by M. Arcturus
“It just seems like a sad way to live life,” Selené said, “always having to draw lines and watch your tail all the time.”
The Lady responded to her statement, but Selené was too deep in thought to hear her. She still had not been able to catch up on her sleep and knew only nightmares were waiting for her to close her eyes. Due to the lack of sleep, the numbness of her contemplation kept her drifting from subject to subject without any apparent reason or train of thought. Gazing out into the surrounding landscape, she reflected on the size of the dragons that attended the meetings and came to the conclusion that she didn’t want to fight them. While deep in her dreamlike state, the carriage came to an abrupt halt, and she was jolted off of her seat. If it weren’t for the Lady’s instinct to throw her arm out across Selené’s chest to stop her from flying too far, she would have hit her head on the opposite wall of the cab.
“I take it that we’re here,” said Selené with a sleepy smirk. The Lady smiled in response and took her by the wrist.
“We have quite a trek ahead of us, and I think it wise for you to stay close. The brush is thick and treacherous if you don’t know where you’re going,” the Lady said helping Selené out of the carriage.
Selené peered up the side of the steep hill before her and got an eerie feeling that she just couldn’t shake. Surely there had to be another way. However, the Lady didn’t think so as they started their upward climb. Branches grabbed Selené’s hair and robes. Her hair became so tangled that she had to stop and try her best to unwrap it. The Lady stopped her advancement when she no longer had Selené’s hand. She turned with agitation.
“Hold on; my hair is stuck.” She said as she blindly tried to untangle her sea-green hair from the tiny branches. Selené’s tugging had obviously irritated a big, brown, fuzzy, poisonous tree spider. It slowly lowered itself above her head swinging back and forth just waiting for the right moment. The Lady stopped Selené from tugging with horror on her face.
Selené couldn’t help but notice. “What? What is it?” She started to panic.
“Just calm down. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Selené eyed her suspiciously. “My hair is just stuck in this tree. Of course, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” She said as she paused in thought. “Unless there’s something you know that I don’t.”
“Of course, I don’t,” said the Lady slowly reaching for a big thick branch lying on the ground, not realizing it was home to a collective of tiny black spiders, which were just as deadly as the one above Selené’s head.
They started to climb out of their home in the hollow of the trunk and crawl their way down her arms.
“Oh, dear God!” She uttered as she felt their tiny legs scampering down her arms and into her sleeves. Dropping the stick immediately, she started patting herself down trying to get the spiders off of her. “This is stupid,” she screeched as she summed a mighty energy blast that threw the spiders off of her, and in midair, they exploded before landing on Selené. Even the tree spider burst from the power. Selené stood there with her eyes closed trying not to freak out while being covered in the ooze of spider guts.
Selené started spitting out the ooze that had found its way into her mouth. After she shook off as much slime as what she could on her arms, she started to wipe the entrails off of her face. Tears began to well in her eyes.
“I am so sorry, Selené. I tried not to use magic, but I just didn’t see a way around it. Here let me help you.” Selené was free in no time, but it seemed that she was still traumatized by the incident.
After a moment of silence, she finally uttered, “Sure, no problem.”
Deep inside the Mayan temple, Shadow sat on the hind legs of one of their wooden chairs while propping his feet up on the rock wall that supported the fishpond system that ran throughout their home. He was whittling away on a pear, peeling off its skin in strips and feeding it to a bushy red Bennu bird. The Bennu’s feathers were lush in colors of the sunset ending with an orange fading to a blood red with purple tips. It chirped with anticipation for each bite it was given, as its tail feathers wagged back and forth.
Kajaka was up the stairs in the kitchen, which was located to the far right of Shadow. He admired Kajaka from afar watching him tutor mathematics and social behaviors to Icarus, who was tied up to a chair. In aggression, Icarus spit on Kajaka’s face and in return, Kajaka was forced to use a sturdy stick to whack the back of Icarus’s hand, which rested on the arm of the chair. It had been many hours, and the whacking sound had become music to Shadow’s ears.
