We approach our lakefront home from waterside, incoming at a height barely above the gently rolling waves, waves stirred by the northward blowing, light spring breeze.
Jahrae loves flying low to the lakewater. Usually she is unable take us quite this low, what with boaters about the lake in summertime, but it is not yet the new boating season, which traditionally begins on Memorial Day.
Chekresu has water capability. I half expect Jahrae will set down on the water and take us under, ready to explore along the lake bottom. We have made use of this capability only once to date, but I really do not wish to think on that incident again, at least not now.
We have not come up to Lake Winnipesaukee since the ice went out six weeks ago, confounding all the usual ice out prognosticators, most of whom predicted mid-April. Jahrae had 31 March as a date, and I laughed at her choice; the lake rarely sheds its coat before April, and with that in mind, I chose 11 April.
Jahrae had the earliest date in Vicki and David’s General Store pool; in her second ice out contest ever, Jahrae won. No fair! She reminded me of this as soon as the lakewater came into view. First the sailing competition wins, and now this, the things I must endure for love.
The $2,327 she won found its way to a local charity for children, and of course, Jahrae made a few friends with her thoughtfulness.
I look toward our property, now just in front of us. It is nice to see leaves unfolding out of their early season buds; the green adds a spirit inspiring psychological element to the lake experience that is indescribable.
I miss Arrhazon City, and in particular miss our flat in Old City, but it would not take much effort for one to talk me into permanently living as a lake dweller, no matter if we are here on Arrkarhara or on Arrhazon – although here we deal with winter, whereas there we do not.
A call early this morning from M’traliel inspired our unexpected short hop up to the lake. M’tra informed us the house was under time of renewal siege, and the siege group insists upon our presence, in order to complete what she called our ‘post-equinoctial awakening’.
Sounds like a party to me. Jahrae slows us to a snails pace, ready to set the craft down. Looking just ahead of us, I can see quite a few people scattered through the lawn area, awaiting our arrival.
“Jahrae, why don’t you set Chekresu down on the water, and we will moor it at the dock?”
“Good idea, ‘essa; that will save room for what are apparently numerous people celebrating our mid-season change.”
“Do you have any inkling of what this is really all about?” I ask, hoping she has some clue.
“Not me, I know nothing, and apparently you do not know, either. We just celebrated Sérada’s birthday, no one else falls in May, and so birthdays are out as possibilities. Might anyone else be getting married?”
“Not any that I am aware of, J’har,” I reply. Clearly both of us are puzzled. We stop.
“’essa, can you climb out and fasten two tethers from the dock to Chekresu?”
“I can do that, for a fee,” I tease, extracting a faux price that Jahrae will pay no matter if I see to the mooring or not. Yes, I am talking about that.
“Oh, and what is this fee you wish me to pay, my dear ‘essa?” she playfully asks, well knowing.
I knew she would not let the comment slide by. “I will give you the bill later tonight, though I wonder if you have sufficient means to pay.” I get up, grab two synthetic tethers from storage and open the door, ready to jump onto the dock, from where I can fasten to dock and Chekresu. I jump.
Har, Jahrae peers out the door at me playfully, her face frozen in incredulity. “Oh, really now, I cannot pay your price? Who is it that fell asleep on me twice in the past week, hmm?”
I did do as Jahrae suggests; I look up at her and grin, ready to wrap the tether around the black metal cleat fastened to the dock. I delay as my mind drifts away from the task and back to my propensity to fall asleep anywhere, or more specifically on that night, I fell asleep with my face embedded in her crotch. Hey, I was tired! Of course, she could not move very easily, either.
Fortunately, I woke up maybe fifteen or twenty minutes later, but Jahrae patiently lay there with my face firmly attached. As I recall, she was giggling when I woke up, and her fingers were combing through my hair.
Jahrae will never let me live that one down, and I suspect she will mention this incident within the next minute.
“More specifically, who fell asleep with their face in between my legs?”
See, what did I tell you? I knew she would mention this. “You were emitting sleep inducing pheromones, oh, goddess of the night. I…was powerless against them.”
“That is ‘goddess of light’, not ‘goddess of night’, thank you very much.”
“You are your own person; forget that old mythological T’srha. You are the T’srha, who is living right here, right now, and goddess of night is an apt title for you, it certainly fits you better than me. I am your elder and need my sleep, of which you selfishly continue to deprive me out of satiating your sexual thirst.”
I can see Jahrae eye the tether as I hold the other end on the dock; she probably considers pulling on it, and by doing so, dunking me in that semi-frigid lake. Jahrae averts her eyes from the tether back towards me; it is obvious she changed her mind, choosing to speak. “Remember the interview by the pool last fall? I bet that lakewater is nice and warm as well, are you interested in an unplanned swim, ‘essa?”
