Chapter Two: Cheers!
"The girl's reckless, Jack!" Arianne said to Jack that same night. "I wish you wouldn't keep egging her on to greater deeds of danger so I can teach her something about responsibility! If she's going to take the elves to their new world, she needs to grow up!"
"Arianne, love, there's nothing I can do to stop her," replied Jack. "I don't 'egg her on,' but I also don't hold her back. She's trying to grow up, love, trying to become her own person."
"What the hell do you mean, 'trying to become her own person'? She's already her own person!" Arianne shouted back.
"No, love, she's not. She can't be when she's in our shadows," Jack said gently, stroking his wife's hair in an effort to calm her down. She relaxed against him, but barely.
"Jack, she dove from the highest cliff on the island. Her body could have bashed against the rocks. Does she not realize how much we worry about her?"
"I'm sure she knows, love. But it really was a fantastic dive. She calculated the degree the wind was blowing at to perfection. I don't think she would have done it if the wind had been blowing any other direction. She may seem reckless to you, but she's really the most intelligent person I've ever known. She just wants a thrill, love. And she doesn't have to lead the elves to their new home for a while yet. She doesn't have to take them anywhere until she's eighty, for all that I'm concerned with it. Let her live her life. No more of this talk of responsibility, and please don't ground her."
"Why the bloody hell shouldn't I?" Arianne asked, turning to face him with fire in her eyes. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't ground her for nearly killing herself!"
"Because she didn't kill herself--didn't you hear what I said? She calculated it all perfectly, love. That means that she's learned how to gauge the wind. You should reward her for lessons well-learned rather than grounding her for what you perceive to be a crime." Jack stared hard at Arianne, knowing that she would do her best to resist his good logic. She had changed so much since Reanna had begun to become a woman. Reanna had grown more and more beautiful as the days passed by, and Jack had suspicions that Arianne was jealous.
In his eyes, of course, Arianne was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but Reanna was starting to get more attention when they all went out than Arianne did. Arianne and Reanna looked to be the same age physically (Arianne had only been two years older than Reanna when she had stopped aging), and instead of flirting with Arianne as they had always done, they were bypassing her for Reanna.
"Alright, fine, I won't ground her," Arianne finally grumbled. Instead of staying with Jack to talk some more, she got in bed and, facing away from him, pretended to go to sleep.
Jack shook his head. It wasn't fair to Reanna that her mother was acting this way, but he knew that there was little, if anything, that he could do about it. Arianne was a goddess, and Reanna was her half-goddess daughter. Sighing, he left the room instead of joining Arianne in bed and went downstairs to find some rum.
It was a good night for a bottle or two.
To his surprise, he found Dharketh and Y'lorani in the kitchen, like they had been waiting for him. There were five bottles of rum sitting on the small table. Dharketh immediately left the room, mumbling something about needing to attend to something or other outside, leaving Jack and Y'lorani alone.
"She is not only a half-goddess, you know," Y'lorani said mysteriously--as was her wont--and handed him a bottle, opening one for herself. Jack smiled wryly. Of the ten or fifteen elves that had accompanied them back into the sunlit world, Y'lorani was the only one that had developed a taste for rum. He liked her for that.
"I assume you're speaking of my daring daughter," Jack said after taking a swig. He and Y'lorani had become rather good friends, in spite of her answering his questions before he even asked them--sometimes before he had even consciously thought them. Their conversations could get confusing if he wasn't careful.
"Yes, of course. I cannot quite see her future. When I try, I can see nothing more than blurred images. It's probably because she is the child of the Aether as well as the child of my goddess."
See, he thought to himself, if he wasn't careful he could get confused--and apparently he wasn't being careful. "The aether?" he asked.
"Do you remember when Arianne told you of the place she went after she gave humanity their gift?" Y'lorani asked him patiently.
"Yes...and she told me about the Being that kept her safe there...but what does that have to do with Reanna?"
"As far as I can figure," Y'lorani said, "the Being imbued some of his own essence into your body--which is why you haven't seemed to age past twenty. Did Arianne never tell you of this?" she asked when she saw the look on his face. When he shook his head, she simply shrugged and continued. "I think that could be why I can See a little bit where you are concerned. But that still doesn't account for all of the power of the Aether there is in Reanna. I don't know, perhaps He had something to do with it, but either way I cannot See what things may come to her.
"I cannot even see her past. She is very well protected against those who would use Vision to seek her out, you should be glad. You and Arianne are not so lucky as that, but there are few Seers in this area anyway. You should not be concerned." She drained her bottle and uncorked another.
Not to be outdone by an elf, Jack finished off his own bottle and took a giant gulp of the next before speaking. "So...I'm fey too, then, eh?"
"Partially, yes, though not in the same way as we elves are."
"Great! Now I don't feel so left out! Cheers!" he said, and he and Y'lorani clinked their bottles together before draining them.
On one of the various islands in the Caribbean, two men met in the back corner of a seedy bar. They were both carefully cloaked so no one could see their faces and spoke in low tones so as not to be heard.
"Ye'll find her?" the taller man asked.
"I cannot see her," the other replied, and before the first man could protest, he added, "but I can see the others, and they'll lead me to her soon enough."
The first man pushed a bag fat with coins across the table. The second immediately snatched it up before it could cause too much notice amongst the other patrons of the bar.
"Half now--half when you bring me results," the first man said. When the second man shuffled out of the bar, he added, "If you bring her to me, I'll give you more money than you can possibly spend."
He knew that the second man had heard him, though he was surely far beyond the bar now.
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Alright, chapter two! I feel really good about this story, this one will go places, I think!
