Thunder Struck

  Stirring a tempest is the easy part, controlling it is the issue and depending on a jerk of a healer is annoying.

  Kedna has been consigned to fostering on the empty world of Iskan when her power and her health become dangerous. Being mentored by a planetary Avatar is difficult, but moving the weather for an entire world is second nature.

  When she is older and her skills are needed off world, she is paired with her first member of the Sector Guard. He is a pain in the butt and harbours resentments toward her for hogging his ancestral planet. She simply concentrates on the job and earns his respect in the bargain.

  Fast forward to her twenty-third birthday and they cross paths again. This time, she knows his measure and he knows hers. Respect turns to fascination and progresses into a flirtation that crosses the stars.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Thunder Struck

  Copyright © 2014 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-912-2

  Cover art by Maritne Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Devine Destinies

  An imprint of eXtasy Books

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  Thunder Struck

  Tales of the Citadel 27

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  “Do it, Ked.”

  Kedna looked at her younger sister and then out at the empty moonscape. “I am not supposed to without Mom or Dad watching.”

  Her parents were working in the garden with their older sister and brother. Ked was watching Lira and trying to keep her out of trouble. Lira seemed fixated on getting Ked into trouble.

  “Do it or I will go and play with the airlock again.” Lira pouted and wiggled her fingers.

  “Fine but not here.” Kedna got to her feet and hauled her sister a few rooms away from their family where she could see the ice caps.

  “Sit.”

  Lira thudded to the ground and watched with delight.

  Ked focused on the mountains and thought about the ice turning into mist. It happened in a flash and the cloud that she created drifted toward the research dome.

  Lira pressed herself against the clear pane of the dome. “Make it a star.”

  With effort, Ked shaped the cloud into a star; sweat was running down her temples and her back.

  “Fish. Make it look like a fish.”

  Ked swayed as she changed the shape again. Her monitor bracelet began to flash.

  Lira clapped. “Wonderful. Make it a star again.”

  Bright dots filled Ked’s vision. She moved the mist into shape and fell to her knees. Her bio-monitor was putting out a high-pitched shriek, and she could hear Lira screaming for Dad.

  She felt her body shaking and her heels thudding on the floor.

  Her father came running and lifted her, his healing working its way through her body.

  “Ked. We told you to stop using your talent here.”

  Lira shifted from side to side next to Ked.

  Their father looked at her and sighed. “You threatened her again?”

  Lira scowled and nodded. “Just a little.”

  Kedna looked up at her father as he finished stabilising her. He was frowning earnestly.

  “Kedna, working with your elements on a world with no true atmosphere is too much for you. Where did you get the water?”

  She pointed to the mountainside. “I just took a little ice. I managed three shapes.”

  “Well done, but we are here for three more days. Don’t do it again. Lira, if you ask her, I will heat your butt until you can’t sit for a week. Are we understood?”

  Lira pouted but nodded. “Yes, Dad.”

  Kedna got to her feet with her father’s help. She scowled. “I think Lira’s talent is convincing me to do things.”

  Her father looked at her with an amused smile. “Then, your challenge for today is to not let it happen again. We are at a delicate point with seed collection. I need to know that you are under control.”

  “Yes, Dad. I won’t do it again.”

  He sighed and ruffled her hair. “Of course you will. Go take readings from the air scrubbers. Show Lira how to do it.”

  Kedna looked at her little sister and nodded. “Yes, Dad.”

  He headed off to the greenhouse, and she looked at Lira. “Come with me.”

  “I want you to do it again.” Lira crossed her arms.

  Kedna acknowledged that she was feeling a definite push. She sighed, grabbed Lira’s hand and hauled her off to check the air scrubbers. Now that she knew she was being pushed, she could deal with it. She simply removed some of the oxygen from Lira’s lungs and she took a little nap. It wasn’t an elegant solution, but it was as good as she could manage.

  She would accept the punishment for using a talent on a member of a family later. Out of all her siblings, she was the only elemental. In fact, she was the only elemental in seven generations of talents. Her mother was a horticultural talent, her father was a healer and her two eldest siblings took after their parents.

  Kedna made the notes on the scrubber levels and wondered what she was going to do when she went off to school next week. No one on Lekinor could help train her and she desperately needed training.

  Lira being a pusher shouldn’t have been a surprise. Given the different nature of Kedna’s talent, she had no natural resistance. The rest of the Kencort family would be fine when she was gone.

  The Thoola Citadel wasn’t able to take her, but they had arranged for a home and a tutor for her.

  Iskan was waiting for her, and she was going to leave her family for the first time. Ked looked down at where Lira was sleeping quietly. She was even going to miss the torment of her little sister.

