“Something like that. That relieve your mind?”
It did—and it didn’t. “You aren’t planning on erasing my memories of him, are you?” was asked in a small voice.
“Lucky for me, I don’t possess a single sentimental circuit. You’d be better off not remembering him, kiddo, believe me—”
“You need have no fear that you will be allowed to forget me,kerima” came from a new quarter.
“Not another word, warrior, until we go over the facts of Sha-Ka’ani life again,” Martha warned in a seriously annoyed tone.
“What Martha has to say will be listened to, but it will make no difference when the decision has already been made,” Dalden replied.
“You can’t do that.”
“It is too late for denials.”
“I swear, you’re getting more and more like your father every day.”
The disgust in that remark was thick enough to cut, yet Dalden replied with some pride in his own tone, “I am pleased to hear you say so.”
“Where is the common sense you inherited from your mother? Never mind,” came out in a low growl. “We’ll discuss this later. Her rust bucket has stopped moving. Finish the task at hand, andthenwe’ll talk about decisions that don’t have a chance in hell of working.”
Chapter 16
“SLOUCH DOWN.SOME MORE.”A SIGH. “I SUPPOSEthat will have to do. Now stay there and let me do what you’re paying me for.”
Dalden watched Brittany walk away from him, a smile in his mind. He was aware that she had no doubt whatsoever that he would obey her and stay on the bench where she had told him to sit. She had no understanding yet that it was against a warrior’s nature to take directives of any sort from a woman. But a woman could be humored. And special allowances had to be made when dealing with females from planets other than Sha-Ka’an. He understood that, for the most part. He didn’t like it, but he understood.
But he continued to watch her as she moved about the atrium in the place she called City Hall, stopping one person after another to speak a few words with each of them. It was, in fact, becoming increasingly difficult to do anything but watch her, when she was in the same area as him.
He wondered if it was the influence of his mother’s Kystrani blood that was making him have unwarrior-like reactions around her, or simply because Brittany reminded him in many ways of his mother. Or it could be no other thing than the instinct he had been warned would take over when he found his true lifemate.
Whatever it was, it seemed to be beyond his control. Somedhayajuice could be wished for to eliminate the constant urge he had to carry her to some quiet place and make her his, but the abundant supply that had been brought along, which would have been more than sufficient for the original trip, hadn’t lasted for this extended journey and had been exhausted the previous month. He had to wonder if even that would have been sufficient, when what he was feeling was beyond his experience.
She fascinated him in myriad ways. She spoke like a Kystrani Ancient. She was very much like his mother, taking matters in hand and issuing orders. She was bold, stubborn, creative. She took pride in a craft that a Sha-Ka’ani viewed as slave labor. She was independent. She felt she needed no other protection than what the laws of her country supplied her. She cooked and worked like a Darash servant and saw that as a normal thing to do. She was fulfilling the roles of both male and female and doing so happily. Her culture was so different from his that indeed there seemed no point where the two could meet and coexist.
He suspected that Martha would point out all of this. He was prepared for it with a simple answer that even Martha couldn’t dispute.
“Tedra’s going to wish she had come along on this trip,” came out of the combo-unit in Sha-Ka’ani, so anyone passing near wouldn’t understand it.
“Why?” Dalden asked in kind.
“Because these people so resemble her Ancients, you might wonder if they didn’t evolve from one of the original colony ships.”
“Would they not be more advanced if that were so?” Dalden asked.
“Not if they lost all data and had to start over from scratch. Unlikely, though. And it’s possible for two planets to evolve in exactly the same way, which would account for the similarities.”
“You like Brittany,” Dalden remarked. “This I have sensed.”
A chuckle. “What you meant to say was that Tedra would like her. But let’s not be tepid. Your mother would love the heck out of her. She’d be like a never-ending Ancients tape for her to listen to. Probables say they’d become great good friends.”
“When your goals always center around my mother’s ultimate happiness, how then can you object to bringing Brittany home with us?”
“Because unlike you, I can see down the road, and Tedra won’t be happy if two people she loves are making themselves miserable.”
“Suchwouldnot happen.”
A sigh, prolonged, exaggerated; then in a no-nonsense tone, “Let’s spend a moment to open your eyes beyond a squint, shall we? You and this female have the hots for each other. This is fine, even healthy. No one’s objecting to you having a bit of pleasure while you’re here, time permitting. But you have got to start looking at this thing realistically, Dalden.”
