Dont abduct me I'm Welsh!

Moving on?

Unsurprisingly Mary dreamed of Val every night since her return to earth. Tonight was no different, fantasies of tangled limbs, hot skin, positions only to be found in the karma sutra, and more tender moments, his perfect lips on hers. She jerked awake, hearing a tapping on her sash window. Sitting up her mind was filled with half formed fantasies of Wuthering heights, Val dressed in a poet shirt climbing up the tree at her window asking to be let in. But there was not even a ghost, it was nothing but a tree tapping upon her window in the early dawn.

His words haunted her. “I will find you!”

But weeks had passed now and still he had not come; the fragile hope that she had felt had began to fade, little by little every day. And so did her spirits.

The first few days had been the hardest. Mary returned back to Holgate farm, to her family, her life. Surrounded by all the familiar clutter of her life, real, tangible, she wondered if it had been nothing more then some bizarre dream. Now that she was home Mary had thought that she would be more relived, but even that was only a fleeting and pale emotion, soon to fade leaving her with…… Well she still was not ready to examine that yet, but it closely resembled a seven foot elf shaped hole.

There were questions to be answered. She was almost surprised by how easily her mother and father, friends, and even the police had accepted her somewhat lame explanations. Mary supposed that sometimes the less you said the better, everyone had come up with their own conclusions - and none of them involved aliens - Mary was happy to go along with their explanations. Mind reading it seemed was a useful talent, but she decided that it was not something she wanted to use often; somehow it seemed unfair like reading someone’s diary. Mary soon got bored repeating her made up story; she repeated it some many times she almost began to believe it – almost – and she was dreading her phone bill.

Mary lost her appetite. No desire to do anything. No energy. She felt as if she was watching her life. Just going through the motions as she waited – waited for Val or to get over him she did not know. Mary however was not a girl to indulge in her misery, at least not for long, to guilty at the worried attention of her family; no she had to hold it together, if not for herself then for them. Within a couple of days she was back – to all intensive purposes - to normal. She laughed, she joked, she watched tv, she went riding, she bickered with her brother, called friends, helped with chores, got her hair cut, looked for jobs, she went back to life where she had left off, as if she had not gone at all - life before the elf crashed in to it. It seemed strange to her that after all she had been through that her life back home was exactly the same. It took her a few days to realise that the problem was not the world, but that she herself had changed irrevocably. But what that meant for her now that she was back, she had yet to find out. Mary pondered this as she watched the sky with a telescope, her bay window open to the starry sky. A blanket about her shoulders protecting her from the night air, winter’s chill not entirely relinquishing to spring.

She scanned the sky intently, not entirely sure what she was even looking for, a space ship perhaps? The stars twinkled, more and more appearing as she looked as if they would only shine knowing that they were being watched. She wondered which one was Val’s. Her eye began to hurt and she realised that it was a completely futile exercise. Just as Jack had said, there were billions of galaxies. Billions of planets with life on. How could Val hope to find her even if he was looking amongst the teeming multitude of people in this world? That is if he even was looking for her. What made her so special out of so many planets and civilisations? By now the elf had probably forgotten her.

A familiar voice brought her back to earth. “You look like shit.”

Mary smiled. Jody – her best friend - was never one to mince words. “Hey to you to. So you’re visiting your parents as well?”

“Just got back. But I heard that you were back and after that text about your braking up with Will, and then three weeks of radio silence - not cool by the way – I thought that I would come pay a visit see how you are.”

Mary’s eye brows raised. “Ah, I see. Someone’s being talking.”

“Yeah, your little brother’s been chatting to my sister. Jack’s worried about you. He said you haven’t been exactly with it for the last few weeks. You know kind of like you are living on another planet.”

If only they knew. Mary began to laugh, actually shaking with it, until she was gasping for breath.

“Now what’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” Mary managed after a few moments. She smiled up at her friend.“Your right, I was living on another planet.”

“Yeah which one, Planet bull shit. Come on Mary what’s up?” The busty girl, flicked her mousy blond pony tale back over her shoulder. Hazel eyes took in her friend measuringly. “And don’t spin me that line you have to everyone else about being upset over Will. I have never known you brake up with someone and look back, even for an instant. And you had been looking to get rid of Will for months.”

