Conflict and Courage (25 page)

“I am hungry,”
Daltei agreed, pushing his head between the two girls to look
inside. Spying the large low divan-like pallet that could only be
his bed, he whined in satisfaction.

Tina eyed her
own bunk with longing. All she wanted to do was to lie down and
close her eyes.

Emily saw this.
“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll see to Daltei for once?” she
suggested and proceeded to do so with a great deal of goodwill and
a competence that spoke of much practice.

Daltei sighed
in ecstasy as she brushed his coat smooth, “keep this up I will
fall asleep on my paws,” he informed her.

Emily laughed
and patted him.

“Go and get
something to eat,” she commanded, “then come back. I’ll make sure
Tina gets a light meal then put her to bed. The bath can wait until
tomorrow, so,” she warned with mock ferocity, “be quiet when you
come in. I don’t want her woken.”

“Be quiet as a
vuz,” Daltei promised and meant it.

When he
returned Tina was fast asleep, curled into a wee ball on her bunk.
She never stirred as he settled and both slept right through what
remained of the day, that night and the wake-up bell next morning,
much to Emily and the other cadets’ amazement.

Emily managed
to wake her at last and helped her into her uniform for the first
time. After showing the new pair round the barracks she then
escorted her charge to the cookhouse.

“There are
another two joining,” she announced over breakfast, “one girl, one
boy. The girl is a great friend of mine, I can’t wait to see her
again.”

“Who?” asked
Tina.

“Tara and her
vadeln Kolyei,” Emily answered in an impressive voice. “She is to
train, not that she will end up serving with a Ryzck. Now, finish
up and then I’ll take you to the bathhouse.”

“Are they
communal?” a worried Tina asked, where she came from, bathing was a
strictly single-sex affair.

“No, there’s a
girls’ side and a boys’ side just like in the barracks. There’s a
communal one in the middle.”

Tina sighed
with relief. “Daltei?”

“Our friends
are provided for, you wish to bathe with him? There is a
joint-bathing area at the end. Ilyei and I have bathed together
from the first. It’s good fun. We all did at domta Zanatei.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Has nobody
said?” asked Emily. “Ilyei and I are one of the ‘original twelve’.
They call us the Children of the Wolves.”

“I didn’t
know.”

“How could
you?” asked Emily, “now, do you want to bathe with Daltei or
not?”

Tina shook her
head, “I’d rather not,” she said. At the farmstead females kept
themselves covered at all times, the prospect of bathing in front
of others, even Daltei, filled her with horror. The intuitive Emily
realised this.

“Look,” she
said, “I’m free of lessons just now, why don’t I take you there? I
usually bathe with Ilyei but it won’t hurt him for once to bathe by
himself.”

Result, one
disgruntled Ilyei who wanted his back scrubbed.

: We’ll go
back later and I’ll see to you then :
promised Emily in a rapid
telepathic interchange
: take Daltei and show him the Lind pool
:

: That
extrovert? :
Ilyei signalled his compliance with a mental
sigh.

Emily giggled,
thinking that Daltei would certainly liven things up. He had been
here barely a day and had already managed to create havoc. Although
an adult and proud of his recent adoption of adult status, he was
still gangly in stature and behaviour.

Daltei had, on
investigating the common room that linked the girls’ and boys’
sides of the barracks, managed to knock over the neatly stacked
mops and brushes not once but twice, tipping over a table loaded
with mugs and plates in the process. It would be interesting to see
the effect training had on the irrepressible young Lind.

* * * * *

At domta
Afanasei, Tara had been ambivalent about starting training at the
stronghold, having survived the battle the previous year, she had
emerged a deeply traumatised thirteen-year-old who hoped that she
would never again have to raise a sword in anger. It had been Jim
and Larya who persuaded her to accept Francis’s offer of Vada
training, as their conversation testified.

“You have to be
able to defend yourself,” Jim had said, “you don’t know what is
ahead of you and Kolyei, valiant warrior he may be but you mustn’t
depend on him to get you out of every situation.”

Kolyei agreed,
“one Larg I can cope with, perhaps two, but not more.”

