Taelin Kaan

*1*
About mid afternoon
8 Aran (Three and a half weeks later)

Tae lay on a long couch in the main common room of Nama and Kala’s base.  He had been dozing earlier but now he just lay there with his eyes closed; comfortable to be resting in the warmth and listening to the friendly babble of the other people in the room.

The room was very large and when the sun came out from behind the clouds it shone through wide windows into the room.  So, almost everyone in the base was in the common room enjoying what little sun was around before the snow that was forecast came.

He could hear the sounds of the children playing in one corner.  His niece Tempa’s loud voice demanded petulantly that they play some other game like hide and seek but the other children refused; they were happy to continue playing with their toys.  The children’s voices melded with and were overshadowed by the voices of adults sitting in the middle of the room playing cards.

“I win again.”  Nama’s deep baritone voice laughed as the others made unimpressed noises.
“I swear he cheats.”  Kala’s voice was warm and friendly.
“My dear wife, I would never cheat.”
Kala laughed.  “Oh, yeah?”
“Because if I did you’d know and then you’d kick me in the ass.”
She laughed with the others.  “That I would husband, that I would.”

“Are you in for another round, Asha?”  Came Nama’s voice again.
There was no response and Tae sensed that something was wrong.  He opened his eyes and looked around him with a frown.

Asha sat facing him on the other side of the table; she was frowning and looking down at the cards on the table.
“Asha?”  Nama turned to look at Asha, his voice sounded concerned.

Tae stood up from the couch and walked over to his sister.  As he got to her she reanimated and looked up at him with a very tense look.
“What’s wrong, Asha?”
“There’s an assassin in the building.”

Her quiet tense words silenced the entire room and the twenty or so adults and children stared at her in fear.  The entire room practically vibrated with sudden fear and tension.

She was quiet for a moment and then stood up decisively with an unfamiliar tone of authority ringing in her voice.  “Tae, Arlan and Yaan go up the south stairwell to the second floor and keep him from getting out that way.”  Tae turned and collecting Arlan and Yaan from the card table with a look he headed out of the common room.

“You five, stay here with the children…”  The door to the common room closed behind them and cut off Asha’s further instructions the others.

He turned up the ground floor hallway towards the stairwell door. “Does this happen often?”  Asked Yaan from behind him.  He turned slightly to look at Yaan’s grey blue eyes and long square face.
“No, not really.”

Opening the stairwell door he let the other two through before him.  As he started walking up the stairs behind the others he took out his gun and made sure it was loaded with the safety off.  Ahead of him on the stairs he saw that the other two were doing the same.

It didn’t take long to get to the second floor stairwell entrance.  He signaled for them to be quiet and carefully got a quick look out through the glass in the door.  Looking down the cream colored hallway he could see closed apartment doors but no intruder.

He turned to the other two and signaled with his fingers that Yaan was to follow him with Arlan in the rear.  Then, taking a deep breath he counted down from three on his fingers and opened the door.

It was quiet in the hallway and he couldn’t hear or see any activity.  But he instinctively sensed a deep tension in the air, which meant that there was definitely danger nearby.

A door opened to their right and he turned to lift his gun in that direction as did the other two.  A man he had never seen before stood in the doorway staring at them over his own weapon.  Everything about the man was dark, his clothing, his hair and even the look in his ice blue eyes.

Further down the hallway on the other side of where the intruder stood the north stairwell door opened and Asha stepped out into the hallway with her gun up.  The intruder turned as if to shoot but Asha’s weapon fired first.  The intruder fell straight to the ground before he even managed to get off a shot.

Nama stepped around Asha and walked to the man’s nearby body.  He lent down and checked for a pulse.
“He’s dead.”

Tae put his weapon away and he looked at his sister.  “That’s impressive, how did you know?”
“Hawk.”  She snapped.  Her face and body language suggested that she was angry with him or maybe frustrated.  He frowned and watched her turn away back through the stairwell door.

