Ellida

by J. F. Kaufmann

  Amilla and Arina had brought an elegant porcelain dining set, cutlery and crystal glasses. Chef Herzog, bless his heart, sent in a small, beautifully decorated wedding cake, along with a long train of trays with sandwiches, wraps and salads.

  Darius, whose current job of acting Einhamir included marriage commissioner duties, performed the ceremony. Before he could even start it, though, my uncle made Peyton and Ingmar promise him to have a big, formal wedding in Red Cliffs.

  “I wouldn’t dream of cheating you out of a wedding party, James,” Peyton said, laughing. “Especially when your own daughter’s not planning to get married soon, and with your niece being reluctant to tie the knot.”

  “I’m not reluctant. Jack and I are getting married in September,” I said defensively and glanced at Jack.

  “Astrid, I thought we agreed to get married this spring, as soon as the baby is born,” Jack said. “You promised.”

  “Okay, but then forget about a honeymoon. I’m not leaving my two month old baby with my milk frozen in bags.”

  “Why don’t you two get married before she’s born, then? Let’s say, end of November?” James said.

  Uh-oh. His eyes sparkled with excitement, and I didn’t like it. “Because I want to wear a nice and tight white sheath and four-inch heels,” I said. “And if you drop this subject, Uncle, I promise to let you plan the whole wedding, except my dress and Jack’s tuxedo. How about that?”

  “So, September, and I’m in charge?”

  “September and you are in charge.”

  My uncle grinned and gave me a high-five. “Then you’ve got yourself a deal, sweetheart.”

  PEYTON AND Ingmar were married in a small, private ceremony in Arina’s house. Maggie and I were Peyton’s bridesmaids and Gerard was Ingmar’s best man.

  Uncle James walked Peyton into the room.

  Hastily picked attire and mismatched accessories notwithstanding, Peyton was the prettiest bride I’d ever seen. When Darius asked, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man,” James’ clear, proud voice trembled ever so slightly when he said, “She gives herself freely, with my love and blessing.” He gave Peyton to Ingmar and took a seat next to Betty, reserved for the parents of the bride.

  Ingmar and Peyton’s wedding became a part of the town’s celebration that lasted all night. Just before dawn, a rocket-propelled fireworks display lit the skies. For more than thirty minutes the night erupted with colors and shapes, noise and smoke.

  “I never thought there would be fireworks on my wedding day,” Peyton said happily. “This is wonderful!”

  THE NEXT morning, Copper Ridge citizens continued with rebuilding their town and their lives.

  Livia’s Tel-Urughs stayed for only a few more days, as well as our friends from Winston. The children were especially disappointed when Maxwell Wallace, their impromptu soccer coach, gathered them for one more game together, and told them he had to leave. He promised his small teammates that he would come to visit them soon.

  Adam Mackenzie was also getting ready to leave.

  “Do you really need to go?” I asked. I liked Jack’s good-humoured, easygoing friend. “We’re going back to Red Cliffs in a couple of days. Why don’t you stay with us over the holidays?”

  “I got a new assignment. But ye know what? I think I’m ready to retire, just like that future husband of yours. My partner’s getting hitched, and my job isna fun without him. Besides, I’m also thinking about settling in a small, quiet mountain town wi’ pretty lasses and fine ski runs.”

  I laughed and hugged him. “Oh, we’re happy we fit the profile! You’ll be more than welcome, Adam! And just in case you don’t move here permanently by September, promise you’ll come to our wedding.”

  “Nay, lass, I wouldna miss it for anything.”

  ELLIDA ARIEL and my cousin Eamon were often seen together these days, working on various projects, until Winston’s Ellida and her people departed.

  As it happened with bonded couples, Maggie and Darius had become inseparable. They both seemed to enjoy their verbal sparring and battles of wits, but they genuinely loved and respected each other.

  Darius had refused the position of the Copper Ridge clan’s new leader, but he agreed to act as a temporary Einhamir, until the new one was elected.

