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  She paused before the open door, and as soon as she unlatched it, she took to the sky. The winds caught her up in their arms and carried her to her destination. This time, as she approached the drop point, she watched the indicator flash in time to the button on the air lock. As she flew, she was sending a signal to the city, and it was sending one in return. It was interesting that they knew she was coming.

  The scientists on the other side waved a greeting to her, and she slid the pack into the lock before pressing the button that carried it into the hands of medical personnel. They waved again to her, and she threw her arms wide as she dropped off the small platform and into the waiting winds below.

  Ikari moved through the gusts and tugs of the wind. She let her body rise and drop as she grew closer and closer to the thick liquid that made up the water on Dorali.

  With no visible land nearby, she could understand the need for the floating cities, but their detail and majesty made her wonder who and what had built them in the first place.

  The populations of the cities were low now, but they would have been able to hold tens of thousands. The water on the surface did not have any redeeming qualities as far as Ikari could tell. It was too thick to drink, and the waves were sluggish despite the harsh battering of the winds. Something had occurred far before the disease had been spread, and it had made the surface uninhabitable.

  She gained altitude and enjoyed the feel of air surrounding her once again. If she was really an elemental, she should be able to control the air, and if she could do that, she was going to need somewhere to experiment.

  The thought of experimenting brought a mental image of Khivon back to her, and as she had that thought, her body changed direction to the outpost. Instincts were kicking in, and nothing was more tempting than trying things on Khivon that she had only read about in books and seen on vids.

  Chapter Ten

  Remembering what he had said, Ikari’s first stop was the kitchen. She dug through the cupboards, chopped, minced and mixed foods that looked appropriate before leaving them to stew on low.

  The scent of a good stew filled the air, and she walked down to the lab with a swing in her step and a swirl in her robes.

  Khivon was watching the doorway when she appeared. “The cities are abuzz with sightings of you. Apparently, they are calling you the bringer of hope and deliverer of kindness.”

  She blinked. “What? I haven’t even seen what a Dorali looks like close up.”

  “You did fly-bys of each city?” He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I did. I wanted to get a feel for them. Why?”

  “They saw you. News reports started blaring, and now, the other four cities have put in their requests for the medical support. I hope you aren’t hungry, because you have a lot of work to do.”

  Neatly arranged on the table were four packs, and she groaned, “Fine. The stew is on the stove. Stir it now and then to keep in from burning.

  With all of her little fantasies squashed, she lifted the first pack and checked the indicator. Two steps forward, and Khivon was in front of her.

  He held her shoulders and gave her a scorching kiss. “Come back soon. The faster we can get them the anti-virals, the sooner you will have some time to continue your education.”

  She raised her eyebrows at the reference to education and grinned. “I look forward to all you can teach me, Master Seer.”

  Ikari hiked up the stairs and launched herself from the roof, beginning the final drops of the first medication.

  Khivon met her on the roof when she returned for the next batch. His robes were whipping frantically in the wind and she realized that she didn’t even feel it.

  He shouted, “Next city,” and handed her a pack.

  She caressed his cheek and took off.

  A crowd gathered to watch her deliver the medication. When the pack was inside the city, a cheer went up that she could hear through the heavy dome.

  The same thing happened at the final two cities, and when she was able to land at the outpost, her limbs gave out, and she dropped to the ground. Khivon appeared and lifted her in his arms.

  He didn’t speak until they were inside the outpost, but she heard his whisper in her ear. “Well done, Ikari. Well done.”

  She smiled and snuggled against him, inhaling the scent that she was coming to associate with relaxation. She may have grown up in terror of the Kozue, but this one was nothing for her to fear.

  When he plunked her down at the dining table, she blinked in disappointment. The images in her mind of him sweeping her off into his bedroom fizzled abruptly when a bowl of stew appeared in front of her.

  “Eat, Ikari. You have expended far more energy than you know.” He broke off a chunk of bread that smelled freshly baked and placed it next to her.

  She tore off a piece of bread and dipped it in the bowl. The flavour was a little bland but not horrible for a first attempt with foreign ingredients.

  “You did well for someone unfamiliar with the vegetables on offer.” He smiled and gestured for her to keep eating. “I have never had something with those particular flavours mixed, but it tastes edible.”

  She grinned and started to eat with a good appetite. “When you farm all day, you rarely have time to fuss in the kitchen. One-pot meals are my speciality. It will make your doing the dishes easy.”

  He laughed. “Reports are coming in from the cities, the initial observations of treated persons indicates a restriction of the viruses.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  He chuckled. “Very good. Ten years from the last recorded eradication of the virus, Dorali will be open for trade again.”

  She scraped the bottom of her bowl, and he brought over the pot and scraped the last of it toward her for a final serving. “You ate the rest?”

  His skin darkened to a deeper purple. “I did say that the food was edible. Sometimes, the thing that makes food the most tasty is that you did not have to make it yourself.”

  She snorted and finished the rest of the stew. “I would have to agree. Thank you for the bread.”

