Harry's notes, Chapter 6: The last line of chapter 5 reads, "And then the world changed for both of them." To say nothing of how it changes for Oldman; no longer is he restricted to Harry's thoughts and comments; he will play a larger part now.
I have an oil painting inspired by this chapter that I think would make good cover art for the book but have no idea how to post it to this site at the moment.
I'm dropping this one in ROMANCE again. If you do not understand why then I have not done my job as a writer. Show me the love and comments at the end of this chapter or I feel it will be late in this month before I get back to adding more.
Please excuse my poor editing. I tried to get someone to refine my grammar and comma use but was unable. Enjoy this chapter. I feel it is the best yet.
Chosen Mate
Chapter 6
Birth
Sandra seemed to burst into flames as her true form was revealed by her declaration of love. Things... were moving about her, attracted by light or energy emitted from the wing-like aura of light and power, revealed by her admission of love. Sparks like lightning bugs or fireflies and larger balls of softly glowing lights encircled her, attracted as a moth is to a flame to bathe in the light of her aura; wings fanned gently in unknown cosmic tides, like some water plant moving gracefully in the ebb and flow of the ocean. Her body, lit from within, was bathed by a light that felt like a blessing of peace and contentment; her serene visage emitted a promise of safety, protection, and a grace to be bestowed on those that were deemed worthy.
Harry stared at her in amazement; she was not a mere photograph now; love flowed from her into his body, filling it with an alien energy. He felt as if he were a battery being charged. Looking down at his hands that were becoming covered with a pins and needles sensation where tiny sparks played about the finger tips. He could feel her thoughts calling him to her; meeting her gaze, he could see himself from her eyes.
Was he worthy? Dared he stand, take her hand, meet those frosty receptacles that had captured and enslaved him from the very first time; did she see herself out of his eyes? Compelled to look deeper into them, he was lost, drawn down into their depths, examined, appraised, inspected in detail and then allowed to frolic about her on a lightly held golden leash.
He heeled at her command in ecstatic enslavement. He was entranced. ...Yes, that was it, entranced. He fell to his knees before her.
Sandra smiled her heart full and bursting; a torrent of emotions poured from him. She felt love that was so deep and tender and painful, that she gasped at the intensity and overpowering need. She glowed brighter, fed by the pure fuel of his devotion as he gave all that he contained to her. She poured her love into him in a flood. Then he was gone.
***
--Wow, Oldman said. ...Harry really did it this time.
She stumbled back in shock and amazement. The look of devoted worshipful love on her face before the transformation was wiped clean by the surprising thoughts that came from Harry that were clearly not his own. Harry had no thoughts within.
--Oh please, Oldman said. ...Get up Harry.
--Who are you? The thought escaped her as she reeled in confusion and shock.
--I'm me. I'm Oldman. You can hear me? I'm real. I thought I was. Why didn't you answer me before? What are you Sandra? Somewhere deep within Oldman, data was being gathered rapidly.
Sandra was not quite sure what was going on in Harry's head. There was a strange entity there, conversing easily with her. Somehow it was blocking what should have been an instant rapport between them at the finalized declaration of love. That love, that had no measure in its depth and expanse in the connections formed by her race, was denied by Harry's mental absence from his abandoned body. It seemed she had no recourse but to communicate with... it. And if it had harmed Harry in any way she would dig it from the body and rend it as wild mothers have protected and avenged their offspring from time unknown.
Oldman viewed her thoughts apprehensively, wondering if she could do that.
--Have you hurt him ...Oldman? She savored the flavor of the name and the essence of the entity in her mind and hesitated. It was not hostile or malignant... it was a friend... also worried about Harry but not deeply concerned. It was accustomed to the periodic travels beyond his body that had begun at his...its... birth, appearance, or awakening within Harry's conscious. The travels where Harry's mental foot held the door open to his body as he wandered the desert like wasteland of shining paths radiating out from the now unmarked egress to his body. A sob broke from her as she centered her attention on the closed door.
--Open it, she thought to Oldman. ...Bring him back.
--I can't. I don't know how. He answered back. ...I don't have the skill.
Sandra wailed, physically and mentally, as this knowledge was revealed to her. Her aura contracted close to her body, dulled with the knowledge imparted by Oldman. The shriek of mental distress coming from her frayed Oldman's senses. He thought quickly.
--Easy Sandra, easy, I'm sure he's fine out there. Oldman patted her mind and held it tightly in a commiserating embrace. ...The shock of seeing your true form, finding out he wasn't going insane, his doubts of his worthiness of you must have sent him wandering.
'Wandering?' Sandra thought 'Wandering?' Freshened distress and tears consumed her.
***
Yes, Harry was wandering, not intentionally though; and he was afraid he was lost. Blown head over heels into the paths in his head by the explosion of love that detonated from her, he was thrown far beyond where he had ventured before. There was a sudden burst of fear, quickly quenched, as he tumbled to a halt and looked around as if for a marker that showed his location; but, there were no markers here. All to be seen were the pulsing threads that appeared to have no end.
The sight and feel of her image and mind shone forth, carried with him as he was shot away an instant after meeting her eyes, mind and the love that poured from it in a torrent, washing him far into the sea of the nothing, where he floated among the myriad paths. The blast of her released love echoed there now among paths that he did not recognize. He held her image in his mind like a treasured photograph.
He thought suddenly of the Green Warrior and looked for but could not find it. Jack Daniels cures indeed, he thought. He returned to her likeness, burned into his mind in that brief instant, recorded in breathing detail.... She was Fay... God, she was beautiful. He must find his way back to her.
--Oldman! ... OoldMannn! There was no answer. He looked about for a direction.
***
Oldman's mentally inhaled breath alerted Sandra to some occurrence.
--What is it? She inquired, standing.
--I heard him. I heard him call. Harry's hands moved to his head, grasping it on both sides. Sandra rushed to him.
"Harry! Harry!"
--Stop, this is hard enough as it is. Oldman admonished her. Sandra pulled back from her crushing grip, releasing his body from her tight frightened arms.
"Harry?" She questioned timidly, searching for his thoughts.
--He can't hear you. He's not here, Oldman answered.
--Then why are his hands holding his head? She asked fiercely.
--I put them there; I'm trying to hear him, Oldman replied. ...Now be quiet. Haarryyyyy! Haarryyyyyyy!
This was too far beyond her keen mind; she needed help; she went to the phone and dialed Donna. Gerry answered on the forth ring.
"Hello?"
"Gerry, let me speak to Donna." She spoke rapidly.
"Well, hello to you too Sandra, Hey Donna, Phone! What's up?" He asked. Sandra sighed.
"There's not time to talk about it, ask Donna." She told Donna in frantic words to hurry over; there was a problem with Harry. The telephone cut off abruptly emitting a busy signal.
Sandra felt Oldman's thoughts return to her as she was hanging up the phone.
--I can't find him, I can feel him out there but I can't find him. Harry's knees were beginning to hurt and stiffen. Oldman caused Harry to stand, relieving the pressure. Sandra flew to him, literally, across the room; she again called his name as she fell on him in frenzied concern. Oldman sent an irritated thought at her as he struggled to keep Harry on his feet.
--I keep telling you he's not here. He grumbled thoughtfully as he flexed Harry's knees. She stepped back, looking at Harry's zombie like movements as Oldman eased the stiffened knees. Sandra calmed as she processed the information.
--You can move him? She inquired, interest growing in her thought despite the situation.
--How do you think he gets anything done at all when he leaves to wander out there? His mind indicated the door closed to the paths beyond.
--Put him back in that chair, she thought. She arranged the robe around Harry's body as it moved to and sat in the chair. Sandra sat in the large comfortable chair with it. Turning its face to hers, she combed her fingers through its hair and beard. Her worried eyes searched its empty, unseeing ones.
"What am I going to do with you?" she wondered aloud, pressing her body to his unanswering one, kissing it tenderly, stroking its chest, letting her softly falling tears drip down its body from her pillowed head.
--Don't you mean what are we going to do with him? Oldman thought, and conveyed to her his feeling of being in solitary confinement. Her warm proximity caused Harry's body to react normally.
--Good old Harry, you can always depend on him, Oldman emitted in amused laughtered thought. She settled into its lap and snuggled against Harry's body.
--Put Harry's arms around me, Oldman. Harry's arms tightened about her. Oldman held her with them, thinking only to himself that at least they had one answer to their question.
Donna passed through Sandra's bower without knocking and 'up' to the living room of the apartment that overlooked the bar. Sandra was sitting in Harry's lap. Both were unclothed except for the robe and her wings. They were wrapped about Harry, much the same way as a cat wraps its tail around something. Her attention was drawn to Harry's unminded body as she probed and found none of Harry's usually placid mind in place; but there was another there, as impossible as the fact was to grasp.
--Who is that? She asked Sandra, probing at Oldman's unknown intellect.
--I'm me. Hello Donna. Oldman called in a friendly thought. It knows me, Donna thought in amazement, and again sent her questioning mind forth.
--Same answer he gave me, Sandra thought, and then told her of all she had learned while omitting some information about all of Oldman's abilities. Sandra was still impaled and Harry was still held tight in her internal grip. She turned Donna's thoughts away from her distracted inspection of Oldman and to the problem of Harry's lost mind.
--Donna, we've lost Harry. Donna's confused thoughts labored with the absurdity of the statement and the reality of Harry's missing mind, then questioned, as she struggled to understand how this had happened.
--How do you lose half of your mate, Sandra? Donna wondered at her.
"I told him I loved him and he disappeared," Sandra said aloud.
--Talk about a lack of commitment. Oldman thought dryly. Donna's gaping mind at Oldman's irreverent thought was interrupted by Sandra's abrupt mental start of surprise. Sandra cocked her head, rotating her ears as if to hear some unheard sound.
--Harry's thinking of me. She said with a mental burst. Quivering with emotion, she felt him just beyond her reach. ...Oh Harry, she sobbed out in an anguished cry ...know that I am thinking of you too.
Sandra suddenly froze. A short fast intake of breath, then a burst of wonder and happiness flashed through her thoughts. Her aura dimmed and contracted close to her body. Then she was just there. None of the roiling emotion emanating from before her quick gasp and sudden flash of mental startlement remained. All that was left was her presence. Just the knowledge that she was Sandra was left. It was more than could be said of Harry.
Oldman was left with Harry's body entrapped within Sandra's coma-like one. Donna was torn between dashing off for help and remaining with her sister.
--Great, now she's gone too. So, Donna, I greet you. Oldman thought to her, making a mental image moving sedately in her mind of a cup extended and then raised before a bowing head.
Donna turned and walked to the kitchen, eyes wet at the manners shown by this strange being in the midst of these strange events. Returning with a glass of water, she repeated the gesture to his presence, even to holding the glass to Harry's mouth that Oldman caused to drink. The ritual was calming, an ordinary act in unordinary circumstances. Oldman's next thought released her tension even more.
