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Authors: S. L. Viehl
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discovering her uniqueness had shaped her and her life.
I could not believe that my body had been copied from that of a male. What did that make me? Were there others? "Is it customary to create genetic copies of other ensleg and then change them so?"
"No," Garphawayn assured me. "You are the only one that we know of, but there may be others. Cherijo's creator told her that she had 'brothers.'"
The female Omorr also repeated what her mate had told her of my former self, Reever, and a Jorenian named Kao Torin, and how the three had contributed to the long, troubled relationship between Cherijo and my husband. None of these things had been detailed in the journals, but Garphawayn assured me that Squilyp would attest to the facts.
It seemed that there was much I had not been told.
Squilyp's mate then detailed how it was with ensleg females, and permitted me to ask anything about ensleg ways, no matter how embarrassing. She remained patient with my ignorance, tolerated my many questions, and when something made no sense, she took me to the console and used the database to illustrate the point. She dismissed the laws of the Iisleg as gender bias born of ignorance-riddled custom and superstition. When I refused to believe her, she showed me examples of other species that had developed similar and opposing cultures, as well as the doctrines agreed upon by the Allied League.
She did not argue with my beliefs. She destroyed them.
By the time Garphawayn had finished my world had turned upside down and inside out. I could no longer look upon myself or Cherijo as the same person. All I could think was that I inhabited a body more valuable than anyone suspected, and the danger to me and Marel seemed to loom higher and colder than anything I knew, even an ice cliff ready to collapse.
Why had Reever kept such things from me?
I felt so many emotions that I could not untangle them: confusion, bitterness, anger—and an overwhelming sense of outrage. I only had one last question for Garphawayn. "What am I going to do, now that I know all of this?"
"Jam, you said that when you were among the skela, you did not act like a woman of the tribe or follow the skela ways," the female Omorr said. "You saved lives."
I gave her a blank look. "It was my work. I knew the work had to be more important than anything the skela did. Besides that, the Iisleg would never have accepted the survivor of a crashed ship into an iiskar; I could never live among them as a proper woman."
"Your work is the same here. Even if the men do not agree with it, you must do what you feel is right." Garphawayn rose. "Now I must go and have harsh words with my mate. Signal me if you again need to speak of this or anything we have discussed."
She left me in that muddle of emotions and thoughts. Some time later the console blipped, indicating a priority relay was waiting, and I answered it. It came from the ship's communication center.
"ClanLeader Teulon Jado is signaling from the peace summit," Salo Torin told me. He did not seem to want to meet my gaze directly. "He insists on speaking with you, Healer."
"Permit him to do so, please," I said.
Salo forwarded the signal, which made Teulon's image appear on the console screen. The distance between us caused some slight distortion, but his familiar features loosened the knot inside my chest.
"Jam." He lifted his hand and touched the screen. I did the same. "Raktar." He looked tired and worried. "You and Resa are well?" "Yes." He smiled a little. "My Chosen asks the same of you" "I miss you both, but I am making a place here
for myself." A place that I was no longer convinced I wished to occupy but Teulon had not signaled me to listen to my woes. I also needed to check further into Garphawayn's claim that Cherijo had been grown from her creator's own cells to be the perfect, immortal physician. It was not something I entirely believed possible. I had been a man? "What is the matter?"
"HouseClan Torin has refused to
I could not believe that my body had been copied from that of a male. What did that make me? Were there others? "Is it customary to create genetic copies of other ensleg and then change them so?"
"No," Garphawayn assured me. "You are the only one that we know of, but there may be others. Cherijo's creator told her that she had 'brothers.'"
The female Omorr also repeated what her mate had told her of my former self, Reever, and a Jorenian named Kao Torin, and how the three had contributed to the long, troubled relationship between Cherijo and my husband. None of these things had been detailed in the journals, but Garphawayn assured me that Squilyp would attest to the facts.
It seemed that there was much I had not been told.
Squilyp's mate then detailed how it was with ensleg females, and permitted me to ask anything about ensleg ways, no matter how embarrassing. She remained patient with my ignorance, tolerated my many questions, and when something made no sense, she took me to the console and used the database to illustrate the point. She dismissed the laws of the Iisleg as gender bias born of ignorance-riddled custom and superstition. When I refused to believe her, she showed me examples of other species that had developed similar and opposing cultures, as well as the doctrines agreed upon by the Allied League.
She did not argue with my beliefs. She destroyed them.
By the time Garphawayn had finished my world had turned upside down and inside out. I could no longer look upon myself or Cherijo as the same person. All I could think was that I inhabited a body more valuable than anyone suspected, and the danger to me and Marel seemed to loom higher and colder than anything I knew, even an ice cliff ready to collapse.
Why had Reever kept such things from me?
I felt so many emotions that I could not untangle them: confusion, bitterness, anger—and an overwhelming sense of outrage. I only had one last question for Garphawayn. "What am I going to do, now that I know all of this?"
"Jam, you said that when you were among the skela, you did not act like a woman of the tribe or follow the skela ways," the female Omorr said. "You saved lives."
I gave her a blank look. "It was my work. I knew the work had to be more important than anything the skela did. Besides that, the Iisleg would never have accepted the survivor of a crashed ship into an iiskar; I could never live among them as a proper woman."
"Your work is the same here. Even if the men do not agree with it, you must do what you feel is right." Garphawayn rose. "Now I must go and have harsh words with my mate. Signal me if you again need to speak of this or anything we have discussed."
She left me in that muddle of emotions and thoughts. Some time later the console blipped, indicating a priority relay was waiting, and I answered it. It came from the ship's communication center.
"ClanLeader Teulon Jado is signaling from the peace summit," Salo Torin told me. He did not seem to want to meet my gaze directly. "He insists on speaking with you, Healer."
"Permit him to do so, please," I said.
Salo forwarded the signal, which made Teulon's image appear on the console screen. The distance between us caused some slight distortion, but his familiar features loosened the knot inside my chest.
"Jam." He lifted his hand and touched the screen. I did the same. "Raktar." He looked tired and worried. "You and Resa are well?" "Yes." He smiled a little. "My Chosen asks the same of you" "I miss you both, but I am making a place here
for myself." A place that I was no longer convinced I wished to occupy but Teulon had not signaled me to listen to my woes. I also needed to check further into Garphawayn's claim that Cherijo had been grown from her creator's own cells to be the perfect, immortal physician. It was not something I entirely believed possible. I had been a man? "What is the matter?"
"HouseClan Torin has refused to
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