He was sure that Icarus’s hands were bleeding by now, maybe with a few broken bones if Kajaka was lucky. Shadow wasn’t quite sure how Icarus was going to turn out. He was hoping that Icarus would be broken in spirit; that way, they could build him back up from scratch. Sure, Icarus would probably resent them, but that didn’t seem to matter to him. All he cared about were the people who Icarus had hurt with his childish behavior. He had to be dealt with one way or another. On the other hand, Shadow feared that Icarus’s will and determination would become stronger. In which case, they would then have a strong enemy chasing after them, one that wouldn’t know how to give up.
Their only hope was his brother. He had summoned him quite a while ago, and there was still no word from him. Given the circumstances, Shadow was hoping to instill some discipline into Icarus before pawning the pip-squeak onto Aros. He could see it all now, Aros radiating with his golden iridescence arriving with the others to help keep Atlantis safe from ultimate destruction only to be made into a babysitter. Shadow sighed as his thoughts brought him back to the present, to once again hear the whacking sound delivered by Kajaka’s swift hand.
Come to think of it, he was more worried about his mate. Kajaka didn’t have a violent streak in him, but he had become quick and stern in delivering the blows. Shadow had never known Kajaka to lose his patience and get physical. With that thought, Shadow quickly decided to become Icarus’s enforcer and relieve Kajaka of his stick. As he rose from his chair, there came a knock on the door. The knock startled all of them, for they all stopped what they were doing to stare at the door in disbelief. There it was again! It wasn’t their imagination. Panic flooded Shadow as he realized that he truly wasn’t ready for Aros to arrive.
Before Shadow could come to grips with himself, Kajaka had run to the door and had greeted their guests. Icarus hopped up and down in his chair trying to see who had arrived. As his chair jumped around on the wooden floor, the clunking noise unglued Shadow. Even though Shadow shot him a deathly scowl over his shoulder, Icarus didn’t seem to notice and had no intention of stopping.
“Why hello, Kajaka!” her voice was clear and resonant. There was no way that any of them could have mistaken her for anyone else. Even Icarus stopped in his chair out of shock. The Lady of Avalon darkened the doorway. “Kajaka, would you please take care of Selené? She’s been through a lot.” The Lady gave him a warm embrace, then moved out of the way and headed over to Shadow to hug him as well.
“Milady, we’re pleased to have you here, but what is the occasion?” inquired Shadow with honor and surprise.
“Selené and I have a few questions as well as urgent business you could help us with.” She peered over her shoulder and noticed that neither Kajaka nor Selené had moved. His back was still blocking everyone’s view of Selené. “Dear God, Kajaka! Don’t make her stand outside like that! Give the girl a towel and throw her in the bath. Let’s clean her clothes and liven her up!” Still in shock from the spider incident, Selené looked up at Kajaka, shaking from cold as the poison sank deeper into the pours of her skin. Her teeth chattered violently, and her eyes were wide, dazed with trauma.
In a heartbeat, Shadow took off deeper into the temple to find some blankets while Kajaka led Selené into their private quarters, up in the loft, to show her to the shower. Without falter, he opened the curtain and turned on the water. On
ce warm, he set her inside and left her to her own cleaning. She stood there hugging herself in the running water for the longest time. Once her robes became too heavy with water, she untied all of the laces with shaky hands and let them hit the floor of the shower. Her undergarments plastered up against her figure, clinging to her body for dear life, acting like they were afraid to share the same fate as the robes encircling her feet.
Once she started to have some feeling return to her limbs, she looked around for soap. Finding the lonely bar of soap on the side of the tub, she noticed a group of body oils in tiny beautiful glass bottles. She examined them one by one trying to read the labels. Due to the poison in her system, the words were too fuzzy to read, so she sniffed each bottle until she ran across a scent that she liked. After selecting the rose and jasmine essence, she tried her best to put the rest of them back gracefully. However, her plan didn’t go accordingly as a few of the bottles fell and rolled all over the floor of the shower. Accidentally stepping on one of them, she went sliding and fell flat on her back. Almost in tears, she emotionally stabilized herself before she tried to put the bottles away again.
