Chapter 21

We followed our host to the greenhouse, where he was planning to introduce me to his wife Frances. She was indeed in front of the greenhouse, on a little terrace in the middle of heaven. Her taste in gardening was acute, and it was clear that Lukas thought so too.

He was there with her, apparently very deeply in conversation with her, his posture very noble. What was it with him that he looked the most comfortable in situations that would confuse most people? I meant to find out, but not now.

First, lady Nomes embraced Paul and kissed him, held him at arms length and looked him over: 'You look well, Paul. Being a guardian agrees with you.' He said: 'Thank you Frances, may I introduce Melissa Thorn to you?

She is my apprentice in the arts, and what I forgot to mention earlier, she is also a qualified engineer. Melissa, my very good friend Lady Frances Nomes.' We shook hands, and I got the impression that this was a very sensitive and artistic woman.

Well, her skills at gardening and composing tea certainly proved her talents. 'I'm pleased to meet you,' we said simultaneously,' both laughing at the coincidence. I added: 'Your gardens are more than just beautiful, they take my breath away.'

She clearly liked to hear that, and she said: 'I feel like I already know you, Lukas has told me about you, and what you did for him when you two first met. He is such a sweet boy, and I loved to be able to talk Greek again, he indulged me, even though his English is near perfect already.'

Sir Nomes now moved to be introduced to Lukas, and his wife did the honors: 'George, meet Lukas Hermeides, who is apprenticed to Paul as a metalworker. He has other skills as well, and he is originally from Greece, from a very different Greece than we have visited.

Lukas, this is Sir George Nomes, my husband, and father of our four children.' As they shook hands, Lukas bowed to him elegantly, and Sir Nomes also seemed to notice Lukas' noble bearing and his total assuredness around nobility.

He just asked: 'So Lukas, you seem to very used to being around people of our class, most apprentices would be quite impressed and shy, but you're just very polite, with very elegant, polished manners.'

With another bow, Lukas answered: 'You are quite right Sir, I spent my youth at my father's court, where I was taught polite manners and where I was constantly in the presence of nobility of upper and lower stature. Later, I functioned as herald for another important personage, most famous in my home-country.

It was in this capacity that I stayed over at my dad's place for a few days, and foolishly allowed myself to be taken by enemies of either him or my employer. They did not treat me well, and when I managed to flee, I got lost between worlds and ended up in Melissa's living-room.

Paul and herself have helped me build an independent life, and though I'm not quite ready to stand on my own, I have already acquired a lot of very useful skills to get by with in your reality.'

Sir Nomes was really affected by this tale, and Lukas did deliver it with dignity and a certain pride in his former life.

I couldn't wait for him to tell more, he never breathed a hint of it to us, but I suppose he needed to prove he could support himself in an alien culture first.

'I am very pleased to meet you, Lukas, and I hope we will meet often. Please know, that if you ever need sanctuary, you can come to us, where you can be yourself and will not have to hide your special features.

Feel free to use our woods and grounds to run, as the gods made you if it pleases you. I'll give your name to the gatekeeper, and you will have free admittance.

That goes for you too, Melissa, though I doubt you'd want to use the 'as the gods made you' provision.'

'Thank you Sir,' I said, and Sir Nomes said: 'Please call me George, Melissa, and you too, Lukas. Any friend of Paul's is my friend too. And Lukas said: 'Thank you so much, George, for the offer as well. It will be a pleasure not to have to hide my hoofs, though I quite like wearing clothes now. I think I will take you up on your offer soon, I've longed for a good swim, and running without shoes would be heaven.' Lady Nomes now said: 'And make sure you visit me as well, Lukas, I want to talk a lot more Greek with you, stay in practice.'

At this, Lukas looked a quite embarrassed, but he graciously assented to it: 'Of course, Milady, I certainly will be happy to visit your little corner of heaven.' This pleasantry seemed to remind Sir Nomes of another item on the agenda, and he called out: 'The greenhouse! Frances, will you do our guest the honour of showing them the greenhouse? Though I suspect you have shown Lukas here every interesting part of it already?'

Lady Nomes ignored that last remark, though I guessed it was probably true, and invited us all to come with her.

The greenhouse itself was old-fashioned, and though sound, it did not look as if it would use the heat very efficiently in winter. Of course it was steamingly hot now. I wondered if she had ever thought of asking Paul to calculate the optimal use of boiler capacity and review the piping system. But the planting was as beautiful as anything floral she layed her hands on, which reminded me of those poor trees on the wilder part of their grounds.

I decided to bring it up immediately, before something could drive it off my mind. 'Lady Nomes,' I said hesitantly, not wanting to spoil her presentation. 'Please call me Frances, dear, we're practically family,' she said, which encouraged me.

'We've been looking at wild trees on your grounds, trees that have been left by their faeries and that are now doing very badly, dying actually. You're so good with flora, couldn't you think of something to keep them alive and in reasonable condition until we've freed their faeries?'

