Caine made sure Julian was comfortable in Matthew's room, then went to join his son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law in the back garden.
Leanne eased out of Peter's arms. "I'm going to leave you two to talk." She said quietly and kissed him before going back into the house.
Caine looked at his son worriedly. "Are you alright?"
"No." Peter said."And for the life of me, I don't know why. I don't remember her." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I only know what she looked like because of that damned picture and you telling me that she looked like Rhonda Fleming. I remember your stories about her. I don't have any memories of my own. So why the hell does it hurt so damned much that she abandoned us?"
"Because you loved her. The mind may not remember, but the heart does. Do you wish to go to Spain with Julian?" Caine would go with him if he did.
Peter shook his head. "No." He said firmly. "I've lived my whole life within 50 miles of the Temple. If she wanted anything to do with me I wouldn't have been hard to find. You might have been a bit more difficult." He made a sound halfway between a sob and a laugh. "But I've always been right there."
Caine pulled his son into a tight hug. When he had started the quest to find Peter's mother, his heart had been filled with hope, somehow imagining that their family could be reunited. He'd never once thought of what she'd done as abandonment. He had been certain that there had been some justifiable reason for her actions. He couldn't imagine her as the sort of woman that would go to such extremes to be free of them. He didn't begrudge her a husband and children. But he did not know that he would be able to easily forgive the pain this caused their son.
Peter eased back slowly. " And now there is a little brother in the equation. I don't want to disillusion him by telling him everything. 'Hey kid sorry but your mom is a liar who ditched her family without bothering to get a divorce like normal people. So your folks aren't married after all. Welcome to the Wow my mom is messed up club.' Yeah, I'm not going to be the one to have that conversation with him."
Caine nodded. "Yes, one family destroyed is more than enough." He still believed that there had to be a reason for it all, but now wasn't the time to chase those answers. Today he had to choose between ghosts of the past and his son. It was time to let go of the past.
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"I will return." Lo Si promised. "I need to speak with the others of my order, and check on those I protect, then I will return."
"We will be here," Wukong said.
Lo Si opened the book of Shambala and strode through the courtyard of the temple there. He was greeted by four of his brethren in white robes.
"What have you discovered in your quest?" Master Yuan asked.
"Yulong Yeoh has not merely slid into darkness, he has jumped into the deep end. He has begun to enslave the sentient animals in Kunlun Shan. He experiments on them and murders them." He said with disgust. "With assistance, I found his laboratory and claimed his research before his siheyuan was destroyed."
"Has it told you what he is planning?"
Lo Si shook his head. "No, but you were right about one thing, it is not a true path to immortality. I believe I can create an elixir to remove it from him."
"This is good. What of the granddaughter?"
"I still do not believe she has any evil intent. Until there is evidence of more than a love for the grandfather that raised her, until there is proof of wrongdoing, she is to be left alone." Lo Si said firmly.
"And if that wrongdoing is that she is corrupting your charge? If she is leading the line of Kwai Chang into darkness what will you do when it is too late?" Yuan asked.
"Peter Caine will not be lead into darkness." Lo Si scoffed. "He has faced darkness every day of his life since the temple was destroyed. He has not succumbed before now, he will not succumb to an evil hidden by a pretty face."
"Love has brought greater men to their knees."
He scoffed again. "It has saved more than it has destroyed. You do not know him at all, and you barely know his father. I have known them all their lives. You leave the line of Kwai Chang to me. It is my responsibility to guide them where they need to go and has been since the first temple."
"If you are wrong it will cost us the bloodline for all time and their power will become a force for darkness. Is there not also a prophecy about a Caine who fell into the darkness?"
"That has already happened." Lo Si said. "Kwai Chang Caine's brother Damon was raised in the Sing Wah then forged his own evil, even if ineffectual, cult."
"Yes, but-"
Lo Si waved a dismissive hand as if sweeping away the man's words. "If I did not know better," He said, leveling a steely gaze upon his fellow Shambala master, "I would say you have a personal reason to wish the woman ill."
The man sighed long and low. "I do not."
"Then this conversation is done. Before returning to Kunlun Shan, I have things to do to follow Yulong Yeoh's trail."
"Of course, Master Lo Si." He said reluctantly.
