Thor's Child ©

by K Pelle

Chapter 24

Prior to the phone call about the happenings in Hope, Dori and Tor had been in a relatively good mood and had even been teasing each other while they were clearing up their supper dishes.  Since the weather that day had been hot and the house was overly warm, they'd been in the nude and both of them had been anticipating the idea of making love again that evening.  Needless to say the phone call had changed their mood, then Dori's question about Sami had taken Tor completely by surprise.

The idea that Harold Burns might have been trying to abduct Sami because she was telepathic didn't seem possible to Tor.  In the first place Tor hadn't sensed any extra sensory vibes from Sami when he'd run his hands over her leg to check her injury, so he frowned at the suggestion that Dori had made.  Then as well as that, Sami had been injured after Burns had left the Tula Ranch and even more telling, how would Burns have known that she would be flown to Hope because of her injury?  Indeed the very idea that Burns might have been in the hospital in Hope didn't make much sense to Tor.

"I just can't see that," he told Dori, then explained why.  "In fact I can't see Burns cruising the hallways of a hospital at any time, because from my impression of his character, that's the last place he'd want to be.  Hospitals are filled with people in pain or worrying, even fearful, so I just can't see a sick puppy like Burns being there by choice.  He's a hedonist, not a masochist, just look at Aunt Hanna's house.  Other than that recording crap in the basement, it was virtually built to be a pleasure palace and I'm willing to bet most of his tapes were of people enjoying themselves.  I somehow doubt if he wants to feel pain or any negative feelings, which is what he'd find in a hospital.  Of course since he seems to like to dominate people and probably has an inferiority complex I could be wrong, but I think if he were turned on by pain, he'd be more of a sadist than a masochist."

"What about the fact that he kidnaps people?" Dori snapped.  "He seems to enjoy that."

"I'd say that was sadism, but I don't think he really enjoys doing it all that much, instead I think he hates his job.  I know he sure wasn't happy when I saw him.  Well, other than when he was ogling that little girl.  I think he's a sick S-O-B who gets turned on by pretty little girls and perhaps by women who act subservient.  But then, I was only around him for an hour or so, and during that time I was trying to act like a dumb dolt, so as I said, I could be completely wrong.  Now I have another question; why do you think Sami might be telepathic?"

"Because I'm almost certain Dawn is a receiving telepath and I wonder if it might run in the family," Dori sent.

"You're kidding, aren't you?"

"Nope, but then I'm not positive either.  Dawn might only be empathic and she might simply agree with a lot of my opinions, but she sure seems to enjoy many of the same sort of things I do, and you'd better believe that's not all that common.  For another thing when she was helping me around the kitchen it was almost as if she knew what I wanted to do before I did.  Then when we were out chasing around in the jeep, she'd lean into a corner even before I started turning.  Besides that, she thinks you're the greatest guy she's ever met and I think if I weren't here she'd be doing her best to get you into her bed.  I mean she's friendly enough with me, but at the same time she seems to be a little bit jealous of my situation."

"Well, I'll keep my eyes and ears open, but I think you're ideas about Dawn showing signs of telepathy are just wishful thinking.  At least I haven't noticed anything she has done that would make me think she shows any signs of talent in any way.  Besides that I think she and her family sees Aunt Hanna, Uncle Nils and me as some kind of heroes, just because we got rid of Burns."

"Well, I'm not so sure that I'm mistaken," Dori shrugged.  "For one thing she hasn't allowed me to touch her in any way, not even to shake hands and for me that's a red flag, because until I met you, touching others was the only way I had to 'read' people.  Even now I find that far easier than just 'listening' to folks the way you've tried to teach me."

"That's understandable, because you're still developing your talents and learning how to use some relatively new skills.  I'm not exactly accustomed to all the things I can do and I've been using more of them than you have.  Of course in my case I've had to learn about my talents on the fly - they just seem to appear all of a sudden, then I have to learn what each one can do and how to control it," Tor said, then paused and grinned.  "Besides that, Dawn isn't all that shy with me, since she almost demanded a hug after showing me how to use the ranch's computer the other night.  Oh, and just so you know, I didn't get any hints that she was telepathic then either, but then I wasn't looking for talent either.  I did get the idea that she didn't like the fact that I made sure it was a quick hug, but that was mostly from the look on her face when I pulled away after the hug."

"You didn't tell me you'd given her a hug."

"I didn't think it was important," Tor shrugged his shoulders.  "Don't tell me you're jealous of something as innocent as that?"

"No, not at all, in fact I wouldn't mind if you got real close to her, but that hug might explain where that touch of jealousy on her part comes from.  After all, one of your hugs is pretty darn special," Dori grinned and winked.

"That sounds to me like you're hinting," Tor smiled, then frowned slightly.  "However, now that you've reminded me about it, I do have some work I should do tonight or early tomorrow.  I should update today's additions and deletions to the ranch's stock and equipment.  Unfortunately I don't know just how I'm going to do it, because some of it was a trade, part of the lot was a loan, some things were sales, some were purchases, and that old Jeep was a gift.  I'm not even sure how to use the program Dawn showed me, in fact I'm not familiar with the computer system either.  I've never used anything much but my old Apple, so this IBM stuff confuses me."

"Hey, I can show you how to use the computer because it's like my new one, but all I use it for is the word processor and a few games.  It's still early in the evening though, why don't I get dressed, then bop over to the other house and see if Dawn could give us a lesson on using the programs you need?"

"Actually, she might not be there.  Eric asked me earlier if it would be okay for the family to go see relatives tonight, so she might have gone along.  From what he said I think they were going to spend the night and come back about noon tomorrow."

"That's funny.  Dawn never said anything about being away."

