Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [17]
Talanne smiled. “Yes.”
She would have to remember to tell the captain that they had their own trained Orianian sentinel, a personal guard loyal to them. “If a guard is loyal to one person, does that mean he, or she, would put that single person’s safety above the good of others?”
Talanne nodded. “Exactly.”
Troi wondered if that made discipline a problem, but she wanted to know about the boy for now. “So, Bori would be intensely loyal to Jeric?”
‘Have you discovered what happened? Why he took Jeric outside?”
Talanne shook her head. “Not yet.” She sighed. “And truthfully, Healer, we may never know, unless Jeric himself remembers. The warriors that could tell us what happened are both dead.”
‘Do you believe that the guard betrayed your son?”
‘I can’t think what other purpose would be served by going outside. Everything is dangerous outside; the air, the water, the ground itself is so contaminated that what little food does grow is deadly. But we eat it anyway.” Her face seemed suddenly older, lines around the mouth deepening with bitterness. “We eat and drink the poison that slaughters our children. I lost three children before Jeric. They never even drew one breath of life. The last baby was the worst, so badly mangled that the doctors could not save him. I prayed for him to die.”
She stared at Troi, her dark eyes searching the counselor’s face. “Do you have children?”
‘I did once,” Troi said.
‘A death?”
Troi nodded. The pain of her own son’s death could still come back to bite at odd moments.
‘If you have lost a child, then you understand,” Talanne said.
‘Yes,” Troi agreed. “I understand.”
Talanne reached out impulsively and took the counselor’s hand. “What is wrong with my son?”
‘I believe he witnessed the death of his sentinel. From what you’ve told me, I have to agree with you. Bori was going to betray Jeric, I think that at the last minute he couldn’t do it. In fact, he died defending Jeric’s life. I’m certain Jeric witnessed his death. He doesn’t remember right now, but subconsciously, he does.” She held Talanne’s hand in both of hers. “The dreams will get worse, I’m afraid. But he needs to remember. It will help him to heal the wound. But do not rush him, let him remember in his own time.”
‘We have told him that Bori is dead. Was that wrong?”
‘No, but do not speak of it anymore than you must in front of him. This dream is the first step for him to remember on his own.”
‘Do you think Jeric will be able to tell us why they were outside?” Talanne asked.
‘I honestly don’t know.”
Talanne nodded. She gave Troi’s hand a last squeeze and withdrew her own hand. “Is there nothing you can do to help him?”
‘Not really. I would like to talk to him during the day. I might be able to help him remember more gently through therapy, but the mind is a delicate thing, Colonel Talanne. It heals best in its own time.”
‘But he will heal. He won’t always wake screaming?” The woman stared at Troi, her need to hear a positive answer tripped over Troi’s skin like a vibrating string. And as so often happened in her work, Troi couldn’t give a definite answer. “I believe he will heal. He is very young. Children often recover more quickly than adults.”
‘But you can’t promise, can you?”
Troi wanted to say yes, she wanted to fill that frightened core inside Talanne. That little pocket of fear and protection that wrapped around Jeric in his mother’s mind. But Troi could not, would not lie. “No, I can’t promise.”
Talanne nodded. She put her hands over her eyes and took a long shuddering breath. “This blasted war touches everything, everything.”
When she took her hands down her face was still constricted with grief. Her body was calm but her face still betrayed her inner chaos.
Troi stared at her, waiting for the woman to spend as much effort to control her facial features as she had her body and voice, but it did not happen. Talanne was convinced that no one could tell she was in pain, even though the grief was plain on her face. Troi realized