The setting sun hid behind clouds as they finished the evening meal in the grand dining room. Their sea voyage neared its end. Prince Theodore pointed out the boundary markers that indicated they were entering Kingdom waters earlier that day. They still had more than a day of sailing, but soon, the next part of their journey would begin.

Raja grew restless to continue but was also glad for the many distractions around him. They would not have these as they traveled by land together. He was growing uncomfortable with the feelings Natalia provoked in him. A protective urge that Raja could not identify or explain surged whenever she was around. Perhaps the compulsion was just because of how vital Natalia was to Lukas, or it was his guilt for his role in her misery. This woman was not the robust and willful wife of Lukas' memory; she was a brittle shell of what she once had been, and he was partially to blame for this. But whatever it was, it was unnerving, and Raja did not like being off balance.

Because of his discomfort, he worked hard to spend most of the day apart from her. Still, they always ate their meals together with the Prince and Paulo. Even during these meals, Raja often caught himself watching her and feeling an odd foreign yearning in the back of his mind.

At this dinner, the sensation overcame him as she laughed at what Paulo had said. Her laugh was rare and raspy. And though the veil covered her face, her eyes glowed. These glimpses of the carefree woman she had been once occurred more often as time passed. The more they appeared, the more he craved them. Later, when he reflected on his reactions, he could not be sure why she had affected him this way.

The room had nearly emptied of diners. As usual, the four of them remained, prolonging the time before Raja would have to be alone with Natalia. Tonight, when the Prince looked at Raja, he sensed in Theodore's tension that something had changed.

"How does your father fare?" The Prince asked Raja with a light curious tone. "We have not had word from the Grasslands in many months."

"It may have been even longer since I was last home," Raja answered honestly. "However, the Chief fared well the last time we spoke."

Over the past year, Lukas helped him communicate with his father, but Raja had yet to make the journey home. He had sent a message informing his Father of Lukas' capture. But waiting for a reply had been impossible. He hoped Rosemund would give a reasonable explanation for his horse's return.

"Ah, yes, you lived with the People and their leader . . ." Theodore paused and turned to Paulo in askance. "What was his name again?"

Paulo put a restraining hand on Theodore's arm, and Raja realized he was gripping the table. Natalia's breathing had stopped for a moment. The tension at the table had risen with only the thought of Lukas.

"What?" Theodore sounded confused and batted Paulo's hand from his arm. "It's not a secret."

"No, it is not," Paulo answered. "But we do not travel as agents of The People and would not want it to seem so."

"Ah, but you are using your real name." He accused Raja.

"Yes. Raja is a common name among our people, and it raises more suspicion to those who know me if I use a false name." Raja smiled at the Prince, wondering where this conversation was leading. "I am not as good at disguise as the Master."

"No one is," Theodore agreed and remained quiet enough for Raja to relax again.

"Our fathers," the Prince began to speak again, too casually. "I believe, in as much as is possible for rulers of separate lands to be, are friends."

"Yes, you are correct. My father thinks well of the King. And the Tribe maintains close ties with the Kingdom," Raja answered, curious where Theodore was leading the conversation.

"He spoke to me of you before, my father," the Prince offered. Raja sensed that Theodore was nearing the crux of his curiosity.

"Oh?" Raja baited Theodore. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Natalia lean forward. She was as interested in Theodore's story as Raja.

"Yes, because we are of similar inclination, he proposed a . . ." Theodore stopped speaking and glanced from Natalia to Paulo. Paulo's face was turning a slight shade of red at the cheeks. Perhaps this is how he acquired the nickname that Natalia used.

"Theo!" Paulo admonished. "You have said enough." He gentled his tone as the Prince's face fell. "You have done so well this entire trip. What is prompting this now?"

The Prince stopped talking and contemplated his tablemates. When he spoke again, his voice had more edge than Raja had ever heard from the amiable man.

"They travel as spouses, but she flinches and pulls away whenever he touches her. Even my sailors have noticed," the Prince declared, glancing outside with a frown. "They are never in the cabin except to sleep, and when they are out, they don't talk to each other. Nor do they look at each other unless they think the other is not looking."

"Theo, I told you to stay out of this," Paulo chided.

"No, Paulo, what I am saying is important. It has been more than a week, and they are no more comfortable together than they were on the first day. You will be traveling, and I worry they will be a danger to you. If someone recognizes Raja and sees the way he acts with his 'wife', most know of his affection for . . ."

