Part 13 (2/2)
If that was an additional apology for the humiliation Beliakin had suffered at the whimsy of Earth Prime's granddaughter, Vagrian accepted it in a gracious manner. He might come out of that initial disaster well ahead in FT&T. He would certainly bend every effort to do so.
”You're just getting us out of the way before Beliakin gets here,” Morag said fiercely, although she wanted to get to Clarf as fast as her parents seemingly wished her there.
”How old are you?” her mother asked, with a slight strain showing in her patience.
”Well, he's supposed to be absolutely gorgeous . . .” Morag said wistfully.
Afra laughed. ”A good seven years your senior, love, and far too practiced a-” ^ ”Lover,” Damia said bluntly, ”for my young and relatively inexperienced daughter.” She c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Morag, making it plain that she was aware of Morag's experiments with young miners in the capital city.
Morag made nervous adjustments of her personal belongings under the couch of the carrier rather than meet her mother's shrewd and knowing eyes.
”You've been well instructed on how to handle .. . such matters,” Damia went on. ”Do not fail to protect both yourself and the object of your affections.”
I.
”No, Mother,” Morag said solemnly, for she vividly recalled the pain in Damia's eyes when, in the course of handling her daughters' s.e.x education, she had confessed the terrible damage she had inadvertently done her first young lover.
”No, Mother,” Kaltia agreed as quietly.
”There is quite a large Human Compound on Clarf now, so I suspect that there will be opportunities for a social life while you're there.” Damia hugged first Morag and then Kaltia, keeping an exceedingly tight hold on how much she would miss them, despite their sibling bickering. There had been a certain justice in Petra's remark that she and Ewain would have more of their parents' time now. Both she and Afra intended to spend more time with the two youngest of their brood. Indeed, Damia was not too old . . .
You may not be, lover, but I most certainly am, Afra inserted into her mind, with such intensity that she had to keep from laughing at his vehemence.
Then it was Afra's turn to bid his daughters farewell and he held each for a long moment in his arms before he released them to enter the personnel carrier. Their 'Dims were chattering excitedly about actually getting to Clarf, the Mrdini homeworld.
Xexo and Keylarion smiled and grinned as the cover locked into place. There was no need for the practiced Talents of Iota Aurigae to return to their Tower couches to speed the light carrier on its way. But all could hear the generators change tone as first Damia alerted Laria at Clarf Tower that her sisters were on their way, and then father and mother sent the carrier on its almost instantaneous long-distance journey. Xexo muttered something about an odd squeal from Generator B and Keylarion said she'd best check that the big daddies would be ready to s.h.i.+p once they had this strong kinetic Talent in the Tower.
”Have we time for lunch before they send Beliakin on?” Afra asked.
”Gollee said he wouldn't arrive until the girls were away,” Damia said. ”Twenty-two hundred hours Earth time.”
”Midafternoon here, then. We've time for lunch and a swim.”
”We've enough from the last hunt?”
n
11.
Afra sighed with amus.e.m.e.nt. ”I'm not sure there'll be any left for this Beliakin. Gollee says he likes to hunt.”
”Well, we certainly won't stand in the way of that, now will we?” She started back to the house.
”How long did he and Clarissia talk?” Jeff Raven asked Gren.
”Not long, but perhaps long enough.”
”What was his reaction to his posting?”
Gollee chuckled, crossing his legs at the ankles and relaxing. ”He was startled because he certainly didn't expect to be at a major Tower, especially at the one managed by the father and mother of the woman who humiliated him so. From the first I've maintained that Laria's rejection is known only to you, me and Clarf Tower, which has not even mentioned it. If he thinks we've told Damia and Afra, and they're in some way expiating their daughter's rejection, all to the good . . . unless of course Damia reads it in him.”
”She's got the capability,” Jeff said, ”but she's got to have a strong kinetic, and both Afra and Damia know the pressures Laria's under. Considering how Beliakin comes on to women, my hindsight is now clear enough to realize that his brand of charisma would put Laria's hackles up.”
