“Something must be done,” the barbarian said to Dallan in a soft voice as they both headed their seetarr toward Cinnan, who had stopped. “Even should he continue to find himself able to bear it, I cannot.”
“At first I found the matter amusing,” Dallan admitted, speaking just as softly “You are aware that there is but a single thing which may be done.”
“I am indeed aware of that,” Tammad answered with a sigh, faint regret in his mind. “I had hoped for further time before such a requirement would again become necessary, yet do we all do as we must.”
“One often grows accustomed to a matter viewed as distasteful, through more frequent indulgence in that matter,” Dallan said, for some reason sounding as though he were commiserating with the barbarian. “When upset has spent itself, reason will bring to sight a clear view of the necessity.”
Tammad nodded his agreement with whatever Dallan had said, giving me the distinct feeling that this time they were the ones speaking an unknown language. I looked from Dallan, who rode to our right, to the broad, shirted back in front of me without any clear idea as to what they had agreed on, and tried to decide whether or not to ask. I usually dislike not knowing what’s going on around me, but I’d discovered that sometimes you’re better off that way. By then we were far enough off the road to stop, and Dallan and Tammad dismounted together. I had enough time to see that we were a short distance away from Cinnan before two big hands took me by the waist, and then I was being lifted off the saddle fur and down to the ground.
“I regret the necessity, hama, but there is a thing I must require of you,” the barbarian said as soon as I was down, at the same time reaching for his shirt to pull it off over his head. “Cinnan is in great misery from his loss of Aesnil, and we must aid him.”
“Indeed,” said Dallan, coming around in front of Tammad’s big black seetar in time to hear what the barbarian had said. “Tammad and I are unable to do this thing, therefore must it be you who does it.”
“You wish me to aid Cinnan,” I said, suddenly getting a suspicion of what they had meant. Cinnan could be relaxed and soothed with mind power, but I would have to be the one to do it, even if it got me upset; Dallan had no conscious power, and Tammad lacked the necessary control. I didn’t really like the idea but, as had already been pointed out, there wasn’t much choice. I looked back and forth between them, then asked, “You see no alternative to such a doing? You feel it would not be dishonorable?”
“How might it be dishonorable, wench?” Dallan asked with a puzzled look, putting one hand to the seetar we all stood near. He had removed his shirt even before he’d joined us, which made his shrug more obvious. “Is such a thing not one of your purposes?”
“Perhaps you are correct,” I allowed with a nod, trying to make myself believe that.’ If someone had a particular ability, using it could indeed be considered one of their purposes, even if the using wasn’t especially pleasant for the user. “Cinnan requires aid, and we must aid him. All else must be overlooked for the nonce.”
“Hama, your full understanding comes as a welcome surprise,” the barbarian said, his mind really pleased with me, his smile warm and approving. “It is indeed Cinnan whom we must now consider, for we will soon be out of these mountains. He must not be made to continue on into the presence of others laboring beneath so great a disadvantage. I will take you to him upon the moment.”
“I have no need to approach him more closely,” I told the barbarian with a smile of my own, putting one hand to his arm as he reached toward me. “I am well able to do what must be done from here.”
“You will do what must be done from here,” Dallan echoed with a very odd look, while Tammad raised his brows to stare at me blankly. “You are indeed a talented woman, Terril, yet do I feel that talent such as that is beyond even you. ”
“There is truly little to it, Dallan,” I said, wondering why they were behaving so strangely. “I have done the same with Lenham and Garth, and find a distance so small as this no obstacle. To be truthful, I am even able to do the same with a door closed between.”
“Lenham and Garth must surely be possessed of talents unknown to the men of our world,” Dallan said, switching his odd look to Tammad. “Never have I heard of one of us able to do the same.”
“The talent, you must understand, was mine,” I explained, trying to keep from sounding as though I were boasting.
“Though Lenham and Garth aided me, the doing was also mine. ”
“Wait, wenda,” Tammad said suddenly, the strange stare disappearing abruptly. “The doing you speak of refers to your power. Lenham and Garth aided you in experimenting with your power, and you believe we wish the same done with Cinnan.”
“Certainly,” I agreed, for some reason disturbed that he’d made such statements. That was exactly what we’d been talking about, so why had he felt it necessary to restate the obvious?
“What a great relief,” Dallan said with the odd look gone, exchanging a more amused one with the barbarian. “For a moment I feared for my self-esteem, thinking I might never again attempt that which others are able to do at a distance. ”
“At a distance,” the barbarian repeated, grinning suddenly, and then he and Dallan were laughing, roaring out such high hilarity that tears began to start in their eyes. The laughter bent them almost double, making them pound on each other in absolute glee, the noon sun brightening their tanned, half-naked bodies. All I could do was stand there and watch them, wondering if they’d gone completely insane or only a little bit crazy, feeling annoyance beginning to build in me. When people start laughing without telling you what the joke is, you don’t have to be paranoid to get the feeling they’re laughing at you. In that instance I knew they were laughing at me, but I still didn’t know why.
It took a good number of minutes before fun time was over, and that despite the fact that I stood with my arms folded staring at them coldly. I had really been tempted to make that fun time more general, by helping their laughter up to the point of causing loss of control over certain sphincter muscles, for instance, but I had learned something of selfcontrol. Instead of joining in I just stood and stared, and finally they reached the point of being able to speak again.
“We ask your pardon for having laughed so, wenda,” the barbarian said to me, his still-sparkling eyes on my face as his mind attempted to size mine up. “The misunderstanding was quite amusing, which you will see once it has been explained to you.”
“Indeed,” Dallan said with a nod, wiping at his eyes with a forearm. “I have not laughed so in quite a time-nor enjoyed such a situation in even longer.”
The two of them exchanged wry looks, undoubtedly remembering the last time they’d laughed together. They’d been trying to kill each other that time and the laughter hadn’t been their own idea.
“And what misunderstanding are we discussing?” I asked, totally unimpressed by the apology—and the complete lack of sincerity behind it. Neither one of them was really sorry, only trying to minimize whatever damage they thought they’d caused.
“The misunderstanding is simple, hama,” the barbarian said, moving forward a step to circle me with his arm as he looked down at me. “Thinking we referred to your power, you spoke of seeing to Cinnan from here. It is, however, another power of yours which is required, your power as a woman, which most certainly cannot be exercised from such a distance. Cinnan would need to be most exceptionally endowed for that to be possible.”