Acorna's Triumph Read online

  “Oh, sure,” Maati said. “Of course they will. But it’s funny, Khornya. I always thought my parents were dead, but when they came back I never felt about them the way I do about Laarye and Aari Whole-Horn.”

  “You need to stop calling him that or he’ll read you and be offended,” Acorna cautioned. “He may be stranger than we wish he was, but he still reads thought-talk.”

  “Maybe we should wear horn-hats until we get used to the boys,” Maati suggested with a giggle, referring to the sometimes rather comical creations intended not only to costume and ornament a Linyaari horn for a dance or other festive occasion, but to shield some of the wearer’s more spontaneous thoughts as well.

  “I’ll bet Eedi saved some of them from that party when I first arrived on narhii-Vhiliinyar,” Acorna said mischievously. “We should borrow some from her. I want the one with the pink pompom on the end.”

  “No fair,” Maati said, giggling. “I wanted that one!” And off they went, talking of commonplaces and silly apparel and other nonstressful things until the voyage was nearly over.

  When they finally docked on the MOO, Becker looked out the viewport, and said, “Damn. They forgot the brass band. Everybody else seems to be here though.”

  Though he was exaggerating slightly, Maati’s (and Aari’s and Laarye’s) parents Miiri and Kaarlye, and the Harakamians and their entourage of servants and security personnel awaited their arrival in the lavishly appointed terminal. Rafik Nadezda’s vessel had set down just before the Condor did. He, too, was waiting at the terminal to greet them.

  On Acorna’s last arrival on MOO, not more than two months ago, the terminal had consisted of a com shed in a temporary building. The new building was spacious and full of glass and plant life, artwork, and deep, comfortable seating. The Makahomian catseye chrysoberyls had enriched both the Linyaari and Hafiz immeasurably, and the improvements on both MOO and Vhiliinyar were the result of that influx of wealth.

  Miiri and Kaarlye rushed forward to greet their children, and Acorna stepped aside, only to be swept up in a big hug by Rafik. One of her triad of foster fathers, the three asteroid miners who had rescued her infant self from her escape pod, Rafik was now the active head of House Harakamian enterprises. Rafik’s uncle Hafiz had named him as heir in preference to his own son. These days Hafiz claimed to be retired, and loudly extolled his nephew’s business sense and stewardship. MOO and the rehabilitation of the Linyaari worlds were Hafiz’s idea of a retirement sideline.

  Acorna returned Rafik’s hug enthusiastically.

  Finally, Rafik held Acorna at arm’s length and looked her over with a paternal eye. “I didn’t think it was possible but, yes, you’re even prettier than you were the last time I saw you. How are you, Acorna?”

  Rafik was a little gray at the temples, but it suited him, and his dark eyes, thickly fringed with curling lashes, were as shrewd and merry as ever. Though his waistline remained trim, Acorna noticed a family resemblance between Rafik and Hafiz that had not been as obvious to her previously.

  “Just fine, now that you’re here,” she said, linking arms with him. “It is so good to see you again! You must tell me what brings you here. And I want to hear all about Calum and Gill and the Kendoro sisters. And Pal, too, of course.”

  “There is much to tell. You’re going to have a half brother or sister pretty soon, for one thing,” he said. “Mercy is pregnant.”

  “Wonderful! Calum must be over the moon. He loves children so. He will love having a baby of his own to coo over.”

  “He’s happy as a hungry Linyaari in the height of grazing season. Gill and Judit have been spending most of their time at Maganos Moonbase. I don’t get up there very often, but I hear from them by com unit quite a bit. We all miss you, of course.”

  “I miss you all, too.”

  “But we’ve been worried about you. Aari, your lifemate, we heard that he disappeared?”

  She took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Well, yes, he did. It’s been a long, hard time for me. But I have news, as well. Aari seems to be back, sort of. That’s him there with his family. I’m keeping a little distance from him right now.” She nodded to where Aari, with great poise, was telling his parents how he and Grimalkin had located Laarye in time to prevent him from starving to death and brought him back through time to restore him to the family.