Jahrae places her hand on the tether, leaning outward with some of her weight upon the rope, too much. My evil twin within temporarily wins out, and I give a sudden, strong, and downward pull on the tether. Ooh, there she goes!
The resulting splash kicks up at me, catching the front of my thighs and some of my abdomen, but it is a small price to pay for my impromptu achievement.
I finish securing Chekresu as Jahrae surfaces, and ooh, she is swearing up a storm, swimming the short distance to the ladder with her usual powerful strokes. I do believe I should remove myself from this dock, quickly. I run.
I can hear people on shore laughing, and I move toward them, past them, calling out my hellos as I wave to everyone while on the run. I pull open the door to the house and scoot inward. Jahrae is about ten metres back, and she is quite intent on catching up to me. I can hear the laughter continue, with the guests encouraging Jahrae onward to capture her prey.
Of course, I am the prey, and I pray I am elusive prey.
I hear yelling as I run up and into the great room. “I am going to get you for that, wench, count on it!”
Har, I love it when she calls me ‘wench’, she sounds so irate-goddess. Oh oh, she is getting closer, I am spending too much time contemplating and giggling, and I giggle louder the closer she gets to me; it is a weakness I must work on.
I run up the stairs towards our bedroom, but she is more determined than I am; prey with apparent poor survival skills. I reach our bedroom; she is right behind me now.
I fall to the floor laughing, and Jahrae squishes, sloshes, and squeaks into the room, a spotted trail of water in her wake. “You are doomed, ‘essa, doomed!”
She pounces on me; my hands are up in self-defence, and our hands paw across one another, gaining purchase, pulling, pushing, twisting, and turning. We wrestle and roll back and forth across the floor. Others are appearing in the doorway, laughing, slowly filing into the room to watch the crazed Arrhazonan couple. Are we really the First Couple of Arrhazon as they claim? Film at 11!
I am soaked, but I care not; this is fun. Jahrae breaks free and tries to get up and chat as if in normal conversation with the sane people in the room, a means of spiritual separation from me, but I pull her back down.
Addie and Serry are in the room, and they love our antics more than anyone else does. I just hope if they start wrestling, Addie takes care, she is so much bigger than Serry now, in fact, Elsrensia measured Addie’s height the other day whilst giving an annual physical – she is now equal to my 187 centimetres. My concentration breaks; Jahrae strikes at my weakness.
“Ah ha, ha ha ha ahh, Jahrae, don’t tickle me!” She is tickling my ribs and I am inordinately vulnerable there, as opposed to my feet – of course, she knows this and this is why she strikes in that precise location.
My turn; I go for behind her knees – look at her squirm!
“No, not my knees, no, llhaesa, no!” After ten seconds, I stop, we both do; we take sitting positions on the floor, our legs stretched out. I am laughing; Jahrae is laughing, everyone is laughing. Someone is taking our pictures…Ronnie! “Ronnie, just you wait, we will get even for those pictures!
Jahrae, look at you, you are all wet, and now I am as well. Whatever happened to you? Did you fall in the lake on the way in? That was quite a clumsy thing to do!” I cannot resist giving a reminder of what started these antics.
“Very funny, ‘essa. You had best be on your guard, because I will get even!” Jahrae threatens, and I know she means what she says.
“Wait,” I protest. “You dunked me last fall, so now we are even!”
“In your dreams; that is not how I see this, my dear. And my opinion is the one that counts. Now if everyone will excuse me, I would like to change my clothing for something less…moisture laden.”
“You wish me to leave? I have to change my clothing as well!”
“You can stay.”
“Why, thank you, goddess of night. By the way, can someone tell us what this party is for?”
“Sure,” M’traliel pounced on the question. “It is spring, this is a beautiful location, all of us have been working hard, and we need to celebrate ourselves and our renewal of life. I am thrilled the two of you got us off to an uproarious start today!”
“I’m glad you liked our entertainment, now shoo!” I hear Jahrae call out to them. M’traliel leads the way, and the others dutifully follow. I get up and close the door, then begin to remove my sopping wet clothing, while Jahrae does the same.
Once our clothing is off, I remark, “How about we go down like this and provide further ‘entertainment, J’har?”
“I bet your brother David would like this version,” J’har quipped.
“May I remind you there is a herd of dykes down there as well?”
“Your point is accepted and well taken.”
I walk into the bath and emerge with two bath towels, one for me, and one for my wetter partner.
“Thank you, ‘essa. I must admit drying off is rather comforting.”
I say nothing, and concentrate on my own towelling off. With this done, I move on to clothing, now unsure if I wish to wear jeans or shorts. I opt for shorts, a light tan pair that are moderately short; I do not like the near knee length ones. Hey, I have a 92-centimetre inseam, and prefer my legs to be unencumbered and free.
