Gathering Storm (6 page)

That earned him a
tentative smile. “We knew we signed on for an adventure. This is
just part of it.”

He turned her to face him
and ducked down so he could look directly into her eyes.

“I wouldn’t trade
us
for
anything
else. You know
that. Right?” She nodded, trying to hide a misty sniffle. “We’re
going to make every minute count. I’m still going to get to teach
her to ride a bike. Even if I have to do it quick.”

Litha cocked her head to
the side. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned
that.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. Is there a reason why?”

“Was a good memory for me.
My dad out in the street in front of our house, full of
encouragement. I guess I want to recreate it. Who taught
you?”

“Brother Morrighausey.”
She laughed. “He was probably the last person in the world who
ought to be teaching a coordination skill. He knew seven ancient
languages but could barely walk without tripping.”

Rosie laughed out loud, mimicking her
mother, then said, “Maury!”

Litha gave Rosie a strange
look. “Yeah. That’s what we called him. And he
was
funny.”

Rosie hiccupped another little giggle.

CHAPTER 4

Elora saw Monq’s profile
pic come to the face of her phone, the ridiculous one with the
mouse ears. She was en route to S2, where Monq’s research
facilities were located, among other things.

“I’m on my way. Hold on to your mouse
costume or whatever else you might be wearing. Can’t wait to find
out what’s got you in such a fit of impatience.”

“Just hurry up.”

Just then she pushed
through the main lab door and said, “Okay!” as she closed the phone
and dropped it in the outer pouch of her messenger bag.

“Don’t take that tone with
me, young lady. I’m the one who’s been working night and day to
save your beautiful…,” Monq caught himself just before he finished
that sentence with an unrefined word. “…self.”

“Really? Well, if you’re
going to persist in calling me
young
lady
, I’m not sure I want to be saved.
Just kill me now.” Monq ignored that as completely as if she hadn’t
spoken at all. “And if you keep taking all my blood, I’m not going
to be able to make enough milk for my elfling.”

He waved his hand. “We’re done with that.”
Then looking away as if something had caught his interest, he said,
“At least I think so.

“Here. Sit. Let me tell you the news.”

“Should I call the press?”

“This is not a joking
matter, Elora.”

“Lady Laiken.”

“Is Rammel standing behind you with his hand
up your shirt?”

She looked stunned. “Monq! You made a
joke!”

“Pffft. Will you just stop
and listen? Please?”

“Yes, I will. I’m all
yours.”

“I
never
use your blood frivolously. In
fact I used some that was collected before you left for Edinburgh
to mutate a strain of rats for testing purposes.”

“You did what?!?”

“So I’ve been using the
rats to test an airborne chemical that would weaken potential
assailants from your home world.”

“Deliverance says it’s
called Stagsnare Dimension in his circles.”

“Um-hum. Stagsnare
Dimension. The biggest obstacle was coming up with a chemical
solution that has no harmful side effects to other species that
might frequent Jefferson Unit. So I’ve been testing on both normal
rats and Elora rats.”

“Elora rats? Please. I’m
begging you. Tell me you did
not
name a species of rats
Elora Rats
.”

Refusing to be distracted,
he dismissed that with a characteristic wave of his hand. “And I
think we’ve got it.”

She stared and blinked a
few times. “Are you saying that, in the event of an attack by
natives of Stagsnare Dimension, you could gas the intruders without
adverse effects to Jefferson personnel?”

“Yes. I believe we
understand each other.”

“And they’ll be weakened
to mimic indigenous physical ability?”

“Yes.”

“Why not just terminate while you’re at
it?”

“Good question. Because
then there would be side effects. Bad ones.”

“Okay. So the assassins
will lose the edge they would normally get from slipping to this
dimension.” He nodded. “And that’s without any negative consequence
to the rest of us. Including the
tiniest
of us,” she said
pointedly.

"Um. More or less. Do you
want the good news or the bad news?"

Elora's shoulders sagged
as she sat back in the chair and sighed deeply. "It has been my
experience that, when you ask that question, there’s usually a
teeny weeny tiny tidbit of microscopic good news and a shitload of
bad."

"Young lady...!"

“Especially when you add ‘more or less’ to
that.”

"Just give me the
news."

"Very well. There's no way
to make
you
immune from the effects. It's what they call a trade-off. You
wouldn’t retain superior strength and speed, but neither would
others from your dimension of origin. They wouldn’t have any
advantage over those who come to your aid. And there will always be
people at Jefferson Unit ready to come to your aid. Capable people.
So you’d have a better than good chance against them. It wouldn’t
be just you. Alone.”

It was easy to read both
concern and sincerity on Monq’s face. There was no question in her
mind that he cared about her in his own way. Maybe not as much as
the Monq who had been her tutor growing up and had taught her
everything from Latin to horseshoes, but still.

“And you’re ready to test
it on me. Monq. You
do
realize that I’m nursing.”

He pursed his lips. “I
can’t tell you what to do about that, but I think staying alive is
more important. I can give you something to dry up your milk
quickly and painlessly and without having any detrimental effect on
your, uh, natural shape.” Monq turned pink when trying to
communicate that last bit of info.

“You mean feed Helm formula milk
instead.”

“You could wait until he
weans naturally, but…”

“I get it. I’ll talk it
over with Ram tonight. Maybe I’ll look into baby
formula.”

“Already done. I put
Allicent on it. We had some flown in with the last passing. Just in
case. It’s expensive. Made in Switzerland.”

“Just in case,” she said
dryly. “You’ve thought of everything.”

“I should hope so since
that
is
my
job.”

