"Should you be up?" she asked.

  "No." He caught a look from one of the others. "But there is work."

  "No." She pushed his shoulders down towards the bed. "If you need rest, you rest. Let the others work."

  "But you—"

  "Can take care of myself." She hoped and forced a smile to hide the grimace that sought to escape at the thought of Karik.

  He fought only briefly, amid a face contorted in pain, and laid down with her insistence to rest on the narrow bed. Only then did he relax and breathe deeply.

  Krissa stood near his chest and held his hand. "I will watch."

  "You cannot defend yourself."

  No. That's not what she had meant, but she understood too well what he meant. The Lereni were far bigger and stronger; she couldn't even fight off two college guys determined to keep her from ratting on their prank, much less Karik. And Torik had saved her from them too.

  But there was some small hope: "Karik is hurt."

  A small smile lifted lips from sharp teeth. "Yes. But I'm worse. He will recover soon."

  She didn't want to think about what he left out about Karik coming after her again. Her fingers fidgeted around his until his fingers tightened on hers, drawing her from her worries. At the least, she could keep him still while his body mended.

  She tried to smile but could only grimace. "Thanks…for protecting me."

  He let out a breath and closed his eyes, his fingers still secure around hers. "I believe you are sincere that you wish to help us."

  "I am…but I am afraid."

  "You are brave, worthy of the Karsh'nok."

  "What?"

  "They were an ancient order, disbanded by the Tah'Na."

  A compliment and a regret.

  "Thank you." She patted his hand, understanding the level of compliment he had given, even if not fully knowing the reference. "When they—the Tah'Na—are gone someday, perhaps these Karsh'nok will be reinstated."

  He let out another sigh.

  Regrets pulled her hand from his, but only so she could comfort herself by stroking his fur. He wasn't the old cat that came around the neighborhood where she'd grown up, but the soft fuzz soothed her. From the hint of a smile and the easier breathing from Torik, he didn't object.

  Her anxieties decreased in the minutes of stroking his fur like a pet. Her thoughts drifted away to incoherency, leaving only a peaceful haze of existence in the moment.

  "Would you do anything?"

  She blinked from the trance, startled by the voice from the doorway, and recognized Korr by the most distinguishing mark she had noted to identify him—his markings and the faint scar in what passed as a brow ridge on the Lereni. His question sank in a second later.

  "Yes," she said. "I…want to help."

  He stepped forward, and Torik shifted on the bed. Krissa pressed her hand down on his chest. She could deal with this, and Korr didn't seem to be coming to attack. Rather, he wore a curious expression that she couldn't identify. His eyes shifted from her to Torik and back and he stopped a stride away.

  "You care about us?" His eyes dropped to Torik, the implications clear.

  "Compassion is the strongest demonstration of civility of any species for another or one of their own," she said in English. Now to say it in their language...

  It wouldn't be the same, but she tried: "He…was good to me. I am not…mean. I like kindness. I share kindness. He protected me, and I owe him to protect. Torik deserves respect." Close enough. And it seemed to satisfy him, if she interpreted his lighter expression as a hint of approval. Either she was learning to read their expressions, or their expressions were more human than she expected.

  "You understand what the Tah'Na are?"

  She paused to consider what he meant. "They…conquered Leisil, made Lereni slaves."

  He shrugged indifferently and turned to Torik. "You told her?"

  "Only about Leisil, the conquest, and what they have done."

  "Yeah…" she interrupted. Both looked up at her. "About that…Why did they attack you?"

  They met each other's gazes and Torik said, "We were not the aggressors." He could have been reading her mind.

  Could she believe that? He had told her about clan wars for resources. How did she know that hadn't extended beyond their planet? Maybe the Lereni weren't as innocent as her sympathies had led her to believe.

  "Trust me, Krissa. We are not the first that they attacked. They seek only to amuse themselves of us and others…but they fear Onduun power. They cannot conquer Seres."

