Chapter Six
Pandimora lay still on the soft ferns, the green fronds tickling her. She blew at one by her nose, touching a fingertip to the soft fronds. The life force of the fern pulsed between her fingertips, then she gently pressed it down to her bed.
So bravely and with assurance she had spoken earlier. She would find the truth about her family.
In the quiet of the evening she chastised herself. Who was she to make such a claim? A half-human faerie thrust from her home. She couldn't even find her own sister. And now to learn she also had a brother. Her heart ached with heaviness. If she found the powerful missing crystal, could she then know the truth of her family?
"Pandimora." Drew.
She rolled onto her back, staring up at him in the dim light. How caring his human heart, and even now his concern enfolded her. But this was her mission, her responsibility.
He knelt beside her in the ferns and she loved having him so close. His jacket lay beside him. No doubt his body had adjusted to the perfectly controlled atmosphere around them.
She reached out and traced the curve of his cheek with her finger. Such a determined and brave man. She lay the back of her fingers along his jaw. She enjoyed touching Drew very much and that in and of itself could create complications. Eventually, he would return to his world and she to hers.
"I lay here wondering how I'll find out about my family," she admitted. "I don't even know where to start. I wonder that I spoke such brave words with nothing to back them up."
His fingers splayed along the ground on either side of him as he balanced on the balls of his feet. "You said it's your gift? Can you explain?"
Pandimora propped herself up on an elbow. "Every faerie is born with a gift that is intrinsic to their soul. The gift is usually identified before what you would consider a child's tenth birth year. My sister has the gift of healing, while my gift is to find that which is lost. But in truth I have never actually used this gift, except in ways that were trivial."
"It's a lifelong gift?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Tell me about it," he said encouragingly.
Pandimora lay back. "There was a time a ball sank to the bottom of the lake, and everyone saw it thrown into the water. Surely an easy find for a faerie, even without her soul gift?
"On another occasion little Maveen, playing a game of hide and seek, hid behind a barrel of the sweetest pickles made in all of Aisywel." She smiled. "I had quite a fondness for the pickles and discovered her hiding spot when I reached in the barrel to grab a delicious pickle.
"The first time my soul gift was identified was the day I'd found the beautiful colored chalks the nursery marm had hidden high upon a shelf. All sparkly and bright, they called to me from across the faerie nursery. They were supposed to be a treat for some later activity, but when the nursery marm returned to the nursery with her cup of tea, I was decorating my arms and legs with the various colors."
"Even if you haven't used your gift often, it sounds important." She felt his faith in her down to her toes. "All faeries have a unique gift?"
"Of course. Some faeries see to the growth of all plant life. Then others watch the clouds in the sky and help form them into shapes. Others create the glorious colors in fall leaves. Faeries are instrumental in overseeing everyday life most humans take for granted."
"I had no idea." Drew was amazed at the scope of responsibilities faeries seemed to have, not only for their own world, but the earth. "This is all just so incredible," he said. "So much so that it seems like a dream."
"The scent of flowers are woven by faerie magic. The touch of the wind on your cheek is sweet faerie breath. The world of the fae has always been charmed by magic." Her voice deepened in distress. "In Aisywel, all faeries comport themselves in a certain manner, but I am different."
"I don't know about faeries," he said, a half smile framing his lips. "But it can be difficult for anyone who's an individual and therefore seen as different."
"While I've always taken comfort in Aisywel's safe predictability, that is now gone. I feel --" she hesitated, loss a heavy weight upon her breast.
"Lost?" he asked, compassion in his voice.
She nodded. "I have no home, no safe haven." Pandimora moved to sit with her arms around her up-drawn legs and pressed her forehead to her knees. "How can I find the truth if I can never return home?"
"Maybe this is only temporary and eventually you will return," he said. "You're strong, Pandimora and determined."
"I don't feel strong," she muttered against her knees.
"Do you have a plan?"
Pandimora looked back toward the glen where the trail of fireflies glowed like ripe gold strands.
"I will leave here," she said. "And you will go back to your own life."
His head went back. "I thought we sorted this out. I'm coming with you."
She pressed her chin down harder to her knees. "This is something I have to do alone."
"So you're going to disappear, just like that?" he said. She could hear the anger in his voice.
"There is no other option," Pandimora said, stiffening her resolve. She wanted nothing more than to allow Drew to stay with her, but she knew it was a dangerous and selfish desire.
She rose and stretched, tensing and relaxing her muscles, making sure all residues of pain had been eliminated. Gently, she rubbed her fingers over the mark on her arm.
"That tattoo is back to normal," he said, pointing at the star's outline.
"Not really. Until all this occurred, the star had eight points. Now it has twelve. I had always wondered how it came to be. The crystal hologram showed our mother marked my sister and I. The faerie at the healing sanctuary said it was for protection, but there are so many questions."
"At least tell me where you plan to start your search?"
"There are many possibilities -- other realms."
"I can help you find your sister. That's what I do, Pandimora."
"I will accept your help, Drew, if indeed the search leads me to your world."
"How will I know if you're all right?"
She pressed her palm lightly to his lean cheek, seeing small thin sparks jump between them. "Such sweet concern, but all connection must be severed. I cannot take a chance and have you come to the elder's attention. I must go back into our family history. If I can discover a trace of Kirklas, perhaps I can discover if he is still immortal." She frowned. "I can't think of anything else but finding my family. It consumes me."
"That's understandable," he said. "I don't know if you're incredibly brave or incredibly foolish to attempt this on your own. I want you to survive this," he added fiercely.
Pandimora leaned close, placed her arms around him and pressed a soft kiss to his neck. Surely she could take this little bit of remembrance with her? Being close to Drew. Yearning swept through her and she felt a similar desire rise in him. Somehow their relationship had subtly shifted. Their worlds were so different, and yet she felt increasingly drawn to him. Her heart ached for the loss of a family she had never had the chance to grieve, and it also ached because she must send Drew away. Their worlds were too different. But then a small voice whispered, you are part human.
Pandimora wondered if this would be the last time she would see him. Drew bent down and placed a kiss on her lips and she sank deeply into the kiss for several moments, their contact instantly inflaming her. His scent was intoxicating. She brushed her hand through his hair, her fingertips tracing his ears and the back of his scalp. Heat began to build and blue light snapped between their bodies. Slowly, and with regret, she pulled away until they stood very close but no longer touching. She could still feel the energy from his body embracing her.
"Goodbye, Drew," she said softly, and she pushed him firmly backward into the portal she had manifested.
Find Me: Faeries Lost Page 8