Stranger at the Door
Gliders and Sun Folk cheered as the giant teardrop of starstone materialized on the plain outside Tallest Spire. In its new guise the Ark stood nearly half as high as the tower that had once housed it. It balanced on its convex base, then reformed into a steep pyramid, to further cheers and applause.
**Oh, Vess!** Cholla clasped her lifemate’s arm tightly. **Look at it – our very own Homeshell!**
**It’s a new beginning for all of us,** Klipspringer agreed, but Cholla heard the touch of hesitation in his thoughts. **I just wonder if we’re ready to walk through that door.**
**Children of Oasis!** Haken’s jubiliant open sending filled their minds. **Behold – the magic of the Ancient Ones reawakened! A Palace grown from the very soil of this world! Our Palace – our Ark! No more will we depend on the powers of others! No more will we be leashed to the whims of the Circle! Now we can truly soar free!**
The hundreds of elves assembled responded with a defending roar of victory. If a small party of conservatives held their tongues in disapproval, their silence was hardly noticed.
The Ark displaced itself with a faint pop of air. Everyone applauded the display. Heads turned every which way as elves tried to guess where the Ark would reappear. Cholla winced as she heard the edge of an angry sending brush her awareness.
**Savah’s bones–**
The air seemed to shimmer over the flat, and a starstone edifice appeared. Only it wasn’t the Ark. It was easily twice as massive, and its many spire-shaped turrets cast long shadows over the Sun Folk. Cholla’s face broke into a wide grin.
“Rayek!”
As a member of Door’s family, she had a place of honor near the front of the gathering. But now the assembled elves pressed about the Palace’s walls, waiting to see where the door would open. Cholla pushed her way through the masses, murmuring apologies to those left reeling in her wake. Klipspringer struggled to keep at her side – standing a half-head taller than those around him, he led with a raised elbow, trying his best to clear a path for his lifemate.
Presently Haken came stalking out of Tallest Spire, his long gold-trimmed cloak trailing behind him. “Have you no courtesy?!” he snarled up at the starstone walls. “A little warning before you nearly displace yourself right on top of us!!”
The door opened, and Weatherbird stepped out. Haken drew up short at the sight of her.
“You!” His hand rose in a warding gesture.
“Apologies, Haken. But Melati needs a healing, and I thought she’d be best cared for here.”
“Melati…” **Leetah!** he sent openly. **Leetah, come now – your lord commands it!**
* * *
Weatherbird led Haken, Chani, Leetah and Cholla into the Scroll Room, where they placed Melati upright in the chair facing the inert scroll halves. Her hands lay in her lap, clenched tight, and her eyes stared ahead slightlessly. Swift was daubing at her face with a wet cloth, while Rayek worried his chin with his hand.
“Oh, my sweet daughter!” Chani cried out.
“What happened?” Haken demanded.
“How long has she been like this?” Leetah pressed.
“Not long. I summoned the Palace as soon as it happened.” Weatherbird shot Haken a meaningful look. “I’m sorry. I should have stepped in sooner. But I too was curious to see what Winnowill and Melati might do together.”
“Winnowill?” Leetah exclaimed.
“Long story,” Weatherbird dismissed.
“A tale I’ll need to hear, if I’m to heal her,” Leetah touched Melati’s forehead, then pulled her hand back sharply. “Great Sun! What has she done to herself?”
“Joined with the messenger sphere.” It was not Weatherbird who answered, but Timmain, who stepped out from around the corner of the doorway.
“The sphere – where is it?” Haken demanded.
“Destroyed before we could arrive. Your adopted daughter has been meddling with energies well beyond her abilities. She has tangled her own awareness with the messenger sphere’s, and I cannot separate them. Swift suggested close kin could do what I could not. But as her blood-sire has rejected her, we brought her here.”
Leetah tried again, this time placing both hands on Melati’s forehead and concentrating hard. Melati’s lips parted, and strange chirps and clicks rose from the depths of her throat.
“The Ancient Tongue,” Haken hissed. “I never thought to hear it again.”
“I… I can’t…” Leetah said with effort. “I can’t find her in this… this noise.”
“You do not know her!” Haken said scornfully. **Melati! Hear me!**
**Come back to us, daughter, please,** Chani begged, sinking to her knees next to the throne.
“She is no longer there,” Timmain pronounced. “She has become one with the sphere. You can call ‘Melati’ back, but the soul that will answer has forever been altered.”
“NO!” a voice echoed off the walls. Cholla looked to the doorway and saw Timmain try to block a creature intent on pushing past.
“No, you’re wrong! She’ll come back – she always comes back to me! Mel! MEL!”
Leetah was locked in her healing trance and did not look up. But Haken, Chani and Cholla all gasped as one as the newcomer shoved Timmain aside and flung himself at the foot of the throne.
“What is that?” Chani shrieked, getting to her feet.
