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messed bed. He wondered who’d been there and where they were now.
    ***
    Rori relaxed back on the exam table waiting for the medic. Her foot throbbed but it was bearable. Still it helped to focus on something to keep her thoughts from going back to what happened. She was relieved to find out that despite the amount of destruction, the cut on her foot was the most severe injury. Even Tad had come through it with only a couple scrapes and bruises.
    With that knowledge, what bothered her most was the knowledge it again had been all about her. She could still feel the beckoning impulse drawing her to the edge. What she didn’t know was why her; she knew the prompter had been a man; was drawing her to the edge. Was it so he could kidnap her or push her over to her death? Either scenario chilled her. Rori thought of asking for a blanket, though she knew it wouldn’t thaw the fear. Instead, she shifted her focus to the man who had helped with Tad.
    She rubbed her hand over her thigh as just the thought of him touching it had tingles going up through it. Total foolishness, she didn’t even know who he was. She guessed rescue team or security. He wasn’t built like the walking wall, but he was strong enough. He’d known the med-tech by name which didn’t mean anything.
    Either way, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t there for a relationship, wasn’t ready for one. And it was definitely not the time for a life mate. Still, there was something about him that called to her more than the mental compulsion from the man on the hoversled had.
    “Well, let’s see what we have since I’m already here.” A woman wearing a med-techs white smock hustled into the room. Her once dark hair was highly salted with white. There was a soothing quality that radiated out from her in strong waves that Rori figured was as natural as breathing.
    The medic lifted her leg studying her foot. “Nasty little gash, isn’t it? Don’t worry, I can have that feeling better in no time.” A warm feeling spread through Rori before the woman even finished speaking, and she knew the woman was helping it heal. Rori focused on the waves of energy she felt, never before had she been able to pick out another’s talent except to feel a slight tingling, quite often when talent, certain kinds of talent specifically, were being used.
    Abruptly, the woman’s gaze shifted her gaze to Rori’s face. “I don’t know you.” There was surety in the woman’s words but a crease line formed between the medic’s eyes as she looked at her.
    “I just arrived.” Rori found herself stumbling over the words, wondering if she had overstepped the bounds of courtesy.
    “You’re a healer?” The woman looked questioningly.
    “An empath,” Rori stuttered, surprised.
    The medic studied her a minute more than nodded. “You’re very strong,” she said sagely.
    “I don’t know.” Again Rori stumbled over the words, wondering why she felt so self-conscious when she usually was quite self-assured. She just didn’t know what to make of the woman, but it was like she disturbed something sleeping deep within her.
    “You’re the special test in the morning.”
    Her announcement caught Rori by surprise. “I don’t know. I am to have some testing in the morning.” Rori remembered what Hiymm Manning had said.
    “Well, what a welcoming.”
    This time Rori didn’t need her talent to feel the warm comforting impulse the woman sent out. “You look familiar to me. Are you sure we haven’t met?”
    “I don’t think so.” Rori felt steadier now.
    “What is your name?”
    “Rori, Aurora Straye.”
    “Jattin’s granddaughter,” the woman said firmly. “You don’t look anything like him but except the eyes. You have his eyes and something inside. I am also an empath besides being a healer. You say you’re an empath but not a healer?”
    “Yes, I’ve never shown any ability to heal, just comfort.”
    The woman nodded accepting her answer. “By the way, I’m Areathea