Falcorans' Faith (10 page)

“I don’t know,” Darck said.  “I’m just worried about it.  It’s what woke me up, this strong, nagging feeling that I had to go there and watch.”

“Then you must follow your feelings in this,” Thelba said reluctantly.  “Promise me that you will be careful.”

“Of course, my love,” Darck said.  “Now, tell me, why are you awake?”

“Because you were no longer by my side,” Thelba replied.   

“Then let us go back to bed, and I will remain at your side that you can sleep,” Darck said, standing up and holding out one hand to her.  “The little ones will be awake in a few hours, and we both need our rest.”

Thelba took Darck’s hand and rose to her feet, smiling at the thought of their children.  Two boys and one girl, hatched just a few days earlier.  They were certainly a handful, but she loved every moment of motherhood, no matter how tired she was.  If anything happened to Darck, she would endure for the sake of their children.  But the light of happiness would be gone from her life, and in the way of her people, she knew that it would never shine again.

Chapter
Eight

Faith awoke the next morning feeling more rested than she had in a long time, which seemed strange.  She vaguely remembered having one of her nightmares, but for some reason it hadn’t woken her up as they usually did.  After a moment she shrugged and climbed out of bed, making it up quickly before going into the bathroom and starting the shower.

Twenty minutes later, her hair mostly dry in deference to Tristan’s apparent aversion to wet hair, she was ready to go find breakfast.  As soon as she turned the door knob on the cabin door she knew something was wrong.  She frowned, then worked the lock button which spun freely.  It was obviously broken, but she knew for certain that she’d locked it before going to bed the night before.    

The rush of adrenaline that suddenly flooded her body made her dizzy.  She bent over, arms wrapped tightly around herself, eyes closed as she fought back against the impending panic.  A wave of calm washed through her body, startling her.  She had no idea where it was coming from, but she grabbed onto it desperately.  Within a few moments the dizziness passed and her heart rate slowed, surprising her further.  It generally took far longer for her to battle back a panic attack.  Maybe she was just getting better at it.  She took several long, deep breaths, then stood up straight and opened her eyes. 

She felt perfectly normal now.  No panic, no racing heart, no dizziness, no trembling hands.  Nothing.  She didn’t understand it, but she liked it.  She opened the door and stilled at the sight of the three Falcorans standing in the hall, facing her. 

“Please, do not be afraid,” Gray said quickly.  “We are no threat to you.  Reach for our emotions, and you will know it’s true.”

Faith did as he asked, puzzled to discover that she not only didn’t feel threatened by them, she felt an overwhelming sense of safety and security coming from them.  Weird.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” she asked.  They all looked at her in confusion.  “You three did something to stop the...the way I felt a few moments ago.”

“Yes,” Jonathan said.  The nervousness in his voice made her curious.  It was the first time she’d ever heard any emotion in his voice.  “Please do not be angry with us.  We felt your discomfort and could not help trying to alleviate it.”

Faith was suddenly very glad that she’d spent enough time with the Bearens and the Dracons to get past her initial shock over their magical abilities.

“How?” she asked curiously.

“We have some skill in Water magic,” Tristan said.  “Healing magic.”

“Thank you,” Faith said after a moment, unable to think of any other response that wouldn’t raise questions she had no intention of answering. 

“You must be hungry,” Gray said.  She nodded.  “Come, we will eat together.”

Faith hesitated, but couldn’t think of a polite reason to refuse.  She pulled her door shut behind her and followed them down the corridor and up to the next deck.  They entered a dining area that held several tables with chairs set around them.  Along one side of the room was a buffet table loaded with food.  The aroma made her stomach growl, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast with Hope’s family the previous morning.  She felt her face heat as Tristan, Gray and Jon all turned to look at her.

“Sorry,” she said. 

“There is no need for apologies,” Tristan said, his voice suspiciously gentle.  “It is we who should apologize to you for not feeding you yesterday.  It was thoughtless and careless of us.”

Faith shrugged uncomfortably, wondering why Tristan’s attitude had changed so dramatically.  “I’m a big girl,” she said.  “I know how to ask for something if I need it.  I didn’t have much of an appetite yesterday.”

Tristan reached for a plate from the stack on the counter and handed it to her.  “Thanks,” she said, then turned toward the food, glad to have something to focus on besides the three men who surrounded her with a totally unfamiliar air of protectiveness. 

She put some scrambled eggs on her plate and looked longingly at the bacon, sausage, and ham before passing them by.  That was about it for protein that she could safely eat, so she chose mixed fruit, some of it familiar from her stay with the Bearens, some not.  She added one slice of toast, though she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to eat it.  She passed by the sweet rolls and the waffles without a glance, knowing they were her greatest weakness.  She scanned the other offerings once more, but the bacon and sausage were definitely not going to work, and she seriously doubted that the ham would stay down either. 

“That’s all you’re going to eat?” Jonathan asked worriedly when she stopped to fill a glass with milk from an iced pitcher.

Faith looked down at her plate, then at the food on the buffet line with a regretful sigh.  She would have loved to pile more food on her plate.  But it would only be wasted.

“I’ll start with this,” she said, hoping he would let it go at that.

“Go ahead and choose a table,” he said.  “We’ll join you in a moment.  Would you like coffee or tea?”

“Coffee, please,” she said, knowing she shouldn’t, but unable to resist.  Jon nodded and she looked around the room for a table.  As much as she would have preferred to sit alone, she knew that would be rude.  She chose a square table near the center of the room that had only one chair on each side, and sat down.  She wanted to be able to see all of their faces when she asked them to explain the one thing that was bothering her the most.

She waited until they were all seated and had eaten in silence for several minutes before asking her question.  “Why is the lock on my cabin door broken?”

