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 The Twins of Zae by Jo Bower   Book 2 of Series!
The Ten Talents PublishingTwins of Zae

"Alone. Finally!” Chaplain Craig Lea celebrated as the door closed on his last appointment. Cautiously he activated the door sensor and hazarded a discrete peek into the corridor of the Universal Science Ship M. Curie.
"Empty," he thought triumphantly. "Maybe if I hurry..." He sprinted toward the lift and slid into an empty car. “ So far so good..." At the end of the short journey, he stuck his head out. "I can make it..." he thought hopefully, and dashed for his quarters, located halfway down the hall.
"Chaplain?"
He thought he heard it, broke stride, and then tried to ignore it.
"Rev!"
With a suppressed smile, he stopped and faced the voice.
"I need your okay on this." His Chaplain's Assistant, Andez Roger, held out a computer. ""I'd like to renovate the office. How are the funds?"
Craig grinned and signed the requisition. "Been so long since I spent anything I don't know. Go to it."
A great!"  Andez's dark eyes sparkled. "It;ll break the boredom."
"I thought I'd read a book."
"The book came?"
"Got it yesterday."
"Enjoy."
"If I ever get alone to read." Craig lamented silently. "Thanks." Craig waved as his happy assistant turned and trotted down the corridor. "No more interruptions." Craig thought as he slid inside his quarters.
When no one came pounding at his door, he grinned, removed his communications button, and tossed it on the nearest table.
Guilt washed over him, but he chose to ignore it. Even Captain Brodsky had ordered him to take more time off the last time they'd encountered each other in the corridor. He could not deny the wisdom of that order.
Still half expecting a knock on the door, he ordered a cup of tea. With a sigh, he sprawled in the computerized multi-positional chair, pushed his hair back, put up his feet, and pulled out his computer.
The First Monarch, The First Years,"  he read aloud, and was instantly lost in the text.

The First Monarch, The First Years
By Dorinda Brodsky

 She would never forget that day. Her mother brought the lush green decorative strips of cloth young females wore when they were no longer considered a child. In a short time, the gray decorative strips of childhood lay in an unceremonious heap.
At first it was a game. A fun rite of passage.
The green strips were fastened at her shoulders and gracefully covered the dark body suits all Zaes wore before she realized the importance of her mother=s statement.
 She and her twin were different from all other twins on Zaetheria.

"We are not alike," Vantheria solemnly announced several days later. She held a strip of her green against one of his purple strips.
Her twin, Varkma, stubbornly shook his head. "We think together. We move things with our minds."
"Look at me," she insisted.
For the first time in their five birth celebrations he really looked at her.*  He saw the emerging female qualities and was frightened.

Craig skipped to the end of the page and read Dorinda's footnote. Zaes= maturing is very different from humans= they mark one birthday for every five human years. They also mark time differently and are considered adults at ten birthdays. They start school at the end of the fifth celebration and attend school for five celebrations.
Craig nodded and returned to the text.

"No!” Varkma denied the sudden fear. "We share the Power. Females don't have the Power."
Vantheria listened, then pointed out the obvious. "I know. Females are not born twins. Twins are male. Females are born alone."
Varkma understood the implications of her pointed statements. She was female, yet his twin.
      Sinking to the floor of their room, each felt the other's despair. And they were overwhelmed by what they knew would eventually isolate them from the rest of Zae society.
"What shall we do?" he asked.
"We will not let them separate us.” Of that she was certain.
"How?” Doubt colored his thought pictures. "We start school soon."
That stopped her. "If they make us go to gender schools, we will spend all our free time making our minds strong.” Her defiance grew stronger.
With a nod, Varkma initiated a childish version of an adult ritual. Each thought a glass of water across the room and took a drink, then floated the glass to the other.
They knew this was a male twin-to-male twin ceremony. With these mental pictures of bonding ceremonies, they acknowledged they had stepped beyond the boundaries of accepted practice. It strengthened their bond.
The ceremony finished, the twins took control of their own glass and floated them back to the counter.
"You must never do that in public!” Their father's voice boomed into the room. Its volume betrayed his fear.
