Chapter 4: Falling slowly into …

The old man sat by the fire, gazing at each flame licking the air. Surrounded by the tools of his trade as a medicine man of a tribe far from home, he watched the flames dance their story and wood crackle its song. His face was sober as he gazed, sighing as if to hear a sad tale. The younger man was cautious in his approach, hoping that he was not intruding in anything the old sage may be doing. The elder turned his eyes to his assistant and nodded to hear the young man.

"Elder… I have learned that one of ours has passed," he said in a hushed manner. "Her in-laws have asked if there are traditions that must be met."

The old man looked at the younger as if to question if there was something missing in his statement.

"She is survived by a young son. All other family members are back home on Ganelv," he quickly added.

"I will head out to the boy, see if there is anything he may need," the old man said, looking back to the fire. "Pack my bags with what I will need for the mother's pyre. I will take care of the rest."

The young man bowed deeply to his mentor as he left. Grabbing some herbs nestled in a bowl near his side, the old man placed them in a small clay plate on the fire's edge. As they started to smoke, he sighed once more before going into a chant to invoke the spirits of his home world.

o0o0o0o

Charlie wanted to take a picture of the two boys in his charge. To him, this was funny as all get out. Lance had kicked the sheets off him and was spread eagle across the bed, his leg over Keith's waist and an arm over Keith's head. Keith was facing Lance with his arm across Lance's chest, his fist in a ball just under his chin. If Charlie didn't know better, it would have been a still photo of a fight. Leaving the boys to wake themselves, Charlie headed to the kitchen to whip up breakfast.

o0o0o0o0o

Keith's head hurt and he felt cold. He tried to open his eyes, but it was hard to focus. Something was pinching his hips. Trying to focus again, he could make out snowflakes drifting by his hands. There were shards of glass and snowflakes around him. The smell of metal and gas filled his nose. The car… he was in the car.

"Mother… " he moaned as he tried to right himself.

"Shh, be still my baby… "A woman's voice said to him.

"Mother, where are you?" Keith cried. Looking around, the broken car was empty save for him. "Mother?" Keith called out again.

The snow seemed to become thicker as it fell, creating a strange haze around the lights of the nearby truck and car. In the grey snow-filled sky, a black mass was forming above him. Keith started shaking violently as he felt his body become colder. He watched as the dark mass spread out wings as it landed near the car. Its shape shifted into the form of a large bird. Pitch black save for its glowing yellow eyes and the reddish feathers upon its chest. It stood taller than the truck, a deep blue haze around it. It leaned down toward the small, shivering child, its beak just a mere foot from his nose.

* ( Keith ) *

The voice pounded into his head with a shock causing him to jump awake.

"Oh man, Keith. What was that for?" Lance moaned.

Keith opened his eyes again. He was in the guest bed. Looking over the edge of the bed, he could see Lance's butt in the air, his face firmly planted into the carpet.

"Sorry about that, Lance," he squeaked. "I had… a strange dream."

"Okay, whatever. You need the john or can I go first?" Lance asked, trying to get his hair out of his face.

Keith shook his head. He still needed to clear the fog from his head. The dream seemed so real to him. The bird's breath still seemed to be on him. He quickly changed into some daytime clothes and started to fix the sheets.

"We can finish that later, I smell pancakes!" Lance ran in.

"What?" Keith said, not noticing the smell drifting from down the hallway.

"PANCAKES!" Lance growled. He pranced about as he tried to get his pants zipped. "You do know what those are?"

"Yeah, I do," Keith moaned. "I just don't see the big deal."

Lance rolled his eyes at Keith and puffed his reddish brown hair from his face. Keith was such a stick-in-the-mud if not just a bore. Somewhere in that kid had to be a fun dude, or at least someone who was okay to hang with.

"Okay… maybe there is something to these pancakes to get worked up about," Keith thought as he started to work into his second serving. Charlie was pretty good at making them and seemed to like making two kinds. Today, it was plain buttermilk and the other was caramelized pineapple. The maple syrup sent the flavor into overdrive. Lance was gobbling them down like crazy with a goofy grin on his face.

"So, boys, what plans do you have in mind for today?" Charlie asked as Lance started to pile on a third stack on his plate. "I have some calls to make, so I hope they are not anything big."

Keith poked the scrambled eggs he had on the side of his plate. He couldn't think of what he wanted to do.

"I was thinking of showing Keith the area. Maybe head down to the edge of town on my bike to the Pappy's Corner store and the bike park," Lance quipped with a mouthful of pancakes.

"Mmm… I think you should keep away from the Park. From what I hear, the trails are not so good right now." Charlie told them. "If you two are going to be on the same bike, I don't want you going anywhere too far."

"Fine… "Lance moaned

Keith chuckled. The TV in the background was talking about the weather. The snow that had plowed though the state was done for the next few days. "If only it could warm up," Keith thought. Somehow, it felt as if the cold from the dream he had was still with him.

