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  Yes. It occurred to Konis, too, the Head Priest sent to him. And Nesul and Raiban. I’ve been told to apply for it at the next All-Guilds’ meeting.

  What about the joint leadership of the Brotherhood?

  It’ll remain unchanged. Esken’s priests will simply belong to me instead. Switching to speech, Lijou looked toward Kaid. “The council selecting the candidate for Guild Leader of the Warrior Brothers wish to reinstate you as a Brother.”

  Startled, Kaid stared at him. “Reinstate me?”

  “As if Ghezu had never expelled you,” agreed the Head Priest.

  Kaid was silent for a moment, then began to laugh softly. “No, thank you, Lijou. The past happened, it can’t be undone. Besides, being En’Shalla, what more do I need?”

  “I said that would be your answer. It’s never good to dwell on the past. Now,” he demanded sitting forward. “Tell me your news!”

  “Our news?” Kusac gave Kaid a humorous glance. “Who says we have news?”

  Lijou made an exasperated noise. “Don’t wrong-spoor me! I gave you my news. Start with Carrie and the cub.”

  “Both fine. Vanna’s scanner and Noni both agreed on that. About the only thing they did agree on,” said Kusac wryly, remembering the females’ attitudes toward each other.

  “Noni’s here?” Lijou looked startled.

  “For a day or two. She’ll be staying at the main house with my parents until after Kashini’s Validation.”

  “I’m impressed. Now the Margins. What did you find? Did you see Him?”

  “We found Vartra,” said Kaid. “He’s not what you’d expect, Lijou.”

  “Just tell me!” There was a glint in his eyes.

  “Things were different then, Lijou, very diferent. No Guilds. Instead they had places of learning where many things were taught all under the same roof. Vartra was a physician who worked there teaching genetics to younglings. Not a Physician like we have, but a doctor of research. There were a few telepaths then, too few in Vartra’s eyes. He was working on a way to enhance their abilities and increase the likelihood of Leska links happening so as to breed more. He thought himself unTalented, but he wasn’t. Carrie said he forced the genes into the patterns he wanted. Which is why the result was unstable, and also why no one can duplicate it.”

  Lijou let out his breath with a hiss. “So what are we, the very fabric of our being as Telepaths, is due to Him, and it’s unstable?”

  “Not necessarily,” said Kusac, putting a reassuring hand on the Head Priest’s arm. “When we left, he was working on a way to stabilize us. We may well be the result of that stabilization.”

  “Where do the Humans fit in?”

  “He took a blood sample from Carrie. Going back to the Margins contributed to our future and my own Link with her.”

  Lijou sat silently for a moment. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? Our fears of the future you and Carrie represented are what drove you back to the past to create what we feared.”

  “It had to happen, Lijou, because it did,” said Kaid.

  “I know,” he sighed. “And I was right about you,” he said, wagging a finger in his direction. “You were chosen before them!”

  “Not quite, but I won’t argue the point,” Kaid murmured, trying not to let Kusac catch his eye.

  “So how did He become a God— or is he?” This was Lijou’s crucial question and they could see and feel his anxiety. Was their whole faith based on sand— or rock?

  “He’s a God now, that’s indisputable,” said Kaid. “I believe it was a mixture of guilt and His Talent that caused it. I don’t know how Gods are formed, Lijou. That’s your department.”

  “Guilt?” Lijou looked from one to the other.

  “It wasn’t completely his fault,” said Kusac. “His students used the serum before it was fully tested. It’s as well they did, because that generation of enhanced telepaths were all that stood between Shola and the Valtegans. He had to send his best people out on what was virtually a suicide mission. He hated having to do that.”

  Kaid stirred in his seat. “Lijou, there wasn’t time to ask many questions. What we did gather was that the telepaths allowed themselves to be captured by the Valtegans, then somehow managed to place themselves next to important leaders. It was Rezac and Zashou who gave the signal for their attack to begin. What the nature of their attack was, we don’t know, but a Valtegan starship, out of control because the telepaths on board created dissension among the command crew, hit our lesser moon. That caused the wholesale destruction on Shola that we call the Cataclysm.”

