All That Glitters Ch. 31

Without instruction from her mentor, Junelliya latched on to the experienced scientists and shared some of their feelings with the remainder of the group. Sharing the experiences of those who had been pregnant with the current experience of Hanalei gave a unique perspective to all of those in the room, especially Hanalei and Junelliya.

Vangeliya was surprised that Junelliya could pick out individual people and share their experiences with the rest without disturbing the flow from the remainder of the group. She sent a private mental note to both Heyya and Malteyea to speak on this later.

After a few minutes, Vangeliya asked Junelliya to return the experienced mothers to the background and had her break contact one by one with the observers. Once that was accomplished, she told Junelliya to wind up the experience and to recenter the Congress in a calm state.

Even though all of the women in the Congress, in fact in the entire room, were experiencing the high of feeling an active pregnancy so vividly, Junelliya had no issues with centering calm over the group.

A few moments later the Congress, as one, rotated their heads backwards looking up at the ceiling. The Cats launched themselves into the air and spun and flipped in the sheer joy of gliding while in the center of the Congress' empathy. The joy of the Cats was spread to the Congress by Junelliya, the smiles on their faces reflecting the experience of the Cats in flight as the session came to an end.

"Oh, my!" Dr. Galt exclaimed. "I would never have believed I could have experienced such feelings! Thank-you Hanalei for allowing your feelings to be shared, thank-you to the experienced mothers who shared their perspectives with us, and thank-you Junelliya for letting us feel the sheer joy of flying from your Cats."

"Oh! We missed out on that," exclaimed one of the observers.

"I am sorry about that," Junelliya said. "That was unexpected and I could only share it with those who I was connected with. Maybe next time, we can let the Cats fly and I can share the experience with all."

"I remind the observers that while you sometimes get to share in the experiences of this Congress, your primary purpose here is to record the physical effects of those in the circle," Vangeliya stepped in to quash such expectations. "Our primary purpose is to help Junelliya develop her powers."

"Quite right," Dr. Hitron said. "Please remember that we are professionals with a purpose and while we sometimes get to experience the activities of the Congress our primary purpose is to focus on our recordings. Anything else that occurs in these sessions is a bonus for us."

"Speaking of which, I am interested in the responses of our observers to having been included in the sharing," Vangeliya said, "especially those who have been mothers. Your personal responses to this sharing gave us, who have not yet been mothers, a unique perspective to this Congress. I for one am grateful that you allowed Junelliya to share your experiences, or at least, you did not object to the sharing.

"Was that something that happened in the moment or did you 'feel' like you had to share your experiences?" she asked the group.

"For me, it was sharing my experience because I felt that Hanalei, like all first time mothers, was starting to worry about her pregnancy," said Dr. Hitron. "I found that my second pregnancy was much easier for me mentally because of the experiences of the first, so I just wanted to reassure her that her anxiety about this pregnancy wasn't necessary and was not necessarily unique to her."

"I got that when you shared it," Hanalei said. "And yes, it was nice to know that you had been through that and that I had nothing to worry about as my pregnancy, so far, has been textbook."

"So we can see some the of the benefits of a Congress for reassuring mentally, those in the Congress," Vangeliya told them. "Any comments on that Dr. Galt," Vangeliya asked, emphasising her title to let her know this was a request for a medical opinion verses a personal opinion.

Leanora smiled at the pointed inclusion of her title and gave a subtle wink to Vangeliya to let her know she had caught on.

"It is not uncommon for new mothers to worry about their pregnancy," she began. "Normally, we have family around us to support us during this time. We can tap into the experiences of those we know and can directly relate to.

"That is not the case on Liramor-23. We are away from family and friends. There are few here who are actively caring for new babies, in fact, only one and she will return to her ship soon.

"So, that in mind, I think we need to form a support group for expectant mothers, composed of those of us who have had children. I will ask the CMO to send out a directive to experienced mothers to come to tea and talk to expecting and new mothers about their own experiences. That should help in calming down many of the jitters for our expectant mothers and even for Jennifer, who is probably thinking she is going through this all alone," Leanora ended with a smile.

"I like that idea," Heyya seconded. "I'll support you on that to the CMO.

