Ria's Visions (Hearts of ICARUS Book 6)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “Absolutely not, Ria,” Vari said.

  Ria relaxed a little, knowing Vari was telling the truth. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have done something to prevent whatever happened. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry?” Vari asked in surprise. “For what are you sorry?”

  “I don’t know,” Ria replied. “For not remembering, for not…I just feel as though I should have done something, but I don’t remember enough to know what.”

  “Ria, listen to me,” Vari said firmly. “You were the student, she was the scientist and teacher. Period. Now stop thinking about it. It’ll come back to you, but you need to give yourself time.”

  Ria nodded, not entirely convinced but knowing she shouldn’t argue about it further. It was time to ask the question she’d been avoiding by thinking about Dr. Kannon. “Vari,” she began, then closed her mouth, fighting the sudden tight sensation squeezing her throat.

  “You want to know about your injury,” Vari said, reaching for Ria’s hand again, this time holding it between her own.

  “Yes,” Ria whispered.

  “The force of the explosion caused the container that the liquid metal was in to shatter into long, thick splinters, sort of like glass. One of those splinters, about four inches long, penetrated the back of your skull and lodged in the area of your brain that governs sight.”

  “Can it be removed?”

  “It’s been removed,” Vari said. “Unfortunately, it was coated with the liquid metal.”

  “Kólasi,” Ria whispered. “It’s still in there, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so,” Vari said. “It seeped into the tissue along both sides of the wound the splinter made. As far as we’ve been able to determine the liquid metal isn’t causing any further damage, and it’s not spreading. Removing the affected tissue would only cause more damage than what you already have.”

  Ria’s next question formed in her mind, but she shied away from it. She didn’t want the answer to this yet. But it was too late now. It wouldn’t go away, and it refused to be ignored.

  She took a long slow breath. “When we get home, is there any chance that the Tigrens, or Jareth, or Doc will be able to heal me?”

  “I’m sorry, Ria, but we don’t have an answer for that yet,” Vari replied. “Dr. Jula gave me a copy of all your test results which I sent to Jasan a few days ago along with that very same question. It’ll be a few weeks before we get a response, though. Maybe longer.”

  “A few days ago?” Ria asked in surprise. “How long as it been since the explosion?”

  “Eight days.”

  Ria absorbed that quietly. “Why will it take so long to get a response from Jasan?”

  “We’ve made a lot of jumps, Ria. We’re a very long way from Jasan.”

  “What you’re telling me is that I’m blind,” Ria said quietly. “What you’re not telling me is that it could be permanent.”

  “For the time being yes, you’re blind. But whether or not that can be corrected when we return home is unknown. I’m not hiding anything from you, Ria. That’s a promise.”

  “Thank you, Vari,” Ria said, squeezing Vari’s fingers with her own before slipping her hand free. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have implied otherwise.”

  “It’s all right,” Vari said. “You’re looking a little pale. Are you in any pain?”

  “No, I’m fine,” Ria said. “I’m a little tired though. If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to rest for a while.”

  “Of course,” Vari said, leaning over the bed to kiss her sister on the forehead. “We can talk more later.”

  “Thanks, Vari.”

  Ria listened to her sister’s footsteps as they crossed the room, then the sound of the door opening and closing. She waited another couple of minutes until she was as sure as she could be that she was alone. Only then did she allow silent tears to fall.

  ***

  Vari watched Ria through the observation window, wishing she could think of a way to make this easier for her sister. The past week had been like one long nightmare after another. And none of it should have happened. That was the hard part. The part that left a knot of seething anger inside of her. Anger she couldn’t direct at anyone because the woman responsible was dead.

  Vari breathed in slow and deep, pushing the anger back. She tried to focus on the fact that Ria was awake now. Blind, yes, but conscious. That had been the first hurdle.

  “How’s she doing?” Dr. Jula asked, joining Vari at the window.

  “Okay I think,” Vari said. “I haven’t told her everything yet. Once she understood that she was blind and likely to stay that way for a while at least, she asked to be alone so she could rest. I think she needs time to let it sink in.”