Hoping to catch up with her he jogged down the hallway past Nama; who was searching the body, and followed his sister through to the stairwell.

“What’s wrong, Asha?”
Halfway down the first lot of stairs she didn’t even stop or look up at him.  “Nothing.  I have to go; I’ll be back later in the day.”

He raised his voice so she’d hear him even though she was now out of sight.  “Where are you going?”
Her voice was also raised.  “I can’t tell you, it’s something for Hawk.”

He stood at the top of the stairs with a deep frown on his face and wondered for a moment what was going on with her.  Everything seemed to revolve around Hawk with her.

“Tae, I need you back in here, if you could?”
Taelin turned before he realized that Nama had called him Telepathically and not with his voice.
“I thought this only worked with Asha?”
There was a mental laugh. “Why would it only work with Asha?  You’re a distance Telepath now aren’t you?”

He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway to frown at his friend.  “I am?”
A grin lifted Nama’s square face and he shook his head as if Tae had said something silly.  “Yes, Tae, you are.  But regardless of that, I just got a Telepathic SOS call from Krena Beu’s base on the other side of the city.  Let’s grab some of the others and go check it out?”

*2*

“I got another body, Nama.”
Tae had never seen so many bodies all in one place before, it was like a scene out of a horror story; but with less blood splatter.

He was crouching over a young woman; she couldn’t have been any older than Arlan.  Her long curly brown hair was scattered wetly around her head on the floor and deep blue eyes were open wide with a very surprised look frozen on her face.  A tidy almost bloodless bullet wound sat in the very center of her forehead.  He was oddly reminded of finding Ana’s body a month ago; the same surprised look and the same underlying feeling of fear and tension laced into the air.

It seemed as if the entire base of Rebels had been wiped out and mostly without any apparent struggle.  So far they’d found about twenty bodies all killed by a single gunshot either through the forehead like this poor young woman or through their hearts and probably all of them had died instantly.

“Any children yet?” Nama’s mental voice sounded as grim as he felt.
“No, thankfully not.”

“Tae.”
He stood up in the small kitchen and turned towards the open door.  Arlan stood there; his face was pale and frightened.  Tae felt a stab of pity for the young man.  This was a nightmare even for someone fairly used to dead bodies it must be worse for someone wasn’t accustomed to it at all.

Tae lifted his eyebrows wordlessly asking Arlan what he wanted.
“I… I’ve found a door it’s locked, but, Tae, I think I can hear crying on the other side.”  Arlan’s voice was firmer than Tae expected; he was obviously stronger than he appeared.
Tae stepped carefully around the young woman’s body and towards Arlan.  “Show me.”

They walked out of the tiny green kitchen and down a dim hallway.  There were many rooms off this long dim hallway on the ground floor.  The building had once been a two storied department store and they were in the area that had been for staff and stock storage.

Arlan led him down the hall to a door at the furthermost end.  A tiny dirty window let in very little light high up on the wall to their right.  Tae put his ear carefully to the door and listened.  He heard nothing for a few moments and then there was a tiny whimper of a noise and the muffled wail of a young frightened child.

“Nama, I think Arlan found the children.”

Tae stepped back and careful not to hurt his still healing leg he kicked the door hard just below the handle.  The lock gave way and the door swung open to reveal a dim deep cupboard.  About ten or eleven terrified little faces looked up at them from under a shelf deep in the shadows.  Relief flared brightly in him as he smiled reassuringly at the terrified children

“Nama, they’re alive!”
“Thank the Founder!” Nama’s mental voice was as relieved as Tae felt. “I’ll send a couple of people downstairs.  Get them out to the van.  Don’t let them see the bodies.”
“Of course.”

“You’re ok.  You’re safe.”  He squatted down to their level as he carefully put his gun away.  Standing next to him he saw Arlan do the same.

Smiling again he wished absently that he could show the children in some way Empathically that they were safe now.
“My name is Tae and this is Arlan.”
An older boy; maybe about 8 years old, ran towards him and wrapped his little arms tightly around Tae.  The poor boy was quivering in his terror.