“I did not!”

“Mary, you weren’t happy with him since before you graduated. I told you at the time that you were just settling.”

Mary returned her friend frank gaze. Mary should have been angry at those tactless truths, she would have been angry – but Jody was right she couldn’t have cared less about Will anymore. Still her friend realising that she had hit a nerve backed off, changing the topic to safer channels. “What are you looking at?” She asked eventually, indicating towards the telescope.

“Oh, it’s Jack’s. I was borrowing it to star gaze.”

“Since when did you care about astronomy?”

Mary just shrugged. “I just felt like looking at the stars. Take a look.”

“There’s so many.” Jody breathed after a moment, her eye to the eyepiece. “Just think one of them has to have life on it.”

“Tell me if you spot any U.F.O ok?”

“Ha Ha. Sarcastic cow.”

She put up her hands placating. “I’m deadly serious. Cross my heart.”

“You believe in U.F.O’s? ”

Mary shrugged drowsily as she settled back to the window seat. “Sure, why not?” She realised it would be good to unburden even just a bit of what she had been through. If anyone would understand it was Jody. “Your right, it’s not about Will. I kind of met someone one.”

“Oh, do tell!” Jody purred as she stretched out besides Mary on the bay window seat. “Someone I know?”

“No.” Mary replied softly. She bit her lip. “No, he’s ….foreign.”

“Ok. So names? What’s he like, how did you met? Details!”

“Well, I just sort of bumped in to him after I broke up with Will. And then it started out as just a fling.” Mary looked up at the sky. “I haven’t met anyone like him before. It’s like he fell out of the sky. Jody he is literally the hottest creature I have ever seen. Tall, athletic, looks like a model, a sexy accent, charming, intelligent, amazing in bed. The whole package.”

“Hmm, does he have a brother?” Jody grinned. “He sounds too good to be true.”

“Oh trust me there were tones of things that really pissed me off about him. He was the most insufferably arrogant person I have ever met. And he expected me to do exactly as he said all the time, like he was a prince and I was his subject. Sometimes I just wanted to throw things at him!”

“So what happened, did you argue?”

“No, I didn’t end it with him like that.” Mary ruffled her hair. “I don’t know. Like I said it was just a fling. It couldn’t have worked, we were to0 different. And his family really hated me.”

“But you miss him.”

“Yeah.” Mary sighed. “More then I have missed anyone. When I was with him I told myself that I didn’t need him. I was afraid. But while I was so busy looking the other way I was falling in love with him.”

“You can’t fall in love in just three weeks.”

“Trust me Jody you can. Three weeks ago I would have agreed with you. But I know now that there are stranger things.”

“So call him. tell him how you feel.” Jody was ever the practical one, the most direct route always.

“I would if I could. but I can’t.” Mary said. “I don’t have his number.”

“You slept with them for three weeks and he never gave you a number. Mary, he sounds like scum.”

“It’s not like that. He doesn’t have a mobile.” Mary flushed. “Like I said he isn’t exactly from around here, it’s not that simple.”

“So where is he now?”

“Back in his own worl….country.” Mary hastily corrected herself. “I left him. I couldn’t commit to what he wanted from me.”

“Commit?”

“He wanted me to stay with him. But on my own somewhere so far from everyone and everything I know I just couldn’t. But when I left well I can’t help but think that I have made the wrong decision. I just wish I had more time to decide.”

“I think that was the sensible decision.” Jody said decidedly, nodding sagely.

“I know it was. But my hart hasn’t caught up with my head yet. He said he was going to look for me.”

Her friend’s eyes sparked for a second. “That’s really romantic. So he knows where to find you.”

“No.” Mary admitted reluctantly. “I never told him where I lived or gave him any way to contact me.”

Jody gaped at her, before shaking her head. “Then you’re boned.”

“I know.”

Her friend looked her over. “Well you cant just stay here moping. I actually came here with a proposition for you.”

Mary sat up. “I’m listening.”

