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"Then there's no harm in my hearing it," she returned, "and knowing what frightens Er Thom."
Frightens. Daav looked to his brother. Purple eyes met his unflinchingly, showing all.
"Hah." He resumed his seat upon the wall and in a moment Er Thom did likewise, leaving Anne standing alone,
hands on hips and her face filled with waiting.
"Well?"
"Well," Daav replied, looking up. He sighed. "Are you able to believe that the Tree can make its wishes known
to those of the Line Direct?"
She stood quiet for a long moment, then went to sit beside her lifemate and placed her hand upon his knee.
"For the purposes of this discussion," she said, like the scholar she was, "it is stipulated that Jelaza Kazone the
Tree is able to communicate with those of Korval's Line Direct."
"Then you may know that my brother's trouble springs from the knowledge that Jelaza Kazone the Tree has
expressed a distaste for Samiv tel'Izak. A distaste of which she is alas very aware."
"Oh." She blinked, turned her head to gaze across the valley, where Jelaza Kazone could be plainly seen, stretching
high into the morning sky. "That wouldn't be good, would it?"
"Not very good," murmured Er Thom. "No."
"Well," she said, turning back to Daav. "You have other houses. There's no need to make her uncom "
"There must not be a child born unsanctioned by the Tree!" Er Thom cried.
"Yes, but, love, Shan wasn't sanctioned by the Tree," Anne pointed out with shocking calm. "I don't " She stopped
abruptly, staring from one pair of serious eyes to the other.
"I think," she said finally, and a bit breath-short, "that I have to draw the line at a galaxy-wide telepathy."
Daav inclined his head. "Say then that Er Thom, who as a child was used to climb all over the Tree, had been far too
well-trained to choose other than one who would meet approval."
"Then," Anne asked reasonably, "what happened to you?"
Daav lifted a brow. "I beg your pardon?"
"What happened to you?" She repeated, and used a long forefinger to point, one to the other. "You were raised
side-by-side, learned the same things, ate the same things, memorized the same things. Interchangeable parts, made
by the delm's wisdom, so Korval could go on, if one of you happened to die!" Her voice was keying upward. Er Thom
stirred, raising a hand toward her cheek.
"Interchangeable," Daav said. "Not exact."
She glared, though it seemed to him her eyes were not precisely focussed. "Call it off."
So simple. It struck at the core of him and he came upright before he knew what he did, shaking with with "I
must have a child!" He heard raw anguish in his voice and swallowed, closing his eyes and seeking after the
Rainbow.
"But not this child," Anne pursued relentlessly. "You and Er Thom are the sons of identical twins, so close there's
no choosing between you. Er Thom and I are lifemates, hooked by the soul, so I can feel his touch halfway across the
house and more!" She paused and Daav opened his eyes, meeting her fey gaze with fascination.
"Where is your lifemate, Daav yos'Phelium?"
"Anne!" Er Thom snapped to his feet, his hands on her shoulders, his body between her and his delm. "Have done."
"I repeat." He was breathless, voice squeezed out of a chest gone achy and cramped. "We may be interchangeable.
We are certainly not identical. And even if what you suggest is true that we were both formed for
lifematings there is yet no guarantee that my lifemate has been born." He took a hard breath. "Or that she has
survived."
"Oh," she said, and of a sudden sighed, reaching up to rub at her eyes like a child. "Well," she murmured, almost
too softly for him to hear, "I guess you'd better ask the Tree."
"I guess I had better," he returned, just as softly, and smiled sadly into Er Thom's eyes.
Ride the Luck tested clean.
Aelliana heard Sed Ric and Yolan's account of their adventure and read them a stern lecture on the stupidity of
charging unknown and potentially deadly lurkers. They both looked rather sheepish and assured her most earnestly
that they would never again undertake so shatterbrained an enterprise.
All thus in accord, they exited The Luck and walked back toward the garage, Yolan speculating on this ship and that,
with Sed Ric occasionally amending her IDs.
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| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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