--Love your wings; do you get to pick the color? A mental blink at the unexpected thought, unrelated to the present situation, and she replied automatically.
--Thank you. Her neon pink wings brightened with the complement, and then her training kicked in. ...Tell me about yourself Oldman. Have you and Harry been together long? Oldman explained while picking her thoughts.
***
Harry moved in an ever widening sphere, searching for a way to familiar paths in the organic like shining threads radiating in softly glowing colors. He contemplated his unknown understanding of Sandra's existence and heritage. His own attempts to make sense of the events surrounding him had driven him to spend day after day at the library, researching the myths recorded from stories passed down from ancient times. He thought on them as he had with other problems, ideas, and wonderments while strolling in meditation in the maze of twisting illuminated paths.
He thought he heard Oldman call for him, as he often did when outside occurrences required his attention or he needed to be fed or watered. Pausing, casting about for the direction of the echoing summons, and then moving in that direction, he returned to his ruminations.
His imaginary feet trod the paths; questions formed within him; conclusions were applied and denied, and suppositions inspected for any feeling of truth. Time had no meaning for him here, as he shifted from one path to another as their junction afforded or denied a more direct route toward Oldman's call. He stumbled in his transit down the gleaming paths, suddenly overwhelmed by a simple question. He looked at it, amazed that it had not occurred to him before. Why had he not heard her voice call for him? Why had he not called her?
'Sandraaaaa' The force of his broken, straining, love torn call reverberated among the paths around him, setting them to vibrate violently out in all directions. He heard her gasp in relief and her desperately overjoyed reply.
'Harry!' And then her spontaneous rushing passage to him. An audible sound filled with the crackling hiss of static, accompanied her approach, increasing in volume until she slammed into his mind.
They shared an instantaneous burst of emotion, crushing all else aside as they were at last mated in mind. It was if they were both part of a single flame, burning together; a warming flame, that would endure no matter what happened to their bodies. They explored each other's mind, caressing each thought, feeling, and secret, encapsulated within the heat of their bonded love. They swirled about each other in a non-consuming inferno of consciousness.
'What is this?' Sandra asked, at last becoming aware of their shared venue. The answer came to her as if it were her own knowledge. They were no-where. She was also aware that she was glad it was not no-when. She examined the kernel of closed secrets where he held the information. The way to no-when was held shut as tight as a gnat's ass. No matter how she pried at his unallowed access, he would not permit the knowledge to be divulged. His love gently pressed away her insistent thought. She wondered what other secrets were hidden there. Then, she felt his own thought as he touched her kernel of secrets.
He caressed it, sliding his being over it in gossamer waves of gasp producing mental thrills of sensual screaming sensation. Her mind orgasmed. A bright ecstatic flash of overpowering purple light filled her existence; it glowed deeply then faded slowly until she was once more able to sense her surroundings through the veil of her afterglow. Her mind heaved with her release. It was evident that he still had lessons to be taught her, lessons that she strived to duplicate as she let her own thoughts flow to his secret spot and slide over it.
He tensed momentarily in apprehensive reaction to her earlier assault and then relaxed again as her soothing, seeking touch moved over him like warm water. She was unable to reproduce his touch. A mental 'humph!' of indignant thought was followed by an impish, mischievous, feeling, and the proposal that she would tell him one of her secrets for one of his. He considered it.
'First tell me how you found me.'
'Oldman said...' He interrupted her.
'Oldman! You can hear him? I'm not crazy? Or am I?' He examined the flames of her thought about him with suspicion.
'Do you not feel me around you as I feel you Harry? Can you not believe the joining of our souls?' Harry saw the truth in her words.
'Take me home then,' he thought at Sandra. She led him back, not knowing how, only knowing where. As they moved toward their bodies she told him of her urgent need; it consumed him, becoming his own. They sped away with ever increasing velocity. The sound of static accompanied them.
***
Gerry still sat in the living room of his house in Backwater looking at the spot where Donna had abruptly passed through to their bower. She had left without hanging up the phone, taking the hand set with her. He went to the kitchen and opened a beer, returning to the living room to examine the dangling end of the phone cord with libation and contemplation. He took another slow sip then set after her curiously.
***
They were back. Harry locked the door in his mind, resolving to never leave it ajar again.
--Hey buddy, Oldman thought. ...You will not believe this, look at Donna. Harry's eyes moved to Donna. Her emotions were clearly visible on her. He could 'see' her surface thoughts, a mixture of things searching for a purchase. Her concern for her sister in her time of need, Oldman's existence, Harry's missing intellect, and how all of this affected her personally. Then there was something else that was quickly shut away as he and Sandra began to inhabit their bodies again. Donna and Sandra began speaking brain to brain so fast that he was not able to comprehend. Instead of becoming calmer at the return of her sister and Harry, she appeared to become more distressed.
--Donna I 'heard 'him. He called to me. I answered. And then, I was with him and we were one. I had no idea; I knew what to expect but there are no words to express it. Donna had experienced it before with Gerry and knew the rapturous joining of the mental bonds of mates well.
--Yes I know the feeling; it will grow as your love does. As it becomes stronger you will always know where he is. Tell me, where was he? How did he get there? How did you bring him back? Sandra became silent; her thoughts shut to Donna's and answered only, that he was no-where. Donna's mental startlement revealed some knowledge withheld. Seeking to end the questioning, Sandra wiggled on Harrys lap. Harry's start of recognition of his and Sandra's condition brought in turn Donna's shocked realization. Then, her scrutiny of Sandra's colored face and wings had her running to the center of the room and vanishing.
--What the hell? Harry thought, as she disappeared.
***
Donna left, passing through to Sandra's bower, leaving the three of them alone. Flying out the hanging vines covering the entrance, she collided with Gerry. Their mated minds briefly exchanged information in an instant, as she rebounded from him and sped away down the corridor.
Gerry watched her fly away, scattering the lights of the lesser Fay in her hasty passage. He wondered why she was going to see her mother in such haste when she should be celebrating her sisters mating. He considered the speeding Donna with one sip of his rapidly dwindling beer, one inquisitive arched eyebrow, and one unanswered question. What's Donna latest drama?
He turned to the staff leaning against the wall of greenery, then took it up and knocked three times on the stone floor. The sound, amplified by the free striking staff, echoed along the corridor. He consoled himself with the thought that there would be beer where-ever Harry and Sandra were.
***
Harry's head was in the refrigerator when the three barking knocks sounded. He straightened, peering about out of the corners of his eyes, then out the kitchen.
--Answer the door Harry, Oldman said patiently. Harry walked into the living room and opened the door. Sandra's frisky, diverted giggle joined with Oldman's delighted laughter for the trip across the room.
"Hello?" He ventured to the empty stairs. Gerry appeared by him. Harry looked at him numbly.
--This is going to take some getting used to. Oldman uttered lowly. Gerry paused in his beginning clasp of Harry's shoulder.
"Who is that?" Sandra's spontaneous intermittent snickering was the background of the lengthy explanation around the table with beer and coffee. Gerry held his thoughts close to him as he had at the first sound of Oldman's thought. His bright blue wings waving normally, his piercing blue eyes focused on Harry's as the story of Oldman was told with many asides.
"Now we really need to go, Gerry." Sandra said, and moved to hold him in a tight hug. She sent Gerry their repeatedly delayed agenda, and he, his congratulations.
"Don't drink all the beer." Harry said jokingly as he picked up a bag and moved before Sandra to the stairs, thankful that he had stocked beer and the last bottle of the good red wine in their bag.
"I'm just down the hall if you run out," Gerry replied easily. Oldman and Sandra laughed in Harry's mind at its puzzled, and then surprised awareness of the meaning of Gerry thought was made clear. Harry ached with the desire to see their alternate home.
***
Gerry watched them drive away out of the kitchen window. Their departure proceeded by the loud rumble from the garage below that quickly became the big-wheeled truck with Sandra at the helm.
--Happy mating, he sent after them. He remembered his own heated consummation by the side of a lake that slowly drained down a series of cascading falls feeding a gentle stream. There was some good fishing there too. He sipped at his beer for a moment in remembrance then turned to find Donna again.
***
Donna sped down the passage, calling as she neared her mother's room. She was met outside the verdant hanging vines that covered the entrance of her parents abode. Her mother wore her aura wings down, covering her like a gown of brilliant white shot through with threads of platinum pulsing with random flashes of vibrant light. A matching shawl of energy flared from her head of silver hair. Donna poured the details of Sandra's experience into her mother's shocked thoughts. Margay, Queen of Fay on earth, pricked her ears forward with rapt attention, her raiment glowing brighter as the story progressed.
***
The trip to the cove was swift. Sandra drove feeling as if she had two pairs of eyes, her's and Harry's. As they moved down country roads leaving town to the nearby spot on the river, she instructed them in their tasks. Harry opened the gate. Sandra drove through it and stopped. She flew from the truck toward the nest at the side of the cove. A red gold blur, comet like and fading into ultra-violet, marked her speedy passage.
Harry traveled along in her mind, leaving Oldman to shut the gate and follow with his body and the truck. He was overwhelmed with the feeling of flight; he wished he could fly. Sandra's elfin laughter accompanied new knowledge. He sighed in mental frustration at all that was unknown.
She flitted about the foliage and trees surrounding the cove, surveying them from the tops of the trees to the base of their roots. Her beautiful wings were gliding now over the still waters of the cove like a thistle puff in a slightly wafting breeze.
Oldman parked the truck, gathered driftwood, and started a small cheery fire burning, then, laying stores nearby for later. Candles were placed around the shallow nest on flat stones, unlit in the strong afternoon light. A quilt beside the nest shared its spot with the bag and Harry's clothing, shed by Oldman; he entered the water to float on his back at Harry's command to watch as Sandra spiraled higher over the cove, absorbing the rays from the sun.
She looked like a brightly burning star hovering there for a moment and appeared to be drawing the sun's rays. Then, with wings folded tightly against her body, she plunged. Striking the water like an arrow she descended to the bottom of the pool. Oldman rolled over to observe Sandra as she changed into a water dwelling creature.
Harry felt the transformation, so strange but so natural, as her gills drew in oxygen. Her fins and tail drove them to the bottom; turning about the pool, she looked about.
Harry returned his thoughts to his body, floating now on its belly, face turned down to see the depths below. He greeted Oldman with new insight.
--I'm glad you are real. He thought with genuine sincerity.
--Thanks, Harry. Can you feel it, the energy in this place? Harry looked out the door to the shining paths and found them much changed. Sandra called to him.
--It's time. Come to me Harry. Change as I did.