  “Fyak wasn’t that far wrong, was he? We were significantly involved in causing the Cataclysm,” said Lijou thoughtfully. “When you say Rezac and Zashou, you do mean the same Rezac who sent the message to Shola that Carrie intercepted, don’t you?”

  “The same,” said Kusac. “They’re on Jalna, with Jo, Davies, and Kris.”

  “Konis said they’d been captured by the Lord there. We must get them back safely to Shola. What they can tell us will be invaluable! Most of what we’ve discussed must not go beyond these walls,” he said, looking from one to the other. “These are matters for our Order, not for the world at large.”

  “Raiban will know about some of them already, Lijou. We brought back a Valtegan general— Kezule. The one who convinced Fyak he was a god.”

  “Then we must decide now what Raiban should be told,” he said. “More, we must talk, in depth, of what our Order should know of your meeting with Vartra.”

  A knock on the door heralded the arrival of Lijou’s meal.

  *

  Carrie stood looking down at the freshly bathed cub lying on the padded nursery surface. The infant— her daughter— lay on her stomach, limbs splayed slightly out from her body, hands spread wide. Her skin, still pink from her bath, showed through the blonde down that covered her. The tiny tail, barely more than a short, stubby triangle, was held close to her rear. It was hard to think that she’d given birth to this small furred scrap.

  The cub lifted her head an inch or two off the mat and sniffed the air, blindly searching for her mother. She gave a soft mewl of distress.

  “Well, pick up your daughter, child,” said Noni brusquely. “Don’t let her get upset or she’ll not settle properly for her feed.”

  Leaning down, Carrie carefully folded the cloth around her cub, picked her up and carried her over to the bed. Noni watched as she settled herself.

  “So Tallinu delivered her, did he? A novel experience for all of you, I’ll not doubt! A useful male to have about.” She peered sharply at Carrie as she began to feed her infant. “You do intend to keep him, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Noni, I do,” she said, wincing as Kashini’s hands, claws splayed, began to open and close against her breast. “Ouch! Her teeth are bad enough, but those claws of hers!”

  “It’s only for a few weeks, child. You should wrap her arms tight in her blanket if it’s that painful.”

  “No, I couldn’t do that to her,” she said, gently caressing her cub’s head with her free hand. “She’d feel trapped. She needs to be free to move as she wants.” She looked over to where the old Sholan sat. “You know, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about her, but somehow it doesn’t seem important that she isn’t like me. She’s my daughter and that’s all that matters.” Reflexively she held her baby closer, feeling a surge of love welling up within her.

  “That’s blood talking to blood, child,” Noni laughed gently. “Would you listen to her? I can hear her purring from here! You and she have bonded all right!”

  Despite their talk about Kashini, Carrie could sense Noni was more interested in Kaid. Now that the old Sholan knew she and her cub were bonded, she’d turned her mind to other matters. Well, if she wanted to know, she could damned well ask! Noni had been enigmatic with all of them often enough, now it was her turn.

  After a few minutes of silence, Noni finally let her curiosity get the better of her.

  “And how did your
night with Tallinu go? You left before I had chance to ask you. It has only been the once so far, hasn’t it?”

  “So far,” agreed Kaid from the open doorway. “As for how our night went, shame on you for asking, Noni!”

  Carrie looked up, smiling in pleasure to see him. They were so different, he and Kusac. Her husband, the telepath and scholar, as dark-pelted as midnight, and Kaid, the highly disciplined warrior-priest, his fur the color of the desert soil at Khezy’ipik. How could she care so deeply for two such different males?

  “Have you no more respect for your elders than to go sneakin’ up on them like that?” Noni demanded tartly.

  “Not a lot,” he replied, coming over to Carrie. “Kusac will be here in a few minutes to escort you down to the aircar.” He reached out impulsively to touch Carrie’s cheek.

