Earth & Fire
7
A large cup of soup is placed in front of the three of them haphazardly and Billy wheels himself to the other side of the table, smiling largely. The three teens look at each other and then at Billy before gratefully gulping down the native man's special soup concoction.
"Haven't seen you two in a while," Billy begins over his own cup of soup. He cracks a smile, looking at Leah and Seth, "What? Did your mother send you?"
"No, Billy." Leah begins awkwardly. "I— I actually needed to ask you something. Something related to our history."
Billy's smile widens, "Ah, finally taking interest?" He takes a sip and nods at his son, "Wish Jake would stop by and hear abut the old legends more often." When Jacob doesn't look at him, he continues, "There's going to be a bonfire in a couple weekends, and Old Quil is going to tell a story about Dask'iya —that was Jakes's favorite when he was younger," Billy informs the Clearwater siblings. He turns back to Jacob, "And I think you all should come, and Jacob, you should bring along that imprint of yours, I'd love to meet her."
Jacob starts, starring at his father in surprise, "But—"
"I've already cleared it with the council, any imprint of any wolf is welcome here."
And just like that, everything is okay again.
Leah sighs, the tension between Jacob and his dad had almost been unbearable. From the moment they stepped in, an invisible wall had been thrown up. Billy hadn't been as accepting of Renesmee as he could of been, especially since he knows that it is something Jacob can't control. The fact that Jacob adores and fiercely protects Nessie at all cost hadn't exactly helped the situation.
But this is Billy's way of apologizing, or at least accepting her, and Jacob's smile almost splits his face in half.
Leah has to give the hold man props; he's good at apologizing without actually apologizing. Fighting for Renesmee's rights to enter Lapush was good and must've been hard as hell. The delivery was just as smooth and swift. Leah practically got a whiplash at the news.
"Seriously?" Jacob is at his father's side before Leah or Seth could even blink. "Dad, I can't believe—"
"I know, son. I was wrong."
"—And I promise, you'll love her."
"I believe you,"
"—And she's absolutely perfect—"
Leah makes a vomitting gesture and Seth snickers behind his giant cup of soup. Billy turns to smile at the both of them, his eyes crinkling in the corners. Jake takes a seat next to his dad and starts a long conversation about cars and fish before he notices that Leah has begun to glare at him. Billy must notice too because he says, "So, Leah, you wanted to ask me something?"
Leah shifts uncomfortably. She can feel Seth's eyes on her too, as she and Jake hadn't exactly explained anything to him either.
She wants to pretend that none of this had never happened, but instead, she opens her mouth and tells Billy about a vampire who's not her imprint.
When she finishes, Seth just looks confused. He gives her a look like 'are you sure you're not just in denial?' and then actually says, "Hey Leah, are you sure you're not just in denial?"
Leah hits him, "Yes, I'm sure. It's hard to believe, I know, but when you're back in my head you'll know it's not an imprint."
"She's right," Jacob says, "When I was in her head, there was a pull, but it was no imprint. It was more like a connection…like a…"
"A silver cord," Leah says, and all of a sudden she gets the perfect picture of what the connection is. It is made of stardust and the cosmos and fucking attached to her chest like a goddamn chain. "Like a cord connected to my chest and traveling through space."
"And this cord connects to the vampire's chest, am I correct?" Billy asks, his eyes on her.
"Yeah," Leah grumbles. "Since it isn't an imprint, I figured that I could just ignore it. But that appears to be false." She turns to Billy, "Do you have any idea what it is? And how I can fucking get rid of it?"
Billy puts his hand on his chin, musing, "Any other strange events?"
"Well…" Leah thinks about her wolf being strong, how even now her senses are on the highest level. How she can hear the wings of a bird flap from all the way outside. "No. Nothing."
It can't be important to this situation; and she doesn't need another reason to be called a freak.
"Hmm," Billy muses. "I'm sorry Leah, but I can't think of any legends that go along with your situation. But I might know someone who may."
"Really?" Leah perks up considerably. "Please don't say Old Quil." God, the guy is old and moldy and seconds away from dying. Besides that, he hates her guts, which isn't really anything new for Leah.
Billy chuckles good-naturedly, "No. Someone much older."
Great. Old people. For a person who may very well live forever, Leah really hates the prospect of aging, even if her body doesn't actually do it.
"How's that possible?" Seth mumbles, "Old Quil's like a thousand years old. Unless who you're talking about is a vampire, there's no way they're that old."
"Yeah, and how come I've never heard of them? Are they Quileute?" Leah questions.
"Yes, he is Quileute. He was on the council before you all were born and has served Lapush well for many years. Now he lives in a nursing home in Seattle, so he can be closer to his daughter and grandchildren."
