by Ophelia Bell
The nymphs were in the meeting with the clan leaders and the queen now, and Vrishti stole close to the secluded copse at the top of the falls, hoping to catch some bit of information, but the noise of the waterfall drowned out any voices.
All she wanted to know was whether the dragons had been freed or if they were still held captive inside the Haven. Would Aodh return to her or … or what? Was she going to have to go after him? Word had gotten out that the Haven would welcome any ursa visitors, though the nymphs didn’t seem as keen on traveling the other direction. Aside from the five warrior-like females who had arrived, there had been no other visitors.
She shifted uncomfortably on the warm rock she’d staked out to give her a good vantage of the meeting taking place. The Queen stood higher than the others wearing a distinctly angry expression that Vrishti was sure was directed at her mother. The nymphs kept pointing at the tree. Then her mother spoke up, gesturing emphatically. The Queen yelled … Vrishti was sure she was yelling because she actually heard a syllable or two rise up over the din of the waterfall, though she couldn’t make out full words.
Her mother looked pissed, then apologetic.
Fuck, she wished she could just hear them. Were they talking about Aodh at all? Did the dragons even matter, or was this amazing tree that had burst up through the lake last week the only thing they cared about?
She pressed her hands hard against the stone, fingernails clawed in frustration. Beneath her hands, the earth seemed to quiver and a familiar warmth swelled in her belly. She’d learned to recognize the core of her power. The kernel of Gaia’s magic that lived inside every female ursa was the first thing her mother had taught her about when she’d arrived, and since that day, she’d worked hard to nurture it, though she’d been told that until she hit her first estrous, the bulk of her powers would remain dormant.
The power swelled in her like the rising tide of an orgasm, but she knew better this time. It could be harnessed to perform magic if she wished, or to shift into her bear form. She still wasn’t quite sure how to deliberately summon it, so she had learned to take advantage of it when it appeared.
She did so now, pressing her palms harder against the stone and pushing the power downward. Closing her eyes, she directed the power to move farther, the living energy obeying her command. It traveled under the grassy expanse between her and the group of females having their pow-wow and silently emerged, no more obvious than a blade of grass in the center of their group.
In her mind’s eye, a tiny flower bloomed, and instantly she could hear every word being spoken. She was shocked to hear that one word was her own name.
“Vrishti has the power, but she isn’t ready to use it yet. She won’t be until she assumes the mantle of Summer, and you know the ritual can’t happen until the equinox at the earliest.”
Her mother had explained as much to her on repeated occasions, but why would that be important now?
“Then you must guide her,” the Queen said. “It’s a Rainsong who made the sacrifice at your command, Sathmnika. It has to be Rainsong power that undoes it.”
Several voices rose up in protest and a foot stomped down on the flower, blocking out all the voices. Vrishti cursed and shifted her focus, pushing another tiny flower up through the earth in a different spot.
“Let the nymphs speak!” the Windsong clan leader yelled, her voice carrying high enough above the roaring water that Vrishti clearly heard the words from where she sat. Everyone quieted and one of the nymphs stepped forward, her feet barely missing Vrishti’s new flower.
“We have no wish to cut off the connection made. Our mistress merely wishes for her mate to be returned to her. Can we all agree to find a way to form a new bridge between the Source and the Sanctuary?”
A bridge … Vrishti stared up at the tree.
“So that’s what you are,” she said. “You’re a bridge. Can I climb down your trunk and find my love?”
The leaves of the canopy above her rustled, though there was no breeze at the moment.
“… remove him from the tree and it destroys the bridge,” her mother was saying. Suddenly Vrishti understood what all the fuss was about.
“Is that you in there, Silas?” she asked. The leaves shifted again, branches creaking. Her belly warmed and she drew back the power she’d sent to the lakeside, deciding she needed to focus her efforts elsewhere now.
With her face tilted toward the upper branches of the tree, she pulled the power to her own ears this time, listening closely to the seemingly random sounds the tree made. Gradually she discovered she could make out words, and the more she listened, the clearer they became.
“Figured out how strong you are, have you, Vrishti?”
“Silas, is that you?”
“In the flesh … or should I say, in the wood? I think Assana’s tired of all my tree jokes, but I can’t let her get wise to the fact that I’m fucking terrified and really wish I’d known this would happen before I agreed to do it.”
“So you want out?”
“I want to be there when Assana has our baby. What’s she going to do? Climb up and put a newborn in my branches? But I can’t … there’s no way out. I am the fucking tree.”
“And if you let go, you’re afraid the Sanctuary will lose its connection to the Source. I think it’s just a physics problem. Can you send the power back the other direction in a loop?”
The leaves chattered together, creating their own air current that rippled across the surface of the lake. As she waited for a response, Vrishti studied the monolithic tree, pondering the pale green leaves with the tiny buds of white flowers. The tree looked like it had just broken into bloom with spring, though in reality, the Sanctuary was nearing the end of summer and on the verge of autumn. Yet the spring equinox was only a few weeks away, the seasons inside being the reverse of those outside, at least in Earth’s northern hemisphere.
