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  It looked to be similar to the one that Tavik had shown her in the library and as she placed her palm on the frame, the picture flickered wildly. As she watched it, images flowed across the screen that brought tears to her eyes.

  Grandma had been lovely as a young woman. Her husband had been tall and strong and as Sky watched them standing on their porch and looking out over their backyard where their children played, she was reminded that her roots were firmly embedded in love.

  Blinking rapidly, she watched the image move further back in time, to her great grandparents and one generation at a time, it took her back through all of the couples that had started her.

  A woman with snow-white skin, wrapped in furs was her final image. This woman looked up at a starry sky and as she watched, a portal opened and a wave of energy wrapped around her.

  The colouration of the power was pink and lavender, pulsing and swirling as it worked its way into the woman in the image.

  Sky winced at the silent scream that the woman enacted as the Orb made a home in her genes and she fell to her knees on the snowy hilltop. Tears tracked down her face and Sky couldn’t handle it anymore.

  She gathered the power and stepped into the image, walking toward the woman and holding out her hand. The woman jerked suddenly when she realized she wasn’t alone.

  A knife was suddenly pointed at Sky and she grinned. Her grin was slightly forced, the cold air of the hilltop whipped around her, chilling her skin. Perhaps stepping into the frozen wastes during an ice age had not been the best idea.

  Sky smiled at the woman who had her lips and the same nose that she saw in the mirror every day. “Hello, Mother. I would just like to thank you for surviving long enough to pass along the tiny piece of your soul that I carry today.”

  The woman opened and closed her mouth, frowning. A bright flare of energy surrounded her for a moment. “Who are you?”

  Sky blinked in amazement. The Orb must be running their comprehension, because there was no way that she spoke the language that her ancestor was fluent in and there was no way that Alliance Common was spoken during the ice ages of Earth.

  “I am Sky, of the Nameless.”

  “What have you done to me?”

  Sky shook her head. “Nothing that was not also done to me. In you resides the seeds of power that will remain silent until they are activated. Do not fear it. You will never be affected by the energy again during your lifetime.”

  “How did you know that I was here?”

  Sky bit her lip. “I saw you in a dream and I came to comfort you.”

  “Did the gods punish me?”

  “No. You have been blessed.”

  The woman looked at her in surprise. “Why did you call me, Mother?”

  Sky blushed, “Because I did not expect you to understand me. The power that you were given is making it possible for our languages to be understood.”

  “That does not explain the reference to Mother.”

  “If you believe in time, then I am the current end result of your lineage. I have brothers and sisters who will carry the same seeds that you do and eventually, another of your line may take my place.”

  The woman lifted a fur from her shoulders and draped it around Sky’s pale and shivering body. “You should not have come out without dressing properly, Daughter.”

  With her hair loose, Sky smiled at the bright white hair that contrasted with vivid blue eyes in her ancestress. “What is your name, Mother?”

  “Cai. I am the skinner of the Black Deer clan.”

  “Do you make clothing?” Sky was smiling again.

  “I do. It is my true skill and while it has given me plenty of suitors, I had not thought to accept one of them yet.”

  Sky and Cai turned to look at the small community with its flaring fires down below. “What brought you out here today, Cai?”

  “The night called me. I cannot say why or how, but it summoned me to this place and now, I know why.”

  Sky’s skin took on a pink hue. “I am being summoned elsewhere, Cai, but please, keep an open mind. One thing that I do know is that my ancestors were gifted with true affection in their mated lives. Be well and I will come again if I am able.”

  Cai quickly kissed her on both cheeks and smiled, “Be well, Daughter.”

  As the power enveloped Sky, she felt the smile on her face and it was almost brighter than the energy that transported her to another place and time.

  There were perks to being a Nameless after all.

  Chapter Ten

  Hot, arid air blasted her as she took her first few steps onto the new world.

  The images that she was getting were of a tiny creature that was facing extinction. Sky just had to find it and then not gag as she lifted it to safety.

  “If I was a disgusting bug, where would I be?” Her out-loud musings were answered by the whir and chugging of a badly maintained skimmer overhead.

  “Oy, woman! What are you doing here?” The man was wearing goggles and what skin she could see wore smears of grime.

  Sky shrugged, the fur around her shoulders sliding against her skin. “I have no idea.”

  He landed his vehicle. “Get in here, the desert will kill you within the hour.”

  She stepped into the bed of the skimmer and it lifted the second that she was onboard. “Where are we?”

  He shook his head, “So sad, you must have been out in the heat for a while. We are on Kasirica, the dying world. Where do you last remember yourself being?”

  He was watching her closely, so she shrugged, “Prison, then on an ice world, then here.”

  His expression lightened. “Ah. That explains it. Minders are truly bastards, are they not?”

  She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

  That seemed to be the funniest thing he had ever heard and soon, they were moving through a ragged settlement.

  “You arrived just in time. We have caught an Alliance spy. He is posted in the forecourt and the third sun is on its way up. This is going to be good.”

