by L M Lacee
Heather threw her hands into the air. ‘Stop watching those vids.’
‘No, but it is interesting how you knew who I meant.’ She softened her voice when she really looked at her sister and saw her pale face and tired, haunted eyes. ‘Seriously Heather, you need to tell me what I or we did wrong.’
Peyton sat down on the bar stool at the breakfast counter and took a sip of coffee as she handed a cup of tea to Heather when she joined her.
Sighing as her shoulders slumped, and a look of absolute heartbreak entered her eyes, she mumbled.
‘I dream, every single furin night. I have done so, since we arrived. I do not know why, I have tested myself for everything I could think of. Toxic substances, the air, water, grass. I even tested myself in case I was having an allergic reaction to the new food.’ She grimaced as she stated. ‘Although we are still mostly eating the food, we brought with us from Earth, except for the meat the Warriors have hunted for us. There is no medical reason that I can detect for the dreams. My blood work came back negative and no one else is experiencing the same nightmares. At least they are dreaming, but not like I am.’ She shook her head and said quietly. ‘Sometimes the dream is not so bad, but the one tonight has been coming more frequently.’
She sipped her tea as Peyton asked just as quietly. ‘So, tell me what this one is about.’
Heather breathed through a sob bubbling up from her chest as she rubbed the spot over her heart. ‘Everyone is dead. You are a flaming torch and are destroying the world and everyone around you. A male comes and takes me from the mist, and I ask him to help stop you.’
She gulped another mouth full of tea, letting the heat calm her heart. Then she sighed and continued when she realized Peyton would not question her. She would just wait until she finally conceded and told her everything. So rather than become that person who tried to out wait Peyton, as she had seen others do, she blurted out. ‘It starts with me crawling through the purple mist in mud and gore. I feel like I have being doing it for hours. I’m so exhausted and my hands are all cut up and covered in blood. I find Darby, and she is dead. Her face is all bloody and her eyes are judging me for something. I can never find Melody or Patty. Netta is gone, as is Hawk, and I just know Lukkas and Kerol are dead. I cannot see or hear Willian or the ladies, but I know they are gone as well.’
She breathed through the terror and the tears filling her chest and eyes and cried. ‘I can hear thousands of people moaning and screaming for help, but I never see them and I know I never will. I am so furin exhausted, there is nothing I can do, and it is just so unfair.’
‘Well that just sucks, no wonder you are Doctor Grumpy pants.’
Heather gave a watery laugh as she growled. ‘That is Healer Grumpy pants to you, and I am sorry. I need sleep, but I am terrified to close my eyes. Every night is a battle to sleep, and when I do it is just so awful the dreams are wearing me out.’ She whispered. ‘It hurts Peyton… it really hurts.’
Peyton nodded as she took her hand, connecting them together with a touch as was their way, more so now they had arrived on Maikonia. She ducked her head and looked into Heather’s tired, blood-shot eyes. ‘Yeah, I get that Heather. I understand the terror you are feeling and the helplessness you are experiencing. So let me see if I can make sense of this nightmare for you. Because seriously, if one more person tells me they are worried about you. I will flame for real, and there is Esther.’ She shivered all over as she said that, making Heather grin at her annoyed tone.
‘Scary, Esther.’
‘Yes, not that I am scared of her or anything.’
‘Of course not.’ Heather agreed with a smirk for the lie it was.
Peyton said seriously. ‘So hon, everyone is dead.’
‘Yes.’
‘So that means they are all gone.’
Heather drank her tea and looked a little puzzled as she answered. ‘Yes.’
‘Darby is angry at you for something you did or have not done.’
Again she answered. ‘Yes.’
‘And I am a flaming torch who is killing everyone and hubba-bubba, there is a male whose face you cannot see.’ Her eyebrows wiggled up and down as she grinned at her.
Heather laughed at the comical expression on Peyton’s face. ‘Yes, and yes.’
‘Heather.’ Peyton said as she squeezed her hand. ‘Your dreams are telling you some stuff.’
