SIXTY-EIGHT – Water Games

Arous had been to the stables at least twice a week for the past few months with Simon.  Jude was there every time to call her “Princess” then systematically ignore her. She went to find him there.

            And there he was.

            She stood there watching him groom a horse. He hadn’t noticed her. Octavius sat at her heels swishing his tail.

            “Why do you do this?”

            He jumped.

            “Arous.”

            “Why do you work in a stable? You are so much more clever than Simon. I don’t get it.”

            “I like it.”

            “You like it, yes,” she said. “You don’t love it.”

            “Well,” he said and smiled at her as if he couldn’t help it. “It’s nice to see you too, Princess.”

            “I came to see you,” she said.

            “Not to go riding?” he joked.

            “No,” Arous sighed. “It all boils down to . . . I don’t know who I can trust.  You seem different that Siobhan and Simon. I mean I like them but I don’t know them.”

            “And you don’t know me,” Jude said and continued to groom the horse.

            “But I want to,” said Arous. “Can’t I trust you?”

            Jude stopped and looked up at her before answering.

            “It’s probably best if you didn’t.”

            “Why not?” Arous was insistent.

            “You’ve always gotten everything you want, I suspect.”  He was still brushing down the horse.

            “That’s not fair,” Arous mumbled. “You don’t even know me.”

            He stopped.

            “You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. Look, let me finish this horse here and you and Octavius and I will take a walk to the park.”

            Arous took Octavius and went outside to wait on Jude.  He didn’t take very long to appear with a bag and a smile.

            They walked to the park.

            He spread out a blanket and had a couple of canteens of water.  He had glasses for them and a bowl for Octavius.

            “If you’d given me some warning, I’d prepared a proper picnic for you.  As it is, you’ll have to do with water.”

            “That fine,” said Arous.

            Jude was the easiest person in the world to talk to he was as familiar to her as one thousand lazy summer days.  They reclined on the blanket while he told her ridiculous stories of his childhood, about him and Simon getting into all sorts of trouble.

            “All sorts,” he said.  “I’m surprised my Uncle didn’t ship me off the orphanage.”

            Arous laughed.  “You mean your father, Simon’s uncle.”

            “Simon always seemed like his favorite son and me just the tag-a-long nephew.”

            They were quiet a moment, leaning back, watching people rowing on the lake.

            “Have you ever been rowing?” he asked.

            Before she could even answer he had pulled her up by the hand and was running down toward the peer.  He stopped short of a canoe and pulled it close to the peer.

            “Hop in,” he said.

            “You’re not going to try to drown me are you?”

            “That’s a thought.”

            “That’s one wicked grin,” she said.

            “You’re the one who wants to trust me,” he said. “So, are you going to find out or not?”

            He paddled them out to the center of the lake and stopped.  It was quiet, as quiet as she had ever experienced it in the City.  It was late in the afternoon and most people had made their way back to the dock.

            “I wonder what Octavius is doing?” said Arous.

            “Napping.”

            Arous laughed, “Probably.” She was staring at the shore and away from Jude. It was more uncomfortable to look into those intense grey eyes. Him and her, all alone, bobbing peacefully on the water.

            He lifted a paddle and brought it slamming down on the water splashing Arous.

            “Hey!” she turned around. He was doubled over laughing.

            “I told you that you couldn’t trust me!”

            She jerked the paddle away from him. As he realized what was happening, he made a scramble for the paddle. Arous jerked away losing her grip on the paddle and dropping it into the water. She made a quick lean for it.

            “No, don’t!” yelled Jude but it was too late. The canoe capsized and they were both in the water.

            He grabbed her.

            “Can you swim?”

            “Of course I can,” she said. “I’ll beat you back.”

            Arous was had found her rhythm when Jude jerked her ankle pulling her out of her stride and back to him.

            “No you don’t,” he said laughing.

            “We’re only halfway there.”

            “So, breathe a minute,” he said. “Where’d you learn to swim like that?”

            “Home. I love to swim.  I’ve always been good at it.  The water is my element.”

            “Me, too,” he said.

            They treaded water together.  Jude stopped.

