Halo (2 page)

Avina went into translation mode. She repeated the grandmother’s words and then waited for Yeerin to speak. They went on this way for half an hour. Yeerin would focus on her studies if her grandmother agreed to become a teaching tool for Aura Speakers.

Avina wasn’t sure how that last one came about, but it was a good trade. If grandmother was going to put her clout down, she was going to work for it. Yeerin was vindictive, but the program benefited, so Avina passed along her demands.

Yes, I will agree to be trotted out for new Aura Speakers; if Yeerin holds up her end, I will as well.

“Your grandmother says that she will only hold up her responsibility as long as you do.”

Yeerin grinned then paused. “What does she look like?”

Avina blinked. “You can’t…”

“I see light, nothing else.”

With a kind smile, Avina looked over the spectral woman. “She is tall with dove grey wings. Her hair is a wide tumble of gold and white that reaches her hips. You have her nose.”

Yeerin smiled, “She died birthing my mother, so I never saw her.”

“Her eyes are a lovely Nyal scarlet and her mouth has a perpetually amused twist. She had a hard life, but it never shook her sense of self.”

Yeerin’s grandmother preened.
That is a very flattering description.

Avina kept her lips together;
Yeerin lacks pride. She feels disconnected. I did not want to tell her that she was almost the direct image of you, but I wanted to give her a bit of connection.

So, you tell her she has my nose?

It is the centre of her features, and she will now look in the mirror more often. If I said she had your eyes, she would be staring into them for someone who wasn’t there.

You are smarter than you look, Speaker.

I get that a lot.

Yeerin was smiling as she sat back. There was something in her gaze that hadn’t been there before—a bit of knowledge she hadn’t possessed.

The grandmother looked to Avina.
Tell her that she was named after me. I am Yeerina Darforth Echohar Tinson, first consort of Dalu Tinson. It was an honour to give him a daughter, and I am proud to see my line continue.

Avina smiled and passed on the message.

Yeerin swallowed. “Thank you. I have never been able to track my lineage completely. There were too many gaps that my parents would not speak of. It does explain my wing-plates though.”

Avina sighed. “May I close the connection? She will still be with you.”

Yeerin blinked, “How do I speak with her again?”

“You will have to find an Aura Speaker, so I would urge you to convince your classmates to come in for assessment. I leave in two days, and if you would like to speak with her again, a trainee here would be able to manage it for you.”

Her grandmother’s aura returned to the necklace, and Yeerin flung herself into Avina’s arms. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome; now, go and recruit for me, little one. We need more of those who can speak to the auras of those who have passed.”

Yeerin beamed and headed for the door after a quick nod to the coordinator.

Turnari looked at Avina. “Very nicely done.”

Avina sighed and put her lenses back on. “Thank you. It was easy. My guess is that Yeerina was wearing the necklace when she died. She will be haunting her bloodline for generations to come.”

The receptionist knocked and came in. “Aura Speaker, you have appointments lining up.”

Avina groaned and headed for the door. “My second least-favourite part of the job. See you later, Turnari?”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” Turnari smiled, showing teeth that wouldn’t be out of place on a sabre-tooth tiger. It was a chilling note to leave on, but Avina got the hell out of there.

Two floors down, around a corner and into a tiny hallway, she came to the waiting room outside her temporary office. Five students were sitting nervously, and Kalo was chatting easily, holding a data pad.

Avina blinked, “You are all here for assessment?”

They nodded nervously.

She grinned happily. “Excellent. Just so you know, it doesn’t hurt. It is a completely external experience.”

Three of them looked relieved, and the others looked marginally less nervous.

Kalo nodded. “Toyali is the first on the list.”

“You are acting as my interim receptionist?”

“It seemed appropriate since I wrecked your caf break.”

She winked. “Thanks. I will just get situated. Show them in one at a time and close the door behind them.”

“Yes, Aura Speaker.” He gave her a formal inclination of his head, raising her status in the eyes of those watching.

