Free Mauled by Destiny [Tales of the Citadel 17] by Viola Grace Page B

arrived on Thoola, six years and countless changes to her body that did not involve her scars fading.
    “Priina, Priiiiinnnnaaaaa.” A hand waved in front of her eyes, and Priina smiled at her friend Yali.
    “What?”
    “You were millions of miles away.” Yali had the interesting orange skin and bright green hair that her people were so proud of, it made her very difficult to ignore.
    “Actually, I was very much in my own skin.” She stroked her forearm with its casing of the tight flesh-coloured bodysuit.
    “You look fine, Priina. You always look fine.” Yali smiled, showing her blue teeth.
    The violent colours of her species always helped Priina to smile. “Thank you, but I don’t think that the recruiters are coming to see my personal presentation.”
    A recruiter for Citadel Lowel was coming, and Priina was being encouraged to let her wild side out for public viewing.
    The wildness that was now part of her had taken years to control. Her physical shift was still a foreign experience, but she could manage to shift in and out of her new body with dexterity.
    “No, they want to see you run, jump and lift your way through the obstacle course that the rest of us have been working on in the courtyard.” Yali chuckled. “It is going to be quite the event.”
    “I can’t wait.” She took a sip of her tea and noticed that her nerves were having an effect on her body. Her nails were long and thick, clinking against her cup.
    The dining hall was full. The girls who had come to Thoola for education in standard matters as well as to learn to control psychic and physical talents gossiped, giggled and lived lives that were surprisingly normal considering the power that they wielded.
    “I am looking forward to it. The Citadel personnel who work with the Sector Guard are the best of the best, and no one outmatches Udell. I think that you winning placement at the Lowel Citadel would suit you. You are the best of the best, Priina. It is time you started believing it.” Priina snorted. “I was mauled, and my biology copied my attacker. That is not the same as being born with a talent.”
    Yali grabbed her hand, heedless of the claws.
    “But you have adapted to something that you had no right to expect. You were going to live your life as a farmer. That was it. You would find a nice man, get pregnant and register him at your record’s office. That was going to be your life.” Priina swallowed and took another sip of tea. “I met my father on my last day at home. He was next to my mother when they loaded me on the shuttle.”
    “Is that not usual?”
    “No. The women own the businesses, and the men run the service industries. He’s a doctor, and I never got his name.” She sighed and squeezed Yali’s hand a little too hard. She let go when her friend winced.
    “Can’t you ask your mother?”
    “No. It isn’t done. Besides, she is pregnant with another baby right now. She has other things to think about.”
    Her mother and sister had gone on with their lives. Her sister now ran the farm, and her mother had one son and another baby on the way. It was Cial tradition to replace a lost child, and her mother was going to continue until she got another daughter.
    Two instructors appeared at the door of the dining hall. “Apprentice Priina Jarcor, you are summoned to prove yourself.”
    Priina set down the cup and got to her feet. She hugged Yali and turned to follow the instructors who had helped her come to grips with the changes in her body.
    The light of day made her smile as they exited the enclosed environment of the Citadel. The wall around it was blissfully familiar, and it had helped her feel more at home than any other feature at her new home. She enjoyed being enclosed.
    Once outside the wall and gate, she faced a shuttle and two masculine figures that provided a very dashing image. One of the two hooked her attention. She couldn’t help her blush, he smelled great even from thirty feet away.
    The other one