The V'Dan (42 page)

Her comment about eating spiders had pricked him with astonishment, so she had mentally muttered that she hadn’t looked while they were being prepped, the meat had been pulled out of the carapace, impaled on some sticks, and marinated before being grilled, and would he please stop thinking about it and move on to a much less phobia-inducing subject,
thank you very much. Naturally, he had complied, but it had left him with ambivalent feelings.

On the one hand, she was far braver than he was. On the other, he didn’t want to ever have to explain to the K’Katta that a small number of her people were accustomed to eating something which was the equivalent of a K’Katta eating a small monkey. The K’Katta might or might not be bothered by such a concept.

Hands clasping and unclasping, he paced. All these formal meetings, formal attire, formal manners . . . it was getting harder to control the urge to just rip off his coat and his shirt, pull off any sleeves she wore, too, and hold her against his bared chest.
Don’t think about
her
bared chest, though,
he ordered himself sternly.
Respect at all times . . .

(
Almost there . . . I think,
) Jackie murmured in his mind, just as someone entered the room. He turned, but knew it wasn’t her. It was his father, accompanying the Empress. His mother. Li’eth dropped to one knee out of respect and received a gesture to rise. Fingers and feet moved again, the one set interlacing and clenching, the other set moving and shifting.

“Kah’raman,” he heard his mother say. He turned to eye her, and caught a hint of puzzlement in her aura though her tone was level and calm. “Is there a reason for your pacing?”

The doors on the other side of the room opened, accompanied by an announcement from the Elite Guard at the forefront of the small group on the other side. “Presenting the Grand High Ambassador Ja’ki Maq’en-zi and Assistant High Ambassador Roza M’crari of the Terran Empire.”

Li’eth knew it should properly be Terran United Planets, but
Empire
was something his own people understood. An empire was a strong thing. An empire had an existence spanning nearly ten thousand years. An empire had culture and tradition and respect. But a set of united planets led one to thoughts of unions, and unions were things found among the skilled laborers of the Fourth Tier, a lower caste than the Third Tier all foreigners were supposed to be deemed.

(
Your mental shields are very tight,
) Jackie murmured, praising him. (
I can barely follow your thoughts.
)

(
Master Sonam would be proud of me. I’ve been practicing,
)
Li’eth replied, easing the tight cloak he had wrapped around his mind.

(
That, and he would probably call us idiots for barricading ourselves from each other,
) she added. She and Rosa both dropped to one knee in respect for his mother, exchanging polite greetings. (
The tighter we shield each other out, the more our suffering grows. We spent half an hour cuddling yesterday, yet I have my hands clasped together to keep them from fidgeting today.
)

(
Same here,
) he agreed. He caught the eye of one of the servers and made a discreet gesture. Bowing, the man herded the others quietly out of the room, giving them some temporary privacy.

The two women were now exchanging polite greetings with his father. Both looked lovely; Rosa wore a dress that floated with layers of aquamarine and white. Jackie wore her black dress with the oversized, vividly colored flowers along the fluted sleeves and hem. They looked very different from the military-style clothes he and his parents wore. There were days when he wished he could get out of his uniform, but he was an officer of the Empire until the war was won, or the war killed him.

Li’eth stepped forward and bowed to Rosa. “Honorable McCrary,” he stated, getting her name out the Terran way rather than the V’Dan version. “I hope you will enjoy the delights of the Imperial kitchens. One of your staff members said he thought you enjoyed dark chocolate. I hope our dark
klahsa
version will please you.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Rosa said, smiling. She let her gaze drop a little down the front of his uniform to his clenched hands, then returned to his eyes. Switching to Terranglo, she asked,
“Are you experiencing separation anxiety? How bad has it grown since I left for our tour of the system?”

He had a choice. Her polite question no doubt had been phrased in Terranglo to allow him to save face since the only other person who could understand it at the moment was his holy partner. Li’eth chose to answer in V’Dan, however. “I thank you for the kindness of your inquiry. The separation anxiety Jackie and I feel has been growing quite strong. If you
have noticed it after only ten days of absence, then it will soon grow noticeable to those who have been here all along, and thus would not notice more gradual changes.”

