Zilla watched in alarm while the Daughter, the Hope of her people, succumbed to the enticing prince of the Faj. While she could easily resist a physical or verbal attack, the prince did neither. He remained amused, using humor in a non-accusatory manner as he manipulated her thinking with amazing skill. He never challenged her. He gave her no reason to resist him, and instead encouraged her to talk about herself.
Tadessa possessed the ability to leave him. Within the blink of an eye, she could disappear into Null, and run straight for the elevators, right now, if she chose. Even if he stopped her with the strength of his body, which was exceptional, if she used the Dance, her skill would defeat him. But she failed to see him as the enemy.
Prince Salettin used his mind by bending hers in miniscule actions, similar to the way she healed her mother when K’arrala escaped from prison all those years ago. Starved and beaten, suffering from nerve damage due to a gunshot wound, Tadessa healed her a little at a time. Every time she sat next to her mother, she did something, repaired a nerve here, dissolved a bone splinter there, increased blood circulation to a muscle, until the woman regained the strength and body function she once enjoyed.
As the Daughter, designed one day to be a teacher of Lorekeepers, not just a Lorekeeper herself, healing came naturally to her. Her propensity to listen to what others told her, to feel their message and act on the information she received, had just become a liability. The Faj prince’s abilities promoted deception. He left the impression that everything he told her was desirable, even while he twisted Khaadi’s gift to his own agenda.
“Grandmother?”
Zilla turned toward the speaker.
“How is the Daughter doing?” Lafwellen hesitated. “We were discussing how to manage tonight’s party, who would watch during the dinner, who would stay awake for the remainder of the proceedings, and you seemed to drift away.”
“I don’t know how to answer your questions. How is the Daughter doing? I have no idea. She was taught to be non-intrusive and to offer little resistance unless it challenged her person or her people. The prince is using this against her.”
“Is that so bad?”
“She doesn’t see how he twists her mind, a little bend here, an alien thought there, the tiniest of actions.”
“You see them. Why doesn’t she? You said she was more powerful than you are.”
“She’s a child, Lafwellen. She has little life experience. Come with me. Let me show you what I mean.”
Lafwellen let Zilla draw him into her mind, then followed her path toward the Daughter.
They saw Tadessa showing Prince ba Tir through her mother’s indoor garden.
She has never taken anyone there before, Zilla whispered in mind speech.
She’s as delighted as child with a present, he said. She wants his approval.
That’s what I saw him encourage. First he insulted her, then he gave her a way to like him. He has been playing her all day.
Tadessa began talking about S’ar wanting to be a Landkeeper. Both Lafwellen and Zilla stared in surprise. No one shared anything about the Krindarwee to outsiders, ever. What was she doing?
“What’s a Landkeeper,” Salettin asked.
“It’s a Krindarwee profession, not something you can learn in a Nevian academy. If her parents have their way, she’ll never get the chance.”
“So since you’re not going to become a botanist, what profession would you choose?” He grinned at her as if his question was some sort of impossibility.
“I’m a Lorekeeper. My purpose is to preserve and share the history, stories and songs of my people, to release those held in slavery in Sector One, and to rid this planet of all Zocassari, the entities you call Molochs. To do that I must escape from this place.”
No! Zilla shouted into her mind. What are you doing?
Tadessa clamped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me! She backed toward the door.
Zilla brought Lafwellen out of the scene. “Get Harbini,” she hissed. “I need a Watcher to help me keep her steady.
The Elders were already arriving.
“You also need Nennet to steady you,” Lafwellen said, gesturing for the greatest Lorekeeper the Village had ever known, aside from Zilla.
What’s happening?” Nennet said.
“The Daughter is falling for the Xantis Tey prince’s persuasion, and Zilla no longer has the strength to support her. Please, do what you can for her while Harbini watches for a while.”
“Thank you, Lafwellen,” she said reclining on her pillows again. She closed her eyes, shutting out Tadessa. She could not stand to watch any longer. She had nearly fallen asleep when Nennet touched her shoulder.
“I wish I could give you a draught to let you sleep,” she said, her brows furrowed with worry. “But you must be rejuvenated, not allowed to sleep, not while Tadessa struggles with this new threat. Harbini will watch until it comes time for you to intervene. So you must let me tend to you. Drink this. It will restore your mind, and make you alert again.”
“Asbine Tea,” Zilla said, inhaling the fragrance. “Good choice. Yes, you’re right. Besides, we must make plans.” She took a sip of the tea and let it fill her with its scent and the gentle flow of its energy.
“In this Sector, we used to face the threat of the Neevee,” she said. “Much like this prince is doing to our Daughter, we have done to Nevians, but never with force.”
“The Second Rule,” one of them whispered.
“Just so. We influence; we whisper truth; we encourage; we heal; we make ourselves available to them for whatever they need.”
“Almost whatever they need,” Lafwellen said. “We don’t heal the Neevee of their infertility, not until our people in Sector One are freed.”
She nodded. “Exactly. The point is, they are coming around.”
“It helped that the Nevian general adopted our Tadessa,” one of them said.
“Yes. That was a great beginning. It also helped that her mother changed some of the laws that restricted us. We’ve enjoyed a measure of free movement throughout this City that we never believed possible. We are not harassed simply because we use ambigah, for example.”
“That may change,” Nennet said. “You told us they were listening. Are they?”
“In ways that make my skin crawl. It never comes from a single source. They use their abilities the way we use the Song. They permeate the air with their presence. But there the similarity ends. Instead of restoration, I feel disruption. They want control, not balance. We must watch ourselves like never before. These people twist Khaadi’s gift to their own misalignment.”
“How do we stop them?”
“I have no idea. That is what we must discuss tonight.”
12
an unusual ability