  "Many fear Seres," Korr said, his eyes planted on her so that she had to shift as if to shirk him off like a hot coat in summer.

  "Why? Who are the Onduun and Seres? Will they help?"

  Torik paused, his jaw shifting, like his fingers on her hand. Finally, he said, "You are a Seres of the Onduun."

  "What?" His words smacked with unreality. "I'm…What?" Her brain scrambled upon trying to make sense of what they were telling her.

  "Seres are…special, gifted individuals of the Onduun."

  A shudder passed through her. "I'm not…special." Unless that meant derided by everyone she'd ever met outside of her family. She couldn't be what they described. "It doesn't make sense. Why would the Tah'Na want me if I'm Seres—Onduun—and they are afraid of that?"

  Torik had a way about him that put her at ease, as he did now. His face softened into that trusting expression but with a hint of admiration that piqued her curiosity and chased out her discomfiture.

  "Seres possess certain qualities," Korr said. "Abilities to influence others. That is what Karik fears—that you will use this to hurt us, to deny us our freedom."

  "No. I would not." How could she?

  "I know," Torik said gently. "I tried to tell him. That's why he went after you. He thought you had influenced me…I told him you weren't raised Onduun, that you couldn't be influencing me. He said it doesn't matter. He's only focused on…" He paused and looked to Korr, who tipped his head in a nod. "On trading you to the Tah'Na for our world."

  "One life for millions," Korr said in solemnity from the foot of the bed.

  A trade. Now she understood his reticence in telling her, but it changed nothing. Rather, it gave her a new purpose. She had the power to repay Torik for his kindness.

  "I would give it. In two days, you," she said to Torik, "are more my friend than anyone on Earth."

  The two Lereni exchanged glances, Korr with a surprised look.

  "That is what friends do. I have no life, had no life," she added quietly. "It will mean life for the Lereni for a true friend."

  The sandwiching of her hand between Torik's threatened to squeeze tears from her eyes.

  "I'm sorry." The distrust and ferocity melted from Korr's body and voice into something more like Torik's. "You were right about this one."

  "You see now?"

  "Yes, but we must reach Rahmir and make the trade."

  "If the Tah'Na are honorable in their agreement." The words spat with distaste from Torik's mouth.

  Korr gave a loud huff of indignation, his ears lowering and his lip curling back from the sharp teeth. "The Tah'Na have no honor."

  "That is why we need Mediators."

  "But I fear the Tah'Na will find a way to deceive them. It weighs on Karik's mind."

  Torik let out a sigh and said, "All will be for nought. The Tah'Na will use their advantage."

  Krissa stared in disbelief. The Tah'Na were no better than playground bullies. "That is…wrong." On so many levels.

  "Without honor," Korr said.

  "How can we get Mediators?" She looked from one to the other for an answer.

  "That is the problem—the Mediators may not allow the trade of the life of a Seres, not even for our world." Korr's voice quieted at the end.

  "But Leisil should be free. It is a basic right of all life. And isn't it my life? My choice? I will choose for myself and I want you to live. How do I control the abilities of the Seres? How can I use that against the Tah'Na?"

  The smirk on Torik's face hinted of righteousness.

  "Karik would never accept this," Korr said.

  `

  Chapter 9

  Torik recovered more quickly than Krissa expected, and within that time, Theen joined them. Apparently, her sincere sympathy for Torik had convinced Korr and Theen that she could be trusted, but Theen expressed his objections about teaching her about the Onduun Seres and threatened to report to Karik, despite the proof that she wanted to do what she could to help them earn their world's freedom.

  On the second day after the altercation, she sat with the three around the table in the lounge when Karik stormed past. All fell silent in the tension that thickened the air in his wake, until he disappeared into one of the back rooms.

  "How long can he hide in the command center?"

  "It is designed as a lifepod, but he will not waste its resources," Theen answered.