"Enough," Paulo urged as he put a reassuring arm around the wounded-looking Prince and took a deep breath. "You are not wrong," Paulo acknowledged. Then to Raja, he suggested, "Perhaps we should change your name."

Natalia laughed at Paulo's earnest face, startling Raja. "All that," she announced, "and all he wants to do is change your name." She touched the padded area on Raja's shoulder experimentally.

"Prince Theodore," she continued with a crease around her eye, which Raja recognized as a smile, "you see more than you seem to. You are a dangerous man in your way. You are not what you appear to be." Natalia rejected his protest with a wave of her hand.

"You seem oblivious and at leisure at all times. You talk with everyone with such ease and a lack of concern. You appear to take nothing seriously, yet you lance us with your accurate observations." Her voice cracked, and she paused to drink under her loose veil. Raja flinched at this reminder of her incomplete healing.

"We are, in many ways, what we appear to be, a new couple uncomfortable with each other. If you have noticed I flinch from Raja's touch, you have failed to notice Paulo avoiding physical contact with me altogether. You have not noticed my husband's careful attempts to help me avoid others. Raja is the only one I dare let touch me in my state, but I am not used to it yet. We are still so very new."

Paulo smiled broadly and continued the deceiving truth she had begun. "Tali's magic is accentuated by touch. It is an old habit of hers to avoid any casual touch. Sometimes she will enter your mind without effort with just a graze. And when you can enter the mindspace with just a touch," he clarified, "who needs words."

"Ah." Theodore's tone was skeptical, but he did not press further.

"But do not tell your people this," Paulo cautioned. "It is a rare talent and will be noted and whispered about."

"Yes," The Prince agreed, then contemplated Raja. "You should choose a traveling name that would not ring false to those who know you. Or," he paused and glanced from Natalia to Raja, "wear a headwrap similar to hers. You will be less recognizable then. I have been told the Queen still searches for you. Her spies are everywhere, even in my country."

"I will think about it," Raja promised, then nodded at the Prince. "I thank you for your honesty."

Raja considered his following words carefully, "I was not aware our fathers had spoken of us. My father never brought it before me." This was, at least, the truth. Raja was unsure what his answer would have been if his father had presented it.

The Prince's posture relaxed. Raja wondered if this perceived rejection long ago had injured Theodore's pride.

"I am tired," Theodore proclaimed and placed a hand on Paulo's shoulder. "Let's go to bed."

"Such boldness!" Paulo said with a laugh, but he stood and helped the Prince to his feet. Turning with Theodore towards the door, he looked back at the couple. "You should get rest as well."

The command was subtle, but Raja understood. The couple would need to figure out how to appear more comfortable together. Raja sighed. They would need to meet in the Mindspace; it was the only way. He had been avoiding this moment. In the mindspace, he could not hide.

"We have to figure this out," Raja said after settling in their room. Raja had debated their next step since dinner but knew Theodore was right. They could not go on like this. They were less than friends and more than strangers. If they were to survive, they had to be something more.

"Yes," she responded. Natalia removed her veil and robe, placing both on the chest near the door. She slept in the soft shirt and britches she wore underneath. It was not uncommon for his people to do this. It was easier to be ready at a moment's notice if you were already partially dressed. Her step was so much lighter now. These weeks at sea gave her back some of her vitality. Raja could see more and more of the woman Lukas remembered.

Natalia sat on the bed and waited for Raja to finish his nightly preparations. Since the first night, the two had slept together in the same bed. They were always careful not to touch. Raja was not confident he could keep Natalia out of his mind. For both of their sakes, he did not want her invading his dreams. But when Raja had considered sleeping on the small lounge chair, Natalia had protested.

Raja laid his robe next to Natalia's and released his hair from the top knot. He combed his hair quickly before sitting next to her on the bed.

"We could talk here..." Raja began.

"We should meet in the Mindspace. It will be quicker that way," Natalia interrupted. Resignation weighed down her words.

"Yes." He paused, trying to choose his words. Would holding Natalia's hand be enough, or could Natalia project without contact yet? Natalia brushed Raja's hair away from his face before he could form the questions aloud. Without emotion, she leaned into him and kissed him lightly.

Raja's arms encircled Natalia, and he shifted his embrace to make it more comfortable for them both. He closed his eyes to the physical world and entered his Mindspace.

