She is as smart as any of her brothers, and she wants to do something with her life, like you do, not just get married and breed heirs. She still finds solace and a little challenge in music, but I suspect that within half a year melancholy will have her in its grip.'
'Like Ilsa? Frances told me about her. But she was hopelessly in love, Sofia isn't in hopelessly in love with someone who cannot return her affection.'
Lady Kenwick believed Lukas, but she was not yet ready to accept that her daughter was in such dire straits.
'But she is hopeless. It is my talent to feel people's needs, and Sofia has a serious mental affliction that she has been keeping from both of you to spare your feelings. It is taking over her life and she knows it, but she can no longer resist it. She needs help.'
Lukas really had changed, he spoke with great authority, though also with great feeling.
'Frances told us you cured Ilsa, and nearly died in the process.' Good, Lady Kenwick had accepted Lukas' expertise, and was ready to move on to the next step.
With a graceful bow, Lukas replied: 'Indeed I did, heal Ilsa and nearly die of the cost of the healing. But that was also my talent awakening, I'm used to healing now and no longer in danger. I can heal your daughter of the melancholy that has her in its grip. But there are two things you need to consider before you agree to let me help. Sofia already knows, we have discussed both and she accepts them. But you are her parents and in this
world, you have more power over her life than she has herself.'
That was something I knew a lot about, having escaped that fate with hard work and understanding parents.
Paul's parents looked at one another, hopefully realizing that not having any power over her own future was exactly what had caused Sofia's problem in the first place.
Lady Kenwick spoke first: 'Please tell us, Mr Hermeides.'
'The first consideration is, that Sofia needs a purpose in her life, or her melancholy will come right back. She cannot sit here and wait for an eligible suitor to come by, she needs to exert herself, use her mind, find her skills.
She wants to study music and become a performer, or maybe a teacher. In short, she needs to find herself an occupation.
The second consideration, and I don't know if Frances has told you about this when she mentioned my curing Ilsa, is something that may deter you from letting me heal your daughter. My talent is fuelled by love, and healing melancholy is a very intimate process. That means that somewhere during the treatment it may very well be that we will end up making love to one another, something I know your society does not approve of.'
Now, Paul's father spoke: 'And Sofia knows this?'
'She does, and she accepts it. She also knows it will only be that one time, I do not love exclusively, my love cannot be claimed by one person.'
And then Paul's parents forced me to eat all my prejudices against their class, for they did not object at all, provided it was what Sofia wanted. But they did want to hear that from herself, so they went to her room together to ask her.
With just the three of us left, Paul pleaded: 'Lukas, can't you just treat her with one of us feeding you power? What if your talent drains you again?
What if you are pulled into her despair?'
Touched by his worries, Lukas nonetheless answered: 'This is different Paul, those children hurt from forces outside themselves, Sofia's problem is much more intimate, her own feelings brought her down and she cannot face them with other people present. It has to be just me, and since her problems are connected to how she sees herself, love for herself is a main component of the treatment, and I'm afraid that is inextricably linked to physical loving.
I think my talent is tailored to my own society, where physical loving is just another way of loving, not such a big, formal thing with traditions and taboos all over it. Making love to an unmarried girl who is also your sister is the
problem here, I think, for my talent has grown enough that I am reasonably certain I can handle the cost of the healing by myself.'
'Can you really?' I think Paul couldn't believe it, and neither could I, for healing melancholy was pretty profound, and the cost would be very high.
Only yesterday, Lukas' developing talent had been bypassing his shields, burdening him with the feelings of people all over the city, draining him without him even noticing, causing him to project need to both Paul and me.
'Maybe Melissa can keep an eye on me from a different room?' Lukas was not going to ask Paul to experience him making love to his own sister. 'I may need the power, but I think we can do without an anchor for once.'
I could live with that, and Paul nodded, I think he realized it would be better if he were not involved at all, and it was not likely his sister had ever been through an abomination like the one Lucy had experienced, which had caused Lukas to lose his way in her memories.
'Then there is only one more thing for us to discuss,' Lukas said, 'will anything change between us if I were to make love to your sister without any intention of marrying her?'
Paul proved he didn't care about propriety by wrapping Lukas in his arms there and then, and kissing him full on the mouth ardently. 'Is that enough answer, beloved, or do you need words?' Paul sounded positively husky.
Lukas didn't, as soon as he had his breath back and stood solidly on his legs once more, a smile lighted up his cute face, and he said: 'I'm glad, for not helping people is getting more difficult every day.'
Now Paul's family returned to the drawing-room, Sofia included, who gazed at Lukas hungrily, looking forward to making love to him I guessed, which I could imagine since he was good looking and clearly very sweet.
Her parents showed their respect for her once again, by not speaking for her.
She said: 'I've talked it over with my parents, Lukas, what I've been feeling for such a long time now, and what you told me you can do for me, and they agree to let us be together for as long as we need. Will you do it before dinner?'