  “He just got back, and you’re already estranged?” Rafik asked, shocked. “I thought you would shake the universe apart looking for him. What happened?”

  But before she could tell him, they met Hafiz and Karina Harakamian. Hafiz wore his usual rich robes embroidered with gold and glimmering with jewels, while Karina, also as usual, was floating in an oceanic drift of lavender, lilac, violet, and purple draperies, the colors subtly blending with each other in a beautiful whole, the layers difficult to sort out. What was not subtle was the jewelry she currently sported. Gone were her amethysts and tanzanites, and in their place was a collar of perfectly matched orchid-hued golf-ball-size catseye chrysoberyls.

  Becker did a double take that Acorna could sense even though her back was to him. “Wow! You are wearing enough power there to terraform a galaxy, lady.”

  “I know,” Karina said, stroking her necklace in a pleased fashion. “Lovely, isn’t it? It was difficult to choose the right ones from all of those you brought home, but when I saw these in my colors, I just knew I had to have them. Especially after what you told us about the reverence in which these sacred stones are held, and how only the most devout priests and priestesses wear them. Haffy was a bit stuffy about it at first, but I pointed out to him that as the panspiritual leader of our little colony, I have a certain image to maintain. That means such powerful talismans as these should at least be represented by a few little samples in my personal collection. So he had that adorable Rocky Reamer design this necklace for me and gave it to me as a gift for our two year, four months, three weeks, two days, five hours, and six minutes anniversary. Unfortunately, Rocky hasn’t yet finished the matching earrings, bracelet, and ring, but the necklace makes quite a statement on its own, don’t you think?”

  “Statement! It’s an entire library, and then some,” Becker said.

  Karina looked crestfallen and frowned slightly. “You don’t think it’s a bit plain on its own like this?”

  Acorna felt that she could sincerely say, “You would be the hit of any Linyaari ball with that, Karina. It really is stunning.”

  “I know they only wore one gem at a time on Makahomia, but their culture was rather primitive, from what you say. And they didn’t have the means to set gems properly, as Rocky does,” Karina said. “And then, too, they were not—from what you say of the high priest—truly evolved and enlightened beings. I doubt many of them could have maintained their sanity, much less control, in the presence of such powerful talismans as these. I myself must struggle as I wear it to remain in charge of the stones, to channel their emanations, and it is only because of my years of dedicated study and selfless discipline that I am able to succeed.”

  “Yeah, well,” Becker said, stifling a smile, turning away, and looking desperately for an excuse to end the conversation.

  Rafik took his aunt’s hand and kissed it, saying, “And the power becomes you mightily, treasure of my adopted father.”

  Acorna wanted to giggle. Rafik’s manners were now—or perhaps it was here—so different than they had been aboard the asteroid mining ship where he, Calum, and Gill had raised her from babyhood. He couldn’t have picked a better time to show up. Having him here steadied her and lessened the emotional vertigo she experienced from dealing with the new Aari.

  She was also very tired from keeping her thoughts shielded from everyone. She should be—was—glad to see her lifemate alive and well again. And not everyone had the chance to undo such a horrible chapter in life as Aari’s torture by the Khleevi. She felt, if not guilty, as least as if her fellow Linyaari would not easily forgive her selfish unhappiness in the face of Aari�
��s unexpected return.

  Hafiz beamed at her and sandwiched her hands between his own. “You have much cause to celebrate today, granddaughter of my heart. Rafik is here and also your own lost husband.”

  “Lifemate, dearest,” Karina whispered out of the side of her mouth, which she hid with the edge of a heavily beringed hand. “The Linyaari have lifemates, not formal marriages.”

  He waved her objection away. “It is all the same. Better in fact, since Linyaari remain faithful throughout their lives to one beloved spouse.”

  Becker cleared his throat. “Uh, Hafiz, could I speak with you privately for a minute?”

