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Mindline (Dreamhealers 2)

Mindline (Dreamhealers 2)

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At the advice of Vasiht’h, his first and truest friend, Jahir Seni Galare has accepted one of the most coveted residencies in xenotherapy, even though doing so has severed him from all the relationships he’s fostered since leaving his cloistered homeworld. But not all the simulations at school have prepared him for the reality of being an esper in a hospital large enough to serve the winter capital of the entire Alliance, and it’s not long before he’s questioning the wisdom of having left the university for the tumult of one of the largest port cities in the known worlds.

When Vasiht’h follows Jahir to Selnor, he’s not sure whether his plan is to help his friend survive his residency, or to drag him back to Seersana University and into a less strenuous program. But a storm is coming to Heliocentrus, one they’re uniquely positioned to address, and their nascent mental link is about to receive its first test in the crucible that will either forge their lifelong partnership—or kill them both.

Genre (setting): space opera (Pelted)
Tags: found family, space opera, pastoral, medical drama, low conflict, friendship, elves (space)
Rating: PG for emotional situations

Excerpt from Chapter 1

It would be just his luck to begin his residency by reporting to the hospital as a patient. Jahir Seni Galare, nascent xenotherapist, Eldritch noble and apparently complete lightweight, sat on a bench just outside the Pad nexus that had delivered him to the surface of the planet Selnor. He had his carry-on in his lap and was trying to be unobtrusive about using it as a bolster until the dizziness stopped. When he'd left his homeworld for the excitement and multicultural adventure that was the Alliance, he'd been unaware of how much gravity affected physiology until he'd begun suffering from Seersana's greater weight. While there he'd undertaken an acclimatization regimen... but apparently the capital world of the Alliance was even heavier than Seersana. Much more so, if his body was any indicator.

At least the dizziness gave him a reason to stop moving. He'd been traveling for the better part of six days now. Had he been inclined, he could have prevailed on his Queen to arrange direct transport from the world where he'd been studying to the world where the final phase of his education would commence, but he hadn't wanted to trade on his family connections. Instead he'd chosen to make the journey the way one of his... friends... would have, had they gone, by a series of vessels and shuttles. He'd used the time to enjoy the culture—was that not why he'd left his world in the first place?—to see the varied aliens at their lives, so busy, so prosperous. And he was glad he'd had the chance to experience the Alliance's transportation system, because only now could he truly begin to understand just how vast the Alliance was. So many worlds. So many destinations. So many people. Compared to his homeworld, it was overwhelming. That he would have a good ten centuries to become inured to it did not lessen its impact now.

"Excuse me, alet," said a gentle but professional voice. "Do you need assistance?"

Jahir looked up and found two Pelted standing a polite distance in front of him. One was Tam-illee, humanoid with vulpine-influenced ears and tail and fur the color of champagne, dressed in the port's light gray and blue uniform. The other was a race he'd yet to meet, one of the winged Malarai, and it was she who'd spoken. She wore the same uniform, but with a sash over it, white banded in red, with a caduceus.

Jahir cleared his throat and said, "Thank you, aletsen. I should be fine, given some time."

The Malarai exchanged a glance with her companion, who flicked his ears sideways and backed away, leaving them alone. She was beautiful, with a human's face, almost devoid of fur save for streaks of felt leading back from her limpid eyes. There were felid ears hidden in her black hair, but one barely noticed them beside the wings that rose past them. The Malarai could not fly—could not walk well either without corrective surgery, if Jahir remembered his studies. Their wings had been engineered as decorations for the masters who'd wanted them as pets. His class on mental diseases of the Exodus had devoted an entire sub-chapter to the Malarai... but this woman seemed utterly at ease.

"A species rarer than mine," she said with a smile. "May I sit? On the edge of the bench. I won't come close enough to touch."

"Of course," he said.

She perched there, easy, one leg tucked under herself. "I'm Patience. I'm part of the port's medical response team. We keep an eye out for passengers who might need help. You don't need to discuss your situation with me, but would you be distressed if I stayed here until you felt well enough to move on?"

"No," he said. "In truth, I have some notion of what ails me and what must be done about it. And I am bound anyway for Mercy Hospital, so I can discuss it with them there if necessary."

"Ohhh," she said, smiling. "Let's see, spring's just ended... that means you must be a new resident, yes?"

"Yes," he said, startled.

She nodded. "Mercy takes its probationary residents at the beginning of its slow season... for us in Heliocentrus, that's summer, when the government moves to Terracentrus. A lot of the city's transients go with it, which means less volume goes through the medical system until the seat moves back here in the northern hemisphere's winter." She smiled. "I went through the Mercy residency myself."

"Did you?" he said. "Have you any advice, then?"

"Oh." She shook her head after a moment. "No. They're going to work you within an inch of your life. Try to rest, eat, take care of yourself in the moments you get." She glanced at him, canted her head. "What's your specialty?"

"Xenopsychology."

"Ah," she said. And laughed. "An Eldritch therapist! There must be only one of you in all the worlds."

"Very probably," he agreed. He studied her. "You went through the program, but did not stay?"

"Oh no." Patience laughed again. Her wings shivered when she moved; he found himself staring at them. "No, I wanted the best education I could have, and that was it. But once I was done, I wanted something a little less hectic." She lifted her chin, nodded her head toward the passing stream of people. "This is good. I like seeing so many people come and go. I love the bustle of the port. The people aren't here because they're sick, they're here because they're going somewhere. They're excited, or hurried, or rushed, but even at their worst they're looking toward something. People in a hospital are...." She paused, then suggested a ball with her hands and crushed it inward until her two fists met. "They're... folded up into themselves, involved in their own healing or sicknesses. It was a good place to learn but I didn't want to live there." She smiled at him. "But we all have to make that choice. Mercy can't take on all the people that want to work for it. It's a big name, huge advances happening all the time. Very exciting science. If that's what you want, it's one of the best places to be in the Alliance."

"Then I should go about my way," he murmured. He thought he could manage standing and the need to be done with traveling, to be somewhere instead of in transition, was powerfully in him.

"If you're certain?" she asked.

"I am, and I thank you." He proved it by standing, and if he remained weary at least he was no longer dizzy. "And for the talk, also."

"My work," she said with a smile. "Good luck with the residency."

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