“Niece, it’s good to see you again,” Tei’Thrand said. “May you live in harmony. May I introduce Tei’Laran?”
Laran bowed and lowered his burden to the ground. He released the handles. “Honoured.”
“Honoured,” Shima repeated, and bowed to him before addressing her uncle again. “What brings you out here?”
“You,” Tei’Thrand said.
Obviously. He didn’t say it, but Shima heard it clearly regardless. What she’d meant to ask was why now? He had ignored his family before this. To be fair, he wasn’t Jasha Clan any longer. Tei were required to break old bonds when they joined the-clan-that-is-not. They were other. Separate. They couldn’t act upon old loyalties if they felt them. Thrand had maintained his distance admirably. The sleek almost new-seeming car, spoke of someone doing well. Privileged. Shima tried not to feel bitter about it. The males were both Tei and would be strong in the Harmonies. They would sense it.
“That was my assumption. How may I serve you?” Shima said mildly.
“Interesting choice of words, Shima. Are you truly willing to serve our people?”
She flicked her ears in agreement, but the question puzzled her. Any Shan would say yes if asked that question, but not many would have the opportunity. The elders served their people, as did any who chose the warrior caste. Tei’Varyk and his mate served Shan interests on faraway Earth, as they had previously in Fleet. How could she serve? She was a gardener without a garden to tend, a scientist with nothing to research.
“We need you, Shima.”
“Me?” she said. The Harmonies revealed Tei’Thrand’s uncertainty, but not the reason behind the emotion. Tei’Laran was expectant if she were any judge. “I’m just an out of work gardener. What can I do?”
Tei’Thrand’s jaw dropped in amusement. “Such modesty, niece. You are the Blind Hunter. It’s she our people need you to be, not this…” he gestured at her appearance. “This travesty.”
Shima’s ears went hard back at the scorn dripping from his words. “Do. Not. Call. Me. THAT!”
“It’s who you truly are. This pretence must cease!”
Shima’s hackles rose, and she readied herself for battle. It wouldn’t become physical. She wouldn’t let it, but by the Harmonies he would regret coming here. Favourite uncle or no, she would make him regret that! She took a breath to flay the hide off him, but Tei'Laran smoothly took over and drew her attention.
“Don’t be angry with him,” Tei’Laran said. “Thrand didn’t want to come here. The Council insisted that someone must, and he’s the only one of us related to you by blood.”
By us he meant Tei. There had been others once, but many had been killed in the war. Ordering Thrand to visit her explained what the Harmonies had shown her about his uncertainty, but not the reasoning behind his unwanted errand.
“The elders asked you to visit me? Why would they? My district has power again,” her tail rose in a shrug. “Some of the time at least. They could have messaged me.”
“Your renown is of particular importance just now,” Tei'Laran said, pointedly not answering her question. “Do you follow the newscasts?”
Her ears flicked to agree. “When we can. Chailen follows things closer than I. She hopes to help her mate find work. He’s a fine healer, as she will be in time.”
“You’ve heard of the upcoming war games on Pandora?”
“I know of Pandora. I know the Kalmar Union is a long way from here. It has nothing to do with me, and war isn’t a game.”
Both Tei flicked their ears to agree.
“The Blind Hunter knows war,” Tei’Thrand said, making Shima bristle again. “As does Tei’Laran. He fought with the Humans too. Were your youngling lessons a game? How about your target practice? Your father took you hunting often; were those trips games?”
“No,” she admitted. “They were to teach, to prepare, to…” her eyes narrowed and she whispered her father’s words to her from long ago. “To serve and protect our people at need.”
She remembered Tahar’s lessons. All of his lessons. To serve and protect our people at need was the warrior’s code. She wasn’t a warrior; neither had her father been one, but he’d taught her well in preparation for her time of choosing. She had chosen scientist caste as many in her clan had before her, but not out of ignorance of the other castes. Tahar had seen to that. She wondered now if he’d expected her to follow him into his caste of engineers. He’d never displayed disappointment in her choice. She wondered what he’d think of her choices during, and since, the war. He was with the Harmonies and their ancestors now, watching over her and Chailen. Would he expect something different of her… something… bigger? It made her unhappy to think he might.
