"I don't know about you, but I'd like to sit down with her quietly, maybe over dinner or something, and let her know how much I care about her." Corolan wasn't waiting; he wanted everyone to know where he stood.
"I think one on one, or perhaps two won't be so overwhelming," Aurelius said. "As soon as she's up to it. Provided we can get past the Larentii."
"If he hadn't been there today," Lissa shivered. Gavin reached out and lifted her hand, kissing it gently. Gavin was going to be a grandfather for the first time. He wouldn't have been if Reah had taken one more step.
"We would like to give truth," Farzi stood, followed by Nenzi. "The King and his mate, they take Reah's girls. Give them everything. Except they not give. Reah supports Kifirin with gishi fruit. She pay bills and make sure King's palace and King have money. Reah supports those girls. King and his family live off Reah." Nenzi nodded the whole time Farzi spoke. Farzi and Nenzi sat down.
"That's telling it like it is," Drake muttered.
"Nefrigar says to tell all of you that we will be able to visit Reah in five days. She is getting the best of care," Connegar announced.
"Where is she?" Ry asked.
"At first on the Larentii homeworld. After that, she will receive specialized care elsewhere. You may visit her then. He will keep you informed when her location changes."
"Is Reah all right?" Nenzi asked.
"He is keeping her asleep much of the time. She is still suffering from her ordeal on Stellar Winds and Cloudsong. She should have been placed under care when she returned, but she was not. The mute was still in place and nobody thought to do it," Connegar replied.
"I don't know about the rest of you but I am angry with Kifirin." Lok wasn't mincing words.
"Yes, but it sounds dangerous to be angry with a god," Corolan grumbled.
"He said to tell you that you're all entitled to be angry," Lissa said. "And he knows I'm pissed as hell, too."
"We can be angry, we just can't do anything about it," Ry nodded to his mother. "Honestly, if he felt he owed us anything, then he or his parent should help Reah. That would help the rest of us."
"I agree with my brother," Gavril nodded to Ry. "Kifirin put us and Reah into this mess and we almost lost her today. Who knows how long this is going to affect all of us?"
"I'd like to have her back here now," Lok said. "I feel as if I've been absent or asleep for the past twenty-five years." His remark had several nodding and agreeing around the room.
"We'll just have to wait the five days, I suppose," Tory said. "And I have a higher mountain to climb than the rest of you."
* * *
"Kevis?" Karzac knocked on his son's open study door.
"Dad! When did you get here?" Kevis looked up from his comp-vid—he was completing notes on a patient. He entered the last bit of information and stood to greet his father.
"Kev, I have a patient I'd like to put in your clinic," Karzac said, walking in to sit beside his son's beautifully polished wood desk. Kevis, a physician for the past thirty years, ran a private clinic for patients with difficult mental problems.
"Dad, surely not one of the Saa Thalarr," Kevis sat down again and hit an electronic key on his deskcomp. Kevis looked very much like his father—nearly six feet tall with light-brown hair and green-gold eyes. He'd opened his private clinic twenty years earlier on Refizan, his father helping financially. Kevis was doing very well for himself.
"No. Not one of those. And I think when we get her, the Larentii will have already made a great deal of progress in her treatment. What we really need for her, I think, is peace and quiet, where there isn't anyone troubling her with something that needs to be done. She hasn't had a vacation in years, has been attacked and made very ill recently and there are other circumstances that have affected her. She almost killed herself three days ago."
"Is there anything unusual about her?" Kevis lifted an eyebrow at his father. He suspected that the prospective patient might not be completely human.
"She's High Demon, son, and hasn't been treated well for a very long time."
* * *
"Reah, wake up my love." Nefrigar touched gentle fingers to my forehead. I blinked at him. I'd been difficult to wake