Laura Jo Phillips (10 page)

“She is Arima to our Princes,” Faron replied. 

“A
rima
?” she asked, pronouncing the unfamiliar word carefully.

Faron studied her for a moment.  He had not planned to tell her all of this just yet, but they still had a long drive ahead of them, and she was curious.  Eventually she would have to be told everything anyway.  And besides, this was a far better subject than her abduction.

“I will answer your question, but before I do, it would be best if I know where to start.  How much did Lariah tell you about her life here?”

“Not much,” Saige replied.  “She said she was happy, and that there was a lot to tell me but that she couldn't say more until I got here.  That's about it.”

Faron smiled.  Lariah was more careful of their secrets than they were. 

“How much do you know of Jasan?”

Saige thought about it a moment.  “I know that you have few females, and advertise heavily for women to come here as Contract Brides.  I know that three brothers always marry one woman.  I know that Jasan accepted more Earth animal embryos under the Earth Species Preservation Act than any other planet in the Thousand Worlds.  That's about it I suppose.”

Faron was nervous, which was not an emotion he was familiar with.  So much depended on this woman and how she reacted to the things she learned about them.

Saige was watching him carefully and after a few moments, she cocked her head to the side.  “You are nervous about telling me something?”

“Yes, I am,” he admitted.  “More depends on your reaction to what I tell you than you can know.”

“I cannot promise to react one way or another,” Saige said.  “But, if it helps, I am generally open-minded and I try to never be too judgmental.”  Saige paused as though considering something.  “If you would like time to think about what you wish to say, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” Faron replied.

“First, I should apologize beforehand if I am too forward.  People often take offense at that.  The truth is, I’m just not good at subtlety and every time I try it, I end up making a mess of things.  If I want to know something, its best if I just come out with it.  Straightforward and honest works for me.” 

“We prefer that ourselves, so there is no need to apologize for it,” Faron said.  “What is your question?”

 “Before I get to the question, I need to tell you a couple of things,” Saige said.  “First of all, I seem to know things about you guys that I should have no way of knowing.  Not facts about your lives, like how old you are or your favorite color.  But about what kind of men you are.  Protective.  Honest.  Honorable.  I’ve never experienced anything like this before so maybe I’m wrong.  But I don’t think so.

“Also, I can sense you.  All three of you.  It’s like I can
feel
you, as though we are connected somehow.  It's the strangest thing.  If I closed my eyes and the three of you moved around, I swear I'd be able to point to each of you and call you by name without looking.”  Saige blushed as she considered what she was about to say.  But she was going to say it anyway because she didn’t understand it, and she didn’t like things that she didn’t understand.  “I also feel a strong physical attraction to all of you.”  Saige hesitated in spite of her resolve and dropped her eyes to her lap.  “Here’s the really strange part.  I’ve had dreams since I was a kid of three men that I have always called my dream guardians.”  Saige looked up again and met Faron's eyes directly, though her face was still red with embarrassment.  “From the moment I saw the three of you, I
knew
you were the men in my dreams, even though I’ve never seen their faces.  I keep telling myself it isn’t possible, but what my head is telling me and what my heart is telling me are two different things.  My question is, can you tell me why I'm having these strange feelings and sensations, or why I dreamed of you for half of my life?”

Faron was shocked by just how straightforward Saige actually was.  He glanced at Dav, then looked towards Ban and met his eyes in the rear view mirror.  A woman who did not play guessing games?  Who did not hint and hedge and hope you would guess what she meant?  A woman who was as honest and up-front as they were?  This was almost too good to be true.

“Your candor is much appreciated Saige,” he assured her when he noticed she was beginning to look uncertain at their silent looks.  “We have very little experience with women, and often have great difficulty understanding them.  You are…refreshing to us.”

Saige smiled with relief and pleasure.  She had received more compliments in the few hours she had been on Jasan than she had since before her father had died. 

“The answer to your questions actually brings us full circle,” Faron told her.  “You are experiencing those feelings and sensations, as we are, because you are our Arima.  I am not sure about the dreams, but I think they are a part of it as well.”

“What is an
arima
?” Saige asked.

“I will explain,” Faron said.  “Do you want the full version, or a shortened one?”

“More is usually better,” Saige replied.  “Give me what you got.”

“Very well,” Faron said with a smile.  “Just over three thousand years ago an event occurred which destroyed the home planet of our people.  We did not have technology as we do today, but we did have what you would call magic.  Much of what is possible today with machines, we did with our ability to control the elements earth, air, fire and water.

“Magic?” Saige interrupted.  “Are you saying that your ancestors used magic?”

“Yes, they did, as do all Jasani males now,” Faron replied.

“You guys can do magic?” she asked in surprise.

“We do not have the strong magic that our ancestors once had, but yes, we are all born with the ability to control the elements to some degree,” Faron said.

“Wow, can you show me something?” Saige asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

Faron smiled and held out one hand, palm up.  A moment later a flame flickered brightly above his skin. 

“Doesn’t that burn you?” she asked.

“No, as it is magical fire that I conjured myself, it does not burn me,” Faron assured her.  “We can be burned by natural fire as easily as anyone else.  If it is small enough, we can control it, or put it out, or even start a fire if we wish.  If it is a very large fire, there is not much we can do against it with our current level of magic.”

“What else can you do?” Saige asked.

“We are strongest in Fire and Earth,” Faron said.  “We have some small ability in Water, enough to tell the severity of one’s illness or injury, but not enough to heal even small hurts.  Nor do we have much strength in Air.  Enough to create a small shield if necessary, but no more than that.”

