Princess Valna'a spent the next few months trying to track down any information she could about the Rite of Soul Fusing, exhausting her family's library as well as the public ones and the ones at the education facilities. The only clue she found was a reference to the old ritual, and how it had been adapted by Duchess Otolyplit Heartripper to destroy a rival in her family's attempt to gain the throne during one of the coups through the millennia.

Her family had lost. And lost so badly that their assets had been seized and, mostly, destroyed. It appeared that the medical notes of the family healer who came up with this ritual had been salvaged, but a nervous Clan Father had ordered the destruction of all research into it and all source material used. Presumably in what was a failed attempt to prevent the ritual being used again. He had also introduced the law that it could not be used on people of higher social rank.

Frustrated, she was heading back to the palace via the Hall of Klartius when she heard the soft closing of one of the hidden doors, as the slave on duty successfully hid from her. This led to her thinking about the slave she was tied to, somehow, giving a feeling of comfort that chased away her frustration.

Back in her room she changed target for her research and decided to see where the human was now.

"This damned rite is definitely playing with me." She thought to herself, realising that she thought of Zahra as a 'human' and not a zero-six, like the rest of her species.

Taking longer to sign into the right database than it did to look Zahra up, she found that her human was actually on a respite break and was back working in the Hall of Klartius. Allowing her playful side out she decided to sneak into the hall and see how long it took Zahra to notice her.

Changing into soft soled, indoor, shoes she made her way back down to Zahra's current home, but made no other attempt to hide her presence. Again, as she entered the hall she heard the soft click of a closing door.

"Hmm, must try harder."

The next time she changed into clothes that blended somewhat with the decor or the corridor she would be using and crept up to the hall. Again, she got there in time to hear the door closing.

As an experienced scout, she was a bit put out at her inability to catch her human unawares. True she wasn't wearing a stealth suit, but she should still be delicate enough in her trade that a mere human couldn't detect her.

After a few more attempts, she gave up on just sneaking into the hall and broke out her military stealth suit. Officially, she was supposed to have returned it when she resigned from the military, but in her distress, she had 'forgotten' to return any equipment.

With the suit on she did manage to get into the hall undetected and stood watching the slave doing her work. She put Zahra's happy body language, and little smile, down to her being away from the feeding chambers, and having a not too bad job. The human actually looked more attractive doing this job than she had in Valna'a's bedroom.

Over time it became a sort of game to the bored princess. Some days she would try and sneak into the hall in civilian clothes, never getting the drop on Zahra, and other days she would use her stealth suit to go in and watch the human at work. This couple with her daydreaming about how she was going to kill her brother was what got her through that dark time in her life.

Zahra always seemed to be so happy here, even humming a tune to herself. Initially. Later she started singing, softly, and in a voice Valna'a found entrancing, little bits of love songs. The words had initially being gibberish to the elf, being in English, though she could feel the warmth behind them. Determined to understand the words as well she searched the training databases until she found a course on the human language, and studied that.

This all ended one day when she placed herself in an out of the way corner to watch and let her mind drift. Her musings interrupted by a soft cough to her left and...

"Excuse me, Princess. Could I ask you to move a bit, I need to clean this corner."

Startled the elf looked round to see a smiling face in front of her.

"Did you just sneak up on me, Zahra?"

"Yes, Mistress. It seemed fair, seeing as you've been doing it to me for weeks."

"How can you know where I am? This suit should allow me to walk through one of your cities undetected."

"I do not know, Mistress. I just seem to know when you are close. And...."

Zahra's speech petered out here, as she looked up suddenly, grabbed her cleaning equipment and darted into a hidden room, mere seconds before a group of elves appeared at the entranceway.

Rather than following, Valna'a simply stood still until the interlopers had passed and then moved slightly, to be out of the corner, for when Zahra returned. She was only mildly surprised, however, when Zahra returned to the corner and started cleaning it.

"Thank you, Mistress." Said directly to her position.

"You were saying? "

"The more often you come here the more reliable my sense of where you are is. Now, even though I cannot detect you with any of my senses, I am sure I could reach out any take you hand."

"Answer this next question truthfully, slave." Though she could hear a weird softness to the way she said "slave". "Do you mind me coming here, or would you rather I left you alone?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"I much prefer it when you are here, Mistress. The hall seems a nicer place with you in it." The blushing that went with that statement lent Valna'a to believe it was truth. Just not a truth Zahra wanted to admit to.

De-energising her suit Valna'a addressed the human again.

"New rule. You never have to hide from me, whatever you are doing. I will appraise Principae Kal'Va of this instruction, so he doesn't punish you for it."

"Thank you, Mistress. It will be nice to actually see you, when you're here."

Removing her helmet. "You sure about that?"

"Yes, Mistress." Zahra's pupils dilating at the sight.

Throughout Zahra's time in the hall Kal'Va would often find the princess visiting her. He was pleased that the human still avoided the other elves. Technically, while the princess was there, she could carry on with her work, but she seemed determined to obey the rules. If nothing else it made things easier for the old Principae, as he could be admonished for her breaking the rules, even if she technically wasn't.