Lo Si retired to his quarters there and emptied his pack. He hid the Cinnabar pagoda among the other statues. They all looked like nothing but brick a brack, but not one thing was just a statue. He called them the souvenirs of his travels and in a way they were. His travels through the mythic realms. He knew that the papers would be safely hidden there. He hated to believe it, but he thought that there might be another of their order that had fallen into darkness. He could say nothing without proof.
He went to the apothecary, to inventory what he found there. He gathered several herbs and roots and put them in his satchel before going back to his chamber and preparing to return home briefly.
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Julian was up early the next morning. He was surprised to find that his brother was already up. Brother. That was going to take some getting used to. He wasn't sure what to think about it. He'd never once heard his mother speak of having been married in the past. Had it been such a terrible experience? Peter's father seemed nice enough.
"Good morning." He said.
"Hey, good morning," Peter said and smiled. It was still a difficult situation for him but he'd be damned if he was going to take it out on Julian. "Do you want breakfast? There's some fruit and rice in the fridge. It's pretty good. It was my favorite breakfast as a kid and I hated rice back then, so that should tell you how good it is."
"Uhm… alright," Julian said and watched as Peter went about heating it. He suspected that the man was keeping busy to avoid dealing with their situation. "I'll be going shortly…"
"You'll want coffee too then. It's a long ride to Madrid." Peter said, staring at the microwave.
"Look, I'm sorry. I know I've stirred things up for you."
Peter turned to look at him. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'd have done the same thing in your position. Don't worry about it. I'll make sure you have my contact information before you go. I'd like you to use it, you know… so we can get to know each other." And then there was the sister. Another sister. Just what he needed.
"Do you want me to give it to my… our… mother?" Julian asked as he got himself a cup of coffee.
Peter swallowed. "Only if she asks for it." Which he was certain she wouldn't do. She hadn't bothered looking for him in all this time, why would she start now just because she'd suddenly been reminded of his existence?
"Do you hate her?" Julian asked bluntly.
Peter had to think about that for a moment. "No." He finally said. "I don't hate her. There are people I've hated in my life. Okay, one person… I thought he had killed my father… but anyway, he did a hell of a lot more than just walk away." He had hated Tan as only a 13-year-old boy could. "But no, I don't hate our mother. I don't remember her if I'm honest. Can't hate someone you don't remember."
"But you're angry," Julian said, then thanked him for the food that was placed in front of him.
"Yeah, I'm angry, but I'm always angry about something. Some sort of design flaw in my head I think." He said and laughed a little, even if the laughter didn't reach his eyes. "I'm always either angry or on the verge of anger, or coming down from being angry." He shrugged. "You see… Pop and I… There was this fire and we each thought the other was dead… it's a bit more complicated than that but we're going with the reader's digest version today. I ended up in an orphanage for a couple of years which didn't exactly help with my sunny disposition. Unlike a lot of kids from Pine Ridge though, I won the foster parent lottery when Paul and Annie Blaisdell took me in. You met Paul. He can be a bit gruff around the edges but he's an amazing father and Annie has been my Mom since the first day I met her."
"Is that why you won't call her Mom… because you have another Mom?"
"I won't call her Mom because as far as I can tell she abandoned me. I was really little when -" He drew a breath "When they split up." He was being careful how he said things. He didn't want to lie but he also didn't want to send the kid home with an ear full. "I don't know the details. Not sure I want to know them. Besides, I'm not sure I can handle two mothers as well as two fathers. It just might send my fiance running. Who wants two mothers-in-law." He said teasingly.
"Is she always so quiet?" Julian asked.
"No. Not really. She was letting us all process it without you know, another party heard from." Peter smiled. "We're getting married in January."
"That's just a few months away. You're going to have your hands full getting ready for that."
Peter laughed. "I swear she has had her wedding planned since she was a kid. She's got the whole process down to an art form." He sat down at the table and began to eat his breakfast. "So what are your plans? I mean other than going home and hoping not to be strangled the moment you walk in the door."
Julian laughed. "I will be going to university next month. To the Universite la Sorbonne." He said. "I was born and raised in Paris. We moved to Madrid two years ago. I will be glad to move back to France."
Peter thought the timing was interesting considering that was roughly the time his father had gone to Paris looking for her. He'd have to remember to speak with his father about that after Julian was on his way back to Madrid. "How did our sister feel about that? Another sister…" He laughed a little and shook his head.