“Get that beast – oh…” Haken’s voice trailed off as he realized it was no mere Shapechanged crouching on clawed feet at Melati’s side.
“Please Mel… you have to come back now!” the elf-creature implored. “You have to come back as you!”
His voice was unfamiliar to Cholla. So were his many fleshshaped features. But something about the great scar on the left side of his skull seemed to tug at a half-forgotten memory. She found herself thinking of the last time she had seen an elf sustain a blow that could leave a scar like that.
“His name is Beast,” Weatherbird said calmly. “Any more will have to wait until later.”
**Oh, Melati, tell me you didn’t?!** Chani sent.
Beast continued to weep, clinging to Melati’s legs.
“It is the natural consequence of a restless soul encountering the certainty of a hive-mind,” Timmain went on. “She sought knowledge, but she did not consider the price of that knowledge.”
“Curse you, Timmain!” Chani growled. “That’s my child!”
“And she may yet return to you… in some form. If we free her spirit now, give it over to the power of the Palace–”
“You’ll not touch her!”
“You were a spirit yourself once. You have seen how the Palace cleansed your eldest daughter’s soul. In time Melati too many be renewed. But she will never again be the child you raised… or the maiden this creature loves,” she indicated Beast with a wave of the hand. “You must all love her enough to let her go entirely.”
“Never!” Haken snapped. **Melati! Obey your lord! Come back to us now!**
Cholla watched as the elves battled in a silent, motionless tug-of-war for Melati’s soul. Sweat beaded on Leetah’s brow as she struggled to locate Melati’s awareness in the tangled mind. Haken and Chani poured all their power into sending pleas. Cholla stepped forward and positioned herself so she locked eyes with the stricken elf.
**Melati… kitling, it’s Cholla. Can you hear me?**
She opened her mind to the chaos inside Melati’s head. Thoughts and images assaulted her: fragments of countless alien lives, sights, sounds, even the smells of distant worlds. They flashed by her at lightning speed, each demanding to be experienced. It would be so easy to become distracted, to linger at any one of these half-realized memories. But Cholla chased a different memory: the distinct thought-pattern of a maiden she had known from birth, a maiden she had watched grow and grieve and finally drift very far away.
**I never fought for you before, but I’m fighting now. You will hear me, Melati.**
She sent out a wordless stream of nurturing emotion, calling Melati home. She summoned memories of Melati’s life: the carefree child, the angry stripling, the confident healer. She let herself feel all the worry she had carried in the long years when Melati had drifted away, and the inexpressible gratitude when Melati had at last granted her wish for a child of her own.
The torrent of images she encountered began to slowly alter. More and more the memories were Melati’s own. She saw Melati as a child, calmly healing her own skinned knee. She saw Melati as a youth, desperate to prove herself older than her years. She saw Melati weeping over Yosha’s bound corpse… then Melati weeping again as she held him, resurrected, in her arms.
**Oh…**
She felt Melati’s soul begin to withdraw; she felt the shame Melati bore, like an open wound. But Cholla’s hesitation lasted only a moment, before she continued to pour forth love and acceptance.
**I understand. All of it. He’s here too. He’s waiting for you. You have to come back now.**
She pushed deeper and deeper into Melati’s awareness, using every sending skill she had learned from Rayek and Haken. She reached down until she could feel herself brushing the very edge of Melati’s true nature – that locked-away place that some elves gave names. Only once before had Cholla come so close to touching it – in that moment when Melati had at last forced Recognition, binding Taimi and Vess together even more tightly than before. Cholla clung to that memory to shield her as she seized hold of Melati’s awareness and withdrew her sending star, dragging Melati’s own with her.
“Yesss….” Leetah whispered as Cholla snapped back into her own body. “Yes… I see her now.” **The door you have kept open, shut it now. Return to yourself, granddaughter.**
Melati’s body relaxed at last, slumping back against the back of the chair. Her eyes closed and her head drooped. As her hands unclenched, they revealed palms lacerated by her nails. Her healing magic instinctively sealed the wounds.
Leetah stepped back – and recoiled as she noticed Beast kneeling beside her.
“Great Sun! What has she made now?”
“He looks… almost like Yosha,” Chani whispered.
“He is Yosha,” Cholla said.
“No!” Beast spun around. “I’m not – don’t you ever say that! Weatherbird, you said they wouldn’t say that!”
“It will take time to explain it all, Beast.”
Leetah reached out a trembling hand to Beast’s head. He swatted it away angrily. “I don’t need to be fixed!”
“No one will heal you without your consent,” Weatherbird insisted. “Let him be, Leetah. He doesn’t trust you.”
“Melati has much to answer for,” Leetah murmured, withdrawing her hand.
“Mel?” Beast urged. “Mel, you can wake up now.”