The twins looked up, inner despair mirrored on their faces.
As one of the wealthiest men of Zaetheria, Caetara carefully obeyed all the rules. But his own situation prompted compassion for his troubled children.
He and his twin were still young when his twin was killed in a building accident. The death of a twin forces the survivor to retire from public life. It did not matter how much contentment and satisfaction the Zae found in his work.
       Life as a wealthy landowner was tolerable only because Caetara knew his wealth was secure. There was enough for the next generation.
Anxiety suddenly clouded his reflection. "The way the children are there may not be a next generation.” Shaking the thought aside, Caetara turned back to his children. "You know you are different?"
They nodded. He bent down to their level, his blue decorative strips immodestly dragging the floor. "The Zaes in our community will insist your mother and I separate you. We will have to say Varkma's twin died at birth."
The twins shared a sudden flash of pain, horror showing in their faces.
Their father hurried to finish. "However, we have decided you will develop together."
The twin's mental pictures shifted to serene, quiet, cloudless skies.
"But you must follow our rules," Caetara finished.
It did not lessen their joy.
"What are the rules?" Vantheria ask tentatively.
"Most important is no display of the Power.” He made his voice as stern as possible.
Vantheria's mental pictures changed to the jagged orange slash of rebellion. Varkma's response was a picture of a child being soothed. "Do not worry, we will find a way," it said.
Caetara was speaking again. "I will not forbid your thought communication." His voice softened. "The absence of the twin's presence overwhelms me. I am cut off. I miss that most of all. I can not do that to you.” He cleared his throat and continued firmly. "But no display of the Power. Even if the Twins of Zae accepted you as twins, it would not be tolerated. Do not risk the anger of the Twins of Zae."
They listened, eyes closed in concentration.
"And we must send you to gender schools."
Their eyes opened. The fires of rebellion flared.
"We have no choice," their father reasoned. "It must appear we are not at fault. We are trying to function as a normal unit even though the Power has made this strange accident of birth."
"Is it our fault?" Varkma asked, expressing both twin=s concern.
"Your mother is sometimes rebellious and self-centered. She did not follow the prescribed diet for females with young. She would not eat what she does not care for.” Caetara shook his head. "I know nothing more."
"There are others who do not like the bitter food," Vantheria stated.
"Yes. However, they eat it for the young's sake. If they do not they have females," he answered.
Vantheria felt a stir of unfamiliar anger. She did not know why. But she did know she could not express it to their father. Nor did she think it to Varkma.
When their father had gone, Varkma went to the window. He contemplated the red and purple flowers and felt great sadness. "What would happen if I had no twin...ever?"
"Father had single males working in his office.” Vantheria responded to his mental musings. She remembered the last time they had visited before her father's twin died. "They were the only ones who had time to talk to me. I asked one what he did. He was sad and told me a story."
Varkma sent the sign that meant, "What was it?"
"His name was Mermoka. His father educated him at home because he was afraid of the ridicule from his peers. The community that met in his father's upper room never knew he had a son. When a Zae asked about the presence of a single male in the house, Mermoka was described as a temporary resident, a distant relative. Yet when no one else was around, he was treated as a beloved child. His father often apologized for not acknowledging Mermoka publicly. It was too painful for the whole unit. Mermoka=s father could not give up the upper room or the respect of his peers.
Mermokas father went to our father and secured a permanent position for Mermoka. He will always be taken care of, but will always be an office worker. I asked him what he did at the office and he said, 'Whatever any Twin of Zae asks.="
  Varkma mostly remembered two huge workspaces divided only by the transparent wall that could be made private by closing the heavy curtain. He smiled as he thought about the fun he had opening and closing the curtain... until his father and twin tired of the distraction. He had barely noticed the quiet people of the office--the non-twin males and the females. But as he concentrated, he recalled their carefully controlled, somber expressions. He had no reason to think other single-borns= stories were much different.
"Will that happen to us?" His pictures were uncertain and sad.
Vantheria had no answer.

Craig had no idea how long he'd continued reading when a beep inserted itself. He searched the text for an instant before realizing he was actually hearing an alarm. Reluctantly he marked his place and sighed. "Computer, time please?"