He swam down to her, copying her transformation with the same feeling she had used. He saw his form in her eyes as he saw hers in his. The double image was overlaid in his mind. Her golden body was freckled with red scales; gold spines of fins and tail were joined by opaque red membrane. She moved in the now crystalline clear water of his piscine vision toward his red descending form with its own scattered golden scales.
He took his first gulp of air with his gills; the unexpected ease was as natural as breathing. He wondered what it would be like to swim about the paths of no-where. What would it be like to be independent of traveling along the twisting shining trails by imaginary foot? She pulled at him, bringing him back with a cautioning thought and impatient need.
He turned to her. Her scent filled the water around them; it drove him shivering along her length with his flank in ecstatic need at the knowledge of the impending release of her eggs. Oldman was silent but held tightly to both their minds as they danced around the cove in fishy foreplay.
They swam above and around and under each other. She pressed her body and mind against him as they circled the cove. She leading, he following, they patrolled across the graveled bottom. They swam among jumbled fallen rocks under the bluff and the shallow entrance to the river. Several large fish left the pool hurriedly as they made their circuits of the cove. She would be ravenous after she deposited her eggs and left them with Harry while she fed.
They moved into shallower waters, passing to and fro of the dimple of water connecting the nest to the cove. The sun dipped. The shadows lengthened across the waters calm surface, as they slid around and against each other. Their shivering forms passionate touch seemed tortured and painful.
She flipped into the nest and rose from it as Sandra, stepping on the gravel, lighting a candle in the fire then the others scattered about. He entered the nest, making several testing turns until he too, rose clumsily in his transformation as Harry. They ate from the bag and drank beer as the sky dimmed.
Darkness fell slowly and curtain like in an unhurried close of the first act. Spots of light appeared in the foliage surrounding the cove, flickering or blinking in the variegated shadows there. The red nimble light from the fire played across Sandra's bright body in an ever-changing dance of rippling illumination and shadow.
Her eyes, twin points of pale sapphire, focused across the river where new glowing balls of light began to form; they grew from small centers, increasing in magnitude to shine like stars in the dark sky of the far bank. Neon pink, bright blue, then blindingly bright white light, were followed by one of red, gold, and purple; it's surface swirled with cloud like patches of the different colors. It was joined by the blue one; they came together closely as if in deep conversation. Then a constellation of others were born around them.
Harry began to think at her, despite his inclination to stare vapidly across the river in gaping wonder. Sandra shushed him softly with her mind; standing, she called for the wine in the bag. He bent, uncorked, and brought it to her. She coached him silently in his actions. He formed a cup of his hands, holding them before her; she filled them from the bottle.
A small glowing form of lavender raced to her side, taking the bottle, and then floating beside her in attendance. She performed obeisance to those across the river and drained her mate's cup. Refilling his cupped hands she again repeated the act, filling her mouth then turning to Harry. He drank the wine from her lips, its piquancy now full of undercurrents of tantalizing unknown flavors. The aroma of it was heady as their vapors filled his senses. He swallowed, then kissed her unbidden, feverishly.
Singing ethereal voices from the gathering of Fay followed them as she led him back to their nest. They changed once more, swimming around each other trembling, quivering, and shuddering as the moment neared.
--I love you Sandra, you too Harry, Oldman whispered in their minds; his was filled with the thundering buildup of energy that was gathering.
--We love you too Oldman, Sandra whispered back.
--Yes, thought Harry, unable to impart more because of the electric fire that was playing over his body from Sandra's aura-wing-like fins. Then she gasped, screaming out her release in their shared minds. Thousands of glowing, golden eggs began spilling from her body, filling the bottom of the nest with their light and substance. Harry reeled with the force of her emotion, then his need. His milt began to flow from him in opalescent streams of shimmering pearl white fluid. He and Oldman cried a duet of ecstatic joy and endorphic emotions.
They were a thrice burning flame now, joined forever by the shared fulfillment that every living thing is driven to achieve. Sandra probed Oldman's kernel of secrets. His tickled, laughtered, thought sent her in pursuit of his fleeing sensitive kernel. Their net of silent merriment, playful threats and impish warning calls, ensnared Harry's warm thoughts, leaving them thrashing in the mesh they wove about him.
Their minds were in close enfolding acceptance; they felt their brood coming quickly to life under them. Tiny sparks of living thought were being born as they fanned slowly above their quickening spawn. Harry cried, warm salty tears of joy, as his children acknowledged their parents. He needed to talk to his mom, and if he needed to talk to her then she must need to also. Sandra's nervous laughter, and Oldman's knowing laugh as he replied to Harry thought, surprised him.
--Saw that one coming. He would have raised his eyebrows if he had been in human form. It seemed the fish reaction was a number of quick bubbles that floated upward slowly. Harry eased out of the nest, carefully avoiding the growing intelligence in it, and into the lagoon. Oldman and Sandra's soft mental caress joined his ...their children. A small spark came out of the nest with Harry, rising with him as he stepped from the water in his human form.
--Hello 'Quick One.' Harry said, bowing to this first born, then progressing to the quilt for a sandwich and his last beer. ...I greet you. Harry motioned with the beer as the small red globe hovered near him, probing about with its mind, exploring its new world. Sandra's cooing thoughts reached to it from the water.
Harry watched the Quick One dart about, sometimes over its Mother, sometimes near the river to study the four original lights now gathered together, pulsing randomly in an animated appearance, but always returning to the foliage; it raced among the sleepy lights there that brightened with each buzzing passage. When Harry tossed chunks of wood in the fire it danced in the sparks then returned to nurse from the energy surrounding Sandra.
Harry turned his thoughts back to his mom.
--Go, go see her. Sandra's gentle pushing nudge of thought came to him. ...I'm safe. I'm here with my family she assured him.
--I'll stay, volunteered Oldman. Harry and Sandra's minds went still at this. Sandra glided out of the nest and into the cove, standing swiftly and moving to the quilt with Harry. Quick One came fast behind her. She held Harry as his heart beat rapidly with the unwelcoming idea of not having Oldman near him. Then the Quick One perched on his shoulder. it's tiny aura crackled in his hair and beard as it nuzzled against him. Its tiny mind held on to his.
"Can you do this?" He said aloud to Oldman, his eyes locked with Sandra's as her mind blankly assimilated this extraordinary thought.
--It's up to Sandra. Oldman replied. Sandra reasoned that they were already joined. How could it be so different? She gulped and nodded. Harry took a deep breath and repeated her actions, holding ever tighter to her with mind and body. The sensation was odd in their joined minds. Oldman slowly moved into Sandra's mind as he withdrew from Harry.
--There's not as much room in here; Oldman jestingly began, and then gave a reverent stricken. ...by the great Creator! The thought was followed by silence. Sandra and Oldman became locked in near total communication as her kernel of secrets flashed with answers to Oldman's questions. Questions that Harry had not thought to ask yet. He dressed for the drive home.
Harry left them, accompanied by the Quick One who was now holding to Harry shirt, not even leaving to dance in the sparks of the fire when it was refueled. He drove from the gravel bar with his mates' gentle assurances and confident knowledge of their safety; but, they must be back before dawn.
"Come on Quick," he said aloud to his passenger, "Let's go see Grandma." Harry gave a start as the "G" was reproduced in a tiny tinkling tone almost unheard. Harry drove across the pasture, among the sleeping cattle, toward the bright blue light across the field. Gerry was standing by the open gate when he got there. He leaned in the window as Harry pulled out of the gate and stopped.
"Got room for one more?" He asked, waving a finger playfully at Quick, who moved shyly into Harry's beard, then sent inspecting thoughts out at Gerry, after polling Harry's mind and finding it relaxed in this new presence. Harry grinned at his new brother in mate.
"Jump in Gerry, we're going to the house to pick up supplies and check on mom." Gerry locked the gate then climbed in.
"I've got a business proposal for you Harry." He began, with a greeting clasp of Harry's shoulder. Harry listened and nodded, asking varied questions as Gerry spoke rapidly with occasional punctuating pressure of his hand. Quick moved closer, its inspection of Gerry remained rapt.
They entered the driveway and ascended to the house. With Max's first booming bark, Quick began moving about the cab. Harry's first reaction was one of abject fear as Quick flew out the window, zooming over the big dog's head, then leading him on a chase around the truck and across the yard.
Harry bolted from the truck, calling Quick then Max desperately. His racing footsteps slowed, then stopped, as Gerry's amused laughter at their antics registered in his mind. Five minutes later Max was laying by his water dish, lapping in defeat and Quick was once again nestled in Harry's beard.
Maddie was in the kitchen making a snack during a commercial. Harry managed to make introductions then was excluded from the conversation as Maddie and Gerry became instantly fast friends.
He moved to the coffeepot while they talked, filling a mug and micro waving it. Quick was pressed to the glass and seemed to be seeing the raw energy within. It reproduced the 'ding' when the timer ran out. Harry made sandwiches and sweet tea jars while keeping an eye on Quick and an ear listening to Gerry and Maddie's wandering conversation.
He ran to the bedroom for a bag, digging one out of the closet while Quick played in the red light of the clock radio; they returned to the kitchen to pack.
Harry helped himself to pie, and then sat with Maddie, paying little attention to the exchange of words beside him. Quick was burrowed deep in his beard near his chin. He sipped his coffee, reaching out to Oldman and Sandra's minds. They were still talking. Donna had joined them. He looked and found Gerry's eye upon him, his voice rattling away in rebuttal or approval of one of Maddie's comments.
--It's about time you looked over here, Gerry thought seriously. Harry caused fish bubbles to rise slowly in his mind.
--Have you been practicing that long? Gerry's thought came. A jovial wrinkle twinkled at the corners of his eyes and then was still.
--Just learned it tonight, Harry thought back, then continued. ...The two lights with you and Donna, are they her parents? Gerry's thoughts gave no forthcoming indication to the answer. Harry stopped, waiting for the reply that would confirm his conclusions. Gerry's thoughts were empty of everything but its delight in his animated conversation with Maddie, but he did nod as if in agreement to one of her statements.
--You'll meet them soon enough. These last few hours have been full ones for you. Enjoy your mate and children. Tomorrow will be a full day for you ...Brother.
Maddie rose, still talking. She and Gerry cleared the dishes. She kissed Harry, whispering in his ear.
"I like your new friend. Tell Sandra I said hello." Then she moved off to her bedroom.
"Night mom." Harry answered and left, turning off lights and heading for the truck.
They returned to the cove. Gerry opened and closed the gate behind Harry's sedately moving truck. Quick was near him, observing, until Gerry flew ahead. Quick followed, a bright red spark, darting among the sleeping cattle for a curious moment, then speeding after Gerry.
Harry followed them down to the river and parked near the quilt. Then, removing cooler and bag set them easily in reach. He paused for a fast glance around the spot that had become so comfortable.
