He and Grenta stepped aside and revealed the mirror.
Orla stared at the woman trapped inside.
Grinnell bet he didn’t expect this.
“Grinnell, why did you hide this from me?” asked Orla.
“What would you have said if I had gone and said, ‘Oh, by the way, Lawaya is trapped in a mirror?’”
“I would have asked if you had been drinking.”
“And I had hoped we would free her first.” Grinnell released a small sigh. “Lawaya told me she can still figure out what is going on with Astrid and should be able to help her.”
“Your man has worked as hard as he could to get us here quickly,” said Lawaya. “Grenta, tell me what has been going on so far.”
“Astrid has been working on her Barou talent while she was pregnant. We were working together when I saw the power drain out of her. She told me she was fine, but I knew she needed a break. That was when I noticed she had two different color eyes. I knew what that meant.”
“So the child she carries is a strong Barou.”
“And Miran.”
“Miran?” She looked at Orla. “That blood runs in your family?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That does complicate things a little. I will have to separate the Barou power from the Miran first. How long has she been unconscious?”
“Almost a cycle.”
“Grenta. Check her vitals. How strong is she?”
Grenta took a few moments to gather that information. “Heart, lungs, pulse are all strong. She is a strong Barou as well. I have seen her talent in action, and she is one of the best.”
“Part of her problem is the mixture of the Barou and Miran blood.” She rested her hand against the mirror. “We need to create a cap to keep the child from trying to take over.”
“I’m not sure that is what’s happening. The spikes happen at odd times. Could the baby be trying to control its power from within Astrid’s body?”
“You think the child is that strong?” asked Lawaya.
“Astrid is a lot stronger than her mother.” Grenta guided May and Mehanna so they could bring the mirror to Astrid’s side. “I was wondering if adding the Miran shapeshifting blood to the Barou mage blood might be causing the spikes. This is the first time the two bloods have mixed, so we don’t know what could happen.”
“Tell me about Astrid’s training.”
Once May and Mehanna placed the mirror where Grenta wanted it, they stepped back.
“She is half Barou, as you know, and her mother passed when she was young. Her father was killed by General Varal, and she escaped to find a champion to help her take her planet back. That champion was Orla. I think the extenuating circumstances that brought her powers out made her much stronger than she would have been if her life had been a simple one.” Grenta touched the unconscious woman’s hand. “Each time I teach her something, she works at it until she masters it. If she doesn’t grasp it right away, she gets angry. Her emotions fuel her power.”
“So the anger allows her to figure out how to do things quicker.”
“It’s not always anger. One time she was so tired I refused to teach her anymore, and she got so silly we ended up laughing so hard tears fell from our eyes. She tried once more and mastered it.”
“Alright. Orla, I know a bit of the history of the Miran blood. Normally the firstborn.”
“Normally? I was told always.”
“There have been a few families where more than one child inherits. Especially if the firstborn dies at a very young age,” Lawaya said. “Tell me a little about your family.”
“My mother had the bloodline. I was the first of twins. I don’t know much else because when our parents betrothed us—” Orla gestured between himself and Astrid. “—I came to live with Astrid as her pet. The only way for a Miran to bond and mate properly is for them to grow up with their mate.”
“Really?” Lawaya was quiet for a moment. “So you spent all of your life on this planet? Did you ever go home?”
“Once I was old enough I did.”
“And Varal was in control by that point.” She watched Orla brush a few strands of Astrid’s hair. “Was Varal from this planet?”
“No. Astrid’s father needed a general to help keep his space safe. There had been a few incidents with people trying to mine the moon. The general came along at the right time, and at first, he seemed perfect. It wasn’t until much later that we realized that Varal was the one behind mining the moons. He had tried to get to the ore and got caught, so used it to his advantage to take over the planet and have the access he wanted.”
“I heard the newsfeeds on your exploits in thwarting him, but I’d love to hear the real story.”
“There wasn’t much to tell,” Orla said. “When her father passed, we used the royal time of mourning to escape the planet. Then we worked our way to my homeworld. Astrid’s father told her to go find her betrothed to get her off the planet.”
“Then she didn’t know you were her destined mate.”
Orla shook his head. “No. She believed my twin was who she was betrothed to. That’s how we met Grinnell and Grenta. We needed a pilot and Grinnell is the best. He kept us safe throughout our mission. I consider him my best friend. Grenta was living on my planet when we met her. She knew she could be in deep trouble with your people, but she also knew that Astrid needed to learn to control her power. She is more than a teacher. She is family.”
“What sort of things did she do with her power?” Lawaya asked. “Things that surprised you.”