Melati’s eyelashes fluttered. Her eyes opened, and struggled to focus. She looked around, utterly bewildered. Her gaze landed on Haken, Chani and Leetah in quick succession, but there no recognition in her eyes. Then she looked down at Beast kneeling at her feet and a smile tugged at her lips.
“B-buh…” her mouth struggled to form words.
“It’s me. It’s your Beast! Don’t you remember?”
“B-uh-sss,” she mimicked, and her smile grew. She labored to speak, as if it was long-forgotten skill. “I… know… you…” she slurred. Then a lassitude overtook her, and she mumbled a string of nonsense as her chin dropped down to touch her collarbone.
“Mel?” Beast urged. He shook her, until Swift gently pulled him away.
“Sleep is good. Just relax… Beast, is it?”
“Healer?” Chani asked. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Her spirit is exhausted,” Leetah said brusquely. “She must rest.”
“The way she looked at us – like she didn’t know us!”
“So I warned you,” Timmain pronounced.
“Oh, shut up, you hateful bitch!” Chani shrieked in sudden rage, and Haken had to catch her before she could hurl herself at Timmain.
“No, let her speak,” he said stonily. “Let her children see her for the monster she is.”
“It is Melati in there!” Cholla insisted. “She recognized… him. She’s just confused, that’s all. She’ll be better after she sleeps, won’t she, Leetah?”
“I have done all I can,” the healer said. “The next step must be her doing. If you’ll excuse me, I must rest myself.” She turned and limped away, moth-fabric rustling and jewelry tinkling.
“Leetah!” Cholla called, but the healer did not look back. “Leetah?”
“I think she has the right idea,” Weatherbird said. “We should let Melati sleep. That’s the whole reason we do sleep, isn’t it? To let our minds renew themselves.”
“We shouldn’t leave her there,” Chani said. “She needs a proper bed.”
Beast lifted Melati from the chair, swinging her into his arms easily. “Where?” he asked. Swift blinked a moment, startled by the animal-like grace of his movement.
“Uh… this way. We can put you both in the little guest room, just down the hall.”
“I’ll come too,” Cholla said, following them. Behind her, she could just hear Rayek growling, “Perhaps now is the time for explanations.”
Cholla didn’t want to stay to listen. She only cared about Melati, helpless as as infant in Beast’s arms.
Beast… if she held her gaze to the right side of his face, she could almost believe it was Yosha, back from the dead and grown to maturity. But when they came to the guest room and Beast turned to lay Melati down on the fur-covered bed, Cholla could not help but recoil at the sight of his reptilian arm, his misshapen shoulder, and the hideous scar that ran across his skull.
Beast caught her staring. He glared down at her.
“I’m Cholla,” she said, trying to maintain a tremulous smile.
The name triggered something in his eyes. “I know you. Mel told me. She likes you!” he exclaimed in a tone that suggested this was a rare honor not accorded the family they had left in the Scroll Room. “She gave you a child.”
“Yes, she did. A daughter.”
“She was gone a long time, helping you,” Beast said. “You almost died. So did the child.”
Cholla’s smile turned strained, though she kept her voice mild. “Well, ‘almost’ doesn’t count.”
Melati tossed restlessly in the bed. Soft moans escaped her lips. Cholla and Beast sat in awkward silence, watching and waiting. Klipspringer’s sending intruded briefly. **What’s happening? Leetah came out a while back, ranting about Melati – is she all right?**
**She’s been hurt, but she’s resting.**
**You’re hiding something.**
**It’s complicated. Too much magic, too many secrets. Keep on eye on Maizie – I don’t want her hearing the gossip that will start spreading.**
**That bad, is it?**
**It’s not good. I’ll tell you more later, once Melati is awake. I – I just can’t leave her while she’s like this.**
Melati began to stir. She smacked her lips and began to cough weakly. “Water!” Beast exclaimed. Cholla got to her feet.
“I’ll fetch us some.”
She found her way to the cistern; the Palace architecture was just as she remembered it. She returned with a full pitcher of water and a cup, both made of shimmering starstone. Melati was awake and trying vainly to sit up. Her limbs would not quite work; the sight reminded Cholla of someone recovering from a bout of husk-shock.
Beast easily lifted Melati into a sitting position. His reptilian hand tenderly brushed the hair out of her face. Melati did not recoil from the strange touch – if anything, she leaned into it, making drowsy noises of frustration.
“Shh, shh, Mel,” Beast murmured over and over. Slowly her eyes opened and she focused on his face. A smile, heartbreaking in its innocence, graced her chapped lips.
“Here,” Cholla poured a cup for Beast, and he held it to Mel’s lips. She coughed and sputtered at the first sip, but instinct took over, and soon she drank greedily. Water spilled over her chin, and Beast mopped it away with a brush of his scaly knuckles.
“Beast,” Mel breathed his name.
“There you are! She was wrong: you’re coming back, like you always do.”
