Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SKN2Y6Y
Books2Read link: https://books2read.com/b/mKpGlP
The first thing to greet me upon returning home was a furry golden torpedo, ankle high and forearm long. Mischief launched herself off the sofa, demanding attention. I picked her up and petted her for a moment, then tucked her under my arm before taking a seat on one of the couches. The English Cream longhair dachshund fancied herself queen of the household, and she wasn’t far wrong when she was in “Miss Chief” mode. Her chocolate and tan shorthair partner in crime, Scarecrow, wasn’t far behind, with his song of greeting, telling me of the neglect and starvation he’d endured in the two hours since I left.
Studious Alden, my youngest, interrupted his cosmology lesson to come get a hug. It was still disconcerting the way he’d teleport next to me just to save a few steps and seconds, grab a hug, then teleport back to what he’d been doing. At ten Imperial – seven Earth – he’d decided he liked his skin lighter than most, with light brown hair as well, so that was the way he was keeping it for now. But he was a holy terror with a blade or in a hadul arena as well, to the point where Asto and I tried to get him to eat more to bulk up his slight frame, in order to have a reserve if he needed it.
Imtara, eleven with the same dark brown shade of skin and black hair her father and great-grandfather favored, smiled over at me from where she was working with the specialty converter, building a circuit for some project of hers. Hi mom! Did you get all the bad guys today?
I did get more than my share of criminal cases, because however weak I was compared to my husband’s family, I was a stronger than average Guardian. No criminals today. Just four civil cases any Investigator could have handled. What are you building?
A sensor discrimination module. Trying to find a more sensitive configuration for remote identification that doesn’t fry with interference. Ilras and Esteban are with Dad’s splinter and Grandfather’s getting lessons. Both thirteen year old Ilras and sixteen year old Esteban were better than I was with a blade – but Scimtar considered even me worthy of a six rating with a blade these days. A six rating was broad territory though. My six rating – graded by Scimtar, who was notoriously hard as an evaluator – meant he thought I was better than most sixes graded by other masters. Ilras’ conditional six was better. He’d be ready to try for a real seven by the time he was a legal adult – if he wanted to advertise his ability. Esteban’s conditional six was a different kind of fiction – sandbagging. Esteban was like his great uncles Amras and Iaren – but he competed with himself to improve. Asto said Esteban was already good enough for a seven were he to enter the competition, which he wouldn’t. Sandbagging – appearing to be less capable than you were, especially in things which could be applied to self-preservation – was the Unofficial Imperial Sport, especially among the Great Families. It was a matter of record that Scimtar had won the Imperial championship multiple times before becoming politically important, but it didn’t follow that he was necessarily the best blade master in the Empire even then, and now that he was politically important, he’d never enter the competition again. His official rating was a legacy seven – because he’d won the ten rating long ago – but nobody was fooled that he’d allowed his skills to erode or be bypassed by newcomers.
Ilora? I sought out my unaccounted-for child.
I’m with grandma! The fourteen year old replied, She wanted me to help her with Amassiye! We’re teaching her how to control a link!
I didn’t bother telling her to be careful. Ilora had a bright sunny disposition and a serious talent for both necris and mentisas well as auros. There were advantages to living with extended family. My mother-in-law was welcome to teach my children anything she wanted – she was stronger and better integrated even than I, probably better than Asto as well. Anara and her husband Gilras had decided to start a new family, of whom Amassiye was the second, just over half-way through gestation. Her next older brother Acroyn was four Imperial. I think the decision had helped them deal with the loss of Etonas.
I didn’t particularly need to be involved in the older boys’ lesson, but it was a good way to be interacting with my kids without distracting them from their lessons. I couldn’t help Alden or Imtara in theirs as they were beyond my learning thus far in what they were doing. Anara would ask me if she wanted my help. But despite my little hellions being more advanced than I in bladework, I knew I could contribute to the lesson – and it was never a bad idea to get another lesson myself. I teleported to the gym. Scimtar’s splinter was sparring with both of the boys simultaneously, while Asto’s splinter watched. The splinters were using titanium rods, while the boys were using practice blades sized for their smaller frames. Not that a real blade would hurt a splinter. The titanium rods, however, would inflict a nasty bruise or even broken bones – and such injuries happened regularly. Esteban and Ilras had been healing themselves from such injuries for years – the family believed it was necessary. As much as it clashed with my American upbringing, evidence was on their side. The boys were wearing head protection, but I knew from personal experience Scimtar could hit practically at will with the lighter titanium, and he would intentionally inflict broken bones or worse if he thought it necessary to drive home the lesson.
Copyright 2021 Dan Melson. All Rights Reserved.
Leave a Reply