Eye of the Ocean Book 3 Ji'jin Station

Eye of the Ocean – Book 3: Ji’Jin Station
Poss a'ltic stopped him with a quick movement. The thought alone was
dangerous enough much less the word. Angansit. All the reassurances in the
universe didn't make her trust him. Or all the precautions including the Net filters
that were similar to what was done on Ji'jin Station. A stop on the loom-master
as much as on Ulanda.
Allowing the binding to take shape while she held the interface put her at risk
of being bound in the same thing but they had run out of options when Ulanda
and her people had moved unexpectedly. Would she have company in her prison?
The chances of that had increased as soon as she had lost the momentum of the
Priest's capture. When she had felt the depth of the change centered in Ji'jin
Station, Poss a'ltic had tried to follow enough to push Ge'on'ni and the others in.
They had set the three points that made a stable field that she could use or she
wouldn't be here like this, but what else had happened? Very briefly, she'd had a
glimpse of a crystal room then a flare of power had pushed her out.
Letting Cayse take the empty bowl, Poss a'ltic got to her feet. “Ulanda,” she
said in Ri-native, using the country accent she had learned as a child on the farm,
not the cultured one of the Temples. “The only thing I want is to prevent the
destruction of Empire. It makes us enemies only if you intend to destroy it.”
Small black eyes looked over at her. “What I intend? I don't know that I intend
anything.” And back to studying the sand. “The phoenix allowed the Opening.
Cassa created a whole reality just to allow that to happen. Altasimic would have
been destroyed, torn apart otherwise.”
“And the other?”
“What?”
“Overpattern bleeding in.” She willed Ulanda to look at her. “How many times
does it have to 'almost' happen?”
“Does 'almost' count? Rit says...”
“I'm more interested in what you say.”
The goading was deliberate, but instead of answering, Ulanda watched Cayse
as he served the tea.
“We're brothers,” Cayse said, bringing the girl a bowl. He introduced himself.
“For the most part, my Lady keeps a closed Household.”
“You move the same,” Ulanda said, signing thanks for the tea with her free
hand, a small motion. “I wondered.”
Outwardly polite and calm now, her manners regained even with the dull,
drugged look in her eyes. Enough Net reached the pull interface for Cayse to ask
Yian to bring fresh clothes. From his quiet study of the reeds at the water's edge,
A'in looked back at his brother. Surprise and contempt showed on his face.
A small concern in the light of what they were planning, but Poss a'ltic gave
her allowance. There was no need for Ulanda to sit in wet and stinking clothes.
Laurel Hickey www.2morrow.bc.ca