Dori had hardly spoken when there was a knock on the door, so Tor scrambled to grab his jeans and pulled them on as Dori stepped out of sight.  When he opened the door, he found Dawn standing on the porch.

"Hi, am I interruptin' anythin'?  The rest of the family has gone down to see my Gramma to tell her 'bout Sami and to go to church early tomorrow mornin'.  I didn't feel like ridin' twenty miles in the back of the truck on dusty back roads though, and somebody had to stay behind since you ain't familiar with the ranch yet.  Now though, our empty house felt weird, so I thought I'd come over to visit you and Dori for a while, if that's okay?"

"Come on in, we were actually thinking of going over to your house to see if you had stayed behind.  If you had, we were going to see if you could give us a few pointers on using the programs you have on the computer.  Since we've had a series of sales, purchases, trades and gifts today, I'm not exactly certain how to add them to the records," then Tor paused for an instant.  "By the way, it's been so hot in here that Dori and I were running around in the nude.  I just grabbed my britches to answer the door.  Dori, we have a guest."

"Nudity don't bother me none since my whole family swims in the nude most of the time anyway," Dawn looked him in the eye, then winked and grinned.  "Of course that means I'll get a peek at your family jewels too."

"But at the same time we get a chance to see your bod, so it's all fair." Dori chortled as she stepped around the corner and into view.  "Now that you reminded us of the swimming pool, why don't we go have a swim?"

"Because the water in both pools gets too blinkin' hot on a day like today.  The cold water comes from an open stream and that warms up in the sun, which means it don't cool the flow from the hot spring the way it should," Dawn snorted, stripping off her T-shirt and shorts as she came inside.  "Besides, I thought you guys would'a turned up the controls on the air conditioner, so it'd be cooler in here.  Still, I guess the doors were open a lot while you were movin' in today, weren't they?  Since this house has a real slow system that works on a heat pump, it prob'ly couldn't keep up."

"We have an airconditioner?  Could you show me how to work it, please?" Tor asked while stripping off his jeans so he was nude as well.

Then for the next few minutes Dawn showed Tor and Dori the controls for the heat pump, which were mounted inside the closet that hid the washer and dryer.  Since all of them were familiar with nudity, they did their best to ignore their bodily reactions to seeing someone new and physically attractive in the nude, but none of them were entirely successful.

Although he did his best not to make it obvious, Tor couldn't help comparing the two young women, and while they were similar in height and age, there were many differences.  In the first place, Dawn was much more muscular than Dori and there was a slight difference in their skin colour.  Dori had larger breasts and a rounder bottom, while Dawn had larger nipples and tighter belly muscles.  Still both of them were extremely attractive and of course Tor's unintentional comparison brought on a natural reaction as he became slightly aroused.  So even though he tried to suppress his urges, there was no way he could fully disguise his interest, but he wasn't alone.

"There's an elephant in the room." Dori finally giggled.

"What?" Dawn asked as she stared at Dori in confusion.

"Hey, we're all trying to be polite and doing our best to ignore the fact that we're all slightly turned on by seeing each other nude.  We haven't seen you like this before and you haven't seen us like this either.  Tor's dick is semi-hard, your nipples are slightly swollen, while mine are pointing like arrows and I dunno about you, Dawn, but I'm getting a bit moist." Dori giggled again.  "I don't have a clue what we're going to do about it, but ignoring the facts of the matter doesn't seem to be working very well.  I just thought that talking about it might help us settle down."

"Well, I think we should just carry on without making a big deal about being nude," Tor sighed.  "After all, I did say before that I wanted Dawn to show us how that database program on the computer worked.  Maybe if we do that we can ignore your darn 'elephant' and get back to normal."

"Yeah, I think we're all making it worse by talking about Dori's 'elephant' and aren't distracting ourselves with anything else," Dawn laughed somewhat weakly.  "I think I'd be more comfortable explaining the computer programs, but the one I was showing you about gains and losses of the animals is a spreadsheet, not a database.  I do have a database on the computer for the ranch's breeding program, but  I'm not sure how accurate that is for the last  year, because there are some doubts if the Arabian stallion bred any mares at all.  Then on top of that the record for our cattle breeding program might not be accurate either, since we've had so many failures of the AI service we were using."

Dawn paused then and her eyes took on a strange far away look.  Tor noticed it, but Dori didn't seem to, in fact Dori broke into a grin.

"So we're going from talking about my 'elephant' and what that implies, to talking about the breeding program for the farm's animals are we?" she giggled.

"Yeah, we are, at least if I have anything to say about it!" Tor sighed.  "Dori, this is a ranch and on a ranch, the animals are the most important asset we have.  Since this is a working ranch, the breeding stock comes first and we have to track what improvements we're making.  That means we need to compare what we buy, what we sell, which animals are bred and which animals don't produce.  We absolutely have to straighten out the bloody breeding program, because we need to have every damn animal on this place producing.

"Of course our second most important assets are the buildings and equipment, so I want to understand what needs to be done with those as well and we can track that on the computer as well.  Let's face it, I have limited assets to improve the place and I want to improve the essentials, but I can't afford to waste time and effort on details, rather than working on necessities.  Keeping track of all the work we do is going to be essential and Dawn has been doing an excellent job of that up until now, so I don't mind telling her thank you.  That's a pretty dang small reward for all the work she's done though, so I think we owe her more than just a thanks."

"What are you up to, lover, prowling for a second woman in your life?" Dori sent.  "You're getting her all turned on and horny as a mink."

"Dori!  What are you doing?" Tor frowned at her in surprise.

"Lover, this little lady has talent, I can feel it.  She needs to know what she can do if she tries."

And just then Dawn collapsed against Tor, which astonished him.

