A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 49

"Before you lose all of your hope," he said, "Please look at me."

Randi turned to find him there, looking very human and sad as he got to his knees next to the bed. He held her hands in his and he looked up for a moment before he spoke. "I have hurt my friend, and I only hope that I haven't lost your friendship. I was being selfish and stupid, and I – "

He looked down, "I've made you cry, and that's even worse. I liked it before when you had a daydream. I'm very sorry if I took that from you."

"What happened to your head?" she asked as she noticed the bit of dirt on his forehead and reached to remove it gently, "Did something hit you from that wind out there? I though the roof was gonna blow off or something. Are you hurt?"

"No," he smirked with a sigh, "I'd have probably come to the idea of what I ought to do eventually, but knowing me, it would have been far too late, if it isn't already. I got knocked in the head with a piece of wood because I was being an idiot. But the light came on then, so I came to tell you that I meant what I said, Randi. I love you."

He rose up on his knees then and he kissed her. When he drew back, she looked at him for a moment and he knew that he hadn't lost what he'd only just found when she put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"We're still friends and I love you, Billy," she smiled, "None of the men that I've ever known ever said they were sorry for anything. Would you help me make dinner in a little while? After that, I want to go for a walk with you. I think we need to talk some."

She touched his cheek and smiled, "Don't worry, I just want to get some stuff said between us, that's all. You didn't really wreck my daydream, you just made me see that it might work as long as we're careful. I just need for you to know, that's all – and I really want to go for a walk with you too."

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Randi sat on the bed with Narreth and stared at the scenes that were painted for her, just as Billy had done for her. "There!" she exclaimed as she pointed, "What are those two doing? I saw that before in Ayt'han's memories."

Narreth explained and Sully looked a little embarrassed, but he did his best, "Those two are a pair of young lovers," he said, "It's allowed to be fairly intimate before a girl marries, but actual uh, ..."

"Intercourse?" Randi volunteered.

"Ah, yes," Sully nodded, "That's forbidden. They're allowed to do that there in public since nobody can see what's going on, though everyone knows anyway and they think it's charming to see. Nobody really cares."

He listened to Narreth for a moment and then he said, "Among the girls, it's a bit of quiet pride if they show each other what they've been doing, so they leave the traces of it to freeze, and only get it off once they're in someplace warm. Parents don't much mind, since it means that their daughters are desirable, so to speak and are only using their hands.

But Narreth says that a lot of girls go further than that in private and she did as well. Because of her status in her clan, she couldn't let any male go at her, as much as she wanted that, but if it weren't for that, she says that she would have, with the right male.

She had to settle for a lot of ..."

Narreth saw the difficulty and slapped her own haunch with a quiet chuckle, and Randi nodded with a laugh, and from the way that Narreth spoke of it, Randi saw that it was not all that much of a hardship for her back then.

"She says that Ayt'han's father was very hard to resist and it was even harder for her to see him leave after they'd been courting awhile. Rohn and Ch'arnn have always been very attracted to each other, she says. She knows that you're not a virgin, so she says that to her, it's a good thing, and what you do is your own business anyway. She's never liked those old rules."

Randi thanked them both and she settled in to watch more of Narreth's memories. As she watched some scenes of life in the Quarn of the Rohn, she just quietly said, "I almost wish that I could look like that."

The statement caused Narreth to look over quizzically, and Randi just said, "I don't know if Ayt'han and me will get to much of anything, though I'm beginning to want that a lot. If it happens, I'll be very lucky in a way, because he can look human for other people. I like to see him like that, but I also love it when he's like you are, Narreth. It would be nice if I could look like that for him sometimes. I know that he likes the way that I look a lot. It's just another little daydream, I guess."

While Sully was translating, Rudhi was thinking, and she said, "You might not get all the way to it, but you can make some changes, Randi."

The next hour was a struggle as Randi tried with mixed success to turn herself into what she knew just had to be the tallest Rohn female there ever was. What she ended up as had no wings, but she had a very long thick tail and Narreth patted her long shanks with a knowing nod, saying that she knew that like this, Randi could run faster than many Tarkroth could fly with a heavy tail like that to balance her.

