Eye of the Ocean Book 3 Ji'jin Station

Eye of the Ocean – Book 3: Ji’Jin Station
yawning Bolda. Mirwin was on her other side, untangling used cords and winding
butterflies out of the silk.
Peecit made a fourth and was unexpected, the Zimmer girl sitting on a rock, a
sheet of paper spread on her lap and for all intents and purposes, doodling.
Sunlight coming through a crack in the wall caught her crest, and then the color
of her eyes as she looked up momentarily. Red and silver and blue in the sun, her
markings as exquisite as her eyes. The sky was a veil of red and he opened his
mouth to breath the woman in. The scent of the sasi-wind.
“Took your sweet time,” Bolda grunted, breaking into his thoughts.
He dragged his sight away from Peecit. “Sorry, I overslept.”
He got a grunt in return. “Well, that seems to be the way around here.”
“I'll try not to make a habit of it.” Rit squatted next to Ulanda, trying to quiet
the heavy beating of his heart. He had Peecit to his back now, only the scent
telling him she was there.
“Kori says that we can break the grid,” he said to Ulanda. “The whole thing and
all at once. You can make a Challenge for ranking the moment it's down. Local
first, but enough to get a ship. Or you can stay here and wait for the next step.”
“And what does the San of my House recommend?” she asked, turning dark
eyes on him. All surface, she was skimming her existence like a stone on water.
“I haven't asked him.”
Bolda snorted. “Don't waste your time.”
“Regardless of Garm, I suggest we talk about options.” At his words, her free
hand shaped a minor Closure, he thought he hardly existed to her right then. Not
in pattern, this kind of hiding was quite human. And disciplined. He might find it
humorous in other circumstances.
He looked first to Bolda and found no support there. To Mirwin next. Despite
the distraction of the elaborate design painted on each cheek, the tass'altin
looked subdued. The same pattern as decorated the brazier Alicia used for an
altar: the eye of the ocean. Ji'jinlini Temple's Seal-sign. Was it in honor of the
dead Priest?
A touch to the larger Temple Net through the link and he dropped it quickly.
He had seen enough of Temple death ceremonies; the ti'Linn version wasn't a
novelty he wished to watch.
Mirwin gestured to catch Rit's attention. “Will there be an opportunity for me to
attend the Giving rites,” he started, continuing the gesture to make a formal
request with his hands. The silk cords were forgotten in his lap.
Rit shook his head. “I wouldn't think so. Ulanda? We still have to talk about
this. All of us do.”
“Rit,” Alicia called from the bathhouse door, a towel in one hand. “Come and
have your bath.”
Laurel Hickey www.2morrow.bc.ca