  His decision, although not unexpected, could have caused a small political crisis. It was crucial to get a new Einhamir elected as soon as possible, yet none of the nine Copper Ridge Captains seemed to possess the necessary leadership charisma. Darius and Rowena were Copper Ridge’s true leaders. He didn’t want to be Einhamir, and she was barred by her gender.

  Ahmed thought otherwise.

  “There is one person among you who’s more than capable of being the Einhamir,” he said to the Council after their third, unsuccessful vote for a new leader. “Rowena.”

  Darius told me later that the Council was so stunned that for the longest moment nobody said a word. He, along with Jack and James, who were present there, weren’t surprised since Ahmed had told them about his idea and asked them to support it.

  “Think about her role all these years and what she’s done for Copper Ridge,” Ahmed continued. “She’s been your unofficial leader for more than twenty years. She could’ve left, but she didn’t. She stayed here to share this difficult and dangerous life with you. It was Rowena and Darius who kept this town together and organized the coup. He doesn’t want to be Einhamir. He’s never wanted it. And that’s fine. Rowena’s going to be the greatest leader you’ve ever had.”

  “Never in our history has a woman been chosen for Einhamir,” Walter Leigh, the oldest Council member, said.

  “There’s a first time for everything. Be first, and take pride in it. Rowena’s your best choice, you all know it.”

  “Will she consider it?” Walter said. “I don’t think she seeks that kind of power.”

  “Reluctant leaders are among the best,” James interrupted. “Precisely because of that lack of a desire for power.”

  “We don’t know anything about her future plans.”

  “You know I’m Rowena’s bond-mate,” Ahmed said. “Talk to her. She wants to stay here. I’ll help her. And she has you.”

  After a short debate, the Copper Ridge Council had decided to offer my mother the position of the clan’s Einhamira.

  Rowena Elizabeth Vandermeer, an asanni by birth and a bleithast by choice, had become the first female Alpha leader in our history.

  BY THE end of the week, things had settled down in Copper Ridge. The town still looked bleak after decades of neglect and there were signs of hardship everywhere, but now there was hope and a future. Nothing seemed too difficult or impossible. The houses and buildings were repaired and painted in bright colors, the roads fixed, the central square paved. Ahmed supervised the hospital’s renovation. He, the Mortensens, the Blakes and my grandparents covered all the expenses. The old building was remodeled according to current standards and a new wing was erected, windows and doors replaced and a new heating system installed. Soon enough the old building had been transformed into a modern medical center.

  Red Cliffs and Winston continued to help Copper Ridge by providing money, supplies and a workforce. Many individuals made generous donations and grants, or volunteered their time and expertise to help the neighboring town recover as quickly as possible.

  Ahmed was probably Copper Ridge’s greatest benefactor. Aside from his generous donation to the hospital, he had financed several buildings for Copper Ridge youngsters. The ground had been broken for a new elementary school, a gym, a swimming pool, and fencing and ballet schools.

  Max Wallace, Livia and Tristan’s friend from Scotland, had given money for a soccer field and accompanying facilities. Neil Ramsay, the Red Cliffs soccer coach, offered to come three times per week to train the Copper Ridge junior team.

  James, Betty, Jack and I had decided to cover the cost of a new expressway between the towns. Millennium Property had undertaken the repair of private
houses and public buildings. The Fellowship of the Full Moon had bought clothes and footwear, books and toys for all the kids. The small business owners helped with food and household items. The youngest Red Cliffers donated their toys, sports equipment and bicycles to their little friends in Copper Ridge.

  The most imaginative gift had come from Uncle James and his fishing buddies: every child and her or his parents got an all-inclusive one-week trip to Disneyland.

  My grandparents had quietly retired and moved to Copper Ridge. Ella started working in the hospital, and Arnaldur was appointed as the Council’s legal advisor.

  To my delight, Tristan and Livia had decided to settle in Red Cliffs “for a while”, as Liv said.

  “What does it mean, ‘for a while’?” I asked.

  “A couple of centuries, probably,” Tristan said with a wink.

