Part Two- Healing
Chapter Eleven- The First Fight
Exodus 17:2- "So they quarreled....."
In the days that followed, Tielle got her hands on medical textbooks and devoured them, reading and reading while Chayden wasn't home and keeping her idea a secret.
She didn't keep her suddenly rigorous physical regime secret, however, saying that the workouts soothed her, for they reminded her of when she had trained on Hidon.
That was partly true, but mostly it was in case of any emergencies that Tielle might encounter. She might need her combat skills to fall back on, and she practiced her laser-shot as well as martial arts and self-defense. Her lack of proper training material, such as mats, led to many battered pillows and increased laundry loads, but that didn't deter the princess, who knew that the clandestine mission to Hidon may be very dangerous, and she vowed not to let herself die, if only for Hidon and her people.
**
Chayden was seriously wondering about Tielle and her sudden interest in starting a demanding workout sessions, which she did every day but the Sabbath. She maintained that it was simply to keep in shape and a de- stressor, but Chayden was not convinced. She was hiding something from him.
Her manner and sense had changed lately. She became less open and more like the resolute princess he had first met, determined not to let anything slip. There was a certain gleam back in her eye, a gleam that Chayden had come to associate with her resolve to solve a problem. The question was, what problem was she trying to solve now?
As the sun set on the flat horizon, he readied to return home and decided to ask her just that question. He was tired of the way she was trying to hide things from him and wanted everything in the open.
A sudden cool breeze caused Chayden to shiver, and he wondered what month it was. Time had seemed to cease to exist for him and Tielle, who had just become concerned with surviving on a day-to-day basis and forgotten about time.
But perhaps they shouldn't have, for Chayden felt that time was running out, though for who or what, he didn't know. For the ill on Hidon? For him and Tielle? He didn't know.
He was interrupted from his brooding thoughts by- who else? -Shaina Ontine, who had coincidentally chosen that time of day to come down to the creek to wash clothes. "Chanh!" she smiled seductively, placing the wet clothes in a basket and hurrying to meet him. "You look so cold. Is the weather always warm on Fareari? It isn't even that cold today."
Not bothering to wait for a reply, she slipped an arm around his waist before he realized what was happening. "There," she said, huddling close to him, "I'll warm you up."
Although Tielle would have no doubt come up with a scathing sarcastic reply, Chayden found himself stunned by the beautiful girl's closeness. She smelled good, like a field of wildflowers, and her long hair touched his neck as she dipped her head. It was soft and soothing, just like Tielle's fingertips, the touch that he had not felt but longed for for so long now....
He realized his thoughts were straying into territory that was dark and dangerous, and he belatedly pushed his mind to more safe paths, pushing Shaina away as he did.
"You don't want my arm around you?" Shaina asked innocently, her eyes widening. "But I thought....."
"Thought what?" the words came out more soft and less gruff than Chayden had wanted them to.
"I thought that you wanted me," she whispered, and reached for him.
**
Tielle glanced out the window at the disappearing sun and fought anxieties. Her meal was getting cold, and it was unlike Chayden to be late. Was he having a hard time finding his way back in the near-darkness?
Pulling a jacket on, Tielle headed outside, at the same time chastising herself for her nervousness. She was really too easily worried.
But she still wound her way to the creek, knowing that even if full dark fell, she'd be able to find her way back home from the small stream of water.
Squinting slightly, she thought she saw a figure in the distance and headed that way, not calling Chayden's name for fear of embarrassment if it wasn't him.
As she grew closer, the figure- split. Into two. Tielle struggled to understand what she was seeing, and clarity came to her when the smaller figure murmured, just loud enough to hear, "I was right. You *did* want me." The figure paused for just a moment, and then coyly said, "And you're a wonderful kisser, Chanh."
As the two figures became one again, Tielle turned and fled.
**
Chayden pushed Shaina away from him, his momentary lapse of judgment coming back to him. "No, Shaina," he said firmly, fully in control of runaway hormones, "I don't want you. I never have."
The seductress stared up at him and sarcastically replied, "Oh? Is there someone else?"
He fleetingly wondered if there was or not, but pushed that thought away. "It doesn't matter. I'm not in love with you."
Shaina smiled. "Who said I was in love with you? You don't have to be in love to enjoy the opposite sex and intimacy with them."
Her words made Chayden's skin crawl, and he seemed powerless to resist as she placed a hand on his chest. "Come now, Chanh. Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that kiss."
He wrenched her hand from him and walked away, his heart pounding and his mouth dry.
