Lyon's Pride

by Anne McCaffrey

  “Old home week’s fun on Aurigae,” Rojer said. “Do you ride? We’ve great ponies and good hunting.”

  At that prospect, Flavia brightened. “I haven’t had a decent hunt in ever so long. What sort of game do you go after? I’m afraid that I don’t know much about Iota Aurigae.”

  “Any chance of Laria getting home leave, too?” Thian asked his grandfather.

  Jeff smiled and nodded before he folded his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair at an almost dangerous angle. Relaxing with his young relatives around him was a good way to get perspective on completely different problems.

  “Give a think to the various assignments, Squadrons A and B, or a dirtside assignment, or one of the shorter exploratories. Talents don’t have to ship out from a dock.” He grinned. “Those who want you will welcome you all the more when you do get…wherever you choose to go.” He set his chair back down on all four legs. “I may have to make the final decisions but your preferences will be taken into consideration. I owe you that much, Talents.”

  Thian and Rojer exchanged surprised glances at his deference.

  * * *

  In line with that generosity, Jeff Raven managed, in a manner as near to coercion as he ever came, to get the Raven-Lyons all home at the same time. He got David of Betelgeuse to release his T-1 son, Perry, to take charge of Clarf Tower, borrowing Yeshuk from the Sef Tower until Perry became comfortable with the peculiarities of the planet.

  Perry hasn’t dealt with enough Mrdini yet and he’ll need to, Jeff told the Betelgeuse T-1. You won’t let him have your damned Tower until you’re moldy so he might as well have some variety in his life.

  Jeff then made extravagant use of pressure to get Clancy Sparrow and Rhodri Eagle leaves of absence and had Damia invite them to Aurigae. He also suggested to his daughter that Asia Eagle could use some Tower engineering work experience with Xexo and wasn’t it time for Zara to get a break from her arduous training under the T-1 Healer Elizara? Damia was so eager to have all her children home again at once, especially Rojer, that she would have struck a deal with a Hiver.

  You’re matchmaking again, Jeff Raven, his wife accused him.

  How can you say that when all these young people will be ’porting off to distant star systems and not see each other for years.

  That doesn’t matter if they are only a thought away from each other, does it, Jeff Raven!

  Jeff grinned and firmed up all the private arrangements before he called in his administrative assistant, Gollee Gren, to see exactly which Talents suited which of the many other assignments he had to fill. At least, he thought gratefully, he had more available options than Peter Reidinger, his predecessor, had ever had, with all the new generation of kith and kin growing splendidly and strongly into their Talents. Now, if the High Council would get its joint act together, he’d know where he needed the heavyweights of his corps. Once again he thanked the ghosts of all the Earth Primes who had managed to keep Federated Teleport and Telepath autonomous and apolitical.

  A-what? asked a laughing voice and Gollee Gren, his dark, close-cropped hair showing a sprinkling of silver, entered the spacious office.

  “I always do what’s best for my Talents,” Jeff said in a gruff voice, mimicking his predecessor, Peter Reidinger, so perfectly that Gollee grinned even more broadly.

  “So what’s best for whom this time, Jeff?”

  Jeff steepled his fingers briefly, pressing them against his lips. Neither mimicry nor laughter was present when he answered. “I hope we’ll see that they’ve been able to make the proper choices.”

  * * *

  By the time Damia had settled all her guests, she almost wished that they could have come singly, with a good day between arrivals, so she could fully savor each return. She’d worried most of all about Rojer, returning without Gil and Kat to a house full of ’Dinis. The moment the capsule arrived with the brothers and Flavia, she “reached out” for Rojer. He was steeling himself but foremost in his mind was an eagerness to be home. No sooner was that carrier down, than Laria, Tip, Huf and Kincaid Dano arrived. The dust in the Tower yard hadn’t settled when Zara, with Pal and Dis, ’ported in.

  Morag, Kaltia, Ewain and Petra, plus their ’Dinis, were dancing up and down with the excitement of having their “famous” brothers and sisters back on Aurigae. Xexo and Keylarion were trying to keep order but the Tower yard was in minor chaos as the younger children kept running from one to the other sibling, ’Dinis dizzy from following.

