"Ow! Jeez! Sixteen are you ok? Sixteen?"
I huddled closer around my harling's shell, nothing else mattered, he was feeling the cold and I had to keep him warm, nothing else mattered.
I had eyes only for my precious, watching with utter love as the bright pearlescent texture of his shell slowly darkened due to its expose to daylight, the leathery surface becoming more like a black pearl than a white one, my handprint clearly visible as a pale shadow on its surface.
"Can you see the harling?" said a voice
"No. He’s curled too tightly"
"Sixteen? Sixteen can you here me?"
"He's holding the harling too tightly. He could suffocate."
Rough hands tried to pull me away but I held on even tighter.
"I got a glimpse. The harling...it didn't look humanoid, not even bipedal!"
"This could be serious"
"Sixteen. Listen to us. We must see the Harling. We must check that he's ok. Do you understand?"
Sixteen, Please
I blinked, that had been Brook. Brook was ok; Brook had the right to see our wonderful son.
Only Brook!
"He'll let me near, but, with respect Tiahaara, I feel this would go better if you all backed away to the other end of the stable. He's feeling very instinctive right now, a bit like a mother-lion and her cub" said Brook in a firm take-charge voice.
A few moments later I felt his soft gentle hand return to my shoulder.
"Its alright Sixteen, they're gone. Its just the three of us now...Can you show me? I won't hurt him, you know that"
Slowly I allowed myself to be coaxed back toward rational thought and relaxed enough so that Brook could pull me gently out of my fetal position.
"What the!" gasped Brook, finally seeing our son, the black shelled ostrich-egg.
"Not... quite... what we were expecting hey?" I whispered. I don't know why I whispered; it wasn't as if my voice was going to disturb the harling.
"Oh Sixteen, he's beautiful, like a pearl." gasped Brook.
Another strand of irrationality shattered. An evil thought had been forming that Brook would reject our son when he saw what I'd birthed; that was gone now, we were a family.
I gave him a sharp appraising look. "Pearl...I like that. From now on we have Pearls. Any hara that says I laid an Egg, is going to get a slap!"
"Yeah... I think I'm with you on that one." he replied grinning his hand continuing to stroke my arm. "Sixteen. You know this stable isn't a good place right now. With all this snow on the ground wouldn't it be better to take our pearl someplace warmer. If he's like a bird he'll need to be warm. Come on, lets go someplace warmer." he wheedled
"Not the hospital!" I replied tightening my grip on our son.
"No, not the hospital, how about our guest room? That would be warm enough."
I nodded, jerkily.
"I can I hold him?"
"No!"
"Ok, easy, you just stand and I'll get this dress back on you."
Somehar bring us a warm coat for Sixteen and arrange for a vehicle, we're returning to the guest quarters
The garment that arrived was the cloak of the Kheops' Archon, a delightful concoction of feathers, furs, beads and dyed animal hide. As I placed it over my shoulders I felt an agmaric warmth flow through me, a magaric spell had been woven into the very fabric to keep the wearer warm.
I walked unsteadily toward the door, the cloak wrapped tight, obscuring my harling from the crowd of spectators.
The great and the good stood in a broad semi-circle. Five or six paces behind them a vast crowd of Varrs had gathered, doubtless alerted by the radiant pain I'd been broadcasting a few minutes ago.
Even now they were disciplined, not coming nearer than they were allowed, all of them shielding their thoughts, doubtless under orders not to cause distress to my son.
"I don't think they'll let you pass without a glimpse,” said Thiede with considerable compassion.
I straightened myself up, using some meditative discipline to temporarily set aside my instincts.
"If you think I'm doing a 'one small step for Wraeththukind' speech you can forget it. Have someone make something up later." I said, "What I just did, is as natural as getting up in the morning. Any one of you can do this. It ain't rocket science." I said finally pulling back the cloak to reveal the Pearl held in the crook of my arm. "This is my son, my little pearl. As you can see he has a little bit more growing to do before he joins us properly"
"Holy Daananan! Sixteen laid an egg!" cackled Flamepetal madly; tears of mirth rolling down his face.
His laughter dried up almost immediately however. No one else was laughing. The Varrish warriors looked slightly queasy, The Varrish faux-maidens all seemed to want to sigh wistfully and the Archons were either inscrutable or looking happy for me.
