Virtual Snow Read online

  Kyron wanted nothing more than to find Sno, but they wouldn’t let him. He used his healing ability to generate repairs to his muscle tone, working out without moving.

  The sooner he was up on his feet, the sooner he could find his little Sno. The image of her reaching for him while he was wheeled away haunted him. Her hair was indeed gone, as she had predicted.

  * * * *

  Sno looked at the medic who came in. Something was wrong. The medic was wearing a bio-med suit.

  She knew what he was going to say before it was said. “You have acquired the Edinar plague.”

  Sno leaned back and winced. “Wonderful. What can be done?”

  “Well, we can put you into treatment. Apparently, you are carrying some of the Edinar genes that are most affected.”

  Sno ran her hand over her lightly fuzzy scalp. “You are kidding me.”

  “No. You will have three or four days and then you will begin exhibiting symptoms.”

  Sno sat quietly for a moment. “Can you let Healer Kyron know?”

  “Why? He will not remember you.”

  Sno waited while he realized what she had said.

  “Wait. How can you remember him?”

  “I don’t know. He did something while I was in there that bound us. I think it was my sleeping in his mind.”

  Sno rubbed the back of her neck. She had a definite ache in her bones, but she wasn’t going to mention it.

  “I will be back shortly.”

  Sno waved him off and got up to pace on wobbly legs with one hand on the wall.

  It took two days to come up with a plan of attack, but it was certain, she was heading into the wheel and taking the place of one of the Edinar. She would have her very own monitor to keep her sane through the pain.

  She didn’t even get to see her mind’s partner. They knocked her out and she drifted off to her dreamscape.

  * * * *

  Sno’s dreams were always a little odd. She had fanciful animals wandering through brooks, pools and meadows. Everything girly and relaxing under an unchanging sun.

  She lay on her back in a loose blouse and skirt, with bare feet. The sun baked her with warmth, and she could almost pretend that the hair on her shoulders was hers again and not in a garbage bin in the monitor centre.

  Footsteps came toward her, and she leaned up on her elbows. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “No way.”

  Kyron was walking toward her, wearing a white shirt, tight trousers and knee-high boots. It said more about her taste than his.

  “Good afternoon, Sno. I will be your monitor today.” He grinned and dropped to the ground next to her. “So, this is your dreamscape.”

  “It is. A stark contrast to yours, but mine involves a lot more skinny dipping.” She grinned.

  “That sounds promising. May I join you?”

  She shivered at the thought of romping with him, naked, once again. “Of course.”

  He got to his feet and pulled her up next to him. “Which way do we go?”

  She pointed down the hill to the stone falls and grotto that she kept for bathing on lazy days.

  He took her hand, and they walked down together. “Your mind is quite bright but surprisingly calm.”

  She snorted. “You are here after the unicorn stampede. My mind is a fanciful place and it shows from time to time.”

  A cascade of bright flecks in the air cruised past them, and Kyron reached out to touch one. The bright fleck unfolded and a tiny woman stood on Kyron’s fingertip.

  “What is this?”

  “A mythical creature from across the stars. A pixie. A tiny woman who flies like an insect.” The cloud circled her and then the small creature joined her friends, making their way up the meadow.

  “Where did you imagine such creatures?”

  She stopped at the edge of the grotto and slipped free of her clothing. “I am a member of a family with an interest in history, and I had a nanny that had come from a race no one had seen before. She told me endless stories, and I remembered each one. Creatures from imagination from all over the stars have come to rest in my mind.”

  Sno took careful steps and eased into the water. Once up to her breasts in the cool liquid, she turned and watched Kyron enter the pool with a lot less care to modesty.

  Seeing him in the bright light was far different from that of the dim cabin. She had a polar bear in her mind somewhere and that was the closest creature in size and colouring to her new friend.

  He walked easily to where she was standing on her toes, leaned in and placed a short kiss on her lips, and then, he dove under the water, swimming easily into the depths nearer the waterfall.

  Sno wanted nothing more than to lie on her back and float, but she was a little put off by the thought of being on display. Sighing at the realization that he had already seen it all, she rolled to her back and let the sun warm her while the water supported her weight.

  Every now and then, she felt Kyron swimming under her, but she paddled slowly around the pond using only her hands. After she had had enough sun, she pulled herself onto one of the flat rocks of the grotto and rested her head on her knees while Kyron continue to frolic like a giant otter.

  Eventually, he tired and he came to sit next to her. “If I had a place like this in my mind, I would never leave it.”

  She snorted. “This meadow only shows up when I am worried.”

  “Why are you worried, Sno?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps it is because I have contracted a plague that has no record of passing the Edinar barrier. We don’t even know if the cure will work on me.”

  He reached out and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. “I will be with you every step of the way, just as you were for me. We will get through this.”

  “Well, one of us will. I am glad that you are strong enough for this.” She squeezed the hand that still had control of hers.

