All That Glitters Ch. 58

Her friends were chatting with her about the lessons they had just learned in school. One was chatting about math, another about politics, a third was speaking about music. Despite the complexity of the words and concepts, her dream self seemed to be able to understand and follow along with everything they were saying answering questions and making proposals of her own. That too seemed strange to Ikekiya.

As they walked along, Ikekiya saw Raymond, Liea, Kim, and Gillaya walking into the Food Court from another entrance. She waved at them and they all waved back. Then a man in a brown jumpsuit approached the group.

Ikekia knew immediately that this man was bad news. She called out to Raymond..."Raymond, he is dangerous!" she screamed at him. Raymond turned but it was too late. The man had pulled some kind of power weapon and fired on Raymond, leaving a gaping hole in his side. Kim and Gillaya pulled weapons of their own and the man was down in a seconds but the damage had been done...

Junelliya heard the scream in her mind before she heard it with her ears. She was up and moving before her mates were even aware of a problem, though they were following swiftly behind her.

She rushed into the children's room to find the pair clinging to each other, very much afraid and crying. They had obviously suffered a sever shock. Junelliya reached in and pulled Zarreniya away from Ikekiya, throwing her towards Hanalei. "Keep them apart!" she called out, noting that all the Caregivers, the Creche Mothers, and the guards were now in the room. She gathered a terrified Ikekiya into her arms.

"Momma! He hurt Raymond! Raymond hurt bad!!" she cried.

"Who did, honey? Who hurt Raymond?"

"The man in brown. He shoot Raymond!"

Fayad opened his comp and called Raymond, sending a distress signal with the call. It took a few moments for Raymond to answer.

"Fayad? What's happening?" Raymond asked.

"Raymond, are you OK? You haven't been shot?" Fayad asked.

"Fayad, your scaring me, what's going on over there?" Raymond demanded.

"Ikekiya had a bad dream in which she saw you badly hurt, Raymond," Junelliya informed him.

"No, Momma...not dream, too real," Zarreniya suddenly blurted out from within the protective arms of Hanalei.

That got the adults interest. Just then they heard more people coming into the apartment. The Kumar-Pair and their children rushed in along with members of the Council of Empaths and the Order of Telepaths.

"Prakeshya says that Ikekiya sent out a call for help," the Kumaraie said to explain their presence.

"More like a cry of panic! Elliya stated. "I have never felt so much fear from someone before!"

Junelliya noted that all the empaths and telepaths were nodding in agreement with Elliya.

"Alright, everyone out into the common room, there is no place in here for all of us," Hanalei ordered. She swiftly began to make tea as Prakeshya, Ikekiya, and Zarreniya came together and touched each other. Being in Junelliya's lap, she got a sense of what was happening between the three.

Raymond, Liea, Kim, and Gillaya came into the chamber. "Fayad?" he asked.

Before Fayad could answer, Ikekiya screamed, jumped down from her momma's lap and ran to Raymond hugging him with tears and crying hard as she hugged him tightly.

"It's OK, Ikekiya. I'm OK," he told her.

"No, Raymond. You not OK," Prakeshya stated. "She like me now. This not happen now, it happen soon."

"Andanii preserve us...she is becoming clairvoyant," Fayad mumbled.

"The children are gaining new powers, one will follow her mother, the other her sister from another family," Hanalei quoted, giving Junelliya a significant look.

Ikekiya was still crying hard and the four other children came to hug her. Junelliya sent calm and reassurance to the frightened child, smiling at the interplay of the children as they supporting each other. Zarreniya raised a hand and a handkerchief flew across the room into it. She gave it to her sister without realising what she had just done but all the adults had noted it.

"Well, it is clear now how that will work," Hanalei quipped.

"Yyyalllttta Eeerrrnissshh!" a voice called out from outside (Yalta Ernish - 'Hello the house' in Asocan. In a mostly doorless society, you called out to those inside to let them know you wanted to speak with them or enter their residence as it was bad form to enter some place without permission).

"Come!" Junelliya called out, thinking she knew who was requesting entrance. She was both surprised and not surprised by who entered.

The large presence of a Sandekk walked into the main chamber, though this one was much smaller than any she had seen before.

"Helllo, I am Annnarrrekkk. I hafffe been sent by Shusshhttookkann," she told them.

"Shusshhttookkann send you? She not come here?" Zarreniya asked.