"Four-thirty PM, Chaplain. Time to prepare for vespers." The computer gave its programmed response. With one last, longing look at the novel, Craig stretched out of his chair.
Still occupied with the novel, he wandered toward the large closet/dressing area. And fell headlong into the closet. He groaned, rolled over, and sat up.
At his feet, the culprit rocked from foot to foot. He picked it up and turned over in his hand.
"A toy mini-Android?"  He bounced the 10-centimeter toy in his hand. AWho are you and how did you get in my closet?" he asked.
"Hello, my name is Sumintra. What is your name?" the mini-A replied.
"Chaplain Craig Lea," Craig answered seriously.
"Chaplain Craig," the Mini-A replied."Can we take a walk?"
Craig grinned and sat it on the floor. "No, I can't play right now. Go stand in the corner." The mini-A tottered off toward the nearest corner. "Well, I guess you were programmed for a child," Craig commented
With a shake of his head, Craig scrambled to his feet. He shook his finger at the toy. ABecause of you, I=m late.@
Simintra hopped from foot to foot and chattered. But it stayed in the corner.
*****
"It's been a long year . . ." Chaplain Lea began his lesson. "This gathering marks the end of my first week as I return to full time duty." Shaking his head, he grinned, then pushed his reddish blond hair back from his forehead where it always fell. "It's been a good week, but please, no one get married, or have a baby, or." The sudden, vivid memory of Dr. Daniel Kobee's death and his own near death in the electrical storms of Cutezar left him shaken. "Or die!" he thought. But he finished aloud, "Or anything else that requires a lot of extra effort for a couple of weeks." He paused, recovering his humor. "I think I need a leave."
The audience chuckled and Craig concentrated on shaking away the lingering grief. He cleared his throat and with a deep breath plunged into the lesson.
After a year of orbiting the planet Cutezar, excavating an ancient community of pyramids, the M. Curie was again in deep space.
As Craig spoke, Executive Science Officer Dr. LaShonya Reed--better known as 'Shonya, which was Craig's nickname for her-- watched his face closely. She saw both relief at the end of a long recovery and contentment in being back where he really belonged.
Considering the direction their relationship had taken in the last year, she was convinced it would remain part of their lives for a very long time. She found great delight in their deepening relationship.
Until.
The thought almost made her laugh aloud. "The book."
Somehow, Craig had managed to get a copy of the first printing of Dorinda Brodsky's biographical novel based on the Monarch of Zaetheria's life that had just been released through the World Computer Library. Even Dorinda, the captain's wife and Craig's unofficially adopted sister, didn't know how he got it so quickly.
All he would say was he now owed a lot of people a lot of favors. However, he considered it worth every promise. He hadn't yet linked it to the ship's system, and for days had good-naturedly endured 'Shonya's accusations of selfishness.
"Not only has he been selfish, he'll get so consumed by it I'll have to sit in his lap to get any attention," 'Shonya thought affectionately, then directed her attention back to the lesson.
 But she was right. After vespers, Craig looked over the group that still gathered in his quarters for discussion each evening. Although the need to follow Dr. Jeffery Keal's orders - being confined to quarters after his injury on Cutezar - had long passed, scientists and friends still came to discuss what was happening at the dig. But, just as often, it became an extension of the "dissection." The scientists had always liked Dr Daniel Kobee=s name for the discussion following the lesson. Since his death, they always referred to it as the dissection.
The post-vesper visits had long ago become Craig's favorite time of the day. It was pure fun--speculation without the pressure of having to prove conclusions. But tonight Craig almost wished they weren't there. Listening to Roger Lavera's post graduation plans with divided attention, he wondered if it would be rude to read while they talked.
'Shonya knew the meaning his expression. She caught his eye and shook her head with her don't-even-think-about-it smile.
Craig grinned self-consciously and concentrated on the conversation.
"You gotta go to the last real Indian restaurant in Rio. It's little, but they do red beans and rice way beyond anything the food replicator cooks up!" Andez Ronger was a South American Indian who'd come to realize his spiritual needs under Craig's teaching. In preparation for seminary, he now served as Chaplain's Assistant and studied under Craig's supervision. A street-wise kid, he had a unique way of expressing himself that often delighted Craig and sometimes challenged accepted ways of thinking.
