Asanni

by J. F. Kaufmann

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean the financial help Red Cliffs has been providing for the last twenty years. James organized a support network through his connections with the Copper Ridge diaspora. So far everything’s going smoothly and without Seth’s knowledge.”

  “So, in spite of his personal feud with Seth, my uncle has been helping the neighborhood clan. That speaks volumes about his character.”

  Jack picked a stray lock of Astrid hair and tucked it behind her ear. “Astrid, your uncle is a great leader. For James—and for all of us, for that matter—Copper Ridge is not Seth Withali. Copper Ridge is their children and their people, our friends and relatives, simple people who suffer because their Einhamir is a crazy despot. ‘Seth will be gone soon, Copper Ridge isn’t going anywhere’, that’s what your uncle says. And your presence,” he added quietly, “will set many things in motion and ultimately restore the balance not only in Red Cliffs, but also in Copper Ridge.”

  Astrid looked up at him, her blue eyes unsure and scared. “Are you sure I can do that? Are you sure you have the right person?” she said with panic in her voice. “Jack, nobody’s prepared me for such role. I might not be who you expect me to be. I’m just a simple person. I’ve never wanted to be more than that. Oh, my God, what I am going to do?!”

  “Astrid, Astrid, it’s okay, baby. Don’t panic. You don’t need to do anything you haven’t done countless times before.” Jack rocked her gently, kissing her hair and stroking her back until she stopped shivering. “You were born to help people, to make them feel better, to bring out their good side. You’ve always done that. I know it’s not easy, but once you’re in Red Cliffs, you’ll feel better about it. It’s who you are, Astrid.”

  “Right now I’m feeling like a damn tribe talisman,” she said and stood up. “I’m going to make tea. Want some?”

  She marched into the kitchen. She grabbed the edge of the counter with both hands and took several deep breaths.

  “Damn it, what has happened to my life?” she said and jerked the cupboard door open, rummaging through the contents of the shelves. “There isn’t decent loose-leaf tea in this house! I hate tea from bags. Tastes like soap suds. Damn, damn, damn!” The door closed with a bang.

  Two strong hands closed around her as Jack’s solid body pressed against her back. “Lots of damns in less than a minute. About soapsuds, you’re right. They do taste horrible.”

  Astrid closed her eyes, nestling the back of her head on his shoulder. “How do you know?”

  “When I was about five, my friend Adam double-dared me to have a sip… Astrid, sweetie, I’m sorry,” he whispered into her ear. “I didn’t mean to upset you. You’re doing great. I know how difficult it is.”

  “Do you? Do any of you know? My whole life’s upside down,” Astrid said and turned to face Jack. “I’m scared, Jack. I’m angry and hurt. My mother abandoned me but raised somebody else’s child. My grandparents kept me in the dark, my uncle’s trying to control my life. And that lunatic who plans to have me married to his son! Crazy as it is, it’s also insulting. Who does he think he is? And why me? I didn’t ask for any of this. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I’ll be with you. I’ll protect you with everything I have.”

  “I know. I only wish we could just be an ordinary couple.” Astrid sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “Please let’s not talk about it anymore. Tell me something nice. Tell me about James and mother, your brother and sister. Please. Let’s talk about something normal and meaningful.”

  “Come back to the living room. Do you want a glass of wine?” Jack said as he gently pushed her out of the kitchen.

  “No. I’m fine.” Once the little storm had passed, Astrid felt better.

  “Do you want to go for a drive or walk? Let’s go buy some nice loose-leaf tea.”

  Astrid smiled, but shook her head. “I’m tired. Let’s stay here. It’s still raining anyway. I’ll sit in my corner and be good.”

  “No, you won’t.” As he sat down, Jack took one of the cushions and placed it in his lap. “Come.” He patted the cushion. “Put your head here and try not to move too much... There you are. So, you’ve asked about my family. My mother married your uncle James after my father died. I think James was always in love with her, but Brian was his friend and James, honorable as he is, would’ve never done anything to reveal his true feelings. It took him awhile to muster enough courage to ask my mother to marry him.”