“I can’t figure out how to reverse the power … and believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Not reverse it. Send it forward, but in a cycle, looping back on itself. You’ve created a siphon that pulls the power up from the Haven, replacing the old link with one that can’t be broken. Like a pipe where there used to be a shutoff valve being replaced by one with no barrier. Can you extend the flow beyond that, push it back to where it starts and create a constant cycle? Perhaps the flow will sustain itself once it gets moving.”
“Let me try …”
The breeze picked up, blowing through his branches but despite that new noise, Vrishti could still hear the hum of power that flooded through the giant tree. The thick wood of his branches groaned, and she saw one flower lose its petals, leaving behind a small green object. Then more of the flowers followed suit, petals falling everywhere and coating the surface of the lake with a carpet of brilliant white.
“Something’s happening. Silas, did you do that?”
“I … I’m trying to force the flow forward, but it’s getting away from me. It’s starting to move faster now. I don’t know if this is good. What’s happening?”
“You’re making fruit,” Vrishti said, marveling at the speed with which the tiny buds grew into larger fruit that turned red and began to fall as they ripened. Excited ursa began to dive into the water to retrieve the apples and gather them up.
Within moments, however, the fruit was gone and the leaves faded, grew yellow, then gold, then orange, and the first few fluttered off the branches.
“Fuck,” Silas said. “I think I did something bad …”
“No! I think it’s working. Keep going!”
“The flow is too much for me. I can’t control it.”
Words of alarm rose up from the crowds on the shores of the lake. Vrishti looked over and saw several people pointing down the mountain to the vista of the Sanctuary and all the hillsides beyond.
“Oh, shit,” Vrishti said. “The whole pl
ace is changing seasons now. Silas, can you get it under control?”
“I’m trying, believe me, but all I understand is summer. I’m a Rainsong. None of the other seasons feel like home to me, so I aimed for summer, and I think that’s where we’re headed.”
“That’s where we were, but we’re definitely looking like winter out here.”
Near the waterfall’s crest, the group of clan leaders and nymphs had stopped talking and were now staring up at the tree in shock.
“Vrishti, tell me what to do. You’re Sathmika’s daughter—you … you’re smarter than me.”
“I think …” She paused and frowned, trying to give him some advice based on her ursa studies, but having no good ideas. Around her the mountainside cooled, the leaves of all the trees transforming along with Silas’s branches now until they browned and fell. Within moments, the entire Sanctuary was gray with winter light, the trees all bare of leaves.
“I think you need to just let it flow until you can get your bearings.”
“Help me.”
Suddenly a pair of hands were on her shoulders and someone was shaking her. She tore her focus away from the tree and saw the ursa Queen, Emma, standing in front of her with a worried expression.
“Vrishti, what’s happening? Was that you? We all saw you speaking a spell. Did you do this?”
The other clan leaders stood nearby, along with the nymphs. Occasionally they glanced up at the tree, their awe growing when the bare branches began to sprout with pale green shoots of fresh growth that unfurled into new leaves.
“It isn’t me. Silas is pulling the power through, trying to create a loop. I think … if he can get enough momentum in the cycle, it will sustain itself so he can leave the tree.”
“Fuck. Is that really what I’m trying to do here? It’s moving too fast still. Little help, maybe?”
“What is he saying to you?” Emma asked.
Vrishti shook her head, surprised the others couldn’t hear him.
“Just listen,” she said, and tapped at Emma’s temple.
The Queen frowned, but closed her eyes and focused, then let out a laugh. “He’s got a colorful mouth on him, doesn’t he?”
“Are you going to fucking help me with this or just fucking stand around chatting?” Silas said, sounding like he was in a near panic.
Emma rushed back to the other clan leaders and motioned for them to gather. The four women clasped hands in a circle and began to chant while slowly rotating in a clockwise direction.
“Silas, I think they’re trying to help you now. Let them, all right?”
“I can hear them. Thank you.”
Vrishti closed her eyes, listening to the steady chants of the four clan leaders and mentally translating the song from its ancient tongue to her own language. It was a song about the seasons, the cycles of nature, of life, and the universe. Of death and rebirth, night and day. After a few moments, Vrishti heard Silas start to chant along, and the tree above seemed to move and sway in the same rhythm.
She watched into the night, and slowly the speeding seasons began to regulate, to lengthen, until there were hours between instead of minutes.
“Something’s happening,” Silas said as the sun was rising above the crest of his canopy. “I feel the power moving around me now, instead of through me, like it’s taken on a life of its own.”
“That’s good, right? Is it sustaining itself now?”
“I… Oh, shit …”
“Silas? Silas! What happened?” Vrishti stared up at the tree, calling to him, frantic for a response, but the leaves no longer spoke beyond conveying their need for sun and water and nourishment from Gaia’s power. They were back to their pre-spring buds now, and when she stared around at the rest of the Sanctuary it looked the same as the tree … with fresh new growth and pale green leaves signifying the emerging rebirth of life after a long, cold winter.
