Conflict and Courage (31 page)

“The
coronation, will she be well enough to attend?”

The doctor
shook his head.

Sam nodded.
“Let me know when the child is born.”

“I will my
Lord.”

“The older
children?”

“With Lady
Cocteau. She will look after them. I saw no point in them remaining
only to watch her suffer.”

“You did
right,” said Sam, much to Arthur Kurtheim’s relief. One never knew
where one stood with the irrational Lord Regent.

He looked down
at his sleeping wife. For some reason, he felt sorry for her.
Despite what he felt about her now, they
had
spent the last
eight years as man and wife.

“Take good care
of her,” he said to the doctor as he took his leave.

To say that
Arthur Kurtheim was amazed at this order was the understatement of
the year.

Anne was
feverish and never knew of his visit.

She rambled on
about everything and everybody, and her worries about the future of
her daughter Princess Ruth were loud and vocal.

* * * * *

Kolyei informed
Tara in gleeful ‘voice’ that Holad domta Winston was a hive of
activity as the Randall family prepared to welcome the intrepid
wanderers home, almost three years to the day after their send
off.

Ten had left to
explore the west, eight now returned.

“I wonder if it
has changed much,” mused Tara to Hilary as they followed the path
alongside the bubbling stream as it meandered through the
rtathlian.

“A lot,” butted
in Brian from behind them, “it’s bigger for one thing and you’ll be
surprised how many are studying there now.”

Well, Brian
should know Tara thought as he went into more detail. He and Sofiya
had kept in more or less constant touch with his parents. Tara and
Kolyei had ‘spoken’ as well but not as often nor as regularly.

“Sofiya
bespeaked with Zhenya this morning and we are expected before
dusk,” added Brian. Zhenya was still the senior Lind healer at
Winston domta.

“A celebratory
feast,” said Kolyei. He licked his lips in anticipation of the
culinary delights to come. Janice Randall’s cooking was
legendary.

: Glutton :

: Me? :
Kolyei grinned
: I am looking forward to it, succulent zarova,
cooked the way only Janice knows how :

: Glutton
:
insisted Tara.

: Janice
will see a big difference in
you
:

From the
fragile and traumatised child who began Vada training, Tara had
developed into a well-balanced and contented young woman, emerging
from the four years a confident eighteen-year-old, at peace with
herself at last. Whether Janice Randall would accept this new Tara
was another matter. It had been this over-protectiveness that was
one of the reasons why Tara, with Kolyei’s full agreement, had
insisted on the westward exploration, even though it would take him
away from Radya.

Kolyei was in
high spirits, his springing step testimony to this. He had waited
for this day for many a long year. He would twine tails with his
beloved Radya and did not see fit to tell Tara that she and Peter
Crawford were waiting at the domta. She was very aware of his hopes
and was apprehensive enough as it was. No need to tell her that
their meeting was imminent rather than days or even weeks away.

The rules laid
down in the beginning by the Gtratha had made Radya and Kolyei’s
courtship, by necessity, a long one. If a vadeln-paired Lind wished
to mate with another Lind – such matings were for life – who was
also the other half of a Lind-human bonding, then the human couple
must be prepared to commit themselves to one another as well.

This rule could
make things difficult for vadeln-pairs, but as Rozya, mate of
Matvei, had declared at a time when such life-bonds were in their
infancy, such foursomes were right and proper. Lind families were
very close-knit and larger extended family groups could cause much
friction within the pack.

The Eldas of
the Lind had seen the truth in this and the law was introduced
amongst the Lind, a rule followed shortly afterwards by the humans
once they had seen at first hand the heartache and disruption
caused by such quasi-illegal relationships.

When, some
years before, Kolyei and Radya had decided that they wished to
mate, both had realised that they would have to wait until both
Peter and Tara were older. The two knew that Peter had a profound
love and respect for Tara; they could only hope that when Tara met
him today she would realise that the now adult Peter was the man
for her.

