Destiny (30 page)

By then they'd all gotten to their feet and approached the hearth, which let them see Rion's immediate amusement.

"Meaning that if I fall dead from eating the food, that will save the rest of you," Rion said, and Jovvi could tell that his amusement was real. "'Clarion' might have believed that your only interest was in fairness, Tamrissa, but I haven't been that innocent in quite some time. I'm able to understand your reservations, however, so I'll be glad to taste my efforts first."

Tamma tried to look shame-faced as Rion separated his omelet into six bowls, but she didn't make a very good job of it. It was now possible to smell the omelet, and the aroma seemed to be incredibly enticing. Jovvi thought about offering to join Rion in the test, but she looked up to see that her brother had already taken one of the bowls and a wooden spoon.

"Hmmm, yes, the consistency is right, but the seasoning is only just adequate," Rion pronounced after chewing and swallowing a bite. "My only excuse is that this house offered very little in the way of seasoning, so I was forced to make do. Would one of you others care to give
your
opinion?"

That invitation caused all the rest of them to reach for a bowl, and when Jovvi took the first taste she thought she was back in civilized surroundings and in a dining parlor. The omelet
was
cooked just right, and it had the kind of delicate flavor she hadn't tasted in a very long time. Jovvi closed her eyes in delight, hearing the same delight murmur through the rest of the group.

"Rion, you have my most sincere apologies," Tamma said after a long moment. "This could well be the best omelet I've ever tasted, so please feel free to cook for us at any time. Even if we do happen to fall over and die, at least we'll die happy."

Jovvi almost choked when she began to laugh, and she wasn't the only one. Leave it to Tamma to negate even the most sincere apology.

They all settled down to eat then, with Vallant and Tamma quickly seeing to the bread. Adding moisture and then warming the bread did make it seem fresh, and Rion hadn't forgotten to put up water for tea. Naran finished eating first and went to prepare the tea, and once Jovvi and the others finished eating they got cups and helped themselves. Jovvi felt very satisfied when she sat again with her cup of tea, and once he was settled Vallant looked around at them.

"I've been thinkin' while I ate, and I don't believe we ought to try Blendin' through Tamrissa just yet," he said. "We ought to tell the others what we're doin' first, and then have one of the other Blendin's keep an eye on the enemy. We'll have to give the enemy's Blendin' members a chance to rest before we challenge them, so we'll have lots of opportunity to practice before that time."

"It really annoys me that we have to be so fair about this," Tamma said, the annoyance she'd mentioned clear in her expression. "I understand why we have to be fair and I agree with the necessity, but I still don't like it. If the new way of Blending works the way we hope it will, there might not be much left of that enemy Blending."

"You won't find
me
weeping over the loss," Rion said from where he lounged with his own cup of tea. "I believe I've mentioned before how I feel about those who take delight in stealing the minds and lives of others."

"If possible, we ought to save at least one member of that Blendin'," Vallant said, obviously feeling nothing of the faint distress Jovvi did at the thought of destroying the enemy completely. "The slaves know little or nothin', but a Blendin' member ought to be able to answer most of our questions."

"You know, it should be possible to keep them all alive if we're able to destroy their talent," Lorand pointed out as he looked around. "They would no longer be a threat then, and each one of them may know something the others don't."

"And what do you expect we'd do with them after they answered our questions?" Tamma put, but rather gently. "They aren't slaves themselves, or their Blending entity would hardly be as arrogant as it is. They're responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people, Lorand, and they're ready and willing to kill even more. Do you really think people like that won't find a way to kill without talent if they're left alive?"

"I was about to suggest that they be locked up somewhere, but I withdraw the suggestion," Naran said with a sigh when Lorand didn't respond. "That option allows for the possibility of escape, and those people really are vicious. If they escape from confinement then innocent people will die, and the deaths will be
our
fault for not having the stomach to do the necessary."

"I'd love to argue for mercy, but I'm afraid I can't," Jovvi said, mostly to a forlorn-looking Lorand. "We have no right to put innocent people's lives in danger simply because we dislike the idea of killing. Happily, though, the matter will be seen to by those of us who have no qualms about doing the necessary. We'll have to take full responsibility for the action along with them, but we
can
avoid what we'd find painful if not impossible."

"And we don't mind," Vallant said as Lorand nodded despite his obvious reluctance, clearly speaking for Tamma and Rion as well. "As long as we know that the rest of you will tell us if we start goin' too far, we don't mind takin' care of the hard part."

Everyone reached out to touch Lorand then, showing him their love and support without words. Lorand clung to them for a moment before he straightened again, strengthened in spite of his continuing upset. Jovvi knew that Lorand would be strong enough to join the rest of them, and also knew that she would be the same. The one thing she didn't know was just how guilty she would feel afterward…

Chapter Eighteen

The village had a large, empty building that could have been a meeting hall, so we called our people in there to tell them what we meant to do. The new Gracelian High Blendings had taken the building over instead of using some of the houses, so they were the only ones who didn't have to send a couple of representatives. Everyone else
did
have to choose two attendees, otherwise we would have been five deep in each others' laps.

"Are you people serious?" Deegro Lapas, a member of one of my link groups, said once Vallant explained things. "Do you actually mean to tell us you've been doing things wrong all this time?"

"How can it be wrong if it got us
this
far?" I countered, shaking my head at the idiot. "You should know that we keep finding out all sorts of things about Blending that the nobles never knew - or simply didn't share - and this is just another of those things."

