The Gift of the Second Prime

Hi there. This one is a tad gruesome in places. I apologise to those of you that do not like the cannibalism, but it appears again here, I am afraid. Be warned and skip any of the sections that involve Taeda. Unless you want to follow his punishment, of course ;)

As always, I really, really appreciate all of your feedback, so let me know if you like this chapter, if you like the story - you know the score. I enjoyed writing this chapter, it flowed but then I like the Gift of the Lost Boy as well.

Enjoy

Mandijerri

The Gift of the Second Prime, Chapter 6: The Gift and the Warrior Selah

The Palace of the Sands grew out of the flowing desert that leant it its name. Once this had been an oasis, now the structure of the Palace enclosed that oasis, tamed it, protected it. This was a hot place and the sea of sand that surrounded it gave it a feeling of remoteness.

In truth, the great port-city of Arnhem, after which the whole Province was named, was only twenty kilometres to the north. Bella Maretch, the second largest city in the province, and the largest mining settlement on the planet, was only a day's ride by cart west of here.

The Palace sat at a crossroads. The north-south Joda Arnhem, a series of tracks raised above the constantly shifting sands, took travellers from Arnhem in the north all the way to Ashkra on the southern coast. One city surrounded by desert, one by lush grasslands. The east-west Joda Sidian, another railroad, stretched all the way across the Province from the border with Kelda Province in the west to the border with Tyler Province in the east.

Both railroads stretched away as far as the eye could see, and both danced around the palace in a large circle. Once this place had controlled the traffic, taken tolls, taxed the travellers. Now it loomed over the routes. A reminder, if one were needed, that the law of the Second Realm held sway in these parts.

The Gift of the Lost Boy stood on a balcony in the palace, it wrapped around its corner suite and afforded views across the palace to the north and east. From its current position it looked down onto one of the formal gardens on the east side of the palace complex.

The oasis that had once marked this place out as special had, over the centuries, been tamed and twisted into a series of different gardens. Some were celebrations of water and statuary, others grew crops and other water-dependant foods and still others, like the long narrow garden below it, were purely for contemplation.

The whole palace looked into these gardens, not one window gave a view of the desert and the only way you could see the Sidian Sands was from the last of the battlements on the western wall of the palace, or out of the corner of your eye between one of the many towers. You could hear it, though, from wherever you were, when you outside you could always hear it.

The constant winds here, known as the Raepian Thermals when they blew from the east and the Sunder Thermals when they blew from the west, picked up the sands and rolled them across the desert in an endless dance back and forth across the desert. Accompanying the march was a low hissing sound. The sound of the sand grains rolling against each other. Locals claimed this was the sound of Sidian, a great reptile that was purported to live in these parts, just the sound of its voice could send a man insane.

The Gift of the Lost Boy found the sound restful, haunting even. A natural mantra that brought peace and clarity to its soul. And it needed that clarity. Needed it desperately. In its head it felt the mind of its Warrior stir and then settle again. Selah had taken nectar a few hours ago and would wake within the hour. Lost Boy would go to him then and then they would love again.

Not to produce nectar this time, no, this love, one of their daily rituals now, was for lust, Soldesha. Nothing more. The Gift of the Lost Boy had not realised how sexual it had been as a human boy, the gifting process had amplified the need present in the boy and now, as a Gift, it needed its Warrior, and needed him often.

Thankfully Selah thought the same. He often complained that as a warrior-stujair he had needed to replace his Tronc-ties twice as fast as the other warriors. Now though, now as a Gifted Warrior, he realised what he had put his Troncs through! Lost Boy kept him on the edge of a sexual frenzy that dominated his waking and sleeping hours.

The Gift smiled. Maybe with time this need it had for the body of its Warrior would fade, but until it did, he planned to get as much as it could from Selah, and as often as it could! And maybe it would never fade. That would be rich!

Funny that, it had always thought that it would be Lost Warrior who would be the sexual Gift. Lost Warrior though seemed to have settled into a kind of Soldevna, a spiritual love, with the Warrior Chedda. Oh, there was no doubt that they had a lot of Soldesha thrown into that mix, but they were much more circumspect than Lost Boy and Selah.

The Lost Clan, there was another story altogether! It had found its first and only true love, and that was clear just from looking at the Gift and its Warrior. They loved, physically and spiritually, but again their love was different from that of the Lost Boy and the Lost Warrior. Their love was a strength, a bonding that brought them closer together than a Warrior and a Gift had ever been. Both their personalities were subsumed into one love.

The Warrior Sadath even spoke like his Gift now, and the Lost Clan had an air of the Warrior about it, that had not been there before.

The Gifting had changed them all. Magnified some elements of their characters, created new ones and pushed some away altogether. The Lost Clan had grown into their leader, and this was so clearly the right thing that Lost Boy and Lost Warrior accepted it without question.

It was the way it was.

The Warriors had a book that guided them. Called the Boundaries of Law, it defined what it was to be a Warrior. The opening line, however, compressed the whole concept of Warriors into a simple phrase.

"I am Warrior." It said.

There was no need to say anymore.

With the Gifts of the Lost Clan, Lost Warrior and Lost Boy it was the same. They were not Warrior, but they were the Second Prime. That also defined everything about them in one phrase. They were the Right, to the Law of the Warriors.

But it was still early days and they still had a long way to go. Their first experiment had been a resounding success, though, and, later today, they would attempt the second. Bringing their Warriors into the m‚nage that was the Second Prime.

The Gift of the Lost Boy was excited about that. Developing the plans it had for its lusty Warrior might take up a large portion of its waking time, but the rest of that time was taken up by the Second Prime, the other great love of its life. Soldarna, the love of the family. And the Second Prime was its family. It knew that now.

Not long after the gifting, maybe a few days after they had left the Salars du Marsh, Lost Boy had been making its way from the rooms it and the other members of the Second Prime had been assigned in the Warrior Duartor in the north-east of the Palace of Sunsets. Selah and the other Warriors were working with the Master Warrior in the Faculty of Warriors on the north side of the College.

Lost Boy had gone to meet with Selah and the others in the mess for lunch, before they would retire for the afternoon. An afternoon, it remembered now, that had been filled with some harsh lovemaking. Selah had worked for his nectar that afternoon!

It had been a meal like any other. They were joking, Selah had one arm around Lost Boy's waist and Lost Boy had its tail, as usual, hanging from the back of his trousers by the talon. A hint of the sex that was to come. They had been joking about something and he remembered that Lost Clan was blushing, as it did often.

Its skin had flushed a beautiful shade that was almost as red as the skin of their Warriors. They had been laughing about that when Lost Boy had looked up and seen his father sitting across the mess with some other men and a few Warriors it didn't know.

It's father!

The last time Lost Boy had seen the man was back in the dom when they had been arguing about creds and Janah's studies. The man was smiling, not at the heart of the group, but involved in its conversations. The Gift was shocked. Not that he had seen the man, it knew that it would see him again eventually, it was shocked at how normally he acted.

He didn't look like a man who had sold his only child into tenure on a whim. Given his only son to the monster Taeda. Lost his only child to the Palace of Sunsets forever! What had the Palace told his father about Janah? The Gift doubted they would have told him that he was being Gifted. Had they told him he was dead, or taken as a permanent tie?

Had his father protested, tried to find him? Tried to buy him back? Demanded justice for Janah? Clearly not.

The fact that he was here in the mess with colleagues and Warriors showed that his life had not been changed by the loss of his only child. That Janah had, after all, been nothing more than a distraction to him. A bad investment that had made him some small return in the end.

The rest of the meal had passed in a blur. And, when they were alone, Lost Boy told Selah what had happened. Their sex had been fierce then. A battle in which they both fought the fathers who had abandoned them to their fates with no concern. Selah's release had been exhausting and, later, when the Gift had fed its nectar to Selah, the release had been equally explosive. Equally exhausting.

That was the moment Janah died.

It was the Gift of the Lost Boy now, and its family were Selah, the Gift of the Lost Clan and the Gift of the Lost Warrior, and Sadath, and Chedda. There was no need for anyone else in that.

And certainly no need for a human father.

The Gift of the Lost Boy chose a spot beneath a large Dagrum tree, still heavy with sweet yellow fruits. Some ties had placed some cushions here and a bowl of fruit, including, it noted, some Dagrum, had been placed to one side of the cushions in the shade. A stream of water ran in a raised bed straight from the tree along the centre of the courtyard to another tree, a Tamron, with long grey-brown fruits, at the other end of this courtyard.

The trees signified humanity. The gold of the Dagrum was spirit, the grey of the Tamron was body and the water was sentience, flowing between the two. The Garden represented the second prime, and that was why the Gift had chosen it for this exercise.