  Leaving was scary but staying and losing control was far worse. She needed to learn what she was and how to get it under control or her family would not be safe.

  * * * *

  Ked stepped off the shuttle, holding the hand of Taedra, the Citadel rep.

  Ked held tight to the bag of suits she had been given while bots zipped past her with ration packs stacked on pallets. The food was for her. Iskan did not need it.

  “Kedna, do you see that city?”

  Ked nodded. “It is empty.” She looked around and the entire world was silent. “Why is it so quiet?”

  “Iskan is renovating. He is changing his surface for a new species, and he is willing to delay the process to help you gain control over the elements.”

  Kedna looked up at Taedra. “When do you think I can go home?”

  “Let’s see how fast you can learn. Your talent seems to be atmospheric. You can learn and practice here without worrying about damaging anyone or yourself. Iskan’s Avatar is a healer. She can keep you up and running.” Taedra was trying hard to keep the mood light.
<
br />   A figure in robes walked toward them, a staff in one hand. When it got closer, Kedna saw the reptilian skin and wide yellow eyes swirled with scarlet.

  Taedra stopped and inclined her head in respect. “Avatar, thank you for your offer of assistance in this special case.”

  The Avatar smiled, her flat lips curving upward. “It is an honour to assist with such a worthy matter. Hello, Kedna Kencort. My name is Halwis-Iskan, but you can call me Halwis.”

  Kedna released Taedra’s hand and put her palm over her heart. She bowed low. “Thank you for your offer. I hope that it will not be for too long a duration.”

  Halwis gave Taedra a chiding look before she turned kind eyes back to Kedna. “It will take as long as it takes.”

  She knew in that kind look that she wasn’t going home. Tears started and she lifted her chin. With determination, she stepped toward the Avatar before turning back for a moment. “Thank you for your help, Representative Taedra. I believe that Halwis-Iskan will take over my care now.”

  Taedra stepped forward and extended her hand before she slowly lowered it. “The bots have food, and we will send someone to check on you every six months. Avatar Halwis has a com unit that you can use to call home. The contact codes are in your bag.”

  “Thank you, Representative. I believe that Kedna needs some time to acclimate to her new home. The instructive holograms are all ready for her and her education has been planned for the foreseeable future. There is nothing more you can do here, but you are welcome to come and inspect her lodgings.”

  Taedra inclined her torso in a short bow. “I will return in six months. Kedna, if you need anything, send me a message. I can have it delivered by drone.”

  Ked wanted to wail that she wanted to go home, but that wasn’t the right thing to do. Lira was in control training on Thoola after she pushed Nilko into spending his university money on a pony. Finally, their parents had to face facts, and those facts were that their two youngest were exceptionally powerful and both needed help.

  They had dropped Lira off on Thoola before coming to Iskan, and now, all members of her family were where they needed to be. Kedna could start working on herself.

  It was quite the burden for an eleven-year-old, but she was up to it.

  Taedra left. Halwis-Iskan put her leathery hand on Kedna’s shoulder. “Come on, little one. Your home is ready for you.”

  “Thank you for doing this. I know it must be an imposition.”

  “You are very well spoken for a girl of your years.”

  Kedna smiled softly. “My parents are scientists. They never dumbed things down for us. It was so that we would rise intellectually.”

  “I guessed as much when I saw the curriculum that had been designed for you. Engineers have a lighter study load.”

  They were walking across the silent world and Kedna asked, “Why isn’t there any wind?”

  “Ah, well spotted. Iskan is rebuilding, and for your arrival, everything is still so that the ship could land easily.”

  “Could it start again? I am getting the urge to start a wind and that usually ends with me needing a healer.”

  Halwis laughed, and from half a world away, Kedna felt the rumble of lava beginning to surge.

  The motion caused heat in the soil and surrounding waters, that heat rose and made wind. The wind wouldn’t arrive for days but the air was moving and Kedna sighed in relief.

  Halwis widened her eyes. “Impressive. You could feel that.”

  Ked nodded. “My father said that I had an open mind that could take in the whole world but only in bad weather.”

  They continued their walk into the empty city, and fountains sprang to life. Kedna hadn’t seen many cities, but this one looked amazing to her eyes.

  Halwis led her to a large building with lovely arches and windows made of coloured glass. “I chose this because I thought it would be the most stimulating for a young woman of your background. There is a library and an exercise facility. The bots sent with you will manage your meals and your health. My link with the world sometimes distracts me. I am always here for you, but you might have to shout a little.”

  Kedna followed the Avatar up the steps to the wide-open upper floor, and she was shown the huge four-poster bed covered with pink and yellow silky sheets. Her meal room was down the hall and the library was beyond that. Ked had used exercise equipment before, and she knew one thing for certain, everything for her use was new.

