Burning Stone by Viola Grace Page A

had an immediate purpose, but this path reached into an unseen future, and it made her walk and craft with care.
    When the chanting stopped, she returned to the starting point. She was tired and Bohr saw it. He lifted her in his arms and flew her back to the shuttle.
    “Why are you exhausted by this when you were energized by the tunnels?”
    She smiled tiredly as he set her down at the table and he got her meal ready.
    “Here, the wind catches my heat and spins it away. There is no reverberation for me, no echo to absorb. Everything I put out is whisked away and joins the particles of sunlight in the air of Ciina.”
    She ate slowly, sipping at the tea he brought her and answering what he asked.
    “How is it that you are so at ease with this situation? The priests ruling the world, I mean.”
    She smiled. “I looked into what they do and how they do it. All funds donated to the monastery are put back into community welfare. They do not stockpile it. Those who give to the monastery are provided with medical care, financial assistance if they need it, infrastructure and counselling. The person who contributes the smallest amount reaps the same benefit as those who donate more.”
    “You are in favour of this?”
    “I am in favour of any system that benefits all, no matter their situation. I have grown up in a world where the elite were selected, and any who would challenge them were punished. It was a stressful way to live, and there was nowhere to go. I just remember the living contained, existing in fear. It has made its mark on how I view the worlds around me.”
    He nodded and took her free hand, rubbing his thumb along her skin.
    They sat in silence until the meals were done and he had taken away the dishes. She chuckled when it took three tries to get her body up and out of her seat.
    “What is wrong?”
    “I am simply drained.” She stood and smiled at him, clutching him when her knees went weak and she dropped.
    He caught her and lifted her against him, carrying her to the medical scanner and frowning at the readout. “You are fine, merely tired.”
    “I told you. Just a little lightheaded.”
    “Share my bed so that I can keep an eye on you.”
    The challenge hung in the air between them.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Come with me and sleep in my room, next to me, so that I can set my mind at ease and get my own rest. I promise not to molest you in your sleep. It is not our way.”
    He knew that she slept naked, and she knew that he knew. She opened her mouth to decline and she heard. “Fine. I am tired now. Let’s go.”
    Her heart had spoken out of her lips. Her body was exhausted and she was vulnerable. Having someone to watch her back and protect her while she rested was intensely important. It was not something she had ever had before.
    They went to his quarters, and he folded back the sheets on the side of his bed that she was being offered. He left the room, and she smiled at the privacy that he offered. She removed her boots, unlaced her top and shimmied out of her briefs. When they were all folded and set aside, she scooted into the bed and covered herself.
    The moment she was tucked in, he returned and his bodysuit came off him with flexing of his wings and shoulders, along with a releasing of the closure that held fabric between his wings.
    He settled in next to her, on top of the covers and rested on his side. To her surprise, he reached out and pulled her against him, the sheet between their bodies.
    She inhaled and exhaled slowly, taking in the scent of his skin at close range. She smiled when the rise and fall of his chest showed that he was doing the same.
    She felt his breathing and it lulled her, much as the monastic chanting had, sweeping her into sleep.
     
    He sang in her mind and she did not dream.
     
    Her next day of walking included a second chorus of monks as she carefully melted and pulled up the stone into the raised path she had begun the day before. Each step was carefully