Counterweave

6. THE INTRUSION

Chala entered her suite early the next morning, so tired she thought she might fall asleep while standing. Thankfully Salettin had also been too tired to stay all night. By five hundred he'd had enough of dancing. Once he got her into her suite, he left her to her adorable slaves, who slipped light probes into her mind as they got her ready for bed.

The constant touch of others in her mind made her feel safe. Thankfully, no one left her alone, ever. Unknown dangers lurked, ready to pounce once they found her unprotected.

Her slaves' touch differed from Salettin's, as Mother's touch was different still, but they all loved her. They always filled her with their different forms of affection for her. Sometimes, in Raeta and Emery's enthusiasm for her, they forgot to let her sleep. She had been known to drop off during fittings and other events. To her dismay, she had even dozed during some of Salettin's business engagements. Fortunately, her struggle to remain awake during the conversation with the restaurateurs had not been one of those. She was proud of Salettin for his success.

Raeta bathed her, massaged her, then crawled into bed with her. When Emree joined them, they snuggled with her for a while, as they always did. Being connected, all three of them knew what the other two wanted. But soon hers and Emree's probes fell away as they drifted into sleep.

It seemed they were as tired as Chala was.

Chala tried to calm her mind so she could sleep too, but once she felt her slaves' probes leave, she began thinking.

At first she thought about how her feet and legs hurt. For the first time since she had been with Salettin, she found herself wishing she would never need to dance all night again. When he filled her with his presence, she felt like she could dance forever, but not right now. Now she was too tired to get any rest, and she resented him for it.

She tried to correct the resentment, reminding herself that she should never resent anything Salettin did. He only wanted the best for her.

But her resentment led to her remembering that Salettin hadn't wanted her to speak to Tri'ndel alone. Why not? Was there a reason that she was forbidden to speak to someone out of his hearing? Why was that so? Was that the way with all married people? But if so, why wasn't Tri'ndel's husband right next to her?

She began to question Salettin's constant presence whenever they left their residence. Sometimes, she began to realize, there were things that a woman needed to do with a friend that didn't include her husband. At least, she thought that might be so.

Confusion followed. Why didn't she feel as if what Salettin wanted was more important than anything? If he wanted many children, then so did she. Tri'ndel should do the same for her husband. Why should Tri'ndel decide how many children she should have? But a nudge of rebellion followed, startling her.

Another thing surprised her. For some reason, she had been able to stop Tri'ndel's eggs from forming. She tried to explore where that thought had originated, and realized it came somewhere deep inside of her. It was not of Xantis Tey origin, which upset her. She should not be experiencing such filthy, alien thoughts! Salettin's jolt of alarm when he felt her using her energies to prevent her friend's eggs from forming was only right. As they danced, she felt him try to find where this ability had come from, but he could not.

This led to more questions, specifically, how had she known to stop Tri'ndel's fertility?

What made you forget that you could, someone whispered, the bones of communication with no flesh. You have the Knowledge; you are the Daughter.