Disclaimer: Am I really expected to churn out 40 different and somewhat amusing disclaimers? I swear, I really need to hire someone to do this for me.
Reviewers! You all are awesome! Keep them coming!
Fireblade: Lifebonds are one of the best things Mercedes Lackey came up with. They're sort of overdone, I guess, but I can't give mine up.
Wishing: Lirain can't mindspeak ordinarily. She doesn't have the Gift, but her Lifebond with Treet enables her to mindspeak with him to some degree, especially when one of them is in trouble. There is the tax exemption, but I don't think the Holderkin know about that. At least, these ones don't. I can't let Treet out of this that easily.
Wizard: Glad you like it. Next chapter coming up!
Oceanmate: The rest is coming. Hopefully all shall become clear.
Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I don't know what happened. The beginning of this chapter was fairly rocky, but I think I'm pretty pleased with the way the ending came out. On another note, I'm going away on July 30 for a week and a half, so there may not be another update for a while. Sorry guys.
Anyway, chapter 31 coming up! The plot thickens, suspense builds, and a solution appears to be in sight and then is lost…or is it? etc etc etc.
Chapter 31: Help
Lirain ran into Rith's office without knocking, unusual for her. Her face was pale and set and she was nearly doubled over with pain. Upon realizing that there was nothing physically wrong, Rith immediately threw a shield over Lirain. It did nothing for Lirain but Rith instantly felt better than she had since Lirain had walked into the room, having been infected with some of the same emotions that had battered her student.
"Treet's in trouble!" Lirain gasped.
Rith wasn't exactly surprised. "What sort of trouble?"
"His family wants him to get married!" This fact was the most distressing to her, apart from Treet's physical state. "They locked him in the basement or something and they beat him when he wouldn't agree to do what they wanted. He shut me out, too."
Although Rith hadn't exactly supported the idea of sending a Trainee off to the Holderkin alone, the idea that they would try to reform him when they hadn't really cared for him for his entire life was repugnant to her. It was horribly cruel of them to snatch everything out from under him just when he was gaining some sort of stability and to try to force him to become something he had never wanted to be in the first place. Rith could only imagine the damage this would do.
She was angry now. They meddled where they had no place and they upset not only Treet but Lirain as well, who had been almost a daughter to Rith. She forced herself to regain detachment.
"He shut you out?" She asked impassively.
"He thought he was just imagining me. He was so hopeless; he didn't even seem to care about what was happening to him anymore. He talked to me for a while, but then his father showed up. Treet said he didn't want me to know what was happening to him and he shut me out. You know how his shields get, and I'm not a strong Mindspeaker at all." Lirain sank into a chair, head cradled in her hands. With some effort, she managed to strengthen her own shields and block her tie to Treet.
Making the split second leaps of thought that sometimes came to her in a crisis, Rith remembered something she had noticed weeks before. "You come with me, we'll awaken the Dean and have whatever Herald is out there contacted and asked to ride rescue duty. After that, you will go and see the Herald Karissa. She's still bedridden, but she's chafing at the bit and if she gets wind of this before we get to her, she'll be out of that bed and on her Companion within a quarter Candlemark. I personally guarantee it."
"You want me to sit in her room by the side while the adults deal with it, you mean? He's my lifebonded -" Lirain was set to launch into a tirade, but Rith stopped her with a single lifted finger.
"I do not intend for you to sit by the side. I will bring you with me to see the Dean and after that there will be nothing else that can be done for Treet, other than to attempt to link with him again to keep him whole and sane. Karissa, on the other hand, will need comfort which you are uniquely suited to provide." Rith gave a sweeping glance that encompassed Lirain's ragged and breathless appearance. "You could do with some of the same, I imagine. You also do need to attempt to contact Treet again. He needs to resist, if passively, until someone can get to him. We can't really rescue someone who insists that they don't want to be rescued." Rith was aware that her explanation was slightly faulty, but there was nothing to ruin a good plan like letting people in on it. If Lirain could do this, it would earn her her Greens. If not, well, there would be other opportunities and Lirain would never be the wiser that she had missed the first one. Tests were better that way.
Lirain nodded a reluctant assent.
As she spoke, Rith had been throwing on a set of Greens. She handed Lirain a set of Trainee Greens that fit somewhat badly. Lirain was unsurprised. She had never known Rith to lack anything that might someday be important.
When they were both suitably attired, Rith sped from the room, Lirain ahead of her.
All dignity thrown to the winds, they hiked up their robes and ran to the Dean's sleeping chamber, banging on the door before they had even caught their breath.