Shima pushed the unsettling feeling away, and tried to concentrate. They were after something.
Tei’Thrand’s tail gestured a shrug. He added the dip of one shoulder that made it mean aliens are strange. “The war games on Pandora aren’t games; that is a truth, and a poor choice of words by the Humans perhaps. It doesn’t matter what they call the event. Our people must take part.”
“In whose estimation, yours?”
“The warrior caste among others. I agree with them, as do many of the Tei.”
“But not all?”
Tei’Laran laughed. “When have our people all agreed about anything?”
“True,” Shima agreed, and it had been a stupid question. “So what’s stopping us? Are we not invited?”
“We’ve been invited, and a Human ship is ready to transport us if we wish to take up the offer,” Tei’Thrand said.
“But?”
The males looked at each other, neither willing to say it, but the Harmonies were already telling Shima a lot. “The elders didn’t send you, did they? Your clan sent you. I’m right aren’t I?”
They wanted her to go to Pandora. The thought briefly excited her, but then the reality of her situation crushed it. She had Chailen and Sharn to care for. They needed her. They needed the food chits Hamal would pay her. She glanced at her battered car full of salvage destined for Hamal. It looked sad next to Tei’Thrand’s gleaming vehicle.
“Shima of Clan Jasha, first cub of Tahar, you are called to serve our people,” Tei’Thrand began.
Shima’s ears went hard back in shock. Oh no, he didn’t just say that. He wouldn’t try this again! The Tei didn’t really want her to join them. Not the real her. They wanted the Blind Hunter to play along with their political games. They wanted her to bow and say the words they would put in her mouth!
“As Tei, you will lead our people by your example. By your own actions you will teach them to strive, to be better, to build the Great Harmony anew. Will you join your fellow Tei, and take up this burden?”
“No,” she said and stormed back to the administration building to continue her work.
Tei’Thrand gaped. “Where are you going? We’re not done!” he shouted at her back.
Shima stopped before entering the building. “I’m needed here.”
Tei’Thrand joined her. “You’re needed out there more!” he said, gesturing at the sky.
Shima glared at him. “I’m not you, uncle. I won’t abandon my sib!”
Smack!
Shima’s head rang from the blow. He had cuffed her, claws withdrawn thankfully. She didn’t rub her ear. She grinned, muzzle rumpling to reveal her killing teeth, and growled low, making him step back. She fought off the fight/kill reflex of her people, and her vision didn’t narrow down to a tunnel fixated on her prey.
“Do that again,” Shima said evenly. “I dare you to touch me again.”
He didn’t apologise. “Look at you,” he said, his voice thick with disgust. “You’re a vagabond. A nobody grubbing in the dirt for scraps! You took all of his teaching and threw it away! He was one of our… one of your clan’s greats. How could you do that to his memory? He would be ashamed to call you his blood! Do you think I don’t mourn him? Do you think I don’t feel his loss?! I mourn for millio
ns you… you witless, foolish, cub!”
He walked away, back toward his car but stopped before climbing aboard. Tei’Laran was already at the controls. He hadn’t bothered to retrieve his equipment bag. It lay abandoned in the dust.
“Hero they call you,” Tei’Thrand said, sounding defeated and tired now. “What a sick lie that is. They honour you with a hero’s name—The Blind Hunter—never knowing that their hero is only a blind fool. I pity them for putting their faith in you.”
Shima watched the gleaming silver arrow streak across the sky in silence. Before she could get back to work, the Harmonies warned her of the approach of more people. She sighed. Her unwanted guests must have been followed. What else could go wrong?
She watched the battered cars of the salvage crews landing nearby, and went to grab Tei’Laran’s equipment bag before someone else did. She opened it to find a gleaming warrior’s harness in her size. It felt as supple as the hide of a juvenile Shkai’lon. Twin holsters were already mounted upon it for her beamers; the beamers she had traded away. She stared at the beautiful thing, and thought that perhaps her uncle was right.