“Oh, well, she created a Miran tail, which was impressive since she hadn’t had any training then.” Orla paused as he thought. “Then, with Grenta’s help, she was able to hide our landing party from the guards searching for us.”
“I only helped her focus,” added Grenta. “She did the rest all by herself.”
“And then there were the doors.”
“Doors?” Lawaya looked confused.
“We infiltrated one of Varal’s strongholds and were caught. We had to escape, and somehow she manipulated the security doors so they wouldn’t slide down. I have asked her to tell me how she did that, but she said it was a Barou secret.”
“She learned to manipulate inanimate objects?” Lawaya looked a Grenta. “Only a master has that ability.”
“The situation was dire, and she had to return safely.” Grenta looked at her hands. “What she did was against Barou rules, but I had to make sure she had the right ammunition to do that.”
“How much did you teach her?”
“I only had microns, so I gave her the basics.” Grenta looked at Lawaya. “I was no longer part of the Barou, and I knew Astrid had been able to master a lot of the more advanced techniques faster than anyone I had trained before her. I felt what I did was right, and I still stand behind it.”
“I’m not upset with you teaching her how to do this technique, but she never should have been able to do what she did.” She looked at Orla. “It takes masters yepas of intense training to be able to accomplish what Astrid did after a few microns of training. She could be the strongest Barou out there.”
“Astrid could well be,” said Grenta. “Once she’s tested, she might even believe it.”
“Amazing.” Lawaya smiled. “Grenta, have you been training her while she’s been pregnant?”
“Of course. She still has a lot to master.”
“I think you had more than one student. Here’s what you need to do. Place your hands on either side of her womb and speak softly to the infant. Let her know that she is very strong, and you promise to train her when she is born, but for now, she needs to let her mother be in control so her mom can make sure she comes into this world strong.”
Grenta nodded and did as Lawaya asked. She rubbed her hands against Astrid’s stomach, relaxing the child and the hold she had on her mother. After spending a few microns telling the child how smart and loved she was, she whispered how excited everyone was to meet her and wanted her healthy. Asked her to let her mom have control, and she promised to train her when she was old enough. She hoped she made it through to the child when she stepped back.
Orla watched his mate as he spoke to Grenta and Lawaya. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.”
“Sometimes it is best to keep it simple.”
Astrid’s eyes fluttered open.
“Astrid.” Orla was at her side quickly. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m not sure.” She felt a little lightheaded. “How did I get here?”
“You fell unconscious, and I couldn’t wake you. Grinnell brought the leader of the Barou to help wake you up.”
“What?” She sat up. “What about Grenta? She’s not supposed to be anywhere near the leader.”
“It is alright, child.” Grenta sat on the bed beside her. “Lawaya has reinstated me. You no longer have to take the test to prove you’re Barou.”
“That doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re safe.” Astrid took her friend’s hands in hers. “You told me they could put you to death if they wanted to.”
“I would never do that to Grenta.”
Astrid looked to where the new voice came from and saw nothing but a mirror. She looked back at Grenta. “Where is she?”
“In the mirror.”
“What happened?” She tried to stand, which brought Orla to her side to help her keep her balance.
“It was my fault,” said another new voice.
Astrid turned to where Grinnell stood. “And who is your friend?”
“This is Mehanna and her sister May.”
The two women bowed to the queen of Emori.
“And why do you think this is your fault?” she asked.
“Because my abilities got away from me, and I trapped her in there.”
“Are you Barou?”
Mehanna shook her head.
“But you have some sort of ability to manipulate matter.”
She shrugged.
“Very good,” said Lawaya. “That is what I thought too. I felt the training could be the same.”
“It makes sense,” said Astrid. “That is what we do, but our manipulations of matter or energy don’t last.”
“What is a Barou?” asked May.
“We have the ability to create illusions that a non-Barou will see as real.”
“Can we see?”
Astrid waved her hand and a bouquet of flowers appeared. She handed it to May. Dewdrops glistened on the petals.
“This is amazing. How can you say it’s not real?”
“This is how,” said Grenta as she passed her hand through it. It broke up into a thousand glittering fragments.
May tried to grasp at the glitter as it started to disappear. “Oh, you must do that again. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“All in good time, May,” said Lawaya. “I still plan on working with your sister once I get out of this mirror.”
“I can work with May,” said Grenta, “while you and Mehanna try to free you from the mirror.”
Astrid was grateful that Grenta was going to help the young woman. She knew her mate had worried about her, but she didn’t know why. She took his hand and pulled him back to sit on the bed she had been on. “So how long was I out?”
“Too long.”
“Orla.”
“Almost a cycle.”