When Ram finished music
practice, he hurried “home” to the Jefferson Unit apartment he
hoped would be temporary quarters. When he opened the door, he saw
Elora sitting at the table next to Helm’s crib, hands on the
portaputer keyboard.

“Hey. What’s up?” With a Ram-style smile
that lit up the room, he headed straight for his mate, gave her a
kiss in passing on his way to pick up Helm, but made sure to linger
long enough so that she knew it was heartfelt and not routine.

As he lifted the baby, she said, “Something
we should discuss.”

“Sounds serious.”

“Hmmm. Depends on how you look at it. Can
you sit?”

Ram sat and listened intently without
interrupting. “’Tis no question about what you’re goin’ to do. Is
there?”

She looked thoughtful. “I didn’t want to
make a final decision without talking to you. I’ve done a little
research and I think Helm will be okay so long as I still spend the
same time with him and hold him the same way I would if I was
nursing.”

“Helm is strappin’. Just
look at him.” She had to smile at the pride so evident in Ram’s
voice. “What our boy needs is for his mum to be
survivin’.”

“So we’re decided.”

“Great Paddy, Elora! O’
course.”

An hour after Elora
informed Monq of their decision, six of the trainees showed up at
the apartment door wearing boyish expressions – a cross between
sheepishly shy and eagerness to get a look at the private life of
their instructor. Each was carrying two cases of expensive Swiss
formula. Ram directed the stacking of the boxes while Elora smiled
and thanked them for their help.

Elsbeth stopped in after
her shift in the clinic to give a crash course on the proper
preparation of bottles. It wasn’t part of her nurses training, but
she had a sister-in-law who had done bottle feeding.

Elora walked Elsbeth down the hall to the
elevator.

“So don’t think I didn’t
notice that special glow, which can only mean one thing where
you’re concerned.
Hot
date.”

“Not per se. More like a
get together.” Elsbeth managed to look coy, which was a remarkable
feat considering the level of her worldliness and
experience.

Elora laughed in her face.
“Keep it to yourself if you want. I’m just sayin’.”

“Well, you know I’ve been
seeing Dirk.”

“No. Who’s Dirk?”

“Fennimore?”

“Oh. Dirk is his first
name? I didn’t know that. The knights all call him
Fenn.”

“I think he goes by Fenn
with them because of the razzing about his first name.”

Elora nodded. “Yeah. I can see that.”

“Anyway.”

“Yes? Anyway? Go on.”

Elsbeth grinned. “I like him.”

“And that’s supposed to be a revelation?”
Elora pulled her friend to a stop. “Really?”

“Okay, yeah, I like him a lot,” she
chuckled.

“You really need to work on your
impulsivity.”

“Really?” Elsbeth looked concerned.

“No! Not really! You need to borrow a nickel
for the jar and go see Monq.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind. I guess
that’s a service for knights. Forget I said anything. Back to Fenn…
uh, Dirk. I’ve got to tell you it feels weird to call him that.
Like my tongue is resisting.”

They had just reached the
elevator doors when Elsbeth leaned in and whispered, “I get it. I’m
terrified that one of these nights I’m going to accidentally shout
Dick instead of Dirk.”

When the doors opened,
none other than Sir Fennimore was standing there being treated to
the sight of two grown women locked in a fit of giggles that would
make any tween proud. Fenn, who lived about halfway down the
section hallway on Elora’s floor, gave them a sexy little smile
that said he was both charmed and amused.

“Ladies.” He addressed
both women, but had eyes only for Elsbeth. As he and Elsbeth
changed places, her taking his place on the elevator, he looked
down lowered lids with an expression of male smugness and said,
“Later.” The unmistakable undertone filled the air with suggestion.
Elora looked at Elsbeth and crossed her eyes.

Walking back toward her
apartment, Fennimore fell into step with Elora, but said nothing
more. When they neared his door, she said, “Have fun tonight,
Dirk.”

Elora suppressed a smile when she caught a
little hitch in his stride.

The next afternoon Elora
returned to the apartment looking a little dazed. The experiment
hadn’t been painful. She’d breathed into a gas mask twice, then
Monq said, “That’s it.”

“You sure? I don’t think anything
happened.”

He smirked. “Okay. See you
later.”

Elora shrugged as she
started to get up. She made it as far as a crouch and sat back
down. Hard. “What the hell, Monq?”

He chuckled and did a
little jig. “It works!!” She gaped at him with a mix of confusion
and betrayal. “You’ve grown used to wearing a superwoman suit, my
dear. The gas just took it away from you, as it would any visitor
from your dimension of origin. If you ever have to function under
the effects of the Equalizer, you’re going to need to make some
adjustments.”

“Adjustments? I feel like
I’m seventy years old.”

Monq cocked his head. “How do you know what
seventy feels like?”

“I have a good
imagination. This isn’t going to work. If I was being attacked I
wouldn’t be able to defend myself. Or my family. Or my friends. Or
anybody else for that matter.”

“Sure you could. You’d
just be reduced to the same physical resources as any other woman.
You still have your angry martial skills.”

“Angry martial skills?” She
stared. He nodded. “Do you mean
mad
skills?”

“Whatever.”

She shook her head and
mumbled to herself, “Who would have ever thought I’d be correcting
somebody on pop phraseology?”

“
And!
You’re still you.”

“And that means
what?”

“That means it’s just
another challenge. You’ll find a work-around. It’s what knights
do.”

“Right. How long will this last?”

“That’s part of the
experiment. I need you to call in as soon as you no longer feel the
effect so we can log it.” She moved toward the door, a lot slower
than usual. “Don’t forget.”