Tae lifted the terrified little boy up into his arms as he stood.  “Arlan is going to stay with the rest of you until I come back, ok?”

None of the little faces moved in their terror.  Tae looked sideways at Arlan.
“Ok?” Arlan nodded nervously.  He understood that Tae wouldn’t leave him alone for long.

Turning carefully with the terrified boy in his arms Tae made his way back up the hallway. The hallway was long and dim with many doorways coming off all the way down to the far end; where there was an open stock door.  The stock door lead to a narrow driveway that lead out to the street and their battered white van stood in the entrance of the driveway.

The building was physically quiet; no sounds of footsteps or doors or voices, (except of course for Arlan’s whispered voice trying to calm and soothe the frightened children).  But even though the building was physically quiet there was a deep instinctual sense of danger and tension.  He had learnt over the years to trust that instinct, his father had once told him that it actually wasn’t his instinct but that it was his almost non-existent Time Psi genes.

He hoped quietly (but perhaps naively), that this instinctual tension did not mean that the assassin or assassins were still in the building.

The walls of the long access hall had peeling paint and faded mould spots.  What had once been slightly pink spotted wallpaper was now a faded gray and green and the linoleum on the floor was so chipped and scuffed that one could not tell what color it had once been.

There was a cold wind blowing up the hall from the open back door and he listened intently as he made his way towards it.  The child was still trembling fearfully in his arms.

On his left from a nearby room someone yelled wordlessly and a couple of muted cracks followed immediately after.  Tae put the boy down on the ground and looked calmly at him.
“Run back to Arlan.  You’ll be safe with him.” He whispered cautiously.  The boy nodded fearfully and ran back up the hallway his bare feet slapping the lino in a quick terrified pattern.

As he made his way towards the doorway Tae took out his gun again from its holster.  They hadn’t cleared the whole building yet so he didn’t really know what lay in the direction of the gunshots but at least the door was already open, which would make his job much easier.

“Nama, shots fired.  Northwest corner, ground floor.”
“Roger.”

As he neared the door he could see into the small room.  Some distance from the doorway but in plain view lay a woman.  She had dark brown hair and nearly silver gray eyes; he was sure he’s met her before but he couldn’t place her.  She was bleeding from two bullet wounds to her chest but she was alive and conscious.  She saw him through the doorway and her eyes widened.  Lifting one finger to his lips he stepped closer to her.

“…She has my baby…” The woman’s mental voice was weak.
“Stay still.  Is she in the room with you?” He stood with his back on the wall looking at her through the doorway.
“… Yes…”

She was starting to bleed from her mouth and he realized that she was probably dying there in front of him.

Taking a deep breath he stepped into the room and turned, holding his gun up ready to shoot the intruder. What he saw made him stop short in surprise and shock.

The young assassin from a month ago stood with her back to him; long black hair pulled back in a pony tail.  On the bench in front of her sat a baby who was strapped into a carrier.

The assassin held her gun at the baby as if to shoot it but the baby was trying to get out of the straps in the carrier to grab the barrel with its little fingers.  His shock was so sudden that Tae just stood there with his gun up and his mind blank for a moment.

The assassin moved quickly, so quickly that the only thing he was able to do was jump out of the way of her gun and hope that he’d moved in time.  The assassin’s silenced weapon went off but there was no pain of being hit.

By the time he realized that he hadn’t been hit and rolled over to return fire the assassin and the baby were gone from the room.

“Shit!”  He said angrily.

*3*
8 Aran the Year of Our Founder 3003

The Assassin held it at arms length and stared at it like one would an alien. The baby stared sightlessly back at her. It was podgy and warm, and it had a giant head and eyes bigger than she thought possible for such a small creature. It absently lifted one arm up and put most of its hand in its mouth to suck on. Drool spilled slowly down the strange creatures chin and arm.

