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Chapter 15

Sitting atop a stack of cargo containers in the hold, Strong Soul had a good view out the open hold doors. She sat and watched as the robotic heavy loaders made their way in and out of the Mrr'tani Pride's hold, carrying out some of the larger containers as they backed out. She'd looked at the manifest for what was in the containers, and it was all rather boring, which was kind of disappointing.

Here they were on one of the worlds that the humans held over the Mrr'tani heads for generations as a punishment and a place that no one ever wanted to go, and they were delivering things like reams of parchment and imported vegetables. Not only that, it was all things that she had grown used to on Silverwell.

Still, she didn't know what she expected. These worlds had been nightmares for so long, perhaps she thought she'd find a crate full of whips or chains or something even more sinister.

She felt the crate move only slightly, something that only her honed hunter's instincts were able to detect. She knew without looking, even without tasting the mind that she knew was feeling so very smug about how quiet he thought he was being, who it was.

"Hello, Jason," she said, smiling. She didn't turn her head and she heard his sigh of exasperation.

"You're as good as Lyria always was, you know," he said, sitting beside her.

"It helps that you're in my mind."

"Well, there's that, too," he said with a smile. "I just heard from Stargazer. He'll be a little while longer while he finishes up a few things, but we should be all unloaded, repacked and ready to go."

"Any sign of anyone tracking us?"

"No, not yet, but they wouldn't with this stop. They probably figure that we're being watched closely enough as it is."

He nodded subtly to the pair of guards supposedly watching the work camp's laborers, but Strong Soul could tell that they weren't just watching the notchers.

"They're being very subtle, aren't they?" she asked, turning to smile into Night Star's eyes.

"Yeah, you'd never know that they had their eyes on us." He rolled his eyes and plopped down on the edge of the crate with her.

"You still sure you want to use your Mrr'tani name here? Some of them take offense, you know."

"Yes," she said forcefully. "It's who I am. It's something I've earned myself, and I'm not going to go back to being a servant, not for anyone's sensibilities. I can handle the humans being a little annoyed."

"Morning Dawn was right when she gave it to you, then. I just don't want to have to go back to Marcus and tell him anything bad happened to you."

She leaned into him and he put his hand around her shoulder. "You're going to make me tell him about the leg, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," he said, holding her close against him.

"Coward," she laughed.

She hugged him tight and then stood up, stretching the kinks out of her back and her neck. "I wish they'd let us go off the ship. I haven't seen the sky except through the windows or this door in two weeks."

"Trust me, love," he said as he watched her move, "you don't want to get off here. There's a good chance they'd mistake you for someone they want to keep here and you'd never see anything but that sky ever again."

Strong Soul scoffed and looked around the cargo bay. They were sitting on top of one of the largest stacks of containers, though there were many that were close to its height. All of them were secured to the deck by tiedowns or grav ropes. She'd learned through the time on the Pride that it would take a lot of inertia to get any of the stacks moving.

The containers themselves were of every color, though red and grey predominated. The container Morning Dawn had sent her was a bright pink that stood out among all the others, though it was easy to get to on the bottom row of shelving towards the door.

She smiled to herself as she remembered opening the crate and finding a selection of the garments that the Mrr'tani on Avalon were wearing when she was there. She'd actually become quite fond of the garish colors, and now she had many different ones to wear. Morning Dawn had also included a pouch of perfectly balanced knives that now resided at the small of her back. The pouch was sturdy black leather with three hilts protruding on either side, within easy grasping distance for a quick reach behind her back.

She gave a mischievous grin to Night Star, then turned and ran towards the edge of the crate, relishing the way that her leg responded to her mind. There was still a bit of a strange sensation, as if there was a split second of hesitation between her wanting to do something and it performing the action she wanted, but her mind was adapting to that as well, compensating for the weakness.

She heard Night Star's protest behind her just before she planted the foot on her new leg at the edge of the crate. She bent her knee and pushed off with all the strength in the artificial muscles and soared through the air, her body tilting forward as she flew. She looked down and saw the looks of both annoyance and envy on the Mrr'tani working beneath her as she sailed over one whole stack of crates.