"Now," Narreth said with Sully translating once more as Randi sat on the bed and Narreth stood between her knees, "All of this – what you have done is mostly for you. I see that you wish to feel as though you are one of the Rohn, and it pleases me to see it. But we come now to something that you wish for Ayt'han to see and to know."

She reached up and touched Randi's face, "Feel my touch, and the marks will come which tell him that there is one for him – if this is what you wish with him. You can hide this or you can show this, so it is something that no Rohn girl could ever do. Close your eyes and feel my touch."

It took maybe a half an hour, but when Narreth took her hands away, the others gasped and Rudhi left to get a hand mirror. When she returned, Randi smiled to see the tribal markings on her face.

"Make yourself into the human again," Narreth said softly, "and then choose to show these then."

Randi looked into the mirror and she saw that if she wished it, her lovely face could carry the tribal markings of the Rohn.

"Before, I saw a human who wished to be as a Tarkroth," Narreth smiled, "Now, I see a Rohn girl such as there has never been in many winters." She hugged Randi for a moment, "and I am proud to know my young tribeswoman, if it is your wish to learn more."

"I feel a little silly," Randi said, "Like this, with no wings, I feel a little like a lizard. I wouldn't know what to do if I had wings, but still, ..."

"You look very lovely like this, " Sully nodded.

"And more important, "Narreth smiled as he translated for her, "You look like the other Rohn – the ones who were lost to us long ago. We were the only tribe of two kinds at one time; like me, and like what you look like now. Those ones died out from the battles as our nation was being made and before the Rohn joined with the Ch'arnn to finish the fighting before all were killed. The loss of the Long Tails was held up as proof of all of our foolishness, and when the children sang to the mountains, they still sung of the ones who were gone."

"What were they like?" Randi asked, intrigued once more and amazed that there was so much to be found out.

"They were beautiful – as you are," Narreth smiled, "Though I never saw one, only pictures that were drawn in the temple. In my time and long before, the Rohn intermarried with the Ch'arnn, but before that the Long Tails bred freely with us, and we sought for no Ch'arnn for our hearts. That love we learned later.

The Long Tails were as we are, and many of their features were to be seen in the faces of the Rohn until the end. Many Rohn were a little of both kinds, but after much time, the remnants faded." She looked at Randi and rolled her eyes, "And I have forgotten the stripes which should be there on you. It is where our winter color comes from. All Rohn carried Long Tail blood."

She waved her hand at the wall and they saw some scenes from more of a racial memory to Narreth then. "There," she said as she indicated a group of the creatures as they walked on their long legs and slightly large feet. Randi smiled as she watched them and hoped that she could manage that sort of grace when she walked. They lacked wings to be sure, but in most other respects, the two kinds of Rohn were the same.

"Would Ayt'han know what he was looking at?" she asked, and Narreth chuckled, "Oh yes. He will stare at you, but he will know that he sees a lovely one from out of our legends. Now let us look at the ones there so that you may see the sort of stripes which you should wear on your sides. See? They are not bold, but they are there to help hide them in the hunt."

She thought for a moment and began another line of thought to Sully to pass on, "If you decide on what I know is in your heart, how much do you wish to follow the way as it was done? I think that to you there is something a little ... romantic to it?"

Randi sighed, "Well, I think that I'd like that, but I don't even know – "

"One never knows for certain, "Narreth said with a small smile as she related what ought to be said.

"Is Randi your proper name?"

"No," she girl shook her head, it's a short form of Miranda. My proper name is Miranda Lee Farber."

"Ah," Narreth smiled, "Much better, I think."

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Billy was working in the kitchen now, trying to save Randi some work as he scrubbed potatoes and cut them up to fry them a little. He looked over and saw his mother there.

"I wish to say that I am sorry for shouting at you before," she said and he nodded, "It's alright. I'm trying to fix this with Randi. At least, that's what I'd like."

"Will you take some counsel?" she asked and he nodded.