Later, Keith was staring at Lance's bike in the driveway. It was nothing too fancy. A basic Off-track bike with rods on its axles so one could stand on the wheels. "You do tricks?" Keith asked, as Lance handed him a helmet.

"I can do a bit right now. But just watch, one day I'll be a famous Bike star," Lance declared with a smug grin as he sat on his bike.

Keith shook his head and propped his feet on the rods on the rear wheel. "Whatever, let's just see what your town has to offer," he moaned as he grabbed onto Lance.

o0o0o0o0o

Charlie watched as the two boys headed off to ride about the town. He had already called his fellow officers to keep an eye on the two while he dealt with the uneasy task of making the appointments with the head shrinks, finding out from the coordinator as to when Keith's family on Earth would be coming for him and all whatnot. Keith seemed to be doing okay. But Keith's behavior was like a little bug, itching under the surface, crying out that something was off.

Perhaps Keith was doing too well. That or Lance was doing one heck of a job distracting Keith from his emotions. Or, he thought as he was flipping though the paperwork looking for the numbers he had to call, perhaps Keith was still in shock. It might all come out, once reality set in. But he wasn't a doctor. Sighing, he picked up the phone and dialed for the person handling Keith's case. It was time to find out what was going to be happening with him.

o0o0o0o0o

It seemed too weird to him. Keith could not help how the sensation felt like flying as Lance pedaled down the streets. A few times, he would close his eyes and let the winds caress his face. He had a moment where he wanted to raise his arms as if to soar, but as he loosened his grip, he almost lost his balance. The town wasn't too much different from the one near his home. There were perhaps more Mom-and-Pop stores, but nothing that really stood out. Nothing unique.

That bothered Keith more. Maybe he'd have to move in with his Aunt. She wasn't a bad person. His Uncle was okay as well as his cousins. It just wasn't home near the Ganelvian cluster. Aunt Toru lived in the Japanese area of Houston. It was a nice area, but he preferred his mother's side more. Perhaps that was what hurt the most, the loss of everything that was his mother.

No more joining her when she went to council, or dancing with her at the gatherings. Gone would be the Ganelv songs she would sing as he went to sleep.

"Ah, Keith?" Lance choked out. "You're starting to strangle me."

"Oh… sorry, Lance," Keith said as he loosened his grip.

Lance looked behind him at Keith. It freaked him a bit how Keith's eyes glowed. It seemed the blue of his eyes were so pale, they were almost white. Against his tanned skin, his eyes looked to reflect any and all the light about them. "Keith… I've been meaning to ask. What is it about your eyes?" Lance asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well… they look like they are glowing," Lance replied in a sheepish manner.

"Huh?" Keith blurted. With that, the light went out of his eyes. Staring back at Lance was a normal pair of bright blue eyes.

"Um… Never mind. Must have been the way the light was reflecting," Lance muttered as he returned his focus on pedaling to corner store.

Inside Pappy's Corner, there were a few things Keith didn't expect to find. There were homemade candies and fudge, strange do-hickeys and what-nots. All jumbled with sodas, chips and smokes. Lance was spellbound to the display of fudges, while Keith was trying to figure out a bunch of nails twisted into the shape of a man hunting deer would appeal to anyone. "So, what do you want to get?" Lance asked, interrupting Keith's train of thought.

"Get what?" Keith muttered.

"I don't know, soda, snack, something to twiddle your thumbs with," Lance snorted back. "Actually, never mind. I'll pick something out for both of us."

Lance didn't want to come off rude. Anyone could see Keith was out of it. Picking out some Salty Pretzel dark chocolate fudge, a couple slices of pizza and sodas, Lance handed the bag to Keith as they headed out the store. It was too quiet for Lance's liking as they walked towards a small park. Keith looked like he was falling deep into himself as they got closer to the park bench.

"You okay, Keith? Do we need to get back ho… to my uncle's place?" Lance asked, catching his mistake.

He was going to say "home", but it hit him. Home for Keith was kind of gone. Anything that was familiar was going to change. For a moment, Lance could feel Keith's pain, the need to cry and the tightness in his chest. By the time they were at the bench, Keith broke down. Lance knew he could do nothing but hold on to Keith as he mumbled something in a different tongue. He thought of cracking a joke on how Keith was shaking the soda, but changed his mind and took the bag from Keith.

Lance watched the few stray snowflakes fall from the nearby trees softly to the ground. "Stupid snow," Lance thought. Above the trees, Lance could see a large bird circle the park about them. He couldn't make it out what type it was, "Damn vulture, go away." Lance wanted to say out loud. "There's nothing for you here." The bird seemed to vanish on command.

Lance at first, he thought it was strange, but dismissed it to not seeing the bird actually fly away. He went back to holding Keith closely as he continued to cry. That was the good thing about pizza. It was fine even if it was cold.