Gerry and Donna were floating back across the river; their bright blue and neon pink glow was followed by Quick's red one as far as the end of the gravel bar where it halted, observing for a short time. Sandra's coaxing call brought it back to the nest.
--You too Harry, come to bed. He sent a smile to her thoughts and stripped from his clothing and stepped into the cove. Yawning, he dived into the pool to make a leisurely pass around it, surprised at the number of their progeny that were moving among the rocks near the bluff. Sandra called again and he moved into the nest beside her, his heart heavy with the instinctive knowledge that, with the rising of the sun, the nest would empty as their spawn moved into the water or air to begin the second phase of their life. They floated calmly under the full moon.
Sandra's mind reached to him, caressing his thoughts lovingly, tenderly, softly soothing his melancholy mood. Harry sighed, deeply and pensive. Bubbles aimlessly escaped from him, floating straight up in a long unending stream, drifting in ponderous reflection.
--See? I told you, Oldman began. Harry turned his long suffering thoughts to him.
--I am who I am Oldman, just as you are you and we are we. He pulled their thoughts close, looking into their mind's eyes, huddled together as if in a brow meeting gaze. ...Do you see our children leaving the nest, joining those in the bushes or those in the bottom of the pool? Do you feel my shocked brain striving to encompass all the information imparted recently? Do you feel my relief and trepidation, love and broken heartedness, joy and sorrow?
It was too much for Sandra. She leapt from the nest to flop for a moment on the quilt; then, transformed into a sobbing Sandra. Quick moved to the fire near her, resting on a log just out of the direct flame as if to warm itself there.
Harry swam out into the cove, letting his mind touch the few left in the nest and the gathered multitude on the bottom of the pool and in the thickets nearby.
He swam out of the river connection and into its gently pushing stream. His gills gasped at a bitter taste; moving into fresher water beside a pile of debris, he nosed about the broken bottom, finding an old discarded battery tossed uncaringly there.
Harry began pushing it closer to the riverbank, driving hard with tail and fins, abrading his nose with the force of his efforts. A large blue turtle and a grey and silver speckled fish joined him, shoving the battery into the shallows. The two rose in their Fay form, streaming water. Gerry, Harry, and Billy heaved it from the water and on to the bank.
"Bob and I will come by with the boat to pick that up tomorrow and carry it away. You have our congratulations and heartfelt good wishes on your mating."
Billy had doubly surprised him, his identity as Fay, and his use of more words than he had ever spoken in Harry's memory. He had the feeling that he would have bowed to him if not restrained by Gerry's habitually clasping hand. Harry cupped water from the river, performing obeisance to them both.
"Thank you for helping. My children will swim in sweeter water now." They changed and swam away. He could feel their thoughts near the debris for a moment as the claws of the blue turtle dug about it, looking for more danger. Then they moved away, one up and one down river.
Harry walked across the gravel bar to the fire. Sandra had cried herself near sleep. He covered her with the quilt from his bag then started coffee water boiling on the fire; bacon broiled on sticks and eggs poached in their shells near the coals of the fire. He crawled under the quilt with her then, holding her close for a period of time then taking her tenderly. She rolled on his chest and took him fiercely. Their bittersweet release left them drowsing lightly in dreaming, love kissed conversations and pressing closeness.
Oldman moved freely between them at will, as comfortable in one mind as in the other. Harry needed to study this phenomenon closer. Oldman's unique ability was most likely only the tip of the iceberg of unusual talents that he possessed. He put aside his avid interest and turned instead to Sandra's mirrored mood, over shadowed by the intoxicating love covering them and their children like a blanket.
--Why did you pick me Sandra? Silvery laughter played through his mind, followed by Oldman's irreverent.
--I've wondered that myself.
--Hush Oldman. Sandra thought tenderly. ...I didn't really pick you Harry. You picked me. I was your garden fairy for a time. Your hurt, your yearning brought me to where you labored among the vegetables and the koi pond. You transformed me by the fire that raged through your soul that was ignited by your loss, burning unchecked through your mind, reducing it to a crumbling shell where you huddled trying to find shelter from the hostile reality of the world and your life. I moved through the ashes of that fire, singing you a song of hope, a song of healing. I labored beside you unseen. Our tears watered the garden rows together.
--Donna saw my heartbreak. We sat on the garden fence many times together feeling your hurt, watching it as it burned in you. She saw my intent clearly and tried to get me away from you but I would not leave. She ran to Mother, telling her what I was planning to do to try to save you from your damaged existence. Sandra came to a halt as Harry examined her memories of that time.
And then Harry saw it also, the clear image of what she would have sacrificed for him. She would become human in all forms except for her memory. The reality of what would have happened to her, the loss of her beautiful aura wings, the gift of transformation, and the ability to converse mind to mind shocked him; the painful way that it would be accomplished, by a thin needle of cold iron inserted into the aura organ between her shoulders, shorting it out forever, was an abomination. Wonder, pain, love, and horror filled him at the thought that she would have endured that. He would never have allowed it if he had known. But, the reality was that she was undamaged and they were together.
He rolled from under her, turning the bacon and eggs, then tossing a measure of coffee grounds into the gently boiling water and inhaling the fragrant aroma that issued from it.
"How terrible that would have been, Sandra." He said at last, bowing his head at the painful thought. She drew near him, hands around his waist, kisses covering the small of his back.
--It was not long after that Father leaned on the fence beside me while we discussed my alternatives. He could have refused, leaving you and I separated and spending the rest of our days in misery. You would lead what was left of your life then die, leaving me to live out mine sharing your pain that I did not relieve, but not your empty life.
--I could give up my long life to be with you. We would be happy together and die in time normally. He vetoed this alternative also, not being able to endure the pain that would be inflicted on me by the operation that would make me a cripple among my people.
--Father proposed a third alternative. You would be given the choice to replace your hurt with my love. Father would lose the full Fay offspring that I would produce but gain Halfling grandchildren. And you will enter his service, bound to his command forever, a command that may bring you little joy in the long years to come. I could have refused, Sandra thought, pausing, miserable that there had ever been a choice. ...but then both of our hearts would have been broken forever.
--I could not see that happen to you. I began working at the Oasis the next week, the same day that you decided to visit there in an attempt to end your hermit like existence. The choice is still yours. I will endure what must be. Our lives will be spent together no matter that choice. She became silent in her mind then, tears glistened in her eyes as she waited for him to reply.
He turned the eggs and bacon one last time and filled the mugs, passing her one and sweetening the other. There was no choice really. He would accept her Fathers terms, gladly accepting what seemed a meager payment for the invaluable gift of her affections. Turning back to her and diving in the pale pools that were her eyes that calmly, acceptingly, regarded him as she gnawed and supped at his hip. He wondered what his new job description was going to be.
Oldman thought this was hilarious and made several lewd suggestions. Sandra had a few of her own. Harry fed her bacon, bemusedly thinking that her full mouth would not silence her now. He endured their playful jabs, eating as he watched the sky lighten to the east.
***
The sky turned slowly, flushing pink, then red, as the sun swelled above the horizon, shining through the trees. Harry stood, Sandra beside him, as the glowing forms on the far side of the river began to sing again; the light aria from the night before was replaced by rich full sounds, encompassing all audible ranges and some unheard. The trees, water, and ground vibrated from tones often so low that they were felt, not heard. Harry fell to his knees. Sandra crushed down beside him on the gravel, holding him closely as she added her sweet voice to the symphonic resonance of the gathering. Tears ran down Harry's face, torn from him by the sounds that were as much emotions, ringing in his soul, as they were music of joy and celebration, ringing in his ears. His wavering voice joined the others.
The air born children began to gather over the center of the pool, swirling together in a mass of rainbow hued lights. The water born ones came near the surface; the continued vibration of the water caused them to glimmer beneath the heavily dimpled tiny waves on the cove. The pool looked like rain was falling on it. The young began to rise above the surface of the water in ones and twos like hatching insects; small random streams of young joined the swarm milling above. Quick's bright red spark was in the center, shining ever brighter with the ascending sun.
Sandra watched Harry; his face upturned, wet eyes intent on the kaleidoscopic dance before him, singing in strained ardent voice and wordless accompaniment, he watched as the children gathered. Joy and wonder resonated in her mind. Oldman, though voiceless, added his own singing thoughts. She could not tell whose mind he was in now, perhaps both. All she knew was that his presence was warm and comforting.
The children were streaming from the water, gathering now as the sun began to hurl its light through the Cottonwoods, causing the glowing children to shine brighter. The song was building to a crescendo. The mass of tiny lives began turning in a cyclonic movement, spinning in ever-increasing tempo. The sound was beginning to be unbearable; the buildup of the charge of energy had him gasping for air, unable to continue his vocalization.
Pressure built in Harry's loins. He looked to Sandra. She too was having trouble breathing. He became engorged. Sandra pushed him down and crawled on his lap, assuming her habitual position in response to emotionally charged issues.
The hasty union was as smooth and swift, as if two pieces of some device had been fitted together. Their shared physical and mental connections were surrounded by Sandra's wings, brilliant in the increasing bands of blinding light streaming through the trees. Her wings seemed to crackle with energy that was unheard in the single building chord of sensation. The agony ended with the beginning of their mutual gasp of release.
Oldman screamed a wordless cry in their joined minds and discharged the first pulse of energy. It was the trigger that ignited the detonation of the unbearable tension. A pulse of light, energy, and mental force burst from Sandra and passed over him, bringing his own physical and mental release. The three blasts of energy expanded.
The release was visible. The flashing sensation of sight experienced on Harry's last trip to the cove returned, revealing the three expanding walls of light and energy; a slow motion ripple that moved outward from them, raising shock waved arcs across the water and the inferno of spinning light over it. When it struck the fiercely rotating cloud of streaming color, the tightly packed mass of spawn whirled away down river. They reminded Harry of the way the Green Warrior's image had shivered out of the darkness of his mind. He very carefully did not look to see if the Green Man was there in the quiet corner of his mind where he had closeted him. Instead, he held tightly to Sandra in the sudden silence that was punctuated only by their labored breaths.
At last, their increased consumption of oxygen slowed. Harry heaved his body up and forward, staggering under the solid weight of her, propelling them both into the now placid waters. His transformation was swift, coming an instant before he entered the still water.
Driven by the joy of the new ability, Harry swam rapidly to the bottom of the pool then back to the surface as fast as he could. He exploded through the barrier of water and air in a mighty leap of ecstatic bliss. He transformed again into his two-legged form and crashed into the pool in a mighty splash, a mighty painful splash as he belly flopped. Sandra's head emerged beside him as he tread water.
Her laughter stung his ears as he tried to stay afloat and hold his aching balls at the same time. He reached out to duck her but she was too quick. Harry pursued her but was unable to catch her. They played over and around each other like children till exhausted, then returned to the now smoldering fire; its smoke rose straight up in the breezeless air. Oldman kept sentry as Harry and Sandra wrapped up in the quilts and fell quietly into sleep.
