Quiet Laughter

The man looked down fiercely at the child standing before him. He knew the woman he took as his wife was ijin but her son…

Kimura Tokuhara turned his gaze away from his step-son to his wife. Her waist length blond hair was bound in a single braid down her back. Her light colored eyes, full of wisdom and mystery, were focused on a spot somewhere between her son and her husband’s feet.

“Sawa.”

Sharla Ganiron-Abracomas, now simply Kimura Sawa looked up at her husband with a smile. For two years, during her courting and then marriage, she never revealed that she had a son until then. Though his tone was harsh, Tokuhara’s voice held no anger.

“This is Tighe, my son.” She introduced then gave her son a little nudge, and the little boy bowed low before his step-father.

“ Ohayô gozaimasu, um, Tokuhara-dono.” Tighe looked up at his mother to see if he greeted the fierce looking man properly and she nodded proudly. Tighe bowed his head quickly down.

“ Ohayô, Tea-san.” Tokuhara stumbled over the foreign name which sent the little boy into a fit of giggles.

“In my language, Tighe means poet.” Sharla told her husband as he scowled disapprovingly at Tighe. “Why don’t we just call him Eishi.”

“But that’s not my name, Mommy.” Tighe said in his native tongue as he rose to his feet. His mother shot him a look and he went back to bowing.

“No, a man must go by his own name.” Tokuhara told his wife and then addressed his step-son. “Stand up straight.”

Tighe stood up straight and wrinkled up his nose as he got a good look at the man his mother married. He was tall with lean muscles underneath his simple brown clothes that the young Fae swore was a cross between a robe and a pair of pants. His black hair was pulled back into a severe looking bun that sat at the top of his head. His slanted obsidian eyes cut through him like a precision knife.

“Why the hell did you marry such a serious guy, Mommy?” he asked his mother in their native tongue. Once again, Sharla shot her son a dirty look.

“What did he say?” Tokuhara asked his wife. She sighed and translated Tighe’s words into Japanese. The little boy had the decency to look chastised when the Asian man glared at him.

______________________________

“Oh kami, that boy is going to be the death of me.” Tokuhara groaned a week later as Sharla poured him a cup of tea. “Already he has learned my people’s way…if only to find ways to get around them and mess about the place. Do you know what he’s done now?”

Sharla smiled demurely as she poured herself some tea and waited for her husband to continue.

“He turned himself into a Iriomote-yamaneko.”

“Tighe turned into a what?” his mother inquired, unfamiliar with the term Tokuhara used.

“A cat from the island of Iriomote. He must have seen one and thought it’d be amusing to change into one and run around town entertaining children and chasing hens.”

Tokuhara smiled briefly. “Are our children going to able to change into nekos like him?”

Sharla chuckled, “No, as each of my people is different from one another, so are their innate abilities.”

Tokuhara brought the cup to his lips and looked over the rim at her, “So what is your ability?”

She smiled just as a ball of dusty gray and black fur sprang through the door with an excited meow and the sound of ripped rice paper. Tokuhara took a hard swallow of tea as the feline hopped up and settled down into his mother‘s lap.

“Animals love me.” Sharla replied as she began petting her son. Tighe began to purr and inwardly smiled when Tokuhara sighed.

“Kami spare me from these ijin and their strange powers.” he muttered to which a definite feline sounding laugh came as a reply.

“I received an interesting invite this morning.” Sharla suddenly announced. The Fae blood running through her veins dictated a change of subject, one livelier to discuss.

“We’ve been invited to Court.” she told them and Tighe stopped purring.

“Court?” Tokuhara asked with a frown.

“My people, my King in particular, have sent an invitation for us to attend a gala.” Sharla replied happily. “Everyone is curious about you, husband. My people have never encountered a mortal from Japan and are extremely eager to meet with you.”

Tighe hopped out of his mother lap and slunk off toward his room where he shredded the door and flopped down on his futon.

“There’s Hand Maiden Taria, she married a wood elf last autumn. She was the young lady with the pink odangos.” Sharla went on to list a few other notables but Tighe turned back into a boy and buried his head under his pillow.

