 at the swimming area of the old Beech Fork Lake. Symone was with him this time, and they had Luke's Deuce hidden under some low-hanging branches in the overgrown road that led to the swimming area. The Deuce should be able to carry a replicator; they were about a ton in weight on the average, well within a Deuce's carrying capacity. Jason had called Kumi the day before and arranged this meeting to take place at sunset today, which was now. Kumi was coming in person again, but this time she wasn't staying on Earth. She had come on a freighter, she would make the delivery, and then she would go back home. It would take her about six hours after all was said and done. It was about the closest thing to real work she ever did, he reasoned. She probably had her butler, Fure, do most of the legwork when it came to collecting up the things she bought for him.

He hoped she hurried up. There was a front coming through, and it was going to start raining soon.

_Remember, they do_ not _know I have talent,_ Jason warned Symone as they heard the dropship's engines in the distance. _I'll have my mind totally closed, even to sending, so don't even try. Fure already suspects I have talent, so don't give him any reason to think he's right._

_Who's Fure?_

_One of Kumi's servants,_ he answered as the lights of the dropship appeared, as it descended through a cloud. _Remember the plan?_

Symone laughed wickedly. _She's going to_ hate _you, Jason._

_I know, but she has it coming. Remember, it won't be personal, and I apologize in advance if I do something that offends you._

_Jayce hon, you're my friend,_ she reminded with a pat of his shoulder. _Trust me, I won't take it personally. I'm going to enjoy it, truth be told, and I_ did _agree to do it. I won't back out, and I know what we have to do._

_I know, but it's good to make sure._

They watched as the dropship circled the area, obviously sweeping the place with sensors, then it landed. Jason and Symone, neither wearing their heavy armor, walked out into the clearing as the back doors and ramp opened on the dropship, and Jason saw the same five people who had greeted him the first time; Kumi, the twins Meya and Myra, Fure, and that little red-skinned guy whose name Jason did not know. Everyone but Kumi was wearing similar clothes since the last time; the twins in their armor, and the two servants in their livery, but Kumi was wearing an odd half-top of shimmering black cloth that had flared half-sleeves, whose lower hem was also uneven. It revealed a hint of a peek of the lower slope of her right breast, but the left side hung down to the waist of her sleek black pants, which were slung very low on her hips and were quite form-fitting. The outfit left her flat stomach bare, showing off that figure that Kumi was so proud of. There was a _big_ container behind them, somewhat reminiscent to Jason of a semi's trailer, just square, with smooth, polished sides, and built out of what looked to be titanium. It looked like a giant mirrored cube, and he could see no door on it. Jason waved to them as Kumi started down the ramp, but Meya and Myra were already moving to the sides of the ship to investigate the area.

"Hey babe," Kumi greeted as they met at the base of the ramp. "We gotta do this fast, I'm on a tight schedule. It's all in the container. You have something to carry it?"

He nodded. "An old vehicle we salvaged out here. Wait here, I'll go get it."

With Symone spotting him, Jason backed the Deuce up to the edge of the ramp of the dropship and parked the huge truck, then climbed down as Fure used an antigrav pod affixed to the top of the container to transfer it to the open truckbed. The chassis of the truck settled noticeably onto its tires when the weight was put in the bed, but the container fit... almost. It stuck out almost two feet on either side of the bed, and took up the entire length of the bed as well. Fure annealed the base of the container to the metal bed of the Deuce so it wouldn't slide off as Jason looked over a list that Kumi supplied him, everything she had bought. "The replicator's an older model and it's used, but it works. I tested it and everything. It's also not too big as reps go, so it shouldn't take up your entire workshop," she grinned. "Everything else is here. I have her armor in the cockpit, she should try it on before we go to make sure it fits."

"Let's go then, I have to get that truck back to its owner by tomorrow, and we have a ways to go," Jason told her.

Jason and Symone followed Kumi up into the cockpit, and after he looked around, he realized that this was the _same_ dropship that she'd used the last time. He recognized it. "Armor's right there, girl," Kumi said, pointing. "Now give me the gun. I get to play with it while she tries it on."

"Fine, just stay where I can see you, and don't try to take it apart. You won't like what will happen if you try," he warned.

"Trapped?" she asked.

He nodded. "I'm going to help Symone with her armor," Jason said, handing her the railgun. She took it and literally ran through the cargo compartment and down the back ramp. She was quickly joined by Meya and Myra, and the _BEE-yah_ sound of the weapon echoed through the ship as they took turns blowing craters in the hillside on the far side of the lake spur.

