He saw Ross’ eyes narrow briefly in anger, then he reached out and put his hand to Brynne’s forehead. “You’re burning up,” he said. “Today is definitely off, you’ve got a fever.” He got to his feet. “Let me go and get you something for it. In an hour or two, you’ll be feeling a lot better. You can stay here till you’re over it.”
As shivers began to shake through him, Brynne looked up. The room was becoming a little blurred. “I can’t stay, Ross. I need to go back to the estate. If I’m down with a fever, then Vanna will be suffering my symptoms.”
“She’ll be fine, Brynne,” said Ross from the doorway into his kitchen. “You told me there’s Dr. Reynolds out there. If she does take ill, and I doubt she will, he can see to her.”
“You don’t understand,” he said, putting the mug down and pushing himself up to his feet. “It isn’t what you think, it’s real. We are linked. What affects me, affects her. She won’t actually be ill, just suffering my symptoms, but they need to know that!” He staggered slightly as the room swam around him, then Ross’ hand was there to steady him. “At least call her.”
“You aren’t going anywhere, my lad,” he said, “except bed.”
Despite what he’d been told, Ross did not call Vanna and was totally unprepared for the arrival on his doorstep shortly afterward, of a Sholan female obviously on the point of collapse.
“Brynne,” she said succinctly. “I want Brynne.” Her legs began to buckle under her, and she fell forward against him.
Despite his surprise, Ross managed to catch hold of her and help her into the apartment. He tried to steer her toward a chair, but she would have none of it.
“Brynne,” she insisted with a ferocity that almost daunted even him.
“Brynne’s not well, my dear,” he said gently, trying again to lead her to the chair. “And if I may say so, you’re none too well either. You should have stayed at home. He’s in safe hands here.”
Her hand gripped his arm, claws penetrating through his sweater to dig into his flesh. “Take me to him,” she ordered, ears lying sideways in anger at being ignored.
She watched Derwent wince as he began to lead her to the bedroom. “This really isn’t necessary,” he began, but she cut him short with a gesture as he opened the door.
Brynne lay in the bed, his face flushed with fever, tossing and turning in a tangle of sheets and blankets.
Vanna let go of Derwent and stumbled over to her Leska, sitting down beside him and grasping one of his hands. Despite his attempts to pull away from her, she hung on. Gradually he began to grow less restless and as he stilled, his eyes flickered. Blinking away the sweat, he looked up at her.
“Vanna,” he said, his hand tightening briefly on hers. “It came on suddenly, I didn’t have time to get home. Did Ross send for you? I told him you needed to know. Sorry. I tried to block it.”
“You shouldn’t have, it only made it worse for us both,” she said, reaching out to push the damp curly hair back from his face. “Let the block go, I can cope. If you’d spent more time at the estate learning how to use your Talent instead of spending it here, you’d have picked up a few tricks, too.”
“Don’t scold, Vanna,” Brynne said, letting his eyes close again.
“I’m not,” she said gently, touching his neck. “You’re just not too good at blocking. You’ve caused us Link deprivation. How d’you feel now?”
“Better without the nausea and stomach pains,” he admitted, “but apart from that, like death warmed over.”
“You’ve caught that cold we all had a few weeks ago. Because you came out, you’ve probably got a secondary infection on top of it. You should have stayed home when you knew you were ill.”
“I’m afraid it was I who suggested he come,” said Ross, coming into the room and sitting in the easy chair. “I thought it was just a cold. You’re his Leska, aren’t you?”
Vanna stared at him angrily. “Why didn’t you contact me as Brynne asked, Mr. Derwent?”
“I would have, had he grown worse, but I’m quite capable of nursing someone with a mild fever, Dr. Vanna.”
“Physician Kyjishi.” Her voice was cold. “Since he’s here, I’d prefer not to move him till the fever’s broken.” As she spoke, she gently probed round the edges of Ross’ mind. That he resented not only her presence but her influence over someone he considered his pupil, was obvious, but beneath that was a shield as strong as any that Kusac and Carrie could use. Reluctantly, she gave up.
“Of course. Stay as long as you need,” said Ross. “It’s obvious your presence is helping him. It seems I underestimated your dependency on each other.”