She stopped in her tracks: 'Lukas told me about the trees, and I'll check them out tomorrow. But is it really true that the dryads are missing from our grounds?'

Paul nodded solemnly, telling her: 'We even know where they are, but I needed to know what was wrong with them before I could act. They seem possessed, but George remembered a story of dryads' souls being stolen as a source of magic, and those faeries acted the same. The trees may die before we find a way to free them.'

Now, Frances was musing: 'I have indeed missed them, but they didn't come every day anyway. Let me see, Monday, Tuesday, when did Julia have Jonas over, darling?' Sir Nomes thought, then replied: 'That was Tuesday, they took those white dress pictures in the morning, and he went out alone in the afternoon.' 'I saw dryads on Monday, but now I'd swear they tried to tell me something. But they're not very smart, you see, and they speak in riddles.' She clearly berated herself for not listening to the faeries when they came to her for help.

Lukas said in a quiet voice: 'Maybe there are some left, can you call them to you, when everything is quiet? If you take the time and ask any who turn up what has happened to the rest, you may learn something important.'

Strengthened by the prospect to be able to do something after all, Frances promised: 'If you show me the trees that are in trouble, I'll nurse them until you free the faeries, I have seldom lost a plant I really wanted to live.'

'And that is the bare truth,' her husband said, fondly. Frances continued: 'And I will come here during twilight tonight, see if a faerie wants to see me, and if one does, I'll call for you, and you can speak to it, George. Maybe you'll understand it better.'

'And if we learn anything, we'll let you know, shall I send you a messenger?' Sir Nomes asked Paul. Paul suggested, looking at Lukas questioningly: 'Maybe Lukas won't mind running over, he always runs for an hour each morning, he'd easily make it to this place, make a tour of your park without whichever part of clothing he'd like to lose, then dress again, get the message and run back.' Lukas nodded fervently: 'I'd love to do that, if you agree,' this at Sir Nomes.

'I certainly do, and I'm sure Frances would love to give you a cup of tea and some Greek conversation whilst you take a little break.' So that was decided, and then we continued our tour of the greenhouse, leaving it by the back door, looking out over an empty lot, which was weird, for one would expect it to be planted like the rest of the garden.

'And this is where it is supposed to happen,' our host now told us, 'Frances wants to have another greenhouse here, to grow our own coffee-beans of that special variety.' Against better judgement, I said: 'But coffee-beans don't grow in hothouses.'

Sir Nomes laughed, and retorted: 'That is what I said about three other things in that greenhouse over there, and Frances made them grow there just to prove me wrong. But the important thing is, I like that new glass building that they are building in your quarter, the one that looks like Crystal Palace, only prettier.

I thought, if we hire the same architect, and a contractor for the glass, would you do the iron work for us, for your usual fee of course?'

Paul and I looked at eachother and smiled: that was my building they were talking about. Still, what Paul said next surprised me a lot: 'Melissa knows that building intimately, she is the building inspector at that site.

It is her job to calculate every possible force or pressure that a building has to be able to bear to be safe, and she can see through every part of any material to check its soundness. I put it to you, that she can design a greenhouse for you, and Lukas and I can build the frame for you. You'd only need to contract the glazing, but Melissa knows every contractor in town.'

They needed to think about that, and to be honest, I did too. Designing a building was a different cup of tea from inspecting one. But I never realised Paul had remembered so much detail about my work, and his total trust in me flattered me.

He wouldn't suggest this if he didn't think I could do it. 'Think about it,' Paul said, 'I'd love to do a project from start to finish, and there is no-one I trust more than Melissa, but it's your property and money.

We'll keep in touch over the dryads anyway, won't we? We still don't know who took the souls, and how they got on your property without your alarms going off. We'd better get back home now, I don't look forward to crossing that factory site again, let alone in the dark.'

I shuddered to think of it, and though the sun would not go down for some time yet, I didn't want to cross it in daylight either. 'I had hoped to keep you for dinner,' George said, 'I can have you taken back in a carriage, no problem.'

To be honest, I longed to be home again, these were nice people, but I missed physical contact, and the constant banter that I didn't know the origins of tired me. I'd have to get used to this family in small easy steps, and I missed the privacy I had at home.

It seemed to me that Lukas wanted to go home as well, though I couldn't think why, he seemed like a fish in water amidst these nobles. Paul seemed to have his own reasons for not wanting to stay for dinner, for he made a polite excuse about being tired, and seeing more of eachother now we had a common quest.

So we took our leave, and started the long walk back. Bertha waved at us from the big house, and we soon crossed the little wood to the gate and passed through it. The transition to the real world was instantaneous, from the countyside manor to the city in the blink of an eye. As much as I liked the country, personally I preferred the city, though not the parts we'd have to traverse now. But our return trip was uneventful, and in half an hour we were back home.

I had some calculations to do, so I planned to retreat to my own appartment, and Paul suggested to Lukas they might do a little more work on an elaborate bronze bathtub due for delivery in two days. Lukas did not look happy about my leaving him, so I asked him if he needed to talk about something that happened at the estate, and he nodded vigorously.

