A Bird May Love a Fish
M.K. awoke to the incessant beeping of the camera alarm.
As she clumsily rushed out of bed, the sheets catching around her ankle, she cast a hurried glance at the clock.
7:16. If it was a call from Nod, he was earlier than usual.
As the beeping continued, she wondered why her dad wasn't picking it up. If it was past seven, he was most certainty awake. He was a light sleeper and an early riser— traits that she hadn't exactly inherited.
She rolled the desk chair out and slid into it, immediately pressing the button on the screen.
There was static for a moment, then it cleared with a high pitched buzzing and Nod's image appeared on the monitor.
"Hi!" M.K. greeted happily.
"Hey!" Nod said, gave her one look, and grinned, "Nice bed-head."
The redhead's eyes flashed wide and her hands flew to her hair.
"Shut up!" she scolded and she wildly tried to smooth down the messy strands.
As the Jinn laughed at her, M.K. directed her gaze elsewhere, specifically, to a yellow sticky-note she saw stuck to the bottom of the computer screen.
Out to get groceries. Back by 10.
—Love Dad
I guess he just left, then. M.K. thought.
"So, M.K.… There's something I want to talk to you about—it's a message from the queen, actually… could you meet me at the stream near camera 3 in a few minutes?"
"Hmm?" M.K. cocked her head. "Sure, but… why can't you just tell me now?"
"Well, uh…" Nod rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It'll probably be better if I tell you this in person."
M.K.'s eyebrows pulled together in concern. "Is everything okay?"
"No! No. I mean yes! Everything's fine, its just—agh! Just get over here, alright? Please!"
Then in a split second he was gone, speeding away on the back of his hummingbird.
The human girl rolled away from the desk and leaned back, biting her lip.
…I'm worried… Nod said there's nothing wrong (I think) but… Ugh! Whatever. I'll just go!"
M.K. raced back upstairs, threw on some clothes, and (slightly more carefully) ran a brush through her hair.
Somewhere between brushing her teeth and lacing her boots, she scribbled a note to her dad—just in case he got back before she did and wondered where she was.
Giving a quick pat to Ozzie and grabbing the helmet she dashed off in the direction of the woods.
"Nod?" she called, "Nod!"
A humming bird zipped around her head and landed on a low-hanging branch a few feet away.
Walking over, M.K. turned on her helmet and focused it on the tiny figure that was climbing off the hummingbird to stand beside it.
"Hey."
"Hey. So… I'm here. What is it that you wanted to tell me?"
Again Nod rubbed the back of his neck and avoided her gaze. But now M.K. noticed that his eyes were bright and an almost guilty smile was tugging at his mouth.
"Nod?" She drew out his name warily.
"Okay. So, here's the thing… So…Um. Okay. It's…"
"Oh, spit it out, Nod!"
"Okay! Fine!" his hand dropped from his neck and he turned away from her, instead looking out into the forest.
"…If you had the chance… to be a Jinn again—not permanently, but for a while— w-would you want to?"
M.K. blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Still no answer.
"…M.K.?"
The girl's mind was going a mile a minute.
Go back? Of course she would! She missed that world so much it hurt. She missed the wonder, the adventure, the people…
She really missed the people. Especially Nod.
If she was to be completely honest with herself, she'd have to admit that talking over a camera or through a bulky helmet wasn't enough. It was so, so much better than nothing, but it still wasn't enough to keep her from missing him. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to be able to hold him in her arms like she did those few precious times (without the present danger of squashing him).
A bird may love a fish, but where would they live?
Lately, that old quote had been echoing through M.K.'s mind over and over again.
They lived in two different worlds. "Friends" was all they could realistically manage.
But if she could be small again…
"Of course I would." M.K. breathed.
A smile she didn't catch stretched across the leaf-man's face.
But then the stomper caught herself, and her face fell. "But that's not possible. I almost wasn't able to even get back to this size last time." She wrapped her arms around herself and frowned.