The speed with which she was travelling had her a little worried, but she'd done what she was attempting before in the forests of Airgidbaile. A deactivated grav rope hung from a pulley in the rafters and she reached out with her hands and felt it fall against her palms and with an exultant shout, she swung her body forward, using her momentum to swing over the second column of crates.

The grav rope slowed her momentum enough that she could get her feet under her again, and with a laugh she landed on top of her target stack, sticking her boots against the ceramisteel lid. With a quick hop, she turned herself around and raised her eyebrows at Night Star still sitting where she left him.

"You're going to kill yourself!" he yelled across the bay.

She just laughed and scurried down the cargo containers, leaping the last few feet to the ground, happy to have a body that was whole again.

The smile vanished from her face when she turned around and found herself facing a broad, furry chest, scarred deeply by ugly claw marks. She looked up into the face of the man attached to it and saw that it was just as ugly as the scars on his chest, though it had nothing to do with his looks. Everything about him from the scrub bristle texture of his fur to the malevolent look in his eyes called out to her that he was an evil being. Three notches lined each of his ears, a fact that she noticed as he looked down her body, his eyes seeming to take her in like a piece of meat.

"Well ain't you a nimble little kitten?" he asked in a hoarse voice that spoke more to physical damage than it did a natural tone.

Strong Soul said nothing, but her hand moved around her back to the knives on her belt. He was giving her no reason to think that he was a danger, but she wasn't one to distrust what her instincts were telling her. Night Star's dampening was in full effect still, since they were in the middle of what he called hostile territory. If there were going find trackers anywhere, they would surely find them here.

"Not too talkative, though, are you?"

Strong Soul gave him a look full of disdain and her voice was steady when she finally answered him. "What do you want?"

"I think you know what I want," he answered with a leer. "Unless you're so young that your father hasn't taught you about a Mrr'tanou's needs."

Strong Soul shivered inside, though she showed no sign of it externally. She didn't dare give him the opening. She could feel Night Star getting closer to where she was and she hazarded a glance to the side where she knew the human overseers were waiting.

"They're not going to be any help to you, kitten," the Mrr'tanou said as he stepped forward, almost pressing his body against hers. "All they care about is the cargo getting loaded, and the boys are seeing to that."

His next step really did bring his body against hers and she still refused to move, holding her ground with a stubborn look in her eyes. She'd been warned about the types that were kept here, and with the notches on his ears, she knew that he had nothing to lose. Even with that knowledge, and the awareness of what he wanted to do to her, she felt a deep set sorrow for a Mrr'tani who had fallen so far.

"So how about you just bend over and we'll have ourselves some fun."

She saw his grin in her eyes and smelled his breath against her muzzle and she acted. Her lips drew back in a snarl and her tail stretched out behind her, balancing her body as she lifted her artificial leg. Her knee drove straight into the Mrr'tanou's crotch with a strength that would have rivaled a kick from one of Marcus' earth horses and his eyes widened in shock and pain.

She didn't stop with the knee, though. As it lowered and his body bent, she slid one of the new knives from each side of the sheath and before he could act, she held one at his throat and tapped the other against his inner thigh.

"Looks like I'm not the one bending over today," she hissed in his ear. "Now if you don't want to go back to your camp minus some parts, you're going to stand up and get back to loading."

He panted and groaned in pain, and though she wanted so much to hate him, she couldn't. He wasn't like the trackers, the ones that sold out their fellows for security. He was merely the result of the life they were born into. He was worthy of pity, not of death, and she would not take his life if she could help it.

"I don't have time for a notcher. Get out." She put a touch of the command she'd learned in her voice and withdrew the knives as she took a step back.

He coughed once and then staggered down the aisle between the crates, turning the corner just as Night Star rounded. Her Frr'a'narr'ou gave the offending Mrr'tanou a passing glance and a smirk and then leaned up against the shipping crate shaking his head.

"I don't know why I bother trying to keep you out of trouble, love. It's like the galaxy has a trouble homing device on you."