I have an oil painting inspired by this chapter that I think would make good cover art for the book but have no idea how to post it to this site at the moment.
I'm dropping this one in ROMANCE again. If you do not understand why then I have not done my job as a writer. Show me the love and comments at the end of this chapter or I feel it will be late in this month before I get back to adding more.
Please excuse my poor editing. I tried to get someone to refine my grammar and comma use but was unable. Enjoy this chapter. I feel it is the best yet.
Chosen Mate
Chapter 6
Birth
Sandra seemed to burst into flames as her true form was revealed by her declaration of love. Things... were moving about her, attracted by light or energy emitted from the wing-like aura of light and power, revealed by her admission of love. Sparks like lightning bugs or fireflies and larger balls of softly glowing lights encircled her, attracted as a moth is to a flame to bathe in the light of her aura; wings fanned gently in unknown cosmic tides, like some water plant moving gracefully in the ebb and flow of the ocean. Her body, lit from within, was bathed by a light that felt like a blessing of peace and contentment; her serene visage emitted a promise of safety, protection, and a grace to be bestowed on those that were deemed worthy.
Harry stared at her in amazement; she was not a mere photograph now; love flowed from her into his body, filling it with an alien energy. He felt as if he were a battery being charged. Looking down at his hands that were becoming covered with a pins and needles sensation where tiny sparks played about the finger tips. He could feel her thoughts calling him to her; meeting her gaze, he could see himself from her eyes.
Was he worthy? Dared he stand, take her hand, meet those frosty receptacles that had captured and enslaved him from the very first time; did she see herself out of his eyes? Compelled to look deeper into them, he was lost, drawn down into their depths, examined, appraised, inspected in detail and then allowed to frolic about her on a lightly held golden leash.
He heeled at her command in ecstatic enslavement. He was entranced. ...Yes, that was it, entranced. He fell to his knees before her.
Sandra smiled her heart full and bursting; a torrent of emotions poured from him. She felt love that was so deep and tender and painful, that she gasped at the intensity and overpowering need. She glowed brighter, fed by the pure fuel of his devotion as he gave all that he contained to her. She poured her love into him in a flood. Then he was gone.
***
--Wow, Oldman said. ...Harry really did it this time.
She stumbled back in shock and amazement. The look of devoted worshipful love on her face before the transformation was wiped clean by the surprising thoughts that came from Harry that were clearly not his own. Harry had no thoughts within.
--Oh please, Oldman said. ...Get up Harry.
--Who are you? The thought escaped her as she reeled in confusion and shock.
--I'm me. I'm Oldman. You can hear me? I'm real. I thought I was. Why didn't you answer me before? What are you Sandra? Somewhere deep within Oldman, data was being gathered rapidly.
Sandra was not quite sure what was going on in Harry's head. There was a strange entity there, conversing easily with her. Somehow it was blocking what should have been an instant rapport between them at the finalized declaration of love. That love, that had no measure in its depth and expanse in the connections formed by her race, was denied by Harry's mental absence from his abandoned body. It seemed she had no recourse but to communicate with... it. And if it had harmed Harry in any way she would dig it from the body and rend it as wild mothers have protected and avenged their offspring from time unknown.
Oldman viewed her thoughts apprehensively, wondering if she could do that.
--Have you hurt him ...Oldman? She savored the flavor of the name and the essence of the entity in her mind and hesitated. It was not hostile or malignant... it was a friend... also worried about Harry but not deeply concerned. It was accustomed to the periodic travels beyond his body that had begun at his...its... birth, appearance, or awakening within Harry's conscious. The travels where Harry's mental foot held the door open to his body as he wandered the desert like wasteland of shining paths radiating out from the now unmarked egress to his body. A sob broke from her as she centered her attention on the closed door.
--Open it, she thought to Oldman. ...Bring him back.
--I can't. I don't know how. He answered back. ...I don't have the skill.
Sandra wailed, physically and mentally, as this knowledge was revealed to her. Her aura contracted close to her body, dulled with the knowledge imparted by Oldman. The shriek of mental distress coming from her frayed Oldman's senses. He thought quickly.
--Easy Sandra, easy, I'm sure he's fine out there. Oldman patted her mind and held it tightly in a commiserating embrace. ...The shock of seeing your true form, finding out he wasn't going insane, his doubts of his worthiness of you must have sent him wandering.
'Wandering?' Sandra thought 'Wandering?' Freshened distress and tears consumed her.
***
Yes, Harry was wandering, not intentionally though; and he was afraid he was lost. Blown head over heels into the paths in his head by the explosion of love that detonated from her, he was thrown far beyond where he had ventured before. There was a sudden burst of fear, quickly quenched, as he tumbled to a halt and looked around as if for a marker that showed his location; but, there were no markers here. All to be seen were the pulsing threads that appeared to have no end.
The sight and feel of her image and mind shone forth, carried with him as he was shot away an instant after meeting her eyes, mind and the love that poured from it in a torrent, washing him far into the sea of the nothing, where he floated among the myriad paths. The blast of her released love echoed there now among paths that he did not recognize. He held her image in his mind like a treasured photograph.
He thought suddenly of the Green Warrior and looked for but could not find it. Jack Daniels cures indeed, he thought. He returned to her likeness, burned into his mind in that brief instant, recorded in breathing detail.... She was Fay... God, she was beautiful. He must find his way back to her.
--Oldman! ... OoldMannn! There was no answer. He looked about for a direction.
***
Oldman's mentally inhaled breath alerted Sandra to some occurrence.
--What is it? She inquired, standing.
--I heard him. I heard him call. Harry's hands moved to his head, grasping it on both sides. Sandra rushed to him.
"Harry! Harry!"
--Stop, this is hard enough as it is. Oldman admonished her. Sandra pulled back from her crushing grip, releasing his body from her tight frightened arms.
"Harry?" She questioned timidly, searching for his thoughts.
--He can't hear you. He's not here, Oldman answered.
--Then why are his hands holding his head? She asked fiercely.
--I put them there; I'm trying to hear him, Oldman replied. ...Now be quiet. Haarryyyyy! Haarryyyyyyy!
This was too far beyond her keen mind; she needed help; she went to the phone and dialed Donna. Gerry answered on the forth ring.
"Hello?"
"Gerry, let me speak to Donna." She spoke rapidly.
"Well, hello to you too Sandra, Hey Donna, Phone! What's up?" He asked. Sandra sighed.
"There's not time to talk about it, ask Donna." She told Donna in frantic words to hurry over; there was a problem with Harry. The telephone cut off abruptly emitting a busy signal.
Sandra felt Oldman's thoughts return to her as she was hanging up the phone.
--I can't find him, I can feel him out there but I can't find him. Harry's knees were beginning to hurt and stiffen. Oldman caused Harry to stand, relieving the pressure. Sandra flew to him, literally, across the room; she again called his name as she fell on him in frenzied concern. Oldman sent an irritated thought at her as he struggled to keep Harry on his feet.
--I keep telling you he's not here. He grumbled thoughtfully as he flexed Harry's knees. She stepped back, looking at Harry's zombie like movements as Oldman eased the stiffened knees. Sandra calmed as she processed the information.
--You can move him? She inquired, interest growing in her thought despite the situation.
--How do you think he gets anything done at all when he leaves to wander out there? His mind indicated the door closed to the paths beyond.
--Put him back in that chair, she thought. She arranged the robe around Harry's body as it moved to and sat in the chair. Sandra sat in the large comfortable chair with it. Turning its face to hers, she combed her fingers through its hair and beard. Her worried eyes searched its empty, unseeing ones.
"What am I going to do with you?" she wondered aloud, pressing her body to his unanswering one, kissing it tenderly, stroking its chest, letting her softly falling tears drip down its body from her pillowed head.
--Don't you mean what are we going to do with him? Oldman thought, and conveyed to her his feeling of being in solitary confinement. Her warm proximity caused Harry's body to react normally.
--Good old Harry, you can always depend on him, Oldman emitted in amused laughtered thought. She settled into its lap and snuggled against Harry's body.
--Put Harry's arms around me, Oldman. Harry's arms tightened about her. Oldman held her with them, thinking only to himself that at least they had one answer to their question.
Donna passed through Sandra's bower without knocking and 'up' to the living room of the apartment that overlooked the bar. Sandra was sitting in Harry's lap. Both were unclothed except for the robe and her wings. They were wrapped about Harry, much the same way as a cat wraps its tail around something. Her attention was drawn to Harry's unminded body as she probed and found none of Harry's usually placid mind in place; but there was another there, as impossible as the fact was to grasp.
--Who is that? She asked Sandra, probing at Oldman's unknown intellect.
--I'm me. Hello Donna. Oldman called in a friendly thought. It knows me, Donna thought in amazement, and again sent her questioning mind forth.
--Same answer he gave me, Sandra thought, and then told her of all she had learned while omitting some information about all of Oldman's abilities. Sandra was still impaled and Harry was still held tight in her internal grip. She turned Donna's thoughts away from her distracted inspection of Oldman and to the problem of Harry's lost mind.
--Donna, we've lost Harry. Donna's confused thoughts labored with the absurdity of the statement and the reality of Harry's missing mind, then questioned, as she struggled to understand how this had happened.
--How do you lose half of your mate, Sandra? Donna wondered at her.
"I told him I loved him and he disappeared," Sandra said aloud.
--Talk about a lack of commitment. Oldman thought dryly. Donna's gaping mind at Oldman's irreverent thought was interrupted by Sandra's abrupt mental start of surprise. Sandra cocked her head, rotating her ears as if to hear some unheard sound.
--Harry's thinking of me. She said with a mental burst. Quivering with emotion, she felt him just beyond her reach. ...Oh Harry, she sobbed out in an anguished cry ...know that I am thinking of you too.
Sandra suddenly froze. A short fast intake of breath, then a burst of wonder and happiness flashed through her thoughts. Her aura dimmed and contracted close to her body. Then she was just there. None of the roiling emotion emanating from before her quick gasp and sudden flash of mental startlement remained. All that was left was her presence. Just the knowledge that she was Sandra was left. It was more than could be said of Harry.
Oldman was left with Harry's body entrapped within Sandra's coma-like one. Donna was torn between dashing off for help and remaining with her sister.
--Great, now she's gone too. So, Donna, I greet you. Oldman thought to her, making a mental image moving sedately in her mind of a cup extended and then raised before a bowing head.
Donna turned and walked to the kitchen, eyes wet at the manners shown by this strange being in the midst of these strange events. Returning with a glass of water, she repeated the gesture to his presence, even to holding the glass to Harry's mouth that Oldman caused to drink. The ritual was calming, an ordinary act in unordinary circumstances. Oldman's next thought released her tension even more.