Annnarrrekkk smiled at the little girl. "Ssshe too big to come in smalll houssse," she told Zarreniya in an exaggerated whisper. That made Zarreniya smile.

"Like Gorlat and mouse hole," Zarreniya giggled then laughed. A little girl's laughter is an infectious thing and soon all the other children were laughing too, including Ikekiya. Junelliya immediately sensed a lessoning of tension in the room as Ikekiya calmed down with the laughter.

"Yalta Ernish!" came another voice that Junelliya recognized. "Come, Sharne Erx!" she called out.

The Erx Toolend entered the main chamber and all rose but erht waggled a tentacle at them. "This is your domicile, we can save the bowing for formal occasions," erht stated. "I heard the fear of a little one and came immediately."

"I apologize for that, Sharne Erx. Ikekiya had a bad moment," Junelliya explained.

"More than a bad moment, Junelliya," the Erx stated. "She has come into powers that she was not expecting and there was real fear in her call."

"She may have seen someone she loves seriously injured," Raymond explained giving Junelliya a deliberate look.

The Erx waved a tentacle at Raymond. "Do not be so modest, War Dragon Raymond Clark. You are the center of her fear.

"If you would permit me, I would see the event for myself," the Erx asked of Junelliya.

"I do not think that Ikekiya could relive that event right now, Sharne Erx. It was very frightening for her," Junelliya told erht.

"But Prakeshya saw the event herself from Ikekiya, is that not correct?" the Erx asked of Prakeshya, getting a nod from her.

"Are you OK with providing the Erx with the image, Prakeshya?" the Kumaraie asked of her daughter.

"Yes, I strong," she replied.

The Erx extended a tentacle and Prakeshya reached out to hold it. After a moment, they let go and the Erx turned to Raymond. "I can explain the event," erht told him.

"You cannot," Junelliya, Hanalei, and the Kumaraie stated immediately.

"Why?" the Erx demanded.

"If we try to force our will on destiny, it will not come about in a manner that we intend. That is what Shusshhttookkann told us," Hanalei explained.

"But, she also said that Free Will must be allowed," Junelliya added to the quote.

"Yyyou underrrssstand," Annnarrrekkk said with a smile to Junelliya. It then clicked in for Hanalei who gasped as she suddenly understood. Junelliya raised a warning finger at her with the unspoken admonition to say no more.

"What can we speak of?" the Erx demanded of Annnarrrekkk.

"Yyyou may ssspeak onllly of the insssident," she replied. "You may make no sssuggessstionsss."

"Raymond, the event occurs in the Food Court of Liramor-23 in the not too distant future. There is a man in brown but not like the Runners of the station. He has a mark on his head," the Erx explained. He extended a tentacle to Raymond. "May I?" he asked, getting a nod from Raymond.

The Erx touched Raymond's forehead and sent an image of the man to him. Raymond clearly saw the mark that erht spoke of. He immediately recognized the mark called up an image of it on his comp.

"Shit!" Kim barked out. "That's the symbol of the 'Orin Salle', the personal assassination squad of the Emperor of the Confederation of Planets!"

Kim was referring to a fanatical group of assassins trained from a young age to be the consummate professional assassins in the service of the late Emperor of the Confederation of Planets.

"I thought they had all been accounted for?" Gillaya asked.

"Apparently not," Fayad spoke grimly.

"Annnarrrekkk, is this vision going to come about?" Raymond asked directly of the Sandekk.

"The fffuturrre is fffery fffllluid and efffer changing, essspeciallly ssso when it isss thisss clllossse to the point offf the efffent," Annnarrrekkk replied.

"OOHH!" Prakeshya suddenly looked much more attentive.

"Yyyesss, Prrrakessshyyya, the fffurrrtherrr out yyyou arrre lllooking the morrre fffixed the fffuturrre isss. The clllossserrr the insssident isss the morrre fffllluid it willl be. Alllso, yyyou asss Poda-Llla, alllwayyysss alllowed forrr frrree willl thrrroughout each offf yyyourrr prrrophesssiesss," Annnarrrekkk explained seeing the light of understanding in Prakeshya's eyes.

"Yyyou willl hafffe to teach yourrr sssisssterrr how to ussse herrr new powerrrsss, Prrrakessshyyya. Yyyou arrre the onlllyyy one who can do thisss," she informed the youngster, getting a nod from the little female.

"Right, forewarned is forearmed. The rest is obviously up to me and my team," Raymond declared getting looks of resolve from the two bodyguards.

