After the ceremony, when all had returned to the upper levels of the gene center, Peri stepped out from a doorway to confront Diana.
"So," she said, "It seems you found your father."
"He never knew who I was, except perhaps at the very end of his life, and I am not sure about that."
"You look well. Being a warrior has made you even more beautiful."
"I do not care about that."
"I know you do not. But at this moment I wonder what you must be feeling toward me."
"I do not understand the question. You are my mother."
"And what does such a concept mean to you, as one who comes from a union that has muddled both the true-born and freeborn concepts of parenthood? I am asking you as a scientist whose lifework has been the study of genetic heritages in and out of the sibko."
Diana shuddered involuntarily. "You are like him, you know, like Aidan Pryde, distant."
"Do not forget that I, too, was once a warrior cadet," Peri said. "I am trueborn. If I seem distant, it may be only because of that. But tell me how you interpret parenthood."
"Well ... I do not know what to say. During this ceremony I felt confused. I am too trueborn to be a freeborn, too freeborn to be a trueborn. I am some kind of misfit and maybe that is what he meant!"
"What who meant?"
"Aidan Pryde. I asked him why I was a Falcon Guard, and he merely said because he wanted me there. Maybe he sensed that I belonged with the Guards because I was as much a misfit as the rest, caught between two worlds."
Peri nodded and began to walk away. "Is that all?" Diana called after her.
Peri turned and smiled in a way that was neither true-born or freeborn. "You have given me my answer."
"May I come to see you in a few days, and you can explain it to me?"
"No."
Peri turned around and strode away, leaving Diana still saying, "Mother?"
* * *
The ceremony over, Marthe Pryde was alone in the large hall. She stared at the wall behind which Aidan's genetic legacy had taken its place as part of the gene pool.
She remembered that she and Aidan were to meet after the battle in the quarters of one or the other. It was too bad, she thought, that the meeting had never taken place. In some way, it would have rounded out both their lives, from the sibko to their brief reunion.
Well, she thought, it did not happen. Tears had sprung to her eyes during the giftakeritual, but she would forget Aidan Pryde now. There was too much to do.
A shuffling sound in the darkness made her rise quickly, ready to fend off any attack.
Looking more spectral than ever, Kael Pershaw came into the dim light.
"You did well, Marthe Pryde," he said. "The ceremony was stirring; the nominations for Bloodright were positively inspiring."
"What will happen now? What of the Clans? Must we be content to merely administer the conquered worlds while this fifteen-year truce drags on?"
"Oh, I am sure we will find reasons to fight someone. If not the Inner Sphere, some other enemy. We are of the Clans, after all. We are warriors. We fight. That is the way—"
"I know. The way of the Clan. But is that all, Kael Pershaw? Honor and combat and Bloodnames and Bloodrights?"
"Is that not enough for you, Marthe Pryde?"
"For me, Kael Pershaw? Yes, enough for me."
"Then it is enough."
"Seyla," Marthe whispered, then swept by Kael Pershaw out of the hall.
* * *
"I had not expected the ceremony to be quite so impressive," Joanna told Diana. "I stopped Kael Pershaw when it was over and asked him if he had influenced the decision to transfer the genetic legacy so soon."
"And?"
"He acted like Kael Pershaw. He refused to speak with me. He just reached up his hand, made some tiny adjustment to that foul mask of his, and walked away. I hated that man when I served under him at Glory Station, and I hate him even more now."
"But you say you hate everyone, even me."
"Well, perhaps not you, Diana. You are no prize, but I do not feel a trace of hatred for you. As for everyone else, well, yes, I suppose I hate most of them."
"What about my father? What about Aidan Pryde?"
Joanna seemed to ponder the question. "He was a different sort of warrior, that is certain. When he first arrived on Ironhold with his sibko I predicted that he would test out all the way. And so he did."
"Did you like him then?"
"No, I did not like him. Sometimes I hated him morethan anyone else."
Seeing the disappointment Diana could not hide, Joanna was amazed at the contradictions in this superb warrior. Why did she care about a father whom she had merely observed from afar?
"But I think I hated him less than most," Joanna went on. "Definitely. I hated him less than most."
Diana smiled, then frowned.
"He tested out all the way," Joanna said.
Glossary
Clan military unit designations are used throughout this book. The structure of each unit is as follows:
Point 1 'Mechs or 5 infantry
Star 5 'Mechs or 25 infantry
Binary 2 Stars
Trinary 3 Stars
Cluster 4-5 Binaries/Trinaries
Galaxy 3-5 Clusters
Nova 1 'Mech Star and 1 infantry Star
Supernova 1 'Mech Binary and 2 infantry Stars
ABTAKHA
An abtakhais a captured warrior who is adopted into his new Clan as a warrior.
AUTOCANNON
This is a rapid-firing, auto-loading weapon. Light auto-cannon range from 30 to 90mm caliber, and heavy auto-cannon may be 80 to 120mm or more. The weapon fires high-speed streams of high-explosive, armor-piercing shells.
BATCHALL
The batchallis the ritual by which Clan warriors issue combat challenges. Though the type of challenge varies, most begin with the challenger identifying himself, stating the prize of the contest, and requesting that the defender identify the forces at his disposal. The defender also has the right to name the location of the trial. The two sides then bid for what forces will participate in the contest. The subcommander who bids to fight with the leastnumber of forces wins the right and responsibility to make the attack. The defender may increase the stakes by demanding a prize of equal or lesser value if he wins.
BATTLEMECHS
BattleMechs are the most powerful war machines ever built. First developed by Terran scientists and engineers, these huge, man-shaped vehicles are faster, more mobile, better-armored, and more heavily armed than any twentieth-century tank. Ten to twelve meters tall and equipped with particle projection cannons, lasers, rapid-fire autocannon, and missiles, they pack enough firepower to flatten anything but another BattleMech. A small fusion reactor provides virtually unlimited power, and BattleMechs can be adapted to fight in environments ranging from sun-baked deserts to subzero arctic icefields.
BLOODHERITAGE
The history of the Bloodnamed warriors of a particular Bloodright is called the Bloodheritage.