Carson Evolved Ch. 12

"You're the blue moonstone," he said softly. "You're mysterious, but you have an inner strength to you, and you've grown so much since I've known you. I need you in my life. I love you."

She didn't say anything for a moment, and Carson wondered what she was thinking. Then a tear leaked from her eye and she looked up at him with a grin. "It's beautiful. I never...I mean, I hoped, but I never thought I'd actually get to be with you. Now, you're inviting me to be a part of your family."

Carson teased, "Well, if you don't like it..." as he reached to take it from her.

Corinne literally growled at him. "Don't you dare! This ring means more to me than you can possibly know." Then, unlike any of the other Lionesses, she placed her ring on her left ring finger. She glared at him and firmly said, "This is my wedding ring. I can't marry you legally, but I am your fourth wife from now until we are parted, as far as I'm concerned. As soon as I can, I'll start the process of changing my name."

That part surprised him. None of the other non-wife Lionesses had offered that. His brow furrowed as he asked, "Are you sure? It's okay if you don't. None of the others said anything about that."

She grinned at him and said, "I told you a long time ago that I knew what I wanted. Now that you've given that to me, I'm going to show you that I meant what I said. You are what I want, and I can't think of a better way to honor that commitment than to carry your name. And when the time comes, our daughters, and all the other children you give me, will bear your name as well. That's how proud I am to be yours."

"Wow," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Thank you for that. I'm...I'm touched."

She smoothed his hair lovingly and said, "You're worth it...husband." Then she shivered, followed by a sheepish grin.

He matched her grin and asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know. I just got a chill when I got to call you that."

"Well, I like that too. So, does this mean you're ready to move in with us?" he asked.

She nodded. "Almost. The paperwork is nearly done on the sale of the house, and I'm just going to donate most of my furniture. Helena let me pick out a room the other day, so I'm going to start moving my clothes and jewelry and stuff over soon."

They spent a few more relaxing minutes discussing her plans regarding the move, before they started making their way out of bed to prepare for the day.

In the shower later, Carson thought to himself, if this keeps up, I'm going to have to get some more rings made. Didn't see that coming.

*****

"Carson?"

"Yes, Corinne?"

"There's a woman in the lobby downstairs who says she needs to speak with you. Should I have them send her up?"

With a tap of a button on his desk, Carson pulled up the video feed from the lobby downstairs. He smiled at seeing Siubahn at the reception station.

"I'll go down and collect her myself." Minutes later, he found himself approaching her with his hand outstretched.

Shaking her hand, he greeted her warmly, ignoring the buzz he felt in his head. "It's good to see you, Shivon...did I say it right?"

The handsome woman smiled indulgently. "Close enough, maighstir Jayne."

Carson led her into the lift. She seemed about to speak, but when the doors seemed to open again only a moment later, she looked at him in surprise.

He grinned. "I know. It's gets me every time, too. I don't know how they can transport us so quickly and make it seem like we're not moving at the same time."

Passing through the outer office, Carson could see that Corinne was intrigued at his behavior and the woman accompanying him. To forestall her questions, he said, "Corinne, I'll be in a private consultation for a while. Hold my calls, please."

"Of course, Sir," she replied.

Carson noticed that Siubahn seemed to have some difficulty tearing her eyes from Corinne. He indicated the couch as they entered his private office and asked if she'd like some coffee or tea. "Just some water, thank you."

He set an ice-cold bottle on the table before her and settled into his seat expectantly. After her comments the night before, he was bursting with questions. This was her show, however, so he exercised restraint. "So, what did you want to talk about, Siubahn?"

She looked at him thoughtfully. "We'll get to that soon, but I'm curious. You seemed surprised when I called you a wizard last night. Do you really not know what you are?"

"I certainly didn't know that I'm a wizard. If, indeed, I am one," he added.

