The Star Whorl (The Totality Cycles Book 1) (29 page)

     For that split instant he
forgot how to breathe as her eyes seemed about to meet his, and they were
somehow iridescent with rainbows....

     Then someone passed between
them, and she was gone, turned away, hidden in the pearlescent halls of the
Solidaris Orm.

     Suddenly remembering how to
breathe again, his heart pounding, he held in a shiver and shook off most of the
Genus-reaction that he had unconsciously taken on. He looked up to see his
parents gazing at him. Their expressions conveyed amusement, and a glinting,
knowing expectancy.

     Chagrined at having so
baldly shown his attraction, he straightened his back and suppressed the last
of the Genus-reaction, though it was difficult. He resumed walking with them,
none of them saying anything.

     Once they reached the
privacy of their suite, he raised guilty eyes to them, wondering how to
apologize for his gaff.

     “You did well,” Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv
said, actually smiling and putting a hand on his shoulder again. “Extremely
well. Better than most your age. Not many can resist the Tiphi, so young. I
followed the first Tiphi woman I saw for marks, trying to fix her interest.
Only my parents were able to head me off. This Lady – she is of the Tiphi Cav.”

    
Tiphi Cav?
he
thought, shuddering. Already he could hear the additive to his name, Tiphir-Kreceno’Tiv’Cav.
He felt himself beginning to respond again, and ruthlessly shut it off, tucking
his vuu’erio so tight into his hair that it tugged at his face.

     “You’ve learned the control
of self well,” Vespa Kareni’Tiv said, though she sounded a little sad.
“Probably that predatory Gotra girl, of the Dun, once her famiya found out
about ours. I am sorry that the learning of that had to be so – unpleasant.”
She hugged him, projecting a comforting glyph to him. He took it in with
gratitude, but it was unnecessary.

     “So – I didn’t shame you?”
he asked quietly, looking from one to the other.

     Vespar-Drelano’Sev’Tiv
laughed. “Quite the contrary, even now the intelligence that a male past the
age of mating did not succumb to his first glimpse of a Tiphi-Genus woman of
the Cav famiya, is circulating. You have probably added to the Tiv consequence,
not that we need the boost in any way.”

     Kreceno’Tiv tried to smile.
But the urge to track down the young woman he had seen was almost overwhelming.

     “What – what makes the Tiphi
Cav so...?” he clamped his mouth shut, hoping that he had not insulted his
mother. Not that he would necessarily be attracted to a non-famiya Vespa woman,
but to talk so openly of the attractiveness of another Genus was unseemly, here
on the Orm. He knew that without having to be told.

     Vespa Kareni’Tiv laughed,
and waved away his contrition. “We have all learned to come to accustomedness
with the attractiveness of other Genii, Krece. She
is
quite stunning,
easily the most stunning of all the Genii. Hers is the oldest of the Genii,
pre-dating all others, and actually the reason for the rise of the
Malkia-mothers – her Genus was so successful, that the others that became the
Malkia had to increase their aggressiveness and gloming to be able to compete
for mates. Her kind were all but wiped out by them – so now, they keep
themselves mostly hidden away. You are likely only to see one here, or mayhaps
in one or two of your lectures in Tertius. Wherever they are, they are highly
sought. And they rarely ever Genus-deviate.”

     So, being so venerable, her
Genus probably had the highest Nil’Gu’ua ability of any of the Genii. It was a
lot, a lot to take in, but thinking analytically about it helped control the
urge to go find the young woman. He shivered and suppressed the Tiphir-reaction.

Whorl Ninety Three

     As soon as they were back at
the domicive on Gu’Anin, he turned to his parents and excused himself.

     “Where are you going, dear?”
his mother asked. “Out with Becilo’Ran, to celebrate?”

     “I just want to do a little
preliminary reading,” he said, with a brightness he did not feel. “And yes,
later, out with Becilo’Ran.”

     She smiled and gestured
assent. He took the staircase up to his suite two at a time, urgency riding him
like he were about to take his ending exams again. If he were not going to be
trained to his true level of skill, he would have to train himself, and he
needed information to do it. He went to the dataSphere uplink in his suite and began
to dig into the available information on the levels of Nil’Gu’ua, as if still
excited to be evaluated.

    
I have to do it now,
he
thought, compiling quadrils of data.
If I do so after evaluation, that will
raise suspicion. I really am glad for the warning.

