Party Time chapter 6

Bepa took several deep breaths, before walking out into the open. She'd had just enough time to find the outside entrance to the shed, where the hern-rat foods and supplies were kept. In one hand she held a pair of dried skivvets, in the other she had a long pole used to subdue the animals.
She could feel them out there, two of them and others just off her range. The animals were not angry, nor agitated. They were trained well, she thought. But they were still her domain, and the two human guards who held their leashed weren't Animal Masters. They were only the poor saps who'd been given this duty.
Concentrating on how friendly she was and how much the hern-rats were sweethearts, weren't they? They loved to frolic in packs, and it'd been simply ages since these had been with their pack mates.
So she posed herself as one, outside below the bright spotlight. The pair of guards and their beasts caught sight of her. At first, the hern-rats snarled and leapt to the ends of their leashes. But then as Bepa watched them with a curious expression on her wide face, they calmed and rolled onto the ground.
Their handlers were mystefied. Angered, one of them attempted to get his beast back onto its feet, which turned quickly into him snatching his hand back from the snapping jaw. The other attempted to get his own charge to attack Bepa. He motioned to her, the proper motion and verbal command but it was utterly ignored by the beast.
Bepa laughed, and tossed the skivvets at the animals, who got out of their handler's grasp easily. Their leashes dangled on the grass while they rolled and played in the chill night air.
"You could use a lesson in animal handling," Bepa said. "Hern-rats aren't stupid, you know. They're very playful if you know how to play with them. Do you know how?" She walked slowly up to the pair of large beasts, knelt between them, and allowed them to sniff her over. Since she had the scent of the skivvets and their food-shed all over her, they claimed her as pack, and she tussled with them before laughing loudly at the guards.
"Don't run," she warned, "if you run you'll make yourself prey for them." She watched half a moment later, and then made the attack gesture that the guard had done not a minute before. Both beasts rose with flattened ears against their wedge-shaped heads, their sharp fur standing in a menacing pattern atop their shoulders. They moved purposefully and gracefully, Bepa thought.
Against the leather that the guards wore, the teeth of a hern-rat were not quite good enough to chew through immediately. The soft parts, however, were reached so easily after bowling the two-legged prey over...
Bepa turned and walked back into the mansion through the open back door, humming.

Kyoh and Juvon met behind the first bank of machines, and without words Juvon told the Bayaran his plan. Kyoh nodded once, and moved to the left. He passed one of the room's guards, but that one just stood there, watching.
Kyoh wondered why this reaction, until he came a little closer in to the center of the room. There was a feeling, in the air, alive. Squirming through the minds of those present and clearly coming from the exiled Breeder.
The Bayaran thought that the man could be more impressive looking, expected him to be taller or broader, but he still carried himself with the air of a High Holder or whatever he fancied himself. The guard made a lame attempt to stop Kyoh from going any farther, but Kyoh just glared at him.
Around the left hand bank of Breeding vats, Kyoh moved quietly. Then, he saw Juvon and his signal. The tall Bayaran stepped into the brightly lit center of the room, as a strange shimmering came from the other side. It appeared as if a twin of Kyoh had also entered from there, and repeated every motion the real thing did.
Momentarily stunned, then, the exile switched his gaze from Vanya and Ten to the sides.
Kyoh made all the right moves. He stepped in, menaced the man, and succeeded in distracting him. Juvon mimicked the Bayaran with his illusion, concentrating on the visuals and having to ignore the possibility of someone attacking him from behind while he was doing so.
Then Vanya moved. It was darkness across the bright room, it was a flash of shadow. When he stopped his hand was around the exile's neck and the other was apparenly out of his control. The nails on his right hand had alredy drawn blood by the time the exile reacted.
Ten screamed first, but what came from Vanya's throat was more frightening than any nightmare. Kyoh froze, and Juvon dropped his illusory version.
Haesh crept up to Mihr's side, gently picked up her hand, and tapped her forehead with his stubby fingers. She was a pretty girl, not much older than Haesh, with short cropped orange-yellow hair and smooth skin. The algae stone around her neck was the only contrast with her coloration and her clothing, which was also yellow and cream. She wasn't waking up.