"Junelliya, if you could? Many will have felt the little one's panic," the Erx stated. Junelliya smiled and sent out a brief flash of power sending calm and peace with a short telepathic message that all was well once again.

The Erx smiled and spread out erht's tentacles to come down to the children's level. Erht extended a tentacles to each of the five and looked into their minds, discovering that the boys and Prakeshya were unfazed by the dream they saw from Ikekiya. He took away the sharper version of the event in the human girl's minds, leaving it feel more like a bad dream.

"Thank you Erx," Ikekiya said, giving a strong hug to the body of the Toolend.

"No, Clotticod. You have had a bad fright tonight. This will help you sleep again," erht informed the children, who were now all hugging the Toolend. Fortunately erht was large enough for all five to hug erht at once.

The Great Gathering Center, The >Clot<, Asoc Shall, AsocAR

Caye-Ur was back. She had borrowed the Trine the day before to make a speed run to Union planets to pick up more comps and a few other items. She had made good use of the Trine's cargo hold which had proved surprisingly large. She was now setting up her kiosk in front of the main entrance to the Great Gathering Center in anticipation of a mad rush as Asocans came into the center.

Set aside were comps pre-purchased by the Council of Empaths and the Order of Telepaths for the new candidates who did not have their own comps and for the University of Asoc Shall. Also set aside was a special package for two little girls.

"Hi, Aunty Caye!" came the twin voices of those same two little girls. "Did you bring it?"

"Of course I did!" Caye laughed. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Aunty >Catal is very nice to us. We want do something special," Ikekiya replied, peering around eagerly. A laughing Caye brought the box out from where it was hidden.

"What is this, Ikekiya, Zarreniya?" Hanalei asked.

"We ask Aunty Caye to buy for us. It present for Aunty >Catal," Zarreniya explained to her mommy.

"Where did you get the money?" Junelliya asked.

"We Palda, have 'lowance," Zarreniya explained. Junelliya nodded, she too had received a stipend from the Asocan government as a Palda.

"It's not very expensive, Junelliya, Hanalei," Caye stated, giving over the receipt to the adults. She was right it wasn't very expensive for a high-end product, however, "Forty credits for a tea pot? That's a little steep isn't it?" Hanalei asked.

"This is called a 'Camping Tea Pot' and has its own power source, a small Marilon generator in the base. It can literally be used anywhere and, in theory, the generator will run for a hundred years," Caye informed them.

"It make pretty colours," Zarreniya told her mothers with a smile.

Hanalei passed her comp over the bar code and the information on the product appeared, showing that it changed colours for every ten degrees of temperature change in the water in the pot after getting to fifty degrees Celsius. She smiled when she saw the colour shift. "Oh, I might want a few of those too!"

"I thought they might be popular so I brought some extras. I can put one or two away for you," Caye told them in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Yes please, we need one for our apartment, one for the Trine, and another for our temporary apartments on trips like this one," Hanalei said getting a laugh from Caye as she pulled three boxes from behind the counter. "Your getting to know us too well," Hanalei groused to laughter from the adults.

"I'll keep these here for you. You can pick them up on the way out," Caye told them as the children eagerly took their box.

"What are those other boxes?" Junelliya asked, seeing something interesting.

"Professional level Pizza Ovens," Caye answered with a smile. "I brought a number back with me as interest in pizza has grown since your cooking show the other day."

Just then the palace cook, Shald Mutt Semt, came to the kiosk. "Did you bring it?" as Caye showed her one of the pizza ovens.

Junelliya laughed as she remembered the excitement of her two children only moments ago...

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

The Great Gathering Center quickly filled up while the crowd waiting anxiously for the leadership to show up.

Included in the crowd were all the empaths from the ships in orbit who had come down to fill in the ranks of the Council for the investiture of new candidates, a first for the Asocan Realm and for the Council.

Included were empaths that Junelliya had not yet met. Councillor Petronellaya made introductions including the tiniest woman that Junelliya had ever seen. She was even smaller than Ayesha!

"This is GME Aylliya, she is one of our specialists with children. She recruited me into our specialty," Clarrisiya told the group.

Fascinated, the two children came to meet her. They were enamored of an adult of a size they could personally relate to.

"Aylliya and Clarrisiya will be working out of the new daycare/school at Liramor-23 helping new empathic children of all races," Councillor Petronellaya informed all.