”True,” Gollee said, grinning. ”He certainly cut a swath through the feminine complement of Blundell Tower. Tarmina allowed as how-” Gollee grinned-”he's most unusual.”
Jeff chuckled. ”She'd know.”
”She's offered to take on any others like him anytime you choose.”
”She would.” Jeff caught Gollee's tilted eyebrow. ”None of that, Gren. I know she tried to get you in bed too. If I wasn't well married to Rowan, I should have been sorely tempted.”
”At least Tarmina takes refusal in good part,” Gollee said, clearing his throat. ”If we could be sure Beliakin might forgive and forget, I'd rest easier.”
”I count on Damia's expertise as well as her immunity to the sort of charisma Beliakin dispenses. You handled this well, Gollee, and I appreciate it. However, did you perceive how susceptible he might be to what Clarissia's group is peddling?”
Gren snorted. ”Depending on his success at Iota Aurigae, plus the fact that Clarissia was exactly the wrong female personality to make contact with him, I doubt he'd jeopardize what could be a very useful career with FT&T She's her own worst enemy, that one, even if she thought she could capitalize on Beliakin's abrupt dismissal from Clarf. Though how she knew of that needs to be discovered.”
”d.a.m.n.” Jeff swung his gimbaled chair from side to side in an agitated manner, running his hand through his thick dark hair. ”It's so much more to our advantage to catch Talents young enough so that the basic conditioning is completed. A wild card like Beliakin could prove very dangerous, especially in today's volatile political and economic situations.”
”Well, he's in the best place for some fine tuning, Jeff. And if he does well there, there's any number of postings where he'd be invaluable. I think that's the ploy to use . . . support that ego of his, nurturing it until what the dissidents offer wouldn't tempt him.”
”It's that ego of his I worry about.” Jeff slapped one fist on the desktop. ”Stupid of me to a.s.sume the man would have sense enough to be tactful. At least until he'd settled into Clarf Tower. He was so deferential to Rowan.”
”Who isn't?” Gollee said with a laugh. ”And if he managed to fool her . . .” Gren let his sentence trail off. ”Your children tend to find their own mates, Jeff. And so far, they've done exceedingly well. Give your grandkids the same leeway.”
Jeff made a face. ”My dynastic leanings arc obvious, aren't they?”
”The Gwyn-Raven line is not the only one to produce T-l's.” Gren paused. ”Just the most reliable.”
All four of the senior Tower staff at Iota Aurigae were in the yard when Vagrian Beliakin's personnel carrier was gently cradled. His ear caught I.
the contented purr of generators that had had little to do with his transport. The lid was cracked and crisp cool air with a mountainy tang to it flooded in.
That was enough right there to please him after the blast of hot air that had greeted him on Clarf.
”Welcome to Iota Aurigae, Vagrian Beliakin,” said one of the most stunning women Beliakin had ever seen. And not just beautiful in a cla.s.sic way, but so vital that she seemed to have an almost visible aura around her. To his surprise, she extended her hand and he found himself responding, while all his initial impressions were reinforced by rich*green*spice in that deft, but far too short, contact. ”I'm Damia Lyon. This is my husband, Afra.”
The lean man, much, much older than Damia, smiled in warm greeting as he extended his hand. Vagrian was still so shaken by touching the Prime that he almost missed the strength of Afra s equally electric contact.
What a pair, Beliakin thought, as deeply as he could keep such a startled a.s.sessment. The mother was so dramatically different from Laria that he couldn't believe they were related, save for the distinctive white lock all Gwyn-Raven-Lyon offspring seemed to have. Until he took a second, longer look at Afra. Then he saw where Laria had inherited her looks.
”Let me introduce you to Keylarion, our station expediter.” Though the woman-probably the same age as Damia-touched hands with him, he got very little more than deep blue and pine.
”Xexo here is our engineer.” Damia now presented the gnarled older man who stepped forward.
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