As the Lost Warrior had taught it, it completed the archetype and was now settled into an Evelsomai. It smiled at what the Lost Warrior would say about the cushions, but it made the whole experience more comfortable, and that was important. It opened its mind to the other two Gifts of the Second Prime. The link, when it came, was rapid, it rocked back as if the connection had been a physical one and not purely mental.

"That was tricks." Lost Boy thought as it felt the others come to it.

"As it should be." Lost Warrior said. "We know each other, we should be able to join easily."

"And the professor ratified our experiment." Lost Clan added. "So we do have a connection and not a construct within each of our minds."

"Good." Lost Boy laughed. "Because I would hate to think that I was just spinning you two from dust! I thought I would have better conversations!"

"If we were just figments of your imagination no doubt we would all be talking about your lust for Selah." Lost Warrior smiled.

"And what else would there be to note?" Lost Boy asked. "Lost Clan is still experimenting and you and Chedda are just too pure!"

"Enough!" Lost Clan laughed. "We need to merge into one. That is the point of today. One mind, three bodies."

"And then we can go get Selah?"

"Then we can go get Selah." Lost Clan agreed.

"Galaxia help us." Lost Warrior sighed.

"So which mantra do you have for us?" Lost Warrior asked.

"Something simple. The Soldier's Rejoice."

"Then we begin." Lost Warrior said.

Lost Boy recited the mantra with the others, its voice merging first with Lost Clan's then into Lost Warrior's. Words became sounds, became song, became an undulating wave of sound that pulled them into one collective being. Lost Boy could still feel itself, its own consciousness, but self did not work here. Self was like a finger, it was part of your body, but not the whole body.

"Like and ocean entering a drop of water."

The thought came to it and it knew it was one of Lost Clan's thoughts, but in this state, it had been its thought as well. It remembered reading the lines of text, even though it knew that as Lost Boy it had never opened that particular book, I Dreamed of Heaven, I saw a Human, in its life.

Selah had left a few hours ago for a small oasis in the hills to the north of the palace. It was a secluded place and also the place where Veria Daesa Loren, the great hermit philosopher, was said to have stayed while she pulled together the texts that would ultimately become Human or Human Est, one of the defining philosophies of the Second Realm. She had lived in a series of caves in the hills that overlooked the oasis. These had become a place of pilgrimage for many now, and a small community had arisen around the oasis, the Oasis Verian, devoted to the writings and the life of Veria. Selah would not be disturbing them today, instead he would meditate in the waters of the oasis itself.

"Selah?" The collected, concerted, minds of the Second Prime asked.

The Warrior relaxed and repeated the phrase the Professor had given him.

"And the Warrior will sit at the centre of the people. His deliberations become the deliberations of them all."

The Lost Boy knew from Selah's mind that this was a line from The Boundaries of Law. For some reason it pleased it that the Gift of the Lost Clan would not know the reference. It was then slightly annoyed when it realised that Lost clan did as Sadath had also been reading this text!

Selah was pulled into the mind link, made part of the concert. Lost Boy felt his Warrior, smiled at his strength and vitality. Laughed to itself at the discomfort this caused the Lost Warrior and the bemusement in the Lost Clan.

And then Chedda, quoting the words of the Master Warrior Fedash:

"And the third of the Five forces described in the Seven Laws of Mind Control is: cultivate the right seeds, like those of the Jurra. This gives us Hadge. Leave the bad seeds, like the seed of the Yamar, which brings forth only stinging leaves and burning sap."

He too was pulled into the mix. His strength became the strength of them all and Lost Boy smiled at how protective Lost Warrior became at the convergence of its Warrior. It wanted to speak to Lost Warrior, but there was no need. They were one thought now. Lost Warrior knew that, despite what it might say to the contrary, Lost Boy had eyes (and body) only for Selah.

So next to Sadath, the Warrior of the Gift of the Lost Clan.

"Every man and woman you meet, every tie and tenure, will have hopes and dreams which are written into their souls. We must give to these hopes and dreams the warmth of our understanding and the essence of our encouragement." He recited.

Words of the Warrior from the Book of Reasons by the Warrior Mencha. A work much loved by all Warriors. And, even as he recited his litany, Sadath was pulled into the concert. The Gift of the Lost Boy smiled at the sex between the Gifts and their Warriors. They might all approach their sex differently and with a different intensity, but they all made love to their Warriors and all made love as often now as they had done in the Salars du Marsh.

As they all, it seemed, planned to do for the rest of their lives.

Did other Gifts love like this? Was their need as physical as this? The concert could not imagine the Gift of the Sidian Deserts or the Gift of the Troubled Waters ever needing their Warriors just to penetrate them. Just to take them and give them their sex for nothing other than the desire to have sex. Was it even possible for other Gifts to lust?

Lost Boy wanted to ask, but found itself held back by the other two Gifts. And they were right. The Second Prime was as it was, the Second Prime. What other Gifts and their Warriors did was of no concern to them now.

The concert contacted the Professor.

His mind was a strange one, not like any other human on the planet. But then he was not from this planet, had not been engineered to survive this planet. Implants at the back of his trachea allowed him to breathe the atmosphere of Tare du Maretch, and an additional stomach, after the main stomach, allowed his body to process the metal-rich foods of this planet.

He acknowledged the concert just as it happened.

To Lost Boy it felt like a wind blew through his head. A blaze of heat, a gust of light, and then pain, pain that spread through its whole body. Exquisite, life-destroying, pain.

Instantly Lost Boy shielded the Warriors from this panic. It was clear immediately that Sadath was injured, had been caught in a blast, but all Lost Boy knew was Selah and Chedda. Lost Warrior had surrounded Sadath with an impenetrable wall of power and was willing its life into him. And through the Gift of the Lost Warrior, the life of all the Second Prime was willed into this man.

Lost Clan acted at once. The Professor had a network of satellites that allowed him to watch and move around the whole planet. These were called up and the whole convoy was transported from Midpoint Province to the Garden of Gifting back in Troubian. Every soldier, every tie, and the Warrior. A moment later and the world seemed to flicker around them all and they also appeared in the Garden of Gifting.

The Concert collapsed.

"Sadath!" The Gift of the Lost Clan screamed and it ran through the wreckage caused by the bomb.

Seconds later and The Gift of the Lost Boy and the Gift of the Lost Warrior were there as well. Lost Warrior moved as if in a daze, its mind was still wrapped around the life of Sadath. Still protecting the man. Lost Clan enveloped them both, physically as well as mentally. Lost Boy pulled the cart onto its wheels almost by itself and the Lost Warrior staggered as Lost Clan replaced it, wrapped around the body of its love, its life.

And then Lost Clan called to them. Its power danced around their power and their minds were wrapped up once more into one. The six of them vanished from the Garden, appeared in the Tank Room. A moment later and the Professor was there as well.

"What...?" He said, not understanding what had happened to bring him here.

His had always been a life of control, a life of manipulating the lives of others. That control had ended now. The rest of the Second Prime settled to the floor behind the Gift of the Lost Clan and the Warrior Sadath. Their minds enclosed the mind of their fallen comrade. Their bodies encompassed the body of Sadath. His life became theirs. Their life was his.

"You must save him!" The Gift of the Lost Clan shouted.

It held forward the battered body of Sadath, there were tears in its eyes, in all of their eyes.

"I... I am not sure how..." The Professor said, stepping forward to the Gift and the dying Warrior. "He is badly injured." He added more firmly.

"No!" The concert screamed through the mouth of the Gift of the Lost Clan.

The sound had a force, a presence that knocked the Professor backwards. In that moment he realised the power of the Second Prime.

"Save him." The Concert told him.

"I... I cannot... he is too injured..." The Professor replied, and there was fear in his face now.

"Look at me!" The Concert ordered.

And the Professor had no choice but to look into the face of the Gift of the Lost Clan. His mind looked into the mind of the Concert and he realised the authority that lay there. There would be no resisting anything the concert demanded of him.

"This is not a request." The Concert told him. "You will save my Warrior. Now!"

And this time the Professor was physically pushed to the floor by the command. The Concert leapt into his mind as he stumbled. Took advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration. The workings of the Tower became something they all understood. Commands were issued, thought commands to machines that had been previously keyed only to the thought patterns of the Professor.

Machines rumbled into life. Processes started. Fluids began to flow. Chemicals began to mix. The Professor tried to lock them out, but they pushed him to one side. They no longer needed his influence. No longer needed his involvement.

"I... can.. do this.. faster!" The Professor whispered, and the Concert released his mind.

