Eye of the Ocean Book 3 Ji'jin Station

Eye of the Ocean – Book 3: Ji’Jin Station
“I dreamed I had died,” Poss a'ltic said very softly and explained how very long
ago it was.
“We've all died,” Oimit said, in Zimmer. “We're all hers.”
The woman had used the inclusive, mutually possessive form of the words and
Poss a'ltic copied. “And she's ours,” she said. “Overpattern has already bled into
Empire. But slowly. We were able to accommodate and adapt to the changes. And
we in turn, have created the phoenix.”
With the girdle hooked over her hand, Poss a'ltic stood and stretched, rolling
her head, letting A'in support her under an elbow with one strong hand. She was
stiff from tension, she shouldn't be - how could she be tense? Or had she caught
it from A'in? She felt the laughter bubbling up - how could she be so
impressionable? Raswini was wiping the tea bowls before placing them in the
chest; busy with her own ritual but she felt her attention like water splashing her.
“Commander Oimit,” she said, drawing the glass shapes up with her arm until
the girdle hung waist level. And drawing the woman's eyes. “I don't have to do
anything.”
She walked to join Cayse and Tu'pin, Oimit followed. “The Priest Ulanda
refuses to open a dialogue,” Poss a'ltic said to the young Zimmer. “Would you
know why?”
“Empress, where is she now?”
“Ji'jinlini Temple on Ji'jin Gate Station,” Oimit said before she could.
Her answer stolen, she did what the Zimmer wasn't allowed to. A touch of the
Net and Empire spun against the mossy stonewall. The young Priest was
surrounded by a corona of stars as though he wore them on his robe. He shook
his crest out as he turned to see and the long strands of cloth in his robe shook
as freely. His honor points showed as he sucked air in sharply.
Camerat and then half the galaxy away: Jillistinikalla. The intensely white star
and the single station in high orbit over a singleton world, the icy surface marbled
in sulfur tones, melted and colored by the volcanoes that erupted during each
close swing, the world frozen and silent for the wider, distant arc. The station was
a transfer and trading site where three sectors met.
Poss a'ltic pulled the image closer until Jillistinikalla was to her hand, shining
like a sunstone. The glass she held flamed white to the white light, Li-Cassa seeds
and flowers, the flowers at least had much the same look in the sunlight of Ri.
Tu'pin had followed the star's journey to her and had watched her every
movement since but Oimit's eyes were to Camerat. “It started here,” the other
woman said, her eyes on the red of Grandfather, the smaller Son eclipsed. “She
should have come here instead.”
Red light reflected from the glass as Poss a'ltic let the image turn and grow.
Six worlds, one of them inhabitable by their kind, another two were gas giants
and settled long ago by the Hij before they had moved beyond Empire. If she
Laurel Hickey www.2morrow.bc.ca