She addressed the larger group of empaths. "Members of the Council, I would like to introduce those of you who do not know them to Palda Junelliya Atohan Herlan, Doctor of Music, GME, and the most powerful empath known to date. I would also like to introduce her two very special children, Palda Ikekiya Piscium and Palda Zarreniya Piscium," Petronellaya told the group.

Junelliya flashed some of her power shocking those in the group who had never felt it. What was even more shocking was when the to little girls flashed their power as well. Such young girls showing this much power, momentarily stunned those who were not aware.

"OH, Wow! I am going to have fun with you two!" Aylliya stated, kneeling to get hugs from the children.

"Can we have fun too?" asked another small voice.

"Prakeshya!" the two Piscium children called out and opened their arms to include Prakeshya and her brothers. The three joined the impromptu hug as the Piscium children introduced them to Aylliya.

Junelliya, Petronellaya, and Elliya all bowed as they noted the presence of the Kumar-Pair behind the children. Seeing their bosses bow, those who had not met the Kumar-Pair bowed as well.

"I have never seen such a tiny human female before. She is an adult is she?" the Kumaroe asked innocently, setting up laughter and good natured ribbing from the other empaths in the crowd.

Ikekiya spun in place and flashed hot anger at the crowd instantly silencing the taunting. "She be right height," she informed them all. She and the other children folded their arms across their chests, nodded their heads and said 'huh' in typical Asocan fashion which brought amusement back to the Asocan crowd and finally the empaths.

"Well, it looks like Aylliya's clients are backing her," someone quipped.

"You're just jealous, Marreliya, that you don't have such support," another empath replied.

"Petronellaya, I would like to ask the Council to assess my sons today as well," the Kumaraie asked.

"Of course, Kumaraie," Petronellaya agreed looking toward the Asocan aide from the night before. The female smiled and showed her comp which already had the Kumar-Pair and their children listed.

The leadership began to file in. Once all were in place, the Seneschal spoke.

"Today, the Council of Empaths and the Order of Telepaths has requested time to assess the Asocan candidates for investiture into their respective groups." He turned and bowed to the Asoc who rose to speak.

"During the event at the Lost Shall, the goddesses and gods of AsocAR had gifted some of our people with special powers. Today the Council of Empaths and the Order of Telepaths will assess the Candidates for placement in the two groups.

"Our government is negotiating the employment of instructors from both groups to help the gifted of our people reach their maximum potential. It is our fervent hope that these new gifts will benefit the Realm though it may take time to fully realize this benefit." The Asoc sat back on her tail and nodded to the Seneschal who pointed to the aide.

Sharran Mutt Herrtt, acting as the Master of Ceremonies, introduced the Council of Empaths and the Grand Master Empaths that would assess the candidates, after which she called on the first family...

"I would ask Candidate Shamot Miltra Mutt Mattas of the First Clutch of Stinnat Mutt Mattas, to come forward to the circle with her family," the aide called out.

A group of six nervous Asocans, two adults and four Shamot, moved into the center of the Petitioner's Circle. "We ask the Candidate to step to the forward edge of the Petitioner's Circle and push some of her power to the Council Members and assessors," the Sharran said.

A nerveous, younger looking female Shamot stepped to edge of the circle, raised her hand and sent a burst of her power to those in front of her. Junelliya felt the power and noted that it was fairly strong despite the fact that Miltra was young and inexperienced.

After a moment, the Council members turned and conferred with several of the GME's, including Junelliya. They turned back to the Candidate, while Clarrisiya stepped down to Sharran and handed her some papers.

Petronellaya spoke for the Council; "Miltra Mutt Mattas, we find that you have a three, a two, and a two in your basic profile. We also note the strength of your power which indicates that you will progress swiftly in your power as an Empath.

"We accept you into the Council of Empaths as a Full Member. You may now add the letters YA to the end of your name to designate that you are a member of the Council, should you desire to do so," Petronellaya stated formally.

Clarrisiya came forward and was about to place the pin on Miltra's baldric when she stopped herself. She turned to the row of leaders and bowed to the Asoc.

"Asoc, would you like to present the pin of the Council of Empath to our first ever Asocan Empath recognized by the Council?" she asked.

"The Asoc cannot leave her place while she is with members of the Leadership," the Seneschal stated firmly.

"She be young Shamot," Ikekiya stated. The little girl took the hand of Miltra and guided her to the Asoc's dais. The Asoc smile and took the pin from Clarrisiya. She clasped claws with the young Shamot and placed the pin on her baldrick.