“Separation anxiety?” Hana’ka asked, her tone half-mother, half-Empress.

“Allow me to explain,” Rosa offered to Li’eth and Jackie. “You have your Gestalt partner to greet. Eternity, Highness, when a holy pairing such as the one your son and our Ambassador have is deliberately restricted and restrained from progressing, both sides often start displaying some of the following stress-related symptoms . . .”

Li’eth didn’t bother to listen to the rest of it. He didn’t even greet Jackie verbally. He just stepped up to her, wrapped his uniformed arms around her black-and-flower-clad body, and pressed his cheek to her temple. It wasn’t quite enough, even though she stood as close as she could, arms wrapped around his waist.

They stood like that, bodies as close as they could get, absorbing each other’s warmth. It was not enough, but it was all they had for the moment. He heard his mother attempt to get his attention, her tone an impending chastisement, only to have her cut off politely by the ex-Premiere.

“To be blunt, Empress, the
only
way to get these two comfortable enough in their Gestalt is to
let
them be intimate,” Rosa stated. “If they spend their nights together, it would recharge the batteries, so to speak, and do so strongly enough that they could get through each day.
We
have no problem with this concept, we Terrans,” she added. “We understand the phenomenon. We know it is as necessary as drinking clean water and breathing clean air.”

Jackie held him closer, not wanting to let him go. Li’eth rubbed his cheek against hers, feeling her breath against his ear.

“The only thing stopping them from doing so is a lack of
support
from your government. Open, accepting support. Give your son and our representative your support, let everyone know that you believe them when they say they are a holy pair, that they are bound in a Gestalt, and they will be free to be remarkably calm and happy all day long.

“And yes, I know it’s your precious, grown-up baby boy
cuddling with a strange woman who has no
jungen
marks. I realize you have conflicting opinions on this matter,” Rosa added, not unkindly. “But there isn’t anything we can do to change what they are to each other, other than accept it and give them our support. If you love your son, it will be easier to support him if you remind yourself that you love him.”

Li’eth could not let that one go. “It is not considered proper for an Emperor or an Empress to show love in public.”

“It has had a bad habit of turning the recipient into a target, in the past,” Te-los added.

“Well, you don’t have to
say
how much you love your son in giving his relationship your seal of approval,” Rosa returned with a hint of tartness before softening her tone. “You could even claim it is a purely political move, in the hopes of influencing the Terran Grand High Ambassador to look upon you and your people all the more favorably, giving you an advantage in negotiations with us. Your other offspring, Imperial Princess Ah’nan, is almost to our home system, but the reports we’ve been getting whenever they slow to sublight to do a navigation check say she’s been using our hyperrelay via the escort shuttle almost nonstop, making a lot of arrangements in advance of her arrival. Apparently, she has been quite polite and charming while doing so, and is doing a good job representing your interests to our people . . . but that’s not quite the same thing as swaying our representative
here
to like you even more.”

“And would it?” Te-los asked, curious.

“Not really, as I am quite careful to separate my feelings for His Highness from my opinions of V’Dan . . . but that wouldn’t stop any of us from presenting it as such,” Jackie stated. She had to adjust her head so that her lips weren’t pressed into the curve of Li’eth’s neck in order to speak. “I do understand how the actions, words, and deeds of one man do not represent an entire people, but that is not the important point to consider. What it will do instead is convince
your
people to take
our
bond seriously, and thus our other assertions by extension, increasing cooperation as well as understanding through your acceptance of our claims.”

“I would take this conversation more seriously if you stopped embracing my son and faced me,” Hana’ka told them.

“Mother, I do appreciate your concern,” Li’eth replied, holding on to Jackie. “But while I am younger than the Grand High Ambassador, I am a fully grown man, and she is a fully grown woman. We are both long past our impetuous youth. We embrace because it is
calming
. If you would rather have us remain agitated . . .”

“She does have a point, though,” Jackie told him. Aloud, for the benefit of the other three in the room. Easing back, she looked up at him. “We do have a
mo’klah
to attend, before the careful effort and timing of the chefs are ruined.”