"My dear stomper," Nod sang, slowly swinging around on his heals to face her and looking up with a grin, "The message I'm passing on from the queen is this: She wants to know when you want to come visit again. She says everything's ready, so you just need to give the word."
M.K. raised her head.
"…What?"
Nod smiled beautifully and said, his voice gentle, "You can come back. Whenever you want, M.K. Now that the new queen knows how (better that before, actually) it's no problem. It's that easy."
"Wha—are you s-serious?"
Nod laughed and nodded.
The human took a few stunned breaths, her wide eyes flickering here and there in disbelief.
Then she looked at Nod and glared.
"You're just telling me this NOW! Why didn't you say anything! I thought we couldn't—I thought I'd never—! You should have said something!"
The Leaf-man put up his hands in defense.
"Hey, I just found out about this today! I had no idea either! I called you as soon as I found out."
"But—…this…" M.K. lifted her hands to where her temples were beneath the helmet.
"Is it really that easy?"
"I was shocked too," Nod replied, nodding. "If I'd known I would have…"
"Would have what?"
The Jinn licked his lips.
"Just... Told you sooner."
M.K. sat down on the grass.
"This is unbelievable. I…"
She jumped up.
"I have to tell dad! Oh, but he's not home. I could call him… Ugh but he never has his phone on him! Maybe he'll be back soon—I'll go back now."
The girl finally stopped pacing and looked over at Nod, her hands clasped in front of her.
"This is fantastic! I'm so happy! I…" She paused, panting and smiling at him. "I'm so glad. I've missed y…" the last word curved and fell away. She replaced it sloppily with a new one. "Things. I've missed things. And that I don't have to choose between being a stomper and being a Jinn is too good to be true."
I'll wait until we're the same size before I say anything. She silently decided.
"I'm going home now, but I'll be back later tonight after I tell my dad. Can you be here?" she said as she started back in the direction of the house.
"Wouldn't miss it." Nod promised.
A week later…
An impossibly strong wind lifted M.K. up and into the air. Golden particles of light swirled around her and made her blink her eyes against the brightness.
But soon the squall died down and her feet met the ground in a none-too-graceful landing.
She fell right into the arms of a certain leaf-man.
"Nod." She gasped, and embraced him.
"It worked! I did it!" The young queen exclaimed from behind them, jumping up and down.
Nod and the newly shrunk M.K. smiled and turned to face the small crowd of friends.
Ronin placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and said warmly, "Good to have you back, M.K."
"Thanks Ronin."
"M.K.!" Mub and Grub cried in unison, rushing over to hug her (as best as a slug and snail can.)
"At last we're reunited my love!" Mub shouted dramatically.
He was about to hug her, but Nim Galoo cut in just in time to save her from a very slimy embrace.
"It's been too long, kid. Things are more fun with you around."
M.K. laughed and smiled, looking at the faces of all the friends she had missed so much.
"So… what do you want to do first?" Nod asked.
She turned to him and grinned.
"Anything."
He whistled and a sparrow swooped down beside them.
Nod climbed on first, then offered his hand to the red head, helping her up.
They took off as soon as she was seated, and the Queen's shouted call of "Next time I'll shrink your father too!" was somehow nearly overpowered by Nod's quiet whisper: "Put your arms around me."
As the bird glided down to land on a broad tree branch, Nod turned his head to look at M.K.
She'd wrapped her arms fully around him, and was leaning the side of her cheek against his warm back.
She could feel his deep even breaths, and the fact that he was there, there beside her, not on the other side of a screen or coming up to the tops of her feet, was a beloved miracle to her.
"M.K.?"
Her eyes were closed, and seeing the twilit sky he wondered if maybe she'd fallen asleep.
But her grip on him tightened for a split second before she released him and languorously swung her legs over the side of the sparrow to dismount.
Nod got off first in a quick, practiced movement and offered his hand to her.
Even after her feet were on the solid branch that served as a floor he didn't let go.
