“I am quite well, nasith-toj.”
“She advises you that Ashakh is presently attempting to recover the kameth Aiela. He has not communicated with you?”
“Nasith, I certainly would not have thought of violating Chimele’s direct order in this regard. No, nor would I accept it if he contacted me.”
But you are iq-sra through both lines, he thought, and Ashakh does as Ashakh pleases when he likes his orders as little as he likes the one that separated you. We shall have him to deal with sooner or later. “Contact bnesych Gerlach and re-establish communications with the amaut authorities. Under no circumstance admit humans within your security. They do not know us, and they have a great m’melakhia, tempered with very little judgment of reality, as witness their actions against Khasif and Mejakh. They also have a certain tendency toward arrhei-akita, which makes vaikka upon the few no guarantee that the example will deter others. Many of their actions arise from logical processes based on biological facts we do not yet understand, or else from their ignorance of us. Remember Khasif and use appropriate discretion.”
“I will bear this in mind.”
“Ashanome has suffered vaikka at the hands of someone in Weissmouth in the matter of Khasif. Chimele puts the entire business into your capable hands, nasith-tak. Whatever the fate of Priamos as a whole, this vaikka must be paid. Look to it, for we have been disadvantaged under the witness of both Mijanothe and Tashavodh.”
“Does Chimele not suggest a means?” inquired Chaikhe, proud and anxious at once, for the arastiethe of Ashanome was a great burden to bear alone.
Chimele’s harachia came over Rakhi’s senses, a rather uncertain contact at the distance he preserved: her takkhenois was full of disturbance, so that Chaikhe shivered. ” Tell Chaikhe that Weissmouth is hers, and what she does with those beings is hers to determine, but I forbid her to risk her loss to us without consulting me.'”
“Tell Chimele I will handle the matter on those terms,” she said, uncomforted. Chimele’s disturbance lingered, upsetting her composure and making her stomach tight.
Chaikhe. Rakhi let Chimele’s image fade. “Dawn is beginning in Weissmouth. I urge you make all possible haste.”
“I shall. Leave me now. I shall begin at once.”
He broke contact, but he was back before she had crossed the deck to the command console. Chaikhe, understand: I must—
His trouble set her teeth on edge and backlashed to such an extent that he hastily withdrew the feeler. She took firm grip on her rational faculty and invited his return.
Chaikhe, I—must stay. I do not lack chanokhia, I protest I am not sensitive to your distress. I dislike this proximity. It grates, it hurts—”I must remain in contact. Chimele’s order, nasith. She judges it necessary.” But Chimele does not suffer, she does not feel this.
Chaikhe shuddered as he did. The consciousness of the child within her sent a quick pulse of fury over her, an impulse to kill: and that impulse directed at Rakhi distressed her greatly. Something powerful stirred in her blood. Chemistry beyond her control was already beginning subtle changes in her; her temper almost ruled her. Her takkhenois was devastating. Her own power frightened her. Is it this, to be katasathe?
“Chaikhe,” Rakhi’s thought reached her, faint and timid, “Chaikhe, honor to you, nasith-tak, but I must do as I am told. Chimele—”
“I perceive, I perceive, I perceive.” For a moment the faculty of reasonable response left her, and she was a prey to the anger; but then there was the cold clarity of Rakhi’s thought in her mind. Au, Chaikhe, Chaikhe, what is happening?
And Chaikhe looked down at the green robes that were the honor of a katasathe and felt a moment of panic, a wish to shed these and the child at once and to be Chaikhe again. The violence growing in her mind went against everything she had always honored; and it was the child’s doing.
Yet the thought of yielding up the child before the time shocked her. She could not. The process would complete itself inexorably and the madness, the honorable madness, would fasten itself upon her, a possession over which logic had no power.