Gifts of Darkover by Deborah J. Ross

Author:Deborah J. Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Darkover, telepathy, ESP, space travel, alien planet
Publisher: Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust
Published: 2018-07-24T00:00:00+00:00

Green Is the Color of Her Eyes So Blue

by Deborah Millitello

From the frozen peaks of Nevarsin to the arid sands of the Dry Towns, gifts can be found in unexpected places. Some we can accept, in sorrow or gladness, but others we must pass by.

Deborah Millitello published her first story in 1989 in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine. Since then her stories have appeared various magazines such as Dragon Magazine; Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, including the third-place Cauldron winner “Do Virgins Taste Better?”; Science Fiction Age; and anthologies such as Aladdin Master of the Lamp; Witch Fantastic; Sword and Sorceress; Tales of Talislanta, and Bruce Coville’s Book of Nightmares. Her first book, Thief’s Luck, a YA fantasy mystery, is out from Double Dragon Publishing, and a YA fantasy novel, The Water Girl, will be out in February 2015 from Word Posse. She spends her free time baking cookies, cakes, and pies, making gourmet jams such as strawberry lemonade jam, lemon blueberry jam, and tangerine marmalade, knitting & crocheting, and growing herbs, vegetables, berries, and orchard fruit. A member of the Alternate Historians writers group, she lives in southern Illinois with her husband Carl (who has put up with her writing obsession for over forty years), has three children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild on the way, and works at a doctor’s answering service as her day job.

Dry Towners didn’t have laran—that was a well-known fact. Only settlers who lived in the Domains and the native chieri possessed various psychic talents. So why did Gareth Marius-Danvan Elhalyn y Hastur sense the touch of someone with laran as he approached Shainsa, one of the largest cities in the Dry Towns?

The red sun of Darkover had just climbed above the horizon, revealing the bleached walls of the desert city and the cliffs beyond that had been quarried for building stones. Huts, hovels, and tents huddled outside the city walls where those who couldn’t afford the gate fees struggled daily to find food and water. Dozens of people, wrapped in rags, peered out from their makeshift abodes, staring at him and the caravan he traveled with. And somewhere in that squalid mass of the poor was one person with power.

Gareth slowed his horse to a bare amble, lightly grasped his starstone amulet to strengthen his laran, and searched for whoever had touched his mind. The feeling had the same intimate sensation as laran, but it was subtle, subdued, and very faint, like the sound of a distant dove cooing. It also felt unlike any talent he’d ever encountered. Halting, he glanced across the people peeping from their wretched shelters, but he couldn’t determine the origin of the power.

“Why are you stopping here?” Rahelle asked, reining her horse beside him. “We’re almost at the gates. The horses and even the pack oudrakhi are straining to get to water.”

Gareth gazed at his wife a moment, then scanned the faces staring at him. “I’m not certain,” he said, just loud enough for her to hear. “There’s something.

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