Bridge of Dreams e-3

by Anne Bishop

Michael leaned over Danyal’s shoulder and whispered, “What started this?”

  “Lee ate the bird’s toast,” Danyal whispered back.

  “Tch.” Michael shook his head. “He should know better.”

  Zhahar, Medusah, Kobrah, and the two shadowmen followed Teaser up the Den’s main street.

  “Teaser?” Zhahar raised her voice enough to be heard.

  The incubus turned around to face her.

  How did he manage that cocky swagger while walking backward? “I thought it was dangerous for the Tryad to go over these bridges.”

  “Not crossing over on a bridge,” Teaser replied. “Glorianna’s figured out how to get you all to Aurora without using one. That’s why we’re meeting her in the field beyond the street.”

  “What’s she going to do?”

  “Don’t know.” He turned and kept walking.

  “He seems unconcerned,” Medusah said, her eyes scanning the street and the alleyways.

  *You should be the one in view,* Zhahar told Zeela.

  =Right now, you make better bait,= Zeela replied.

  Kobrah bristled and gave Medusah a hard look. “Teaser’s nice.”

  “I didn’t say he wasn’t,” Medusah replied. “But he has no stake in what happens to any of us or our lands.”

  “Maybe he has that much confidence in Glorianna’s abilities,” Zhahar said. If thoughts and words truly carried so much weight in this part of the world, she was determined to send out positive thoughts about Glorianna.

  She felt her mothers’ gaze, knew each of them had taken a look at her to reach their own conclusions.

  ::Mother won’t let anything happen to us,:: Sholeh said.

  She wouldn’t want to let anything happen to them, but Morragen Medusah a Zephyra was the leader of the Tryad and had to uphold the laws and taboos their people lived by when it came to dealing with people of single aspect.

  Allone was a reminder of why she didn’t want to go back to Tryadnea, but it was no longer safe to be around Lee. Having a man of single aspect as a lover was considered distasteful, but satisfying physical needs while on assignment in a one-face land was understood to some extent. Having feelings for such a man? That was taboo, and she was afraid her feelings were too apparent.

  “Hey-a,” Teaser called as he hurried toward Michael.

  “A good morning to you all,” Michael said, smiling. The smile dimmed for a moment when he looked at Zhahar and Medusah, then returned to its previous brightness.

  Teaser stopped and cocked his head. “Isn’t that Lee’s island?”

  “It’s the island that used to resonate with him,” Michael said. “Now it resonates with Glorianna, if not in quite the same way.”

  ::Island?:: Sholeh said. ::Shouldn’t it be called a grove, since those are the only trees in this field?::

  Glorianna appeared at the edge of a path between two trees. A path, Zhahar noticed, that didn’t extend past those trees.

  “There is a temporary border between the island and the field so you can cross from one to the other,” Glorianna said.

  When the shadowmen gave Teaser a questioning look, he stepped up beside Glorianna, then walked past. The Apothecary and the Knife followed him.

  Kobrah grabbed Zhahar’s hand, so they stepped up to the path together. As soon as both her feet were on the path, Zhahar heard the patter of raindrops on leaves—and squinted at the sudden daylight.

  “Make room for your mother and Michael,” Glorianna said. “Hurry up, Magician. It’s starting to rain.”

  Confused, Zhahar moved up the path a few steps.

  =How can it be raining here when it wasn’t raining a few steps away?= Zeela asked.

  ::Glorianna said this was a border, so we must be someplace that isn’t the Den,:: Sholeh said, sounding excited. ::Zhahar, can I take a look?::

  At what? Zhahar wondered as Sholeh came into view for a minute and looked up at the branches that formed an openwork canopy.

  As soon as Medusah and Michael walked onto the island, Glorianna said, “Ephemera.”

  Still looking up at the trees, Zhahar came back into view and didn’t think anything had changed until Medusah asked sharply, “Why is there water where the field used to be?”

  “This island is located in the middle of a stream,” Glorianna replied. “We’re in Sanctuary for the moment.”

  “This place,” Zephyra whispered, coming into view. “This is a heart-healing place.”