  “When did this stuff get here?”

  Halwis chuckled, a strange hissing sound. “Last week. It took us a while to outfit it for you. You know, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I know that this is my home until I am under control, and after that, I will be dropped here after every Citadel gig. That is a few years in the future, but this is now my home. I will try not to get in your way.”

  “You are not in my way. You are welcome here and will provide Iskan and myself with a fresh outlook on modern times.”

  Ked looked up at the woman in the graceful robes. “I hope that I can be a valued member of our little society of two.”

  Halwis laughed and showed her the education centre. The holograms lit up the moment they arrived, and Kedna walked up to them. “Thank you for showing me around, Halwis. If you don’t mind, I would like to immerse myself in the familiar before I begin using my talent here on Iskan.”

  Halwis chuckled. “I will be nearby. Call out if you need me. I know this is hard for you, but I will leave you to find your own way until you need me. When you do, I will come running.”

  Chapter Two

  Six months after her initial arrival, Kedna was showing her improvement in control by holding a thunderstorm in a set pattern during Taedra’s two-hour visit.

  They had tea and tiny sandwiches while the storm raged on next to the mountain range. Halwis-Iskan was smiling at Taedra's amazement.

  “Kedna is a treasure. She can hold onto her focus without any trouble when it comes to controlling a storm. She can also increase the intensity so it burns itself out more rapidly.”

  Kedna poured tea for her elders and smiled. “I would like to ask a favour, Rep Taedra.”

  “Please. Anything you need.”

  “Taller bodysuits. I have started my growth spurt and am going to go up nearly a metre in height in the next three years. I need larger clothing.” She looked down and showed the distance between the leg of her bodysuit and the flat shoe she wore.

  “Done. You will have them in two weeks or less. I will requisition them before I leave today.”

  Kedna sighed in relief. “Thank you. Halwis has offered some of her old tunics, but it doesn’t feel right.”

  Halwis made one of her hissing chuckles. “And I was far wider at the shoulder when I was her size, and it was over six hundred years ago. The clothing is out of fashion.”

  It was also hard leather but Ked didn’t mention that. Wearing extinct animal leather went against everything her parents had taught her; leather was fine, it was the extinction that was the problem. Her mind considered them museum pieces. Surprisingly, Halwis understood.

  With nothing else to concentrate on, Ked had already gone through all the necessary schooling required by her species. She was now interested in geology and meteorology. Those were specialities that Iskan was only too happy to help her with.

  Taedra smiled at her. “You seem to be thriving here.”

  Kedna nodded. “It is the best place for me to be until I get control over this energy of mine.”

  She could see the rep’s chest move in relief, and she fought a smile. She had turned twelve while she had been on Iskan and her family had thrown a virtual party for her in the education room. Her homesickness had faded and she was enjoying being able to use her talent without danger of injuring anyone or blowing up any buildings. When it came to her talent, Halwis-Iskan gave her a free hand to do what she felt she must.

  * * * *

  Four years later, Halwis
sat her down and took her hands. “Ked, there has been an urgent request for your assistance.”

  Ked blinked in shock. “Me? Why me?”

  Iskan took over. “Kedna, as we all know, we are sitting inside one of the largest cyclones ever seen on a habitable world. That is all you. Rep Taedra has been watching your progress, and she feels you are able to assist.”

  Kedna tried to pull her hands away, but Iskan held her.

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “I am confident you can, but your open mind is an issue that has not gotten better with time. I have sent for someone with healer and minder training. It is one of Halwis’s descendants. He has the same skills that she does, and with a little briefing, he will make you a good companion on assignments.”

  She swallowed. “So what you are telling me is that I am going.”

  “Yes. Halwis was nervous about telling you. She thinks of you as a daughter and doesn’t want to stress your control.”

  Kedna smiled, “And you, Iskan?”

  “I know what you are and what you can be. I want to see you become everything that lies in your potential and that means that you are going to have to begin taking flights from my surface and stepping on new worlds, changing their weather in the ways requested of you.”

  Ked inhaled sharply and nodded. “Right. Using it for something practical. When do I leave?”

  Halwis took over and pulled her forward in a hug. “The ship is on its way to us now. It just entered our system. Haedock is a good lad. He will take care of you.”

  “Is he the pilot?”

  “No. A new organization is handling your mobility. The Sector Guard has a ship that can withstand the weather you will be facing.”

  “What do you mean? Will I be dealing with something in progress?”

  “Many species set situations in motion without realizing the consequences generations down the road. Even a world cannot simply quell what their occupant has put in place. The years it would take would kill three quarters of their population.”