Chapter 4 #2
Through the connection in my mind, I felt a pulse of desperate agreement from the ancient consciousness. She had been alone for so long, aching with isolation. The thought of returning to that crystalline sleep was more terrifying to her than death.
Please… Need lord… Cannot be alone…
“She’s trying to bond,” I said, struggling to translate the emotional concepts flooding through me. “But something’s wrong.”
“The Sola can choose someone from among our people,” Zurian said pragmatically. “Though her ancient consciousness will have very specific requirements.”
“There are many Destrans in our connected city of Solas,” Wyn replied, adjusting her scanner with practiced efficiency. “This consciousness has lived for millennia. She can choose the one she wants. Whoever they are will have to choose her back, despite the cost.”
“The cost being that whoever the Sola chooses will forget their life up to this point.” Zurian rubbed his chin contemplatively. “Usually, when we have the ritual of a new Sola choosing her lord, everyone is aware of what might happen. This will blindside whoever she chooses.”
Ah, yes. This was touched on briefly in the “history” section of my research materials.
Briefly, because LunarLink didn’t think it would be relevant to our work.
To bond with a Sola meant losing all memories and connections.
Family, love, friends—all of it was given up and forgotten when a Sola chose a lord.
Or lady, but usually Solas preferred males. A little sexist, if you asked me.
“She has already chosen,” Scaron said, sounding irritated. “He is in denial about it.”
A wave of alien frustration crashed through me, and I gasped as the Sola’s distress spiked. Images flashed through the connection: star fields, other Solas in formation, a sense of searching across vast distances.
“He’s right,” I managed to say between waves of psychic pressure. “She’s made her decision. She’s…calling.”
“Calling to whom?” Wyn asked quietly.
“Rykar,” Scaron answered for her. “I heard him flatly refuse her, out there on the surface. He says it was chaotic and the Sola must have been mistaken.”
I thought about the worried male face that gazed down at me on the moon’s surface and the ancient Sola’s consciousness suddenly blazed with recognition and desperate hope. The psychic connection between us flared so brightly that I grimaced.
Him. Him. Finally. Called and called…
“It’s him,” I gasped, barely able to speak through the overwhelming emotions. “That Rykar guy is who the Sola has been calling to. He’s the one she picked.” I made a face as the lords stared at me in silence. “What is the problem with him? Why doesn’t he accept?”
“Rykar isn’t…” Savair began, then stopped himself.
“Isn’t what?” I demanded, though speaking felt like pushing words through syrup.
Another exchange of glances between the lords. It was Grael who finally answered, his voice even quieter than usual.
“Rykar has separated himself from Destran culture,” Grael said. “He lost his family ten cycles ago to a ground mine when we were still fighting against the Brakken. His siblings died and he blames himself. He stays away from the Solas as much as possible.”
“He’s a very good pilot, though,” Ledos interjected. “He’s our primary transport operator, and has encountered plenty of pirates and trankers out there who’ve tried to hijack cargo and seize his vessel. And he’s a good person, despite what he thinks of himself.”
The ancient Sola’s response to that was a pulse of fierce and protective love.
Images flashed through my mind: a young Destran male, tragedy, guilt, self-imposed exile.
But underneath it all, the Sola saw something the others apparently missed—strength, leadership potential, a heart capable of carrying the weight of an ancient consciousness without being crushed by it.
Wounded. Can heal.
“The Sola doesn’t care about his past,” I said, translating as best I could. “She sees who he could become, not who he thinks he is.”
Through my psychic link, I felt the ancient Sola reaching out.
Her consciousness brushing against the mind of the transport pilot.
The shock of recognition that came back through the connection was like lightning through my nerves, and I cried out in pain.
My body convulsed as the feedback tore through me.
“Where is he?” Ledos asked. “You said he was out there when this happened.”
“He’s in the exam room next to this one,” Wyn replied. “And yes. He came to Maya’s aid and likely siphoned away enough energy to save her life. But he’s convinced he’s not the Sola’s lord.”
“Stubborn,” Ledos muttered. “Can we bring him in here? He and his family are from my Sola. Maybe I can talk sense into him.”
A few moments later, a tall Destran male entered the room through a door that opened in that weird, dilating sort of way that it did on Solas.
Not like a normal door, but like an eye, opening and closing.
I recognized Rykar instantly as the same tall figure that appeared above me on the moon’s surface.
Then, he was clad in a full-body flight suit with a helmet.
He moved reluctantly, like a man walking toward his own execution.
He carried himself like someone bearing an invisible burden that never left his shoulders. Or his destiny.
The color-shifting skin on his face was currently showing stress patterns in dark grays and troubled blues.
He had handsome, rugged features and he looked a little older than my own thirty-four years.
A scar bisected one eyebrow and crossed his upper cheekbone, and his mouth was set in a hard line that suggested it hadn’t smiled in a very long time.
He wore a simple, soft medical tunic and pants.
His eyes were the same silver-blue as the crystal formations outside. As if he’d been marked by the Sola long before he ever knew she existed.
“You must be Rykar,” I managed to say, though all of a sudden, words felt like they were coming from very far away.
He stared at me for a while. His face cycled through expressions before settling on a neutral one. “And you must be Maya,” he said quietly. “I’m very glad to see you looking better.”
“For now.” I didn’t know where to look. My hands wouldn’t stay still.
Something about this male was flustering me as well as the Sola, who was projecting pure, blazing joy through the psychic connection.
It was so intense it felt like being struck by lightning.
Even though the Sola was far away in the crystal formations, she was using my eyes to see, to experience this moment.
My senses were shared with her, and I felt it all right along with her.
All of it flooded through me as the ancient consciousness looked upon the lord she had chosen.
“The Sola really has chosen you. I can feel it. You must be feeling it, too.”
He looked away, his jaw clenched. A muscle pulsed as he tensed up.
“Rykar.” Ledos’ voice was gentle, and he had a naturally charismatic demeanor that made you want to lean in and catch every word he uttered.
Also, he was gorgeous, in an over-the-top rock star kind of way.
Not my type, but plenty of women would swoon over this male.
“That Sola is dying. Maya accidentally awakened her, but she can’t sustain the connection forever.
And neither can the Sola without a proper lord. ”
“Don’t start in on this again.” He ran a weary hand through his hair. “I’m not lord material. You all know that.”
The ancient Sola’s response was a pulse of gentle disagreement and infinite patience. Through our connection, I felt her reaching out to him, offering just a taste of the bond she wanted to forge.
Rykar grimaced and stepped backward as he reacted to the Sola’s demand.
His skin flashing white with shock. “I can feel her, but I can’t understand a thing she’s saying.
All of you understand your Solas, so wouldn’t you think that’s an indicator that I’m not the one?
” He jabbed a finger in my direction. “This Sola is more clear to a human female than me. Maybe she’s the chosen one. ”
“It can’t be a human,” Ledos said simply, his head cocked and arms crossed, as if he were simply discussing the weather. “Their brains aren’t made for it. She’s chosen you. The question is: will you choose her back?”
Looking at Rykar’s face—the fear and guilt and who knows what warring in his expression—I realized that saving my life was going to be the least complicated part of this situation.
The real challenge would be convincing a male who thought he was broken that an ancient, wise consciousness saw him as exactly what she needed.
Have faith, the Sola transmitted through our connection. He will understand. In time.
I just hoped we had enough time for him to figure it out.