Gratuitous Epilogue

3 - February

Friday, February 6

Stood Over

The kittens are getting leggier and more mobile, and I’ll probably have to find some kind of bells to put on a collar, because they’ve definitely got strong hunting genes. They’re called Mip and Tick-tock. Mip was Sen’s suggestion. I suggested Tick and Tock for names for both of them, but Sen liked it better as a single name. For the moment family votes are mostly still boiling down to Sen’s preferences, but I’m glad to see that Ys and Rye are being positively influenced by Lira. Lira likes Sen, but she doesn’t put her whims above things she really wants, and just occasionally Ys and Rye at least consider doing the same.

Lohn and Mara’s house will soon be at the fit-out stage, and Jeh, Grif and Ketzaren’s won’t be too far behind them. The rest of the Setari aren’t moving so quickly, though most of them have taken their land grants to ensure the islands stay Setari. But for the moment barracks are just easier, and houses are something that the senior squads want more for family than for privacy. Lohn’s fretting about the question of adoption, and Mara says it’s because he likes so many of the children he’s been tutoring at the talent school. They’ve included a lot of extra rooms in their house design, but that’s mainly because they have tons of relatives back on Tare, and want them to visit or stay. And they’re going to try to have a baby fairly soon after their wedding.

I had a fair bit of stress a week ago. I’ve been on-and-off discussing being a touchstone with Lira (who still won’t admit to being able to do anything any more), and told her about how I’d once made Nils dream about things which had happened to him in the past, and hadn’t been able to break out of the dream. She told me that people with Illusion talents are the ones best able to guide projections, and they were deeply involved in the construction of the machines for the grand projects like the Ddura. Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to mention this, and of course the technicians were fascinated by the link and wanted to set up some experiments to see whether Nils could make me project stuff. It’s one of the few things I’ve really, absolutely refused to do. Not with Nils, not with anyone – but especially not with Nils. I was pretty calm about it when they suggested it initially, but when they sent Maze back to have a deep and meaningful about it, I got all stressed and barely stopped myself from asking him if he’d appreciate being forced to relive Helese’s death, and could only say: "I really mean it. I can’t hurt people that way." And of course had nightmares, and I guess Kaoren and Maze between them told the technicians to back the hell off firmly enough that they decided to leave it be (for now – being able to create things like the Ddura is something they’re very interested in).

Fortunately Nils wasn’t around for any of this. He and Zee are in charge of the Setari out at Oriath, assisting with the slow excavation of the massive pile of rubble and keeping the site clear of Ionoth, so I haven’t had a chance to see much of them.

It’s my birthday tomorrow. I’ll be nineteen, which feels really old and really young to me at the same time. I’m feeling very lucky that Kaoren changed his mind after only six months.