  “She didn’t cry or become emotional?”

  “No, that’s not Ria’s way. She holds things close.”

  “I thought you told me she was impulsive,” Niri said frowning.

  “She is,” Vari said with a ghost of a smile. “But only physically. You know, climb into a stall to feed a brand new colt a carrot without a thought to how the new mother would react. Things like that. Emotionally she’s always been reserved.”

  “That’s distinctly unusual, Vari.”

  “I know, but that’s Ria. She never does anything the easy way.”

  Niri’s eyebrows shot up in an expression of surprise that she immediately controlled. By the time Vari turned to look at her a moment later, no trace of it was visible.

  “How’d it go with your med-techs?”

  Niri shrugged. “I can’t say I blame Graeme and Wode for not wanting to do junior med-tech work, but whining about it is a different matter altogether.” Her black eyes flashed. “If I hear one more word of resistance, or catch one more dirty look, or if they perform any task less than perfectly, I’ll send them to work in the kitchens. Permanently.”

  “You’d do that? Really?” Vari asked with half a smile.

  “Without a moment’s hesitation. Ria is not on vacation, this is not a pleasure cruise, and neither the Bihotza, the Beacon, nor the Hilgaria are passenger liners. They will do the work I ask of them, or they will work elsewhere. If I have to bring the Commanders into the matter, I will.”

  Vari pressed her palms together and bowed her head. “Kri-Shal, Arank Niri Jula.”

  Niri looked at her in surprise, then bowed with equal formality. “Hari kna, Lady Vari. You do me much honor.” Then she raised her head and grinned, her eyes glinting with humor instead of anger now. “I admit, I channeled a bit of you while talking to them. I don’t think I’ll get any more complaints.”

  “I’m glad I could be of help, even if it was by proxy.” Vari looked down the hall and saw Kai standing back, waiting for her. She smiled while holding up one finger. He nodded and she looked at Ria through the viewing window again. “How long do you think she’ll sleep?”

  “A couple of hours,” Niri replied. “I had the medi-cot inject her with a mild sedative when she began to panic.”

  “It helped,” Vari said, nodding. “I’ll be on the rec deck if you need me. Otherwise, I’ll be back in two hours.”

  “Lessons?”

  “Yes,” Vari replied shaking her head a little. “I still can’t believe how many people are interested in learning En-Dairii.”

  “The Bihotza’s crew boasts a large number of warriors. Of course they’d want to learn how to detach heads the way you did in the mission vid.”

  Vari sighed. “I’m going to throttle Salene Dracon when we get back home, princess or not.”

  “Why would you do that?” Niri asked in surprise.

  “Because I know it had to be her who repeated that phrase.”

  “I see,” Niri said, fighting laughter. “At least you have something to keep you busy.”

  “I know, and I’m not complaining. I thought I was prepared for a long voyage but we’re not quite half way there yet and I miss fresh air and sunshine more than I thought possible. I’m grateful to have somet
hing so worthwhile to do. But poor Lanok. I bet he’s wishing he never told anyone he could make dairi.”

  “Not a bit,” Niri said. “He’s in Nirvana.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Vari said, smiling. “He’s a good man.”

  “Yes, I think so,” Niri agreed softly. Vari barely managed to stop her smile from widening to a grin.

  “I’ll see you in a couple of hours,” she said. After one last look at Ria, Vari left the infirmary with Kai. Once they were in the corridor he bent down to kiss her quickly.

  “Go ahead and ask,” she said, smiling up at him.

  “Ask what?” he said with an all too innocent expression. Vari continued to wait, clearly not buying it. Kai was always interested in the languages and customs of other peoples. “I wasn’t eavesdropping. I promise. I just have annoyingly good hearing.”

  “I know that, Kai,” Vari said, touching his arm lightly.

  “Thank you, babe,” he said. “So, what was that you said to Dr. Jula?”

  “Kir-Shal?”