Shaking her head, she lamented his lack of training. "Such cumhcachd amh!" Seeing his expression, she apologized. "Even after all these years, I forget sometimes that not everyone speaks my language. Cumhcachd amh (sounding like 'kuv-cac-tuh am' to Carson) means 'raw power.' Mr. Jayne...Carson...I've never felt the kind of potential you possess rolling off anyone before."

He frowned in confusion. "I have so many questions, but there's something deep inside me that seems to acknowledge the truth of your assessment. When you say you can 'feel' my...uh...energy?" He looked for her assurance and continued when she nodded. "When you say you feel that, what does that mean?"

"To answer that, I need to explain something of the nature of magic to you. I'm assuming that you have no knowledge at all?" He shook his head. "Carson, the world we see around us, even when something seems static and unchanging, is a constantly shifting balance of energies. And magic, at its most basic level, is transfer of energy. There are all sorts of magics out there. Some are in the form of magical creatures..."

His eyes widened when she said that. "Magical creatures?"

She nodded. "Many kinds. Some good, some bad...like humanity. Most of the creatures of legend are based at least in part on some magical race or another. Often, the broadly 'known' details are off a bit, but they get a lot of things right."

"Are we talking fairies and goblins, or angels and demons?" he asked.

With twinkling eyes, she replied, "Yes." She chuckled at the dissatisfied expression on his face. "I'm sorry. The answer is that all of those that you mentioned and more exist, but we rarely encounter higher level powers like angels and demons on this plane of existence. And the term 'fairy' is a sort of catch-all that could mean a wide variety of creatures. Goblins are...goblins. What I'm saying is that there are greater and lesser powers in the world, with a wide range of abilities."

He sat silently processing what she'd said for a moment. "You called me a wizard...a druid. What does that mean? Are there witches out there too? Sorcerers?"

"There are all of them and more. There are distinctions between them, but they are not hard and fast rules. The lines are fuzzier than most people think. The term 'wizard' originally meant something like 'wise one,' and these magicians were thought to acquire powers through learning from books or training. Sorcerers are supposed to be innately imbued with abilities to control their environment, usually at the elemental level. But they can gain power through interacting with spirits. They often get corrupted in the process, and that's why most people think of sorcerers as evil.

"Druids are sort of in the middle. You have innate powers, like sorcerers, but you can learn and develop new abilities as well. The two sides of your powers are tied together, though, because your immortal soul is reincarnated, and it brings with it all the knowledge it gained in previous lives. Scientists have long suspected that there is genetic memory encoded into the vast, uncharted regions of your DNA. In your case, and that of people like you, that's absolutely true."

She stopped and looked to see how he was taking things. He had a skeptical look on his face, but at least he wasn't laughing hysterically or running for the door.

"What else? Besides magical creatures, I mean," he asked.

Siubahn spread her hands. "Magic is everywhere, Carson. There are relics, talismans, rituals and incantations—all of which designed to touch, hold, collect, or use the magical energies around us. For someone gifted or sensitive enough, the energy can be found wherever you look. Tapping into that energy, though," she said, laying a finger aside her nose, "Therein lies the difference."

"What does magic feel like, then?"

Shaking her head, she said, "I don't have an answer that will make sense. Every magician feels it differently. Some need a focus, like a wand, to channel energy, and so it feels like a rushing stream. Others are their own collectors, and they simply open themselves to the energy, and so it feels like pressure or tingling. I once heard of a man who exorcises the undead by playing a tin whistle. He told me that he felt the tune more than heard it, and simply allowed the music to flow through him. When he stopped playing, the entity was gone. It's all different and unique."

Carson looked at her speculatively. "What does it feel like to you? You said you felt my magic last night?"

She smiled at him. "I am more of a sensitive than a practitioner. I can't do much myself, but I can feel the flow of energy around me. To me, it's like magnetism. You might think of me as a kind of human dowsing rod, able to sense when a concentration of power is near. Depending on the source, it can be like when you try to put the same poles of two magnets against each other, pushing against me. Or, it can draw me in. Last night, you pushed against me in a way I haven't encountered in years. It crashed over me like a wave on the shore; that's why I staggered."

