She drew her arms through the healing, cleansing, golden water, swimming toward the other side of the pool where she remembered leaving Chase. She found him almost up to his neck in the water, his head tilted back, resting on a soft mat of grass at the bank. His eyes were closed and he had a wonderful smile on his face.
"Father?"
"Yes, Daughter," he whispered without opening his eyes.
She swam up beside him. He lifted an arm and she slipped under it. It felt so good to have his arm around her shoulders, comforting her.
"Father, do we ever have to leave this place?"
"No. They say we can stay forever."
She nuzzled against him. "I'm so glad."
She slept, really slept, like she couldn't remember ever sleeping before, so safe and sheltered, though she didn't know how long. When she dressed, her clothes were clean, and seemed to sparkle like new. Chase's clothes, too, were bright and shiny. She held hands and danced in circles with other children, glowing children, who's voices and laughter echoed. It made her laugh, too, laugh with happiness like none she had ever felt before.
When she was hungry, she and Chase lay in the grass, the warm fog and glowing, smiling faces around them, and ate things that were sweet and delicious. When she was tired, she slept, never having to worry about where she slept, because she was safe, safe at last. And when she wanted to play, the other children came to play with her. They loved her. Everyone loved her. She loved everyone.
Sometimes she walked alone. Filmy shafts of sunlight streamed through the trees. Glowing meadows were filled with wildflowers bowing in the gentle breeze, winking with bright specks of color.
Sometimes she walked with Chase, holding his hand. She was so happy that he was contented now, too. He never had to fight anyone anymore. He was safe, too. He said he was at peace.
He sometimes took her for walks, and showed her the woods where, he said, he grew up, where, he said, he had played when he was as little as she. She smiled with delight at the look of happiness in his eyes. She loved him and was fulfilled knowing he, like she, had found peace, at last.
*****
She looked up, and a small smile touched her thin lips. She hadn't heard a sound, and she needn't turn to look in the near darkness. She knew he was there, on the other side of the door. She knew how long he had been there.
Her legs still crossed, she rose smoothly on a cushion of air, hovering above the straw covered floor. The boy's limp arms swung as they dangled, like weighted fishing line. Lacking any life or rigidity, his back bent backwards, draping over her arm. In her other hand was clutched the statue.
She unfolded her legs and stretched her slippered feet to the floor, settling her weight on them. As the boy slid from her arm, the dead weight of his head thunked against the floor. His arms and legs flopped askew to one side. His clothes were filthy. Disgusted, she wiped her hands on her skirts.
"Why don't you come in, Jedidiah." Her voice echoed from the cold stone. "I know you are there. Don't try to pretend you are not."
The heavy door squeaked slowly open and the shadowed figure strolled into the light of a single candle burning on a rickety, nearby table that was the lower room's only accouterment. He stood relaxed, silently watching, as the orange glow faded from her eyes, and they returned to the pale pale blue shot through with violet flecks.
His eyes went to the statue in her hand. "The owner sent me to find that. She wants it back."
The thin smile grew. "Does she now?" She shrugged. "Well, I am through with it." She held it out to him. "For now."
Jedidiah's face was a calm mask as he took the statue. "She doesn't like it when you 'borrow' her things."
She ran a finger down his cheek. "She is not the one I serve. I don't really care what she likes and what she doesn't."
"You would be wise to care a little more."
Her smile brightened. "Really? I could give her the same advice." She twisted, holding an arm out to the body on the floor. "He had the gift." Slowly, her hard eyes came back to his, the smile gone, as if one had never touched her features in all her life. Her voice came in a venomous hiss. "I have it now."
The slightest frown of puzzlement touched his cool expression.
"Think we must have the ceremony, Jedidiah? The ritual in Hagen Woods?" She slowly shook her head. "Not anymore. That is only the first time, because we are female, and female Han cannot absorb the male." Her voice lowered to a derisive whisper. "Not any longer. Now that I have the gift of a male, I can accept others without the ritual."