            “Hey,” he said. He was very still. “Stand up.”

            She did.  The water came to Arous chin and to Jude’s chest.

            “Climb on,” he said.  Arous climbed onto his back and they made their way shore.  Jude carried her to the blanket and sat her by Octavius who was still napping.  His arm was around her waist and his hand under her head.

            “That was fun,” she said.

            “For you maybe.  But do you realize how heavy you are?”

            She slapped him hard on the arm.

            “Ouch.”

            He leaned down to her.

            “I haven’t had this much fun since I’ve been here,” she whispered.

            Octavius stretched out. His paw reached up and stroked Jude’s cheek and he pulled away from Arous.

            “Even on your picnic last week with Simon?”

            “I like Simon. Octavius likes Simon.  But nothing beats swimming when it’s hot out.”

            “Even in all your clothes?” asked Jude with a smile. “I think maybe it’s the company.”

            “Maybe,” Arous returned his smile.

            “Speaking of company, Octavius sure does like Simon.  When Simon dropped me off last week Octavius insisted on going out with him.”

            “So, I heard.”

            “Simon told you that he went to Rose House with him?”

            “Yes,” said Jude. “Just like he told me that you are going to the Ambassador’s Ball with him as his date.”

            “I am.  Is there anything wrong with that?”

            “Why are you here with me? What are you playing at?”

            “You didn’t ask me to the Ball,” Arous was now defensive. “I’m not playing at anything.”

            There was a moment of silence.

            “Right,” he said, “I better get you home and dried up before you catch cold. Simon might never forgive me if I let you get sick.”

            He pulled her up by the hand and began walking her and Octavius home. 

SIXTY-SEVEN: That Cat

If I could panic, an oversized cat bounding through my meditation would induce a mild hysteria.

Octavius sat and watched Arous sleep on the floor of her room behind a screen.  She slept on a futon mattress on top of a mat.

He walked around the screen and sat on the other side of it.  Octavius watched as Simon and Siobhan sat on the floor whispering in hurried tones to one another.

This is what you want me to see and hear.  Good boy, Octavius.

“We have a problem,” she said. “Jude.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“He knows about you Simon. He knows you work for Ricci guarding Lady Grey.”

“So, what?” he said as he sat at the table.

“Don’t you think this is a problem?”

“No, I don’t,” said Simon.

“Because you’ve got her wrapped around your little finger, is that it?”

“As a matter of fact,” Simon started.

“You don’t!” said Siobhan. “He likes her, Simon.”

“Again, so what? She’ll never give him the time of day.”

“Oh,” said Siobhan, “kinda like she barely gives you?”

“We spent the day together yesterday. We’ve been spending more time-”

“Wake up, Simon,” said Siobhan in a loud whisper, “your cousin is going to blow our cover. You have to do something about him.”

“And, what’s he going to do, love? Tell me that.”

“I don’t know,” said Siobhan, “all I know is that he likes her and she likes him and if you don’t watch it, he’s going cost us both with Ricci.” Siobhan started coughing.

“Are you okay?” Simon got her a glass of water from the kitchen.

“No,” she kept coughing while covering her mouth with a kerchief. “Yes, I’m fine. A while back, maybe a month ago, I had this stupid dream about this fog or something in my room and woke up coughing. I’ve had this tickle in my throat ever since.”

“Maybe you should go for a HaleSpa treatment.”

“Are you kidding? If I go into a HaleSpa, I may never come back out. And if I’m lucky, I’ll get you as my guard,” Siobhan smiled. “Seriously, do something about Jude.”

“Look, he may have a little puppy crush on her but it’s no big thing. Even if he does try to tell her something, we have our insurance.”

“Not anymore,” said Siobhan.

“What?” asked Simon. “You gave her the letter?”

“I had to!” she raised her voice and Simon put his finger to his lips.  “I needed her to trust me.  We both need her to trust me.  If she trusts me, I can make sure she trusts you.  That’s our angle, right?”

“Our angle?”

“Look,” said Siobhan. “I didn’t want to be a part of Ricci’s lets-get-Arous plan any more than you want to share her with Jude.  But this is what we have to work with and it was smart for me to give her the letter. And besides, there was nothing in the letter. Ricci doesn’t have to know about it.”

