by Bonnie Lamer
Sighing, I know she’s right. To a point. “I really don’t think it’s that complicated. The Centaurs have something the Sasquatch want. This isn’t a cultural issue. It’s a matter of one race believing they can take something from another.”
“There is more to it than that,” Kallen remarks. “The Sasquatch world is dying. It will not be many more generations before their realm is unable to support them.”
“So that makes it right to try to take over another realm?” I ask.
“In your realm, it is common for one group to take land from another,” Adriel adds helpfully.
I give her a sour look. “That doesn’t make it right.”
“No, it does not,” Kallen says. “But should not those who have plenty help those who have little?”
I’m starting to feel like Scrooge. “Yes, they should. But the Sasquatch want to take over the Centaur realm. They don’t want just a piece of it.”
“Do you know this for certain?” Dad asks.
No. “It’s pretty obvious.”
Isla adds her two cents again. “Xandra, you have met a handful of Sasquatch. You cannot judge an entire culture on the behavior of a few.”
No, I can’t. But I can’t shake the feeling that the Sasquatch I met were a pretty good representation of their realm. Why else would they have been sent as ambassadors? Then again, where I’m from most ambassadors are politicians and they definitely don’t represent humans as a whole. I guess I need to open my mind to the possibility that I’m wrong. “You’re right. I’ll look through the information again tonight, I promise.”
Satisfied, Isla says, “Very well. When will you be leaving?”
“Uncle will be here at eight,” Kallen tells her.
“Are you going the normal way or Xandra’s way?” Kegan asks. He means are we going by existing gateway or one that I tear through the realms.
I’ve only travelled through an existing gateway once. “Definitely my way,” I say, remembering the nausea from that one trip.
“Try to remember you are there to make peace, not enemies,” Adriel says. I would like to think she’s teasing me. She’s not.
“Thanks for reminding me,” I say dryly.
Dinner conversation moves to different topics. Isla tries hard to keep conversation away from her news. The wide grin on Garren’s face is hard to miss, though. He is bursting at the seams with triumph. I can’t blame him. He has been pining for her since he blundered their relationship when they were young.
After dinner, Tabitha lets her feelings be known by slamming dishes around and muttering to herself. Since she can magically wash the dishes, it’s obvious this is to work out her anger. The rest of us avoid the area. It’s much safer in the sitting room where we decide to play cards.
“So, when is the big day?” I ask Isla. Was that a wince?
Having seen this as well, Kallen asks, “Grandmother, are you certain this is what you want?”
“Of course it is,” Garren says gruffly. “It was her idea.”
That’s a surprise. Dealing out the cards, I ask the least tactful thing possible in this conversation. “This morning you were planning to kick him out and now you’re getting married. Did my lie detecting really force you to admit it’s what you want or did you know all along?”
Isla turns sharp eyes to me and I prepare myself to be chastised. The chastisement doesn’t come. Instead, Isla sighs and says, “It is difficult for me to admit when I am wrong. I wanted to continue hating Garren and I felt foolish when I could not despite his idiotic actions in the past.”
“You do realize I am still in the room, correct?” Garren drawls.
“It is a good thing Alita is more forgiving than Grandmother,” Kallen tells Kegan. “Otherwise, your marriage would be brief, indeed.” This must be his way of changing the subject. I don’t believe he wants to think about his grandmother married to Garren.
Taking the teasing in stride, Kegan replies, “At least I am less likely to die at the hands of my wife if I make her angry.”
“Hey!” I exclaim.
Kegan shrugs. “I was warned not to lie.”
Turns out, this lie detecting thing is a double edge sword. I’m not sure I want everyone to be one hundred percent honest around me. “You could simply try keeping your opinions to yourself,” I tell him. He just chuckles.
“Xandra, tell us more about this new power of yours,” Dad says. “It came on suddenly?”
I explain my lie detecting to him. Mom is slightly uncomfortable when I tell her it began when she and Tana were sniping at each other. “So, I’ll probably spend the rest of my life feeling like spiders are making webs on my body,” I conclude.
