20. Giselle #2
I didn’t know why I was so worried about people objecting to me being there since I’d spent almost two hours hanging with a bunch of humans who were in relationships with shifters of different species, but the insecurity was still there, whispering that I couldn’t possibly be welcome by all these powerful, magical beasts who could take animal forms at will.
“Of course. There are younglings there who don’t have an animal form yet, and other humans. Why wouldn’t we want you?”
“No idea,” I answered honestly.
“That’s okay.” He took my hand and squeezed it gently. Once. Twice. Three times. “You can just watch if you like, but also, we don’t have to at all.”
“When was the last time you participated in it?”
“Ah, years ago. Before, ya know.”
Oh boy, did I know. It was the event that had permanently changed the course of his life. I wished that it had never happened to him, yet, if it hadn’t, Ben and I wouldn’t be together.
Not that we were together-together, but we were kind of there.
It was strange to hold two such conflicting views, but it was the truth. I wished desperately that the massacre hadn’t happened, and that they’d had very different lives, but I was also incredibly grateful for the path that led them to me. Little ol’ sick, nobody me.
“I would love to dance with you,” I answered, and he was polite enough not to point out how tight my throat sounded.
“Let’s go dance, then.”
Letting him pull me out of my chair, I walked with him back towards the pavilion and then past it. I trusted him to lead me without a single doubt, figuring he could either hear or smell where the gathering was already happening.
I was a wee bit worried at how my stomach would handle things.
Twenty minutes earlier, I’d been full to bursting.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t get nauseous. Besides, Ben had said that it wasn’t exactly a sock hop, square dance, or anything else intensive.
And I didn’t have to participate. It was my choice.
We walked to a well-lit area, where a group had gathered.
A few of the taller people were setting up more hanging lamps, but the rest were casually talking to each other.
Although I believed Ben’s assurances, it was still nice to instantly recognize two other humans, Lavar and Seong Yung.
If they were there, I was sure there were others of our kind dotted around as well. Truly a blend.
“Ben, there are some people I want to introduce you to,” I said, happily pulling at his arm in their direction.
“Oh? Isn’t that my job?” he teased.
“Believe it or not, I made friends.”
The smile that crossed his handsome face was so genuine and unfettered my heart skipped a beat. Thankfully, I had brought my beta blockers just in case, so he could give me all the arrhythmia he wanted.
I introduced him, and he was as charming as ever. Pretty much as soon as we were done with that, an older man stepped into the middle of the gathering and shifted.
My God!
I’d never seen someone shift slowly, gradually, but it was such a strange mix of body-horror and art. Fur rippled out from his skin in smooth, rolling waves, the flesh expanding in a layer of muscle. His face began to lengthen, the shape of his features following a long-practiced choreography.
It was beautiful. It was scary. It was over far too soon. A few moments later, a massive, majestic brown bear stood at full height in the center, gray around his muzzle and ears.
“Wow…” I breathed, and Ben squeezed my hand again. I liked this form of communication we’d unlocked.
“Don’t make me jealous now,” he teased.
I batted my eyes at him. “Are you saying that you get jealous?”
“Maybe. When it’s someone really important to me.”
I knew that I was blushing from my feet all the way up to my scalp, but it was a nice sort of fluster. “You sayin’ I’m important to you?”
“I am, and if I haven’t said it before, I’m sorry about that.”
Fuck. I knew Ben wasn’t the most verbose person, but sometimes he was a bit like a sniper with it, cutting through all the bullshit to get me right in the squishy heart. And the crazy thing was I could totally tell that he meant it.
God, I really was in love.
The thought nearly knocked me, and I was sure my heart rate spiked, but the universe looked out for me again because the bear let out a bellow. It wasn’t malicious, but it was powerful, and it rattled me down to my bones.
Several shifters stepped forward, slipping into their animal forms before crying out as well. Some preteens joined, although they took no animal form.
The first bear took one step, and then another, then raised its front legs into the air before slamming all four onto the ground. The rest followed his example as best they could in their different forms, then the giant bear was onto the next phase of movement.
It really was a dance. Primal and rough around the edges, perhaps even raw with power, but still a dance. It spoke to an innate part of me, the same one that motivated ancient Homo sapiens to move their bodies rhythmically around fires while others sang and clapped their hands.
