Brian’s eyebrows furrowed in a way that AJ found almost irresistible. Funny, how that thought came to him in the middle of this shock. But he had to resist the urge to lean in and smooth those lines away.
“God of Fire and Air?” Brian asked slowly. “I thought our magic was just elemental. I mean, I know I don’t know a lot yet, but I got the impression that I could use all of them. I know that in my child memories I have some of making it rain, or playing with water.”
How to explain all of this? AJ bit his lip and looked down at the small girl in his hands. “Mine Aishee, I beg leave to bring the others over, for I know the firelight would be bright in your eyes, and I fear the damage that may come to your wings if we would be too close.” His voice held the note of respect that came with speaking with a Priestess of the Fey. Her rank was high among her people, second only to the Queen, above even the Queen’s husbands. But, though he never used it, his rank was high enough that he had the privilege of speaking to them any way he wanted without offending. He never did that, though, in his efforts to respect their culture.
Aishee smiled at him, and as always he felt the happiness. A side effect of the fey was that their emotions could leak through to you if you weren’t careful. Their joy could become yours, and their pain could make you weep at the sight of it. “Bring them forth, Alyck, so all with you might know the story.” She permitted, dropping his title to show that she was willing to dispense with formalities. He relaxed a little more. That meant that he was allowed to talk slightly less formal with her.
With a gesture AJ brought everyone over to him. Brian stayed by his side, and the others sat, forming a circle. On AJ’s other side sat Howie, his face relaxed. He’d met Aishee before, and knew part of the story. The rest, though they had met her, had no idea what she was talking about. It was easy to see that Geoff and Richard both agreed with Brian’s question and comments.
Leaping lightly, Aishee moved to AJ’s shoulder and sat, tucking her wings against her body. Once she was settled, he took hold of Brian’s hand. “Now, to answer you, love, you’re right. You can touch all of the elements, just like I can, just like Howie. But, sometimes we just, I don’t know how to put this right. Connect, I guess. We connect with some just a little bit more than others. Like Geoff and water. The way he works with others is so small that it’s almost not there. But he’s as strong in water as Howie is, and almost you.”
AJ looked back out at his friends, hoping Geoff hadn’t been offended by what he said. His friend smiled at him in reassurance. Content again, AJ directed his words at all of them, wanting to make sure everyone understood. “I’ve always been the most comfortable with earth and water. While my air and fire and spirit are strong, I worked with them to get them that way. Earth and water, well, I don’t really have to think when I use them.”
“His is the strength of creation.” Aishee chimed in with her tinkling voice. “To heal the earth and bring it life. Water, a soothing presence, a healing one. Both are needed to create and heal.”
The corners of AJ’s mouth quirked. “Aishee speaks true. But Brian, well, she says that yours is fire and air. I think you’ll find that those two will be the easiest for you to work with. Yours is a strength that’s, well, mainly of passion I’d say. Fire, to symbolize emotions and desire, not just of the flesh but desires of the heart. Air to fan the flames, to carrying your feelings and your words to places they need to be. Another way of looking at it is like, well, Air can help to create heat, to warm things and fan them as needed, but it can also cool them, or soothe as needed.”
The little Fey flitted over to Brian, hovering in front of his face. AJ saw the colors pulse through her light. “You are dragon spirit.” She told him. “To ride the air, and to shower others with your flame. There is a nobility to you, and a silver tongue. Once there were others like you, and they ruled the skies. Might be that such may again come to pass. You are a good partner for Alyck.”
“What is Alyck’s spirit?” Brian asked her gently, using AJ’s true name so as not to confuse the fairy. AJ felt his lips curve as he, like everyone else, watched Aishee and Brian smile at one another.
“Alyck has many names among us beside his God name. Tad ddaear is one.”
At her pause, AJ captured her attention for a second. “I know your English is hard sometimes, mine Aishee. If it would not offend you, might you allow me to speak and explain both versions of mine name to them? They do not speak Welsh.”
Her head bowed in acquiesce. A smile still curved AJ’s lips when he looked back at his friends, and Aishee moved to sit on his shoulder again. “Tad ddaear is a name they gave me that literally translates to Father Earth. I am also called by them as Iachawr, or healer; Rhoddwr bywyd, giver of life. But aside from my God name, I am mostly known to them as the name I was given when our pact was first made: Tad arth. That would be Father Bear.”
A small chuckle escaped from Richard. “Father Bear?” he teased AJ with a twinkle to his eyes.