  “As am I. When they asked me if I knew your name, I was a little surprised. I pressed them and they informed me of your state.”

  “How did you press them?”

  “I opened their minds and pulled out what I needed to know. They are fine. I swear.” He held up his hands in reaction to her expression.

  She huffed. “That was just rude, Kyron.”

  “Time was an issue and they did not want me to join you.”

  Sno stared at him with wide eyes. “You bullied your way into position as my monitor?”

  “Of course. No one else is going to be inside you while I live.”

  The double entendre made her blush. “Um, thank you?”

  He laughed and slipped back into the water. “Swim with me?”

  She sighed at his earnest expression and slipped into the water with him. They swam together until her limbs were tired, and she yawned enough to splutter when water rushed into her open mouth.

  “That is my cue to end this interlude.” She swam to the shore and stood up when it was shallow enough to do so.

  She stepped onto the grass and spread out her skirt, waiting in full light for the sun to dry her skin.

  Kyron joined her, far more interested in her nudity now than he had been previously.

  He stepped slowly toward her and took her in his arms. She shivered as he kissed her and held tight to his broad shoulders.

  Kyron lifted her and carried her to a bed covered in white flowing sheets that appeared in the meadow. Sno blushed. It was her instinct that drove the appearance of that inviting structure.

  Body to body, mind to mind, they joined over and over, rolling across the bed and back again with intense concentration.

  At the end of their frenzy, Sno lay on top of him, catching her breath and slowly letting her senses reset. “I would appreciate if you would leave this out of the monitor report.”

  He chuckled and stroked her back with one huge hand. “As far as I know, no one can clearly remember what happens between monitor and patient. How could
we be different?”

  She propped her chin on her fist. “You know very well that we are not like the others. I can feel it when you touch me that this is not what I was trained to expect.”

  “I am very glad that you decided to skip convention and join me. It was definitely a welcome moment.”

  “Even though I ran through the snow and nearly froze to death?”

  “It gave me a fine appreciation for the delicate silk of your skin.” He ran his hand along her spine once again.

  “Well, how much time do we have left?”

  He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them. “You are healing quickly, but two months seems to be an estimate for your recuperation.”

  Sno grinned and shifted to straddle him. “Good. Now, I believe I need some more appreciation.”

  “As long as you don’t expect my body to keep up with my mind, I will always appreciate you in as many ways as possible.”

  She laughed and leaned down, brushing his lips with hers. Her hair formed a dark curtain around them and blocked out the light. With that small moment of privacy, they explored each other once again.

  It was a very long day and Sno didn’t regret a moment of it.

  She fell asleep in Kyron’s arms.

  Waking was a shock. The air was cool and her body was stiff in on the gel bed. Another series of medics were bustling around her, but the shock was Kyron standing next to her with a look of concentration on his face.

  The medics stood back while the stiffness left her muscles and she managed a weak smile. “Hello, Kyron.”

  He stroked her cheek, but the medics gathered around him, bustling him onto a gurney and down the hall.

  To Sno’s surprise, she was trundled down the same hall and given a room in the Edinar quarters. Daily testing for traces of plague would make up most of her interaction with others, but in the meantime, she was able to catch up on the news she had missed and the progress of the monitor program.

  Nearly forty Edinar had been woken, and several of them had found mates in the Horalthian population. That gave Sno an idea.

  Crossing her fingers, she used codes that she had acquired a year earlier, and she checked in on the matches of Edinar to their monitors.

  A knock on her door brought her out of her plotting. “Come in.”

  Kyron took up the doorway. “Why haven’t you been coming to the common room?”

  “I am under quarantine until they can harvest enough antibodies for any infected monitors. They want me where they can find me.”

  He scowled. “That is grossly unfair. Come with me.”

  She sighed and took his hand, letting him tug her out of her chamber.

  They went to the common room, and he pulled her against him with easy familiarity. “What do you think we should do next?”

  “I was thinking that we need to get some more of your people together with my people, but we need to do in it such a way that they don’t suspect they are being set up.”

  “Fine with me. What do you need?”

  “I need monitor-patient reports. There is a peculiar spike in ours and I believe that it is a confirmation of our compatibility. Our minds seemed designed for each other.”

  “I would have to agree there. What is the difficulty?”

  “I don’t have authorization to see those reports. That doesn’t mean I didn’t see them, mind you, it just means I can’t publicly comment on it.”

  He kissed her quickly. “I love your deviousness. Now, what do you need to make this happen?”

  “We need a high-ranking Edinar to insist on thanking the monitors. That will let us get them all in the same room together. You are going to have to manage that. I am not allowed to hang around with Edinar other than you.”

  Near her quarters an alarm sounded. “And now they know I am missing.”

  She sighed. “Have him pick something a few months away and a neutral location. Something representing the stars.”

  Sno remained reclining on Kyron until her medics came and politely asked him to relinquish her. Sno went back to her quarters and remained there for a week. When she was finally discharged for an extended leave, Kyron was in his place at the head of a medical centre.