Jahrae chooses shorts as well. A good choice, as she has great legs. “Are you ready, oh goddess of beauty?”
“Goddess of beauty? What happened to ‘goddess of night’?”
“You dismissed that term as not acceptable.”
“I see, so you try another and see if this one is acceptable?”
“No, I just tried another on a whim. This one seems more appropriate in the moment.”
Ooh, she likes this response, and rewards me with a hug and a kiss. Am I manipulative or endearing – or both? No matter, I like the result. “Shall we go downstairs, goddess of parties present?”
“You goof!”
She always calls me a goof; ergo, I must be a goof. I have looked at the English definition of ‘goof’, and rather like the ‘cause of amusement’ one. That fits.
We head downstairs and outside, where I spot Ronnie, who has the now ten-month-old Ahrella riding frontpack. I need to check in with my baby, who can now crawl as if the wind is at her back, finding her way into everything she should not touch. A more recent development is her attempt to say words. Will her first word be in Arrhazonan or English?
Ronnie is standing with Khahishra, Anita, Saehressa, and Dottie. The grandmothers have Khahishra and Ronnie cornered. I hug and greet each after first greeting our child. I ask which language Ahrella will first invoke.
Dottie, Saehressa, and Ronnie go with Arrhazonan first, Anita and Khahishra with English.
“How about you, ‘essa, which do you believe will be first?” Anita asks.
“I will let Ahrella choose,” I reply, deadpan. I wink at the same time.
Jahrae joins us, handing me an already opened beer. She pulls a swig from her bottle, while I mimic her action with mine, realising too late she smirks wickedly.
“Ugh, what the hell is in that, J’har?” I call out immediately after spitting the swig back out in a spectacular projectile spray that fortunately misses everyone but makes them laugh. It tasted like Tabasco, and well, I am not big on Tabasco beer. I am making a face of taste-rejection, and I unwittingly make Ahrella giggle, which in turn makes everyone in the group laugh more.
“I added a bit of Tabasco to spice you up,” is her immediate confession. “I should have aimed that spray at you,” is my retort.
Addison, Sérada, and Casey wish to go in the water. I think my sixteen-year-old stepsister crushes on my seventeen-year-old daughter. I hope this crush is merely family bonding; I think it is. I pray it is. Casey is still getting used to girl-life after finally admitting the truth; she will find a very pleasant surprise waits upon reaching Arrhazon.
“Yes, you may go in the water, but Addie and Casey, you two have my direct mandate to watch out for and take care of Serry.”
“We will,” Addie replies, stepping up to smooch me on the cheek. Damn, I cannot believe she is as tall as, and how she looks virtually identical to, me; this is spooky at times. I could probably get away with being her at school, at least in wintertime. Addie hasn’t quite filled out in the breasts and hips to match me – yet.
They are off to change to play in what Jahrae knows is very cool water. I actually like cold water at times; at least I remember liking it on my stay at E’sphara’s Artist Colony. Speaking of E’sphara, I need to ring her, though I will not do this on a party day. Tomorrow.
I move on to greet others at the party; oh, there is Susan Woodward, whom I have not seen in ages; she is chatting with Jamie Collins. “Hello, Susan, hello Jamie!” I excitedly call out on my approach, while my arms outstretch, proffering a hug to each in turn.
After several minutes, Jamie moves on to chat with Vicki, while Susan and I continue to chat for a long while, deciding we need to do Reiki together. Tim asked Susan to teach ‘him’ Reiki, but of course, fate intervened and now ‘I’ am back, one long practising and skilled in the Arrhazonan version, Aailhra. I look forward to this, and if we ask my mum and Jahrae to join in, it could be an excellent session.
I ask Susan if she is interested in joining us for the trip back home. We leave in less than two months.
“Are you serious? I would love to accompany all of you and experience your world. Count me in!”
“I had a feeling you would join us, Susan, which is why I asked. Would you care for another round of refreshment?” I am suddenly playing host, even though M’traliel threw this party. I must be getting territorial!
“I would, ‘essa; I would like to try one of Jahrae’s famous lavender concoctions, I hear they are unlike any other on Earth!”
“You might say that, and I accede to your wishes so long as you spend the night right here.”
“I agree; of course I planned to stay from the first.”
The party continues through the afternoon and into the evening. M’traliel even hired a caterer, and they have served food ever since their first arrival around noon.
The sun is setting, and someone suggests we walk over to the beach and watch the…sun – I must remember to call it that – find its way to the western horizon.
There are around forty of us on the beach looking westward, and initially things were quite animated and noisy. As the sun grows larger through the ministrations of atmospheric illusion, we collectively quiet, watching.
