“Yes,” Daneh said.
“But it will get better,” Bast said with a shrug. “Each time it will be a little easier. Other problem. How do you feel about men, now?”
“I’m… not sure,” Daneh said. “Some of them… I’m okay with. Others… make me want to scream.”
“Don’t get to hating them all,” Bast said. “It is an easy trap, to run away from them and wish they were all dead. Even elves don’t hate that way. Each man is different. The ones that make you want to scream… you’re probably feeling something from them. Trust that instinct. But don’t hate them all. That, too, is damage you have to work on. Last Big question: Were you a submissive before you were raped?”
Daneh opened her mouth to voice her favorite protest then clapped it shut; it was a valid question. “Not… openly.”
“Did you play the games?”
“No,” she admitted. “I never could… I couldn’t bring it up.”
“Not even with Edmund?” Bast said, surprised. “He’s not fetished that way, but he plays the game very well.”
“Not even with Edmund,” Daneh admitted.
“Humph. Bet he knew. Fantasies?”
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“Rape?”
Daneh paused then sighed. “Yes.”
“Okay, Doctor Bast recommend not play that game for a while.”
Daneh couldn’t help it, she started giggling which turned into a full-bore laugh which somehow segued back into tears until she was sobbing so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. She realized she was in Bast’s lap and being held by strong arms.
“Cry little human, cry,” Bast whispered. “Cry until you’re cried out. Tears are the only thing that shows that humans might have had a Creator. Too weak, too fragile, scared of the whole world. But if there was a Creator She gave them tears to face it and go on.”
Daneh finally caught her breath and looked at the elf holding her. “Thank you,” she said and then, for some reason, kissed her full on the lips.
“You’re welcome,” Bast said after the kiss was over. “But not tonight, I’ve got a headache.”
Daneh broke out in giggles again and shook her head. “Me, too. All that wine I think.”
“Yes, and I think it’s time for you to go to bed,” Bast said, lifting the larger woman effortlessly off her lap. “Alone.”
“Alone,” Daneh agreed and was surprised and worried that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone. She’d never had a sexual thought about another woman before. “Bast, I don’t want you to think that…” she paused.
“Is okay, I’d put it down to another effect of the rape,” Bast said, supporting her to bed. She got her undressed and tucked in and then kissed her on the forehead. “Lots of things messed up in you from it. But you’ll get better. Trust Bast. Sleep. Deep sleep no dreams.”
“No dreams,” Daneh said muzzily, wondering why she was so tired.
“Sleep little human,” Bast said, placing her hand on her forehead. “Sleep well.”
As Daneh faded into sleep the last thing she remembered was Bast curling up on the floor as if she intended to stay for a while. And if her sleep was troubled by dreams, they fled at the sight of a sword-wielding being in white.
Sheida nodded tiredly at the avatar of Ishtar and then sighed at her face.
“What is it now?” she asked, unwrapping her jewel-covered lizard from her neck and cradling it in her arms.
“I have determined the source of the power that Paul’s faction is drawing upon,” Ishtar said without preamble. “It is a power draw from core storage.”
“But…” Sheida paused. “But the only ones who can do a core draw are the elves. That is how the Lady is closing Elfheim.”
“That is not the only source for core draws,” Ishtar said bitterly. “They are using power from the terraforming projects.”
“Oh,” Sheida said after a moment’s thought. “How… truly good.”
“What I have been unable to determine is why they can draw upon it,” Ishtar went on. “They have to have a quorum of the board of directors of one or more of the projects agreeing to release the power. And… I can’t imagine that happening.”
“I can,” Sheida said after long thought. “But, oh, but that is a deep laid plan…” she muttered.
“What plan?” Ishtar asked, her brows furrowing.
“Edmund, he told me to look to the Demon at the center of this,” Sheida said with a grimace. “And I think he must be right. I was… asked to look into some things before this… war erupted. There had been some disturbing things going on with the Wolf 359 terraforming project. One of the people who had risen to prominence was… well known to me. Not a good person and not the sort of person to…”
“Care about something that wasn’t going to do him any good?” Ishtar asked.
“Something like that. But it didn’t come together. Now it does. And we are truly in trouble.”
“But the rest of the board members?” Ishtar asked. “They have to be present to vote!”
“In the event of large scale disruption there is probably a protocol for rump voting,” Sheida said, dropping into the Net to open up the data. “Yes, there is,” she said, distantly. “And while we cannot access the board members’ location or status, Mother assuredly could. If they had assassins waiting for the majority of the board…”
“Then their hand-picked members would be the only ones left,” Ishtar hissed. “Evil.”
“Yes, and much too Byzantine for Paul,” Sheida added, rising back up out of the data-flow. “This has the Demon’s fingerprints all over it.”
“What do we do about it?” Ishtar asked.
“Find the members of the board,” Sheida said. “And either get them to vote to store the power or at least stop them from giving it to Paul.”
“And how do we do that?” Ishtar asked, throwing her hands in the air. “We don’t know where anyone is!”
“We’ll send out a list to all the communities that report to us,” Sheida replied, pulling up the list. “These are all the members who were alive before the Fall,” she added, looking over the list. “Know any of them?”
“No,” Ishtar said, then looked at her fellow council member’s face. Sheida stopped looking at the list with a frozen and angry expression on her face. “What?”
“I do,” Sheida hissed.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“We must stop this war,” Paul said, looking up from the report. “We must stop it. Now.”
Paul had called a full meeting of the New Destiny Council to “discuss some ramifications of the current conflict.” Celine had known it would be contentious when she arrived and Paul was striding up and down the Council Chamber, literally tearing at his hair. She had always thought that was just an expression.
“Why?” Chansa exclaimed, looking across the room at the Demon. The black armor didn’t move or twitch in any way at the strange statement.
“The deaths!” Paul yelled, pointing at the projections. “We’ve finally gotten a census in the portions of Ropasa that we control and thousands, millions are dying or already dead! This was not supposed to be a war. The point is to prevent the extinction of the human race, not cause it!”