Completely enraptured, I watched as the whole thing played out, eventually ending in a final, lingering cry to the sky. Another woman around my age, walked forward and shifted.
Time didn’t matter as she went through her celebration, then another went through theirs. But on the fourth go-around, it was a human who stepped forward. Cherry, who I’d met earlier.
“Thank you all for being so kind to me here,” she said, her cheeks a vibrant pink even in the deep yellow of the lamplight. “I’ll never forget when I was seventeen and soaking wet, showing up at the end of Rick’s driveway during a tornado watch and scaring him half to death.”
There was a shared chuckle from several spots around the circle that told me many people knew the story.
My eyes locked on the woman as she stepped to one side, then the other, then dipped her upper body close to the ground, then swayed back upright like a snake.
I was not a coordinated person, but even that couldn’t put a damper on the streak of inspiration that rose through me. Squeezing our still joined hands, I looked up at Ben with bright eyes.
“Do you wanna join?” I asked, already breathless. Something about watching the woman beckoned me more than the “Macarena” or “Cotton Eye Joe”. I couldn’t really explain why, it just was.
“You sure?” Ben asked. Maybe I was just projecting, but I felt there was something eager in his tone beside the surprise.
I nodded emphatically. “Yeah, I am.”
“Then let’s join.”
Hands still clasped, we hurried into the circle. Cherry’s eyes locked with mine, and the way her face brightened made my heart swell. Despite all my anxieties about not belonging, I’d never found a place where I was accepted so quickly.
Somehow, in just one afternoon, I found a community, and Ben was rediscovering the one that had been stolen from him.
For me, I could see a future of new friends and companionship knitting together into a web of support that I would always be welcome in, regardless of what happened with Ben and me.
And as for him, I could envision reforged connections, bonds made with other shifters.
It wouldn’t be close to having a pack again, but a close approximation to it.
And maybe that would lead to him actually joining another pack or starting his own again.
Yes, somehow, I saw all of that while following Cherry’s lead.
We stomped the ground, swayed our arms, spun in one direction and then another.
Simple, easy choreography, and yet it felt so good to move my body that way.
To move our bodies that way. Wolf. Kitsune.
Bear. Young ones with no animal form yet. All of us shared the momentum together.
Because when it came down to it, we were all connected by the breeze gently navigating through the trees, caressing our skin and fur as we moved.
By the earth beneath our feet as we stomped or stepped over it, the grass releasing the scent of damp earth and early spring.
By the blanket of stars in the onyx sky above us.
By our breathing. By the blood pumping in our veins.
We were our own, we were many, but we were also one.
I looked over to Ben. He was smiling and laughing like I was, teeth flashing as we all moved. Did he feel it too? I hoped he did, because the mix of emotions and sensations within me was truly wonderful.
Time had no meaning, even when I could feel my breath shortening and my chest beginning to grow tight. Although my endurance was quite terrible, I didn’t care. I wasn’t pushing myself beyond my limits, because for a short while, it felt like I didn’t have any.
But all good things had to come to an end, even enchanted moments. Cherry gave a bow, and we all retreated back to the edge of the circle.
There were a few more dances, and while I didn’t join in, I sat on the grass and watched with rapt attention.
Honestly, it could have gone on the whole night, and I would have been all right with it, teacher’s sleeping schedule be damned.
However, I wasn’t the only one getting sleepy.
Once the circle broke, I spotted plenty of yawns all around.
It was so unifying. No matter what kind of creature they could turn into, everyone got the sleepies at some point or another.
“Thank you,” I said as we all began to disperse, my heart feeling so full in my chest.
“For what?”
“For inviting me.”
“So, you liked it?”
“Ben, I loved it.”
He took my hand again, but this time, he raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss there as if he were a prince. Fire licked up my arm pleasantly, making my heart skip a few beats again.
“I’m glad. For what it’s worth, I’m really happy that we came too. Do you think you’re ready to pack it in for the night? It is pretty late for you.”
It definitely was. Although I would have loved the jamboree to last forever, I knew it couldn’t.
“Yeah, I think I’m ready.”