Riders of the Storm (48 page)

A
ND fell.

Not fair,
Enris complained as he tried in vain to grab one of the thousands of branches whipping by his face. Just when…

…the M'hir took him, spun him about, and left him…

…standing. He was standing. That was good.

And being held. He looked down, bemused to find Aryl clinging to him. That was better.

Cautiously, he probed at the new
something
inside. Definitely not the kind of link he'd shared with his mother.

This was—this was—

“You made me fall.” Aryl pulled back to glare at him. “I don't believe it. You knocked us off the branch and made me fall.”

“I was falling, too,” Enris pointed out, trying not to smile. He also tried not to dwell on the indignant swell of her lower lip. Briefly. Then he leaned down to explore it more thoroughly with his own.

Which found her fingers. “We're in Sona,” she told him. Her fingers traced his mouth then followed his jaw. “And this, my dear Chosen, is not allowed.” The lightest imaginable slap. “Yet.”

Chosen. The word sang along his nerves. The reality was like having her nestled by his side, instead of walking to a makeshift door to look out. The ache and need he'd managed to ignore might have never existed, save for how wonderful he felt right now. And how much more wonderful he planned to feel as soon as possible.

Aryl went out the door.

That wasn't right.

Enris followed. “What do you mean…yet?”

 

“You two stay with me. That's the way it is.”

There were more Tuana here, including his uncle's family, a discovery that at any other time would have occupied his every thought.

Today? Enris looked at his cousin Ezgi, who shrugged, then back at Yuhas. “But we're Joined.” He liked saying it. Loved feeling it. Every breath contained his awareness of Aryl, her joy to be aware of him. It drove the pain and grief to the shadows of his mind, like the rising of the sun.

He didn't like being told he couldn't go any closer than that feeling until Husni and the others said so.

His friend laughed. “We all go through it.” A fleeting
sadness
. “Your father endured me while I wanted for Caynen. It's the least I can do for you.”

“How long?” It had been, to his mind, too long already.

“Until both are ready. I'm told Sarcs are—” Yuhas looked embarrassed. “They're unpredictable.”

“Giving you trouble, Yuhas?” asked Galen sud Serona as he entered and put down a tray of steaming cups.

“I'm not,” his son said pointedly. “And I've waited longer.” This with a sigh.

His father's older brother. The resemblance was there if he looked for it, Enris thought. The kindness of the eyes, the careful strength of the hands, the patience. He'd gone to Galen for the wood of his bench. He'd gone to him when Kiric slipped from his mind, unable to share that burden with his parents.

“I—” What could he say now? Their Clan had been destroyed. How dare he be so ridiculously happy? Enris fought for words to explain, to apologize, and failed.

Galen's hand pressed his shoulder.
It's all they ever wanted for you.
Aloud, “Find joy, Enris sud Sarc.”

“Just not yet,” Yuhas added hastily.

O
DD.

Aryl didn't open her eyes, unwilling to lose the scent. Though how could there be dresel cake in Sona?

…because it's the best day of your life, Daughter…

Mother?

Silence…she must have imagined the voice.

Though when did the pile of blankets the Sona called a bed become one, so comfortable her body was unwilling to move?

And that sound. A wysp, its three voices trilling an end to truenight. Nothing sang in Sona but the wind.

Wait…that was a giggle.

Her hair
moved
across her face.

Aryl brushed it away. A breeze.

Her hair
moved
again, this time slapping her cheek.

Not a breeze.

Another giggle.

Aryl sat up suddenly.

“I thought you'd never open your eyes.” Seru's sparkled like fresh leaves in a sunbeam; her smile dimpled both cheeks. “Honestly, Cousin. I know Sarcs are different but two days?” She was sitting cross-legged on the end of Aryl's bed. Her black hair, thicker, shinier, peeked over one shoulder, then spilled forward in a flood. “I think poor Enris is going to burst.”

Enris…?

Here!
with a rush of
joy
and
longing
and
impatience
and…

Hush!
she replied, trying to catch her breath.

I've been hushed all this time
…along with images of years passing, harvests being harvested, children growing to adulthood, rocks weathering…
I've suffered!
with distinct
glee.

“Ezgi pesters me, too,” Seru said matter-of-factly. “Just tell him Husni's on her way.”

Husni…

I heard!!!
Wild
excitement.

He heard? Aryl frowned, very slightly.
We're going to have to talk about privacy, my dear Chosen.

I'm all for privacy…
images of frankly incredible beds, fields of fragrant grass, even a brief glimpse of a wide branch, quickly dismissed for a simple blanket on snow.
Can we be private now?

Hair caressed her cheeks and slipped around her neck. Opinionated stuff.

Seru giggled and bounced closer. “How do you feel? I feel—I feel wonderful.”

Feel. About to say she felt rested, if a little confused, Aryl stopped. “I feel—I've never felt like this.” It was true. Her body was aglow with strength. The accustomed aches, including the one in her left elbow, were gone. She wasn't hungry, or tired, or cold. But she was, she discovered, looking down, different. “I'm lumpy.”

