Niko dreamed. He
saw himself through other's eyes, walking towards the lake, head lowered
against the thunderheads racing across the sky; he watched sunlight ripple
along the water, living dance of fire, and grew restless. He cast a
stone into the water, looking into it, past it, as if the answers to
his problems lay within its spreading rings.
You are sad, my son...
Yes, he supposed he
was. Sad and defeated, an alien feeling... and yet, it felt so
familiar by now.
Harano.
"I'm alone,
and nothing I do seems to help. I don't understand why these things
keep happening, and every time I try to explain it..."
One cannot be more
than what one is... come, curl up in my arms... you are loved.
"I miss you,
mother. I'm afraid."
"I'm afraid..,"
he
murmured aloud. Something bumped him gently and his eyes opened, teeth
clenching to stifle the scream. Confusion warred with recognition,
raking across raw edges as his dream evaporated.
"Tamara?"
The wolf slipped away as he sat
up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
Tamara!
A knot of excited anxiety
turned his stomach as he rose to follow her out, careful to make as little
noise as possible. Had she seen Canth, managed to persuade her into
coming to speak with them? Conflicting desires -- jealously burned
bright and strong, as did affection. Like
blood, he mused
sourly.
Tamara embraced him, breaking
his thoughts, and he grinned, wondering if it was against Gaia's laws to
fantasize... He blushed, pushing such images out of his mind.
"I missed you too.
You saw her? She's coming?"
"I have met with her and
she has agreed to come, but not in the way you want...not in the way you
expect."
Niko tilted his head to one
side, wondering what she meant. Canth's manor was infectious; he'd
always know
that. You spent any length of time around her, and soon everything you spoke was a riddle. He opened his mouth to question her, then closed it against as Tamara continued speaking.
that. You spent any length of time around her, and soon everything you spoke was a riddle. He opened his mouth to question her, then closed it against as Tamara continued speaking.
"It might be better if
everyone is here and awake that will be at the meeting so that I only have
to tell this story once. She comes tonight or tomorrow night. We weren't
very clear as to which night it would be.She agreed to do this just a few
hours ago when it was still night. We agreed to tomorrow night but I am not
sure in her mind if that meant tonight or tomorrow night, so we will have to
be ready both nights."
"I really think the others
should be here for the rest of what I have to say except for this, She
loves you very much and wishes you well."
loves you very much and wishes you well."
Niko stood silent for a few
moments, trying to get a handle on his emotions. He was pleased Canth
was coming, and would be happy to see her, even for a short while. He had much he
wanted to ask her, for he valued her opinions, her strength and wisdom,
however ambiguous and difficult to understand the answers were. Yet he
feared. He wondered if the urge to surrender to her would overcome him
again. To be in her arms, both lover and child, as she drank from his
veins. He shivered.
And Tamara... how would she
react? He thought perhaps she knew of his attraction to Canth.
Might even have felt it herself, from the look in her eyes; she smelled of
desperation and lust. Or maybe it was being close to him. Gaia
knew he felt desire for her.
"I wish her only
happiness,"
he spoke, looking away guiltily.
Others were stirring now, he
could hear them; two female voices, a low, comforting backdrop to the rising
sun. It sounded like Ractamo and Autumn.
He nodded to Tamara. "I'll go gather the others. Wait here."
