Willa, who was sitting at the table between the children, stared after Del suspiciously. Then, as Kadi was dishing out cereal, she got up, slid Jana down the bench to sit beside her brother, and took Rimon's arm, guiding him to sit beside Jana. Curious, he allowed her to seat him. Then she poured him some tea, and finally sat down next to him and began to eat her cereal. Kadi watched the performance, and said, "Good girl, Willa. You're learning how to keep Rimon from feeling bad." Then she said to Rimon, "If Willa keeps on at this rate, soon she'll be as safe anywhere as I am."
Rimon stroked the back of Kadi's hand with one tentacle, letting their fields mesh. Vaguely, outside his concentration, he felt a painful disturbance, but he blocked it away.
Then the side door banged open. Del ran from the storeroom under a screaming burst of augmentation, darting into the bedroom. Rimon jumped to his feet, instantly realizing that the vague stirring of pain was in fact a blinding-hot lance.
The moment he left the shelter of Kadi and Willa's fields, he was fully immersed in the pain. He managed one staggering step and then doubled over with an aching cramp in his gut. Then Kadi was at his side, gasping, "What's wrong?"
He could breathe again. "Not me—Carlana!"
Feeling the fear rise in the childish nager of Owen and Jana, Rimon added, "Willa—come with me. Kadi, take care of the children." He went toward the bedroom.
Kadi also started for the bedroom. "But Rimon—I've got to help her."
He caught her back. "No! I won't—I can't risk you, Kadi. Carlana's going to have to kill. Willa can't explain to the children—but she can help me."
Del appeared at the bedroom door. Rimon took two more steps, pulling Willa after him. Del said to the children, "It's a lot warmer outside today. Why don't you go out and play in the snow? Kadi will help you bundle up, but come right in if it starts to snow again."
Owen came over to Del. "Mama's sick. Pa, is she gonna die?"
"No!" said Del, too hastily. "No, Owen. Rimon is going to help her."
"Our dad died," said Owen. "Mr. Veritt couldn't help him. God couldn't help him. He died anyway."
Rimon could feel the conflict in Del as he sought a way to reassure the boy. "Owen, if God has a plan for us, it's so big that one person can never understand it all. I don't know why your father died, except that that left you and Jana and your mother for me to love. You know I love you, don't you? That, no matter what happens, I'll take care of you?"
Shocked, Rimon turned to protest Del's suggesting to the child that Carlana might die, but what he saw was Owen hugging Del, reassured that there was someone strong in his life. "Good," Del murmured. "Now you go play with Jana. She's too young to understand, so don't let her get scared. We're going to see that your mother gets well."
When the boy had gone, Del closed the door and turned to Rimon. "God's plan," he said bitterly. "Only God knows God's plan, and what comfort is that to a poor, scared kid?"
"Del," Carlana said wearily, "please don't."
"Ana," he came to her side, "just lie still. Rimon's going to help you."
Tears slid down her cheeks. "The baby is dying. Our baby. Oh, Del, I wanted it so much, even though—"
"Hush!" he said, his voice edged with emotion.
"Del, you've got to understand. I killed. And I enjoyed it! And then we—"
"We loved! said Del. "We still love." Through clenched teeth, she insisted, "I sinned!" And the pain grew again, sweat standing out on her forehead as her swollen belly rose visibly under the thin blanket. Del looked up at Rimon.
"Carlana," said Rimon, groping desperately for the right thing to say. "Think about what Abel Veritt said at the year-turning ceremony. God's will is to make two out of three children born at Fort Freedom Sime. Not a punishment, Carlana—just a fact of life that God leaves us to deal with… just as He leaves us to deal with something like this."
She smiled weakly and let her eyes close, gritting her teeth as the pain mounted and mounted.
Rimon sat on the edge of the bed, Willa behind him. He placed her hands on his shoulders and said, "Stay there, Willa." Her hands gripped him once and relaxed, as if to tell him she understood. Her field was steady, reassuring. Duoconscious, he saw immediately the flaring consumption of selyn as the child within Carlana's womb fought against death. But the selyn consumption was sporadic. The tiny life Rimon now studied drew selyn from its mother's system in demanding gulps, but grew weaker even as Rimon watched.
Rimon looked up at Del. Lips tight, Del nodded. In a faint whisper, he said, "Save her, Rimon. If you can't save them both, save her."
I'm supposed to work miracles! But it was already hopeless for the baby. Carlana would be all right if she didn't bleed to death or die of attrition in the contractions. He let go of physical perceptions and dropped to the cellular level. He tried to surround that tiny life with his own field, as if he were Gen, but even that did not slow the mad consumption. Yet it did stop the drain on Carlana, so he held there, shuddering in the death agony of that small life as it flared, flickered, and finally went out.
When Rimon emerged to duoconsciousness, still in touch with Carlana but grasping for a partial respite from pain, she was crying softly, and holding tightly to Del's hands.
Willa's field was also filled with sadness, but she remained where she was. Rimon put his hands over hers for a moment, murmuring, "Good girl. You're doing just fine. Stay there, Willa. There's more to come."
It came almost immediately, as Carlana's body heaved with the last efforts to expel the dead fetus. The pains were not so sharp now, but they came more frequently. Again Carlana heaved, giving an open-throated, inarticulate moan. "Good, Carlana, once more should do it."
She nodded, drawing a deep breath, and, working with the next contraction, forced the dead tissue from her body. Rimon returned to the cellular level to control the wild loss of blood and selyn. As he had done with Risko, he used his own field as a tourniquet. It was easier now; his system no longer threatened to go into spasms as it had then.
Del let out one trembling breath, and Rimon knew he understood how close Carlana had come to death. Their eyes met, and Del, still in deep rapport with his wife, let go of one of her hands to reach over and grip Rimon's shoulder near Willa's fingers. Silently, he mouthed, "Thank you, Rimon." Rimon smiled weakly.
"Del, I'll bring one of the Gens. You finish this up."
As Rimon started to move, Del reached for the towels he'd brought and turned back the blanket. At the sudden sight of blood, Willa screamed.
Fear knifed through the girl's nager, throwing all three Simes into killmode.
Carlana, verging on attrition, made a reflexive lunge in Willa's direction, only her weakened condition preventing her from connecting. Willa fled in terror, and Rimon, his fields a throbbing tangle of agony, would have attacked her, but he was compelled by instinct to stand and fight off the other two Simes seeking the same prey.
The tiny instant it took for him to turn back and face off against Del and Carlana was enough to prompt deja vu. This had happened before; but he had stopped it before, too. Yes—become Gen for them…
Carlana collapsed back onto the pillows. Del gasped, then stared in astonishment "Shen, Rimon, you did it again!"
But he couldn't hold it. The wobble in his fields was back, becoming a mad fluctuation. He was thrown into Carlana's desperate need, then back into that weird state of feeling like a Gen. Carlana moaned, and Del cringed. "Stop it!" he gasped. "Rimon, stop it! Kadi! Kadi!"
As Kadi tore the door open, Willa ran into her arms. Kadi thrust the girl behind her and came right up to Rimon. Her presence seemed to flicker from the physical to the nageric as the fluctuations inside him grew wilder—but he sensed no Gen fear now, only concern, covered with—