Chapter 8

"You accepted my family's explanation much better than I imagined you would," Zelda told Tim as soon as they were back at the hotel they were staying at.

"I admit, my mind is still reeling, from what you all explained," Tim admitted honestly. "I won't say I wasn't shocked when you cut yourself and you healed right before my eyes and you don't want to know what I was thinking before I saw that."

"I can guess," Zelda laughed. "Believe me, what you were thinking is not something that others mates in my family haven't thought at one time or another. Do you really think you're the only one that wanted to have the whole family committed to a mental institution when they were told about immortality and magic?"

Tim blushed a bright red at having his thoughts so easily discerned.

"You're not the first one to think that," Zelda laughed at Tim's red face. "Believe me, though, that my family has ways of defending themselves if anybody actually tried that tactic."

"Do I want to know...?" Tim began, but was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

"I know what you're thinking and no, we don't kill anyone," Zelda promised. "That's not how my family operates."

"Then how...," Tim wondered. "You can't bribe someone not to talk because they only keep coming back for more money in order to maintain their silence."

"While my family has more money than you can imagine due to centuries of investments, you're right about the blackmail if we did that," Zelda agreed. "We might try to placate them temporarily while someone in the family probably my mother and Aunt Shonda would arrange to meet them and then knock whoever was unconscious and take their memory of ever having learned about us at all. By the time they woke up, they would have no idea that they had ever met us and would wonder how they had gotten whenever they were, because they would have no memory of ever arriving at that destination. If it was a restaurant or somewhere else public, but with enough privacy to do what was necessary, then one of the staff would likely wake him or her up and tell whoever was that they were closing for the night. There are places with private rooms to where you won't be bothered if you ask not to be so long as you pay the fee required. The kind of places where you won't be reported, even if you murdered someone, so long is it won't come back to whoever owns the venue in the butt."

"I understand," Tim said after thinking about it. "I'm very glad to know that your family doesn't murder anyone."

"Hopefully, no one will ever discover that we are different than anyone else, but if they do at least there's a solution," Zelda said.

"So have you ever had to...?" Tim begin to ask when Zelda anticipated him.

"No, I haven't and hopefully, I never will, as I would hate to practice on someone, even someone who is a criminal. I'd rather that person who was causing trouble for my family have memory problems, then revealing immortality and magic."

"Memory problems?" Tim asked, looking horrified at that very thought.

"A lot of magic has dangers," Zelda told Tim candidly. "In the case of taking someone's memory, the danger is that if you do it wrongly that person can have problems with their long-term memory for the rest of their lives. They'll forget people and places that they've been or known all their lives and their memory will be spotty in certain areas. Even if they had an excellent memory before messing with their mind can change that if not done correctly. Doing a memory charm takes a delicate touch and not everyone can do it correctly, especially without practice."

"That sounds horrible," Tim shuddered, as he would hate to think of that happening to him, of anyone messing with his mind.

"Don't worry, that will never happen to you because you accepted my family's explanation," Zelda said, even as she kissed his cheek in a gesture of comfort.

"So you would've put this memory charm on me if I hadn't accepted your explanation," Tim said looking horrified at that thought.

"I'm afraid so, as it would've been for my family's safety," Zelda said looking rather upset and also sorry, the emotions plain on her beautiful face. "The fact that my family is different from other families must remain unknown, except to people like you who will be joining the family."

"And if I refuse to join your family, then you'll memory charm me," Tim said not liking that possibility at all.

"I would have no choice Tim. Please don't force me to make that decision," Zelda told him in a pleading tone of voice.

Tim had never heard Zelda plead before, as she was usually confident and strong, but at the moment she looked as if she was about to cry. The emotions that flashed across Zelda's beautiful face were ones of agony, sadness, heartbreak, and many others all of them negative. It was as if her happiness and her love had been leeched out to her and it had happened in the space of a few seconds once Tim has spoken what was on his mind. It was if the life had been drained out of her body, and while she was breathing, it was as if a very reason for living had vanished.

"Making that decision to where I had to take your memory means we could never be together and that would break me heart and soul," Zelda explained haltingly, her voice emotionless and it was clear she was holding his emotions back with an iron will. "I would live a kind of a half-life feeling as if a large part of me had been ripped away and that's namely you. Being soulmates, is like being one soul in two bodies. Imagine how you would feel as if your reason for living had been ripped away just when you were on the verge of being deliriously happy."

Tim winced at Zelda's explanation as that sounded horrible and he couldn't imagine what his life would be like without her.

"It was just a question, not a rejection," Tim assured her hurriedly, even as he cuddled her in his arms.

Holding Zelda was the most natural thing in the world, as it was like she had been made specifically for him, as she was just tall enough that the top of her head came up to just under his chin.

"I'm glad to know that," Zelda told him her tone more normal, even as she relaxed in his arms, losing her stiffness. "You scared the crap out of me. I hope you know that."

