Tavaar - 67th Edition

Tavaar gasped. “You want to, too! You want me as much as I want you.”

Khaiu sighed. “Maybe more.”

“Not likely! Now I really feel better. This is wonderful!”

“I am glad you are happy.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this right off?”

“Because then you would want me more than ever.”

“I do.”

“No. I mean when I came to your hut. You would not have come out to me. You would have brought me in to you.”

“You bet I would.”

“Oh, so now it’s funny? A moment ago it was a problem.”

“A moment ago I thought I was alone in this.”

“And you saw yourself a helpless pawn in a premonition? You realize we are not slaves to our desires.”

“Speak for yourself.”

She couldn’t resist teasing. It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She wanted to celebrate, but Khaiu had no patience for her lighthearted antics.

“Okay, fine. It seems you have changed your mind. Are you now going to invite me into your hut so we can lay together?”

“You know I’m not.”

“Then stop with this. You feel better – for now – but nothing has been determined or resolved. I cannot vouch for the amount of help I can give. Shello and I will be leaving soon. I would like to clear this up before we go.”

“Shello!” She looked down the hill toward the place where Shello sat with Sashwa and Wheylin. They were laughing and animated. “I bet he feels just like you do,” she said. “Maybe I should invite him to my hut and play with his thoughts. It’s too late to do it to you. What do you think?”

“I think that is risky behavior.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Right now, this moment? No. You are not thinking clearly. You are drunk with happiness. Happy as I am to see it, I feel I must cast as shadow of rain over your celebration and ask you if it might be possible that this is how Kelenbah got started?”

The mention of Kelenbah sobered her up. Illicit play was the real reason the High Command had come. Any action, especially on her part, would only guarantee an unfavorable decision.

“Okay, Khaiu. You’re right. So, what do you think of all this?”

Khaiu shifted back into his contemplative mode seamlessly. “I find it significant that your premonition lover is in shadow. That is not usual with premonitions, especially when they are had by the young.”

“How do you know?”

“I have studied the history of premonitions within the family – at least, recorded ones – and it appears the younger the person having them the more precise they are. I suspect this is because they aren’t aware so much and tend to ignore more general images.”