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public, even amongst the Nine, we always wear our shadows around us. For our males to keep out of trouble, as the third step in courtship, they place a piece of their shadow inside their female. That tiny piece of him allows him to know your moods and your location. It is a handy thing on wilder planets, and I believe that Gaia counts.”
    “Naluriak, I am not sure that that is the case with me.” Teyha bit her lip, though she knew she was lying. Whatever had changed inside her was enhancing her normally impressive echolocation, and she could feel that she was being monitored during her waking hours.
    “I am sure that it is. I can see it. My family’s shadow has a distinct pattern. It is flickering behind your eyes every time you look around. I formally greet you, sister, and I welcome you most heartily.” The woman inclined her head.
    “How is it that you were allowed in here as councillor to your people with your brother facing charges?” Teyha had to ask.
    “I could always be outvoted by the other eight. It is really that simple. I was here as a character witness.”
    Teyha nodded her head and sat up straight before she inclined her head in a mimicry of Naluriak’s. “Thank you for your greeting, sister. I look forward to one day meeting you in person.”
    There was a concentrated sigh from the eight chairs, and Teyha knew she had done something significant.
    “I just sealed my fate, didn’t I?” Her tone was wry.
    The shadow laughed. A bright, cheerful sound. “Public acknowledgement of my brother’s claim. In the eyes of the Nine, you are now declared to him and he to you.”
    Rothaway wished her luck with Ekinar, and he closed communication, leaving her sitting and facing the Forest Folk ambassador and his Gaian bride.
    “I am completely hooped, aren’t I?” She sighed.
    Daphne got to her feet. “It isn’t that bad. Living on a spaceship, they mostly clean up after themselves.”
    Apolan snorted and he grimaced. “For a woman who can turn invisible, you are around an awful lot lately.”
    She smacked her husband in the arm and leaned down to whisper in his ear.
    Apolan’s cheeks darkened, and he got to his feet.
    He stood in front of Teyha and took her hands in his. “Congratulations, new daughter of shadow. May your souls twine brightly.”
    Looking at Daphne, she shrugged, “Um, thank you?”
    He snorted and patted her on the shoulder, his face in a wicked grin. “Close enough.”
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Nine
     
     
    Teyha was nervous as she went through her daily tasks of cataloguing the few photographs from her first visit to the Temple of Shadows. She hadn’t put them into the archive, because they were her last link with her parents and their last trip together.
    It was that emergency that necessitated the flare system at least once per day or at scheduled times.
    She tried to remember them in everything that she did, and her job of archivist and guide crossed both of their disciplines. She hoped that she made them proud.
    The access to the Shadow Land had been an alternate from the one she had first taken with her parents. The first route was faster but far less stable as her parents had found out after she had left them to engage in a meeting with the faculty of the Gaian University. Speaking engagements had been arranged, and she had returned to her parents as quickly as she could. She was too late by twelve hours.
    It was something she lived with every day that she walked into the archive and saw the discoveries of her family posted on the walls.
    A shadow caressed her arm, and she turned to see Ekinar in the doorway. She wanted to tell him that he startled her, that she was surprised, but she had felt him coming, and he had known she was expecting him.
    Teyha tried to keep her mind blank as she walked up to him. “So, I hear that we are a pair now.”
    He didn’t say a word but lifted her off her feet and pressed her against the wall, his lips found hers and shadows covered her