I shrugged the cloak closed and started walking toward the vehicle, I could sense the huge deluge of questions building behind the dam of self discipline, If we didn't get away soon we'd be swamped in enquiries I had no answer for.
Exhaustion crept up on me unawares, the sound of breaks as the military vehicle pulled to a stop awoke me. Even during so short a journey, I'd managed to curl up on the seat and sleep like a dragon curled up around her egg.
Gently Brook eased me out of the vehicle and guided me to the room of cushions where he undressed me and lay me down.
I focused my attention on our son and hardly noticed as Brook's naked body brushed against mine; wrapping around me so that our son rested between us, utterly safe as we shared the duty of keeping him warm.
---
I had to check with Brook exactly how long I slept. As it turned out it had been only the one night. In my mind it felt like a week floating in comfort.
Even though he'd not needed to, Brook had stayed with me, his arms and legs tangled comfortably with mine.
"Finally rejoined us my love?" he asked brushing a braid of hair away from my sleepy eyes.
My first reaction was to check to see that our son was still there wedged between us, satisfied that he was ok, I returned my attention to Brook.
"Sorry...this is, like, so weird. I keep stumbling over new instincts."
"That’s ok love, I'm not exactly immune either" he replied, then paused, looking down at where our pearl was nestled. "I've been watching him while you slept. He's been having growth spurts every few minutes"
"I don't understand"
"Watch his shell very closely, look at the curvature of the surface,” instructed Brook
I did as I was told.
"I don't see...."
As I watched the pearl shuddered slightly, and on close inspection I could tell that he was infinitesimally bigger.
"Remarkable" I gasped and then settled down to watch for another growth spurt, and another, and another.
"I know he's fascinating Sixteen, but you really should take a shower, you're still a bit umm... icky... from yesterday."
I absolutely didn't want to, all my new instincts demanded that I should stay. But Brook was right though; I couldn't go around with unidentified stains and such all around my crotch.
"You'll stay with him?" I asked
"Of course" he laughed, knowing full well that the question reflected my odd mental state.
The shower did wonders, cleaning away the cobwebs from my thoughts. Looking down at myself I did a few mental exercises switching from ouana to soume, feeling somewhat relieved that giving birth hadn't locked me into a single role.
I decided to be more ouana today, so once I was dry, I rummaged through my scant supply of clothes and selected a pair of Capri-length jeans and an old Metallica T-shirt.
Slipping back into the room I resumed guard duty over my son's shell, giving it a loving caress. While Brook made his way to the shower, I considered what to do next.
Feeling somewhat more rational, I reasoned that there were doubtless several hundred hara who wanted to see us, and probably some who should see us, waiting outside.
Arranging the cushions, I sat cross-legged, my harling pearl sat next to me like a human king's orb of state.
Whoever's first, you can come in I sent in the general direction of the door.
Unsurprisingly, Thiede turned out to be first. (Who would dare get in His way?)
"Good morning Sixteen, I trust you slept well?"
"Yes very. I'd advise you not to stand too close though, I wouldn't want to become paranoid over anything"
The tall red headed avatar knelt, taking a close look at my son. "Growing quickly I see"
I glowed with pride. "Yes, and I'm going to assume that’s a good thing."
"Oh yes, definitely. I detect no sign of discomfort. In fact, his strongest emotion is curiosity, he knows that something in his life has changed and that fascinates him."
"I guess I'll have to think about diapers and such, and feeding. You don't suppose I'm going to unexpectedly grow tits?"
"I shouldn't think so. I'm sure you'll figure it out though,” replied Thiede dismissively; clearly domestic details were not his thing. "For now we have another matter to discuss"
"Such as where I can hide my son so that Ponclast and Co. can't find him?"
"Your intended destination will put you beyond his reach. Quite how you get there, once you're away from here is your concern. Please understand, I dare not micro-manage or be seen to play favorites...not on this continent"
"Is it that bad? Are we so similar to the humans, that we've already sunk into power politics?"
"It’s been evident for some time that there are many strong personalities on this side of the ocean; unfortunately I haven't the patience for cat-herding. It's a character weakness of mine...don't look shocked, nohar is infallible, even Me." he explained.
From the way he said it, I couldn't help thinking that he'd actually spent some time considering whether he was infallible or not.
"Ponclast will eat them alive as soon as we're finished with the humans" I pointed out calmly.
"Fortunately, removing the human threat should keep him fully occupied in the short term. Which brings me to the thing I needed to discuss."
