her instruments 03 - laisrathera (43 page)

There was a kernel inside. A kernel she would have recognized in her dreams, and yet seeing it here, in this context…. when she touched it her fingers were trembling. “Is this really….?”

His voice was low. “I took the liberty of having it engineered using the material in the bead you wove into the dangle. It is viable—you have only to choose where to plant it.”

“It may be too cold here for a eucalyptus,” Reese said, her eyes watering. Her voice was going hoarse on her.

“I’m given to understand that some cultivars thrive in the cold, so long as they have the right exposure. Or we could build it a greenhouse.” He smiled. “The Queen has enough of them for her horticultural experiments. Why should not Laisrathera have one as well?”

She was going to cry. Was already crying, and didn’t care that he could see it, because he’d resurrected
her eucalyptus
, the one that had given her comfort in her troubled childhood. Had come up with the idea, had somehow divined how important it had been to her, and he’d done that for
her
, and sacrificed the bead she’d given him to do it. That’s what the familiar pattern was on the box—she looked a second time—those were eucalyptus leaves, as seen through the eyes of some Eldritch artist.

As she wiped her eyes, Hirianthial reached for her, gathered her into his arms. He didn’t try to reassure her, didn’t mistake her tears for an expression of some feeling that needed comfort. It didn’t, because she was crying for release, for relief, for knowing that for every loss, there was a possibility of a returning. A potential for redemption, for a second try. She’d gotten hers… he’d gotten his. Everything was right with the world.

Everything was clear.

“Heart,” she said suddenly against his chest.

He canted his head, just a little, to look down at her, and she met his eyes.

“That’s your song name,” Reese said, quiet. She curled her fingers around the kernel, bruising her fingertips on it to make the scent cling to the skin.  ”My Heart. That’s what you are. And what you gave to me.”

He touched his fingers to her lips and whispered, “Oh, love.”

“Exactly,” she answered, soft. And kissed his fingers. Then she thought, if she could kiss him first, maybe there were other things she could try doing first. So she set the box aside, and the kernel, and did, and smiled at his ardent welcome… and maybe they lost a few more hours.

In the morning, while he ran a bath in the mercifully renovated chambers because God and freedom help her if she was going to use another water closet no matter how much she liked this world, Reese donned a robe and dared to peek out into the corridor. She almost tripped over Irine, who was sitting crosslegged beside the door, reading a data tablet. At the sight of Reese, the woman set it aside and perked her ears. “You’re out sooner than I thought!”

“I’m not out for long,” Reese said, belting the robe closed. “I just wanted to find out how things are going.”

“Oh, it’s great.” Irine laughed. “The crowd’s over half-Pelted, you know, and those Harat-Shar who came to be Araelis’s family are awfully charming. Felith’s got everything running on a schedule for people who want events: picnics and little outdoor games and contests and feasts… something for everyone. But honestly, most of us are enjoying it for the chance to get to know one another. All the movers and shakers on this world are here, right now. We’re seeing the future happen, you know?”

“I do, a little,” Reese said, smiling. She sat next to the tigraine, leaned into her and sighed. This fur smelled like home, too.

“Happy?” Irine asked, gentler, nuzzling.

“Yes.”

“Just like that.” Said fondly, but with a little bemusement, too.

“Just like that, sure,” Reese replied, finding it funny. “If ‘just like that’ means having to get through my whole life to make it to this point.”

“Yeah,” Irine murmured, sliding an arm around Reese’s shoulder. “I can see that.”

“Worth it though.”

Irine grinned and nudged her. “So I smell.”

Reese colored and poked a furry side. “If you were anyone but Harat-Shar, I’d be embarrassed.”

“But I’m not,” Irine said. “So it’s all good. Oh, and you know… I found Allacazam.”

Allacazam! She had forgotten he was missing. “Where was he?”

“In a closet. Budding!”

Reese sat up, stunned. “Budding??”

“Budding,” Irine said, satisfied with her shock. “There are now two more little Allacazams rolling around. Must be something in the air.” She grinned. “Maybe we can send one of them off with Ra’aila and the
Earthrise
. It would be weird for the ship to be running without a Flitzbe.”

“It would,” Reese agreed. And added, “When they’re older. Freedom.” She laughed and rubbed her face. “God.”

“And Goddess and Angels and all the good things in life,” Irine agreed, and wrapped her tail around Reese’s waist to go with the arm.

They sat like that a while, content, and then Irine bumped her hip. “Go take that bath with your man. And tell him that the Queen said something about him owing her a harp song or something.”

“A… a harp song,” Reese said, bewildered. Then the image of Hirianthial sitting at a harp with his fingers—his long and very knowing fingers—on golden strings came to her, and she wasn’t sure whether her shiver was anticipation or something a little more blushworthy. “All right. Thanks, arii.”

“It’s my pleasure.” She grinned and pushed Reese to her feet. “Go on, now. Work him hard! It’s been too long for him. And since it’s been never for you, work yourself hard too!”