Her face glided to within inches of his. "So can you, Jedidiah," she breathed. "With the quillion, so can you. I could teach you. It's sooo easy. I simply showed him the joining rite, to try to show him his Han." Her cheek brushed his as she whispered into his ear. "But he didn't know how to control his gift. I created a vacuum in the quillion." She drew back to appraise his eyes. "It sucked the life right out of him. Sucked the gift right out of him. It is mine, now."
He studied her eyes a time before glancing down at the body. "I don't recall seeing him before."
She continued to whisper to him from only inches away. "Don't play games with me, Jedidiah. What you really mean is, where did I find him, and why haven't the Sisters, if he has the gift."
He gave a nonchalant shrug. "If he has the gift, why isn't he collared?"
She cocked her head to the side. "Because he is so young. His Han is too weak to be detected by the other Sisters." She tilted her head to the other side. "But not by me." She touched her nose to his. "He was right here in the city. Right under their noses. Probably the offspring of a dalliance by one of you naughty boys."
"Very efficient. Saves having to bother with reports. Avoids awkward questions."
She glanced down at the body. "Be a good boy, and dispose of him for me. I found him living in squalor, down near the river. Dump him back there. No one will think anything of it."
He lifted an eyebrow. "You wish me to clean up after you?"
She ran a finger down his neck and across his throat, across his Rada'Han. "You make a serious mistake, Jedidiah, if you think of me as a mere Sister. I have the male gift now, same as you. And I know how to use it. You wouldn't believe how much that power increases when you add the Han of another."
"It would appear that you are becoming a Sister to be reckoned with. A wise person would take care with you."
She patted his cheek. "Smart boy, Jedidiah."
She gave him a little frown as she slipped her hands to his waist. "You know, Jedidiah, you may think of yourself as powerful in the gift, but I think you should worry about that. You have never had one to challenge your abilities before, your rightful place among the wizards here, but a new one comes. He will be here soon, and you have never seen one like this before. I think you may no longer be the pride of the Palace."
His countenance showed no reaction, but his face slowly heated to red. He lifted the statue. "Well, you did say you would like to teach me."
She waggled a finger in front of his face. "Uh, uh, uh. He is mine. You may have another. Any gift will swell your power, but this one is mine."
He waggled the statue in front of her face. "She might have something to say about that. She has plans of her own. Plans for him."
She smiled with one side of her mouth. "I know. And you are going to keep me informed of her plans."
He lifted an eyebrow. "You have plans for me?"
The smile grew to both sides of her mouth. "Very special plans." Her hands roamed lower down the sides of his hips, feeling the firmness of his young muscles under his robes. "You are good with your hands, good at making things, making things in metal. I have something I want you to make for me. Something invested with magic. I hear that is one of your talents with the gift."
"You wish a trinket, an amulet, perhaps, in silver, or gold?"
"No, no, dear boy. You are to make it from steel. You are to gather the steel of a hundred sword points. Very special sword points. Sword
points from the armory; old ones, ones that have been used. Ones that have pierced flesh in combat."
He arched an eyebrow. "And what is it you wish made?"
She slid a hand up the inside of his thigh. "We will talk about it later."
She smiled at how quickly he responded to her touch. "You must be lonely, since Margaret ran away. Sooo lonely. I think you need a friend who understands you. Did you know, Jedidiah, that with the male Han comes a unique understanding of the male? I now understand in a new light what it is that men appreciate. I think we are going to be very special friends. As a special friend, you get the reward before performing the task."
She trickled a thread of magic into him, focusing it where it would do the most good. Her smile widened as his head rolled back. His eyes closed and he let out a throaty groan, and then gasped. Panting, he clutched his hands to her bottom, drawing her to him, and crushed his open mouth to hers.
She kicked the body out of her way as she let him force her to the straw covered floor.
36