  Tristan took over Ahmed’s position and Livia continued with her allergy research project, dividing her time between Red Cliffs and Copper Ridge, where she worked with Ingmar.

  Maggie and Darius announced their decision to make Red Cliffs their permanent home. They decided to stay in Copper Ridge until the New Year, when my mother would officially take over the ‘office’. After that, Darius planned to go back to Scotland for another year, this time taking Maggie with him. The following fall, they planned to return to Red Cliffs.

  I talked to my mother and we decided that our family house would be a perfect wedding present for them. “They keep saying they don’t want to get married so soon, but I have a feeling we won’t wait long to hear wedding bells,” I said. “Let’s make the house ready.”

  My teacher and Amilla had also declared they didn’t want to rush with their wedding. They would move in together instead. The Council had granted Takeshi permission to open a martial arts school on the main floor of Seth’s castle. The Nakamuras had bought all the equipment. Two smaller buildings inside the castle walls were planned for future ballet and music schools, as soon as they found teachers. Before Ariel went back to Winston, she and Eamon had spent lots of time getting them ready for the first students.

  Jack’s grandparents had decided to spend a few days in Winston before they returned to Gelltydd Coch. They had said they’d come to Red Cliffs for our wedding.

  Jack and I stayed in Copper Ridge almost until Halloween.

  Fifty-Two

  Astrid

  ONCE BACK at home, I happily immersed myself in the preparations for Jack’s and my first Halloween together. Betty and I spent three fun days cooking and baking spooky food. Instead of candies and chocolate bars for trick-or-treaters, we prepared dozens of trays filled with individually wrapped homemade alternatives: cheesy witch fingers and goblin feet, weird and wacky cookies, creepy cupcakes with grayish, zigzag-frosting that resembled brain mass, forked eyeballs, gingerbread skeletons, wafer gravestones, potato-skin ghosts, mini-pizza mummies. The children were delighted.

  I was dressed in a maternity version of Princess Aurora’s fuchsia gown. Jack was Captain Jack Sparrow.

  That morning I’d casually mentioned that I had another costume for more private trick-or-treating. Jack was intrigued and was trying to get me to tell him more about my mysterious outfit. My lips stayed sealed, but I did give him plenty of meaningful looks.

  I went to check the beef roast in the oven when I heard his steps following me to the kitchen. His arms closed around me from behind. “I can’t stop thinking about it. Give me a hint, baby,” he whispered against my neck and bare shoulders, moving his warm hands lazily up to my swollen breasts.

  “Nope. It’s a surprise. Be a good boy and you’ll get your treat.”

  “You little witch! I’ll have my revenge, mark my words.”

  James, Betty and Eamon joined us for a late dinner, and went home after midnight.

  “Playtime!” I said, kissed Jack and locked myself in the bathroom.

  I slipped into a silver catsuit and arranged my hair into a sleek French twist. The costume was a bit tight around the chest and abdomen. I was bigger than Maggie and I had anticipated this when we sewed it. Fortunately, it was made of stretchable Spandex and comfortable. I would take it off soon, anyway.

  “Baby, what’s taking you so long?” I heard Jack. “I’m gonna take off whatever you’re putting on. In case you find me awake when you come out, that is.”

  “In a minute, Jack. It’s worth waiting for, I promise!”

  I applied the facial ‘implants’ using silver face paint. Finally, the finishing touch: a tight surgical glove for my left hand, with glued-on copper strands and rubber fingertips painted black.

  “I’m telling you, Astrid, I’m tired and I’m going to sleep now.”

  I opened the bathroom door.

  A homemade Star Trek Seven-of-Nine stepped out. “Well, not before you’re assimilated, Jack Canagan.”

  A wide grin spread across his face. “I wouldn’t even dream of showing any resistance,” he said, laughing, and pulled me into his arms.

  THE FIRST High Council assembly I was about to preside over was scheduled for the second Monday in November. We had only two topics on our agenda: Heather Kincaid and Henry Albert Flanagan.

  Heather had repeated her confession, which she had already officially made in Copper Ridge.