Lukas nodded seriously, then he sent her a dazzling smile, and offered her his hand, which she took. There was no way that she was not going to be loved by him, I could see that in her very air, and why should she, she was twenty-three, high time to know what men and women did in the privacy of their own chambers.
When they had left the room, Paul told his mother, who was close to tears:
'Don't worry, he will be able to help her, and he is sweet and very honest'
'I'm not worried,' his mother replied, 'Frances told me enough to trust him completely. I just cannot forgive myself for not seeing how bad she was. We see each other daily, why didn't she talk to me?'
'Father, Melissa is going to monitor Lukas, we don't entirely trust him yet with a healing as profound as this, it may yet drain him, can you show her a room next to Sofia's? I'll talk to mother for a while, then check on Melissa.'
I was shown a nice room with a comfortable bed, and I sat on it and tried to reach Lukas' mind, finding him without any problem.
I offered contact straight away, and he accepted it, though of course he was not ready to activate his talent yet, this was a shy virgin, she would need a loving introduction. Remembering our own first time, with Lukas in so much need that he didn't take a lot of time for tenderness first, I felt his reaction instantly, the valuable memory still as vivid as the day it happened.
After this, I tried to be as unobtrusive as I could, giving Lukas a chance to do his job without constant reminders I was there.
Sofia was very shy now, and very insecure about her body. She had the opposite doubts I had always had about my size, instead of being very well padded, she was rather skinny, her shape boyish, with tiny breasts.
Lukas sat next to her on the bed and said: 'I'm not striving to make love to you, Sofia. I will touch your arm or shoulder and release my talent, which will then address your hurts, releasing your memories or doubts, whatever causes the pain.
We will then work on it together, laying it to rest, so you will remember it
but not feel it as acutely. Somewhere in that process you may find yourself eager to touch me, or be touched. We will follow those leads, but our main goal is to address your pain. Are you ready?' She nodded, and he touched her bare arm in a loving gesture.
Immediately, her despair came rushing in, her insecurities about her looks, but especially about the use of her being on this earth. She was very smart and had gained a lot of accomplishments, but none of them were of any use to her.
Her days just came and went, and she didn't have anything to do in them but dress nicely and do something useless.
She wanted to make a difference in the world, but she didn't have enough magic and learning a profession hadn't even occurred to her. Girls of her class just didn't. So she waited for the right man to marry and raise a brood of children, but none came that were worth considering. And the years went by and she got more and more lonely, and more and more depressed.
Her body did ache for the touch of someone, preferably a handsome man, but the chances of that ever happening became slimmer and slimmer. She held on frantically to her propriety and her manners, but inside she lost all hope, feeling guilty for being part of a privileged class and still desperately unhappy.
Lukas didn't even have to think of a solution for her problem, she already knew what she wanted, she just needed to find the energy to fulfil her dreams, to develop her musical skills and use them to brighten up other people's lives, not necessarily rich people, but maybe children like the ones that Tristan wanted to teach in his new school.
As he wore away at her despondent feelings, and her doubts at the use of being alive, he showed her the fun she might have, gave her a taste of the enjoyment of one of those polka-dances, and of cycling in the sun, and of sharing her knowledge with children with intelligence, but without means to go to a good school.
She reacted positively to this, and after some time and a much smaller power drain from Lukas than I expected, she felt reasonably secure that she might find a future in music, or in learning how to teach. Then there were only the doubts about her person, would she find a partner to dance with, would someone ever be able to love her, a flat-chested, skinny woman like her, already twenty-three years old.
This was a moment for a first touch, and Lukas stroked her hair, and her face, causing her to shiver in anticipation. She was counting on finally getting together with a man, and Lukas was not going to disappoint her.
I could feel a little heat rising in our friend, but he still kept it down easily, not to scare this untouched girl. He kissed her, and got a flash of desire from her, a burning sensation between her legs that she had experienced before, but not as strongly as this.
He continued his kiss, until she answered it with fervour, and touched him in return. She put a hand under his shirt, and felt his chest, narrow but muscular, and now she became aware of his musky scent.
It had been there all the time of course, but it was comforting, and with his heat rising it became stronger and more stimulating. She was very relaxed by now, and not at all insecure about her body anymore.
She wanted Lukas to touch it, and she wanted to touch him, explore his unknown maleness.
Unbuttoning his shirt, she soon had him bare-chested, and she fondled his mottled skin and his muscled arms. The feeling of his flesh gave her such a thrill, to be finally touching one of the opposite sex, she had been aching for this for so long.
Stroking his chin now, and his jaw, she licked his deeply dented lip, wanting to be kissed again. As they kissed the burning between her legs increased even more, and she ran her hands through his curly hair. And encountered his horn stumps.
Thrilled, for he had warned her of his inhuman attributes, she felt them all the way down, and as she touched the base she remembered he liked to have them scratched, so she did.
This sent a really strong flash of ardour right through him, and he nearly lost control. He said: 'Better wait a bit with those, I want to take it slowly or I might hurt you your first time. I'll tell you when to touch them.' She nodded, and kissed him again.