"Will those of you who shared tonight be willing to come to tea?" she asked, getting a smile from many.

Vangeliya's Quarters, Hotel Deck, Liramor-23, Piscium System

Vangeliya had invited Heyya, Leanora Galt, Sylvia Hitron, and Malteyea to talk in her quarters a little after the Congress ended.

"So you noted the power our student has then," she remarked of Malteyea.

"That, and the surprising amount of control she seems almost instinctively to have," Malteyea replied. "I have never met anyone who has been able to learn first time every time with few exceptions.

"I think that you mentioned one incident when she had to try something three times before she got it right. Even then, that is exceptional. I don't think that I ever got things right on the first attempt and very seldom on the third," he admitted.

"Malteyea is right," Heyya interjected. "I pride myself on the control I have, but Junelliya's control is like that of an experienced Grand Master learning something new."

"She is a phenomenon, which is why I am still allowing the observers," Vangeliya admitted. "I thank-you and your people Sylvia for sticking with us this long."

"Are you kidding me?" Sylvia put in, perplexed. "Scientifically, this is one of those things that everyone of the observers would give their right arm and leg to be part of. That we are able to process what we have recorded with you after makes this even more valuable to us. That these observations will help the Council of Empaths is an outright bonus. The, on top of that, to experience what we are recording personally? Wow!"

"I'm just happy that I was initially included in the first Congress," Leanora stated. "I know I was needed initially to help place Junelliya in respect to what she was experiencing, but to continue to be allowed in the Fellowship is an experience that I shall always cherish."

"I'm glad that you appreciate the perspective you each have been given," Vangeliya stated. "My concern though is the power that Junelliya emanates. Even if she is not consciously using her power, it is easy for any empath to see that she is a woman of exceptional capability. They can easily sense what she is.

"Even people who are not empaths can sense something unique about her. Have you noted the looks she gets whenever she enters a room? Every eye turns to her almost instantly," Vangeliya noted.

"I'm just glad that our Junelliya is so well centered herself, otherwise she might well be ruling the Union," Leanora said. "I have never met a person so in tune with herself in my life. Even after the incident with Raymond being challenged, she came back from it in rather good form."

"Yes, that was the first time the Junelliya had ever experienced that kind of hatred as an empath," Vangeliya told the group. "It shook her to her core. She and her family, have lived a life of great tension since Andjuran became a senior Cleric of the Church of Andanii and began to push back against those who opposed him. The more powerful he became, the more the senior families had to fear, the Herlan family included. Living in tension, with that kind of animosity, might explain why Junelliya did not manifest sooner."

"You were saying something about a pregnancy spike?" Leanora asked.

"Yes. Sometime beginning in the middle of their pregnancy, female empaths can manifest a surge of power due to anxiety over their condition," Vangeliya explained. "This is usually in response to a perceived threat, real or imagined to their pregnancy.

"It is better if the threat is real, as then the empath can deal with it directly. A perceived threat never goes away entirely until the end of the pregnancy. The issue here is the amount of power that Junelliya has available to her.

"As Malteyea was stating earlier, the combined power of the more senior members of this Fellowship is not enough to balance out Junelliya. If we have to intervene for any reason, it will be very difficult for all of us," she ended disturbingly...

The Imperial Palace, The Pod-Drran Home World, Twelve Light Years from The Piscium System

Kumaraie Na-Maj Se-lam Pod-Raie the supreme ruler of the Pod-Drran was furious, mostly with herself. Her husband the Kumaroe Se-Lam Pod-Roe had pulled another march on her. This time, he had managed to undercut her authority in the Counsel of Warriors, encouraging them to declare war against the humans.

The Kumaraie had quashed that immediately as soon as she had found out what was going on but it had not been easy to do. The Warrior Class as a whole was itching for a dramatic fight, something that had not had since Kur-Tar had provided the Pod-Drran with the model for all to follow, preventing the Warrior Class from decimating the population yet again but also taking away the opportunity for large conflicts from them.

The Kumaraie had gone directly to the Counsel to berate them for their combined stupidity. Fighting against the humans was stupidity on a level that they simply could not understand, so she had made it easy for them. She gave them a simple scenario, place a small, well-fortified, force on top of a steep hill. Imagine that force has excellent weapons that could rain down misery on the attacking forces below. Now attack that force and try to take out the fortification.