"Help us!" It ordered.

"I will help." the Professor said, and the Concert pulled him into its heart, made it part of their glory.

He merged with the Second Prime.

"How is he?" The Gift of the Lost Boy asked as it came into the room and settled into a chair next to the tank.

It filled one end of the room. Currently lit with a bright blue light, it cast the room with an ethereal glow. The body of the Warrior Sadath floating in the middle of the tank made the whole thing look other-worldly.

"He is recovering." The Gift of the Lost Clan replied, looking up from its desk and then over to the tank. "It will take time, up to three months according to the Professor, but he will recover."

Sadath had been placed into a tank almost immediately after the accident. There were several of these rooms around the Tower of Gifting, designed just for this purpose, to assist a Warrior with his recovery. None of the tanks though, had ever had to deal with a body as damaged as that of the Warrior Sadath.

The tank that held Sadath was attached to a suite of rooms and the three Gifts and their Warriors had moved into them straight after the attack. The tank room had become their centre of operations. Each of them had desks here. Each of them could monitor the tank. Sadath was never alone, one of the Gifts was always working in this room.

Currently this was the Lost Clan, but Lost Boy was bored and had wandered in to see its friends.

"Good." Lost Boy smiled. "We need him. You are not the same without him to wrap you up!"

"I know!" Lost Clan laughed. "I've known him for such a short time and he has become so integrated into my soul!"

"And he will again." Lost Boy smiled. "Besides, imagine what the sex will be like when he gets out of here! You two are going to be back in the Salars for another week of loving, lom!"

"There is that." Lost Clan smiled, then blushed. "Lost Warrior is with Troubled Waters and the Master Warrior?"

"Yes. Lost Warrior is presenting our findings to them. This needs to be played delicately, lom! One slip and everything will fall down."

"I know." Lost Clan sighed. "Which is why Lost Warrior is presenting the findings. He knows the systems, comes from inside them. You and I would mess this up!"

"Jen." Lost Boy said.

It stood and wandered over to the tank, put its hand to the glass, then rested its head on the cold surface.

"I held him in my head, you know." Lost Clan said, turning and looking over its shoulder at the Gift of the Lost Clan. "During the concert, when we were with the Professor. I had his mind in mine. He is a good man, jen? And a strong one."

"I understand." Lost Clan said coming over to its friend and slipping arm around its waist.

Their tails wrapped around each other.

"He loves you." Lost Clan said. "I know that's obvious!" It laughed, "But to feel it like that... He was happy to die for you! That is rich, lom!"

"But he will not die." Lost Clan said. "Not now."

"How can you be so calm?" Lost Boy asked. "I would be down at the Palace of the Green Forest now, demanding retribution and blood!"

"It is better this way." Lost Clan sighed, slipping into one of the big chairs at the edge of the tank. "This way we play by the rules of the Palace."

"Jax rules!" Lost Boy said, coming over and pulling Lost Clan out of the chair.

It spun the Gift around so it was looking into the tank, at the body of its Warrior floating in the life-giving, life-preserving, matrix.

"Palace rules caused that to happen!" Lost Boy shouted. "This is what their Jax games mean in reality, Lost Clan! People have died, good people! And we almost lost him too! If we were not in concert when the blast was triggered, if we were still preparing, or not planning it that day..."

"I know!" Lost Clan said, turning back around to face Lost Boy. "What would you have me do?"

"Get down to the Green Forest and rip out Sidian Desert's heart! Feed it to his Jax Warrior!" Lost Boy said. "Judge them! They tried to kill your Warrior!"

"And what would that achieve?" Lost Clan asked, falling back into the chair and putting its head into its hands. "We would stir up such hatred among the rest of the Gifts." Lost Clan added. "We would force the Gifts to choose sides, create a schism that would see the Second Realm collapse into civil war!"

"And by doing nothing, letting this apathy float?" Lost Boy asked, falling to its knees in front of Lost Clan and taking its head in its hands. "What does this give?" It asked more gently?

"We expose The Gift of the Sidian Deserts, isolate it. All Gifts will know its treachery. Many will understand why Sidian Deserts did what it did, but they will not be able to stand with it. This is a game of politics now. We will isolate Sidian Deserts and the Warrior Graescin within the Gift community. It will lose rank and status. The Warrior Graescin will fall from favour. All his rulings will be re-visited and he will be judged lacking as a result."

"But if you do not kill them both you will create a focus for any dissent against us!" Lost Boy said standing up and pacing the room.

"Gifts do not kill Gifts." Lost Clan said. "That is a mantra which will be heard often in these halls, you watch. You are not alone in the way you think, my friend, but I will be gracious. I will hold my anger. More Gifts will side with us over this."

"And those that do not?"

"We were never going to do this with everyone's backing." Lost Clan said. "There has to be dissent, must be an opposition. It helps us justify and formulate our plans."

"That's where we are different." Lost Boy laughed. "You, you look at an event and read its decision-paths into the future. Understand all the routes that are available. Me, I live now."

"Which is why the Second Prime has need of us both." Lost Clan said. "We balance each other."

"We do at that." Lost Boy sighed. "Is the other tank ready?"

"It is ready." Lost Clan said. "You want to do this?"

"Oh yes." Lost Boy said, and there was steel in its voice. "I have waited a long time for this."

"There would be some who see this as worse than what the Gift of the Sidian Deserts attempted to do to me, jen?"

"Jen. But it shows that there is intent behind our judgements." Lost Boy said. "As long as you and the Lost Warrior are with me on this."

"We are with you. The concert ensured that. We hate him for the same reasons you do now."

"Good. As soon as the Lost Warrior has finished with the Gift of the Troubled Waters and the Master warrior he will return here. Then Selah and Chedda will go and read the charges to Taeda in his office and pronounce judgement."

"And the chef?"

"He is being dealt with now. Selah is with him. Judgement has already been passed, I would think."

"And the length of his tenure?"

"Three years." Lost Boy said. "I would have gone for longer, but Selah can be quite persuasive, it seems!"

"You fought for it?"

"I let him win." Lost Boy laughed. "The poor Warrior has to believe he can best me occasionally!"

"Jen!" Lost Clan smiled. "There, you made me smile, thank you!"

"My pleasure."

"Now, go get ready for Taeda Gheran Japuth."

"And that will be my pleasure as well." Lost Boy laughed as it skipped out of the room.

"Help me!" The voice screamed.

It was Taeda.

He was chained to a metal table, naked, in a room whose size was hidden to him. Lights shone down on him and his table only, the rest of the room was in darkness.

He had been here for an hour now. Toxed by the Warriors after they had burst into his office and passed judgement on him. He had regained consciousness tied to this table, alone within a puddle of light in a sea of darkness.

"Help me!" He screamed again.

"It crossed my mind whether I should allow you your voice or not." A voice suddenly said.

It was full of music and sounded like several people were singing at once. Taeda turned to face the voice, the owner was still on the other side of the curtain of darkness.

"According to some of your victims you denied them even the right to cry out." The voice added.

"They were ties!" Taeda shouted. "Nothing more than meat waiting to be processed!"

"This is why you have been judged Taeda Gheran Japuth." The voice said.

A Gift stepped out of the darkness and into the circle of light. It was standing at the foot of the table. There was something in its hands but Taeda could not see it.

"Even now, when your crimes have been unmasked, you remain unrepentant."

The Gift began to walk slowly up the bed. The creature was beautiful, its skin glowing brighter than Taeda had ever seen a Gift glow before. Its harness appeared to be made from the finest doush, and gold and platinum chains ringed its body and stretched between its tail and the back-piece of the harness. Making its tail look as if it were framing a harp.

"Do what you will to me!" Taeda spat as the creature moved up the table.

"Brave words." The Gift whispered. "What is my name, Taeda?"

It stopped by Taeda's head. Whatever it was carrying was held below the level of the table and out of Taeda's line of sight.

"What?" Taeda spluttered. "I don't know your name! You are a Gift!"

"Well noted." The Gift smiled. "And so to your punishment." The Gift said, stepping up to and through the curtain of darkness at the edge of the table. "You raped countless ties, Taeda, but that is not the crime that brings you here. They were, as you so rightly observed, ties after all. No, what brings you here are the five ties, Toreau-ties, that you had killed for your pleasure. We know there were more, but only five can be attributed to you."

"Meat!" Taeda shouted. "All ties are just meat for the rest of us!"

"Yes." The Gift acknowledged. "Yes, you are right, but there is a time and a place for their processing. Ties can buy themselves out of their bonding early. Ties can be released by their owners early. You took those chances away from the five ties you killed for their meat, Taeda. And you killed them before they were beef. That is also a crime."