I was just beginning to get comfortable here, he whined to himself. I don’t want to go back and have to put up with Gary Ka-ka. He’s creepy and bossy and…

“Knight Abracomas?”

And in the room!

Tighe screamed and threw his pillow at the teenager that had suddenly appeared in his room. He crawled quickly backwards away and cowered in the furthest corner.

Garai Lian went to take a step toward the boy when his door was thrown aside and Tokuhara charged in with a kitana in his hands. The older man placed himself between his step-son and the intruder before demanding.

“Who are you? What is your business in my home?”

Garai Lian frowned at the unfamiliar words thrown at him. He looked to Tighe for help and found him crying his eyes out. Then, Sharla lazily sauntered into the room with a mysterious smile on her face.

“Lian Kaikala, is that you?” she cooed. The woman tittered and placed a hand on her husband’s sword arm. He cut his eyes toward her as she addressed him. “He is Kaikala-sama, a daimyo of my people.”

“He has upset Tighe-san and has disrespected me by invading my home.” Tokuhara snapped. Tighe transformed back into an Iriomote feline and leapt into his mother’s arms.

“Tell him to sheathe his weapon or I will be forced to defend myself.” Lian ordered Sharla in the Fae tongue.

“Kaikala-sama means no disrespect. He is merely unfamiliar with the customs here.” Sharla told her husband. “It is customary where we are from to simply arrive the places we wish to go and wait until we are acknowledged. Kaikala-sama thought Tighe saw him when he came in, he didn‘t.”

Tokuhara shoved his wife’s arm off of him and charged toward Lian with his sword and cry of war. The red headed teen merely snorted and blasted the kitana from the samurai’s hands with a bolt of lightning from his palms.

“Tell him to back down, Lady Sharla. Your human schlampe…” Tighe cut Lian off with a nasty hiss.

“Tokuhara-san, please forgive me for not instructing my people of your people’s customs.” Sharla let Tighe jump down before she prostrated herself in front of her husband. “If someone must be punished then punish me for my poor memory.”

Tokuhara looked down at his wife then at the stranger and finally at his step-son whom, he was embarrassed to note, was cleaning his privates oblivious to anyone and anything.

“Kami save me from these ijin.” he muttered throwing his hands up in defeat. As he marched off stiffly away, Sharla hid a grin.

“So, are you here as an envoy to the Court?” she asked as she rose to her feet. “Or…?”

“King Oberon, the mighty Lord of the Court, desires to know your answer regarding a meeting between your human and himself.” Lian ground out between his teeth, his face turning an angry shade of red.

“Tell him we are most honored and accept his invitation.” Sharla replied sweetly. “May I inquire as to the meaning behind such a gala?”

“You may.” Lian said. “It’s for Tighe.”

Sharla quirked a delicate eyebrow as Tighe let out a startled meowr and scuttled to safety underneath the folds of his mother’s blue kimono.

“All the Court has gathered to celebrate the completion of Knight Abracomas’s preparations of becoming a true Fae Knight.” the teen beamed proudly as Tighe poked his head out.

Mother and son exchanged wry looks before Tighe cracked up and began rolling on the floor laughing. It sounded more like he was coughing up a hairball, but those who knew what he really was knew it was laughter.

“I’ll just pretend you didn’t do that.” Lian replied then continued as if he wasn’t just insulted, “The celebration is tomorrow, please find a way to make the human look some what civilized.”

Then without missing a beat, Lian vanished. Immediately Tighe changed back into his human form.

“Tighe, have you ever heard of a bastard?” Sharla inquired as the little boy dusted himself off.

“Uh huh.”

“Garai Kaikala is the perfect definition of a bastard.”

Tighe blinked up at his mother owlishly, “But his parents were married.”

______________________________

Tokuhara felt like committing seppuku the following night.

He had already changed into a pure white robe. He partook of his favorite meal of fish and rice. It was when Sharla caught him writing his death poem that the ritual was ruined. She told him as she dressed him back in the black kimono and hakama he was being silly and left him at the door with his step son at the door as she went to get dressed.

