"I didn't think you felt that way for the longest time, Father. I thought you only tolerated me because you loved my mother."
"I did love your mother. Still do, although she is gone from me. But she left you with me, son. The one who always looked for justice. The one who sought the truth, always. Naldill always looked to his comforts, depending upon Reldill to act as his army at times; punishing those he thought offended him. If he had changed his ways at any time, or looked upon the people here as his kin and not his subjects, I might have considered him as my replacement. I waited a very long time for that to happen. I tired of it, as you know. I picked the best of my four sons to take my place. Never doubt my love for you, child. I know I put you through the fire and I apologize for that."
"Father, you don't know how hard it was to deal with that from my end. I can't tell you how many times I thought about cutting myself off from you and Gaelar N'Seith. Whenever Naldill would taunt me about this or that, usually about my lack of power, I considered it."
"I'm glad you stayed the course, child. Perhaps you will forgive me someday for allowing those things to happen."
"It made me more determined that Alliance citizens should be protected, father. There was a benefit, I think, although I suffered through it."
"You have a generous heart, child."
"Father, Reah has the generous heart. She could have skipped away from Kifirin at any time during the past twenty-five years, leaving them to struggle. She paid off a crushing debt to get them on their feet, and they rewarded her by taking her children and dumping more work on her shoulders. I don't even want to talk about my part in all of that. And I begged her, Father, to allow that bastard to attack her so we'd get the information we needed. And then, when all the power went down, we couldn't even get troops in there to help her. She was on her own until the very last, and took them down by herself. They kept attacking her, even when they knew it was useless to do so. Fired rockets at her. Bombarded her. She was pregnant, and they did that."
Lendill surprised himself with the wetness on his cheeks. "She kept all those girls safe, fighting to keep the army Nedrizif controlled from killing all of them. We haven't even paid her for that. How can we compensate for that, Dad? How? What we planned to pay her is paltry and an insult. Ildevar has promised half the confiscated funds from the pirates, but we're still working on getting all that put together."
"I understand that Torevik has promised half of the Schuul's holdings as well. Has he handed that over to her yet?"
"No. She's getting treatment by a doctor since she tried to kill herself. I'm not sure she's cooperating with him at all."
"Son, his nurses betrayed her. What can you expect? I watched that vid and wept. Imagine if you'd been in a session, claiming to be Vice-Director of the ASD and Prince-Heir of the Elves, talking about your torture at the hands of your brothers. Imagine what people might think if they saw it on that foolish program. You'd be ridiculed as well."
"I know." Lendill squared his shoulders uncomfortably, trying to shake off the images of Reah's exposure on Alliance vid programming.
"I am glad I did not witness the near-suicide," it was Kaldill's turn to shiver.
"I don't know what to do for her," Lendill went on. "She could reject all of us. That's the way things are looking right now. She hasn't come to any one of us. Asked us for anything."
"What do you think she might want, Son?"
"Probably for the past twenty-five years to not have happened."
* * *
"I need someone who will care for her. Not someone to feel jealousy or treat her badly or with indifference. And I don't know who that is," Kevis held his head in his hands as he sat in his father's study. Karzac sat behind his desk, located in the southeastern corner of the villa where he and his extended family of mates and co-mates lived. Kevis was Karzac's only son, born to Karzac and Grace, one of Karzac's three mates. Kevis wanted to find a nurse and assistant for Reah, but there weren't any candidates.
"What about Franklin?" Lissa appeared in Karzac's study, something she seldom did. "I wish I could get the old Franklin back. She'd trust him, I think, and he wouldn't appear threatening at all."
"I don't think we should mislead her, she's had too much of that," Kevis sighed. "Will Frank even consider it? We don't need someone who is only doing it because they feel sorry for her or obligated to any one of us for any reason. This person has to care about her and what happens to her. She needs a gentle touch from someone who isn't interested in sex. Someone neutral that she might come to trust."
"Let's take all the healers in while she's asleep, and see if any one of them feels a connection," Karzac suggested. "And if they don't, then we'll look elsewhere."
"Let's gather all of them and let them know what we're dealing with," Kevis agreed.
Chapter 5
"Belen has given permission to try this," Karzac announced to all the healers for the Saa Thalarr. "This is a delicate situation, as you might imagine. Reah is pregnant, a recent victim of an attack on Stellar Winds and an attempted suicide not long after that. Kevis is currently treating her, but he needs an assistant. Someone who might feel a bond with Reah in some way. We're going to take you to her while she's sleeping so we won't upset her. If you don't want to be a part of this, then you'll be excused. We want a healer who is willing to walk a few extra miles for someone who more than deserves the time and trouble."
"We'll go," Cleo spoke for all present.
"Then let's go," Karzac said. They folded to Campiaa.
* * *
"She's pregnant? She's so frail," Cleo said.
"Has she lost weight? She's very thin," Jeff remarked.
"There's no color in her cheeks," Norton pointed out. Nefrigar had come, making sure Reah was in a healing sleep before allowing any of the healers to touch her. Blankets were lifted back; ankles, feet, hands, heart and the recent bullet wound were examined. Nearly all of them placed their hands on Reah's belly, checking on the child. The child was healthy; Reah's health wasn't nearly as good.
"What problems are you encountering?" Franklin asked Kevis.
"She's defensive and argues with me at times. Not that she doesn't have cause," Kevis held up a hand.
"And she's a cook, too?"
"Probably the best I've ever seen."
"I think I'd like to try," Franklin said. "Anyone else interested?"