Although built on a far smaller scale, it was a fortress much like the one the Xtanians had built across the stream. The resemblance ended, however, at the outer walls. When she had been escorted inside, she simply stopped, staring around in stunned surprise.
Whether the Xtanians had technology even close to that of the Earth culture or not, those banished to New Georgia had no access to it, but they’d proven that they were as resourceful as Trar had claimed. The interior was as comfortably cool as her own office. Natural light spilled into the enormous, almost cavernous great room from every direction, channeled in like recessed lighting, she saw, by small angled holes high in the walls that were covered with some sort of fabric to keep insects out and/or to limit air flow.
The great trees that had been felled in the forest had been cut and shaped, carved and smoothed, and then stained and rubbed with something that made the wood gleam warmly. Pillars and overhead beams had been cut from it. Tables and chairs and stools and couches had been wrought from it.
The furnishings were sparse for so large a room, but each appeared to have been very carefully thought out and produced.
An army had built this, she reminded herself, and still wondered how they’d managed to create a thing of such stunning beauty in only a matter of months.
She’d been in New Savannah for months and still hadn’t managed to unpack the small trunk full of personal possessions she’d brought with her.
She cleared her throat with an effort and glanced around at the men waiting tensely for her verdict. “It’s … beautiful.”
The men within Eden’s view exchanged relieved glances. Trar broke from the group and hurried toward her. “I will show you the sleeping chamber.”
Eden blinked at him as if she’d been smacked between the eyes as Liz’s comment about the consummation ceremony hit her. Chastising herself, she forced a smile and lifted a hand. He stared at her hand uneasily for several moments, but made no attempt to take it, which reminded her of what else Liz had told her.
She smiled more easily and reached for his hand. “Show me,” she urged him as she closed her fingers around his hand.
He curled his fingers around her hand as she had his and turned to lead her across the great room.
Wide doors along the rear wall that looked as if made for giants opened from the rear wall into a chamber that was almost half the size of the one she assumed was a gathering area.
“This I designed myself,” he told her, pride in his voice as he lifted a hand to encompass the enormous bed that was the center piece of the chamber. The floor had been raised to form a platform. Steps formed tiers down to the main floor. The bed itself was supported by an enormous frame, ornately carved posts and a massive head and footboards. Delicate vines and flowers wound their way up the columns and across the headboard and footboard. Nestled amongst the carved leaves here and there were small creatures.
She wasn’t certain if it depicted the local wildlife or that on his home world, but she examined them with interest, wondering how accurate the images were. “I’ve never seen anything like it. What is this?”
He studied her face a little doubtfully, but finally knelt beside her. “It is a jupin.”
“From Xtania?”
He frowned slightly. “They are here, as well--not just like this, but much the same.”
Realizing abruptly that she’d not only unintentionally insulted him by appearing not to recognize what the image depicted, but she was also on dangerous ground insofar as her origins, she merely nodded. “Oh. I don’t get out much,” she said a little lamely.
The one who’d called himself Jerd rescued her, taking her hand and leading her to a slightly smaller room that she discovered was a bath--she thought it was a bath. A pool that looked larger enough to accommodate a half a dozen people at once was the focal point. Formed from the local stone, it was irregular in shape, seeming almost ‘natural’ and filled by way of a waterfall set cunningly into the stone and spilling forth in seemingly endless abundance.
Either the water was circulating or draining at much the same rate as it was filling, for the water level seemed to remain constant.
It reminded her of the waterfall in the woods where she had come upon Baen. The memory promptly dampened her enthusiasm.
Smiling her approval with an effort, she glanced around at the remainder of the room. It occurred to her after a moment that the theme common through out the great room, the bedroom, and the bath was nature. Not only had they used all natural materials to build the structure itself. They’d carried it through into the colors of the manmade materials used to cover pillows and tables, the linens on the bed. And beyond that, the carvings on every surface depicted the simple beauty of flourishing life, vines, leaves, flowers and tiny creatures of the meadow and forest.
She was no artist, but even she could see that the domicile they’d built was far more than functional. It was a work of art, a place of beauty, and peace.
Vladiv led her from the bath, through the bedroom and into the great room again to point out a cabinet that he’d built.
A sense of unreality gripped her as she was led to admire one thing after another and each man pointed out his contributions to the joint effort. She’d begun to feel dizzy with the input into her brain, not just of the finer points of the docile and all its appointments, but the names and faces of the men by the time Cal rescued her and led her to a lounge in the center of the great room to rest.
He settled on a pillow on the floor beside the lounge. “We have prepared a feast in your honor. We hope that it will be a celebration feast for us, as well, and that you will grant us your favor by accepting us as your pazaan.”
Eden tried to look delighted at the prospect, but she realized even before she glanced around to discover that everyone had gathered and settled that she’d reached the moment of truth--or at least the first hurtle. Her stomach knotted instantly.
“You do realize that our customs differ a great deal from your own?”