Haesh tugged on her shoulders, took her head into the crook of his arm, and pulled her off the table where she had been tossed. When Avaur behind him started to wake, Haesh aimed his first blow of psionic pain at her, achieving results when she winced, shook and stayed on the floor, eyes closed.
The howling from the center of the room was more than enough to unnerve the guard back near the door, and he bolted out. Haesh and Juvon on the one side took the Healer carefully, tried propping her up between them but she was completely limp. Kyoh on the other side of the room watched with his mouth slightly open, as Vanya attempted to kill his creator and failed.
Frozen, as if painted or a sculpture, they stood in the middle of the room, he and the yellow colored man. Vanya was much taller, had a reach on his long arms which gave him all the advantages physically. But he was being assaulted by forces that none present had ever felt. Stiff arm still clutching the exile's throat, Vanya's other hand balled into a fist and he continued screaming.
Mihr woke, with a shudder.
"Gods," she whispered, voice hoarse. "Make him stop."
"I wish I could," Haesh said, staring at the Breeders. "I wish I knew what to do."
Weakly, Mihr moved her head up and watched, finally an expression crossed her heart-shaped face. It was anger, surely.
But what came from her mind, was totally different.
"You stay away from him," she said, less washed out than before. Ten turned, eyes still tearing and though he was staying by his Master's side he clearly wanted to be elsewhere. He saw Mihr and his large sea-blue eyes begged her to do something. "I'm trying," she said. "Help me."
"Perhaps I can be of some assistance," Darkhanis said, "I followed the screaming. I wish he'd stop that."
He seemed so casually able to brush off the demented howling that Vanya was making, but then Haesh realized that it wasn't because the Breeder was attempting to bolster himself with a shout: it was that he was in whatever thrall the exile could wash over him. Attempting to break through it, then, Vanya was trapped with his hands barely around the pale throat. Ten was taking some of it, buffering his mind from the all-too-familiar assault, but there were so many things Vanya expected out of his creator, and the ability to do what he was doing not the least of them. The mind Ten was protecting was so open to this abuse, it was a wonder he'd been able to avoid it at all before. Mihr's healing energy surged within the boy, and his mental block was reinforced.
Darkhanis moved in, and an even more subtle wash of energy passed through the room. With the addition of his gentle power, Ten was more fully able to situate his own blocks between the exile and his Master's mind. Finally, between the two of them, they managed to lull Vanya down. He was beyond rage, and Ten was hardly able to contain that, let alone do it at the same time as block the painful attack from the exile.
"You," the exile breathed, finally able to speak. Vanya's hand moved off his throat, though it seemed to be attracted to it as if by some other force than its own. The Breeder backed away, afraid, but so angered that he couldn't get more than a foot back, before he stopped and obviously wanted to attack again.
"Yes," Darkhanis said. "You've been interfering with things long enough." He turned his attention to Vanya, who still stood with dry lips and shaking hands. "Go get Mihr. Go."
He obviously didn't want to turn his back on his tormentor, but the Breeder finally moved stiffly and without turning away from the exile. He backed to Haesh and Juvon, moved them out of the way and took Mihr into his long arms. While fiercely clutching onto her, Haesh saw the absolute terror in the Breeder's eyes.
Juvon teleported outside, briefly, was gone for a moment and then back, bringing the scent of the chill air and the cut grass from the mansion grounds with him.
"We can take her out now," Juvon said, to the tall man, who didn't move.
"Are you all right?" Vanya finally asked of his Healer. She sobbed, but nodded. "I'm so sorry about this," the Breeder whispered, and finally stood with the slender girl still held close to him.
Darkhanis and the exile stood and watched one another. Osh and the others finally came fully into the room, once the yelling had stopped. He motioned to his brother and the younger Membayar pulled gently on Vanya's arm.
"Ten and Darkhanis can take care of this," Haesh said.
"Come on," Osh said. "It's time to go."
Darkhanis stood his ground, motioned Ten behind him to go to his Master's side. The exile watched this with a clear disgust on his face. "If I hear you're doing anything else, exile," Darkhanis warned, "it won't be just a midnight raid you'll be facing. Tell your 'Holder that he's going to be responsible for this if any word gets out. We'll keep this quiet because you didn't kill anyone. But mark this, do not cross me again."