  Sno just had to wait. When their moment was right, she would see him again, and from that moment on, nothing would separate them.

  Her leave was boring, so she contacted her friend Harka and took to going for visits to Harka’s new café.

  The day that the invitation came in her mail, Sno nearly wept with relief.

  As a previous monitor, you are cordially invited to a ball to celebrate the fortieth Edinar awakening.

  Dress is formal, and the ball will be held at the Harkenar Observatory, eight in the evening on five-day.

  We look forward to seeing you there. This project has benefited all of us, and we expect your cooperation.

  As an invitation, it was cold and boring, but Sno felt joy at the possibility of seeing Kyron in a public forum without anyone thinking anything of it.

  She called Harka and immediately asked her if she would go dress shopping. Harka agreed, and the next day, they set off to find something to wear to the party.

  Sno hugged Ohra when they collided with her at the dress shop, and together, they gathered, and it became a group effort to find each of them the clothing that would suit them best.

  Sno couldn’t help but smile the entire time she was having tiny gem-studs glued into her hair. Her dress looked like it dripped with icicles and her hair was a night sky. She mourned the long locks of her dreamscape but had to make do with what she had. Harka’s blue streaks showed an uncharacteristic sense of whimsy. Harka was light-hearted but rarely whimsical.

  Ohra had gone home to study, so Sno agreed to do the same, waving good night to Harka and heading home. The following night would be theirs.

  Sno had wanted to contact Kyron, but in her final whisper, she had ordered him to set up the party and she would see him there. She figured he would work better with incentive.

  Of course, if too much more time had passed, she would have forced contact.

  When she woke up on the morning of the party, she covered her hair and scrubbed the rest of her from head to toe. Her meals were carefully chosen and she checked her reflection at least two dozen times.

  As the day marched on, she put on her makeup, slipped her feet into heels and dropped the gown over her head. A wrap and a small clutch containing her invitation and she was ready. Now, she just had to keep from crawling out of her own skin with nerves.

  Harka was driving in her tiny vehicle. It was just the right size for two women, and the trip to the observatory was a delightful hour of nonsensical chatter that Sno could not remember for the life of her.

  She fixed her gaze on the observatory and watched their approach, barely breathing.

  At the checkpoint, they showed their invitations and were urged up to the entryway. Sno eased from the vehicle and steadied herself before she closed the door behind her. When Harka had handed the vehicle over to the attendant, they made their way inside.

  Another security check and Sno was inside, away from the gathering press waiting to greet the incoming Edinar and government officials. It was always best to arrive early for these things. It helped to beat the crowds.

  Sno nodded to a few monitors that had gone through classes with her, as they arrived, and when the timing was right, she parted from Harka and headed over to the lady with the clipboard.

  “Yes, dear, what is your name?”

  “Sno Driina Ekalin, Medic and Monitor.” Sno bit her lip and waited while the woman looked her up.

  “Please follow me, miss.” The woman in the sober clothing led the way through the tables and settled Sno at her name card. “Enjoy your evening, miss.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sno sat and waited, checked the cards on either side of her and tried not to tap her fingers with eagerness. When a large
hand was place over her eyes, she squeaked in surprise.

  “Guess.”

  “Polar bear.”

  He laughed, pulled his hand from her eyes and kissed her quickly before anyone could see them. With a flourish, he took the chair next to hers, lifting her hand to his lips before placing it on his thigh under the tablecloth.

  “That isn’t going to be suitable for the entire evening.” Sno grinned.

  “It will keep me from flipping you over my shoulder and heading out of here.”

  She smiled. “So, what have you been up to?”

  “I have a position at a health centre and have a charming home at the edge of the city with the woods at the back and a lake nearby.” He waggled his brows at her suggestively.

  She looked at his face with longing. She wanted nothing more than to touch his jaw and kiss him silly. “No bed in a meadow?”

  “I am new to your world and not sure how folk would react to public displays of carnality; though, I am willing to find out.” He winked and smiled as their table slowly filled.

  It was time for Sno to pretend that she was one of the group of monitors who had no idea what was going on.

  Once all the invited persons were seated and the gallery was clogged with celebrities and media, the organizer gave a very nice speech. The monitors were asked to stand and then their patients were asked to stand. Everyone clapped politely and then dinner was served.

  It was difficult to eat left-handed, but Kyron kept her hand under his on top of his thigh.

  The moment that the dancing began, he whisked her up and into his arms.

  It was a relief to be touching him again, and he must have felt the same because not even a whisper of air could have passed between them.

  Sno knew that they would be featured on every media circuit and she didn’t care. She would run through the main street naked if he was waiting to hold her at the end of her journey.

  One of the Edinar tapped Kyron on the shoulder. “May I take your lady for a dance?”

  Kyron made a sound that Sno had never heard from his throat. It was a low snarl that meant business.

  The other man turned and left with all due haste.