*
I did not return to my table of old men and their half hearted complaints. I picked up a broom from the corner behind the register and began sweeping the fine layer of dirt from the station’s floor. Appearing to be busy I simply faded from importance in the men’s immediate perceptions. The voices continued as they always do…without my full attention or participation. As the cigar smoke trailed a pathway across the station swirling with rich tones and thick sweet scents… I contemplated what she would need.
It was not ego or excess that I knew to some extent what she needed… I am an observant creature. And, even if I had not been she was obviously in need of the most basic care. Our brief encounter exposed her to my senses… I could understand how deeply she had been wounded. It hung about her like a nimbus cloud…dark and full… when the tears came it would wash away some of the guilt she carried. She had not embraced her grief…and Gideon’s scent still clinging to her…that was a concern that needed to be addressed.
It had been…long…since I had the simple motivation to intervene in the natural course of events. It occurred to me that in Gideon’s attempt to murder her that the natural course was already altered. Merrily’s random appearance in Noel was an impossibility… she was meant to be found by me. She did not know or need to know the ramifications of her position. I would see to it personally that she found some solstice here.
That the others of my ‘kinfolk’ follow my lead is in their best interest…they could not stand against me. Impossibilities tended to happen to those who spend a significant amount of time in my presence. I can influence unlikely outcomes simply by existing. It is an unconscious reflex…and it is capable of bestowing blessings and curses with equal abandon. Experience has taught me how to predict outcomes…and an entire Aviary of Griffins loosing against me was an unlikely event. Thus I have already won.
I realized that I was galvanized in knowing that she needed me. It was merely a spark of my old joule de veer but the potential for more was there. I didn’t have enough information in our brief encounter to make rational choices on Merrily’s behalf. I would need to contact Isaac and get more details about her situation.
Isaac will be deeply troubled that I have taken an active interest in the girl. He preferred that I remain in my territory forgotten and undisturbed. I used to be an oddity among my kind…never having taken a wife or produced an heir. Now I am the last and perhaps I would take this sign I have received from the girl’s presence to reinvest myself in events that were sure to come.
In the meantime I knew she would be sticking around town for a few days. I had impressed upon her how very tired she was from her travels. My will in this matter will not be gainsaid. I am perhaps the only creature of power on this continent… next to The Sphinx… with the power to influence a human in this manner. It was simply a small suggestion… in the back of her mind that perhaps…it would be better to recharge before moving on.
I did not have human morals so it did not bother me to influence her in this way. I will always side with the herd against the individual. Merrily should not have been allowed to run free unsupervised in her current state. It was a neglect I would not forgive Isaac. The girl was his responsibility and he failed her. I would see to it that Isaac made amends for that oversight.
I needed to spark more interest in her life and that would require delicate manipulations. I did not know where the love in her life laid…indeed from her sickened state she was unlikely to have any to spare. Not even for her. There were times that I found instinctually understanding the many layered complexities of love a burden. The girl came to Noel ready to die…I would not allow that to happen. Her survival was a great gift…and mystery that needed to be understood.
*
I savored the feeling that grew in my heart. Gideon would not succeed his father upon the throne of The Aviary…and Merrily’s son would not succeed him. Merrily simply being alive and within my influence would be a challenge that Gideon would not…could not abide.
Events will unfold as they must…in their own time. I decided that I would do all which was within my power to see to it that she survived…if not thrived. It is not simply boredom that spurs me to act…but the unshakable belief that I would be responsible for her death if I did not.
Merrily In Tragedy: Book One (Merrily We Live 1) Page 10