  Glorianna gave her a curious look. “Yes, it is. Does your land have a place like this? A Place of Light?”

  A great sadness filled Zephyra’s face before her aspect waned. Medusah came back into view and said, “Not anymore.”

  Nodding, Glorianna closed her eyes. A moment later, the stream was gone. Beyond the path was a different daylight and another field—and no rain.

  “Teaser, you and Michael go first, since I know you resonate with Aurora,” Glorianna said.

  Teaser winked at Kobrah and stepped off the island.

  “Is something on your mind, Zhahar?” Medusah asked as Glorianna had Kobrah come to the edge of the path.

  Lee. Finding a place where love isn’t paid for by death. Getting away from the Tryad and Tryadnea before it’s too late. “No,” she lied. “Nothing.”

  Lee walked beside Yoshani, self-conscious about the dark glasses and hat, and more aware of what he wasn’t seeing because he knew his mother’s land so well.

  “Daylight,” he muttered when they crossed the footbridge that separated Nadia’s personal gardens from open land and the walled garden that held her landscapes. “Why did Glorianna set the island so far from the house?”

  “I don’t know,” Yoshani said mildly. “Perhaps she and Nadia felt that was the best place.”

  “It’s not like…” Lee trailed off as he paid attention to the resonances of two landscapes. He lengthened his stride as much as he dared, reaching Glorianna just as Zhahar stepped up between two trees.

  “I’d like each of you to come into view and hold until I tell you to change,” Glorianna said.

  Lee clamped his teeth to hold back the questions he wanted to ask. Now wasn’t the time to interrupt Glorianna’s attention.

  He couldn’t tell colors as colors yet, but the difference between Zeela’s dark hair and Zhahar’s light brown was something he could distinguish, and he could make out a little more detail in their faces.

  “Interesting,” Glorianna said quietly.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Zhahar and Sholeh resonate with Aurora. Zeela does not.”

  “Does that mean Zeela shouldn’t come into view while we’re here?”

  Glorianna shook her head. “I don’t think Sholeh Zeela a Zhahar could cross a stationary bridge and reach Aurora if Zeela’s aspect was in view, but once they reached this landscape, any of the sisters could be here. It just wouldn’t hold the same interest for each of them. Same as in the Den last night. Sholeh or Zeela could cross over using a bridge, but Zhahar wouldn’t be able to reach the Den that way.” She wagged her fingers. “Zhahar, you can step off the island so I can see the aspects of Morragen Medusah a Zephyra.”

  Zhahar stepped off the island and went over to join Kobrah instead of moving to stand by Lee.

  Was she self-conscious because her mothers were here, or did that choice signal something more?

  He expected Zephyra to resonate with his mother’s landscape. It surprised him that Morragen was the other aspect that resonated with Aurora, since she reminded him more of Zeela. But that could mean Medusah was the darkest aspect of that Tryad—and, most likely, the most dangerous.

  Morragen stepped off the island. A moment later, he heard all their visitors gasp as the island disappeared and they were standing in open land near a walled garden.

  In the silence that followed, while they absorbed what they had seen, he absorbed what he had just felt. He was close enough to see his sister’s face. Close enough to make out her expression.

  “You
swapped land in order to shift the island to Aurora?” he asked, sure he had to be wrong.

  “Yes,” Glorianna replied. “Doing that created a temporary border.”

  “Guardians and Guides! Why didn’t you impose the island over the landscape? If you’re exchanging equal ground, you’re risking something crossing into Sanctuary that shouldn’t be there!”

  “You could impose the island over other landscapes. It doesn’t respond that way for me.”

  “Daylight, Glorianna! What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking this was a practical way of moving several people without losing one of them. Besides,” she added sharply, “I was exchanging ground with one of my landscapes and one of Mother’s. Very little risk.”

  “But a lot of risk if you’re shifting to someplace unknown,” he shot back.

  “Which I didn’t do.”

  No, she hadn’t. He felt a little foolish for arguing about it, and wasn’t sure why he was arguing, except that the island had been his and he felt a deep affection for it.

  And yet he had let it go, along with so many other things that had held a piece of his heart.