  Like a hard knock on a painful bruise, Damia felt Rojer respond to energetic greetings from Kaltia’s and Ewain’s ’Dinis. They were so caught up in the general elation that none of them remembered to give Rojer the time or space to initiate contact. Damia was all set to abandon protocol and ’port down to intervene when she felt the sudden shift of emotion in his mind. Then he was lifting Petra up in his arms—Rojer had got taller all of a sudden and muscled up, Damia noted, testing the strength of him—while Big and Sil affectionately flapped against legs which surely had got longer. Any reluctance or hesitation dissolved in the warmth of affectionate kisses and pats showered on him by his totally unselfconscious youngest sister and her friends.

  “He’ll be fine, Damia,” Afra said gently. “This was perhaps the best way to get over that hump.” He held her briefly in his arms, kissed her tenderly and released her. He peered out the Tower window and a fatuous grin spread across his face. “A bit overwhelming even if they are all ours.”

  “Mostly ours,” Damia corrected him, as she noticed that Flavia and Kincaid Dano were being introduced and as warmly welcomed. She hurried down the stairs to add hers.

  Parental embraces were perhaps more restrained but just as heartfelt. Damia tried not to hug Rojer any harder or longer than she did Thian, Laria and Zara but she had to know.

  I am all right, Mother, he said on a very thin line to her. Really, coming home is going to work out. “GOOD TO SEE TRP AND FLK ONCE MORE.” And Roger bowed to his parents’ ’Dinis.

  Surprising everyone, Trp and Flk bowed very low to Rojer, their poll eyes almost touching the ground. Then each held out one upper limb to him which he obediently grasped. Silently, as they began to lead him toward the path to the house, all the other ’Dinis, even Petra’s, fell into step behind.

  I’m still all right, Mother, Rojer said, so she turned to speak with Flavia and Kincaid and introduce them to Xexo and Keylarion.

  “Shall we all move up to the house then?” Damia said. “Don’t hang on your brother, Ewain. Yes, Petra, Zara can certainly see how much you’ve grown. C’mon now, all of you, we’ll adjourn to the house.”

  “Noisy lot. No manners whatever,” Afra said, staring hard at Kaltia and Morag, who were determined to monopolize their oldest sister. Then he turned to Kincaid. “Earth Prime told me that there were some unusual aspects to your recent tour of duty with Squadron C.”

  “Even if you had help from other Talents, it was asking a great deal too much,” Damia said, having deftly assessed the young man’s fatigue. “The Navy treats Talents far too off-handedly. We are not stevedores,” she added with some heat.

  Mother! Laria said on a very thin line. Let Father handle him. As T-2 to T-2. What Kincaid doesn’t need is another brain-browsing T-1.

  Oh? Were you a little clumsy, dear? asked her father.

  “No,” Laria continued aloud, “but we’re suckers when someone asks us if Talents can do this or that, in just that tone of voice that forces us to prove we can. Frankly, the labels ‘performing bear’ or ‘pack mule’ are becoming more appropriate than ‘stevedore.’”

  “Laria!” Damia exclaimed, half-laughing, half-astounded by the comment. Then she frowned, glancing ahead at Rojer, being…“herded,” the term came to her mind, toward the house. And…She had a compelling urge to run forward, to be with Rojer. Then Zara caught her by the arm.

  I feel it, too, Mother, Zara said. But it is not for us to be present.

  What are you two talking about? Afra
asked.

  I’m not at all sure, Damia replied, trying to reconcile the ’Dinis’ odd actions with the growing sense that some extraordinary event was about to happen. This morning when I told Fok that everyone was coming, it asked if I meant Rojer also. Then it muttered about suitable reparation and an apology for the length of time it had taken.

  Laria strode up beside her mother and Zara, her face twisted with concern, one hand absently rubbing her diaphragm as if to relieve a tension there. “Mother, I’ve the oddest sensation…”

  “I, too,” Flavia said, equally puzzled.

  “Well, Fok and Tip have been cooking up something, Mom,” Morag said. “They’ve been acting funny and I can’t get why out of Fip and Kim. But all the ’Dinis’re almighty pleased with themselves, whatever it is they’re doing.”

  Every one of the Talented family by now was touched, and wondering about the strange imminence. From the puzzled, almost wary, expressions of Flavia and Kincaid, the atmosphere was affecting them.

  “There are moments when I wish I had a touch of prescience,” Damia said, lengthening her strides just short of a run.

  “And what the hell do you think this is, then?” Thian asked, grinning at his mother.