"Only a couple of days ago I would have said I wasn't up to trying your idea," Arinna said, looking delighted. Arinna was the Fire magic member of Pagin Holter's Blending, the Blending that was closest in age and strength to ours. "We were going through that phase of being exhausted all the time, but now we seem to be past it."

"And we're lookin' f'rw'rd t'hearin' each other in th' Blendin'," Holter himself added. "That ain't happened yet."

"But it will, and probably fairly soon," Vallant told him with a smile. "We're thinkin' about chargin' you people for the warnin's we've been givin'. Without us you'd be flounderin' around the way
we're
doin'."

"Whatever you charge will be worth it," Arinna said with a laugh that Holter and most of the rest of the people in the building joined in. "You have no idea how good it feels to know what's coming, and because
you
don't you have our sincere sympathy."

"We'll remember that the next time we think we're goin' crazy," Vallant told her with a wry grin, and then he grew serious again. "One of our Blendin's is keepin' an eye on the enemy, and their entity just came back to report. It seems our invaders are still gettin' their people out of the hole we dropped them into, but that chore is almost done. We expected them to have to fill in at least part of the hole to get their litters across, but apparently they cheated. The litters are already across the gap, so they must have used Air magic to give the litter bearers somethin' to walk on."

"Which means that after they've gotten the rest of their people out they'll be on their way here again," I said into the mutter of comments coming from our listeners. "You know that we wanted to wait until they were completely rested before we faced them, but that might not be possible now. They'll be resting in their litters as their force continues along the road, and if we wait too long they'll be here before we know it. We don't want to have to fend off murdering slaves determined to reach our bodies while we're Blended, or we won't be able to give a confrontation all our attention. For that reason I propose that we stop them about a mile away from here, and issue our challenge then. That will give the rest of you a chance to retreat if we still can't stop them. Does anyone have an objection to that plan?"

"I object to the idea of running away, but we're not the ones who will be doing the fighting," Arinna said when no one else spoke. "Since you're the ones whose lives will be on the line, I can't see that the decision is anyone's but yours."

Murmurs and mutterings of agreement came from all over the room, and the message was perfectly clear.

"You all seem to feel the way Arinna does," Jovvi observed aloud as she also looked around. "With that in mind I think we ought to end this meeting now, to give us a chance to practice Blending through Tamma."

That decision caused more commenting than protests as everyone turned to a neighbor to discuss what they'd been told. The meeting was over and no one was unhappy about it - with one possible exception…

"Stop worryin', you'll do fine," Vallant murmured to me, his arm coming to circle me. "I know you
want
to do it, and that's more than half the battle."

"I'll let you know whether that's true after we do our practicing," I muttered in return, really appreciating his support. "But I think I just had a better idea. Why don't we start with
you
initiating the Blending, and then you'll be able to tell me from personal experience just how easy it is."

Vallant started to give me one of those exasperated looks he'd gotten so good at showing, but Rion joined us before Vallant added words to the expression.

"I couldn't help overhearing your remark, Tamrissa, and although I'm sure you were joking you did give
me
an idea." Rion certainly did look thoughtful, and he smiled when he saw my raised brows. "What I mean by that is, I've just realized we
ought
to be able to Blend with
any
of us initiating the Blending. Once we've seen to the invaders, we really should try it just to see if there are any major differences each time."

"That's a very good idea, Rion," I said, seriously thinking about the suggestion. "If it works, the arrangement will make things easier for us. If one of us happens to see a situation where we need to Blend, we won't have to try to get Jovvi's attention."

"You're both right," Vallant agreed, looking as surprised as I'd felt a moment ago. "I'm rememberin' that time we were on our way back to Gan Garee, and I left that fancy inn the Guild people found for us and walked outside alone. The guardsmen were gettin' ready to attack us, but I couldn't think of a way to alert Jovvi without givin' away my position. If we were all able to initiate the Blendin', we could avoid situations like that."

By then the others had joined us, and they were just as enthusiastic about the idea. It felt mildly odd to be solving problems instead of finding new ones, and then Jovvi made me forget about pleasant things by touching my arm.

"Yes, it
is
time we got started with the practice," Jovvi confirmed my suspicion. "But just relax, Tamma, because initiating isn't hard at all. You'll be reaching out to the rest of us just the way you always do, but this time you'll be doing it first."

"That's not quite the tiny difference you're trying to make it sound like," I pointed out sourly, then took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. "Well, if we're going to try this, let's get to it. If it isn't going to work I want to know it for a fact, not just worry over the possibility."

Everyone seemed to be giving me nods and smiles of encouragement, so I took one last look at the rain outside the windows and then dove right in. I knew those people as well as I knew myself, so I closed my eyes and reached to all of them rather than to Jovvi first. In fact I left Jovvi for last, and suddenly I was the entity rather than just myself.

This feels rather different,
the Jovvi part of me said after a moment.
I still lack full understanding of the difference, yet the oddity is certainly there.

Perhaps the observation is mistaken, but I seem to
sense a good deal more strength,
the Rion part of me said.
This is definitely an arrangement which should have been attempted sooner.

I feel an approval of sorts,
I contributed as my own comment.
It seems as though something has been done to advance us as a properly integrated entity. I shall now dissolve our unity, so that our flesh forms may discuss the matter. Such a doing is necessary at the moment.

The others knew that I'd spoken the truth, and then I was apart again and looking around. Everyone seemed pleased, but Vallant looked to be closer to delight.