Chapter 2 #3
“There you go,” Isyss encourages.
“What are you, like …” Fermena begins to ask, looking for the right word. “The fae of peace?”
“No,” Isyss laughs. “But I do have a gift that can help ease fear and anxiety.”
“Oooouuu,” Fermena says, laughing along with her. “Okay, girl! I need you around me more often because the amount of anxiety I have—chileeee.”
They both crack up laughing. Isyss takes in the beauty that is Fermena, admiring the dimples that appear on her cheeks as she laughs. Nothing is as beautiful as her. She has witnessed her from afar, but never thought she would be this stunning up close.
“Ok, ok,” Fermena says, trying to calm their laughter. “What is it you need to tell me?”
“I’m a dream fae that watches over your dreams,” Isyss begins.
She pauses for a moment as she watches Fermena process the words that just left her mouth.
“As dream fae, we watch over those who have the gift of clairvoyance and astral travel. I’m assigned to protect you in the dream realm.
Any time you have any night terrors, I’m there to clear the path and weave more peaceful dreams,” Isyss continues, unsure how Fermena will respond.
“Oh my gosh!” Fermena perks up. “That’s where I heard that song!”
“Yes,” Isyss smiles, witnessing her connecting the dots. “A part of me, weaving your dreams, is singing to bring in peaceful energy to cancel out any shadows and darkness surrounding you in your dreams.”
Fermena smiles, remembering how peaceful it felt when she heard the song in her dreams. She always ended up in a place of peace, and things felt instantly safe. “Thank you,” she says, reaching out for Isyss’s hand.
“For what?” Isyss asks, allowing her hand to rest in Fermena’s.
“For protecting me,” Fermena says. “There are nights when I can’t sleep because of them, but knowing that you’ve been there to protect me means more to me than you know.”
Isyss smiles as she sees a glint in Fermena’s eye.
“No need to thank me,” Isyss says. “It’s my job.”
“But still ...” Fermena says. “Without you, I don’t know how I’d get through the night.
Since losing my late lover, my dreams have been more intense, and I just couldn’t shake the loss of her.
” Her eyes well up with tears, remembering the loss of Gemini.
It feels like it was only yesterday every time she comes to mind.
The loss of her feels deeper than she can imagine, and hurts just as badly.
Their love was her first, and those first few years without her, Fermena didn’t know how she would go on.
Her night terrors were the closest she could get to Gemini.
Although she knew their love would be forever etched in her memory, she knew she had to let her go to truly welcome in the light.
Isyss interlaces her fingers with Fermena’s, giving her palm a light squeeze to ease the pain.
Though Isyss knows she will never understand such a profound loss, she knows how hard it has been on Fermena after witnessing the countless dreams she had throughout those lonely nights following Gemini’s death.
Placing a kiss on top of Fermena’s hand, she stares up into her eyes, hoping to bring her comfort that will ease the pain.
As they hold each other’s gaze, Isyss feels a warm sensation swarming in her belly, almost making her nervous.
Her wings begin to flutter as her senses expand, and the warm sensation fills her heart.
“Is this love?” she thinks. “Does she feel it too?”
Fermena’s eyes soften, and Isyss can see her letting down her walls.
Isyss feels a wave of shock in her hand as a lavender aura surrounds their hands.
They both look down in awe at what is happening.
With no words to express what they are witnessing, the aura expands until it surrounds them both.
As they take in the glow around them, it expands up into the air and swirls, creating flashes of light.
“What is this?” Fermena asks.
“I-I don’t know,” Isyss says, looking up. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.
They watch as the light turns into orbs and the aura clears. The orbs dance in between them as their hands remain connected. Fermena smiles, feeling the familiar energy.
“These…” Fermena says, and pauses as she holds out her hand. One of the orbs lands on her palm as she watches it turn into a small bug.
“These are Love Bugs,” Isyss says.
A small lavender bug with round platinum eyes sits in the center of Fermena’s hand. Its wings rub together, making a small chiming sound. Squinting her eyes, she leans in closer to get a better look.
