“Still, if Falon weren’t so farden pigheaded, she wouldn’t have felt it was necessary-”
“Take my advice, Shani, and don’t even think about bringing him to task for something your mother instigated. It’s obviously a sore subject with him, so much so that he doesn’t want to get anywhere near your mother, and that’s why you’re going straight to Ka’al instead of home. Consider it the punishment you didn’t get and let it go at that. And I’ll do all the reassuring that’s necessary, so don’t bother worrying about your mother fretting over you. When I get done reporting, she’ll be so pleased, she’ll probably even forgive your fath-”
“What goes on here, Shanelle?” Falon demanded as the door slid open and he caught the sound of Martha’s voice.
Shanelle merely stared at him, for his expression made her feel somehow guilty, though she’d done nothing wrong. Martha wasn’t so quiet.
“Relax, big guy. I’m aware she’s yours now. I merely dropped by for a visit.”
“Do you then leave as you came, computer.”
“What are you so stiff-necked about, warrior?” Martha grumbled. “You won, didn’t you? When she was mine to protect, I did as I saw fit. Now she’s yours to protect, I’ll practice hands-off. You can’t get fairer than that.”
“What I can do is forbid my woman all dealings with anything visitor-made; thus will she be punished do you not leave as you were bidden.”
“Of all the underhanded, rotten, tyrannical-”
“Martha!” Shanelle wailed in a panic.
“All right, I’m going.” Martha managed a near growl, and suddenly all of Shanelle’s belongings appeared at her feet. “You’ll have to sift through that stuff now to find whatever’s visitor-made so you can leave it behind-Stars, I don’t believe he said that,” she continued to complain, but then said, “Good luck, doll. I guess you’re still going to need it after all.”
Shanelle stood there staring at her lifemate as though she didn’t recognize him, while he watched the intercom on the wall and waited. After a minute had passed and no more words came out of it, he started looking so smugly satisfied that Shanelle’s emotions took a giant leap for the angry side.
“Punish me for something I have no control over, would you? How about for this instead?” She bent down, picked up her jewel case, and hurled it at his head. “Or maybe this?”
She didn’t even wait to see if the first missile struck before she bent down for another. She never reached it. She was tackled off her feet, turned in the air, and landed when Falon did, with him on the floor and her on top of him and barely jarred-at least not until the laughter started. She tried getting off him, but the arm he’d caught her with was still tight about her waist. She then tried straightening up, but the hand she placed on his shoulder to do so slipped right off, he was shaking so hard.
In exasperation, she dug her elbows into his chest and demanded, “Just what do you find amusing, warrior? If you think-”
“Wait!” he cut in, but was still laughing too hard to say any more.
Shanelle gritted her teeth and waited impatiently. Finally he was merely smiling up at her.
“There was no reason for that splendid display of temper, kerima.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You think not?”
“I would never punish you for something that is not of your own doing. This you should have known. What was said was said only for your Martha’s benefit.”
It took her a moment to digest that, and then her eyes flared wide. “You told an untruth?”
“A small one to defeat a thing I cannot otherwise fight.”
“Martha was right,” she said. “That was underhanded of you.”
“She would not leave-”
“Of course she would have. She was only here to assure herself that I was all right.” And then she sighed. “Martha isn’t your enemy, Falon. You’d be in real trouble if she were. Actually, she happens to like you-at least she did. Now she’s probably mad enough to tell my mother what you just-damn it, Falon, I want to see my mother!”
“No.” He set her aside abruptly, stood up, yanked her to her feet, but then he was tenderly cupping her cheeks in his hands. “All of my patience is given to you, Shanelle. There is none left for your mother. Do not ask me to go near that woman, or I may say something we will both regret.”
“Falon, you met her when she was worried about me. She won’t be like that now.”
“I care not,” he replied adamantly. “In time I will allow you to visit her. For now, you have other obligations to claim your attention, a new life to adjust to. Do you need help, you will come to me, not to your mother. Is that not as it should be?”
“No,” she maintained stubbornly.
He lifted a black brow. “You still mean to pout?”
“Whatever it takes, warrior, to get you to be reasonable.”
“I am being reasonable,” he insisted, pointing out, “I could have said never, yet did I consider your feelings in the matter.”
“The hell you did,” she growled. “You mean to deny me my mother and my friends. Or hasn’t it occurred to you that both Martha and Corth are visitor-made?”
“That is the first thing that occurred to me.”
“You farden-!”
“Enough, woman! It will be as I say, and you will accept what I say.”
Don’t bet on it, babe, she said, but not aloud.
Chapter 34
Because of the Global Shield surrounding the planet, it was impossible to land a ship anywhere other than at Spaceport. Transferring was unaffected by the Shield, however, and with Jadell’s help in the Control Room, Brock was able to pinpoint the exact location of Falon’s house to Transfer their party directly inside it.
Shanelle had only a few minutes to say good-bye to her brother, who would be returning with Brock to Sha-Ka-Ra. But Dalden surprised her by telling her he would see her again in only a few weeks, when he brought the Catrateri Ambassador and his party to Ka’al to complete negotiations with Falon. Apparently it was the Catrateri who had volunteered their ship for Falon’s use, but there had been no time to bargain for any more than Falon’s agreement to allow them to finish negotiations on Falon’s home ground. That Falon would have agreed to that was astounding. But Dalden confessed he would have agreed to anything at the time, he was so impatient to follow her.
This managed to make Shanelle feel a certain amount of guilt, despite her present anger at Falon. She knew how he felt about visitors, how all Ba-Har-ani felt, for that matter. It was the Ba-Har-ani who had insisted the planet be closed down, and no visitor had set foot in their country for these past fifteen years. Now, indirectly because of her, Falon was letting some in, but she knew he couldn’t like it. For Falon’s sake she could wish the bargain hadn’t been made, yet because of it Dalden would be returning, and she couldn’t deny she was glad of that.
She had, of course, made up with her brother during the past week for the altercation they’d had when he first brought her up to the ship. He hadn’t been able to stay mad at her any more than she could with him. Now she wished she didn’t have to part with him at all, but knowing he’d be back soon made it a lot easier to say good-bye.
Falon was there to hold her hand for the Transferring and was still holding it when the five of them and all their possessions from the ship appeared in a large, two-story-high eating hall that was presently vacant, for the hour was very early morning, Ka’al time. Long tables abounded, most with padded benches rather than backless couches, but some with actual chairs. Huge, painted zaalskin canvases covered a good deal of the walls, all lavishly framed in gold. But there were too many walls, not enough windows, and no open archways letting in cool breezes.