Mel blinked, uncomprehending, but mirrored his smile nonetheless.
“See? We don’t need think-talk.” Beast touched his forehead to hers, gazing deep in her eyes. “I see you,” he whispered, triumph in his voice. Melati could only smile back, flashing her teeth in a clumsy grin. To Cholla’s eyes she seemed like a child: a wide-eyed kitling embarking on her first courtship.
“Does she always look like that?” Cholla blurted out.
“Like what?”
“So… trusting.” So innocent, she added inwardly. So hopelessly, shamelessly in love.
He frowned at the question. “Yes. Always. Why not?”
Why not, indeed. To Cholla, Melati had always lived with a wall around her heart. From childhood on, she always seemed so distant, always yearning for something she was afraid to pursue. Cholla had always imagined that she was too afraid to love, after what had happened to Yosha. And yet all those years, she had had a secret lovemate – a secret lifemate. That yearning hadn’t been for a spirit, or a dream: it had been for the one she had left behind at the Cinder Pools.
What are you? Cholla wondered, studying Beast in silence. Melati was inspecting him too. When he raised a thumb to brush away a stray drop of water, she caught his hand and turned it over, caressing the scaly skin.
“Pretty…” she murmured, letting her hand run up his wrist. She touched the spines at his elbows, the scale-and-bone pauldron at his shoulder.
“You made it, remember?”
Now her fingertips had found the crown of scar tissue on his head. She stroked the seams of knotted flesh. “Pretty,” she repeated. “Did I make this too?”
Beast bit his lip, considering the question. “In a way,” he said at length.
“Pretty Beast,” Mel purred, her slurring speech making her sound tipsy. There was no mistaking the hot-blooded approval in her voice, and Cholla felt her cheeks burn. And she had always thought Melati so cold.
Melati had finished her water. She smacked her lips and contemplated the empty cup with a sulky expression that would have been adorable on a young child. Beast took the cup and rose.
“More–” he began to say as he turned back towards Cholla. But the blood drained from his face and his expression froze in a grimace of horror. He stared past her, and Cholla turned to see what had so terrified him.
Maleen stood in the doorway, staring at the elf who had once been her son.
“Oh scat!” Cholla swore. “Maleen–” she rushed towards her, even as Maleen surged forward. “Maleen, wait, it’s not – he’s not–”
Maleen crossed the floor. She stopped an armspan in front of Beast. She stared up into his silver-blue eyes, searchingly. He stared back, his expression caught between terror and defiance.
“Yosha?” she asked.
His expression hardened, and he looked away. Maleen turned on Melati with a shriek.
“What did you do to him?” she rushed at the dazed maiden, raining blows on Melati’s head. “What did you do?! Curse you – curse you – couldn’t you just let him be?!”
“Maleen!” Cholla warned.
Melati swayed under the blows, unable or unwilling to defend herself. Beast seized Maleen’s wrist and yanked her back. Maleen screamed and turned her fists on Beast. “My son – my son!!” Later, Cholla would think it was the worst thing she could have said.
Beast’s clawed hand caught her about the throat. He squeezed down until she lost her voice, then whirled her around and slammed her hard against the starstone wall. “He’s not here!” Beast roared in her face. “He’s gone and he’s not coming back – you can’t have him back!”
Maleen mouthed her son’s name. Beast clenched his fingers tighter.
“I’m not him! I’m not your son! And you’re not my mother! You’re nothing to me! Nothing! Nothing!” He shook her violently, knocking her back against the wall over and over.
Cholla threw herself on him, trying to dislodge his grip on the huntress. “Beast, stop it!” she yanked at his left arm and shoulder, prying him back just enough to slip in between them. “Beast!” she challenged, and when his gaze flicked down to hers, she paralyzed him with her stare.
In her youth, she had easily been able to immobilize her prey. But she was out of practice; peace and safety had left her little opportunity to hone her skill. Beast wobbled, but she could see he was only slightly dazed. Cholla did not waste time on a second burst, but pried his hand off Maleen so she could escape. Dark bruises in the shape of his fingers were already blooming on her throat.
“Go!” Cholla warned her. “Now! Before he wakes up.”
Maleen staggered, rubbing her sore throat. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse, on the edge of breaking. “He’s right… he’s not my son.”
Beast shook his head, wincing in pain. A low growl rose up in his throat as he tried to get his bearings.
“Go!” Cholla gave Maleen a shove towards the door. Beast saw her hesitate, and he let out a wordless bellow, the great roar of the Shapechanged. Maleen fled.
Beast turned on Cholla next, growling deep in his chest. Cholla stood her ground, fists clenched and feet apart. “My brother taught me how to stare down beasts,” she said, and after a tense moment, Beast stepped back.
Melati had watched the whole scene unfold in silence from the bed. Now she whimpered and reached for her lifemate. Beast immediately rushed back to her side.