After triumphing over the bottles, she shed her undergarments and scoured her body with the soap as hard as she could and applied the oil to her skin. Calmly examining her hair with her fingertips, she painfully discovered that her hair was not salvageable. The spider guts and ooze had crystallized in her hair with the consistency of tree sap. She silently cried as she sank to the bottom of the tub.
It had been a long time since Selené had started her shower. With the encouragement—more like persistent nagging—from the others, Kajaka went into their quarters to check in on her. Seeing her silhouette through the curtain, cowering in the corner, he approached silently.
“Selené, it’s just me, Kajaka. Are you alright?” He heard her let go of a small whimper, which eventually became a downpour of tears. “Sel, what’s wrong?” His voice was urgent, but no answer was given. “Sel, I’m going to have to open the curtain unless you give me an answer.” The crying only became more powerful. “Sel, please answer me!” He waited a few more moments. “Okay, you give me no choice.” He opened the curtain to see her picking through her hair trying to get the gunk out. Now, he recognized what was in her hair. It was solidified spider entrails, poisonous to the touch. “Oh Selené, that’s not going to work. We’ll have to cut it!”
“No!” She screamed breaking down into another fit of tears.
Kajaka left her in the shower for one brief moment to assure the others that everything was fine. He was confronted the second he peeked his head out from behind the closed door to their private quarters.
“Kajaka, what’s going on in there?” Shadow asked trying to push past to survey the commotion, but Kajaka stood in his way.
“She’s alright, but we’re going to have to cut her hair.”
“I could use my abilities to help her keep her hair,” the Lady of Avalon suggested.
“Milady, I don’t think solving her problems with magic is going to help her right now. I’m pretty sure it’s a universal test. She needs to learn how to cope,” Kajaka said. The Lady agreed and allowed Kajaka to handle the situation. “Hun?” Shadow met his eyes. “I need one of your old robes that you can’t fit into anymore.” Thinking about the old robes he couldn’t fit into anymore and Selené’s thin build, Shadow self-consciously looked down at himself wondering if he looked fat. Shadow didn’t say a word. Kajaka already knew what he was thinking, “No hun, you’re not fat. You were too skinny when we first met, so I had to put some meat on your bones. You’re still slim, attractive and fit. I would dump you if you weren’t. I love you, but you know I have my standards. Now, I need you to grab some clothes.”
Shadow ran down another hallway toward one of the guest bedrooms. Before he got to the closet, he stopped in front of a mirror to look at himself. He knew Kajaka was only joking about dumping him if he gained too much weight, but he wasn’t so sure about the flattering remarks. Opening his shirt to view his chiseled torso, he started to admire himself as he flexed the muscles in his pecks.
“Shadow, I mean today!” Kajaka’s voice was stern, which made Shadow jump and set his mind back to the moment at hand.
As he opened the closet door, he was embraced by memories filled with far-off worlds full of adventure. He pulled out his safari outfit from their trip to the grasslands of Canhoon. Looking at the patch on the back of his shirt, he remembered the run-in he had with the puma that refused to leave their shuttle alone. Trying to act brave for his newfound lover and life-partner, he took the puma on, earning a victory as well as a few incredible sexy scars. Next was the undercover trip they took to Thurrushia. It took them weeks to thaw out from that adventure, but the sparkling black and red tunic and matching pants were not something he would miss. However, he decided to keep the fitted black and silver winter coat that went with the ensemble. The flat black that turned into glittering white icicles at the bottom was too much for him to give away. He ran back to Kajaka with supplies in hand, a pair of khaki pants from their safari and the black and red outfit from their adventure in Thurrushia. Once Shadow passed the clothes through the door, Kajaka closed the door, making Shadow and the Lady wait it out.
