Aftermath

I get the feeling this was more an 'oops, my finger slipped' than Ayan actually going through the process and getting it done "properly"

Some people were glazed over because I didn't have proper descriptions and I didn't talk much about the Sidhe twins because I could only recall one of their names. Anyone who read Partners will recall that Piho was Mik's little brother and when it came time to name the toddler, Paw was adamant. Piho apparently translates to trickster or joker in a good sort of fashion.

The guy that Ayato is speaking to, the one with the almost gray hair is Koln. The adolescent male Sidhe behind Essuan is a younger brother of H'hu, who is the eldest of Essuan's children. H'hu is Piho's twin.

I'm not entirely certain the source of the curse in here, as Durth wakes up. If it was a memory or him hearing something or possibly his power itself. His power can get pretty mouthy.

I love being epic...

Read, Review and Enjoy.





They left the next morning. Durth got the distinct feeling that this all had to do with Una and Vera’s argument, as if the immortals, when upset with one another, unbalanced the land. Everyone was cranky but for those who had been witnesses to the little spat. Most of them didn’t even know why they were grumpy, they simply woke bickering and snarling amongst themselves.

The troupe travelled back the way they had come, with Una leading only once in a month. The troupe master looked haggard, overspent from his instinctual reaction to Ayan’s meddling. Apparently making Vera’s land respond in such a way was draining. Una made excuses and hardly realised where his second in command, a gruff, greying man, was taking the troupe until the forest came into view.

As in, the same one where they had picked Ayan up. Durth swallowed his fear and gave Raya a look. The Brother set his features determinedly.

By the time the troupe pulled up camp under the canopy of the forest, Una was feeling more like himself. The troupe master paced and grumbled, motioned and argued with his second in command. It seemed that Una had wanted to head north before returning to the forest, had planned on picking up a shipment of precious metals before turning in for the winter. His second in command argued right back, raising his voice to match Una’s volume and never gave an inch.

Which was probably one of the many reasons he was the second in command.

“Come on,” Ayan said, pulling Durth away from Raya’s fire that first night, “come meet my family.”

“Your family?” Durth squeaked, recalling that someone in Ayan’s family was supposed to be Rel.

“Yes.” Ayan led Durth away from the camp and deeper into the forest. As soon as they were out of sight, around a corner and where there couldn’t possibly be light, mushrooms lit up, “they respond to power,” Ayan explained, motioning Durth forward.

Down this strange path they walked, winding around trees and between rubble of ancient structures, until they reached a huge tree. Wider around than any of the others, larger than the ones Durth had seen in Vera’s forest.

“This is,” Ayan said something with harsh syllables, something that Durth didn’t try to pronounce, “main tree, old time tree, older than all the rest of the forest, it is the mother to all in this forest. It is the only one that will bloom, when the time comes, it is the only fertile branch of the great group.”

“Great group?”

“All these others,” Ayan motioned, “are up shoots, fallen branches, roots that grew upward, of this oldest tree. They are all one tree. Technically speaking, come. Round the corner is the village.”

And off the young man went, scrambling over roots as easily as he walked across flat land. Sure enough, around the corner were many huts, all lit up by the same mushrooms. There were little garden boxes that were devoted entirely to the light mushrooms.

“As long as there is a Whisper, they will be lit,” Ayan murmured, leading Durth past the people who watched them, past the group of wide eyed children who tried to call out to Ayan, “here!”

Durth pulled to a stop and squeaked at the huge Sidhe male with speckled hair and skin. Swirled blue and green eyes blinked slowly before the creature gave Ayan a toothy grin, “’ill un.”

“Hello, dad, I heard father is upset with me.”

“Damned rights I am upset,” a man stepped around the Sidhe and smacked the creature’s arm, “why didn’t you tell me he was back?”

“I just got back, father,” Ayan protested.

“Leave it to Muan to neglect to mention that he scented you. Aya-” the man’s green eyes flickered from Ayan to Durth, “who is this? You not only run away, you bring a stranger into the village? You should know better.”

Muan, Durth assumed that was the big male’s name, picked the father up as if he weighed nothing at all, “Lel gumpy.”

“Put. Me. Down.”

Muan motioned deeper into the village, then walked off with the Lel fellow draped over his shoulder. Lel protested every step of the way that he was a grown man and could walk himself around. This was not the caveman era and he was not some prize, nor was he a doll so would Muan kindly put him down before he put his foot through Muan’s skull?

Ayan brushed past a young man who looked exactly like him, saying only, “Ayato.”

“…Ayan…” was the hesitant response he received. Ayato looked past his brother and met Durth’s eyes for the briefest moment before he turned his attention back to the nearly gray man he had been speaking to.

