by Kade Cook
Ashen lets her continue on for a few more moments but takes pity on her and ends her anxious ramblings. “It’s all right, Gabrian.” Sitting herself upright, she rests her arms on the top of her knees, getting closer to the girl, then extends out her hand, patting Gabrian on the leg. “We will figure this out, all right?”
Sitting with her hands tightly tucked together, nearly causing them to turn white, she nods and tries to push back the tears scratching at her eyes from the inside, filled with frustration.
“Now...back to our beer problem,” she says, resetting the grin on her face. “Let’s see what we can do.”
She instructs Gabrian to place her hand within the warm water to gauge its temperature then asks her to recall some of the thoughts and images she had played within her mind when she had covered the drink and table in ice. Gabrian closes her eyes and tries to concentrate but it is all she can do to think straight. Becoming flustered, she cannot even feel the temperature of the water anymore and withdraws her hand from the cooler.
“Uh, I can’t feel anything.”
“It’s okay...maybe we are starting too big—too many objects interfering.” Ashen stares at the loaded cooler and pulls her braids back behind her shoulder with her free hand then glances over at the unopened bottle of Sam’s still in her hand. “Here,” she says, handing her the single bottle. “Let’s try this again but with just one.”
Gabrian takes the bottle and nods her head, still not convinced that this is going to make any difference, but complies just the same. She exhales and gives Ashen a quick glance. Her face still is light and hopeful—her eyes twinkling with the reflection of the shimmering water in the pool. Closing her eyes and wrapping her mind around the singular object in her hand, Gabrian begins again—searching for a memory, or anything that reminds her of ice, snow, or anything cold that she can use as a muse. She grips onto the image of snow.
Good, she thinks, happy with the connection.
Ashen’s smile begins to grow, noticing a small fractal of frost surround the space around Gabrian’s fingertips as she sits oblivious to the happenings. But the small victory is quickly lost. The thought of snow triggers the memories of winter—of the recent dark and trying time in her life—and the images of coffins, surrounded by members of both the Realm and humans alike, paying their respects to her parents passing come to mind. The ignition of the painful memories snuffs out any success in her attempt and the heat from her fingers dissolves away any trace of the infant ice fractal as a tear slowly slips down the side of her cheek, her mind no longer engaged.
Ashen is taken by surprise by the tear and reaches forward to touch her. “Gabrian, dear, are you all right?” Unsure of what is taking place before her, she raises her voice. In all her years of watching the gift of Isa manifest within a youngling, she has never seen this kind of reaction.
Gabrian’s weighted lids open slowly, dampened by her sadness.
“Are you all right? What happened?”
Not wanting to have to talk about the intrusion of pain and suffering, and relive the whole thing over again in her head, she explains to Ashen about finding a connector but not being able to hold onto the image. Though she knows she is not telling the entire truth about what happened, she is not exactly lying either. And knowing so, Ashen does not want to push the subject of the tear—it is up to Gabrian to disclose the entirety of the story to her when she is ready, not before.
Frustrated with the memory, and the obvious flunking of Ashen’s first test, Gabrian leans back in her chair and sighs in defeat. “Sorry. I’m fine, just tired I guess.”
If she hadn’t noticed the prominent dark circles under the Borrower’s eyes, she may have contested Gabrian’s defence, but there is no way of missing them. So, as a good host, she stops torturing her guest and relinquishes her need to test the girl. “Well, why didn’t you say so? That changes everything, my dear,” she lies, turning the cooler sideways to have better access to the possessions within. “I was just trying to get a feel for where we are in your understanding of your new gift.” She wrinkles her nose then looks back to the innards of the cooler. “So, anyway, back to the real issue at hand. I guess I better fix it before anyone else comes looking for something cold to drink.”
Gabrian slides herself a bit forward, curious of her host. She can see Ashen’s royal blue eyes fade—bleeding out all colour to be replaced by a shade of blue resembling her own. In the warm summer breeze that lingers heavily around her skin, she can sense a subtle shift in temperature by the edges of her ankles. As Ashen stirs the water gently, a mist forms, rising up from within the blue coffin of beverages. Gabrian leans forward, watching as the transformation of the clear lukewarm liquid turns into a slushy thick covering of ice crystals in front of her, concealing portions of the lettered labels printed boldly on the face of each bottle and can within.
Satisfied with the condition of the cooler, Ashen reaches in and grabs out a now cold beer. “Now, how about that beer you wanted?”
Gabrian forces a smile but leans back into her chair. “Thanks, but I will drink this warm one as a punishment for failing my first test.” She glances down at the bottle, growls, then pops the top off and draws it to her lips, tipping its warm substance into her mouth. Cringing with the taste of it on her tongue, she raises it to Ashen. “Yum,” Gabrian chokes out.
Rising from her chair, Ashen places the cold beer on the table beside her and chuckles at her stubborn student. “Oh my, now that is just not right. Even I am not that cruel to make you suffer like that.”
