Crystal Healer (10 page)

By the time we had finished assessing the patients, Jylyj was speaking freely. Squilyp's evaluation of his abilities had been on the conservative side; the Skartesh had a sharp eye for details as well as a phenomenal memory. Not once did I see him consult the diagnostic database to confirm his opinions, all of which were completely accurate.

Squilyp and I left Jylyj calibrating a patient's boneset ter, and only when we were out of earshot did I abandon my ruse. "I will need to speak to your resident alone."

"You will first explain this farce to me," the Omorr countered.

"The Skartesh does not work well with your female nurses, does he?" I guessed. "He likely performs their tasks as well as his own, and refuses to ask for assistance."

Squilyp seemed taken aback. "I have heard some minor complaints, but who told you about it?"

"He did. Or, rather, his eyes, the way he holds himself, the brevity with which he spoke to me. They told me that my presence on the ward is deeply offensive to him." I saw the Omorr still didn't understand. "Squilyp, his kind subjugate their females. Just as the Iisleg did."

"Not on this planet," the Omorr snapped, and then made a disgusted sound. "I should have known. Well, if he is to serve as a healer on Joren, he must accept that we value ability and dedication, not one gender over the other."

I saw Jylyj watching us from across the ward. "Accepting and liking are not the same. He may not even be aware of what he is doing." I scanned the ward and spotted a small, unoccupied office. "I will wait in there. When he is finished with that patient, send him to me. Alone, please."

A few minutes later, the Skartesh entered the office. "You wished to speak to me."

"Yes." I gestured toward a chair. When Jylyj made no move to take it, I said, "What I did during rounds was a courtesy to you and your kind. Now you will show me the same."

His blunt claws curled over against the pads of his paws, the only physical reaction he showed to the abrupt shift in my demeanor. He sat down but remained poised on the edge of the chair, as if he intended to rise and walk out at any moment.

"I understand your discomfort with me." But I had no intention of indulging it, so I remained on my feet. Jylyj had to look up at me; something an Iisleg male would have found intolerable. "On my homeworld, females within the tribes were forbidden most freedoms. Before the rebellion, all a woman could do was prepare food, care for children, sort salvage, and provide physical relief. Until the Raktar came, all of our healers were male. Since I left my homeworld, I, too, have struggled to adjust to these ensleg ways."

The tight lines bracketing his eyes softened a few degrees. "How may I help you, Healer Cherijo?"

"You may begin by calling me Jarn," I told him.

He gazed at a spot on the wall just to the right of my head. "How may I be of service, Healer Jarn?"

It was almost, but not quite, an insult. One I would have to overlook, too, if I was to convince him to join us. "My husband and I are leading a scientific expedition to the Saraced system. The Senior Healer tells me that you are a native of that region."

"I was. Skart no longer exists."

I could offer him sympathy, which he obviously didn't want, or get to the heart of the matter. "Our expedition will be traveling to survey a planet called oKia. Have you ever sojourned to that world?"

He sniffed, and at first I thought my question had offended him. Then he did it again, and I realized he was smelling the air itself, perhaps in much the same way the Hsktskt tasted it with their tongues.

He stopped sniffing and reluctantly inclined his head. "I know oKia."

Doubtless he would be more open with Squilyp or even Reever, but I refused to admit defeat. As healers, Jylyj and I would have to work together on the
Sunlace
. We could not do that if he would not lower himself to converse with me. "What can you tell me about this world?"

The black fur around the base of his ears bristled. "It is cold. There are mountains and tundra. The natives are tribal primitives. Your kind call them lupine, like the wolves of Terra."

How could he know that, and when had he interacted with Terrans? More questions to be answered.

"We are in need of a guide for the expedition." I took a seat behind the console panel. "Someone who is familiar with the worlds in that region of space, especially oKia." On Iisleg, females were not permitted to make requests of males unless invited to do so, but there were ways around that. "There is no one else on Joren with your personal experience."

"I am a surgical resident," Jylyj said, almost snapping out the words, "not a pathfinder. My duties are here."

"This mission is very important to us." I kept my tone level but soft, hoping not to goad him into a rage. "You have knowledge of this world that we do not. You would be a great asset."

His jaw worked, and I could almost hear his back teeth grinding together. "Healer Jarn, no ship will be permitted to travel through oKiaf space. oKia resigned from the League. They refuse to have any contact with offworlders. Save yourself the trouble and have your husband call off your expedition now."

"My husband is a talented linguist, and hopes to persuade the oKiaf to make an exception for us." I sensed something more than anger coming from him now. He was afraid, but of what? "You could still join the expedition as a healer and an adviser--"

"No." He stood. "I cannot accept. I will not."

There was one more thing I had to know. "Do you know me?" When he glared, I added, "When I first saw you, I had the sense that you recognized me."

"I have never met you before today, Healer Jarn, so I could not recognize you. Your pardon, but I have patients waiting for me to attend to them." Before I could reply, he turned and strode out to the ward.

I stayed in the office and thought about the Skartesh's words and behavior until Squilyp came in.

"Jylyj told me that he refused your request, and then suddenly developed a headache that prevented him from finishing out his shift," the Omorr said. "Either your headache is contagious, or both of you are lying to me."

"If I explain all this,
you
will have the headache," I warned him. "What do you know about Jylyj?"

"Why should I answer your questions when you will not answer mine?" Squilyp countered.

"Something about him feels . . . wrong."

"It cannot be his skills as a healer," the Omorr assured me. "He's the finest resident I've ever supervised. His work is faultless."

"I am not questioning his abilities." I did, however, want to know more about his past, and who had been a part of it. "Can you acquire copies of Jylyj's personnel and transfer data, and send them to my quarters?"

