Laura Jo Phillips by The Gryphons' Dream: Soul Linked#5 Page A

reminds me, I’m really sorry for conking out on all of you today.”
    “ Conking out ?” Olaf asked as he picked up a platter of steaks, carefully selected the one that looked the most perfect to him and put it on Aisling’s plate.
    “She means she’s sorry that she overworked herself today, nearly caused herself a brain hemorrhage, and passed out from exhaustion,” Karma said with an arched brow as she accepted a steaming dish from Rudy.
    “ Brain hemorrhage? ” Rand asked.  “I don’t know what that is, but it does not sound good at all.”
    “She’s exaggerating,” Aisling said.  “A lot.”
    “Not by that much,” Karma argued.  “You need to be more careful, Ash, and I mean it.  It’s not going to do anyone any good if you can’t finish the translations because you’ve hurt yourself by listening to that noise too much.”
    “She is correct,” Olaf said, choosing his words carefully.  He did not want to offend Aisling by telling her what to do, as he had earlier, but at the same time, he did not want her to cause herself harm.  “We would ask you, with all respect, to please use care while doing the translations.”
    Aisling gave him a startled look.  “I did not mean to hurt myself,” she said.  “I had no idea that would happen.  Now I know, so I will be more careful.”
    “Thank you,” Olaf said solemnly. 
    It seemed strange to Aisling that someone would thank her for not being careless with her own well being.  But at the same time, she sensed that Olaf was completely sincere. 
     “May I ask what you translated today?” Olaf said as he reached for the pitcher of iced juice and silently offered to pour some for Aisling.
    Aisling nodded, and Olaf filled her glass.  “Nobody said I couldn’t talk about what I translated, so I see no reason not to discuss it.”
    “We are the Consuls of Clan Gryphon, and have our world’s highest possible-security clearance,” Olaf said as he poured a glass of juice for himself.  “We could call Elder Vulpiran and ask, but we’d prefer to hear it from you, if you do not mind.”
    “Nope, don’t mind at all,” Aisling said.  “What I listened to today was all recorded by the same person, someone named Za-Linq.  It had the feel of a diary, or a log.”
    “Yes, that is what Arima Katre said his name was,” Olaf said. 
    “The first entry was about him having witnessed a woman kill someone.  He referred to the woman as a berezi , and an it , and the person she killed as her owner.  He said he was going to acquire the female, and resell her.”
    “It did not work out quite that way,” Olaf said with a tight smile.
    “No?” Aisling asked.
    “No,” Olaf replied.  “Summer Katre was the berezi , and she killed the Brethren, William Winicke, the owner Za-Linq mentioned.  Decapitated him with her sword, in fact.  After that, the Katres killed Za-Linq.
    Aisling gasped in surprise and looked at Karma across the table, who was smiling a very satisfied smile.  “Berta told us that the Brethren leader, Stalnek, was off-planet when we were abducted because he went looking for his son, William,” Karma explained.  “We’re just happy to know that he was not successful in that quest.  I suppose you could say that we are not big fans of the Brethren.”
    “I suppose not,” Olaf said with a chuckle. 
    “The first thing that I translated must have been the last thing Za-Linq recorded,” Aisling guessed. 
    “Sounds like it to me,” Olaf agreed.  “Was there anything else?”
    “A lot of it sounded crazy,” Aisling said.  “He was going on and on about someone by the name of Lio.  He was convinced that this Lio person had betrayed him, and was a traitor to the Xanti.  He was determined to find the guy and, as he said over and over again, make him pay .”
    “Lio was a Xanti agent, that’s true,” Olaf said.  “I don’t know whether he betrayed the Xanti or not, but it doesn’t really matter.  Za-Linq