"You?" The exile finally found his tongue. "When did I cross you? What have you to do with any of my work?"
"You don't remember them, do you?" Darkhanis said, and the rest, though they wanted to leave, were torn to hear it. Vanya gritted his teeth and had to hold himself back from jumping at the exile again, when he realized what the elder Breeder was talking about. He, Ten and Mihr were the only ones who did know for certain. Darkhanis continued. "As long as it is in my power to do so, exile, your work is denied. You have nothing. You've taken too much from him, and from me. Keep your little girl, she's the only thing you'll ever have, now. And if I see her," he glared at Avaur who had finally woken and crept over the side of her table again, "I won't hesitate to see that she's divested of her own rank. Clear?"
The exile only laughed, but there was a hesitation on his part, as well. He was slightly cowed by the events and the number of people against him, so the ex-breeder backed into his desk and stayed there.
Rather let down, Haesh started out toward the exit. There was only so much they could do, Haesh realized. They had to get out and get themselves back to somewhere safe, before they could be trapped here.
Mihr attempted to walk but couldn't. Vanya picked her up, she limp like a doll in his arms, and they moved carefully out of the room. Haesh followed them, waiting for Ten. Then Kyoh moved past, Juvon, and and the long-eared Vionn.
"Where's Bepa?" Haesh asked, and Vionn chuckled.
"Causing havoc outside. Darkhanis, come on. We're finished here."
"Yes," he said with a caustic final sneer at the exile and his attendants, "we are."

The ride back to the Sengihr Hold was rough and though no one was talking it was somehow loud with discussion. Words passed unheard between Juvon and Vionn's minds, so that each of them seemed to know what had happened to the other group in their absence from each other. The stroll across the wide lawn of the mansion was the only relaxing part of the journey, Haesh noticed, because Bepa had managed to clear it of any guards or animals.
She smelled like she used to, he noticed, in these close quarters with the others, he hoped that they weren't offended by the smell of hern-rat and grass stains.
There was little anyone could say to Vanya or Mihr to comfort either of them. They sat curled together, but no one was certain which of them was attempting to calm the other. Vanya's eyes were vacant, cold and frightened; Mihr's pale orange eyes were shut tightly most of the ride back, but when they were open they betrayed a sort of dispassionate chill.
"I don't think I can help you any more," she finally said, and at that Vanya's eyes closed tightly.
"I know. I don't blame you," he told her, almost too quietly to hear. But though they'd just cancelled their professional relationship, they still refused to move apart.
Haesh wondered how it could ever have gotten this bad for someone, but then again, he'd been sheltered from the world of High Holders and such, he didn't know one party from another before tonight.
"I should have killed him," Vanya said, and Mihr finally broke from her huddle to look at him.
"No," she whispered. "You've killed enough."
Bepa and Kyoh both started at that, but the gentle rocking and constant noises of the carriage's passage over the gravel road covered it. Haesh only suspected what Mihr could see within the man's mind, and though he was disturbed that here was a Breeder -- a life giver -- who killed, there was an obvious reason for anything he did.
That reason was still back at Zerrik's mansion, doing who knew what.
When they reached the Hold, it was mutually decided that they would head back to Telva immediately. Darkhanis wanted both Vanya and Mihr out of the area, and it seemed that they both agreed.
Ten seemed put off, about having this Healer in his usual spot. Haesh tried not to appear like he noticed this, but when the boy watched him openly, the Membayar shrugged.
"Is she really quitting?" He asked, and the boy nodded.
"Wouldn't you?"
Haesh looked up, watched the pair: bright and dark, huddled, scared but together. "No, I wouldn't."
"It's a pity you don't have the same abilities she's got, then," Ten muttered. "Because I can't do it."
Before he accused the boy of doing anything other than damaging the Breeder anyway, Haesh held his tongue and tiredly moved by him.
"We'll be on our way now," Osh said, "come on. The trip back will be nothing. We can rest soon."