Under normal circumstances AJ would have laughed with him and teased in return. But Richard didn’t understand the fey, or what he had just done in Aishee’s eyes. AJ did, but he wasn’t fast enough to catch Aishee before she launched off of his shoulder. He barely had enough time to make his weaves, and make them small enough that he could wrap air around her wrists and hold her back. “Aishee, enough! Digon!” AJ yelled, his voice tighter than he would normally use with her.
Richard had sat back when her glowing form had started across the circle. Now he looked around him, and back at AJ. “What is this, Alyck?”
With as much care as possible, AJ pulled Aishee back toward him until she rested on the ground at his feet. She still strained against him and his weaves, so he used earth to bring the dirt up around her feet and ankles, then firmed it around her so that she couldn’t move, no matter how hard she fought. “Sorry, Rich.” AJ apologized to his friend with a smile. “In her eyes you just insulted me with the laughter in your voice when you said that. The Fey have strong beliefs, and are big on ceremony and respect. They name me Father Bear becuase I protect them as a father would, and they honor me with the bear as bears are strength and intelligence.”
“I meant no disrespect, Alyck.” Richard bowed his golden head in a sign of respect. Not for the first time AJ thought what a waste it was that someone as handsome as Richard had no one to walk through life by his side. With blond hair that was so dark it was almost brown, cropped close to his head in a military fashion, and a face with strong features and compelling green eyes, it was amazing that he led such a celebrate life, until you knew the reasons why. AJ knew those reasons, but he kept them to himself. Richard’s business was his own, and he deserved his privacy. Everyone deserved their secrets.
“I know you didn’t, Richard, and none was taken.” AJ reassured him. He looked down at Aishee and added the next part for her benefit. “So as the earth moves and the water flows does such pass through me but never stay. Mine honor is mine own, and it is pure and strong.” God, it had been so long since he’d had to speak this way, yet he remembered all the old rituals as if he still lived in the Faerie hill, even though he had left there centuries upon centuries ago. Seeing Aishee brought it all back to the front, as well as a wave of longing.
With the Fey it had been one of the few places that AJ had felt totally at home. There had been a peace to their home. Despite the difference in their size, he had loved and been loved there, and had built a home atop their hill. When he’d lived there they had come and gone as they pleased between his home and theirs, until the two were so closely connected that stepping into the house was almost the same as stepping into the hill. The magic bound the two together.
AJ’s eyes grew wide with his thoughts. He vaguely heard Aishee’s apology, so lost in thought was he. He didn’t notice Brian channeling earth and air to break the dirt off Aishee’s feet and blow it away. Every one of AJ’s thoughts were turned inside. How could he have missed it?
They were looking for somewhere to hide themselves. What better than a house built over a Faerie hill, protected by spells as old as the land itself and surrounded by those who would both rejoice at his homecoming and who would help keep them hidden for the time being? Another part of his mind admitted that going to them might help his heart heal as well. The instant he made the decision to head to there, something inside of him sighed and eased. Something that wasn’t just tension, but was connected to his core. Though he had no idea what was going on, that part of him was calling in a way he hadn’t felt in so long; long enough that he hadn’t recognized it until just now.
With a deep breath he pulled back out of his mind and into reality. “High Priestess Aishee.” He called, invoking her title so that she’d understand the seriousness of what he had to say. Instantly Aishee was floating before him, her eyes locked onto his with the intensity that was considered the highest respect you could give someone when they spoke to you, in the world of the Fey. “
“Tad arth, what is it you wish of one so humble as mine own?”
“Speak to me of home. I needs hear what has befallen our people since last I saw those who are mine. As you were called, so my heart calls to me. There is trouble among the Fey. By blood, by health, by oath I am bound to come to aid those who are sworn to me and whom I am sworn to. Yet this I do, not just by oath but by heart. So I ask again. Speak to me of home.” He had been as blunt as he dared while speaking of something so solemn. To skip the ceremony would have insulted her.
The light around Aishee pulsed again, until it was almost faded. Fear crept into AJ’s heart. He knew the language of their lights, and knew that her light going that pale was not good. When she spoke, it only confirmed his fears. Her voice was as low as her light, so that all around had to lean in to hear her.
“It lays my heart bear, Tad arth, to bring such news to your ears. We weep with the sight of it.” And suddenly she was weeping, a sound that tore through them all .AJ saw tears on the faces of everyone who surrounded them. Only his face stayed dry, though he did allow his hand to lace through Brian’s again and to squeeze it tight. Something bad was coming. What she said next almost shattered him. “Bydd y goeden bywyd yn marw cyn bo hir.”