Cal said nothing, merely studying her with a faintly doubtful expression. She saw a similar expression on the faces of most of the men gathered around her.
“We do.”
The voice drew her gaze.
It also drew the surprised gazes of everyone else--as if a tree had suddenly spoken.
Baen was standing near the far wall with the other warriors. For a handful of fluttering heartbeats, Eden met his gaze and then, with an effort, she looked away again. She’d been studiously avoiding the possibility of looking for him among the men since she had first left New Savannah. Hearing his voice alone was enough to send her heart rate soaring. Seeing him after so long, feeling the touch of his gaze, threw her into complete disorder.
With an effort, she gathered her thoughts. “I can only accept if you can all accept that I hold an office of importance to the … uh …city and the people who live there. If I agree to live here, then each morning I must return to the city and perform the tasks that need to be done. Each day I will return near sunset.”
An uncomfortable silence was the only response to her demand. Eden had begun to wonder if there was any room at all for negotiation with the Xtanians when Cal spoke.
“We are here to provide for you in any way, to fulfill your wishes, your desires, your needs. You will not need to labor.”
Eden studied his face for a long moment, trying to think of the best way to make them understand. After some thought, it occurred to her that they might not be able to fully accept anything she told them, but she could at least try to make them understand by using terms they were familiar with. “This is the way of my people. It’s a matter of honor and duty,” she said flatly. “It isn’t open to negotiation, and it isn’t something I can or will abandon. Beyond that, it’s important to me. If you can’t understand and accept that there is far more to me than … being a vessel to carry and produce your young, then I can not accept your generous offer.”
It was unnerving, to say the leas
t, to hand out an ultimatum when she in the midst of her ‘enemies’. Inside, she was quaking like a leaf, but she thought she managed to preserve an outward appearance of calm resolve well enough. She’d already begun to reach for the button on her wrist band that would signal an immediate evac via the transporter when Cal stopped her. A jolt went through her that was primarily fear when he caught her hand.
“We are here to serve. We will honor your wishes and learn your customs so that you will be comfortable living among us.”
Eden studied his expression doubtfully, but finally nodded when she saw nothing but earnestness in his gaze. Struggling to keep the depth of her relief from showing, she forced a smile. “I know our ways seem as strange to you as yours seem to us, but if you are willing to learn and accept, then I am willing to stay.”
The slow smile that curled his lips was so like Baen’s it fisted uncomfortably around her heart. His hand tightened slightly on hers for a moment before he released it and turned to send a significant glance at several men who had settled to her right. The men rose at once and left. Eden watched their departure uneasily.
“It is so very different?”
Eden looked at him questioningly.
“Where you are from?”
Eden stared at him, wishing abruptly that there was no need for the subterfuge they had felt necessary for protection. Having to constantly be on guard and examine every word before she spoke was taxing. She rubbed her temple idly. “Much different.”
He watched the gesture, frowning slightly. “You have pain there?”
“What?”
He lifted a hand and lightly touched her head. “Pain here?”
She was about to deny it when it dawned on her that she had not only cautioned everyone to accept the ways of the Xtanians so long as they didn’t directly conflict with their own personal beliefs, but she had agreed to accept them herself. She wasn’t particularly comfortable with the concept of allowing others to do things for her that she was perfectly capable of doing herself, but they were used to it. Finally, she merely nodded.
Rising promptly, he settled on the lounge beside and slightly behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, massaging them. “Too hard?” he asked, pausing when she sucked in a sharp breath.
She thought it over. “A little,” she said finally, trying to force herself to relax. It wasn’t easy for his nearness touched off a sensual awareness that created as much tension as the kneading motion of his hands. He bore a strong physical resemblance to his brood brother, Baen, which she had noticed at once, but it went beyond an outer resemblance. His voice was much the same, as well, and, she suspected, the pheromones he gave off were close enough that her body could tell little difference.
He wasn’t Baen, though. Baen, she knew, was standing near the front wall of the great room. She thought she could feel his gaze, and that only made the tension climb higher inside of her.
In spite of every expectation to the contrary, however, Cal’s persistent ministrations did ease the tension and with it the mild, painful throbbing in her temples. She’d reached the point where she was struggling to keep from relaxing into a limp puddle when a stir of activity brought her mind back to focus on her surroundings.
The men who’d left a little earlier, she saw, had returned bearing platters of food and vessels filled with a beverage of some kind. Eden hadn’t realized she was hungry until the aromas of the various dishes began to waft around her in a seductive dance.
The first platter was settled on the table closest to her lounge, but within moments similar platters had been settled all around. Trying not to be too obvious about it, Eden shifted away from Cal, placing her arm close enough that the computer in her wrist band could pick up the scents and analyze the ingredients.
She didn’t suspect foul play, but she wasn’t going to bet her life on it, and in any case, she had no way of knowing whether their food might be compatible with her own physiology. She thought it probably was, since they were basically the same species, but there was no getting around the fact that there were also radical differences between them.