“What?” She didn’t feel like she had lost any time. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” He took her hands in his. “You were working with Grenta and passed out. When we tried to wake you, we couldn’t.”
“How did you get Lawaya here?” She looked over to where the mirror rested.
“I sent Grinnell after Lawaya when your eyes changed color. Grenta told me that wasn’t a good sign.”
So her friend and her mate had kept this from her. “Why not?”
“It said our child might be stronger than you are.”
“Really?” She rubbed her belly and spoke softly to her womb. “You are?”
“Lawaya said that when Grenta was teaching you, our daughter was trying to master the same technique.” Orla placed his hands on her womb as well.
“We don’t know the sex of our child.” Astrid turned so she could lean against him.
“I know, but that didn’t stop Lawaya from saying our child was a girl.”
“How would she know?” asked Astrid.
“I don’t know, but she is very convincing.” He linked fingers with her.
“Boy or girl, our child will be loved.”
“That is very true.” Orla hugged her. “And they will be spoiled.”
“May, you have the ability your sister has.” Grenta watched her. “Were you taught anything?”
“No. My sister can create food that you can eat, but I was never taught anything.”
“Have you tried to use your talent?”
“With disastrous results.”
“What happened?” Grenta pointed to a chair for May to sit in.
“I don’t know.” May sat down. “I tried to make a new outfit. I had been wearing the same thing for too long and no one would make me a new one, so I thought I’d try to do it myself.”
“What went wrong?”
“I wish I knew. Instead of making clothing, I set my home on fire.”
“Oh, my.” Grenta stood. “Show me.”
“Okay,” May stood as well. “I wish for new clothing. What I have is old. The cloth is simple. The design beautiful. Cover me in elegance and style.”
“Hmm.” Grenta walked around her. “You have everything worded, but where is the emotion?”
“That was what set my place on fire.”
“Your power, controlled or not, is based on your emotions.” Grenta stopped in front of her. “Most of us awaken our power with strong emotion. For Astrid, it was the death of her father.”
“I haven’t had something so devastating as that.”
“You were separated from your twin sister and taken from your family at a young age. I would think that would have triggered your power.”
“Yes, but I didn’t know that until recently.” May looked at Grenta. “The people I lived with treated me well. Now that I have powers that I can’t control they’re afraid of me, but they raised me like one of their own.”
“How about you show me what you can do?”
“That’s it. Everything I’ve tried doesn’t work.”
“Okay. Let’s start with your focus.”
Grinnell walked with Mehanna. “Orla would like us to stay for a few duras. He has been working on making a ship for me, but it’s not quite ready.”
“I thought the ship we came in was yours.”
“That is Orla’s ship. He loaned it to me because finding Lawaya was of the essence.”
“And now?”
“He wants to make sure our mission to find your homeworld is successful. This new ship will have a larger engine and can go into deep space. The other ship doesn’t have that capability. It will also have a better cloaking device and a powerful defense system.”
“Why?”
“Because I think your home planet is in a sector of space that has a lot of pirates. I want to be able to protect us if need be.”
“Then you asked for this new ship.”
“Orla told me if I liked his, he would build me one. He must have started on it lunas ago. All he needs to do is a few modifications and we can leave.”
“You know you don’t have to help me. You have what you wanted.”
Grinnell stopped walking and turned her toward him. “I promised you that I would help you. I never go back on my word.”
The secur May saw her sister she started talking. “Oh, my stars, these people are great. If you want to learn more about our powers. They seem to know it all. Grenta showed me how to make a flower. Now it’s only one, but it’s a start.” She continued chattering away while she created a single flower. “Nesdura she’s going to work with me some more so I can learn to control my powers.”
“That’s wonderful, May.” Mehanna placed her hands on May’s arms. “Maybe you need to take a breath?”
“Sorry.” She laughed. “I’m just so happy to have someone willing to teach me, to teach us. Will you learn with me? Grenta said you’d be here a few duras while they get Grinnell’s ship ready.”
Mehanna searched her sister’s face. “You’re coming with us, aren’t you?”
“I want to learn, Mehanna. I’ve always wanted to learn. I don’t care about where we came from. They didn’t care enough to come after us.”
“I want to know why they left us.” Mehanna stepped back and clenched her hands. “Make them explain themselves.”
“I will go home somedura, but I want to control my powers first. You don’t seem to have the problem I do where they just flare up. In a small space like a ship, I need to not be afraid that I’ll destroy something accidentally by snapping my fingers or by laughing too hard.”
“It can’t be that bad. I’ll help you.”