"And that is?"
To my surprise, Thiede, the first Wraeththu, The living incarnation of the Dehar Aghama, He who watches over our entire species... looked uncomfortable.
"As you know, the humans are still a very significant threat. The nuclear incineration of Zanesville clearly indicates that they are beginning to become aware that there is a rival to their dominance. It also indicates that they have no qualms about using worldkillers on their own population" He explained
I frowned. Thiede was edging around the subject, not yet ready to broach whatever it was at the heart of the matter.
"Aside from being on the target list. How does this involve me?"
"We need to deprive the humans of their big toys before they're tempted to use them again."
Suddenly it clicked into place...of course...the UAVs. Thiede wanted Brook and I to perform a grissecon, creating another etheric entity.
"So. You want us two to do the business and create a nuke-eater?"
"Not... exactly" replied Thiede sighing and smoothing his blazing red hair with a nervous gesture, "For a first attempt, what you created was quite remarkable. But for this we need something stronger. This grissecon will require the two hara who most completely embody the primary concepts of Ouana and Soume."
"You mean... You?" I gulped, feeling utterly inadequate to the task of quenching Thiede's divine fire.
"No. I mean Ponclast"
I heard the sound of glass shattering. Brook was stood in the door of the en-suite bathroom, toothbrush in one hand and the remnants of his water glass forming a minefield of glass shards around his naked feet.
Even if I could tolerate the idea (which I couldn't), I wasn't going to do anything that upset my chesnari, not ever, ever, ever. Silence stretched on to infinity and became icy like a glacier.
Thiede sighed.
It seemed quite clear to me that whilst he was without doubt the most compelling wondrous example of Wraeththukind that I'd ever met, he had real difficulty with his people skills. His mind was so elevated beyond normality that it had not occurred to him that the bond Brook and I shared was in any way relevant to what he was asking of me.
"It won't work" I replied with utter certainty.
"Velisarius har Kakkahaar has develop some elixirs that can remove inhibitions,” offered Thiede
"No. With respect, you are wrong. You are talking about creating a... a... Thing built from lust." I explained, "The entity that Brook and I created to defeat the drones was founded upon our love for each other. I would bet on our love over Ponclast's lusts any day."
"I see,” replied Thiede thoughtfully.
Suddenly an idea popped into my head radical and daring. "In fact, why not make a challenge of it. I'll create an entity with Brook, Ponclast can roon some other poor sod, and the winner is the one who's entity kills most nukes!"
"That Ponclast, he thrives on competition. Wouldn't a contest like that cause him to try even harder?" added Brook, hopefully.
Thiede glanced between us and I could almost hear his dehar-like mind running through all the consequences in the etheric, physical and political realities.
"And wouldn't two majahn be better than one?" I added, slightly pleading.
"I see your reasoning. I will think on it. But be warned, I am not certain Ponclast will cope well with rejection as a partner or defeat in such a contest."
Brook and I let out simultaneous sighs of relief and glanced at each other, feeling our love wash gently between us like waves gently lapping at the shores of our minds.
Thiede cleared his throat reminding us of his presence. It was probably just as well that he did, Brook and I could have stayed zoned out for, like, minutes.
Next to me on the cushion my son wobbled precariously, his shell moved by a kick from within.
Aww, how cute.
I lost myself again washed away in admiration of my precocious pearl.
It occurred to me just then, that Thiede might not have been incepted; possibly he'd experienced his own harlinghood.
"Thiede. May I ask a personal question?"
"No, Sixteen I don't recall my early days, any more than any youngling would." He replied reading my thoughts with effortless ease. "Although I do remember that I found human children to be somewhat slow on the uptake. I think that I understood things faster, and in greater depth."
He paused, deep in thought.
"The question remains; was that just me? Or will your harling also be mentally agile? I believe the only answer is for you to find out by living the adventure." He replied and began rummaging through his pockets "I had better give you this before I go."
A plain golden ring appeared in the palm of his hand. I could feel it glowing with agmaric energy even at a distance.
"Just a toy for when he has fingers"
I was unaccountably wary "If I ever hear him calling it 'his precious' its going in the trash!"
Thiede's lip twitched in an almost smile "And now I had better depart, there's a queue out there and I must now spend several hours persuading some 'other poor sod’ as you put it, to get it on with dear Ponclast."