True, Peter was
nineteen to Tara’s twenty-one, but he was a tall, mature and
handsome young man, one who had, by now, spent a year on active
patrol duty with the Vada.

Tara, knowing
nothing about these wheels within wheels decided to introduce
another topic, one that was worrying her greatly.

: I hope they
don’t ask too many questions about last winter :

: Not to
worry :
Kolyei telepathed back
: They will be so excited to
see Emily and Brian’s baby for the first time they not even think
about it :

: There is
Mariya’s interdict :
Tara
fretted : but will that be enough?
:

: No Lind
will ask the question :
Kolyei comforted her.

: Jim will ask
why Liam and Aiya have not returned with us :

The previous
winter, with Emily heavily pregnant, the explorers had spent with
the pale-green striped pack Arensei of the northwest. Tara and
Kolyei, Liam and Aiya had gone on an expedition of their own and
found themselves caught by the weather deep in the high mountain
ranges at the very edge of the continent. Rescued by another pack
that inhabited those snowy wastes, they had spent what remained of
the winter in the relative comfort of the domta of the isolated
rtath Jntei, Kolyei and Tara leaving only when the snows melted and
their route back to Arensei clear. There, they had found Emily and
Brian the proud parents of a lusty baby boy and only waited until
he was old enough to travel before starting for home.

Liam and Aiya
had decided to remain with the Jnteins.

The others had
accepted Liam’s decision without argument, after all, they
reasoned, the pair had as much right as anyone to decide what to do
with the rest of their lives although Hilary wondered aloud that
Liam might find life lonely being the only human within the
pack.

The remaining
eight, with the one small addition, had reached the rtathlian of
the Gtratha some weeks later where old Mariya still held tenure as
Gtrathlin, pure white and frail, but her indomitable spirit shining
through regardless.

She welcomed
them all, admired baby Alexander and spoke at great length with
Tara and Kolyei, warning them not to speak overmuch about their
winter sojourn with Jntei. If anylind or anyone asked them they
were to say they were a pack like any other but that they preferred
to keep to themselves. There were important reasons, she explained,
why this pack must remain in isolation and apart from the
others.

Only Tara and
Kolyei knew the why behind this.

Before they
left the Gtratha Tara and Kolyei had entrusted into Mariya’s care a
small sealed oilskin package. She sniffed at it cautiously.

“It won’t
bite,” said Tara with some amusement, “we’ve used our last sheets
of durapaper and you know something about what we have written I
think,” Tara said.

“A little, but
why write about your time with Jntei?”

“Kolyei and I
have promised to record the history of the Lind, all of it. I know
we are under oath not to tell what we know, but sometime, in the
far distant future, our descendants, yours and mine, might need the
knowledge this package contains.”

“This tells all
the secret?”

“It does,”
affirmed Kolyei.

“Then it shall
be hidden. I am glad I cannot read because my curiosity is great. I
will not ask the answer of you. Even I know only that Jntei guard
that what must not be seen.”

“We have also
written some notes about subjects which we think should not become
common knowledge but should still be recorded.”

Mariya took
them to a small dry cave in the centre of the domta of the Gtratha.
In the gloom Tara saw some curious objects but Mariya pushed her
and Kolyei past them after requesting they avert their eyes. Deep
inside, she pointed with a frail paw towards a natural shelf in the
rock.

“Leave it
there,” she commanded, “none enters here but the Gtrathlin.”

When Kolyei and
Tara left, they were confident that the package would be safe with
Mariya and her successors. The Lind did not make promises they
could not keep.

The countryside
through which they now passed had changed little; most of the
humans domiciled in Vadath lived in the more open southern plains
where they could grow crops. These woods belonged to the Lind.
Humankind would never attempt to cut down these forests, no matter
how desperate they became for arable land. Of the eight thousand
that had landed on the northern continent, most remained in Argyll,
though the colonisation of the islands had begun. There were
hundreds of these islands, some very large indeed. Even now, after
ten years, there were barely two thousand humans in Vadath
itself.