Now imagine that the force on the hill has hidden tunnels all over the hill and the surrounding valleys and can strike the attacking forces at will whenever and wherever they want with no consequences to themselves other than a few losses of warriors. That was what they were facing by going to war against the humans.

The Pod-Drran are restricted to one planet. The humans have at least fourteen that were confirmed and most likely fifty-eight planets filled with humans, billions against the less than one billion Pod-Drran.

Their ability to jump through space is the equivalent of tunnels everywhere. Their weaponry was so far above what the Pod-Drran have to use of that fighting them is a lost cause and an absolutely ludicrous idea.

The Kumaraie had warned the Counsel of Warriors that they had a duty to protect the Pod-Drran, not destroy them. If they came forward with something this inept in the future, she would dismiss them all and run the planet on her own. She made no friends that day and she knew it, all because of her conniving mate.

It was well past time to remove the Kumaroe from his role. However, there was still the issue of the brood not being quite ready to be independent. The latest and the final Imperial Brood from this Kumaroe. She did not want to have to destroy the brood as they were all exceptionally bright. It was a shame that the Kumaroe had begun to use his mental capabilities to oppose her rather than rule with her as he had in the beginning of their bonding.

She had to end this but she could find no way to do so without destroying her latest brood. The Kumaroe was pushing hard and rumour had it that he was trying to undermine her authority with a purpose, to rule the Pod-Drran on his own as opposed to as an Imperial mated pair.

If so, she would be the one deposed instead of the Kumaroe. The irony was not lost on the Kumaraie. From the beginning, it had always been the Rai that were the dominant factor in any pairing. They were larger, stronger, fiercer, and typically smarter than the Ro. Now that was changing.

The Rai were slowly being pushed to the background because of their biological imperative, to protect the brood. They could not leave the brood once they came and sometimes would isolate themselves before the brood even arrived.

The Ro had always taken advantage of this, making statements and changing laws while their counterparts were isolated. They would, inevitably, relinquish their authority to the Rai when the time came.

This time, however, these actions were at the highest possible levels, between the Kumaraie herself and the Kumaroe.

She needed to find a way to break this cycle between the sexes. It was rare to find a Ro who was as brilliant as this one. It was rarer still to find a Ro who would stand up against a Rai. That the Kumaroe was doing so was laudable, that he was doing so for his own selfish reasons was not.

She wandered what he would try to do next...

************

The Kumaroe was sitting in his apartments, well-separated from the Kumaraie, who was in the Imperial Crèche. The Kumaroe was working with a group of his supporters, those who were opposed to the policies of the Empress, especially her policy of negotiations with the Union.

"We think it is time to bring the humans here for direct negotiations," the Kumaroe said with a smile that put fear into the hearts of the servants in the room.

"Yes, Kumaroe," said the Chief of Services of the Imperial Household.

"Is it wise to bring them here now?" asked the Chief of the Imperial Defence Forces, a Rai opposed to negotiations.

"We must move on this quickly," the Kumaroe stated. "The longer We delay, the more likely that these humans will sway the populace that fighting them is futile.

"Her Imperial Majesty, the Kumaraie herself, has already given in to the continuous flood of propaganda from the Union. Especially the one named Raymond Clark. Look what the Kumaraie did at the Counsel of Warriors so recently.

"So long as the people are willing to follow Us, We will be ready to make war against the humans. We do not believe the humans are capable of destroying the Fleet Shem, never mind this entire planet," the Kumaroe explained.

"We will send an invitation to Our negotiating team and direct them to conduct negotiations here at the Palace, in the Imperial Capital, on the home world of the Pod-Drran. They will not be allowed to dictate to Us what we may or may not do. We will show them Our anger at the way the treat the Pod-Drran and demand they leave The Home World and The Home Star or face our wrath. We will allow a broadcast to the populace as We make an example of this negotiating team," the Kumaroe gave a short laugh, that was swiftly taken up by his cronies...

End of chapter thirty-one.

Yes, the Kumaroe is using the Imperial prerogative, the Royal 'We', while the Kumaraie is not...

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