---
Ponclast was next, dressed in a uniform, stiff and formal, hiding his inner darkness well. I held my son close during that encounter, probably looking like a terrified female to his critical eye.
Once Ponclast had departed, the other tribal leaders entered as a group. From some of their comments, I gathered that this was Ponclast's little message to them, emphasizing his higher status, telling them that he alone warranted a private audience.
They said that even Thiede had been told he would have to wait until Ponclast had seen me, and speculated, with some delight, that he had stormed off rather than suffer an affront to his dignity.
It seemed that Thiede had made his own arrangements, but I decided not to share that with them.
Massasauga hung back when it was time for them to leave, clearly wanting to patch things up between us. I wasn't anywhere near ready to forgive him however, waving him away with a rather imperial gesture.
---
Once the ranking hara had made their dignified exit I took a peep out the door. Thiede hadn't been kidding about the queue. It seemed that everyhara on Ponclast's base figured that 'giving a present' would count as entry admission for seeing the wondrous pearl.
Putting on a brave face I politely ushered the first one in.
Great minds seem to think alike, that or the Varrs had been targeting jewelry stores. So much gold was turning up that I began to wonder if I'd birthed a dragon egg by mistake.
The second gift of choice was French perfume... by the gallon. I didn't get that at first, ok I don't mind smelling nice, but why offload all that human manufactured skunk extract on me? Did I have a body odor issue that Brook hadn't mentioned?
Then someone explained. French perfume was the closest they could get to Franc-Incense. I have to admit that kinda set me off. Thrusting my son's Pearl into Brook's startled hands I stormed out to where the queue waited.
"Ok!" I yelled "How many of you brought gold? Hands up!"
There was a confused murmur and hesitantly numerous hands went up.
"And how many are packing French perfume?"
A slightly smaller number raised their hands.
"And what about Murr? Any rooner bring any Murr?"
There was a slight nervous shuffling. It was obvious that the only reason there wasn't any Murr was because this crowd had no more idea what the stuff was than I did.
"Ok, listen up! My son is NOT a rooning Messiah! And certainly not one belonging to that hideous human religion!!!" I yelled. "And... and I'm not naming him Brian!"
Naturally I was immediately embarrassed by my outburst and changed tack "Look, if you really want to give presents, pick something useful for when he hatches or if you're creative, make something. Truthfully, your intentions are worth more to me than any material object anyway."
And I really did feel sorry for the embarrassed har who'd accidentally triggered my tantrum. Some of the glares he was getting were murderous.
As I turned to re-enter our room I noted my Tuaththuans bunched together near the buffet table.
You lot. In here. Now.
---
I allowed them five minutes to make approving noises about their new nephew, before getting down to business and explaining what Thiede wanted of me.
"Not asking much is he,” grumbled Amnil sympathetically
"More to the point, it reflects just how influential Sixteen is right now. We're a small scattered tribe, but because of what you've done, and only because of that, we're getting a place at the top table." said Jasem thoughtfully "As soon as the others think they know how to create a pearl, our standing will drop like a stone"
"Which is why you lot will be organizing an escape route. I want a way out of here ready to roll at a moment's notice. I don't want to know the details, in fact, its best if I only meet you lot in public from now on." I replied caressing my son's shell "Ash will probably help, but I'm not so sure of the rest."
As they turned to leave, Flamepetal hesitated. "Yeah, uh listen, sorry about the egg comment, ok. He's beautiful Sixteen"
I found that I couldn't hold the grudge, and waved him away.
---
The remaining well-wishers took my advice seriously and the prezzies began to get more relevant. I have to admit though, that I had no idea why I was being presented with the Inter-services Baseball Trophy (1996), until the har explained, that, with the addition of a cushion, it could be used as an extra large eggcup. (pearl-cup, I corrected).
What can I say? It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Noticing that I wasn't nearly as fully recovered as I was letting on, Brook sent the rest of them away and allowed me to snuggle close to him for a pleasant few hours that eventually slipped into a long and peaceful sleep.
---
They left us alone for two whole blissful days, supplying me with a dressmaker's tape measure to assess the pearl's growth and respectfully requesting that I let them know of any progress.
The good news was that they'd decided to go along with my suggestion for their anti-nuke majhahn, and had provisionally decided to do the ceremony in a further three days. The downside was that we were stuck here until then at the earliest.