Seru pressed her hands against her own new breasts. “Aren't they wonderful? And we've hips, too!”

“So long as they don't interfere,” Aryl muttered to herself.

Show me and I'll tell you…

HUSH!
she sent, feeling heat suffuse her face from eyebrows to throat. And elsewhere.

Enris, wisely, didn't comment. Aryl smiled to herself.

“Is it wrong?” Seru leaned forward, her smile gone. “To be so happy? All those Om'ray, dead. Naryn and the rest—they're being brave. Most of them. But I feel—” another giggle burst out, rekindling the smile, “—I just can't feel guilty or sad.”

“Don't try.” Myris stepped through the door, followed by Husni. “Your happiness is a gift to all of us. If there's a future, it's here, with you four.”

“There's a future,” Aryl said, making it a promise.

How you glow,
her aunt sent softly.

“I will have bathing!” Husni declared. “It's bad enough you, young Sarc, had to go off and Join away from everyone else. At least you had the sense to come home to commence! Now. There will be respect for tradition if I have to hold the both of you down myself!”

Seru peeled herself off the bed. “Yes, Husni.”

Aryl's hair twitched with annoyance. It didn't help that she could
feel
Enris laughing. “There isn't water to waste—” the words died in her throat as Ziba came through the door with her mother, Taen. Both held a cup in one hand, a cloth in the other.

Then Veca and Juo. Morla and Weth. Oswa and little Yao hovered in the doorway until Haxel swept them both through with her.

Naryn and Caynen.

Oran.

The rest of the Tuana: Menasel and Beko, Cien and Lymin, the sisters and their mother, Stryn.

All wore their best, or what they could find to be their best. All held a cup and cloth. They formed a generally solemn semicircle before the beds, though Yao giggled and Ziba couldn't stand still.

“Bathing.” Husni ordered. Her face wrinkled in a smile. “Now, show us yourselves.”

Some rituals, Aryl grumbled to herself, she'd have gladly left behind. But they looked so expectant…she stood, dropping the blanket as Seru did the same.

Nods. More giggles. Smiles of approval. Weth squinted but managed a smile, too.

“He'll be happy.” This from Naryn.

Aryl's hair picked that moment to express its own opinion, lifting into the air, sliding over her shoulders, generally misbehaving. She would, she vowed as she tried in vain to hold it back, be using a metal net.

Still, her hands lingered on it. There was something about the stuff. No longer hair, really. From pale brown, it had lightened to a red gold. Thicker, longer.

A tendril wrapped around her wrist.

Annoying.

“Get on with it, Husni,” Haxel said. “Or those lovesick oafs will break their way out of the meeting hall.” There was an unusually broad smile on her face. The others, even Oran, laughed.

Aryl picked up the wristband she'd taken off before going to sleep. Before becoming what she was and would be. She slipped it over her wrist and ran her fingers over its smooth lovely design.
Enris…

Here. Always.

She smiled to herself.
There's to be a bath…

Not entirely mock dismay.
How long will that take?

It doesn't matter, Chosen of my heart,
she sent, with all the
love
and
excitement
and
joy
she felt.
We have the rest of our lives.

With a roar of laughter, the Om'ray of Sona soaked washcloths in cups of melted snow and rushed forward to scrub their newest Chosen.

I could help with that…

Soon.

A
RYL PRESSED HER HANDS against the door. “I don't know about this.”

Enris squinted through a dirty window. “Ziba dreamed it.”

“That's not to say she's right. The Adepts already tried, you know.”

She felt his
encouragement,
along with the nip of
dare you
that hadn't been affected one bit by their Joining.

The Cloisters was the last piece of Sona's puzzle. Water flowed down the river, if so far a mere trickle easily jumped. Spring might bring more. They'd learned how to open the mound doors and rebuilt snug homes for every family, including the Tuana.

The nightmares came less often.

It helped that the Oud collapsed their tunnel without fuss. In fact, it might never have been there at all. They might be alone…

Marcus knocked on the metal. “What kind of lock?”

…Or not. She glanced at their friend, persistently curious. So far, he'd kept his kind away. They'd been, he said, disturbed by what had happened at Tuana. They'd wanted to remove him from the Oud. He'd refused.

“If we knew, it wouldn't be a problem.”

Though Enris was right. Ziba had given them a clue of sorts. She'd dreamed only those of Sona could work the door mechanism.

Aryl caressed the round firmness below her breasts.
Little one, it's up to you.

She leaned against the door, and applied the
twist
of thought Naryn had taught her.

And with no more fuss than that, the great doors of the Cloisters turned open in welcome.

And Sona was once more a Clan.

T
HE ONLY LIGHT SHONE above a beige desk. There were other beige desks, rows upon rows of desks, but only this one was in use tonight.

On this desk, on all the desks, were stacks of glittering cubes and disks. Records from hundreds of worlds, data from thousands of research teams. Expectations, ramifications, explanations, excuses, pleas.

Centered under the only light, on this desk, lay something else.

A solitary sheet of plas, covered in handwriting, entitled: “Hoveny Concentrix Prospect 893ZE28L (Cersi: Site Four) Upgrade Request.”