"Help me!" Taeda shouted, and the Gift laughed.

Lights blazed around the room and Taeda was blinded for a moment by their brilliance. It was a long room, he noticed. The end was still in darkness, but the Gift stood a short way from the table against a bank of machines that it now pulled over to the bed and powered up.

"This, by the way..." The Gift said as lights lit up another part of the room. "Is Nosom. I believe you know him. Until recently he was employed as a Chef in the Palace of Sunsets. He has been judged as well, Taeda and now serves a three year tenure in the Palace of Sunsets. He still cooks for the Palace, you understand, we just own him now."

Taeda said nothing, instead he was struggling against his bonds. Sweat was standing out on his forehead now.

"There we go." The Gift said, turning and facing Taeda.

It reached behind the bank of machinery and pulled out the object it had been carrying earlier. It held it up as it came over to the table and Taeda tried to struggle more, and with more determination.

"Ah." The Gift smiled, as it ran the head of the metal device along Taeda's body, from his groin to his neck and back again. "I see you recognise the Sercsaysur. Such a pretty name for something so completely and utterly destructive, don't you think?" The Gift asked.

It put the metal device down on the bed next to Taeda while it turned back to the bank of machines.

"I wanted to tell you how it works, what it is designed to do... but then you know that already don't you? This is what you used on all those ties you killed, isn't it? This is what you used to remove their gonads and quills isn't it?"

It turned back to Taeda and injected something into his belly.

"Don't worry, it's not an anaesthetic." The Gift smiled. "It thickens the blood in this area, makes it easier to stem the flow... after."

It picked up the Sercsaysur and pulled the handle at the end that opened the circular blades of the device. They slid open with a metallic 'snick'.

"Tell me my name." The Gift said.

"Jax!" Taeda screamed. "Jax to your name! Help me!" He screamed, and in the corner, tethered in place by his neck brace, Nosom whimpered as he watched the two of them.

"Let me tell you what will happen now, Taeda." The Gift said, its head hovering inches from the struggling man's. "I am going to remove your gonads and quill, and Nosom over there is going to prepare them for you. Do you know what he is going to cook?"

"Jax!" Taeda screamed again, his struggles intensifying.

"I see you do." The Gift of the Lost Boy said as it reached down and pulled Taeda's quill and gonads through the centre of the circular blades. "Mala Jensha." It smiled. "I believe it is one of your favourites. An indulgence, I think you called it, Taeda. Mala Jensha du Garso. Although in your case it will be Mala Jensha du Lom. But you understand what I am trying to do here, jen?"

"Leave me alone!" Taeda screamed, the chords in his neck standing out as he struggled against his restraints.

"Do you know, I think I screamed that out as well." Lost Boy said. "Only you had my throat toxed so there were no sounds!"

Taeda screamed in agony as the Gift depressed the handles that brought the circular blades together. He carried on screaming as the Gift dropped his gonads and quill into a bowl and then attached one of the machines to his groin.

"Sadly this will take away the pain you are feeling." The Gift sighed as it took the bowl over to Nosom in the corner. "Prepare these." It told the man, releasing him from his neck brace.

Lost Boy turned and walked back to Taeda.

"Actually." It whispered, leaning over Taeda who was crying now and still fighting the bonds, trying to turn his head away from the Gift in front of him. "Actually." Lost boy said reaching over and pulling Taeda's face back towards him. "There isn't time to make the whole Mala Jensha. So we are improvising. You will eat it, though."

"You are insane!" Taeda spat.

"Am I?" Lost Boy laughed as it stepped back and inspected the work the machines were carrying out on Taeda's groin. "No, I am not insane. You may be by the end of all of this, but I am very, very, sane. Do not ever forget that Taeda. Oh, I have something to show you while we are waiting for Nosom."

It looked over at the end of the room and the lights came on, revealing a large glass tank.

"You probably haven't seen one of these before. It's called a Resurrection Tank. We use it to rebuild Warriors who are hurt in battle. It is said they can remake an entire Warrior from a few cells. I don't think the technology is that advanced yet, but then I don't need it to rebuild a whole man, do I, Taeda?"

Taeda was struggling again, fighting the restraints that kept him locked to the bed.

"Not talking? And you were so talkative back then, Taeda. So eager to tell me everything that was happening to me. That you were going to do to me. Oh well. After your meal tonight, I am having you placed into that tank. I have calculated it will take about a month for it to re-grow your genitals, Taeda. They won't be fully operational in that time, but they will be there and, after all, that is all we need don't we?"

"What... are... you talk...ing about?" Taeda said as he struggled against the bonds.

"You killed five ties, Taeda. Five lives taken for a perverted fetish of yours. Your punishment is to have your gonads and quill removed and made into a Mala, five times. How sweet? The punishment is very nearly matching your crime. This is the justice of the Warriors in action, Taeda."

"You cannot do this!" Taeda screamed. "Help me!"

"But I am doing it." The Gift of the Lost Boy spat. "If I had my way I would be doing it to you every few months for the rest of your putrid life!"

"Help me!" Taeda screamed.

The Gift grabbed his head and a power the likes of which Taeda had never felt pushed into his mind. Pushed him into a corner of his own consciousness.

"Listen to me!" The Gift shouted into Taeda's head. "You will suffer and you will suffer and you will suffer some more, Taeda! And even then, even at the end when you are a gibbering wreck of a man, even then I will not forget what you did to me!"

The Gift dropped Taeda's head back onto the table.

"Tell me my name!" It shouted out loud spittle from the Gift splattering Taeda's face.

"Janah!" Taeda screamed. "Your name is Janah!"

Over in the corner Nosom whimpered and the Gift looked over at him.

"Good." It said. "It looks like dinner is almost ready, Taeda."

"Hey!" Selah laughed as the Gift of the Lost Boy suddenly span around and grabbed him by the waist, lifting him off the floor and unceremoniously dumping him on the bed. "You can just ask, jen? It's not as if I'm going to say no, is it?"

"I like it this way." The Gift said as it straddled him on the bed.

It leant forward and pulled him into a kiss, one hand behind his head holding him in place while the other undid and then pulled the belt away from his trousers.

"And you are expecting me to lie here all fallow?" Selah smiled.

"Jen." The Gift smiled, kissing him again then letting him drop to the bed. It reached over and licked, kissed and bit both of his nipples.

"Ow!" Selah laughed. "When do I get to bite?"

"When you jump me first." Lost Boy smiled, biting and licking its way down his chest and belly.

Hands pulled the front of the trousers apart and slipped them over his backside. Selah kicked them off and the Lost Boy took his quill straight into its mouth. The Gift was sitting back in a squat and it pulled the Warrior up so he was resting on its thighs. One hand was around the Warrior's back, letting him lean back at an angle to the Gift. The other was wrapped around his balls, while its mouth was pumping his quill.

"Ah... a little... ah!... urgent!" Selah managed to say as the Gift's tail slipped between the Gift's legs and began pushing against his backside.

"I put Taeda into the tank earlier." The Gift said, pulling off from his very erect quill and looking up into his eyes. "Now I need this."

"I can tell... ah!" Selah said as the Gift's tail pushed deep into him and began toxing him into pleasure as it ran its talon back and forth over his prostate.

The Gift smiled and settled back down onto its lover. It began taking the Warrior's quill deep into its throat, timing the motions of its mouth with those of its tail. Selah just gasped as the Gift brought him up to a release, and he exploded into the Gift's mouth, again and again.

"My nectar." The Gift smiled as it took the last of it from him and settled him back onto the bed.

It leant forward and kissed him and Selah pulled it into a hug.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I know." The Gift smiled as it slipped forward and helped the Warrior guide his still erect Quill into its Prostatae. "And that's why I love you so much."

The Gift began rocking up and down on the Warrior, its tail still pushing into and out of him. It loved the feel of the Warrior inside its body, loved the feel of its tail inside Selah's body. This mutual joining had become a common feature of their lovemaking now and they spent many a night falling asleep in each others' arms like this.

It would take longer to bring the Warrior to a release now that it had taken him once already, but the Gift enjoyed that. It gave it time to relax into the Warrior, work the strains of the day out of its system.

"You... you did everything to Taeda... then?" Selah asked as he wrapped his arms around the Gift's hips and began helping it rise and fall on his quill.

"Everything." The Gift answered, eyes closed as it relaxed into the Warrior's body. "Does that worry you?"

"No." Selah answered. "I was there... too." He added. "Those memories... are... mine as well... now."

"I wanted to kill him!" The Gift cried, tears rolling down its face.