"I'm sorry about that," he apologized. "Obviously, I didn't mean anything by it. Is there a way...you mentioned training...would I be able to control that?"

Nodding, she said, "Yes you can, and it's important that you learn to do so. There are magicians who will try to steal your energy, creatures that will despise you for what you can do...our world is not a safe place. You're powerful, but you broadcast that power to everyone and everything around you. I'm a little surprised that you haven't had more trouble."

"I haven't been able to do the things I can do for very long," he said. Cocking an eye, he asked, "Is that normal? I was just under 30 years old when I first knew I could do some of these things. Shouldn't I have...I don't know...'manifested' before then?"

Siubahn frowned. "It's true that most magicians go through the awakening earlier in life. It's not unheard of for it to happen later, but it's a little unusual, yes."

"Is there an event or process that normally takes place to trigger the change?"

She sat back in contemplation for a moment. "I don't know enough to give you a definitive answer, maighstir. In my clan, it's only the females that have power, and any magical ability appears not long after they reach puberty.

"I've heard, though, that there are some clans whose power is passed along intentionally, like a rite of passage. I've only heard rumors, mind you, but it's said that really powerful families wait until a child reaches adulthood before introducing their magic. From there, the parents feed a little of their own power into the child, helping them to understand how to access and use it. As the young magician grows, they are gifted with more and more. When the older generations pass on, their power trickles down through the generations."

Carson thought about what she said. If he was as powerful as she claimed, maybe his family practiced this? His parents had perished when he was 17, and he'd been taken in by a family friend for the months between their deaths and college. Had he missed out on this rite of passage? If so, why was it manifesting now?

When he asked Siubahn about it, she acknowledged that it was a possibility. She could only speculate as to why he was undergoing the awakening now. "Maybe their power passed to you upon death, but without understanding how to access it, you simply didn't know? If your wife's family has magic, that contact could have been enough to make you instinctively reach for the power inside you."

Their conversation lasted much longer than he'd expected, and yet he didn't want it to end. There was so much to learn, he realized, and he found the possibilities fascinating. What could he do? Could he use his powers to help people?

"I still have so many questions," he said. "Are you staying in the area? I'd be honored if you'd have dinner with us this evening. We have plenty of room, if you feel comfortable enough to stay with us afterwards. You're welcome for as long as you'd like. There's so much for me to learn and you're the only person I know who might be able to help me."

Siubahn feigned indignation. "Mr. Jayne! A respectable woman like myself sharing a home with a married man. What will people think?"

Carson stammered out an apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, I swear!"

She decided to let him off the hook. With an almost feral grin, she said, "You are too easy, maighstir òg. I would be honored to stay with you and your family, though I must admit that I have my doubts how much I can teach you. Your magic is...quite different from mine."

"How so?"

"It's so raw, so primal...it feels wild."

He grinned hopefully. "Is that a good thing?"

She was amused by his excitement. It was hard to reconcile how old he was to be just finding out about his heritage, since her family always awakened earlier. But she couldn't fault his enthusiasm. Smiling back, she said, "Magic is rarely good or evil, by itself. It is the will of the magician that defines its value. But," she added with that same feral grin, "Primal can be very good."

If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was hitting on me, thought Carson.

What in the world is happening to me? I'm old enough to be his mother, maybe even his grandmother. Why am I feeling like this? she wondered. The entire time she'd been in his office, she'd noticed an increasing tingle in her body, apparently reacting to his presence.

He shared his contact information from his communicator to hers and offered to come collect her on his way home from the office. She gratefully accepted and they prepared to end the meeting. As they stood, Carson asked one more thing that had been bothering him.

"I'm curious. You keep calling me 'maighstir,' which I understand means 'master.' Why?"

Silently, Siubahn cursed herself. She hadn't realized that she'd called him that. She pondered what to say. If he wasn't the good man that he seemed to be, she might be opening their clan up to trouble. Not answering truthfully, though, could lead to even bigger problems down the road. Finally, she sighed and answered.