"Oh shit!" Tor swore as he caught her falling body.  "What the hell is wrong with Dawn?"

"I think she 'heard' us and it either frightened her or startled her so much that she fainted."

"Well, I don't think so, because she wasn't too steady on her feet even before you started farting around with telepathy.  Now help me hold her up and tell me if you think she's okay.  You're the one who worked in a hospital, so what do you think we should we do?" Tor 'sneaked a peek' at Dawn's thoughts and found that she wasn't under stress, instead she seemed to be dreaming of her grandmother.

"Can you carry her?" Dori asked as she grabbed one of Dawn's wrists to check her pulse.

"Yeah, why?"

"Bring her into the spare bedroom then and I'll keep an eye on her as well as I can.  I can tell you right now that her heart beat is still strong and she's breathing okay.  I think I might have shocked her by what I 'said' and she fainted."

"Well, she wasn't steady on her feet even before you did that, so I'm not sure if she reacted to you or not, but you sure as the heck shocked me.  What the blazes was that second woman in my life business anyway?"

"Well, if you had a stallion who had better conformation and could do various jobs better that any other horse you'd ever seen, wouldn't you breed him to more than one mare to spread his genes?  I think you're something like that imaginary stallion and you should be involved with more than one woman to spread your genes." Dori answered quickly as they moved toward the bedroom.

"That's crazy.  I'm not a horse that can just be put out to stud," Tor snorted.

"Yeah?  Well, I think your worry about the US military that you were warning me about is already happening, and I think we should fight it." Dori snapped.  "I think you and me are genetic rarities and I think someone in the US Marines discovered a few folk who have similar mental abilities.  That would explain why Burns is running around hunting for any people like us he can find and kidnapping them to send to Quantico so they'll be under military control.  It's also why Burns is looking for an isolated area for a refuge.  He's looking for a second place to hide a colony of people with mental skills, just in case they have problems where they are.

"I'm quite certain Dori is a receiving telepath, similar to us, but perhaps not as strong and I'll bet Sami is one as well.  I think they may have managed to hide it from Burns while he was here, but he might have had hints of their talents.  If he did and if he happened to have stopped in Hope on his way to Seattle, he may have caught a stray thought from Sami when she was in the hospital there.  If he did stop in there and she cried out in pain while she was being examined, but he was near enough to 'hear' her, he'd probably investigate, wouldn't he?"

"Well, maybe, but I think you're stretching everything into the realm of impossibility." Tor grunted as he shifted Dawn's dead weight so he could get through the bedroom door.

"So speaks the man who does a half dozen things that anyone else would think were completely impossible." Dori snorted.  "Now just lay Dawn on the bed as gently as you can.  Then I think you should make yourself scarce for a little while.  That way I can be alone with her when she comes to her senses."

"Okay, I can do that.  I need to go check all the animals anyway, especially since Dawn's whole family is away," he couldn't resist another quick 'peek' at Dawn's thoughts though, just to be certain she was okay and found she was still dreaming of her grandmother.

"Family habit, huh, checking your barns at night just like your dad does," Dori said, interrupting him as he mentally snooped through Dawn's thoughts.

"It's not just a family habit, checking your stock before dark is a farmer's habit.  It's just a smart thing to do, that way you know your stock is okay for the night," he managed to answer, even though his mind hadn't really been on what Dori had said.

Since he didn't think he could do anything for Dawn, Tor pulled on shorts, a light shirt and his boots, then as he stepped out the door of the house he snapped his fingers to call Ghost.  He chuckled as the dog rose from his rug and stretched before coming to him, tail wagging and tongue lolling out one side of his mouth.  The slight breeze still felt hot to Tor, but part of that was probably from having just been in the slightly cooler air in the house, so the air conditioner must be working - even if it didn't seem to be doing much.

"What do you think, old fella?  Is this weather too warm for you to be comfortable?" he asked as he went through his gate and started walking toward the ranch buildings.

Of course the dog only wagged his tail and Tor knew that was mostly due to the fact that he was getting attention, not that he agreed or disagreed.  Still Tor enjoyed having the dog nearby, not only was the dog good company, but he was also a willing helper if Tor needed him.  Hopefully there wouldn't be any need for either Tor or Ghost to work that night, but it was reassuring to have the dog at hand just in case the need for his help did arise.

As he walked down the slope from his new house and toward the barn yard, he passed a large vegetable garden, then the two-story house where Dawn and her extended family lived.  After the big stone house, he passed by a second smaller herb garden, then a series of buildings that were used to store and service all the farm machinery.  After that Tor came to the pole fence that separated the barnyard, the corrals and the larger stock pens from the rest of the ranch.

While Tor had to open and close the smaller of two gates to get past that fence, Ghost slipped between the wooden rails of the pole gate, then stood waiting for his master on the other side.

"You just gotta do things your own way, don'tcha fella?" Tor chuckled as he patted the dog on the head.  "Of course I guess I'm guilty of that too, aren't I?  Like talking to you the way I've been doing lately, it's not as if I expect you to answer me or anything, so why do you suppose I do it?  Do you think it might be so I can think things over and make up my own mind about something that's bothering me?  Or do you think I do it just because I can, all the while knowing that you can't and won't answer me, so I have to find the answers to my problems by myself?"

Darn if Ghost didn't give a slight woof, but then he lifted his nose and sniffed as if he smelled a strange scent.  Of course Tor couldn't smell anything, but he was smart enough to follow as Ghost led him past the hay and grain storage building on one side of the passageway and the big barn on the other.  They went past the hunting dog kennels on the right side of the access road and the chicken coop opposite that on the left.  Ghost slipped through the next fence on the other end of the barnyard as well, so Tor once more opened and shut a small gate in order to follow along.  Now they were walking down the passage that ran in front of the stock pens and corrals, passing first the cattle squeeze and unloading ramp, then the stud horse's corral and the bull pen.