"That's right, and your parents just happen to own that little restaurant," Craig chuckled. "And it seats three hundred and fifty people. Right?"
Andez shrugged. "Never hurts to advertise," he confessed with a grin.
"You're going to the Southern Hemisphere for your post graduation holidays?" Craig asked Roger Lavera, who had been appointed acting Artifacts Director following Dr. Kobee's death.
Roger, a North American from New France, on the northeastern border between the United States and Canada, nodded. "My parents are sending me anywhere on earth I want to go. They hope I'll find some artifact that'll induce me to stay out of space."
"Have you told them it's already too late?" 'Shonya asked with a smile.
"Not until after the trip," Roger laughed.
Craig wandered away, folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the partition that divided the study and sleeping compartments from the rest of the quarters. Affectionately he surveyed the groups of people haphazardly scattered across his living room.     
"When this gathering started," he reflected. "There were just a few of us, and we talked as one group. Now we form small groups and I travel."
His quarters weren't as large as 'Shonya's. Although a civilian, she technically out ranked him. "I suppose we'll move to her quarters by the time we have kids," he thought comfortably, touching the rings he had in his pocket and the deadline he'd given himself to show them to her. "Hey wait!” A new thought startled him. "You haven't even asked her to marry you.” He smiled to himself. "Well not officially...yet."
"You look pleased with yourself.” 'Shonya slipped her hand under his folded arms.
He took her hand and led her around the partition. Perching on his desk, he drew her close. "Not as pleased as I could be."
"What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously.
"You know anything about this little guy? Sumintra, come out."
The mini-A shuffled back and forth on his legs and bounced up and down at 'Shonya's feet. AWho are you?" she asked.
"My name is Sumintra. What is your name?"
'Shonya got down on her knees and grinned. "My name is LaShonya Reed."
"LaShonya Reed, can we take a walk?"
'Shonya looked up at Craig. He smiled and instructed. "She cannot play. Go stand in a corner."
The little toy chattered as it obeyed. Craig bent down and gave 'Shonya a hand up.
"He's cute. Where'd he come from?"
Craig grinned and drew her close to him. "I have no idea. I fell over him when I went to get dressed for vespers. Nearly killed myself."
"That'd be a wonderful obituary after all you went through at Cutezar."
"True. Mini-Android Attacks Fleet Chaplain. People would remember me, though." He smiled and hugged her. "I think I'll keep him."
"Easier than a pet." Shonya felt his chuckle in his chest.
"And he doesn't second-guess me when I ask him to do something."
Shonya leaned back in his arms. "You didn't drag me in here to visit with Simi - whatever."
"Sumintra." Craig finished. Chattering from the corner made them laugh as the little fellow rocked back and forth on his short legs at the sound of his name. "Stay there. We cannot go for a walk."
"You didn't call me in here to meet your mini-A" Shonya started again.
"Oh. Well, no." Craig leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Remember we promised decisions would wait until I was well. Right?" he started.
"Yes?" It was a two-syllable question.
"Well, today marks a year and four weeks."
She pushed his hair back. "What is it, Craig? You're stalling." Her soft tone modified the accusation.
"'Shonya, about those promises. . . ." His self-conscious smile prompted compassion and she finished the sentence.
"Are you asking if I want to make this relationship official?"
"Umm--humm." He nodded. "Shall we?"
"Get married?" She smiled.
He nodded. It was something they'd both been contemplating. She put her arms around his neck.
"Yes," they said together.
The conversations on the other side of the partition went unnoticed. She touched his face, and their kiss shut out everything else.
"Ah-hum."
They didn't hear.
"Ah-hum."
Craig heard it and reluctantly raised his head. "Go away," he commanded with a grin. "We're busy."
Dorinda Brodsky ignored the order and adopted the big sister role. "Your guests want to say good-night. And you two are in here like they don't even exist."
'Shonya took Craig's hand and their slightly embarrassed entrance was greeted by a semicircle of faces waiting for an announcement.