  “Hmpf!” said Noni, pushing herself slowly up from her chair. “So you’re not a lovesick youngling! You do a fair job of imitating one!”

  “You’ll not goad me today, Noni,” he said.

  Carrie took his hand in hers and urged him to sit beside her. As he did, his larger hand enveloped hers, keeping it within his grasp. “I’ve come to spend a little time with Carrie, if she doesn’t mind, not to argue with you.”

  “I’d like that,” said Carrie, aware of his grip tightening gently as she spoke.

  “I suppose I’d better leave you in peace,” Noni grumbled, turning away from them and making her way slowly to the door.

  When she’d gone, Carrie gently eased her hand away. “Kashini’s heavier than she looks,” she explained, using it to help support her cub’s weight. “How’s it going with Lijou?”

  “He’ll be here for a while yet,” said Kaid. “Kusac asked me to keep you company, and I, reluctantly of course, agreed.”

  “Of course.” She matched his grin. “Tell me some more about the Triads, Tallinu. I know they formed so the warrior could protect the Leska pair, but there was more to their Link than that, wasn’t there?”

  “Some,” he agreed. “You have to see them in relation to their time. The needs they fulfilled then don’t exist now.”

  She could sense his evasion. “Historically,” she conceded, watching the muscles of his face and ears relax. She found Sholans so much easier to read than Humans.

  “Historically, after the Cataclysm, there were only a few telepaths left on this continent. Those that remained had to breed, to provide future generations. We know Vartra was trying to increase the number of Leska bondings, and that his virus, like our ni’uzu, affected those with nontelepathic talents, too. The result was that some warriors were drawn to Leska pairs and formed a bond— a Triad— with them. More often it was the female who had two lovers, or life-mates. Because few females could be spared to fight then, it was important that they be adequately defended.”

  “Two life-mates?”

  He nodded. “All telepathic links, be they Leska ones or minor ones, started out as a way for the strongest talents to be drawn together— natural selection. With so few pure telepaths, they had to keep track of the family bloodlines, and the Triads meant that the inclusion of some warriors with minor talents made the gene pool larger. Later generations of Triads recognized that only one life-mate was needed so long as the cubs were parented and nurtured by all three.”

  “That’s why Kusac registered our Triad at the temple,” nodded Carrie. She felt his mind begin to retreat from her as he broke eye contact.

  “There’s very little likelihood of us becoming genetically compatible,” he said quietly. “I think Kusac was being overly cautious. Even with Leska pairs, it takes a gestalt.”

  “You’ve been exposed to a gestalt, Tallinu.”

  He looked sharply at her. “Never!”

  “Mara’s, when we were at the ruins the day you left Valsgarth to find Khemu,” she reminded him.

  He looked away again. “That doesn’t count. It has to belong to your own Triad.”

  “There isn’t time for more cubs anyway,” she said, changing the tone of the conversation. “We’ve got friends to rescue. Vanna says that now she and Jack are working together with access to both our species data banks, they’re much nearer a breakthrough for this common contraceptive for the mixed Leska females. And while we were in the Margins, the military gave her all the equipment and people she wanted. It seems they’re determined nothing will delay us going on this rescue mission, which suits me.”

  “You know about it?”

  “Of course,” she said calmly. “Once Kusac figured it out, then naturally I knew. I picked it up from you as well.”

  “Me?” His whole body showed his surprise.

  “I’ve been able to pick up your occasional unguarded surface thoughts since before you and Dzaka fought.”

  He grunted noncommittally.

  She nodded. “With Rezac and Zashou and three Humans stranded on Jalna, that makes five people. There’s no way two of us can locate that many people, let alone rescue them, Tallinu.”

  In her arms, Kashini began to make tiny mewling sounds of distress as she lifted her head and turned to look up at her mother. They both felt the sudden burst of hunger and fretfulness.

  Kaid winced. “She’s very sensitive to your emotions. Dzaka’s talent wasn’t this developed even by the age of six.”

  “We’ve noticed,” she said, lifting the cub up and holding her out to him. “Take her for a moment, please.”

