Heart Sight

by Robin D. Owens

  She found herself smiling, no, grinning at the thought of company, at the deep pride of being an integral part of a new and wonderful project.

  I am NOT in T’Vine Residence. I am OUTSIDE. I am coming to see the new place! Flora, Vinni’s housefluff Fam, sent mentally to Avellana.

  Rhyz gamboled around Avellana, streaming telepathically, I will protect you when you get here! Oh, I sense Other Fams are coming! Hooray!

  He hurried to the top of the path that rose from the flat parking lot halfway up the hill. There he sat tall, nose elevated, awaiting the newcomers. Avellana returned to watching the green tiled roof of the Community Center lowered carefully onto the stone pillars. Her home would be constructed of brick with even larger windows proportionally . . . and would be three stories, each smaller, with the last big enough for a studio.

  At that moment, the gliders pulled into the flat, brush-denuded space, parked, and children poured from them, followed by indulgent adults.

  “We missed the start!” one small girl raged as soon as she reached the hilltop. She ran to the edge, her stare fastened on the circular town green, already laid with grasses and several flower beds.

  Below, the builders of the Multiplicity Community Center cheered as they admired their finished work. The new arrivals joined in and the contractors looked up and waved at the observers.

  Avellana reluctantly turned toward the tent to act as hostess and found several people in aprons proclaiming “Darjeeling’s Teahouse” pulling food from the no-times and arranging it on the long tables, setting up urns of caff, tea, and iced beverages.

  The summer’s day would be warm, but not stifling, and certainly cooler than Druida City. When she sauntered to the western side of the hill, she could see the shore of the Great Platte Ocean, within the easy walking distance of two kilometers. A path had been made, but no road.

  Then Muin walked toward her, looking fabulous, finished with his first consultation before anticipated.

  The light limned his face, and even with all the trouble yesterday, the lines in his face seemed less deeply graven. Her heart eased. Yes, she worried about him, too.

  His hand dipped into a hidden pocket of his forest-green trous, and when he withdrew it, he held a jewelry box.

  As he joined her, he said, “I received word that your protective amulet had been created.” With a minor spellword the box top lifted, revealing a huge, gorgeous deep-green teardrop diamond. Inside the stone floated her tiny girlhood ring.

  Avellana felt her mouth drop open. “How did he get the little ring into the crystal?”

  Muin smiled wryly. “I asked. ‘Professional secret,’ T’Ash said. But between you and me, I think he talked to the stone and requested that it accept the ring into its center.”

  She stared at the fabulous piece in front of her, watching the gem sparkle as it lifted from the box and the rainbow-metallic chain of glisten floated over her head, then settled just above her breasts.

  “It is truly a marvelous necklace.”

  “Yes. And the chain is extra strength and bespelled to stay with you should it break.” Muin’s smile turned crooked. “And either or both the chain and the gem will transfer you to Primary HealingHall in the event of even a minor injury.”

  Like a cut on her hand, a bruise on her backside. She would not let the function of the piece dim her delight in the gift. Reaching up, she put her palms on each side of his face and drew his lips down to hers for a kiss.

  A mind-spinning kiss as incredible as the amulet.

  Someone coughed and Avellana withdrew her mouth from Muin’s.

  Her sister, Coll, glanced at them, then waved a piece of papyrus in her hands—the new schedule of the buildings going up. The Community Center, the tiny designed home, a model house to be sold, another bespoke house, another model, Avellana’s home, and, last, as First Quarter Twinmoons were at their apex in the evening light fading to night sky, Arta Daisy’s large, three-story layered circular home.

  Avellana would miss that construction since she and Muin would be leading the Vines in ritual.

  “An impressive project in a very nice landscape.” Coll sounded surprised.

  Dipping a curtsey, Avellana replied, “Thank you, that means something coming from one of the premier botanists of Celta.”

  “You’re welcome. I like the Community Center, too. And your former governess’s home.”

  “What?” Avellana spun and saw that the tiny house—square with an equally small one-person tower—had already been erected. She had missed that while kissing Muin. “My ex-governess served as a front for me in this matter.”

  Coll said, “Our parents and I, and I’m sure Vinni, realized that.”

  “Yes,” he said. His gaze had gone to the gaggle of Fams coursing back and forth on the hillside—at least some of them. Muin’s housefluff and a couple of others sat near a food no-time.

  “It says the next house to be built is a small mansion,” Coll read. “A home available to purchase.”

  “Yes.” Avellana beamed.

  “What?” asked Coll.

  Leaning close, Avellana murmured, “Antenn modeled that after the legendary BalmHeal Residence.”

  “Oh!”

  “‘Each home is unique but will fit in with the whole community.’” Avellana quoted the Multiplicity brochure.

  “So a smaller edition of BalmHeal Residence,” Muin said. “That’s a good publicity angle.”

  “But it is not public knowledge,” Avellana said. “We are spreading the word by rumor only.”

  Muin lifted his brows. “Very clever.”

  “Thank you. It will be the largest home so far, though there are two unsold properties that could hold greater houses.”

  “I think you and Antenn will sell that mansion today,” Muin stated. “It’s going up next?”