"I'd hate for your life to be boring, dear," she said, sliding the knives back into their sheath in a practiced movement. "Besides, he wasn't dangerous, just desperate."

Night Star's eyes were just as searching as the press of his mind and he finally shook his head. "You keep showing me that you're nothing like what I keep expecting you to be."

She smiled and turned towards the cargo bay door, suddenly quite glad that she'd thought to move her weaponry into her quarters while the loading was going on. "Come on, Jason, I'm hungry," she said, beckoning him with her.

"Hope you're cooking, love. I don't think Micah will turn the fire systems off long enough for me."

She laughed and led the way to the galley, leaving the cargo bay and the work crew behind them to finish their work, suddenly not at all eager to leave the Pride and see the planet.

***

"So our friend says thank you for the package," Stargazer said later that night with them all sitting around the table. "And he said to tell you that he's working on your holiday gift. He should have it finished by the time you come back around. Plenty of time to get it to Marcus."

The rest of the loading and unloading had gone without incident and when everything was transferred, Night Star had closed the hold doors and within the cycle, they were off the planet, though they still had over an hour until they reached the jump gate.

"Good. It's the last one he needs," Night Star said, digging into the meal in front of them with gusto.

One of the crates loaded by the work camp inmates had some of the local meat in it, something specifically requisitioned by Night Star so that she could try her hand at cooking new food. She wasn't one to be boastful, but even she thought her first try came out a success.

"There's something else, though," Stargazer said between bites, looking at Strong Soul. "Apparently, there's a story going around about the return of Catcher of Souls."

"They aren't mentioning Keeper, are they?" Night Star asked sharply.

"No," Stargazer said, still watching Strong Soul. "The stories all talk of Catcher. They say that she wasn't killed in the Night of Blood after all and now she's returned."

"They're desperate," Strong Soul said. "Even with the dampening, I could feel that. They need someone to come for them, a story to cling to."

"Indeed, Keeper," Stargazer said. "Thankfully, it seems that there is little truth in any of the stories. They say that Catcher has returned to a world on the very out-reaches. No one expects rash action or signs yet."

"They will eventually," Night Star said. "It's the way of stories like that. I wish it hadn't started so soon, though. Now the AP's going to be looking all the harder for someone special. It's going to be a pain in the tail to get where we want to go."

"The humans dismiss the stories so far. Our friend believes they are just ramblings. They would punish the storytellers, but they know that will only make the story grow, so they let it be."

"They're probably hoping that it'll just die down after nothing happens," Night Star said. "That's what usually happens."

"Stories about Catcher of Souls are a regular occurrence?" Strong Soul asked.

"They surface every now and again, especially when conditions are bad. The last time was during the purge ten years ago."

"I remember something about that," Strong Soul said. "A rebellion on one of the core worlds, right?"

"Not just any core, Keeper," Stargazer said. "The Mrr'tani rallied on New Earth and they almost succeeded in overthrowing the Allied Government."

"I hadn't heard that," Strong Soul said. "I just heard that it was a minor rebellion that was put down."

"They downplayed it and covered it up as much as they could," Night Star said. "It was just before Marcus gave me the Pride. I heard about it from him."

"We were both close to Marcus when it happened," Stargazer said. "The only reason the insurrection failed was that the humans destroyed the city the rebels were using as a base. They sacrificed over one million of their own citizens to eliminate the resistance leaders.

"Faced with that resolve and with the loss of their most educated and influential leaders, the rebellion crumbled."

"I remember Marcus saying that he couldn't figure out whether he was relieved or disappointed," Night Star said. "I think he was more disappointed than he let on."

"Marcus has always been a sympathizer, Night Star," Stargazer said. "That is why he has been so harassed by some of the more conservative members of the council."

"I've been wondering how Marcus gets away with what he does," Strong Soul said as she stood to collect the empty dishes.

"Marcus' family is one of the founders of the Allied Planets. He has a great deal of hereditary respect on the council, and they would have to have a remarkable cause to remove him from the council. Therefore he has remarkable leeway," Stargazer explained.