  Cautiously Kaid accepted the infant.

  Carrie laughed, feeling his confusion and reluctance. “I’d get used to it, Tallinu. You’re her secondary father after all!”

  He gave her a horrified look. “Her uncle!” he said, a pained tone in his voice. “Only her uncle!”

  The cub clutched at his arms, sniffing curiously.

  “I’ll take her back now,” Carrie said.

  As she settled Kashini against her other breast, Carrie was aware of Kaid watching her. You males are all the same, she sent. Fascinated by newborns!

  Not newborns, by their mothers feeding them, he responded, ears dipping in embarrassment. You do realize I’ve been waiting nearly fifty years to see Kashini born, don’t you? And I was right. She is very special.

  He reached toward Carrie, gently running the sensitive tips of his fingers across the curve of her breast, then lower, till he touched the cub’s cheek.

  I have to confess I’m no different from Kusac. His hand moved again, his fingers first touching hers then twining round them where they supported the child.

  “How so? Surely you’ve seen other females feeding their cubs?”

  “Never. Only the closest of male clan members are allowed to be present.”

  “For such a liberated species, you have some strange customs,” she murmured, feeling a warm lassitude begin to creep over her. “Don’t make me feel tired, Kaid. When I’ve finished feeding her, I want to go downstairs and join you.”

  “You should rest. You’ve got the Validation ceremony the day after tomorrow.”

  “I’ve rested enough for now. I’ve seen too much of the nursery and my bedroom.”

  Kaid laughed and leaned forward across Kashini to nuzzle Carrie’s cheek.

  The gesture was slightly clumsy and reminded her how unused he was to moments of affection. Turning her face to his, she brushed his lips with hers. She found the kiss returned with an urgency she hadn’t expected, then, just as suddenly, he pulled back from her, ears slightly laid back.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that while you’re nursing. Tell me, are you really unharmed by the birth? You were in so much pain, and I could do nothing to help you. I should have studied birthing when I knew we were going to the Margins while you were still pregnant.”

  She tightened her hand around his, mentally sending reassurances to him. “How could you, Tallinu? You were barely able to move when we brought you out of Stronghold. You were the one who had to study the Margin rituals at the shrine with Ghyan, you had to lead us back into
the past. That was far more important than learning about birthing when we thought I still had another eight or more weeks left. Yes, I really am fine! Noni herself could have done no more for me than you and Kusac did.”

  “What about Kashini?”

  “She’s fine, too. She is too mentally aware for her age. She may even have been born with her Talent fully awake instead of growing into it as is normal. It may be due to me having to control the vortex, but we don’t know. Whatever it was, although it’s inconvenient for us, it hasn’t seemed to bother her yet.”

  “Being your and Kusac’s child, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t unusual from the first,” he said with a grin, easing his hand away from her and beginning to get up. “I must go now. We’ve still a lot to discuss with Lijou. I”ll see you when you come downstairs.”

  *

  That night, the first of the winter storms came, and with it, the nightmares. Though the environmental screens cut out most of the noises, Kaid could still hear the wind howling round the villa. No house was silent, especially not one as newly constructed as this. He tossed and turned, listening to the creakings and soft rattlings, trying to identify their source until at last he fell into an exhausted sleep.

  Even then, for him the sounds didn’t stop. They grew louder, deeper in pitch till he was trapped within a roaring sea of noise. Heat enveloped him; burning particles ripped their way through his pelt, searing the flesh below. As terror gripped his throat in its jaws, he realized he was caught within the vortex of the gateway to the past.

  If only he could make a sound— cry out, anything— he knew he could end it! He fought against the terror, against the paralysis that held his body rigid and constricted his throat. This couldn’t be happening! He couldn’t possibly be traveling back to the past again! The drug dreams were supposed to be over!

  A strangled noise escaped his lips: It was a beginning. He tried again, this time managing a low mewl. The world righted itself with a sickening lurch and suddenly he was sitting up in bed, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. The echo of a sigh was sounding in his ears.