Part 12 (2/2)
”Haven't you solved enough Gwyn-Raven problems, Afra?”
His answer was to throw his arm about her shoulders and drag her close against his lean body. Being so much shorter than he, she fit in under his arm quite easily.
”I admit to things being a little dull lately . . .”
”Oh, you . . . you . . . methody Capellan,” she said in exasperation, making a brief attempt to slip from under his arm, but he was far stronger than she and she couldn't escape. Not that she really wanted to. ”We're enjoying such a nice respite, with even Petra able to manage without constant supervision . . . and isn't training our own Aurigaeans enough of a challenge? If we needed yet another one?”
”Then you don't object to Morag and Kaltia getting some experience atClarf?”
”Not at all. Summers on Deneb are well enough, and Isthia is superb with them, but they haven't really left home, as it were, for something completely alien.”
”Clarfs that, even if they've been raised with 'Dinis,” Afra admitted in a droll tone. He frowned briefly. ”Will Kaltia's very fair skin be at risk?”
”Sunblock helps and she already knows she has to be careful after that awful case of sunburn she had on Deneb. And that primary's not at all as harsh as Clarfs . . .” Damia's voice trailed off, and she frowned slightly. ”Well, she's old enough to know to keep out of the sun.”
”That's right, my dear, and she could always make parasols fas.h.i.+onable on Clarf.”
”They are. But to get back to this Beliakin T-2 . ..”
”Let's worry about him when he gets here. Didn't Jeff say that Gollee's giving him some extra training?”
Tkt 1 ”Gollee doesn't train, dear, he tests.”
”Hmmm. For what?” That casually dropped remark from her father was what really alerted her to a possible contretemps. ”If the fellow's already been pa.s.sed through the a.s.sessment process, why is Gollee handling him and not one of the regular trainers?” Damia asked, lengthening her stride to match her husband's long-legged pace.
”We'll know soon enough . . .” They both heard the staccato rhythm of hoofbeats on the path winding up the hill behind their home. ”There they go . ..” They caught sight of their four younger children, galloping out to hunt. ”Oh well, dinner's soon enough to give them the good news.”
Afra tightened his grasp on her, pulling her closer yet, looking down at her.
”It'll be good to have the house all to ourselves for a while,” he said.
Damia caught the gleam in his eye and put her arm about his lean waist. ”Yes, it will. How convenient that Tri and Fok are hibernating. We really will be alone again.” She sighed in grat.i.tude.
”Except for the tribes of Darbuls, slithers and c.o.o.nies that infest our house,” Afra teased her.
”This time of day they'll all be asleep. Let's hurry.”
Laughing, they 'ported into their s.p.a.cious room at the top of the house.
They were grateful for that respite by dinnertime when they informed their ecstatic daughters Morag and Kaltia that they were to go to Clarf and a.s.sist their sister's Tower team with the vast loads still being poured onto the planet Talavera.
”So we'regoing to do something more than push big daddies,” Kaltia said, her unusual yellow eyes, legacy of her Capellan father, glistening like miniature suns.
”Huh. We'll be pus.h.i.+ng just as much around, and Laria'll be bossing us,” Morag replied sourly.
”Laria has never been bossy,” her mother said firmly. ”And if you need bossing, you'll take it, young miss, if it comes from a Tower Prime.”
”I'm going to be a Tower Prime when I'm old enough,” Kaltia informed them with the complacency of her youth.
”That remains to be seen,” Afra said, for he was methody enough not to condone bragging. Kaltia gulped, subsided and concentrated on eating.
”Kincaid never bosses,” Morag said, affecting a pose, ”even when he's hunt leader.” She got on well with her sister's T-2. She'd been impressed with how well he rode and what a good shot he was. She considered him a very comfortable person to be with. ”Is Vanteer still engineer?” Her sly attempt to wheedle information from her mother was duly noted.
”Yes, and we'll have no gossip, Morag,” Damia said firmly. ”Lionasha's Tower expediter.”
”Have they 'Dinis?”
THEY DO, THEY DO, chorused Kev, Su, Sim and Dar at once. WE'LL GO TO CLARF. The four of them started to do cartwheels and other acrobatic antics around the dining table.
WE'LL HIBERNATE IN CLARF ITSELF, said Dar, springing up and down with more height than one would expect from a 'Dini.
WE'LL SEE TIP AND HUF, AND NIL AND PLUS.
”You'll have to help in the yard,” Morag said sternly. ”No running off to your color houses whenever you want to.”
NO, NO, WORK IS FIRST. ALWAYS, Dar a.s.sured her, and then began to twirl Sim round and round until Morag was dizzy watching them.
”So, who's this T-2 you'll have to do our work?” Kaltia asked in a proprietary tone.
”Yoshuk's younger brother,” Damia said.
”Isn't Yoshuk the T-2 with Nesrun at Sef Tower?” Kaltia asked. ”Thought so,” she added when Damia nodded. She was silent a moment. ”There won't be ponies, will there?”
Tlii Toner nl (he Hiie 111 ”No, not on Clarf, silly. No room. 'Dinis there use flying belts,” said Morag.
”And you will not,” Afra said, pointing an admonitory finger at Morag, who was more athletically inclined, and reckless, than Kaltia. ”You already drive a ground car and they've the same models there. Or you can ”port.”
”That's not bad manners on Clarf?” asked Kaltia, surprised. On Deneb it was, but then, on Deneb they had had ponies.
”You will first inform anyone in the immediate vicinity what you in- ', tend to do,” Damia said firmly. ”Otherwise it's just as ill-mannered as it would be here or on Deneb.” When Kaltia made a long-suffering grimace, her mother added, ”Not that I want you out in the Clarf sun any longer than is absolutely necessary.”
”I know, I know. I must use enough sunblock. Why”-her tone turned petulant-”did I have to get the fair skin and freckles in the family? No one else has them.”
”Grandmother says you're a throwback,” Ewain said, as helpful as teenage brothers generally are.
”And you're a ...”
”That's enough,” Afra said firmly, and the three subsided and resumed eating.
”I think it's great,” Petra said suddenly. ”There'll just be you and me, E, and no one to tell us which pony we can't ride.”
”Yeah, but we'll have to do all the hunting.”
Petra grinned. ”But we won't have to hunt so much with just four of us here . . .”
”Possibly five,” Afra said, ”unless Vagrian Beliakin chooses to live down in the city instead of here.”
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