Her future.
She was a phoenix, rising from the ashes. Salomen had said to spread her wings and fly, and so she was—all the way to the stars.
GLOSSARY
UNITS OF TIME
piptick: one hundredth of a tick (about half a second).
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tick: about a minute (50 seconds).
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tentick: ten ticks.
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hantick: ten tenticks, just shy of 1.5 hours (83.33 minutes). One Alsean day is twenty hanticks (27.7 hours) or 1.15 days.
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moon: a basic unit of Alsean time, similar to our month but 36 days long. Each moon is divided into four parts called ninedays. One Alsean moon equals 41.55 stellar (Earth) days.
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cycle: the length of time it takes the Alsean planet to revolve around their sun (thirteen moons or approximately seventeen stellar months).
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Alsean days are divided into quarters, each five hanticks long, which reset at the end of the eve quarter. The quarters are: night, morn, mid, and eve. A specific hantick can be expressed in one of two ways: its place in the quarter or its exact number. Thus morn-three would be three hanticks into the morning quarter, which can also be expressed as hantick eight (the five hanticks of the night quarter plus three of the morning). In the summer, the long days result in sunrise around morn-one (hantick six), lunch or midmeal at mid-one (hantick eleven), dinner or evenmeal at eve-one (hantick sixteen), and sunset around eve-five (hantick twenty).
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UNITS OF MEASUREMENT
pace: half a stride.
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stride: the distance of a normal adult’s stride at a fast walk (about a meter).
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length: a standard of distance equaling one thousand strides (about a kilometer).
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GENERAL TERMS
ADF: Alsean Defense Force.
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AIF: Alsean Investigative Force.
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bondmate: a life partner.
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cinnoralis: a tree with rich brown wood used in woodworking, and leaves that are dried and burned for their relaxing scent.
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cintek: the Alsean monetary unit.
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dalis: a flowering plant with twin blue blossoms atop a long stem, usually found in riparian areas. Dalis flowers smell like decaying fish.
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deme: honorific for a secular scholar.
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dokker: a farm animal similar to a cow. Slow moving and rather stupid, but with a hell of a kick when it’s angry or frightened.
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dokshin: vulgar term for dokker feces.
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empath (low, mid, high): the three measured levels of Alsean empathic sensitivity. Low empaths normally detect emotions only through skin contact. Mid empaths can detect emotions without touch, but only at short distances. High empaths can sense emotions at significant distances and are also capable of projecting emotions onto others.
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Eusaltin: the smaller and nearer moon of Alsea.
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evenmeal: dinner.
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Fahla: the goddess of the Alseans, also called Mother.
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fanten: a farm animal similar to a pig, used for meat.
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front: a mental protection that prevents one’s emotions from being sensed by another. Selective emotions can be fronted; a “perfect front” refers to a protection so solid that no emotions can be sensed at all.
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gender-locked: an Alsean who is unable to temporarily shift genders for the purposes of reproduction. Considered a grave handicap, denying the individual the full blessing of Fahla.
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grainbird: a small black and red seed-eating bird common in agricultural fields. It is known for singing even at night, leading to an old perception of the birds as lacking in intelligence—hence grainbird is also a slang term for an idiot.
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grainstem powder: powder derived from the crushed stems of a particular grain, which yields a sweet taste. Commonly used in cooking; also used to sprinkle over fresh bread.
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holcat: a small domesticated feline.
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hooked: slang term for being cheated, e.g. “hooked out of wages.”
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joining: sexual relations. Joining is considered less significant than Sharing between lovers. The two acts can take place simultaneously, though this would only occur in a serious relationship.
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kiral: honorific for a warrior serving in neither the Guards nor the Mariners.
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magtran: a form of public transport consisting of a chain of cylindrical passenger carriers accelerated by magnetic fields through transparent tubes.
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midmeal: lunch.
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molwine: the curved apex of the pelvic ridges on both male and female Alseans. A very sensitive sexual organ.
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molwyn: Fahla’s sacred tree. It has a black trunk and leaves with silver undersides. A molwyn grows at the center of every temple of decent size.
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moonbird: a bird with brilliant courtship feathers that it spreads to impress a mate. Also engages in a graceful courtship dance.
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mornmeal: breakfast.
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mountzar: a large carnivorous animal that lives at high elevations and hibernates during the winter.
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palm touch: the standard greeting among Alseans in which two people touch their hands together, palm to palm, at eye level. The skin contact allows an exchange of emotions regardless of empathic sensitivity. It is impossible to lie during a palm touch. A double palm touch is done only among very close friends or family.
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panfruit: a common breakfast or dessert fruit.
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the Pit: Alsea’s highest security prison, consisting of five underground levels. It is reserved for empathic offenders; the underground location prevents outside contact and weak points. The worst, most violent offenders are housed in the fifth level.