“Kept trying to tell you,” muttered Brynne, beginning to move fretfully again.
Hush, sent Vanna. It was strange seeing him as the vulnerable one for the first time.
Brynne tried to laugh, ending on a coughing fit. Rather a reversal of roles, don’t you think? Ironic.
I said hush, she repeated, tightening her hand round his again.
“I’m glad you came, actually,” said Ross abruptly, unaware of their mental conversation. “The fever I can deal with, as I said, but the other symptoms … I thought it was some kind of allergy.”
“Nothing but our being together would have helped,” said Vanna, gently releasing Brynne and getting up. “It’s part of the price of being Leskas. I have to ask one more favor. I didn’t have a chance to collect my medikit before I left. Can I use your comm to ask someone from the estate to bring it over to me?”
“By all means. It’s in the lounge on the desk.”
“Thank you,” she said stiffly. She didn’t like the male, never had, and it was mutual.
“You shouldn’t be so concerned. It’s only a fever,” said Ross.
“You’re applying Human rules to him,” she said tersely. “He’s altered. He’s part Sholan now, no longer just Human. Human medical facts don’t apply, only our own mixed Leska ones matter.”
“I don’t see how …”
“That’s your problem, not mine,” she said with finality. “I’m a fully qualified medical doctor. What’s your field of expertise? Not medicine, that’s for sure. I don’t need amateurs telling me what to do!” With that, she stalked past him into the lounge.
When Carrie arrived, Vanna had bullied Ross into helping her strip all the blankets off Brynne and change the bed. Though she couldn’t gauge his temperature accurately without her equipment, she knew it was high enough to cause concern. He was also steadfastly refusing to drink, becoming more agitated as she tried to persuade him. She gave up after the mug was batted across the room, spilling the water onto the carpet.
Ross left her sponging Brynne down with cold water while he went to open the door. His surprise at finding a Human standing there was evident.
“Mr. Derwent? I’m Carrie Aldatan, Vanna’s friend.” She saw his eyes flick behind her to where T’Chebbi stood in her black Brotherhood robe. “This is Sister T’Chebbi Kymai.”
“Come in,” he said, standing back and holding the door open for them.
“I’ll remain in the main room, Clan Leader,” said T’Chebbi, handing her the medikit.
Carrie nodded and followed Ross through to the bedroom.
“You shouldn’t have brought it by yourself,” Vanna said, relief nonetheless evident in the set of her ears. She took the proffered case.
“I didn’t, I brought T’Chebbi with me. It’s time I started going out and about again, Vanna.”
Vanna took out the sampling unit and fitted it on Brynne’s forearm, latching it closed again.
“I suppose so, but Kusac will kill me if anything happens to you.”
“What could happen? I’ve T’Chebbi with me. Well, what’s it say?” she asked impatiently.
“Give me a moment,” Vanna said, punching the keypad on the side of the unit. “Ah, here we are. Surprise, surprise, it’s the same infection we all had. Nothing else, thankfully, so Brynne must just have caught a chill on top of it. His e
lectrolyte balance is off, but I expected that. He won’t drink. I’m going to need a drip to rehydrate him.”
“He looks very feverish. He’s not going to be as ill as Kaid was, is he?” Carrie asked, eyeing Brynne, who was muttering in his sleep.
“I shouldn’t think so. I am reading a foreign substance in his bloodstream, though. It’s only a trace. I’ll take a sample to analyze later.”
“How about you?”
“Surviving. I’ve got a splitting headache with the effort of blocking his symptoms. I should have brought my own damper,” she said with an embarrassed grin as she took the blood sample vial out of the diagnostic unit.
“I can lend you mine,” said Carrie, reaching for the small device attached to her wrist unit.
“No,” said Vanna, putting her hand out to stop her friend. “It’s set for you and Kusac, not us. Thank you for the thought, though. If T’Chebbi wouldn’t mind, I need a rehydration unit from the center. Jack can give it to her, and if she could pick up my damper from the house …?”
“Sure. Just tell T’Chebbi what you want.”
