Chapter 23
Within the Standing Stones, in the "before" time
"Kritis!" Ga'el, seer of the people, healer of the others, called to the boy she'd named her son... her firstborn... the first of the foundlings left to this tribe of the people by the gods. "Watch Aja..." Ga'el motioned the small one toward her "brother" and watched as the boy looked up from his stick construction to grin at the child. He pulled her onto his lap and sat explaining his building project to her. Nearby... Havron... his friend... skipped stones on the ocean's surface... his eyes ever watching the horizon and the great birds winging their flight through the air.
Ga'el watched them a few moments longer...making certain that the girl-child was being watched and not ignored... then climbed the hill above the stones to gather the herbs and plants she used to heal the others. While the people needed no healing... they who were undying... the others did. They were fragile creatures... and under the protection of the people. So it was... so it had always been for as far back as Ga'el could remember.
And then the small ones began appearing. The little ones... so like the people who never had children... so tiny... as if they were there to increase the numbers of a people who had never needed to be increased but who simply were. They grew... and changed... unlike the people... They were more like the children of the others. Yet within them... Ga'el had begun to sense the potential that lived in all of the people... the potential for long life... the potential to be unchanged... undying. These small ones were to be protected... they were to be cherished... This she somehow knew... the great stone had spoken to her in dreams.
Ga'el set her willow basket on the grass and began to gather her herbs and plants. Soon she was humming the old tunes... in the old languages... the ones the others did not know. She could still hear the voices of the small ones... raised in play... and her thoughts drifted.
***
Aja was bored with her brother's play. He was forever building things... making things. The little one... already taller than the children of the others who were her age... rose and wandered down to the shore to watch her brother's friend toss stones across the water.
She clasped her small hands behind her back and bit her lip. The older boy skipped another stone and watched with satisfaction as it took three hops across the waves before falling victim to the pull of the ocean. "Yes!" he leaped into the air with a grin. "See first daughter... three hops... I made it take three hops!" The little girl grinned and twisted back and forth... her green eyes almost seeming to sparkle in the morning light. Havron, the dreamer laughed, then grabbed her hands and began to dance at the edge of the surf... Back and forth they moved about through the waves.
Soon... as if jealous of the attention his "sister" was paying to his friend... Kritis joined them with a hearty laugh in a faster and more involved version of the dance. Eventually the boys lay exhausted on the sand breathing heavily... content in their friendly rivalry of the small one. Unseen... Aja wandered off in the direction of the standing stones. She'd heard something... a cry.
Crouching down beside the baby... Aja looked in wonder at the small one. Her necklace of shells dangled above the small one's eyes and caught the baby's attention. The cries turned to a cackle and a laugh. Aja grinned and poked at the small one... then sat and gathered the little one onto her own lap.
"What's that?" said Havron coming up behind her.
Aja grinned up at him.
"Did one of the others lose a baby?" the boy continued.
Aja shook her head.
Kritis... following his younger friend into the stones saw the baby in Aja's arms. Hurriedly he turned, running to the edge of the stones. "Ga'el!" he yelled. "Come!"
Ga'el brushed the untamed mane of fire-colored hair from her brows and glanced at the small ones among the stones. Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized another small one had come to them. Swiftly she ran down the hillside.
Within the stones she crouched beside first daughter and touched the new small one in wonder. Her long fingers brushed over the new one's brow and she felt the pattern for compassion, the understanding soul, she who would nurture. Ga'el grinned as she collected the small one from Aja and stood up... cradling the baby in her arms.
"Kritis... collect my basket from the hillside." Gael clasped Aja's hand as she headed back to the encampment. Along the way they passed several of the others.
"We have a baby!" laughed Aja.
"Hush, first daughter, our ways are not their ways. Speak not to them of our secrets." Aja looked down crestfallen.
Ga'el paused at the carrock of Evania and Palsin... the latest of the people to unite. Evania brushed aside the beads over the doorway and gasped at Ga'el. "For me?"
Ga'el nodded. "The gods have blessed your union. Take now Sofaer... who brings compassion in her laugh." Ga'el handed over the small one and headed back to her own carrock. Along the way... she passed Morannon.
The judge smiled and bowed. "Word of a new one has reached me. We are blessed." He was carefully discreet.
Gael too looked at the dirt... at the sky... at the others walking by... anywhere but at him. She feared she would betray herself... and the feelings that even now grew in her whenever Morannon was near.
Aja stared quietly at the two old ones and wondered why they seemed so strange with one another. She had never seen her "mother" look away from anyone before. Further down the path... Aja heard her "father" approach. Releasing Ga'el's hand... Aja went plummeting toward D'jann... eager to tell him how she'd found a small one. Her father lifted her high into the sky and laughed. He set her upon his shoulders and joined Gael and Morannon. "We are blessed this day! The gods favor us! Our numbers grow!" He put one arm about she who was his mate and the small family headed to their home.