“Lel and Muan are my fathers,” Ayan explained as he came to a stop in the middle of the village, “Mari is my mother with Lel being the one who… gave the blood. Mari is considered the sister of Mik, hullo Mik, and Mik is Paw’s mate. Mik and Paw are fathers to Lillow and Paw’s child by Essuan. Essuan is mate to Souse and Essuan is also blood bound relatives with Hohi who plans to mate Lillow. Lillow considers Ashun cousin and Ashun is mated to Raoh and Osht.”

“Paw’s, mate?” Durth asked, turning to the man with gray at his temples. Brown eyes watched Durth placidly, making no assumptions nor accusations even as the body relaxed. Mik was shirtless and in the light, Durth could see the scar, caused by a bullet, right about where Mik’s heart was in his chest. The Sidhe ambassador had been announced as dead on the scene.

But they had never said the man had stayed dead.

There was something about Mik that made Durth relax in the man’s presence. As if some force beyond himself were reassuring him that Mik was harmless.

“Key,” Durth blurted out without thinking.

“Mother born,” Mik responded quietly, his rough, manly voice making Durth want to just curl up in his lap. But only for a moment, because suddenly Paw was there, draped around Mik, grinning like an imp and showing off those teeth that could tear Durth’s throat out in a heartbeat.

“Not Mother born,” Ayan corrected.

“You!”

“Yes, me, Ayan,” Ayan said, stressing every word as he spoke, “I thought I would introduce Durth to everyone. To show him what the world could be like if people cast aside their arrogant desires for violent resolution to everything. How the world could be peaceful?”

“I thought you were introducing me to your family.” Durth said in response.

Ayan let out several curses that made Mik go bright red, “I forgot,” the young man snapped, “that he has the blessing of tongues.”

“Talented tongue?” Mik asked, barely able to keep from laughing. It was Ayan’s turn to go bright red, “Your brother has been worried about you. Says you’re plotting something and he doesn’t like it.”

But Ayato was the one who planned things. Durth frowned and looked around, spotting the other young man, talking in a quiet, quick voice with a tall female with brown hair and blue eyes. Sidhe, she was carrying a child on her hip and had an adolescent male hunkered down behind her.

“Is that Essuan?” Durth asked, motioning towards her even as she met his eyes, “Obviously. Is. Why do I get the feeling I should hide?”

“Healer.”

As if that explained everything. It kind of did, Durth realised as Essuan handed the child over to Ayato and made her way towards him. A healer would be the last link in the chain, the one that determined whether or not Durth got smushed or became immortal. It wasn’t until her hands were on him that he realised why he really had to be afraid of healers.

Durth cried out as Essuan’s power slammed into him. The female righted every wrong in his body, even the ones he hadn’t known were wrong. When she was done, she and her power withdrew, without saying so much as hello. Leaving Durth to collapse to the ground, shaking and trembling from weakness.

“Why did you do that?” Ayan snapped at her, “that was ambush, ambush I tell you and you can’t just ambush strangers-” the young man’s rant cut off with a squeak, he hid behind Mik as Durth finally managed to drag himself up off the ground. Essuan had stopped and was watching Ayan.

And then the world spun.

“Oh gods,” Durth stumbled into Mik, that wall of unmoving muscle and bone, and clung on for dear life.

“What’s wrong with-”

Everything went black.

Durth coughed back to life what seemed like a moment later. He was laying right about where he had fallen, Mik bent over him and Paw looking very uninterested.

“Piho, fetch Una,” Mik murmured, “Ayato, if you end up killing him, I’ll kill you. Una has been nothing but kind to us and to even put an innocent through this-”

“Like you’d even draw blood,” came the acidic male voice and there was Ayato, kneeling beside him, looking down at him, “and he’s not going to die. Why are you sending Piho? You know he likes Una, he’s just going to tiddle about.”

“Not going to tiddle about,” snapped a young man who looked just a bit like Paw. Wider features though, “will get Una and be straight back… old man isn’t happen.”

“Happy,” Mik responded idly, as one who is used to correcting another, “and what do you-”

Durth felt the rising wave of power and moment before the Sidhe around him began whining. He urged his body to move but nothing shifted, not even in the least. That was when he realised that he wasn’t exactly awake, he wasn’t looking up at the others but simply seeing them as they spoke.

Wake up.

Fuck. Off.

Durth gasped awake, nearly smacking his head against Mik’s as he sat up. Everything tingled, power coursed through his limbs. Was he. Complete?

“Ayato!” Una bellowed and the young man bolted, racing away even as Una raced to Durth’s side. The immortal dropped to his knees beside Durth, “Are you alright?”

“I’m all tingly.” he sighed out.

“Your eyes are purple…” Una murmured.

“I think… he’s done with me,” Durth responded, “I think I’m immortal.”

“We could drop you out of the old time tree to find out,” Ayan offered cheerfully, smiling down at Durth.

“I’d rather not test it at the moment.”

“Typical people answer. People are just no fun.” Ayan grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

That was when Durth realised that Ayan was wearing different clothing. In fact, everyone was wearing the same clothing except Ayan. When had he had time to change?


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