Gathering Storm (The Salvation of Tempestria Book 2) - Gary Stringer (read e book TXT) 📗

try your body armour, at least once, as an experiment,” Cat assured Daelen. “It may be something I can take to the Council for a ruling, once we’re done with Kullos. At the very least, given how I reacted last time, it would be a good test, to see if my link to Tempestria is as strong as I think it is. Gaining that knowledge is perfectly in line with the philosophy of my Order so they could have no objections. If I can touch and even wear your armour without a reaction, it would open up other possibilities, too. Maybe I could even give that shopping mall a second go with an open mind and a fresh attitude.”

“More shopping?” Mandalee enthused, her eyes lighting up. “Now you’re talking!”

Daelen suggested they start to head inside, then, so the girls didn’t catch a cold. They both agreed it was a good idea.

Stepping between them and linking arms, Mandalee asked, “So, does this mean we’re all friends again?”

“Yeah, I think we can safely say that,” Cat agreed.

“An assassin peacemaker,” Daelen remarked, shaking his head in wonder. “I thought I’d seen everything until I met you two.”

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” Mandalee quipped. “Jessica’s been coaching me on more of this world’s expressions. Did I say it right?”

“Yes, you got it. Spot on, well d–”

“What did you say?” Cat demanded, suddenly, an intense look growing on her face.

“I was just saying Mandalee got that expression right.”

Cat waved a hand dismissively. “Not that – before that.”

“Er, I mentioned something about thinking I’d seen everything unt–”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Cat affirmed, nodding and snapping her fingers, impatiently, “back up another step.”

“Let me think. Oh yeah, I called Mandalee an assassin peacemaker.”

“Wow!” the druidess gasped, almost missing a step. “Second time was even better.”

“Cat, what are you talking about?” Mandalee wondered.

“Hmm? Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll try to explain, but not here. Let’s go and clean ourselves up, then meet me in the library. There’s something I need to check up on.”

Without another word, she changed into her owl form and flew into their bedroom through an open window. The other two had to take the more conventional route through the house.

Chapter 23

Forgive me, gentle reader, if you feel I’ve been neglecting you for a while. I’m afraid I have once again got so caught up in my writing, that I haven’t been interjecting very much to give you my perspective on things. Actually, maybe some of you were pleased about that. If so, I guess I’m sorry to interrupt, but it is necessary from time to time, and there’s something I would like to discuss at this point: perception filters.

If we’re honest, I think most of us have them. They may not be actual tech devices but we still have them. We use them without even realising it. As I gaze through time to the scene in Daelen’s library, in his house on Earth – itself hidden by a perception filter – is, I believe, the perfect illustration of my point.

*****

By the time Mandalee and Daelen reached the library, Cat was already sitting in her favourite leather office chair, surrounded by books and her notes. Sara and Jessica were there, too, eager to help, as always, and keen to be involved in what Daelen’s two Tempestrian guests were doing. Daelen recognised that a few of the books arrayed before Catriona were from this very library. The two Chetsuan girls had obviously been helping her find a few things. Daelen hadn’t failed to notice how much they had both started to shine in the presence of Mandalee and Catriona. They were similar ages – as far as one could judge such things when they were different species from different worlds where Time moved at a different rate – and he was delighted at how quickly they had formed a bond.

Perception filters were useful things, but how could Sara and Jessica ever make real friends if they couldn’t be themselves? Sadly, the way some Earth humans treated even members of their own species with slightly different skin pigmentation, they definitely weren’t ready for a pair of purple, cat-like aliens.

Mandalee could relate, too, in a different way, given how some people had problems with her gender identity. None of the people in that room saw it as an issue, but on Tempestria, she sometimes hid the features of her face behind a mask. Features that gave away the fact that she had not been born biologically female, despite her otherwise flawless efforts to ‘pass.’ That mask was her perception filter.

Even Catriona sometimes encountered casual racism relating to her Faery heritage. Daelen couldn’t believe a Tavern called ‘FaerWay,’ with that terrible sign, was still allowed to exist. Since Catriona was half-human, her Faery spots were faint, so it wouldn’t be difficult for Cat to hide her heritage, but instead, she insisted everybody knew. Her perception filter worked differently: it helped her to create the perception that such prejudice didn’t upset her, when, in fact, it most assuredly did.

Daelen still felt guilty about the racist remarks his own dark clone had made to Cat. He hoped that was something ‘Aden’ had picked up on his own, and not something that had come from the original Daelen StormTiger before the split. He wouldn’t like to think he used to be like that. More importantly, now that the two halves were if not exactly recombined, then certainly co-existing, he hoped that didn’t mean that such attitudes were a part of him now.

In fact, if you think about it, gentle reader, wasn’t he using a perception filter of his own all the time? As he had confirmed to Catriona, this body wasn’t really him. It was a shell. He had described his true nature as ‘light in a box’ and while it was true that it was physically impossible for his whole self to fit inside the mortal realm – impossible without ripping it apart, anyway – he could have easily chosen a form