  “Yes.”

  Papyrus rustled as Coll consulted the list again. “All the homes can become intelligent Residences?”

  “Absolutely,” Avellana replied. Her sister, along with others who had drifted over to listen to their conversation, would spread the word—and facts—about Multiplicity later.

  “Even that one?” Coll pointed to the tiny house of Avellana’s former governess.

  “Yes.”

  “Has she commissioned a secret HouseHeart for the HeartStones that will become intelligent?” Coll pressed.

  “I do not know,” Avellana stated. “I did not ask her.” She smiled and sent mentally to Coll and Muin, My home will have a HouseHeart.

  Both nodded.

  “I truly like the looks of this area,” Coll stated. “The hills, the stream, the ocean in the distance. Very well done.”

  “Thank you.”

  Coll glanced at her wrist timer. “Now I must go. I’ll see you tonight when we join you for the ritual at the Vines.”

  Avellana’s stomach clenched with nerves, but she did not betray them. “I am glad you and our parents are coming.”

  “The Hazels are always welcome to celebrate with the Vines,” Muin said.

  With a nod, and keeping all the printed material on Multiplicity that Antenn’s firm had produced, Coll teleported away.

  Muin sighed, then glanced around at the people in the tent, the gliders on the road of more curiosity seekers, the organized activity of the builders on the plane. “I have appointments today and have to go, also.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve memorized your part of the ritual?”

  “I have had enough time,” she confirmed.

  “Good.”

  She reached out and took both of his hands in her own. “We will do fine. Our Families will be impressed.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “We have both taken part in many rituals during our lives and had various roles in them, even if we have not led them as a couple, and the ceremony tonig
ht is simple and lovely.”

  “Right.” He gave her a brief kiss, gestured to the rest of the Vines spread out on the ridge. Those included youngsters to view the historic event with an instructor, and two guards along with the Vine Chief of Guards. “They’ll be staying until I return.”

  She would not argue. “Very well.” She patted his cheek. “You are doing well in controlling your overprotective streak.”

  “Thank you, I’ve been trying.” He gave a half bow, straightened, and vanished, smiling.

  I am here, too, to guard you, Rhyz affirmed.

  And I can listen for heavy footsteps and fast breathing and other signs of alarm, and I smell very well, Flora added, her nose wrinkling up and down.

  “Thank you,” Avellana said, then strolled into the tent for a cup of caff. Now plenty of gazes followed her, since others knew her home would be built today.

  Twenty

  The abrasion of his nerves had begun the moment he woke that morning. He’d curbed them, as always, but had to put more effort into his slippery control.

  He dropped Avellana off at the valley that would hold Multiplicity, managed breakfast with his Family, then took a nice break with Avellana, and finally headed onto his major appointment of the day.

  In return for the retrieval spell on Avellana’s amulet, Vinni met with the Alders again, for the third time that week, this appointment with all four generations. He continued to probe his Flair to straighten out their tangled succession. Though a long-lived Family, they produced fewer than usual children and the title had bounced around the last couple of decades when the holder felt he or she couldn’t handle the stress of the job anymore.

  And Vinni finally found the next GreatLady in the youngest, a ten-year-old girl with a lively, charming manner and impressive sense of self, named Incana.

  Her elders had clucked around her, protective, before their Family consultation. During their linked circle, Vinni had felt a surge of pride in her when he’d announced she would be an exceptional Head of the Family. That the future should be solid and bright for them all. There’d also been a huge flow of relief from the others, especially the eldest.

  Since the prospective D’Alder didn’t have a HeartMate, Vinni had agreed to keep an eye out for a good husband for her from a more prolific Family, such as the Clovers—and the current T’Alder had made an appointment with a matchmaker right then and there.

  Then Bifrona gave the much-more-cheerful Family caff and flatsweets and Vinni spoke privately to the girl as one former-child-GreatLord to a prospective one. He anticipated her stepping up to her title and position as Head of the Family after two years of training.

  Incana seemed levelheaded and determined enough to study for the position. As he took her hand and led her to her parents, grandparents, and great-grand-aunts, he informed them that she shouldn’t be kept at home but placed with some of the other FirstFamilies children in a grovestudy group as well as taking training at The Green Knight Fencing and Fighting Salon.

  He found himself smiling as the highly pleased Family left, and let his own shoulders drop in relief. This situation regarding a FirstFamily should finally have been resolved.

  After meeting with the Alders, he skipped lunch with his own Family and headed back out to Multiplicity in his new two-seated personal glider. On the way, he called up several articles that had run in the Druida City Times about the community. Apparently, the daughter of the newssheet publisher had purchased land along with an architectural design from Antenn. That canny guy had run advertisements in the paper, so, in turn, enthusiastic stories had been written.

  The more Vinni read, the prouder of Avellana he became. She’d done all this without his or her Family’s knowledge or approval, had judged the project and chosen well.

  A splinter of hurt remained that she hadn’t shared the excitement she must have felt with him, but with her business partner. Vinni’d have to get over that. His own fault. He acknowledged that he’d been blind all the while to the mistakes he’d been making with Avellana.

