"Jacqueline Lichtenberg - Lifewave 02 - City of a Million Legends" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lichtenberg Jacqueline)

Her wide, dark eyes bloomed with a new joy. "Truly?"
"Yes, my magnificent mothering-lady, I'll never have to do that again." There was a deep, abiding affection in his voice that Zref
had never heard from Sudeen. Khelin moved Arshel toward Zref, catching Zref's eye. "So now at last you can immunize Zref to
your venom, and Zref can offer you im-
munization to MorZdersh'n in proper bhirhir pledgeтАФmaking you truly MorZdersh'n!"
Bhirhir, not mating, bound kren into families, and Zref knew Khelin appreciated their delaying their pledge to allow the mating.
Nevertheless, the kren placed Arshel's webbed hand in Zref s, his own hand on Zref s shoulder. "I apologize for my disgraceful
behavior. I don't even understand my own feelings now; I can only try to make amends. I owe you so much, Zref."
Had Zref demanded it even during the mating, Khelin, as brother to Sudeen and thus Zref s nearest relative in MorZdersh'n,
would have had to provide venom for Zref to immunize Arshel in the sealing of their bhirhir. Thus immunized, Arshel would be
infertile to all MorZdersh'n, and her odor couldn't trigger Khelin's mating. Zref put his own hand on Khelin's shoulder. "Brothers
don't owe each other." Glancing to Arshel, he added, "Nor do bhirhirn."
"Tomorrow, thenтАФwe can go to Hengrave to pledge," said Arshel, glowing.
Zref strangled back a surge of curiosity, remembering all the unread messages bursting his private file. Sighing, he trudged up out
of the pond followed by Ley and the two kren. They all watched him as they toweled off and dressed. But he didn't want to spoil
this moment by mentioning the summons to leave CamiatтАФbut not for Hengrave.
Khelin brought Zref his shoes. Khelin's head fluff was already dry, though the two humans were using hot air blowers on
themselves. As Zref turned his blower off, Khelin searched Zref s face with the look Zref had once labeled his "blue priest's gaze,"
a look that meant Khelin was using his peculiar psychic gift for probing motivations. "Zref, I remember you with Sudeen. You feel
for Arshel as you did for Sudeen. Despite being an Interface, you feel."
Zref felt no impulse to answer. Ley said, "He may be the most peculiar Interface in existence, but he's still an Interface and
won't answer you unless you ask." Zref was the only Interface made using a combination of modern techniques and recovered First
Lifewave knowledge. As a result, he had access both to the comnet and to his own unconscious, making him the only, Interface
who could feel anything other than the Primary Emotions.
"It's not that I won't answer. It's that IтАФcan't."
"Then answer this," said the kren. "The Guild has granted you permission to exist as both Interface and person. Why can't you
grant yourself the same permission? Why did you walk away from Arshel just nowтАФknowing how it would hurt her? I can't be
party to establishing a bhirhir where such callousness is practiced."
"No!" Zref turned to Arshel. "You didn't think IтАФArshel, if you're ready, we will pledge bhirhir tomorrow. The Guild can take
their offworld job andтАФ"
"Offworld job?" asked Arshel instantly, and Zref had to tell them then about the message drop.
"In our reception room?" asked Khelin. "Now?"
Without volition, Zref dropped to Youta. "Is that person still waiting for me at MorZdersh'n? Zref."
"Yes, with less patience every moment. Why haven't you been answering your mail? I was about to drop to Jimdiebold to say
you'd had a relapse and couldn't open at all! Youta."
In a fit of temper such as he'd not had since before becoming an Interface, Zref dumped all the "mail" in his private file back into
Youta's private file, then he closed.
"Yes, the visitor is still waiting." Free of the question, Zref added, "I must see him, Arshel. I'll turn him down, though. Even
Rodeen concedes that's my right."
Khelin's gaze seared Zref with the intensity characteristic of his talent. Ley moved to Khelin's side, an alert bhirhir. Suddenly,
the three of them formed a solid front founded on a deep mutuality which excluded Arshel.
"Something threatens," pronounced Khelin. It wasn't the usual Khelin utterance. Hardly recovered from mating, the Mautri blue
priest was raising venom.
Zref put one arm around Arshel's shoulders, almost in position to express venomтАФan intimacy bhirhirn practiced only in total
privacy. But she didn't shrink away. "The four of us," said Zref, "will stand before any threat." With his other arm, he embraced
Ley.
The exclusivity of their three-way bond held fast for a moment, and then a coldness invaded the room. As if in response,
something changed in Khelin. He shyly touched Arshel. The three of them became four, and the coldness vanished so quickly Zref
reeled in an odd, euphoric vertigo.
He looked down from a glittering tower upon a city served by wide boulevards, dotted with parks and lakes.