He cupped her face before she could fully step back. Li’eth felt the subtle pressure from her cheek when she leaned into his palm. (
I don’t want to wait anymore. I will come to you tonight . . . if that is acceptable?
)

Her cheek warmed, turning a little pink under her natural tan. (
We
should
wait . . . but I don’t want to, either. I am tired of waiting.
)

Looking into her brown eyes, Li’eth felt his own face grow hot at the thought of finally . . . A delicate throat-clearing dragged his attention back to the others in the room. Rosa was looking up at the frescoes painted on the ceiling off to one side. His father had a brow arched, and his mother had hers drawn down a little in a thoughtful frown. Releasing his partner’s cheek, he turned to face the older trio, his near hand instinctively seeking Jackie’s.

“We have just now decided that we have waited long enough,” Li’eth stated.

“But we will be discreet,” Jackie promised.

“I will visit her at the embassy, where her people will not be upset by such things,” he continued.

“Which they will not,” Jackie confirmed. She tipped her head slightly. “Technically, there will be some upset bettors in the Gestalt pool as to the exact timing of it, but they will not be upset that we have chosen to progress our bond.”

“You will not do so,” Hana’ka stated, her frown deepening.

Jackie arched her brow. “With respect, Empress, unless
you
are one of the people participating, you have no right to say anything about what two fully grown adults choose to do in mutually consensual privacy.”

Faint pink spots appeared on the Empress’ cheeks. “I did not mean
that
. I meant being
responsible
.”

“. . . If you are referring to avoiding reproduction, all members of the Terran military are required to undergo birth-control shots. My last set of
beecees
were just before leaving Earth,” Jackie stated.

“And I requested the male version,” Li’eth told his mother. “We did think about that in advance. We are not thoughtless children.”

His mother glared at him. It was subtle, but it was a glare. She flicked her gaze to her husband, who was standing there with a faint, calm smile on his peach-and-brown-marked face. The picture of serenity. “Why are you happy about this?”

“Actually, I was thinking we should banish Superior Priest De’arth from the area,” Te-los stated out of the blue. His wife blinked at him, confused. So did Li’eth, and both Rosa and Jackie looked equally confused. He raised his hand, palm toward himself. “Nothing overly blatant, of course. Just give him an assignment that will take him away from the Court and the Terrans for a good . . . two, three years?”

“Why would you want to do that?” Rosa asked, voicing Li’eth’s own concern. From the way his mother nodded, it was Hana’ka’s as well.

“Because the more I learn the Terran ways of holy gifts, the more he complains about its being unnatural, how I shouldn’t allow these foreigners to influence me . . . and yet how
diligently
he seems to be studying their techniques,” Te-los stated.

“How is that related to the conversation about our son and the Ambassador?” his wife asked.

“All of us who have been attending Master Clees’ classes in mastering our abilities
have
been mastering them. We have a long way to go, still,” he allowed, dipping his head toward Jackie, “but our improvements are quite tangible. Because of that expertise, I have been able to
see
him attempting to probe my thoughts in those few times he has been nearby while the Terrans were not around to slap his mental hands . . . and I have been able to keep him
out
of my head.

“My topic is related to their topic,” he asserted calmly. “They are experts in all matters of our holy gifts. They
understand
how holy gifts work. If they can wrest such changes in not only our son, but in me and those others they have offered to teach, then it is quite possible De’arth will grow strong enough in these new techniques to resume reading my mind. The Terrans have stopped him from doing so when in his presence, and at the same time, they have very carefully not done so themselves.

“So I recommend to you, Empress, to have the Superior Priest relocated elsewhere and denied access to these lessons. I do not think he has the Imperial Family’s best interests at heart, and as a result, I can no longer trust him in my presence,” Te-los told them. He glanced at his wife again. “Nor can I trust him in yours. At the same time, I
do
trust Ja’ki and her fellow holy ones to be honorable and ethical. I trust her to know what she is doing with our son. I recommend that you believe in their bond and allow it to proceed at a pace which is comfortable for them—a pace their own experts in such things would recommend, according to Assistant Ambassador M’crari—rather than at a speed more convenient for us.