Cheetah blinked; her emerald green eyes staring almost fearfully at the creature. What was she supposed to do with this ball of flesh and bones and… and… fluids?

For a completed mission, I must kill the child. She thought firmly. But I tried to shoot it before. The crazy little thing tried to suck on the barrel! She frowned in her confusion.

Slowly, a realization came over her; she could not kill this strange creature. She had no understanding of why but she knew in her gut that she couldn’t kill this baby.

But, now what should I do?

It was completely ridiculous to take it back to the Agency and her Supervisor. The baby would be killed immediately and there would be dangerous consequences for her. But she only had a few hours before her exit pass expired and if she wasn’t back by that time they would assume she was MIA or that she had defected. She did not want either of those outcomes on her flawless record nor the potential risk to her family that both consequences might threaten. So, the only solution was to find someone to take the child with no questions asked.

But who would take on an orphaned baby?

An icy wind blew through the nearby open front door and she shivered slightly. The baby was only clothed in a nappy; it looked up at her with an odd little baby noise and she sensed the distinct telepathic impression that it too was cold and wanted her; as the adult, to warm it. The assassin turned her head on the side and raised one eyebrow at it. It was not even old enough to speak or walk and yet it could communicate telepathically.

How strange.

Cheetah cautiously brought the child closer to her body. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with it but it made sense that if it was cold she should probably attempt to warm it. Tucking the small thing under her jacket she transferred all of its weight onto one arm and her hip and held it to her side under her jacket. She felt it curl up against her shirt and get comfortable in her body heat.

With the child warmed and seemingly comfortable, she put her mind back to the task of finding it some kind of home. She looked outside down the long driveway towards the street. It was getting dark and time was running out a solution would have to be found very soon.

She couldn’t be seen dumping the child at an orphanage or even at the front door of some private residence because if it got back to the Agency that she couldn’t kill it and that she had attempted to hide it from the Agency she would be in even more danger. Assassins who did not kill on command were retired and at 17 retirement meant death.

But, once a home was found for it she could certainly lie to her supervisor about finding the child; she could just simply say it wasn’t there that they must have dropped it off somewhere else before she’d gotten to them, like the other children. But… where could she leave it without being seen?

After many minutes of thinking the only option she could think of was the nearby Cathedral in the center of town. It wasn’t a far distance to walk and the church was known publicly to foster out abandoned children. Also, the Priests lived in the Cathedral so there would always be someone there to answer a knock at the door at any hour.

She nodded absently to herself; that would just have to do. She would lock up the temporary safe house her supervisor had organized for her and walk to the Cathedral. Hopefully there would be time afterwards to get back to base before the curfew.

******

The assassin stood uncertainly in the dim alley behind the Cathedral. There were too many people at the front doors. Maybe some kind of evening service was happening; maybe a wedding, but whatever it was there were too many people at the front of the Cathedral for her go in unnoticed. But now she didn’t know what to do; if she knocked and left the child on the doorstep there was no guarantee that someone would answer the door and she had no cover or time to simply watch the door and make sure.

Her arm had started to get tired but the baby was asleep and she was afraid to move it in case waking it would cause it to yell and attract unwanted attention.

Suddenly the back door opened and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

A man stepped out of the door and looked up at her with mild surprise. He dropped a small plastic rubbish bag onto the concrete next to him and stared at her. She didn’t really notice his appearance except for his vivid blue eyes. She stared at the blueness and wondered if she should just turn and leave maybe find some other solution.

A cool breeze floated down the short alley towards her. On the breeze were the evening smells of the city and foods from the many restaurants nearby, she was also dimly aware of the feeling of static laced into those various scents. The breeze and the static flowed around her brushing at the loose hair of her black ponytail and swirling towards the man who stood rigid in the doorway. The static meant something Time Psi related but what, she wasn’t sure.

Cheetah looked at the man and the uniform of the Church that sat comfortably on his shoulders. He looked kind and painfully normal; one of the crowd. Surely, he would find a home for this baby sleeping under her jacket.

