Page 77 of Soros
Tania
Nature on Scilm was gorgeous and reminded me of the Caribbean except there were no palm trees. Instead, there was a native plant that was the size of a tree but without a trunk. To me it resembled an oversized aloe vera plant that had grown to be slim and ten feet tall.
The Ugon Master, Tambul, met us on a retreat in a hilly area.
Soros and I were nervous when we exited the shuttle that he had rented to take us to this remote place.
Tambul on the other hand seemed calm, friendly, and undisturbed by the doom that hung above our heads.
Leading us to a quiet place next to a creek, he gestured for us to sit on the ground.
“Isn’t it nice here?” he asked and closed his eyes while he leaned his head back.
The entire place was wonderful but feeling nauseated from the prospect of potentially losing Soros, I couldn’t appreciate the sound of water or the vegetation around us.
“You are nervous.” Tambul opened his eyes and gave us a soft smile. “My task is to figure out if you are nervous for the same reason or maybe for opposite reasons. I’ve been asked to determine if you, Soros, violated Tania mentally.”
“He didn’t,” I hurried to point out.
“How would you know?” Tambul showed off his large ears by having his hair shaved short. He had kind brown eyes and was short and stout in body type. I noticed that he was missing his right arm from the elbow on down.
“Soros would never hurt me.”
“Have you ever been mind clouded?” Tambul asked.
Memories of Ko’roz controlling Star and me made me feel sick. “Yes, I have. Recently.”
Arranging himself with one leg stretched out, he wrapped his arms around the knee of the other leg, which was bent. “Will you allow me to search your minds?” he asked us.
I exchanged a look with Soros before letting go of his hand and answering Tambul. “Yes.”
Soros gave his consent as well.
Tambul didn’t close his eyes or touch either of us. He sat rocking a little from side to side and then he rested his head on his bent knee and looked to the side. I didn’t feel a thing and got the impression that he looked more like someone daydreaming than working.
“Hmm…”
“What does hmm mean?” I asked, slightly irritably because it didn’t feel like the Ugon Master understood the severity of the situation.
Looking straight at Soros, Tambul spoke without any sort of hurry, “You’ve caused tremendous pain in Tania. Her thoughts around you are similar to an infected wound that’s healing poorly. On the surface the skin is struggling to repair itself, but it can’t because there’s still pus and bacteria under the skin.”
“But I never mind clouded her,” Soros emphasized. “We missed each other and that’s what caused the pain.”
Tambul kept rocking slightly from side to side. “Hmm.”
His hmms drove me crazy.
“With you two it’s an all or nothing situation.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Looking at me, Tambul cocked his head from side to side. “Fascinating.”
“What is fascinating?”
“You are,” he answered me. “With Soros he’s aware of my presence almost as a host showing me around his mind. With you, it’s different. I can look at things, but you aren’t there.”
“I’m right here,” I protested. “And I assure you that I’m connected to my brain.”