"I can." Squilyp made an impatient gesture. "I will still need a reason why."

"I think Jylyj may have known Cherijo." And I did not want to talk more about that possibility until I reviewed his records. "I must go now."

"I want to know whatever you find out," the Omorr called after me.

I left the medical facility to return to the Torin pavilion and face my next task: telling Marel that her father and I were once more leaving her behind on Joren. So engrossed was I in sorting out how I would explain the necessity of the separation to our daughter that I did not see the resident waiting outside for me until I nearly walked into him.

"Oh. Your pardon." I stepped back, dropped my gaze, and made to go around him.

Jylyj stepped into my path. This close, he towered over me. "I must ask forgiveness for my discourtesy to you earlier, Healer Jarn."

"Why?" Puzzled now, I regarded him. When he did not reply, I said, "Resident, I may appear Terran, but I was born on a world where males subjugate females. They do not offer apologies to them. Why should you?"

"Wherever your homeworld, you are not a Skartesh female." He forced himself to meet my gaze. "It was rude to treat you as such. I am sorry."

I felt as uncomfortable as he did now. "Apology accepted."

He wasn't finished. "My beliefs require me to make amends. If you are still willing to have me serve on the crew, I will join your expedition."

Astonishment left me mute until I realized he was waiting for a response. "That seems a great deal of trouble to go to when you have already apologized."

"We Skartesh have very specific codes of behavior," he explained. "The only alternative to granting your request would be to prostrate myself in ritual contrition. It involves providing a period of personal servitude, fasting for several days, and shaving off all of my mane."

The mental image his confession provoked made me press my lips together. "That doesn't sound very comfortable."

"Proper contrition rarely is."

I looked at him, trying to discern a real motive. His features gave nothing away. "Very well, I accept your offer, and will inform the Senior Healer and make the arrangements. I thank you, Doctor."

"I prefer to be called Jylyj," he said, rather stiffly. "Do you still wish to be addressed as Jarn?" When I nodded, he inclined his head. "Until we meet again, Jarn." He strode away.

Five

Male laughter greeted me as I entered my quarters at the pavilion. Inside I saw our friends Qonja and Hawk sitting on the floor with Marel and playing a game of chase the string with the cats.

Reever met me at the door panel and took my hands in his. "You are late." Through the link his touch established, he added,
I have warned them that Xonea is monitoring us.

"Forgive me, but I had to speak with Squilyp's resident." I kissed him.
How did you manage to do that?

"You might have signaled." He took Marel's school datapad from his tunic pocket and, using his body to shield it from the drone monitors, typed
carefully
on it before he cleared the screen.

Hawk, the crossbreed avatar-Terran who had helped rescue Cherijo after Joseph Grey Veil had abducted her and taken her back to Terra, appeared very tanned and healthy, as if he had been spending a great deal of time working outdoors. The wide, brown-feathered wings he had once concealed by pretending to be a hunchback now lay folded beneath his broad shoulders.

"Jarn." Hawk came to envelop me in his arms and wings for a fond embrace. "It is good to see you."

I hugged him back before exchanging a warm gesture of greeting with Qonja, Hawk's bondmate. The Jorenian male also looked quite fit and happy.

"I'm glad to see you, but surprised, too," I told Qonja, and turned to touch my brow to his in the Jorenian manner of greeting. "I thought Reever said that you were dwelling with the Kalea now."

"We were. As soon as we received word of your return, we thought it a prudent time to pay a visit." Qonja indicated some beautifully woven Jorenian baskets on our dining table. "We brought some of Galena Kalea's morning breads, which are finer than any I have ever tasted, including those of my former ClanMother." A flicker of sadness crossed his handsome face before he added, "Hawk has a new dish he wishes you to try, as well. What say we share a meal?"

I glanced at Reever, who nodded. "I think we would all enjoy that very much."

Over an enormous meal of breads and a tasty stew Hawk prepared from spicy native roots and blossoms, we spoke of mutual friends and recent events on Joren. Qonja and Hawk did not ask about Trellus, and Reever and I did not speak of the colony or our upcoming expedition. For the most part, we listened to our daughter chatter on about her friends and schoolwork, and some of the sights she had seen while traveling with Salo and Darea. Then Fasala arrived to take Marel to an evening gathering for the HouseClan's children, leaving the four of us alone. I prepared tea for everyone and then sat down with the men.

"That was a fine dish, Hawk," I said, "and if you will program it in our prep unit, I will be most grateful. But did you really come all this way to prepare a new dish for us?"

"Not exactly." Hawk looked at his bondmate.

Qonja took his hand as his expression turned solemn. "We have news, unhappy as it is. While you were away, Hawk and I petitioned the Ruling Council to recognize our bond and overturn the repudiation from my HouseClan. They have refused."

Hawk and Qonja were both male, and under the present law were prohibited from Choosing each other as bondmates. The fact that they had done so, and had gone so far as to openly declare their bond in front of Jorenian witnesses, had caused Qonja to be repudiated by his natal kin, HouseClan Adan.

"So the council is siding with the Adan," Reever said. "You must have expected that."

Qonja nodded. "We had hoped, of course, that they would break with tradition and rule in our favor, but we were not startled when they did not. Our oldest customs and laws govern matters of Choice. It will take more than one petition to effect changes."

"Can you petition them again?" I was a member of the council; surely I could do something about this.

"It would not be advisable. As it is, our presence on Joren is only tolerated out of respect for my former ClanFather," Qonja admitted. "A second petition might provoke the council into taking more aggressive action, such as rescinding my citizenship and residential status. If that happens, Hawk and I will both be deported."