by Ren Curylo
They stepped back into the living room and sat on the sofa together.
“Ársa,” Grannus said, “I have deduced, and forgive me for snooping, but I have deduced that this child is yours.”
Ársa nodded.
“That’s why I’ve left the nursing kit. Adamen informed me that for the baby’s safety, she isn’t keeping him. She says she will, in a couple of weeks, find a safe, secure home for him to grow up in.”
“That’s what she said,” Ársa said. “In her culture, the Lilitu don’t allow male children the same privileges females have. It is a society run and ruled solely by the females.”
“In many ways, it’s the opposite of most other cultures, and given the outcomes in those, maybe they have something.”
Ársa looked at him but didn’t speak.
“I mean, Ársa, that I’ve never known the Lilitu to start a war or wipe out other Fae. They tend to get along with the other species in the Fae race.”
“I suppose that’s true, but there are other aspects at play here besides the Lilitu culture.”
Grannus nodded. “I know. I’ve been talking in depth to Anoba lately. She told me about the visions, for lack of a better word, she’s received from her mother.”
“Visions?” Ársa asked. “You mean there’s been more than one?”
“I assume she will fill you in on them. We have started calling them ‘The Prophecy’. Anoba is keeping a journal of all the information her mother has given her. I am sure none of us are privy to a lot of it, but I believe her.”
Ársa nodded.
“If what she’s been told is correct, you had best make sure no one who wishes him harm ever finds this child. He is valuable to several races of people before the battle comes.”
“I have set a shield about this place, Grannus, and I will strengthen it regularly. No one will get to either of them while they’re here.”
“You had better think about empowering Adamen to shield him even after she’s placed him with another family.”
Ársa nodded. “I can do that,” he said.
“I’ll be off. I’ll arrange for Lessie to get some more milk for the baby. And a few more nursing kits. If that’s to be his sole means of nourishment for the next six or so months, they will need a large supply.”
“Thank you, Grannus.”
“You’re welcome. Now, I think you should go talk to her when she’s ready to speak. The tale she will tell you may help convince you of the need to protect this child.”
“I don’t need any other convincing, Grannus, but I will hear her out. I want to know what happened. She was here, and everything was fine when I left for Na Réaltaí yesterday.”
“Things can change fast in this world, Ársa,” Grannus said. “All the more reason to be vigilant.” He snapped his fingers and disappeared from the room.
Ársa went back into the bedroom. He debated about going to see his newborn son, wherever Lessie was caring for him, but he decided against it. Perhaps it would be better for everyone if he had no idea what this child looked like at any stage of his life.
He softly closed the door behind him and was surprised to find Adamen’s eyes on him when he turned her way. “You’re awake,” he said with a smile.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I’m fine, Ársa,” she said, patting the bed beside her invitingly.
Ársa joined her. “Why did you leave here?”
“I didn’t,” she said. “I was attacked in the water when I went in for a swim. Then, I was taken from the beach by a spell cast by my mother.”
“Your mother?”
“She wanted Girin to be born in the Lilitu Colony so she could have him removed and executed.
“I thought perhaps she’d relent,” he said.
“I nearly drowned when I was attacked,” she said. “I thought I was going to die for sure. It started my labor, which made it impossible for me to fight against my assailants.”
“Assailants? There was more than one?”
“There were two,” she said. “At least I only saw two. I doubt there were more, though.”
“Who are they? I’ll go find them and punish them for this.”
Adamen shook her head. “No, Ársa,” she said. “They were doing what they had to do, in desperation.”
“What do you mean?”
“They were Selkies,” she explained.
“Selkies?” Ársa said. “I’ve never heard of Selkies harming anyone.”
“That’s why I don’t want them punished. My mother had the skin of the female and she was holding it for ransom. I was the prize she sought. When they delivered me to Mother, she was to give the skin back. That is, if my mother didn’t double cross them.”
“Do you think she would?”
Adamen nodded. “If she thought it would be to her advantage later on, she would.”
“That’s horrendous.”
“It is quite dishonorable,” Adamen said. “It sinks to a level I didn’t think my mother would go. Anyway, I don’t want these Selkies harmed. They did what they had to do and I’ve forgiven them both.”
“They captured you and took you to Erish’s palace,” he said. “But how did you contact me? I know you must have, I could feel you with me, inside my head.”
“I gave Muirgan a button and asked her to use it to find you. She was terribly torn about turning me over to my mother even if it meant she’d never get her skin. Her husband forced her to do it. I am glad she did, now that all is well for Girin and me. I would hate to think she had to spend the rest of her life as a human or continue to do my mother’s bidding because of me.”
“That’s kind of you, Adamen,” Ársa said, smoothing her hair off her brow. “How did you make a button contact me?”
“It’s from the blouse I was wearing while I was being attacked, I used it as a spell focus. I imbued it with the power to get to you. I’m happy it worked. I was worried and had no idea if it would.”
“It worked quite well,” he said. “I awoke from a sound sleep in a complete panic to find you. It was so strong it allowed me to Travel straight to you at your mother’s palace.”