“How? You can’t control your powers. Let me do this.” She placed a hand on Mehanna’s shoulder. “You’re my sister and now that I found you, I don’t want to lose you again. But if I can’t control my powers, it will make both our lives miserable.”
“If you are sure.” Mehanna wasn’t happy about the idea, but she knew how frustrating it was to not have control. She wanted to go home so she could free Lawaya and learn to control her powers so she wouldn’t make the same mistake. They had the same goal. They just wanted to achieve it differently.
Orla rested a hand against the hull of the ship. “I love this ship.”
“I thought you loved your ship.”
“Oh, I do.” Orla grinned. “But when we had to make changes to this so you could have heavy armaments, larger engines that would allow you to go longer without needing fuel and change the paint job so you can camouflage the ship better. I fell in love all over again.”
“I thought I was your only love,” said Astrid, who now stood behind them.
“You know you’re my best love.”
“Good answer.” She walked to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist. “At least your other love is an inanimate object.”
“She is designed the same as the one you took to find Lawaya.”
“She?” questioned Astrid.
“Most vehicles are dubbed female unless they do something that is totally male,” said Grinnell.
“And that makes absolutely no sense.”
“The interior is the same,” Orla said. “I didn’t format anything, but the command area, and you can make changes to make the ship more comfortable for you.”
“What about the items I asked you to install?” Grinnell asked.
“Cargo three.”
“Thanks.”
Grenta approached with May and Mehanna. The two women were carrying Lawaya in the mirror once again and followed her to the ship.
Grinnell shifted his weight when the ladies caught up to them. Orla noticed that Mehanna went to his side. His lovely mate had pointed out that the young woman had kept to Grinnell’s side since they arrived. She thought there was a budding relationship between them. He teased her and asked if she was playing matchmaker. She reminded him that all she did was observe.
He felt his mate’s hand tighten on his waist when Mehanna edged her way to Grinnell’s side.
“You ready?” asked Grinnell.
Mehanna nodded.
“Lawaya, I know you’d rather be around us, so I had the computer create a small niche for your mirror to rest in. It will keep you safe and allow you to watch the screens as we travel.”
“Thank you, Grinnell.” She looked at Astrid. “I will make sure you receive your confirmation from the Barou homeworld as soon as I can. Once I’m released from this prison, I want to test you, but I’m going to mark you as a fledgling master until I can do that. The things I saw you create were much better than most of our full-time students.”
“Thanks, Lawaya. I look forward to finding just how good I am.” She placed her hand on her stomach. “But perhaps we should wait until the baby is born.”
“That might be a good idea.”
May went to her sister and hugged her.
“You sure you don’t want to come with us?” asked Mehanna.
“You sure you don’t want to stay with me?” countered May.
“I’m going to miss you.”
“And I you.” May hugged her again. “Come back quickly.”
“I will try.”
May moved to Grinnell and as she hugged him, she whispered. “I’ve had duromares of home. Please protect her and bring her back safe.”
“You remember your home?” he asked softly.
“Yes.” She pressed a small chip into his hand. “Everything I have dreamed is on this. It’s a copy of my diary. I’ve been having the duromares for yepas, but they didn’t make sense until I met my sister.”
“Why not give this to her?”
“She is still child-like in many ways.” May looked at her sister for a moment. “She wants to know why they left us and hopes the answer will give her peace. My dreams won’t show her what she wants to see. I fear she would ignore it, but you have been out there; you know evil.”
He nodded and stepped back.
“My friend, I wish you could spend a little more time with us,” said Orla.
“We’ll be back before you know it, with Lawaya freed from the mirror,” said Grinnell. They grasped elbows.
Orla pulled him close. “My mate thinks there is something between you two,” he whispered, indicating Mehanna. “Is that true?”
There was no way he was going to answer a question like that. He didn’t know what was happening between them. “I’m happy we were able to help Astrid,” he said instead, as he smiled as he stepped back from Orla.
“My hero.” Astrid wrapped her arms around Grinnell’s neck. “Thank you.”
“My queen.”
She pressed a kiss against his cheek. “She’s sweet. Treat her well.”
“Yes, ma’am. I promise.”
Once the goodbyes were done, Grinnell climbed the gangplank and entered the ship. Mehanna and her sister entered next, carrying Lawaya’s mirror.
“Put her right here.” Grinnell pointed to a small niche against the wall. He helped them settle the mirror. Once they were done May exited the ship.
“Lawaya, this spot was created to keep you stable but still allow you to see everything.”
“Thank you, Grinnell. I was worried you’d make a room for me. Something I don’t need.”
“This has a forcefield to keep you safe, and it can be made opaque if you want some privacy.”