I asked: 'Just me, or all of us?' Paul interjected: 'I think I know what happened, would you mind if I stay? I think I can set it right, partly at least.'

Lukas said: 'If you understand, please explain, I thought I understood your culture now but I'm getting more and more confused.'

Of course, I didn't understand one bit of all this talk, which irritated me after an afternoon of innuendo, so I'm afraid I commanded: 'All right, both of you, quit the innuendo and out with it. I've heard hints and allusions the whole afternoon, and I'm sick of it.

Common English please!' Though a bit over the top, it had two effects I desired, Paul took me to the couch, sat me down in the middle with him on one side, and wrapped me in his arms. Physical contact, strike one.

Lukas crashed on the other side, really close to me, and laid his curly head on my shoulder, then he started to speak: 'I went with the little girl, we checked out some trees that her sister's boyfriend had photographed because he thought they were beautiful. Some were fine, most were not. I told her we needed to tell you, but she took me to her mother instead, telling me her mom knew everything about plants.

Which is true, as I found out, but she also immediately saw me for what I am, a satyr, and that seemed to turn her on instantly.

She was married and I was with friends who were allies with her husband, but when I told her this she laughed and replied in excellent Greek, that her husband knew exactly what she was doing here. They had an arrangement, she said.

She was sweet, and quite pretty, and since she already knew what I was I let her touch my hair to look at the horn stumps. She stroked me really nicely until she found them, then fondled the stumps and their bases. It is as if she knew that'd drive me mad, for she showed me she had no underwear under her dress.

I managed to control myself, but I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there, which I'm sure stimulated her to no end. She wanted to see my hoofs as well, so she removed my shoes, amazed at their ingeniousness, I may add. Then my pants, and I must admit I still didn't move. She fondled my hoofs, my hocks, stroking my legs up to my buttocks, where she was thrilled to find my tail. She was really sweet, but I also felt a bit like a favourite horse being fondled, she stroked my mottled skin, under my shirt, removing that as well, until I was stark naked.

Of course I had a full erection by now, and she eagerly licked it, took it in her mouth slowly, temptingly. Then she got up and kissed me, caressing the base of my horns again, and then I lost it. I kissed her back like maniac, and she offered herself to me where we stood. I plunged into her, her hands still on my horns, stimulating me to greater and greater efforts. She made a lot of noise, and seemed to enjoy herself, continuing to urge me on.

I spilled my seed in her and felt, well, a bit dirty. As if I had been bad. I'm afraid your morals are rubbing off on me. She noticed I wasn't happy about it and said she was sorry, then we rearranged our clothes and sat there, and she totally made up for it, for we talked really nicely about, well everything.

She was like a mother when we were sitting there, and I have missed my mom ever since she passed away, so I felt better about being there and meeting her. I mean, it wasn't a big deal, we had sex, and she liked it.

And I really liked talking to her in my own language. And then you came and I kept a straight face, but when her husband started hinting at it, I realised he knew, he had known before it happened, even enjoyed the idea. And I felt used all over again, realising his offer to me to use his grounds for swimming and running without shoes was an invitation to do his wife.

To satisfy her lust for non-humans or for younger men, I don't know. I still like her a lot, and I would love to meet her again, and talk with her as a son, but I don't know if I'd be able to have sex with her. One doesn't do that with one's mother.'

I just couldn't believe my ears, Lukas felt used! But I did have to believe it after a while, and he looked so sad and vulnerable, as if he didn't have the right to refuse sex because of what he was, and I hugged him tightly and told him: 'You may refuse sex any time you want, and you have every right to feel used. I'm certain you've never forced yourself on anyone.'

And now Paul sat on his other side, putting an arm around him, and said: 'I must confess I knew George and Frances had a marriage of convenience. She has a taste for younger men, especially non-humans, and he prefers lovers of the same sex.

Of course that could ruin him if anyone found out, so he married an artistic, nice woman of the same class, both knowing the other's preferences and giving eachother space. It usually works really well for them, but had I known she wouldn't give you time to make up your mind I would have saved you from her.

I'm sorry Lukas, you were indeed used, though I think she realises it. If you want to, I'll speak to her so it won't happen again. I suppose you do want to see her again, seeing as they've the one place in this world where you can truly be yourself?'

This made Lukas doubt himself again: 'Of course I want to go there again, I like her. Now I find it hard to understand why I didn't just enjoy the situation and the sex. Do you think I'm really changing my morals?

Thank you for wanting to help me, Paul, I appreciate it, though I do think I need to talk to her myself. Maybe I'll even start to like her in that way, but I'd like it to be my own decision.' Now the time was ripe to tease him a little: 'You may turn into a Victorian yet, dear Lukas. Be very, very careful! Better go to a rave-party again soon.'

Ignoring my foolish bantering, Paul asked Lukas: 'With this off your chest, are you ready to put in an hour on that bathtub together? Let Melissa finish her calculations, and we can discuss the rest we learned over dinner.'