“I think the substance you’re detecting could be the tea I gave Brynne,” interrupted Ross. “It contains herbs from Earth. You’ll find it pretty near impossible to analyze, I’m afraid.”
“You’d be surprised what we can analyze,” said Vanna, going past him into the lounge to speak to T’Chebbi.
Carrie looked over at where Ross stood by the door. “You’ve been teaching Brynne, haven’t you? What’s your field?”
Ross smiled. “I cover a lot of fields, my dear,” he said gently. “My skills go back to the earliest times.”
“You work alone, then.”
“Most of what I do is listen to people with troubles and try to guide them back onto the right path. My work is most unglamorous.”
Carrie gave him a long look. “It’ll be interesting to see what Brynne has learned.”
“I only take one pupil at a time, I’m afraid,” he said, his tone mildly apologetic.
“Not when you take on one of a Leska pair,” she said. “Our minds exist together. Whether or not you like it, because of her shared consciousness with Brynne, Vanna is also your pupil.”
Carrie saw from Ross’ face that he hadn’t considered that possibility. It pleased her to be able to wrong-foot him: He was so damned smug! “You should have lived on Shola for a while before deciding to take on one of the Leska telepaths as a pupil.”
“Brynne approached me,” he murmured.
“Common sense should have told you to wait. I’ve a pretty shrewd idea of what you are, so I’ll only warn you once. Study Vanna’s report on the mixed Leska pairings, because she’s the leading medical expert on us. What one experiences, so does the other. When one is in pain, so is the other: when one dies, we both die. It’s the price we pay for what we share. Tread carefully, Ross Derwent, and make sure no harm comes to Brynne, or through him to Vanna, lest you have me to answer to. She’s very dear to me—and my life-mate.”
“Strong words, young lady, but on whose authority do you issue them?” he asked with frozen politeness.
“My own, as their Clan Leader, and as an En’Shalla Priest,” she said. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking of me as just a Terran woman. I’m not.”
T’Chebbi made her presence felt with a polite cough. Her robe was open, displaying the short sword she always wore. At her left hip, her hand rested negligently on the butt of her energy pistol.
“Clan Leader, are you sure you can spare me? Maylgu is downstairs in the lobby. She could go.”
Carrie hesitated. This was a time for gestures, ones that wouldn’t be lost on Ross. “Yes, ask Maylgu to go. You remain with me, T’Chebbi.”
The Sister nodded once, then turned and walked crisply from the room as Vanna returned.
Carrie caught Ross Derwent’s gaze with hers, narrowing them to accentuate the vertical pupil which she alone of the Human mixed Leskas had.
“T’Chebbi is one of my Clan, too, Mr. Derwent,” she said, her English suddenly accentuated by a low, Sholan accent. “We have a great many of the Brotherhood of Vartra among our number.”
Brynne broke the tension by beginning to mutter and thrash around in the bed. Vanna bent over him, crooning gently and murmuring soothing words as she stroked his cheeks, pushing the dark sweat-soaked tendrils of long hair back from his face. Slowly he began to settle again.
“Carrie, you should go home now,” said her friend. “I know you’ve got other things to see to. Brynne will be fine as soon as I get the right medication.”
Are you sure? I don’t like leaving you here without a guard.
I’ll be fine. You made your point about us not being folk to take lightly, replied Vanna.
Did I lean too hard?
No, I don’t think so. He’s made no effort to understand us at all. It’s time he realized there is a higher authority than his own judgment to answer to. Now, go home. We’ll be fine, honestly.
Where is your guard? How did you come to be here without Nyash or Lasad?
I didn’t tell them I was coming.
I’ll send one of them out to you when I get back. Carrie got to her feet. “Keep in touch, Vanna. Send if you need anything.”
“I will.”
“Good-bye, Mr. Derwent,” she said.
When she’d gone, Ross disappeared, returning a few minutes later with a cup of coffee.
“Why don’t you sit in the chair and take a break for a few minutes? Brynne is sleeping for now,” he said solicitously. “I’ll watch him till your attendant returns.”
“That’s kind of you,” she said, pushing herself up from the bed. “I was up late with our cub last night.”