The Dean opened the door looking rumpled. She yawned hugely. Her hair, ordinarily simply curly, was absolutely riotous and her eyes were still half closed.
"I know you too well to imagine that you would disturb me for something trivial. What has happened?" She asked, resigned to having to deal with a crisis.
Lirain opened her mouth to explain but Rith beat her to it. "As I appraised you of a while ago, my current Trainee Lirain and Trainee Tretin are lifebonded."
At this, Lirain shot Rith a look of betrayal. Did the entire Collegium know except for Treet?
Rith, paying no attention, continued. "By virtue of that bond, Lirain has some clue of what happens around Tretin, especially if he is upset. This Trainee, you recall, is the same one you sent off on his own to the Border against the better judgment of half the Collegium, including your own. To be brief, he has run into trouble – his father, I suspect, has decided to reform him, basically accomplished by locking him in the basement and physically abusing him until he 'comes around'."
The Dean's hand flew to her mouth. She did not doubt this story for a second, but one glance at Lirain would have convinced her if she hadn't believed. With an almost audible snap, she flew into action mode, sending Lirain to fetch the King's Own Herald, Jedin.
When the four of them were assembled, this time seated in the Dean's office, Lirain repeated everything she knew and Jedin's face grew graver as the story continued.
"We have allowed the Holderkin much freedom in our realm, but this we cannot tolerate." His eyes took on a faraway look, as though he was only partially in reality. "My Companion is contacting Deri, whose Herald, Arin, is currently on duty in that sector." He paused again. "They should be able to reach the Holderkin lands within a few days. He will find out where they have taken your Trainee and reclaim him. I have also given him royal authority to punish the miscreants according to Valdemaran law." Jedin almost-smiled. "The king will not begrudge me the exercise of his powers, I imagine."
Lirain spoke up. "I don't know that Treet would want them punished. I think he would just want them to leave him alone."
Jedin considered this for a moment. It was a thought that had occurred to him. "Perhaps you are right. We cannot allow such a thing to wholly unopposed, but I shall give Herald Arin discretion in the matter of what punishment exactly shall be inflicted."
With that, Jedin strode out of the room, leaving the Dean, Rith and Lirain all staring at one another. Shortly after that Rith hurried Lirain out of the room, gripping her by the shoulder. Rith guided Lirain into a corner of the hallway and looked at her concernedly. "I would like you to be with Karissa when she awakens. Will you be alright?"
Lirain's gaze was steady although she trembled a little. "As long as I know they're going to get him out of there."
"As soon as may be," Rith assured her. "Try to contact him again. Keep him as stable as you can. Tell him whatever you need to. If you need me, you know where to find me."
After Rith had swept away, Lirain leant her head against the cool stone. She knew, intellectually, that they would get him out, that eventually he would be alright again, but it was one thing to know and another thing to put Treet out of her mind when he was alone and afraid right now. If she opened up her tight blockage of their bond just a little, she could feel echoes of pain and panic.
She walked to Karissa's room in a trancelike state and pushed open the door. When she saw Karissa already sitting up, pale as a spirit, Lirain almost jumped high enough to hit the top of the door.
"What's happened?" She asked.
Lirain took a deep breath and closed the door, seating herself in a chair by Karissa's bedside as she prepared to tell her story for the third time that morning. "It's Treet. I don't know how to tell you this in a better way, so I suppose I'll just spit it out."
Karissa snorted weakly. "I don't require cosseting, child." The retort lacked her usual sting.
"Yes, well, in any event. Treet. He's in trouble. His family." Lirain stopped for a moment, trying to regain the composure she had been valiantly holding onto all morning. "They want him to get married and so they basically locked him up and carried him off."
If Karissa had had the strength, she would indeed have vaulted out of the bed. "It's those mucking Holderkin! The King should…should…DO something about them! And I suppose they're still debating the political ramifications of this? Leaving Treet to suffer the gods only know what? And on my circuit as well!" She closed her eyes briefly in pain. "I could be there for him now, if I hadn't gone and gotten sick."
She lapsed into silence. She had known that something was wrong. Like Lirain, she had struggled with uneasiness all day and had finally settled down to await the blow of the axe. Still, the thought of Treet, frightened, hurt, made her feel as though a Companion had kicked her in the chest. Lirain's voice broke into the silence, hard edged.