  “It was the least I could do. It is exceedingly frustrating for me to have you doing the physical part of the posting while I am stuck in the lab analyzing samples and data.” He took her bowl and spoon from her, washing them swiftly and putting them away.

  Ikari was exhausted. She was even too tired to summon an air current to lift her to her room. “I am just going to take a little nap now. See you tomorrow.”

  “Oh no, I don’t want you waking with a crick in your neck. Come along.” He lifted her again, and her robes slid weightlessly over his arms.

  She looped her arms around his neck and snuggled against his chest. Her stomach gurgled alarmingly, and she blushed. “Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. I have been a medical officer for decades. I have seen almost everything that a body can do and some things that it really shouldn’t.” His smile was infectious.

  She chuckled and relaxed against him. Her stomach subsided, and it came to her how long it had been since she had eaten. No wonder her gut was making noise. It probably thought it was never going to be fed again.

  He took her down the two flights of stairs and placed her in her bed. He pressed his hand to her shoulder and frowned. “Do you sleep with the Masuo in place?”

  She chuckled and the Masuo receded until it was that single band around her ankle. She flushed hot pink when she realized that she had been tired enough to strip herself with nothing more than a suggestion from him. “Sorry. Just let me climb under the sheets.”

  Khivon lifted her carefully, his hands avoiding any sensitive areas, allowing Ikari to blow the covers back and out of her way. With her bed turned down, he tucked her inside and pulled the covers up and over her shoulder.

  He moved to leave, and she reached out, “Khivon, stay.”

  He raised his eyebrows, “What are you asking me, Ikari?”

  She swallowed at the direct ques
tion. “Hold me during the night? I am not ready for more, but it will be a start.”

  His throat flexed as he swallowed. “I can do that.”

  “Or, do you have more work to do?” She bit her lip, and in an instant, he was next to her, his thumb tugging until her lower lip was free.

  “It will be fine. I have a pager for disasters and things that require immediate response.” He shrugged out of his robes, removed the shirt he wore under them and curled up next to her, the sheets between them.

  His words in her ear set off a myriad of fantasies. “This is as close as we will get…tonight.”

  She swallowed heavily and snuggled against him, wrapping herself in his hard muscle and heat. His scent burned itself into her mind, she welcomed sleep and the dreams that her body was going to trigger with her deadly Kozue close at hand.

  Chapter Eleven

  Waking in Khivon’s arms was a moment she wanted to relive over and over, unfortunately, nature called, and it was angry with her.

  Leaping out of his arms and sprinting to the lav lacked dignity, but to hell with dignity when your dinner was reversing itself with a vengeance. She was on her second round of heaves when hands that were not her own held her hair out of her face.

  “I thought this might happen. Your system isn’t quite geared to the tubers that you tossed in the stew. It was touch and go for me as well, but I managed.” Khivon’s voice was gentle, and when the spasms had passed, he held her in the shower and rinsed the cold sweat from her body.

  “I am humiliated.”

  He pressed a kiss to her wet forehead. “Why? You are a little-known race on a new world. There are bound to be bacteria and foods that you cannot digest.”

  Khivon set her on her feet and wrapped her in a towel before he wrapped another around her hair. “Now, a few sips of water and back to bed. Tomorrow, breakfast will be cooked grains.”

  She grimaced. It was the same thing her mother had fed her when she was ill as a child. “Wonderful. I look forward to it.”

  He laughed and carried her back into her bedroom. This time, he stripped his wet clothing off completely before curling in next to her, the soothing warmth of his hand on her belly were far too comfortable for her peace of mind. She fought the urge to sleep, but her body wanted rest more than it wanted Khivon, so she gave in.

  He was gone when she woke up, and only the towels pinned under her and the marks from where his hands had held her proved that it had not been an elaborate fantasy. When she wandered into the lav, the mark of one hand across her breast and the other across her belly proved that he had indeed been pressed against her until the wee hours of the morning.

  She brushed her teeth and had a glass of water before triggering her suit. Instead of the tight bodysuit, it formed a wrapped tunic and tights. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  The clothing hummed against her happily, acting as undergarment and outerwear with ease.

  She brushed out her hair and twisted it into long loops similar to the ones her people wore to public celebrations. If she didn’t have to go flying today, she thought it might be a nice change for her to look pretty for Khivon.

  Her bare feet were used to the stone, and she pattered up to the kitchen area. Khivon was working with a small pot full of herbs, and he looked up with a smile. “Good morning, Ikari. You look lovely today.”

  She chuckled. “Never say that to a woman. It means we look like crap every other time you have seen us.”

  He widened his eyes. “Well then, today, you are exceptionally lovely.”

  “Better.”

  They chuckled, and she took a chair while he puttered around near the stove. When he returned to her, there was a bowl full of grains with fruit adorning it in a similar cheerful face to the breakfast of her first day on Dorali.

  “Do they teach you how to do that in warrior school?” She couldn’t help but smile as she gestured to her meal.

  “No. I learned it from a member of the Sector Guard. She said that there was never a better icebreaker than food that makes a person laugh.” He sat with his own bowl, and they ate breakfast together.