“Ricci knows everything,” said Simon.

“You’re paranoid about Ricci.  Jude is our problem. At the first moment that Jude looks like he’s going to cause us trouble, you have to handle him. And you can trust me to take care of Arous.”

“Don’t worry,” said Simon. “Jude won’t be a problem.”

SIXTY-SIX: One Letter for 1000 Years

Arous,

You are receiving this handwritten letter because it is the most untraceable way for me to communicate with you.  I don’t know what’s important anymore and I don’t know what has happened or where I may be when you get this. But, if you have received this letter then I know that some things are happening according to a plan.

For 193 days, I hid the gift of you in my belly.  As soon as you begin growing, I could feel you.  A gaggle of poisajos – those beautiful, jeweled, giant butterflies crossed the Alippiana River and began following me.  One would sit on the window sill and watch me in school.  I would see them in the trees following me home.  It wasn’t odd to see one or two or even an occasional gaggle of poisajos in the Cusp.  But to see them every day was as unusual as it was wonderful. I knew you were more than just a gift to me then, but a gift to them as well, and even to the whole universe.

On the 193^rd day, the school nurse stared at me: she knew.  My favorite flowing dresses no longer hid you. The Nurse began quarantine papers. The Doctor told me the truth. The whole message poisajos harmonized and flutter-danced outside the Doctor’s window. 

But I ran for 79.  It wasn’t Aunt Bertha who  scared me. She had found me as a baby and cared for me. When others said I should be subject to the graceful sleep laws, she kept me. I was hers. I was afraid of them – the Amalgamese. The Amalgamese take pride in being the perfect race: a melting pot of every people born with blood, mixing and uniting, not to be tampered with.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic melting pot of every race of human in the world.

I had followed no ordinary Amalgamese boy from the usual Amalgamese family. He was a good boy: not to say that normal Amalgamese boys aren’t good. This one was, well, especially, good. In the words of his mother: “He would never deign to associate with such a girl.” That girl was me.

He might have been good in every other way, but inside he is all lies.

They would never let me have you. They would rather burn me.  Because I was Lunese, I’d always been disfavored by the Amalgam system in the Cusp.  There I wasn’t smart as the others.  There they didn’t allow me to participate in other activities outside of school.  There they were afraid. Somewhere was a place for me but the Amalgamese had a hard time getting over the rainbow.

I bobbed and weaved for 79 days guided by the poisajos to a warm barn or a dry cave or a peaceful thicket, until the poisajos led me to the one who would deliver me back to my Aunt Bertha. Then it was too late for them to fix me.

So many of the babes that began to crawl, the Graceful Sleep laws silenced before they even learned to talk. I knew that would happen to you. I couldn’t keep you.  Aunt Bertha found me before the laws were so enforceable.  But by the time I was a very young woman, it wasn’t an individual choice but a choice that could be made by the MOTA to the Cusp.  There was one man who could help me, would help me.  He knew the boy, your father. I knew he’d recognize me. So, one day I followed the poisajos that had been following me. They led me up the steps, into the house and through the door of his Willing Room.

The Diofe was beaming, glowing all over me when I entered. I knew it would be okay. He seemed like such a shining Prince then.

But  I didn’t choose him then except for what he could give me.

My Prince Charming waited for me in the City and I ran to him. I knew he was full of lies. I couldn’t resist him. Little did I know, but neither could the whole world resist him.

As a girl, Aunt Bertha always told me stories about the Thirteen. They were only bedtime stories to me then.  Now, I know what your Father is up to, things no one would dream. But they will happen.

You were born to stop him Arous.  The things he’s planning are beyond this world and the Gray Gurad is only the beginning. This is a war between good and evil, as cliché as it sounds, it is real. You have to find him.  You have to stop him.

Arous, there are two Prince Charmings. One Prince Charming will seduce the whole world to death.  This Prince Charming is your birth father.  Never forget, he is a lie.

One day, I hope to hold you in my arms like I did the day I let you go.

        Don’t panic,

Your Mom