Craig obliged. Clearing his throat, he adopted his most official, gobbledygook, announcement voice. "We've made a tentative decision to formulate plans for a public display with which we will make a clear, mutual intention to engage in permanent bonding."
 Dr. Oliver Zamwashi, Director of Documentation, whose New South African speech pattern tended toward the flowery, understood first and chuckled.
The rest of the group looked puzzled until Andez Ronger finally laughed. AMarried! You're getting married."
"'Bout time," Dr. Cabrailes said gruffly extending his huge hand. The round of congratulations that followed left both Craig and 'Shonya thoroughly embarrassed.
Craig finally put a stop to it. "Enough," he said, holding up a hand.
"I didn't know everyone followed shipboard romances," 'Shonya teased.
"It would be impossible for either of you to hide your feelings from us. We know your habits too well.” Dr. Zamwashi elegantly reproached her. "On a ship this size how could we help but notice something which holds the possibility of so much enjoyment?" His smile contradicted the words.
 Craig grinned, "We forgive you. And we thank you all. Now everybody out!"
They laughed but took the hint.
Captain Brodsky informed them soberly on the way out. "It's a great adventure. Congratulations."
"Go for it!" Roger celebrated on their behalf.
 All at once the room cleared, and a sudden shyness overtook Craig as he and >Shonya faced each other. He=d spent so much time keeping his emotions under control, the overwhelming desire to toss reason out and act solely on his feelings scared him. To make matters worse the ability to form the words to express the depth of those feelings abandoned him.
A sense of excited, peaceful rightness overtook 'Shonya. Like a puzzle suddenly solved, she felt the pieces of her life falling into place.
In mutual pleasure, they smiled at each other.
Craig's bewildered expression prompted a surge of deep affection in >Shonya. Putting her arms around his waist, she laid her head on his chest. He responded instantly, holding her so tightly she could hardly breathe.
"The rings!" Craig suddenly thought, remembering them tucked away for the planned occasion. Impulsively reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the case and opened it to display the three matching rings. "I picked them up this morning."
"They're beautiful," she said softly. "Did Trong make them?" The ship's first officer, Commander Trong Houng channeled his creative energies into shaping precious metals.
Craig nodded, delighted by her expression of wonder.
Taking the engagement ring out of its slot, he slipped it on her finger. "Now, it's official," he murmured, bending to kiss her. "I love you."
When they caught their breath again, she touched his face. "I love you."
And passion replaced all else.
Craig finally stepped back, struggling for control. "Whoa. I'm in trouble here."
Hands behind her back, 'Shonya refrained from touching him, and took several deep breaths to restore her own reason.
In tenderness, they regarded each other; neither speaking, each in awe of the combined physical and emotional forces they had awakened in the other.
Her comm button suddenly beeped and they both jumped as the sound came between them.
"Dr. Reed, report to the Captain's conference room." In the quietness of Craig's quarters, First Officer Commander Houng's normally soft voice sounded loud.
"It's always going to be this way," Craig acknowledged with a rueful grin.
'Shonya nodded. "There are always things to work around.” She kissed him and touched her comm button, "On my way."
"Bye.” Her presence lingered and he wandered around his quarters, the novel temporarily forgotten.
He absent mindedly retrieved the mini-A from the middle of the floor and examined it with a smile. APretty sophisticated." Amused, he set it down. "Go to your corner."  
And off it went, chattering happily, as if just contacting Craig made it happy.
**********
'Shonya found the Captain's conference room filled with her fellow scientists. Before she could ask why they were there, Roger Lavera and the other Ph.D. students who had just fulfilled their requirements for their degrees entered.

She cornered Dr. Cabrailes. "Forest, what's going on here?"  
He shook his head, and in his word mincing, Southwestern United States drawl answered, "Captain said come. Here we are."
"I hope you didn't have plans for this evening." She smiled.
"This time he caught me. Even had a date for the modern country music fest. I hope to catch some of it, if the captain doesn't go on and on."
"The captain is about to be brief," Captain Brodsky spoke at 'Shonya's elbow.