"An elder who hasn't been dammed to stay on the Rez for his whole life? Amazing." Leah mutters sarcastically.
Billy just ignores her comment. "My uncle, Thomas Black, knows just about every Quileute legend ever passed down, orally and written, from the beginning, Q'wati to the defeat of Thunderbird—"
"So an older version of Old Quil," Seth says.
"With more stories and less tradition." Billy says. "That's who you need to see."
"Okay," Leah sighs, "I'll see him."
"Good," Billy smiles at her as he scribbles down the address on a piece of newspaper, "Just a warning though, he may be going senile."
"Wonderful."
-:- -:- -:-
Leah has settled into her position as Beta of the pack easily. Authoritative roles come naturally to her, it seems, and she thinks she gets it from her mom. It helps that Jacob is laziest Alpha ever, and basically lets Leah order the rest of them around all she wants. Honestly, all the guy does is eat and and float around Renesmee.
Speaking of Renesmee, the kid is smiling at her and waving her over with her tiny hands. The vampires part like the red sea as Leah walks over. She tries not to tremble, still unused to excess of red eyes on her unprotected back.
Her long legs cross in front of the kid and Jacob as she sits in the grass, she can just see Bella starring at them from inside of the house. Leah glares at her before turning to her daughter, "'Sup kid?"
"Hello Leah." The half-breed grins briefly, and then turns to the book resting in her lap.
Leah raises an eyebrow, "Did you want something?" She looks at Jake, who just shrugs at her.
"You looked lonely. Mommy says that if you want people to be friends with you, you have to do nice things for them and help make them happy."
"Interesting advice," Leah muses, her eyes low and bored, "Be careful with that, though. You don't want people to take advantage of you."
Leah almost feels sorry for the girl; Bella has a lifetime's worth of shitty advice, and Nessie has more than one lifetime to hear all about it.
"May I tell you a secret?" Nessie asks, her smile polite and a little hesitant. Leah shares a look with Jacob over Renesmee's head and nods slowly.
"'Bout what?" Leah asks, watching Renesmee fidget after the wolf girl's eyes land on the girl's outstretched hand. "Oh. You want to do the mind thingy, don't you?"
Renesmee nods, "Do you mind?"
Leah makes a face but nods. "I guess not." The basically-newborn touches her cheek, and her thoughts become a sensation of voices and smells.
Like the Earth.
"What do you know about, Leah?" The Egyptian vampire asks.
"Barely anything," Edwards replies, which is a lie. He knows everything about everyone, but at least he respects her enough to keep his mouth shut. "Why?" He cracks a smile, "Did she threaten you or something?"
"No," Benjamin looks puzzled, "There's this connection that I just—"
The vision cuts off abruptly, and Renesmee removes her hands, looking sheepishly over her shoulder.
And there he is, standing behind her. His eyes glance around at the three of them before focusing on Leah. "Can we…talk?"
Leah stands swiftly. Yes, they'll talk. She needs to end this one way or another. "Damn, you leeches sure are persistent."
-:- -:- -:-
Benjamin doesn't know if he should be offended or not, but he follows her long legs until they stand in a clearing a little ways away from the Cullen mansion.
She's very different in human form. Everything about her is much more abrasive and strong. She is all hard edges and steel, and the look on her face screams annoyance. "What exactly do you want from me?"
Benjamin isn't quit used to all this animosity. He blinks, slightly confused at her outrage, "I just want to figure this out."
"Figure what out?" Leah pretends she does not know. Her eyes avoid his gaze.
"This." He decides to be brave, and reaches his out. His fingertips brush her skin as light as a feather, but with that simple brush, electricity. The feeling buzzes down his arm, and when he looks at her, he knows she feels it too.
Electricity and something else; something warm, something hot.
Suddenly, the sun is hot on his back and his skin is dusted with dirt and sand. Everything blurs with colors and sounds and thousands of brown hands brush against his skin and clothing and he is saying,
"Come to the show! Come see the show!"
Benjamin moves his way through the crowded streets of Cairo, Egypt, passing out yellowed papers with words half the population cannot read. "Come to Ahmad's Amazing Show!"
Calling it a show is an overstatement. It is more of a street performance, done to gain his uncle a spot of cash. Benjamin of course, is his Uncle's most profitable act, because Benjamin can do things with water and fire and make the earth crumble under his feet.
"Get out of the way, kid!" A bearded man shoves him aside and the flyers Benjamin had taken his time making, fly out his hands like rain that never falls. He'd spent hours trying to perfect the curves of the letters, honing the only skill his mother had managed to teach him before her death. Eleven year old Benjamin bends to retrieve them, his voice not nearly as loud as before. "S-sorry sir."