"Okay, try it on," Jason whispered to Symone in English. "We'll do it when she burns up the ammo, after you finish."

"Got it," Symone said with an evil grin, pulling her tee shirt over her head.

Jason helped her put the black armor on, mainly because they didn't have much time. He did pause to admire the same phoenix design on the breastplate of her armor that was on his. After she was done, stuffing her blonde hair up under the helmet, she moved around to ensure the armor was a good fit, then she tested its systems. Unlike Jason, who had had no idea what anything did, Symone immediately knew what everything did, and where it was. She tested the forearm MPAC ports but didn't fire the weapons, and her feet came off the ground after she flipped up the armored flap hiding the control console of the armor's systems, on her left wrist just under the flared pod of the MPAC.

"It all works," she whispered to him.

"Okay, let's get you out of it," he said, watching Kumi and her guards, as Fure kept an eye on _him_ from the ramp. "You're _sure_ you don't mind?"

"It'll be fun," Symone winked.

After burning up all the ammunition, Kumi made her way back to the cockpit, but Jason quickly disappeared from her view. Fure rushed forward, but Kumi was closer, so she reached the cockpit hatchway first. She was greeted by the sight of Jason engaged in a passionate embrace with Symone, who was nude, the armor and her clothes scattered all over the floor of the cockpit. Symone had him backed against the bulkhead, and his hands squeezed her shapely butt liberally as she kissed him with aggressive hunger. Jason kept a watchful eye on Kumi as he broadcasted intense, downright pornographic thoughts about Symone, which he _knew _Kumi was hearing. He continued the game, but it wasn't easy to concentrate on Kumi because Symone was maybe being a little bit _too_ serious about kissing him. She was a damn good kisser, and she was having fun.

Though he couldn't hear Kumi's thoughts, he had no doubt it was getting to her. Kumi's skin flushed, turning a faint shade of purple, and she watched them with hungry eyes. Jason then opened his eyes enough for Kumi to see him looking at her, and she was suddenly assaulted with graphic fantasies about him, her, _and_ Symone. He pushed Symone aside, who played it to the hilt by kissing his neck ardently while her hands were all over him; she even stuck her hand down the front of his pants and grabbed him. He advanced on Kumi, who stood in the doorway, one hand on the bulkhead and the other cupping her breast, and she stared up at him with sultry eyes when he reached her. He leaned down and kissed her, still assaulting her with graphic images of what he intended to do to her, and she wrapped her hands around him like a vice, even wrapped her legs around him when he picked her up and carried her towards one of the passenger seats.

Kumi didn't see the huge grin on Symone's face, or the fact that she'd stopped pawing Jason and was now hurriedly collecting up her armor even as she rushed to get dressed.

He deposited Kumi in the very chair in which she'd sat naked and propositioned him, still kissing her with passion, and honestly enjoying it. What was it with Faey and kissing? Did _every single one of them_ have to be a fantastic kisser? Jyslin just blew his socks off every time she kissed him, and he'd just discovered that Symone was a fabulous kisser, and now Kumi was doing her race proud. He ran his hands up inside her top, getting a thorough feel of her breasts, then wormed a hand inside her tight-fitting pants and got a feel of what she'd offered him the last time he'd met her. She almost sucked the breath out of him when he touched her, and he knew he had her dead to rights.

He withdrew his hand slowly, almost sensuously, and when she let go of him to return the favor, he quickly pulled away. Every lascivious thought pouring out of his mind just _stopped_, and he rose up from his half-kneeling position quickly and effortlessly, pausing only to adjust his shirt. "Thanks for everything, Kumi," he told her with a neutral expression, though his eyes were dancing with mirth. "I have to get that Deuce back before I get in trouble. It was good to see you again."

She looked up at him in total confusion, breathing heavily, and her exposed blue skin was sheened over with sweat. He'd got her going, and then he just stopped cold. She didn't quite understand what was going on, lost somewhere between her ardor and his mystifying behavior. He leaned down, as if to kiss her, but instead leaned in and brought his mouth close to her ear. "By the way, my girlfriends think you're _gorgeous_," he whispered in her ear.

He pulled away, and it suddenly dawned on her that he was doing nothing more than playing with her. She turned absolutely _purple_ as she blushed furiously on top of the flush of her ardor, and the look she flashed at him from that chair was positively _murderous_.