“Come stay with me.” Jody said as she stood. “I need a flat mate now Kate has finished her course. It won’t be hard to find a job in the city. It will be fun. ”

“I’ll think about it.”

“You do that.” Jody saluted her with two fingers. “See you about.”

Mary settled back, alone again. She looked back up at the night sky. Jody was probably right she should just get over the elf already. If he was not just a dream after all, she had hoped it had just been a dream. Then she could forget all the craziness, that the feelings she had no name for would just fade away with the fumes of sleep. But as she looked at her refection in the glass she was forced to face the truth. A pair of pearls dangled from her ears, Val’s gift to her. It had been real. The memory of him placing them in her ears, his fingers on her neck, and his eyes meeting hers in the mirror was so vivid that she caught her breath. It was if he was there. But she was quite alone. She gasped as bleak despair rose up, until she had to grasp the window sill before her in a white knuckled grip until the panic attack passed. The young woman recognised it for what it was, love sickness. Mary had been broken up with before. Seventeen she first had her heart broken. It had taken quite a few girly nights, considerable awkwardness, regrettable texts, and a lot of ice cream for that pain to pass, but pass it had. But something told her that no amount of ice-cream or Cadburys chocolate was going to fix this. And no one could help her.

Dating guides didn’t cover alien abduction.

“Val.” She sighed in to the darkness, a prayer, begging fate to be kinder to this pair of star-crossed lovers.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One hundred and fifty light years away Valdagerion lay on his back staring up at the night sky. Ki was curled up on his chest occasionally making plaintive clicking purrs when the elf faltered in his idle petting of the dragon.

He was not alone. Apparently after what had happened at the docks they were not risking leaving him unaccompanied. At first he had not been surprised that one or other of his sisters had wanted to speak with him – to make him see sense or some other such thing. But as the days went by and he was never alone – with either Rillian, or Darrah, his sisters or some other bothering somebody was with him, he realised that they were watching over him. Like some infant or lunatic. The Rhi’Arran chafed at the intrusion. And it had very nearly come to blows between him and Rillian.

“I am beginning to understand what Mary meant by a golden cage is still a cage.” He commented aloud.

Darrah was besides him. As ever his head buried in a book. “What was that?”

Valdagerion sighed. “Darrah, what are the lands of man like?”

The dark haired elf was stuck by the vastness of the question. Even though it was his obsession where could he start? It’s poles were covered with ice. It had a sea much like their own. It took three hundred and sixty days to complete its rotation around it’s sun. Some of the human’s showed considerable technological advancement even if they were still well behind much of the developed universe they showed promise. It was still a fairly violent sort of place. All of this Darrah knew through research, and his probes. “You know what it was like. You have been there.”

“I did not exactly get a chance to look around.” The Rhi’Arran sat up hugging his knees, displacing the dragon, but continued to look up at the stars. “You have been there as well.”

“ Years ago. A lot can change on there planet in over a hundred years, expesaly with a race like the human’s.” Darrah had been warned to avoid topics that would lead back to the human, and as much as he hated to do so he held his tongue.

Valdagerion fell back in to his brooding silence, staring with an unfocused gaze up at the stars. The elf’s mind drifted to the borders of sleep.

“Val?”

It was in his mind and the very timber of Mary’s voice. He jerked, sitting up again and looking behind him. There was only Ki, roiling in the grass, scratching his scales. The hunting drake looked up when he noticed his master’s scrutiny, arched its back in question.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Valdagerion said uncertainly. “I thought I heard something, that’s all.” Perhaps he was going mad after all. With his eyes closed, he could still feel the moisture gathering underneath them.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Legate of the Alatine systems?”

“It is an excellent opportunity for you Valdagerion.” The Grand Marshall said looking up at the younger warrior from his seat behind a vast desk.

The Rhi’Arran was honestly stunned.“I know you said that I was due for advancement. But I did not think you meant the viceroy-ship of a whole system.” Valdagerion replied.

“It is a political post as much as a military one. With your blood you are the most logical choice for this role.”