Ashen’s eyes once again shift in colour. Stretching her hand out toward the lip of Gabrian’s opened bottle, she touches the side of it. From the tips of her finger, tiny strings of white-coloured fractals spiral down the edge of the lip, caressing the neck and descend to delicately encompass the body of glass with a web of ice. Inside, the liquid absorbs the frosty magical kiss lingering just outside its protective shell and swirls counter clockwise into a perfected temperature. Withdrawing her hand, Ashen steps back and rests into her chair then proceeds to open her own drink.
“Don’t worry about what you did or did not accomplish today. It’s not the end of the world. You will be amazed what you can accomplish with the right encouragement and a good night’s sleep.”
Catching a more intense scent of seared flesh drawing near, the girls look up at the beaming faces of the chefs before them.
“Hey, do you hear that?” Broghen blurts out to Ashen, a knowing grin rising on his lips. “Sounds like old Blue has the guitars all warmed up.”
“Oh, yes it does,” she chirps excitedly and twists her chair to face the table. “Well then, we better hurry up and dig in.”
“Why is that?” Rachael asks, sauntering toward the group at the table as she dries the remaining wetness from her hair.
“Because we have a beach party to go to,” Ashen declares, reaching for the pasta salad in front of her.
“We do?” Gabrian looks at Shane then over at her instructor. “What about our testing?”
“Don’t worry about it, kiddo. We have plenty of time for testing tomorrow.” Ashen raises her beer into the air and smirks over at Broghen who lifts his drink to mirror hers, creating a domino effect with the rest of the group at the table. “Tonight, we dance.”
29
EASTCOAST HOSPITALITY
STUFFING DOWN THEIR meal of salads and steak—which Gabrian is impressed that Broghen delivered her meal of meat still almost mooing—they devour as much as they can without wasting too much time on chewing as the music across the way beckons to them through the long grasses, hurrying along the ritual clean up duties of supper.
Grabbing each end of the cooler, Broghen and Shane carry their cargo across the patio and into the grassy path, matted and worn from many trips in between dwellings. The closer they step, the louder and more joyous the melodies ring on their senses. The grounds surrounding the small storm-coloured house are wide open, greened with luscious, well-maintained gr
asses that stagger downward toward the sandy beach below filled with large able bodies, wielding all sorts of musical instruments—flattop acoustic guitars to mandolins and their high-pitched song, right down to a couple of makeshift beatboxes used as seats while the performers sway and tap their hands in time with the rhythmic tune being played.
Just on the cusp of the beach where the festivities are taking place, Gabrian notices the sea of blue waves, not that of the ocean dancing the background, but of the auras on display. A sickening wave of anxious tremors jolt her to a dead stop. Vicious words of disdain play though her mind from Caspyous’s open dislike of her kind and the blue auras in front of her wave like flags of caution just on the other side of the path, causing her to instinctively tuck away and camouflage her grey flowy aura.
Seeing her hesitation in joining the group, and the strange colour shift of her aura, Ashen quickly returns to Gabrian’s side. “Is everything all right?”
“I am not sure I should be here.”
“Why on Earth would you think that?”
“Well, due to all the blue auras floating around down there, maybe it is better that I just go back to the house.”
Looking at Gabrian’s clouded eyes, Ashen tries to find the issue of her hesitation. “You have something against the Hydor Fellowship?” Ashen pushes out the words with a furrowed brow.
“Me? Oh, no—not at all.” She chuckles nervously and runs her fingers through the top of her hair, scrunching it tightly at the top of her head. “It just seems in my limited experience with them, or should I say with Caspyous, that they seem to have a major hate for all things Boragen.”
Ashen laughs out loud, relieved to hear her answer. “Oh, my dear, you have nothing to fear here,” she offers, sliding her slender tanned arm around Gabrian’s shoulders and cups her in a gentle half-hug. “Don’t let the words of a cantankerous jaded fool ruin it for the rest of them. Not all Hydor are hellbent on destroying Borrowers, just like not all Borrowers are on a collision course with becoming Vapir.”
“Vapir?” Gabrian glances up at her and scowls in confusion.
“A vampire. I forget that not everyone refers to things in the old language as the Elders do.” Dropping her embrace, Ashen points to the older gentleman sitting cross-legged on the sand, leading the group in a song. “See the old guy over there with the black hat with the road runner on the front of it?”
Gabrian searches the musical crowd and spots the person Ashen is referring to and nods.
“Well, Old Blue there has a particular motto that carries a lot of wisdom most of us adhere by. It goes something like this: ‘The living, are just that—living. No matter what shape or form it takes. You must always respect and protect it, as it is the greatest of all gifts.’” Ashen raises her other hand and tips up the end of her drink, releasing its golden liquid to rush past her lips and into her mouth. “No one here is going to judge you for the colour aura you wear. They are all more interested in the warmth and the song in your heart.”
The twisting in Gabrian’s muscles ceases. The meaning of Ashen’s relayed words release the tense knot of torture burrowing in between her shoulders, leaving only a dull ache in its absence.
“Try not worry so much, okay? Trust me, we will have loads of time after tonight to worry about things. So, smile, drink your drink, and try to enjoy yourself. Deal?”