‘Like what?’ She pouted an unusual look for her, which almost made Peyton laugh.
Heather moaned as she asked Peyton. ‘Could they not just send me a comm?’
‘Hon, they are, you are fighting the message.’
Heather shook her head and sighed tiredly. ‘So what is it… this message?’
‘Firstly; you are scared that if you leave, I will get lost in this star stuff.’ Heather refused to look at her, as the truth of what Peyton said hit home. ‘Secondly; you are worried about leaving Prime and everyone here, especially Darby. Thirdly; you found your mate, or at least he has found you.’
Shocked, Heather opened and closed her mouth several times, then yawned. ‘Oh, excuse me, Peyton how do you see all that? I have been having these dreams every night since we arrived here. Don’t you think that seems a bit of a stretch even for you?’ She yawned again. ‘Sorry again.’
‘Duh, Star Daughter.’ Peyton laughed as she used another of the unfamiliar words from the vids she had been watching, and then again at the irritated look on Heather’s face. ‘My dearle sister, you are leaving Maikonia Prime. Your heart recognizes the signs of your desire calling out to you, which is why you are hurting. Your mind is trying to rationalize it and find a solution for the pain your needar is in. And well… you are sort of a control freak.’
Outraged, Heather squeaked. ‘I am not!’
At Peyton’s look of disbelief, she gave her a narrowed eyed stare and stated. ‘Just because you are, you know her.’ She waved her hand about and yawned again. ‘Sorry.’
Peyton asked with raised eyebrows. ‘You mean the Star Daughter?’
‘Yes, her.’
‘You can just say that.’
Heather pouted. ‘No, I really can’t, I don’t like her much at the moment.’
‘Oh, because of the dreams.’
‘Yeah, let’s just say that. Peyton, you cannot know my dreams mean all that.’
Peyton gave her a small smile and whispered. ‘Yeah, I can.’
She took the cup from Heather’s hand as it slipped when her eyes closed and her head lolled forward.
FOUR:
Patty came in from the foyer where she had been waiting, just as Heather’s body softened and a gentle snore emanated from her. Together they carried Heather into her bedroom, placing her on the cleaned bedding.
‘Thanks Patty, I wasn’t sure I could lift her by myself. She is a tall one.’
‘No problem, she is going to be so annoyed with you, when she wakes up.’
‘It’s a possibility, but she needs to sleep and this way she will. That was a good sedative, right?’
‘Oh yes, it is excellent, very strong, it will knock a horse right out.’
They both grinned as they looked down on the sleeping Heather. Patty had listened to the conversation while she waited for the sedative she had placed in Heather’s tea to take effect. She asked Peyton now. ‘Do you really think her dreams are about her mate?’
‘Oh sure, they are called mating dreams. Some species have them, and they can project the dreams onto their mate. I think it is similar to the chemical reaction that happens with the Warriors, only it’s with dreams.’
‘So he is close?’
‘Maybe, not necessary close in distance. He could be close to a person here who is close to her. Let’s say his needar or essence was searching for his mate and he found Heather. So when he sleeps, he dreams, and those dreams try to show her who her mate is. But because she does not understand what is happening, she fights the contact. Hence the nightmares.’
‘These seem to be very frig
htening dreams, are they meant to be?’
Peyton shook her head. ‘No, I think it is because Heather is human and her natural defense is to fight the intrusion to her mind, regardless of how gentle it is. They will try all forms of persuasion to make her seek her mate. In Heather’s case, because she is stubborn, and a control freak, these dreams have been harsh to get her attention. I think they will ease now, or at least I am hopeful they will.’
Patty asked with a slightly freaked out look in her eyes. ‘You make the dreams sound sentient.’
‘Huh, so I did.’
Deciding that was not the answer she wanted to hear, because it was just a scary reply. Patty hurriedly asked. ‘So her mate is hanging out there in space somewhere, just lurking around.’
‘See, that makes it sound creepy. This is why I don’t say stuff.’
Patty stared at Peyton as she thought. Yeah, that is the reason. She didn’t want to say that out loud or even let Peyton think she thought that, because she might see she was scaring her.