**
Sobbing and completely out of control, Tielle ran to her room and collapsed upon the bed, utterly distraught. That was it, she was leaving tomorrow, whether or not she got Chayden's password. If she didn't, she'd just leave the colony and go somewhere else. Surlow, maybe. Perhaps Jenai would take her in.
Footsteps sounded in the next room, and her door slid open and then shut as Chayden entered the room. "Tielle?" she heard him say as she buried her head in a pillow. "What's wrong?"
He placed a hand upon her heaving shoulders, but she shrugged it off and faced him, fire burning in her eyes. "What's wrong? What's wrong?" she considered, placing a finger on her chin and tapping it thoughtfully. "Oh, I don't know. Why don't you figure it out, or even better, go ask Shaina?"
Chayden slumped to the bed. "You saw, uh, us outside."
"Brilliant deduction," Tielle exclaimed, fury still smoldering within her and extinguishing any signs of grief or sadness. She was *mad.*
Chayden had caught onto that and sighed. "It wasn't like it looked, Tielle, I-" "Oh? It wasn't like it looked. Well, let's see. It looked like you were kissing Shaina. Were you?"
"Yes, but-"
"Okay, then I'm not sure how it didn't look like it was. 'Cause it seems to me that all you were doing was cheating on me and totally throwing everything we have to the wind!"
Chayden had seemed to be at a loss just moments before, but now he straightened and quietly asked, "What *do* we have, Tielle? Because you've been doing a good job of shutting me out lately. Do you even want anything?"
"Now? No. No, Chayden, and tomorrow I'm leaving. I can't take this, and I shouldn't have to. On top of everything I've gone through these past months- only losing all my siblings, being kidnapped and tortured, and finding out that my planet is dying alongside my father -you have to add this? Why didn't you have the courtesy to just tell me you wanted to end things?"
"Because maybe I didn't want to!" Chayden furiously replied. "Maybe the only reason I was slow to get away from Shaina is because I got from her what you're not giving. Maybe I was sick of you pushing me away even as I tried to get closer!"
That stopped Tielle, and she stared at him. "Then what do you want from me?" she whispered.
"This," Chayden replied, and he lowered his head to hers for a deep, passionate kiss.
**
From outside the Raynani's house, Shaina crept up to a window and watched as the fighting started. Her interest had been captivated when angry words could be heard from outside. What were the two siblings fighting about?
She now seriously doubted that they were related.
Any doubts she had were evaporated as Chanh touched his lips to Ella's, where they pursued her lips insistently, and one of Chanh's hands reached up to caress her cheek as one of Ella's arms came around his neck.
Scurrying away, Shaina wondered what she could do with the information that their two newcomers weren't brother and sister and were in fact lying about their identity and who knew what else.
**
Tielle pushed away from Chayden with tears in her eyes, and he felt his heart sink when doubt radiated off of her. She still didn't know what to believe or what to feel.
*I love you*, his heart cried out to her, but he knew it wasn't the time. He just wondered when it would be.
"Tomorrow," she said with a shaky breath, "I am leaving for Fareari. I will be boarding a transport of doctors that is going to Hidon, and when I am there I will be learning all I can about the mysterious plague there and bringing that knowledge back with me to the rest of the galaxy, where I will search for either a cure or some indication of how this disease works."
He opened his mouth to protest, but a razor-sharp glance from Tielle made him close it again.
"I will do this with or without your help," she continued conversationally, "and I have prepared for this task by reading extensive medical documents, which will allow me to masquerade as a doctor, and by reviewing my self- defense training. I am ready for this and I will do it, whether you help me or not.
"If you agree to help me, all I'd need from you is for you to break into Fareari's databank and enter me as a doctor on a transport leaving for Hidon. I would then go alone; there is no way you can pretend to be a doctor without either the proper training or a photographic memory."
She looked at him, and her eyes were dark with resolve and purpose. "I will do this, with or without your help," she repeated, "for I know that this is something I must do, for my planet and for my people. If I die, I die. But I will not stand back and watch my people die!"
The passion in her voice scared Chayden, and he meekly nodded.
"But I will be more likely to die if you do not help me. Will you?"
Again she gazed up at him with intense eyes, and he almost seemed to lose himself in the depth of those fervent eyes as he considered whether or not to stop the girl he loved from embarking on a mission that she would go on alone and perhaps give her life to.....
** Whew, I finally got it to upload! Success! ( Well, that was fun. I enjoyed writing that, hope you enjoyed reading it( I felt that I had been in a rut with my last couple chapters, but I think that's brought me out of it- tell me what *you* think! I love to get reviews from you guys!