"They are sending the Herald on that circuit to get him. The only problem is that even I cannot tell what state he will be in when we get him back." Lirain forced herself to speak as though Treet were just another patient. "If he consents to this marriage, he is bound to it. If he succumbs to true despair, although a trained Mindhealer can bring him back he will never be quite the same again. If he strikes out with his mind, the consequences will be bad for all involved. In short, he needs me to be with him in mind if not body and I cannot reach him. He's blocking me and I can't help him unless I can get through to him. In that environment it won't take much for him to break and for one thing I don't know what that will do to me, although that's not exactly the greatest of my worries at the moment!"
Karissa looked at Lirain with stunned and concerned eyes. "Have you tried recently?"
Lirain choked back the emotions that threatened to flood from her. "I'm going to try now." She was proud that her voice registered only a slight tremor. Concentrating harder than she knew she could, she bottled up all of her pain and anger and frustration and used them to fuel her mental push. She reached the end of her bond to Treet and stopped short. There was a brush, the briefest, most tantalizing brush, with Treet's mind before she was shoved away. She tried to fight her way back, feeling herself cross the personal threshold that she knew meant she would be courting a reaction headache, but it was entirely in vain. She may as well have been lifebonded to a stone for all the reaction she got.
She raised weary eyes to Karissa's anxious face. "I can't. I'm just not a strong enough Mindspeaker. The only way to reach him without him trying to reach me as well would be either for us to complete our bond, which is impossible at this distance, or for a strong Mindspeaker with a personal connection to Treet to link with me and I just don't know anyone strong enough."
Lirain hung her head in despair. She would have continued trying until she passed out from reaction headache if she had thought it would do any good, but she knew it wouldn't help. Nevertheless, she was ready to try again when she spotted a sudden glimmer of something unidentifiable in Karissa's eye.
Karissa recalled, through a sleep-fogged memory, a conversation that had been held over her semi-conscious body only a few weeks previous.
The voice had drifted into her ear, barely registering at the time. "I'd hazard my Greens that she should be a very strong Mindspeaker, and would be if she wasn't pouring every scrap of psychic energy elsewhere."
And who had a stronger connection to Treet than she, apart from Lirain? Karissa cursed her past. If only. If only she were whole in heart and mind, she would be able to save the Trainee who meant so much to her, who had helped her complete her bond with Veria.
Karissa didn't even realize she was speaking aloud. "If only I were whole. If I were whole, I would be strong enough."
Lirain looked at Karissa sharply, first with her eyes then with the inner sight bestowed by her Gift of Mindhealing. She was surprised at what she found. Karissa was absolutely right. Some profound, abiding hurt had forced her to go deep within herself, channeling all of her Gift of Mindspeaking, which was indeed considerably powerful, into blocking out everything and everyone, rather than communicating. If those shields came down for good, Karissa's returned Gift and ties to Treet, combined with Lirain's Lifebond, would be enough.
Although Lirain wanted to shout with exultation, she suppressed it, aware that she was a long road away from success. This subject would have to be broached with extreme care, for Karissa would have to be Mindhealed and would have to consent to a great deal of intimacy with a Mindhealer, both things she had fought stridently in the past. Lirain would just have to trust that Karissa's need to help Treet would be enough.
"You would be strong enough to reach him?" Lirain asked.
Karissa hadn't realized that she had spoken aloud. "What? Well, according to the Healers. They say I am blocking my Gift." Incongruously, she blushed. "They say I would be a strong Mindspeaker." She looked sharply at Lirain. "But only if I were whole." She gave a wry laugh. "And I'm nothing near. So, as you see, all comes to naught."
Lirain firmly quashed the impulse to reach out, to calm and soothe. "It doesn't have to be that way. I could help you. Rith could help you, if you wanted someone more experienced."
Karissa laughed in a way that was reminiscent of a very large animal caught in the path of an even larger wagon. With metal-reinforced, spiked wheels. "You can't trap me like that. I won't. I refuse. You can't make me."
Lirain looked at Karissa sadly, unwilling to alienate Karissa by pushing too hard right after she had broached the idea. "No, I can't make you. I will do nothing without your consent. You have my word."
Lirain knew that she was supposed to stay with Karissa, but the woman would hardly do anything stupid now. The danger of that was past. Lirain left. She would plunge herself into her work. Anything to pretend to forget, for a few hours. Come night, she would try to persuade Karissa again. Lirain felt no resentment, but she couldn't bear to look upon what might be Treet's last hope for sanity at that moment.
As Lirain closed the door behind her, Karissa sank back into her bed, feeling hot and sick with shame. "I'm sorry. I'm just so afraid." She said, almost too quietly to be heard, as though she could make amends to the still air.