    
But on the surface,
he did not see why his parents had been so subtly adamant about not showing his
all. What kind of threat or intrigue required such deceit? He pressed his lips
together, frustrated. The virtual glyphs of information scrolled on the glyphographic
screen, complex glyphs that conveyed ideas within the intricacies of their
forms. He let them flow over his consciousness, becoming immersed as they
became a part of him, adding to his glyph.

     “Krece?” Vespa Karaci’Tiv
stuck her head in after knocking on his port, breaking his concentration and
immersion in the information. He smiled and invited her in with a jerk of his
head. He welcomed the interruption – he was not finding what he was looking
for, and his head was beginning to throb.

     “How did you like the Solidaris
Orm?” she asked, coming in. “And the Totality?”

     “Wonderful,” he said, as she
came to look over his shoulder. “I’ve never seen the Totality in such detail
before.”

     “It
is
breathtaking.”
She did not comment on the data that he had been absorbing, but turned and leaned
against the study-station. “Are you excited to go to Tertius?”

     “I am,” he said, and laughed
with her at his own serious tone. “Yes, I am. But it will hold no marvel for
me, for you’ll be my ever-forward guide, won’t you?”

     She laughed her tinkling
laugh. “Will I? No, no, I won’t be there to hold your hand all the way through
or be your lit beacon in the darkness! I’ve passed with full marks and
distinction, and I will intern with Father to gain knowledge of the workings of
the Solidarim. My skill level will be confirmed, and then – who can say?”

     He sighed dramatically. “So,
I must blunder through on my own? With no wiser head to be my overseer?”

     “Yes, for a while, all cases
being equal,” she laughed again, plucking his sleeve. “I’ll be back and forth
from the Orm to here. And when you have need of enlightenment, I’ll be there.
Are you going out with your friends to the
Bustani
this dark-time?”

     “Probably,” he gestured
assent. “Will you come?”

     “Probably. I think Jararo’Mev
will be there.” She managed to say it without looking abashed. Jararo’Mev was
her new love-interest. Where, exactly, her previous Geni’vhes had gone, she
would not say.

     “If you are to come, then he
undoubtedly will be,” Kreceno’Tiv smiled, said, sure. Jararo’Mev was clearly
interested in his sister, had been before, and he knew the feelings were now mutual,
with Ve-Dorilo’Sem gone. “He’s perfect for you, no matter what vocation you
choose.”

     Tucking in her vuu’erio, she
touched his hand, then left.

Whorl Ninety Four

     They were actually able to
get into the
Bustani
, the usual crowds greatly thinned, due to the
reduction in the population.

     “Oh ha, Krece!” Ro-Becilo’Ran
said from a far corner. “Back, are you? Over here, with us!”

     Kreceno’Tiv changed course, Vespa
Karaci’Tiv right behind him, as Jararo’Mev was also with the group, and
obviously looking out for her. They joined the group, sitting with the others
in the curved lounges.

     “How was the Solidaris Orm?”
Ro-Becilo’Ran said, jovial, but his joviality was brittle, as if something was
wrong. His vuu’erio waved and tucked, waved and tucked, and his glyph was
perturbed, but whether by thoughts and feelings, or an excess of celebration,
he could not tell.

     “I enjoyed it,” he said,
puzzling, but trying not to let it show. “I saw the most beautiful girl there, Becil,
she had eyes like rainbows...!”

     “Not as beautiful as
Karaci’Tiv,” Jararo’Mev said, his neutral bluish-gray already taking on the
faint red and black markings of her Vespar-induction, and his physique changing
ever so slightly, overtly proclaiming his attraction to her.

     “I wouldn’t know,”
Kreceno’Tiv said, though, of course, he knew intellectually that his sister was
very attractive.

     “Sure you do, you just
wouldn’t
say
,” Vespa Karaci’Tiv said, turning a sassy shoulder.

     “No, I won’t do that
either,” he laughed. “As I was saying, I saw a Tiphi Cav young woman there,
and...!”

     “You saw a Tiphi Cav, and
you’re not wearing Tiphir-colors?” Thy-Lerefo’Gol expulsed, staring at him.
“Are you sure you’re still male? Did Pavtala Ralili’Bax take it with her when
she left?”

     The reminder of his former
Geni’vhes made all the fluid seem to drain from his face. How quickly he had
forgotten her! But she was out of his reach, and gone from his life, probably
forever. Was it best to just move on, as the Tiphi young woman seemed to make
it easy to do so?

