As much as he wanted to get time with Lissette, get her to help him translate everything, she had remained an active part of the family conversation and the evenings chatter. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t caught her watching him a few times when he was watching her.
Eliana, who seemed to enjoy the conversation as much or more than anyone, finally called a halt and sent everyone packing except Daniel and Lissette who were directed to their rooms.
Daniel was exhausted and excited and when he laid down on the bed, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all. Thoughts of family, and his probable coma swirled, but the last thing on his mind, as he fell asleep no more than five minutes after his head hit the pillow, was a thought of Lissette in the next room.
FIFTEEN
Eliana had them, up, washed, and fed before the sun began to peek through the tops of the trees. The breakfast small talk had been light and easy between his aunt and Lissette, almost picking up from the stories of the night before. While watching the conversation more than listening, Daniel began to notice that regardless of which of the two was talking, Lissette was taking furtive glances at him as if she was trying to see how he was reacting without getting caught. That was, of course, completely impossible with just three people sitting around a small table.
At first Daniel tried to surreptitiously make sure he didn’t have food stuck on his face or something hanging off the end of his nose, but when nothing showed up he began to wonder what had changed about Lissette. The tinge of haughtiness from two days before, that feeling that she was only barely able to be polite to a lesser creature, was a pattern he was very familiar with from campus. After a few conversations with some of the girls from the wealthier sororities it had been easy to spot. Now the parts of Lissette that had reminded him of those girls were gone. With the changes in her behavior everything seemed more relaxed. There is something going on here that I am missing, he thought, it seems better now but I am getting a little tired of trying to guess.
He wasn’t unhappy with her friendlier demeanor, it was just that rules were changing before he could catch up to the previous set. It was like she had taken some wall down. He didn’t understand the wall to begin with, why it had come down or what that meant. My gut says things are better, he thought, but it feels like every time I start to relax everything ratchets up again. He was afraid to trust any of this, and the more he thought about it the more his instincts went toward Defcon 3. He tried to get a grip on the spiral and made himself do a mental shrug.
If I am in a coma none of this matters, if I am really here I need allies. Either way I need to get my feet under me and try to get caught up, he considered.
“So, Eliana, this Council is coming to check me out to see if I’m the real thing. What if they decide that I’m not?”
Eliana paused and slowly turned her full face to him. Her face was much more serious than he had seen from her before and the twinkle he thought was a permanent part of her eyes was absent. “That is the easy question, Daniel, the harder question is what will happen if they decide you are who we know you are.”
For a few heartbeats the room was quiet and still. “What does that mean?” Daniel asked a little louder than he intended. “Is there a blue pill and a red one?” Daniel watched in frustrated amazement as Eliana tilted her head slightly at his odd words then rose calmly from the table gathering dishes and Lissette rose to help.
“Thank you dear, but I’ve got this chore. I suggest you take Daniel out for a stroll and see if you can help him understand. I think it will be easier for him if you two can talk it through.”
It wouldn’t be fair to say Lissette froze. It was more like a pause in all movement that lasted little more than a blink of the eye, but enough to be noticed. She gave Eliana a slight nod, turned to Daniel and said, “A stroll it is,” but her voice was not strong and calm like Eliana’s. As she crossed the small kitchen she stopped and looked back at Daniel as if he were the class dunce because he had not moved from his chair. He stood up a little slowly as if proving he was in no hurry, thanked his aunt for breakfast and followed Lissette out the door.
Daniel took a few steps catching up with Lissette and then stopped dead in his tracks with his arms crossed over his chest. He stood there waiting for her to notice which she did after a few more steps. She turned to find Daniel’s face expressionless and his jaw set. Her expression simply said, ‘What?’
“That’s it,” he said, “I’m not moving until somebody tells me what it is they’re not telling me. I know the Council is a lot of important people to you and the others around here but to me they’re just strangers. I don’t know what they want, and they don’t know anything about me. So before I take another step I want to be filled in. I have been trying to walk on eggshells here and be polite to everyone but I am starting to feel like a Judas goat and I don’t like it.”
Lissette looked at him for a moment, obviously trying to decide how best to proceed. She walked back to him, reached out taking his left hand with her right hand and pulled gently. “Please, come with me to someplace a little more private,” she asked with a tone more asking than insisting. When he still didn’t budge, she took a deep breath as if making up her mind and said, “Daniel, I will do my best to answer anything I can but we ought to be somewhere besides the middle of the clearing.”
“Why didn’t we just stay in Eliana’s house?” He asked completely confused and frustrated.