“I was never so relieved to see anyone in my life,” she said with a smile. She touched his face with her fingertips. “I hope our son is as handsome as you when he grows up.”
“And I hope he’s as resourceful as you,” Ársa said.
Ársa put his hand on Adamen’s chest, covering her heart. He closed his eyes and muttered something; his lips moved but no sound escaped them. After a few moments, he opened his dark blue eyes and looked at Adamen. “I gave you the power to cloak and protect him. You will be able to cast a shield for him. It will keep him safe, but you will have to renew it from time to time, wherever he’s living.”
Adamen sighed in relief. “Thank you, Ársa,” she said.
“I’ll keep you safe until you leave here. I don’t want to know where he is. If I don’t know, I can’t inadvertently give it away.”
“I understand, but I plan to see him as often as I can.”
Ársa nodded. “You look tired, Adamen. Get some sleep. I’ll check on you again in a while.”
Adamen closed her eyes to rest and Ársa left the room, but not before cloaking it and the rest of the house from outsiders.
4 days later
Nalin 30, 762 Na Réaltaí
Chéile The first two and a half weeks of their marriage were magical and they were inseparable. They made love half a dozen times a day and Chéile found she actually enjoyed it. She wasn’t even embarrassed to admit it.
Ársa’s real life began to intrude on her fantasy two weeks into the marriage when he jumped up in the middle of the night and left without telling her anything. After that, he seemed more distant from her and his job began to make demands on him. Other people in Na Réaltaí expected his attention and Chéile didn’t like it. He was hers and was supposed to be at her disposal. She was a princess in her old life and a goddess in her new one and she didn’t care for others
thinking they were her equal.
She particularly didn’t like Éadomhain and her squalling brat, Fearg. She didn’t care for Hermolaos, Éadomhain’s husband, either. He kept touching her in inappropriate places. She disliked others in varying degrees, but there were none that she cared for even a little. She found that the best way to deal with the servants, the Seirbhíseach, was through fear. She took every opportunity to make them afraid of her, but only when Ársa wasn’t around. He had reprimanded her immediately when she was stern and threatening to one of them in front of him. She didn’t like it that he was weak with the servants. She felt it emasculated him.
Ársa had a greeting chamber, attached to, but not part of, his suite. This is where he held meetings with various people in Na Réaltaí. She didn’t like it when he was gone for long periods, and one afternoon, she went in search of him and heard him talking to his sister, Anoba. Another one Chéile didn’t like. Anoba looked at her as if she knew her deepest thoughts or could see into the core of her being and didn’t like what she saw there. Chéile quickly became uncomfortable and resentful.
She remembered her first meeting with Anoba. The woman had looked at her, evaluating her, and, it seemed to Chéile, that Anoba had found her lacking. Feeling inferior to the green-skinned woman, who was still beautiful in spite of her coloring, Chéile had greeted her rudely. However, she had been careful not to let Ársa see their exchange. Anoba had responded by commenting that the viper had arrived at last. Chéile had demanded to know what she meant by it, but Anoba had merely given her a sly smile and turned away dismissively.
Chéile told herself she was far superior to Anoba, even if she was a newly made goddess and Anoba had been one for centuries and was quite comfortable in her own skin. Anoba, Chéile thought, will never be as beautiful as I am. She looked like dirty river water.
Chéile was about to open the door to the meeting room and walk in, in spite of Ársa warning her never to do that. When she heard Anoba’s voice, she stopped to listen.
“Have you told Moriko yet, Ársa?”
“No,” he said.
“What a coward,” Anoba said scoffingly. “You’ve mooned
after that girl all these many years and sworn your fealty to her and your loyalty and then you go marry this…this…Elf,” her voice was heavy with disdain. “And you don’t even have the decency to tell Moriko what you’ve done?”
“I find it difficult to face her.”
“You should find it difficult,” Anoba said. “You should be ashamed. I cannot believe you’ve done this. I won’t even ask what you were thinking, Ársa, for I know the answer, and I know what head you were thinking with as well. You could have fucked her all you wanted, but marry her? Why did you have to marry her?”
Ársa mumbled something Chéile couldn’t understand.
“Ársa,” Anoba continued, “you know that marriages with us are absolutely unbreakable without complete consent of all of us. It was a foolish thing for you to do. You don’t even know her. And you’ve brought her here to live with us.”
“You’re right, of course, Anoba, I don’t know how I’ll rectify this error, but I’ll find some way to do so.”
Chéile’s heart pounded in her chest and a frown creased her brow with deep furrows. “This error,” she mouthed silently.
“I highly doubt that, Ársa, I don’t think there’s a solution for this problem. Chéile looks as if she likes it here. She’s settling in.”
“Yes,” Ársa said.
“I think you’d better consider telling Moriko before someone else does,” Anoba advised.
“I will. I’ll see her this week.”
“And what of your Lilitu?”
“She had her baby a few days ago…” his voice trailed off and Chéile couldn’t hear what he said.
“Did you tell Moriko about it, too?”
“No,” Ársa said.
