Alia closed her eyes and stood still.
High rocky mountains and dark forests surrounded her in a cold yet friendly embrace, and she had welcomed them. Had let them find their place inside her. And now she had the strength of Corraidhín's peak and the quietness of the Dubhthach Eí Forest, where the rose purple Fairyslipper opened its petals. The power without beauty is harsh, without calm is rowdy. A fae has to embody them all.
Alia inhaled deeply.
The air was crisp and smelled of wet soil, and she felt balanced and ready. Without a conscious decision her body jumped sideways bending backward at the same time to avoid a blade from his first opponent, then she slashed his neck with the traditional scimitar in her right hand and drew a drop of blood from the throat of the second competitor with the dagger in her left hand.
A dance and a challenge.
She regained an upright position and bowed slightly to her parring partners, two male fairies of Niall's Guard. Both stood clenching their slightly bleeding neck and throat, and bowed stiffly to the blond fae.
Alia's limited body strength was countered by her strong mind and no one by now thought to win easily with the lithe telepath. Even if very few knew of the extent of her mental prowess and most considered her ability came from the mastery of magic, the respect she had garnered was renewed constantly by her performances as Assistant to lord Dermot, the Envoy from the Triumvirate, to lord Dillon, the Delegate to the Triumvirate, and to prince Niall, the nominally ruler of the Brigant house.
In fact, during the last three years and a half, Alia had assisted her relatives in their diplomatic missions to the Water and Earth Fairies' Kingdoms, facilitating the signature of agreements, treaties and several trilateral arrangements as well as joint missions to Dae strongholds in the Earth dimension.
Her encounters with Aengus had decreased because of their different commitments, but neither of them had tried to find more opportunities for meeting than those allowed by their obligations. When it happened Alia and Aengus easily fell into their usual pattern of intense sexual exchanges.
Dermot, for his part, had ceased to make advances to her since Aengus had become her casual sex partner, and treated her respectfully as a treasured resource and a loved relative. Indeed, in their journeys they had found again the easiness of sharing quarters and company as they had experienced when living together on Earth. Alia had come to perceive Dermot's resemblance to her brother reassuring instead of uncomfortable and they had worked well together.
Niall, however, had changed. He had always had a sort of ambiguity about him, since their first encounter on Earth, and Alia had alternatively trusted and suspected his motives without really understanding anything of the man himself. Surely, a being of over a thousand years was intrinsically different from an average human, and the mere fact that one could think in terms of centuries made his thoughts so convoluted as to be almost impenetrable. Alia had experienced that as a kind of gap hard to bridge with fairies, daemons and vampires alike.
Yet, since she had been informed that her own lifespan would presumably reach those same lengths her way of thinking had somehow drifted, rather imperceptibly at the beginning, then noticeably even to herself those days.
Her half-dae godfather had contacted her a few days earlier to give the usual account about her relatives on Earth, namely her brother and his family. He had underlined the fact that they were getting older, as the time lag -though sensibly slowed down- was still quite unbalanced between their dimensions. Cataliades had said something in the order of forty years, but Alia did not recall very well, and that was exactly what startled her now. She had noticed since her coming to the fae world that her appearance had got younger than her actual age, and her energy and vitality had increased too. However, the real changeover in her way of thinking had been when she had begun to relate her younger and energetic body to the news that her lifespan would have been in the order of hundreds of years. It had happened a few years ago and, nonetheless, she had not paid it the deserved attention.
Jason was getting older, his children were adults now. A nephew, Corbett Mitchell, and a niece, Sookie Adele.
Alia felt weirdly unresponsive. She watched the face of the guard waiting for her word, the familiar landscape of the Northern Territories around her and, finally, her weapons, a dagger and a scimitar. The weapons were jewels of craftsfaeship, a gift from her swordmaster Chadwick the Dancer (the perfectly balanced dagger, which felt as an extension of her own arm) and from Aengus (the traditional patrician blade of choice) on the day of her ceremony. They were her most cherished possessions.
"Tell my great-grandfather that I'll meet him in an hour." Alia said to the guard and turned her gaze to the Dubhthach Eí Forest so as to find there, among the coniferous hard greens and the wiles of innocent orchids, a way to soothe the distant anxiety enveloping her mind.
"Alia, my child," Niall said with distant affection, "your insight has been correct, as usual, and now they are willing to welcome our… suggestions." Her great-grandfather was speaking of the Earth Fairies clan they were discussing an agreement with about the portals use rules.