  “That, and whatever that word was you said before her name, like a title.”

  “Kir-Shal means something like high respect, but more. It’s the deepest kind of respect. Arank means wise, or wise one when used the way I did, before her name.”

  “I like those words,” Kai said. “She deserves them.” Hearing something in his tone, Vari looked up, surprised to see his dark chocolate eyes had gone cool. “Is it her entire staff giving her trouble?”

  “No, just the two mids. They’ve had to divide Ria’s job between them and they don’t like it. The two seniors, Corin and Jak, have taken on some of the mid’s tasks in turn, but they’ve taken it in stride.”

  “That’s good to know. We will not allow Dr. Jula to be disrespected by anyone, particularly those who work for her.

  “I agree, Kai. But for now, we need to let Niri handle this. If we interfere, they’ll think she wasn’t strong enough to deal with them herself. She did say she’d bring you into it if she had to.”

  Kai huffed, but nodded his agreement. “How is Ria doing?”

  “All right, I suppose. She seemed to take the news that she’s blind a lot better than I expected. Better than I would have.”

  “Wait…she’s awake?” Kai asked in surprise.

  “Yeah, sorry, I thought you were there long enough to get that.”

  “That’s wonderful news, Vari. I wondered why you seemed more relaxed.” He opened the stairwell door and waited for her to step through before following. He picked her up and, using Air, had them on the rec deck in moments.

  He put her down in front of Declan and Jay who were just outside the stairwell door, waiting. The three of them moved close enough that they all touched her, and she basked in the flood of warmth and caring that surrounded her.

  She leaned her head against Declan’s chest, wishing they were alone. But they weren’t alone and, after a few moments, they stepped away from each other.

  “How’s Ria?” Declan asked.

  Vari told them. “I’ll tell her the rest later,” she concluded. “She needed a break.”

  “Understandable,” Kai said. “Come, your class is waiting for you.”

  Vari nodded and they all turned to walk up the corridor. “With so many people taking lessons now, I really appreciate your help. You guys have come a long way in such a short time. I’ve been thinking that you and the other male-sets should have a separate class.”

  “Why separate?” Jay asked curiously.

  “Because you’re learning at an extremely rapid rate. I think you’re ready to begin working on zentsu techniques, which is not usually done until you reach the third level. Taking classes with the others slows you and the other Klanaren down.”

  “You’re right,” Kai said. “I noticed some frustration the other day and was concerned people would quit the class because they can’t keep up with us.”

  “Anyone who wants to quit because a fellow student learns faster has no place in my class, or En Dairii,” Vari said coolly. Then she sighed so softly they barely heard it. “I thought I’d weeded out all of those who lacked the necessary emotional and mental qualities for this discipline.”

  Jay, Kai, and Declan all looked at her for a moment, then smiled almost as one. “What?”

  “We’re just very proud of you, Miraku,” Declan said. “That’s all.”

  Vari shook her head. She loved her men more than she’d ever thought it was possible to love anyone. But that didn’t mean she always understood them.

  They entered the training studio and Vari went to the front of the room while her men stayed near the back where they could see those who needed help. She was still surprised by the sheer number of students she had. So many that she and Lanok had split them up into six groups of twenty each, then divided the groups between them so they each had three classes. Since all were beginners, it tended to be a bit repetitious but Vari didn’t mind. She enjoyed watching her students master the moves she taught them.

  Class was nearly at an end and Vari was speaking about the new moves she wanted her students to practice, and summarizing the points to be most aware of in their developing techniques. Her men were standing at the back of the room listening as intently as her students, when the door opened unexpectedly. She fell silent, surprised when the Katres entered the room without hesitation or apology, and headed for Declan, Jay and Kai, completely ignoring the fact that a class was taking place.

  She waited stiffly, eyes narrowed, to see if the Katres would at least remain silent until she dismissed the class. When Talon opened his mouth to speak with Declan, she growled under her breath.