To her relief, nothing was detected that could be considered harmful to her and she’d just begun to wonder what the Xtanian protocol was for dining when Cal leaned over to the tray, picked up something like a wafer, scooped some sort of meat hash onto it and held it to her lips.
Instinctively, she withdrew to examine the food he’d offered, trying to decide if it would be very rude to refuse to eat from his hand, or it was perfectly acceptable to refuse the offer.
Ignore the little things and save the battles for those things that are really important, she reminded herself. The food smelled appealing. She bit down on the wafer, uncertain of what to expect.
Relieved and pleased to discover that whatever it was tasted to her liking, she sent Cal a smiling glance as she chewed it.
Apparently that was proper protocol because as soon as she’d begun to eat, the others began to move to the trays and select portions of food for themselves.
Everyone except the warriors, who remained at their post.
The beverage Cal held out to her wasn’t water. She wasn’t certain what it was, but it had a hint of a kick. It went down cold, but warmth blossomed in the pit of her belly when it settled.
Curious, she thought.
The next time she thought to glance at the warriors, she discovered that perhaps a third of them had disappeared. Perhaps ten minutes passed and they reappeared and another third crossed the great room and disappeared through the doors where the men had appeared with the trays.
Frowning, Eden swallowed the food Cal had given her. “The warriors aren’t allowed to eat with everyone else?”
Looking mildly surprised, Cal glanced around. Finally, he shrugged. “I have never heard that it was forbidden. They simply don’t.”
“Why?”
He considered the question in frowning thought as he selected something else for her. “Perhaps because they are the peace keepers, they feel it best to remain aloof from the breeders.”
Eden choked on the bite of food she’d just taken. Waving Cal away when he looked at her in alarm, she coughed until she finally managed to dislodge the particle of food that had gone down the wrong way and reached for the glass he held out, taking a large gulp to soothe her throat. Again the warmth blossomed in her belly, producing a floating effect not entirely unlike an alcoholic beverage … and not entirely like an alcoholic beverage either.
Breeders certainly didn’t require an explanation but she wondered for the first time if everyone who wasn’t a warrior was considered a breeder. She’d been certain they couldn’t be, that there must be levels--like warrior, laborer, breeder. If that wasn’t the case she had a hell of a lot more to contend with that she’d expected.
But then Cal had labored with all the others and she had the distinct feeling that he’d somehow become designated as first in line.
By the time Eden decided she’d had her fill, she realized she’d also had far too much of whatever beverage it was that they were serving. She didn’t feel inebriated, precisely, but she felt far more relaxed than she thought she should and not nearly as cautious as she liked.
That concern for the possibility of making a misstep was the reason she merely watched as the warriors began to circulate about the room, handing out something she couldn’t see. Finally, her curiosity got the best of her, however.
She leaned close to Cal. “What are they doing?” she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
“The choosing.”
Eden debated whether to try to pretend enlightenment or demand an explanation she could understand. Her curiosity won out. “What are they choosing?”
He sent a look that was both heated and filled with amusement. “I am the eldest of all here, so my place is assured. To keep peace, the others must draw lots.”
The heated look was enough to penetrate Eden’s fog.
Chapter Eighteen
Eden was
still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that the time had apparently arrived for the consummation ceremony when Cal rose, scooped her off of the lounge and straightened. Even as he turned and picked his way through the crowd toward her bedroom, Eden saw others rise and begin to follow them.
She encountered Baen’s gaze just as Cal stepped though the doorway but in the next instant he disappeared from her view.
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or alarmed when she discovered that only four others followed them to the bath. Half was certainly better than all, but only by a little, not enough to keep from scaring the hell out of her.
Trar was among them, and looked almost as unnerved at the prospect as she felt, which didn’t help her feelings at all.
The mellowing effect of the drink she’d had with her meal had pretty well worn off by the time Cal set her on her feet and began to examine her clothing. Realizing he was trying to figure out how to remove it, Eden had a moment’s internal battle to deal with--help? Or ignore his dilemma?
She’d known she would have to do this, she reminded herself.
And it still took an effort to willingly remove her clothes with so many men looking on.
She was sorry now that she hadn’t gotten so high on that stuff that she didn’t know or care what was going on.
Once she’d shown Cal the self-sealing opening of her suit, he slipped his hands along her suit down along her belly and thigh. A shiver went through her as she felt the brush of the back of his hand along her skin, but contrary to all reason, it was a pleasurable reaction, not one of nerves.
One of the men removed her translator carefully from her head. As she glanced around in dismay another took her wrist. When she turned back, she saw it was Trar. After examining it frowningly for several moments, he located the catch and removed the wrist monitor, as well.
And then Cal was tugging her suit from her shoulders.
The water, she realized, trying to calm herself. This was no particle bath. The water would damage the electronics and they knew that.
Ninth Orb Page 18