"You have many questions, but what is the one that stands most in our way?" Raja probed Natalia after he joined her in the Mindspace. As usual for him, Raja wore the form that represented what he felt was his most authentic self. His clothes were casual tribal, and his hair hung loose. Natalia's beauty in the Mindspace was striking. Her red hair flowed down her back in waves, and her cheeks were full and young. This was the Natalia of Lukas's memory. But Raja wondered if this was her true self now or a wish for who she had once been.

"How long have you been his bondmate?" Her voice was lighter, with less gravel in it, but every bit as piercing. But Natalia's query surprised him. Was the loss of their bond more critical than the loss of their love for her?

"For almost seven years," Raja responded automatically. "Soon after, we rescued him from the Queen." They sat on the soft grass that had appeared beneath them. And Raja admired the grasslands of his childhood all around him. He missed his homeland.

"And how did you come to rescue Lukas?" Natalia inquired, her blue eyes never wavering.

"The Chief, my father, sent me to the Queendom. My father wanted to deprive the Queen of her mighty weapon. I was to capture or kill him," Raja admitted, forcing himself to keep eye contact with Natalia. "My father is a rival of the Queen, but he is not the same. He is my Tribe's Chief and the leader of the council of Chiefs. He has seen the fall of many lands to the Queen. His goal was to stop her conquest before it came to ours."

A scene unfolded in his Mindspace. Raja's father was instructing Raja's younger self. Both were sad as he issued the instruction to kill if not capture. His father had understood the innocence of the weapon, but the risk was too high.

The young Raja slipped away and met with an entertainment troupe heading to the Queendom.

The scene flashed forward. Raja watched Natalia's amusement at his younger self's acrobatics until she noticed Lukas standing next to the Queen. Lukas's cold eyes stared out at the performance with no interest. The Queen's possessive hand grasped his. The Keeper stood behind him with a smug smile on his face.

With another jump, they were in a dark hallway. The Keeper's dead body lay before them. A dazed young Lukas looked with confusion at the men around him. Then he collapsed with an anguished cry. Raja caught him, and then the scene shifted again.

Raja stood in front of a younger Rosemund in a baren room. She was a Fire witch then and had not yet taken on the priestess guise. An older Water witch stood behind Rosemund at an unconscious Lukas' bedside.

"Water witch, why haven't you healed him? He is dying!" Raja demanded angrily. Rosemund stepped closer to Raja, pulling his attention towards her.

"He is trying to kill himself," Rosemund explained calmly. "We have healed his body, but it is his mind we cannot touch. In his memory, he has killed his bondmate. He searches for her without knowing, he feels the bond, but it confuses him. The contradiction brings him to the edge of his sanity."

Lukas jerked violently in the bed and yelled out in anguish. His pain stabbed Raja, even many years later. The Water witch walked forward and laid her hand on his temple. Lukas stilled.

"This confusion is painful to him, as is the knowledge that he killed so many of his family and friends. Lukas is trying to burn out his powers and all memories of what he has done," Rosemund continued. "But, Raja Iyonison, you are in his mind stopping him. It should be impossible, it is not your talent, but you are there."

"Yes, I am there. Lukas pulled me in just before -" Raja's young voice cracked as he thought of his loss, but then he looked to the limp Lukas and placed a hand on his head. Somehow, Lukas had forced a connection between them just after the Keeper died. Raja had spent days living in Lukas' memories, and it was a beautiful but horrifying place. That time in Lukas' mind had sealed Raja's fate. Lukas, a man who should have been a stranger, had become the focus of feelings Raja had never thought to have again. Raja searched for sympathy in the Water witch. "He is a good man. He is in so much pain."

"He is a good man but also a powerful weapon. No man can do what he can do with his mind; no man in a thousand years can do this. It would be safer if we let him die." the Water Witch countered.

Raja grimaced and prepared to argue back, but Rosemund shook her head.

"Raja, you will not let him die; we know this. You would betray your father and your people for this man now," Rosemund speculated. The Water witch murmured in agreement. Rosemund sighed and laid a hand under Raja's chin, forcing him to focus on her. "He may never love you in return. Not in the way you desire him. His bond with her is strong. It was a love pairing; she was his wife and bondmate." She looked at Raja with sympathy. "I will have to break that bond to save them both, but if they find each other again, you may lose him."

"I know." His voice unveiled some of his confusion and fear. "I do not need his love. I need him alive, I need to be able to protect this power. . . and I need to be with him," he declared. There was a vulnerability in his younger self's voice that Raja had not remembered.