"Pardon the interruption, Master Jason," Micah called over the speakers, "but the jump gate is twenty minutes away."

"Thanks, Micah. Go ahead and plot us a course for Friedenhold. We'll jump when we get clearance."

Night Star and Stargazer stood and Strong Soul finished tossing the tableware into the washer and the three of them made their way to the bridge to get ready for the jump to their next destination.

***

"I don't know why we bothered giving you your own cabin, Stargazer," Night Star said with a smile as he looked over Strong Soul's shoulder at him.

Strong Soul found that she'd gotten used to sleeping tight between their warm bodies. She'd not mentioned the relationship between her and Night Star to Stargazer, but after the three of them had shared minds for the first time, no explanation was necessary, and she found that she didn't mind the same feelings developing for Stargazer as well. It wasn't just the physical closeness and the feeling of their fur on hers, it was the glow of their minds surrounding hers, suffusing her own thoughts with calm and safety.

They were her protectors, she knew, but she had never expected them to become her lovers, or her family. She smiled into Stargazer's eyes and chuckled at Night Star's comment.

"You should talk, Night Star," she said quietly, the calm of the evening having already descended over the trio. "I don't think you've spent a single night in your own quarters since I came on board."

"I have, too," he protested. "The first night when you were passed out from the jump."

"That hardly counts," she said, giggling. "I couldn't exactly invite you to sleep if I wasn't conscious."

"I go where my Keeper goes," Stargazer said simply. "If she wishes me to sleep elsewhere, I will do so."

"Don't you dare," Strong Soul said quickly. "I don't know what I'd do if I had to rely on the blanket again."

Stargazer held her eyes with his enigmatic smile and she laughed again when his amusement warmed their thoughts. There was a residual link between the three of them that resembled the joining they experienced during the jump, but it was quieter, less intense. They were back in their own minds, but the walls were much thinner.

When she first noticed it, she contemplated fixing it, but she realized that she didn't want it fixed. After so long staying in her own head with her own thoughts and her own feelings, the sudden intrusion of others had been more than disconcerting, but she found that when Night Star enforced the dampening, she was lonelier than she ever thought she could be. She longed for the links now. She needed them almost as much as she knew she needed food, and when they weren't there, she starved for the connection and found herself constantly touching either Stargazer or Night Star whenever she had to endure the silence.

With the increased bond, though, she found also that she could feel Stargazer even through the silence, almost as clearly as she could Night Star. The discovery had left her happier than she dared admit to herself, though she was sure that the others knew after having been in her mind so often over the past few days.

"What are you thinking, Keeper?" Stargazer asked.

Strong Soul smiled. "You mean you can't tell?" She chuckled quietly and let her eyes drift shut, focusing on the glow from her companions' minds. She breathed deep and sighed. "Everything is so different than I ever thought it would be. I figured I'd be like old Lyria, working and living in my cottage in the woods until father found someone for me to train to replace me."

As she lay there, feeling the flow of thoughts and feelings around her, mind suffused by the glow of the other two, she realized that not only could she feel the flows and the currents of their thoughts and their emotions, she could open a part of her own mind and let them fill her. It was like sitting down to a meal, each round of thoughts with its own flavor and feel.

She tested if the reverse was true and she let her own thoughts drift on the river of emotion washing through the three of them.

"What are you doing, love?" Night Star asked.

"Hush," she said, pressing back against him. She opened her eyes when she heard her words echoed from Stargazer's lips at the same time. The familiar red ring was slowly flowing into his eyes as she watched. It was still nothing like what she saw in the last minutes through Jacques eyes, but the much more subtle change that she knew came along with the joining between her and Night Star.

It was very different, though, with Stargazer. Where she always felt Night Star's thoughts and mind merging with her own, this time her mind suppressed the current of Stargazer's, washing over it and pushing his thoughts to the side. He was still there, and his consciousness was perfectly aware, but it was also perfectly obedient to whatever she wished.

Night Star's curiosity prickled at her and she felt him stir and lift his head over her shoulder to watch Stargazer's face as she pressed further.