--Love your wings; do you get to pick the color? A mental blink at the unexpected thought, unrelated to the present situation, and she replied automatically.
--Thank you. Her neon pink wings brightened with the complement, and then her training kicked in. ...Tell me about yourself Oldman. Have you and Harry been together long? Oldman explained while picking her thoughts.
***
Harry moved in an ever widening sphere, searching for a way to familiar paths in the organic like shining threads radiating in softly glowing colors. He contemplated his unknown understanding of Sandra's existence and heritage. His own attempts to make sense of the events surrounding him had driven him to spend day after day at the library, researching the myths recorded from stories passed down from ancient times. He thought on them as he had with other problems, ideas, and wonderments while strolling in meditation in the maze of twisting illuminated paths.
He thought he heard Oldman call for him, as he often did when outside occurrences required his attention or he needed to be fed or watered. Pausing, casting about for the direction of the echoing summons, and then moving in that direction, he returned to his ruminations.
His imaginary feet trod the paths; questions formed within him; conclusions were applied and denied, and suppositions inspected for any feeling of truth. Time had no meaning for him here, as he shifted from one path to another as their junction afforded or denied a more direct route toward Oldman's call. He stumbled in his transit down the gleaming paths, suddenly overwhelmed by a simple question. He looked at it, amazed that it had not occurred to him before. Why had he not heard her voice call for him? Why had he not called her?
'Sandraaaaa' The force of his broken, straining, love torn call reverberated among the paths around him, setting them to vibrate violently out in all directions. He heard her gasp in relief and her desperately overjoyed reply.
'Harry!' And then her spontaneous rushing passage to him. An audible sound filled with the crackling hiss of static, accompanied her approach, increasing in volume until she slammed into his mind.
They shared an instantaneous burst of emotion, crushing all else aside as they were at last mated in mind. It was if they were both part of a single flame, burning together; a warming flame, that would endure no matter what happened to their bodies. They explored each other's mind, caressing each thought, feeling, and secret, encapsulated within the heat of their bonded love. They swirled about each other in a non-consuming inferno of consciousness.
'What is this?' Sandra asked, at last becoming aware of their shared venue. The answer came to her as if it were her own knowledge. They were no-where. She was also aware that she was glad it was not no-when. She examined the kernel of closed secrets where he held the information. The way to no-when was held shut as tight as a gnat's ass. No matter how she pried at his unallowed access, he would not permit the knowledge to be divulged. His love gently pressed away her insistent thought. She wondered what other secrets were hidden there. Then, she felt his own thought as he touched her kernel of secrets.
He caressed it, sliding his being over it in gossamer waves of gasp producing mental thrills of sensual screaming sensation. Her mind orgasmed. A bright ecstatic flash of overpowering purple light filled her existence; it glowed deeply then faded slowly until she was once more able to sense her surroundings through the veil of her afterglow. Her mind heaved with her release. It was evident that he still had lessons to be taught her, lessons that she strived to duplicate as she let her own thoughts flow to his secret spot and slide over it.
He tensed momentarily in apprehensive reaction to her earlier assault and then relaxed again as her soothing, seeking touch moved over him like warm water. She was unable to reproduce his touch. A mental 'humph!' of indignant thought was followed by an impish, mischievous, feeling, and the proposal that she would tell him one of her secrets for one of his. He considered it.
'First tell me how you found me.'
'Oldman said...' He interrupted her.
'Oldman! You can hear him? I'm not crazy? Or am I?' He examined the flames of her thought about him with suspicion.
'Do you not feel me around you as I feel you Harry? Can you not believe the joining of our souls?' Harry saw the truth in her words.
'Take me home then,' he thought at Sandra. She led him back, not knowing how, only knowing where. As they moved toward their bodies she told him of her urgent need; it consumed him, becoming his own. They sped away with ever increasing velocity. The sound of static accompanied them.
***
Gerry still sat in the living room of his house in Backwater looking at the spot where Donna had abruptly passed through to their bower. She had left without hanging up the phone, taking the hand set with her. He went to the kitchen and opened a beer, returning to the living room to examine the dangling end of the phone cord with libation and contemplation. He took another slow sip then set after her curiously.
***
They were back. Harry locked the door in his mind, resolving to never leave it ajar again.
--Hey buddy, Oldman thought. ...You will not believe this, look at Donna. Harry's eyes moved to Donna. Her emotions were clearly visible on her. He could 'see' her surface thoughts, a mixture of things searching for a purchase. Her concern for her sister in her time of need, Oldman's existence, Harry's missing intellect, and how all of this affected her personally. Then there was something else that was quickly shut away as he and Sandra began to inhabit their bodies again. Donna and Sandra began speaking brain to brain so fast that he was not able to comprehend. Instead of becoming calmer at the return of her sister and Harry, she appeared to become more distressed.
--Donna I 'heard 'him. He called to me. I answered. And then, I was with him and we were one. I had no idea; I knew what to expect but there are no words to express it. Donna had experienced it before with Gerry and knew the rapturous joining of the mental bonds of mates well.
--Yes I know the feeling; it will grow as your love does. As it becomes stronger you will always know where he is. Tell me, where was he? How did he get there? How did you bring him back? Sandra became silent; her thoughts shut to Donna's and answered only, that he was no-where. Donna's mental startlement revealed some knowledge withheld. Seeking to end the questioning, Sandra wiggled on Harrys lap. Harry's start of recognition of his and Sandra's condition brought in turn Donna's shocked realization. Then, her scrutiny of Sandra's colored face and wings had her running to the center of the room and vanishing.
--What the hell? Harry thought, as she disappeared.
***
Donna left, passing through to Sandra's bower, leaving the three of them alone. Flying out the hanging vines covering the entrance, she collided with Gerry. Their mated minds briefly exchanged information in an instant, as she rebounded from him and sped away down the corridor.
Gerry watched her fly away, scattering the lights of the lesser Fay in her hasty passage. He wondered why she was going to see her mother in such haste when she should be celebrating her sisters mating. He considered the speeding Donna with one sip of his rapidly dwindling beer, one inquisitive arched eyebrow, and one unanswered question. What's Donna latest drama?
He turned to the staff leaning against the wall of greenery, then took it up and knocked three times on the stone floor. The sound, amplified by the free striking staff, echoed along the corridor. He consoled himself with the thought that there would be beer where-ever Harry and Sandra were.
***
Harry's head was in the refrigerator when the three barking knocks sounded. He straightened, peering about out of the corners of his eyes, then out the kitchen.
--Answer the door Harry, Oldman said patiently. Harry walked into the living room and opened the door. Sandra's frisky, diverted giggle joined with Oldman's delighted laughter for the trip across the room.
"Hello?" He ventured to the empty stairs. Gerry appeared by him. Harry looked at him numbly.
--This is going to take some getting used to. Oldman uttered lowly. Gerry paused in his beginning clasp of Harry's shoulder.
"Who is that?" Sandra's spontaneous intermittent snickering was the background of the lengthy explanation around the table with beer and coffee. Gerry held his thoughts close to him as he had at the first sound of Oldman's thought. His bright blue wings waving normally, his piercing blue eyes focused on Harry's as the story of Oldman was told with many asides.
"Now we really need to go, Gerry." Sandra said, and moved to hold him in a tight hug. She sent Gerry their repeatedly delayed agenda, and he, his congratulations.
"Don't drink all the beer." Harry said jokingly as he picked up a bag and moved before Sandra to the stairs, thankful that he had stocked beer and the last bottle of the good red wine in their bag.
"I'm just down the hall if you run out," Gerry replied easily. Oldman and Sandra laughed in Harry's mind at its puzzled, and then surprised awareness of the meaning of Gerry thought was made clear. Harry ached with the desire to see their alternate home.
***
Gerry watched them drive away out of the kitchen window. Their departure proceeded by the loud rumble from the garage below that quickly became the big-wheeled truck with Sandra at the helm.
--Happy mating, he sent after them. He remembered his own heated consummation by the side of a lake that slowly drained down a series of cascading falls feeding a gentle stream. There was some good fishing there too. He sipped at his beer for a moment in remembrance then turned to find Donna again.
***
Donna sped down the passage, calling as she neared her mother's room. She was met outside the verdant hanging vines that covered the entrance of her parents abode. Her mother wore her aura wings down, covering her like a gown of brilliant white shot through with threads of platinum pulsing with random flashes of vibrant light. A matching shawl of energy flared from her head of silver hair. Donna poured the details of Sandra's experience into her mother's shocked thoughts. Margay, Queen of Fay on earth, pricked her ears forward with rapt attention, her raiment glowing brighter as the story progressed.
***
The trip to the cove was swift. Sandra drove feeling as if she had two pairs of eyes, her's and Harry's. As they moved down country roads leaving town to the nearby spot on the river, she instructed them in their tasks. Harry opened the gate. Sandra drove through it and stopped. She flew from the truck toward the nest at the side of the cove. A red gold blur, comet like and fading into ultra-violet, marked her speedy passage.
Harry traveled along in her mind, leaving Oldman to shut the gate and follow with his body and the truck. He was overwhelmed with the feeling of flight; he wished he could fly. Sandra's elfin laughter accompanied new knowledge. He sighed in mental frustration at all that was unknown.
She flitted about the foliage and trees surrounding the cove, surveying them from the tops of the trees to the base of their roots. Her beautiful wings were gliding now over the still waters of the cove like a thistle puff in a slightly wafting breeze.
Oldman parked the truck, gathered driftwood, and started a small cheery fire burning, then, laying stores nearby for later. Candles were placed around the shallow nest on flat stones, unlit in the strong afternoon light. A quilt beside the nest shared its spot with the bag and Harry's clothing, shed by Oldman; he entered the water to float on his back at Harry's command to watch as Sandra spiraled higher over the cove, absorbing the rays from the sun.
She looked like a brightly burning star hovering there for a moment and appeared to be drawing the sun's rays. Then, with wings folded tightly against her body, she plunged. Striking the water like an arrow she descended to the bottom of the pool. Oldman rolled over to observe Sandra as she changed into a water dwelling creature.
Harry felt the transformation, so strange but so natural, as her gills drew in oxygen. Her fins and tail drove them to the bottom; turning about the pool, she looked about.
Harry returned his thoughts to his body, floating now on its belly, face turned down to see the depths below. He greeted Oldman with new insight.
--I'm glad you are real. He thought with genuine sincerity.
--Thanks, Harry. Can you feel it, the energy in this place? Harry looked out the door to the shining paths and found them much changed. Sandra called to him.
--It's time. Come to me Harry. Change as I did.
He swam down to her, copying her transformation with the same feeling she had used. He saw his form in her eyes as he saw hers in his. The double image was overlaid in his mind. Her golden body was freckled with red scales; gold spines of fins and tail were joined by opaque red membrane. She moved in the now crystalline clear water of his piscine vision toward his red descending form with its own scattered golden scales.