  “Is there any breakfast left?” Teaser asked.

  “Aye, there is,” Michael replied. “Shall we go up to the house?”

  Lee walked over to Zhahar. “Want to give me a hand up to the house?”

  An odd hesitation before she said, “Of course.”

  She offered her arm. Instead, he took her hand and started walking, not pretending that he needed any help.

  “Did you sleep all right?” he asked. “When you spend enough time in the Den, you learn to sleep through all the ordinary noises—or don’t try to sleep until the Den settles down for a few hours. After Sebastian’s cottage shifted to Aurora, we finally realized the businesses in the Den closed down when most of the guests left, which was around dawn in the daylight landscapes that were in the same part of the world.” He laughed softly. “Whatever part that is.”

  “It was fine,” she said stiffly. “I appreciate your cousin letting Kobrah and me use his room.”

  “Huh.” Keeping a firm grip on her hand, he led her away from the kitchen door so they wouldn’t be underfoot of the people wanting to go inside and get some breakfast. “The words say one thing; the tone says something else. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong.”

  He bent his head, intending to give her a light kiss to remind her that she wasn’t alone here. She had acted as his guide when he was fumbling his way around the Asylum; now he could help her adjust to the landscapes that were Tryadnea’s neighbors. But when she turned her head to avoid his kiss, he released her hand and took a step back.

  “Yeah,” he said with some bite in his voice. “Not a damn thing is wrong.”

  She looked past him, and he wondered who was supposed to be the audience for this little show.

  “It’s not appropriate for us to be intimate,” she said, sounding too much like a Handler for his liking.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s not appropriate,” she insisted.

  “Why?” His chest muscles tightened, squeezing his heart. He stared at her until his eyes burned from the effort to see her more clearly. Except he didn’t think it was his eyes that needed clarity.

  “It wasn’t appropriate when we were at the Asylum,” he said slowly. “Any kind of physical relationship with an inmate could have been viewed as a misuse of your authority. I understood that. But I’m not an inmate anymore, Zhahar, and I’m not going to be again.” When she didn’t say anything, he looked toward the people going into the house. A group was still at the back of the lawn, looking at something, but among those watching them while heading into the house for breakfast was Morragen Medusah a Zephyra.

  “Being a Handler wasn’t the reason you retreated as much as you encouraged, was it?” he asked softly, his heart getting squeezed a little harder. “That was the excuse. Something kept pulling us toward each other, maybe even before we actually met. And now there’s something in the way. What is it? Your mothers? Or just the prejudice your people feel for anyone who isn’t Tryad?”

  “It’s more than prejudice,” she said, not trying to hide her own bitterness. “It’s taboo to get involved with a man of single aspect. The penalties are harsh, Lee, and I can’t take the chance of being accused of having feelings for you.”

  He stepped away from her. “If you knew you couldn’t love me, if you knew there were reasons why you wouldn’t allow this to ripen past a few kisses, you should have told me. You should have given me a choice about whether I wanted those kisses when there couldn’t be anything more.”

  “Would you have wanted them?” she asked, challenging.

  “Not from you.” She looked shocked, so he added, “I would, and have, accepted those restrictions from other women because I couldn’t give them anything more than a passing affection. But I feel more than passing affection for you, so I would have preferred to have nothing than just a taste of what I can’t have.” Heading for the gate in the stone wall that separated his mother’s personal land from the woodland that they all considered a joint concern, he said over his shoulder, “You should get something to eat. It’s going to be a long day.”

  He’d gotten through the gate and had taken a dozen steps down the path when Teaser caught up to him.

  “Where are you going?” Teaser asked.

  “Don’t know.” Not far, since he had no intention of straying off the path that ran between his cottage and Nadia’s house.

  “Why are you going?”

  “Because I got my heart bruised just now, and I don’t want to face Zhahar and her mothers while I sit at my mother’s table. I’m not feeling that polite.”

  “Ah.” They walked in silence for a minute. Then Teaser asked, “What about Sholeh and Zeela? You could ask one of them to come into view during the meal if you don’t want to deal with Zhahar. They like you.”

