Quiver by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online

He and the other Guardians got to their feet and left the restaurant without taking leave.
    Anna looked to Yem-lal. “Well, that was weird.”
    Her mother-in-law inhabited by a planet’s consciousness laughed. “That is life with a Guardian. You had better get used to interrupted meals, dearest.”
    Anna sighed and tried the blue snack on the platter. “This is pretty good.”
    Yem-lal grinned, and they continued their meal, finally leaving to resume their shopping. It was time to build her wardrobe.
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Exploring the base was an interesting pastime. Yem-lal showed her around and grinned when Anna commented on the bots.
    “Why wear your knuckles to the bone when you can have a bot take over and do it for you? So, dear daughter, what would you like to study?”
    “Study?”
    “Study, hobbies, what do you want to do with all your spare time?” Yem-lal smiled.
    “I thought I was supposed to shadow you most of the time.”
    “It is fine here when I am attending to family business, but when I am out in the world, there are few chances to accompany if I am not shopping.”
    Anna laughed. “I think I can fill my days for the first few weeks.”
    “What did you do at home?”
    “I worked in an investment bank and dealt with other people’s money.” She bit her lip.
    Yem-lal grinned. “I do seem to recall that you have a large amount of cash to play with. Why don’t you do your research and begin investing? I can help you set the accounts up, but the choices are yours.”
    “You mean I can invest my own money? Anywhere?” Anna’s brain started spinning with the possibilities. There was an entire new world out there and so much to work on.
    “I would pace yourself, but yes. It is yours to do with as you please.” Yem-lal smiled. “I see that the concept interests you.”
    Anna smiled and fought the urge to clap her hands. “It truly does. When can we get started?”
    Yem-lal put an arm around her shoulders. “Let me show you the office I had set up for you, and then, we can meet the boys for dinner.”
    “Are they back?” Anna looked around at the landing area normally filled with the riot runners. It was empty.
    “Not yet. They will be home in an hour. I have notified the bots to make a special dinner for your first group meal.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Hemcorl knows, and so I know, and across the stars, my husband knows. We are one entity and bound to this world. It is a situation I have become accustomed to.”
    “I can’t imagine it.”
    “Fortunately, you won’t have to. However, there may come a day when the mantle is passed to your child.”
    The handful of cells seemed a little young to have a career as an Avatar ahead of it. “Isn’t it a little early to be planning to have Hemcorl hijack the baby?”
    Yem-lal showed her inside an administration building. “I just wanted you to be aware that when my husband and I choose to relinquish our status, another member of our line will be chosen, and if it isn’t Dey-lal, it will probably be his child.”
    Anna scowled. “Will the child have any say in the matter?”
    “Of course.” Yem-lal chuckled. “Hemcorl would never take an unwilling host.”
    They were walking slowly across a wide catwalk that led to an office with Anna’s name scribed on the door.
    “How did he choose you?”
    Yem-lal smiled softly. “After my delivery of Karo-lal, my body began to fail. Hemcorl needed a new Avatar, but I would not leave my husband, so the old Avatar, Hreman-tol, made us both an offer. We took in Hemcorl, and we could live together, my body repaired. The agreement indicated that I could only be replaced by one of my own bloodline.”
    “Why?” Anna felt like a demented toddler with all the questions in her head.
    “Because Hreman-tol was one of the original colonists and my ancestor. We are uniquely suited to being Hemcorl’s Avatars. Our minds and his energy are on the same frequency.”
    “Is it a definite