The link to the King’s daughter’s mind had been forged and would forever remain unbroken, though the focal point of that unification, the Talisman, had been distanced from its rightful possessor almost from the moment of her arrival. Bhria prepared to forge a substitute link searching Haven, where such links were plentiful, for the most compatible element that naturally occurred within range of the King’s daughter. Certain Elemental objects were plentiful in the Garden of Haven, but other’s less so.

Her thoughts, so tiny and indistinct, were recorded now on his psyche and all he had to do was amplify them in order to comprehend their meaning, however, from her end without the Talisman to reduce his thought to a simplified data stream, she would only be aware of their link as a subliminal hum. His influence in her quest would remain greatly hampered unless she was to recover the Talisman or unless she made the connection through another element or with the aid of an In Between. The secondary element would not provide the same strong link as the Talisman, but the link would be enough for Bhria to proceed with due speed. The intervention of a trained In Between was preferred, but the girl was isolated from the possibility.

The interruption from her end could be tolerated for only a limited time before she felt its adverse effects. Given a long duration of uninterrupted interruption she would gradually lose focus; confusion would follow. Her ordinary life, her quibbles, her simple expectations and her goals would continue as usual but subliminal inadequacy would overwhelm her, failure would be the operative word, madness – crazy was the colloquial old earth term –would be her undoing. Her greatest fear was that she would be found out, that she would prove to be the inheritor of her biological father’s madness gene. Unlike the Orphan King, who had been linked to Bhria from birth and had suffered a similar interruption throughout his early childhood, this wisp of a girl, this daughter of ancient earth, had not the superior constitution of the king. Her mind might not survive the interruption if it went on too long.

The Keeper was aware of an intruding personality. The intruder, who was in criminal possession of the Talisman had wisely refrained from making direct contact with it but had removed it to safe distance. For a time the only emission coming from the talisman was blunt static. Later the blunt static gave way to a low frequency hum. The signature personality of the intruder, now physically closer to the talisman, but still not in direct contact with it was near enough that the Keeper’s displeasure could be made evident. The new life force was pronounced and ably resisted the Keeper’s influence. It wanted possession of the Stone, but clearly did not want to be In Between. It wanted the stone for another purpose. Without direct contact with the thief, Bhria could not deduce what that purpose was – for good or for ill.

What mattered immediately was that the girl’s life force and her thoughts were still beyond Bhria’s direct influence and in order to fulfill his charge that had to be corrected. The girl did not know she had a Purpose, she had no expectations of choosing an In Between -- she did not even know such a choice was available to her. She was dismally uninformed as to the purpose and workings of the Talisman. Bhria expressed his frustration at the girl’s ignorance to the Orphan King and the King expressed frustration back. An apparent breakdown in communication – another all too persistent human foible – was the underlying cause.

The Keeper was not impatient. His work would succeed in due time, one way or another. In spite of the obstacles, even though the slow work was necessarily going even slower, the Plan moved forward. The aim was the same: address her innate unrest and push her toward the point of surrender. The King had had his own reasons for having the Thrithing Stone made for his daughter, but the Holy One had another reason for it and Bhria’s task wa to prepare the girl to fulfill that purpose.

Next Chapter: Chapter Ten