  She shot him a reproving look. “It’s too nebulous to be useful!”

  They were in sight of the front terrace of the house, Rojer already halfway up the steps, surrounded by various sizes of ’Dinis. Then he halted.

  A blast of totally unshielded astonished emotion stopped everyone midstep but this was followed by such joy that everyone also broke into vicarious smiles, until Damia, Laria, Zara and Morag began to cry. The four of them ran forward so that they could see what prompted such a cascade of feelings, followed by the remainder of the family and its guests.

  The ’Dinis had ranged themselves on the top step, their colors bright with their own joy. On the porch Rojer was on his knees, his arms about two ’Dinis, clasping first one, then the other tightly to him, caressing each before snagging them together against him.

  It’s Gil and Kat come back to me! Mother! Dad! Everyone. I’ve got my ’Dinis back. Young still but they are Grl and Ktg! They are!

  * * *

  It took time to sort it all out, even with the full cooperation of Trp and Flk, the elder ’Dinis of the household, and occasional comments from Tip, Huf, Mur and Dip. No Human had ever been allowed into a hibernatory. Although it was understood that this was where Mrdini procreation occurred, the process of gestation was not understood.

  “I’m not confident that I do even now,” Damia said when Trp and Flk had done their best to explain.

  “Like the amoeba, splitting apart, Mother,” Zara said. “Or, like a Human zygote splitting in two to form identical twins in utero. Not quite like…”

  “Thank you, Zara,” Damia said, but she patted her daughter’s hand to apologize for stemming a xenobiological lecture. Zara didn’t take offense.

  The “time” problem had been due to the necessity of checking back through hibernatory records to discover which pairings had originally produced Grl and Ktg. They were not from the same “split,” for a “split” only produced one new Mrdini. So both sets of original parents had had to be contacted and brought to the Aurigaean hibernatory at the appropriate time and a new “split” of the same elements as the original Grl and Ktg had to be “programmed” which, Flk said, was an intense form of meditation to “urge similar traits” to occur in the new form. With this sort of procreation, no worthwhile “persons” were totally lost, but could be retrieved by encouraging a “split” by the same two Mrdini which had produced the original. Those who had gone on the line to preserve their elders on long voyages were therefore not “lost,” but their living was deferred.

  “Oh!” Laria said at one point during the explanations. “So that was what those symbols on Prtglm’s capsule meant. Nothing of it would be allowed back into the pro-creative cycle. Wow! What a punishment!”

  “That also explains why the Mrdini grieved so when ships were lost to the Hivers,” Thian said.

  “NO, THN,” Flk said, “THOSE ON THE SUICIDE SHIPS WERE SPECIALLY CHOSEN BECAUSE THEIR COMPONENTS WERE AVAILABLE FOR RE-CREATION. MRDINI ARE NOT WASTEFUL.”

  “THEN THAT ALSO EXPLAINS WHY MRDINI CAN BE BRAVER THAN HUMANS AND MAKE THE SACRIFICE OF DEATH,” Thian added, nodding with relief at his comprehension of this facet. “MRDINIS DO NOT REALLY DIE. THEY CAN BE REPLICATED.”

  “NOT REPLICATED,” Flk said firmly. “NOT THE SAME PROCESS. MRDINI LIVES ARE NOT REPLICATED. THEY ARE REPRODUCED.”

  “WHATEVER!” Damia said with a shaky laugh. “BUT COULD NOT YOU HAVE TOLD RJR THAT HE HAD NOT LOST GRL AND KTG. HE HAS MOURNED THEM.”

  “THAT, TOO, IS NECESSARY,” Tri said without apology. “MRDINI MAKE A SPECIAL DISPENSATION FOR RJR. HONOR REQUIRED IT. AND TIME. WHAT HAS BEEN SAID REMAINS WITHIN THIS FAMILY.”

  “OF COURSE,” Afra answered, inclining his whole body forward in acceptance of that requirement. “A SIGNAL HONOR FOR US ALL. TRULY AN INESTIMABLE HONOR.”

  “Speaking as a healer,” Zara said, “it certainly does clear up a lot of crazy theories.” Then she sighed. “Well, I know and, while it is privileged knowledge, it is a privilege for me to know it.” She stroked her ’Dinis, Pal and Dis, who were wedged in on either side of her. “JUST SEE THAT IT DOESN’T HAPPEN TO YOU TWO!”