“And how am I to activate it?”
“The easiest way is to use a thumbs up. The computer had been programmed to watch you for any motion to let it know what you want. We can work on other movements, but I thought that would be the first one we could start with. I have also programmed the computer to interact with you. All you have to do is mimic talking with your hands.” He parroted the movement with his hand.
“Yes, Captain. You wish to speak?”
“I want to be sure you can register her movements.”
“Of course.”
“Go ahead, Lawaya.”
She shrugged and opened and closed her hand like she was imitating talking.
“What would you like to talk about, Lawaya? I have been programmed in many subjects.”
“Good,” Grinnell said. “Computer, this is a test to see if her movements register. From this point on, when she makes that movement, you should have a subject ready in case she isn’t sure what she would like to speak about. Lawaya, try having the computer activate your privacy shield. I’ll reverse the order as soon as I’m sure it works.”
“You realize that the moment the shield goes up my mirror will go dark.”
“I’ve programmed something that I hope will help keep your mirror active. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll try something else.”
“Alright.”
Grinnell sealed her in and activated the screen inside the shield. He hoped he gave it enough time.
The first thing he noticed was the shocked look on her face when the shield dissipated. “Was there something wrong?”
“What was that?” She pressed her hands against the glass of the mirror. “It was so white.”
“Good, it worked. That was from the mountains of Emori. It’s frozen rain. Quite beautiful.” He pressed a few keys on a tablet he held. “I can program just about anything you might want.”
“I would love to have a nice forest scene. One I can pretend to walk through.”
“Done.”
“What’s next?” asked Mehanna.
“Well, I have to do my preflight checklist, but I thought you might want to settle into your room if you like.”
“Um, sure.”
“Come with me.” He led her down to the cargo area.
“This doesn’t look like the sleeping quarters.”
“It’s not. I thought you’d be more comfortable here.” He opened the door to reveal her computer system. “I had everything brought here, but I know you’ll want to tweak it. I thought this would be more fun than watching me while I go through my boring checklist. Once we break the atmosphere, I’ll come back and get you.”
“Oh, thank you, Grinnell.” She pressed a quick kiss against his cheek and then practically danced into the room.
He knew she loved what he did for her. That thrilled him to the bone.
Everything went off without a hitch, something that didn’t always happen. Grinnell watched as the atmosphere gave way to space. He set the autopilot and went to cargo bay three.
He walked in to find Mehanna on her hands and knees, crawling around one of her terminals.
“You are not going to get the best of me.” She crawled in between two units so the only thing Grinnell could see was her derriere wiggling at him.
“Is there a problem?” he asked, trying to keep his voice from cracking. She had no idea how the view aroused him.
Bang!
“Ow!” Mehanna sat on her butt and rubbed her head. “No. Just trying to get something plugged in. Had the same problem when I first put it together.”
“You know you could program the computer to give you a longer cord so you wouldn’t have to fight with it like this.” He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet.
“That would take all the fun out of it.” She dusted the seat of her pants off. “Are you done with your work?”
“I am. I thought you’d like to see where your room is.”
“Okay.” She didn’t sound excited. Maybe there was something wrong.
He took her hand and led her down the hall. She pressed her hand against the panel to unlock the room. The doors slid open, and they stepped in.
“Oh, you recreated my sleeping area.” She wandered into the room. “Thank you.”
“You don’t sound very excited. I thought this would make you feel more comfortable.”
“Oh, it does.” She clasped her hands behind her and gave him her best smile.
“Then what is wrong?”
“Nothing.” She brushed her fingers against the moss that covered the slab. “You have gone out of your way to recreate what I had in my cave.”
He took her face in his hands and lifted it so he could look into her eyes. Unshed tears glistened there. “Hey. Talk to me.”
“You haven’t wanted to touch me since we left my home. I had thought maybe you would want to again now that we’re alone, but I see that I’m wrong.”
“What? That’s not—look, I think I need to explain a few things.” He took her hand and led her to the bed. “I wasn’t ignoring you or avoiding you. Physical relationships can get a little complicated, and I didn’t handle it right. I wasn’t sure if you wanted anyone to know about what we shared, and I never got a chance to ask you so decided to let you make the first move. Between Orla needing my help with a few things and the instant bond between you and your sister, I didn’t see how I could get you alone.”
“But we did take a few walks. You could have said something then.”
“I know, but you seemed a little overwhelmed, and I knew the moment Astrid found out she would try to play matchmaker, and I didn’t think you’d want that kind of attention.” He took her hands in his. “But I promise to make it up to you starting right now.”
She gave him a smile that took his breath away.