“Why?” Melati asked, tears springing in her eyes.“Why?”
“Shh, no matter,” he cradled her in his arms. “Safe now.”
“Mal-” she struggled to make the sound. “Malee-ah-len.”
“Maleen,” Cholla corrected.
Melati’s eyes glazed over as she stared off into the distance. “Malialen – that’s how it was said, in those days, in-those-days-we-were-barely-aground-changing-form-changing-tongues-tongues-changed-when-we-were-aground-worn-down-shaved-off-crooked-sounds-when-we-were-aground-why? Why?” She clutched Beast’s arm tightly. “Why-did-she-hit-me-what-did-I-do?”
“Nothing,” Beast assured her, dropping kisses on her forehead. “Forget her. She’s nothing to us.”
The scorn in his voice touched a raw nerve in Cholla. “She was your mother,” she hissed. “Or at least your body’s mother. Show a little respect.”
Beast flashed her a murderous glare. “Mel’s making me a new body! Then you’ll see – you’ll all see. And he can have this one back if he wants it so bad. Then you’ll all leave us alone!”
“Beast?” Melati asked, unsettled by the force of his anger. But he just hugged her tighter, guiding her head down to his shoulder. Stroking her long hair.
“Shh… rest. Get better. You’re safe now. Always safe with me.” He smiled fondly. “This is good. You always took care of me, but now I can take care of you.”
* * *
Cholla stalked straight to the healer’s rooms within Tallest Spire. Sure enough, Leetah was there, comforting Maleen as she healed the bruises on her throat.
**Paingiver!** Cholla locksent furiously. **How could you?!**
Leetah broke off, wincing and clasping her temples. “S-stop – your anger – I cannot–”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you ran and told Maleen everything!”
Maleen looked at Cholla with tear-filled eyes. “Don’t you blame the healer! She was right to tell me!”
“Was she? Do you really feel better now? Great Sun, Maleen – why do you think Mel never brought Beast to Oasis to show him off? She knew better than to tell you the truth!”
“A pity she didn’t know enough to leave the dead in peace,” Maleen spat. She staggered to her feet, as Leetah tutted her disapproval.
“I’ve not finished. Where are you going?”
“To find Sust and Coppersky!” Maleen vowed. “If Lord Haken won’t do something about that… that monster then I will!”
“Maleen – wait, think –” Cholla began, but Maleen brushed past her.
“No! I won’t have that thing wearing my son’s skin!”
**What will do you, kill him? It’s not his fault he exists!**
Where Leetah had recoiled from Cholla’s sending, Maleen answered back with equal venom. **No, it’s hers!**
* * *
Inside the Ark, the starstone that had once been the Little Palace had re-shaped itself into a broad, circular table. Its surface was a shade darker than the rest of the Ark, slightly more opalescent. Three elves stood around it, looking down at the fragments of gray stone: all that remained of the messenger sphere.
“I’m sorry,” Weatherbird said. “Beast destroyed it before Winnowill or I could stop him.”
“Such a waste,” Haken sighed.
“The starstone will recover once it is absorbed into the Ark,” Weatherbird offered. “I’m giving it to you – Timmain’s agreed not to fight me.”
“How generous of her,” Chani muttered.
“She knows it’s an empty gesture.” Haken replied. “It wasn’t the starstone I sought, but the knowledge within it. The sum of the Circle’s collective mind before we were hobbled in our current forms. This world has taken so much from us, and I had hoped to reclaim but a small part of our former glories. But it seems the world will not even allow me that much.”
“I’m sorry,” Weatherbird said again.
“So am I.” Haken looked up from the table. “Thank you, for your understanding. And your… patience, with both my wayward daughters.” When Weatherbird raised an eyebrow skeptically, Haken stammered, “I-I can only assume you consented to Winnowill’s prolonged excursion, given your formidable powers of defense.”
“Flatterer,” she giggled, and a coppery tinge warmed Haken’s cheeks. “No, I cannot blame her – give a spoiled cub a new toy to play with, and you shouldn’t be surprised when she doesn’t want to give it back. But I do wish I had intervened sooner. I could have saved us all much heartache.”
“Melati will recover,” Chani said firmly. “She has never been one to back down from a challenge. We will keep her safe here, until her mind is truly her own again.”
“We will need to decide what must be done with this ‘Beast’ of hers,” Haken growled.
“You cannot separate them,” Weatherbird warned.
“It cannot remain here!” Haken snapped. “Certainly it cannot be permitted to be seen! It’s bad enough that Cholla and Leetah know of its existence.”
“Cholla understands discretion,” Chani offered.
“Yes, but the healer will tell everyone – if she has not already. Reanimating dead flesh… turning an elf’s shell into one of her Shapechanged pets – oh, it’s just the sort of tale Leetah would relish telling. Why did you bring it here?” he demanded of Weatherbird.
