Asteroid (6 page)

“He can multitask? How nice.” Her voice was dry.

“He is a good planet to be linked to. He has never forced me into any position that I would not have wished to be in.” Issul smiled.

Sebena smiled shyly, got to her feet and dropped into his lap. “That is the sweetest thing.”

“You will be fitted with a wardrobe suiting your new station in the morning and we will meet with the high priest and local politicians and work out the current state of the population.”

“Is that it?”

He loosely draped his arms around her hips and nuzzled at her neck while speaking. “We don’t do much aside from negotiating for mineral rights and determine colony statuses. Our concern is the state of the planet, not its population.”

She lifted her chin as he rubbed her neck with his lips and nose. Sebena sighed and enjoyed being cuddled.

“I am amazed that I am not sore from our previous joining.”

“Zeering is thoughtful that way. He keeps our bodies up to species standard at all times and will attempt to grant any requests you have regarding your physical systems.”

“Like my hair?”

“Precisely. He increased my height to a more intimidating size so the Reeban would be forced to look up to me.”

“Your people are smaller?” She bit her lip as one of his hands worked beneath the robe.

“As an adult male, I would have stood even with your shoulder. When I was taken from my people, I was an adolescent and it was simply luck that caused my crash here on Zeering.”

She sighed as he cupped a breast and thumbed her nipple softly. “What were your people like?”

“Young. As a species, we were very young. My people did not trust strangers from the sky and we ran from them when they landed. I was foolish enough to try and confront the invaders and they captured me, taking me with them. They were running tests on me when we crashed.”

“Were you scared?” Sebena used her hands to caress his chest and neck.

“Petrified. I ripped the cords out of my arms and ran for it. We were quite a distance from the Reeban colony, so I was halfway up the mountainside before Zeering spoke to me.”

“He made contact with you directly?”

“He did. He had been desperate to make contact with the Reeban, but they were not suitable. All his energy was hovering near the surface and he seized the opportunity to take an Avatar.”

Despite the curls of pleasure running through her, she sat up straight and leaned away from him. “He took you as Avatar by force?”

“He asked me who I was and where I was from. I told him that my people would not have me back again and then he took me as his Avatar.”

Sebena sighed and relaxed against him again. “Good, I didn’t want to think the worst of Zeering. Why wouldn’t your people let you come back?”

He sighed and sat up, pulling her tight against him. “Because no good has ever come from the sky.”

She felt his homesickness. It radiated out of him in a wave. “Have you ever tried to go back? Not to live but to visit?”

“Zeering would not allow it. After he changed my body, he felt it would be inappropriate to show me to my family and friends. My height alone would frighten my people.”

She looked up at him. “I like your height. It makes me feel delicate, feminine.”

Issul blinked. “Then I am glad that the changes occurred before you met me.”

“I think I would like you in whatever form you had, but this one does make it easier.” She smiled and caressed his cheek.

“My face is my own and everything else was increased proportionally.”

“Lucky me. You are truly beautiful, right down to your pointy ears.” She caressed his ears and he shuddered under her light touch.

She leaned forward to kiss him and a knock at the door caused her to groan and lean her head on his chest instead.

“It is the housekeeping staff.” His voice resonated in his chest.

A panel folded open on one wall and a red light flared.

Issul was on his feet in seconds, standing her upright and striding across the room. “I stand corrected. It isn’t housekeeping. It is Karri and she is holding a bomb.”

I will handle this.

Zeering took over Sebena and Issul, moving them in concert. Sebena was standing between the doors and Issul threw them open.

Chapter Ten

“Remain calm, Karri.”

Tears coursed down the maid’s face as she stood with her hands locked onto the device. “I am so sorry. They didn’t give me a choice.”

Zeering nodded Sebena’s head and reached out to touch the bomb. Power flowed into the device and the pulsing energy inside the box faded to nothing. Sebena watched her hands dexterously unclasp the links that bound Karri to the box and she carried it inside the Avatars’ chambers.