She wrinkled her nose and headed into her office. Her terminal was waiting for her, as was her box of tricks. Avina settled the box on one side of her desk and kept her lenses on. The energy that was trying to crawl out of the box was almost blinding as it was.

Kalo made eye contact with her through the open doorway, and when she nodded, he sent in the first candidate.

Avina assessed Toyali and smiled. “Thank you for coming in.”

“The presentation was very interesting. Some of the early signs of being an Aura Speaker were familiar.” Toyali smiled shyly. She was a lovely young woman whose primary colouration was a pale yellow.

“Are you willing to tell me what you see?”

“Of course. Is this the test?”

“It is. I have a number of aura-infused objects, and I will place them in your open palm, and you can tell me what you see.”

“Now?”

“Why wait?” Avina smiled and opened the chest. She winced at the energy, looked at her candidate and selected an orb that hummed with a neutral blue.

Toyali put her arm on the table, her webbed hand palm up.

Avina placed the orb in her hand. The light that coursed up and formed a column said that Toyali had the talent; now, the question was what was she seeing?

“What do you see?”

“It is a man, all in blue. His features look a little Wyoran, but his eyes are solid black.” Toyali’s voice wavered as she spoke. “He is staring at me, and he is frowning.”

“King Utolian the Ninth is notoriously bad tempered. Once you get to know him, he is a pushover. He loves the ladies.” Avina winked at the aura.

The ex-king crossed his arms over his chest.
You are a little flippant today, Aura Speaker Avina.

“I had a good day, Your Majesty.”

Toyali was looking between them. “I could hear that.”

“Of course you can. You are a positive match for this particular line of occupation. You can begin training tomorrow if you wish to.” Avina smiled.

She plucked the orb from the candidate’s hand and stowed it back in its position inside the box.

“May I ask why you wear those lenses?” Toyali fidgeted.

“Of course. Certain Aura Speakers have more aggressive sight. The lenses filter the electromagnetic interference that wandering auras give off. It isn’t a big deal on a world like Morganti, but a place populated for eons is going to be like walking through a star field if the species give off auras.”

“Oh. Does that happen a lot?”

“The aura species are one in twenty. I am sure you can do your own math.” Avina smiled.

She brought up her schedule, checked off Toyali as a positive and sent a copy of the interview to the Citadel assessment department.

“Thank you for coming in; you can ask Kalo to send in the next candidate.”

Toyali nodded and got to her feet. Before she touched the door, she said, “There is a lot more in that chest.”

“Yes, but they have all volunteered to help test candidates. Even Utolian has agreed to let new talents try their hand at making him manifest. That is what you did by the way. You found his frequency and powered it so that he could appear to you. You could even have spoken to him if you wished to.”

Toyali looked relaxed as she exited and quickly spoke to Kalo.

Avina sat back and waited. It seemed that it was going to be a long afternoon.

Six hours later, Kalo hauled her bodily from behind her desk and prodded her to the sleeping quarters she had been given for the night. “You are in no shape to argue, Avina.”

She grimaced, but he was right. “That was a lot of volunteers.”

“I don’t know what you said to Yeerin, but she is very influential when she has to be. She sent half of the students in for assessment and the others succumbed to peer pressure.”

She grinned as she sat on the edge of her bed. “We got nine. We never got nine before.”

“Yes, Avina. Now, go to bed, because you have fifty appointments for tomorrow.” Kalo paused in the doorway. “I have an alarm call set for you. Good night.”

Avina waved him off and got her in-room dispenser to supply her with a dinner and a lot of water. Her mind was more exhausted than her body, but she managed to grab a shower after dinner. She crawled into bed and passed out. It felt like her eyes had only been closed for a moment before the insistent chime of the alarm woke her.

She groaned, grunted and muttered her way to the lav, closed her eyes and swayed as she waited for breakfast to emerge from the dispenser. She opened them when she realised she hadn’t selected anything. “Damn it.”