  “Were your mother and father bond-mates?”

  He smiled. “No, they weren’t. They were just regularly crazy about each other.”

  “What about her and James? They seem to have a good marriage.”

  “Bonding isn’t common, Astrid, and that’s why is even more special. My mother and James have one of the best marriages I’ve ever seen, but they’re not bonded in a conventional way. They love each other deeply and absolutely. Do they need a stronger bond than that? Or maybe bonding works in different ways for different people, who knows? They easily had two children together, which is another proof that they belong to each other. Our kind does not procreate as easily as humans. We live long lives, and that’s one of nature’s ways to control the size of our population.”

  “Are we going to have children?”

  “As many as you want. Those restrictions do not apply to Ellidas. That much we know.”

  “I’ve never thought about having children before,” Astrid said quietly. “You?”

  “Not before I met you, no.”

  Astrid felt flutters in her stomach and her heart skipped a beat, but no matter how appealing the topic was, it’s wasn’t the best moment to talk about children.

  “Tell me about your relationship with James,” she said. “I have a silly question: who’s older? Technically, you could be.”

  “James is older.”

  “How does it work, with some of you old, some not, some humans, some half-humans?”

  Jack’s fingers plowed gently through Astrid’s long hair. “Somehow we know. Rather than, let’s say, the length of our existence, what matters is the relationship between us. Regardless of age, James simply feels like my father.”

  “But he’s your step-father.”

  “Our sense of family is strong, stronger than among humans. In that sense there’s no difference between step-relatives and blood relatives.”

  Astrid narrowed her eyes. “Not even between step-cousins?”

  “Except when they fall in love.”

  “Good. I don’t like to think about you as my cousin.”

  “Close relatives do not bond, Astrid.”

  “Ah, now I understand what you meant when you said there were no roadblocks for us… How do you call James? Father?”

  Jack shrugged. “Dad, Father, James, depending on the situation.”

  “You probably look the same age?”

  Jack let out a soft chuckle. “Sometimes he seems even younger. I can look quite mature if I’m preoccupied with my job or if I have some problems. But we’re aware of our connections and relations, and if somebody looks physically younger than his grandson, that doesn’t matter at all. They’re still a grandfather and a grandson. Like you and Ella, for example. Ella doesn’t exactly look like your grandmother either.”

  “But wizards don’t have as long a life expectancy as werewolves.”

  “It’s still a span of several human lives, long enough to force you to change your identity and the place you live a couple of times during your lifetime.”

  “We’ll talk about the werewolf life span some other time. I don’t want to be scared anymore tonight. Tell me more about your family.”

  His sister Maggie was twenty-two, Jack said with a warm, broad smile, and had been studying to be an oil engineer. Eamon was seventeen and wanted to study music.

  “He plays electric guitar. He’s good. He has his own band and they play on weekends in a local pub, Goblin’s Hollow. Not their own music, or at least not all the time, ot
herwise they probably wouldn’t have many customers there. It’s good music, though. I like it.”

  “What’s the name of the band?”

  “Rawhide. Definitely in sync with the music they play: powerful, loud and full of energy. Not the best for Friday nights at the local watering hole, though.”

  “So what do they play? Country?”

  “Some, not much; I don’t think country agrees with Eamon. Rock-and-roll, of course, but also pop, jazz and blues.”

  “What does he want to study?”

  “Ethnomusicology. Astrid, why don’t you listen to music anymore?” Jack said suddenly. “In his report—don’t get mad again, please—Alec mentions you often do that.”

  “Well, I figured you can still hear it even if I put my earphones on. I’m not sure if you’d like what I listen to.”

  Jack lifted Astrid’s hand and kissed her fingers. “I have eclectic tastes. I’m sure we overlap somewhere. Try me... Do you play music when you operate?”