Reese covered her face and fled.

When she let herself into the bathroom, Hirianthial was just setting out the towels, and the sight of him doing something so domestic, so normal…

…while naked….

He took one look at her expression and started laughing, a real, deep laugh, unfettered.

“I like you laughing too,” she said, grinning, her heart squeezing in her chest at the sight. “And if all it takes is me leering at you, I’ll take lessons from the twins.”

“You can try,” he said, kissing her fingers. “But you can’t leer, my Courage. It’s not in you.” Merriment pricked color from his wine-dark eyes. “But you are welcome to stop short in shock anytime you wish.”

“You are terrible,” she said, and pulled him close to kiss him, and let him draw her down into the bath. “So I hear there are events going on downstairs. Picnics and games and feasts and such.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“A picnic actually sounds kind of nice.” He was rubbing soap onto her shoulders and back, and all the tension was oozing from them. She continued gamely. “We could pack a nice lunch, go out in the sunlight.”

“Mmm-hmmm.”

“Take those horses you bought… they’re kind of nice horses.”

“Mmm.” His lips were on her neck now.

“Hirianthial Sarel Eddings Laisrathera, I can’t concentrate while you’re doing that!”

“That was rather the idea.”

She tried her last volley. “We could make love in the flowers?”

“Maybe later,” he said, mischievous.

She sighed warmly and twitched her hair out of his way. “Okay. Maybe later….” And after a moment, amended, “All right. A lot later.”

He laughed that low, gentle laugh, and Reese smiled, turned in his arms, and reached up for him. The flowers would be there tomorrow, and if they weren’t… well. She’d still have roses in winter.

The Alliance is mostly composed of the Pelted, a group of races that segregated and colonized worlds based (more or less) on their visual characteristics. Having been engineered from a mélange of uplifted animals, it’s not technically correct to refer to any of them as “cats” or “wolves,” since any one individual might have as many as six or seven genetic contributors: thus the monikers like “foxine” and “tigraine” rather than “vulpine” or “tiger.” However, even the Pelted think of themselves in groupings of general animal characteristics, so for the ease of imagining them, I’ve separated them that way.

The Pelted

The Quasi-Felids
: The Karaka’An, Asanii, and Harat-Shar comprise the most cat-like of the Pelted, with the Karaka’An being the shortest and digitigrade, the Asanii being taller and plantigrade, and the Harat-Shar including either sort but being based on the great cats rather than the domesticated variants.

The Quasi-Canids
: The Seersa, Tam-illee, and Hinichi are the most doggish of the Pelted, with the Seersa being short and digitigrade and foxish, the Tam-illee taller, plantigrade and also foxish, and the Hinichi being wolflike.

Others
: Less easily categorized are the Aera, with long, hare-like ears, winged feet and foxish faces, the felid Malarai with their feathered wings, and the Phoenix, tall bipedal avians.

The Centauroids
: Of the Pelted, two species are centauroid in configuration, the short Glaseah, furred and with lower bodies like lions but coloration like skunks and leathery wings on their lower backs, and the tall Ciracaana, who have foxish faces but long-legged cat-like bodies.

Aquatics
: One Pelted race was engineered for aquatic environments: the Naysha, who look like mermaids would if mermaids had sleek, hairless, slightly rodent-like faces and the lower bodies of dolphins.

Other Species

Humanoids
: Humanity fills this niche, along with their estranged cousins, the esper-race Eldritch.

True Aliens
: Of the true aliens, four are known: the shapeshifting Chatcaava, whose natural form is draconic (though they are mammals); the gentle heavyworlder Faulfenza, who are furred and generally regarded to be attractive; the aquatic Platies, who look like colorful flatworms and can communicate reliably only with the Naysha, and the enigmatic Flitzbe, who are quasi-vegetative and resemble softly furred volleyballs that change color depending on their mood.

One of the unique features of the Eldritch language is the ability to modify the meaning of a word with emotional “colors.” In the spoken language, these are indicated by the use of prefixes, which can be used as aggressively or as infrequently as the speaker desires; a single prefix can color an entire paragraph, or the speaker can use them to inflect every word. Uninflected language is considered emotionally neutral. This modifiers are not often used in the written language, but when they are, they take the form of colored inks.

There are three pairs of moods, with the gray mode not necessitating an opposite. Each mood in a pair is said to be the ‘foil’ of the other.

Gray (normal)
– No modifiers are required to denote the neutral mood, however there is a prefix associated with it, and using it can be interpreted as a way of calling attention to one’s lack of mood.

Silver (hopeful)
– Silver Mode is the foil of the Shadow mood, giving a positive flavor to words. This is the color of hope.

Shadowed (cynical)
– When Shadowed, most words bear a negative connotation, usually cynical, sarcastic, or ironic. It can also be used for dread/foreboding or fear.