Suddenly Ghost took off at a dead run, almost as if his tail was on fire.  That's when Tor saw the skunk crossing the open ground beyond the outside fence and he had to call Ghost back.  Thankfully the dog was obedient or he'd probably have been sprayed and that would have made him very unpopular with any of his human friends for the next week or two.

"You dumb bunny, you know better than to chase skunks.  Just as long as that skunk doesn't go after any chickens, he's our friend.  He likes to eat rats and mice and we don't like them at all, so you just leave that poor old skunk alone, okay?" Tor chided him, but at the same time he was patting the dog for coming back so promptly when he was called.

Tor knew it didn't matter what words he used, but his physical actions and his tone of voice let the dog know Tor was pleased that he'd returned promptly and that was all that mattered.  It was the same as training any animal - if they did well, you let them know about it and the animals rewarded those constant reminders by obeying you.  Of course once Tor saw that the skunk was out of sight and perhaps out of range of Ghost's nose, he stood up to move on.

"Now lets go look at the horses and cattle, and please don't go chasing after another skunk or anything else of that sort tonight, okay fella?  I have enough problems in my life without you adding to them."

So Tor and Ghost checked all the animals.  That took a while since Tor's habit was to make sure he looked over each and every animal, but while he was there he noticed that someone had put fresh hay in the feeders of each pen.  He frowned at that, wondering again why the animals were in the holding pens at that time of year, then remembered being told that Harry Burns had originally wanted that done.  Having all the animals penned in made it easier to count them and show off their condition, so it had probably been done just before Uncle Nils and Aunt Hanna had come to look at the place.  Of course since then Tor had been making changes in the stock on the ranch, so it was easier to keep them in the small areas instead of out on pasture.  He was going to have to change that and he'd better do it fairly soon.  As it was now they were wasting winter feed and instead of being in pens would soon be badly over-grazed, the animals could be out in the field and grazing on standing grass.

It took Tor almost as long to walk back to the house as it had taken to check the animals, but then he wasn't exactly in a hurry to go back inside.  In fact he was slightly apprehensive of what Dori and Dawn might have cooked up between them while he was gone.  Somehow the idea of having a live-in girlfriend had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.  It appeared as if Dori was trying to change the basic rules of the game and he really didn't know what to think of that.  Still, it was better to go inside and face the music than stay outside and worry.

The thing that disturbed him most was the idea that Dawn hadn't really been in the 'mental' picture until that evening, at least not as far as he was concerned.  She hadn't shown any signs of being talented, then suddenly she'd fainted while he and Dori had been 'talking' while standing close to her.  Did that mean she was almost like Dori and needed to be in very close proximity to people to 'hear' them?  Or was her fainting just a fluke happening, perhaps a health problem of some sort?  In other words, was Dori jumping to conclusions?

Then there were Dori's other comments about genetics, breeding and multiple wives - those ideas were definitely something he wasn't happy about.  In the first place he'd been raised to believe in monogamy, not polygamy.  Besides that he didn't feel he knew Dawn well enough to even consider her to be a close friend, let alone someone that he wanted to be intimately involved with.  For goodness sakes, there were times when he wondered about things Dori did when they were alone and he'd known her for two years.  Besides that, he could read Dori's mind and quite frequently did, but that was a two-way street and she read his mind as well, so it probably equalled out.  However, he didn't have much of an idea about Dawn's thoughts, ideas or ambitions.  He simply didn't know her well enough to be closely involved.

He wasn't about to lie about what he thought, but at the same time he wasn't exactly excited about making his feelings known either.  Truthfully he was somewhat afraid of offending either Dori or Dawn.  He didn't like that idea at all, but dammit he was not going to get into a situation where either he or Dori might be hurt.  Dori was already becoming a partner, almost like his second half and he was afraid that adding another woman to the mix might poison their budding relationship.

Somehow he had to go inside and make his feelings known without offending either Dori or Dawn and he wasn't exactly sure how he could manage that problem.  He was already on the front porch of the house when he decided he was going to have to 'play it by ear' and 'take things as they came,' then 'let the chips fall where they may.'

He 'cheated' slightly and 'peeked' to see what Dori and Dawn were doing before going inside and was surprised to 'find' them sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea.  He realized that they were talking, but he didn't snoop to find out what they were talking about.  Instead he simply went inside and kicked off his boots, then decided it was still hot enough in the house that he stripped off the rest of his clothing.

"Hi, lover," Dori said quietly, looking almost subdued.  "Was everything all right?"

"Yeah, Ghost decided to chase a skunk though, which was probably the most exciting thing that happened," Tor answered and made note of the fact that both of the gals were still nude.

"Oh no, he didn't get sprayed, did he?" Dawn asked.  "There's a mama skunk who had her babies in the loose rock near the wall by the south creek and she's real protective of her family."

"No, Ghost came back when he was called, so he didn't get sprayed, but I didn't see any young skunks."

"That's good, the baby skunks have probably all grown enough to be on their own by this time anyway and I'm glad Ghost wasn't sprayed," Dawn smiled.  "I don't know if it's the same skunk, but last year a skunk sprayed one of Dad's dogs and that poor dog stank for weeks. Thankfully Dad's dogs don't stay near our house like your dog does, because if they did I think we'd have been stunk out for a week or two."

  "Hmm, since you seem to be trying to steer the conversation to something neutral, I take it you don't want to tell me why you fainted on us then?" Tor looked her in the eye.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she sighed.

"Try me, I live with the unbelievable every day and run into the absolutely impossible at least once a week," he snorted.