Luneras ago when she had finally worked up the nerve to talk to Heather about how Peyton scared her. Heather had smiled sadly and told her it was okay to feel that way. Most people did, and Peyton knew and accepted they would.
As she stood here now, in Heather’s room looking at Peyton who was obviously worried about her sister even though she tried to hide it. She realized feeling scared was a terrible way to think about a female that loved like Peyton did. A person who had shown nothing but kindness toward her. She felt ashamed of her own cowardice, so she grinned and murmured loud enough for her to hear.
‘Seriously creepy is right, so is he just out there.’
Peyton’s eyes twinkled as pursed her lips and finally stated. ‘Not exactly hanging around, more like sleeping and letting his needar hunt for her. Probably not willingly, but the heart will find what the heart wants or something like that.’ She looked at Patty as they placed a blanket over the sleeping Heather and asked. ‘So are you ready to step into her position, when she leaves?’
Wide-eyed, Patty looked at her. ‘You seem very certain she will leave.’
Sorrow shone from Peyton’s eyes as she nodded. ‘I am Patty, unfortunately I am.’ She sighed sadly as Patty shook her head and thought of a future without Heather to rely on.
She grinned and told Peyton. ‘I will miss her, she is a good friend. You know she was the one who talked me into coming with you. After the government officials came and demanded I stay on Earth, they said I owed them for all the training I had received. That my worth was in what I could return to the breeding program. They made it very clear I would have no rights to come out here, because I was valuable as a gynecologist.’ She lowered her eyes to the prone female and told Peyton. ‘Life sort of got away from me for a while. I became depressed and was drowning in terrible hopelessness.’ She raised her eyes and found a sympathetic expression on Peyton’s face. It was not the expression she thought she would see, it gave her the courage to admit.
‘I was days away from ending my life, and then Heather arrived. It was like she knew what I was thinking or something and bullied me into living again and then bullied me into going to Runnerdale. Where I got to meet all of you and I survived.’
Peyton agreed. ‘Yeah, you did, and we are very pleased you did. I would have missed your quiet words and strength.’
Startled, Patty asked. ‘You think I am strong after what I just told you?’
Peyton raised her eyebrows as she stared at her. ‘Oh my stars, yes. You are one of the strongest people I know. Stars, you prove it every day, just like you did tonight.’
Stunned, Patty asked. ‘How did I prove it tonight?’
‘Patty, you just drugged the chief medical officer for Maikonia, in her own home. If that isn’t brave and strong. I have no clue what would be. I know for a fact she can get drugs. She told me so.’
Peyton’s eyes twinkled as Patty stood with her mouth open, looking like a landed fish. Finally, she collected herself enough to screech. ‘But you told me too!’
Peyton said critically. ‘As a defense, it’s slim.’
Patty grinned, and the grin became a smile and then a laugh. She had an amazing laugh it lit up her entire face, smoothing out the habitual crease between her eyes. The sound of her mirth was soft and hearty, a heady combination that soon had Peyton joining in. Sadly, she realized she had never heard Patty laugh. ‘You wear it well, you should do more of it.’
‘What should I do more of?’
‘Laugh, you are really beautiful Patty.’
‘I so am not,’ she scoffed, ‘I am what they politely call plain.’ She said this with no inflection in her voice and without an expression on her face, which Peyton was sure she had practiced.
She was sorry she had taken the laughter from her as she shot back. ‘Pfft, like they,’ she made quotation signs with her fingers, ‘know anything, they say I am sweet and innocent, and we all know that is a lie.’
Patty grinned. ‘You sort of do have the girl next door thing going on. Except for the hair and the black flaming eye thing. Otherwise, yeah, I see it.’
Peyton laughed and then said. ‘There is depth to you, Miss. Sweet Healer.’
They grinned at each other until Peyton finally asked. ‘So are you going to do it?’
Patty sighed. ‘It will be hard without her, and I never thought about it.’