"She loves Madrid. She is definitely Papa's girl though. He was born in Spain and we grew up with stories of his growing up there and of course holidays there. I doubt Amelie will ever leave Spain for more than a vacation."
"That's how I feel about home," Peter said. He'd thought about moving on more than once in his life but he'd always stayed no matter how tempting it was to move. He wondered now if that was the universe ensuring that he reunited with his father.
Julian finished his food and coffee and then put the dishes in the sink. "I should go if I want to get home before they send out search parties."
"You can always call them before you go," Peter said.
Julian shook his head. "No. Trust me, it is better this way. I am glad that I came, even if I will be as you said, strangled the moment I walk in the door when I get home."
"Me too," Peter said and opened his arms to offer a hug to his much younger brother. It was a brief embrace, and then Julian picked up his helmet and was out the door.
Caine joined Peter once the motorcycle had gone too far away to be heard any longer. "Are you sad to see him go?" He asked. He knew a thing or two about finding new and much younger brothers. He and Martin had grown close while tending to their father. He doubted Peter and Julian would be given that same opportunity.
"Yes and no," Peter said. "The longer he was here the harder it was not, to be honest about the mom situation. Which is insane. He was only here less than 24 hours."
"You have always been honest. Deception makes you uncomfortable unless it was … in the … line of duty."
"I guess so," Peter said with a nod. "He said that he was born in Paris. They only moved away two years ago. Interesting timing don't you think?"
Caine shrugged "She perhaps did not wish her husband to know about us and knew I was there."
"He's not her husband, Pop, you are,"
"No," Caine said. "Laura Caine no longer exists. She is dead and was buried long ago. Laura Navarro is not my wife, no matter who she was once upon a time."
"Mary- Margaret is still single you know."
Caine laughed "That is difficult for me to imagine."
"Well, she is and she asks about you a lot so … when you come home you might want to look her up… since my mother's ghost isn't hanging over your head anymore."
"Perhaps I should…"
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Lo Si had been to the brownstone and found Peter not there so he went across the street to the Kwoon.
"Master Lo Si," Khan said giving a respectful bow of his head. "I haven't seen you around for a while."
"I have been traveling." He said. "I have not been able to find Peter or Leanne, are they here?"
"No, They're in France. Master Caine's father was close to death and they went to see him before he passed. Caine actually called Peter so you know he was needed."
"I am sorry to hear of Matthew's passing." Lo Si said. "I will be gone for a while longer. Let them know that I tried to look in on them."
"Sure I can do that." Master Khan said. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"
"I do not know. Impossible to say." Lo Si said. "I will return when I can. Be careful and watch over them when they return."
"Are they in danger?"
"I am afraid they are yes."
"The sing wah again?"
Lo Si shook his head "No, I do not believe so. Be careful, my friend. Please." He left the kwoon and returned to his home. He packed clean clothes and more of his favorite tea. Then he used the ki-lin brush to draw out the sigil for the mountain of fruit and flowers in Kunlun Shan.
Wukong and Sparrow were waiting for him. "You were not gone long," Wukong said.
"There is much work to do here." Lo Si said. The sooner he was able to contain Yulong Yeoh the sooner he could return and protect his charges as he had always done. "There is a chance that I can reverse Yeoh's immortality."
"Then it is not true immortality," Sparrow said.
"No, it is not. I fear that it was stolen."
"I have stolen immortality," Wukong said.
"You stole p'an-t'ao peaches and ate them. It is not the same."
Sun Wukong straightened. "He stole it from one who was already immortal? This is worse than I thought."
Lo Si nodded. "He has stolen souls and used their lives to create his elixir. I do not know if they were immortal or not. He has given it to his granddaughter. Without telling her the source. At least if she is, as I suspect, an immortal."
"This worries you, Sifu," Sparrow said.
He nodded gravely. "I do not know the effects of reversing the immortality. Or if leaving it in Leanne's case could taint her qi… if it has not done so already. She guards her qi from sight."
Wukong shrugged. "We find out when you remove it from Yeoh Yulong. Do you trust his granddaughter?"
"I have been given no reason not to." Lo Si said. He hoped that he was not wrong. For Peter's sake, he would do everything he could for the girl no matter what. Not for the first time he wondered what it was that Master Yuan had against the girl. It did not seem as much like caution because of her grandfather as it did a personal vendetta. Or was it that she was the means to get at her grandfather? Neither thought sat well with him.
