Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (57 page)

“I hate that he has to miss this,” Arianna said a little while later, once Jace left for the med center and she and Hunter were making their way to the stables to retrieve his mount. “Actually… Hunter?” she stopped and he looked down at her sweet face. “Could we invite Bev along? She is just as excited about space travel as I am, and I know that it would thrill her to join us.”

He grinned at her and nodded toward the stables, where Trey and his team, along with a very excited Beverly, were all waiting. Ri let out a tiny squeak and hugged Hunter’s waist tightly, pressing a kiss to his chest, which was all she could reach when they were standing. Chuckling, he lifted her up to his level so that she could give him a proper thank-you kiss. She grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck. He decided he liked her there so much that he carried her like that the rest of the way to the riders, kissing her the whole time. She laughed against his lips, holding on tighter.

Trey was grinning and Bev was giggling at them when Hunter and Ri got to the group of riders. But nothing was said as Trey angled Hunter’s mount so that he could get up without putting Ri down. She was startled at first that she didn’t have her own mount, but the ‘riders’ were large enough to hold three or even four of the large warriors. Trey’s team had two mounts between them, with Bev secured happily in front of Trey, and his men Erik and Rom on the rider behind their leaders’. Ri didn’t mind one bit being wrapped in Hunter’s arms for the trip. She leaned back against him, loving the feeling of security she got when he took the reins, his strong arms surrounding her.

Hunter clicked to his mount and they were off.

Now that she was conscious and not in horrible pain for a ride through the forest, Arianna could better appreciate all the colors, sounds, and smells of her new world. Trees did not have green leaves here. Instead, they were more of a dark teal color, which she personally loved. It was one of her favorite colors. Always had been. And it was late-spring, so many of the trees still had leaves sprouting in lighter shades of teal and aqua. Many of the lower level plants were flowering in pastels and brilliant, iridescent rainbows. Creatures that she decided to call birds simply because they looked somewhat like birds back home, flitted and flew through the branches overhead, hopped through the underbrush, and chittered and chirped at the group moving through their woods. The smell of loam seemed to permeate the woods, but above it was the sweet scent of flowers whose names she didn’t know… if they even had names.

Of course, she mentioned this to Hunter, who then went into geek mode. He delighted in pointing out all of the flora and fauna his men had cataloged so far. He was careful to show her some of the poisonous plants and beast-sign, and then laughed as she caught sight of a little bunch of kimis that were following the humanoids along their path.

“They will become tired or bored soon,” Hunter murmured, but leaned way down to present his palm to one of the creatures. The little kimi hopped into Hunter’s hand as though it knew it was welcome, then chittered at Arianna when Hunter plopped it onto her bosom. He took note of where they had picked the fluffy little thing up, so that he could release it on their way back.

Arianna made an adorable little noise and cuddled the kimi to her, lifting it so that she could touch noses with it and coo at it like a mother would a babe. Hunter’s arms tightened a little bit around her, his hands clenching on the reins. He could feel the instant, unconditional love that she offered to the tiny, furry creature, felt its response and delight, and heard its thrumming as it nestled against her bosom and accepted her petting.

He wanted that for himself, badly. He knew that she cared for him, knew that she was falling in love with him, but she had yet to say it definitively. Perhaps, on her world, the men were supposed to say it first? That seemed backwards to him, but he supposed he had to allow for cultural differences. On his world, though a warrior was not ashamed to love, it was traditional for the woman to admit to the feeling first, simply so that the man knew where he stood with her before declaring himself. But if Arianna’s world was the opposite… he should find out. Otherwise, they could go for years, waiting for the other to say it first.

Fortunately, because of his bond with her, Hunter was not too worried about the audible admission. He knew her heart, and knew that she would say it when she was ready. And he had a feeling that he would know when she was ready to hear it from him, as well.

Ri tilted her head back against his shoulder, looking up at him searchingly.

“What is it?” she asked quietly. He started and shook his head.

“Nothing,” he sighed, kissing her forehead. “Just thinking about the future.”

“Yes,” she breathed, looking around her as they began the ascent to the valley where his ship rested. “It’s so… exciting! There’s so much here, so many possibilities. Hunter, we have the chance to build a world the way it should be. We both come from civilizations that have learned much of what
not
to do. We can use that to shape this one, put laws in place that will protect the people and the world we live on.
We
can do this! The possibilities…”

“And the responsibilities,” he reminded her gently. “Yes, there is a lot we could do. There is also much we should not do. I think that once the entire database is combined, we should put our best minds, from each culture, to researching each others’ histories, find what has worked and what has not. We can send out exploratory teams, as well, to expand our knowledge of this world. We need to find out how to use the resources wisely, yet disturb the indigenous life as little as possible.”

She nodded, enthusiastic about the ideas swimming in her head. Hunter got a smattering of the images fleeting through her mind and chuckled.

“Later, sweet one. We have time to think of all of this. We are taking up a very small corner of this world right now. There will be time to decide how best to integrate our species’ into it.”

He clicked once more to the beast, then held her closer as the rider surged up the last incline to the crest of the small mountain they’d had to climb. Hunter brought the group to a stop on the summit, to let the women see a real space-ship for the first time.

“Oh my God,” Bev breathed, taking in the massive ship. Arianna gaped in awe, then shook herself as Hunter began the descent into the valley. A bell rang somewhere in the distance, and she realized that there must have been sentries on duty who saw the group coming in.

There were more crew members here, many more men than were back at the compound, though she thought she recognized a fair number of them.

“Wow,” she said, clutching Hunter’s forearms. “Um, Hunter… do these guys know about the women?”