"Think about that the next time you show my naked picture around without my permission," Jason told her with a slight, clever little smile, reaching down quickly for the railgun that Kumi had dropped to the floor when he kissed her. Symone handed him her box of armor, and she bowed outrageously to the flustered noble and took it back.

"Was it good for you, baby?" Symone asked Jason outrageously.

"Symone, you make a man beg to die in your arms," he answered with a dry drawl.

"I-You-She-I-_grrrraaaoohhhh_!!!!" Kumi stammered, then her words turned into a growling scream, slamming her hands against the armrests of her chair as Jason and Symone hastily made their escape. Fure gave him a shocked look, then he chuckled ruefully as the two of them rushed past. They managed to get out of the dropship before they both erupted into uncontrollable laughter, which he had no doubt was audible to Kumi inside the dropship.

They got to the Deuce and hurriedly climbed inside, but Kumi was already at the ramp. "Jason Fox!" she screamed loudly. "You _RAT_! That was _MEAN_!" Then she started laughing. "Don't even _think_ you're gonna get away that easy, you tease! Next time I see you, I'm gonna make you do every single thing you were thinking at me!"

Jason poked his head out the window and looked back at her. "Then let's call it a date!" he shouted back to her. "Gotta go, Kumi! Have a safe trip home, and I hope you enjoyed the show!"

"I will _own_ you, Jason Fox!" Kumi threatened, pointing a finger at him. "When I'm done with you, you won't be able to walk straight for a week!"

"Confident, isn't she?" Symone chuckled as Jason started the Deuce, whose engine drowned out her voice, and they got moving.

They didn't look back until the truck was almost to 152, but then they saw the dropship rise up from the behind the hill they'd driven over and bolt off into the night sky. They didn't stop laughing until they were halfway home, when Symone sighed in amused contentment and leaned back in her seat. "Oh, Trelle's garland, that was _great_," she said, then started giggling again. "She was so hot for it that she was about to rip her clothes off, and then you just _stop_. Demir's sword, Jayce, you must have ice in your blood."

"Oh, I was tempted, I won't lie," he admitted, "but revenge before fun, as they always say."

Symone laughed, then she reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. "After that, I think I'm going to have to take Tim up to our room and try to melt his cast," she told him. "You managed to get _me_ as worked up as _her._ Trelle's garland, Jayce, I never thought you could be that _dirty_," she admitted with a laugh.

"Jyslin corrupted me," he drawled. "I might have to take a cold shower tonight, but it was worth it. First I get kissed by you, then by Kumi. I don't think many men could stand up to that for long."

"Cold shower? Bull _shit_," Symone told him. "I'll take care of it, Jayce. Friends don't leave friends frustrated. I wouldn't be much of a friend if I did."

"You don't have to do that, Symone," he assured her.

"Hell, now I _want_ to," she winked at him. "You got me wound up tighter than a tenday clock, cutie. I think you deserve the honor of popping my spring."

"I'll let Tim take care of it," he told her.

"I told you once before Jayce, it's no big deal. You _are_ my friend, and you need a woman. Faey women don't let their male friends go without. _Ever_. You need some sex, and you're getting some tonight. You can fight with me about it all you want, but in the end you're gonna end up letting me fuck you, and you know it. Just accept it gracefully and enjoy it."

"Tim might have something to say about it."

"Tim thinks I'm already fucking you," she told him bluntly. "I reminded him when we got here that any time I thought you needed some I'd take care of it, since Jyslin isn't here and it doesn't look like you're fucking any of the human girls on the side. He's known what Faey women do for their male friends, cutie, since back when we went to the beach. I won't be doing anything other than what he thinks I'm _already_ doing."

Jason blew out his breath. Dissuading Symone was probably a lost cause. She was his friend, and that was something that Faey friends did. As long as they didn't join minds, it would just be casual sex, and that was more than within the bounds of a Faey's concept of a healthy friendship with a member of the opposite sex.

And, to be honest with himself... he _was_ most certainly in the mood, and outside of calling Kumi back down, Symone was about his only option. He felt a bit awkward about the idea of having sex with his best friend's girlfriend, but she saw nothing wrong with it. And it wasn't like he could just go up to one of the women in the community and ask her to come sleep with him. He'd have to ask Tim about this. If Tim told him that it was alright, he guessed he may as well. If only because Symone wouldn't leave him alone.