"Let's get to it, sir.” Forest chuckled. He followed military protocol when it suited his purpose.
Quiet followed in the Captain=s wake as he made his way to the front. "We've been offered an opportunity that will change most of your plans for a lot longer than tonight if you decide to take it." The Captain exchanged smiles with Forest before turning to 'Shonya. "Dr. Reed, as exec scientific officer, I am serving you an official notification. We have received a request from the Monarch of Zaetheria to excavate an ancient site they have discovered."
She followed protocol. "So noted, Captain. The exec committee will take it under advisement.” Dropping the formality, she asked, "So how'd they know about us?"
With a chuckle, Captain Brodsky explained. "It seems they intercepted a rather lengthy transmission. Because they don't normally see communications that long, they ran it through their translators. To their surprise it turned out to be a book based on their Monarch's life."
"Craig's copy of Dorinda's novel!" 'Shonya laughed.
Oliver spoke amid the chuckles, "The Chaplain will enjoy this immensely."
"However, we have some logistical concerns." Captain Brodsky revealed the reason he'd called the meeting. "We're three weeks from Earth at warp three. We were to arrive there the day before graduation. Zaetheria is two weeks in the opposite direction at warp five. Our present position is one week from the science station Zarthustra.
"We have several options. First, scientists, let someone else take the assignment. If we don't get started within three weeks and four days, the access corridor will be closed for six months. We would have to take the long way around, which would take a month. Second, we go to Zarthustra and let the students off. The "Einstein" can pick them up and take them to Earth. In that case, Roger, you would arrive only hours before graduation. The third option is to declare general leave on Zarthustra until graduation. The students would attend graduation by VisiComm. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, we'd set course for Zaetheria." The faces before him changed expressions as they recalculated plans. "I don't require a decision now. Morning will be soon enough." He turned to 'Shonya. "Dr. Reed?"
She thought through the next day's schedule. "Nine-thirty, conference room C.” The directors agreed. Suddenly she frowned, "I forgot! Craig . . ."
Roger couldn't resist teasing. "You forgot Craig already?" he asked amid the chuckles.
"No." She feigned exasperation. "I forgot he wanted to ask me something and we were going to meet on morning break.” It suddenly dawned on her what the rings were doing in Craig=s pocket. "Oh. . . that's what he wanted . . . ."She held up her hand and the ring's stone caught the light.

Her colleagues quickly forgot business as they admired the gift. Small, red stones glittered in the scalloped sides of the ring's bow shaped top, and a large, oblong diamond became the knot.
The captain finally held up her hand, smiling into her eyes. "It appears the main business of that meeting has been resolved."      
"To say the least," Forest muttered to Oliver.
"Or just begun," Oliver whispered back.
"Bring the chaplain with you tomorrow.” The Captain ordered in dismissal.
*****
With a contented sigh, Craig activated his lounge chair's computer. "Recline," he said absently as he touched the "book mark" icon. The text appeared and, as soon as he began reading, everything else disappeared.

Vantheria's first day of gender school turned into torture. All day she expected Varkma's presence to come to her, but she never experienced its comfort. A great empty space existed where he belonged.
However, from the very beginning, she easily comprehended the lessons, joyfully accepting the learning process.
"I can do everything!" she reported enthusiastically to her brother as they sat together in their playroom after family time. "It's easy. But some had much trouble."  She frowned and fell silent. "I could not feel you," she added sadly.
His frown matched hers. "I could not find you either. I felt alone." Then he smiled slightly. "It was also easy for me. I finished my work. Others had to take work home."
"I wondered about the games."  
"At first they would not let me play.” The admission reflected Varkma's troubled state. "But I thought some balls, and they let me play dart ball."
The game consisted of a target and ball. The ball was propelled by thought at high speed toward the target. The depth of the dent left in the soft material and the location of the hit measured scores. The dent indicated the strength of the thought behind the ball, and the location indicated the concentration of thought.
"I told them my twin was away," he confessed after a minute of silence.
"You had to tell them something. They would wonder where the twin was. If you did not have a twin, you would not have the power." It bothered her as much as it did him, but her first goal was to erase the dark, sad thoughts from his pictures.