The box quivered as the device tried to reactivate. Zeering walked the bomb to the balcony and Sebena handed the box to Issul while she powered up.

He hurled the box over the city and Sebena watched in amazement as her arm extended and a bolt of power crackled from her hand to strike the falling bomb.

The detonation was incredible. The energy wave coursed over them and caused panicked cries from the folk of the city.

I could not let them ignore this insult. One more and I will remove them from the surface.

Sebena shook as she regained control of her body. She immediately moved to console the collapsed woman in the doorway.

“It’s all right, Karri. No one was hurt. Are you okay?” Sebena touched the woman’s chin and flinched at the darkening marks on Karri’s face.

“They threatened my family, Avatar Sebena. I don’t know if they are safe.” Karri sobbed and tried to hide the bruising, wincing as she moved her arm.

Issul came up behind her. “We will see to your family, Karri. Give us a moment and we will come with you to your home.”

Sebena helped the woman rise to her feet and brought her inside their rooms. When Karri was seated at the table, Sebena reached for one of the basic gowns she had been given and she yanked it on over her head.

Hands helped her smooth the lines of the fabric and when she was free of the dress, she saw Karri with a focussed look on her face. Her wrists were still raw from her attempts to free herself, but she took her work as a maid seriously.

In under a minute, Sebena was presentable and gowned properly. Issul was wearing a blue shirt, black trousers and polished black boots.

“Come, Karri, we will get your family to safety if they wish it…and you will tell us who tied you to the bomb.” There was no doubt in Issul’s voice. He was going to get the answer he wanted.

“My uncle, Treesh. He is one of the objectors who does not wish for your return. He thought that my brother should have been named Avatar and was devastated when he wasn’t.”

Sebena wished that she could have been more shocked, but family pride was always dangerous. Back on Earth, her ancestors had done stupid things for pride and family honour. It was rather comforting to know that things across the universe kept that balance.

She straightened and put her arm around Karri. “Are you ready?”

She swallowed and Sebena could feel the swirling of Zeering behind her eyes. Issul was showing the same fifty-fifty markings.

They moved together and passed the astonished priests in the hallway, down the stairs and through the polished-stone lobby.

Sebena could feel the glow of power that surrounded them. Zeering was on high alert and they were going to get some questions answered.

The house was bright. Lights glowed intensely within. Sebena stayed with Karri and lit the street outside the house with her glow. A crowd was gathering. No one had seen an Avatar in the flesh in his or her lifetime and now there were two walking the streets.

Issul raised his hand and the door burst into blue flames. He walked inside and Zeering whispered to Sebena.
Go inside. Treesh is subdued and they need to see that Karri is safe.

Sebena kept her arm around Karri and brought her into her family’s home.

The sisters were bound to chairs. Karri’s parents were beaten and tied back to back. Karri cried out and knelt next to her parents, untying them.

Her mother looked at Sebena with swollen and bruised eyes. “We are loyal to you, Avatars.”

“Will you give your daughter into my service, to be a priestess of the feminine Avatar for her life?”

As she was untied, Karri’s mother knelt before Sebena. She quailed inwardly, but Zeering kept her head high and her hand steady as the woman took it. “We give her gladly and happily into your safekeeping. Zeering will protect her from the machinations of males and for that, we are grateful.”

Issul was standing next to two unconscious males. He nodded for Sebena to speak.

“What do you need to make your lives whole, right and worry free?”

The woman looked up in surprise. “Wedding portions for my other four daughters would be what we need. Once they are married off, I would be able to have my life wind toward retirement with calm and dignity.”

Sebena looked to her maid. “Karri, will you be traded for the wedding portions of your sisters?”

Karri smiled. “Gladly and with a good heart.” The woman continued to unravel her siblings until all the girls were hugging and sobbing.

Karri’s father stood, his matte black feathers ruffled and bloody. “My brother said there was no way to disarm the bomb. He said that my daughter would die for her loyalty to you.”

Sebena smiled. “He was mistaken. Zeering stopped the bomb and allowed me to detonate it over the city without damage to your child.”