He took his first gulp of air with his gills; the unexpected ease was as natural as breathing. He wondered what it would be like to swim about the paths of no-where. What would it be like to be independent of traveling along the twisting shining trails by imaginary foot? She pulled at him, bringing him back with a cautioning thought and impatient need.
He turned to her. Her scent filled the water around them; it drove him shivering along her length with his flank in ecstatic need at the knowledge of the impending release of her eggs. Oldman was silent but held tightly to both their minds as they danced around the cove in fishy foreplay.
They swam above and around and under each other. She pressed her body and mind against him as they circled the cove. She leading, he following, they patrolled across the graveled bottom. They swam among jumbled fallen rocks under the bluff and the shallow entrance to the river. Several large fish left the pool hurriedly as they made their circuits of the cove. She would be ravenous after she deposited her eggs and left them with Harry while she fed.
They moved into shallower waters, passing to and fro of the dimple of water connecting the nest to the cove. The sun dipped. The shadows lengthened across the waters calm surface, as they slid around and against each other. Their shivering forms passionate touch seemed tortured and painful.
She flipped into the nest and rose from it as Sandra, stepping on the gravel, lighting a candle in the fire then the others scattered about. He entered the nest, making several testing turns until he too, rose clumsily in his transformation as Harry. They ate from the bag and drank beer as the sky dimmed.
Darkness fell slowly and curtain like in an unhurried close of the first act. Spots of light appeared in the foliage surrounding the cove, flickering or blinking in the variegated shadows there. The red nimble light from the fire played across Sandra's bright body in an ever-changing dance of rippling illumination and shadow.
Her eyes, twin points of pale sapphire, focused across the river where new glowing balls of light began to form; they grew from small centers, increasing in magnitude to shine like stars in the dark sky of the far bank. Neon pink, bright blue, then blindingly bright white light, were followed by one of red, gold, and purple; it's surface swirled with cloud like patches of the different colors. It was joined by the blue one; they came together closely as if in deep conversation. Then a constellation of others were born around them.
Harry began to think at her, despite his inclination to stare vapidly across the river in gaping wonder. Sandra shushed him softly with her mind; standing, she called for the wine in the bag. He bent, uncorked, and brought it to her. She coached him silently in his actions. He formed a cup of his hands, holding them before her; she filled them from the bottle.
A small glowing form of lavender raced to her side, taking the bottle, and then floating beside her in attendance. She performed obeisance to those across the river and drained her mate's cup. Refilling his cupped hands she again repeated the act, filling her mouth then turning to Harry. He drank the wine from her lips, its piquancy now full of undercurrents of tantalizing unknown flavors. The aroma of it was heady as their vapors filled his senses. He swallowed, then kissed her unbidden, feverishly.
Singing ethereal voices from the gathering of Fay followed them as she led him back to their nest. They changed once more, swimming around each other trembling, quivering, and shuddering as the moment neared.
--I love you Sandra, you too Harry, Oldman whispered in their minds; his was filled with the thundering buildup of energy that was gathering.
--We love you too Oldman, Sandra whispered back.
--Yes, thought Harry, unable to impart more because of the electric fire that was playing over his body from Sandra's aura-wing-like fins. Then she gasped, screaming out her release in their shared minds. Thousands of glowing, golden eggs began spilling from her body, filling the bottom of the nest with their light and substance. Harry reeled with the force of her emotion, then his need. His milt began to flow from him in opalescent streams of shimmering pearl white fluid. He and Oldman cried a duet of ecstatic joy and endorphic emotions.
They were a thrice burning flame now, joined forever by the shared fulfillment that every living thing is driven to achieve. Sandra probed Oldman's kernel of secrets. His tickled, laughtered, thought sent her in pursuit of his fleeing sensitive kernel. Their net of silent merriment, playful threats and impish warning calls, ensnared Harry's warm thoughts, leaving them thrashing in the mesh they wove about him.
Their minds were in close enfolding acceptance; they felt their brood coming quickly to life under them. Tiny sparks of living thought were being born as they fanned slowly above their quickening spawn. Harry cried, warm salty tears of joy, as his children acknowledged their parents. He needed to talk to his mom, and if he needed to talk to her then she must need to also. Sandra's nervous laughter, and Oldman's knowing laugh as he replied to Harry thought, surprised him.
--Saw that one coming. He would have raised his eyebrows if he had been in human form. It seemed the fish reaction was a number of quick bubbles that floated upward slowly. Harry eased out of the nest, carefully avoiding the growing intelligence in it, and into the lagoon. Oldman and Sandra's soft mental caress joined his ...their children. A small spark came out of the nest with Harry, rising with him as he stepped from the water in his human form.
--Hello 'Quick One.' Harry said, bowing to this first born, then progressing to the quilt for a sandwich and his last beer. ...I greet you. Harry motioned with the beer as the small red globe hovered near him, probing about with its mind, exploring its new world. Sandra's cooing thoughts reached to it from the water.
Harry watched the Quick One dart about, sometimes over its Mother, sometimes near the river to study the four original lights now gathered together, pulsing randomly in an animated appearance, but always returning to the foliage; it raced among the sleepy lights there that brightened with each buzzing passage. When Harry tossed chunks of wood in the fire it danced in the sparks then returned to nurse from the energy surrounding Sandra.
Harry turned his thoughts back to his mom.
--Go, go see her. Sandra's gentle pushing nudge of thought came to him. ...I'm safe. I'm here with my family she assured him.
--I'll stay, volunteered Oldman. Harry and Sandra's minds went still at this. Sandra glided out of the nest and into the cove, standing swiftly and moving to the quilt with Harry. Quick One came fast behind her. She held Harry as his heart beat rapidly with the unwelcoming idea of not having Oldman near him. Then the Quick One perched on his shoulder. it's tiny aura crackled in his hair and beard as it nuzzled against him. Its tiny mind held on to his.
"Can you do this?" He said aloud to Oldman, his eyes locked with Sandra's as her mind blankly assimilated this extraordinary thought.
--It's up to Sandra. Oldman replied. Sandra reasoned that they were already joined. How could it be so different? She gulped and nodded. Harry took a deep breath and repeated her actions, holding ever tighter to her with mind and body. The sensation was odd in their joined minds. Oldman slowly moved into Sandra's mind as he withdrew from Harry.
--There's not as much room in here; Oldman jestingly began, and then gave a reverent stricken. ...by the great Creator! The thought was followed by silence. Sandra and Oldman became locked in near total communication as her kernel of secrets flashed with answers to Oldman's questions. Questions that Harry had not thought to ask yet. He dressed for the drive home.
Harry left them, accompanied by the Quick One who was now holding to Harry shirt, not even leaving to dance in the sparks of the fire when it was refueled. He drove from the gravel bar with his mates' gentle assurances and confident knowledge of their safety; but, they must be back before dawn.
"Come on Quick," he said aloud to his passenger, "Let's go see Grandma." Harry gave a start as the "G" was reproduced in a tiny tinkling tone almost unheard. Harry drove across the pasture, among the sleeping cattle, toward the bright blue light across the field. Gerry was standing by the open gate when he got there. He leaned in the window as Harry pulled out of the gate and stopped.
"Got room for one more?" He asked, waving a finger playfully at Quick, who moved shyly into Harry's beard, then sent inspecting thoughts out at Gerry, after polling Harry's mind and finding it relaxed in this new presence. Harry grinned at his new brother in mate.
"Jump in Gerry, we're going to the house to pick up supplies and check on mom." Gerry locked the gate then climbed in.
"I've got a business proposal for you Harry." He began, with a greeting clasp of Harry's shoulder. Harry listened and nodded, asking varied questions as Gerry spoke rapidly with occasional punctuating pressure of his hand. Quick moved closer, its inspection of Gerry remained rapt.
They entered the driveway and ascended to the house. With Max's first booming bark, Quick began moving about the cab. Harry's first reaction was one of abject fear as Quick flew out the window, zooming over the big dog's head, then leading him on a chase around the truck and across the yard.
Harry bolted from the truck, calling Quick then Max desperately. His racing footsteps slowed, then stopped, as Gerry's amused laughter at their antics registered in his mind. Five minutes later Max was laying by his water dish, lapping in defeat and Quick was once again nestled in Harry's beard.
Maddie was in the kitchen making a snack during a commercial. Harry managed to make introductions then was excluded from the conversation as Maddie and Gerry became instantly fast friends.
He moved to the coffeepot while they talked, filling a mug and micro waving it. Quick was pressed to the glass and seemed to be seeing the raw energy within. It reproduced the 'ding' when the timer ran out. Harry made sandwiches and sweet tea jars while keeping an eye on Quick and an ear listening to Gerry and Maddie's wandering conversation.
He ran to the bedroom for a bag, digging one out of the closet while Quick played in the red light of the clock radio; they returned to the kitchen to pack.
Harry helped himself to pie, and then sat with Maddie, paying little attention to the exchange of words beside him. Quick was burrowed deep in his beard near his chin. He sipped his coffee, reaching out to Oldman and Sandra's minds. They were still talking. Donna had joined them. He looked and found Gerry's eye upon him, his voice rattling away in rebuttal or approval of one of Maddie's comments.
--It's about time you looked over here, Gerry thought seriously. Harry caused fish bubbles to rise slowly in his mind.
--Have you been practicing that long? Gerry's thought came. A jovial wrinkle twinkled at the corners of his eyes and then was still.
--Just learned it tonight, Harry thought back, then continued. ...The two lights with you and Donna, are they her parents? Gerry's thoughts gave no forthcoming indication to the answer. Harry stopped, waiting for the reply that would confirm his conclusions. Gerry's thoughts were empty of everything but its delight in his animated conversation with Maddie, but he did nod as if in agreement to one of her statements.
--You'll meet them soon enough. These last few hours have been full ones for you. Enjoy your mate and children. Tomorrow will be a full day for you ...Brother.
Maddie rose, still talking. She and Gerry cleared the dishes. She kissed Harry, whispering in his ear.
"I like your new friend. Tell Sandra I said hello." Then she moved off to her bedroom.
"Night mom." Harry answered and left, turning off lights and heading for the truck.
They returned to the cove. Gerry opened and closed the gate behind Harry's sedately moving truck. Quick was near him, observing, until Gerry flew ahead. Quick followed, a bright red spark, darting among the sleeping cattle for a curious moment, then speeding after Gerry.
Harry followed them down to the river and parked near the quilt. Then, removing cooler and bag set them easily in reach. He paused for a fast glance around the spot that had become so comfortable.
Gerry and Donna were floating back across the river; their bright blue and neon pink glow was followed by Quick's red one as far as the end of the gravel bar where it halted, observing for a short time. Sandra's coaxing call brought it back to the nest.
