The Rowan

When the Rowan woke much later, revived and refreshed, she found she was alone in the bed at the Raven farm.

Jeff was called back to Earth, Isthia said.

Reidinger? The Rowan shot straight up in bed in her anxiety. Back in form, aren't you, "but don't you dare reach for him!" Isthia added in a bellow from the kitchen area. The man's all right. I can't lie to you. And she couldn't so the Rowan knew that Reidinger had collapsed. He is very much alive and kicking! Or so Elizara says, and she should know.

But his efforts to move dreadnoughts and who knows what else out to Deneb at the last moment were too much for a man his age. He, and Isthia's tone became scathing, had to do it himself to be sure all was set up for you and Jeff. Elizara has him in hand and she said that you must rest today, too. You've the baby to consider. But you may rise and dress.

"You need food first, talk later," Isthia said, when the Rowan managed a slow and slightly unsteady entrance, "but you'll be happy to know that one of the beetle attack ships was captured intact. When the boarding party cracked the main air lock, they found the creatures in some sort of stasis, frozen in position. Xenobiologists are of the opinion that they couldn't even perform routine tasks without ongoing contact with Leviathan. The biologists are ecstatic: they can study the species with impunity. The Fleet has a complete ship to disassemble and all that technology to dismantle. When I think that Jeff nearly died trying to collect just bits and pieces, I could spit acid!" As the Rowan listened to Isthia, she ate ravenously and with a single-mindedness that appalled her. It was a trifle unnerving when she recalled a similar trait in the beetle "Many". Not that there was even the faintest possibility of contamination or even a transfer of mentality, the Rowan thought as she devoured the very excellent meal Isthia had prepared. Not between such disparate thing mechanisms, despite that brief but devastating period of contact.

She was just very, very hungry after yesterday's exertions.

Isthia: Of course you are. Nothing more. Don't even think about it! "You were splendid, by the way. In case none thinks to tell you!" Then she touched the Rowan lightly on her shoulder. "That was two days ago, by the way." "Two days?" The Rowan dropped her utensils and stared at Isthia.

"You're pregnant. You needed more rest. But I saw to it that Jeff slept a full twenty-four before I let them ship him back to Earth. He deserved that much!" "He deserves a lot more than twenty-four hours' sleep!" The Rowan glared at Isthia and wished there was someone she could really tell off!

I'm that person, then, cariad! And Jeff's chuckle sounded in her mind, soothing her, caressing her as only he could.