The Hold servants watched their Master, who clearly was in no condition to be traveling, and waited. Vanya finally turned to Kaeris and offered the instructions to keep the house in order and await his contact which might or might not be within the next few days. But that if anything happened -- and they'd know if something did -- to call him at his normal Fi'ir office.
On a second thought, he told them to call the Telva mansion and left it at that.
As Osh promised, the trip back to the dayside of the world was a restful one. Bepa and Kyoh discussed the way she'd taken care of the guard beasts, and how he'd kept the doors firmly bolted when the guards came across the main hall. Osh and Vionn both wanted to talk about the sword-duel their Breeder had had, but that one was busy otherwise. Darkhanis finally pried Mihr from Vanya's hold, and spoke with her quietly in the back of the plane, where there was a single low bench seat. Ten sulked.
Haesh sat silently watching, as Vanya stared at his steepled fingers, back in his own seat. The trip didn't seem to be bothering the Breeder this time, he was obviously preoccupied or distracted enough. Juvon crouched before the dark man, carefully looked up, and Vanya finally watched him.
For the first time in their presence, Juvon took off his small glasses, winced with the hard light coming into the cabin from the sun. Had Haesh been closer, he would have seen that they were the same shade as Mirage's, a pale violet. The High Holder watched his friend oddly, and remained by his knee for more than fifteen minutes before the other moved at all.
"You're exhausted," Vanya said, finally touching the silvery skin of Juvon's face. Haesh noted that the young Holder did look worn, and after all he'd been doing quite a lot of non-physical work. The illusory Kyoh seemed to have taken a toll on him, the most. Not even his subsequent teleportation had this obvious an effect.
Haesh watched in a bit of shock, but still entranced and curious, when Sengihr turned his wrist gently before the silver High Holder's lips, and the younger Juvon used those fangs of his. Vanya winced briefly, but then simply leaned his head back, and rested with it.
"He really is a vampire," Vionn said, "it isn't that he can't eat like the rest of us, but he's drained of his energy and that's the only way he knows to get it back." The tech-elf slipped back into his seat, but still turned to watch Haesh's reaction. "It doesn't really hurt once he gets started. It's that hole he's got to make."
"What... what about your own fangs, Vionn?" Haesh asked. They were much longer and seemed more dangerous than the other's, but Vionn hadn't mentioned anything of the sort.
"Oh, they're decorational, mostly," he said. "Juvon, don't fucking dry him out."
"Can't you stop that for just a minute?" Mihr cried from the back, and Vanya sighed.
"You've been trying to teach me how to appreciate what people do for me," the Breeder said, without turning. "This is the only way I know how."
"And it's horrible," she replied. She paused, then said more softly, "but you're right. I... I'm still not used to these friends of yours."
"Such as they are," Vanya said, finally removing his hand from Juvon's grip. He watched the bright blood well up from the pair of close holes, and then rubbed his skin. Momentarily, the blood stopped coming up.
"It's going to be day again, when we get back there, isn't it?" Juvon whined, and Osh confirmed it. "You know I'm not a day person," he said.
"Neither am I," Vanya said.
Juvon rested his forehead on the Breeder's knee, folded his hands around his thigh, and seemed to be resting right there. Both of them exhausted from one or another reason, Haesh hoped they'd have some time to just rest, after all this was in fact settled and done. But with Mihr still sobbing occasionally, back there, he thought that it might go on another few hours once they did reach the Telva site.
When they at last landed on the still-wet field at the Telva North hoverport, several of the party had to be awakened so they could leave. They summoned cabs for the ride into Mirage's estate, silently as before, and it seemed to Osh that the tension had gone back up.
Once it was determined that Mihr was going to be keeping better track of her Kelen clinic's locks, she chastised herself for having jumped to the attitude of quitting. She wanted to try again, to stay with the Breeder and work with him, but everyone could see she was afraid of him -- and the things she saw in his memories were more than real to her now.
When they as a group, fractured into several now, moved back into the Telva mansion, it was early afternoon and distressful for them all. The day had cleared, as Osh and Vionn promised the storm was gone but it had left high clouds and wet terrain behind it.