Tighe was still smiling brightly with his hands slipped into the sleeves of his furisode. He could see a tiny vein on the side of his step-father’s head throbbing with repressed emotion and couldn’t help but giggle. He thought the black, purple and gray floral female’s kimono looked very nice on him. It went nicely with the black ribbons his mother tied in his short hair.

“You realize you are bringing dishonor to me by dressing this way.” Tokuhara told Tighe.

“It’s only dishonorable if people know what I’m really wearing.”

“I would suspect your people have regulations concerning proper attire.”
Tighe looked up at Tokuhara and busted up in giggles.

It was then Sharla came outside and both step father and son were suddenly eerily silent. Her beautifully pale face took their breath away with only a hint of eyeliner, sky blue eye shadow and flash of ruby red lipstick.

Her blond hair was piled on top of her head and held up with black lacquered chopsticks, leaving half hazard wisps floating around her face. Her kimono depicted a scene of a purple sky framed by white sakura blossoms and blue waterfall pouring from the top of a sandy colored mountain top. Flecks of black and red danced along the bottom edge and sleeves of the kimono.

“Why so silent, dear husband and son?” she questioned with a coy little smile.

“Mommy looks like a princess!” Tighe exclaimed breathlessly. “The blessed Premier Lady, Queen Titania is gonna be so jealous!”

Sharla chortled and patted her son on the head, “I’m sure she won’t be too jealous of a simple woman such as myself.”

Tokuhara cleared his throat then inquired. “Are we going to depart to this Court of yours currently?”

“We have to wait for Kaikala-sama.” Sharla replied and her husband scowled. “As the chosen envoy, it is his responsibility to escort us to the gala.”

“That is if he hasn’t... forgotten his responsibilities.” Tighe added. “Remember when Gary Ka-ka forgothe was the one that was supposed to take me to your wedding to Tokuhara-sama.”

“It was a lovely ceremony.” Sharla sighed. “Obasan was there. She died shortly after Tokuhara-san and I wed. You would have treasured her, she made great rice balls.”

Tighe was about to comment just how much he loved rice balls when Garai Kaikala abruptly appeared before him. The young boy repressed a shudder as aggressive golden eyes briefly locked with his.

“Oh there you are, Garai Kaikala” Sharla exclaimed placing a casually protective arm around her son. “Tokuhara-san was beginning to wonder when we were to depart.”

The red haired teen gave her a disgusted look before everyone vanished from sight.

The travel between realms was only really meant for those with Fae blood. There was a tie that bound mortals to Earth that doesn’t allow instabilities like Tuatha Eire allows. Thus the shift between Earth and Tuatha Eire itself was dizzying, often giving rise to fantastic stories of flying or breathing underwater.

Children who visited would often tell the tales of their adventures into their adult years and lived relatively happy lives thereafter. The few adults that ‘visited’ Tuatha Eire were often from insane asylums or soon visited them when they too began telling the tales of their adventure. For it was one thing for a child to inform his or her parents that they went off with a man who had four arms and the tail of a fish. It was easily written off as a childish fancy. It’s another for a grown man, who knows fully well that mermaids and unicorns don’t exist to keep insisting he was abducted by three trolls and treated to a round of drinks at a bar.

When Tokuhara appeared in Tuatha Eire, he almost immediately threw up in the hedges that surrounded the home of the King and Queen. It took a moment more of dry heaves for his stomach to settle and finally become aware of the quiet snickers coming from Lian and Sharla patting his back sympathetically.

“You okay, Otousan ?” Tighe asked bending down next to him. Tokuhara wiped mouth with the back of his hand and nodded as he rose to his full height.

“Yes, I am fine Tighe-san.”

“Great, now it looks like you have room for bunches of nummy food.” The little boy exclaimed with a laugh darting off toward the party.

“Knight Abracomas! It is most unseemly...” Lian called out and ran after Tighe leaving husband and wife alone.

“Why am I left with the impression we might want to hurry after those two?” Tokuhara asked Sharla as she laced her arm through his own. She chuckled as they leisurely strolled toward the home of the King and Queen.

“Because you know Garai Lian Kaikala is a bastard with an undesired eye on our son.”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

“Everyone knows.”

