“Here we are,” Bunny said. “And it looks like he’s at home, too.”
Yana had formed no preconceptions about Bunny’s relative, apart from expecting him to vaguely resemble someone of the blood kin she had already met. But Dr. Sean Shongili wasn’t like anyone she had ever met, either here on Petaybee or anywhere else in her lifetime-despite the fact that she had the distinct feeling that she had encountered him before.
Bunny had rapped on the door, singing out a cheerful “Slainte, Uncle Sean,” a greeting lost in the canine chorus. She urgently beckoned Yana to hurry up, but Yana had to disentangle herself from the furs and the cat before she could stagger to her feet. That long, cold ride in a less-than-comfortable position had stiffened all her joints. She hated to appear less than agile and forced her body to move with something near a semblance of normality.
The door she approached pulled inward, and with snow glare impairing her vision, Yana could distinguish only a medium-sized form, for once not distorted by layers of clothing. The man was actually in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the collar open.
“Uncle Scan, I gotcha home! I’ve brought Yanaba Maddock to see you. And 1 gotta favor to ask. In Clodagh’s name.” On those words, Bunny put a hand on Yana’s back and propelled her into the house.
Blinking to adjust her eyes, Yana looked about a room that sprouted unusual shapes from every surface, wall and ceiling, a veritable djinni’s cave of wonders and a heinz of unassorted utensils, tools, parts, and, as usual, felines. These were six times the size of the one left curled in the sled furs and not a one of them was orange-colored. Fine heads turned, and autocratic amber, yellow, and green eyes assessed her. In a basket near the fire, a black and white bitch with a harlequin face lifted her head, sniffing, moved her foreleg to hide the pups that nursed her, and remained alert the entire time the visitors remained in Scan’s cabin. That was the sum of Yana’s first impression. Then the man dominated the scene.
Scan Shongili smiled, and his eyes did, too: sparkly silver eyes that looked straight into hers, clever, “seeing” eyes that were bright with an unqualified welcome, a decided change from the superficial social manners that were usually all she was accorded and many degrees more kindly than Colonel Giancarlo. But Giancarlo had a mission for her, and he probably never regarded his mission personnel as remotely human.
Shongili wasn’t much taller than she was; a subtle aura of great strength, intelligence, and charm emanated from him, though charm was a quality she had never trusted-until now. He was a lean man, which for starters she liked, with a narrow face, slightly broad at the eyes, which were wide-set and large; cheekbones that were more Magyar than Indian; a generous mouth with finely carved lips, white, even teeth just visible behind them; and a purposeful chin and jaw line. Not a man easily persuaded from his purpose.
“Well, now, so you’re Major Maddock,” Scan said, and she hurried to pull off her right glove as he extended what looked like an abnormally long-fingered hand. But it was warm and grasped hers just firmly enough for her to sense, again, the unexpected resources in him. In fact, the touch of his skin on hers was slightly electric, stimulating.
Then the silver eyes blinked and something in the altered look made her frown slightly, confused, for all that there didn’t seem to be any diminution of his welcome or smile.
“Has everyone on this frozen ball of ice heard of me now?” she asked, slightly petulant. She forced a smile on her lips to make her words seem more of a joke than they had sounded in her own ears.
“Good news travels faster than bad on Petaybee,” Scan said. He moved with lithe grace to the ever-present stove of a Petaybee home, pouring three cups from the equally ubiquitous steaming pot. “Actually, I have the only radio link with the town around. Adak at the snocle depot gets downright chatty if anything interesting happens-such as Kilcoole getting a new citizen, and a war hero at that. Here’s something to warm your guts after such a long sled ride, Major.”