  “No. Many doctors do, but I don’t. I know some of my colleagues find my approach conservative, but for me, there are no routine surgeries, no matter how minor they are. My operating room is a serious place, like the job we do there. I don’t allow any unnecessary conversation, no chatting, no jokes. Everybody should be focused on doing their best because the body on the table deserves no less than that, Jack.” She braced herself on her elbow. “We’re talking about me again. Don’t distract me. How about you and music?”

  “I don’t have any formal education.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.”

  “I play electric guitar. Sometimes, when I’m in Red Cliffs, I play with the band. Maggie used to sing on the weekends, before she started studying. That was a compromise: some guests aren’t happy with Rawhide’s hard rock songs, and Eamon categorically refuses to sing ‘girly’ songs. His words, mind you.”

  “I would be disappointed, too. I like some ‘girly’ songs. I’d love to sing Dancing Queen one day, for example.”

  “ABBA ?!”

  Astrid laughed. “There is no other Dancing Queen… It’s a lovely song. It starts with the refrain, which is unusual.” Astrid sang it and her crystal clear voice filled the room. “And then the singers. Their voices are fantastic! Each voice is distinctive, but they sound like one. They sing from alto to mezzo-soprano, and it sounds easy and natural.

  “Trust you to turn a simple pop song into a mini-study,” Jack said and kissed her cheek.

  Astrid turned her head until her lips found Jack’s. “There’s nothing simple about Dancing Queen,” she said over a series of small, sweet kisses, before she pulled herself up and took a deep breath.

  “Don’t worry, Jack, I’m still in charge. Anyway, from… where is it, aha, here… ta-da-da… that’s E3. They skyrocket in one breath to C5. One and a half octaves! Most pop songs are sung in half an octave, mind you. Listen.” She sang the whole refrain. “It’s a beautiful song and superb singing,” Astrid concluded. “One of my all-time favorites. I’m not a big fan of dance music, but Dancing Queen is an institution in itself.”

  Jack wanted to say that for him she was an institution in herself, in a league of her own, but instead he just bent his head and kissed her. “If there is no other way, I’ll seize a concert hall and for a night let you sing whatever you want,” he promised.

  “Who’s going to listen?” Astrid said, obviously playing the whole scene in her imagination.

  “Hostages, of course. Then we’ll release them, and they won’t remember anything except the most beautiful voice they’ve ever heard. By the way, do you play an instrument?”

  “Piano, a little bit. Nothing special. My voice is my instrument. Never mind that now… Jack, do you think your mother is going to like me?”

  “Of course she will. My mother is a down-to earth, easygoing woman. You’ll like her.”

  “She lost her husband because of my mother.”

  “But not because of you, and she is completely capable of making that distinction. And it wasn’t even your mother. It was Seth.”

  “You don’t hate Rowena?” Astrid asked quietly and held her breath. Oh, please don’t hate her, because I’m a part of her. If you hate her, you can’t love me completely. Please don’t hate her…

  “Of course I don’t hate her, Astrid. Some terrible things might not have happened if she had acted differently, but it was her husband’s doing, and his decisions. She’s been used; she is his victim, too. I know a little of what’s been going on with her all these years, but I have reason to believe she’s become a more responsible and compassionate person. Look at her relationship with Darius. Anyway, sooner or later we’ll see.”

  “Why did James send Alec and Drew as reinforcements? It’s inconceivable that Liv and Tristan alone couldn’t protect me.”

  Jack gently rubbed a soft, light reddish-brown lock of Astrid’s hair between his fingers. “Every single strand of your hair seems to be of a different shade. Beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like that before... What did you ask me? Ah, Alec and Drew. Well, we were expecting more trouble, that’s why. And we were right because before I came to Rosenthal, somebody from Copper Ridge phoned Tristan and told him that last month Seth sent his people to look for you.”

  “But they didn’t get close to finding me, did they?”

  “No, and it was because they didn’t bother to look for you carefully. Seth’s own people are tired of his tyranny. That’s why I think his days are numbered. His men came back and told him they couldn’t find any trace of you and that you had probably left the country.”