“I couldn’t leave him behind. He’s more than a Shapechanged, more than a husk. He can reason, he can feel. He has a soul, Haken!”
“Not an elf’s soul!”
“Maybe not… but–”
Haken made a noise of disgust. “When Melati spoke of growing new bodies, I never thought she meant this!”
“She made a mistake, she’s trying to rectify it,” Chani said. “It’s understandable – even admirable.”
“She hasn’t been trying very hard,” Haken muttered. “Living with that creature all these years… encouraging it to think itself the equal of an elf.”
“She loves him,” Weatherbird said.
“She loves a memory.”
“I don’t think so. I had plenty of time to study them. She knows what he is, and what he can never be. And she accepts that. Mostly.” She thought sadly of Melati’s impassioned plea for Recognition. “But she certainly does not want the Yosha of her childhood back in his place. She’s made her peace with his death… or as much peace as she’ll ever find.”
“If so, then why keep him so hidden?” Chani demanded. Weatherbird simply looked at her patiently.
“No, she chose the right course, there,” Haken agreed. “If we struggle so much to understand it, what hope have the ordinary folk? And with Leetah and her faction ready to stoke any flames of discontent….”
“Then perhaps it is best Melati not remain either,” Weatherbird said.
“No!” Chani said. “I won’t hear of it. We will not turn her away in her time of need.”
“What she needs is peace and quiet,” Weatherbird said. “She won’t find any here. Not once word of Beast spreads.”
“I will not let the ignorant rabble shame a High One’s chosen daughter!” Haken said imperiously.
“Let that ‘rabble’ hear you talking like that and Beast will be the least of your worries! Think about it, Haken. How many storms do you want to bring down on your Oasis?”
Haken shot her a sour look, but said: “You have a suggestion?”
She nodded. “The Palace is due to return to the Great Holt. We’ll take Melati and Beast with us. They’re both strangers to the Wolfriders and the River Folk. The Palacemasters and I can help Melati recover herself.”
“You do not know her.”
“Do you? Truth, now.”
Haken sighed. “It seems not. Very well. When Melati wakes – if she consents.”
“Yosha was half-Wolfrider,” Chani pointed out.
“No fear on that account,” Weatherbird said. “Trust me.”
“It seems we have no choice. And you will stay with her, will you not?” Haken asked.
A flicker of light passed across Weatherbird’s eyes, turning them momentarily turquoise. Her lips curved in a secret smile. “We both will.”
When Chani gasped in surprise, Weatherbird held up a finger to her lips. Haken shook his head ruefully.
“Motherhood has made you indulgent.”
“It’s not entirely selfless. Winnowill picked up so much from the messenger sphere – knowledge the Egg could put to good use. We’ve reached an understanding.”
“Clever child,” Chani murmured.
“Which reminds me.” Weatherbird put her hand on the largest fragment of the messenger sphere. She drew a deep breath then let it out in a long hiss as magic crackled around her. A visible aura rose from her skin, then suffused the stone shard. When the glow faded, the stone was a deep shimmering blue, laced throughout with silver.
“A gift, from Winnowill,” Weatherbird said, a little breathless. “They call them memory-stones in Blue Mountain. If I were you, I’d meld that into the Ark before the magic fades. It’s only a drop in the ocean, but it’s a start. Oh, and don’t tell Timmain,” she added with a wink.
* * *
Melati was in little condition to give consent. When Haken visited her at sundown, he found her sitting on the edge of the bed, looking dazed and weary. The creature that had once been Yosha was at her side, murmuring something to her.
“Out!” Haken ordered, but Beast did not even flinch. Melati looked up at Haken. She needed several moments to focus on his face, and when she did, the words flowed out in a monotone babble.
“Haken-youngest-of-the-Circle-our-passion-driving-us-forward-last-child-born-of-a-dying-world-mistake-to-include-him-in-the-Circle-but-new-voices-needed-new-ways-of-seeing-of-feeling-too-young-too-impulsive-too-reckless-passion-must-be-reckless-we-all-serve-our-purpose.”
“Melati!”
She blinked, looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes.
“Yes?”
“Do you know me?” After her recitation, the question seemed faintly ridiculous.
“Yes.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“My-purpose-is-to-remember.”
“No! I wish to speak to Melati, not to Timmain’s memories.”
“All-we-are-is-what-we-remember-our-souls-our-thoughts-our-memories-all-one-a-message-for-those-who-follow-us-we-live-while-our-memories-live…” she frowned suddenly. “But-something-of-the-soul-must-endure-beyond-thought-beyond-memory-my-peacoos-still-have-the-souls-of-quails-Klipspringer-said–”
“You remember Klipspringer, at least,” Haken growled in frustration. “And your blighted peacoos!”
Disturbed by his outburst, Melati clenched Beast’s hand tightly. She turned to him and her expression turned wistful. “My fox-bird,” she whispered. “Trust is a choice.”