  They fell quiet again, waiting several minutes until Karik marched back to the command center to isolate himself once more.

  "Can this table access the ship too?" They had used it to teach her about their world and the Tah'Na homeworld of Rahmir, and to provide instruction about some of the larger political issues in the sector. But the question had been growing with the knowledge that the main functions were in a section of the ship that could be separated from the main ship. Surely it couldn't be stranded. There had to be another way to fly the rest of the ship if Karik decided they had all betrayed him.

  Next to her, Torik shifted on his seat, a sure sign of his agitation, although he said nothing.

  The other two met each other's gazes and one gave a slight nod.

  She had her answer.

  "I get it. You can't tell me because I might cause trouble."

  A soft hand gripped hers. She followed it to the guilty look on Torik's face.

  "Don't worry," she assured him. "I'm not abandoning you. Your world will be free."

  They sat in an uncomfortable silence, until Torik's hand encountered the bracelet. He lifted it to the light, a distraction, she guessed, an idle way to change the awkwardness of not knowing what to say.

  His hand closed on her wrist to hold the oval, iridescent black rainbow stone almost two inches long between his thumb and forefinger. His brow furrowed. "This is…Inari."

  Krissa pulled her wrist closer to see the symbol.

  Korr and Theen took a keener interest and leaned over the table to see the stone while Torik held it up for them.

  "What are Inari?" she asked and pulled her wrist back from their examination. "I found this symbol on Earth."

  "They have long visited Earth."

  Interesting. It explained why she could find a translation. But what about Onduun?

  "Inari can hide, like Onduun, among the…" Korr's statement trailed away and he pursed his lips in a look of frustration.

  "Humans," she finished for him. "What are the Inari?""

  "Mediators. Peacemakers." Torik's jaw dropped as he met the eyes of the other two.

  "Karik," Theen and Korr said together.

  She looked from one shocked Lereni face to another. "What are you saying?"

  Torik regained his calm and said, "Inari are trusted, peaceful—"

  "Not all."

  "The Shirat were defeated," Torik said to Theen.

  "What do they have to do with me?"

  "This appears to be a gift from the Inari."

  "But they would not support an aggressive species," Korr objected.

  "Then maybe the Tah'Na lied about Onduun."

  "Wait," Krissa interrupted. "You mean you've never met the Onduun?"

  "No." Torik's lips twitched in a hint of emotional unease. "We relied on the stories told by the Tah'Na. We were not advanced in space travel and had limited contact with outsiders before the Tah'Na. Others came to us and introduced us to the possibilities."

  Then they had been as primitive as humans? She bit her tongue on the statement, not wanting to offend them.

  "Misinformation to frighten us?" Korr asked.

  "It would seem," Torik said. "If the Inari support the Onduun…"

  "The gift could be from long ago," Theen said in a note of caution.

  "It could." A hint of a smile glinted in Torik's eyes when he caught hers. "Or it could mean the Inari are trying to help us."

  "How would you know?" Krissa looked from one to the other. Torik had said the Lereni had no space travel before the Tah'Na. She could only hope he was right about the other species.

  "I met the Inari when I was very young. Before the Tah'Na invasion, Inari visited Leisil—my family raised quorok, a plant that produces an oil used for lubricating metal joints. They likely traded with the Onduun, but we were not familiar with your people. We didn't even know the Tah'Na until they invaded."

  Then she supposed that would make it easy for them to believe lies about Onduun.

  "And they're peaceful, you said? These Inari, I mean?"

  He nodded.

  "Then they wouldn't trade with the Onduun if they were aggressive?"

  "No."

  "But the Onduun might have found it at a market off-world," Korr said.

  Her heart sank to think that. She wanted to believe that the Inari they spoke of in such esteem had ties to her species, that they could help. It resurrected a hope inside her that had died long ago. Now that she had friends, she had a reason to live and a reason to die; but for the first time in a long time, she felt like she might belong somewhere.