  “I like them too, but I don’t want to have sex with them.”

  “Well, daylight, Lee. I wasn’t talking about having sex with them—or anyone else—in front of everyone. Especially at your mother’s table. Or on the table. Because it’s Nadia’s, and that wouldn’t be proper.” A pause. “Would it be proper? Do you think she and—”

  “No,” Lee snapped, refusing to think about Nadia and Jeb doing anything that intimate. “I wasn’t talking about having sex in front of anyone. But I was interested in having sex with Zhahar, until she made it clear just now that her interest in me never ran that deep.” Couldn’t run that deep, which wasn’t the same thing. What kind of penalties was she talking about?

  “So you want to have sex with Zhahar but not with Sholeh and Zeela.”

  “That’s right.” Or was last night.

  “Can you have sex with one of them and not the others?” Teaser asked thoughtfully.

  Lee stopped walking. It figured that an incubus would be too curious about Tryad sexuality not to keep circling around the question. “I don’t know. Maybe not. I had the impression they can give each other some measure of privacy, but since they share a physical core…” The idea of finding himself in bed with Zeela didn’t have any appeal, but waking up and finding himself beside Sholeh? That would feel too much like finding himself with Caitlin Marie, who was Michael’s younger sister and family now. “Maybe it is a case of all or none. But if that’s true, Zhahar should have told me.”

  Teaser cocked his head. “Could she? We had the impression her being Tryad was a big secret.”

  “It was,” Lee conceded. “Talking about the details of intimacy would be hard enough under any circumstances, and it isn’t something she would have done when she was still trying to hide what she was. But after I knew she was Tryad, she should have told me if we couldn’t be lovers instead of letting me believe it was possible. Somehow. I would have been disappointed, but I would have respected her choice.”

  “Even if she wasn’t the one maki
ng the choice?”

  Lee sighed. “You’re spending too much time with Yoshani. Or Danyal. Or both.”

  Teaser grinned. “Or maybe, since we’re talking about sex, I’m the best-qualified person to talk to.”

  A rather terrifying thought—which made it oddly comforting.

  “How would you feel about going back to the house and slipping a plate of food out to me?” Lee asked.

  “Where are you going to be?”

  He turned and started walking back to Nadia’s house. “In the garden. It’s a good place to brood.”

  Carrying a full plate and two mugs, Danyal walked to the bench in the garden. Lee looked up, then huffed out a breath and smiled.

  “I wondered who would bring the plate,” Lee said. “Didn’t expect it to be you.”

  “You don’t think I would have that much compassion?” Danyal asked as he handed over the plate.

  “I figured you were the only man in the house besides Teaser who wouldn’t be looking for an excuse to come out here and yell at me.”

  “Ah.” Danyal sat down and put one mug on the bench between them. “Well, you’re half right. I welcomed the excuse to come out here. But I didn’t come to yell; I came to listen.”

  Lee ate some scrambled eggs and swore mildly when the bacon crumbled.

  “Problem?” Danyal asked.

  “Mother saved the overcooked bacon for me because I don’t like it this way. She’s a firm believer in letting people live with the consequences of their actions as a way of learning life’s lessons.” He was hungry, so he ate the bacon anyway. “You heard about this morning?”

  “You, Sebastian, and the bird? I saw the second half of that drama—and have an itching regret that I missed the first half, which is not an appropriate feeling for a Shaman to have.”

  “I stirred things up. I can claim I didn’t know what would happen, but I grew up in my mother’s house. I knew what would happen. I just don’t know why I did it.”

  “You know,” Danyal replied, smiling.

  “Shaman, I’m not sure I know much of anything right now.”

  “Then I’ll tell you,” Danyal said. “The bird and the toast are symbols of the new life Sebastian is building. In order to have those things, he had to see the world differently, and that changed his life. So he values the bird, the toast, and the morning ritual. For you, they are symbols of what you left behind. Because you have a warm, generous family, it would be easy to go back to the life you had, fall back into the patterns and routines. You need something different, and you’re afraid you’ll go back to those patterns. So you pushed away the symbols and caused disruption so that you don’t fit quite so easily into the life you left behind.”