“Interesting,” Dad says thoughtfully. “I wish I could do some clinical tests. I would love to discover the neurology and physiology behind the magic.” Dad misses being a doctor.
“I’d rather not be a lab rat,” I mutter.
“That is similar to the work I was doing in the Dragon realm,” Garren says. “You could look at my journals if you like.”
Dad’s face breaks out into a wide grin. “That would be great.”
“Can I see how Dragons work, too?” Zac asks. He has been amazingly quiet throughout dinner.
“My notes may be a little over your head right now,” Garren tells him as if he’s two. “Maybe in a few years.”
I watch Zac struggle to keep his comments and his magic to himself. He has less control than I do right now so it’s impressive when he doesn’t say anything. It is Isla who comes to his defense. In a brisk tone, she says, “Zac is advanced for his years, Garren. Do not discount him because of his age.”
It’s Garren’s turn to bite his tongue as his face reddens from the chastisement. Boy, this engagement is going to be interesting to watch. I hope to watch it from afar. Out of magical firing range.
The rest of dinner is consumed with Dad asking questions about the Dragons. Garren, who spent decades studying them, is happy to answer all his questions. I personally have seen enough Dragons to last me a lifetime. I’ll leave the study of them to Dad and Garren.
Ugh. That makes me remember the reading I promised to do tonight. I’m not sure why I’m so resistant to learning more about the Sasquatch. There is just something about them that rubs me the wrong way.
The Centaurs are much more interesting to me. Back home, I was fascinated with mythology. Especially Greek mythology. To discover that so much of what I read is true still blows my mind.
But, as with much of the mythology from my realm, the reality in it is almost completely lost. The Centaurs were described as wild, savage creatures. All except Chiron, the immortal Centaur who taught Achilles and other great heroes. From what I’ve seen in real life, those from the Centaur realm are fierce, but not feral. But, perhaps I am wrong again in judging a culture by the few I met recently. The rest of the Centaurs could be as savage as the myths implied.
I take the information Isla gave me and retreat to the library. I know if I try to study in our room, I will end up focusing more on Kallen than Centaurs and Sasquatch. The material is dry. Sort of like reading a description of a country on the CIA’s World Fact Book on the internet. Nothing but facts. Boring, boring facts.
That is, until I get to the actual number of beings. The Sasquatch outnumber the Centaurs five to one. How is it then they have not won the war? Are the Centaurs such skilled warriors that this ratio doesn’t matter? Or are the Sasquatch such poor warriors their numbers don’t help?
It makes sense why the Centaurs are resistant to helping the Sasquatch despite their desperate need of resources to continue their survival. From what I understand, the Centaur realm is not that big. Can it sustain so many creatures?
I search back through the papers until I find information regarding land mass of each realm. I may have skipped over this section the first time around. Finding the information, I am shocked at what I discover. The Sasquatch not only outnumber the Centaurs five times over, but their realm is
about ten times the size of the Centaur’s. How quickly would they destroy the resources available in the more plentiful Centaur realm if they could destroy a realm ten times as big? Their argument is that they are plant eaters, not meat eaters, so the Centaurs would not suffer any loss. But the animals the Centaur hunt are also plant eaters. No more plants, no more animals, no more food for the Centaurs.
I find the information on growth rates and find that most Centaur couples have only two children over their long lives. In essence, they use population control so as not to overtax their realm. The Sasquatch are a bit more prolific. In their life span, pretty much equal to that of the Centaurs, they are likely to have fifteen or more children. Granted, both races live for hundreds of years, but still. That would be quite the population explosion in the Centaur realm. Could the Sasquatch be convinced to keep these numbers down as a compromise to sharing a realm? A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of talking to either race about their sex life and childbearing. I think I’ll let Dagda introduce that topic.