  And Torik had not shied from her, despite being a completely different species.

  Her species appeared human. And they said the Inari hid among humans.

  The Inari hid among humans…

  "Were they on Earth, these Inari? Would they have been watching me?"

  The three Lereni looked to one another and Torik finally shrugged. "Possible. Why would they be watching you?"

  "I don't know, but it says 'Protection'. I found some translations on Earth."

  Torik looked down at her wrist again and the stone barely exposed from the end of her long sleeve. His gaze turned distant, a frown on his face all that she could read.

  "What do they want…" He mumbled the question and looked up at something on the ceiling. She tried to see what he saw but could make out nothing that seemed out of place.

  "I hope he contacts the Inari," Korr said, his eyes on the same spot.

  "If he really wants what's best," Theen muttered.

  What were they looking at?

  Krissa tried but saw nothing but the girders and heavy beams that formed the skeleton of their ship.

  "If he doesn't?" Korr refocused on the others. "Karik doesn't trust outsiders."

  "But we need a back-up plan."

  "We need to figure out how to make the Tah'Na fulfill their side of the agreement." Korr keyed a series into the holographic display controls, which pulled up an extravagant Tah'Na structure. "House Raou's Menio K'tark."

  "It's a palace," Krissa said.

  After a moment, Korr tipped his head with a shrug. "Yes."

  "Just call it their palace."

  "It is more. As the current ruling house, it is also the capitol of their empire. It is the Menio K'tark."

  "All right. What's important about it?"

  He entered a series of keys, which converted the three-dimensional outer image to an outline showing all the inner rooms and passages of a pyramid in the center.

  "These rooms—" Theen pointed to several around a large chamber containing a pyramid-like structure of steps that looked like the ancient temples in South America. "—are the residences of the heirs. They are said to play bedroom games."

  "Bedroom games?" She didn't like where this was going.

  "Your Seres powers will give you an advantage over their desires."

  "By desires, you mean…"

  "Mating." The disgust in Torik's voice left a sinking feeling in her stomach. She wished he hadn't confirmed her suspicions. "The Tah'Na engage in all forms of entertaining themselves. They have no sense of loyalty to even a single mate."

  "There is the risk that you will be killed before you can pose a threat," Korr warned.

  Then she could do no damage to this nobility, if she figured out how to use her powers. Still, she had no other options. "I'll do what I can."

  That seemed to satisfy Theen and Korr, but Torik remained agitated, a steel set to his jaw.

  "I only hope Karik is able to notify his Mediators to be there," she said in a voice she hoped was loud enough for Karik to hear. He had to know they were plotting ways that she might cause damage to the Tah'Na before they killed her. If he was smart, he would help them.

  If only she could figure out these powers they said she had.

  While Theen and Korr discussed possible actions she might take, Torik relaxed next to her. After long hours of planning, she grew tired and rested her chin in her hand and closed her eyes, but caught her head from hitting the table.

  "You need to sleep." Torik's gentle voice did nothing to wake her, but he didn't seem interested in keeping her awake and pressed her down on the cushions. "We all need rest. In ten hours, we will arrive on Rahmir."

  So soon. That was almost enough to scare her into full alertness again. Could she carry out any of the ideas discussed?

  She had to. They depended on her. Her friends depended on her. Torik deserved to be free. This was her purpose for being there.

  When he turned to leave, she snatched his sleeve. "Stay with me."

  "I was going to, after I find a cushion for your head."

  Relieved, she released his sleeve and closed her eyes.

  Sometime during a dreamy haze, she felt her head lifted and settled onto something soft. Soon after, a warmth settled over the hand before her and she drifted to sleep.

  Chapter 10

  Morning came too soon, or the time to wake up did. Torik stared at the sleeping figure curled up on the seat, so pink and pale in her hairlessness yet not cold without a proper coating of hair. But she had been dressed warm for the cold weather of her location and wore those warm clothes around the ship.

 

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