"Well?" she demanded.

"I'm considering it," he said seriously.

She gave him a look, then laughed.

"I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of it Symone, I won't lie," he admitted. "You're my best friend's girlfriend. In human society, that makes you out of bounds. But, I know you're not human," he said, cutting off her inevitable reply. "You're just doing what you think is right, just like I am."

"You don't understand as well as I thought," she said, pursing her lips. "Tim's looked into my heart and soul, Jayce, through the bond we share. He knows that nothing will ever take me away from him, not even hot sex with his hunky best friend. That's why he doesn't mind. Hell, cutie, you can _ask_ him when we get home. I bet you ten credits here and now he'll give you his blessing."

"I may have to do that, for my own piece of mind if anything."

"Then it's easy money for me," she grinned.

"Easy money? Hell, woman, you're about sixty thousand in the hole to me for your armor."

"Then I'm ten credits closer to breaking even," she winked. "You wanna get rid of me, cutie? Get a human girlfriend. I'd put some money on that brown woman, Tomika?"

"Temika."

"She's cute-at least for a human-built like a Marine, and she's stacked," she told him.

"I'm not her type. She likes guys who are ripped."

"Hunger makes the best sauce, cutie," she winked, then she frowned. "Did you know she has talent?"

He nodded. "I've had to edit her memory before, when I messed up. She has potential."

"Not potential, Jayce. _Talent_. She's like a little girl who hasn't expressed yet. It's _there_, just not awake. It's just a matter of time."

He glanced at her, moving the big truck across the road to avoid a fallen tree, which caused it to hit a cavernous pot hole that shook the whole truck. "How soon?"

"Days, months, no idea," she shrugged. "Once it's like that, it just takes something setting it off, if it doesn't wake up on its own."

"You could have told me earlier."

"I'm not entirely sure how to approach her, Jayce, and I wanted to come up with something before I told you."

"How do you mean?"

"She's _terrified_ of talent, cutie," she said seriously. "Someone must have done something very bad to her to make her like that. I'm not sure how she'll react when she finds out _she_ has it. I've been trying to come up with a safe way to tell her that won't cause her too much harm."

"I'll do it," he told her. "If she's that close, she needs to know _before_ she expresses, or she might have a nervous breakdown." He picked up the handheld radio. "Tim," he called.

Tim, like just about everyone in the community, had one of those radios, so he answered immediately. _"You done, Jayce?"_

"Yeah, I've got the package and we're on the way back. I need you to do something for me."

_"What?"_

"Get on the CB and send out the word that Temika needs to come back," he told her.

_"Ah'll get right on it, sugah,"_ Temika's voice called over her handheld, her tone amused. _"Ah just got back about ten minutes ago. What do you need?"_

"You. I'll explain when we get back."

_"You got it, sugah."_

Jason and Symone drove the rest of the way in relative silence, as Jason worked through how he'd breach this subject with Temika. He thought of several different ways to do it, but he knew Temika, and knew that trying to dance around the subject wouldn't sit well with her. The best way would be to just _tell_ her, and explain to her what needed to be done. She'd respect him more for that than for leading her on or not leveling with her.

Several scavengers ran out of sight as they crawled through Huntington, following a roundabout route that was the only unobstructed path from 5th Street Hill to the downtown bridge. He paused at the bridge and called over using the radio, and waited while Tim disengaged the trap on the bridge. He drove over and quickly made it back to his house, then pulled up in front of it as Tim, Doc Northwood, Steve, Temika, Clem, and Leamon stood up on his porch. He wasn't sure what they were doing, but it didn't really bother him that they were there. Tim and Symone lived in his house for right now, to keep Tim close to the two people who could contain him if he had an accident, or at least at that time. After a few weeks of training with Symone, Tim had learned how to completely close his mind so he didn't hear the thoughts of those around him, and he like Jason, he actively kept that up most of the time. Jason had to _choose_ to hear someone's thoughts, which prevented accidents.

"Wow, what's that?" Leamon asked as Jason and Symone got out of the Deuce.

"This is our latest goodie bag," Jason answered. "I'm broke now, but I got something that'll make things much easier."

"What?" he asked.

"A replicator," he answered.

"A replicator? That thing that can just _make_ stuff?" Leamon asked.

