Varken Rise Read Online Free Page A

interspersed by visits from the Varkan. They were all very good about asking first, usually by private message. Bedivere didn’t like to refuse. He knew very well that he was an anchor in their lives, giving them orientation and direction. He also knew that he was a teacher and that teaching was not done by lecturing but by example. His behavior spoke louder than he did. As manners were the social oil of human interactions, he held himself to the same standards as he expected from the Varkan. If their request was polite, he accepted.
    Connell had returned with Jovanka three days after their first meeting. Bedivere spent as much time with her as she would permit and at first, he did most of the talking. He told long rambling stories about his own awakening and adventures with Cat. She would sit and listen, her gaze steady. She said very little.
    Slowly, though, she opened up. At first it was an occasional comment and, once, he thought she almost smiled at one of the more outrageous tales that he had embroidered over the years for maximum effect.
    However, Catherine was the leverage that finally opened her up.
    Cat had come upon them in the common room and hesitated when she saw Jo curled up on the corner of the sofa, her knees to her chest as usual and her bare toes curled over the cushions as if she was really there. Jo’s avatar was growing more sophisticated with each visit, at a speed that outpaced Connell’s development.
    Jo looked up, startled, when she saw Cat.
    Bedivere resisted the urge to move in anyway. “This is Catherine, Jo. Cat, this is Jovanka.”
    Catherine’s smile was warm. “Hello Jovanka. I’ve heard so much about you.”
    “Bedivere talks about me?”
    Bedivere relaxed. She was responding normally. He hadn’t been sure how she would react to a stranger and a human. This was Cat, though, who had figured in most of their conversations so far.
    “Bedivere thinks you are delightful.” Catherine told her. “He is enjoying getting to know you.”
    “Delightful?” Jovanka seemed puzzled. Then her puzzlement disappeared. “Oh, I see.” Clearly, she had referenced the word and catalogued it.
    It was moments like these that told Bedivere more about Jo than she revealed herself. Her essential loneliness and her isolation were confirmed by her lack of experience with simple things, such as words as “delightful”. It was as if positive vocabulary of that kind had never been used in her conversations with anyone else.
    Catherine smiled sunnily at her. Bedivere had explained to her about Jo’s sensitivity and now she was stepping around her as cautiously as Bedivere did. “We’re about to have supper quite soon. Are you staying to keep us company?”
    Jo tilted her head, absorbing the startling request. Then she shook her head just a little. Sadness enveloped her. “I must work.”
    Catherine did not make a fuss of it. “Perhaps another time,” she said simply. She moved over to Bedivere’s side. “I will leave you two to talk.” She leaned down to kiss him. Bedivere was more than happy to turn his mouth up to hers and relish the moment. Catherine’s kisses were always to be enjoyed.
    Catherine rested her hand against his cheek, gave him a smile, then turned and left.
    Jo had sat up, alert. Her gaze followed Catherine as she left the room and the expression on her face was that of someone for whom the last piece of a large puzzle had dropped into place.
    She got to her feet, moving slowly, as if her mind was busy with other things. And perhaps it was. “I must go.”
    “To work?” Bedivere asked carefully.
    “There is a schedule to keep,” she said absently. Then she drew her gaze back to him, perhaps remembering the protocol she had been learning. “Thank you, Bedivere,” she said. “May I call by again?”
    “I would be very happy if you did.”
    Normally, Jo just winked out of sight when she went away. This time, she turned and walked in the same direction that Catherine had