The servants which greeted the group at the covered vehicle port were fresh, different from any the Chanay brothers had seen -- the day before? Night? Time meant very little to them, either of them had had an hour or less sleep in all that time, and that on the plane ride back. They staggered into the mansion, it was barely familiar to either of them but it was immeasurably more relieving than being anywhere else.
Because Mirage was there. Because Amaranth, Kenya, and Lam were waiting.
"Ah, the women-folk wait," Juvon said, shading his eyes from the afternoon sun coming below the port shelter.
He strode into the home, comfortable as the son of the Holder ought to be. His sister clearly considered smacking him for his comment, but chose not to upon seeing Haesh. She smiled openly, friendly. The Membayar moved to her side, aware that she'd been sleeping off a potentially wonderful evening, and that she'd had the chance to bathe and put on fresh clothing, where he was sweaty and grimy, wearing stale clothes... And she didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"Welcome back," Amaranth said, and practically jumped into Haesh's arms. "You're heroes, aren't you?"
"Some of us would like to think so," Vanya said, tiredly. He turned to Mihr, who finally smiled. She and some of the others walked (staggered, really) into the house proper, to bathe and to be tended to by Mirage's expert staff. The rest, Darkhanis, Ten, Vanya and Haesh, remained at the wide doorway.
Slowly, Mirage edged them into the house, so her servants could close down the hover port and get inside. Though the storm was in fact over, the wind was blustery and apt to topple things if allowed into the house. She took Vanya's hand carefully, pale against dark, and pressed into his chest with a serious look on her face. Sad, slightly, afraid for her friend more than for herself.
Haesh and Amaranth watched with the same expression, either of them wondering what it was going to take to get them closer. Darkhanis sent Ten on in, with a gentle shooing motion, and for once the boy agreed to do so without scowling or argument.
The huge hallway was quiet, though Haesh seemed to hear a buzzing in his ears everywhere. Perhaps, and he correctly attributed it, it was that he was now sensing differently. Ever since the eve of the party, when he was made to play with that blasted piece of paper -- he still had it on his arm somewhere -- he'd been feeling like he was hearing better, and it was that air moved more easily to him.
How odd, he thought.
Mirage led them to a brightly sunlit room on the highest of the three levels in the house, where the huge stones of the floor were cut into patterns and water gently bubbled down in a crafted waterfall around them. It was no water hazard, Haesh thought. It was beautiful, relaxing. There were low benches that Mirage offered first Darkhanis and the pair of grey-colored women seats, then another to Amaranth and Haesh, and she openly dragged Vanya's slightly resistant form to another.
They sat and watched the water moving, small leaves from the decorative plants occasionally drifting into the shallow pool and endlessly circling. At last, Darkhanis chuckled and drew attention to himself and the two slender women beside him.
"I've got two," he said, and Mirage nearly stood in Vanya's lap to slap at him.
"I've got the best one," Vanya hissed quietly, and that seemed to soothe the HighMistress enough to place her gently back onto the tall man's lap, more properly.
Not to be outdone, Haesh traced the line of Amaranth's back, and brought up another subject. "Mine's got a lovely tail," he said, and Amaranth giggled as she had never done.
They finally were relaxing, while the others downstairs could be heard splashing in another group bath area. Kenya looked oddly at Vanya.
"Oh, I've met your son Marten," she said. "He's very sweet, not at all like you. How'd you manage that, anyway?"
"He's never claimed to be my son," Vanya said, with only a touch of sad truth to his voice. "I'd warn you, though, he's a better actor than I and he can be just as rude at times."
"That I know," the girl said, looking at her long claw-nails. "He was nothing but trouble until the band left last night."
"At least they left," the Breeder muttered. "I am convinced he travels with them to keep me away from him."
"That's what he said," Kenya giggled.
They were silent again, it seemed that Kenya had struck something in Vanya's mind, and he dwelled on it. If Haesh was interpreting this correctly, anyone could simply abuse the Breeder openly. He took it, but it was clearly having an effect on him. One that Haesh didn't like. Darkhanis' voice broke the silence.
"Forget the exile, Vanya. He's not your Breeder any more."
