01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
"The lands of Clan Arpor are on the other side of those of the Clans of Pelach and Bryn. It
is a long journey, we will start in fifteen days."
"Are you trying to tell me that it will only take five days to get there?"
"We will travel by Vix!"
"The trip has suddenly lost a lot of its attraction."
Maia giggled.
"I'll make you a cushion."
"How many Clans are there? Will they all come?"
"They will all come. It will be a great gathering. The leaders of the Ten Clans will
assemble to honour the occasion - and it is very rare that so many of our leaders meet
together. It will be a time of great feasting and jubilation. In ordinary circumstances, it is a
great privilege when a daughter of a Clan is chosen as a consort by the High Thane."
"But you don't see it as an honour and the circumstances aren't normal?"
"The Council of the Thanes is divided on many issues and my father is the unofficial leader
of those who oppose Rho Arpor. The marriage to Laoni will undermine his influence in the
Council."
"There is no one more senior than Rho Arpor?"
"He is the High Thane."
"He is your planetary leader?"
"I don't understand that thought. Rho Arpor leads the ten Clans in Council. He is our
supreme leader."
"The ten Clans - they rule the entire planet?"
"Of course! The ten Clans extend over all the lands within the Rim."
"The Rim?"
"The Rim is where the sky meets the land."
Steve nodded, he was beginning to get confused.
"What is beyond the Rim?"
"The sky, of course!"
He assumed that the Rim was a fancy Lynxe term for the horizon. It was a question of
semantics, he didn't press the subject.
The atmosphere with the Thanehold remained sombre. It was hard to shake the feeling that
there were preparing to attend a funeral rather than a wedding. Most of the senior members of
the Clan were conspicuous by their absence. There was much coming and going at all hours
of the day and night. It became a frequent occurrence to be awoken during the night or in the
dawn, by the clatter of Vix hooves on the flagstones of the courtyard, accompanied by the
protesting moan of the animals, who were led away to be groomed. Steve would hold Maia
against him, feeling the tension, knowing that she was awake and listening.
The inner man remained dormant but he was watchful. Steve could feel him lurking around
in the back of his mind. He had to learn to accept his presence in everything he did, even the
intimate moments he shared with Maia, knowing that Taxila shared in the moments of
ecstasy. Maia read his thoughts.
"You mustn't mind about him, Steve. You will have to learn to accept that he will never
leave you. He is really YOU. At this time, he seems to be separate, another individual, but the
time will come when his nature will become yours."
"In other words, my personality will be swallowed! What I am now, will be thrust down,
beaten by something stronger - an alien who has taken me over!"
"Only if you allow a war to develop within you - Only if you try to fight him! It would be
better if you learned to cooperate and then there will be a place for both of your personalities.
Perhaps, Taxila needs the tempering influence of your personality, as much as you need the
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