Laura Jo Phillips by Berta's Choice

beautiful.”
    Berta gazed at the garden that Pater, the Dracons’ gardener, had designed and planted for them, then looked up at the pretty house.  It had been a very busy couple of months for her, but she’d loved every minute of it.  She’d been involved in every aspect of the creation of Arima House from choosing the location, designing the structure, approving the colors, carpets and fixtures, and setting the rules, though without Talinka’s help, and Hope’s, she would have been lost.  Never had she had so much responsibility, so much power, so many things to do every single day.  She had thrived on it, and now that it was nearly done, she’d begun to worry that she’d be bored with nothing more to do but run it.
    Talinka opened the front door and stepped out of the house to greet them  As soon as she neared Berta, she read her emotions and sought to soothe her.  “Don’t worry, Berta, running this place is going to keep you busier than you think.”
    “Good,” Berta said.  “I like busy.  The busier the better.”
    “That’s good, because as of this morning, there are thirty-six women on the list for Arima House.”
    “Thirty-six?” Berta exclaimed in surprise.  “But the house only holds eight at a time.”
    “I know, my dear,” Talinka said.  “That’s why we use a waiting list.”
    “I didn’t realize there were that many women who’ve been tested, let alone that many who came up positive,” Berta said.
    “Ever since we received the message from the Gryphons regarding the Controller’s effect on Arimas, many of the women the Katres have freed from the slave compounds have been placed in healing tanks and retested,” Talinka said.  “Of those, all but a few have tested positive, and all of those want to find their male-sets.”
    “I know that the freed women who’d been sent back to Earth want to return to Jasan,” Berta said.  “That’s why the Gryphons were asked to take the Kontuan to Earth before they returned from their trip to Rathira.  But I had no idea that all of the women tested had been found positive, or that they all want to return here.”
    “Yes, all of them,” Talinka said.
    “I don’t understand,” Berta said.  “These are all women who were kidnapped, correct?”
    “Yes,” Talinka said.  “It is most interesting that none of those women had the Prime Controller.  It tells us that whatever method the Xanti use to identify berezi is not foolproof.”
    “That is interesting,” Berta agreed.  “But I don’t understand why they want to come back here and be Arimas after what they’ve been through.”
    “They couldn’t adjust to regular life after their experiences, and hope that being an Arima will be the answer to whatever it is they are looking for,” Talinka said. 
    “They don’t remember anything about their captivity, do they?” Berta asked.
    “They didn’t at first, no,” Talinka said.  “Initially it was thought that the Controller blocked everything and that they would never remember what had been done to them.  But, after a time, the women began to have nightmares.  Eventually, they gained full conscious awareness of what had been done to them.”
    “That’s too bad,” Berta said.  “It would have been better for them if they hadn’t remembered.”
    “Do you think so?” Talinka asked.  “I’m not so sure.  I met some of those women and, for most of them, the blank spots in their minds were more horrifying than the truth.”
    Berta frowned.  She hadn’t thought about it that way before.  “I still don’t know why they would choose to....”  Berta trailed off uncertainly.  Being an Arima was not a bad thing.  Far from it.  Hope, Lariah, Saige, Summer, even Aisling, seemed to be very happy.  And why not?  Their men adored them completely, and she had no doubt that they loved their men in return.  None of them were stifled or controlled.  Rather, they had, all of them, blossomed since becoming