Pairing the Partridge

by Zenina Masters

  Zee looked to Teal. “What was that?”

  The guardian laughed. “It seems that your body has reset itself. You are a fey reacting to the touch of a shifter.”

  She gripped Axl’s hand tighter. “Okay. Knowing that makes this easier.”

  She watched Axl for any signs of discomfort or arousal, but there were none. Well, there were none that weren’t there before. He had a distinct gleam in his eyes that she was a little nervous about.

  With her hand in his, he led her on a slow tour of the Crossroads, starting at the general store where she put on a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt.

  He chuckled. “I wouldn’t have thought you would be up for jeans.”

  She shrugged. “I have been around for a while. They are comfortable for weekends.” She paused. “Wait, what have I missed in the last fifteen years?”

  They were standing outside the store, and he smiled. “Let’s go for a walk, and I will explain what I can.”

  Zee blinked. “Has technology expanded a lot? I used to manage investments for some retirement funds. I need to check on them.”

  “I can go to my room and get my laptop.”

  She perked up. “Does it work here?”

  “It does.”

  “Let’s go get it.” She was eager to see a piece of technology again. She had really missed that aspect. Funny, she hadn’t even thought about it while she was a tree.

  He blinked. “We could look at it afterward.”

  She growled at him. “Now.”

  He sighed. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  He took her hand again, and they walked back to the row of bed and breakfasts and to the wide Victorian home with the blue woman standing in the doorway. “Axl, did you forget something?”

  Axl nodded. “I forgot that she has been out of touch for a while. She needs my laptop.”

  The woman smiled. “In that case, please come in. The study is at your disposal. I am Teebie, by the way.”

  Zee pressed her hand to her chest and bowed. “Zekila.”

  Teebie blinked. “The tree?”

  “Yes.”

  “It is an honour to meet you, at last, Zekila.” Teebie smiled and bowed.

  Axl looked between them and nodded. “Back in a minute.”

  Teebie smiled and led the way inside the house. A table was filled with noisy and chattering singles and couples. A few of the men stared as they passed the doorway.

  Zee settled in the study, and Teebie brought her some tea. Apparently, having a tree wandering around in an elf suit was just as normal as having an elf transformed into a tree.

  When Axl returned, Zee waited eagerly for the computer, and she was astonished at the speed of it. “Oh, I really want one of these.”

  Axl grinned. “You seem pretty good at navigating technology for an elf.”

  She snickered. “I had a problem with people, so I focused on tech. Whew, it looks like my company is still up and running.” She examined the data and chuckled. “And it is still very well thought of. So that is good.”

  “Bird in the Hand Investments? That is your company?” Axl appeared stunned.

  “It is. It is a conservative investing company. We hold and grow money; we don’t scatter it.” She chuckled. “Keeping track of humans’ retirement money was important. With age came insecurity, and we wanted to remove some of that stress. The company has been successfully operating since the fifties.”

  “I know. My mother worked for your company while she was raising me.”

  Zee paused. “Damn. I guess I am a bit older than you.”

  He chuckled. “You look youthful for a cougar.”

  She frowned. “What’s a cougar?”

  Axl sighed. “It’s... wait a minute.”

  She cackled. “It has only been fifteen years, Axl. I wasn’t that ancient when I went into my bark.”

  He groaned. “So, I am going to have to deal with my preconceptions of ancient elves. Got it.”

  “How many of us have you met?”

  “In person? You would be my first.”

  She snorted, deleted her browser histories, and closed his laptop. “Thanks. I have to say the Wi-Fi here is amazing.”

  Axl grinned. “I haven’t had a chance to check anything in a few days. I have been busy.”

  She smiled and felt her mouth wobble a little. “You have been enjoying social life?”

  “Trying to. The women are always appreciative until they learn I can’t complete a shift. After that, things go downhill quickly.”

  Zee frowned. “Well, I would like to see more of this place, and I already know about your issues with a full shift. So, what do you want to do?”

  He sighed and set his computer aside. “Oh, that is a loaded question, but for now, I want to continue the tour and then show you the things that I see when I fly around the Crossroads. This place has expanded far beyond what it was even a decade ago. I think you would enjoy seeing it.”

  She smiled and thought about all that lost time. “I believe that it would be an excellent way to start.”

  He got to his feet, and Teebie appeared in the doorway. She grinned. “I will put that in your room, Axl. Have a lovely day. Would you like a picnic prepared for later?”

  Axl looked at Zee and nodded. “Please. That would be great.”

  “Good. I will have it brought to the pear tree for noon. Enjoy your morning.” Teebie took the computer and walked out with it.

  Zee smiled. “I think I will. Where do we go first?”

  He bowed. “Let’s just see where the morning takes us.”

  He offered her his arm, and she slid her hand into the crook of his elbow. They left the building and walked into the morning. She asked him countless questions about modern advances as they passed all of the innovations. They even went bowling for an hour.

  Zee was giggling when they left, and he was shaking his head.

  “How did you do that?”

  She shrugged. “I have really steady hands.”