High-level clouds invisible in the brighter light of day suddenly gain visual reality, creating an array of light and dark colouring that enthrals and inspires our beach standing horde. Partners are pairing off, including Jahrae, who slips her arm around my waist. Serry stands to my front, and I have my arms draped over her shoulders, holding her tight. Addie is with Casey, and Ahrella sleeps in our home.
No matter where, seeing a star complete its daily assignment for our portion of the world is always captivating and inspiring, as if on some primal level we pay homage to our celestial roots. My roots may lie with a different star, but I can still find a connection with its sister, disappearing before my eyes.
Arrkarhara – damn, the sun – is gone; our collective spell breaks. Slowly, people begin to move about, now at a slower, deeper, reflective pace, with voices correspondingly lower in volume. Someone suggests a campfire on the beach, and I agree to this, teaming with Addie and Jahrae to bring down the necessary firewood.
Serry wishes to toss the match on the paper to ignite the timeless symbol of human manipulation of nature. I agree, and she does so expertly.
As if someone has given instructions, the pliant group metamorphoses into a roughly circular entity, fire to our centre, as if a newly created beach-bound star around which we choose to placidly orbit, admiring what we fashioned with our hands.
We celebrate our creative inspiration by looking deep into its flickering orange, red, indigo, and white mysteries. The fire bonds with us, choosing politely to send its exhaust directly upward into the sky; nature saw to it there is no wind stirring on this mid-spring night.
I hear a snap, and assume the fuel of our fire calls out one more cracking gaseous release; another splinter of wood separated from the whole.
Sudden movement pulls my attention left; M’traliel collapses sideways into Khahishra. Time downshifts our little pocket of the universe, the universal gears now taking us into slow motion. Everything I see, I process in frustratingly slow increments.
I see M’traliel’s face, she looks as if…I see blood on her chest now, blood that rapidly spreads across her white tee onto Khahishra, while Khahishra’s mouth begins to fashion and emit a scream that pierces through the once serene and peaceful night.
Jahrae calls for everyone to drop to the sand.
I know now.
I scurry off the beach, and once in the shelter of trees, my time resets to normal. I run as fast as my legs have ever carried me, across the lawn, onto the dock, to Chekresu. I bother not with the tethers; I release the door and jump in, the door sealing behind me. I take off, pulling half the dock with me, half of it remaining; it is broken in two, the outward section carried along by Chekresu. I am outraged.
Systems tell me what I already instinctively know: there is a small but speedy craft less than two tenths of a kilometre off our beach, beginning to move away. We never saw it, but I see it now. They saw Chekresu and now speed away.
Three people are on board that boat, each with a weapon that cannot hide their presence from Chekresu’s sensors. They have multiple weapons; AK-47s and sniper rifles. The latter type of weapon is what felled M’traliel. Sensors, running even when Chekresu was not in use, recorded three shots fired, two after Jahrae’s prescient warning to lie prone in the sand.
I am over the boat now, and I fry their weapons, instantly. Their hands are likely not in good shape. I release the tether holding the half of the dock still with Chekresu and it plunges into the lake. I am tempted to sink their boat; I feel a powerful urge push me into vaporising their boat. I wish to kill these pricks even as their boat moves away from our gathering. I am enraged.
The system that would do this is programmed and active, ready to turn three human lives to less than dust. I begin to depress the triggering switch when an onrushing wave of Aailhra sweeps through body, mind, and soul. My dad – it is my dad, and somehow I hear him say to me “no, do not do this, llhaesa, be true to you; please be true to whom you are and to what you believe.”
I pull my hand away from the switch.
“Dad? Dad, I hear you, and you are right. Thank you.” I speak aloud, the spoken words simulcasting my inner thoughts. Goddess, he is right.
I call authorities and advise of the situation. Ending the call, I deploy self-fastening electronic grips onto the escaping boat. They are powerless to stop this, and once the devices signal their attachment and online status, I lift their boat out of the water and rapidly increase forward speed. “Have fun, you are about to make a rapid one way trip to the closest police station, courtesy of me,” I yell out defiantly.
A minute later, I release the boat from a height of three metres, their boat landing with a jarring, bouncing, and rocking thud in the middle of the police parking lot, where officers, weapons drawn and pointed, surround them. I turn Chekresu away and head back for the beach, setting down behind the unmoving group of family and friends.
I run out and through everyone, all stepping aside before my approach, as if they awaited my arrival and believe I must be with my friend. Elsrensia works feverishly on M’traliel, Elsrensia’s face reflecting despondence and despair. She authoritatively commands, “llhaesa, get a gurney off of Chekresu, stat!”
I run again for the craft, releasing the door, climbing in, running through, grabbing the gurney, and running back out. The crowd left a passage through which the gurney floats through to the awaiting Elsrensia.
I fall to my knees and I pray; I pray loudly, I pray frantically. I vaguely hear others join with me.
I pray to Goddess, I pray for my friend, I pray for her life. I pray.
