35
(Silnaday, cont.)
A’mara Complex
.
Before she tapped on the door, she could feel the despair emanating from the room.
“Kailey?” Jessten called as she knocked on the door. “Are you okay?”
There was no answer. She felt through the leya. Yes, the woman was there. Yes, she was okay – physically-speaking.
Calmly, she reached through the leya into the lock and opened the door. “Kailey,” she repeated softly, closing the door behind her. Then she saw the heap on the floor, shaking violently. The baby girl was safely asleep in a basket in the corner. The other girl played quietly in the toy corner.
Jessten sat beside the woman and held her close. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
Kailey kept crying and Jessten felt her own tears join in. All her own sadness blending with that of the woman she comforted. The weeks of pent-up tears flooded out over this virtual stranger. It felt strangely relieving.
It was with her face covered in tears that she looked up to see Laisen standing at the door. She hadn’t been paying enough attention to feel his arrival. She dried her eyes and cheeks on her cloak.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“We’re just sharing our pain together,” Jessten replied, too tired to care that she was admitting she was hurt.
Laisen sat on the couch and picked up the toddler, now grizzling along with the women.
“I’m sorry,” Kailey said. “It’s my fault that you lost someone today. He warned me.”
“What?” Jessten asked, confused.
“He told me that if I went for help, I’d regret it. Now, you’ve suffered because of me.”
“Who is he?” Laisen asked.
“His name is Joneel Mern. He recently joined the Neví. It’s changed him. That’s why I was so scared coming into your building this morning,” she said. “I knew he’d find me, get me… hurt those who helped me.”
“It’s okay, Kailey. I don’t think he had a whole lot to do with this attack. The Neví are meant to be ‘friends’ - that’s what their name means. I should know,” she said, thinking about the fact she had been the one to give them that name.
She felt Laisen’s surprise, then closed herself away from him again.
“The Neví, for whatever else they might be, are a charitable organization,” Jessten said, wanting to believe that was all her father was involved in. Anything more was unthinkable. For all his faults, he was better than that. “They are the ones who funded the Project.”
“Jessten, I want to believe it too. I believed it until I saw the change in my husband,” Kailey said, trying to clear the tears from her eyes.
Jessten handed her a handkerchief.
“I didn’t mean to hurt his friend this morning!” Kailey started crying again.
“You said that earlier,” Jessten noted. “What happened?”
“He came home… drunk. That’s not unusual, but he brought a friend – said something about losing a bet. His friend wanted to…,” she choked back a sob. “I couldn’t let him. I threw something at him, made him fall over.”
“What did you throw?” Laisen asked.
“Nothing. I threw absolutely nothing, but he fell anyway, hit his head hard on my dresser – I might have killed him! Joneel passed out about then and I left with the girls!”
“You’re leya-sensitive,” Jessten stated. “You threw air at him – using the leya.”
“No matter what happened to that man, if he attacked you, you have the right to defend yourself,” Laisen said. “You did nothing wrong. But that’s a strong connection to the leya you just described.”
She nodded. “I wasn’t permitted to attend your schools or anything. Now, it’s too late.”
“My father didn’t let me know either, Kailey. He thought it was best for me, I guess. But I’m training now. It feels good to be able to help through my gifts. The other young man earlier. I saved his life.”
“That’s good then,” Kailey said obviously forcing a smile.
“We lost a student too, sadly.”
“I’m sorry. I think I felt that – and was scared it was my fault somehow. I… I don’t know. How else can you explain the change of behavior in my husband? He said he had joined the Neví. He didn’t mention any other group.”
“I don’t know,” Jessten said.
“There are lots of possible reasons for a sudden change in behavior,” Laisen said. “Maybe joining the Neví is part of it, maybe it’s not.”
“You think I can become A’mara?” Kailey asked, picking up her fussing baby.
“You already are,” Jessten said, putting her arm around the woman. “Now, let’s go and get some food, I think it will help everyone.”
Kailey smiled more genuinely. “Thank you, Jessten. You’re someone really special.”
Jessten smiled. “I’m only doing what anyone should,” she excused.
Laisen offered the toddler his hand and led the way, waiting at the door to close it behind them.
♥
Freebooter Apartments
.
“How are things going?” Xanthine asked, waddling over to Uana.
“Well enough. I think we managed to match up four of the women tonight. Those are just the ones who are ready. There are a few women who might be resistant.”
“I think the Curator would see this as a good experiment then.”
“I agree. There is a woman in X’lea. She is known as Belmara. She has obtained the Curator’s favor somehow, but she had an interesting idea – that we can further attract the right sort of women to our organization if we create a new program called something like ‘Mothers at Work’ - where we have a cooperative babysitting thing all in the same building – maybe even the same room – while the mothers do things like assembly work or communications. The common rooms on the upper levels of this building would be a good place to do this.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Xanthine replied, rubbing her stomach which had tightened uncomfortably.
“Are you okay?” Uana asked.
She nodded. “Aren’t you a little scared, Uana? You’re a bit old to be a first-time mother.”
“All the time. But I also trust – I trust my body, the Guardians, the doctors we have around us, the stellas with their herbs.”
“You’re lucky. Sipper seems to be a really good guy.”
“Yes. He has his moments, of course. But on the whole, he really is a good man. Your Tasp isn’t so bad.”
“When he’s not drinking,” Xanthine reminded her. “He’s been good since we became lovers though.”
“Make a deal with him. He can have you whenever he wants – as long as he hasn’t drunk anything that day. But what’s Païsan going to say?”
“I may need to have someone else around when that happens. I know what happened to Païsan’s ex-wife.”
“She survived though.”
“Yes, and bonded with an A’mara. It’s almost funny – had we not lost Echis and others in that skirmish, I would laugh now… except it might make me pee!”
Uana laughed.
“You won’t be laughing in two seasons!” Xanthine quipped. She hated admitting that she actually liked Uana. Maybe maternal hormones were affecting her.
♥♥♥
If you have enjoyed this book, I would be grateful if you could put your thoughts as a review on [Goodreads](coming soon) for me.
Buy at: (coming soon to Books2Read, Scribl, LBRY and Lulu - paperback.)
Other Chapters of this set
Birth of the Neví - Chapter 1 on Whaleshares
Name of the Neví - Chapter 1
Mind of the Neví - Chapter 1
Game of the Neví - Chapter 1
Maps and Guides
- Kri'enden & Joton - 830 TCE (New/imprived map coming soon)
- Character Guide and Image Credits
- Calendar and Glossary - for Name of the Neví but these two parts are true throughout.
Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2019 – all rights reserved.
If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.
Asking @popcornexpress to bring popcorn!
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
verified author on Goodreads
find me on Twitter
blogging on: Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu, Hyperspace
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