again. She’d better do the same, or she’ll end up very unhappy with me.”
“Vallant, you have to promise me that you won’t push her
too
much,” Jovvi asked, suddenly nervous. “She’s gotten into the habit of reaching to the power in order to protect herself, and she could accidentally cause you a great deal of harm. You have to remember what she’s been through—”
“I do remember, but it’s time
she
forgot,” Vallant said as he sat back, his mind solidly made up. “I won’t ever do anythin’ to harm her, but it may be time to stop thinkin’ of her as breakable. Real women aren’t that fragile, and she’s as real as they come.”
His thoughts slipped into a private area then, and Jovvi didn’t have to work very hard to guess which one. She felt the definite urge to press her warning, but usually tried to avoid wasting her time and breath. Vallant’s earlier determination about Tamma was like a single flame to the current conflagration raging inside him, and Jovvi could only hope that the comparison would not turn out to be literal.
Having no more conversation to distract her, Jovvi looked out of the coach window to see that they were entering an area of the city that seemed to have a large number of official-looking buildings. The sight caused her to shiver just a little, so similar was it to that time she’d had her own brush with the law. The official-looking buildings appeared just the same, only slightly less imposing than they’d been to a very frightened young girl.
The time had been just after she’d met the family which had offered to take her in, but before she’d decided to accept the offer. The people had seemed unbelievably decent, but young Jovvi had seen too much of the other sort to give her trust that easily—even if her gift tried to tell her they were sincere. She’d eaten the food they’d given her and then had returned to the streets, going back to the house twice in five days when finding food elsewhere proved impossible. Each time they’d told her she could stay and live with them, but they hadn’t tried to keep her from leaving again.
And then the day came when the guardsmen suddenly appeared everywhere, their aim being to arrest every street child they could catch. There had finally been too many complaints about burglary and trespassing in locked warehouses for the officials to ignore, so they sent out a large number of guardsmen to sweep up the dregs who were causing so much trouble. Very few of the children and older street people avoided the net, and Jovvi wasn’t one of them. She’d been caught easily and thrown into one of the cages-on-wheels the guardsmen had brought along to hold their prizes, and had been too frightened to use her ability in an effort to escape.
There had been so many others in the cage that Jovvi had found it difficult to breathe despite all the open spaces between the cage’s bars. It had also been almost impossible to stand, especially when the wagon the cage was sitting in began to move. Everyone had reeked of fear even before that; once they were definitely on the way out of the neighborhood some of them never left, the fear turned to choking terror.
They’d passed the official-looking buildings before the wagon was driven into the back of one, and then they’d been pulled out of the cage and dragged to a series of large cells. The cells afforded more room, but the stink of urine and vomit added to terror and hopelessness had made Jovvi throw up. The filthy straw underfoot hadn’t really absorbed what she’d produced, even though it wasn’t much. She hadn’t had a decent meal in a few days, so there’d been little more than liquid to give up.
They’d been kept in that cell for three days, and once each day they’d been given a bowl of thick gruel and a cup of water. Jovvi had had to force herself to eat the terrible stuff, which had tasted worse than day-old garbage, but she hadn’t been able to force herself to
“Vallant, you have to promise me that you won’t push her
too
much,” Jovvi asked, suddenly nervous. “She’s gotten into the habit of reaching to the power in order to protect herself, and she could accidentally cause you a great deal of harm. You have to remember what she’s been through—”
“I do remember, but it’s time
she
forgot,” Vallant said as he sat back, his mind solidly made up. “I won’t ever do anythin’ to harm her, but it may be time to stop thinkin’ of her as breakable. Real women aren’t that fragile, and she’s as real as they come.”
His thoughts slipped into a private area then, and Jovvi didn’t have to work very hard to guess which one. She felt the definite urge to press her warning, but usually tried to avoid wasting her time and breath. Vallant’s earlier determination about Tamma was like a single flame to the current conflagration raging inside him, and Jovvi could only hope that the comparison would not turn out to be literal.
Having no more conversation to distract her, Jovvi looked out of the coach window to see that they were entering an area of the city that seemed to have a large number of official-looking buildings. The sight caused her to shiver just a little, so similar was it to that time she’d had her own brush with the law. The official-looking buildings appeared just the same, only slightly less imposing than they’d been to a very frightened young girl.
The time had been just after she’d met the family which had offered to take her in, but before she’d decided to accept the offer. The people had seemed unbelievably decent, but young Jovvi had seen too much of the other sort to give her trust that easily—even if her gift tried to tell her they were sincere. She’d eaten the food they’d given her and then had returned to the streets, going back to the house twice in five days when finding food elsewhere proved impossible. Each time they’d told her she could stay and live with them, but they hadn’t tried to keep her from leaving again.
And then the day came when the guardsmen suddenly appeared everywhere, their aim being to arrest every street child they could catch. There had finally been too many complaints about burglary and trespassing in locked warehouses for the officials to ignore, so they sent out a large number of guardsmen to sweep up the dregs who were causing so much trouble. Very few of the children and older street people avoided the net, and Jovvi wasn’t one of them. She’d been caught easily and thrown into one of the cages-on-wheels the guardsmen had brought along to hold their prizes, and had been too frightened to use her ability in an effort to escape.
There had been so many others in the cage that Jovvi had found it difficult to breathe despite all the open spaces between the cage’s bars. It had also been almost impossible to stand, especially when the wagon the cage was sitting in began to move. Everyone had reeked of fear even before that; once they were definitely on the way out of the neighborhood some of them never left, the fear turned to choking terror.
They’d passed the official-looking buildings before the wagon was driven into the back of one, and then they’d been pulled out of the cage and dragged to a series of large cells. The cells afforded more room, but the stink of urine and vomit added to terror and hopelessness had made Jovvi throw up. The filthy straw underfoot hadn’t really absorbed what she’d produced, even though it wasn’t much. She hadn’t had a decent meal in a few days, so there’d been little more than liquid to give up.
They’d been kept in that cell for three days, and once each day they’d been given a bowl of thick gruel and a cup of water. Jovvi had had to force herself to eat the terrible stuff, which had tasted worse than day-old garbage, but she hadn’t been able to force herself to
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