He shuffles along with the crowd, the flyers that he'd managed to scavenge from the ground are crumbled in his fists. He'd thought the flyers would help; and Benjamin is obsessed with earning his keep. Even if he is his uncle's most profitable performer, his uncle did not have to take him in after the death of his mother and sister, especially since times are hard.
"What show?" A voice says to his left, startling him so bad he almost drops the papers again. Instead, he grabs a crumbed one and thrusts it at the person next to him. "Um…a circus! Kind of."
"Kind of?"
"Y-yeah…" He finally looks to see a girl his age scrunching up her nose. Her hair is a mess around her head and is as dark as Egypt is at night. Her lips are full and pink and her skin is as brown as the mahogany of his uncle's treasured money-box. She is a few shades darker than his golden-brown glow. Her bright clothes contrast her complexion and she wears read and blue strings tied around her wrists like pretend bangles.
The thing that catches him off guard are her eyes. They are browner than him yet lighter than the sun. They shine with mirth, and she grins at him, an abundance of curls covering her eyes and flying around her shoulders.
Benjamin is immediately enthralled. For a dirty girl, she sure is pretty, her teeth sure are sparkly, and her feet even have pretty red flats on them.
He feels his face flush with blush, wondering how hair could be that black and curly and long and why her eyes are glowing like they'd just stole the sun's shine.
Then, she opens her mouth and the spell is broken. She points to a hand-drawn monkey on the page(Benjamin had worked hard drawing it! It didn't help that he had to draw, like, 50!) and laughs. "Is this you? It looks just like you!" She bursts into absurd giggles.
Benjamin snatches the paper from her fingertips. "What?" He immediately decides he doesn't like her or her shiny red shoes. Or her curly curly hair. Or her eyes that mimic the sun and moon at the very same time.
"Tell me," She says between giggles, "Is your favorite food bananas?"
"That wasn't even funny," He grumbles, turning away, annoyed and slightly offended. For the record, he looks nothing like a monkey! And it's not his fault his handwriting skills are better than his drawing!
He begins to walk away, balling up the rest of the flyers as he goes, trying to get the image of the rude girl out his head.
A few seconds later, a brown hand is closing in his own. "Wait!" She snatches him back with force that seems unreal. She smiles awkwardly as his body jerks, "Sorry."
She looks down at her feet, "I would like to go. Could you take me?"
Benjamin stares at her, trying to ignore the fact that her eyes are swimming in gold and hope. "Why should I?" This girl must be crazy. She'd just called him a monkey not three minutes ago!
"Because…we're friends now!"
"We are?" Benjamin raises a dark eyebrow. The adults move around them like scattered cattle. The girl's hand tightens in his.
"Leila!"
The girl turns her head, her curls bouncing with every movement. The honey in her eyes dim and she turns back to Benjamin, whispering like she is sharing with him her greatest secret. "I will meet you at those stalls," She points to the fragrance stand, "At sunset, okay?"
"Leila!" The sound is coming from the camels and to Benjamin's amazement, a hand comes down and grabs the girl by the scruff of her neck. "Where have you been? And just look how dirty you've gotten! How many times have I told you…"
Benjamin watches with amazement as an arm filled with golden bangles pulls the girl onto another camel adorned with bright colors and sparkling things. The high feminism voice continues to scold, never once looking down at him.
But the girl's eyes remain on him and her lips are smiling thinly, holding a secret.
He doesn't think he can be more surprised, but seconds later, a Turkish man begins to reprimand her in another language. He has a full belly and bright robes. He continues to scold, but the girl just winks.
Then it clicks and Benjamin's jaw drops in amazement. He's just met the governor's daughter. The Turkish governor had come to Cairo, fallen in love with an Egyptian woman and had remained ever since.
Leila waves discretely, and points to the fragrance stand. Seconds later, she disappears from the crowd.
The sun is hot on his back, and all he can think about his how her eyes shined with mischief.
When Benjamin comes back, Leah is gone, and the pieces are all falling into place.
an. Whoa lots going on, huh? I think this is the longest chapter I've written for this fic.
Yes there will be actually Quileute stuff on here (only a little) but I make sure to do my research. Quileute Native American's and their traditions should be respected even if it's fiction. Obviously, I'm going to be building on it, but I really didn't want to go into this fix knowing nothing about their beliefs and legends. Fun fact! From researching, I learned that Quileute's main belief is that their people came from wolves—but there was only one shifter who made that transition. His name was Q'wati, I believe, and he started the tribe.
Also, Benjamin was born sometime in the 1700s (1740s or 50s? idk its from the Wiki page) in Cairo this would put us in the Ottoman Empire where Turkish governors are common.
Some of the stuff written about Ben is Canon btw! Him being a street performer is true, along with some other things later on.
Review!