"Not like this, but I can't really say anything about it, because it's a family secret" Dawn snapped.

"Well, I'm not going to insist, but we've got a few secrets of our own, so we're quite good at things like that," Tor shrugged.  "I just want your assurance that you're healthy and that whatever your problem is won't hurt you or others on the ranch.  For instance if you were out working in the field with a tractor and you passed out the way you did tonight, you might have an accident and people could be badly injured or even killed."

"Oh, that would never happen."

"Can you give me a little better assurance than that, because I really don't want anyone to be in any sort of danger because of your illness or whatever your problem happens to be?"

"But . . . well, it doesn't happen like that," she protested.  "Only I can't explain it because I'm not supposed to talk about it.  I'd never cause an accident or anything like that though."

"I'm sorry," Tor frowned, "but I just can't ignore what happened to you.  I was hoping to establish either worker's compensation or some other kind of insurance of that sort here on the ranch, that way if anyone was hurt they'd be covered - at least for emergency costs.  I can't do that now though, not unless I insist that you don't operate any machinery.  I'd be responsible if you did pass out while running the tractor or anything like that and if anyone was hurt, I don't know what I'd do.  I'd definitely feel guilty about it and if we were insured in any way, I might be charged with fraud because I knew it might happen."

"Tor, go easy on the poor kid!  I don't know why, but when she was talking I could feel that she was dead certain she wouldn't pass out if she was doing anything dangerous," Dori sent.

"I know, I caught that too, but I have this strange feeling that what happened to her is important and I think we need to know what caused her to faint," Tor replied.

"Look Dawn, I don't want to upset you and I definitely don't want to upset your family.  Heck, your family is the only reason I went along with the idea of buying this ranch.  Without your family, I couldn't possibly hold onto this place, because your dad, your uncle and your whole family are really the glue that holds this ranch together.  So what I'd like you to do is have a talk with your family and perhaps they can convince me that you're no danger to them when you're operating equipment or anything like that," Tor was watching Dawn's face and he saw her frown.

"That's just it.  It's not just my family here on the ranch.  It concerns my whole family, and most of them live on the reserve, not here," she said quietly.  "Mostly, I guess it concerns Gramma and a few elders, besides me and Sami, but it's a native thing."

"Hmm, I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and ask you, are your Gramma and those elders something like medicine women or shaman or something like that?"

"Well, they are elders, but I don't think they are about to perform any special ceremonies or rituals to try to change things.  I can tell you that it is a woman's thing and that it seems to be fading out, well except for Sami and me, and we seem to be the only ones in this generation."

"Is that the real reason that you didn't go with your family tonight by any chance?" Dori asked.

"Kinda, but really it wasn't that I didn't want to go, instead with everyone else away, I needed to stay here."

"Now you've really got me curious," Dori winked at Tor; "Just shut up for a bit, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Dawn looked a bit worried.

"Well, I was wondering why you needed to stay here when your family went off to see your Gramma?  Are you here to keep an eye on Tor and me, so we don't get into trouble?"

"Oh no, if anything I'm here to help you if anything happens that might hurt you.  You see I was born here on the ranch and the elders feel that gives me a little advantage if things happen to go wrong.  Gramma and the elders think you folks will be good for our family, so I stayed here to be sure you were okay."

"So, you're babysitting us then?" Dori winked at Tor.

"No, not at all!" Dawn frowned, then sighed heavily.  "Look, you might not believe this, but I can usually sense danger before it happens.  I used to get a creepy feeling from Burns all the time, but I could never figure out why until I heard about him putting bombs in the log house.  I suspect he wanted to kill Tor's uncle Nils and aunt Hanna, as well as you and Tor."

"I see," Tor nodded then.  "As for feeling danger, that's understandable to me.  I can do that as well and I was at least a thousand miles from where I was born when it first happened to me, so if you can do it here, I think you can do it anywhere."

"You can sense danger too?  You're kidding me!"

"No, he's not," Dori snorted.  "You know the cop that interviewed you about Burns?  Tor pretty well saved that cop's life because there was a guy hiding on a hillside above Tor's home, planning to shoot them while hiding behind a big log.  Tor warned Officer McDonald to get out of sight, then dove inside the house, grabbed his rifle and scared the hell out of the sniper.  It seems snipers don't like it when people shoot back.  The stupid thing about that was after everything went back to normal, the cop was thinking of arresting Tor, but he couldn't find any proof that Tor had ever shot the rifle."

"That really happened?  I thought that was just a story."

"Yeah, it really happened, but it was not one of my smartest stunts," Tor sighed.  "But, I wasn't thinking of that mess at all, instead I was thinking of the day that Sunny and I captured a crazy coot out in the hayfield.  That was the first time it that I got a strange feeling of danger before it happened, only I didn't really recognise it at the time."

"I know what you mean," Dawn looked at him and smiled slightly.  "I used to know Harry Burns was coming before he even drove up the road or before I could hear the helicopter coming.  I felt something strange the morning you came too, but it wasn't at all what Burns felt like."

She paused then and her face took on a strange appearance, as if she was dreaming, but her voice also changed and her grammar slipped again.  "When you showed up, it was like . . . well like a friend was comin' to see us, I guess.  I dunno, sorta like I felt a sense of relief.  Then later you come walkin' acrost the field and it was almost like the sun got brighter and the birds sang louder.  I dunno, sorta like the ranch was sayin' hi to you an' tryin' to make you feel welcome."

"Okay, you win.  She just might be a receiving telepath, or maybe she's something else altogether," Tor told Dori.

"Have you felt anything strange since you came over here tonight?" he asked Dawn.