Beast nodded encourgingly. “Yes. Yes, of course it is.”
“Do her ramblings mean anything to you?” Haken demanded.
“No,” Beast admitted, his fond smile never wavering.
**Melati, Weatherbird wishes you to go to the Great Holt. Do you understand?**
The answer was a garble of images, scents and sounds. Reluctantly, Haken switched back to the spoken word and repeated the question.
“A-holt-a-holdfast-a-sanctuary-the-den-of-an-animal.”
“Yes. Quite. And do you wish to go with her? To be healed?”
“I am a healer,” Melati protested. She glanced at Beast. “I am, yes?”
“Yes. You healed me, remember? I was dead and you made me live.”
She made a dismissive gesture. “Our kind does not die.”
Haken winced. The brusque denial reminded him too much of his younger self.
“You,” he turned to Beast. “Do you understand? They mean to take you half a world away.”
Beast nodded. “To fix her. To help her come back. Weatherbird explained. That rock broke her spirit into pieces. And scattered all the pieces everywhere. We found all the pieces, and now Mel has to put them back together. But they can help her. I can help her.”
“Can I trust you to protect her?”
Beast looked up at him sharply, offended. “I don’t need your trust. I will always protect her!”
“Because she is your creator?”
“Because she is my everything!”
Words could never be trusted as sendings could. But in this beast’s sweeping declaration, Haken heard a truth he could not deny.
“I believe you, Beast. I too know what it’s like to love so intensely… to feel the entire scope of one’s existence condensed into one’s soulmate.”
He knelt down in front of Melati and took her hand. “Her spirit isn’t broken – it is smothered, drowning underneath eons of Timmain’s memories.” He glanced at Beast. “But not even Timmain can know the depth of your love. That is how you will defeat her. That is how you will bring Melati home.”
He released Melati’s hand. “Farewell, daughter of my heart. May you be healed in spirit when we meet again.”
A glimmer of recognition seemed to spark in Melati’s eyes, just for a moment. Her lips moved, shaped the words, “My lord…” but she made no sound, and the light in her eyes soon faded again.
* * *
“I have to do this, lifemate,” Cholla told Klipspringer as they stood in front of the Palace, hands clasped. “Melati needs me as she never has before.”
“Of course,” Klipspringer agreed. He smiled hopefully. “I wish I could come with you…”
**But you’re needed here now,** Cholla finished for him. **No, your instincts are right. Tempers are running hot – Maleen has made sure of that. The Gliders are already closing ranks around Haken, and the Pride stands with their own, but the Sun Folk look to you and Grayling for guidance.**
Klipspringer nodded. **And Grayling has never warmed to Melati. She needs someone to speak up for her, until she can speak for herself.**
**Someone who understands her,** Cholla agreed. She flung her arms around him. **Oh Vess, you always understand.**
They embraced in farewell, and Cholla turned to their daughter. “I’d love to invite you with me. Show you the Great Holt – how the plants would sing to you there! But your Aunt Melati needs your help here. You know her enemies will try to use – all that’s happened – against her. But if anyone can make them see the good in her, it’s you and your father.”
Maize nodded solemnly, then hugged her mother. “Who knows, maybe you’ll bring Aunt Melati home for good this time?”
“That would be lovely, wouldn’t it, kitling?”
* * *
It was the start of the rainy season at the Great Holt. The Green River ran fast, already beginning to overflow its banks, and a steady downpour battered the treetops. Under the thick canopy, the rain fell in streams and sheets, soft and warm. Elves and wolves played in the downpour, enjoying the respite after a long dry season. The time to grumble about the endless wet would come soon enough.
The Palace materialized on the cliff top overlooking the Grandfather Tree. The rain drummed down on the crystal spires and made waterfalls along the outer walls. As soon as Rayek opened a door to the outside world, the scent of flowers and ozone filled the Palace halls.
Bluestar came running in, soaked to the skin and shedding water with every step. “Is she here?” he asked as he barrelled through the entryway and down the halls. “Is she back – Mama!” he caught sight of Weatherbird and ran into her arms.
“Where have you been? You said you’d only be gone a few days! I knew you’d disappear if we left you alone! You have to tell me everything – I promise I won’t get you in trouble with Father.”
Weatherbird laughed as she ruffled his rain-slick hair. “Now, now, you know your father is no trouble at all.”
Bluestar suddenly hissed and pulled away. He had caught sight of Beast timidly emerging from the Scroll Room.
“Bluestar,” Beast said hopefully. “Do… do you remember me?”
“No.” Unconsciously, Bluestar pressed closer to his mother. “Should I?”
“No, I suppose not. But I remember you. I saved you, out in the desert.”
“Oh.” Bluestar glanced at Weatherbird for confirmation. When she nodded, he said, “Well… thank you.” His gaze flicked down to Beast’s lizard feet, then back to his scarred face. “Wait… I think I do remember you. You – you’re the Master of the Shapechanged, aren’t you?”