Alia was beyond the stage where his terms of endearment annoyed her. This behaviour of his had become like a garish garment she did not like to see but, not wearing it herself, she was not to blame. And, at the end of the day, it could be listed under his many outlandish quirks some of which, by the way, were migrating to her, or so her friend Rhiannon told her the last time they had met. But her fae-dae companion did not know of her years as crazy Sookie and of the blank face she had worn to mask her feelings against everybody's assault to her mind. Now, she had simply resumed her old habit to disguise her reaction when purposely reading a mind or dealing with an impervious counterpart.
"Good. May I skip the next meeting, then?"
"Dear, it would be better to come. You can just sit and be quiet. Your mere presence would be enough." Niall proposed with a faint smile.
The blond fairy nodded. "I was thinking of going back to Earth for a while. Desmond told me the time lag is quite relevant, now."
"Yes, it is. But everything is fine, dearest."
"Yes, I know. Maybe I'd rather meet Jason again, instead of walking his coffin to the cemetery." Alia replied.
"Is he ill? I didn't know of it."
The fairy thought that even irony was wasted on her oldest relative. "No, Niall, no illness that Desmond spoke about. It's just age, you know, average humans tend to last decades, not centuries."
"Oh, sure," Niall was unfazed by her bitter remarks. "Did you mention it to Aengus?"
"No. Not yet. I was just thinking it today." Alia noticed the way the older fairy referred to his grand-child, and could not help to hear a hint of dismay, trepidation, disquiet? She could not place it correctly and shook away the sensation while heading to the next room to change for the meeting.
The summit wrapped up in two more days and Alia chose to go back to the Orlagh's Valleys with a horse, instead of teleporting with her great-grandfather. She referred to them as horses, but they were taller and stronger than average Earth's mammals, ran longer distances and faster than their equivalent on the other dimension and, by all means, they were a different breed. Still they had an air of horses about them and Alia used them as first means of transport.
Moreover, at the present time, a horse ride would give her time to think and, especially, to be alone with herself. Indeed, one of the main reason she loved those animals and the transport services they provided was that they let her time to adjust from a place to another. She never got used to teleporting and, given that she could not teleport and not always her kin were available to take her around, horses were her favourite choice. In the last years Aengus had pushed her to resume her teleporting lessons, as her spark had increased enormously since her arrival and she could probably master it as of now. She had agreed but postponed it indefinitely.
"Aengus won't like it," Niall said. "He told me you two have a round of meetings with daemons in a few days. He surely would prefer you to be at home at once."
Alia felt a hint of irritation, but dampened it immediately and smiled nonchalantly. "I'm sure he would tell me what he prefers. He knows how to find me."
Dillon looked after her mother, Branna, a water fairy Niall had married long ago, with milky white skin and dark hair and eyes. Alia had learned something more about him in the last years, accompanying him to official meetings with other fae clans. His demeanour and appearance that, at the beginning, had struck her as scary and aloof, now seemed less distressing and his company was tolerable, sometimes even pleasant. His relationship with his wife Binne seemed very shaky, as she was not appearing at formal and less formal gatherings since a few years. On the contrary, his mood and general disposition had improved after that, and the telepath's formal commitments with him had resulted less uncomfortable to endure.
Now, as Alia watched Dillon and his son together in the formal sitting room of the Brigants' mansion, she realised Aengus was a healthier version of his father. Taller and heavier built than him, her cousin's face retained the same aloof expression of his father but was handsome and, therefore, less scary and unwelcoming. They rarely laughed, and when it happened it was evident that their facial features were not used with the movements involved in that countenance. Yet, Alia was used to more expressions from Aengus and his overall behaviour with her was all but frightening. Simply, she did not catch every nuance of Dillon's behaviours and unconsciously gave the father the attributes she had seen in his son.
"Fae," Dillon welcomed her, "it seems your animal is slow or doesn't know the way home."
"I dropped by Rhiannon," Alia said bowing slightly her head.
"How are her children doing?" Aengus' eyes were on her, his stance conveying mild annoyance.
"Very well, I'd say: running, screaming, crying, complaining, fighting. All children's stuff."
"I see. Rhiannon shall be exultant."
"Yes, a bit tired too." Alia exhaled noisily. "As I am too. I'll see you two later on, I guess."
"You have to report on the meeting," Aengus said. "Now."
"I'm having a shower, now," countered Alia. "If you want to join me I'll report verbally."
"Fae," Aengus said following her, "don't make me regret all the leeway I've given you."