They looked out over the quieting forest together in silence for a moment, then M.K. suddenly let out an ecstatic laugh and flung her arms out, spinning in a circle with her head thrown back.
But she took a few too many dizzy steps on the limited tree branch and her foot slipped on the bark.
She felt herself tipping backwards and was about to yell when Nod's hand came to wrap around her wrist, pulling her back up and to him.
"Whoa!"
"Careful there!"
The freshly shrunk stomper was pressed quite closely against the grinning leaf-man's chest, where a rapidly beating heart hid. The feeling that was being passed through their gazes wasn't one that could be disregarded.
"Ha…" the redhead breathed, smiling, like him.
"So… M.K., What" exactly are we now? There's no way I can just ask that! "—did your dad say? About staying here I mean. How long?" Oh fantastic cover up. Idiot!
"This time I can only stay for about a week. But now that I know it can be done, I'll be coming back a lot more often (so long as the queen can do it, I mean). And probably for longer periods of time, too. Especially once my dad gets a chance to see things here. In fact I think once that happens you'll be begging for us to leave."
M.K. grinned wryly.
"That'll never happen."
M.K. made a surprised expression at his warm murmur, and Nod grimaced.
"Uh…No, I mean…"
He saw her take a small step back, and a sliver of space appeared between them. In his awkwardness his hands had fallen halfway to his sides.
You know what? I give up.
"Actually, that is exactly what I meant." Nod said, stepping close to her again.
His brown eyes were holding hers steadily now, and she couldn't look away.
"Stay with me, M.K. A lot. For as long as you can. Don't go."
Inside, a furious voice was calling him a selfish, mortifying idiot for saying those things, but it couldn't quite make him care, because just then M.K. whispered the words:
"Put your arms around me."
And then, moving gradually, they both leaned slowly into a kiss.
It was at once completely the same and completely different from their first kiss. All the emotion was there, and the feel of each other in their arms was the same; but this time there was not rush, no goodbye. This kiss only contained that one moment, each other, and the heart-wrenchingly deep emotion that filled them both.
It was a seemingly simple kiss, but it lasted a long time, and it said a lot.
He pulled away first, barely away.
He saw that her lips were pulled up at the corners in a dazed smile, and felt her arms looped firmly around his neck.
Her eyes were just floating open when the leaf-man swooped in for another kiss, this one quick and hard and full of "finally!'
When it ended he could feel her warm breath against his face, and she could feel a heartbeat—either his, or her own, or both.
"I—"
"Hey!" a faint voice from the ground called.
They didn't answer.
"Hey!" it sounded again, louder.
Nod groaned and peered over the edge.
"Yeah. What do you want, Nim?"
"Sorry to interrupt you two love-birds,"
M.K.'s embarrassed voice made an appearance to scold that comment. "Nim!"
"But Ronin says he has something to talk to you guys about. I have something I gotta do, but you two go on ahead. I'll meet ya there!"
"Aw, man!" M.K. exclaimed.
Nod sighed and mumbled something that sounded less than complimentary under his breath before answering, "Fine!" and whistling their transportation over.
In a flutter of wings the sparrow was back, and Nod was swinging himself into the saddle.
He offered his hand to M.K., and smoothly helped her up behind him.
"This better be important," he grumbled.
"What?! I hope it's not!"
Nod saw her nervous expression from the corner of his eye.
"Hey, relax. The last crisis just got wrapped up. There's no way there's a new one already."
He hoped he hadn't just jinxed things.
"Mm…" was her non-committal reply.
"So. Ready?"
"Yup."
"You sure?"
"Nod." She said impatiently.
"Well then," he grinned, looking ahead. "Put your arms around me."
She did.
As they flew off towards the palace (probably at a slower place than they should have) M.K. buried her face in the back of his shoulder, because she finally could, and Nod reveled in the feel of her arms around him, warming his shoulders and his back and everything else from his toes up.
If a bird loves a fish, they'll find a way.
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