He chuckled and nuzzled the curls at her temple.

“Yes, but they don’t care. The men who work in this area either travel to and from the compound when they need to work, or they are part of the
Eshen
clan.” She got the mental image of homosexuals from him and smiled. There was no censure in his thoughts, just acceptance and a rueful gratitude that there weren’t even more men vying for the women’s attention. She swatted his arm playfully.

“You’re awful!” she said. He grinned down at her.

“I do not wish to share you with anyone other than Jace,” he said fervently. “If that means that I am eternally grateful that there are men who do not care for female companionship, then so be it.”

“On our world, such men tend to be ostracized and excluded. They can’t even get married.”

Hunter scoffed at that, shaking his head. “On our world, we know that such things are a natural part of life, that people are born with certain desires, and that those desires don’t always match what others feel. It simply
is
. But they still have functioning, brilliant minds, strong bodies that they wish to use in military service to their people, and valuable knowledge and skills. Why would we exclude such resources, simply on the basis of sexual preference? That would be idiotic.”

Arianna grinned happily and leaned back against him.

“Exactly the way I feel!” she assured him. “It shouldn’t make a difference at all.”

“And it does not. When forming transport crews, we do ask sexual preference, but mainly that is so that we can bunk like desires in the same areas. It makes for fewer disturbances in the crew quarters, if men are not constantly kicked out of their rooms for their roommates to have a bit of fun.”

They rode in silence for a bit, Arianna’s eyes taking in every detail of the ship. It was banged up and singed in areas. There were spots where it had obviously taken heavy fire… artillery as well as laser. And one large section was completely hulled, but it appeared that a crew was working on using salvaged materials from the slaver’s ship to begin repairs there. A spot of color flashed in the corner of her eye, and she looked off to the side, where a neat little area rested with flowers, grass, and small stones. A breath escaped her as she sensed that it was a graveyard.

“Yes,” Hunter said reluctantly, following her gaze and her thoughts. “We have lost some good men. None who were in the damaged section survived. Most were simply… gone. The wounded,” he shook his head, his eyes showing the grief he felt at the losses. “We did everything we could to save them.”

“I know you did,” she breathed, stroking his arm in comfort. “You would do nothing less.”

“We have lost some to illnesses, as well. The first winter, before Jace and his teams were able to develop the current pathogen vaccines, we lost nearly a hundred of our crew. We have lost more through the years, to accidents and animal attacks. Several entire teams have been lost.”

He angled his mount toward the graveyard, then dismounted and helped Arianna to the ground. The little kimi that had been sleeping in her lap hopped away to investigate the flowers that had been lovingly planted around the edges of the small plot of land.

“It’s so small for so many men,” Arianna noted quietly. Hunter nodded.

“We do not bury our dead,” he said in response to the images of coffins in her head. “What is the good in that? We cremate them in ritual then we release their ashes to the wind. When no bodies are available, we make do with memorial stones. When entire teams are lost, we mingle small bits of each of their ashes and bury them beneath the stones, in honor of their bonds in life.”

Arianna thought that was a beautiful thing to do and told him so.

“It is the way of my people,” he said simply. She felt the heaviness of his heart, the loss he had suffered, and something more…

“Hunter,” she asked, touching his face lightly. He shook his head.

“Jace and I lost two brothers in the attack,” he admitted, allowing her to feel his grief. “They were younger than me, but older than Jace. Siae was my full brother, Kale was Jace’s, but we were a family.”

“What of your mother?” she dared to ask. “Sisters? Other brothers?”

“We had one other brother, Sean. He was older than me.”

“Warrior?” she asked. Hunter nodded.

“Warrior, Reader, and a Counselor. Sean had special gifts, skills that he somehow achieved through his Reading, and he had a very soothing mental touch. Occasionally, very ugly crimes visit our people. When such things happened in the past, Sean was called in to help with the trauma. If he could not help someone, then they were beyond help.”

“In the past?” she whispered. His heart clenched and she felt it. He had mentioned his brothers before, but had not gone into detail. Now she felt a loosening in him as he sighed and revealed a bit more.

“He was a member of our team. Though he was older than me, he spent more time studying to be a Counselor and working toward his master in that. I reached Commander before he did, so when I was given leave to form my command team, Sean was my first-lieutenant, Jace my second. Siae was head of security, Kale in charge of ongoing training and crew morale.” He was quiet for a long moment. Arianna waited, silent. “When our battalion was mobilized for the final Solvari attack, Sean was away on a counseling mission. I heard, months later, that his transport had been destroyed, all aboard lost.”

“My mother and Jace’s father were on another transport,” he told her, holding her closer. “And two of my sisters are Commanders, with their own ships. I hold out hope that they are all still alive… somewhere.”

“If they’re like you,” she whispered, “They are, and they’re making the best of their situation.”

For a long moment, they stood over the stone that honored Siae and Kale, then Hunter shook himself and turned away from his brothers’ stone.

“Enough of this,” he said briskly. “Today was to be a happy day for you, and a productive one for me. There is nothing to be gained from wallowing in grief.”

“Hunter,” she said, stopping him simply by cupping his jaw in her palm. He looked down at her. “It wasn’t your fault.”

He stared at her, his expression closing. She shook her head and dug in her mental claws, keeping him from shutting her out. She forced him to keep her gaze, looked deeply into him, though he tried to get away.

“It was not your fault,” she repeated in an urgent whisper.

“You don’t know!” he bit out. She nodded, closing her eyes.

“I do.” She sighed and cocked her head to the side, gently letting go of his mind. He scowled at her. “Love, what happened that day? When your brothers died?”