Argument erupted everywhere. The crowd, now swollen by those who had dragged themselves out of the pond, was about evenly split between doubters and supporters of the Dushau. Jindigar took that moment to say softly to Terab, "//We don't have time for this. Terab, listen. You must commandeer the Lehiroh cooking oil.//" And he told her how it must be applied to destroy the com blight, and how to supplement the Lehiroh diet until the next oil-nut harvest.
By then the shouting match showed signs of new violence.
Inside the shed, Trinarvil called, "Jindigar's, you've got to refocus! Now!"
But it was too late. Without warning the wiry link to Eithlarin stretched, then thinned to gossamer. That which was the essence of Eithlarin hurtled off around a dimensional corner.
The Oliat's sevenfold balance leaned askew–as if the Oliat would pour through the hole in space left where Eithlarin had been.
Zannesu cried, //No!// and dove once more into the void after his mate, dragging the Oliat faster into oblivion.
//Venlagar!// called Jindigar, //You must transform to In-reach – let Zannesu take Receptor to hold her! Krinata, you must not interfere!//
Dimly Jindigar was aware of the Dushau Outriders moving them back into the shed. Storm's crew jostled the crowd away from the entry to close the doors. He felt Zannesu grasp the plan to transform Offices and acquiesce as Venlagar took up the linkages—for Zannesu was already half into the Receptor's Office, straining to Receive his mate. As the transform took effect Venlagar gripped the link to the Receptor and kept Zannesu from following Eithlarin.
As the link to Hillarie became more elusive, and the two officers flipped their links end for end in the dance of-transformation, Jindigar—wholly inexperienced at doing this from Center fought to keep his Oliat from shattering, certain that the strain would pull his very body apart.
He was hardly aware of his Outrider pushing him down onto a cot. He heard a smothered whimper from Krinata on the adjacent cot. He rolled over and reached for her, feeling her bewilderment. //Steady. We're going to be all right.// The human skin was clammy, and she was trembling—a different sort of nervous reaction in a human but still dire enough: plunging blood pressure. Shock.
He gathered her to him, reinforcing their link, opening to her as if her skewed sensory impressions were no threat to his precarious grip on sanity. Then he groped for his new Inreach. It was a peculiar sensation, rippling unsteadily through the contacts. The transposition hadn't been properly done, nor was il yet wholly complete.
And the five-axis perspective in time and magnification confused things even more, threatening Krinata's sanity. //Yen– lagar, Zannesu!// He called them to their new Offices and threw everything wide-open to reach for Eithlarin, using that barest whisper of a linkage to complete the Oliat pattern. He ignored the shimmering static that came down his Protector's link, drowning out the last trace of the shaleiliu hum. Krinata's strength was fading. In three desperate, rough maneuvers he slammed them back down to groundstate awareness—here and now, macro-conscious.
He felt Krinata shudder horribly with each shift in consciousness. Darllanyu only took it, hanging on grimly. Llistyien fought nausea at the sudden transposition, but as their awareness came back to single perspective, Venlagar and Zannesu settled into their new Offices, relieving a great deal of the strain.
Jindigar built the Oliat pattern again, finally bringing Zannesu into balance, his initial panic beginning to subside.
//Jindigar, help her!// pleaded his new Receptor, and let them all feel the bewildered confusion coming down the tenuous link from Eithlarin, who had fled her own intolerable memories and deserted the world-plane, but was held back from the sweet oblivion of death she sought by the Oliat link.
Trinarvil was kneeling at the head of Jindigar's cot, gesturing as if trying to attract Krinata's attention. "You must let her go!" she demanded in an urgent whisper.
"//No!//"
"Then we'll lose all of you. How long can you hold—"
Feeling every bit of Zannesu's anguish, Jindigar answered as if it were Darllanyu out there. "//As long as we must—as long as she can.//" Sometimes—rarely—people returned from that far place. But she has chosen it.
Trinarvil put one hand on Krinata's forehead and looked into her eyes. "Jindigar—can you hear me?"
"//Yes,//" answered Krinata, her voice husky.
Jindigar was aware of her body warming now despite her clothes, which were dampened by splashed pond water.
"We've got to take Eithlarin to the worldcircle. If she and
Dar are in the circle when Dar's dose of pensone wears off, Renewal may lure Eithlarin hack. Can the Oliat move?"
"//Yes,//" they answered, Krinata's voice breaking this time. She clung to Jindigar, burying her face against him, as if he were her only anchor to reality.
Jindigar's eyes met Cyrus's. He held Krinata against him, wishing he could soak up the shocks still washing through her system. Hut at least she's alive. I haven't broken my promise to Cyrus yet.
//Let Eithlarin go, Jindigar,// said Zannesu wearily. Jindigar had set the links so that Zannesu was the only one really in touch with Eithlarin. //She can't make it.//
They were in the Aliom Temple. Eithlarin, shrouded in folds of white, lay on an elevated platform within the worldcircle, which was bright of itself but cast no light to see by. Jindigar, Krinata, and Zannesu sat around the rim. Venlagar and Llistyien had gone to cat, while Trinarvil was trying to help Darllanyu purge the drug from her system fast enough to do Eithlarin some good.
//You don't mean that,// answered Jindigar. Dusk cast dense shadows through the skylight. This was a dark world—depressing. Would Dushau eyes ever adjust? He could "see" Zannesu only via the Oliat senses or through Krinata's human night vision. Did Eithlarin want to return to such a world? Should he wish that fate on her? With his aching fingertips he .strummed a random chord on his whule. //But even if you meant it, Zannesu I couldn't let her go. I'm going to keep vigil until Darllanyu is free of pensone, and then we're going to give Eithlarin one last chance to return to us—to this world– to you.//
//There's probably been brain damage. I'd rather die Incomplete than make her suffer that.//
His implication was clear—that Jindigar wanted to recall Eithlarin only to spare the rest of them the risk of her death. //Renewal may repair the brain damage—if she has someone to love her, to stimulate her, to recast her body, to serve her \ anew.. Does she, Zannesu?//
//You know she does. Jindigar, I would have killed you in that moment when you cut her off! How can you ever trust me again?//
//No Dushau would have behaved differently, my zunre. There isn't an officer of this Oliat who would hesitate to work with you. When the time comes, we'll all be in the circle, and we'll unite in our call to Eithlarin. If we can bring her to us– even just a little closer—we'll try to Dissolve and let you bring her to Renewal.//
It sounded so simple. But even in the Archive Jindigar had found no record of an Oliat using the forces of its officers' Renewal in any way, least of all to Dissolve.
Venlagar, Inreach now, intruded on the linkages with the aroma of stew and a fresh grain bread concocted by the humans. //If you're to have the strength to do it, Zannesu, you'd better come eat. Sure you don't want some, Jindigar?//
//In a while. Go ahead, Zannesu. I'll watch her.// «
He rose. //If you have to let her go, Jindigar—do it gently. Her suffering is so pointless.// The new Receptor went toward the inner door to their living chamber, his steps heavy, his weariness dragging at them all. Only part of him had given her up. The rest fought the loss, and the battle consumed all his strength, for he knew he was her only anchor to the Oliat.