The Namura Stone (The Ammonite Galaxy, book 6)

Chapter 17

GRACE RAN UP as soon as she spotted Six appear on Xiantha; she had been waiting for him to come back from Pictoria. She grabbed him round the neck and bombarded him with questions about Diva.

"Is she all right? Can she remember us? Is she coming here? Does she remember what happened? Did you see her?"

Six disentangled himself. "Here, Grace, stop clutching at me like that. Save it for Ledin. He'll be back for the weekend, won't he?" He nodded to Tallen, and then sat down and told Grace all about his visit to the cavern on Pictoria.

Grace was looking more and more worried as he spoke. Eventually she could bear it no more.

"But ... when will she be coming here?"

"As soon as she can."

"... Not ... not straight away?"

"She can't live here yet. The effort would be too much for her."

"I ... I see." Grace tried to understand what that would mean for Diva and Six. "That ... that is going to make things a bit ... a bit ..."

"Strange?"

She nodded. "I suppose I had thought that she would stroll in here, just as always, and things would go back to the way they were before. I hadn't really thought about it."

"Neither had I." For a moment, Six seemed gloomy. Then his face lightened. "Though now I can talk to her. I still miss her, but at least I know that I will be able to see her again soon."

Grace nodded. She looked around, wondering where Temar was; at a year old he tended to put on spurts of speed and was capable of getting out of sight and into trouble very quickly. When she heard the familiar cry from the direction of the canths' pastures, she hurried away.

Six looked after her, his face carefully neutral. Then he smiled to himself. It was true; having children did change you. He went to look for Raven, who was rapidly showing signs of the independent young woman she had every intention of becoming.

He was thwarted in this by the appearance of Arcan, who hovered uneasily in front of him. "Did you find her?"

Six nodded.

"And? Is she a trimorph?"

"She said she could feel parts of you in her too, so we aren't sure. How could that happen?"

Arcan shimmered. "As far as I can make out, these transformations are highly endothermic. Every time one has taken place, there has been an explosion or a huge amount of energy liberated close by. I was with her when the charges went off, so perhaps part of the trapped orthogel was fused into the new morphic entity. It is possible."

"So she would be more than a trimorph?"

"I suppose she would. She would have parts of the lost animas, the canths, Diva herself and orthogel, together with the ortholiquid container, of course. The trimorphs only have lost animas, canths, orthogel and the ortholiquid container. That means she has an extra element. Surprisingly, that Diva element seems to be dominant."

Six gave a grin. "Like that should come as a surprise to anybody!" He considered for a moment. "Of course, she always was one of a kind. I suppose we will just have to call this class of morphic ... something new." He shrugged. "We can leave that to the girls. They never pass over a chance to name things."

DIVA HAD MANAGED to transport herself to the surface of Pictoria. It was a few days later; she was floating effortlessly above Hanna's ridge and could see the grave of Ledin's young sister down below her.