He willingly stepped aside for her to flow into him, but she knew without a doubt that it wouldn't have mattered if he'd resisted at all, she could have brushed him aside with no more than a thought. A thrill ran up her spine and her fur prickled to its ends and she felt Night Star's concern when the action was mimicked along Stargazer's back.

"What's going on, Keeper?" he asked.

"It's all right," she replied in both voices. "Stargazer is safe."

"Let him go, love," Night Star said. "This isn't right."

"Don't worry," she said, again through both voices, "this must be. He is mine, but he can never be <> until I have finished. It will not be long."

Strong Soul heard the words being spoken from her lips and Stargazer's, and though she knew that they were coming from her mind, but it was like she was dredging them up from the bottom of a muddy river.

Meanwhile, another part of her was searching Stargazer's mind. She didn't know what she was looking for, but his mind felt familiar, the landmarks spoke to her and she followed a path that she knew she'd never followed, and yet she knew she had.

Night Star held her shoulder and watched. She knew he was worried about his friend, and she wanted to reassure him, but all of her attention was occupied in following the road in front of her. To distract from that for even a moment would have her wandering for much longer trying to find her way again. So instead of words, she simply opened her mind a little wider and let him ride along with her, sharing her certainty with him that this was something that needed to happen.

In her mind's eye, she could see herself running through the forest in Airgidbaile and the excitement of chasing down one of her father's elk was a surge in her mind and her chest. She knew the feeling, she knew the forest, and she was certain that her prey was just ahead, all the signs were telling her.

And then there it was, a shining stag broadside to her, almost inviting her killing shot. But when she moved to slide her bow off her shoulder, she found that it wasn't her familiar curved instrument of death that landed in her hand, it was a harness. She looked at it laying there in her hand and she felt the leather between her fingers. Looking up at the stag again, she knew what she needed to do.

Her feet pounded the ground and she felt the forest floor under her toes as she sprinted towards the elk. Everything in her mind's world narrowed down to the stag in front of her, and she knew that she would capture it and it would be hers. Her hands stretched out just as the creature turned. For a split second, she saw Stargazer's eyes staring out at her from the gentle face. Then the stag lowered his head just in time for Strong Soul to slip the harness on.

When it slid home, the forest faded from view and an unmatched calm settled over her, and through her over the others as well. Her vision returned to the ship and she found her hands clasped tightly in Stargazer's. Very slowly she withdrew from his mind and smiled with relief when his own thoughts replaced hers.

"Stargazer?" Night Star asked behind her.

"I am here," he answered.

"Are you okay?"

"I have never in my life been better," Stargazer answered, keeping his hands around Strong Soul's and his eyes continued to gaze into hers.

"Now you are truly OuwRrrahr'a'tan'ou. My focus, my protector, and my confidant."

"And I shall remain by your side until I can no longer serve."

Strong Soul bowed her head and Stargazer did the same. She touched her head to his and stayed there for a moment before she lifted again and smiled.

"What just happened?" Night Star asked.

"She is beginning to find herself, Night Star, and she truly is Keeper of Hearts."

Strong Soul rolled over, pressing back against Stargazer while she watched Night Star.

"As you are my Frr'a'narr'ou, Stargazer is my OuwRrrahr'a'tan'ou. I don't know everything about what's going on, but I know that this is right. It's better than right, it's perfect. It's exactly the way it should be."

Night Star shook his head and sighed and Strong Soul couldn't suppress a smile at the consternation she felt from him. "Just a kit from Silverwell," he muttered, stroking the side of her face. "I'm going to have a long, long talk with Marcus when we get back there."

"I'm sure you will, love," Strong Soul said, letting her eyes drift closed. "For now, though, come to sleep. Your mind glow is nice when you're asleep."

"Maybe you'll be a bit more normal when you wake up, love," Night Star said, settling down next to her. "I'll hope, anyway."

Strong Soul smiled and reached out to pull him closer and then she lay between her Mrr'tanoun, drifting peacefully in the currents of their glows until they carried her off to sleep.