“Your cub?” he asked as she moved over to the chair and settled herself.
“Brynne’s and mine. He must have told you. If he didn’t, it was on all the vidcasts; so was Carrie’s.” She took a large mouthful of her drink.
“I remember something about a half-Sholan child,” he said, handing her the mug. “So the young lady who was here chose to give up her humanity just to bear her Sholan lover’s children? I find it hard to understand the reasoning behind such a sacrifice.”
“But it’s all right for me to give up my Sholanness to bear a Human’s cub, is it?” she asked with a low growl. “I’d be careful what you say, Mr. Derwent. You might find yourself accused of prejudice. And by the way, Carrie’s married to Kusac Aldatan.”
“If my words caused offense, do forgive me,” he said, sitting down beside Brynne. “It wasn’t intended that way.”
Vanna gave a low, warning growl.
“If you were up all night then you definitely need a rest,” Ross said, his voice now soothing, almost hypnotic. “It’ll refresh you. I’ll wake you if there’s any change in Brynne.”
Vanna felt herself beginning to relax at last.
When Maylgu returned, she buzzed the door to Derwent’s apartment. Getting no reply, she tried again. After another two minutes, she headed downstairs for the public comm and contacted Carrie at the villa. Within fifteen minutes, she was standing outside the door with Garras, Carrie, and the Accommodation supervisor.
“This is most irregular,” the supervisor was saying as she took the master key to the locking mechanism. “He’s a good tenant, never any bother, not like some.”
“Just open the door,” said Carrie impatiently as she reached mentally for her friend. There was no change. It felt as if Vanna were deeply asleep. She needed to touch her to find out more. As for Brynne, his mind was protected by a barrier like the one she’d felt Derwent using. Then the door was open, and she was pushing the supervisor aside.
“Carrie, let me go first,” said Garras, taking hold of her arm and pulling her back.
The lounge was empty, and she headed straight for the bedroom, Garras lunged after her again but this time she pulled free. Vanna was sprawled, deeply asleep, in the easy chair. Stopping only long enough to confirm that she was nei
ther harmed nor bound, Carrie turned her attention to Brynne, and to Derwent, who was sitting beyond him.
“Check Vanna thoroughly,” Carrie said to Maylgu. “Garras, keep an eye on Derwent.”
The latter, sitting at the other side of the bed, was just beginning to stir from the trancelike state he’d been in when they’d entered.
“I’ll see to Brynne,” said Carrie. A touch to his forehead confirmed what his color had already told her; his skin was cool and he was sleeping quietly.
“I should have expected you to come back,” Derwent said ruefully, as he scrubbed at his face with his hands.
She watched as his color gradually returned and the lines of tiredness began to ease. Probing at the edges of the Terran’s mind, Carrie hoped that while he was in this condition, she could read something of what he’d been doing. The barrier was still there, and as firm as ever despite his exhaustion.
“Vanna’s asleep, Garras,” said Maylgu, “but it’s not natural. I’d say drug induced.”
Garras began to growl deep in his throat.
“Wait,” said Carrie, turning round to look at the two males. “I want to know what the hell you’ve been doing, Ross. I thought I made it clear you were to leave them alone.”
“They’re both fine,” he said. “The herbs I gave Brynne earlier were only part of the treatment. I needed to finish it with a little healing of my own before your friend’s drugs came. As for Vanna, I gave her a mild sleeping draught, that’s all. She’ll wake shortly. She needed the rest anyway.”
“How dare you use your homemade medicines on my friends! You had no right to deny Brynne proper medical attention, especially when it was at the hands of his Leska! And as for drugging Vanna …”
“You’re no healer,” said Garras, his voice deep and angry. “If you were, the Telepath Guild wouldn’t have allowed you off their premises.”
“No, I’m not a healer,” he admitted. “At least, not of living people. I deal more with the world of nature and the souls of the departed.”
Garras let out an exclamation of disbelief.
“Brynne wasn’t about to die,” Derwent added hastily. “However, I do have an extensive knowledge of herbal medicines. As I said, I’d given him something to break the fever, and I couldn’t allow your physician’s drugs to interfere with it. There could have been complications.”
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