     “I’ll show you, if you
like,” he said mock-grimly, though not all of it was pretense. There was
something there, in what Thy-Lerefo’Gol had said, another teasing at the edges
of his mind, something about Pavtala Ralili’Bax, but it almost hurt to try to
bring it up.

     His friend held up his
hands. “Hives above, no, if you say it’s there, I’ll take your avowal on it!”
Then he playfully covered Thynnu Tikati’Pas’s eyes. “Besides, you might scare
my pre-mate, and then we’ll never get past Geni’vheris!”

     “I don’t know, you know how
curious we can be,” Thynnu Tikati’Pas said, her eyes twinkling as she tried to
lower Thy-Lerefo’Gol’s hands and eyed him salaciously. “Ralili never talked.
But seriously, a Tiphi-Genus? They’re as hard to find as a Malkia-descendant!
Was she really beautiful?”

     “I actually stopped
breathing, for a centi-mark,” he answered. He felt the Tiphir-induction at
mentioning her try to come over him, and he suppressed it.

     “Oh ha, Krece,” Ro-Becilo’Ran
said, rocking up to his feet and gesturing. “Come with me to get another set of
freshments?”

     Kreceno’Tiv gestured assent
and stood up to follow, encountering enigmatic glances from the others as he
did.

Whorl Ninety Five

     “What’s wrong, Becil?”
Kreceno’Tiv asked, quietly. “Something’s wrong. Aren’t you going to Tertius?”

     “Oh, I’m going,” Ro-Becilo’Ran
said, gesturing assent. “But...” The pained and confused, hurt glyph that
tangled around his friend’s glyph was almost painfully apparent, and
Kreceno’Tiv could guess the why of it. Ro-Becilo’Ran’s parents had cautioned
him, as Kreceno’Tiv’s had, about showing his true Nil’Gu’ua ability. But his
friend had not looked into the deeper implications of the warning. He just knew
that he had been told to not show all that he could do, and that it had been a
blow to his self-regard. He waited, however, for Ro-Becilo’Ran to articulate
his fret himself.

     “They told you, didn’t
they,” Ro-Becilo’Ran stated. “They told you not to show your full Nil’Gu’ua at
Tertius.”

     “Yes,” Kreceno’Tiv
confirmed.

     Ro-Becilo’Ran pulled him
into a small, private ante-room, then growled out his frustration.

     “Why?! Why would they tell
us such a thing?!” he raged. Kreceno’Tiv blinked. He had never seen his friend
so upset. Ro-Becilo’Ran was usually so easy-going, unconcerned, unaffected by
most things... why should this be a sore-point for him?

     “There’s a reason, there has
to be,” Kreceno’Tiv murmured, but that did nothing to soothe his friend’s
bruised feelings.

     “Don’t you think I’ve
pondered that?” Ro-Becilo’Ran said, angry. “Don’t you think I’ve looked? What
possible reason could there be, except the desire for those older than we to
keep us below them? Like the OSI, it’s just one more device of control, more
propaganda from the Gu’Anin Magistrate Council and the Solidarim to keep us
pacified!”

     Kreceno’Tiv wanted to
gesture a negative. His parents were not so credulous – they would not give him
a false warning. There was more going on than mere propaganda or controlling
the populace, he was sure of it.

     “We’ll keep looking, keep
trying to find the reason,” he said, touching his friend’s shoulder. But Ro-Becilo’Ran
jerked away, looking back at him resentfully.

     “So you’ve been
glome-clouded into it, too!” he accused, glaring at Kreceno’Tiv. “You’re going
to understate your ability, when we get to Tertius, aren’t you?!”

     “No,” he lied, convincingly.
“No, I won’t understate myself.”

     “Avow that you won’t,” his
friend insisted.

     Kreceno’Tiv sighed and held
out his hand. “Becil, you know me. I’ll avow it, if you insist, but you know my
glyph better than anyone. Could I ever lie to you?”

     Ro-Becilo’Ran smiled and
gripped his shoulder rather than taking his hand and reading his glyph as the
gesture invited him to do.

     “I knew you wouldn’t be
duped into that nonsense,” he said, happy again, happy to have an ally in his
belief. “We’ll show them, at Tertius! We’ll amaze everyone with our feats of
glyph manipulation! And I’ll finally know your Nil’Gu’ua! Now, let’s get that
refreshment for everyone!”