Jason nodded as he whistled, which got Tim's attention. "Go get my annealer, would you please?" He looked to Leamon as Symone came around the truck. "It can make some things, yes, but it has limits," he explained. "It can only make _elements_, not finished products. This'll be handy to bang out all the copper wire we need, or iron, and stuff like that, but it won't do stuff like those things on _Star Trek_ would."

"So what good will it do us?"

"Trust me, it's going to be _very_ useful," he said seriously.

"Umm, Jason son, we don't have any forklifts," Clem told him. "How are we getting anything down from it?"

Jason screwed his face up, then looked to Symone. "Think you and me could lift a replicator with the armor?"

"Breaking it in early, aren't we?" she chuckled. "Sure, cutie, we could pick it up. We'll need everything but the helmet."

Jason and Symone went in, Symone carrying her armor in its box, then the suited up and came back out. The container was a featureless cube of unpainted titanium, without doors or markings of any kind outside of _this end up_ and _fragile_. It had been annealed closed, and Jason had to use the annealer to get it open. He cut the entire back wall out of it, then pushed it over for Symone to catch. She did so easily, then drug it out of the way and laid it on the ground. The air inside, air from whatever planet that Kumi had been on when it was sealed, was fresh and oddly sweet, and inside was stowed boxes and boxes of equipment. Each box was made of an ultra-strong synthetic material much akin to plastic, with different colors and logos, with Faey words printed on them. They were manufacturer's boxes, and inside them was the equipment she had bought for him. Behind those boxes, looming large, was the replicator.

"Okay, fellas, let's move these boxes out," Symone ordered as she and Jason climbed inside.

With eight people working, they quickly got everything out and stacked neatly on his lawn. Jason and Symone sized up the replicator, then looked at each other from its ends. "Scoot it over then get out and set it down?" she suggested.

"I think that's best," he agreed with a nod, opening the command panel on the arm of his armor as she did the same. He engaged the strength augmentation system, which caused his entire suit of armor to suddenly make a sound much like a charging flash for an old camera. The backglass on his console flashed [ENGAGED] three times, then it turned green and went steady. The powered joints of the armor were now charged and ready, and they would respond to the flexing of his muscles and the pressure his body put on the inside of the armor when he moved. The armor was now doing all the moving, but it would move with him like it was his second skin. With the armor's powered system active, the two of them easily scooted the thousand pounds of replicator over to the edge.

"Alright boys, we need your help," Symone told them as they jumped down the five feet to the ground. "Me and Jayce are gonna pick it up, you guys get on the back side and keep it from wobbling as we bring it down. We can't let it fall over."

"Got it, Miss Symone," Clem said. "Come on, boys," he told the younger men, and he, Leamon, and Tim climbed up into the unit with the help of Jason. "Mind that arm, Tim son," he ordered. "Just put your shoulder on it. Me and Leamon'll be on each end."

"Ah can help, yah bunch'a chauvinists," Temika laughed as she pulled herself into the unit. She got beside Tim and put her hands on the back of the replicator. "Ah'm ready."

"Ready?" Jason asked Symone as he put his gauntleted hands under the bottom edge of the replicator, and she nodded. "Ready up there Clem?"

"We're ready, Jason," he answered.

"On three," Symone said, then counted down. They picked it up, which made it wobble dangerously since they were so far under it, but the three men and woman behind it kept it stable. They lifted it out past the edge, then lowered it slowly and carefully to the ground.

"What is all this stuff, Jason?" Leamon asked.

"Well, most of what's in the boxes is what I need to build more guns like the one I carry," he answered as he and Symone picked it up again, then started carrying it towards his house. "Can someone go open the door and clear a path to the basement stairs?" he asked.

"I'll get it," Tim said, and rushed ahead.

"I got some extra flux cabling in case we need to build another generator, and there should be a new panel or two in there too, which is going to run the security system so I can have my panel back. I also got a sensor array to replace the one I had to take out of my skimmer. And of course, Symone's armor," he said, looking around the replicator at her.

"Ain't I just gorgeous?" she laughed. "This is _real_ combat armor, not that junk that I wore before."

With Doc Northwood guiding them, Jason and Symone carefully carried the replicator through the house, then down the stairs and into his basement workshop. The others were carrying boxes behind them, as they got the replicator down into the basement, then set it down against the far back wall of his workshop, which he'd cleared out for the replicator that morning. He opened the replicator's outer cover, which slid up into the top of the unit, displaying its control panel, dataport for external datalink, and the replication chamber, hidden behind an inner door. He powered the replicator up, and it went through its power-on diagnostics as Symone picked up the stick that held its service manual, which Kumi had tied to the handle of the replication chamber door.