“But I don’t
want to join the Vada.”

“Nolind says
you have to,” answered Larya.

To Larya’s
surprise, Kolyei shared Tara’s sentiment.

“Tara and I
have other plans.”

“Still want to
explore west?” asked Jim, “write that book you have been promising
us?”

“And a
dictionary of the Lind language,” added Tara.

“Ambitious
projects.”

“It is what we
must do.”

“I will not
permit you to travel on your own unless you have passed out of
Wilhelm Dahlstrom’s weapons arms class,” Jim warned and only when
she realised that he meant what he said did Tara agree to accept
the Vada Susa’s offer.

“All right,
have it your way. We’ll go to the stronghold, take the training. I
want to see Emily and Ilyei again anyhow.”

With that Jim
and Larya had to be satisfied.

When Tara and
Kolyei arrived at the stronghold, a week to the day after Tina and
Daltei’s arrival, Tara’s reunion with Emily was an emotional one.
Tina watched wide-eyed, even Daltei was subdued, much to Ilyei’s
inner amusement.

Emily left Tara
and Tina together when she had to report for first-aid duty.

The two girls,
after an initial bout of shyness, began their first tentative steps
of friendship.

As Emily had
suggested, the two made for the cookhouse, where snacks could be
coaxed out of the cooks if one approached them right.

“Are you to
attend the riding class with the rest of us new ones?” Tina
asked.

“No,” answered
Tara. “Kolyei and I are exempt.”

Tara giggled
and Tina felt herself warming towards her, “they said that if I
didn’t know how to ride Kolyei by this time there was little they
could do.”

“Why is that?”
was Tina’s interested question. She had forgotten what Emily had
told her about Tara the previous week when the curious Tina had
asked quite a number of questions about her. Tara looked at the
older girl, both being built on a diminutive scale; she could look
her in the eye easily.

“Kolyei and I
are one of the originals with her and Ilyei. In fact, we were the
very first.” Her eyes grew distant as she remembered those days.
There were only eight of them left now, a fact that troubled Tara
deeply.

“You’re
that
Tara?” squealed Tina. “Daltei sings a song in the
evenings telling of the first life-bonds. I’m so sorry, I didn’t
realise and Emily and the others didn’t say.”

“They wouldn’t.
They know I don’t like it bandied about. They probably assumed you
knew. Kolyei and I know the tune they sing. I wrote the words. It’s
most embarrassing.”

“No wonder
you’re exempt from the classes.”

“To be
perfectly honest, I’d rather be doing that than weapons-work. I
don’t feel comfortable with a sword in my hand.”

“Neither did I
the first time but I’ve got used to it now. I’ve had three lessons
and quite enjoy practice, of course I’m sure real fighting is
completely different.”

“At least when
you go into action you’ll have been trained properly. It was
different last year.”

“You and Kolyei
were at the battle?” was Tina’s surprised query.

“We ran the
communications’ pivot. I can assure you that it wasn’t the most
comfortable experience in the world.”

“I imagine
not.”

She looked at
Tara with open admiration.

“Did you?”

“Did I have to
fight? Yes,” she shuddered, “I still have nightmares about it.”

“Then let’s
forget it,” decided Tina, “why don’t I show you and Kolyei around?
The cookhouse is over there, Louisa, she’s head cook, usually has
something simmering in the pot. She knows we cadets are always
hungry.”

She led the
unresisting Tara towards it, chattering away, her shyness
temporarily forgotten as she made an effort to eradicate the
haunted look from Tara’s face, “I’ll tell you about the other day
when Daltei thought he’d try out human food. He never realised
until it was too late that zarova curry was on the menu. His howls
of anguished surprise could be heard the other side of the
river.”

Tara laughed.
At least, thought Tina, the haunted look had vanished.

Nibbling at the
titbits the cook gave them the two sauntered back to the cadet
common room. It was deserted and spotlessly clean.

Tara’s eyebrows
rose.

Tina had been
at the stronghold for a week now and knew what was what.