They spied the
first outlying dagas of domta Winston as the first hints of
night-dusk began to show. The inhabitants, human and Lind, came out
to welcome them and many followed, the better to watch the
long-awaited reunion.

As they got
deeper inside the domta, the crowds grew bigger until at last they
spied the stout wooden cabin that was the Randall home. Outside it
stood a small knot of people and one Lind.

Tara screwed up
her eyes the better to identify them but failed to recognise the
tall man standing beside the Lind, leaning against her side, it
must be a she thought Tara, life-bonds were gender-led, male to
female and visa versa.

They were
within vocal calling distance when she realised just who the
vadeln-pair were.

“Peter,” she
gasped, “and Radya.”

She clouted
Kolyei on his shoulder.

“You rotter!”
she cried, “you knew all along that Radya would be here.” She did
not mention Peter.

: Naturally
:
chuckled Kolyei, with false modesty
: and before you get
angry with me, just think what a nice surprise it is :

He padded
smartly up to the waiting delegation, ears cocked, tail wagging
nineteen to the dozen, eyes glued to Radya’s face.

Peter and Radya
edged slightly to the right of those waiting, as they did so, Peter
disengaged himself from his lind-mate, his own eyes on Tara.

As if from a
great distance, Tara could hear the shrieks and whines of welcome
as Janice and Winston and their three girls lunged towards Emily,
Brian, Sofiya, Ilyei and baby Alexander.

Peter waited as
Tara dismounted and looked up at him, she was behaving, he decided,
as if she had never seen him before. He stood, a questioning
expression on his face, but one both solemn and serious.

Kolyei shook
himself and took the three steps to Radya’s side where they stood
in nervous anticipation, waiting for what must be.

The Randall
family and Hilary grew silent, except for Janice who held her first
grandson in her arms and was making crooning noises, as they became
aware of the drama unfolding. Everyone and everylind present knew
what Radya felt for Kolyei; how long the two had waited for this
moment.

Tara stood as
still as a statue, her mind in a whirl.

Then Radya and
Kolyei began to whine. The watchers cheered as the two Lind
entwined their tails and then rested their heads on each other’s
necks. Attuned, as ever, to their human partners’ innermost
thoughts, they both knew the second when Tara Sullivan realised
what Peter Crawford meant to her.

Peter folded
Tara in his arms and drew her towards him for their first embrace
as man and woman.

After a while
they drew apart and Tara glanced over at the Randall family,
abashed, her gaze moving beyond the family group towards Hilary,
Gsnei, Jim and Larya and all the others who had come to see the
fun.

: Did everyone
know but me? :

: I think so,
yes, young Peter has been in your thoughts overmuch over these last
months :

Then it was
Tara’s turn to be welcomed and congratulated by her stepfamily
(Peter let her go with a great deal of reluctance).

The feast that
evening fulfilled even Kolyei’s expectations though neither Peter
nor Tara could manage more than a few bites. They slipped away
early on in the proceedings and enjoyed themselves in the manner
expected when two young people so much in love find themselves
alone together as adults for the first time.

Radya and
Kolyei did likewise.

Tara awoke the
next morning to find herself in Peter’s daga. Still half asleep she
gazed around in a bemused fashion, noticing that her personal
possessions had been placed on the shelves in the tidy manner only
her adopted mother could accomplish.

“I knew you
would say yes,” said Peter, nibbling her ear.

“I too,” she
confessed, “even during the early days when we were children
together at domta Zanatei.”

“Kolyei and
Radya were patient,” he said, “they did not want to rush you.”

“You don’t
think?” queried Tara, doubt seeping into her voice.

“No,” was his
categorical reply, “they never once tried to influence us, of that
I am sure.”

He nibbled her
ear again. Tara giggled. It felt good.

“It’s you I
love. It always has been. I would have felt the same about you even
if we had never landed on Rybak.”