Chapter Six #2
She held up a marble-sized demonstration of her magic. “Here is the energy sample.”
He blinked and took it, his eyes widening in surprise. “Thank you.”
She flicked her fingers and handed him two scrolls. “This one is my romantic preferences, and this one is Nyssa’s. Hers is red.”
He took them and opened one. It opened with music and fanfare that stopped when he rolled it up.
Helen was laughing. “That one is Mik’s.”
He blinked and smiled. “I gathered as much.”
“Would you like to meet Nyssa and her daughter?”
He nodded.
“Okay. Gimme a second.” Mik turned and zipped off to find Nyssa.
* * * *
Helen smiled. “She’s one of the most generous souls that I have ever met. She wants everyone to find their own path to peace. If you send her someone, she needs an assistant at her workplace. Preferably one who can project a sweet and harmless appearance, no matter what they truly look like.”
“Why?”
“She’s a therapist. She helps people get through pain and panic and the terror that strikes in the middle of the most mundane tasks.
She teaches them to breathe, to control the rage and fear, to embrace the sorrow.
She’s a genuinely good person who needs someone who respects that because she spends a lot of time working and being called away from dinners and parties. ”
He exhaled. “That explains so much. Her self-control is astonishing.”
“Her resting face is blank and terrifying, but her soul bubbles with laughter. That’s how she gets you. Lulls you into a false sense of security and then bam! She does something so generous that it makes you want to cry. Like tonight.”
“She gave you power.”
“No. She refocused ambient energy and routed it through the crystal so it would slowly seep into my system. She got the others together and shattered her soul into all those people so that their dance powered the focus, and she could simply power the energy of each step and the light and the stars into me. No one was drained. No one was exhausted, and the joy she gave me was incredible.”
“How do you know the mechanism?”
“I analyze things, and the crystal told me.” She held it up. “It gave me the how and the why.” Helen laughed. “She gave me the manual, and that let me accept it.”
“You are sick?”
“Dying. Now, I can feel my body changing course. This time next year, I will be whole and strong and looking for my own life.”
He looked at her. “What are you looking for in a mate?”
“Slow -moving and doesn’t like to crush things. Right now, my body is extremely brittle. It’s why she gave me this chair, so no one bumped into me.”
“What was killing you?”
“My own body. Tumours in places that can not be cut and extracted. In the past, I have had them removed, and they return, over and over. Genetically predisposed to grow them.”
“I am sorry.”
“I have prepared to die; now I need to get ready to live. It is quite the switch, which is why she didn’t make things instant. Instant would have broken me. This way, I can resume living and decide what I want to become.”
“She is very wise.”
“Yes. I was going to call her character a wizard, but there is a wizard on one of the other teams. I didn’t want to conflict.”
“I see.”
Helen looked as two dark elves and what appeared to be a very pretty male djinn came toward them. “I am so going to get those guys designed and into a game. Hey, Myro. Breen. Other guy.”
Myro grinned and then sobered and bowed to the djinn next to her. “Emperor Vaayu, what brings you here?”
“Ryo ran to Avor and tattled that he had seen earth-born djinn. Then an imperial djinn, and after that, I found a blood djinn and a wild mage. This world is giving up her secrets fast.”
Helen added, “Well, we knew about Nyssa, and after all, one really wants an option with all these freaking dragons around.”
The imperial djinn asked quietly, “Who is we?”
“Oh, we gossip when we are getting cancer treatment. You know. Just the girls gabbing away.”
Myro snorted. “The red djinn is one of my employees. She is strong, she is stable, and she hasn’t even blinked at any of the men I have pulled in to tempt her.”
Vaayu looked at Helen. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Oh, come on. It was hilarious.”
Myro frowned. “What? Oh, hell. She prefers women.”
Breen started laughing at him.
Helen grinned. “You can be taught.”
Vaayu snorted. “It will be difficult to find a match for her, but I will attempt a few.”
Helen looked at the crystal in her hand. “Use the red scroll. If it reacts favourably, you have a match. The harder part will be to get someone who is strong enough to be a wise protector and yet nurturing enough to adopt a teen omega who wants stability.”
Vaayu looked at the scrolls. “She gave me the tools.”
“She’s a good therapist. It’s what she does.”
The djinn asked, “Who?”
Helen smiled. “The chaos mage. Mik.”
Poppy cruised up, and her mates made room, putting their arms around her. Poppy inclined her head. “Emperor Vaayu.”