  He refilled his bowl twice while she worked her way through the gargantuan serving that he had given her. “Why so much?”

  “You lost most of what you ate yesterday. Your body needs to replenish and restore itself. For that, it needs fuel. This is a grain blend that your body will be able to break down easily. Get used to it, it will be all you eat today.”

  She grimaced. “Fine. One meal will do me if I don’t fly.”

  He chuckled and took her empty bowl. “That isn’t what I meant. There will be more grains for lunch and dinner. Your biology needs to reboot, and we will ease you into foods that you can then acclimate to.”

  She crossed her arms as he did the dishes. “I thought it was my turn.”

  “You were ill. You can double up once we have a grip on what you can and cannot eat.”

  Ikari decided that grumbling wasn’t going to get her anywhere, so she asked, “What is on the agenda today?”

  “First, we will check for missives and any other incoming data. Then, I will assign you some lessons in control in our workout room, level eight.”

  She blinked. “Can I get a full tour, please?”

  “I was hoping that you would ask.”

  He offered her his arm, and he started his tour. “This is the only above-ground level aside from your launch area. The next floor is the recreation area where an extensive library of vids is available, including ones on the history of Dorali. It is a spot to relax and unwind when the storms are raging above.”

  “The storms?”

  “Yes, like the one you flew through yesterday. The winds were gusting near the speed of sound.”

  She blinked, “They were?”

  He looked at her in astonishment. “You didn’t notice?”

  Ikari shrugged, “Not really. I simply call the wind that I need, and it lifts me and takes me where I want to go. There is not much to it.”

  Khivon nodded. “We will work on seeing if there are any fine controls that you can exercise.”

  “Agreed.”

  “The next floor contains our living quarters. They are outfitted with communications nodes for private com links.”

  “Thank you.”

  “The third floor is the medical, storage and research area.” He put his hand over hers as they continued down.

  “Fourth floor is the hydroponics that provide us with fresh food.” He had to pause, because she lifted her face and closed her eyes at the feel of the wind moving past her.

  “This is where the air enters the outpost.” She looked toward a vent in the wall and then back to Khivon.

  “Yes. It goes through a number of locks to slow it down, so the air that we get is not strong enough to destroy the plants, but they do better when they breathe.” He smiled and wandered down an aisle with pots and another with a series of seedlings taking shape.

  “These seeds are from Resicor. They will provide you with a guaranteed source of nutrition in a few weeks. Until then, we will tread carefully with your meals.” Khivon nodded.

  “Vasku seeds.” She smiled. “They are tasty and self seeding, fast growing too. It was a good choice. How did we get them?”

  He chuckled. “You are the second one of your kind to join the Citadel this year. She offered suggestions as to useable foodstuffs. They were picked up by Contract and Counsel.”

  She grinned. “The woman who fell off the building in front of everyone?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. But she recommended that food be brought to help ease your kind into the Alliance.”

  “Smart woman.”

  “Shall we continue the tour?” He offered his arm again, and they continued lower in the structure.

  “This is the protein generator. The heat it puts out warms the upper levels, and since heat rises, this was a good place to locate it.”

  She smiled and looked at the hu
ge unit that squatted in the centre of the otherwise unoccupied floor. Ikari took a look at it, and it displayed a vast array of meats available for creation.

  “It mimics the structure of any meat you can possibly imagine, and it crafts it out of the beans grown on the level above.”

  “So, this outpost is self sustaining?”

  “We could remain underground for years and be perfectly healthy with the fresh air coming in as well as the artificial daylight.” Khivon escorted her to the stairs, and she stopped short at the base when she noticed the endless array of tunnels and tubes.

  “What is this?”

  “Your practice area. I am a seer, and I did see you coming after all. It is time to hone your skills to do more than lift you from the ground and carry you through the air.”

  She blinked in surprise. “Really?”

  He walked to the first of the tunnels. “Really. Now, concentrate on firing a column of air down this tunnel and see how fast you can make the wind move.”

  To Ikari’s surprise, he was serious. He had her moving small metal balls through the tunnels, then moving them so that they did not roll or touch the sides, and finally, she had to manipulate them through an obstacle course. By the time he called a halt, she was drenched in sweat, and it was lunchtime.

  “That’s enough, Ikari. Take a break, and we will have some lunch. More grains. I am sure that you are hungry.”

  Grimacing, she lifted one of the small, lighter balls and smacked it into the back of his head. “Yes, I am hungry. Thank you for noticing.”

  He rubbed the back of his head. “Your control is coming along. Now, after you. I don’t want you behind me for some reason.”

  She laughed and sprinted up the stairs, stopping at her quarters and looking over her shoulder. “I am going to have a quick shower. I will be upstairs shortly.”

  “I will get your lunch ready.”

  He disappeared, and she entered her rooms to take her shower.

  Hot water, soap and scrubbing removed the sweat from her body, and when Khivon slid into the shower behind her, she turned with a sigh of relief. Pursuing him would have lacked dignity, but when he started to taste her flesh one inch at a time, she knew that no chasing was necessary.