  In summary, this was her story: During one of the winter festivals in Red Cliffs twenty- five years ago, Seth had met my mother for the first time. He immediately became obsessed with the idea of marrying her and fathering a female child who would become the Copper Ridge Ellida. “He was attracted to her; he didn’t need to pretend that part,” Heather said. “When he wanted, he could be charming, smart, intelligent, gentle and generous. Everything women like. I told him that Rowena’s and Hal’s marriage was shaky and that Hal refused to turn her into a werewolf. I thought, if she left Hal, he could be mine. But he didn’t care about me, he never had.”

  Later, acting as Seth’s messenger, she’d helped arrange Seth’s meeting with Hal and Brian. “He said he wanted to talk to them, to resolve the whole mess. He said he wanted to talk about Astrid, to bring her to Copper Ridge to be with her mother. I didn’t know Seth planned to kill Hal and Brian. I swear I didn’t. Seth told me later that Rowena wanted them dead because Hal would have never let her take Astrid, and Brian would have supported him.

  “I trusted Seth, although it soon became clear he didn’t want the little girl in Copper Ridge. He hoped for his own daughter with Rowena. Later, when it became obvious they wouldn’t have a child together, Seth turned his attention to Astrid. Rowena did everything in her power to keep Astrid out of Seth’s reach.”

  “Tell us about your recent role,” Janet Falconer said.

  “I was Seth’s insider. I was reporting to him what was going on here, especially after the Ellida came. He asked me to come up with a plan to get her to Copper Ridge. The idea of infiltrating the humans here was mine. I still possessed some of my wizard skills so I was able to change their scent. He wanted to get even with Rowena, but he promised he wouldn’t hurt Astrid.” She stopped and let out a deep sigh. “He said he’d hurt Peyton if I didn’t do what he asked.”

  Several Council members gave her a doubtful look.

  “I believe you, Heather,” I said before anybody else said a word. I actually knew she had been telling the truth, although even she didn’t know everything that had happened. Liv had told me what she had seen when she had looked into her mind. Like many others, Heather had been used and manipulated, a victim rather than a villain.

  Only three people—my mother, my father and Brian Canagan—knew exactly what had happened: all the causes, reasons and consequences. Two of them were dead. My mother’s name had been cleared of any wrongdoing, but she was still reluctant to talk about the details. “You and everybody else will know everything in due time, Astrid,” she’d said to me with a strange expression. “This sad chapter is over, but the story is going on.”

  I’d made Heather’s confession a public document so that anybody who wan
ted to read it could do so. Now that everybody’s roles in those events were more or less known, all the speculation had stopped and Red Cliffs could finally put its painful past behind it.

  The Council had confirmed Heather’s sentence.

  When asked if she had anything else to add, Heather said that she was deeply sorry for all the suffering she’d caused, including the way she had treated her daughter. “I know I can’t ask for your or my daughter’s forgiveness. I know I don’t deserve it,” she’d said in a quiet voice. “But with my last act I was hoping to tell you how much I regret everything I’ve done. I have no excuse and no explanation. Please, believe me.”

  I looked at her eyes and saw sadness, anguish and pain in them, but none of the hate and coldness that had marked them before. “I know that, Heather,” I said. “You saved me, and I’m truly grateful. That’s why I took over your sentencing. You’ll be leaving tomorrow for Gelltydd Coch with Ellida Morgaine and Master Hayato. Use the years ahead wisely. When we meet again, I hope we’ll have some nicer things to tell each other.”

  THE SECOND part of the meeting was much more pleasant. As a token of the Council’s appreciation for his courage, Henry Flanagan was presented with the Silver Sword of Bravery, Red Cliffs’ highest military award.

  Eyes shining with excitement, Henry stood in front of the Council immaculately dressed in dark pants and a white shirt.

  “In recognition of your heroic act and quick thinking, I present you, Harrison Albert Flanagan, son of Angela and Jordan, with the Silver Sword of Bravery,” Jack said and placed the sword on Henry’s outstretched palms.