We hadn't even set off before George asked Paul: 'Are you two really getting married?'
Paul, pretending not to notice his almost accusing tone, replied quietly: 'We are, George. I asked Melissa to marry me and she accepted my proposal.'
Now George showed his real concern: 'Have you any idea what that will do to Lukas? He needs you, you cannot shut him out, it would kill him.'
I thought that was sweet, and Paul clearly thought so too, for he mildly observed: 'Your concern for Lukas moves me, George, but it is also because of him that I went on my knees with a fresh bullet-hole in my back. That wasn't easy, you know.' He winked at me and continued: 'Getting shot reminded me that if something were to happen to me, my family could claim the house and even the business we're planning to build up together.
I cannot let that happen, I have to provide for the two people I care about most in this world.' I added: 'Nothing will change for Lukas, we'll still love him as we do now. And he'll still have the freedom to love where he wants to.'
This seemed to appease George, and he said: 'I hadn't looked at it that way.
Seen like that it is indeed the right thing to do. But please know you'll always have a home with us if anything happens to Paul.'
Of course I knew that, but that was not the way I wanted to live: 'I know we would, George, but I have never been dependent on anyone, and I'm sure Lukas prefers to take care of himself.
And I want to marry Paul for himself, I love him so much I cannot bear even thinking of losing him.'
Saying that of course I saw him fall again, right before my eyes, and I had to swallow hard a few times to force my tears back down.
Paul noticed, and he wrapped me in his arms, stroking my hair. Held against his chest, breathing in his familiar scent, I got hold of myself again quickly,
but I liked it where I was so I stayed in his arms for the rest of the short trip.
As we turned into the park, George said: 'I'm sorry if I have upset you Melissa, I have come to care a lot about Lukas and I was worried for him. Of course I wish you all the very best, and I congratulate you on finding the person you love most in the world. Will you be having a large affair, with parents and a party?'
Paul replied: 'We would prefer to keep it small, a parish priest, our best friends, a small party.' 'Would you consider having a party in our garden?'
George asked, 'I'm sure Frances would love to see you married in our garden, she thinks of you as a son as much as I do. She is very happy to see the two of you together.'
We had now arrived at the house, and Paul replied: 'We'd love that, George, a small party among friends, in a lovely garden, that is everything we could wish for. Thank you so much for the offer. You'll see that Lukas doesn't mind the idea of us marrying at all.'
Then we got out of the carriage, and met up with the others. Together we walked around the house and met the rest of the family in the garden.
Frances didn't spend much time on introductions, she delegated George and Paul to receiving parents coming to pick up their sons and daughters, and quickly abducted Lukas and me to a healing session.
Mr Telling seemed a bit lost with so much bustle around him, until Lukas laid a hand on his shoulder, inviting him along with our party. I thought that he was as committed to making him aware of the lower classes as Paul, only a lot more subtly.
'Where are we going, Frances?' Lukas asked. She replied: 'I thought we'd go to the greenhouse, the garden there is quiet and friendly, perfect for reliving and conquering nasty memories.' When we got there, Jonathan was already present with Laura, and one of the other children, a boy of around twelve.
They had a sheet of paper and a pencil, ready to write down addresses, names and any other particulars Lukas would find out.
Lukas told Mr Telling: 'Mr Telling, I'm going to treat this boy to see if I can fade his traumatic memories of the last year or so a little, and when that is done I'll try to remove the blockade on his older memories.
Then I'll try to find out his name and address, and the name of his parents, so we can send a message to them that their child is still alive and staying here until they pick it up.
After that, it will take weeks for him to get all those regained memories in order, realize they're his own past. Some need a second treatment to help process the memories.'
The council member nodded, and asked: 'Is it all right if I watch?'
Of course that was Lukas' intent, so he replied: 'You are welcome to watch. It may take a while so it is best if you make yourself comfortable.
Please meet Jonathan and Laura, Jonathan has lived in that wasteland for two years, he was the first victim and helped all the others survive. He was their father, providing food, shelter, clothing, and comfort if they were sad. Laura helped him with everything.
And remember, all this time they did not even know their own names or where they grew up, how they got there. They just survived, without hope of things ever getting better, the group of dependent children growing by the month as another catatonic child was dumped on their terrain to live or die.'
I could see this affected Mr Telling, seeing the children in real life did make an impression on him. Jonathan was very good-looking cleaned up and without the burden of responsibility weighing him down. I winked at him, then sat down next to Lukas and got hold of a ley-line.
I saw Mr Telling's eyes widen but I hardly registered his surprise, I was already at work, inviting Lukas to connect our minds, which he did with a sweet smile.
Jonathan led the boy to us, and Lukas invited him to sit with us, which the boy did, a bit apprehensively. Jonathan sat down with us as well, to quiet the boy, who was soon to have his name back.
Lukas now carefully touched him and I felt his talent jump to life. The boy had about half a year's worth of memories, and they were not very traumatic.
He remembered little of being dumped, and felt very safe with the little group. Lukas had little stress and fear to wear down, so he soon started to look for the memory barrier.