  “What is it, you wily camel trader, you?” asked Hafiz, waving his plump forefinger under Becker’s nose in a jovial fashion. Hafiz referred to the deal Becker had made on behalf of the Linyaari for the cats-eyes. The old man had paid almost current market price for the precious and highly useful gems before realizing that the Linyaari and Becker were carting home enough to drive the price down significantly should they all become available at once. Furthermore, since the Linyaari had been heavily into debt to Hafiz for his help in fighting off the Khleevi and rebuilding their devastated worlds, very little money had changed hands.

  Still, Hafiz consoled himself with the thought that, though the Linyaari debt was wiped out and they had sufficient future credits granted for the remaining processes that would be required to revive both planets, Hafiz himself was able to make a handsome profit by selling some of the unusually large and fine cats-eyes he acquired at well above the usual rate. He was also making deals to sell others in the future. And under his capable and profitable guidance, the market would not be flooded, because the bulk of the stones were safely stored in one of the Harakamian warehouses on MOO, ready to be released at the whim and will of one Hafiz Harakamian. When the time—and the price—was appropriate, of course.

  Becker suspected Rafik might have come not only to see Acorna, but also to take possession of more of the stones to market on Kezdet.

  Karina linked arms with her husband, not wanting to be left out of possibly profitable discussions, for despite her well-cultivated ethereal airs, she was as canny in her way as Hafiz.

  This left Acorna more or less alone with Rafik, if she didn’t count Aari’s family and the security personnel.

  Acorna realized what Becker was doing and was grateful for the opportunity to confide in Rafik. She pulled her adopted father aside and quietly explained about Aari and Laarye and the time machine, along with the little she had learned about Grimalkin, Aari’s companion on his voyages through time.

  As they conferred, they walked out of the terminal toward the guest quarters where Hafiz usually lodged his most important visitors. To get there, one walked through Hafiz’s ornamental gardens. The moment they stepped into the bubble, the exotic fragrances assailing their nostrils told Acorna, even before she saw the brilliant blossoms, that the garden had been revived. The flowers were bigger and brighter than ever, and more fragrant. Here and there along the path elaborate fountains radiated fine sprays of moisture to cool the faces and throats of passersby.

  Only a short time ago the surface of MOO had been barren, the irrigation systems ripped up to provide conduits for the waters of Vhiliinyar. To free up the supplies needed to revive the battered planet, Karina and Hafiz had instituted water rationing on MOO, and had themselves submitted with a fortitude that amazed everyone who only knew them as luxury-loving potentates of their own private moon. During the hard times, Hafiz had softened the austerity of the ruined gardens to some degree with extravagant holograms that he created for that purpose, but they naturally did not emit the same perfumes or cooling spray that the real gardens did.

  Acorna and Rafik slowed as they strolled, both to secure the necessary privacy and to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. “You’ve heard my problems,” Acorna said when she had finished relating them to her adopted father. “Now tell me to what we owe the honor of your visit? Is it the catseyes?”

  “Partly, yes. And partly for other family reasons. I am so relieved that you came when you did, and with a development dramatic enough to distract Hafiz from his current campaign to find me a wife. Now that I am his heir, he says, it is time I married and provided him with little heirs and heiresses. He dismisses my argument that you are an appropriate heir for us both. He tells me that you, my dear, have other falafel to fry. I’m just glad I’m not neo-Hadithian after all, or he’d probably try to get me to marry four women at once to improve my chances of fathering his ‘grandchildren.’ I can’t understand him, Acorna. He is twice my age and had only one son—whom he couldn’t stand. Now, all of a sudden, he’s acting like a mother with a virgin daughter. And it’s my life he’s arranging for me.”

  Acorna laughed, “Don’t you want to find a wife, Rafik?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I do. I don’t want Hafiz to find one for me. And I don’t want to find just any nice girl with a nice family that has a nice fortune that goes with her. I don’t want to be an intergalactic playboy like Hafiz was in his younger days. I want to find my own wife, someone as special to me as Judit and Mercy are to Gill and Calum.”

  “Well,” Acorna said ruefully. “If you find her, take my advice and don’t let her get involved with time travelers.”