"You are a perfect match, your powers blend. You will make powerful bond-mates. But Lukas may resent you when he learns of what we do today."

Raja and Natalia watched as the younger Raja lay next to Lukas. The Fire then surrounded the witch and her charges. The Water witch retreated with haste to not interfere with Fire. He remembered when one bond formed and the other should have broken. But Lukas and Natalia's bond had remained.

"She is still here," Raja spoke with pain. "I feel her sorrow, I feel her fear, I feel ..." He looked at the witch with surprise. "Her forgiveness and love. It is so strong. Should we take this from him?"

"We must. Until Lukas comes to peace with what the Keeper made him do, he cannot go to her; it will destroy them both. It will put her in danger if the Queen discovers the bond before we rescue her. It is not unheard of to have multiple bonds. Only the strongest minds can keep them, and only if they are all compatible with each other." Fire surrounded the witch as she continued to speak.

"She will match you when you find her. Lukas' mind is strong enough for both bonds, but I cannot say if yours is. You will understand more when you meet her. Now, I must concentrate. Building bonds is easier than breaking them. Very few of us can do this. You are fortunate to have found me."

The scene drifted away. Leaving, the two were alone again on the grass in Raja's Mindspace. He did understand now what Rosemund had meant, to some extent. This woman in front of him, even more than the frail woman he traveled with, pulled him to her. He wanted closeness that he had never desired with any woman.

"I felt the break in my prison," she whispered, interrupting his thoughts. "At first, I assumed they had killed Lukas. For years, I had felt him lie dormant; then, for weeks, I felt him searching for me in confusion, then nothing." Tears formed in her eyes. "She had mercy, the Fire priestess. She whispered to me that he lived through the dissolving bond. She apologized." The tears now came down in both the mental and physical space.

"I am so sorry, Tali." Raja put his arms around her and let her cry on his shoulder. "I should have done more to find you. I was so selfish, so happy..." He felt Natalia shake her head.

"You saved him. You are right. In those three weeks, his thoughts were frantic. I could not calm him. He didn't come to me fully, and the Earth Priestesses monitored my magic. I could not project to him. I felt him falling apart; I grieved and tried to close the bond as tight as possible." She looked away. "I could have broken the bond; it was within my power, but even frantic and incoherent, he was my Lukas..."

Natalia stopped talking and looked into his eyes. His heart squeezed tight in his chest as he looked at her. Then, a foreign compulsion moved him towards her. Somehow, he felt both a pull and a push toward her. Without conscious thought, he covered her mouth with his in the Mindspace.

In the physical space, his lips moved against hers with greater intimacy. He could taste the salt from her tears on his lips. Natalia responded enough that he pulled her closer to him. Once their bodies touched, another rush of unfamiliar sensations bathed him, and he felt aroused. Never had Raja felt this combination of emotions for a woman. His confusion was almost enough for him to break away, but they stayed connected in both spaces. Their bodies pressed close, and their minds merged until a snap jarred him out of his haze. As if this snap had provided some release, the compulsion driving him towards Natalia faded some.

He broke the kiss, severing their connection. Once he opened his eyes, he saw the tears running down Natalia's cheeks and sensed them on his own. She stared up at him, as confused as he was. Raja turned away, waiting for his mind to settle.

"I'm going for a walk," her voice finally penetrated his musings. "Alone," she added.

Natalia turned from him and rose from the bed. He didn't respond.

"I think it will be safe enough for you to stay here," Natalia announced without waiting for a response and left the cabin. For some reason, her words chilled him.

Raja sat up. His mind felt heavy and addled. "Lukas, love, what do I do?"

He knew Lukas couldn't hear him. Raja did not possess enough Mind Magic to push more than feelings and strength through the bond, only when it was open more than it was now. But he hoped that Lukas might feel his confusion and come to him.

"Lukas," he whispered and leaned forward with his head in his hands. "Is she you to me? Can I feel so much of you in her that I -" He shook his head and stood up, knowing that Lukas was not coming. The bond was closed so tight; he knew Lukas was alive, but nothing more. Lukas was protecting him from something, and that worried him too.

He walked to the window, staring blindly at the dark ocean. After a few minutes, Raja realized it was too dark. The full moon did not shine. Thick clouds covered the sky; a sudden storm had formed. A flash of lightning crackled through the air, and the flags on each mast twisted and fluttered dangerously in the new wind.

"Damn!" He raced out of the room to gather Natalia without further hesitation. 

WC3738

Last Edit 1/1/2023