“Well,” Anoba said, “if you ever had any chance with her, you’ve completely destroyed it. Good luck, brother. I think you should wear two uniforms for protection when you do finally get around to telling Moriko.”
“Very funny,” Ársa said.
Anoba laughed cynically. “I wasn’t kidding, Ársa.”
“I’m afraid I believe you. I suppose that is why I’ve put off telling her before now.”
“This woman, this Elf,” Anoba spat the word as if it tasted bad. “I can’t believe you’ve brought her to Na Réaltaí. Please, brother, promise me you won’t have children with her.”
Ársa grunted and said something unintelligible that Chéile couldn’t make out.
“Ársa,” Anoba said, “does that mean you’ve discussed the possibility of children with this woman?”
“On the night we married, we discussed having two. We agreed on it.”
“Oh, no, Ársa,” Anoba said. “Why couldn’t you have left that part out of it? Now, instead of it being something you have to agree on at the time of conception, you’ve already agreed to it, and she can take advantage of it anytime she wants without your knowledge.”
“She doesn’t seem overly interested in children,” Ársa said. “She can’t stand Fearg or Misery.”
Anoba laughed. “No one can stand Fearg or Misery,” she said.
Chéile turned and swept back to the room she shared with Ársa. She had information to think about and she had to decide what to do with it. She had to keep her power over Ársa at any cost. Other women were after him, they were his lovers—or had been. She had to find out more about this Moriko, who held his heart, and who is that other woman and what was her baby to Ársa? She had a lot of scrying and investigation to do.
She also meant to hone her powers and explore her new goddess abilities. She would begin in earnest tomorrow, learning all she could about how to develop her powers. Even the powers she had before coming here would be stronger and more effective now that she was a goddess.
What I need here is a friend —someone who can tell me things I don’t know. But who? She made a mental list of all the crewmembers she had met since coming here and she systematically eliminated them all. After going over them, one by one, she finally settled on one person. She had seen him from a distance but hadn’t actually met him. She would change that tomorrow and she would see to it that they became friends. She would start the process right away—tonight.
She dragged her box out of its hiding place in the back of her closet and rooted through it for materials to make another little doll. She selected shades that matched Vedran’s coloration. He had brown hair, so she chose thin, fine brown yarn. For his dark brown eyes, she chose a darker shade of yarn. His skin was pasty, pale beige. Not an attractive combination, she thought, but he was far more beneficial to her because of his penchant for gossip and slander than for his questionable looks.
Chéile used her expert Elfish sewing skills to craft a reasonable likeness of Vedran. Upon completion, she looked at it approvingly, pleased with her results. She thought that anyone who saw it would instantly know it was Vedran. As a result, she felt she should hide it. She didn’t want too many questions asked about why she was constructing a doll in his likeness. He had sharp, angular, features and a thin, pointy nose that turned down at the end. His hair was long and thin, tied back in a ponytail hanging down his back. His lips were thin, and she represented them with a single, delicate line of thread.
She immediate ly put her crafting things away. She didn’t know how long Ársa would be before he joined her, but she wanted some time to work with the doll before he arrived and she certainly did not want her craft items strewn all about.
She lay across the bed after tidying up and she held the doll in her hands and stroked it while muttering words in Elfish. Chéile was casting to draw Vedran to her, make him want to be her friend. It would make things far easier if he came to her rather than her having to seek him out. That way, everyone would know he had sought the relationship, not the other way around. It was important to her that she not appear needy to
these people whom she viewed more as her enemies than her allies.
Chéile awoke with a start quite a long time later. She was surprised to find Ársa in their room, undressing for bed. “Ársa,” she said sleepily. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“You were sleeping, Chéile,” he said. “I didn’t want to wake you.” She suddenly remembered the doll and frantically felt the bed, hoping to find it before Ársa saw it. She had meant to put it away before he came in, but sleep overtook her while she was still working with it. She covertly searched the bed for the Vedran doll. Ársa must never know.
Chéile located it at last, beneath her hip. She grabbed it and stuffed it between the bed and the wall. The hiding place worked so well, it became her standard hiding place for any doll she used in her Rootwork casting on late at night.
Ársa lay down beside her and turned his back, pretending to fall instantly asleep.
Chéile narrowed her eyes as she looked at his back. If you don’t watch it, I’ll get your doll back out and get to work on it again.
1 day later
Pales Night Na Réaltaí
Chéile Chéile awoke still feeling peevish about the conversation she had overheard the night before. The whole thing made her so angry she wanted to destroy something. Or someone—but there wasn’t anyone on Na Réaltaí that she could take on. She needed someone far more vulnerable to take her ire out on. She thought of her home and her parents and suddenly felt homesick. She wanted to see her mother and have a good sob on her shoulder, but she didn’t want to run into people in Lasahala Run like Caolán and his wife or even Enric.
She thought again about the derisive way her sister-in-law had said the word ‘elf’ as if Elves were somehow so far beneath whatever Anoba was. Who has green-black skin, hair, and eyes anyway? That bitch looks like she crawled out of a stagnant river bottom somewhere. Chéile suddenly longed for her ‘own kind’.