The only question in my mind was whether I should wait for the harling to be hatched before we made a run for it, or was he going to be easier to cope with as he was. And how long would he be this way? Maybe another eight months? I definitely wasn't going to hang around Colonel Ponclast for eight months, that hara made my skin crawl.
Although we were now 'honored guests', the lack of things to do was making me claustrophobic, I found that I missed the daily management of the tribe and even the rough survival of the open road seemed preferable to the gilded cage.
Thinking of my tribe led me to thoughts of Daananan. I hadn't meditated on his existence for nearly a week.
Popping my head out the door I attracted the attention of Olen har Varr, the soldier tasked with seeing to our needs and spying on us.
"Olen, please ask Ponclast if we have permission to set up a Nayati"
"Uh? A what, Tiahaar?"
"A Nayati... let me guess, you don't use them?"
"No, Tiahaar"
"I need consecrated ground in order to meditate properly. We call such a consecrated place Nayati"
"Oh. Religion. I see,” replied Olen not quite able to keep the distain from his voice. "Go right ahead, Tiahaar Sixteen. Col. Ponclast has no interest in your religious beliefs."
My first thought was 'Ponclast's a fool then' but I couldn't say that. Instead I smiled sweetly, thanked Olen and locked the door.
I glanced at my son where he sat in his trophy, was it too soon? Should I wait until he was hatched before exposing him to Daananan? On the other hand invoking Daananan's protection might give the harling an edge.
I shared breath with Brook and found that he had no concerns, certain in his belief in both me and Daananan.
The decision made, I carefully constructed the circle with the pearl cup at its centre and then visualized the Daananan's etheric realm with its green sky, meadows and thatch-roofed roundhouse.
Between Brook, and me the image of my son formed. Instead of a pearl, he looked like a blurry humanoid outline curled into a fetal position.
"Without knowing light, how may one know ones' own true image?" Said Daananan reverently, emerging from his hut and dusting flour from his fingers.
As was appropriate, Daananan had presented himself in his most soume aspect, his armor reduced to decorative jewelry hung from flowing robes that moved gently in a wind that seemed not to touch the rest of us.
"He is our firstborn son, brought to meet you so that you know that he is of our tribe."
For an instant Daananan looked troubled. "Dreaming still, yet soon to wake. The realms are not traveled lightly by one so young. You must find a guardian for him, for until he is born and named, I may not aid or guard him."
My protective instincts flashed on like some sort of spider-sense. Why not? And within an instant I'd figured it out. Of course! When I'd bound Daananan to our tribe, it hadn't occurred to me that there would be a stage of life between leaving the hostling's body and birth. Like a business contract or a computer program Daananan couldn't act beyond the limits I'd set.
"Take my hand Brook. We have to find a new Dehar for our son." I instructed
Carefully I let the visualization of Daananan's realm fade, allowing the formless grey mists of the etheric plane to reclaim the space. All that remained now was to wait for something to appear in that place, deep in the interface between our needs, our imagination, and the unformed void.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a movement within the fog. It reminded me of pinkness, the pink of flamingoes. As if fastening upon the thought, the mists began to clear revealing more smudges of pink and the sound of birdlife.
I felt warm water lapping at my ankles.
Like breaking through a bank of clouds, a new realm revealed itself, a vast shallow lake extending to the horizon seemingly covered in a vast flock of flamingoes.
In the near distance a roughly made wooden fishing pier extended out over the lake, at its far end was a hut seemingly built from discarded human junk.
"This realm belonged to The Ajalamo, God of the Unborn. But it has faded over the vastness of time, the humans forgot to worship, as humans always do"
I turned and glanced at Daananan. I hadn't expected the Dehar to follow us.
"Is there danger?" I asked
"It may not wish to become dehara. You must seduce it as you have seduced me."
I nodded and gave my son a quick glance reassured that he was still safely curled up and sleeping in mid air, before willing us closer to the hut on the pier.
As we approached I noticed what appeared to be a statue carved out of dry driftwood. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be in the shape of a plump African woman sat in a rocking chair, an untended fishing rod wedged between the arm of the chair and the seat so that it projected out over the Flamingo Lake.
Without needing to be told I knew that there was awareness deep within the statue, faded, tired, and sleeping, but still present.
Reaching out a hand, I touched the rough-hewn wood and felt the living warmth within.
I concentrated, willing The Ajalamo to awaken.
Nothing happened.