Tahar would be ashamed.
* * *
7 ~ Harmonies
Zuleika, Child of Harmony, Shan System.
“Tei...” the voice sighed and faded away.
“Merrick no!” Shima cried, startling herself awake.
Fear choked her as she reached with the Harmonies to find Chailen. Two mind glows reassured her that all was well. Her sib was asleep in her mate’s arms, probably dreaming of him and her future cubs. Tension drained away, and she began to relax. The beauty of Chailen’s mind glow always soothed her fears.
She rolled off her sleeping mat, and onto four feet to pad through the silent house. The dream had been disturbing her rest more often since her confrontation with her uncle. Before then, it had been an infrequent thing. Now it woke her every night. Tei’Thrand had hit a raw nerve when he tried to recruit her. Merrick had been the first one to call her Tei, and he’d died. She would never forget that naming her Tei meant following her orders into death.
She needed to breathe the night air, and put the dream away for another night. Her grove beckoned. It had been her sanctuary once; blind and beyond hope, it had barely kept her sane before Gina rescued her from the dark. She still sought its solace when troubled.
The shell and gravel mix crunched pleasantly under foot as she followed the path to the pool. She used to spend all of her time there, sitting at the water’s edge, wishing for the courage to end her torment. Thank the Harmonies, she’d never found it. An orbit in darkness seemed a small price to pay for healthy eyes now. It hadn’t back then; it had been torture.
She reached ahead with the Harmonies, sampling the peace of the grove, and found all as it should be. It had been in a shocking condition when she returned from Snakeholme. Time and nature had almost undone her careful planting. Well, she’d fixed that. The native plants were growing harmoniously, and those she’d brought with her from homeworld, were no longer in danger of being crowded out of existence. Uprooting the guide plants that Chailen had planted along the paths, and honouring the Harmonies by returning her grove to balance, had been very satisfying.
Shima reached the pond and sat at the water’s edge.
She could feel the fish meditating deep beneath the surface of the water. She couldn’t see them even with her miraculously sharp eyes, but she could feel them down there. She huffed a laugh when she imagined Stone sitting here with her, eagerly searching for prey. He was a fiend for fishing according to Kate, though doing that here wouldn’t have been very challenging.
She scooped up a pebble from nearby, and flipped it into the water. “Wake up down there.”
The fish came to the surface to investigate the ripples, but disappointed to find nothing edible, they swam back to the deeps and fishy dreams.
She wondered what they found to think about. The Harmonies couldn’t reveal thoughts, only feelings, but the tiny mind glows did confirm the fish had them. They were probably confined to survival. Things like: warm or cold, hungry or not hungry, and tired. Not a bad way to live for a fish, but for a Shan agricultural geneticist, it left a lot to be desired.
Maybe that was her problem.
Upon her return from Snakeholme, she’d been busy settling back in to Tahar’s house, but there was nothing left to do. Sharn and Chailen had applied for various positions within the healer caste, and while they waited for news, Sharn had gone back to scavenging the ruins for things to trade. Shima helped with that when he asked her, but he rarely did any more; she always attracted too much attention. She was The Blind Hunter; the tragic heroic figure restored by Tei’Burgton, the honoured leader of the Viper Clan itself. Everyone wanted to meet her.
“Foolishness.”
It was, but that didn’t change matters.
Having a crowd follow and slow him down, didn’t sit well with Sharn, especially when other scavengers got to his loot first. So, more and more, he went out alone, and asked for her help only when he found something too bulky for one person to carry. In the meantime, Chailen did odd jobs for people, and took her pay in food chits; those were worth more than money, and could be traded for extra rations, which she gave away to feral younglings more often than not.