I tried not to enjoy this too much, I didn't want to be caught spying after all, but experiencing Lukas' heat rising first-hand was incredibly enticing. There was no danger at all that he would be lost inside her mind, and frankly, he was not going to lose any more power over this healing, on the contrary, from this moment on he was only going to gain power.
Healing had become a lot safer for Lukas, and I guessed that would only improve in the future, he could probably handle a lot of cases on his own already.
I decided to give the two their privacy, and projected a discrete 'see you at dinner' through the connection, then broke it.
Sitting on the bed alone, I experienced quite a bit of heat, but I supposed I would get plenty of opportunity to get rid of that later in the evening, so I suppressed it and went back to the drawing-room, chatting with Paul and his parents until Lukas and Sofia returned, both a lot brighter than they had been before.
Then the dreaded dinner took place, and of course it wasn't as bad as I had
expected. I could easily do exactly what Paul did, and all the attention went to Sofia, planning some activities for the coming week, including a visit to our house, and a shopping spree.
True to the spirit of his agreement with Sofia, Lukas left with us, he would not give her the chance to attach herself to him. When we got home it was very late, but we couldn't sleep, excitement held us up long past our usual bedtime, we were going to Greece! I could think of a thousand possible problems, a different culture, a hot climate, open use of magic, real life gods that interfered directly in people's lives, but I dismissed them, for now I was going to think of seeing the place where Lukas grew up, and meeting the people who had shaped his loving character.
The next weeks we were very busy, preparing for our trip. Paul and Lukas finished their commissions, installing boilers and pumps, teaching Mr Jones how to ride his bicycle. I was just as busy working, for somehow the news of our trip had gotten around and everyone wanted materials and sites checked and inspected.
I cycled through the whole city to oblige them, for we could use the money to fund our trip and besides, my former employer and colleagues had become something like friends, so I wanted to be of use to them. I'd miss that bicycle, but Lukas said they didn't have any roads in his world, so it'd be useless there.
Surprisingly, Paul's mother was going to take up his duties as guardian for the time of our absence, and he showed her around his quarter several times. Of course, George would be available too, he knew plenty of what was going on, and we introduced her to Tristan as well, another valuable contact.
Hermes had gone through the portal the day after we had taken off his shields, he could not afford to wait for us. After writing down the spell to transport from the demons' world to his own villa, he promised to come back in two weeks to accompany us.
It seemed unlikely to me that time would flow exactly the same in his world, making such an exact appointment a risk, but he was convinced he could do it, and since he was the god, we learned the spell by heart but still counted on having an escort through that frightening place.
The parting of father and son was emotional, even though they were going to meet again in two weeks, they embraced as if this was a goodbye for years
and years.
'My son, I can never thank you enough for everything you have done for me.
You saved my life, and now you're willing to save my people as well.' Lukas didn't say anything, he cried and kissed his father.
Paul got a hug from Hermes, and my father-in-law practically clung to me, he did remind me of Lukas so much, looking for love everywhere, not ashamed to show his feelings, fortunately by now I was no longer attracted to him at all.
Then he had to say farewell to George, a heart-rending moment, for it was not likely they would ever meet again. They stood wrapped up in each other's arms for a long time, talking in low voices, and when they finally parted, bot
h were crying. George must be devastated, he had given his all to Hermes and the moment he was all right again, he left.
Now Hermes approached the portal, George held it upright, to make it easier to enter, and Hermes went in without any hesitation, face first to see what was coming. The rest of him followed quickly, and then he was gone.
My first thought was, that it was going to be a tight fit for me to get through that portal, as I've said before, I'm not exactly skinny, and that opening was rather small.
But of course that thought was cut short by the very real distress that George now showed at being left by someone he had come to love a lot.
He clearly showed his upbringing by not making a scene, and trying to hide his pain, but none of us were fooled, least of all Lukas. He must be feeling all of George's pain himself.
Frances was helpless here, of course the years had given her a certain love for her husband, raising four children together, sharing happiness and grief, and in the last few months, becoming a force for good within the city together, and to her Hermes must have been an intruder however open their marriage was, stealing her husband away from her by monopolizing all his time and energy, and by claiming all the love George could give.
But of course there was Lukas, his father had also taken his lover and his teacher away from him, for Lukas had not continued his lessons with George during his father's stay, I guessed their lessons had been largely based on physical loving, and Lukas was not sharing lovers with his father, he had made that very clear to me.
No-one but Lukas could be so forgiving. He knew how much George had
wanted Hermes, and he was now more than ready to comfort George for his painful loss. Of course, Lukas had the two of us, and if George hadn't given Hermes the love he needed, it would probably have fallen to me to save him, I would not have been able to let him die for lack of love.
So in a way George had done us all a favour, and sacrificed his peace of mind for our good, and with Lukas to comfort him for his loss, I was certain he would be feeling much better within, say, an hour.
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