met hurt like hell.”
She shook her head as she draped one of his arms around her shoulders, taking his weight. “What have you been doing that you need so many healers?”
He chuckled. “I live an exciting life.”
He was moving slowly, but he was moving. Bren supported him as much as she could while not gripping the areas that had been wounded.
If her hands weren’t moving, she wasn’t healing, but she tried to do minor shifts with her fingers while they walked past curious onlookers.
The moment that they stumbled into medical, Bren felt her rage ready to spill the banks of self-control.
Instead of helping her, Doctor Tinneer was speaking with another instructor.
She glanced up at Tracker and saw his eyes narrow. With additional effort, she got Tracker near the scanner and then two other hands were helping her turn him and settle him in the machine.
“Hello, Soul Keeper.” Tracker waved tiredly to the woman who was helping Bren.
“Tracker. What have you been up to?”
Bren looked between the two and felt a surge of unwarranted jealousy. Zeyan was a member of the Citadel and her husband was as well.
“A little of this, a little of that. This is my healer, Brenawyn.” Tracker made the introduction as casually as if she was his personal property.
Zeyan smiled. “I have seen you around, but I didn’t know you were a healer.”
Bren nodded as if it was a normal situation. “You may have heard Citadel folk referring to the vet. That would have been me.”
Zeyan winced. “Yes, I have heard of you, but I wasn’t aware that you treated sentients.”
Bren smiled grimly. “I would, but they won’t let me. Apparently, the effect of my talent is a little unsettling on my patients and so they have only allowed me to practice my skills on animals.”
Dr. Tinneer was close by. “Wait, I haven’t heard of this. I was told you weren’t effective on sentients.”
Bren rubbed her forehead while setting the scanner to analyze Tracker. “Since the patients I was given to work on became upset when my talent aroused them, they did not allow me to complete the healing. This led my supervising instructor to conclude that I could not heal someone to completion.”
Zeyan rolled her eyes. “Men get upset about the silliest little things.”
Bren snorted. “Little is the operative word.”
Tracker cleared his throat so Bren patted his shoulder. “Not you, Tracker, you are nice and proportional.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. “Thanks for that.”
The scanner chirped and with relief, Bren saw that he was simply weak from hunger as well as a little sore from residual bruising.
“You are fine. Come and have breakfast with me and it will set you right.”
She walked to the wall and found a few supplements that she could inject to get him moving. A hand stopped her from loading the hypo. She looked up at the large male behind her and scowled. “You need a little boost to keep you going.”
“I will get it during breakfast. Come with me. We have things to discuss.”
Dr. Tinneer blocked them from leaving. “Bren, I wish to have more details on your talent.”
She sighed. “Doctor, you have had four years to get the details. You didn’t want them. Now, I have to attend to my patient. Please forward the message that my morning class is cancelled.”
Tracker extended his arm and she looped her hand around his elbow, walking past Zeyan with a pleasant wave and heading for the dining hall.
Bren smiled slightly as she realized that it only took a moment with Tracker to set her personality back four years and turn her into the smart-mouthed, young woman he first met.
“You are going to be bad for my temperament. I wonder how I am going to cope with shooting my mouth off after you are gone.” She walked with him while he made his selections from the buffet and carried his tray to a table before she wandered off to get her own snack.
“I am sure that you will cope very well. I am amazed that you didn’t stand up for yourself before now.” He sipped at his tea and started to eat with a ravenous appetite.
“It wasn’t worth it. There are plenty of healers here, one more would not make a difference and frankly, I like the animals better than dealing with some of the folk here.” She drank some water and noted that his blood was still on her hands. Shrugging, she admitted that it wasn’t the worst thing she had had on her hands after a healing.
“So, the Citadel has been difficult for you?”
“No, for the most part, people here leave me to my work and I leave them to theirs.” She shrugged. “The farm folk around here are the ones that I call my friends. Few, if any, of the other folk know that I exist. Even Zeyan had only heard of me as the vet.”
He nodded and kept working his way through his tray. When he was done, he got up and replenished his supply. As he returned and reclaimed his seat, he asked, “What exactly did you do to me?”
“I accelerated your body’s normal healing processes and burned up all of your mineral and vitamin reserves. Since your own body healed the damage, there wasn’t the normal burning sensation experienced with other healing techniques. Your body heals the damage, I just speed up the process a little.”
He nodded. “That explains why my nerves aren’t shorting out like they normally are. My talent is usually completely scattered after a healing. This is by far a more preferable outcome.”