"How long can we do this?"
Vantheria did not have an answer. The question with its accompanying pictures hung in the air between them.
Gender schools settled into a sad routine for the twins.
The games held no joy for Varkma. It was not that he could not compete. He did not even mind the tiring effort of drawing from Vantheria's residual presence. Games were for the Twins of Zae. Two. Two male twins.
Vantheria was not there. And never would be.
From birth, Twins of Zae are taught to value and protect twines above all else. Along with the community experience, the twins develop a deep suspicion of anything unusual. This suspicion developed quickly among Varkma's schoolmates. Early in the first level of studies Varkma's fellow Twins of Zae noticed he sometimes used the residual power within and, at other times, appeared to be in contact with a twin.
In the middle of a Thinkball game Varkma found himself surrounded by five sets of Twins. Confused, he peered into the faces of his schoolmates.
"An inquiry!” The suddenness of it panicked him, and his thoughts reached out to Vantheria.
In her classroom, Vantheria looked up from her text as her twin's presence crowded the words out of her mind.
"Are you sure?" She thought the question in response to his frantic image.
""Yes!"
"I am here," she thought back. Hastily she asked to be excused so she could concentrate on her brother's problem.
After an intense questioning look, her teacher consented with a wave of her hand.
The instant Vantheria cleared the work area she shuddered at his images and put all the energy she could into her response.
He was surrounded by Twins. Adults confronted each other in this manner, but neither Varkma nor Vantheria had any idea young Twins of Zae did.
Varkma drew confidence and strength from Vantheria's presence and stood his ground as the accusation began.
"You communicate with a Twin!" One Twin began.
"He is away.” Varkma asserted.
"Perhaps he is a criminal."
"You are ashamed of him."
"He has been banished and you should have followed him into hiding!"
"You are taking advantage of the Twins of Zaes."
Varkma and Vantheria endured the accusation without response, waiting for them to guess the facts. But even to these angry young Twins of Zae the possibility of Varkma's twin being female was inconceivable.
It did not take long for them to run out of accusations, and when silence fell, it was Varkma's turn.
"I spoke the truth. I have a living twin." Carefully picking his words, he avoided using the pronoun 'he' or 'she'. "My twin is not here, but is not being punished. My twin is in a different place for now. We communicate when possible. When we cannot communicate I draw on the residual power just like all Twins of Zae who are not the their twin's presence."
The Twins around him fell back, impressed by his confidence. No Twin of Zae would appear so confident if something were out of place.
Varkma sent a picture of relief to his twin. Pushing his way out of the circle, he left his bewildered classmates behind. He had answered their accusations, yet told them nothing.
Shaken, he kept constant contact with Vantheria and managed to get thorough the day. But as soon as he arrived home, he went directly to the twin's playroom.
Vantheria hurried after him a few minutes later. Instantly their thoughts joined. His pictures were full of gray clouds and jagged lines of despair.
Vantheria sat in front of him, desperately sending pictures of a Zae being soothed by a parent, but could tell by his tense pictures she was not getting through. Finally, no longer able to stand his terrible images, she touched his arm.
His mind went blank with surprise and she experienced his shock. Touching was for Zaes who could not communicate any other way. She had never touched him before.
As hard as she could, she thought soothing thoughts. "Look at me," she commanded with words, continuously sending comforting pictures.
Silently he obeyed and they regarded each other for what seemed a long, long time. When he swallowed and nodded his head, she removed her hand.
Varkma finally sent an image of a Zae opening his finger pads in a gesture of release. He became calm.
Vantheria thought a glass of water across the room, offering it to her brother. They shared a one-sided version of the Bonding Ceremony, alternately drinking until the glass was empty. Vantheria floated the glass back to the counter and turned to her brother. A movement in the doorway caught her attention and the widening of her eyes alerted her brother.
Their father entered the room.
He chose to ignore their infraction of his first rule. He had come to question the wisdom of his own rule, but their disobedience distressed him.