"Not really, except for when Gramma called.  Tonight I could sorta see her, which was kinda strange.  Usually I can just hear her voice an' sometimes even that's real quiet, like she was whisperin' not talkin' out loud."

"Unh, what do you mean?" he asked in surprise.  "When did your gramma call you?"

"When I fell to sleep on you, that's when Gramma and I were talkin' 'bout Sami, well 'bout you guys and the ranch too, but mostly 'bout Sami," Dawn was frowning and had started talking very quickly then.  "That's part of what I was sayin' was a secret, only now I screwed up and said somethin' 'bout Gramma, probably 'cause I trust you a lot I guess."

"Wait a minute, you passed out and would have fallen if I hadn't caught you, so how could you have talked to your gramma?" Tor frowned at her.  "Instead of really talking to her, you must have been dreaming about talking to her, weren't you?"

"Well, that's kinda what our native word for what we do means, dream talkin,' but we really do talk to each other.  It's somethin' only certain women of our tribe can do, and even then we gotta be totally safe, but then if we need to pass a message to somebody else, an' everthin's jus' right, then we can usually do it.  It don't always work tho, 'cause both people has gotta be both safe and comfy so we only try to do it at certain times, like at sunset.  That musta bin what happened today.  It musta bin right at sunset and I hadta be feelin' real safe with you or when Gramma called me it wouldn'ta worked at all.  That's why I know I ain't gonna have no accidents."

"Easy, Dawn.  Don't worry.  Your secret is safe with us.  In fact if you hold my hand, I can show you why you can be guaranteed that we won't tell anyone," Dori smiled and held out both hands.  "Take your pick, it doesn't matter which hand, or hold both hands if you want."

"Are you sure we should do this?" Tor asked quickly.

"No, not we!  Just me for now, but you can join me if you want, but just listen in for now," Dori sent quickly as Dawn tentatively reached out to touch Dori's left hand with her right.

"I really wonder if I should do this?  But I do trust her, so here goes," Tor 'heard' Dawn's thoughts, but there seemed to be a confusing echo, so he ignored Dori's offer and 'listened' his way.

"Hello Dawn.  I learned to do this when I was only twelve and it scared me a lot, because I was the only one of my family who could do it." Dori sent very quietly.

"OH MY GOD!" Dawn squealed loudly, then astonished both Dori and Tor by 'fainting' once more.

When she fainted, she pulled away from Dori, so Tor had to catch her before she fell off her stool, only this time when he 'peeked' at her thoughts there were no thoughts of her gramma.  Instead she seemed to be 'calling out' quite loudly, but she was either 'broadcasting' pure gibberish or else she was using a language he couldn't understand.  Since she was half native, he was certain she was using a local native dialect, but that didn't help him a darn bit.  Then she paused and 'listened' as another much weaker and more mature sounding voice 'spoke' for several seconds.  It seemed to Tor as if there was actually a short conversation between Dawn and the other voice, but it didn't last more than a couple of minutes before Dawn sighed softly.  Then she opened her eyes, sat up and turned to look at Dori first, then at him.

"I hope you don't mind, but Gramma is going to come for a short visit and she will want to talk to both of you," then she yawned and swayed slightly.  "Oh, I am so tired now, I'm not sure I should try to walk home right away, do you think I could rest on your couch for a little while?"

"We do have a spare bed, you know," Dori said instantly.  "With your family away and since you fainted on us twice, I'd feel better if you slept here for the night."

"I wonder if Tor would mind if I did that, because Gramma did say I should stay close to both Dori and Tor if I could?" Dawn 'broadcast,' but Tor didn't think she meant to, so he winked at Dori.

"Were you asking me that intentionally?  If you were, he won't mind at all." Dori sent instantly.

"You heard my thoughts?" Dawn stared at her in wide eyed astonishment.

"Well, yeah.  You were 'broadcasting' openly, and you were loud, as if you were shouting out your thoughts.  I'll bet even your grandmother can hear you.  If you want to be more private, try to 'whisper'  your thoughts to me."

"Just so you know, when I'm this close I can 'hear' you 'shout' too," Tor said quietly.  "I don't know how I mistook it for a dream last time, because that was loud!"

Dawn flinched then and yanked her arm away, then paused and a flurry of thoughts raced through her mind before she deliberately grabbed one of Dori's hands and one of Tor's hands.

"Can you both hear me now?"

"Sure, and Tor doesn't need to touch you.  In fact he's the one who taught me how to 'listen' without touching someone else," Dori giggled.  "He tries to be polite, so he tries not to 'hear' what others are thinking and so do I, but both of us can 'listen' to just about anyone, if we are close enough."

"But we can't do what you and your grandmother do.  We can't contact each other if we're far apart," Tor added.

"But you're a man, and men can't 'dream-talk' like women can!" Dawn squawked loudly.

"Yep, he definitely is a man!" Dori laughed. "Just ask me about that sometime, but do it when he isn't close by, because what I say might embarrass him!"

"Wrong, I'd just shut you out," Tor snapped instantly, making both Dori and Dawn giggle.  "In fact, Dawn, men can be telepathic or what you call 'dream talkers' and I can 'hear' most people, but I do my best not to 'listen.'  More importantly for you, I'm positive Burns can 'hear' when others 'send' - if he is close enough, but if you 'dream talked' while he was here, he might have overheard you.  I spent almost an hour sitting with that asshole and he was trying his damnedest to study my thoughts, but I blocked him out."

"So you can block out a peeper like Harold Burns?  If you can, I want you to teach me how to do that more than anything," Dawn demanded instantly.

"Maybe, I've never tried to teach that skill to anyone and you might need to have a special talent to do it."

"He can teach you a lot of other things though," Dori snickered.