"Hey!" Selah said, reaching up and wiping the tears from the Gift's eyes. "You could have, I'm pretty sure the tank would have brought him back if you got him in there fast enough."

"But it is not him I really want to kill! I was with the Lost Clan earlier, in the tank room with Sadath. I wanted to take my anger at Sidian Deserts out on Taeda. What if that had been you?" The Gift asked and its tears flowed even more. "The Gift of the Lost Clan says that Gifts do not kill Gifts, but I don't have its understanding or culture. If Sidian Deserts had done that to you It would be dead now."

"But Graescin would kill you then...." Selah said.

"With you gone my life is nothing." Lost Clan said as it pulled him into another long kiss.

"I under...stand." Selah replied after a while. "The Gift of the Sidian Deserts and the Warrior Graescin have been summoned here, I assume?"

"They will appear before the Master Warrior Fedash tomorrow." The Gift sighed.

"And then?"

"Troubled Waters wanted to imprison them, but Lost Clan pleaded for that not to happen."

"Why... ah!?" Selah said as the Lost Boy began to rock faster on him.

"It wants to keep them both here, in the Palace of Sunsets, where it can see them both and watch them."

"Which means what?"

"Lost Warrior and Chedda will leave for the Palace of the Green Forest tomorrow."

"And complete the work?"

"It will be the ultimate failure for Sidian Deserts." The Gift explained. "All of its work will be as nothing compared to that which the Lost Warrior does on behalf of the Second Prime. We will be seen as the Victor, not Sidian Deserts and the Warrior Graescin."

Selah just smiled as the Gift continued rolling across his quill, its tail still stroking its way across his prostate.

"I..." He began, but he exploded into the Gift before he had a chance to finish.

When it was over, he pulled the Gift into a hug. It was late and he would lay here with the Gift through all of its ecstasy.

"Kiss me." The Gift of the Lost Clan sighed.

Selah leaned over and pulled its love into a kiss. When he was done the Gift had slipped into it ecstasy and he held the creature close to him.

"Professor?"

"I am here." The Professor said as he stepped around the tank.

The Gift of the Lost Clan stood before him. It looked as if it had shrunk since its Warrior had been caught in the bomb blast. As if it had given too much of its life to the Warrior. "You look tired." The Professor said as he walked up the hall to his laboratory with the Gift following.

"There is much that needs to be done."

"But you cannot do it all."

"And I do not."

The professor sat down at a table and poured two glasses of ice cold water. He passed one across to the Gift who sat down opposite him.

"Thank you." Lost Clan said as it accepted the glass and took some of the water. "The new Gifts will emerge on time?"

"They will emerge on time." The Professor said.

"I would have you release a fourth."

"Why, there are only six warrior-stujair fighting in the next Silver March."

"This Gift will not be gifted to a Warrior."

"Gifts are not currency!" The Professor said, standing up. "I thought I had explained that to you. They are designed to enhance a Warrior, they should not be given to a mere human."

"We were not considering gifting a mere human." Lost Clan smiled.

"Then who? You are not planning to merge the Prince of Princes with a Gift are you?"

"No!" The Gift laughed. "As much as that would be interesting, the physiology is all wrong. The Prince of Princes is female."

"Yes." The Professor said finishing the water in his glass. "Then who would you gift?"

"We would gift you, professor."

"Me?" He laughed then. "Why would you gift me?"

"Since our emergence, we have not been kind to you. We took the control of this tower from you. We moved in, changed your schedules. Create demands on your staff and ties that do not sit easy with either them or you."

"But gifting me would not resolve that."

"No, it would not. It would, though, keep you here."

"What do you mean? I am not planning on going anywhere."

"Not yet, maybe. But I saw into your mind when you joined the concert, Professor. You fled to this planet to escape persecution elsewhere in the galaxy, and now you fear that through us that persecution will begin again."

"You do not need me now." The Professor said. "You took the knowledge of this place from me. You know as much about running the Tower of Gifting now as I do."

"And we do, but that is not our intent. And yes," It added. "I could take from your mind the intricacies of genetic manipulation if I wished. But I do not want, or need, to do that either. You are the scientist and the artist here, professor. You always will be that."

"Then what do you want from me? And how will a Gift help that?"

"We need you, professor. Your vision is our vision. Your plans, human as they may be, are our plans. I do not want you to slip away while we do your bidding." It looked up at the Professor and smiled. "How old are you, Professor?"

"Hah!" The man smiled. "I am older than this society."

"Older than many, I would think." The Lost Clan said. "What is your name?"

"My first name?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I am not sure I remember." He said. "The regenerations, especially in the early days when I was still perfecting the technology. They were harshest on memory."

"Isn't it time you belonged again?"

"I belong here." The Professor laughed. "I created most of it!"

"And yet you are still so... Reference." Lost Clan smiled. "You have implants in your trachea to help you breathe, a second stomach to help you eat. Your eyes are permanently coated to protect from the UV light from the sun. You cannot leave this Tower without wearing a skinsuit to protect you from the light and the atmosphere... you do not belong here."

"I never meant to stay." The Professor sighed. "A few years, that was all. I was to create a breeding programme for General Ghen. And then... then ... he was a very seductive man!"

"I always wondered why he never took a Gift." Lost Clan said. "He had the Gift Master, didn't he?"

"We became lovers." The Professor smiled. "And in our image we created the Gifts and their Warriors. And then the fool started to believe his own mythology! He would not let me help him, not let me rejuvenate him... he wanted to die a hero!"

The Professor put his head in his hands and rested his elbows on the table.

"Even now." He whispered. "Even after four hundred and thirty-one years, I still miss him. Every day I miss him!"

"And the loss I feel can only ever be a shadow of that loss." Lost Clan sighed.

"If I take a Gift." The Professor said after a while. "I will become part of this place."

"It is not a bad place to live."

"No. It is beautiful." The Professor agreed. "That is partly why I stay. Tare du Maretch it reminds me of... another place." He smiled.

"The One World, I know, I can see it in your mind. It is beautiful as well?"

"You would not believe how beautiful." The Professor whispered. "Every other planet we inhabit, none of them can compare to that."

"And we can never return."

"No. The Human Concorde sees to that. The One World is the genetic inheritance of all mankind." He quoted. "And as such it will be preserved for all mankind, including those yet to be born."

"And what good has it done?" The Gift asked the Professor. "What is humanity if we can never go home?"

"We are lost. Adrift in the galaxy."

"Then take a Gift." Lost Clan said. "Join us, Professor."

"I still don't understand." The Professor said. "How will a Gift help me?"

"It will heal your heart, Professor, and you will need that if you are to help us achieve our ultimate goal."

"Which is?"

"We are going home, Professor. We are all going home."

"Oh hello." The Gift said, it stood over the man and stared into his face. "Welcome back, Taeda. Episode two is about to begin."

The Gift laughed and wandered out of Taeda's line of sight.

"Why don't you just kill me?" He whispered, the Matrix still raw in his throat.

"You ask that as if you believe you actually have a choice in the matter." Lost Boy laughed. "You have no choices here, Taeda. All your decisions ended when you decided to take the lives of those ties."

"They were meat!"

"No!" Lost Boy shouted, whirling around to face Taeda again.

The man flinched as the Gift pushed its face up to his.

"They were human!"

It turned back to the machinery at the side of the bed and then turned back to face him, smiling and leaning against the bench that held the now whirring machinery.

"So, for this little outing." The Gift said, "I thought I would share the pleasure of your predicament. Nosom is still here." The Gift added as the lights came up and Taeda saw the man tied to a far post by his neck brace.

He had lost weight and did not look well.

"What have you done to him?" Taeda asked.

"Oh, Taeda." The Gift laughed. "Could it be possible that you actually care for another human? You are worried for Nosom? Galaxia bless you, Taeda. He is not taking to the life of a tenure very well. Before all this he had such a life of ease. Good food, good wine, lusty sex, you know the thing! Now, now he works for the Palace. When he is awake he works, when he stops work he sleeps. In three years I would imagine he will be the healthiest he has ever been!"

The Gift laughed and came over to Taeda with a needle and injected him around his groin.

"You want me to explain this again?" It asked. "Or are you happy with the explanation from last time?"

Taeda just ignored the Gift and began straining at his bonds again.

"Now, for this act, I thought I would bring in an assistant. I would like you to meet Benar, Taeda. Do you remember him?"

A young tie came over to Taeda's head and smiled down at him. He held the Sercsaysur in his hand, blades already open.

"You were very harsh with young Benar, Taeda. Do you remember?" The Gift asked. "He was locked in your little room for three days before you released him. Three days of abuse at your hands! It has made him a little... ruthless, I fear. Benar, over to you."