All in all, other than the idea that those ‘with’ should help those ‘without’, there is no reason the Centaurs should share their realm. It could easily turn out to be suicide for them. On the other hand, so could a prolonged war. In essence, it seems the Centaur are screwed either way.
It’s well past midnight by the time I find my way back to Kallen’s and my bedroom. I find him already asleep. Slipping into the nightgown he left for me on my side of the bed, I crawl under the covers and curl my body into him. I debate for a moment whether I should wake him. He looks so peaceful in the moonlight.
My desire wins out. My hands roam over his sun-kissed skin, reveling in the taught muscles underneath. I moan softly when I discover he is completely naked. I kiss a line along his jaw until I reach his lips. By this time, my gorgeous husband is very much awake. Moving so that I am straddling him, I rain kisses over his body from his brow to far below his waist and then make my way back up again. With my mouth firmly on his, I join our bodies. I use his lips on mine to stifle the cries of pleasure I feel as we reach a crescendo. I will never, ever get enough of Kallen.
We make love long into the morning hours, falling asleep just before dawn.
5
A loud knock on our bedroom door wakes us. “If you want breakfast before you go, I suggest you get those butts of yours out of bed,” Tabitha grumps through the door.
Yawning, I ask Kallen, “Do you think she blames me for Garren and Isla?”
A resigned expression settles on his face. “No, not really. Grandmother would have admitted her feelings eventually. If she had made Garren move out, it probably would not have been long before he moved back in.”
“But, I’m still a convenient scapegoat, right?” I push. Tabitha never sounds so gruff in the morning and she hardly ever knocks. She usually just barges in and says good morning. It’s weird her being more polite signals how upset she is.
A twinkle replacing the resignation in Kallen’s eyes, he says, “You may want someone else to taste your food before you eat it.”
I grab one of the extra pillows on the bed and hit him with it. Laughing, he takes it from me and gives me a good morning kiss that makes me forget all about Tabitha’s bad mood. “Mmm,” I moan against his lips. “Can’t we stay here instead of going to the peace talks?”
“As long as you explain to my uncle, I am fine with it,” Kallen teases. Well, half teases. He would be happy to remain in bed. But, Dagda would probably come and drag us out. Considering our current naked state, I’d rather that didn’t happen.
“Fine,” I groan and roll away from Kallen so I can stretch. The sheet falls away from me and I love how his eyes are riveted on my exposed flesh. “I’m going to take a shower,” I say, getting out of bed. Kallen joins me which makes us late for breakfast.
When we walk into the kitchen, the first thing Dagda says to me is, “Please tell me you are not wearing that.”
I look down at the simple blue maxi dress I asked Kallen to make for me. “What’s wrong with this?”
“Dear,” Tana says, “You need to dress like the Princess you are.”
Why are they even here so early? It’s only seven thirty. Way too early for a fashion critique. “What do you expect me wear? A tiara, ball gown and glass slippers?” From the blank stares I get, the Cinderella reference is obviously lost on everyone. Rolling my eyes, I ask, “What do you want me to wear?”
Instead of answering me, Tana says to Kallen, “Perhaps something a little less casual. More along the lines of my ensemble.” She is wearing a long, satin, brightly embroidered skirt in a rich yellow. The stitching is flowers in multiple colors. Her orange satin top is cropped with matching embroidery. Her hair is pulled up into intricate braids and her makeup is perfect. Smoky eyes, red as blood lipstick and a delicate blush to her pale cheeks. And yes, there is a tiara sitting on her head. It’s a small one woven into her braids, but it’s still there.
I can’t help but ask, “Is that traditional Fairy dress or just a look you created?” If it’s traditional, then I’m all for it. I should be a proud representative of the Fairy realm. But if she simply wants me to look more like her, then what I’m wearing is fine. Yellow and orange are a bit loud for me.
Clearing his throat before his wife wraps her hands around mine, Dagda says, “Perhaps if your hair and makeup were a bit more…dramatic.”
