MEET RANIWA OF THE OSHA... MEET RANIWA OF THE OSHA...
The wilderness of the distant colony planet Oben:
Raniwa, Rebekkah's rescuer, uses his shaman powers to find her brother
from "The Frontier," Soulful Sex Volume III
"Now must we see if Michael lives," said Raniwa.
Rebekkah interrupted him. "And Jed--what about him?" she asked, hearing in her own voice her new wish that Jed indeed had met a horrible fate.
"He is not your flesh, I can know nothing of him. But your flesh leads me to your brother."
Rebekkah leaned back a bit from her companion, anxiety suddenly her primary emotion. "But how?" she asked.
"Through the senses. It is Tolen magic, it is mystery. But my senses of you show me the one whose flesh is like to yours. Trust."
Raniwa rose on his knees then and shifted his position to be as close as possible to her, facing her. His eyes searched her face, so intently the gaze seemed palpable. Finally Rebekkah had to look away, overpowered by such beautiful eyes casting over her so raptly.
The Osha leaned to her, and she had to force herself not to lean back, unnerved by his nearness. As his face approached hers, he drew breath and she saw his nostrils flare. Raniwa must have observed her discomfort, for he pulled back a little and explained, "For scent. Very important."
"Oh," she replied quietly, and held still for him. He leaned in again till his head hovered over her shoulder, and his nose touched her hair. Then she could smell his scent, as well. The Osha were a very clean people, as far as Benish tribes went. Raniwa's long hair fell against Rebekkah's cheek and it smelled pleasantly of wood smoke and some sort of faint perfume. She could feel the warmth of his face. The sensation and the scent of him seemed to put a sudden grip on her: all at once she hungered to touch him. Her conscious mind told her this was only a typical reaction to being so close to a male Ben, and she should ignore it.
But this became even more difficult when Raniwa took up her two hands in his and laid them on either side of his face. Ben males had no facial hair save their eyebrows, so his cheeks were astonishingly smooth. He looked into her eyes and said, "You keep your hands here. I go away now to seek your brother, but do not break the touch."
Rebekkah nodded wordlessly. She stared back into his face and held her palms as still as she could. Raniwa's eyes lost their focus, then rolled back into his head. He closed his eyes. His body became utterly frozen except for the steady rise and fall of his chest. Then she saw his lips begin to move, but no sound came forth. She couldn't tell what he was saying except that it was the Osha tongue. Her arms grew weary but she didn't dare let them move.
Rebekkah knew there were many strange customs among the Osha, and especially their shaman caste. Some she had heard of, or even observed from a distance. Left to her own devices, she would have liked to learn more and even take part, but of course Jed would not stand for that. A time or two she knew Michael had made secret excursions into the forest to observe Osha rituals, but he said nothing of them even to her, no doubt to avoid the problems that might follow.
So this was her first experience of this kind. She found it absolutely thrilling. In that moment she forgot all about the fact that this exercise was for the purpose of learning about Michael, so amazed was she to be this intimately involved in such an intense act. She felt no unusual sensation in her hands, so supposed whatever Raniwa was doing was contained within him or was happening on some imperceptible plane of existence. Nevertheless she found herself convinced of his exotic power.
She was touching a Ben, and a Tolen of the Osha no less.
Suddenly Rebekkah did feel something. There was a tingle along the right side of her body, not so much a tingle as a sensation of shimmering warmth. It was moving slowly, and then she clearly felt it had passed to her center. Finally it moved to her left side, and then traveled out of her. It was as if some beacon radiated from Raniwa and was making its way in a grand circle, reaching out into the world searching for Michael.
After but another minute, Raniwa's eyes suddenly popped open, and he gasped for air like a man long underwater. "Your brother lives," he said between breaths.