Project: Morning Sunrise

You probably wonder why I chose to stay there. That's an easy answer: security. I grew up nearby, so did Ray, Ethan, and Rawn. We know the place, and the people. Ray lives about six blocks south of me, near Dearborn. Arawn and Ethan live over next to Redford, but last time we talked, Arawn mentioned trying to get a farm out near Brighton in the future. That guy has always loved nature. Dammit, I got sidetracked again.

Anyway, I was just about to give Nira the nickel tour of my home and take her out for dinner, when Emond and Feo chose to make an appearance. I was surprised to note that Feo wore her natural form.

"Greetings, young Michael. Is good to see you return," Emond declared. "I trust that your job meeting went well?"

I nodded, unsure of what to make of Feo's unusual confidence. She usually took the form of a human whenever new people came to visit.

Emond was a small, white-haired man with a short-trimmed beard to match, not much more than about five-and-a-half feet tall. He spoke with clear English, accented in old slavic, and his grammar was broken at times, but his gentle smile always made his point if words failed. He turned that smile on my Nira and took her hand.

"Our young host sometimes forgets himself. I am Emond, and this," he gestured to Feo, who stood beside him with her bright orange eyes, black hair, long yellow beak, pale elfin ears, clawed hands, and chicken feet, "is my lovely wife, Feo. We tend Michael's home in his absence, and make sure he tends himself when he is home."

Emond noticed her growing uncertainty and patted her hand, "Be at ease, my lady. You are among friends."

Nira smiled, "Thank you, Emond, but it is not disquiet that I feel, it is confusion."

She turned to me, "How is it that you have such powerful spirits within your home, acting as housekeepers?"

I kissed Nira on the cheek and chuckled, "Because they are not housekeepers, they are ancestor spirits, honey. Emond is a domovoi, and Feo is a kikimora of the forest. Emond and Feo have watched over various branches of my family for almost two thousand years. When I trained with the Hierophancie, one of the things I learned was how to contact familial spirits and re-establish regular interaction. Emond and Feo's presence here is the result."

Nira knew all of the spirit lore of her own people, but due to her complete isolation from the human world, she was not familiar with cultures outside of the Hindu pantheon's influence.

"So they were once living..."

"... breathing people, yes. They are the spirits of my ancestors," I finished for her.

My poor Niranjana was thoroughly confused at this point.

"If Feo is a human spirit, how did she come to have her current form?"

Feo gave Emond's hand a gentle squeeze and answered in a clear voice that further confused my Nira, considering it came from a long, pointed beak that belonged on the face of some exotic bird.

"I was infant, abandoned in forest and left to die by angry mama. Papa could not find. Baba Yaga found remains, let walk again as kikimora to take revenge. Sweet Emond save me before I lose self to Baba's curse, bring back to family."

Nira couldn't help but be taken aback by the story and she placed a hand over her heart.

"Mother save us!"

I slipped an arm around her waist and held her to my side.

"As one of the domovoi, Emond is second in power only to godlings like Lord Shiva and Mother Kali. Because Baba Yaga is a godling, he could not give Feo a permanent human form again, but his love saved her from her grief and anger, and allowed Feo to regain her mind," I explained.

Nira smiled up at me and damned if I didn't melt inside. It had been way too long since I had seen that woman.

"That is beautiful, Michael. How long have they been with you? How did you come to have them here?"

I tilted my head in thought for a moment, "About five years, give or take. I studied arcane magic and theology before coming to learn mysticism under Lord Shiva, but I hit a plateau because of my empathic skills. I couldn't control them, and the constant barrage of emotions caused too much chaos for me to advance very far in either. The Chancellor of the Hierophancie sent me to a guru in Nepal who turned out to be an avatar of Lord Shiva, himself. The Chancellor had no idea who he is, still doesn't... and you know what happened on Kailash, so I don't need to recount that for you.

"Following that, it was just more arcane studies, more theology, and off to Japan for the last three years to study martial arts. It got unbelievable quick."

I took my Nira by the hand and led her over to the sofa, where I sat down and pulled her into my lap. When she had gotten herself settled, I continued.

"Anyway, once I got back into the arcane part of my education, everything opened up and I progressed. About halfway through, I discovered that they have a vast repository on every culture that has ever walked on Earth for millions of years. I couldn't read half the scrolls they kept in that place. A lot were on vellum, but the oldest were on the strangest crystals I have ever seen. It was there that I dove into my slavic roots and found the rituals that let me contact Emond and form a pact: I maintain the home and they dwell within and maintain the household as honored family. Feo can take the appearance of a human woman for a few hours at a time, just not her original human form, so she doesn't have to hide when there are guests."

Nira leaned her face into the crook of my neck as Emond and Feo took their leave and headed to the kitchen. I would like to say that her actions were the beginning of an amazing night, but that would be a lie. I was completely exhausted from the day's events, and so was my Nira. Mount Kailash is in India, after all and time zones are a bitch. Even for a naga.

Instead, Emond and Feo came out of the kitchen an hour later to inform us that dinner was ready, and found us asleep in each other's arms. Emond later told me that he smiled at his wife, then took Feo's hand and led her back into the kitchen, and left us to rest.

*********

That was ten years ago, and today my Nira and I are happily married. My friends would not meet her for a long time, but that was due to the nature of the job. Hell, they didn't even know I had been getting all the training I put to use that day, much less the day itself. I just 'went off to college overseas', something they didn't question. Kass was a whole different experience altogether.

That reminds me, Project: Morning Sunrise... They were a government organization that had been dedicated to the policing of the supernatural community within our world. I worked for the American branch, but every single country, big or small, had one of its own. Something else that my friends did not know existed at the time.

This was the story of the day I got the job, and the day my life turned absolutely upside down. Yeah, I know... you're probably thinking, How in the hell can his life turn upside down with a curse that protects him?

Well, trust me... you have absolutely no idea. The blessing doesn't always retaliate, a lot of the time it only protects. That's how Hades kicked my ass so many times. It didn't do much other than keep me from dying. It is absolutely mind-boggling what you can survive, the hospital staff certainly thought so.

Also, like Hades said... I was now public enemy number one to quite a few intimidated godlings. That's never a good thing.

So, that's it for now. Next time, I will tell you about Kass and how much fun we had settling him into the house, and I'll also share with you the story of my very first case.

You all take care, and be good till then. Bye now.

Yours Truly,

Michael Satko

*********

Hey all! TLW here. Hope you enjoyed this introduction to Rawn's friend, Michael. This story should come across a little more balanced. It is also the second action story that I mentioned. The remaining two of the four will be more drama oriented, and the love story should (if I don't bugger it up) be more prominent in the plot. I'm going to try to make it more prominent in this one as well.

See you all next time. Thanks for reading!

TLW