It was clearly there, and it wasn't very strong, this was a rather placid child who took life as it was, and his memories were freed within seconds. Now Lukas was assaulted by fear, excruciating pain and loneliness, a gaping hole where the parents' love had been. This boy had had a very close bond to his parents, and being deprived of that love had hurt him most of all.
Memories flooded in once more, his name was William, his family name Frost, he was from the city, the only reason he could stand to go to the school
was that he was promised visits in the weekend. This must have been one of the missing children whose parents had alerted the council. Lukas found a memory of his address, said it aloud for Jonathan to write down, and then he went ahead to the cells beneath the wool factory.
It was cruel to pull the boy from eating an ice-cream with his parents into a cell where his magical talent was ripped out of him in agonizing pain, but it had to be done, the memories would return as lively as this if not treated.
They needed to be worn down.
Which Lukas did, time and time again, until they felt a lot more vague and in the past. Then he broke the contact, and as Jonathan and Laura listened to the boy telling them his name, and that his parents lived very close, in the city, I caught Lukas as he toppled with weariness.
I held him in my lap, cradling him like a newborn, stroking his curls. I checked his energy level and topped it to its original state, then continued to caress Lukas until he came to, quietly watching the scene in front of him from my arms, the child he had helped sharing his happy memories with his friends, Laura listening patiently but with a sadness still about her, Jonathan aware of that sadness, addressing it by caressing her whilst listening to the boy's happy chatter and commenting on his memories.
The boy's happiness was scant payment for Lukas, living all those memories with him, time and time again, and after him another child and another child.
Was it too much to ask of a young man, or was
he ideally suited to this, because of his rakish character, able to spring back into cheerfulness after feeling so much misery? I didn't know, but I was sure I would ask him, tonight, or the next time we were alone or with Paul.
I was shaken from my worried reverie by Frances' cheerful voice calling us:
'Lukas, Melissa, I've coffee and cakes for you! Can I offer you some too, sir?'
This at the council member. The council member! I had totally forgotten him in the intensity of the procedure, but it appeared Lukas hadn't.
He looked up from my shoulder at Mr Telling, smiled at him amiably and said: 'Now you're going to get a totally new experience Mr Telling, Frances'
coffee is, well, I lack the language skills to describe it, so I'll just call it special.'
Following Lukas' line of sight, I saw an expression closest to awe on Mr Telling's face, and I was sure it wasn't the expectation of Frances' coffee that put it there. This might be the most powerful man in the city, and he looked
at Lukas in incredulous awe.
When he was able to speak again he said: 'Please call me Tristan, Lukas, may I call you Lukas? And you too, Melissa, please?
I can't be Mr Telling to you anymore, apprentices yet, who put my commitment and magic skills to shame. I have never seen anything like that in my life, that boy was not really in this world with us, and watching him I saw him come alive, then all kinds of emotions, agonizing ones, but happy ones as well, played across his face, until you broke the contact and he was an ordinary boy.
And the cost to yourself, are you sure it is safe to go so deeply?'
Without realizing it, Tristan was giving Lukas exactly what he needed, love.
Not physical love of course, but this kind of deep appreciation, and the realization that lower class children were worth loving too, those were powerful emotions that clearly fed Lukas' need to be loved.
Though I felt Tristan's eyes on me, I continued to hold and caress Lukas, he needed that and I was my own person, had never bowed to propriety.
Let him think what he will, it was a private matter anyway. But Tristan was soon to be distracted, for Frances handed him a cup of her extraordinary coffee, and he sipped it absently.
Poor, poor man, he was destined to have his feelings shaken up that day, and this was only occasion number three, counting Paul's confronting questions.
The taste of the coffee hit him like a board, and his broad face was a study in expressions of surprise and delight.
I felt Lukas squeeze me lightly, he was enjoying himself hugely, the strain of the healing almost forgotten. Tristan complimented his hostess on her excellent coffee of course, and they exchanged some coffee talk.
Lukas and I both took our own coffee and the accompanying cakes, and the caffeine and sugar revived Lukas enough for him to get up and join the three children he had helped.
They welcomed him with a hug and a cheerful greeting, as I prepared to answer some personal questions from Tristan, I could see them rise to the surface as soon as Lukas removed his presence.
And to be sure, he did ask them, though clearly embarrassed: 'I thought you were engaged to Mr Kenwick, but you seemed rather intimate with Lukas just now. And how come you can use ley-lines, Mr Kenwick told me you're his
apprentice?'
Suppressing my urge to tell him it was none of his business, I answered him patiently: 'As to the ley-lines, one day I reached for Paul's energy to make a fire-ball, on his request I might add, he did teach me mage-etiquette.
And I got hold of another source of power without intending to, shaping a fireball out of it. We discussed it with George and Frances, and they said if I could control it just to use it, but to stay away from the node.
As to your other question, I feel that whom I am intimate with or not is between me and my intended, but since we're on first-name basis now, I might as well tell you.'
I am happy to say that our new acquaintance looked rather ashamed now at his blunt question, but I took pity on him and sent him a dazzling smile, then said: 'Lukas has told you about him being from a different dimension.'
Tristan nodded, and said: 'He told me more in the carriage, how you saved his life and how Paul helped him to become independent financially.'