"Jason, son, we're not done moving things in," Clem told him with a chuckle. "You can play with your new toy later."

Jason laughed. "Point taken," he said. "Let's get the rest of that stuff down here."

They moved the boxes down, then Jason unannealed the container from the back of the Deuce and he and Symone pushed it off. It hit the ground with a loud _bang_, but given that it was replicated laminated titanium, it didn't so much as bend when it hit the ground. Jason cut up that titanium into strips, then the others helped him carry it down into his workshop, where it was stacked neatly in one of the smaller storage rooms. "Let's find the panel Kumi said she got me," Jason told them. "They're in one of the boxes."

"Kumi? That's a strange name. Pretty though," Clem noted.

"Kumi's a strange and pretty young lady," Jason said, but Symone started snickering evilly. "She probably _really_ hates me right now, though."

"Why is that?"

"I played a prank on her," he answered as he opened a box and found flux cabling. "It was in revenge for a prank she played on me last week. Mine was just meaner."

"Trelle's garland, was it!" Symone said, erupting into laughter. "You should have seen the look on her face!"

"What did you do?" Doc Northwood asked.

He glanced at Symone, who just grinned evilly. "Let's say that I exploited one of the baser aspects of a Faey noble's personality," he answered.

"And what is that?"

"Lust," Symone said with a vicious smile. "Jason here is _very_ handsome to a Faey, Doc. I don't think handsome really describes it, though. Drop dead _gorgeous_ is probably closer to the truth. Kumi has the hots for him, and he played on that to get her back for showing a picture of him naked to her friends."

"That's too much information, Symone," Jason said darkly as the others burst into laughter.

"They have to understand the history," she said with an outrageous grin.

"How'd she get a naked picture of you, Jason?" Temika asked curiously, trying to get control of herself.

"She demanded it as part of the payment for the last shipment of goods she delivered to me," he answered, giving Symone a scowl, but she just winked at him. "I really didn't have much choice, so I let her take it. Kumi is... a bit eccentric."

"Ah'd nevah guess," she said, breaking down into laughter again.

"Here's the panel," Tim said, opening another box. "There's two of them in here."

"Don't turn them on," Jason cautioned. "Well guys, I have some work to do, so if you don't mind," he prompted.

"Sure, we'll clear out," Clem chuckled.

"Temika, stay a minute," Jason told her. Tim looked about to say something, but Symone looked at him in a way that told Jason that she was sending to him privately. He glanced at Temika, then at Jason, then he nodded and followed Leamon up the stairs.

"Ah take it this is part of what you needed me for?" she asked. "What, you need a naked picture?" she asked with a sly smile. "Ah hate tah tell yah, sugah, but Ah'm much harder tah get out of mah clothes."

"I've already seen you topless," he said dryly, leaning back against the replicator and crossing his arms.

She laughed. "Ah reckon you have," she said ruefully. "All it took fo' you tah manage it was for me tah get shot, too," she added with a sly smile. "Now, what did you want tah talk about, sugah?"

He blew out his breath and bowed his head, then looked back at her steadily. "There's no easy way to tell you this, Temika. It's going to shock you, and you're probably not going to like hearing it."

"Now you got me worried, sugah," she told him seriously, the smile sliding from her face. "What, Ah'm being thrown out? Did Ah do somethin' wrong?"

"No, it's nothing quite as simple as that," he said, then he stood back up. "Sit down."

"What?"

"Sit down."

"Shit, this must be _real_ serious," she grunted, sitting on a stack of boxes beside her.

"It's serious all right," he agreed. "First off, let me explain something to you. I didn't come out here just because I wanted to get away from the Faey. I did, at least partially, but a really big part of the reason I'm here is because if the Imperium knew about me, I'd be shipped off to Draconis for brainwashing."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because of what I am," he replied evenly. "I'm a _telepath_, Temika. I'm a _human_ telepath."

"Yo' shittin' me," she said with a gasp.

He shook his head. "I found out about it a few months ago. A Faey friend of mine named Jyslin found out about it, but she didn't turn me in. She trained me instead, trained me how to control it an how to not get caught. She did it because she likes me, and she didn't want to see me get my mind wiped by the Imperium if they discovered me. At that time, I thought I was the o