Homage and Honour by Candy Rae Read Free Book Online

:
    Realisation hit
her. She shuffled sideways so that she could see the male Lind
standing at the farmyard gate.
    : Open your
mind to me Hannah, accept me :
    Hannah’s
thoughts tumbled. It was Lucy who was to pair and embark on a life
of adventure, she was to stay here and help her mother.
    : I do not
wish this Lucy. I wish you. Don’t you want me? : The ‘voice’
was wistful.
    : I don’t know
:
    : Don’t you
like me? :
    “Oh yes ,” breathed Hannah. Indeed, the Lind was a most handsome
creature. He was fully the size of a horse, perhaps some fifteen
and a half hands in height. Unlike most Lind she had seen, he
wasn’t brown and striped all over. This Lind was black; the pale
lemon stripes were few and only on his back and forelegs.
    : Push your
thoughts out and join your mind with mine :
    There was a
hint of command there and Hannah obeyed.
    Tentatively she
pushed her awareness towards him and found herself enveloped in a
warm glow of belonging, of love and acceptance.
    : See how
easy it is? : The ‘chuckle’ whispered inside her head.
    Hannah
nodded.
    : Walk towards
me Hannah. We are together at last and we are as one :
    Hannah stood
frozen to the spot.
    : Come over
here silly :
    Hannah stumbled
towards him. The crowd around Robain and Balindifya parted in
disbelief as she made her way to her life-mate.
    Another cheer
erupted from the onlookers. Two vadeln-pairings from one farm on
one day! A dumbfounded Gunter Knutson watched; Hannah , he
thought, shy Hannah is vadeln-paired . His heart was bursting
with pride. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that she of
all his children could be the one.
    He and his wife
had been apprehensive about any child of theirs joining the Vada,
they had refused permission to put the flag up until Lucy was
almost sixteen and here was the fourteen year old baby of the
family surprising them all.
    Hannah and her
Lind stood there, impervious to the tumult around them, lost in
their own world of joyous sharing.
    “I don’t know
your name,” she whispered in his ear.
    : Did you
not manage to pick it out of my mind? : he teased, wagging his
bushy tail.
    Hannah pressed
her face closer into the warmth of his neck as he whispered, “my
name is Kolyei.”
    The
celebrations in the Knutson farm continued into the night. Hannah
was dropping with exhaustion by the time the crowd of well-wishers
began to disperse although some followed Kolyei to the barn where
temporary accommodation had been prepared.
    Kolyei lay down
in the soft walda grass with a sigh of relief and Hannah cuddled
down beside him, ignoring the camp bed her tearful mother had
prepared for her.
    Under Kolyei’s
watchful eyes, her father lifted the downy off the bed and arranged
it over his slumbering child. She looked so young and defenceless,
how would she manage so far from home?
    “Thank you,”
said Kolyei and sensing Gunter’s unease, added, “I will look after
Hannah.”
    Gunter
smiled.
    “We will all
miss her.”
    “We come back
to visit,” Kolyei promised.
    “When will you
leave for Vadath?”
    “With the
sun.”
    Gunter nodded,
he had expected no less. He glanced over at Robain and Balindifya.
Robain was snoring, a smile on his sleeping face.
    Hannah’s father
did not get much sleep that night. When he entered the farmhouse he
was faced by a tearful and angry Lucy who was blaming her sister
for stealing away her Lind at the top of her lungs. Exasperated
when she would not see sense, he locked her into a small bedchamber
at the far end of the rambling house. She was still shouting
expletives when he did fall asleep.
    In the morning
Hannah woke to a gentle voice ‘sounding’ within her head.
    : Wake up
sleepyhead, time to go :
    : What?
: Hannah’s eyes snapped open.
    : Have you
forgotten so soon? :
    The ‘voice’ was
filled with an abiding love for Hannah and for all that she was, no
matter what her faults and imperfections.
    “Sorry,” she
apologised aloud, “I’m still not used to this inside