With a deliberate control of her own body language she allowed the shock on her face to fade into fear and uncertainty. She wanted to look like some girl who’d found a baby in a dumpster but was scared and didn’t know what to do with it.

The blue eyed man reacted immediately to her shift in body language with a welcoming smile.
“Good evening, can I help you?”
She feigned fear and made her voice quiet and uncertain. “I… I don’t know. I… I found a baby, and I don’t know what to do with it.”

She pulled open a corner of her jacket and let the priest see the baby’s sleeping face underneath. He stepped forward cautiously and she allowed herself to flinch a little. This body language would tell him that she was afraid and quite ready to run off. Which would also produce slow and careful movements in him so she could predict his behavior, as well as get away quickly if need be.

He looked up from the child directly into her eyes; she saw the slightest flicker of a frown crease his forehead and then he smiled carefully.

His voice was calm and almost gentle.”The church can find a safe home for the baby. You don’t have to worry about him any more.” His arms reached towards her, implying that he wanted her to hand the baby over. Brushing her long jacket aside she awkwardly lifted the baby up from her hip. In the process her elbow knocked the hidden gun holster under her right armpit and her onyx handled gun fell out onto the concrete.

Quickly, she dropped the baby into the man’s hands and retrieved the weapon from the ground. Dropping all pretense of a frightened teenager she lifted the weapon to point it at him.

He didn’t even move or seem to react beyond the surprise that stood plainly on his face.
Her voice was cold. “Tell no one where you got this baby. Do you understand?”
“I wouldn’t have told anyone. You needn’t threaten me.” His voice was calmer than she expected and there was no trace in his body language of any fear.

He continued; his voice still oddly calm.  “I can imagine an assassin’s job is difficult when it involves innocent children.”
He smiled slightly, a gentle confidence passed over his face and she frowned. He was not like any one she’d met before: he wasn’t afraid of her weapon, or her coldness, which usually terrified most ordinary people when they caught a glimpse of it.

“Remember for future reference that anyone can find private sanctuary in the Cathedral; we have no political ties here. That includes orphaned children and Agency assassins. If you ever need help again simply ask for me by name. I am Father Owen.”

He turned slowly and walked towards the back door of the huge Cathedral with the baby held tightly in his arms. Cheetah took this opportunity to disappear silently into the shadows of the evening.

When the priest turned around to look out at the alley from the open doorway she was gone. He calmly turned and closed the door behind him.

*4*
9 Aran the Year of our Founder 3003
The next day, fairly early in the morning

Tae walked next to Asha down the wide snow-covered footpath towards the center of town.  They passed shops and restaurants but everything was closed and there weren’t many people around either because it was still very early in the morning and most people were more likely to be having breakfast than being outside in the snow.

He looked at Asha sideways with a deep frown on his face.  “So, how did you find out?”
“Hawk.  I told you that already.”  She seemed distracted and only half aware of their conversation.

“Yeah, but how did he know?  How did he tell you?”
“He’s a Telepath, Taelin.  How else do you hear news with the Rebels?”

She frowned at him then seeming only at that moment to be properly aware of their conversation and the underlying feeling burning away inside him.

She gave him an unimpressed look.  “What is it that you really want to know?  Come on, spit it out!”

He felt uncomfortable saying it out loud.  He’d only wondered about it when she woke him up that morning; the thought hadn’t come to him before then.  “Well… it’s very convenient…”

“What is?”  She seemed irritated now.
“Well, whenever anything happens with you it’s Hawk.  An assassin in the base, Hawk told you.  Arlan needed help to escape the Agency proper, Hawk told you.  And now, Hawk tells you where the baby that went missing yesterday is.  It’s very convenient.  Are you sure you’re not Hawk yourself?”

She laughed at him then, laughed so hard that he may as well have said he was the reincarnation of the Founder.

He glared at her angrily.  “I’m serious Asha; no one I know has actually met Hawk.  They always work with messages or through you, how would anyone but you know if Hawk even exists?”