“Well, if you will promise to show me more later, I will let you get on with your story,” Saige said with a grin.

“We will show you more later,” Faron agreed.  He had to force himself to look away from Saige’s bright eyes and smile to remember where he was in his story.

“When it was known that Ugaztun, our native planet, was going to be destroyed, there was just enough time to create some escape pods.  These pods were sent out in hopes that a few would find hospitable worlds to land on, so that our race would not perish from the universe.

“Several pods landed here, on this planet that the survivors named Jasan.  However, all of the survivors were male.  There were no Jasani females.  Some of the older males had strong magic still, and they were able to travel to a distant world, Earth, and convince some human women to make the journey here.  But there were not very many of them, and it was soon discovered that they could bear only male children.  Eventually, the journey could no longer be made.  It was about a thousand years before we were once again able to travel the stars.  Since then we have searched endlessly, but have never found any sign of others of our race, male or female.”

“A thousand years?  With only males and a few human women?” Saige asked, her brows raised.

“We are not human Saige,” Faron said, “nor do we age as humans do.”

“Oh, okay,” Saige replied easily.  “Please go on.”

Faron smiled, enjoying Saige’s accepting manner.  As she had told them, she did appear to have an open mind. 

“As I said, we could have only male children with human women.  Also, no matter how many generations removed we become from our original Jasani ancestors, our DNA never changes.  Though we have human mothers, we do not have human DNA.  So the problem of only male children with human women persists.”

“That's why you are always in need of women,” Saige said. 

“Yes, it is an unending need for us, and without Jasani females to give us female children, we have been unable to change that.  However, on the day the first pods landed on Jasan three thousand years ago, a prophecy was spoken which promised an Arima to the Jasani Princes.  That Arima was Lariah.”

“There is that word again,
arima
.  What does it mean exactly?”

“The literal translation for
arima
is
soul,
” Faron replied.  “An Arima is a Jasani female who has the ability to link together her soul with those of her three men, or as we say, her male-set.  Once they are soul-linked, the males’ souls are complete in a way they can never be without their Arima.”

“Complete how?” Saige asked.

“Jasani babies are always born in sets of three.  Triplets.  Either males or females, but never both at the same time.  Each set of male Jasani triplets, what we call a male-set, share one soul divided between them.  The three parts of their soul can never be whole until their intended mate, their Arima, the one woman in all the universe meant specifically for them, links them all together.  Once the four of them are soul-linked, it becomes possible for the Arima to bear female children.  It also increases the natural magical ability of the male-set by a thousand-fold.”

“But Lariah is human, not Jasani,” Saige pointed out.  “Even if I’m wrong about Lariah, I know for a fact that I am all too human.”

 “In Lariah’s case, we now know for truth that she is a direct descendant of the eldest member of our race, Eldar Hamat,” Faron explained.  “We know that at least one escape pod landed on Earth three thousand years ago, and that the pod carried the Eldar’s Arima and young daughters.  Riata, an Alverian Healer, was able to discern a clear familial connection between Lariah and Eldar Hamat in their genetic code.”

“I see,” Saige said.  “So you think that I am also a descendent of this Eldar?”

“Not necessarily,” Faron replied.  “We estimate that there were as many as 500 women and children on that escape pod.  It is possible that you are a descendant of any one of them.  Or perhaps you have a genetic fluke.  Or, it is also possible that you do not have a genetic anomaly as Lariah had, and there is some other reason why the fates have chosen you to be our Arima.”

“Are you certain that you have not made a mistake?” Saige asked.  She could easily understand and believe that Lariah Daniels was the answer to an age-old prophecy.  Lariah was beautiful and kind and special.  But she herself was none of those things.  She was just an ordinary person.  Not special at all.

“No, we have not made a mistake Saige,” Faron said.  “Certain physiological responses occur when a male scents his Arima.  Responses that do not naturally occur for any other reason.”

“Did you say when a male
scents
his Arima?” Saige asked suspiciously.

Now they were to the part that usually sent human women racing for the spaceport and the quickest off-planet shuttle they could find.  Faron glanced at Dav, and again met Ban’s gaze in the rearview mirror.  They looked as worried as he felt, but there was no help for it.  They could not lie to her, no matter how worried they were about her reaction.

“Yes, Saige, I did say
scent
.  Again, we are not human.  We are shifters, as all Clan Jasani are,” he said, trying to sound causal when his entire being was tensed for her reaction.

“Shifters?” Saige repeated.  “What does that mean?  Do you guys turn into something different during the full moon?”

Faron allowed himself a tiny bit of hope.  Asking questions was better than screaming.

“Not during a full moon necessarily,” Dav replied.

“We shift into an animal we call loboenca,” Faron said.  “It is much like an Earth canine called
wolf
.  Lariah has told us that our markings are much like an Earth animal called
zebra
, though we are not familiar with that animal.”

Saige felt a small thrill run through her as she tried to imagine what it would be like to change her physical form whenever she wanted to.  She thought it would be wonderful and exciting.  “That’s the coolest thing I have ever heard,” she said with a grin. 

Dav and Faron looked at her in concern.  “You are cold?” Ban asked, from the front seat.

Saige laughed softly.  “No, I am not cold.  It is an old Earth slang word that I picked up watching ancient entertainment vids.”

They stared at her for another moment, then shrugged at the same time.  “So long as you are comfortable,” Dav said.

“It means I like it,” Saige explained.  “I think it’s exciting and different.  I like different.”

Something deep inside of Faron relaxed.