Kajaka calmly turned off the water to the shower, wrapped her up in a towel and sat her down on a chair next to their nest. He walked over to the craft area of the loft. Shadow was so diligent in keeping up with his stain glass projects, but Kajaka had let his sewing skills slip. His passion for plants was much stronger than his desire to sew, but now, staring at his dusty desk, he regretted it. His eyes rested on his old sewing machine. It looked like a metallic, burnt-orange ostrich egg. The last time he had used it, it broke. Out of desperation, he swiped his hand over the top of it to see if it would activate. When it didn’t levitate, he knew he would have to sew by hand. Kajaka opened the top drawer and pulled out a sewing needle, thread, and a pair of bronze scissors. He hid the scissors behind his back as he made his way over to Selené. He withdrew the scissors and was about to take the first cut, but the sound of the blades sliding against each other as they parted was too recognizable to Selené’s ears. She jumped up from the seat so quickly that the chair went crashing to the floor. By her reaction, his worst fear was confirmed, the poison was in her system.
“Selené, please calm down. I know the poison is still running strong in your bloodstream. You’re having a hard time adjusting to change and understanding conversation, but I need you to calm down.” He assured her as she looked at him with squinted eyes and a wrinkled forehead, confirming her confused and shock-ridden state. Her body shook as the poison entered her nervous system. The more confused and upset she got, the stronger the poison took hold.
Kajaka finally realized that this was going to be tougher than he thought. His only hope was to start with creating an outfit first. Then pray that the sappy poison in her hair would not invade her system as well. He began to wonder if he should have taken the Lady up on her offer to use magic, but he was too afraid to see what would happen if he left Selené alone in the room to get help. It was just too risky; who knows what Selené would do unattended. She would most likely run amuck.
She looked at him questioningly. Her movements suggested that she was working with basic instincts and motor skills. He slowly looked around the room for a table and found one in the back near Shadow’s projects. Kajaka spread the clothes out and pulled up a large rectangular chair that could sit about five people. She edged her way down the side of the wall to get closer to him, so she could see what he was doing. When he started to use the scissors, she panicked and bumped into the dresser, making a few of the perfume bottles fall to the floor, which made her jump again.
“No need to worry,” Kajaka said. “We’ll have you something to wear in no time.”
Selené came closer and put her hand on his, “No time, need no clothes; flash then burn.”
“What? Say that again?”
Selené knelt down putting her stomach on the cushion and her knees on the floor and opened her hand showing him the eggshell. She said softly, “Light as feather; cause big flash!”
Kajaka turned his eyes from his stitching to see her balance a small piece of the shell on the tip of her index finger. Watching half-amazed and half-alarmed, he patiently waited as she blew on the eggshell gently. Small sparkles of blue and gold dust went everywhere to reveal a tiny gold feather. She was so excited; she patted him on the arm like a little child.
“It turned into feather! It turned into feather!”
“Selené, I saw. Yes, it’s a feather. I’m just about done with your pants. You can look around if you want.” His words betrayed his thoughts filled with pain and panic.
Still singing her happy tune, she paraded around the room. Trying not to show signs of caring, Kajaka kept his needle moving.
“There, your pants are completed. Actually, they’re shorts. I’m just thankful that Shadow was very skinny, abnormally skinny when we first met.”
Selené dropped her towel in excitement making Kajaka blush as he gave her the shorts. She snatched the shorts out of his hand. They were a pair of khaki colored cargo pants with designer pockets unlike regular cargo pants pockets, which were deep and baggy. Her waist was tinier than what Shadow’s had been, so the shorts nestled themselves on her hips. She went off again frolicking about the room. Kajaka noticed that her body was starting to fight off the poison. Her childish behavior had gone down a notch. However, he was still not convinced that her body would win.
After a few more hours of sewing, her top was nearly complete, and Selené was leaning over the seat again waiting patiently. Her speech patterns were still choppy. He could tell that she knew her speech was not up to its usual par, for she didn’t speak much, and when she did, it was kept to a minimum. Stopping for a moment, he lifted up the shirt to examine it. Trying to visually line it up with Selené’s body from a distance, a pang of calamity gripped his chest.