by Patty Jansen
An image came to my mind of Thayu at our wedding party in Auckland, playing cricket on the beach with a bunch of my young cousins. Her laughter as she hit the ball into the ocean and one of the dogs jumped in to fetch it.
I imagined Thayu in a hospital bed in Barresh with a newborn baby at her breast.
While we lay in our bunks and dozed, a man brought a plate of refreshments. “If you want to bathe, there is a bathroom across the passage, but it will be in use for some time. I’ll let you know when it is free.”
We had noticed that.
Thayu nodded and took the tray from him.
He bowed and left. It was all very official and solemn. I didn’t understand what these domestic workers were doing here, since they were not zeyshi, and couldn’t imagine Risha as a frail old man hurrying through the underground tunnels with a train of domestic workers in tow.
The domestic staff had evidently been instructed about my eating requirements, because one plate came with a green-coded label. While the others ate mushrooms and drank piss-coloured juice whose red-coded acidity I could smell across the room, I ate some kind of cooked grains and drank water that tasted metallic.
Thayu really enjoyed that acidic juice and took three glasses of it.
I’d never seen her radiate health as much as she did here. The odd wrinkling of the skin that made it velvety made her look incredibly healthy. Sexy.
If ever we got out of here, maybe I should have a room in the apartment brought up to a temperature comfortable to her. Maybe I should ask Eirani to buy some red-coded food for her and Nicha. They both insisted that they didn’t need it, but clearly they did.
Natanu and the other guards stretched out on the ground, playing a game. I was glad that at least the tension had defused somewhat, even if Sheydu and Veyada still didn’t take part in the game.
I was watching their game when Natanu suddenly tensed. Not a moment later someone entered the room.
A domestic servant came in telling us that the bath was free now, did we want to use it?
“Maybe it is time for a bath,” Thayu said.
I was dying for a bath, but after the adventure of my collapse—I had truly believed that I was safe in the tunnels—I was less sure of taking off my protective suit. Temperature in the room had been going up again despite being under the ground.
I suspected that some of the ceiling outlets belched hot air, because most of the inhabitants would find it chilly down here.
Some zeyshi might be Aghyrian, but they clearly still had a higher temperature tolerance than I did.
Despite my reservations, Thayu dragged me across that dark hall to the bathroom.
It was not very large, a square room with moisture-stained walls. In the centre was a shallow hollowed-out basin in which water bubbled from an outlet in the centre. Dry as Asto was, this had to be recirculated water, rather than the fresh supply of hot water we had in Barresh. I tested the temperature with my hand. Ouch. Definitely too hot to sit in.
Thayu was taking off her clothes in the corner. The skin on the normally-hidden parts of her body was just as velvety as on her arms. She noticed that I was watching and smiled.
I closed her in my arms. “You look gorgeous. Much more alive than in Barresh.”
Her skin felt warm through my suit. I felt sweaty, pathetic and smelly compared to her.
She cupped my cheek with a warm-skinned hand. “You are very brave.”
“Or stupid. I can’t get over the feeling that everyone is playing games with me.”
She chuckled. “Maybe they are, but you’re good at playing back.”
I blew out a breath. The situation stressed me out so much and made me feel so inadequate.
“Let’s just wind down for a bit,” she said.
I pulled her close for a kiss. She pressed herself against me, running her hands over my sides and back. That was nice. Very nice. I pushed down the top of my suit and wrestled my arms out of the narrow sleeves. Then did the same for the bottom part, before the suit became too tight in certain—um—places.
Thayu’s skin did not just look rough, it felt rough, like a cat’s tongue. Very sexy. The heat of her body against my skin made me certain: I would not take very long at all.
She whispered, her voice hoarse, “Here or in the water?”
At home, I liked the water very much, but I shook my head. “The water will have to wait until we get home. It’s too hot for me.”
I sat on the bench. She swung a leg over mine and was about to settle on my lap when the door opened and Nicha came in, holding Raanu’s hand. She was chattering away about what she knew about the tunnels and the history. Damn. So much for this particular type of relaxation.
Nicha crossed to the bench while unfastening the front of his suit, then frowned at us standing there awkwardly. “Did I interrupt something? Never mind us. Carry on.”
Well, that was a part of Coldi custom I had never gotten used to. I could do public nudity. I could do nethana, but share the most intimate moments between lovers in public? No way. Not with a child watching. Not even with Nicha watching.
Damn it. We’d have to find some other time.
Thayu slipped into the water and Nicha followed a bit later. Raanu took off her clothes and splashed into the water before settling next to Thayu.
She eyed me, frowning, and said with childish innocence, “You look funny.”
Well, fancy that. I not only looked funny, but I felt funny. Thayu met my eyes. To her credit, she did not laugh. But damn, I might die tomorrow. Would that be without having made love to my wife one last time?
