Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [109]
Generations from now, if the Elysians succeeded in reuniting their entire planet, would they wonder what had ever happened to the land of Starfleet? Perhaps to them it would be like lost Atlantis on Earth-or perhaps by then both Thelia and her mysterious “one from afar” would be long since forgotten.
“Princess Thelia will be so pleased you have come!” a woman cried out, clapping her hands together. “You
must tell us all whether her Quest companion got what he quested for, and how he has fared since.”
“Have others braved the swamp to share our celebration?” another woman asked.
“What happened to Data, the one from afar?” someone else wanted to know. “Enough questions,” Lodel said, stepping in front of Data and turning to face the crowd. He held up his hands. “You must be tired, stranger. You have come a long way, and will want to rest before the wedding. I will take you to my own home, and-was “Wedding?” Data asked, his heart sinking. “Whose wedding?” “Why, Princess Thelia’s. She marries Prince Sharp of Tosus tomorrow afternoon,” he replied.
Data sat down heavily on a nearby bench.
Thelia’s wedding? Tomorrow? His head was spinning. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t have come this far only to lose her.
“Are you all right, friend?” Lodel asked.
“Yes,” Data said-though in truth he felt sick. “I’m just … surprised.”
Lodel frowned. “You did not come for the wedding?”
“No,” he shook his head. “We did not know about it. Little news travels across the swamp.”
“Then you don’t know about Sharp,” a woman added.
“He is a true prince-a worthy husband for Thelia.” She snorted. “Though he did not succeed in his Quest, as our princess did.”
“Now, Ulia,” Lodel chided. “Sharp failed his Quest only because Thelia had already accomplished hers. The princess herself has said as much.”
Data sat listening to the two argue, his head still reeling. He didn’t care to know any of this. All he wanted to do was get out of here, get back to the ship, and forget all about Thelia, and Sharp, and Elysia itself. “They were promised to each other as infants,” Ulia continued, oblivious. “And now their marriage will unite both our lands.”
Data clasped his hands in his lap to hide their shaking. It was as if he could hear the message from Elysia’s gods: Thelia’s duty is to her people. She must marry Prince Sham to complete the union of the habitats Then why did you let me fall in love with her? he wondered hopelessly. As if in answer, another woman spoke up. “Ayewhen Thelia gives Sharp the Kiss of Bonding at their wedding, then he will love her forever.” Ulia laughed. “Thelia has no need of that ancient gift. Sharp fell in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her.”
“That’s as may be,” the other woman answered, “but the Kiss will guarantee that he’ll never stray.”
Data’s head snapped up. The Kiss of Bonding?
He recalled Thelia mentioning it in passing, and his own skeptical response. But now one of those log-clear memories flashed through his mind: At the end of the Quest, when he and Thelia met in the knowledge that both had succeeded, she had kissed him on the cheek, saying, “It is safe for me to accord you such a token of affection.”
He had wondered what she had meant then, but . .
. a kiss could do that? It was impossible ….
As impossible as making an android human?
“This … Kiss of Bonding,” he asked.
“Thelia had that power before her Quest?”
Lodel nodded. “From her many-times grandmother, Melinia, who Quested to end a war between feuding factions within the land of Atridia itself. All the women descended from that line have it.”
Another gift from the gods of Elysia. Now he knew what Thelia had meant by “safe.” Well, it might have been safe for her to kiss an android, but clearly her family gift had operated in full force on the man he had become. Elysia’s gods repaying Data for his skepticism? Well, he had learned that lesson quite thoroughly!
“This kiss,” Data asked, “is its effect permanent?” “Oh, yes,” he was told.
“Melinia’s husband pined away less than a year after she died, great strong warrior though he was.”
“But,” Data