Bren snorted. “I am glad it is working out for you.” She poured water into a napkin and started to gently rub his blood off her skin.
Tracker paused and grabbed one of her hands. He held it until she met his dark gaze. “You are not thriving here. Would you care for a change in venue?”
She sighed and leaned back as far as their connection would allow. “What capacity would you have me in?”
His features shifted slightly to a more interested configuration for a moment before he masked his expression. “I would invite you to be my healer and companion on my assignments and you
could do whatever you wished on Teklan when we were not on active deployment.”
She narrowed her eyes. “That sounds suspiciously like a partnership.”
His features took on an innocent cast. “Does it? Imagine that.”
“I have not heard of any active Citadel personnel in the Sector Guard. I believe that you have to be one or the other.”
He shook his head. “It is not always one or the other. Soul Keeper goes on missions with her spouse when she is called.”
Bren grinned. “I hear it used to be the other way around, but Orenn adapted well.”
“I have no doubt that I would adapt with slightly more difficulty, but I have confidence in my ability to be a good partner to you.” His thumb trailed across the back of her hand and she shivered slightly at the sensation that rippled through her system.
“I have no doubt that that would be true, but the fact remains that I am a member of the Citadel and as you know, I cannot opt out.”
He nodded and turned her hand in his grasp, drawing his thumb across her pulse. “Leave that to me.”
The calm determination reminded her of the expression in Tracker’s features she had seen so long ago when he was speaking to the emigration officer on Gwellen. Suddenly, the prospects for her future were looking up.
Chapter Four
Tracker, Orenn and Zeyan were standing next to her in the administrator’s office. Doctor Tinneer was standing in opposition to her leaving and the administrator looked like he was fighting one helluva headache.
“Doctor, you are a wonderful trainer of healers, but this particular one seems to have done just fine without you.” Astothic Neruk rubbed lightly at the bridge of his scaled nose.
Dr. Tinneer frowned. “She is under contract to the Citadel. You can’t just hand her over to the Sector Guard.”
“Your intellectual curiosity about a talent that has been right in front of your eyes for four years is not a reason to deny this request. As for her contract, there is a breech on our part. We did not provide her with training for her talent. That means she only owes us for room and board, and her duties as local vet and instructor have more than compensated for that. In fact, we owe her a substantial balance for her services.” Astothic waited for the doctor to continue.
Bren stood calmly and waited for someone to decide her fate. The resolve lasted for three whole minutes.
“Dr. Tinneer, I have been subjected to sneering and derision from not only you but other healers who instigated a general campaign to have me named as the vet from the moment I first demonstrated my talent on a bird in the courtyard. From that moment onward, none of the instructors in the healer courses were interested in learning the basis for my healing. No one cared how it worked, so I was left to discover how to improve my skills on my own. I don’t resent the Citadel for this, but I do believe that beyond room and board, I have given far more than I have gotten here.”
Dr. Tinneer coloured with embarrassment. “I didn’t understand.”
She sighed. “You still don’t. My talent is unique and as far as the archives have indicated, I am the only Trinial ever to be trained in the Citadel. I have added my data, personal scans and all information I can glean about the way my talent works to the Citadel archive. I am sure that the Sector Guard healers can do any further inquiring that is needed to pinpoint the focus of my talent.”
Tinneer ran his hand along his skull and nodded. “I apologize for my attitude, Brenawyn.”
She sighed as it became obvious that his fight was over. “If I may ask, what changed your mind about the strength of my talent?”
He coloured again. “I interviewed the patients that you treated and they explained that with the lack of pain at the moment of healing, they assumed that you were engaging in some kind of hypnosis and they were embarrassed by their arousal. By the time they realised that you had actually healed them without the burning pain that normally came with the healing, the official report had been filed that your skills were not acceptable to sentients.”
“Will you amend the records?”
“I will. It is the least I could do.” Dr. Tinneer inclined his head. “Could I ask you to return here to do orientation lectures? I have found that the students from your classes are far better at relating to patients than the others are. They actually listen to the patients and seem to deal more easily with the sudden changes in mood that come when the pain kicks in.”
Bren grinned. “I teach them to watch for changes in attitude and posture. I am a proponent of animal instinct and I drive the point home with wild matchkies.”
The doctor winced. “That would do it. How do you know if they are paying attention?”
She snickered. “The ones without bite wounds pass the course. We also use the course to practice healing minor wounds in a venomous situation.”