Hands entered the light, thin, scaled, delicate of finger and touch. They bent the sheet exactly in half, creased the fold neatly, then in half again, creased. One last time.

Then turned out the light.

(Note: Names shown as first encountered in the story.)

YENA CLAN:

Adrius sud Parth (Member of Yena Council)

Ael sud Sarc (Chosen of Myris)

Alejo Parth (Seru's brother)

Andace Vendan

Aryl Sarc

Barit sud Teerac (Bern's father, Chosen of Evra)

Cader Sarc

Cetto sud Teerac (Member of Yena Council, Chosen of Husni, Bern's great-grandfather)

Chaun sud Teerac (Chosen of Weth)

Costa sud Teerac (Aryl's brother, Chosen of Leri)

Dalris sud Sarc (Taisal's grandfather, Unnel's father, Chosen of Nela)

Ele Sarc (Nela's great-grandmother)

Evra Teerac (Bern's mother)

Ferna Parth (Seru's mother)

Fon Kessa'at (Son of Veca)

Ghoch sud Sarc (Chosen of Oryl)

Gijs sud Vendan (Chosen of Juo)

Haxel Vendan (First Scout)

Husni Teerac (Bern's great-grandmother)

Joyn Uruus (Son of Rimis)

Juo Vendan

Kayd Uruus (Son of Taen)

Kiric Mendolar

Lendin sud Kessa'at (Chosen of Morla)

Leri Teerac

Mele sud Sarc (Aryl's father, Chosen of Taisal)

Morla Kessa'at (Council Member, Veca's grandmother)

Myris Sarc (Taisal's sister)

Nela Sarc (Taisal's grandmother)

Oryl Sarc

Pio di Kessa'at (Adept)

Rimis Uruus (Joyn's mother)

Rorn sud Vendan (Chosen of Haxel)

Seru Parth (Aryl's cousin)

Sian d'sud Vendan (Adept, Member of Yena Council)

Syb sud Uruus (Kayd and Ziba's father, Chosen of Taen)

Taen Uruus (Kayd and Ziba's mother)

Taisal di Sarc (Aryl's mother, Adept, Speaker for Yena)

Tikva di Uruus (Adept, Member of Yena Council)

Tilip sud Kessa'at (Fon's father, Chosen of Veca, née Sarc)

Till sud Parth (Seru's father, Scout, Chosen of Ferna)

Troa sud Uruus (Joyn's father, Chosen of Rimis)

Unnel Sarc (Taisal's mother)

Veca Kessa'at (Fon's mother)

Weth Teerac

Yorl sud Sarc (Taisal's great-uncle, Member of Yena Council)

Ziba Uruus (Daughter of Taen)

TUANA CLAN:

Beko Serona

Caynen S'udlaat

Cien Serona (Ezgi's mother, Runner)

Clor sud Mendolar (Ridersel's uncle, once of Amna, née Prendolat)

Dama Mendolar (Ridersel's mother, Member of Tuana Council)

Deran Edut

Enris Mendolar

Eran Serona

Eryel S'udlaat

Ezgi Serona (Runner)

Galen sud Serona (Chosen of Cien, Runner, Jorg's brother)

Gelle Licor

Geter Licor

Irm Lorimar (Mauro's brother)

Jorg sud Mendolar (Enris' father, Chosen of Ridersel)

Josel Licor (Netta's sister, Runner)

Kor sud Lorimar (Chosen of Menasel, née Edut)

Lymin Annk (Runner)

Mauro Lorimar (Irm's brother)

Menasel Lorimar (Mauro's cousin)

Mirs sud S'udlaat (Chosen of Eryel)

Naryn S'udlaat

Netta Licor (Josel's sister, Runner)

Olalla Mendolar (Enris' cousin)

Ral Serona (Enris' cousin)

Ridersel Mendolar (Enris' mother)

Sive sud Lorimar

Sole sud Serona (Speaker for Tuana)

Stryn Licor (Josel and Netta's mother, Runner)

Suen sud Annk (Chosen of Lymin, née S'udlaat, Runner)

Tai sud Licor (Chosen of Stryn, Runner, once of Amna)

Traud Licor

Tyko Uruus

Worin Mendolar (Enris' brother)

Yuhas sud S'udlaat (Chosen of Caynen, née Parth)

GRONA CLAN:

Bern sud Caraat (Chosen of Oran, née Teerac)

Cyor sud Kaar (Member of Grona Council)

Efris Ducan (Member of Grona Council, Grona Speaker)

Emyam sud Caraat (Member of Grona Council)

Gura Azar (Member of Grona Council)

Hoyon d'sud Gethen (Grona Adept, Chosen of Oswa)

Kran Caraat (brother of Oran)

Lier Haon (Member of Grona Council)

Mysk Gethen (Member of Grona Council)

Oswa Gethen (Yao's mother)

Oran di Caraat

Yao Gethen

VYNA CLAN:

Etleka Vyna

Daryouch Vyna

Fikryya Vyna

Jenemir Vyna

Nabrialan Vyna

Tarerea Vyna (High Councillor)