"I'm sorry, as that wasn't my intent. This is all new to me and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the supernatural is real. I mean, if immortality magic are real what about other supernatural things? Ghosts, goblins and dwarves..." Tim racked his brain to think of anything else that could be considered not normal.

"Ghosts are real, but as for goblins and dwarves, no," Zelda chuckled seeming back to her normal self.

"Ghosts are real?" Tim repeated seeming rather shocked, even though he was the one that brought it up.

"Yes, they are, but you don't need to worry about that, because you'll never be able to see them," Zelda said chuckling. "You simply don't have the ability to do so. For one thing you don't have magic so you're seeing them will never be a problem for you."

"How do you know they exist if you can't see them?" Tim said sounded like he was clutching at straws.

"Because one of my sibilings got the ability to see them," Zelda explained. "Seeing ghosts runs in the Lincoln line, which is what mom was before she married my father. While her children are Rossis not Lincolns they still have the blood. It's not a common talent for a magical to be able to see ghosts, just so you know, as they are only a few magicals in the world that have the ability to see them. It's like those magicals brains are on the same wavelength, which is probably the easiest way to explain it." "So if seeing ghosts is a talent that a small percentage of magicals have that can show up in certain magical families, what other talents are there?" Tim asked. "I just don't want to be taken by surprise whenever we start having children."

Zelda was thrilled at Tim statement, as she wanted nothing more than to have children by her mate, and that meant that Tim wasn't about to flee to some far away country if he was talking about having children with her. Zelda was so thrilled with Tim that she flung herself into his arms and kissed him thoroughly, but finally came up for air.

Tim looked rather dazed from Zelda rather enthusiastic kiss, but also very happy so there were no complaints.

"Well, in my family there's my mother's bakery magic which over 90% of my siblings got," Zelda said. "It's definitely the dominant gene."

"Bakery magic," Tim said. "Is that why your mother is so good with desert items, brownies, cakes, trifles, puddings and everything in between."

"That's very good Tim," Zelda praised. "That's exactly it. Mom and all my siblings that got that talent add just a touch of magic instinctively to whatever they are making. That little bit of magic is what makes their desserts extraordinary and although it would be good even without that magic, with it people, can't resist going back once they've had something from one of the bakeries my family owns. Its why every bakery owned by my family is so successful."

"So not everyone in your family got that talent, as you said over 90% got your mother's talent, so what other talents are there that run your family that might show up?" Tim asked.

Zelda ran through the list of abilities that ran into her family line. "There are a few healers, some with kitchen magic, which means those magicals are good with all type of food items, not just desserts, having supernatural luck, meaning, that it's an ability where you can always avoid bad things happening to you, as if by chance. You're lucky in matters of money, like if you decide to play the lottery, you'll have at least a 90 percent chance of winning, that kind of thing. Also, the ability to understand any language without having studied it, though none of my siblings have gotten that ability it's just in our family line, but it's very, very rare. If you want a complete list, you'll have to ask mom, as she would know or at least she probably does. Still, we might end up being surprised at an ability that pops up in one of our future children."

"What about yourself since you didn't get your mother's bakery magic," Tim asked next.

"I got the ability to communicate with all types of animals," Zelda explained. "It's one reason I opened an animal shelter, though I much prefer things with fur or feathers, not scales. Still, I can communicate with snakes, alligators, crocodiles, and anything else that has scales if I absolutely have to, but I'd rather not."

"That's one talent you didn't mention," Tim said. "I now understand that's why you opened a shelter for dogs and cats since you can communicate with them, which is a very useful ability and why you decided to do that with your life."

"My ability is the reason I decided to open that shelter, and I am the only one that got it at least so far," Zelda said. "Some of our children might get it. It's why a lot of Aleah's children got her healing ability, but not all of them, even though her ability is dominate in her branch of the family. The same goes for my sister Ariana, and also my brother Aeon."

"So I'm curious how you're going to turn me immortal as I'm assuming that's what's gonna happen as your family said as much," Tim said. "I know that your mother and aunt were mortal at one point and that they were turned immortal, but I don't know how, as I would think that would be impossible, but then again, I thought immortality was impossible and I've just recently been disabused of that idea. You've turned my entire world upside down you know."

"I know, believe me, my family is well aware that you're thinking has taken a dramatic shift. It's like a paradigm shift on steroids. Almost everyone my family has told, whether that was one of my siblings mates or one of my aunts children mates almost all of them have reacted the same with a few differences, but it all boils down to the same thing. As for how, we turn someone immortal, it has to do with DNA and in your case, since you're the male and I'm not, I'm going to inject you with some of my blood and within hours you'll be immortal. An immortal's blood is ancient and powerful, which means it'll overtake your system, changing the necessary cells to where you're just like me or anyone else who is immortal," Zelda explained.

"I can guess how the males of your family do it," Tim said blushing, and it was clear that he had indeed worked out how to turn someone immortal other than by blood. "You know it's kind of amazing that you managed to keep the magic and immortality from the rest of the world," Tim said, shaking his head in amazement.