I sat at the edge of the bath, cooling down certain parts of me and dangling my feet into the water until they, in turn, got too hot. There was a pile of cloths next to the bath and I used one to dunk into the water and wash myself. The cloth was white and came away with pink smears of dust.
Then Thayu said, “The main reason I suggested a bath was not for bonding or relaxation. I wanted to get us away from the guards.”
That’s what I’d gathered. “What’s going on in that association? Have Sheydu and Veyada been cast out?”
Nicha frowned at me, and then his expression cleared. “You might have a point there.”
Thayu said, “Natanu is very angry that I led the group into the aquifers. Once the mess in the Inner Circle became apparent, she’s only had one aim.”
Didn’t we all know what that was.
“Natanu is nice,” Raanu said.
Well, that wasn’t exactly the way I’d put it. I would call Natanu a fire-breathing dragon sitting atop a mound of treasure. Just her swipe or breath would be enough to kill. But with every little tidbit that revealed itself about life in the Inner Circle, my suspicion grew that Natanu was Ezhya’s long-time lover and might well be Raanu’s mother.
And we might well have killed any chance she had to take the Chief Coordinator’s job. If there was going to be a change, she would be better than all of the alternatives. Being Ezhya’s lover meant that she would at least leave him alive.
I hoped.
I asked Thayu, “Did you want to talk to us here because you got any further information about what’s going on in the Inner Circle?”
“I don’t think there is anything new coming out of the Inner Circle. Ezhya’s routines are apparently still holding and Taysha has not yet broken out or managed to defeat Asha.”
That was her father she was talking about, and defeat was shorthand for kill.
“No,” she continued, “I wanted to talk about us. We’re going to have to move, and we may have to do it without Natanu and any of the others.”
“But everyone agreed to come along and help. We need the help.”
“Cory, regardless of what they promise you, everyone going into that hub room will be doing it for themselves. This is one of the strongest instincts we have. I can feel it, even if I have no hope of ever assuming the position of Chief Coordinator. Nayu pretends to be all calm about it, but she wants power, too. They say that zeyshi don’t have the sheya instinct, but some of them do, especially those who were born as zeyshi. Nayu was born in the tunnels of the desert. She came to Eighth Circle briefly when she was young and did very well, but she grew lazy and fell in with a violent crowd. She probably realised she could do better with the zeyshi so she returned. She is cold and calculating. She will pretend to have no associations, but I think she does. I suspect she is part of Risha’s informal association. Immediately after the Exchange went out, zeyshi went into the city and looted warehouses, which is pretty much standard for when there is a crisis, but she put a stop to that. She couldn’t have done that if those looting people did not have associations, because they wouldn’t listen to her. So yeah, zeyshi like to present themselves as lawless bandits, but as you can see here they’re not. They can be as structured as the rest of society. So of course Nayu wants to get into the hub.”
Because she wanted to try a shot at the top job as well. Was this a never-ending list of contenders?
What the hell had Thayu done in her previous work? “So you suggest sneaking away from the others and going in by ourselves? Do you know the way through all these tunnels?”
Thayu lowered her voice. “I do. There is a direct route. It’s . . . interesting.”
Not sure I wanted to know about interesting.
Considering my experience as a kid at Midway Space station, I guessed it involved crawling through ducts, or something else that in this heat would be utterly foul. Or would put us in the path of man-eating robots that misunderstood my accent. Interesting indeed.
But Thayu was obviously not going to be more specific. She took the washcloth from my hands and gestured for me to lie on my stomach. She dipped the cloth in the water and squeezed it out above my head. The feeling of warm water trickling down my hair was relaxing.
I closed my eyes, resting my head on my arms. The stone floor underneath me was relatively cool. Her hands massaged my back in a very relaxed, very suggestive way. I pushed away that feeling of desire. I wanted her so badly that a simple touch was enough to send shivers of desire through me, and that would never do in the presence of a child. But I’d have to do something about it soon.
I tried to force my mind on other matters. “What should I do about this writ? Veyada is keen for me to act on it. Do you want me to send it?”
“It’s about what you want.”
“Yes, but I’d like some advice. It affects you as well.” Stop being subservient.
“He has offended you badly, probably on purpose. What did you do with his writ?”
“I handed it back to him. I can’t accept anything like that.”
“Well, in that case, acting on it is your only option.”
I said, “Veyada said that I could claim membership of the Domiri clan. I don’t know what all this means and I don’t know what to do about it. What would you do?”
Nicha met my eyes. “Both clan acceptance and writs are serious business, Cory. If you start getting involved with clans and our law, I don’t know where that’s going to end.”
It wouldn’t end well, it was clear that he thought so.
Thayu looked at me in an odd way. “Did Veyada say that? You could apply for membership of the Domiri clan?”
Her expression was so intense that it chilled me.
“I have no idea where he got the information and how much it’s worth—”
Nicha said, “If Veyada says it, a lot. You do know that he’s a formal lawkeeper? His word on these matters is final.”
