It didn’t take long before Rissim joined in the hugging with laughter of his own, and before I knew it reality retreated even farther away than it had been before. It felt so right to be where I was, exchanging hugs with a woman I’d never seen before, the two of us being hugged by a man I didn’t know, all of us touching minds so completely and freely that wed never be strangers again. That was the way it happened in dreams, with laughter and no sense of worry; something bothered me about that, but it was the only way I could take it.
The strongest emotions are too draining to sustain for very long, so it wasn’t more than a few minutes before we all took deep breaths and moved back just a little to look at one another. There’s nothing of intrusion involved in really looking at your own, most especially in a dream. Irin had settled into a glowing smile, and after shed taken a breath she shook her head.
“Asha may have the worst sense of humor I’ve ever come across, but I can see she wasn’t lying,” I was told, a hand coming to smooth one side of my hair back. “Your mind does have more strength than we’ve yet encountered, daughter mine, and for the first time in my life I feel like bragging and strutting. Not only do I finally have my firstborn back, and not only is she filled with more compassion than I’d dared hope for, but she also comes back as an excitingly wonderful example. Do you believe most of the people in this valley think our talents have already been developed as far as they can go?”
“If that’s true, they may not like finding out they’re wrong,” I answered, feeling odd and almost comfortable. “People usually don’t enjoy having their beliefs torn away. ”
“You don’t understand,” she said with a laugh, putting her hand to my arm. “It isn’t satisfied conviction your presence will disrupt, it’s glum resignation. No one was happy believing wed stretched to the end, but without anything concrete to give us hope all we could do was accept the conclusion. Now we can accept the truth instead, and as soon as we put paid to the sick plans of Rathmore Hellman and his group, we can throw a celebration feast like you’ve never seen. After that we’ll get to work.”
“Perhaps not all those in our valley will wish to begin a similar striving,” Rissim said, looking me over with an odd bent to his thoughts, his arms folded easily across his chest. “Our firstborn is truly sarella wenda, Irin, and many will be the l’lendaa and varindaa who come seeking my approval. I shall listen to each with courtesy and patience—and shall see more directly to those who attempt to approach her rather than he who is her father. The old ways have not died among us here, nor shall they the while I remain among the living.”
“Oh, Rissim, no one will try to steal her from you, not with your reputation as a l’lenda,” Irin said with a laugh while I blinked at the big man who stood beside her. “They’ll all come to the front door, not try to sneak in through the back, and in any event our little girl is not what I would consider helpless.”
She was still grinning when she turned away from him, then laughed again at whatever my expression was like. I hadn’t realized how-protected-it would feel to have a Rimilian father, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. It’s really terrible to be all alone and know there’s no one there to help you but yourself, but after you do it for awhile you sort of begin getting used to it. I could see from Rissim’s mind he expected me to get unused to it as fast as possible, and like most Rimilian men wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer.
“Now, Terry, don’t let your father’s overprotectiveness bother you,” Irin said as she patted my hand, amusement still clear in her mind. “You’re the only daughter I’ve managed to give him, and although men enjoy having sons they can share manhood with, there’s always a small part of them that yearns for a daughter to protect. He only sounds as though he means to chase the l’lendaa and varindaa away. He won’t really do it.”
“What are varindaa?” I asked, mainly to cover the fact that I couldn’t think of anything else. Rissim was grinning at me faintly, his mind practically purring, his satisfied thoughts saying more plainly than words that he’d be the one to decide what he did and didn’t do.
“Varindaa are mind warriors,” Irin answered, a lot of pride behind the explanation. “They’ve not only learned the use of a sword, they’ve also mastered the ability to fight with their minds. It’s dishonorable for any of them to accept a challenge from someone who isn’t a varinda, so they never do. Your father is a l’lenda, but all your brothers are varindaa. ”
“Which will be of additional aid in seeing properly to my daughter and their sister,” Rissim said with even more satisfaction while I felt the word “brothers” echo in my head. I’d used the word many times before, but it had never felt quite so-strange.
“A number of them will be extremely pleased to find they now have a sister,” Rissim continued, his mind chuckling. “They have noted that those with sisters are often in the company of wendaa it was not necessary to go seeking, for wendaa come to visit those sisters. They will likely be less willing to accept suitors than I, for they will not care to be deprived of your presence too quickly. ”
“Rissim, give the child a chance to breathe before you pair her or don’t pair her with a suitor,” Irin said with another laugh, her eyes shining. “I for one would like to get to know her first, before she’s carried off to . . .”
“I must ask your pardon for this intrusion, yet does honor demand that I speak,” a voice said suddenly in Rimilian, a voice I unfortunately had no trouble recognizing. “The woman may not be granted to another, for she has not been freed of my bands. This man who stands beside me is my chosen brother, and has come to assure you of the truth voiced by one who is a stranger to you. ”
“A stranger who intrudes uninvited in family matters,” Rissim answered with a frown, looking at the two men who had entered the room behind me. “Should it be truth that my daughter has been banded by you, for what reason does she fail to even turn and look upon you? If your bands are truly upon her, perhaps they should not be. ”
“Rissim, look, she’s shielding again,” lrin said as her arms went around me, the glow of happiness gone from her face. “There’s something wrong, and you have to find out what it is. I don’t care how dishonorable it is to keep a woman from the man who banded her, I won’t stand by watching while you give her to him!”
“Hama, calm yourself,” Rissim said while Irin held me tightly to her, her thoughts having turned downright feral. I wasn’t shielded, I was curtained, and because of that knew the woman who held me close would not let me be taken from her without a fight. She had let me go once against her better judgment, and wasn’t about to do it again. I put my own arms around her, knowing she needed the reassurance a good deal more than I did.
“Irin, I, too, am able to see that this l’lenda believes he speaks the truth,” Rissim went on, taking one step forward to put Irin and me somewhat behind him. “I, however, will first have answers to my queries before any decision is made as to what course of action is most honorable. For what reason does our daughter refuse acknowledgment of your very presence, l’lenda? For what reason has she withdrawn even her thoughts from you?”
“My brother is no more able to fathom the reason for such behavior than am I,” answered a second voice, one I knew as well as the first. “I am Dallan, drin of Gerleth, and my chosen brother here beside me is Tammad, denday of a great city of the plains, and he who speaks first among those of the Circle of Might. The wenda and I are helid, so close have we grown through the trials we have faced, yet am I at a loss to explain my chosen sister’s actions. It was for Tammad’s sake that Terril bested Vediaster’s Hand of Power and faced the Chama Farian, she who had made Tammad’s capture possible. Solely was her concern for him, and mightily did she strive till his freedom was assured, yet now—”