"Perhaps!" Tor said sharply and frowned at Dori.  "However, you're the only person I've tried to teach skills of that sort, but we have similar talents and we started with something of a special situation.  I mean we knew each other for about two years or so and we knew a lot about each other, but Dawn and I don't have that connection.  On top of that I've had a chance to learn about your talents and skills, but I've only known Dawn for two days, so I'm in the dark about her psychic abilities.  The only thing I know for sure is that she can telepath over a long distance, which is something I don't know how to do, but it's a skill I'd like to have."

"Hey, come to think of it, so would I," Dori said instantly.

"Well, I'll help you if I can," Dawn said quietly, then yawned again and seemed to wilt.  "Sorry, but suddenly I'm very tired and awful sleepy."

"Well come on then, I'll come with you and tuck you into our spare bed for tonight." Dori said getting to her feet and urging Dawn toward the spare bedroom.

As he watched them go, Tor was very tempted to 'listen in' to their thoughts, because somehow he was suspicious of what Dori might be saying.  At the same time he knew he couldn't control her imteraction with others and wouldn't even try to do that, but he knew there were many times when he felt she leaped into action when he would have held back.  Still if he and Dori were going to remain a couple he had to learn to trust her percipitous actions, but right then it was very hard to keep from snooping and perhaps interfering.

Besides that, he had another problem on his hands, he was fifteen years old and his whole body was keyed to the fact that there was another very desirable young woman in his home.  Not only that, but he'd held Dawn in his arms and although he hadn't intended to, he'd 'felt' her desires for him when he'd held her.  Actually he'd noticed her interest the first night he'd been on the ranch, but at the time he'd resolved to be true to Dori.  Then earlier that evening, Dori had thrown out the comment that he should pass on his genes by having sex with other women.  As a result he was feeling quite confused and very, very aroused.

Since Dori seemed to be spending a long time in the spare bedroom with Dawn, he soon became frustrated.  In an attempt to fight that frustration, he grabbed a pair of shorts and went outside, then began to go through the exercise routine he normally did each morning.

That's where Dori found him a few moments later.

"Hey, what's this?  A new warm up routine before we have sex?" she giggled as she joined right in with the kata he'd been doing at the time.

"I thought you said earlier that you were too tender to do anything energetic tonight?" he snapped.

"That was then, this is now," she giggled even more.  "Just the idea of having Dawn lying on the bed in the next room while we make love turns me on, even if I know she's sound asleep.  You're not the only one who is horny as a mink right now."

Then Dori squealed and Ghost barked as Tor scooped her up into a fireman's carry and headed for their bed.


The next morning Tor woke at his normal time and went through his early morning routine, dressing lightly, grabbing a bran muffin and a glass of juice, then saying good morning to the world as the sun rose.  He had his run with Ghost as company, then exercised the way he normally did before heading for the shower.  After he had dressed that morning, he found that he didn't have to cook his own breakfast though, because he'd been beaten to the task.  Actually when he walked into the kitchen he just stopped and stared.  Dawn was standing at the stove cooking eggs and bacon, but all she was wearing was an apron, so from his viewpoint all he could see was her bare back.  He must have made some sound though, because she turned her head to look at him, then grinned.

"Good Morning, Tor.  Dori told me you got up early and did some exercise before you ate breakfast, I didn't think you'd take an hour though," she said in a whisper.  "If you're wondering why I'm being quiet, it's because I wanted to talk to you while Dori was still asleep and don't want to wake her."

"I don't think you need to worry, she sleeps quite soundly and much longer than I do," Tor shrugged,  "Besides, we don't even try to keep secrets from each other now, since Dori and I can sort of read each other's minds."

"So you probably know she has this idea about genetics that concerns you and me?" Dawn blushed.

"Well, considering the way you're dressed, I thought she might have mentioned that idea," Tor couldn't help grinning.

"Actually, I was going to cook your breakfast in the nude, but bacon splatters hurt," Dawn giggled.  "I thought this was a good compromise and besides that there are a few complications that interfere with Dori's scheme, so I thought I'd better be partially covered when we talk."

"Hey, I have a few doubts of my own about her ideas, the initial one being that all of us are too damn young to be having kids.  Hell we aren't even finished high school and our bodies aren't fully developed, but neither are our personalities.  I still have other dreams I want to pursue, so I'm not willing to get into a situation that ties me down too tightly right now and having kids would do that to all of us."

"Well, my complications add to that." Dawn sighed.  "And right now I'm thinking that serving you your breakfast in nothing but an apron was a bad idea."

"What you're wearing doesn't bother me one way or the other.  After all, I carried you to the bedroom and put you to bed last night when you passed out the first time and you were totally nude then.  The second time you collapsed into my arms and you were nude then too, so it isn't as if I don't know what you look like or what your skin feels like," Tor chuckled.

"That's another thing that confuses people about you.  You just don't act like a normal fifteen-year-old kid," she smiled at him.  "Of course I guess I don't act like a sixteen-year-old kid either, but that's mostly because I've always been a 'Daddy's girl' and helped him lots more than I helped Mom, so I grew up working with Dad and Uncle Eric."

"You're a typical farm kid then," Tor grinned and nodded.  "The job needs doing and you're an extra pair of hands, so you get drafted to do whatever work you can and every time you do well, you get a bit more responsibility.  I know how that works, because I went through it too."

"Yeah, but since you're the owner of the ranch and your family is backing you, you must be hell on wheels," she said as she put the eggs and bacon on two plates.

"Not really, and you've changed the subject a little, since we were talking about you and the complications in your life."