So I explained: 'Lukas doesn't love according to our Victorian standard, he loves who he wants to, as long as the feeling is mutual. He needs a lot of love, especially when working magic. You know the intimacy of sharing power?'
Did Tristan look a little sad admitting the following? 'I know about it, I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing it myself, yet.' Ah, another one of those, I thought amusedly, not forgetting to rank myself among them, and hit him with another truth: 'Paul has shared power with Lukas when he needed it after performing a healing.
Lukas is very easy to love, and he doesn't claim. Paul learned a lot from him.'
I would not have told him this if I hadn't had the feeling we would very quickly become quite close to this likeable, outspoken man.
A few months ago I would have denied a hunch like that, but I had also learned a lot, and now I just accepted it as a fact and acted accordingly, allowing Tristan into our lives as if he belonged there already.
Tristan looked at me wistfully, and said: 'I guess I was just a bit envious to see all of you so close to one another, I've been alone most of my life, sent to school at the age of seven, too busy and too shy later to make friends or find a girl. Now I feel as if my time has passed.'
See, I knew my hunches were usually right.
I took one of his hands, I admit a rather daring gesture but he seemed to need
it, and observed: 'Paul was not much different, nor I, before Lukas came into our lives. We worked hard and had little time to socialise.
Now we still work hard but we take time to do fun things and we risk loving another person, and it has made us a lot happier.
Your time has not passed at all, it has just started. Come, let's find Paul and George and see how many of these refugees have been taken home by their parents. As soon as Lukas has recovered I'm guessing he will want my help to treat another one of those youngsters.'
Tristan seemed rather sorry that I let go of his hand, but he said cheerfully:
'You're right, if Mr Kenwick met you not so long ago there is still hope for me, I guess we're much of the same age, though he is really good-looking.'
I didn't set him to rights, I still couldn't believe Paul was just a year past twenty. Instead, I went towards Lukas' little group and asked: 'Lukas, are you all right for now?' I hoped I had given my question enough of a charge to inquire whether he needed to pay the real price of the healing already, or if he was comfortable waiting a little longer.
He hugged me closely, whispering in my ear: 'I'm fine now, but I've found the perfect spot for after the second healing. Can I tempt you to indulge me later?' I breathed in deeply to smell his sun-enhanced scent, and whispered back: 'You most certainly can. Can I leave you with Laura for a moment?'
He nodded and said: 'I wanted to see her alone anyway, she's still depressed.'
I looked at him intently and said: 'No healing without me or George, and remember, she'll claim you if you so much as touch her.'
He replied: 'Trust me, I know her type, I just want to talk to her, tell her about building a life of one's own.'
Chapter 42
Reluctantly we broke our embrace, and I asked Tristan to have a little more patience with me.
But he seemed content to watch everything about him, Lukas and me, the children, the lovely garden.
Now I had to get Jonathan interested in coming with us, so I observed truthfully: 'Jonathan, you look ravishing, you cleaned up really well.'
He really was a sixteen year old or thereabouts now, for having a beautiful older girl compliment him made him blush over his ears. That made me glad, for it meant he was not totally self-controlled, somehow I still feared for his future, saw him walk the wrong road.
Exposure to Paul, an
d to Tristan for that matter, would be the saving of him in my opinion. So after his: 'Thank you' I asked him: 'There is someone I'd like you to meet, will you come with us to find Paul, the person I love best in this world?'
Since boys will be boys, I was not surprised when he asked bluntly: 'I thought Lukas was your man.' Looking at Tristan with a helpless expression, I replied just as bluntly: 'I love Lukas and he loves me, but he is no-one's property,'
adding in a jesting tone: 'and as you'll see, Paul is totally mine.' Jonathan didn't seem to get it, but Tristan did, which was what I was aiming for.
Now Tristan managed to get a word in: 'Jonathan, is it true you didn't remember anything when you were dumped in that wasteland next to the wool factory?'
Though Jonathan could of course see the magic power in the tall, well-dressed man asking him a question, he also seemed to realize the worldly power he possessed, for he answered almost meekly: ' Yes sir, I awoke all alone in the filth, everything hurt, my body, my head, my soul.
It was not that I felt rejected or lonely that my soul hurt, it physically hurt, as if someone had tried to pull it out of me. I was weak, near death, and survived only because my body wanted to very much.
I knew nothing, no name, not who I was or what had happened. I drank from
a puddle, ate what my body told me to, and survived all alone for a month, gaining strength but howling in pain inside at being so alone.
Then Laura was dumped, and I remembered not to go near the guy leaving her. Not why, just not to go near him. Maybe it was instinct, for I could still talk and find food, and knew to dress against the cold, so I must have remembered that somehow.
Anyway, she was physically better than me but her soul was worse. She had no life in her. I tried to help her find it back, as I had found it trying to survive, but she never did.
I hope Lukas can help her, he seems to understand her better than me. Still, she was sweet and I was no longer alone. More children came and then we were so busy taking care of them that she improved, but now she's no longer needed she is falling back rapidly.'
Now Tristan said something that impressed me: 'Do you think she might have lost her soul before she was ever caught by that black mage?'
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