  “NOT LIKELY TO,” replied Pal, waving its forearms and wriggling its digits.

  “This whole family is high!” Damia said with some asperity, but her grin broke out again. Once more, she had to brush tears of joy from her eyes. Just seeing the radiant look on Rojer’s face was enough to set her off again. “Now, let us all try for some decorum.”

  Afra rose with an air of renewed vigor. “And resort to a few practical matters. Hunters are needed to fill the pots for tonight’s feast. Who’ll go out?”

  They were all willing, so Damia showed the guests to their rooms while her children found their own much as they had left them and changed into riding gear. When all reassembled, Afra divided them into smaller groups, excusing Rojer so he could spend uninterrupted time with his ’Dinis.

  Thian chose Flavia to come with him, Ewain and Kaltia. Afra and Damia took Morag and Petra who proudly informed Kincaid that she was a crack shot with her slingshot. That left Laria, Zara and Kincaid.

  “Ever ridden?” Laria asked Kincaid.

  “Ridden what?” Kincaid replied uncertainly.

  “Ponies, small horses.”

  “Oh, animal riding. Yes, somewhat,” he said and Laria beckoned him to follow her to the stables.

  “Can I join you two?” Zara asked.

  “Sure,” Laria said without hesitation. Saki’s mine! she roared after her siblings who were already in the stable.

  Who’d dare take her with you around?

  Laria thought that muffled response came from Rojer, for it had the ring of an elated personality.

  * * *

  Is he yours, sister? Zara asked on a thin line.

  Kincaid? He’s not for either of us, dear. And you, a healer, to miss it! And careful, Zara, ’cause I know you can’t resist a healering “look.” He was as near burned-out emotionally as I’ve ever touched. What does Navy do to the empathic?

  Emotional burn-out? Zara asked sharply, her healer’s instinct alert.

  Plus considerable strain on a T-2’s abilities. I think he’s healing but if you could, at your deftest, slip in and check, I’d be relieved, Zar, Laria said gratefully. I’m speaking as Kincaid’s Prime.

  Zara nodded as she slipped the headpiece over her pony’s ears while Laria found a saddle suitable for Kincaid’s size. She found it very good indeed to be surrounded by ponies; grateful to see that the oldest were still vigorous and whinnied anxiously against being left behind. The entire complement was needed to mount the hunters, with three spares taken on lead ropes in high hopes of bringing back much game.

  Kincaid eschewed slingshot and bow and arrow, choosing a small-bore
rifle and ammunition for it as if he knew what he was about. Laria was rather surprised to see Flavia take bow and arrow. She also saw the grin on Thian’s face.

  As each hunting party was armed and mounted, they moved off in preferred directions. Laria decided on an eastern route, to the foothills. With only her parents, the four younger kids and the ’Dinis, there wouldn’t have been much call to go too far from home for scurriers, rabbits and the small plump-breasted avians that nested nearer by. Although Laria had thoughtfully chosen a steady mount for him, Kincaid’s “somewhat” was near enough to the level of her own abilities that her respect for him went up another notch. She raised her arm, signaling a faster gait, and kneed Saki into a ground-covering canter, a rocking gait that required little more than balance for a rider. She heard the other two ponies pick up to the same gait. A surreptitious glance showed her Kincaid, easily sitting into the canter and grinning with pleasure.

  He was also a good shot, as he proved when their approach flushed a covey of avians from their hedges. He got two brace of them, each neatly shot through the head. Zara had also chosen a rifle but she went after the scurriers, which broke cover when Kincaid’s shots startled them. Laria got three rabbits, two scurriers and even one avian hen in that first stop.

  “No one’s been hunting this way in a long while,” she said to her sister as they bagged their catch.

  “When was the last time you were home?” asked Zara with a bit of a snort. “This always was the route you preferred.”

  “Yes, but you’d think someone would have tried to keep the game down all over the hills.”

  “Do you always hunt for your table?” Kincaid asked, handing over the birds he had retrieved.

  “Uh-huh!” the sisters said in unison and all three laughed.

  “When we were younger, we used to take our ’Dinis with us…” Zara began.

  “They were small enough to ride pillion then…” Laria continued.

  “…And didn’t consider it beneath their dignity to grab a stirrup leather to get up the hills.”