"What else did this friend of yours say?" Sariana asked suspiciously.
"About us? Not much. I didn't tell him the link we have in bed seems to have already extended itself to other occasions. Normally the ability to sense when one's Shieldmate is in distress or exuberantly happy is an evolving process that takes years of living together to mature into anything that might be labeled telepathic. Even then it would be hard to distinguish it from the normal empathy that seems to develop between a man and a woman who live together for years. Except in bed, of course, where it stays unique. But with us it was there almost from the beginning. It's sporadic at this point, but it's also very strong. I think it's going to eventually grow even stronger."
Sariana thought of the image of her backside that had popped into her mind while she was on the river sled. She tugged on her lower lip and gazed into the fire while she considered it. Experimentally she tried projecting it toward Gryph, just as she had projected her passionate demands the night before. She glanced at Gryph.
"You see what I mean?" he said with an understanding expression.
"We would have no privacy at all," Sariana said in shock as she considered the ramifications. He shook his head reassuringly. "I don't think it will work like that. I think we will have to be actively
projecting in order to send anything even remotely comprehensible. Just like working prisma."
"Well, what about that - that lewd picture of myself that just appeared in my head yesterday?" He grinned, showing his teeth in the firelight. "I was bored. For once you didn't seem inclined to talk so
I decided to do a little, experimenting. I just wanted to see what would happen if I tried projecting a scene into your mind. This is the first time you've admitted you picked up on it. Until now I had no way of knowing whether or not you had received it. Which should tell you something."
"What does it tell me?" Sariana asked automatically, Then she leaped to the obvious conclusion. "Oh, I see. I didn't send anything back to you so you had no way of knowing if I had gotten the message."
"Right. I'll admit I don't know much about telepathy. Shields and their mates have always just skirted the edges of anything that could be labeled genuine telepathy. But judging from what I've learned by working prisma, I'd say it's not a passive process. It takes strength and a deliberate focus."
"And both factors come into play automatically under conditions of extreme stress, is that it?" "And under conditions of passion," he added blandly. "Don't fret, Sariana, I can't read your mind any
more than any other man can read a woman's mind."
"Well, that's a relief," she tried to say lightly. The truth was she was feeling extremely nervous about the whole matter. She rose and settled herself onto a convenient rock. "What are we going to do now?"
"That's my Sariana," he said approvingly. "Back to business when things get sticky. Now, thanks to you, I've got a fix on a large source of prisma somewhere in this gorge. Tomorrow morning I will stash you safely here in this cove and then I will see if I can track the beams to their point of origin."
She didn't like the casual way he said that. "Then what?"
Gryph shrugged in that gracefully negligent manner all westerners seemed to be born with. "Then I'll
decide what to do about it. If I think there's enough time, I'll wait until Delek and the others arrive. If there isn't time, I'll try to neutralize the weapons on my own."
"Can one Shield neutralize a whole shipload of the prisma weapons?" "If he's strong enough. And if the ship is a small one."
"How strong are you, Gryph?" Sariana asked quietly.
"I don't know," he told her. "No Shield learns the limits of his own strength until he actually confronts a weapon ship. I've never even seen a ship."
"Oh." She sat in silence for a while, dunking over what he had said. "If it turns out you aren't strong enough to neutralize the weapons and if you have no backup, what happens?"
"You worry too much, Sariana," he said calmly. He got to his feet and began banking the fire. "We have a lot to do tomorrow morning. I think we'd better get to bed."
Sariana started to demand an answer to her question, but she stopped, realizing she could guess the answer from his evasive response. Whatever happened to a Shield who lacked sufficient strength to neutralize his target, it wasn't pleasant. Perhaps it meant death. Or insanity. Sariana shivered and folded her cloak more tightly about her.
The scarlet-toe on her shoulder yawned sleepily as Sariana reached up to pat it with the tip of her finger. Gryph moved around the fire, his actions efficient and economical as he made preparations for securing the campsite.
"How close do you think that ship is?" Sariana asked, glancing out into the night-shrouded canyon. "Several kilometers away."
"What if this rogue Shield is watching for intruders into this gorge?"
"I've told you not to worry, haven't I?" Gryph asked with soft humor. "When are you going to learn to follow simple instructions?"
"But, Gryph - "
"If there is a rogue behind all this, my guess is he'll be sticking close to his prize. He's not out here prowling through the night. I'd know if he were. There is no prisma nearby other than my lock. It's not hard to estimate distance with prisma rays. You do it with a simple formula."
"I'm going to worry about you tomorrow," Sariana said bluntly.
Gryph took off his boots, crossed the sand toward her and handed her the boots. Then he swung her up into his arms. "I'm just selfish enough to admit I'm going to like having you worry about me. But you'll be safe, Shield-mate. I'll make certain of that before I leave you."
He waded out to the sled, lifted her over the low railing and set her on her feet. She clutched his boots while she waited for him to jump lightly on board the sled. The moon was directly overhead and a narrow strip of golden light managed to seep as far as the river canyon floor. It gilded the black depths of Gryph's hair and highlighted the arrogant planes of his harsh face. Sariana remembered the buckle she had purchased at the fair.
"I almost forgot," she murmured as she went over to her travel pouch and opened it. "I have a present for you." She smiled as she turned around to hand him the small package.
Gryph looked oddly startled. He stared at her in the moonlight and then his gaze dropped to the package in her hand. "For me?"
"Well, I don't know anyone else who needs this quite as much as you do," she leased. "Here. Open it." His usually deft fingers rumbled slightly with the wrapping, but a moment later the exquisitely detailed