The Tie said nothing, just spat in Taeda's face, then slipped the Sercsaysur over Taeda's genitals.

"I am ready, Pahtron." Benar said.

"So I can see. Well, do what you have to do." The Gift said.

Benar pulled the handle and Taeda screamed out in agony as the blades sliced through his body once again.

"Doesn't get any easier then." The Gift smiled as it passed Benar a bowl and attached the machine to Taeda's groin. "Good." It added. "So, Nosom, over to you. Well done Benar."

"I want to eat this." Benar said as it shook the bowl.

"And so you will. I will have Nosom prepare something special for you, what about Vischy La Doren? You are from the Jaskin region, I believe."

"That would be perfect, Pahtron."

The Gift laughed as it released Nosom from his brace and handed him the bowl.

"Cook." The Gift ordered. "Use one of the gonads for a Vischy and see Benar here receives it."

"Yes, Pahtron." Nosom replied.

"Good. So, Benar, you may leave, we will meet again soon, I think."

"Thank you, Pahtron." Benar smiled and he hugged the Gift before leaving the room.

The Gift wandered back over to Taeda and pulled up a chair next to the man. He was sweating now and struggling against the bonds.

"Kill me!" He whispered through clenched teeth.

"I don't think so." The Gift of the Lost Boy said. "This is just round two, Taeda. We have three more of these to go yet! Now, while Nosom prepares your meal, what shall we talk about?"

"I should have let my Warrior kill you in that barn!" The Gift of the Sidian Deserts spat as it paced the room.

"But you did not." The Gift of the Lost Clan replied.

It sat in a chair against one wall of the room. Another was placed opposite it.

"And the reasons you chose to keep me alive then still hold true now, jen?"

"Jen." Sidian Deserts sighed as it fell into the chair and sipped the water on the table next to it. "It was not meant to happen like that." The Gift said, and when it looked up there were tears in its eyes. "I was confused. I believe we need something like the Second Prime to move us out of stagnation, but I also believe that there are other options available..."

"So why bomb the cavalcade?"

"Graescin was also worried that you would make inroads where he was failing. Your Warrior, Sadath, he is a charming man. People listen to him, want to listen to him! That worries Graescin and, therefore, it worries me. We have worked so hard here!"

"And the bomb?"

"Was meant to look like a Tivian attack." Sidian Deserts said.

Its tail reached out to Lost Clan and the other Gift wrapped its tail around it. Both tails settled to the floor.

"I never thought that Sadath would ride at the front of the cavalcade!" Sidian Deserts said. "You have to believe me, Lost Clan, I did not mean for him to be caught in the explosion!"

"No." Lost Clan said. "I can see that."

They were silent for a moment, then the Gift of the Sidian Deserts looked up.

"What will you do with me, with us?"

"There are some here who would have you imprisoned, you know that?"

"I can sense it."

"Others believe that you acted rashly but that the Second Prime needs to be contained, controlled. They may not agree with your actions, but they agree with your intent."

"I feel that too."

"We are at a crossroads, here." Lost Clan said. "We can maintain the status quo or we can put our differences aside and move forward."

"But we are reaching for different goals." Sidian Deserts said. "You want to save humanity, rejuvenate the species. I want to rule it!"

"The two goals do not have to be exclusive." Lost Clan said. "Whatever happens, we have to shake up the civilisations of mankind. We will bring war to the galaxy."

"I can see that."

"Good. Then there are some things we need to agree, you and me. I speak for the Second Prime and the younger Gifts, you speak for the older Gifts. Between us we need to bring order out of this before it collapses into chaos. Jen?"

"Jen."

"We need to overhaul the politics of this planet, of the Second Realm. Will you give that to me?"

"If I say no?"

"I do not want to force your hand, Sidian Deserts. But I will, and I will win."

"I understand." Sidian Deserts sighed. "If you take the planet, what remains for me and my Warrior?"

"It is time we extended the Boundary of the Law beyond Tare du Maretch, Sidian Deserts. Above us orbit vast ore processing fleets. Beyond them are storage facilities on the two moons and other mining operations on other moons and planets in this system. As many people as live and work on Tare du Maretch work in the Maretch system."

"You want my Warrior and me to tame these places?"

"You would not be able to do it on your own, despite the strength of the Warrior Graescin. But yes, I want you to head up the emergence of Law. We cannot bring change to the rest of humanity if we do not first change and control our own planetary system."

"It would be an exile for me and Graescin?"

"Of a sorts." Lost Clan agreed. "You would be allowed back to the Palaces, but nowhere else on the planet until we both agree the correct amount of time has passed."

"And you would not interfere in our work there..." Sidian Deserts said, pointing up to the ceiling.

"I, nor any member of the Second Prime, would interfere."

"I tire of this life, sometimes." Sidian Deserts said. "I have lived so long, Lost Clan. You would think that would bring with it greater understanding or a deeper fulfilment. It does not. I am always so frustrated by what I see, so angered by what happens around me."

"Then you would welcome this change?"

"We would both welcome this chance."

"Then we need to speak with the Master of Technologies at the Palace of Sunrises and begin arranging for your transition to planetary orbit."

"Thank you." Sidian Deserts said. "I feel that some members of the Second Prime would not be as understanding as you are."

"I have taken their advice." Lost Clan said. "And they accept and respect my decisions."

"What is it like, the Second Prime?" Sidian Deserts asked. "I felt it when you merged, we all did. What is it like to be a part of that all of the time?"

"You would not believe how wonderful it is." Lost Clan said. "I owe my sanity to the link we share. With Sadath in the tank..."

"I understand. And I will forever be sorry for that, you believe me?"

"I believe you."

Taeda regained consciousness. He was not tied to a bed this time. Instead his hands and feet were tied to a frame that seemed to stretch around him. He was hanging in an upright position. The room was in darkness again and he could see nothing of his surroundings.

"I know you are awake." The voice said.

It was the voice of the Gift that had been the tie Janah. The voice that haunted his nightmares now. He chose not to speak.

The lights came up slowly and Taeda saw the Gift sitting in a chair opposite him. The machinery was placed next to it and Nosom was chained once more to a pillar behind the Gift. He looked around at what held him then whimpered and began struggling.

He was tied into a processing wheel!

"I thought I would show you what it feels like to be locked into one of these things." The Gift said standing up and walking up to Taeda.

It had the Sercsaysur dangling in one hand, scraping on the floor. The blades were in the open position. The Gift came up to the metal wheel that contained him, held him in place.

"Such a simple structure." The Gift whispered, running its free hand around the large metal wheel. "And so precise in its design and function. Don't you think?"

"If you are going to kill me, then do it!" Taeda barked.

The Gift laughed.

"You are not ready to die just yet, Taeda." It said. "I wanted to show you what it feels like to be put into one of these things. To know that there is no escape, that in a moment the blades will strike and your head will be severed from your body. That your body will be given to feed the rest of us. Did you enjoy that feeling, Taeda?"

Taeda did not answer, he just hung there in the centre of the great wheel, body stretched out into a cross by the clamps at his ankles and wrists.

"I can only hope that the ties you put into the processing wheels in the kitchens had the mercy of tox before they died, Taeda. You did accord them that one last gift?"

Taeda did not speak and instead just stared at the Gift. It walked over to him and looked into his eyes.

"You will answer me." It whispered.

It felt as if a knife ripped into Taeda's head. He screamed in agony at the pain, blood began to run from his nose and behind the Gift, Nosom began to whimper and struggle against his neck brace.

"They were toxed!" Taeda screamed.

The pain stopped.

"It is better to comply." The Gift said walking over to the machines and coaxing them into life.

It pulled the bank closer to the processing wheel.

"I did consider bringing another of your victims here today, but there are so many of them, Taeda, that I would have to keep you alive for another year just to please them all! So, in the end, Benar represented them all. He enjoyed the Vischy, by the way. Can't stand the dish personally, but he comes from Jaskin. They eat dark things there!"

The Gift laughed and then turned back to Taeda.

"Ready, then?" It asked, bringing the Sercsaysur over to Taeda and slipping it over his quill and balls.

"Do it!" Taeda shouted at it. "Do it!"

"Very well." The Gift of the Lost Boy said.

It pulled the handle and the blades snapped shut. Taeda screamed in agony as his quill and balls fell into the bowl the Gift held out. It went over and passed this to Nosom, releasing him to his duties, before it returned and attached the machine to Taeda.

Taeda had collapsed in the Processing Wheel. Where before he had held himself upright, now he slumped forward, his shoulders taking the weight of his body. He cried out and whimpered as the machine began its work on his groin. Sealing the wound and stopping the blood flow.