"If you behave, I'll let you wash my back," she said smiling, once they were alone on the stairs leading to the upper floor. She went to the rooms she usually occupied when at the family residence, undressed in the sitting room and entered the adjoined bathroom.
"Talks went smoothly after the first two days," Alia said feeling the temperature of the water filling the bathtub. "Only two people were opposed to your advice. Did not Niall fill you in?"
"Yes. Fialka and Eldon." Aengus was undressing slowly under Alia's gaze. "I wanted to know from you what or who was behind it."
"It was not clear, I just got some images, a few names and the feeling of fear and greediness," Alia had already explained to him how it was like reading a mind. People rarely had clear and strong thoughts, unless caught in a very delicate task and all their attention, conscious and unconscious, was absorbed in the action. Usually people had a lot of thoughts all at once, even when engaged in a determined work, and the only way to pick the relevant thought was to take the conversation or the person's attention to the very matter of investigation, or to distract him and delve into his mind. With fairies, who had generally strong minds and detected any intrusion as a disturbing itch at the nape or a strong and sudden headache, it was better to tread carefully.
"Do tell." Aengus said sitting on the bottom of the bathtub, and helping Alia straddling him. Alia watched him. Sometimes he appeared dubious about her. He knew the difficulties in reading minds, both Rhiannon and Alia had explained so in detail, but he had also put to the test Alia's skills and she had fared better than her fae-dae tutor had anticipated. This latter, in fact, had told Alia that Iana had the most convoluted mind Rhiannon had ever touched, and naturally reacted fiercely in case of intrusion. Alia, however, the day of her ceremony, had delved deeply and undetected in her mind, and had located all the messages Aengus had put into the girl's mind. That day Aengus had risked a lot, letting Alia know the real force of his mental powers, but he had never regretted it. To her knowledge.
There had been a time, around the time of her ceremony, that he had been hesitant with her, as if she could have done something wrong and he would not have stopped her. Or maybe yes. It had lasted months. Alia too had been uncertain, but could not say why. Then, her engagements and his commitments had taken over and the moment was over.
"Lucilla is one name, then Alfyn and Rogan. I had the feeling they're water fae, but I'm not sure. The image was a woman, long red-brownish hair, hazel-brown eyes, beautiful in a hard way, strong features, I've never seen her. Both Fialka and Eldon were terrified by her."
"Excellent." Aengus caressed and kissed her breasts, while one hand went down stroking her not too gently. "You're precious and tasty… mmm, so good… take me inside, now."
Alia considered to refuse, just to annoy him. But she was excited and enjoyed his ministrations. She lifted, lowered herself on him and stood still. "Don't you want to know anything else?"
"Mmm, yes. Move, now."
"Lucilla promised a wife to Eldon, and children, and riches on Earth." She slid up and down, slowly.
Alia did not finished her account on the meeting and Aengus forgot about treaties, threats, whatever. That evening they left behind uncertainties and pains and lived the present. A time more forgiving than the past, more real than the future.
"Desmond told me the time lag is quite noticeable. If I want a chance to say hello to him, it's now," Alia said.
Aengus had listened to her speech distantly, then did not speak for a while. She could see that he was thinking. His eyes, though, seemed worried. Or something related. Alia did not like their shade of melancholy. Once he had told her not to cultivate human friendship, or strengthen her ties with them, not being healthy to dwell in the past for a creature who was meant to live a very long time. And humans tend to become past in a very short time, indeed. The past, therefore, could become a cage and a torture, either of them not thriving choices for long living beings.
"Cataliades," said Aengus. Then, added, "Jason…" but the word hung mid-air without further elaboration.
"At any rate, I've already agreed with your father to be available… if and when needed," she said. It was an awkward moment and she was not sure what it told about her decision.
"So," Aengus seemed reluctant, "what are your plans exactly?"
"I have none, truly." Alia had not really thought about her going back to Earth, and the mere idea was somehow unsettling now. "I think I'll go there, see him, my nephew and niece, then I'll make up my mind. Maybe I will go back and fro for a while, till he lives…"
Aengus nodded.
Rhiannon had warned her to be herself with her cousin. She had not understood then, and even now those words rang at the fringe of her comprehension as a fruit on a high branch. She could see and smell its ripeness but could not reap it.
Aengus inhaled her scent.
Alia closed her eyes and waited for him to say something. Anything.
He stood silent.
"Will you accompany me to a portal?" Alia's voice was thin, hesitant.
His eyes were again pitch black and distant. "Sure."
And the moment was gone.