Beast’s eyes lit up with pride. “I am!”
At the opposite end of the Palace, Cholla helped Melati walk over to a wall. Melati touched it and the starstone peeled back into a circular window, letting in the humid air.
“See?” Cholla encouraged. “It is past nightfall in Oasis, but here it’s still the afternoon.”
“Any-stable-rotating-sphere-in-a-solar-system-experiences-regular-day-night-cycles-to-which-all-life-is-adapted,” Melati murmured.
“Yes, but it’s one thing to know it, quite another to feel it.”
“Feel… wet…” Melati touched the window ledge, felt the rain beading on the starstone. “But it’s not Rainsign.”
“A lot of things are different here.”
Melati made a face, and promptly sealed the window closed.
“Maybe we’ll save going outside until tomorrow,” Cholla decided.
* * *
Melati slept. She slept most of the time. Weatherbird thought it was her mind’s way of processing her recent trauma. Each time she woke, she would sound slightly more lucid, only to eventually lapse back into rambling speeches when something triggered a memory from the messenger sphere.
Beast was always at her side: watching her sleep, helping her rise, feeding her, bathing her, keeping watch over a body to which Melati seemed to have only a tenuous connection. Cholla helped, disregarding Beast’s initial protests, and despite some residual tension regarding the incident with Maleen, Beast began to warm to her.
Weatherbird and Bluestar were frequent visitors to their room in the first few days, never spending too long for fear of overwhelming Beast. “They both need some time to adjust,” Weatherbird told Cholla in a whisper. “Their whole world has been changed overnight.”
Rayek came by to visit too, to sit with Cholla and talk – and share thoughts about their patient. **Her sendings grow no clearer. I fear we will need to wait for her mind to quiet before we can attempt any further healing.**
**I think Weatherbird’s right: this isn’t something to be rushed. Melati did this to herself by forcing her mind into the messenger sphere. I don’t see how more force will make any of this right.**
**On that, we are agreed, sister.** His expression grew softer. **This must be so hard on you.**
Cholla smiled wanly, then closed her eyes tight against the sting of tears. **Is… is it really true you can see all possible realities in the Scroll of Colors – all the paths not taken, that could have been taken?**
Rayek nodded. **It’s no small feat. Without intense concentration you can see only your own reality. But if you focus too hard, you can lose yourself in the different possibilities. But the other paths do not matter to us in the end. This is the world we live in, for good or ill.**
**It must be so tempting… to go back and take another path... a better one.**
Rayek’s sending was strained. **You have no idea.**
Day was dawning on their third day in the Great Holt when Weatherbird appeared in the doorway of the sickroom. Melati was fast asleep, and Cholla and Beast were sharing a simple meal of Oasis flatbread and fresh fruit.
“Beast? I brought you a visitor,” Weatherbird said gently.
Beast got to his feet. “Bluestar?”
“No. Someone else who would very much like to meet you.”
Beast frowned. Cholla looked at Weatherbird sharply. **You didn’t?** she asked, her mind flashing back to the confrontation with Maleen.
**Trust me,** Weatherbird sent. And then she turned and beckoned the unseen elf to enter.
Cricket stepped inside the room. He kept his face politely impassive, but his blue eyes widened as he slowly took in Beast’s appearance.
Beast stared back, struck with the same expression of horrified recognition as when Maleen had walked in on him.
Cholla moved to stand between to them, ready to intervene if need be. But before she could step forward, Cricket made the first move. His blank expression became an apple-cheeked smile as he announced, “I’m Cricket. I – I heard there was a new elf in the woods and I wanted to say hello.”
Beast’s terror slowly turned to wonder. “You’re… not angry…?” he asked tremulously. “You’re not afraid?”
“W-why would I be?” Cricket kept his voice light, but Cholla could hear the effort it took. “You – you don’t look all that scary to me. Although that’s… that’s quite the paw you have there!” he finished with a laugh that was nearly a sob.
Beast looked to Weatherbird in search of guidance. When she nodded, he allowed himself to match Cricket’s smile. The resemblance struck Cholla like a knife in the heart.
“Hello, Cricket,” Beast said at length. “I’m Beast.” Another quick glance at Weatherbird, then he held out his clawed hand to Cricket.
Cricket did not hesitate. With tears welling his eyes, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around Beast’s.
“I am... so very happy to meet you, Beast,” he whispered, his voice breaking.
Elfquest copyright 2015 Warp Graphics, Inc. Elfquest, its logos, characters, situations, all related indicia, and their distinctive likenesses are trademarks of Warp Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. Some dialogue taken from Elfquest comics. All such dialogue copyright 2015 Warp Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. Alternaverse characters and insanity copyright 2015 Jane Senese and Erin Roberts.