They stepped off the footpath and crossed the road towards the huge Capitol City Cathedral Square.  As she walked she looked sideways at him with much amusement in her eyes.  “Taelin, seriously that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard for ages.  Do you really think I’m Hawk?”
He felt uncomfortable now and unsure.  “Well, I don’t know, maybe?”

When she got back onto the footpath she stopped and turned around to face him calmly.
“Look, Taelin.  No one knows who Hawk is but me because he is still in the Agency; if he’s found out he’ll be killed and we’re all lost.  I do what I can to help him protect us all.  If that means I go all over the country as his representative, I’ll do that.  If you want to think that I’m Hawk go right ahead but it won’t change the fact that I’m not him.”  She looked sideways at the Cathedral then back at him.  “Now, come on.”

For a moment he stared at her back as she walked away and across the Square towards the Cathedral.  He still didn’t know what to think.  He wasn’t even sure he thought she was Hawk to begin with.  It just seemed too convenient and too easy to blame Hawk for all that she knew and did.  But he shrugged and as he was apt to do he just let it go.  It didn’t matter.  If she was Hawk then she had reasons for not telling him.  He just wished she’d tell him what was going on in other ways; this snappiness was getting old.

Taelin sighed and pulled his jacket closer to him to keep out the cold and then he jogged over the loose snow towards Asha and the huge Cathedral.

The Cathedral was the oldest Church of the Founder in all of Arana; it was nearly two thousand years old and made of dark volcanic stone bricks.  As a young boy their family had attended services on Holy day.  But once the Agency had started hunting his family they had to stop attending services.  He hadn’t been inside the Cathedral since he was about ten years old and the only thing he remembered of the inside were the high stained glass windows that flowed colors and patterns onto the floor in the summertime.

Asha pushed one of the huge double doors open and entered ahead of him.  Inside where it was significantly warmer there was the smell of incense and candle smoke.  The light was dim but somehow he could see the length and height of the large Cathedral: the high angled roof beams and the carvings of the ancient pioneers of the Church on the broad wall panels .  Underfoot, the floor was cobbled with shiny colored marble which had been made into repeating patterns of the blue four petal flower that was the Founders Symbol and old wooden pews filled up the sides of the Cathedral in rows along the length and breadth of the carved stone floors.

He followed Asha down the wide middle isle between pews to the altar at the front.  Way above the ornate altar inset in the wall and framed by the tall angled roof the huge circular stained glass window stood as majestically as he remembered.  Figurines symbolizing the first leaders of the Five Nations knelt around a central figure; the Founder, who held the sacred four petal blue flower which symbolized his status as a Messenger of Divinity.

“Good morning, Father Owen.”  Asha’s voice was friendly and calm.  Tae looked down from the great stained glass window and stepped around her to view the priest.

He was younger than Tae expected a priest to be; still in his early twenties.  He had a rounded square face framed by short light brown hair.  He wore the robes of the church comfortably: long black robes with blue trimmed hemlines and a high collar.

The priest smiled.  “Good morning, Asha.”

He turned from Asha to fix Tae with a calm friendly smile; his vivid blue eyes almost sparkled with his friendliness.  Tae couldn’t help but return the smile.

“Father, this is my brother Taelin.  Taelin, this is Father Owen.”
Tae politely offered his hand to shake.  The priest’s grip was firm and laced oddly with a deep blue calmness.
“So, how did you come by the baby, Father Owen?”  He asked nonchalantly.

The man looked at Asha for a moment and then back at Tae; that odd calm permeating the space around him. “It is my job to remain politically neutral; it wouldn’t be very neutral of me to reveal that would it?”  His voice was calm and friendly despite the rebuff.

Taelin stepped back in surprise.  He was unsure if he should be angry or not about the deliberate avoidance of his question. One eyebrow lifted at the priest.  “Even if that person may have murdered twenty five people in cold blood?”
The man smiled confidently at him. “Yes, apparently so.”