Even Vanya didn't understand that, and he shook his head slightly to indicate that.
"He took everything but your life from you, and that I wonder," Darkhanis said. "And as I've said, if he hadn't gotten to them first, I'd have worked on your parents. That's the worst thing he's done, Vanya, he's stolen your childhood from you. I want to at least give you something of one, late though it is in coming."
"I barely remember parts of it," the Breeder said. "But you're right. I never had parents. My Hold there is the only thing I've got. I never even met them, that I know of."
"How horrid," Amaranth said.
"That's why he's exiled," Lam said. "That and many other offences, most of them too much to mention."
"If you'd been there, you wouldn't want to have seen it," Haesh said. "But you'd nearly gotten yourself killed, Breeder, I could feel what he was doing to you from half a room away and you were there right beside him. I don't know what to call that, bravery or rage?"
"Both, I guess," Vanya said simply. "When I think about what..." He sighed. "I don't feel like talking about this," he admitted.
"But you will," Darkhanis said. "Because you're among friends."
Mirage smoothed out the long hair on her dark Breeder's shoulder, pushed it back and placed her own head there. "But if you don't want to nobody's forcing you, Darkhanis."
"Then I'm going to back away and ask that you give me some room," Vanya said. "It's hard for me to think reasonably when I'm thinking about this all."
"Why I brought it up," the elder Breeder said, "Mihr and I have reached a bit of an accord. She can't properly heal you, not now. She's just too shaken up."
"And I don't blame her," Vanya replied. "After what she's been through."
"It's nothing to what you have," the other Breeder said. "And she knows it. She and I can still help you along, you've got your own healing going, if you hadn't already noticed."
"Seeking help is the way," Haesh said.
Vanya was silent, but slowly moved his long fingers through Mirage's hair. Distracting himself with it, seeming to just want to be in the presence of her and the rest, he finally nodded.
"Then help me," he said. "And I'll accept it."
Haesh wondered if he truly realized that he'd been offered something no one could really get: particularly not as long into his life as he was, he ought to be thanking Darkhanis for becoming his surrogate father, at the very least. Something he'd never needed to worry about personally, Haesh thought. He always had a family to fall back to, unlike the high-stress relationships that clearly dominated the city life and Higher status people in general, his parents had never once even fought that he knew of, and would probably be together until one died. But, Haesh looked back at the dark man, he's never had that, and maybe it's about time someone did something about it.
"You need to keep yourself more busy," Darkhanis suggested. "And not like this," he waved his hand and indicated what he meant was their night's adventure. "You have amazing friends. Use them."
"I don't like to travel," Vanya said. "That's a problem that I don't know I can solve."
"You took it just fine this morning," Haesh pointed out.
"True, but I was also feeding a vampire and attempting not to throw up on his hair."
"That's gross," Kenya said, echoed by Lam.
"So is he," Vanya promised her, "he tries to get me to change the taste of my blood for him, I can you know. But I don't want to talk about that either, that's a bad remnant." Vanya sighed, and dragged himself back to another line of thought. "Juvon's friends are worse, those noisy musicians."
Kenya laughed. "But you can't possibly be turned away from them, it's Juvon and you and them. You all fit together perfectly. You're all dark people, with that aversion to light you've got. Juvon's the worst, him and his caves."
"Is he really opening a tourist attraction?" Haesh asked, and both Amaranth and her mother nodded.
"Silly notion," Mirage said, snuggled down across the dark slick-suit which she suddenly detested to be in the way. "But he's able to bring people in and get them to pay for it, so who am I to say. I only take pictures."
"Good ones," Lam said. "In fact wonderful ones, and you know it. Otherwise why would you have an entire room devoted to nothing but your own work?"
"Which room was that," Kenya asked around Darkhanis' own broad chest, "I mean, there are dozens of them."
"This entire house is a testament to mother's skill," Amaranth said, "and I'll defend that she doesn't need to take another picture as long as she lives, the ones she's got are perfect."
"You're perfect," Haesh whispered into her ear, because it happened to be near his lips.
She slid into his side, played with his horns again, and only Haesh watched the smugly satisfied grin cross Vanya's lips.