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probe: to push beyond the front and read emotions that are not available via a surface skim. Probing without permission is a violation of Alsean law.
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rajalta: a spicy drink made by adding toasted seeds to shannel. A famous Whitesun specialty.
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reader card: a portable computing device composed of a flexible material that rolls into a cylinder and tucks into a pouch worn at the belt. Reader cards unroll and stiffen into a sheet for use, then relax and roll back up for storage.
* * *
Return: the passage after death, in which an Alsean returns to Fahla and embarks on the next plane of existence.
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Rite of Ascension: the formal ceremony in which a child becomes a legal and social adult. The Rite takes place at twenty cycles, after which one’s choice of caste cannot be changed.
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salterin: a pastry stuffed with a savory filling of spiced meat, vegetables, and proprietary sauces. A specialty of western Pallea, originating in Whitesun.
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sansara: asexual.
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shannel: a traditional hot drink, used for energy and freshening one’s breath. Made from the dried leaves (and sometimes flowers) of the shannel plant.
* * *
skim: to sense any emotions that an Alsean is not specifically holding behind her or his front.
* * *
Sharing: the act of physically connecting the emotional centers between two or more Alseans, resulting in unshielded emotions that can be fully accessed by anyone in the Sharing link. It is most frequently done between lovers or bon
dmates but is also part of a bonding ceremony (in which all guests take part in a one-time Sharing with the two new bondmates). It can also be done between friends and family, or for medical purposes.
* * *
shek: vulgar slang for penetrative sex. Usually used as a profanity.
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Sonalia: the larger and more distant moon of Alsea.
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sonsales: one who is empathically blind.
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spreader: vulgar slang for a sex worker.
* * *
teffalar: a spongy, durable tree bark used for the grips of quality swords and knives. It is a highly regulated and expensive product.
* * *
tintinatalus: a tree with silver wood used in woodworking.
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tyrees: Alseans whose empathic centers share a rare compatibility, which has physiological consequences. Tyrees can sense each other’s emotions at greater distances than normal, have difficulty being physically apart, and are ferociously protective of each other. Tyrees are always bonded, usually for life.
* * *
vallcat: a large, solitary feline species, striped for camouflage in the open grasslands they inhabit. Vallcats are known for their strength and ferocity, though they do not attack Alseans unless provoked.
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warmron: an embrace. Warmrons are shared only between lovers, or parents and children—and then just until the child reaches the Rite of Ascension. A warmron is too close to a Sharing for it to be used at any other time.
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winden: a large six-toed mammal, adapted to an alpine environment. It is wary, able to climb nearly sheer walls, and the fastest animal on Alsea. Winden travel in herds and are rarely seen.
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winterbloom: a small, low-growing plant that flowers in the cold seasons. Its leaves have a fresh, invigorating scent.
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wristcom: a wrist-mounted communication device, often used in conjunction with an earcuff.
* * *
yanked: angered, irritated. Yanked off or got yanked are two common phrases.
Published by Heartsome Publishing
Staffordshire
United Kingdom
www.heartsomebooks.com
* * *
Also available in paperback.
ISBN: 9781999702946
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First Heartsome edition: October 2017
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to action persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.
* * *
Fletcher DeLancey asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
* * *
Copyright © 2017 Fletcher DeLancey
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fletcher DeLancey spent her early career as a science educator, which was the perfect combination of her two great loves: language and science. These days she combines them while writing science fiction and fantasy.
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She is an Oregon expatriate who left her beloved state when she met a Portuguese woman and had to choose between home and heart. She chose heart. Now she lives in the beautiful, sunny Algarve, where she writes full-time, teaches Pilates, tries to learn the local birds and plants, and samples every Portuguese dish she can get her hands on. (There are many. It’s going to take a while.)
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She is best known for her science fiction/fantasy series Chronicles of Alsea, now comprised of five novels and a novella. Among them, the Alsea books have collected an Independent Publisher’s Award, a Golden Crown Literary Society Award, a Rainbow Award, and been shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award.
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Fletcher believes that women need far more representation in science fiction and fantasy, and takes great pleasure in writing complex stories with strong, believable women heading up the action. Her day is made every time another reader says, “I didn’t think I liked science fiction, but then I read yours.”
Connect with Fletcher
www.fletcherdelancey.com
ALSO BY FLETCHER DELANCEY
The Chronicles of Alsea Series:
The Caphenon
Without a Front: The Producer’s Challenge
Without a Front: The Warrior’s Challenge
Catalyst
Vellmar the Blade
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Now available worldwide in paperback and ebook.
Fletcher DeLancey, Outcaste: Book Six in the Chronicles of Alsea
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