"It's not really if you think about it Tim, because really we're just normal people with a few extra abilities. Yes, some mad scientist would see us captive in some lab being experimented on, but I'm sure you realize why we never use our magic out in the open among people who aren't exactly trustworthy. My ability for instance, is subtle, so long as I remember not to respond to an animal that's talking to me out loud with other people not in on the secret around then those people never know about my ability. My mother's ability works the same way that mine does, as nobody can see the magic she puts into her desserts, except those with the ability to see magic, which means they are also magical. It's why whenever she opens a bakery when my parents move somewhere new that it's always a popular place though."

"I suppose that's how they remain unknown to the government by moving every generation," Tim said.

"That's exactly how," Zelda agreed. "That's just what an immortal does, as we kind of have to be seminomadic if we don't want the government or someone else curious showing up at our door, wondering why we look the same age as we did say 50 years ago. We could take that person's memory, but it's just safer to move every generation. My parents and my aunt and uncle always decide together where to move to and this is their second time in the San Francisco, though it's a different neighborhood and it's been well over 200 years since they lived here before. They have lived all over the world and even in Europe including Germany."

"And I suppose they always choose a major city, because they wouldn't be as noticeable, as they would be in somewhere with only a few thousand people," Tim said.

"That's exactly it," Zelda said her pride obvious in her tone as well as her eyes causing Tim to blush at the praise.

"I understand now why you put so much work into helping me get over my paralyzing shyness when it came to relationships," Tim said pensively after a few minutes of silence. Tim seemed to be working out things in his head, so Zelda said nothing and waited for her mate to speak. "Before I didn't understand why you didn't break up with me, because I know that most women want a man that is confident in themselves, just not arrogant or full of themselves, someone that won't beat them up or treat them like their feelings don't matter. I understand now, though why you were willing to put so much work into me."

"There are too many fathers that don't give their children, particularly their sons, the confidence they need, and that can affect them in various ways," Zelda said quietly. "My father is one of the best man I know, and he gave me confidence to be anything I wanted to be, and that goes for all my siblings as well. He had no expectations of how each of us would turn out and he has always supported us in whatever we decided to do. It wouldn't have mattered if one of us had turned out to be mortal instead of immortal like him, as he still would've loved us and the same goes for my mother. In her case, it wouldn't have mattered to her if one of her children had turned out to be a dud when it came to having her magic, she still would've loved us and encouraged us. I can't say the same for many mortal parents, male or female. Fortunately, for my parents, both the magic gene and the immortality gene are dominant, and I don't see that ever changing."

"Yeah, my father didn't exactly create self-confidence in me," Tim said sounding sad and a little melancholy. "Sarah got off more lightly then I did, but let's quit talking about it. Just one thing though, before we change the subject, and that is never suggest the name, John as a name for a son, not even Jonathan or any other version of the name."

"That's easy enough and luckily, for you, that name has already been used in our family, though to be fair, we'll have to repeat some names, because an immortal never gets too old to have children."

"Which is why your parents named you Zelda because they ran out of the ordinary names before you were born," Tim guessed Zelda nodded in confirmation.

"It's more common nowadays, than it was when I was born, but it's still not that common," Zelda agreed. "In a way, I got off lucky when it comes to my name."

"What do you mean?" Tim asked curiously.

"I believe I mentioned him before, but one of my brother's name, is Ambrose. When he was born and now, it was and is a very old-fashioned name and he's been teased relentlessly by people that don't understand why his parents couldn't have named him something more common and normal. He often complains even to this day about his name and he doesn't like any of the nicknames there are for it. His complaining is mostly just griping now, as he's said numerous times that he doesn't hate it just that he wishes people wouldn't make nasty comments about it. He tells people that it's not like he can help his name and they can just shut up about how they think it's weird or unusual. His name means immortal by the way, and was also another version of the surname of the family that changed dad into what he is, which is why dad wanted to give one of his children that name no matter how old-fashioned. The family that changed dad into an immortal last name was Ambrosius just so you know. By the way, you are so lucky to have a nice, ordinary name that it's always going to be common and the same is true for my father and my uncle. All three names are never gonna go out of style, unlike so many names, biblical or otherwise."

"I never really thought about it," Tim said, "but you're right. My name is pretty common even today."

"And so is David and Aaron," Zelda agreed. "My mother's and aunts names on the other hand, are not common, but they don't seem to mind. Why don't we go to bed? We can discuss what sites to see tomorrow over breakfast."

"That sounds good," Tim said. "I am tired, as it's been a rather fascinating, but exhausting evening. I need to work out some things in my head anyway while I sleep on it."

The two of them got ready for bed and were soon curled up together with Zelda spooned against Tim's naked back. Both of them drifted off to sleep within minutes, as it had been a rather fascinating and emotional evening.

~~~Tim and Zelda~~~