Shima huffed, feeling dissatisfied with her inaction. She needed a proper job. Her partnership with Hamal wasn’t a very satisfying form of employment, but it wasn’t the cause of her night terrors. The dreams were partly her own fault. Letting Chailen talk her into going to the dedication ceremony had been a mistake. She should have resisted her sib, but reopening the Markan’deya was an important event for Zuleika. The old building had been destroyed in the liberation of the city, and rebuilding it had been given a high priority; not as high as the power grid and the water pumping stations, but high. The ferals in the ruins needed to be taught where they belonged, and where Shan fit in a universe filled with wonders like the Viper Clan, and horrors like the Murderers of Harmony.
The new Markan’deya was larger and more modern than the old one. The original art had been lost with the building, but there were plenty of electronic records to work from. All of the paintings were lovingly reconstructed, and the artefacts replaced from those stored in other cities.
She remembered thinking, back during her escape from Zuleika, that Kazim’s films might teach future generations of younglings. Well, she’d been right. An entire hall had been dedicated to the new war, and wall screens featuring Kazim’s work were its most striking feature. Broken weapons, and other artefacts, were displayed in cases beneath each screen to lend his films authenticity. Not that such were needed so soon after victory. Memories were still raw.
Her visor was displayed beneath one of the screens. An enterprising hunter must have realised there was money to be made in finding the thing. It was strange to think that Tahar’s creation had become a cherished artefact. The display even had a little placard explaining its origins and significance. Her father’s name would be remembered; his deeds taught to generations of younglings, as would the deeds of Shima, The Blind Hunter.
Her protests had fallen on deaf ears.
The dedication ceremony wasn’t the cause of her bad dreams; not directly anyway. No, it had been one of Kazim’s films. She’d been wandering the hall, wondering if she might leave without giving offense, when she’d seen Merrick die on one of the screens. Chailen had tried to pull her away, but she’d steadfastly refused to be moved, and watched herself fail Merrick over and over again.
It would be easy to blame her night terrors on Kazim’s films, but she didn’t. The dream wouldn’t have power over her emotions if she’d been living in harmony. She hadn’t been, not for a long time now; not since Tahar’s death and the war. She needed… something. She didn’t know what, but something. It was time to ask the Harmonies for help.
She settled herself comfortably, determined to discover what the Harmonies wanted of her, and regain her bal
ance. She slipped into her meditation sleep easily, her breathing slowing and deepening as muscles relaxed. The Harmonies drew near, and her consciousness expanded to take in the natural world around her. She let it show her what it would, not trying to use or direct it, and flinched when Merrick appeared in her mind’s eye. She nearly woke then, but he did nothing. It was just his image staring sightlessly at the night sky. She watched that horrible night play out like one of Kazim’s films; watched herself cry and give her life to Merrick’s father.
What did it mean?
Nevin had returned her life in exchange for her friendship upon reaching the keep. It still felt wrong. She had sworn by her clan name that her life was his. For killing his cub, she’d submitted herself to his justice, and he’d spared her. The old traditions said he couldn’t do that, but he had done it. In primitive times, Nevin would rightfully have killed her. If he’d been particularly vindictive, he could have set her an impossible task to perform. Honour would’ve required her to attempt it, even if it took the rest of her life.
Living in harmony meant balance in all things. The key to balance was honour and obligation. She had spoken the words; he had heard them. The Harmonies were trying to tell her that Nevin held the answer. That must be it. She felt her spirits rise with the realisation. With hope her balance would soon be restored, she awoke refreshed and determined to visit Nevin.
Dawn broke over the city as she entered the house. The Harmonies revealed Chailen awake, but Sharn’s sleeping mind glow meant he planned to sleep in again. Her ears went back in distress at his ennui, but she couldn’t blame him. None of them had proper employment. Something had to change for their family, and soon. She would make something change!
She found Chailen sitting on the floor in the main room using the comp. “Any luck?” she said, and her sib closed the computer.
“More rejections,” Chailen said glumly. “Is it very wrong of me to wish the Humans had gone home after the war?”
Shima blinked. Her mouth worked, trying to express her surprise. Finally, she found something. “But James and Brenda are our friends, and you liked Tei’Burgton didn’t you?”
Incursion: Merkiaari Wars Book 5 Page 5