Unable to help herself from chuckling at the Elder’s request, she nods and does as she is asked. Tipping her beer up and letting her inhibitions disappear with the liquid, she exhales the stress-filled breath she had been holding. “All right, deal.”
The rest of the daylight hours are filled with laughter, stories of crazy adventures, and songs of a language that Gabrian cannot comprehend but claps and dances along with them anyway. She even tries to sing along as Broghen’s surprisingly alluring voice rings out the words of a few songs she knows. Her spirit is engaged and getting lost within the warm and embracing charm of east coast hospitality. With a confident look of trust given by her new mentor, she barely flinches when the leader of the musical evening asks her about her heritage, curing his playful curiosity and wonderings about whether or not she carries the gift of mind reading as well.
After a few hours of mingling and sharing in pleasantries, her mind seeks a quieter place. Following the narrow lip of sand that kisses against the grassy shoreline, Gabrian drifts down the beach, following the moon as it dances in the distance upon the ocean’s smoothened flesh. The warm summer air that had embraced them earlier in the day is now cool, causing her skin to pimple in the breeze as she strolls away from the still chanting crowd, tucked within her own embrace. Her mind had been distracted in the pleasantries presented but is now drifting back to the realities that lie ahead.
Lost in her thoughts, the touch of a warm hand against her shoulder gives her a start and her fingers spark mildly in the darkness.
“Hey, are you okay?” Shane’s sandy voice soaks into her and warms her heart with his concern but saddens her just the same. Always watching out for her, always putting her first before himself—when it comes to her, he gladly steps past his own needs to ensure hers are met. Though she loves his devotion and uncontested affections for her, it sends a sick and suffocating wave of guilt washing through her—she continues to allow him to sacrifice his own world for hers.
“Yeah, I am fine. Just taking a breather from all the fun.”
“Too much?” he teases, the folds in his cheeks revealing his jest.
“Maybe, a bit—it has just been a long day is all, I guess.”
“So, what’s up with the mini flares?” he mentions, pointing to her fingertips.
She glances down at her hands and tucks them up under her arms, now aware that someone other than she knows about the oddity she has yet to figure out for herself. “Um, it’s nothing. Just something that happens sometimes; don’t worry about it. It’s nothing really.”
Not sure that he believes her blatant attempt to dodge his question, he lets it drop, more concerned about her isolating herself. “All right,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “Listen, if you are worried about the ‘ice’ thing, don’t. Ashen is an amazing person. I have known her and Broghen for a long time. If anyone can help you, it will be her. You’ll see,” he says, stepping in closer to her and wrapping her up in his arms. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
Her veins sting, alive and awake from his closeness—the heat of his torso lulls the subtle chill that had cloaked her body just moments ago. Looking up into his emerald eyes, still wooing her as if they had only met yesterday, she inhales his summer scent and succumbs to his gentle persuasion.
“Okay,” is all she can muster, unsure she can trust herself to concede to his undying optimistic beliefs, and his willingness to alter things just to ensure its possibility. Her mind jumps to the conversation Rachael had with Broghen in the car earlier so she sets her curiosity free. “Have you ever lived in the Veil?”
“During my youth, I did for a while with my parents but they preferred living here on Earth. So, they took up residence in Maine. But after they were murdered, I abandoned this life for a while. I couldn’t be in the same space as the monsters that took them from me so ruthlessly. After a while of living in temporary homes of families within the Veil, I began to long for the gentleness of this world—even with its evils. All the colours, the smells. Orroryn brought me back with him to Maine when I was old enough and eventually I set up what is now my little world. Built my greenhouse and dove into the beauty of life and the pleasures of watching a simple seed grow into something incredible and pure. Once in a while, it calls to me, the Veil, like a dream that pulls on your subconscious.”
“Do you ever think you will go back?”
“You mean will I ever leave?”
Looking away, just for a moment Gabrian bows her head. “Yeah, something like that.”
“There is nothing there for me right now. I will remain here on Earth as long as there is something importan
t enough to keep me here. Right now, my heart is tethered to its core. I could not leave even if I wanted to.”
“Oh.” Gabrian becomes sullen at the understanding of his words—at the understanding he has stopped living because of her. Having control and so much power over someone is hard for her to swallow, knowing it is not fair. She never wanted it, never asked for it, and it saddens her deeply.
Shane lifts her chin with the tips of his fingers so she is forced to meet his eyes. “I am not missing out on anything. I hope you know that. I have everything anyone could ever need right here.” His fingers drop to tap lightly on the space over her heart. Gabrian slips her hand up to rest over his, gripping it tightly—refusing to let go. Her eyes glisten with grueling emotions—guilt strangling her, the warden over his captivity.
Crouching down so that his lips are close enough to touch hers, Gabrian stretches—pressing herself upward on the tips of her toes. No longer able to stand looking into the intensity of his faithful eyes, she slides her arms up and over his shoulders then tangles them around his neck—pulling him down close enough to press her lips hard against his. The simple act of intimacy—flesh against flesh and the sweet taste of his mouth—swallows her up and she allows it to consume her—for now, drowning her guilt within it. She draws him in to her, kissing him feverishly and relishing in the heat of their flame.