"Carson, druids are rare. My grandmother told me about one she met once, but I've not met one before in all my years. The unique abilities of the druids are legendary. When mature, a druid has access to centuries of knowledge. This makes them valuable. Respected, but also feared. They have often served as judges in disputes. Not in the modern way, with the sentence to be carried out by someone else. They judge in the Old Way, and their punishment is swift.

"It behooves the clans to treat your kind with respect. And that often leads to...let's call it 'efforts at appeasement.'"

He frowned. "Are you saying that druids can be bribed and bought?"

Panicked, she assured him that she meant no offense. "There have been some through the years that have abused their station. What I mean, though, is that some families consider it a great honor if the druid...breeds with them." She searched his face to gauge his reaction.

Carson shook his head in disbelief. As if Orriri wasn't strange enough, now he had magical women that might want to breed with him? He licked his lips and asked, "Why would they want to do that?"

Siubahn actually blushed before responding. His question, though, reminded her of the answer to her own questions about her behavior with him. "There are...rumors...about the prowess of druids. Something about their long-lived knowledge and their magic. And, the power of druid blood being introduced into a family can only help their own bloodline. Some believe that the mere presence of a druid, with the right magician, is enough to overwhelm the senses. That druid my grandmother told me about? He fathered my uncle Stewart."

"So your uncle is a druid? What about your father or mother?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Uncle Stewart is half-brother to my mother...he hasn't shown any abilities at all."

Understanding dawned on Carson's face. "And how did your grandfather handle the knowledge that he'd been cuckolded?"

"For a potential druid in the family? He'd have offered her up voluntarily. That she did it on her own, apparently didn't cause much of a ripple in the family."

Sliding forward in her seat, she continued, "There are a number of types of humans that the world would call 'magicians' out there. And most of them believe that their powers and abilities are a genetic heritage, passed along from mother-to-daughter or father-to-son. But more recently, we've concluded that non-magical genetics have bigger role to play that we thought."

Carson looked at her in surprise. There had been a time not so very long ago when he'd sat in a very similar meeting with Xavier Sloane and Sam, listening to their sales pitch for the Orriri Project. And the way Siubahn was speaking sounded eerily reminiscent of that conversation.

"Let me guess: Mating with...uh...'normals' results in less or no magic?"

It was Siubahn's turn to be surprised. "Actually, that's exactly what we've come to believe. What made you say that?"

Carson shrugged and remained noncommittal. "I've heard something similar in a different frame of reference recently."

She squinted her eyes and looked at him carefully before continuing. "We used to believe that the magical ability that our children had was related to the particular family line and type of magic."

"You don't believe that now?" he asked.

Shaking her head, Siubahn replied, "There have been arguments through the years, but for the most part, the human magical community simply passed its heritage along from generation to generation. Some families were strong, others were less so. There was a sizeable minority, though, that believed that magical ability could be diluted if so-called 'normals' were introduced. This minority group even went so far as to establish a kind of shadow organization where magical families could interbreed in order to strengthen and protect their abilities."

As she was speaking, Carson felt a sense of dread begin to fall over him, and a sliver of ice worked its way down his spine. Licking his suddenly-dry lips, he asked, "This...uh...'organization?' Did it have a name?"

She chuckled. "That organization was established hundreds of years ago. They've splintered into other groups over time, and even travelled here to the new world. Part of the reason I'm here now is because there was a rumored offshoot of the group established in this area. Unfortunately, I don't even know for certain that they still exist.

"To answer your question, though, the movement originally was called 'màthair-adhbhar' (ma-hār ahg-var), which roughly translates as, 'primary cause' or 'source.'"

Carson closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Quietly, he said, "Another way to say that would be 'origin,' wouldn't it?"

Siubahn thought about it. She answered, "It's not a direct translation, but it conveys the same idea. Why do you ask?"

He took a deep breath and sighed. Is it really possible that Orriri and this mysterious group she's describing are the same?