She explained
to Burette, her superior, that she felt the move would
broaden her base of experience and would later serve
to increase her usefulness in Gulg. Burette agreed that
the house would always benefit from administrators with
field experience, and arranged to have Kelira sent to Fort
Harbeth. The request was sudden and somewhat out
of character for Kelira. Consequently, her superior has
advised Waltian to keep an eye on her.
Rather than watch Kelira, Waltian has simply kept her
outside any of his business dealings. He suspects that
Kelira may be a spy from a rival in Gulg and believes
that until she exposes herself, he will not give her the
opportunity to jeopardize Inika's trade. She spends her
days visiting with the caravans, but she has not been
permitted to actually negotiate deals with them. She
has become increasingly self confident and outgoing in
the desert outpost and most caravan masters prefer her
pleasant company to that of the arrogant Waltian. Word
is returning to Gulg that Kelira is showing promise and
may have potential developing business relationships for
the house.
Whether she has the talent to become a dealmaker will
never become evident as long as she works for Waltian.
While the house makes an effort to groom talent, it is
the responsibility of an agent's superior to identify and
promote promising agents. Burette would happily take
Kelira back in, but now that she is under Waltian's
control, it is unlikely she will be allowed back to Gulg.
The decision-makers of the house have business to attend
to, and Kelira will soon be forgotten. Her career has, like
Waltian's, essentially stalled.
No one but Kelira herself knows that her request for
transfer had nothing to do with advancing her career.
Recently, she discovered that she was a psionic wild
talent. For years she had hoped to manifest the power
of the mind, but when it came, she was horrified – her
ability was the power of aging. She fears that she has let
some kind of demon out of her soul, and is concerned
that she will be unable to resist the temptation of using
the power on those around her. In truth, Kelira rarely has
a harsh word to say, much less enough anger to cause
her to lash out with such a powerful psionic discipline.
The power places such demands on her weak physique
that it is unlikely she will ever use it, but this does not
reduce her fear.
Kelira Legar is a lovely young woman
in her late twenties. While she has been a trader for
several years, most of her career has been spent as an
administrator in House Inika's main chapterhouse in
Gulg. Her career there was fairly set; she was likely to
remain a low-level functionary for the rest of her days.
This seemed to suit Kelira Legar well, as her essentially
gentle nature was ill-suited to the competitive character
of a potential house leader. She was not actually of the
Inika family, so any attempt to rise high within the house
would be difficult at best.
Thus it was very surprising four months ago when she
requested a transfer to a desert outpost.