Chosen Mate Ch. 06

Sandra's mind reached to him, caressing his thoughts lovingly, tenderly, softly soothing his melancholy mood. Harry sighed, deeply and pensive. Bubbles aimlessly escaped from him, floating straight up in a long unending stream, drifting in ponderous reflection.

--See? I told you, Oldman began. Harry turned his long suffering thoughts to him.

--I am who I am Oldman, just as you are you and we are we. He pulled their thoughts close, looking into their mind's eyes, huddled together as if in a brow meeting gaze. ...Do you see our children leaving the nest, joining those in the bushes or those in the bottom of the pool? Do you feel my shocked brain striving to encompass all the information imparted recently? Do you feel my relief and trepidation, love and broken heartedness, joy and sorrow?

It was too much for Sandra. She leapt from the nest to flop for a moment on the quilt; then, transformed into a sobbing Sandra. Quick moved to the fire near her, resting on a log just out of the direct flame as if to warm itself there.

Harry swam out into the cove, letting his mind touch the few left in the nest and the gathered multitude on the bottom of the pool and in the thickets nearby.

He swam out of the river connection and into its gently pushing stream. His gills gasped at a bitter taste; moving into fresher water beside a pile of debris, he nosed about the broken bottom, finding an old discarded battery tossed uncaringly there.

Harry began pushing it closer to the riverbank, driving hard with tail and fins, abrading his nose with the force of his efforts. A large blue turtle and a grey and silver speckled fish joined him, shoving the battery into the shallows. The two rose in their Fay form, streaming water. Gerry, Harry, and Billy heaved it from the water and on to the bank.

"Bob and I will come by with the boat to pick that up tomorrow and carry it away. You have our congratulations and heartfelt good wishes on your mating."

Billy had doubly surprised him, his identity as Fay, and his use of more words than he had ever spoken in Harry's memory. He had the feeling that he would have bowed to him if not restrained by Gerry's habitually clasping hand. Harry cupped water from the river, performing obeisance to them both.

"Thank you for helping. My children will swim in sweeter water now." They changed and swam away. He could feel their thoughts near the debris for a moment as the claws of the blue turtle dug about it, looking for more danger. Then they moved away, one up and one down river.

Harry walked across the gravel bar to the fire. Sandra had cried herself near sleep. He covered her with the quilt from his bag then started coffee water boiling on the fire; bacon broiled on sticks and eggs poached in their shells near the coals of the fire. He crawled under the quilt with her then, holding her close for a period of time then taking her tenderly. She rolled on his chest and took him fiercely. Their bittersweet release left them drowsing lightly in dreaming, love kissed conversations and pressing closeness.

Oldman moved freely between them at will, as comfortable in one mind as in the other. Harry needed to study this phenomenon closer. Oldman's unique ability was most likely only the tip of the iceberg of unusual talents that he possessed. He put aside his avid interest and turned instead to Sandra's mirrored mood, over shadowed by the intoxicating love covering them and their children like a blanket.

--Why did you pick me Sandra? Silvery laughter played through his mind, followed by Oldman's irreverent.

--I've wondered that myself.

--Hush Oldman. Sandra thought tenderly. ...I didn't really pick you Harry. You picked me. I was your garden fairy for a time. Your hurt, your yearning brought me to where you labored among the vegetables and the koi pond. You transformed me by the fire that raged through your soul that was ignited by your loss, burning unchecked through your mind, reducing it to a crumbling shell where you huddled trying to find shelter from the hostile reality of the world and your life. I moved through the ashes of that fire, singing you a song of hope, a song of healing. I labored beside you unseen. Our tears watered the garden rows together.

--Donna saw my heartbreak. We sat on the garden fence many times together feeling your hurt, watching it as it burned in you. She saw my intent clearly and tried to get me away from you but I would not leave. She ran to Mother, telling her what I was planning to do to try to save you from your damaged existence. Sandra came to a halt as Harry examined her memories of that time.

And then Harry saw it also, the clear image of what she would have sacrificed for him. She would become human in all forms except for her memory. The reality of what would have happened to her, the loss of her beautiful aura wings, the gift of transformation, and the ability to converse mind to mind shocked him; the painful way that it would be accomplished, by a thin needle of cold iron inserted into the aura organ between her shoulders, shorting it out forever, was an abomination. Wonder, pain, love, and horror filled him at the thought that she would have endured that. He would never have allowed it if he had known. But, the reality was that she was undamaged and they were together.

He rolled from under her, turning the bacon and eggs, then tossing a measure of coffee grounds into the gently boiling water and inhaling the fragrant aroma that issued from it.

"How terrible that would have been, Sandra." He said at last, bowing his head at the painful thought. She drew near him, hands around his waist, kisses covering the small of his back.

--It was not long after that Father leaned on the fence beside me while we discussed my alternatives. He could have refused, leaving you and I separated and spending the rest of our days in misery. You would lead what was left of your life then die, leaving me to live out mine sharing your pain that I did not relieve, but not your empty life.

--I could give up my long life to be with you. We would be happy together and die in time normally. He vetoed this alternative also, not being able to endure the pain that would be inflicted on me by the operation that would make me a cripple among my people.