  Moving so fast she was but a blur to all who watched, she leapt high into the air and tossed three dairi over the students’ heads toward the back of the room. Landing lightly, she walked straight toward the Katres, her students melting away from her path. She stopped several feet in front of the Katres who were looking down at their ankles in confusion.

  Vari made a quick gesture with her fingers and her dairi unwrapped themselves and returned to their places on her clothing. The Katres looked up at her in surprise. She glared back at them long enough for them to have no doubt as to her feelings. Then she turned her back on them without a word.

  “I apologize for the interruption,” she said, bowing to her students. The class returned her bow, held it for a beat, then straightened, each and every single one of them sending a glare to the Admirals that matched Vari’s.

  “Class is dismissed,” Vari said. “Don’t forget to practice the new moves.”

  Still glaring, Vari’s students silently filed out of the studio. When Vari turned around in time to catch Talon scowling at them, her anger grew.

  “It seems your students aren’t happy with us,” Talon said when the last of the students were gone. He returned Vari’s gaze steadily. “Nor are you.”

  “Those students are members of the Bihotza’s crew,” Vari said coldly. “They’ve had to rearrange their schedules, work extra hours, and use their free time…lunch breaks, dinner breaks, days off…to attend these classes and practice the hours required each day for this discipline. You just stole ten minutes from each one of them without consideration or apology. Yes, Admiral Talon, they are unhappy with you. As am I. Should we not be?”

  Talon had to admire Lady Vari’s reaction to what could only be perceived as an insult to her and her students. In her place, he’d be roaring the ceiling down. He also had to admire her respect for her students and the sacrifices they had to make to attend her classes.

  The fact that he and his brothers were half crazy with worry and fear for Ria was not an excuse. Even if it were, it wasn’t one he could tell her about.

  “I apologize, most sincerely, Lady Vari,” he said, bowing deeply. “You are correct to be angry with us.”

  Vari’s anger was soothed not only by the apology, but also by the fact that he didn’t attempt to excuse their actions. She touched her forehead in the Flaridian way o
f accepting an apology, remembered they wouldn’t understand the meaning of the gesture and dipped her head. “Your apology is accepted, Admiral.”

  She felt her men relax beside her and nearly rolled her eyes at them. “If you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment to keep, and I’m sure you have something to discuss with the Commanders.”

  “Thank you, Lady Vari,” Talon said with a deep nod.

  Vari turned to Declan. “Later?”

  “Of course, Miraku,” he replied, reaching up to touch her cheek lightly. She smiled at his touch, shared it with Jay and Kai, then left the studio.

  “We apologize to you, as well,” Talon said to Declan as soon as Vari was gone. “It was beyond rude of us to interrupt an ongoing class. The truth is, I spotted you through the window and just came in without even noticing a class was in session.”

  Declan nodded, accepting the further apology. He understood their need for information on Ria’s condition and, putting himself in their place, he couldn’t really blame them. He didn’t understand why they were keeping the fact that Ria was their berezi secret, nor had he asked. As long as they didn’t admit it, then he, Jay, and Kai didn’t actually know about it, which allowed them to keep their suspicions to themselves. Up to now it hadn’t mattered, but the situation had changed.

  “Ria has awoken from her coma,” he said as gently as he could. The relief on their faces was undeniable, though there was something guarded in Thorn’s eyes.

  “That’s exceptionally good news, Declan,” Talon said. “Thank you.”

  “How is she?” Tee asked.

  “Dr. Jula’s predictions were correct,” Declan said. “She can’t see. More than that, we don’t yet know. Vari is going to speak with her now.”

  “That’s…unfortunate,” Talon said after a long pause. “Thank you and, again, we apologize for the interruption.”

  “Talon, we must talk,” Declan said before they’d fully turned to leave. Talon exchanged looks with his brothers, then nodded reluctantly.

  “It’s been a long week for all of us, you three included,” Declan said. “We understand that. We also understood your wish to keep certain matters to yourselves in light of the uncertainty of Ria’s condition. But the situation has changed.”