"The girl's reckless, Jack!" Arianne said to Jack that same night. "I wish you wouldn't keep egging her on to greater deeds of danger so I can teach her something about responsibility! If she's going to take the elves to their new world, she needs to grow up!"
"Arianne, love, there's nothing I can do to stop her," replied Jack. "I don't 'egg her on,' but I also don't hold her back. She's trying to grow up, love, trying to become her own person."
"What the hell do you mean, 'trying to become her own person'? She's already her own person!" Arianne shouted back.
"No, love, she's not. She can't be when she's in our shadows," Jack said gently, stroking his wife's hair in an effort to calm her down. She relaxed against him, but barely.
"Jack, she dove from the highest cliff on the island. Her body could have bashed against the rocks. Does she not realize how much we worry about her?"
"I'm sure she knows, love. But it really was a fantastic dive. She calculated the degree the wind was blowing at to perfection. I don't think she would have done it if the wind had been blowing any other direction. She may seem reckless to you, but she's really the most intelligent person I've ever known. She just wants a thrill, love. And she doesn't have to lead the elves to their new home for a while yet. She doesn't have to take them anywhere until she's eighty, for all that I'm concerned with it. Let her live her life. No more of this talk of responsibility, and please don't ground her."
"Why the bloody hell shouldn't I?" Arianne asked, turning to face him with fire in her eyes. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't ground her for nearly killing herself!"
"Because she didn't kill herself--didn't you hear what I said? She calculated it all perfectly, love. That means that she's learned how to gauge the wind. You should reward her for lessons well-learned rather than grounding her for what you perceive to be a crime." Jack stared hard at Arianne, knowing that she would do her best to resist his good logic. She had changed so much since Reanna had begun to become a woman. Reanna had grown more and more beautiful as the days passed by, and Jack had suspicions that Arianne was jealous.
In his eyes, of course, Arianne was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but Reanna was starting to get more attention when they all went out than Arianne did. Arianne and Reanna looked to be the same age physically (Arianne had only been two years older than Reanna when she had stopped aging), and instead of flirting with Arianne as they had always done, they were bypassing her for Reanna.
"Alright, fine, I won't ground her," Arianne finally grumbled. Instead of staying with Jack to talk some more, she got in bed and, facing away from him, pretended to go to sleep.
Jack shook his head. It wasn't fair to Reanna that her mother was acting this way, but he knew that there was little, if anything, that he could do about it. Arianne was a goddess, and Reanna was her half-goddess daughter. Sighing, he left the room instead of joining Arianne in bed and went downstairs to find some rum.
It was a good night for a bottle or two.
To his surprise, he found Dharketh and Y'lorani in the kitchen, like they had been waiting for him. There were five bottles of rum sitting on the small table. Dharketh immediately left the room, mumbling something about needing to attend to something or other outside, leaving Jack and Y'lorani alone.
"She is not only a half-goddess, you know," Y'lorani said mysteriously--as was her wont--and handed him a bottle, opening one for herself. Jack smiled wryly. Of the ten or fifteen elves that had accompanied them back into the sunlit world, Y'lorani was the only one that had developed a taste for rum. He liked her for that.
"I assume you're speaking of my daring daughter," Jack said after taking a swig. He and Y'lorani had become rather good friends, in spite of her answering his questions before he even asked them--sometimes before he had even consciously thought them. Their conversations could get confusing if he wasn't careful.
"Yes, of course. I cannot quite see her future. When I try, I can see nothing more than blurred images. It's probably because she is the child of the Aether as well as the child of my goddess."
See, he thought to himself, if he wasn't careful he could get confused--and apparently he wasn't being careful. "The aether?" he asked.
"Do you remember when Arianne told you of the place she went after she gave humanity their gift?" Y'lorani asked him patiently.
"Yes...and she told me about the Being that kept her safe there...but what does that have to do with Reanna?"
"As far as I can figure," Y'lorani said, "the Being imbued some of his own essence into your body--which is why you haven't seemed to age past twenty. Did Arianne never tell you of this?" she asked when she saw the look on his face. When he shook his head, she simply shrugged and continued. "I think that could be why I can See a little bit where you are concerned. But that still doesn't account for all of the power of the Aether there is in Reanna. I don't know, perhaps He had something to do with it, but either way I cannot See what things may come to her.
"I cannot even see her past. She is very well protected against those who would use Vision to seek her out, you should be glad. You and Arianne are not so lucky as that, but there are few Seers in this area anyway. You should not be concerned." She drained her bottle and uncorked another.
Not to be outdone by an elf, Jack finished off his own bottle and took a giant gulp of the next before speaking. "So...I'm fey too, then, eh?"
"Partially, yes, though not in the same way as we elves are."
"Great! Now I don't feel so left out! Cheers!" he said, and he and Y'lorani clinked their bottles together before draining them.
On one of the various islands in the Caribbean, two men met in the back corner of a seedy bar. They were both carefully cloaked so no one could see their faces and spoke in low tones so as not to be heard.
"Ye'll find her?" the taller man asked.
"I cannot see her," the other replied, and before the first man could protest, he added, "but I can see the others, and they'll lead me to her soon enough."
The first man pushed a bag fat with coins across the table. The second immediately snatched it up before it could cause too much notice amongst the other patrons of the bar.
"Half now--half when you bring me results," the first man said. When the second man shuffled out of the bar, he added, "If you bring her to me, I'll give you more money than you can possibly spend."
He knew that the second man had heard him, though he was surely far beyond the bar now.
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Alright, chapter two! I feel really good about this story, this one will go places, I think!