"In a way I was hoping your heart would give out or something during all of this." The Gift sighed as it sat back down in the chair opposite Taeda. "You are made of stronger stuff, it would seem."

It was silent for a while as it watched Taeda struggling against his bonds. Behind it, it could hear the sounds of Nosom preparing the meal.

"Kill me!" Taeda whispered, and there was no defiance in his voice now. "I am sorry for them for... what I did to them!" He winced in pain and breathed heavily for a while before he spoke again. "This will not bring them back! It serves nothing! Kill me!"

"No." The Gift replied. "I had thought I would tire of this, jen? But I do not. Every time I see you, I want to do this to you again and again. I promised you that you would suffer, Taeda. You will suffer. If this punishment will not bring back your victims, then neither will your apology."

"Kill me!" Taeda shouted, looking straight into the eyes of the Gift.

It laughed.

"Kill me!" He screamed, struggling violently, trying to rock the wheel over.

The Gift just sat there, staring at him with unblinking, inhuman eyes.

"Why do you do this to me?" He whispered, falling back into a slouch, his shoulders once more taking the strain and the weight of his body.

"You ask me to kill you, Taeda." The Gift said. "I give to you the same response you gave to those ties you murdered when they begged you for their lives. I choose to ignore your begging."

"I have learned my lesson." Taeda whispered.

"Hah!" The Gift laughed standing up and walking back to Taeda.

It reached out and pulled his head up so they were looking at each other eye to eye.

"I am not doing this to teach you anything, Taeda!" It laughed. "You were judged to die, Taeda, and this is what I am doing. Although I choose not to kill you quickly. I am killing you slowly, and each time we go through this I kill a little more of you. Murder destroys two human lives, Taeda. The life you take and your own life. You are no longer human, no longer on the Wheel. And so I kill you."

"Finish it, then!"

"Not yet." The Gift said letting his head fall back and walking over to where Nosom was working. "Not yet, Taeda."

"Think you I am shred?" The Gift of the Lost Boy asked, slipping back into patois.

It was lying on the bed with Selah in its arms. The ecstasy still lingered about its body, but it was released from its majesty now. The nectar was ready.

"Shred?" Selah whispered, stroking the Gift's head. "You have mads, jen, but you are not shred!"

"It is him!" The Gift whispered, burying its head in the Warrior's shoulder.

"Who?"

"Taeda!" The Gift said. "Even in ecstasy his face comes to haunt me."

"Then dope him!" Selah replied, kissing the Gift on the forehead. "He is as good as doped now anyway!"

"No." Lost Boy said. "In my heart, jen? In my heart I pledged five times. I will see that to the final."

"See, mads!" The Warrior laughed. "But there is no shred in you, my love. You are determined. You are tenacious. But you are not evil."

"But he gives me shred thoughts, shred ideas!" The Gift whimpered. "I want to slice him into small pieces while he is still alive! Use the Sercsaysur on his toes, fingers, feet, hands... he fills me with such bile!"

"But you have conquered him." Selah said, pulling the Gift to him tightly. "And through you there is justice. The souls he killed will be born again in peace now."

"I understand that." The Gift sighed. "As Lost Clan would say, I understand intellectually. It is just that he stirs such a passion in me! I could order him killed now, in the tank. It would be over. But I want to see him, and when I do, I want to hurt him again and again. Surely that makes me shred?"

"If it does then there is reason." Selah replied. "You will end it though, after the fifth time?"

"The fifth time will be different, but final."

"Oh, and what are you going to do to him?"

"It will be justified." The Gift smiled. "That is all you need to worry about."

He leant into the Warrior and pulled him into a kiss, hands running along his chest, rippling down the muscles of his belly until he wrapped his hand around the Warrior's quill.

"You need feeding, my mighty man!"

"I thought you had forgotten me." Selah whispered, pulling the Gift into another kiss.

"Not even the future ghost of Taeda Gheran Japuth would make me forget you!" Lost Boy laughed, and then laughed some more as Selah began licking and kissing his way down its chest and belly to its aroused quill.

The Warrior slipped between the Gifts legs and began licking his way up and down the Gift's quill, hands gently massaging the Nectaria. The Gift settled happily into the ministrations, tail stroking down the Warrior's back, then talon scraping back up to his neck before it gently stroked its way back down to his backside again.

The Warrior shivered and then smiled up at Lost Boy as he slipped down over the Gift's quill.

"You like that?" The Gift purred.

The Warrior pulled himself from the quill and smiled again.

"I like everything you do to me." He laughed and settled back down on the quill, gently pushing down and pulling back.

His lips massaging the quill on the way down, his teeth bringing the Gift to excitement on the way up. Mouth, teeth and tail, talon echoed each other and they both fell into an easy rhythm.

The Warrior pulled himself closer to his Gift and in a single stroke slipped his own quill into the Gift's Prostatae. The Gift drew in a breath and writhed beneath the Warrior in ecstasy at this invasion of its body.

"You like that?" Selah smiled up at the Gift.

"Just get back on my quill!" The Gift laughed, pushing the Warrior's head into place.

Selah laughed and settled back onto the quill.

Mouth, teeth and tail, talon and quill in mouth and quill in Prostatae. The music of their bodies span around them and the Gift suddenly arched its back as the Nectar erupted from its body.

Selah pushed down onto the quill, pushing his own quill deeper into the Gift, and he took the nectar straight into his throat. His hands massaging the Nectaria as they pulsed the juices up into the quill and down into his body. As the flow slowed, he slipped his head up the quill, finally settling his head down on the Gift's belly, the quill still in his mouth as the nectar took him away into his own ecstasy.

The Gift lay there on the bed, stroking the head of its Warrior, feeling his mouth still wrapped around its pulsing quill. This was a sex like nothing it had experienced in its life. Not with the girls of its youth, not that one time with Oka. Not with any of the men or women it had served in the Serail. Not with Taeda.

This was something outside normal sex. Beyond normal love. It was unique and the Gift loved this the most about being a Gift. That it could love like this.

Forever.

And that was its plan. Lost Clan had said that the Professor had extended his own life to almost a thousand years. If he could do that, then they could do it as well. There was no need for a Warrior to die of old age now. He could live a life as long as his Gift, and Lost Clan oh so wanted Selah to live and love as long as they both could.

The Professor had lived now for a thousand years, looked as if he could live for a thousand more.

The Second Prime would live as long and longer than that as well. And Selah would be his Warrior for all of time, and it, it would be the Gift of the Warrior Selah. Forever and ever.

That was love.

"There is a tension building here that we will have to address." The Master Warrior said as he sat back down behind his desk.

The Gift of the troubled Waters stood over at the window of the office, looking out into Troubian. The Gift of the Lost Clan sat in a chair by the window opposite, looking into the office. The Master Warrior had been sat in a chair next to him before returning now to his desk.

"What do you suggest?" Lost Clan asked.

"I will need to think on this, we all will." Fedash sighed. "You would have us extend the Boundary of Law to include Tare du Maretch planetary space. Be sure if you do there will be a queue waiting at the Summer Throne to accuse us of expansionism."

"And it is." Lost Clan said. "We are expanding off this planet."

"But it is so much more complex than that." Fedash said.

"Why?" Lost Clan asked. "You are Law, Master Warrior. We are the Second Prime."

"But..." The Warrior floundered and looked over to his Gift for help.

"There are routes of diplomacy we should follow." Troubled Waters said, coming over and sitting in the chair opposite Lost Clan. "We should speak with the Prince of Princes. We are bringing changes without her involvement. There is no balance in that."

"Then we need to decide how we will meet with her, and the Regent." Lost Clan added. "By extending our authority we also, by default, extend her authority as well."

"And she is aware of that." Troubled Waters smiled. "Long she has looked skywards and wondered at the riches there."

"And she owns a fair part of it." Fedash laughed. "But to move the Boundary so quickly."

"We control the planet." Lost Clan said. "By the rules of the Great Allegiance we therefore control planetary space."

"But the Second Realm does not control the island nations of Hadran and Emjelt. We do not rule over the whole planet." Fedash said.

"Then invade them." Lost Clan said. "It should have been done years ago anyway. Gather an army, put a corps of Warriors at its head and invade. We can use the Professor's technology to land the forces at the centre of government in both countries. They would surrender before dawn. We will control the planet."

"You make it sound so simple." Fedash sighed.

"Actually, I think in this case it is." Troubled Waters said. "If we are extending the Boundary of Law into space we have to extend it across the face of the whole planet."

"But what do we gain by invading Hadran and Emjelt?"

"Control." Lost Clan said standing up and walking over to the desk. "And we need control."