The more often Valna’a was there the more often Zahra felt the urge to sing. Initially this was under her breath. The flow of the words corrupted by translating into elvish. Eventually the lyrics came out louder, although the songs were still mutated.

“That’s a very odd sounding song, Zahra.” Commented Valna’a one day

“It’s supposed to be in Human. And it doesn’t scan so well translated. “

“Sing it to me in Human, then.” Ordered Valna’a, curious as to how it would sound when sung properly.

“I Cannot, Mistress. I am forbidden to speak Human, on pain of having my tongue cut out.”

“That would make your songs sound even weirder.” Teased the princess. “I, hereby, exempt you from that edict, when it’s just the two of us. Or we think it’s just us.”

Zahra smiled and restarted the song. It was an old human love song about a girl finding her true love in an unusual place. Although Valna’a’s grasp of the human language was not good enough to fully follow all of the lyrics she found she adored it, when this woman was singing to her.

All through their interactions, in the hall, there was another entity watching over them. Older than either girl. Older, even than Valna’a’s race, it watched and smiled at the two of them.

Eventually the time came for Zahra to return to the prison and, though she put on a brave face, Valna'a could tell that the thought terrified her. Wishing she could protect her friend, as she now thought of Zahra, from the torment the princess returned to studying all she could about their curse.

It was during one of these sessions that she had an epiphany. She did not want to break the curse. She did not want to reverse the ritual. She wanted to be with Zahra, and if that meant she would have a shorter life she would take it.

Love was seen as a dangerous emotion amongst the elves, as it left one vulnerable to indirect attack. Apart from her sister, Valna'a had managed to get through her thirty five years without ever feeling love for anyone. Until now. Now she had the horrible feeling that she loved the strange human her brother had shackled her with. She wasn't sure if she saw Zahra as a sister, a daughter or a potential lover - her knowledge of the emotion being too small - but she definitely had feeling for her. The normal reaction was to remove the subject from her life, either terminally or just away from her, but that was not possible here. She didn't want to be away from Zahra, and killing her would kill Valna'a too. And that wouldn't be ideal.

Wanting to see her 'heart-mate', as she thought of Zahra, Valna'a decided to go and check up on her. A weak excuse but valid enough considering how important their wellbeing was to each other.

It wasn't difficult to find where Zahra was being kept and Valna'a made her way there one morning. Arriving at the prison she used her rank to get in and made her way to the correct cell. Getting in was no problem either, she was, after all, still a princess. 'Maybe I should become a guard.' She thought. Unlike in the raiding teams where she had wanted to get recognised purely for her abilities and hadn't used her family connections to get promoted, here she could, quite happily, abuse her position to get the job she wanted.

Walking into the room, she was a bit taken aback by how many humans were kept here. She was not surprised, however, at the hostility she felt. Looking around she could not see Zahra, so had resort to asking one of the slaves.

Approaching a group of twenty near the door she selected one dressed differently from the majority.

"Excuse me." Surprising herself at her politeness. "Where is Zahra?"

"I'm sorry, Mistress. I don't know anyone called Zahra." The female slave Valna'a had accosted was obviously terrified to have been asked, especially as she couldn't help.

"Can I help you, Mistress?" Asked another one, seemingly more confident. This was a male, wearing the same type of clothes Zahra had initially been wearing.

"I'm looking for Zahra.....Wellson." She only just remembered Zahra's family name.

"Lieutenant Wellson's platoon is over there." He said pointing to one group of humans that looked pretty much like any other group to Valna'a. Most of them were in the green clothes that made up the uniform the humans wore, while a few were in individual styles of various dark colours. Except one who was wearing a bright pink shirt.

"I am after Zahra Wellson, not Lieutenant Wellson." She snapped.

"Sorry, Mistress. Lieutenant is a rank, not a name. I don't know her first name, but the only Wellson we have here is Lieutenant Wellson of Four Platoon, D Company, and they are over there."

"Thank you for the correction, I didn't know her military rank. I do know she is in charge of a platoon, though."

"That would be her, then, Mistress. The lieutenant does command that platoon."

"Thank you." With that she set off towards the indicated collection of humans.

Approaching them, Valna'a asked. "Where is Zahra Wellson?"

"The lieutenant is currently indisposed." Came a voice from the back of the group.

"Who said that?" She asked, catching the missing title

"Don't tell him, Pike." Came another voice, totally confusing Valna'a. Especially at the laughter it provoked from some of the group.

"Enough!" Ordered another male, approaching her.

"The lieutenant is currently in the other part of the prison we visit. We expect her back soon, though she is unlikely to be in a position to help you with anything for a few hours, Mistress."

"And you are?"

"Sergeant Mantle, Mistress."

"Is that your name or your rank, Sergeant Mantle?"

"My name is Kevin Mantle, Mistress. My rank is Sergeant."

"Would you be Zahra's deputy?"

"Yes, Mistress."

Just then, the door opened and a squad of guards escorted the ten humans by the door out. A couple of minutes later a bedraggled group staggered in.