--You too Harry, come to bed. He sent a smile to her thoughts and stripped from his clothing and stepped into the cove. Yawning, he dived into the pool to make a leisurely pass around it, surprised at the number of their progeny that were moving among the rocks near the bluff. Sandra called again and he moved into the nest beside her, his heart heavy with the instinctive knowledge that, with the rising of the sun, the nest would empty as their spawn moved into the water or air to begin the second phase of their life. They floated calmly under the full moon.
Sandra's mind reached to him, caressing his thoughts lovingly, tenderly, softly soothing his melancholy mood. Harry sighed, deeply and pensive. Bubbles aimlessly escaped from him, floating straight up in a long unending stream, drifting in ponderous reflection.
--See? I told you, Oldman began. Harry turned his long suffering thoughts to him.
--I am who I am Oldman, just as you are you and we are we. He pulled their thoughts close, looking into their mind's eyes, huddled together as if in a brow meeting gaze. ...Do you see our children leaving the nest, joining those in the bushes or those in the bottom of the pool? Do you feel my shocked brain striving to encompass all the information imparted recently? Do you feel my relief and trepidation, love and broken heartedness, joy and sorrow?
It was too much for Sandra. She leapt from the nest to flop for a moment on the quilt; then, transformed into a sobbing Sandra. Quick moved to the fire near her, resting on a log just out of the direct flame as if to warm itself there.
Harry swam out into the cove, letting his mind touch the few left in the nest and the gathered multitude on the bottom of the pool and in the thickets nearby.
He swam out of the river connection and into its gently pushing stream. His gills gasped at a bitter taste; moving into fresher water beside a pile of debris, he nosed about the broken bottom, finding an old discarded battery tossed uncaringly there.
Harry began pushing it closer to the riverbank, driving hard with tail and fins, abrading his nose with the force of his efforts. A large blue turtle and a grey and silver speckled fish joined him, shoving the battery into the shallows. The two rose in their Fay form, streaming water. Gerry, Harry, and Billy heaved it from the water and on to the bank.
"Bob and I will come by with the boat to pick that up tomorrow and carry it away. You have our congratulations and heartfelt good wishes on your mating."
Billy had doubly surprised him, his identity as Fay, and his use of more words than he had ever spoken in Harry's memory. He had the feeling that he would have bowed to him if not restrained by Gerry's habitually clasping hand. Harry cupped water from the river, performing obeisance to them both.
"Thank you for helping. My children will swim in sweeter water now." They changed and swam away. He could feel their thoughts near the debris for a moment as the claws of the blue turtle dug about it, looking for more danger. Then they moved away, one up and one down river.
Harry walked across the gravel bar to the fire. Sandra had cried herself near sleep. He covered her with the quilt from his bag then started coffee water boiling on the fire; bacon broiled on sticks and eggs poached in their shells near the coals of the fire. He crawled under the quilt with her then, holding her close for a period of time then taking her tenderly. She rolled on his chest and took him fiercely. Their bittersweet release left them drowsing lightly in dreaming, love kissed conversations and pressing closeness.
Oldman moved freely between them at will, as comfortable in one mind as in the other. Harry needed to study this phenomenon closer. Oldman's unique ability was most likely only the tip of the iceberg of unusual talents that he possessed. He put aside his avid interest and turned instead to Sandra's mirrored mood, over shadowed by the intoxicating love covering them and their children like a blanket.
--Why did you pick me Sandra? Silvery laughter played through his mind, followed by Oldman's irreverent.
--I've wondered that myself.
--Hush Oldman. Sandra thought tenderly. ...I didn't really pick you Harry. You picked me. I was your garden fairy for a time. Your hurt, your yearning brought me to where you labored among the vegetables and the koi pond. You transformed me by the fire that raged through your soul that was ignited by your loss, burning unchecked through your mind, reducing it to a crumbling shell where you huddled trying to find shelter from the hostile reality of the world and your life. I moved through the ashes of that fire, singing you a song of hope, a song of healing. I labored beside you unseen. Our tears watered the garden rows together.
--Donna saw my heartbreak. We sat on the garden fence many times together feeling your hurt, watching it as it burned in you. She saw my intent clearly and tried to get me away from you but I would not leave. She ran to Mother, telling her what I was planning to do to try to save you from your damaged existence. Sandra came to a halt as Harry examined her memories of that time.
And then Harry saw it also, the clear image of what she would have sacrificed for him. She would become human in all forms except for her memory. The reality of what would have happened to her, the loss of her beautiful aura wings, the gift of transformation, and the ability to converse mind to mind shocked him; the painful way that it would be accomplished, by a thin needle of cold iron inserted into the aura organ between her shoulders, shorting it out forever, was an abomination. Wonder, pain, love, and horror filled him at the thought that she would have endured that. He would never have allowed it if he had known. But, the reality was that she was undamaged and they were together.
He rolled from under her, turning the bacon and eggs, then tossing a measure of coffee grounds into the gently boiling water and inhaling the fragrant aroma that issued from it.
"How terrible that would have been, Sandra." He said at last, bowing his head at the painful thought. She drew near him, hands around his waist, kisses covering the small of his back.
--It was not long after that Father leaned on the fence beside me while we discussed my alternatives. He could have refused, leaving you and I separated and spending the rest of our days in misery. You would lead what was left of your life then die, leaving me to live out mine sharing your pain that I did not relieve, but not your empty life.
--I could give up my long life to be with you. We would be happy together and die in time normally. He vetoed this alternative also, not being able to endure the pain that would be inflicted on me by the operation that would make me a cripple among my people.
--Father proposed a third alternative. You would be given the choice to replace your hurt with my love. Father would lose the full Fay offspring that I would produce but gain Halfling grandchildren. And you will enter his service, bound to his command forever, a command that may bring you little joy in the long years to come. I could have refused, Sandra thought, pausing, miserable that there had ever been a choice. ...but then both of our hearts would have been broken forever.
--I could not see that happen to you. I began working at the Oasis the next week, the same day that you decided to visit there in an attempt to end your hermit like existence. The choice is still yours. I will endure what must be. Our lives will be spent together no matter that choice. She became silent in her mind then, tears glistened in her eyes as she waited for him to reply.
He turned the eggs and bacon one last time and filled the mugs, passing her one and sweetening the other. There was no choice really. He would accept her Fathers terms, gladly accepting what seemed a meager payment for the invaluable gift of her affections. Turning back to her and diving in the pale pools that were her eyes that calmly, acceptingly, regarded him as she gnawed and supped at his hip. He wondered what his new job description was going to be.
Oldman thought this was hilarious and made several lewd suggestions. Sandra had a few of her own. Harry fed her bacon, bemusedly thinking that her full mouth would not silence her now. He endured their playful jabs, eating as he watched the sky lighten to the east.
***
The sky turned slowly, flushing pink, then red, as the sun swelled above the horizon, shining through the trees. Harry stood, Sandra beside him, as the glowing forms on the far side of the river began to sing again; the light aria from the night before was replaced by rich full sounds, encompassing all audible ranges and some unheard. The trees, water, and ground vibrated from tones often so low that they were felt, not heard. Harry fell to his knees. Sandra crushed down beside him on the gravel, holding him closely as she added her sweet voice to the symphonic resonance of the gathering. Tears ran down Harry's face, torn from him by the sounds that were as much emotions, ringing in his soul, as they were music of joy and celebration, ringing in his ears. His wavering voice joined the others.
The air born children began to gather over the center of the pool, swirling together in a mass of rainbow hued lights. The water born ones came near the surface; the continued vibration of the water caused them to glimmer beneath the heavily dimpled tiny waves on the cove. The pool looked like rain was falling on it. The young began to rise above the surface of the water in ones and twos like hatching insects; small random streams of young joined the swarm milling above. Quick's bright red spark was in the center, shining ever brighter with the ascending sun.
Sandra watched Harry; his face upturned, wet eyes intent on the kaleidoscopic dance before him, singing in strained ardent voice and wordless accompaniment, he watched as the children gathered. Joy and wonder resonated in her mind. Oldman, though voiceless, added his own singing thoughts. She could not tell whose mind he was in now, perhaps both. All she knew was that his presence was warm and comforting.
The children were streaming from the water, gathering now as the sun began to hurl its light through the Cottonwoods, causing the glowing children to shine brighter. The song was building to a crescendo. The mass of tiny lives began turning in a cyclonic movement, spinning in ever-increasing tempo. The sound was beginning to be unbearable; the buildup of the charge of energy had him gasping for air, unable to continue his vocalization.
Pressure built in Harry's loins. He looked to Sandra. She too was having trouble breathing. He became engorged. Sandra pushed him down and crawled on his lap, assuming her habitual position in response to emotionally charged issues.
The hasty union was as smooth and swift, as if two pieces of some device had been fitted together. Their shared physical and mental connections were surrounded by Sandra's wings, brilliant in the increasing bands of blinding light streaming through the trees. Her wings seemed to crackle with energy that was unheard in the single building chord of sensation. The agony ended with the beginning of their mutual gasp of release.
Oldman screamed a wordless cry in their joined minds and discharged the first pulse of energy. It was the trigger that ignited the detonation of the unbearable tension. A pulse of light, energy, and mental force burst from Sandra and passed over him, bringing his own physical and mental release. The three blasts of energy expanded.
The release was visible. The flashing sensation of sight experienced on Harry's last trip to the cove returned, revealing the three expanding walls of light and energy; a slow motion ripple that moved outward from them, raising shock waved arcs across the water and the inferno of spinning light over it. When it struck the fiercely rotating cloud of streaming color, the tightly packed mass of spawn whirled away down river. They reminded Harry of the way the Green Warrior's image had shivered out of the darkness of his mind. He very carefully did not look to see if the Green Man was there in the quiet corner of his mind where he had closeted him. Instead, he held tightly to Sandra in the sudden silence that was punctuated only by their labored breaths.
At last, their increased consumption of oxygen slowed. Harry heaved his body up and forward, staggering under the solid weight of her, propelling them both into the now placid waters. His transformation was swift, coming an instant before he entered the still water.
Driven by the joy of the new ability, Harry swam rapidly to the bottom of the pool then back to the surface as fast as he could. He exploded through the barrier of water and air in a mighty leap of ecstatic bliss. He transformed again into his two-legged form and crashed into the pool in a mighty splash, a mighty painful splash as he belly flopped. Sandra's head emerged beside him as he tread water.
Her laughter stung his ears as he tried to stay afloat and hold his aching balls at the same time. He reached out to duck her but she was too quick. Harry pursued her but was unable to catch her. They played over and around each other like children till exhausted, then returned to the now smoldering fire; its smoke rose straight up in the breezeless air. Oldman kept sentry as Harry and Sandra wrapped up in the quilts and fell quietly into sleep.