Peyton shook off the thoughts of not having Heather around as she said. ‘Patty, you are the obvious choice. There is no one else, I want.’
With a blush she said. ‘Heather talks about that Commander... umm... Dinas, he apparently is very good.’
‘Have you not met him yet?’
‘No, he has been assigned to the ships and when he has been here, I have been off Prime. Heather says he is very nice.’
‘Oh, is he?’ Patty’s heart sank a little at the way Peyton spoke admiringly about the healer, then lightened again when she said. ‘But Patty, he isn’t you, so maybe to be fair to him, we could have both of you working together.’
Smiling, she agreed. ‘It will probably take both of us to fill her shoes.’
Peyton hugged her, causing Patty to stand still for a minute before saying. ‘Oh, it has been a long time since that has happened.’
She hugged Peyton back, who said. ‘I am sorry to hear that, a hug is a need, not a want.’
‘I have never heard that before.’
‘My grandmother used to say it.’ Peyton dusted her hands together like she was brushing away a memory, then said. ‘So mission accomplished, go back to bed and come for second-meal if you can. We will get you and Dinas together and settle that issue, okay?’
Patty yawned. ‘Sorry about that. I will try to see you in a few hours.’
‘Thank you for your help.’
‘Anytime.’ She waved, then with a smile slipped from the bedroom.
Peyton waited until she heard her leave the apartment and go into hers. Then smoothed the hair from Heather’s face and whispered. ‘It’s okay Heather. The decision is made, and he is a good male, he will love you deeply and guard your heart. Sleep well my sister. Your life is changing again and we all know you are as bad about change as Darby is, just more graceful about having to do it.’ Peyton smiled, then told her. ‘I am going to miss you so much. I don’t know how we will cope without you.’ A shadow of pain crossed her face as she whispered. ‘I don’t know how I am going to cope without you. But we all will, because finding someone to call our own is one reason we came out here. Do you remember how we all talked of that special someone, who would fall in love with us? Well hon, looks like your dream found you.’ She sighed wishfully and kissed Heather’s forehead.
Then before she let the pain swamp her, she flicked her fingers and was instantly engulfed in white starlight. Appearing within seconds later in her bedroom, just as the rays of the first sun lit the wine colored sky to amethyst.
FIVE:
The planet Maikonia Prime was indeed a purple p
lanet, with so many variations of the color it was almost eye watering. The sky itself seemed to have several shades of purple, the humans had never seen before. They learned that the colors depended on how many suns were in the sky throughout the day.
It had amazed everyone when they had first stepped off the shuttles to find the grass was lavender with highlights of lilac and amusingly enough tipped blue. Peyton had looked at Netta’s blue tipped hair, then the grass and then grinned, at least until Netta had growled. ‘What the hayda are you grinning about?’
Peyton had shrugged and said. ‘I think you know.’
Melody had hustled her from Netta’s sight just as she growled and reached for her knives, amusing everyone within hearing distance.
The grass was soft to the touch and very reminiscent of shag pile carpet, or so some of the older females assured them. Before landing everyone had completed a flyover of the nine worlds and marveled at how the planets were very different in size and shape to each other. What was more surprising were the different number of suns and moons each world had?
It was so astounding, Jean had told Darby she heard comments from some scientists, that it was enough to cause them and the astronomers to be dizzy with delight. She however did not find it so, neither apparently did Darby.
To the Warriors, the colors of the planets or the number of moons and suns were not unusual. They spent hours patiently answering the numerous questions the females had about how to live on worlds with more than one sun and moon.
Darby and the geologists after some rudimentary calculations gauged Maikonia Prime to be triple the size of Earth. And estimated the other eight planets were somewhere in size between Earth and Maikonia Prime. Unlike Earth, water covered only thirty percent of Prime and from what they had surveyed so far, only as rivers and lakes. A few of those were small and shallow, and others were deep and wide. They ranged in color from dark mulberry to mauve, depending on the depths and widths. The geophysicists were pleased to learn the water was fresh and uncontaminated and from what they surmised, plentiful on all the worlds.