“She wanted us out, Daniel, I don’t know why. I promise I would tell you if I did. Please come with me where we can talk.”
Lissette seemed genuine and a little at a loss. Her concern and confusion quenched some of his fire. He nodded slightly and let her guide him toward the woods. They walked for a few minutes in silence until she led him to a small clearing that seemed away from everything else.
His impatience had begun to regrow as his mind tried to sort through the possibilities. When he decided they were far enough into the small clearing he slowed to a stop causing her to spin halfway around as it caught her by surprise. “What are you doing?” She asked with more than a little surprise.
“Ever since I got here I have been following someone; most of the time with no idea where I was going, what was going on or why it was happening. On the off chance I am not in a coma, I want to know what this meeting is really about.”
“It’s about you,” she said quietly with a hint of frustration.
“That’s not good enough, this time.” He replied, not giving any ground. “Why are they here? What are they going to ask? What are the possibilities? What am I walking into?”
Lissette looked at him with the trace of frustration slowly draining from her face. I would want to know the same things if I were him, she thought. But how do I prepare him for something when I don’t know?
With a deep sigh and softer expression, she said, “They want to decide who you are. They want to decide if you are the one they expect. They want to try and understand why you are here early. I think those are the obvious questions. If they decide you are not the expected one then they will want to know who are you and how you do what you do. I am sure some of them will need to see your kind of magic and even then they may not believe what they see.
The only thing worse than no help is the wrong help. That’s really the best I can do. I am not privy to the elder’s councils and thoughts but common sense would say that is where it will begin.”
Daniel listened and soaked in her every word. He sensed no holding back from her this time. That is even worse, he thought, she’s guessing… maybe everyone is guessing.
“So what happens if I am the guy and what happens if I am not?” He asked.
Lisette had been wondering these same things. There is something about him that draws me, she thought, it’s probably just the excitement of the mystery, she told her herself. Either way she knew he was going through a lot and needed a friend. I told him and the others I believed him and I told him
I would help. Unless I want my human side to show up I need to live up to my word. She smiled to herself in chastisement. Even so there are so many unknowns, so many questions, and my proper upbringing and proper court behavior isn’t helping me know what to do.
She reached out and took his other hand forcing them both to face each other squarely.
“Daniel, I can only guess. I think others, like Eliana may have better guesses than me but I think everybody is nervous and a little frightened. I don’t want you to think I am holding back, so I am going to be honest and tell you no one is sure.
“The act of sending you back was a desperate measure. Now that it may have worked in some manner, it has all the old fears and guilt bubbling up to the surface. I have known your grandfather my whole life and I have never seen him so… emotional. Eliana says he is like a small child at Yuletide that just got his wish. His behavior is disconcerting even around family.” She paused and looked down gathering her thoughts.
“I think he has been carrying the guilt and fear for so long he can’t contain the relief. The elders will see this change and wonder if he is seeing what he wants to see in you, rather than the truth. With what you can do and the stories you tell they will know you are very different and not from here and that may be easier to swallow than accepting that the plan actually worked.
“If they agree you are the one they sent, they will try and decide how best to use the tool they made. When they see your abilities, some may not care what you are as long as you will help. They won’t feel completely comfortable if they can’t control you to some degree and if they feel you are a threat, I don’t know what they will do.”
Daniel felt the grip of her hands tighten as she spoke. With each sentence she seemed more concerned, maybe a little frightened for him.
“So how should I handle this? If they see me as a threat would they try and hurt me?” He asked.
Her gaze was planted on the ground as firmly as the grass underfoot. She wanted to be honest but she didn’t want to make him more nervous than he already was. When she met his gaze again, her reply surprised them both. “Whatever happens, I will stand with you, and I think Alan, Barton and some of your family will as well. I think the desire for help among our people is so strong the elders may not even recognize the power that the rumors are generating. Daniel, with what you can do people want to believe in you and that makes you something we haven’t had in a long time, a leader who brings hope. An idea with a face can be very powerful, especially when it’s a nice face and it can make a hole in a castle wall.” Her face held a mix of acceptance and amusement like she found her own feelings on the matter funny.
“There is no way the story of the hole in the castle wall hasn’t spread through the barony. Your disappearance will only add to the myth. To escape the baron twice is twice more than anyone else. With my escape the baron will be angry beyond measure and if he catches you there will only be one ending. He will have to prove to those he rules with fear that he still holds control. You have publically gelded him. And,” she said with a tiny laugh, “most men will do anything to keep that from happening and he will be desperate to find a way to replace what he has lost. They don’t really grow back, I am told, physically or otherwise but that won’t keep him from trying.