"I guess I did," she sighed.  "That's probably because they're kinda hard to explain.  I think I told you about the other 'dream talkers' all being elders, didn't I?  Anyway they are, and they thought it was something that was lost to the tribe, because no new 'dream talkers' were being born for years and years, not for a whole generation.  Then Mom married outside the tribe to a white man and I came along, then when I went through puberty, I was able to 'dream talk' like Gramma.  Now Sami seems to be showing signs of the same thing, but even earlier than me.

"From what Gramma said the other elders don't like the idea that I might marry outside the tribe, but they might want me to try to have your kids," she rattled off quickly, looking quite embarrassed.  "I told Gramma about you and I guess by now my family has said stuff too, so when I called her last night she told me she wants to meet you herself.  She's going to come back with Uncle Eric and I hope you don't mind if she stays here for a few days, maybe as long as a week or two."

"I don't mind if she comes to visit you and you family, but I don't want anyone coming here who will screw up the work I want to do on the ranch.  That comes first and foremost, so this 'dream talking' stuff, or whatever you want to call it, comes dead last.  You can tell her from me that I'll spend time with her after the ranch work is done and that I'm only willing to show her how I do things if she shows me how to use telepathy over longer distances.  Call it a trade if you want and you can tell her that there are no guarantees that I can teach her a darn thing or that she can show me what you two do.  By the way, how old is your gramma?"

"I think she's about sixty-five, maybe a little more?  I'm not sure."

"Is she physically strong?"

"Well, not really, she's a bit overweight and slowing down, why do you want to know those kind of things?"

"Because when I was learning to use my talents I discovered that my ability to do things with my mind improved along with my physical strength.  That's one of the reasons I started to work out as much as I do, because it made my telepathic and telekinetic abilities easier to perform.  I also know that the more I do mentally, the more energy I use and the more I need to eat.  So if your gramma is old and overweight, what she can do might be quite limited."

"Okay, I think I can understand that part, but what do the words telepathic and telekinetic mean in normal words?"

"Well the root syllable; 'tele,' means something like 'at a distance' and we commonly use it in words like telephone or television, okay?"

"Yeah, I already knew that part," Dawn grinned.

"Okay, then telepathy means to communicate from a distance, but we use it to mean communicating without speaking aloud.  Telekinesis roughly means to move things without touching them, but we actually use it more as a description of moving physical objects with mental powers."

"So you're telling me you can move things without touching them?"

"Yeah, but just small things, because it's about a hundred times easier to move things with your hands and a muscle or two.  For instance I started out by moving a light switch because I was really tired and already in bed, so I thought it might be easier to do that than to get out of bed and walk across the room to turn off the ceiling light.  It turned out it wasn't easier at all.  I can move bigger things than a light switch now, but it's still a lot harder than I'd like."

"Prove it, turn on the kitchen lights without getting up from the table, and do it right now, so I can see you do it," she snorted in disbelief, then gasped as the lights turned on, then off again.

"Ohmigod, you weren't kidding!" she squawked.

"Well, it's not a very useful skill, and it's rather hard to teach to others.  In fact unless a person has a knack or a talent for it, I don't think most people could do it."

"Wait a minute, you used three different words just then, skill, knack and talent, but to me they all have darn near the same meaning."

"Well, they are close, I guess, but they do have different meanings.  A talent is an ability that you are born with and a knack is a short cut or method that you've developed to save time or effort, but a skill is something almost anyone can learn.  The thing is unless you have the psychic talent or raw ability in the first place, you not only won't be skilful, but you probably won't be able to do that activity at all," Tor sighed.  "For instance some people are talented at music, but others are tone deaf and will never be able to place a musical instrument no matter how hard they try.  Another instance is the ability to 'dream talk,' which is a psychic talent you have and I'm hoping it's a version of telepathy, which might mean I'll be able learn to do it too."

"Ah, I think I understand now," Dawn nodded and stood to start clearing the table.  "I'd better get moving now to do the morning chores, even if there isn't a lot to do.  Thanks for being patient with my silly questions."

"No problem," Tor winked.  "In fact why don't you go put on some clothes while I rinse off these dishes and put them in the dishwasher, then I'm heading down to the corrals and pens to check on the livestock.  After that I can give you a hand with any morning chores you have to do."

"I won't need any help with what I'll be doing this morning, since it's Sunday.  There's only one cow to milk, a few eggs to gather and Dad's dogs to feed.  Other than that I was just going to check the animals and let you know if there were any problems."

"Well, I'll leave you to look after the milk cows, chickens and dogs then.  While you're doing that I'll check over the rest of the stock.  If you need help or if I do, we'll each know where to look for the other."

Dawn nodded, then took off the apron and strutted away, shaking her booty, then glanced back and grinned at Tor just as she got to the door to the spare bedroom.

"Sorry to have to burst your bubble, Dawn, but in my opinion you look sexier when you walk naturally," he said quietly.  "Just ask Dori what I told her she looked like when she did a catwalk strut like that to try to impress me."

Dawn didn't say anything to him, she just rolled her eyes and disappeared into the spare bedroom to get her clothes.

Tor finished loading the dishwasher then, but didn't wait for Dawn, instead he headed for the corrals and pens to look after the horses and cattle.  Right at the moment he wanted to be off by himself so he could do a bit of thinking about the situation.  He'd spent the last two years hiding his psychic abilities from everyone and had only opened up to Dori in the last two weeks, but now it seemed as if he was going to have to trust several others to keep his secret.  Just the idea of others knowing what he could do worried him, yet the idea that he could contact people who were miles away made the danger of greater exposure seem worthwhile.  Unfortunately there seemed to be some strings tied to the process of being taught that skill, extra strings that didn't exactly suit him very well.

"Now what kind of a muddle have I gotten myself into, Ghost?" he asked the dog romping nearby, but as usual, Ghost didn't answer.

Chapter 25