Tae frowned at the man as silence engulfed the air around them for a moment.

The priest sighed and bowed his head slightly.  “Excuse me, I’ll go and fetch the child for you.”
Turning away from them, the priest walked towards a nearby side door.

When the door closed Asha whacked him hard on the arm with her fist.  “What was that, Taelin?  He’s not a perp, for Founders sakes!”

“What?  I just wanted to know more.  I mean, what if that assassin was here in the Cathedral somewhere?”

Asha rolled her eyes at him.  “Then she’d stay here unknown to us because Father Owen risks enough helping us as it is.  You heard him, the Church is politically neutral.  Do you know what the Agency would do the Church and him if they found out about what little help he does give us?”

“But what if he’s a threat?  Or an Agent?”
She chuckled.  “Trust me, Taelin.  I know his background; he isn’t a threat to us.”
“Well, what’s his background, then?”  He asked facetiously.

The side door opened and the priest stepped out into sight again.

She poked him with an elbow and shook her head at him. Another secret she won’t tell. He thought petulantly.

As the priest approached them the baby in his arms gurgled and blew bubbles from inside the big warm blanket wrapped around him.  His little arms reached up to grab sections of the priest’s robe and smear the dark cloth with baby saliva.

The priest smiled at the little one as he passed him over to Asha and the empty baby-seat she held.
“He’s just been changed and fed.  He’s a very happy baby, I hope he’s going to a good family.”

“Yes, he is.  Thank you, Father.”

The priest bowed his head formally as Asha turned away.  Tae looked at the man sideways for a moment and then turned to follow Asha out of the Cathedral.

*5*
9 Aran the Year of our Founder 3003

With the baby seat handle tucked safely into the crook of her elbow Asha stalked angrily away from the Capitol City Cathedral Square.  She pointedly ignored her brother who walked behind her.  He knew she was mad at him and she wanted him to suffer for as long as possible.

Connected Telepathically to Hawk she mentally shook her head with frustrated embarrassment.
“He has no sense of social diplomacy!” She was completely embarrassed by her brother’s behavior in the Cathedral and shocked that he didn’t realize what could have been the consequences.

Hawk’s mental voice was very amused. “He’ll learn.  He doesn’t have our training, remember?”
“That’s no excuse and you know it!  Anyone in his position should know not to interrogate a Priest, for Founders sakes!”

Over the distance she felt Hawk chuckle good-naturedly and she physically suppressed her own amused reaction so that Taelin wouldn’t sense it.  Her thoughts returned to Tae and his ridiculous accusation less than an hour ago. “Sir, would you believe he even accused me of being you?”

There was surprise in his mental voice. “Really?  Where did that come from I wonder?”
She mentally rolled her eyes letting him see how ridiculous she thought such an accusation was.
“He said that no one else had met you and because they only worked through me or the message system that there was only my word that you even existed!”

There was a pause in their conversation.  She felt him withdraw a little mentally but she couldn’t tell if he was busy with something where he was or whether the pause was him thinking, but she waited patiently.

She and Taelin crossed another quiet street.  There were a few more cars on the roads as the city began the day’s work but it was otherwise still far too early in the morning for much traffic or people.  With a glance she looked down at the baby to confirm that he was still ok. He slept deeply with many thick blankets keeping him warm, only his face and one little hand was visible under the blankets.

She felt Hawk reconnect. “Taelin does have a point, Asha.” His mental voice was gentle.
“But it’s ridiculous.  I’m all of what… a 2/5 Time Psi?  That’s nothing in comparison to you.  I couldn’t know all the things you know.”

His thoughts were gentle but firm. “Asha, think about it from the outside.  They only see you.  And regardless of your ratings in Time Psi many of them know that you are Time Psi.  It would be an easy jump in logic for others to assume that you are actually Hawk and not some distant man hidden in the shadows.”