Thayu said softly, “I’d love you to be part of my clan.” Her eyes went misty.
Nicha still didn’t like it.
Chapter 20
* * *
BY THE TIME we returned to the room, the guards had gone to bed. I lifted Raanu to the top bunk and tucked her in. She put her head down, her eyes already half shut. I could only imagine how exhausted she must be.
Then I went to Thayu. In the alcove under Nicha’s bed above, I lay down with her for a long kiss. Natanu in the top bunk against the far wall was unlikely to be asleep, so I didn’t dare speak, but there was so much I wanted to ask. My body told me that I should go to sleep, but I wanted her so badly. I held her and kissed her. She kissed me back, pulling me on top of her. Her skin felt even hotter than normal. She was about to go into that delightful state of flush. How easy would it be to take off the suit and have a quickie right here.
A soft snore indicated that Nicha had gone to sleep. The guards were breathing softly, asleep as they would ever be. I didn’t care much if they knew what we were doing. But I couldn’t be sure about Raanu.
I whispered, “How about we go back into the bathroom?”
“Now?”
“Why not? Everyone is asleep.”
She grinned. Her cheeks were already red.
I pushed myself off the bed, took her hand and led her out of the bedroom. The passage outside seemed darker than it had been before. Maybe it was my imagination, maybe one of the lights had run out of charge.
Holding Thayu’s hand, I pushed the door into the bathroom. But the sound of voices drifted out.
“Damn, someone in there.”
I faced Thayu in the darkness of the corridor. My breaths were heavy. Her eyes glittered with the effect of the sexual flush.
She said, “We’ll find somewhere else.”
I didn’t want to run around this maze trying to find a private spot, risking running into someone else who wanted to talk to me, annoy me or fight me. By that time, her flush would have passed.
There was no one here. The door to our room was set in a small alcove where it was very dark.
What the heck. I closed my arms around her and pushed her back against the wall while kissing her deeply.
She gave a kind of surprised squeak. “What? Here?”
“No one will mind. No one is here. I’m not going to take very long.” I breathed the scent of her skin. “I don’t want to wake up anyone in our room. I don’t want Raanu to see us.”
“Nich’ is right. You are becoming more Coldi.”
I stifled her words with kisses. Slid my hands between the two sides of her jacket, feeling her hot skin and the softness of her breasts. She pushed my shirt off my shoulders, running her lips along the nape of my neck. Licking the salt off my skin.
“You taste Coldi,” she whispered.
The humid breeze through the passage stroked my naked skin. I pushed her jacket off. Her breasts were soft under my hands.
She fumbled with the fastening of my trousers. “Should have worn a shayka.”
She laughed, but the rumour went that proper shaykas were worn the way they were—open at the front for men and at the back for women—precisely for this reason. Zeyshi warrens had been small, cramped places. Sparse private moments had to be capitalised on quickly.
She wriggled herself out of the bottom half of her suit. Her skin was pale in the semidarkness. I lifted her up so that she rested with her elbows on my shoulders. She wrapped her legs around me. I leaned her back against the wall and let her slide down. I went deep inside her. She was so hot that it almost made me come but I managed to hold it off.
Calm down. We didn’t have much time, but we had more than a few seconds.
Supporting herself by leaning on my shoulders, she rocked against me. She leaned her head back against the wall, breathing deeply. Her flush was about to peak, I could sm
ell it.
I moved with increased urgency, breaking out in sweat all over. Thayu’s hands kept sliding off my shoulders.
Almost there. Thayu arched her back, moaning.
There was a small sound behind me. If that was Nicha, I didn’t care. If it was someone else, I didn’t care either.
Almost.
Oh, damn. Oh damn, I was going to blow. The wave of release washed over me. I clung onto her, burying my head in the hollow under her chin, trying to stifle my breathing. Maybe whoever had come into the corridor would walk past and not notice us and I could do it again.
A breath of cooler air went over my skin. I vaguely registered that the door to our room had opened before something hit me very hard on the back of my head. I saw spots and stumbled.
Thayu yelled out, “Cory!”
I stumbled, fell on to my knees and almost blacked out.
People rushed in and the passage exploded in voices. Natanu, Veyada, Nicha, Sheydu. Raanu as well.
Nicha said in a stern voice, “Give that to me before you hurt someone else with it. Why did you hit him?”
Raanu replied, dead serious, “He was attacking her!”
Then Natanu started laughing. Sexual jokes were a perfect excuse for Coldi to laugh and the guards laughed now. Thayu laughed, too. It was a rare enough sound that it made the embarrassment sting less. I fumbled to pull up the bottom of my suit.
Raanu’s eyes were wide with indignation. “Why are you all laughing? It’s not funny. Thayu is nice. I don’t want anyone to attack her.”
Thayu put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go inside, before anyone from the zeyshi comes.”
Sheydu yelled into the room to the other guards, “No need to get dressed. It’s all fine. Just a misunderstanding.”