“Silas!” Vrishti called again. “Please answer me. Tell me what happened! Are you there?”
“I’m right here,” said a deep voice behind her. Vrishti spun around, her heart pounding into her throat. The man himself stood there, in the flesh … in the very naked flesh.
Vrishti flushed and immediately stared up at the sky. “What a relief!”
Silas chuckled. “You need to get over the naked thing, sister. You’re an ursa.”
She forced herself to lower her gaze, but pointedly kept her chin up and her eyes locked to his. She let out a sudden breath of pure relief.
“You did it,” she said, grinning at him.
“I had help. Thank you for that.”
“It just made sense.”
The Queen came forward and patted Silas on the shoulder. The other clan leaders fell in around them, Vrishti’s mother coming forward with a chagrined look.
“Silas, please forgive me. It seems my daughter is far brighter than I gave her credit for. If I’d discussed my plan with her to begin with, we could have avoided letting you be trapped like that for so long.”
Silas gave the woman a long look and nodded. “I would do anything for my home, but the people in the Sanctuary are just as important as the Sanctuary itself. We’d be nothing without them. Now, if it’s all the same to you guys, and forgive the lack of honorifics here, but I’d really like to get back to the Haven now.”
“Please take me with you!” Vrishti blurted out, rushing toward him and grabbing his arm. She released him, suddenly feeling odd about that particular statement. She’d been here once before, but then it had been a different ursa male along with a collection of dragons who she’d begged to let her tag along.
Silas raised his eyebrows. “Yeah? Why? There aren’t any males in there who aren’t taken.”
“There is one … well, he’s taken too, but he’s mine. Or I mean, he will be taken once I claim him. I have to find him now and let him know … something important.”
She winced inwardly, realizing that she had an audience that included the Queen as well as her own mother, who she hadn’t bothered to confess to that she’d found her mate.
Silas stiffened and frowned at her. Softly, he said, “You mean Aodh, don’t you? Gavra’s brother.”
His shift in demeanor from open to cautious alarmed her.
“Yes. He’s all right, isn’t he?”
Silas put his hands on his hips and exhaled, shaking his head. “We don’t know, honestly. Nyx hid him away somewhere… ‘safe,’ she said, but we have no idea how to get him out of wherever it is. I’ll take you to the Haven if you want to talk to Assana about it, but that’s all I can offer.”
She hazarded a hesitant glance at her mother.
“Daughter, no,” Sathmika said, stepping forward to stand between them. “You aren’t ready for this yet. If your estrous comes while you’re away, you may not have a way to balance it. You need to stay at least until it happens.”
“Mother, I have to go. I made Aodh a promise. If he’s trapped, I have to try to help him.”
Behind her mother, Silas gave her an impatient look, then turned and started walking toward the lake and the route she knew would take them into the Haven. In the brightening dawn, she saw what made him so eager to go. The entire wide expanse of his back was covered with a huge, glowing tattoo. A dragon mark, she knew from her studies. It was red and pierced the morning as splendidly as the sunrise, signaling his purpose.
He had to get back to his mates. And Vrishti had to go save her own.
Chapter Forty-Two
Assana
Assana paced the floor in front of the dais where her throne sat. It was all she could do not to drift and go to Silas now that she knew he was back in the Haven, finally, miraculously released from his prison inside the monolithic tree that now joined her home permanently with the ursa Sanctuary.
“He can drift now that we’re blood melded. Why isn’t he co
ming straight here?” she asked out loud, even though she knew the answer already. Silas wasn’t as comfortable with the mode of travel that came second nature to her, especially not with a passenger in tow.
“Baby, sit. They’ll be here soon,” Gavra said, looking far too relaxed.
They. She groaned in apprehension at the reminder that he was bringing a visitor. What the hell was she going to say to Vrishti? An apology didn’t seem appropriate, but what else was there? “Sorry my crazy mother banished your lover into a time bubble”? “Wish I could help, but bummer, I can’t because I’m not a fucking immortal”? Even with the power she’d gained from her lovers, Assana still didn’t possess the ability to time travel. Only Nyx and Neph could control the River to that degree.
She took another circuit across the floor and ran straight into Gavra on the way back, too distracted to look where she was going. He slid his arms around her and held her still. She remained rigid and frustrated for a second before letting out a long sigh and relaxing, allowing him to wrap her in is embrace.
“It’s been more than a week! I know we’ve had him with us … in our minds, in our souls … but I miss the feel of him so much.”
“I know,” Gavra said, brushing his lips over the top of her head. “I miss him too.” The gruffness of his tone made her realize how tightly bound Gavra’s control was over his emotions.
She tilted her head back to look at him. Studying his tense features for a moment, she reached up and touched his smooth, square jaw.
“You really do, don’t you?”
One corner of his mouth twitched, and his brows relaxed. “I love you both more than life. Of course I miss him. Not having him here with us is like missing a fucking limb.”
“Don’t fucking talk to me about missing limbs. I’m glad to be back to the four I started with.”
Assana twisted around with a yelp, her heart surging into her throat.