Unknown: (Ghost Ship splinter) Daav's up early : (c) 2012, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

The path curved slightly 'round a portly shrub, and there before him was the road.

Daav sighed, the sense of being watched departing altogether, and turned his face toward Jelaza Kazone.

#

The road had dwindled until it was scarcely as wide as a single small vehicle, narrowed further by grasping branches, above, and an encroaching gully, below. There were also large rocks situated inconveniently, and the occasional pothole.

Daav consulted the map he had memorized. Not very far now, to the house. He anticipated a hot shower-- and perhaps his lifemate would deign to join him for a nap.

...whether his lifemate found this offer attractive, he could not say, as she remained outside his ken, occupied with whatever it was that occupied her when she was not manifest.

He had of course from time to time reflected upon Aelliana's state of existence. She had no substance of her own; no manifestation beyond a voice in his head. Occasionally, she claimed use of the body they co-habited-- very seldom, really. Their adventures on the Clutch transport had improved her physical mastery; and he had expected, then, to find her more often in control of their route, yet she seemed content to be a passenger, observing their life through his eyes.

More than once, though not recently, he had asked her how she filled her time.

I fill my time as I have been accustomed to do . She'd answered his last inquiry with rather more tartness than he was accustomed to having from her; with thought and with work.

Which was all very well, but work wanted outlet, and thought the abrasion of other thoughts, to ignite insight. Locked inside his head, Aelliana had no opportunity to pursue her researches; she knew what he knew, though the conclusions she drew were often very different from his own. She had actively collaborated in the persona of Jen Sar Kiladi, as Kamele Waitley came to know him. Indeed, he had often thought that Kamele valued him most for those attributes which were peculiarly Aelliana.

Really, putting this road to rights was going to require not just the efforts of a grounds crew, but a forestry team, as well.

While they were rebuilding from the ground up, the delm might as well widen it, and straighten it, and possibly install a taxi-stand.

From behind him came the sound of a motor, accompanied by the occasional snap of a branch, and the crunch of gravel beneath wheels.

Daav stepped off the road and into a wide spot at the side, shouldering in among branches bearing hard, wrinkled berries, and last season's brittle thorns. He breathed out and reposed himself to silence.

The car came closer. It was, to Daav's ear, being driven with a respect for conditions that bespoke a pilot, or perhaps only someone who had dared to motor out this far before.

Eventually, it hove into view; largish, with a klaxon mounted on the roof. He glimpsed a dark face through the windscreen, then the vehicle was abreast of him, braking gently as the driver's window descended.

He took a breath, feeling himself come sharply alert, his senses open to all options, should the situation become...unfortunate.

The back door opened, and a tall man in pilot's leather stepped out onto the so-called road.

"Uncle Daav, what are doing here?"

He tipped his head, considering his nephew Shan gravely while still keeping half-an-eye or slightly more on the very dangerous person at the controls.

"I would say, waiting for a taxi, but I expect it will be some time before they are commonplace."

Shan smiled. "Maybe not as long as you think," he said walking forward.

A second person emerged from the back seat, a slender woman also in pilot leather, golden hair glimmering in the dull daylight.

"Nova," Daav said stepping softly out of the embrace of his thorn bush; "I am pleased to see you, child. Do I understand that this car contains all of Korval which is come in from the port?"

"Only Natesa, Shan, and myself," she said composedly. "The rest will come later, by whichever route suits them best." She moved her shoulders. "Pat Rin's house is busy enough, and we were becoming objects of interest. It seemed prudent, to come ahead."

"This," Shan continued, putting his hand over the track of the driver's window, "is Natesa, Pat Rin's lifemate. Natesa, this is our Uncle Daav. He makes a habit of skulking in the shrubbery, I fear."

Resignation and amusement reflected each other subtly in the driver's face.

"Good-day to you, Daav yos'Phelium. May I say that your son resembles you?"

"I would have said that he resembles his mother, but that is doubtless my own bias. It pleases me to make your acquaintance, Natesa, and I thank you for staying your hand."

She smiled. "You were in no danger from me, sir. Not only have I seen pictures, but just yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with your son and his lifemate."

"Did you, indeed? I trust that they displayed their manners prettily, and were not the least bit of trouble to you."

This time she laughed. "They were everything that was gracious."

"It gratifies me to hear you say so."

"Uncle Daav," Nova said, interrupting this pleasant exchange. "May we give you a ride in the rest of the way? There's quite a lot of room in the back of this car."

"Thank you, but I believe that I must continue a-foot. Please do not hold yourselves back on my account. I do ask that the pilot," he bowed gently to Natesa, "continue her careful course. There are cats about which are connected to our neighbor's estate, and I have promised him that no harm will come to them through us."

"Yes," Natesa said composedly. "That provision is also in the contract."

"Ah, I had thought that Mr. Shaper was a man of sense! It is good to have my judgment vindicated." He stepped back off the road, and moved his hand, indicating that they should pass on.

"I'll walk with Uncle Daav," Shan said suddenly. "No slight to Natesa's driving, but I believe I could do with a little less lurching."

"Understood," said the driver, solemnly. "If it would not inconvenience those who come after, I might be tempted to abandon the car here and have us all walk in."

"And so you make the sacrifice for the greater good!" Shan gave her a grin, before turning to the rear of the car. Nova had already reentered, the door shutting behind her.

Shan raised a hand. "Until soon."

The car moved off.

"There is, you know, not the slightest need to stand my guard," Daav said, as they watched the dust sift through the chilly air. "I am quite capable of defending myself."

"I never doubted it. But, Uncle Daav, you make such a good excuse for getting out of that car!"

He laughed. "So that was candid, was it? Come along, then, but I'll warn you that this is no pleasure-walk."

"It isn't?" Shan considered him, slanted brows slightly raised. "Are we hunting rabbit?"

"Indeed we are not. The delm wished to have eyeballs on this road-- an image I counsel you not to contemplate too closely-- and saw no reason not to make one errand into two."

"That sounds like Miri." He looked around, shaking his head. "They call this a road ?"

"That," Daav said, "also bears a remarkable similarity to Miri's remarks on the matter. I am to report on conditions, and present suggestions."

"The conditions are dreadful," Shan said, "and the solution is to bring in a work crew or six to widen, level, and fill. A little paving wouldn't go amiss, either."

"I agree," Daav said, stepping out on the road and taking up his stroll. "And you have given up your soft seat for nought."

Shan grinned and fell in beside him. "I need to stretch my legs."

"I wouldn't have thought that. What difficulty did Val Con and Miri occasion Natesa, I wonder?"

"For once, it wasn't their fault. Somebody noticed the Ring, knew it for Boss Conrad's and called security. Security called Natesa, who straightened it out in time for the two of them to get into the car and be introduced to the world." Shan paused, as if considering. "Pat Rin said that the trip out could have been more fraught."