Sighing, I turn to Tabitha. She’s generally my hair and makeup guru. “Will you please whip something up?” She debates telling me no. I can see it in her eyes. She really is annoyed with me.
Not enough that she won’t help me, though. With a thought, she sends her magic toward me and I feel my hair braiding in what feels like a style similar to Tana’s. My eyelids are suddenly heavier as a thick layer of makeup weighs on them. I really hope she didn’t make me look like a clown because she’s annoyed with me. Kallen’s smile reassures me she did not.
“Perhaps we are a bit underdressed,” Kallen acknowledges. His black dress pants and button down white shirt becomes a dark gray, tailored suit with a white shirt and green tie that matches his eyes. This is very close to the suit Dagda has on. “What would you like to wear?” he asks me.
I have no idea. Grudgingly, I assess Tana’s outfit again. She does look great in it and we do have similar body shapes. But I definitely need different colors. “How about something like your aunt’s but in shades of red.” In an instant, my maxi dress is replaced by a skirt and top very similar in design to Tana’s, but the embroidery is butterflies and dragon flies in muted colors. It also wasn’t created by Kallen. I raise my brows in Tabitha’s direction.
The older Fairy turns back to her stove where she is adding more bacon to a pan. Probably for the Tasmanian devils, not us. “He has no idea how to dress a Princess,” she grumbles.
Ignoring Kallen’s indignation, I give Tabitha a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”
She waves me off. “You do not want to get bacon grease on your clothes.”
She has a point. I step back from the stove and take a seat at the island counter. Waffles are on the menu today and I’m very careful not to spill syrup on myself as I eat.
“What is on the itinerary for today, Uncle?” Kallen asks in between bites of his own chocolate waffles with strawberry sauce.
Setting down his coffee cup, Dagda says, “We will do a meet and greet when we arrive. Later this evening, we will attend a reception honoring the current ceasefire. Members of both realms will be present. Tomorrow, we begin negotiations.”
“So, for me, that means bugs, no bugs for a while, bugs, sleeping, and then a whole lot of bugs,” I grumble.
Nonplussed, my biological father asks, “Xandra, are you feeling alright?”
“Xandra has gained her Fairy ability,” Kallen explains. He is trying hard not to laugh. My glare probably has something to do with that.
Still nonplussed, Dagda says, “It has something to do with bugs?”
“Sort of
. If someone lies I feel like I have bugs crawling on me,” I grudgingly explain. I can already see the gears spinning in his mind about how he can use this to his advantage.
There is a bright gleam in Dagda’s eyes now. “You can detect lies?”
“Don’t look so happy about it. I’m not.”
Dagda chuckles. “I imagine the side effect is rather discomfiting, but what an ability to have. This will make your rule much easier when the time comes.”
“Unless I’m driven insane because I always feel like bugs are crawling on me. People tell a lot of lies,” I complain.
“Dear, if this is a new ability, perhaps Xandra should get used to it before attending such an important event,” Tana says.
Is she trying to be helpful or trying to get rid of me? Either way, I like the way she thinks. “I’m all for that,” I say.
After scowling at his wife, Dagda turns his attention back to me. “I have every confidence you will be able to control your reactions to this power as you have to every other ability you possess.”
My turn to scowl. “Have you been paying attention? My track record for controlling my reactions is extremely poor.”
My lovely husband snickers around his waffles. After swallowing, he says, “She does have a point, Uncle.”
Dagda considers this for a long moment. Finally, he shakes his head. “This is too important for you to sit out,” he tells me. “Both realms would consider it an insult if you did not attend.”
I sigh. “Okay, but when I start doing the hokey pokey in the middle of negotiations, don’t blame me.” Once again, blank stares abound. This reference is also lost on them. Rolling my eyes, I clarify. “It’s a kids’ dance. If I start shaking my body around because I’m convinced tarantulas are crawling on me, don’t be surprised.”
Kegan, who has been quiet until now, asks, “Before you go, will you please demonstrate this hokey pokey for us?”
