The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Chapter 22

Part 4

“I know Grandfather.” Helemia told him. “I feel bad about Vanakit Lamitkeze. I hurt him before I knew

what I was doing, and now he hates me a lot. He hates what I did to him, and he hates that the others

had to come and get him, and he hates that he was helpless for a week while he healed up. And I’m

aware of him all the time, and he can feel that, and he hates that most of all. He thinks about killing me

all the time, but he doesn’t even know what I look like, or which one of us I am. He sure doesn’t think

I’m a baby. So he kind of hates all of us here in the settlement, because he doesn’t know which one of

us is me. He’s too far away for me to know where he is or what he’s thinking exactly, but I can sure feel

all of that, all the time.”

That brought an awkward silence for a moment, during which Mark met Talia’s eyes and found them

narrowed with the same expression of determined protectiveness that his own face wore. They

exchanged a few private thoughts.

From somewhere outside the house they all heard Stripe’s roar and Scout’s shrill cry, and Mark opened

the front door with Movement. “It’s time for you kids to meet Stripe and Scout.” he announced as he

Moved the table out of the way to make room.

Scout swooped down from a treetop, gave two powerful wing beats in the front yard to level out, one

more to achieve a fast, shallow arc, and folded his wings completely as he darted through the door. He

immediately spread his wings to their full span of more than three and a half meters and back-winged

hard for three beats with enough strength to blow the napkins off the tables and ruffle everyone’s hair,

brought himself to a stop in mid-air, and settled straight down a meter to land on Mark’s outstretched

wrist. He waved his wings once to finalize his balance before he gripped Mark’s wrist, fussily folded his

wings, and cocked his head to the side as his crest rose.

Though everyone there knew the great Serminaki King Eagle, his entrance was still a startling and

intimidating display of expert flying that had everyone ducking, and Mandri squealed a bit in excited

startlement. Now he stood proudly, as if giving them a moment to admire his sleek black feathers and

the shimmering silver on his crest and the edges of his wings and tail.

Stripe bounded in the door a moment later, and lay his huge tiger-like head on Talia’s lap. The thirty-

centimeter long white whiskers on his muzzle and eyebrows tickled Helemia, who giggled in adorable

delight. The horizontal stripes of his fur were vibrant and bright, ranging in color from dark red on the

top of his head, neck, and back, down to light yellow on his belly and legs. Every gram of the gigantic

six hundred and thirty-five kilogram Kletiukan Sleng Cat was a picture of feline health and vitality.

“Hello boys.” Mark said to their beloved pets as he and Talia gave them scratches and rubs with their

free hands. “I know we haven’t had much time for you lately, but now that our children are born, you

have two new friends to play with. Once they’re old enough that is. For now, you know your new duties,

don’t you? Sure you do, you’re both such good boys!”

Both animals looked to the twins, and considered them carefully.

“You’ve set them to guarding us?” Reggie asked.

“All it takes is for them to know you’re our children.” Talia explained. “Once they learned that, your

safety became their highest priority. Gerticol’s training assures it, and all we had to do was introduce

you.”

“We did tell them to watch out for invisible Sylvan anywhere near here.” Mark added. “With Stripe’s

psionic sensitivity and their other incredibly acute senses, I doubt even the Sylvan God of Stealth can

hide his people from these two.”

They supported their babies while the twins awkwardly hugged each of the animals, then Stripe

bounded back out the door with a low, rumbling growl. Scout stepped onto the palm of Mark’s hand,

Mark drew his arm back, and threw the big bird toward the door with a motion like throwing a spear.

Scout co-coordinated with this perfectly, leaning forward and leaping from Mark’s hand during the most

powerful part of the throw. Once clear of the door he spread and beat his wings, and was gone with a

shrill scream of farewell.

“Well that was impressive.” Sana said to herself, to general agreement.

There was a pause in the conversation while Mark shut the door, then Reggie told them; “The unicorns

are coming. Can we go outside? Silaran says he’ll take us for a ride.”

“All right, but we’ll all need warmer clothes first.” Talia said as she rose with Helemia.

“Let me help.” Alilia said with a smile as she plucked Reggie from Mark’s arms and followed Talia into

the nursery.

After their first trip out in the brisk winter air the twins fell asleep, and their visitors took their leave. Mark

went to retrieve his canoe, then spent a few minutes casting Wards around the small valley behind their

house. Their gardens and animal pens were there, the children would probably play there often as they

grew, and he wanted it protected as well as the rest of the settlement was.

The babies woke for feeding and changing about every four hours, then went right back to sleep, until

morning the next day.

Mark was the last to wake in the morning. Sensing activity on the bed, he slowly cracked his eyes

open, and smiled as he understood what he was seeing. The girls’ interactions with the babies were

calm and loving, and obviously enjoyed by all, but it soon became apparent that it was also serious

training.

Talia was massaging Reggie’s right hand, while Reggie watched closely and flexed his fingers. Mark Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

realized that Talia was helping Reggie learn to localize sensation and control in his hands and fingers.

Alilia held the palm of her hand against the sole of Helemia’s right foot as she helped the girl slowly flex

and extend her leg while pushing back at Alilia’s hand.

The girls and the babies gave him smiles and nods of greeting, but none interrupted their concentration

on what they were doing.

The babies’ motions were still somewhat erratic, particularly at the beginning of motions, but he

watched silently over the next forty or so minutes, and even in that short time the twins’ muscle control

noticeably improved.

“That’s enough of that for now.” Talia announced with a smile as she set Reggie down and exchanged

good-morning hugs and kisses with Mark.

“It is. My body is tired.” Helemia admitted.

“I hope your minds aren’t.” Talia teased as she climbed off the bed, and began choosing their clothes

for the day. “We’ll start your education after breakfast.”

“Our education? Why do we need education?” Reggie inquired. “We already know all that you know.”

“No, you don’t.” Talia responded. “You only have access to what we know. To you, our memories are

like a big library full of books, and you can instantly read any of the books any time you want. But you

don’t have a catalogue to tell you where all the books are and what’s in them. And until you read the

books, or in this case, until you’re prompted to consciously think about specific knowledge, our

knowledge isn’t part of your knowledge; it doesn’t form part of what you think about and use as your

basis for judging the world. So we’ll go through the standard education program, including arithmetic,

history, geography, current events, and the rules of reality. The process should proceed very quickly,

which is good, because we’ll need to constantly review all that you learn until you’re capable of forming

your own permanent memories.

“After lunch we’ll work on psionic techniques, beginning with Shielding, so you can protect yourselves

from being overwhelmed in crowds like you were yesterday morning.”

“Thanks Mother.” Helemia giggled as Mark put her socks on.