  The skimmer driver was almost rubbing his hands together. He set his vehicle down and turned off the engine. “You can find some work inside until the last of the evacuation ships get here.”

  “Thank you for your kindness…”

  “Makkos. This is a time for kindness. Doesn’t cost much and you may do me a favour one day.” He lifted his goggles and the red blaze of his eyes took her by surprise.

  He must have noticed her staring, because he laughed. “I am in rut, we all are. The shavirel eggs are the only entertainment here. Your eyes are a little different. What species are you?”

  She smiled brightly. “I am a mutt. Not even my mom knows how many species are zipping around in my bloodstream.”

  Makkos smiled and helped her out of the skimmer, walking with her toward a ramshackle building with a tankard out front.

  The interior was as dim as it looked from the outside and it smelled twice as bad.

  Makkos steered her to the bar and helped her take a seat next to him. An exhausted-looking bartender came up to them and served each of them a glass of water.

  “Who is this, Makkos?”

  “I found her wandering in the desert. She is wearing one of those weird belts but has no idea of who she is. She also has a pair of scissors, so I think she picked the belt up somewhere.”

  Sky just blinked and smiled vaguely. “I make clothing.”

  Makkos offered her the glass of water and she picked it up, giving the glass a good look. “There is something floating in here.”

  “How is it that you haven’t seen a shavirel egg before?” The bartender wiped the counter absently.

  “I don’t know. What does it do?”

  Makkos gulped down his water and shuddered in reaction. His hands clenched and released repeatedly. “It gives you the feeling of being in the embrace of the most talented lover you could imagine and then engaging in the most stimulating sex you can think of all in a matter of seconds.”


  He moaned and twisted on his chair for a moment before shuddering with his teeth clenched.

  Sky asked the bartender, “Is it an insult to refuse it?”

  The man shrugged. “Not particularly, but all of the water left here has been treated with the eggs.”

  She cocked her head, “Where do they come from?”

  The bartender pointed to a tank in the centre of the room. There was a small creature inside and it was sitting on top of a mound of tiny crystals.

  “Can I go and look?”

  “Sure. It’s the last shavirel in existence. Its entire environment was wiped out during the first solar storms and this one had been in a private collection.”

  Sky wandered over to the tank and wiggled her fingers at the creature inside.

  Are you here to kill me?

  Sky jerked as the voice echoed in her mind. With concentration, she tried to think toward the creature. I am not. I am here to take you to safety.

  Are you like him?

  Him?

  There was a male here with the same energy signature. He tried to take me and they captured him.

  Do you remember anything else about him?

  The small, fuzzy insect with the wide abdomen rose up and waggled its feet at her. He smelled like you.

  “Aw hell.” She continued to wiggle her fingers and smile vapidly at the shavirel before she turned and returned to the bar. Giggling a little, she asked, “Makkos mentioned that there was an execution in progress.”

  The bartender nodded. “In the main square. Take a sun shield, the third is rising soon and you don’t want to get crisped.”

  She smiled brightly. “Thank you. You have been very kind. I just wish I knew why I was here.”

  He grinned and waved her off.

  She made a show of putting on the shield before she tiptoed out of the bar and into the burning heat of the town.

  About a dozen of the locals were circled in the center of the open square. Her suspicions were realized when she saw Tavik strapped to a post in the centre of the exposed space.

  Everyone around her was wearing a sunshade made of foil and lined with a white soft material.

  Tavik was stripped to the waist and his knife was jammed into the floor at his feet.

  She moved quickly through the crowd and looked up at him, giggling slightly as she had heard several females do.

  The third sun burned the ground as it passed. The remains of the village were shielded, but the heat was still incredible.

  One by one, the spectators left the square to watch from the sidelines.

  Sky waited and stared up at Tavik as steam rose from his skin.

  The moment that the last spectator had walked away to watch from the shade, Sky sprang onto the platform and pulled her scissors. She sliced through the bindings on his wrists and wrapped herself in power, transporting them both to her prison.

  He was vivid purple and blue everywhere, his burns marked him on every inch of exposed skin.

  She steeled herself and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders, walking him to the shower as quickly as she could. She set the controls to slightly cooler than body temperature and shoved him into the spray.

  “Come on, Tavik, come on.”

  With the water sluicing over him, he shook himself and stared up at her. “Sky? You came to get me?”

  “Of course. And as soon as you are stable, I am going back for the shavirel.”

  He smiled. “There is a quick way to do that. Use temporal energy.”

  “We can do that?”

  “It is how I restarted your heart, so yes, we can do that.” His voice was hoarse. “Concentrate, contact the Orb of Time inside you and bring it out, focussing it in your hands. Then, put your hands on my body.”

  She shivered under the cool water and did as he said. The power was different than the energy she used to transport herself. It was part of her in some way. She pressed her hands against Tavik’s chest and focussed on his body returning to health.

  When the burn marks receded, she stopped the flow of power and moved her hands up to cup his face, kissing him sweetly before she popped back to rescue the shavirel.