She sighed angrily. “But, sir.  I couldn’t ever be you.  It just makes no sense to me.”
“Asha, it doesn’t have to make sense to you.  It made enough sense for your brother to think about it and wonder.  If the Agency gets wind of this idea or even jumps to that same conclusion themselves they will come after you.  And you know what will happen then.”

Behind her Tae cleared his throat.  “Asha, I know you’re angry at me…”
She sighed in frustration. “One moment, sir.”
“…but I think we need to talk.”

Asha turned around in the street to glare at her brother angrily.  Taelin’s deep blue eyes were also angry.  She frowned.  “What is there to talk about?  You attempted to interrogate one of our few non-Rebel allies.  Had Father Owen been less accommodating to our cause your behavior today could have ruined that resource for the Rebels.”

“If he’s helping the Agency as well, he’s not exactly the best ally for the Rebels anyway.  But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
Frowning, she shook her head impatiently.  “What do you mean?”
“You’re keeping secrets from me!  What happened to my sister who used to tell me everything and I’d tell her everything?  I don’t expect full disclosure; we are adults now after all, but surely you can tell me what’s going on?”

She sighed again but this time she felt sadness as well as her frustration.  “Taelin, that was a very long time ago and we were not fighting a war.  I will tell you what I can but I can’t tell you everything especially secrets that are not mine to tell.”

“No,” As he blurted out his words she sensed hurt burning behind the words.  “I just want to know why you’ve been so angry with me lately.”

Stopping in her tracks she realized then that she must have been taking it out on him.  “I’m not angry with you, Taelin.”

She put her hand on her brother’s arm with a sad little smile.  “I’m sad and I’m frustrated.  Hawk has said Tempa and I have to leave soon and I’m going to miss you.”
Her hand dropped from his arm and she allowed a touch of mischief to rise in her smile.    ”Now can we get back to the base?  I’m freezing my ass off here.”

One corner of his mouth twitched upwards with a cheeky smile and they both laughed.  Asha let Tae walk ahead of her and when she sensed that it was safe to do so she reached mentally over the distance back to Hawk. “Back, sir.”
“Trouble?”
“No, just a brother/sister moment.  What were we talking about?”

“Taelin’s accusation of you being me and I think it’s time to change our tactics because of this accusation.  You being the only Rebel to know for certain I exist puts you under too much unnecessary risk.”
“But…”

His mental voice was firm. “No, Asha.  You know what will happen if the Agency gets hold of you.  We can not risk it.  You are the only Rebel who knows who I am and the only one who could if captured truly wipe out the entire Rebel Army with your knowledge.  You know where every base is and our system for hiding the bases.  You’ve seen for yourself how effective the Telepathic Interrogators are.”

She sighed; reluctantly conceding that point to him. “So what are we going to do then?”
“Bring Nama to visit me.  He’ll then organize a new Telepathic network to get any news to each Rebel Cell leader in this city.  When that’s set up we’ll have a telepathic meeting so that each Cell can have a direct channel of communication.  That solves many problems at once and minimizes your risk.”

“Yes, sir… but… what about Taelin?”

“Send him to Kita at Hilla Norman’s base to get some training.  See if you can figure out a way of getting him to participate.  He’s not getting his own Cell OR in on that telepathic meeting without more control of his Psi abilities.”

There was another pause and she sensed an emotional shift in him from calm and relaxed to stressed and tense. “I have other issues to deal with right now, Asha.  Bring Nama to the Rose Road safe house at about 5pm today.  Once that’s organized I need you and Tempa in Aramaan City tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.” She couldn’t suppress the twinge of disappointed sadness at leaving the city so soon; it flared out from her brightly like a solar flare.  In front of her Taelin looked back over his shoulder with concern on his face.  He was getting more and more sensitive on all four Psi abilities and even without any formal training.  A month ago he wouldn’t have been able to sense her emotions without physical touch.

Asha smiled at her brother reassuringly.  “I’m ok, brother.  It’s just that duty is sometimes a drag.”
“Can you say no?”
She chuckled.  “Unfortunately not.”