"You are changing everything!" Fedash said, looking up into the eyes of both Gifts.

"Because everything has to change." Lost Clan said.

"We will invade?"

"I will advise the Regent of our intention. I am sure between us we will find a reason to justify the invasion."

"I'm sure you will." Troubled Waters said much more softly, it reached out and stroked the Warrior's face. "Thank you."

"I would invade the One World for you." Fedash whispered.

"Hah!" Lost Clan laughed. "Be careful what you wish for Master Warrior. That might be one of our plans!"

"I can believe it is." Fedash said. "Go then, call the Regent, get him here tonight. I will arrange the Warriors."

"Put Graescin in charge." Lost Clan said.

"Is that wise?"

"Tell Sidian Deserts I suggested it." Lost Clan replied. "It will understand."

"Its failure at Midpoint will become a success against the islands?" Troubled Waters said.

"Precisely." Lost Clan replied. "We will need the support of Sidian Deserts if this is to succeed. It brings a lot of other Gifts with it."

"You think way beyond the scope of most people!" Fedash laughed.

"It is why I lead the Second Prime." Lost Clan replied.

The Gift of the Lost Clan had never been to the Palace of Sunrises before, and it wished Sadath was here to share this, to give it his strength, for it did not feel strong at the moment. Where the Palace of Sunsets served a function, the creation of Warriors and the upholding of the Law; the Palace of Sunrises was the centre of government for the Second Realm.

This palace was majestic where the Palace of Sunsets was colloquial. This palace gleamed, while the Palace of Sunsets merely shone with the light of the Gifts. Symbolically the Palace of Sunrises was the gold to the lead of the Palace of Sunsets. Sunrise was heart, Sunset was body and the humanity that worked, lived and moved between each palace was sentience.

The second prime was fundamental to the structures of law and government on Tare du Maretch, the Gift of the Lost Clan knew that, but to be here, in the middle of that prime, as the leader of a second prime of Gifts... it made it feel insignificant, and that was unexpected.

"You will wait here." The tie told them as they entered the elegant chamber.

It was half way up one of the many white spires of the palace and it afforded views across the west of the city, towards the residential Ankas with their tall elegant spires and wide parks. Lost Clan settled into a chair by the window, gazing out at the view. Troubled Waters and the Master Warrior stood together at a low table, helping themselves to refreshments.

"Fedash." A voice said.

She was an old woman, the current Prince of Princes. Nearing the end of her rule. Years of service in the Palace had filled her with a regal demeanour that dripped authority and grace.

"Madame." He bowed. "This is my Gift, and this is the Gift of the Lost Clan."

"You are welcome." She said to both of them, but dismissed them almost as quickly.

The Gift of the Troubled Waters had warned the Lost Clan that this would happen. The Prince of Princes saw the Gifts as nothing more than entertainment for the Warriors they served. Gifts by nature as well as in name.

She led the way back through into another room and the Master Warrior and she sat in two elegant chairs as ties brought more refreshments into the room and placed these on a table between the two chairs. The Gifts stood by another window.

"Would your Gifts like anything?" The Prince of Princes asked.

"Iced water." Fedash replied.

She nodded to one of the ties and he bowed and left the room.

"The Regent sends his apologies." She told Fedash, helping herself to some juice and a piece of fruit. "But you have him tied up in Hadran at the moment."

"Which is why I am here." Fedash replied.

"You think it is time the Second Realm controls the whole planet?" She said.

"It is time."

"You know a large war fleet is amassing by the second moon of Shendra even as we speak? Hadran and Emjelt are both supported quite heavily by our friends in the system above us. It has been in their interests to not have the Second Realm control the planet."

"I am aware of the threat."

"And?"

"It is dealt with, Madame."

"As easily as that?"

Fedash glanced over to Lost Clan and then back to the Prince of Princes.

"As easily as that." He said.

The Prince of Princes smiled then walked over to the back wall of the room. It currently displayed a map of Tare du Maretch, but this cleared as she approached and instead it displayed an image taken from a space telescope. The fourth planet in the Maretch system, Shendra, was a gas giant. Its second moon was currently at its closest point to Tare du Maretch. The image showed several small ships in orbit around the moon, but nothing bigger.

"You have been building a secret space fleet, Master Warrior?"

"No." He replied. "If you look to the third moon you will see the colonist fleet."

She did nothing outwardly, but the screen flickered and a new image appeared. This time the third moon appeared. There was nothing in orbit, but a large scar, recent by the looks, marred the surface of the moon.

"They all crashed?" She asked.

"It would appear so." Fedash replied.

"How... clumsy of them." She noted. "You will not tell me how this is done?" She asked walking back over to him and sitting in her chair.

"I cannot, Madame."

"You would turn this weapon on me and the Palace of Sunrises?"

"There is no weapon, Madame. If we had such a thing you would know."

She was silent for a moment. The tie came back into the room with water for the Gifts. Lost Clan reached out and took a glass.

"Yet the fleet has crashed and you knew about this."

"The Second Realm controls Tare du Maretch, Madame. The Boundary of Law has been extended to planetary space as is our right."

"As is our right." She smiled. "You play a fast game, Master Warrior. I sense some other involvement here." She looked over to Lost Clan, then looked away. "You would have us take the system?"

"A treaty, I think. We must consolidate first."

"First?"

"Before we take the system." The Master Warrior smiled.

"My, my." The Prince of Princes laughed. "Up until our last meeting you believed in the status quo, Master Warrior. What has happened to push you into such hasty action? I would have thought it would take the Palace of Sunsets at least a year to even decide what it needed to ask before an invasion; and here you are invading before even notifying me!"

"When action becomes apparent, we act." The Master Warrior quoted.

"So I see. Remind me not to play deshak with you. Your tactics are... chaotic."

"We need a distraction, Madame. Our people here, they have become settled in their ways and rebellion threatens to destroy the far provinces."

"And extending the Boundary has just given our enemies a whole new cabal of allies, Master Warrior. Allies they had not previously known about. Wealthy allies."

"The Palace of Sunrises controls all access to the Planet, Madame. No ships can land here without you knowing of it."

"You have such high expectations for our technology, Fedash! Its purpose is to monitor ore, to make sure none is smuggled off the planet. A small drone... it could slip through. I expect they do all of the time."

"Yet nothing will change, Madame. We extend government and law. The law and governance that existed will change but everything will remain the same."

"As you say, Master Warrior. Yet the implication is clear. The Warriors are leaving the planet, Fedash. You do not know the threat that implies. The fear that will engender in the outer colonies."

"We are not to be feared!" Fedash smiled.

"Having seen what you have just done to that fleet of warships, Master Warrior, I would have to disagree. You are indeed a force to be feared."

"Fear makes us strong, Madame."

"Indeed. It could make our enemies strong as well. This period of consolidation you mentioned. The Palace of Sunrises will be involved in this?"

"Completely."

"Good. When the Regent returns I will appraise him of our meeting. We will endeavour to meet again next month at the usual time, yes?"

"Yes."

"Good. Do not spring any more surprises until then, Master Warrior."

"We will show restraint." The Master Warrior said, looking once more at the Gift of the Lost Clan. "We work together, Madame. The Balance will be maintained."

"The Balance is unity." The Prince of Princes intoned. "Very well." She added standing up and pulling the Master Warrior into a hug. "We will meet in a month. My ties will show you out."

"Thank you Madame." He said, bowing to her as she left the room.

"Interesting." Lost Clan thought as they followed a tie out of the Palace.

"Now you understand governance." Troubled Waters thought back.

"She is a strong presence."

"Very strong. She does not rule because she was born into the family. She rules because she has the authority to do so."

"I saw that. It was palpable."

"She scares me." Troubled Waters smiled.

"I found her fascinating." Lost Clan replied.

"And she noticed you." Troubled Waters thought back. "Maybe she does not think we are pets to the Warriors after all."

"It is useful for her to believe that, though."

"You think?"

"I think." Lost Clan replied.

"Kill me!"

"Sorry." The Gift of the Lost Boy said as it came up to Taeda.

He was chained to the table again.

"No time to hang around and enjoy this today, I'm afraid. Things are afoot, Taeda. So, I will have to hurry."

It slipped the Sercsaysur over Taeda's genitals and pulled the blades shut with a snap.

Taeda screamed.

"It wasn't that bad!" The Gift laughed as it attached the machine to Taeda's groin. "Come on!" It smiled. "It's not as if you don't know what to expect by now!"

It danced across the room and the lights dimmed.

"One more time!" Was all Taeda heard as the room slipped into darkness and he was left alone with his pain and the machines.