She addressed the family. “Issul and I are not Avatars because we chose it or because we have named ourselves so. Zeering has poured a minute portion of his mind into us and speaks through us when he chooses. Only by using a body can he have a voice that the people walking his surface can hear.”

He asked another question. “Why did he never choose a Reeban as his Avatar?”

Issul smiled grimly. “Your brother will explain that at dawn in the temple. Anyone who wishes to can watch as the first of the Reeban takes Zeering into him.”

The family was confused, but Issul lifted Treesh and his cohort over his shoulders, walking easily toward the temple.

It was many hours until dawn and there were preparations to be made.

Sebena stood on the left side of the throne, Issul on the right. They were wearing matching clothing and Sebena had to admit that while the seamstresses had been sleepy when they arrived, they had perked up considerably when the realized that this was the first official clothing to be worn by the Avatars and as such, it required the utmost care to get everything just so.

The room was filled with onlookers and several had unveiled hostility burning in their eyes.

As the bright light of morning touched the throne, Zeering took over their bodies and spoke with one voice.

“People who have made their lives on my world, I have been too long without a voice and now that my Avatar has returned to me, I can speak on a subject that has waited too long for an explanation.”

Priests at the foot of the stairs to the throne were guarding Treesh. He was confused by what was going on, but he still sneered at the Avatars as they spoke.

“I am Zeering, the world under your feet. For a thousand years, the Reeban have walked my world and for nine hundred years, Issul has been my voice. Many of you have considered this an insult. Why would an off worlder be more worthy than one of your own? The truth of the matter is that the Reeban cannot take a planet into them.

“Last night, one of your own tried to kill my Avatars. He beat his own kin, threatened his family and tied his niece to a bomb meant to destroy my voices in your temple. Today, we are here to give him what he wants. If he wants to feel the touch of the planet, then let him come to the throne and sit upon it. No one will stop him. I have reduced the power flowing through it to less than one hundredth of what flows in each of these bodies right now.

“Bring him to me.”

The priests goaded the wild-eyed Treesh up the steps. He gained confidence when the throne did not glow as it had in the past when a Reeban touched it.

In a sudden surge of enthusiasm, he sat on the throne and his feathers stood on end while the mind of the planet touched his. “Amazing. I can feel Zeering inside me.”

His words caused a murmur of surprise and together, Issul and Sebena walked down and away from the throne.

Treesh lifted his hands as they took on a blue glow. “There is so much power. I can move mountains.”

The temple began to shake and outside, cries of fear spilled through the streets. Sebena wanted to halt the display, but the Reeban had to see why they were not suitable.

Treesh grinned and there was a manic madness in his face. It contorted suddenly and his hands clutched at his head. “No, no, what is happening? Stop it, Zeering. Stop it!”

They spoke, though few could hear it over the panic. “I am not yours to command, Treesh. This world is mine, my heart, my soul and you will not twist it to your purpose.”

Treesh writhed in the grip of the power and his head simply exploded.

Sebena nodded and turned to the watchers. “You want, you do not accept, you desire, you do not take what is given and you would turn my power into a tool for your own advancement. This is not what I need. I need a voice and hands to help you flourish. Issul came to me lost and Sebena found me. These two are the balance that I need and that you need. They will help you and I will help them.”

Sebena took Issul’s hand and they bowed to the assembled. They walked out of the throne room, leaving the pieces of Treesh behind. Karri followed with her head high and her bruises worn with pride.

The punishment had been recorded and would be filed with the Alliance. For now, they had other matters to attend to. A joining cut short was not fun at all.

Chapter Eleven

As soon as Karri helped her out of the stiff and formal gown, Sebena wrapped the robe around her and watched as Issul began to remove his own clothing. Karri hung up the gown, bowed and left with a smile on her face. Her quarters were next door and in a few days, there was going to be an expansion of the Avatars’ quarters to allow for a dressing room and maid’s quarters. The high priestess of Zeering was going to be nearby at all times.