--Father proposed a third alternative. You would be given the choice to replace your hurt with my love. Father would lose the full Fay offspring that I would produce but gain Halfling grandchildren. And you will enter his service, bound to his command forever, a command that may bring you little joy in the long years to come. I could have refused, Sandra thought, pausing, miserable that there had ever been a choice. ...but then both of our hearts would have been broken forever.

--I could not see that happen to you. I began working at the Oasis the next week, the same day that you decided to visit there in an attempt to end your hermit like existence. The choice is still yours. I will endure what must be. Our lives will be spent together no matter that choice. She became silent in her mind then, tears glistened in her eyes as she waited for him to reply.

He turned the eggs and bacon one last time and filled the mugs, passing her one and sweetening the other. There was no choice really. He would accept her Fathers terms, gladly accepting what seemed a meager payment for the invaluable gift of her affections. Turning back to her and diving in the pale pools that were her eyes that calmly, acceptingly, regarded him as she gnawed and supped at his hip. He wondered what his new job description was going to be.

Oldman thought this was hilarious and made several lewd suggestions. Sandra had a few of her own. Harry fed her bacon, bemusedly thinking that her full mouth would not silence her now. He endured their playful jabs, eating as he watched the sky lighten to the east.

The sky turned slowly, flushing pink, then red, as the sun swelled above the horizon, shining through the trees. Harry stood, Sandra beside him, as the glowing forms on the far side of the river began to sing again; the light aria from the night before was replaced by rich full sounds, encompassing all audible ranges and some unheard. The trees, water, and ground vibrated from tones often so low that they were felt, not heard. Harry fell to his knees. Sandra crushed down beside him on the gravel, holding him closely as she added her sweet voice to the symphonic resonance of the gathering. Tears ran down Harry's face, torn from him by the sounds that were as much emotions, ringing in his soul, as they were music of joy and celebration, ringing in his ears. His wavering voice joined the others.

The air born children began to gather over the center of the pool, swirling together in a mass of rainbow hued lights. The water born ones came near the surface; the continued vibration of the water caused them to glimmer beneath the heavily dimpled tiny waves on the cove. The pool looked like rain was falling on it. The young began to rise above the surface of the water in ones and twos like hatching insects; small random streams of young joined the swarm milling above. Quick's bright red spark was in the center, shining ever brighter with the ascending sun.

Sandra watched Harry; his face upturned, wet eyes intent on the kaleidoscopic dance before him, singing in strained ardent voice and wordless accompaniment, he watched as the children gathered. Joy and wonder resonated in her mind. Oldman, though voiceless, added his own singing thoughts. She could not tell whose mind he was in now, perhaps both. All she knew was that his presence was warm and comforting.

The children were streaming from the water, gathering now as the sun began to hurl its light through the Cottonwoods, causing the glowing children to shine brighter. The song was building to a crescendo. The mass of tiny lives began turning in a cyclonic movement, spinning in ever-increasing tempo. The sound was beginning to be unbearable; the buildup of the charge of energy had him gasping for air, unable to continue his vocalization.

Pressure built in Harry's loins. He looked to Sandra. She too was having trouble breathing. He became engorged. Sandra pushed him down and crawled on his lap, assuming her habitual position in response to emotionally charged issues.

The hasty union was as smooth and swift, as if two pieces of some device had been fitted together. Their shared physical and mental connections were surrounded by Sandra's wings, brilliant in the increasing bands of blinding light streaming through the trees. Her wings seemed to crackle with energy that was unheard in the single building chord of sensation. The agony ended with the beginning of their mutual gasp of release.

Oldman screamed a wordless cry in their joined minds and discharged the first pulse of energy. It was the trigger that ignited the detonation of the unbearable tension. A pulse of light, energy, and mental force burst from Sandra and passed over him, bringing his own physical and mental release. The three blasts of energy expanded.

The release was visible. The flashing sensation of sight experienced on Harry's last trip to the cove returned, revealing the three expanding walls of light and energy; a slow motion ripple that moved outward from them, raising shock waved arcs across the water and the inferno of spinning light over it. When it struck the fiercely rotating cloud of streaming color, the tightly packed mass of spawn whirled away down river. They reminded Harry of the way the Green Warrior's image had shivered out of the darkness of his mind. He very carefully did not look to see if the Green Man was there in the quiet corner of his mind where he had closeted him. Instead, he held tightly to Sandra in the sudden silence that was punctuated only by their labored breaths.

At last, their increased consumption of oxygen slowed. Harry heaved his body up and forward, staggering under the solid weight of her, propelling them both into the now placid waters. His transformation was swift, coming an instant before he entered the still water.

Driven by the joy of the new ability, Harry swam rapidly to the bottom of the pool then back to the surface as fast as he could. He exploded through the barrier of water and air in a mighty leap of ecstatic bliss. He transformed again into his two-legged form and crashed into the pool in a mighty splash, a mighty painful splash as he belly flopped. Sandra's head emerged beside him as he tread water.

Her laughter stung his ears as he tried to stay afloat and hold his aching balls at the same time. He reached out to duck her but she was too quick. Harry pursued her but was unable to catch her. They played over and around each other like children till exhausted, then returned to the now smoldering fire; its smoke rose straight up in the breezeless air. Oldman kept sentry as Harry and Sandra wrapped up in the quilts and fell quietly into sleep.