In The Beginning, Gail Daley [red white royal blue .TXT] 📗

a few bites as it moved. At night, a portable stinger fence would be erected around them to keep them from wandering away.

The herds of goats and sheep from both Stations were mostly handled by Mia the head wrangler with the aid of herding dogs. The flocks were accustomed to being moved from pasture to pasture.

As the day wore on, Katherine was bothered for some time with the feeling they were being watched. In the hustle and bustle of the day, it was hard to locate the source of her ill feeling. It was enough, however, to keep her moving around and checking constantly on her kids.

That evening, using the skill of one of Zack’s unit he had left with them, Katherine set up an informal training session on how to load, aim and fire the Pulse rifles.

This wasn’t enough to dispel her unease and the next morning just at the edge of dawn, she rose early and walked out above the camp to find a quiet spot where she could be undisturbed. Sitting down, she centered herself and opened her third eye, seeking for hostile watchers along their route. The ability to feel emotions at a distance was not a skill often needed, but Katherine had been trained in the technique at the Dragon Talker Center. At first, she only sensed the normal dawn emanations of wild hunters and their prey, but faintly, along the edge of her perception, she located Zack and his fighters. The feeling of being watched was stronger to the Northeast, but it was too faint for her to identify the source. However, since they would be moving South and West away from it as they traveled she wasn’t particularly worried about it.

"What are you doing?"

She opened her eyes to find Juliette, Rupert and Lucinda watching her. "I'm using my third eye to check for a hostile presence," she answered calmly.

"What’s a third eye?" asked Lucinda.

"A third eye is what sensitives use when we reach out with our psychic senses."

"Can anyone use it?" Lucinda asked.

"Unless they’ve deadened it by refusing to believe in it, they can. Most humans have it to some extent, some more developed than others. It takes a little concentration and training to learn to use it. However, children can usually tap into it easier than adults."

She patted the ground beside her. "Come, sit here and I’ll give you a quick lesson before we leave," she said. Obediently, the three sat down facing her.

"I need you to relax and breathe as I tell you," she instructed. "Close your eyes and try to concentrate on hearing and smelling everything around you."

"Don’t open your eyes and tell me what you hear."

"The camp," said Lucinda.

"The horses, birds, the wind and—rustling in the rocks above us," Juliette answered.

"There’s something—" Rupert began, "I don’t really hear it, it’s more I feel it over there," he gestured off to the North.

Juliette concentrated, "Yes! I can feel it too. It’s not angry, just—watchful."

"I can feel it now too," cried Lucinda.

"Fantastic, children! For a first time, that is excellent," Katherine exclaimed. "We'll practice some more every morning. For now, though, let’s get mounted and head back down to camp."

That night, Katherine lay in the darkness waiting for sleep to come, listening to the night and to the sounds of her children as they drifted off to sleep. Her children. So much had happened to her in the last few months. She had a new husband; she was now the mother of five half-grown children. Most wonderful of all she had tumbled into love with Zack. While he gave every evidence of returning her love, he had yet to say so. She hadn’t told him either, she reminded herself. Maybe he was as unsure of her feelings as she was of his?

The night wasn't freezing and the heating crystals kept the tent warm, but she missed Zack's solid warmth beside her in the sleeping bag. Zack was passionate in bed. The memory brought an uncomfortable ache in her groin causing her to move restlessly. Outside the dome, she could hear the soft voices of the night guards as they exchanged greetings on their patrols. Over by the door, Jelli whuffled in her sleep. Jelli probably would have grown so much by next year’s Roundup, she and Violet would need a separate porta-dome, Katherine reflected.

She turned over, exasperated. She was still wide-awake, and it didn't look as if sleep was coming anytime soon. Quietly, so she wouldn't wake the sleeping children, she rose and dressed. Stepping over the snoring Jelli, she slipped out of the dome, securing the door flap behind her. Somehow, she was unsurprised to find the new wives of the fighters who had gone with Zack sitting around the dying fire.

Katherine poured a cup of the Cafka kept hot for the night guards and joined them. Her childhood friend Cora, who now managed the medical needs of the Lodge, looked at her and laughed ruefully. "You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Katherine laughed, "You caught me," she admitted.

One of the other women snorted. "What's wrong with us? I only met that man six weeks ago. I can't be in love this soon but I sure miss him in my bed."

The women exchanged half-rueful half-guilty looks before they all started giggling.

"Why not?" Another asked. "Didn't you think the matchmaker program worked?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious it did, or we wouldn't all be out here losing sleep," Cora replied.

"I'm so glad it worked," Katherine said. "The math said it should, but I worried I had made an error somewhere, you know?"

"I think you can relax about that." Marta, a brunette who had moved to the Lodge with her new husband, remarked as she swallowed the last of her Cafka. "I guess I'd better try to get some sleep."

"Me too," Joan, another of the new wives, replied rising with her, and prompting a general exodus.

Left alone with Katherine, Cora gave her childhood friend a straight look. "Are we going to be attacked?" She asked.

Katherine nodded soberly. "Zack was