  In the past.

  He parked his glider, strode up the path, and entered the tent on the hill overlooking the site. His Fam, Flora, snoozed out of the way in a patch of sunlight. He gave her a couple of pets and she wiggled her nose in sleepy acknowledgment but didn’t move. Right now about thirty people stood or sat, watching the activity below. Avellana stood outside the tent, a gentle breeze teasing stray brown hairs from her formal braids, her streak of white hair tucked away.

  Moving closer to her, he noted three new houses, each unique, dotted the landscape.

  A middle-aged tough-looking guy, lower Noble, Vinni guessed, and his more elegant wife circled a fanciful house. The steep shingled roof . . . waved . . . over the second-story row of odd oval windows set under the eaves. And the first-story rectangular windows outlined in golden wood contrasted with the creamy plaster. Steps led up to the round-topped double doors tucked under a conical entrance. The whole home made Vinni imagine ancient legendary little fey creatures living in it. Still, the couple radiated pleasure at their new house.

  It sat near the entrance of the community in the north, facing west toward the observation hillside, and just within what appeared to be the lines of the outer wall that would go up.

  Good.

  Antenn must have received Vinni’s gilt for that particular feature. Yesterday he’d contributed the amount anonymously to the community fund bank account. He’d gone through Avellana’s former governess and friend, so it appeared that a current Multiplicity member had made the donation. He’d promised the woman that he would, indeed, buy a town plot.

  He scanned the homes: the tiny square house with minuscule tower that had gone up first; the whimsical, organic home the couple had already entered; a dome of reddwood tucked between a gentle spur of hills that showed a discreet “For Sale” sign on the trimmed grassyard in front of it. Vinni narrowed his eyes. He liked that one . . . but the stream didn’t wander on the property and he realized that he preferred the idea of running water near him.

  T’Vine Residence commanded the top of a hill, with deep wells, but no unconfined water.

  Currently Antenn supervised the building of a smallish mansion of red brick—no doubt the house based on the BalmHeal Residence—that sat at the end of the shallow valley backing against the highest ridge. For Vinni, the house seemed . . . more substantial than he’d want as his own private home, another surprise.

  He said to Avellana, “I thought that structure was second to be built and would be constructed while I was gone. Shouldn’t it be finished by now?”

  Avellana turned to him, smiling. “Antenn changed the schedule again.” She swept a hand at the tent and toward the path where more people, lower Nobles from their dress, walked over the lip of the hill, all craning in the direction of the town going up. “Antenn decided to wait until he thought there would be the most people observing, early afternoon.”

  Vinni nodded. “Very clever. This begins to look like a real town.” A group of builders had moved to the center circular green and the main street spoking off from it. “When are the shops going up?”

  “Starting tomorrow and for the next few days. We do not have as many shops as homes, and we do not wish to build business space and leave it empty.”

  “Also well thought out.”

  “As a community, we prefer to build our homes and enjoy them before public commerce comes to our town.” She paused. “I believe the grand opening of the shops for outsiders will be next month, after we have more businesses committed.” She gestured to the tent and a small table at the near end. “During the morning break, Antenn added a table that shows my holographic model of the full town including all the homes, model houses for sale, and the street of shops. We will have two eating places.”

  Vinni glanced at a smiling woman in the deep green apron of Darjeeling’s Teahouse dishing out
food. “Including a restaurant by Darjeeling?”

  “Yes. One of the managers of the Druida City teahouses lives here with us. Her abode will be raised tomorrow, along with Vensis Betony-Blackthorn’s.” Avellana lifted her chin. “The other FirstFamily individual who has invested in the town. He chose a classic, elegant home of Earthan style with pillars and a lower-level courtyard and gardens.”

  “Each house unique and appealing to a special personality,” Vinni murmured. He glanced at the table but saw no mural. It seemed as if more people wanted to see the reality built in front of them instead of a model.

  His curiosity resurged as he wondered exactly what her home would look like, then he decided he’d like to be surprised, too, since she hadn’t already shared her design with him. Another small stinging emotional hurt to banish.

  A few builders gathered around the southwestern corner of the model of BalmHeal Residence, and viewers clumped around Vinni and Avellana. He thought they sensed her mood intensifying, and surely they must know that she belonged to the new community.

  Everyone watched as a tiny, fourth white sculpture settled onto the roof corner of the small red brick mansion. As Antenn and his cohorts stepped away from the house, obviously finished, applause broke out on the hillside.

  Next to him Avellana hummed with pleasure. “My home will be raised next!”

  Yes! Rhyz sent mentally to Avellana and Vinni. I now have permission to go down there. To supervise the building of Our house! Disdaining the path, he raced down the hillside.

  Avellana caught Vinni’s hand. “I think I will stay up here with you, out of the way.” Her lips quirked. “Rhyz will be distraction enough, especially since all three of the teams will work on my home.” She straightened beside him.

  “That will be something to watch,” Vinni said, as every builder in the town converged on an area—Avellana’s property—on the westernmost street of the town, midway between the northern and southern borders.

  “You must have had your pick of properties; why that one?”