  He sighed, and they continued their walk down the boardwalk where other couples were strolling.

  They walked past a man on his own, and he paused and turned to follow them. “Ma’am, you might want to know that he can’t finish a shift.”

  Zee paused and slowly turned to the man with a deliberately torturous smile. “I like a man who knows when it is time for something and when to wait. The way you just shot your mouth off, I am guessing that you are a men-first kind of guy. Too bad, all that pretty body wasted with that mouth.”

  She cuddled up to Axl, and they took a few steps. She was ready to defend them, but she didn’t need to. Axl eased her to one side, turned, and struck upward with a lightning-quick motion.

  The man with brown hair and golden good looks fell back with a thud. Axl flexed his hand and returned back to her. “Shall we?”

  “Do we need to tell someone?”

  He shook his head. “No need. Tony is on the way.”

  Zee saw the raven guardian of the Crossroads as he sighed, picked the man up, and walked with him to the first aid station. He looked at them and nodded. “Morning.”

  She blinked. “That’s it?”

  “They see it all; they know it all. They have been here since this place started. Nothing phases them anymore.” Axl chuckled and flexed his hand.

  She grabbed his hand and brought it to her lips, licking at the redness and swelling.

  Axl was shocked as she completed the healing that ran on her mother’s side of the family. She lifted her head and smiled. “There, does it still sting?”

  He looked at it, and she snorted when he jumped a little at the lack of injury. “What did you do?”

  “Brownie magic. My mother comes from a long line of healers. She taught me how to do that when I was little. We save it for friends and family for obvious reasons.” She smiled. “Tonguing strangers was not really something encouraged in my household.”

  A
xl smiled and tilted his head. “So, I am not a stranger?”

  “No, you are a friend I just got around to talking to.”

  He grinned. “I like that.”

  They poked their noses in the Crossed Star and watched the couples who were looking for a place to sit and chat in semi-privacy. Zee smiled and shook her head. “I think I need a bit more fresh air.”

  They walked out of the Crossed Star and headed for the shifter’s meadow. The cabanas for privacy during the shift were open and ready to protect the dignity of shy shifters.

  She looked over at her tree, and she stumbled to a halt. “That isn’t possible.”

  Axl smiled. “It got bigger.”

  “Yeah, but it isn’t supposed to be that big. Ever. I have never heard of a hundred-foot tall pear tree.” She walked toward it slowly. It took a long time to get to the tree that had literally been part of her.

  She let go of Axl when they were close and wrapped her arms around the wide trunk of her tree. The feeling of belonging was intense. It knew her as she knew it. There was love between them and a deep understanding.

  Zee lifted her head and chuckled. “Oh, now I get it.”

  Axl was waiting nearby, and when she turned, he stretched out his wings and flew up into the branches. He settled on a limb and lay back. “It is very comfortable up here. You should join me.”

  She smiled and climbed her own tree with ease. It made steps for her to climb. Zee made it to his branch, and she straddled it, looking around inside the canopy. “It is really nice up here.”

  He nodded. “The view is spectacular.” He was staring at her.

  She smiled. “Flattering.”

  “Truth. You are lovely and smart and patient and kind. That is a kind of beauty that cannot be faked.”

  “I don’t fake things. It is too stressful.” She smiled. “Thank you for the compliment.”

  “It is the truth. I don’t think this tree would take kindly to subterfuge. It feels like a straight-forward kind of tree.”

  She patted the bark. “Of course, it is. It’s still me, after all.”

  He frowned. “Is it? I thought you were separate entities.”

  “No. This is the power that was out of scope for a normal elf.” She smiled. “When my parents had me, they had the best of both of their families, and far too much to be contained by a single body.”

  “But you did contain it.”

  “Sure, but it nearly broke me. I couldn’t touch anyone aside from my parents, couldn’t even bump into anyone. I started my company to keep me busy, but it wasn’t necessary for anything but keeping me focused and stopping me from entering the woods of Underhill and remaining there.”

  “What would have happened then?”

  “I would have absorbed into the woods, my energy would have scattered, and hopefully, aspects of it would have translated to the next generation.”

  Axl looked upset, and his form shivered. “Wait, you would have dissolved?”

  “Shattered. What is going on?”

  He shivered and stared at her. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter Five

  Zee moved toward him, but he shrank rapidly into a small bird, shivering on the branch. “Oh, you said it, but I still wasn’t thinking that you would be a partridge.”

  She picked him up and cuddled him against her, moving back to lean on the thick trunk. “Hey, Axl. Just relax. You will be back to yourself in no time.”

  He made a soft sound and burrowed against her. With his small body pressed to hers, she started singing Christmas carols. There was one that she had at the forefront of her thoughts as she slowly stroked the soft feathers of his back.

  She cuddled him as a swirl of magic at the base of the tree exposed the picnic basket and blanket left in its wake. “It seems that lunch is here.”

  She looked at the bundle of bird in her hands and the long descent to the ground. “Right. Nothing else for it then.”

  She lifted the edge of her t-shirt and shoved him up the shirt, tucking it in under him before she descended with the help of the tree.