“Oh my gosh! I think I’ve seen them before—they’ve been all over my garden!” Fermena shouts with excitement. “What are Love Bugs?”
A smile fills Isyss’s face as she watches more orbs turn into Love Bugs, and the story her grandmother told her comes to mind.
“It’s all beginning to make sense now,” Isyss thinks.
“Love Bugs are beings that show up when new love is beginning. They’re like messengers to bring two beings together when the timing is right for the love to unite,” she begins.
“My grandmother used to tell me about the story of how she and my grandfather met because of the Love Bugs. They show up around one mate, leading them to meet their one true love.”
Fermena nods, taking in everything she is saying.
“I think they brought you to me,” Isyss says as she meets Fermena’s gaze.
The warmth in Isyss’s body fades, as the realization of their connection becomes clear to her—it all makes sense now.
The feeling she had when they met, and her yearning to help her beyond her duty to protect.
She felt drawn to protect her not only for Gemini to cross over but because they were destined for one another.
“I think so too,” Fermena giggles as her cheeks grow warm. She looks down at their hands, their fingers still interlaced. “It all started in my garden on a full moon. I was going to do a love ritual, but that night I made the decision to let go and allow love to find me—and it did.”
Isyss smiles, gazing at Fermena’s high cheekbones and the excitement that dances in her eyes. Though she’s watched her from afar for so long, it is unreal to be in her presence. It doesn’t hit her until now that she feels connected to Fermena more than she realizes—Fermena is her fated mate.
“I thought I’d never find love again after I lost my first love,” Fermena continues. “But then somehow I fall asleep and end up here—meeting you. And you feel so familiar to me, like I’ve known you before. Almost like–”
“A soulmate,” they both say together.
“Yes, that’s it!” Fermena says. “Like–”
Isyss swallows the rest of Fermena’s words as she gently grabs her face and takes her into a deep kiss.
No words are needed to express how she feels once their lips connect, and the warmth in her belly reignites.
There is something about Fermena that she can’t describe—her presence, the look in her eyes, and the way she feels.
Though they’ve never met before this, there is a love so undeniable that they both feel for each other.
Fermena wastes no time taking in Isyss’s tongue as they dance in deep hunger and desire.
The lavender aura returns and swirls around them intimately as they share a kiss.
Isyss sucks on her bottom lip and slowly pulls away as Fermena’s love-drunk eyes meet hers.
Fermena brings her fingers up to feel her kiss-plumped lips.
“Um...” she stammers.
Isyss smirks, admiring her dazed look. Fermena is left breathless and unable to form words as she struggles to process what just happened.
“Yeah..” Isyss nods with a sly grin. “You’re it for me.”
Fermena giggles as Isyss leans over to push a strand of her lavender coils from her face.
“As much as I don’t want you to leave …” Isyss whispers. “We gotta get you home.”
Although they’ve found each other, they can’t be in this realm together. Their love is fated, but it won’t be accepted in Lumaethera. Only fae can exist in this realm; humans cannot survive here for long.
“I know,” Fermena says, dropping her head. “I feel like I just found you, and now I have to go.”
“Hey,” Isyss says, placing her hand on Fermena’s chin to bring her gaze to hers. “We’ll be fine. We’ll figure this out.”
“This is all happening so fast. How would this even work? How would we even get to know each other?”
Fermena’s mouth is moving a million miles a minute, filled with questions of how they can be together—a human and a fae from two different worlds. Isyss places a quick peck on her lips to ease her nerves.
“We will figure it out. I’ll visit you in your next dream cycle and we’ll figure it out—together,” Isyss says. “But you can’t be here much longer, or you’ll begin to fade.”
“W-What—what do you mean fade?!” Fermena yelps.
Fermena looks at her hands, and they are translucent. “What’s happening to me?” she asks frantically, as tears well up in her eyes.
“You’re fading. If you stay here too long, you’ll fade away and get stuck in the astral. We gotta get you home—quick! Get on my back!” Isyss says, leaning over.
Fermena slides onto Isyss’s back as her wings unfold.. They take off, Isyss soaring over the trees into the dark sky towards her home.