  “Who tipped Tristan off?”

  “We don’t know. It’s been a woman’s voice, from the beginning. Amilla, Arina…”

  “My mother?” Astrid looked up at Jack, her eyes filled with hope and tension.

  “Somebody from Copper Ridge has been contacting us on a regular basis in the last few years. It’s not the same person that phones us each time,” Jack said softly, responding to the anxious look in her eyes. “It’s possible Rowena’s behind it, but there’s no way to know that for sure, not for now. Try not to think too much about it until we learn more. Okay?”

  Astrid nodded. “Tell me more about life in Red Cliffs. Where am I going to live? Where am I going to work?”

  “You have your family house.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes. It’s a nice, big house, next to James and Betty’s, and mine, for that matter. James already had the roof replaced, and the heating system checked. More than that won’t be necessary because you’ll soon move into my—our—house.” Jack stroked her cheek. “In the meantime, I’ll have the bathroom built for you. In aquamarine and beige.”

  “Don’t forget a cat,” Astrid reminded him.

  “And a cat. About your job, there’s a modern medical centre in Red Cliffs. The town has about five thousand residents and as many tourists during ski season. No lack of broken bones and all sorts of injuries. I’m not sure if there is an opening right now, but it wouldn’t be impossible to create a new position. One of the doctors could get an once-in-a-lifetime offer.” Jack smiled and made a mental note to talk to Tristan about it.

  “I was born there, but I don’t remember a thing,” Astrid said.

  “You were too young. And the town has changed a bit since then.”

  “Did you live there when I was born? Did you see me as a baby?” she said suddenly.

  He stroked her hair and smiled. “I lived in Italy back then, completely oblivious to the fact my future wife had been born.”

  Astrid looked up at him. “But you wouldn’t have known, even if you’d seen me, or held me? I mean, you wouldn’t have felt the bond, would you?”

  “Of course not. You have to be an adult to feel the bond. It’s a complete connection, including sexual, Astrid, and happens between two adults only. I would’ve gladly babysat you, though. We’re good with kids. They love when we turn into a wolf and play with them. We’re sort of their pets.
”

  Astrid laughed, playing the imagined scene in her head.

  “Tell me more about Red Cliffs,” she said.

  “If you don’t mind an abundance of snow and long winters, you’ll like Red Cliffs. It’s a small, but dynamic and vibrant town. We all know each other and tend to—how should I put it—be a part of each other’s life more than maybe you’ve gotten used to, but we don’t mean any harm. It’s more like we are a big, noisy family. That was the main reason I lived almost half of my life somewhere else,” Jack said. “And also why I always came back, no matter what… It’s home, Astrid. We are social, we love gatherings of all sorts. We have the Snow Moon Festival in February, Rose Moon Night in April; Midsummer Day in June, Lantern Festival in August and Septemberfest—”

  “Septemberfest? Like Oktoberfest in Munich?”

  “Uh-huh, there are quite a few Germans among us. Weather-wise, they say, September here is the equivalent to October in Bavaria, which I doubt. Then, there are regular holidays, like Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas. We’re always looking for an opportunity to have a big party, no matter the reason.”

  Astrid smiled. “I’ve heard you function very well in a group setting.”

  “The larger the better.”

  “How do you fit in there? You don’t seem that social.”

  “I often prefer more intimate company, true,” Jack said and brushed Astrid’s lips with his. “But, whenever I was away, a part of me missed my Red Cliffers. They sometimes have a hard time staying out of your life, but are in general good, generous, honest and warm people. Once they accept you, you are a part of their life, and they’ll do anything for you. You don’t need to worry about it at all, though. You are our Ellida, but even if you hadn’t been, you would’ve charmed them anyway, because you are exactly like them: good and honest and caring.”

  “And a private person.”

  “Yes, but once you truly feel like part of the community, you’ll learn to balance your private and public life. That’s what I do. They respect it.”