Free Zonaton by Linda Mooney Page B

villagers." It was easy to see the young man was chagrined. "You talk like them because you don't understand. You haven't been around him the way I have. You have no idea what my life was like before Zon took me away. You have no idea what it's like now."
                He stopped nodding to stare at her directly in the eye. "And you're happy living with...him?"
                "I'm very happy. He makes me happy."
                "How?"
                Emmala sighed and reminded herself he was only asking her all these questions because he didn't know the truth. He believed what he had been told all these years by people who were just as ignorant as he was.
                "He just does. He makes me happy the same way your life makes you happy."
                Hawse made a face. "Does he love you?"
            "In his own way, yes."
                "How do you know?"
                "By what he does for me. By what he says."
                "He says? He can talk?"
                "Not out loud." She tapped her temple with one finger. "He speaks to me here, in my mind."
                "Oh, wow. I've heard stories that that's the way gerons communicate, but you're the first person I've heard confirm it. So he's told you he loves you?"
                "He doesn't have to. His actions prove how he feels about me."
                "But he's never said the words."
                "Why does he have to, when everything he does is for my benefit?"
                "Is it?"
                The question left her momentarily speechless. "Huh?"
                "Are you certain everything he does is solely for you?"
                "Yes." She had no doubt this was the truth. After fifteen years, there was no reason why she wouldn't believe otherwise. "Yes."
                Their conversation lagged. Emmala took the moment to reach inside herself. "Zon?"
                I am here, Emmala.
                "You do love me, don't you?"
                With every breath I draw.
                " Why haven't you ever told me?"
                Because of your mother, Emmala.
                "What?"  She blinked. "What do you mean"?
                Think about it. You are intelligent. You can figure it out.
                And she did. Without any effort, she remembered how her mother often justified her brutal actions.
                "I'm only doing this because I love you, and I want you to grow up to be a young lady people will like. I want you to grow up to be a law-abiding citizen, and that means I have to teach you."
                She stared up at her mother, who stood over her with the belt that she'd used to beat her. Already the pain-filled lashes were welling with beads of blood on her buttocks, legs, and back.
                "Remember, Emmala. It's my duty as your mother to teach you right from wrong. And every time I punish you, it's because I love you."        
                "Hey, are you all right?"
                She looked up, unaware that she had buried her chin in her chest during her silent conversation with the geron. "What?"
                Hawse drew an imaginary circle around his face. "You zoned out on me."
                "I was talking to Zonaton."
                He grinned. "Really? Just now?"
                "Yes."
                "Wow. What did he tell you?"
                She opened her mouth to reply, then decided against it. "He says he's on his way back." It wasn't really a lie. Hawse had no idea how far away the geron was. No more than she did. But Zonaton would return for her. Eventually. As she'd half hoped, the young man reacted in the way she wanted him to.