"He is so good at it," he thought suspiciously. "That only comes with practice." He almost refused to accept the idea a female would disobey her father. But it was the following thought that frightened him most: "If Varkma has the power, he must have a practice partner. I must allow them to use the power for Varkma's sake." He stood silently before them as the debate within raged. When he put it aside he realized the expressions on their faces reflected fear. Still he ignored their disobedience.
"A decision has been made. You will not return to gender schools."  Sadness engulfed him but he kept calm for the sake of his children. "We will employ a single male and a female to conduct your learning."
The twins exchanged pictures of joy.
Vantheria was the first to see their father's sadness. "What is wrong, Father?" she asked.
He shook his head. "We cannot separate you. We see that now. But our lives will not be the same as other Zaes. And your lives will not be easy."
They did not understand. All Vantheria knew was she wanted more. She wanted to study with her brother. Varkma sensed it and sent pictures of her not touching a hot fire. "Leave it alone," it said.
She did. "We are grateful," she said simply to her father.
He acknowledged her words with a nod and changed the subject. "Your mother is waiting for the family time," he said matter-of-factly.
Instead of the short version of the Ceremony of the Unit Bonding Caetara normally conducted, he felt the twins needed reminding of the ceremony's history. He began the ritual with commentary.
"When the Power was discovered, the Twins of Zae knew the power of our minds was meant to be used for our unit. The Unit Ceremony is a symbol of the first Twins of Zae's primary focus. Although we are stronger in energy, we will not use it to overpower those who do not have the power. In humility, the Twins of Zae serve their unit the evening meal by using the power. We take turns serving the unit by thinking the ritual. This ceremony symbolizes the highest intentions of the Twins of Zae. It symbolizes unity through the power."
He did not say that in non-twin units the male served by hand, and the Twins of Zae scoffed at those who were forced to serve by hand. To use the hand was a female activity.
"He knows we use the power," Varkma thought to his twin as they stood at the tall table. The picture he created was the two of them sharing the Bonding Ceremony with their father standing over them. "He is reminding us the intentions of the Twins of Zae was noble."
Vantheria nodded and repeated the image, but showed the father blessing them. "He is not going to punish us," the image said. "He's warning us against acting hastily."
Their communication ended when their father floated the drink toward their mother.

*****
The teachers their parents hired for the twins were both unmated. Their father explained the female had been promised to Twins of Zae, but her favored one had been killed in a strange accident. She did not desire the other, nor did she wish to be promised again. The surviving twin had retired to his family's estate and she chose teaching.
"It is as it should be," was Caetara's summary statement. But his tone changed as he spoke of the male. "Maltea also is alone. His twin died after tragically becoming infected with an illness." And his tone was truly sorrowful.
Their father's tone was sympathetic enough when he spoke of the female. But when Vantheria compared his comments about the male's journey into private teaching, she got the impression her father felt the female's grief was not as important as the male's grief. She felt the undefined anger rise again.
"Is it not also a tragic event for a female to lose her promised one?" She asked without wondering about consequences. She needed to know.
The question surprised their father. The concept was not part of the Twins of Zae's realm of thought. However, he took time to consider it and finally answered as honestly as experience would allow. "The female loses only station in life and the privilege of young ones. The surviving twin has lost that, plus the sense of 'Presence' and 'Power.' They are most precious of all things."
His honesty and logic was indisputable. Vantheria remembered her feelings the first days of school, and could not fault him. But the idea remained. Grief was not gender related. Nor did it depend upon another Zae's judgment of the lost thing=s value. Because Twins of Zae placed higher value on their feelings didn't lessen the intensity of the female's. But she could not yet put her thoughts into a logical statement.
The male teacher, Maltea, was bigger than most Twins of Zae. Before the death of his twin, Maltea and Twin had been celebrated masters of the games. They also had been teachers in the gender schools. When the death of his twin had forced him from public life, Maltea chose private teaching.
Because her family was wealthy, Nauteria, the female teacher, was as expensively educated as any female could expect. Her intended twins had been destined to serve in a high office. At his death she choose private teaching instead of the anonymous existence in one of the city=s many offices, no matter how well her father=s position would place her.
Nauteria possessed a quiet, self-confidence Zae females in Vantheria's world did not have, and She could not understand its origin.