Matchkies were endemic to the area around the Citadel. They were small, fluffy, cute and had a bite that caused swelling in all extremities within half an hour. They loved to sit in Bren’s arms, but when her students tried to cuddle the wrong beastie, they needed healing and they needed it fast.
It was one of the quickest ways of getting their attention and to have them look for the physical signals that every species put out. She had learned to read those signals as a pickpocket and they made healing animals second nature.
Tinneer blinked. “Interesting. I had not thought of using them as a training tool.”
“I will leave you my course outline. It details all of my techniques. I guarantee that after the third bite, you will get the hang of it.”
Zeyan and Orenn sighed. Orenn said. “Well, I am glad that this could come to a satisfying conclusion. Tracker has been authorized to bring her to Teklan.”
Astothic nodded. “She is released from her service to the Citadel and will be authorized to act as an agent if she should wish to. She may wear the robes of a healer and have access to all the resources offered by the Alliance to the Citadel.”
“Thank you, sir.” Brenawyn inclined her head.
Tracker raised a brow. “She is free to leave?”
Astothic was firm when he looked at Dr. Tinneer. “She is, with our blessing.”
Bren let out a long, shaky sigh. “Thank the stars for that. This has been a stable home and I have appreciated it, but I am a grown woman now and it is time for a little adventure.”
Tracker grinned. “That, I can supply.”
Astothic waved them out. “Enough of the double entendre. Get out and have a good life. Don’t forget to check in every six months and keep us apprised of any exceptional talents who may need training. I promise that Vesa will be more helpful than Dr. Tinneer was.”
Tracker offered her his arm and Bren took it. With a smile and a wave at the good doctor, she left the administrator’s office to collect her uniforms and few possessions.
Tracker leaned against the wall while she packed.
“Will you miss it?”
She knew what he meant. “It was home and now it isn’t. I got far worse treatment on Gwellen and I was born there. At least here I was safe. I never had to worry about my sanity, my body or being injured just for fun. Thank you for thinking to bring me here.”
She paused in her packing and turned to face him. “I mean it. Thank you. You probably saved my life that day and I owe you more than I can say.”
He inclined his head, acknowledging her comment. “It was what I had to do at the time and I would do the same again.”
Bren smiled. “It is comforting to know. Well, I am packed. Shall we go?”
“I thought you would never ask.” He stepped forward and tossed her bag over one shoulder. He offered her his arm and together, they left the Citadel for a new life.
Bren smiled at the blackness of space. After so long, it felt good to be back where anything could happen. “I missed this.”
Tracker smiled. “The shuttlecraft?”
“Just flying. I haven’t been allowed to leave the surface since you first lan
ded me there. I enjoyed flying. Just being out where no one could get me was so freeing.” She sighed and propped her chin on her fist.
“You were really living on the edge of sanity there, weren’t you?”
She smiled. “Ever since Therin applied to marry me, my life has been out of my control.”
“Therin was your fiancé?”
“No. The family wouldn’t allow him to wed someone like me, so it was decided that once I was no longer of use to them, I would be sold to a brothel. Picking your pocket was my last chance.”
“What would have happened if you failed?”
“Well, I did fail, so Therin was going to divest me of my virginity and then sell me to the highest bidder.” Bren stared out at the stars as they approached the jump site.
Tracker was silent for a moment. “Who named you Brenawyn?”
She cleared the lump in her throat. “My parents. They died when I was eight. Brenawyn Marietta Norlii of the Gwellen colony. They gave me all that and then died of a plague.”
“There was no one to take care of you?”
She shook her head. “We were the only Trinials on Gwellen. I don’t know why my parents chose it as a home, but after they died, Therin was the one who found me and took me to the family.”
“He did it out of the goodness of his heart?”
She snorted. “No. He was looting our home and I tried to defend it with a broom and a fireplace poker. He was in his teens and he thought it was cute, so he tied me up and hauled me to the family. No one knew what I would grow into at that point, so they allowed me to learn what I could.”
“What you would grow into? Are you talking about your talent?” Tracker looked at her with curiosity in his dark eyes.
She chuckled and held up her hair. “The family prides itself on being inconspicuous. I stood out in the mostly brunette population and it made me an awkward thief. It is the exact definition of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. If you were beautiful, folks would notice and beauty was something that the family was trying to breed out of itself. They wanted to be nice and average and having me in their bloodline would have messed that up.”