In the days that followed, Tielle got her hands on medical textbooks and devoured them, reading and reading while Chayden wasn't home and keeping her idea a secret.
She didn't keep her suddenly rigorous physical regime secret, however, saying that the workouts soothed her, for they reminded her of when she had trained on Hidon.
That was partly true, but mostly it was in case of any emergencies that Tielle might encounter. She might need her combat skills to fall back on, and she practiced her laser-shot as well as martial arts and self-defense. Her lack of proper training material, such as mats, led to many battered pillows and increased laundry loads, but that didn't deter the princess, who knew that the clandestine mission to Hidon may be very dangerous, and she vowed not to let herself die, if only for Hidon and her people.
**
Chayden was seriously wondering about Tielle and her sudden interest in starting a demanding workout sessions, which she did every day but the Sabbath. She maintained that it was simply to keep in shape and a de- stressor, but Chayden was not convinced. She was hiding something from him.
Her manner and sense had changed lately. She became less open and more like the resolute princess he had first met, determined not to let anything slip. There was a certain gleam back in her eye, a gleam that Chayden had come to associate with her resolve to solve a problem. The question was, what problem was she trying to solve now?
As the sun set on the flat horizon, he readied to return home and decided to ask her just that question. He was tired of the way she was trying to hide things from him and wanted everything in the open.
A sudden cool breeze caused Chayden to shiver, and he wondered what month it was. Time had seemed to cease to exist for him and Tielle, who had just become concerned with surviving on a day-to-day basis and forgotten about time.
But perhaps they shouldn't have, for Chayden felt that time was running out, though for who or what, he didn't know. For the ill on Hidon? For him and Tielle? He didn't know.
He was interrupted from his brooding thoughts by- who else? -Shaina Ontine, who had coincidentally chosen that time of day to come down to the creek to wash clothes. "Chanh!" she smiled seductively, placing the wet clothes in a basket and hurrying to meet him. "You look so cold. Is the weather always warm on Fareari? It isn't even that cold today."
Not bothering to wait for a reply, she slipped an arm around his waist before he realized what was happening. "There," she said, huddling close to him, "I'll warm you up."
Although Tielle would have no doubt come up with a scathing sarcastic reply, Chayden found himself stunned by the beautiful girl's closeness. She smelled good, like a field of wildflowers, and her long hair touched his neck as she dipped her head. It was soft and soothing, just like Tielle's fingertips, the touch that he had not felt but longed for for so long now....
He realized his thoughts were straying into territory that was dark and dangerous, and he belatedly pushed his mind to more safe paths, pushing Shaina away as he did.
"You don't want my arm around you?" Shaina asked innocently, her eyes widening. "But I thought....."
"Thought what?" the words came out more soft and less gruff than Chayden had wanted them to.
"I thought that you wanted me," she whispered, and reached for him.
**
Tielle glanced out the window at the disappearing sun and fought anxieties. Her meal was getting cold, and it was unlike Chayden to be late. Was he having a hard time finding his way back in the near-darkness?
Pulling a jacket on, Tielle headed outside, at the same time chastising herself for her nervousness. She was really too easily worried.
But she still wound her way to the creek, knowing that even if full dark fell, she'd be able to find her way back home from the small stream of water.
Squinting slightly, she thought she saw a figure in the distance and headed that way, not calling Chayden's name for fear of embarrassment if it wasn't him.
As she grew closer, the figure- split. Into two. Tielle struggled to understand what she was seeing, and clarity came to her when the smaller figure murmured, just loud enough to hear, "I was right. You *did* want me." The figure paused for just a moment, and then coyly said, "And you're a wonderful kisser, Chanh."
As the two figures became one again, Tielle turned and fled.
**
Chayden pushed Shaina away from him, his momentary lapse of judgment coming back to him. "No, Shaina," he said firmly, fully in control of runaway hormones, "I don't want you. I never have."
The seductress stared up at him and sarcastically replied, "Oh? Is there someone else?"
He fleetingly wondered if there was or not, but pushed that thought away. "It doesn't matter. I'm not in love with you."
Shaina smiled. "Who said I was in love with you? You don't have to be in love to enjoy the opposite sex and intimacy with them."
Her words made Chayden's skin crawl, and he seemed powerless to resist as she placed a hand on his chest. "Come now, Chanh. Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that kiss."
He wrenched her hand from him and walked away, his heart pounding and his mouth dry.