So all things considered,” she continued with a wry smile, “the elders are the least of your worries.”
Daniel watched her face as she smiled at him, wishing he could appreciate her amusement. So I castrated the Baron publically and made him a laughing stock and he needs to get his balls back, the elders can’t decide what scares them the most about me, and Lissette finds it all amusing. All I can do is play this by ear and be myself, he thought, whoever that is.
“Lissette, I have a question,” he started, “Since the elders are going to want a demonstration, what is the thing I could do that would be most impressive?”
She tilted her head to the side and squinted in thought for a few seconds. She started to pull her hands away to gesture and he let one go. “It has to be unique and surprising, but it cannot be threatening. Can you think of something common to you but something they would never have seen? Metal I think, or some hard stone. Something that shows your power without the threat of power.”
“Listen to me,” She shook her head with a snort, “I cannot even imagine what that could be. I was no help at all.”
Since her grip had relaxed as she did, he squeezed her hand gently. “Yes, you were. You gave me a problem to focus on rather than the council.” Seeing her look of distress at not helping enough, encouraged him to give her a small cheesy smile. “That and your smile have done me wonders.” He was gratified to see her blush, even if it was for only a second before she began pulling him across the clearing again.
Lissette didn’t look back as she led him off, she was afraid she couldn’t cover her reaction or the smile with a mind of its own. “The most important meeting of your life and you turn into a cockapert.”
Daniel had no idea what that word meant but the tone of her voice told him it wasn’t all bad. “What is a cockapert?” He asked laughing out loud.
“You mean we have words that you don’t know? Isn’t that nice,” she said with the smile on her face clearly audible in her tone. “A cockapert is someone who thinks they are very clever and can impress others with their wit.”
“Cockapert,” he said out loud enjoying the sound of it. “In my world we might say ‘smart ass,’ I think.”
“That fits,” nicely she replied with a hint of a giggle. “I like the idea of an obnoxious talking donkey; it seems to fit you well.”
“You would love Shrek,” he replied.
“Who or what is a Shrek?” She asked.
The counsel ring was about a hundred paces away just beyond the edge of the shadows across the clearing from his aunt’s house. “Why isn’t the meeting space out in the middle?” He asked. “Wouldn’t that make for better viewing?”
“Viewing? The elders don’t meet as a spectacle, they meet to discuss important matters. If they were playing to a crowd, how would they ever keep politics and showmanship from polluting the decision making?” She has a point, Daniel said to himself, thinking back to the last election.
“It is in the shade to make sure no one has to look into the sun and faces are easily seen without distraction. Elves’ expressions are hard enough to read when they are in a formal setting. The whole point of a circle is that no one takes the lead based on a location…like the role of head of table in court when dining. No, a circle is better. Only force of argument determines placement.”
Without pausing she changed direction slightly, gently guiding him along. “Let’s take that bench there,” she gestured with a tilt of her head, “Its back enough that we may not be noticed by anyone coming out of the sunshine and it will give me a chance to point people out to you.
SIXTEEN
For two hours they talked of Daniel’s world and he told her stories and tried to explain them. Now and then she would interrupt to tell him about new arrivals, but his mind was on the meeting and what he would do. The pair had moved to a grassy spot more directly facing the circle where they could see better and while they talked Daniel would occasionally gather up fallen branches and place them in a pile. As the pile began to grow Lissette asked, “Are you planning to build a fire?”
“Or put one out,” he replied with a smile.
“For people without watches, they are amazingly punctual,” Daniel commented as he sat on the ground near one of the giant oaks that lined the clearing. The elders and their followers began drifting in about an hour earlier and now all but one was in place at the ring.
“You did it again,” Lissette, said, “What do you mean they don’t watch? Do you refer to their traveling companions? That doesn’t make sense because they have already seen them. There are no watches for the council; people come and go as they need.”
Every minute of every conversatio
n kept Daniel on his toes. So much of his speech was anachronistic here and he felt like he was explaining every other word. “A watch is a device used to tell time accurately. In my world everything operates on schedules and a precise knowledge of time. A watch is small and worn on the wrist to make viewing easy,” he finished, but thought to himself that most people used their cells now and trying to explain that would just end up get him another of the blank stares he was getting all too used to.
“Why don’t they just look to the sky to know the time?” She asked. “Or use an hour glass or candle?”
Elves- the Book of Daniel Page 15