Pain filled AJ until he thought he would buckle. A pulse of love and strength came to him through his bond to Brian in response to the pain inside of him. That pain touched on the wounded parts inside, flaring them to life. “The Tree of Life is dying?” he whispered hoarsely.
A loud gasp drew everyone’s attention. Isleen sat, clenching her skirt in her fists, her eyes wide. “I’ve heard tale of the Fey Tree of Life.” She told them. “There’s no way that it can die. It’s magic. The life of the Fey and the Tree are bound together. So long as they Fey are alive, the Tree lives. So long as the Tree lives, so do the Fey.”
“So it should be.” Aishee mourned to them. “But still, it dies. Slowly. We felt it start, but we knew not what it was. Then the leaves started to fall though it was not fall. The leaves should not be falling yet. Each day it withers a little more. Our people are withering with it. All around the ground grows dry and the flowers fail to grow. Soon the Great Tree shall be gone, and the fey with it.”
AJ held his hands out to accept Aishee in them. He cupped her there, almost completely closing his hands over her small form. He opened his magic, brushing it against her, sensing the presence that was her. Was the light of her aura slightly dimmer than normal? That connection that bound all of her kind to the Great Tree slightly diminished? All of that was true, but there was something else. Something about the connection that didn’t seem normal. A trace overtop it that wasn’t quite right.
Running off of instinct, AJ bent down, his face over top his hands. A tone tear fell, dropping into his palm before running down to pool at Aishee’s feet. She drew her magic in, and he drew his, and they melded together. With the water in his tear and the water of hers, he wrapped them together and drew the water around her. She didn’t flinch, but instead let her magic combine with his and the water, until both were glowing. AJ opened his hands, raising her up. He lowered one hand, keeping her balanced on the other.
With that free hand he took hold of Brian’s and brought it up with him, turning it palm up to rest directly underneath the hand that held Aishee. He felt Brian’s magic join theirs, until they all melded into one. It was one of the greatest sensations that a person could ever have. Senses were heightened, your pulse raced, your mind cleared. Nothing ever felt better than a magical healing meld.
“You used your strength to find me.” AJ spoke gently, his magic filled to the brim. As he had thousands of years ago, he now looked at the Fey in his hand and felt love in his heart, as well as a protectiveness. “You have almost burned your magic away to answer the call, daughter of mine heart.”
Aishee spread her arms, stretching them toward the sky, her head thrown back. “I am humbled in the presence of my God.” She spoke in Welsh. “To stand in your glorious magic and the magic of your Consort, all becomes worthwhile.”
“Yet more shall you receive, Priestess of my people. So I am sworn to protect, so are we both sworn to serve.”
The flow of magic around Aishee changed; the tears swirled around her faster and faster, making her and her light almost a blur in his palm. AJ felt Brian’s moan straight down to his toes. It took everything he had not to moan with him. To throw his head back to the heavens and cry out with the sheer pleasure that poured through him. It grew and grew until, suddenly, the light around them exploded.
Brian’s hand dropped away and he slumped backward, panting heavily. By sheer will only did AJ managed to keep from doing the same thing. He still panted, but he maintained his seat, and the hand that held Aishee, who was now glowing with the brightness he was used to seeing on the Priestess. Her little face was lit with a joy so strong that AJ could feel the echo in his heart, bubbling up like laughter.
“You have made me whole again!” Aishee cried. She shot up into the air, twirling and spinning quickly, her laughter echoing through the trees. When finally she landed back on his hand, her face was still lit with her laughter. “I can still feel the pull from the taint in the Great Tree, but I have mine own strength again. I have been healed by the Duw Tân ac Awyr and his ffrind, the Duw o Ddaear a Dŵr. Blessed be the night!” With another laugh she floated into the air and rested atop his head.
For the first time since this had started, AJ raised his head and looked around him. The others were all slumped back in their seats, looks of pleasure on their faces. AJ could tell that they had felt the backlash of his magic as it had pulsed around them and exploded into the night. They had all received a taste of the pleasure that came from that meld.
Rising to his feet, AJ looked at each face in turn. The faces of those that he loved. Howi, who loved him like a brother. Fought with him when they were mad. Put him in his place when he needed it. Howi, who could be livid with him, but would always stand behind him, no matter what the call.
Marzio was looking at him and smiling. It was because of AJ that this man smiled at all. Though he wasn’t strong in magic, Marzio had a better talent; he was able to sense and understand both magic and its weaves. He had been immortal and alone for so long, made by a creator who had then been killed by Roth for his crime of creating another in the area of Italy without his permission first. He had wandered for years alone, broken in his heart, until he had found Sofia and brought her to AJ for help to turn her, fearing his strength wouldn’t be enough.