Though none of them showed that they were startled by the question, she could feel their emotions a little too clearly.  After an initial burst of surprise, they all became nervous.  They looked at her, then Gray and Jon turned their eyes to Tristan, who set his coffee cup down with a nod, accepting the responsibility that fell to him as eldest brother.

“Last night, shortly after you retired, you began to scream,” he said in a calm, matter of fact voice, as though talking about the weather, or the flavor of the coffee.  But Faith wasn’t fooled.  She felt their combined tension at the memory conjured up by Tristan’s words, and her hand tightened on her fork. 

“We didn’t know if you’d been injured, or if you were being attacked.  When we reached your cabin the door was locked, so I broke it in order to get inside.”

“And what did you find when you entered?”

“We found you in the closet, asleep, screaming in the throes of a nightmare,” Tristan said.  “We used Water magic to send you into a deeper sleep where the nightmare could not reach you, and put you back into bed.”

Faith struggled to hide how horrified she was by the image Tristan had conjured up.  That they’d seen her in such a vulnerable position, had not only touched her, but
carried
her, and sent her into a sleep so deep she remembered nothing of it, was terrifying.  She kept telling herself over and over that she was fine, they hadn’t harmed her or...done anything to her.

“I’m sorry,” she said evenly, though her heart was racing so fast that she had to fight to control her breathing.  “I thought the nightmares were under control.  I suppose that the stress of yesterday brought them back.”

“There is no need to apologize for having nightmares,” Gray said.  “Our only concern was that you’d be angry with us for entering your room.”

“No, I’m not angry,” Faith said.  She would have preferred anger over the combined terror and embarrassment she felt.  “Thank you for helping me.”  She picked up her coffee, relieved that her hands were only trembling a little, and took a sip.  “Is that why you’re being nice to me this morning?  You feel sorry for me?”

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way,” Tristan said. 

“How would you put it then?” Faith asked with an edge in her voice that she didn’t bother trying to hide.

Tristan smiled, disarming her completely.  “Let’s just say that we have our own unhappy story.  I suppose it makes us feel as though we can understand each other better.”

Faith got that.  Sort of.  She just hoped they didn’t expect her to start sharing stories because she was
not
going there.

“How long have you been able to see meta-space?” Gray asked, changing the subject.

“No idea,” she replied.  “The first time I ever left Earth was about two years ago, when I came to Jasan.”

“You’ve been to Jasan before?” Tristan asked, his stomach tightening.  Had she been contracted to another male-set? he wondered.  Was she one of those women who ran screaming for the nearest transport once she learned a few truths about the Jasani?

“Yes,” she said.  “I spent some time in the women’s sanctuary.”

Tristan’s thoughts, and escalating temper, screeched to a halt.  More than anything he wanted to ask her why, but that was strictly forbidden.  No Jasani male could ask any female such a question and retain his honor. 

Faith frowned, confused by the abrupt change of emotions coming from Tristan.

“That was the first time you saw one?” Gray asked, gently prodding her to continue her story.  Faith nodded.

“Yes, it was,” she said.  “I was on a passenger liner, looking out the window and saw this...hole.  I nudged the woman beside me and asked her what it was, but she had no idea what I was talking about.  Eventually I realized that she didn’t see it.  So I asked a few other people, casual like, whenever the liner queued up for a jump point.  Nobody else ever saw what I saw.  It was easy enough to figure out that what I was seeing were jump points.”

“And you never told anyone?” Tristan asked.

“Who was I going to tell that would either care, believe me, or know what I was talking about?  I had a hard enough time trying to convince people I was old enough to be in college.  Not to mention the fact that I was a art history major with zero knowledge of space.  No, it was far better to keep it to myself.  I had no idea it would ever be important to anyone.”  She took a bite of toast and washed it down with the last of her coffee.  Then she picked up her fork and toyed with the fruit for a moment, trying to convince herself to eat some of it.

Suddenly she dropped the fork and leapt to her feet.  “Bathroom?” she asked, her face paling almost to white.  Jon pointed and she turned and fled the room, one hand over her mouth.  Moments later their sensitive ears picked up the distant sounds of her being sick.  Jon stood up, torn between checking on her, and allowing her privacy.  When they heard the toilet flush and, a moment later, the water running in the sink, Jon sat back down and they all waited tensely for her to return. 

“That’s unfortunate,” Tristan said softly. 

“
Unfortunate
?” Gray asked with a frown.

“She is too thin,” Tristan explained.  “I didn’t notice yesterday, but if you look carefully you can see that her clothing is quite loose, and she appears to wear several layers, which gives the impression of bulk.  She ate nothing yesterday or last night, and very little this morning.  What she did eat, she just lost.  As small and thin as she is, that is unfortunate.”

“We will have to see to it that she eats again soon,” Jon said.   

“I’d like to know why she’s so thin,” Gray said.  “She was obviously hungry when we came in here.  I confess, I am not familiar with how much women generally eat, but it appeared to me that she became full far more quickly than she should have.  She ate only a bit of egg, one bite of toast, a little milk and a cup of coffee.  I doubt that’s enough food for a small child.”

“Until she confides in us, we must take care of her as best we can,” Jon said.  “Hopefully, we will eventually earn her trust.”

When Faith returned a few minutes later she looked a little better, but not much.  “Are you all right?” Gray asked.

“Yes,” she said, taking her seat and shaking her head at Tristan’s silent offer of coffee.  “I apologize for that.  I guess the coffee and toast were too much.” 

“You barely ate anything at all,” Gray pointed out gently.

 “I can’t eat very much at once,” she admitted.  “I’m supposed to eat several small meals a day, but lately that hasn’t been possible.”

“It’s possible while you are here, with us,” Tristan said.  “If you will make a list of what you’d like to eat, and when, our chef will be happy to be prepare your meals for you.”