  Once on the ground, she retrieved her passenger and looked at him. “Are you okay?”

  He shivered again and started to get heavy. She held him out at arm’s length and found herself pinned between him and the tree.

  “I am fine. The shift was unexpected.”

  She grinned up at him. “I gathered that. How are you now?”

  He leaned up against her, nuzzling her neck. “What would it take to get me under your shirt again?”

  She turned her head toward him, gripped his head, and kissed him. “You just have to ask nicely at an appropriate time.”

  He leaned into her and kissed her until her thoughts were spinning and the tree shivered. He raised his head with a smile. “Is there a suggested time for that request?”

  She swallowed. She could taste him on her lips. “Uh, no, just when there is an opportunity to act on it, I suppose. I hadn’t really given it a lot of thought.”

  He stroked her cheek. “Have you ever realized that the missing piece of yourself was suddenly standing right in front of you, and all you want is to lose yourself while becoming whole?”

  She smiled shyly. “Nothing like that. I liked your wings the moment I saw them and wished that I could have a set of my own.” She looked him in the eye. “When my energy first expanded outside my own body, I knew that I was going to be alone. Developing the awareness of desire is not something I did anything with, aside from seeing it in others.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “I could cause a sexual response, but I didn’t feel one. I mean... then. Now, I have no idea if that is what is going on.” She drew in a deep breath. “But I am pretty sure I want to find out.”

  Axl grinned. “Really? With me?”

  She huffed and ducked out of his embrace, walking over and taking a seat on the blanket next to the picnic basket. She kicked her shoes off before she knelt and opened the wicker delivery system.

  Axl sighed. “Apologies. The ladies I have been meeting here have been a bit more forward.”

  Zee pulled out a cascade of foods in wrappers that were made of wax and fabric. She chuckled. “That is because you look like a worldly angel. They want to know how soft the wings are.”

  He sat near her and opened some of the packets. “Wow. She is trying to stuff us so we don’t move.”

  Zee looked at him and chuckled. “The djinn have notoriously large appetites. They just feed everyone like they wish to be fed as a guest.”

  “You have met actual djinn before?” He seemed surprised.

  “Of course. They attend the fey court as ambassadors, and as my mother is a brownie princess, they frequently were guests in the family home.”

  She set everything out and sat with her hands on her thighs. “You go first. I am still getting used to the idea of food.”

  There was a pause, and then, he took one of the plates and loaded it up with a bit of everything before he smiled and handed it to her. “Here, figure out what you like.”

  The move was surprising, and she laughed. “Thank you. I think that is going to have to be a theme.”

  He served himself, and they both started eating at the same time.

  She paused. “This is Christmas lunch.”

  He laughed. “It is. No matter the religion, Teebie always tries to put the holidays into her meals.”

  “I think it is less a religion and more a time of year. How did you celebrate in your family?” As she said it, she realized that he had people outside of the Crossroads, just as she did.

  “My mother and father would work for weeks to make things fun and festive. Us kids would fight to do our favourite tasks. I liked to hang garlands on the tree.” He looked up with a grin. It wasn’t this tall yesterday; I am amazed that the garland stretched.”

  “She likes being included.”

  He smiled and nodded. “Right. Wh
at did your family do?”

  “Well, when I was a child, my parents and I would stay up making wishes for the new year. We watched the fire and made sure that it didn’t go out, and then, the next morning, we walked out to greet the sun and thank it for rising.”

  “What does your family do now?”

  She sighed. “Mother is usually invited to some of the nobles’ homes, and my dad is at court. I stay in my home and simply predict the safest way to grow the money of my clients.”

  Axl scowled. “How long has that gone on?”

  “Fifty years or so.”

  “That is a lonely way to spend the holidays.”

  She shrugged. “It is just another day to me.”

  He smiled. “Well, now it is your birthday.”

  “A birthday on Christmas. I have heard horror stories. Yule would not have been better, though.”

  She nibbled at her meal and asked him, “What plans do you have when you find your mate and leave the Crossroads?”

  He shrugged. “I guess it depends on her. I work in graphic design, so I can work from anywhere.”

  She chuckled. “Nice. Well, I mean nice that you can work wherever you are.”

  “Teebie said it was a little weird that I hauled my tech here with me, but I wasn’t going to be here without my friends to distract me.”

  “Friends?”

  “Drawing tablets, monitors, pens, that kind of things.”

  Zee was startled into laughing. “There is that good a signal here?”

  “It was one of the more recent upgrades to the Crossroads. Being cut off from family was wearing on some of those who had to be here a while. So, it will cut you off at sixteen hours per week but still let you work while you are here.”

  She nodded. “Nice. So, aside from getting your butt kicked while bowling, what do you do for fun around here?”

  “I fly.”

  Zee nodded. “Lucky. I would love to explore more of this place, now that I am stuck here.”

  “What?” His shock was evident. “What do you mean, stuck? Can’t you just go back when you find a mate?”

  She looked toward the pear tree. “I can’t leave her, at least not for long, and her roots go deep into the Crossroads now.”