  “Poor Acorna.” Rafik put his arm around her slim shoulders and gave her a hug. “It’s going to be all right, you know,” he told her. “You and Aari fell in love with each other once, and you will do it again. However much he has changed because of experiences he’s had or hasn’t had, he’s the same person inside and will be drawn back to you. And once the strangeness goes away, you’ll get to fall for him all over again.”

  “Do you think so?” she asked, hoping against all logic that, because of the closeness of their relationship, somehow Rafik knew things about her she herself didn’t know.

  “I do,” he said.

  Two

  Dinner was a lavish affair. Hafiz’s kitchens prepared a very good simulation of a fatted calf for the return of the prodigal heir. The Linyaari, of course, followed their own dietary agenda and dined on the beautifully arranged buds and grasses in the floral centerpieces while the other diners enjoyed gourmet delicacies from more substantial dishes.

  The Balakiire landed while the feast was in progress, but Neeva, Khaari, and Melireenya were all too space-weary from their journey to join in the feast.

  They’d come through a meteor shower on the way back, and had had a very tense time of it.

  (We just wanted to stop and say hello,) Neeva told

  Acorna through mind-speech as Melireenya and

  Khaari, slightly behind her, yawned and gave perfunctory waves of their hands to her and the other diners.

  (We’ll graze later. I see you have someone more interesting to talk to than your old mother-sister anyway. It is well that you are together with Aari once more,

  Khornya. I am pleased for you.)

  Clearly Neeva’s tiredness kept her from picking up on Acorna’s inner conflict.

  Nevertheless, Acorna did her best to seem pleased, too. Under her family’s watchful eye, she tried to be more welcoming to Aari.

  “Can you tell us something of your experiences before you met up with Laarye again?” she asked. “I have been studying the time device, and I think I’ve begun to understand how it works. But I admit I am still curious about why you and Grimalkin traveled to Makahomia.”

  “Yes, Aari, I should very much like to hear that for myself,” Hafiz said. “I trust you had some other plan in mind than that generations later your contributions to the history of that planet would eventually cost me my security chief.” He inclined his head toward a tall uniformed man scrutinizing the area from the perimeter of the bubble. “The new fellow, Smythe-Wesson here, is a former Red Bracelet himself. While I find that somewhat reassuring, he does not inspire the same sort of confidence I had in Commander Kando.” Hafiz sighed a deep, put-upon sigh.

  Thrilled as he was about
the catseyes and the immense profits they would bring him, Hafiz had yet to forgive Acorna and her friends for allowing Nadhari Kando to remain on Makahomia.

  Aari cheerily waved a dahlia through the air as he flung his hands wide, and said, “Oh, that! Well, Grimalkin, as you seem to have gathered, Khornya, is a feline shape-shifter. He is an empath and therefore much less egotistical than others among the Friends, but he shares Riid-Kiiyi’s belief that those who are not cats are less fortunate than he. He was very happy to help me with my mission to rescue Laarye, but said we had to wait for exactly the right time and place to intersect with our home dimension so that I would be there to save my brother without falling prey to the Khleevi again. Even though he time-travels a lot, Grimalkin does not like to waste time, so he insisted we begin positioning ourselves by journeying to Makahomia, where he knew from the journals Nadhari will someday write that we were needed. It was also an excellent opportunity to refashion some of the inhabitants there in his own image. I don’t actually remember any of it, mind you, but I have it all here in the recording he helped me make so I would remember myself from the other timeline.”

  “That sounds confusing,” Maati said.

  Aari shrugged. “Perhaps it was, but he understood it. He is far older and wiser and much more brilliant than I, of course, but I trust his interpretations.”

  Acorna felt peeved all over again. If Grimalkin was so much older, wiser, and brilliant than Aari—and presumably, herself—why couldn’t he have returned Aari to her with his memory intact? Aari spoke of Grimalkin so enthusiastically that she thought that maybe he regretted returning to her. Perhaps her lover would rather be with his new friend.