A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [256]
Practically dancing in the low gravity of Rendezvous, Kotto hurried off to continue his work…
These days, Cesca rarely had the luxury to ponder her own thoughts, worries, and indecisions. Often her preoccupation with Roamer business was a blessing, but now at night she needed time to think through everything she had learned. All the bad news.
She made her way to a hollowed-out rock, an outlying component of the Rendezvous cluster. During the day period, the Governess compy UR brought groups of youngsters to play in the zero-gravity chamber, but in the silent sleeping hours, the play asteroid was empty and dark.
Exactly what she needed.
Cesca sealed the door behind her and held a metal handle near the doorway to keep her balance. Then she shut down even the dim subsidiary illumination, plunging the room into the deep blackness of the universe.
She let go, kicked off gently from the wall, and drifted in the warm emptiness. Flying blind, she spread her arms and legs in a comfortable, relaxed position. The air didn’t stir, no light distracted her. The lack of gravity let her float like a lost spirit, an unborn child in the darkness of a womb. It didn’t matter whether her eyes were open or closed.
She simply drifted…and concentrated.
A Roamer trader had just arrived at Rendezvous with a frantic report of the horrific hydrogue attack on Theroc. Among the numerous casualties was Reynald himself—the man she had promised to marry.
His union with Cesca would have bound together the Roamers and the Therons…but at the moment she could not concern herself with the political aspect. With the goodwill between their two peoples, it should still be possible to forge an alliance. It had to be.
Jess had believed an alliance was the right thing. Cesca saw the wisdom as well—but it would no longer come about because of her marriage to Reynald. Poor Reynald.
She let herself feel the sadness of his death. Reynald had been a good man with a kind personality and a genuine love for his people. Cesca was sure he would have been a decent husband, despite her nagging love for someone else. He had welcomed her warmly, doing everything a woman could have asked.
But she had held back her heart, and Reynald had not suspected. She hadn’t even bothered to notice who he was, although the Theron prince had approached her with a kind, open heart. She realized now that she really hadn’t deserved him.
Now it no longer mattered. The hydrogues had killed Reynald and devastated the worldforest. The Therons would need the help of the Roamers more than ever, and she would make sure it all worked out, somehow. And now, Cesca no longer had any unwanted obligations to any man.
She could seek out Jess, at last.
Was it selfish to think of that so soon? She loved him—had always been in love with him, but she had acted too slowly after Ross was killed at Golgen. In a strange twist of fate, the hydrogues had once again taken the man to whom she had been betrothed.
And once again, she was alone and still in love with Jess. Though she was sick at heart, did anything stand in their way now?
The two of them should have been married years ago. She and Jess had naïvely thought they would have all the time in the galaxy. Now Cesca knew otherwise. She would accept Jess, right away. There was no need for betrothal. They would stand before all the Roamer clans and take their vows. She didn’t see it as a betrayal of Reynald. Or of Ross.
It was something she had to do.
But she had just learned from Del Kellum’s nebula skimmers that Jess had disappeared. Without giving any explanation, he had abandoned his slow, graceful sail and flown off. He had left the other nebula skimmers behind—and vanished without a trace.
Cesca could send messages, distribute a call through the Roamer network in hopes that he would return as soon as possible. But Jess was gone, and no one knew where to find