I turned my head to see the way she was looking at me, her mind involved with three or four different lines of thought, but her surface concern supporting only the question shed asked. She had meant the question seriously no matter how much amusement she got out of bothering me about other things, and the headshake I gave for an answer brought her more satisfaction than it did me. Whether anything in particular would have to ruin my experience with the community-aside from just being there-was a topic I didn’t care to consider right then, which meant I paid a lot of attention to getting aboard the transfer slip.
The trip down to Rimilia’s surface in general and Vediaster in particular didn’t seem to take very long, but only because I’d lost the battle against not thinking about the community. I didn’t slip so far that I let my mind tangle with specific worries, but that still meant I looked up to find that everyone was getting ready to leave our transportation. Ashton was talking to Murdock as he struggled to his feet, telling him something that her mind said wasn’t very important, and it was all I could do to keep from insisting that they hurry. I refused to guess about what was waiting for me in the place they called the community, but I was almost painfully anxious to get there and find out what it would be.
I could feel a large number of minds waiting outside even before the slip ramp opened and extended; disembarking brought sight of them all, as well as of the newcomers who were streaming up in smaller and larger bunches to see what was going on. It was a warm, pleasant, sunny day on that planet, the air smelling fresh and clean, but the level of astonishment and surprise and curiosity coming out of the largely female welcoming committee made me glad my curtain was firmly in place. Quite a few of them had active minds, and I could tell from their reactions that they were more or less expecting us. Apparently they’d known we were coming, but hadn’t known how we’d be coming.
“Terril, how pleased we are that you have been returned to us unharmed,” one of the women called up, her grin matching the true happiness I could feel in her mind. She was a big woman, blond and blue-eyed the way most of them were, wearing sandals, trousers and a shirt as well as a sword. My still-incomplete memories stirred at sight of her, and then I was smiling and raising a hand to a friend named Leelan.
“You all must forgive Terril if she seems somewhat different,” Ashton called out in Rimilian, the language Leelan had used, her eyes moving from one side of the crowd to the other. “Those who took her also took her memories of her time on this world, memories which are only now beginning to return for her use. She will come to recall each and every one of you, only now such a thing must not be expected of her.”
A dissatisfied mutter moved through the group of women, a sound to match the growl of anger in their minds, but it wasn’t Ashton they were angry with. My-aunt-stood a little ahead of me to my right on the ramp, which put her head level a bit below mine, and when her face turned to the left I could see she was squinting against the late-morning sun the way I was. Her narrowed eyes were checking what her scanning mind brought to her, and when she also found that the anger wasn’t for her, she smiled faintly.
“You need not concern yourselves that those who committed so vile an act will go unpunished,” she called out again, raising her voice to make it carry over the mutter. “We who are blood-kin to Terril will see to her rightful vengeance upon those who are our enemies as well as hers, and may well call upon you here to assist us. Would you be willing to give us such assistance?”
A double shout of avid agreement rose up to us from voices and minds alike, and either one would have been sufficient to let us know exactly how those women felt. Both together were more commitment than a blood oath would have been, and the men helping Murdock grinned as they began moving down the ramp again. Ashton also grinned as she glanced to me before following the others, and I couldn’t help wondering why they were all so pleased. They seemed to have plans that included the armed women of Vediaster, plans that hadn’t been mentioned to me.
The crowd moved obligingly back or to either side to give us room to leave the ramp, and then Leelan led one segment of it back to surround Ashton and me. The big blond woman had spent most of her time looking at me, but once she was close enough her gaze went to Ashton.
“I do not doubt that this wenda is blood-kin to you, Terril,” she said, examining Ashton in a very direct way. “Her mind is of a strength which much resembles yours, and would have been of great assistance to us in our attack against Farian. For what reason did you not make mention of her when we all spoke of those who might be of aid to us in the attack?”
“She failed to speak of me for the reason that she then had no knowledge of me,” Ashton said without hesitation, smiling faintly at the w’wenda who looked down at her. “It was only when she freed herself from capture that we met, no more than days ago.”
“And was it then that you also assumed the burden of giving response to those queries put to her?” Leelan asked, her tone dry as the fingers of her left hand toyed with her sword hilt. “Our Chama has no need of others to speak for her, nor will such a thing be allowed the while breath remains in my body. Terril, I would know how you truly fare, and would also know if you desire to be freed of the company of this one.”
“Such a freeing would indeed be pleasant, Leelan, and yet you must not be disturbed over the matter,” I said, the annoyance I’d been feeling disappearing behind amusement at Ashton’s sudden annoyance. “I fare as well as I might the while true memory eludes me, and this wenda who names herself kin to me has taken it upon herself to guard my every doing. Although I dislike such guarding through having no true need of it, it must yet be admitted that her intentions are for good rather than ill. ”
“No true need of it,” Ashton echoed with a snort while Leelan and some of the others looked relieved, the mutter putting her fists to her hips. “Our healer foams at the mouth the while she prances all about as she wills, doing rather than resting from her ordeal, and she dares to speak blithely of having no true need of guarding. In truth, what she has the greatest need of is being sat upon. A pity the strength of her mind disallows such a thing.”
“And yet there is one greatly eager to see her who has no fear of the strength of her mind,” Leelan said, laughing the way too many of the other women were doing over what Ashton had said. “Dallan took himself off to inform him of your arrival even as I hurried here, Terril, therefore shall they soon be with us.”
“Dallan?” I said, looking at the big woman as I tried to fight through the mists to a recognition of the name, getting a teasing sense of familiarity and then nothing but blankness. “Am I acquainted with this Dallan? And who is the other who will accompany him?”
“Dallan is my memabrak and drin of Gerleth, Terril , and you and he are helid,” Leelan answered, the laughter gone as she glanced in upset to Ashton. “I had not realized to how great an extent- The other, of course, is Tammad, he who is your memabrak. Surely you recall the one who occupied your thoughts to the exclusion of all other things?”
“Him again,” I muttered in Centran, beginning to be really annoyed. You can get very tired of hearing people tell you how much you care about somebody, but tired doesn’t cover it when you can’t even remember what the object of your undying love looks like. I was a lot more interested in trying to remember who Dallan was, Leelan’s mamabrak, the one who had banded her. Helid was a very close, nonsexual relationship between two otherwise unrelated people, and I was curious about the man I was supposed to have that sort of relationship with.