Valdagerion smiled humourlessly. “And I was hoping that it would for my many merits and not because I am of royal decent. I suppose that this is my Mother’s idea of a piece offering, she thinks she can buy anyone with power.”

The Marshal looked up at him, tempeling his hands. “You know your skills as well as anyone Valdagerion, and your connections as little as you like them will be a great benefit in a role like this. Even if your were of royal blood had you not been ready for this posting I would not have agreed to letting you go. Nor would the grand council have agreed to this; though I will admit that your family are keen for you to take the position.”

“Keen to see me out of harms way.” The warrior sighed bitterly. “And keen to see me nowhere near the human’s planet.” Mother works swiftly he thought, a week had not passed and she was already making sure that he was going to be kept out of trouble. And what a bribe, the very thing that he had desired for years a position of power where she had less control over him, his own household far away from this system. The very thing she had been denying him for years.

“As little as you like it Rhi’ Valdagerion, you are a prince of the blood. That brings you power in more ways than one. You were bread to rule, educated and trained to take on such a role you have a responsibility to use that power. Eventually you were going to have to take up a role more suited to your birth. And not so long ago you would have jumped at such a commission. You can even chose a number of warriors to go with you and form your staff. Rillian would perhaps be a wise choose as your aide.”

“All planed out then. It’s not that I am not grateful but…”

“Rhi’Arran, it has already been decided. I know that you are annoyed, perhaps if I was you I would be as well. But think of your duty to yourself, and to the elvish empire. ”

Valdagerion was excused and left to think on this new turn of events. The Marshal was right it was the sort of position he had always desired, and had worked hard towards; a commission offering him the scope to become great like his father had been. Three weeks ago he would have jumped at the offer. He should have been happy at this good news, elated even. Had he changed so much? Valdagerion wondered if he knew himself at all.

Rillian met him in the hallway. “Well, what did the Marshall want?”

Valdagerion pushed his hair back from his face. “I am to be Legatee of the Alatine systems.”

“Congratulations.” Rillian responded uncertainly. “From the look on your face I thought that he had just raked you over the coles for something. You are not happy?”

“No, but this is not the kind of commission you can turn down. I am to leave in a month.”

Valdagerion did not reply to that. “You are to be my aide should you wish it. Honestly I can think of no one I would rather have by my side. ”

“Where you go I shall follow.” Rillian smiled. “That system on the borders, a long way from your mothers reach. From what I know it seems like a system which could offer the right person a good deal of opportunities.”

“There is that.”

“To new starts then.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Perran sighed, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. There was no way that this read out was right. The technicians had to have mixed up the samples.

The healer looked down at the label on the little vial, in his own hand writing it clearly read, Valdagerion’s human.

He looked at the lab report again, tapping the end of his long red braid against his lip. To all intensive purposes it looked like elf’s blood with some abnomalys.

Someone had messed up. He called the lab. It was not that it matter hugely now that the girl was no longer his problem, but a mistake was a mistake and it could cost life’s. He had to know who’s cock up it was.
After a curt conversation, he managed to get the lab technicians to check that they had followed procedure. They assured him that they had in prickly tones. It was a fool proof system. The one person he spoke to went so far as to say that it was Perran who had sent them the wrong vial. But they had checked all the reports anyway.
Half a hour later, and they sent him over the details. That day there had be no human samples. None at all.
It was a conundrum.

Perran looked at the one vial of the human woman’s blood he had left. It was more likely that it had just been lost in transit. Perhaps even never tested at all. But he had the one empty vial on his desk as proof, the labs stamp on it.

Could a technician have spilt it by accident and so made up some results rather then owning up to it? Some how it did not seem likely, spills happened. But forging results that was a punishable offence one that no scientist would willingly risk.

Prompted by curiosity he took the small vial and ran his own tests. He was not quite sure what he was looking for. A little while later and he had to check his own results, still not quite believing that data. He ran the tests again, before sitting back as it read out the same results. He was going to have to take a closer look at the sample to see just what was going on. But one thing he was certain, Valdagerion was going to have to know about this.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Thanks to lovelyl and Circe for your continued suport. Hope your still enjoying reading this as much as i am writing it.