Avina tried again, and while she waited, she slipped on her bodysuit and the flowing robe that went over it. She parked her lenses on her head and ate breakfast, gulping down the caf and wishing for coffee the same way she had for the last fifteen hundred days.

Her eyelids jacked open incrementally with every slug of the hot, caffeinated beverage. By the time her com unit chirped, she was nearly awake and ready to face her day.

Kalo was annoyingly cheerful and wrangling her appointments. He brought her caf every three hours, and they got through the day.

The Citadel recruitment officers were stunned by the day’s haul. Utolian was losing some of his patience, so Avina promised that she wouldn’t use him until the next time she was on recruitment.

He reluctantly agreed and helped her finish the day.

Avina snorted. He was the easiest to call, because he was the strongest. Utolian had ruled his people for seventy years and died looking as young as he had been when he assumed the throne. He called his death
surrendering the flesh
, and there was no record of his body actually being buried.

Avina asked Kalo, “Any more appointments?”

“Nope. You have cleared them all, and we have enough candidates for the main Citadel to send a full-time instructor here.”

“Good. I am sure that Turnari will be ecstatic.” She grinned and yawned.

“You need a meal. Go back to your room and get some rest. You are leaving tomorrow evening, and I am sure that Turnari will want the highlights of your visit.”

Avina nodded and stumbled out of the office with her box of artefacts clutched to her chest. It sounded so good, a meal and a night’s sleep. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

She hated mornings. In space, it was always night and she liked it that way. Gravity was strange and atmospheres had transitioned from something that she craved into something that she had trouble adapting to. Avina liked being posted at Teklan as her permanent base. They were investigators and did a lot of travelling. That was the way Avina liked it.

Even two days at the Citadel Morganti was enough to wear on her nerves. There were too many people, too many auras and too much schedule. Coming and going as she pleased was her favourite part of the job.

She checked her schedule and noted that lunch with Turnari had been added to her day. Avina winced and emotionally prepared herself. With the count for successful candidates nearing three dozen, she didn’t have anything to worry about. As far as the Citadel was concerned, she was golden.

Nothing he could say was going to ruin her day.

Avina fumed behind the controls of the
Hunting Haunt
. Turnari had tried to get her in bed once more, and she had had to engage in her own personal defense.

Tuning into an aura was not Avina’s only skill; she could disrupt them and cause their living host to drop to the ground. Turnari was going to suffer from that hole in his dignity for quite a while, but he really shouldn’t have become grabby.

“This is Aura Speaker Avina Jenkins calling Teklan base. I am seeking my next assignment.”

She sent the message and waited for a response. Getting out of Morganti space was high on her list of things to do that day.

Avina didn’t know why Turnari’s advances irritated her, but they did. It was almost as if she was in a relationship already, and he should acknowledge it.

The com beeped. “This is Teklan base. We have a haunted derelict floating in deep space. Are you interested?”

“Yes, I definitely am. Send the coordinates and I will send official acceptance.”

Just like that, she was off in another direction. The Citadel could call on her if they so choose, but she was entitled to one good assignment of her own selection.

In two hours, she had her new assignment, a notice to the Citadel and a verification of location from Teklan. With a grin, she settled her jump halo on her head and engaged her engines.

Space flickered through her thoughts as she headed from one point to the next. No auras, no ghosts, no strangers who wanted to contact their dead. It was blissful.

Two days later, she was at the coordinates. What they had described as a derelict was not a ship. It was a spaces station, and it was ancient.

There was only one thing as ancient as it was nearby, and she grimaced when she realised that she would have to wake his majesty.

Sighing and grumbling, she opened her collection of volunteer artefacts. The orb glowed before she touched it, and Utolian sprang to full apparition next to her.
Where are the candidates?

I know I promised only to wake you for the next round, but I have turned up at an ancient space station and was wondering if you could identify it before I board. You are the oldest thing I could find, Your Majesty.

A kiss is my price.

She narrowed her eyes. It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of her today.
Why?