"Perhaps we should incept it,” suggested Brook
I was about to say 'don't be stupid, this is the etheric realm, there's no blood here'...but then I realized that Brook had nailed it spot on. It needed a symbolic inception to transform this decayed human deity into a useful vibrant Dehar.
Clenching my fist, I imagined that my nails cut the skin. I willed a dribble of blood to emerge and drip onto the statue.
After a moment the etheric version of blood hissed and bubbled as if it were hydrofluoric acid, eating deep into the old dry wood. Suddenly, a ray of blinding light shot out from the crack as if the blood had eaten through a shell to reveal the heart of a star hidden underneath.
More drops of blood etched their way through. The light became blinding as ray after ray beamed outward. I felt a shadow pass between me and the newly awakened presence, opening my eyes I could see a Daananan shaped outline dimming the deharic light as if he were a silhouette shaped pair of sunglasses.
Rapidly the light consumed the wooden shell and then faded so that it was possible to see a smaller figure crouched where the statue and her chair had been. He seemed to be about 5ft tall and proportioned like a younger teenager. His clothes consisted of a pair of knee length shorts covered in twisting knotwork patterns. It was only when he floated up into the air that I noticed the pair of butterfly wings at each ankle.
"Who summons Jalamao? The Dehar of the Unborn, The Giver of Names?" asked the deharling his voice echoing with the deep resonance I'd always associated with pissed off Greek Gods in the movies; it certainly didn't match his physique.
I got the distinct impression that this Dehar wasn't on our side in the way Daananan was. I sensed that he would need to be appeased if I wanted him to guard my son, or grant him his name.
"Uhm that'd be me, I guess. Our son is the first of many who will ask your protection and the gift of a name to live up to."
Jalamao glanced at our son hovering in mid-ether and the stern impression on his young face softened to one of deep love. The Dehar might not care much for parents, but he definitely had an affinity for his charges.
"I guard the unborn because it is my right, the gift of a name may be purchased with a sacrifice of blood." He replied sternly, before flashing a beautiful white smile and wiping a smear where my blood had touched him "...A price you have already paid Sixteen har Tuaththua"
I let out a sigh; I hadn't realized how tense I had become.
"Come" invited Jalamao indicating the entrance to his hut...except it was no longer a hut.
I glanced around taking in the landscape again. The ramshackle wooden pier had burned away to reveal a walkway of white marble shot through with veins of pink. The hut itself had become the columned gateway to a vast Acropolis-like temple.
Inside, the space between columns was filled by row upon row of shelves, which seemed to continue toward an infinite horizon.
I gasped when I noticed what was stored there. The shelves were full of pearls, each one seated on a short marble plinth with a nameplate next to it.
Jalamao moved to the shelf closest to the doorway, shooing away a flamingo that had wandered in from the lake. I wondered briefly if the pink birds would be replacing the stork as mythical 'bringer of good news'.
On the shelf was a single vacant plinth, to the left was the first row of the unborn pearls, their shells not yet darkened by exposure to sunlight, to the right were a few hideously undernourished human babies.
Jalamao leaned close inspecting the nameplate on the empty plinth before turning to address our son where he hovered, still sleeping. "An interesting name for you to wear little one, a name with layers of meaning... You are Linx har Tuaththua, a link between the past and the future, cat-like in elegance and ferocity, your name calling forth the essence of the Many Skilled One of legend."
Linx opened a golden pupiled eye observed the dehar for a few seconds before closing his eye and hunching down as if trying to ignore the intrusion into his dreams.
Smart kid.
"Thank you Dehar" I said bowing deeply, knowing that Linx's name fitted him perfectly.
"Thank you" echoed Brook "Say do you mind if we look at some of the other names?"
Jalamao regarded Brook with that steely hardness that had made me uneasy. It occurred to me that if a parent ticked him off Jalamao might decide that you didn't deserve a harling after all.
"You may look Brook har Tuaththua, but you will not remember,” replied the Dehar
Without meaning to I glanced at the shelf, seeing names that resonated with my precognitive ability, Swift har Varr strong and True, Abrimel the abused, Loki the innocent, Moon, Darquel... I closed my eyes against the torrent of future memories. Knowing the destiny of unborn harlings would serve me no purpose.
"We've done enough here Brook." I insisted somewhat harshly "The parents should be the first to know these names"
Jalamao nodded slightly as if pleased with my answer.
As calmly as I could I went through the mental routine for extracting us from the Jalamao's realm and returning to normal reality.