“Time elf. It is good to see you so prosperous, and it explains why Myro has been neglecting his duties.”
Poppy cocked her head. “Neglecting his duties? At this point, his only duty is to keep me safe and happy and take me for regular therapy visits. And ice cream. The ice cream is non-negotiable.”
Vaayu looked at her, and he slowly nodded. “Right.”
“You wanted a colony, you are getting a colony, but the original elves here cannot serve two masters or, rather, a master and mistress. The ladies here are powerful and irritated. It is an interesting combination, and these guys need to be able to give their starting families full attention.” A new voice rang out.
Helen stared at the familiar figure. “Nyla. Hey. I didn’t know you were in town.”
The woman walked toward Helen. “You are looking better. You might beat this yet.”
Vaayu was staring at the newcomer. “What are you?”
Nyla looked at him, and she shrugged. “Whatever I want to be. Right now, I am a friend, and I am about to be busted.”
Nyssa, Mik, and a pre-adolescent girl walked toward them. When Nyssa caught a look at Nyla, she screamed and ran forward, holding her and spinning her around.
Dina was second, hugging her auntie and smiling.
Helen muttered, “That’s the one that likes men.”
Nyla turned her head and grinned. “On occasion, I can be persuaded to partake. Why?”
“Your sister is a blood djinn, and she requires training and a power source. I can send members of court to fill that requirement, with a focus on the young one who is in her care.”
Dina’s eyes went wide. “Me?”
“You.” He smiled. “Now, I just need to know what your aunt is.”
Helen’s eyes widened. “That was sneaky.”
Nyssa looked at her sister, grinned, and then started a slap fight. “Come on. Show. Show. Show.”
Nyla tried to defend herself, but after a minute of being smacked, she hissed, “Mom likes me best.” And grew two inches taller than her sibling, a red so dark she was nearly blending with the night, but the silver markings on her forehead, forearms, and the ones that were visible in the opening of her collar made her stand out.
Nyssa laughed. “That’s her. She also turns green, like a mood ring.”
Helen didn’t know what the elves and the emperor were seeing, but they were very surprised at that information.
Nyla looked at Nyssa. “Since you had a kid, you are super chatty.”
“Show them, Nile. This feels important.”
She sighed, and at her sister’s urging, Nyla turned into a towering dark green woman with markings on her forehead and elsewhere. Her hair was still that nearly black red.
Dina clapped her hands. “She looks like a holiday tree.”
Nyla crouched low. “Coal in your stocking, Dina.”
Dina laughed wildly.
Nyla stood and said, “I am guessing that between you and Avor, there is a ton of weird genes at play here. Contract families, treaties, finding someone cute, and having them follow an ancestor home.”
Vaayu nodded. “Yes, but the imperial djinn is usually dominant.”
“Well, not now. Look around, really look. This one event is dotted with those carrying some recessive genes that are now coming out to play.” She smiled. “And the genetics are not coming out in proper order. They are wild and out of control. Not everyone is a match for one of the dark elves.”
Vaayu muttered, “No, of course you aren’t. You are a warrior?” He had the look of a man who desperately wanted to do some research.
“When the occasion calls for it. Usually, I just travel from place to place installing new software and training folks how to use it. I have seen remarkable things and remarkable people in my life as a trainer.”
Vaayu said, “Come with me to court.”
“No.”
He blinked as if he had not expected that. “Why not?”
“I have a sister. A niece. And a life here. There is nothing that I can be offered that will change those things.” She smiled. “My parents and both sets of my grandparents are still alive. I will not leave them.”
He opened his mouth and closed it. “This is...”
Mik held up a third scroll in red and green. “There you go. That should do it.”
Dina gripped Nyla’s hand and said, “I want to introduce you to Tamara; she’s nice.”
Nyla looked at the emperor. “Lovely to meet you. I have to go and confirm that Dina has the same taste as her mother. Female alphas aren’t thick on the ground. Maybe a nice delta is in my sister’s future.”
Helen muttered, “Take the hint.”
Vaayu looked like he was stifling a bout of hysterical laughter.
Helen chuckled. “There, there, Emperor. You will get used to us. We have been raised without etiquette or courts. We say what is cruising through our minds at the time. Those touched by magic are being pushed to find partners. They can’t help it.
They try to resist, but fate is pushing hard to increase the population.
What is coming for us? Why are we creating an army? ”
Vaayu was startled. “You... how do you know that?”
She looked around and looked up at him. “I have been flirting with death for a long time. Pillow talk is intense.”