He shifted his gaze from Marzio to Sofia, who was by Marzio’s side as always. Her hair was swept up onto her head, artfully spilling down over her ears. Those wide, innocent eyes dominated her face, catching at AJ’s heart the same way they had the first time that he had seen her. Marzio had found AJ at his home of the time, in Ireland, and had brought Sofia to him. One of Roth’s followers had laid a weave of spirit and earth in the mortal girl that was slowly draining her strength away. There was barely enough time to save her when AJ got to her, but he managed to remove the weaves as much as possible, and then counteract them by turning her immortal. She and Marzio had been inseparable since then.
Next in the circle sat Richard. His British friend had no idea who created him, though AJ had suspicions. They had first met in the Welsh Uprising of 1211, when the people of Wales rebelled against King John of England. At the time, AJ had been living in Wales, while Richard was serving in the British military. When they’d come across the land, they had felt one another. Richard was good at sensing people nearby, but other than that his magic was almost nothing. It was his mind that was the prize. He had been driven solely by the purpose of finding his maker before trying to find a way to end his own life. AJ had kept him there in the hills of Wales and taught him to live his own life.
Now he looked to Geoff, though that wasn’t the name he had when he and AJ had first met. Then he had been Haloke Little Creek, his first name meaning Salmon. In his tribe he had been known for his connection to the ocean and had been very blessed among his people. But, much the same as Alyck’s story, someone came and slaughtered Haloke’s people. Not to find him the way Alyck had been found, but simply for the slaughter. But Haloke had survived, and the backlash of magic used had turned him immortal, though he hadn’t know. It was a mystery to this day how it happened. He had been nameless when AJ had come across him in France, not longer after that the man who would become Geoff had survived. With AJ’s help he extracted his revenge, which AJ firmly believed was due, and then AJ helped him create a new life.
Last was Isleen. There was such a story between them, one that everyone knew, for Isleen wasn’t shy about her past. She held no shame anymore about being hunted as a witch, or about her empathic ability. She was one of the tenderest souls that AJ had ever known.
AJ looked to his side, down at his lover’s hair. He placed one hand on those golden curls. Out of them all, this was the one he knew would always be on his side. This was his partner in life, and they would never be separated again, so long as they could both control it. But the others…they had the right to make a choice.
His steady perusal of them had drawn everyone’s attention to him. Because of that he did not need to raise his voice when he spoke for it to carry to them all.
“For a long time I have been sworn to the Tylwyth Teg, and they to me. I took an oath to honor them, to protect them, and yet to serve, for who can truly be a protector to a people without serving them? In my protection is my service. Many times the Tylwyth Teg has come to my aid. They have healed my heart in ways similar to the ties I hold with all of you.”
He looked again from eye to eye, wanting them to hear his words, to understand the power in them. When he was sure that they were all understanding the seriousness of his words, he continued.
“Though you haven’t been there to understand what this means, it is a frightening prospect that the Great Tree of Life is dying. The loss it would be to our lives, and the danger it represents, cannot be ignored. I fear what’s been done to make it like this. I fear my own enemy is attacking me through those that mean the world to me. Yet despite this, because of this, I have to go. By my heart and my word I am bound to go and try to save my Tylwyth Teg. None of you have to come with me. I want that clear now. I am not telling you that you’ll come with me. You are all free people to do as you wish. I only know how I must be.”
Briefly he sent love down the bond, and got understanding and love back from Brian. Good. His partner knew that when he said ‘I’ it was really ‘we’. They were one now. There was no going back for them. There hadn’t been before, but with the joining they’d done from AJ’s nightmare, they were well and truly bonded now.
Isleen was the first to stand. “I will go with you, Alyck. It would be an honor.”
Next stood Howie. His smile was the same crooked grin that AJ had known for millennia. “You know I’m always with you, Alyck. No matter what.”
“As are we.” Marzio and Sofia said, rising gracefully.
Richard and Geoff rose as well, echoing the sentiments.
Without a word Brian stood. He wrapped one arm around AJ’s waist, drawing their bodies near. Love was a steady feeling between them.
AJ’s heart felt light. He couldn’t help but smile at them all, this group of his. Bound together by ties stronger than anything. Bound together by love for one another. Love for him.
He raised his head to stare at the moon, his face lit by an inner light. “So shall it be.” He spoke softly.