Behind them on the road... Morannon watched them go... and could not hide the sorrow that grew in his heart.
**********
Paris
Nick Wolfe feinted to the left and swung his katana to the right... then drew back... shifting the blade over his head. "I thought you said you were rusty?" he asked Marie-France.
"I am..." the immortal laughed lightly, then turned... twisting her small curved blade about in her hand. She clasped both hands on the handle and settled once more in to a waiting stance.
"For a nun... you know how to wield that thing pretty well."
"Oh... I've learned over the years... but I seldom need to carry it anymore... and I've never really had to use it... at least not in centuries." Marie-France found herself rather enjoying the sparring match with the young immortal.
"Bravo... Nick!" cheered Val from the floor. "Don't let her get past you!" she cried out... clapping her hands together. Nick almost glanced over at the little girl... then thought better of it. Maillot had told him to be wary of distractions and to keep his eye on his opponent.
Marie-France circled with a smile and then lunged. Nick deflected her blow... turned and brought his katana down on her blade. Steel crackled against steel and sparks flew. Marie-France gasped as Nick managed to wrest her blade from her hands.
"Told you I was rusty!" she said with shrug while backing carefully away. "It's been a few hundred years since I last met an opponent in combat."
Nick tossed her sword back to her, "Want another go?"
"Perhaps later. I rather think Valeraine would enjoy the opportunity to show you what she can do." She backed further away and bowed slightly. Her eyes met his. For a moment he almost forgot she was a nun. Then... remembering... he turned his glance to the child immortal.
"You're less than half my height... how do you think you'd fight me?" Nick said to the girl.
"Oh... not straight on, of course, I'd have to be a little tricky."
"You'd cheat?"
Val shrugged, "Of course. That's why I usually avoid fights with ones your size... but I do enjoy the practice." She launched herself suddenly from the floor, leaping into the air... twisting her body as she turned and kicked at his face as she came down. Nick backed away... shaking his head to clear it... and looked up as her small blade descended to within an inch of his neck. She pulled it back with a laugh... "Of course... that only works on someone once... but once is all I generally need."
Nick rubbed his neck. "I can well believe it. And Kenny... what's his trick?"
"Ohh... he gets you to trust him... want to protect him... then he gets behind you and..." she grinned, "that is usually that. He knows lots of tricks... so be wary of him. He cheats, too." Val sauntered around him teasingly.
Nick turned... carefully following her movements. "I'll have to remember that," he said softly. Despite his misgivings... Nick found he was growing fond of the child immortal... But trust her? Even Nick knew better than that.
He dropped his guard carefully and flexed the katana in his hand. "How about a late lunch?"
Nick was uncertain exactly how it was, that the two women had convinced him to spar with them after breakfast. But he'd found himself almost eager for the session. Liam Riley was not one for sparring... and while David Maillot would... Nick was not exactly on the best of terms with his former teacher. The man had wanted him to be more disciplined... more dedicated. Nick just wanted to know how to defend himself and do what could not be avoided. The session with the women was a way to lash out at his own confused feelings about Amanda... get some practice against new opponents... and not really be worried about his head.
At Val's insistence... Nick carried his katana with him to lunch at the sidewalk cafe just up the Rue de Loire from his rooms. Over his menu... Nick realized what a trio the three of them must seem to make. The ex-cop... the nun, albeit dressed in modern clothes... and the little girl with blonde braids who was most definitely not a little girl.
Nick shifted in his chair uncomfortably, trying to be certain his blade was not visible. It was the main reason he hated carrying it unless he needed it. He was just too uncomfortable with it most of the time. The women, however, seemed to be entirely at ease with theirs. Well... they were both over eight hundred years old.
"So... tell me how you two became friends?" he finally ventured after they'd ordered. "You both are so different from one another."
"To survive in our world... we make alliances," said Marie-France. "We know one another's strengths. We know one another's weaknesses. While we must each face combat alone... we do not have to be alone."
"The school allows us to live as a unit... It's on holy ground. We learn from one another. We teach one another. We maintain a fiction to the outer world that we are like any other convent-run school... but we know the truth." Val shrugged as if it made perfect sense to her.
"And this Kenny? Why was he there?" Nick asked... sipping his water.
"Kenny..." Marie-France sat back in her chair with a shake of her head. "Kenny is a child. I promised the older ones... when I agreed to run the school and look after the little ones... that all children would be welcome there. Even they are aware of his menace... But as long as he abides by our rules he is... if not welcome... at least safe with us."
"But out here," Val interjected leaning forward with a grin, "He's fair game... for any of us."
Nick's attention was suddenly focused on the headline of a newspaper being read by a passing pedestrian. "Uh oh... " Nick rose and pulled the paper from the man's hands. Nick swallowed hard as he turned... ignoring the man's stream of profanity. Silently he handed the newspaper to Marie-France. "Someone's playing the game in the open."