The Grand Hall of Tuatha Eire was adorned with flurries of sakura blossoms and the bright colors of spring, all in the unspecified honor of the human amongst them. The silver floors were polished to a mirror shine underneath their feet as Sharla led her husband through the three story doors inside.

Most of the Fae guests wore European gowns of various eras. Tokuhara recognized only a fleeting amount, a front-laced gown trimmed in red satin with black bands of fabric. Another wore an embroidered red satin cloak trimmed with silver-gilt and silk thread fringe, lined with pink linen…and nothing else.

“Lovely party, isn’t it?” Sharla commented, noting faintly her husband blushing over a young dryad sans clothes.

“Your people are a...interesting lot.” Her husband replied, his face taking on a deeper shade of red as the dryad began chatting with Tighe, whose face was right level with the young nymph’s breasts.

Sharla looked over and giggled as she noted Garai Lian leaned against the wall and scowling. This would ruin his plan, she knew. However Tighe was happily oblivious to the dryad’s flirting but Sharla could tell it irked the teenager.

“I see Garai Kaikala is the same as ever in regards to Knight Abracomas.” Said a deep melodious voice to Sharla.

Tokuhara turned and saw a short but very handsome man dressed in an aikidogi made of some silky material he had never seen before. His hair changed before the human’s eyes from a curly golden blond to a dark brown with a slight wave. The Fae’s dark eyes remained the same and watched Tokuhara curiously.

“Tokuhara-san, may I introduce the mighty Lord of the Court and my honored king, Oberon.” Sharla said to him and gave the diminutive man a brief bow.

“I am thrilled that you were able to come.” Oberon told Tokuhara in flawless Japanese.

“It is a great honor to be invited.” Tokuhara replied and gave the king a stiff and formal bow.

Oberon chuckled as his gaze wandered back to Tighe, who was currently surrounded by two more dryads, equally nude and the same height as the first. Three pixies flittered around him, sparkling with red and purple lights. Then there was the Queen herself wearing her favorite pale mask and draped in red silk, with her arms around Tighe. She seemed to be whispering something in the young boy’s ear that had him grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“Looks like my noble wife has found her favorite pussy cat.” Oberon commented nodding toward his wife. Sharla looked over her shoulder and sighed.

“I have no idea what I fear more.” She said. “My little boy in Garai Kaikala’s clutches or in the high-born Queen’s.”

“I would fear our Queen more, Lady Sharla.” Oberon said with a strange smile. “With Lian, you at least have the insurance he would never try anything outright. Titania has the right to do anything her wicked little heart desires.”

Before Tokuhara could blink, the king had vanished.

The party went on for hours afterwards and the king never reappeared. Tokuhara was introduced to so many people that night; he had trouble remembering what odd name went with what odd face.

As for the other honoree, Tighe continued to gather women to his side even though he had fallen asleep laying his head in the Queen’s lap two hours previously.

“He’s gotten even cuter since the last time I saw him.” Titania was telling the assembled females as she ran her fingers through his hair. A red haired siren hugged Tighe’s limp arm to her ample bosom as Sharla waded through the women.

“He’s beginning to look more and more like his father.” The queen said before Sharla jerked her son’s arm free of the siren, disturbing Tighe’s slumber.

“Gu’shael, time to say goodbye to your girlfriends.” She told Tighe as she swung him up into her arms. Tighe snuggled his head into the crook of his mother’s neck and settled back into dreams.

“’bye bye, girls friend.” He sighed and the throng of women let out a collective ‘Awww’.

“Lady Sharla” Titania said rising to her feet. “Do have Tighe return soon. My lands are ever so empty without the darling of my Knights.”

Tokuhara saw his wife cut her gaze toward Garai Kaikala, who stood scowling in Tighe’s general direction. Then she laughed as she walked to his side.

“You know I won’t do that.” Sharla exclaimed. “The only way to get Tighe here is if he was on a mission.”

Then the three vanished from shifted between realms and returned home.

“Then perhaps I shall endeavor to seek scores of missions for dear Tighe.” The queen murmured with a smile behind her mask. I wonder if my little puss would enjoy helping this nice miller I know. Tighe would look adorable in the little boots I spied there....