"There was once another who sought for something with you and she went a way to trying to become what Beyl'eth told her that she ought to be. Randi seeks something like this."

Billy looked up at the ceiling, "It's not necessary. We're not there, I'm not the king, a lord or anything like that. I'm just a demon."

"That is true in some respects," she nodded, but then she smiled, "But I can say that Randi likes our ways so far and seeks to learn. She does not want to live the ways of the Tarkroth very much, but she seeks to know of them, and to her, it is a nice thought for her to think of the one what she cares about as what he was once destined to be, and to her, she sees it in you.

So if anything comes to pass in this friendship," Narreth smiled, "then perhaps try to give her a little of what she seeks. She sees herself as a simple female in this place, so to her, the thought of a little love with a fine young lord is a good thought to hold onto, that is all."

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After dinner, they walked for a time in the darkness holding hands and talking. There was nothing unusual to them that a mostly human woman walked with a large and powerful demon. They stopped now and then so that he could hold her and surround her with his wings when they got to some of the sticky parts which gave them a little trouble.

"What are we gonna do?" Randi asked from his shoulder, "I mean, we'd have had it tough before maybe because we're different. I know that you'd do your best and that's all that I'd expect you to do. I'll try hard too, Billy. But I'm not really all that human anymore. You know what I need sometimes, but I promise that I won't ever take it from you."

"I think that my mother will stay with Sully now," he said, "They've become really close – closer than I'd have ever believed possible for what they are. But he's the sort of man who needs something to do and work at."

"I've been thinking of asking them to stay and live here. This old farm was a good one once, and somebody who knows what he's doing and isn't afraid of a little work – ok, a lot of work can get a good living out of it. your mother is a demon, but she's the nicest lady that I think I've ever met. She's asked me to help her with her English and she told me that she want so take a human shape so that it'll be easier for them.

"I guess I just need to know what you plan to do. I don't really know if what I have my silly daydreams about will work out, but I really wish that you'd think about staying too."

"I'll stay, if you want that," he said with a smile, "It's what I want, and I've got a friend here who thinks a lot of me, so I'll try not to disappoint you again."

She lifted her head and shook it a little, "You didn't disappoint me, Billy. I know that you and Narreth have ghosts. You didn't really ruin anything, you just made me see some of what hurts you. I was upset, but well, I believe in you."

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The flames were finally out, though the whole neighborhood for blocks around still smoldered and smoked. In what had once been a maintenance room in a large warehouse a burned and blackened thing blubbered quietly, seeking to draw as many of the partly consumed molecules of its former self together as it could. For the moment, all that it knew was searing agony.

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Monnie awoke and began to wander high up in the air. Her eyes caught on a large and ancient set of tall letters still standing on a hillside. Most of them were partly overgrown with vegetation and a few had fallen over the centuries, but there was still something to be read there.

OLLY OO, the letters said, and Monnie tilted her head, trying to decipher what it might have meant. Nothing came to her mind and so with a wave and a thought, the rest of the letters fell to the ground in flames and the fire that she began with her mind began to catch in the dry vegetation and though she didn't know or care at the moment, it would burn for a week.

A little while later, she found what she'd been seeking, looking at the ancient stadium from above. At the moment, it housed many people who lived there is its bowels in an entire neighborhood of shanty huts and dwellings.

She didn't care about that either. She'd been looking for a place and this was it.

As she hung in the air, she began to chant and sing, letting one leg drop to point down and raising the opposite arm to point skyward. She spun like that for a few moments and then she stopped to wait.

In minutes, the air before her was filled with the sounds of the beats of over five hundred pairs of demonic wings. As she looked around herself, she grinned at all of the expectant eyes that she saw. These ones weren't insane and they sure weren't afraid. They were out of the depths of some hell on another world, and they were hungry.

She pointed downward and several fireballs left her hand to float down slowly, illuminating the many human faces which now looked upward.

"Suppertime!" she cried out pointing as she chuckled, knowing that they understood her, "We'll talk later."

The frightened screams and cries of the terrified humans filled the air a few moments later as the hundreds of voracious things dropped out of the air above them to eat.