“Chore section
did it before breakfast,” she offered, “you’re in my section.
Toilet cleaning is reported to be the worst,” she shuddered, “but
our section did that the week before last so it won’t come around
for a while yet.”

“What other
duties are there?”

“Cookhouse,
common room, mending, the boys hate that one and we’re expected to
do our own cubicles and the corridors outside. They’re inspected
daily and woe betide any of us who leave it messy or untidy.”

There was a
clatter from behind them. Daltei had backed into the brushes and
brooms again.

Tina rushed to
pick them up.

Kolyei sighed
and glanced at Tara, a pained expression on his face.

He had resolved
to take the accident-prone young Lind under his paw for a while, a
resolve for which Emily’s Ilyei would be deeply grateful but even
after one morning, he was finding Daltei a most exhausting
companion. He went to help Tina extricate Daltei from the mess.

When Ilyei
found out he raised a quizzical eye at Emily.

: These two
together? I dread what will happen. Think about it. Daltei and
Kolyei but I will try to keep eye on them. Daltei’s mischievousness
is one thing but coupled with Kolyei’s brains, what a combination!
:

Emily could
only agree.

That first
evening after Tara arrived, the cadets were, as usual, congregated
in their common room.

“Tomorrow is a
rest day,” announced Emily with satisfaction, “what will we
do?”

“We could have
a party to welcome the new people,” said Junior Cadet Mark Ampte.
“Cook will let us have some eats I’m sure.”

“As long as you
don’t try to smuggle in any alcohol,” warned his year-mate Alan de
Groot. “Remember what happened last time?”

Mark nodded.
Weaponsecond Ross, who was a great believer in making the
punishment fit the crime, had sentenced Mark to a lengthy off duty
spell working in the small distillery not far from the stronghold,
a most unpleasant experience and one that he was not keen to
repeat. It had killed off Mark’s desire to try out alcoholic
beverages. He claimed now that even a faint whiff of valdka turned
his stomach.

“Don’t worry,”
he answered with a remembered grimace, “I’ve learnt my lesson.”

The cadets
laughed.

“Leave the eats
to me,” Mark promised.

“And us,”
chorused Brenda and Yvonne, two senior cadets.

The party was a
great success. Mark and Alan proved to be the life and soul of the
evening and even Tina was drawn into the merriment, despite her
shyness.

It still took
her time to settle in. If it had not been for Tara it would have
taken much longer. Although new to the Vada herself, Tara helped
her in myriad ways, showing her how to tend Daltei, such as
demonstrating how to remove the insidious bloodsuckers out of his
coat and the way Lind preferred to be groomed. Daltei was pleased,
he admired Kolyei tremendously and tried to emulate him the best he
could. He managed to keep out of any big trouble, although little
troubles kept popping up when he was around, accidents like him
knocking over the cookhouse trestles and falling into the cesspit
too insignificant to matter, except for Tina (it took her over
three hours scrubbing to get him clean and even Tara thought twice
before she offered to help). Kolyei remained on the sidelines
giving helpful advice.

“I hope Tina
and Tara stay friends,” was Ross’s comment to Lililya. “Daltei is
the most accident-prone Lind I have ever come across and Kolyei is
managing to keep him under control much better than anylind else
has been able to.”

“His Susa says
he was not the most co-ordinated young adult in his ryz,” Lililya
admitted with an amused wag of her tail, “he will get better.”

“I hope so,”
was Ross’s heartfelt reply.

* * * * *

Two weeks later
it was the turn of a resentful Hilary Templeton to enter through
the stronghold gates.

Gsnei, for that
was what her Lind was called, had interrupted her final medical
studies without so much as a by-your-leave. The doctor under whom
she had been serving her internship had been less than
sympathetic.

“Of course you
must go! Doctor James went to Vadath months ago and loves the life
there. You can complete your internship under him just as well as
here. Broaden your horizons a bit. Battle surgery is his
speciality.”

Up until the
arrival of Gsnei, Hilary’s ambition had been to work at the main
medical facility at Settlement. She had never yearned as others did
to be paired with a Lind. She had worked extremely hard to gain her
qualification, not that she could imagine being separated from
Gsnei now that they were together.