  Chapter Eleven

  The bar was full of people drinking, shuddering and enjoying themselves. Still wearing her solar shield, Sky walked up to the tank, pulled back her hand and rammed her scissors through the plexi that contained the creature.

  The shavirel didn’t wait but scampered up under her solar shield and hid in the fur around Sky’s shoulders.

  Sky didn’t look left or right but ploughed through the crowd and out the door into the suns’ light.

  She sprinted to the gallows while wrapping her hand in the folds of her solar shield and jerked at Tavik’s blade until it came free.

  The knife belt was hanging over the edge of the gallows and she quickly grabbed it as well.

  Why retrieve these things?

  These are the marks of our kind. No one should keep them who is not one of us.

  I see. Do you know where you are taking me?

  Sky could feel the creature moving around on her neck. The Orb has given me an image, so I will take you there. It looks comfortable, but how will you reproduce?

  Amusement coloured the shavirel’s thoughts. I am asexual. The eggs mature and grow and lose their addictive properties, but the remaining population never let them grow and live to reproduce on their own.

  That is sad.

  It is. I kept hoping that some would survive, but the occupants grew more and more desperate for distraction. They are stranded and no one is coming for them.

  Sky moved between times and worlds, taking the shavirel with her. I thought that there were more ships coming.

  No more ships can pass through the solar storms. They will die.

  Aw hells. We will have to look into that. For now, welcome to your new home.

  Sky removed her solar shield, folding it neatly and tucking it under one arm.

  The creature came out of the fur and the wave of happiness was unmistakable. This is wonderful. It is like my home when it was green and alive.

  It is your home when it was green and alive. Your species is too dangerous to leave its home, but you can live here for thirty thousand years before one settler sets foot on this world.

  Thank you, Nameless. I honour you and my daughters will honour you.

  The creature scampered down her arm and Sky fought a shudder at the feathery-light feet. Having a sudden urge to scream and fling the creature into the forest next to her, she instead throttled down her instincts and held her hand out letting the shavirel scamper onto the leaves.

  Thank you again, Nameless. You may want to shake out the eggs in that fur. I dropped a few while you were pulling the dagger. I was nervous.

  Knowing a good idea when she heard it, Sky shook out the fur and watched a dozen tiny gems fly out and settle on the loamy ground. Thank you for that. I don’t think that the other Nameless would appreciate the little ones sprouting and running about.

  The shavirel chuckled, waved a tiny arm and scuttled into the undergrowth.

  Sky sighed and returned Home with only a slight shudder at how close she had been with a large spider-caterpillar-praying mantis mix.

  As soon as she returned to her prison, she went looking for Tavik. He was sitting up in bed and when she came in, he grinned, “I am guessing that you were successful.”

  She laughed. “I was. The creature is safe and we are Home. I will take a shower and try to see how much of me got scorched.”

  Sky draped his belt and knife across the edge of the bed at his feet. “Here you go.”

  Before he could say anything, she sashayed across the floor and into the lav. She showered and winced as her skin prickled from the near baking heat. The cooling water washed the grime and dust from her skin and her body ceased to hate her for a while.

  Heat had never been her favourite temperature. Sky had always preferred the silence and solitude of ice and snow.


  When her body was clean and the dehydrated skin soothed, she turned off the shower and wrapped herself in a towel.

  Humming, she dried her hair with a smaller towel and sorted it a little with her fingers. Her hair never enjoyed the strain of being brushed, but she could and did fluff it with long combs when she could.

  Clean, dry and still bright pink from the heat, she returned to the bedroom and dropped the towel on the floor before sliding between the sheets. It was difficult pretending to not notice that Tavik had watched her every step and shift as she wandered toward the bed.

  He turned toward her and propped his head on his hand. “You are very pink.”

  “I am. I turn this colour when I am exposed to heat.”

  Concern coloured his features. “Are you all right? Were you burned?”

  She chuckled. “Not like you were. I was lucky that you weren’t burned under your arms or your skin would have peeled off.”

  Tavik reached out and caressed her cheek. “Are you in need of healing?”

  She smiled, “I think I am fine.”

  “As your tutor, it is my duty to keep you in peak physical condition. I think I should conduct a detailed examination.”

  Sky shivered as his hands slowly stroked over her, the prickle of energy flowed into her via her skin and she arched into his touch.

  She shifted her thighs together and when he moved toward her, she lifted her leg and draped it over his hip.

  His erection prodded at her belly and when Sky rocked her hips upward, he slid against the petals of her sex.

  “I thought we had to wait.” Her mouth said one thing, but she shifted and reached down to open herself completely while he slowly slid home.

  He laughed and pressed kisses along her neck, biting her slowly as he thrust into her in short, pulsing increments.

  The corkscrewing, twisting of his hips combined with the pressure on her neck to take her senses to the edge, and she shrieked, then sobbed as her release struck her.

  He continued to thrust, pumping into her over and over as she whimpered at first, before she gripped his hips to pull him into her and keep him there.

  “Using your hands is cheating, Sky.” He pulled her hands from his hips and pinned them over her head, using his forearms to brace his weight.