**
Sobbing and completely out of control, Tielle ran to her room and collapsed upon the bed, utterly distraught. That was it, she was leaving tomorrow, whether or not she got Chayden's password. If she didn't, she'd just leave the colony and go somewhere else. Surlow, maybe. Perhaps Jenai would take her in.
Footsteps sounded in the next room, and her door slid open and then shut as Chayden entered the room. "Tielle?" she heard him say as she buried her head in a pillow. "What's wrong?"
He placed a hand upon her heaving shoulders, but she shrugged it off and faced him, fire burning in her eyes. "What's wrong? What's wrong?" she considered, placing a finger on her chin and tapping it thoughtfully. "Oh, I don't know. Why don't you figure it out, or even better, go ask Shaina?"
Chayden slumped to the bed. "You saw, uh, us outside."
"Brilliant deduction," Tielle exclaimed, fury still smoldering within her and extinguishing any signs of grief or sadness. She was *mad.*
Chayden had caught onto that and sighed. "It wasn't like it looked, Tielle, I-" "Oh? It wasn't like it looked. Well, let's see. It looked like you were kissing Shaina. Were you?"
"Yes, but-"
"Okay, then I'm not sure how it didn't look like it was. 'Cause it seems to me that all you were doing was cheating on me and totally throwing everything we have to the wind!"
Chayden had seemed to be at a loss just moments before, but now he straightened and quietly asked, "What *do* we have, Tielle? Because you've been doing a good job of shutting me out lately. Do you even want anything?"
"Now? No. No, Chayden, and tomorrow I'm leaving. I can't take this, and I shouldn't have to. On top of everything I've gone through these past months- only losing all my siblings, being kidnapped and tortured, and finding out that my planet is dying alongside my father -you have to add this? Why didn't you have the courtesy to just tell me you wanted to end things?"
"Because maybe I didn't want to!" Chayden furiously replied. "Maybe the only reason I was slow to get away from Shaina is because I got from her what you're not giving. Maybe I was sick of you pushing me away even as I tried to get closer!"
That stopped Tielle, and she stared at him. "Then what do you want from me?" she whispered.
"This," Chayden replied, and he lowered his head to hers for a deep, passionate kiss.
**
From outside the Raynani's house, Shaina crept up to a window and watched as the fighting started. Her interest had been captivated when angry words could be heard from outside. What were the two siblings fighting about?
She now seriously doubted that they were related.
Any doubts she had were evaporated as Chanh touched his lips to Ella's, where they pursued her lips insistently, and one of Chanh's hands reached up to caress her cheek as one of Ella's arms came around his neck.
Scurrying away, Shaina wondered what she could do with the information that their two newcomers weren't brother and sister and were in fact lying about their identity and who knew what else.
**
Tielle pushed away from Chayden with tears in her eyes, and he felt his heart sink when doubt radiated off of her. She still didn't know what to believe or what to feel.
*I love you*, his heart cried out to her, but he knew it wasn't the time. He just wondered when it would be.
"Tomorrow," she said with a shaky breath, "I am leaving for Fareari. I will be boarding a transport of doctors that is going to Hidon, and when I am there I will be learning all I can about the mysterious plague there and bringing that knowledge back with me to the rest of the galaxy, where I will search for either a cure or some indication of how this disease works."
He opened his mouth to protest, but a razor-sharp glance from Tielle made him close it again.
"I will do this with or without your help," she continued conversationally, "and I have prepared for this task by reading extensive medical documents, which will allow me to masquerade as a doctor, and by reviewing my self- defense training. I am ready for this and I will do it, whether you help me or not.
"If you agree to help me, all I'd need from you is for you to break into Fareari's databank and enter me as a doctor on a transport leaving for Hidon. I would then go alone; there is no way you can pretend to be a doctor without either the proper training or a photographic memory."
She looked at him, and her eyes were dark with resolve and purpose. "I will do this, with or without your help," she repeated, "for I know that this is something I must do, for my planet and for my people. If I die, I die. But I will not stand back and watch my people die!"
The passion in her voice scared Chayden, and he meekly nodded.
"But I will be more likely to die if you do not help me. Will you?"
Again she gazed up at him with intense eyes, and he almost seemed to lose himself in the depth of those fervent eyes as he considered whether or not to stop the girl he loved from embarking on a mission that she would go on alone and perhaps give her life to.....
** Whew, I finally got it to upload! Success! ( Well, that was fun. I enjoyed writing that, hope you enjoyed reading it( I felt that I had been in a rut with my last couple chapters, but I think that's brought me out of it- tell me what *you* think! I love to get reviews from you guys!
