I walk through the doors and Bav jumps up, "Kara! I want you to meet someone."
He's beaming as he directs my attention to the ... breathtaking woman who appears to be in her early thirties. Dressed in an outlandish, off the shoulder, red dress that hugged her womanly curves. Her head of pitch black hair that flowed like soft currents over her shoulders from underneath a black wide brimmed hat, framed her perfect facial features. Her eyes were pitch black....
She's Fae. I realized as she stands up.
"So this is Rakara! I have heard so much about you dear!" She swoops in on me and pulls me in for a hug and kisses each side of my cheeks.
I'm stunned for a moment, "Uh.. Hello." I stumble around my words, "I'm sorry, but you are...?"
She laughs and smacks Bav's arm, "How could you not tell her about me?! Shame on you!"
"I have."Bav says defiantly, turning to me he points to the woman, "Kara, dear, this is my mother, Queen Lirael."
My eyes go wide and I drop into a curtsy, "My apologies your majesty!"
"NO! That's not necessary!" She pulls me up from my curtsy, "We are going to be family soon! You may call me Lirael, or mother. None of this Majesty business, alright?"
"Yes, ma'am, Lirael." I say sheepishly wondering why this woman, Bav's mother likes me instantly.
"So what has Bav told you about me?" I ask curiously.
Her mouth drops open wide in laughter, her fangs exposed should have made her look sinister but do nothing of the sort for me. Bav rubs the back of his neck, his face flushing from embarrassment.
"Oh, I do believe I'm going to make my son feel rather embarrassed if I tell you everything. Come let's sit and get to know one another personally." She drags me over to the love seat and plops us down.
"Without going into too much detail, Bav informed me you are beautiful, intelligent, and of a kind heart. That you make him happy, and now seeing him.... I can see he is happy and much more carefree than he was in our world or on Earth..." Her eyes seem lost in thought or memories, and in this moment Bav makes a request from her.
"Speaking of Earth... how is the place? I have not been there in quite a few years now. Earth years that is."
"Well..." She draws that one word out before continuing, "That Sin I created in the forties in France?"
Bav nods, "Ah yes... what about it?"
"Something brews in the Erl's pan, for Sin and the rest of Man." She speaks in a way that I can understand something is not right but I am unaware of the details. It appears Bav is the only one privy to that information from the looks on Viekar and his mother's faces.
She shakes her head, "He's put the other half within a small boy who's future is grim. I've pushed the creation in his path, to be the savior."
"Very well." Is all Bav says as his shoulders tense as if a weight has been placed upon his shoulders.
His mother turns back to me, "So my dear, Anana has nothing but praises about your teas and food from your shop, shall we go make a nice cup of tea?" She rises to her feet and Viekar's mother quickly stands instead.
"No! No! I will go make it. Stay here and visit." She quickly runs out of the room and Lirael plops back down in the seat.
"Very well." She grumbles but quickly changes her demeanor to a more pleasant one. "So Rakara, what are your plans for the future?"
Caught off guard I stutter at first, "Well..... I ... Well... I am having a new building renovated at the moment, so I was going to wait and see how well the two places did first before expanding any farther. We have expanded our menus slightly, offering simple egg and pastry breakfasts in the morning, and I have hired more employees for different positions that I used to handle myself, but we have just been too busy lately. I would like to buy a piece of farming land outside the city to build a green house and grow some of my seasonal items there so they're available all year, even if it is limited quantities."
"Shrewd business foresight, you have some ideas and plans, very good. What about your wedding to my son?" She sits back comfortably, crossing her legs as she did so.
"Our wedding...?" I look to Bav, who gives me a shrug and a grinning wink as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"A friend of mine is helping me with most of the planning and decorating choices. She has an eye for decor that I do not." I give her a tight lipped smile, hoping she doesn't think I am not enthusiastic about the wedding since I am lacking details.
Her facial features don't change and instead she moves on, "What about your dress?"
I glance at Bav, "Uh... No, I have not made up my mind yet. I have only looked at a few designs."
She claps her hands together and a thick book appears in her hands written in a language I can not understand. On the cover however is a bride with a veil, who looks breathtaking. The photograph is amazing and so well colored.
"Wow! The photographer colored the picture exceptionally well! Amazing!" I say looking at it more closely.
"Oh... You have never seen the technology of Earth have you?" She asks passively and I shake my head.
"I've seen a .. vid dio. recording.?" I try to remember correctly what Bav called it.
"OH! Okay! Yes, good well, the photography is like the videos. No one goes back and colors the photos, it's an exact copy of the view the photographer takes. Now, let's find out what you like."
We sat there for over an hour going through the catalog, showing and picking out things I liked and things I didn't. Anana, Viekar's mother cam out and had everyone go to the table for dinner, taking the now empty scone and tea tray back to the kitchen.
Sitting down at the table, I notice Lirael, Bav's mother, clutching the side of her head.
"Lirael, are you alright? Do you have a headache?" I ask genuinely concerned.
"I'm fine, I am just weary." She says and I notice Bav immediately stand up.
He snaps to me, grabs my hand and snaps me away to our room.
"Stay here, I will explain later. Please just stay here." He instructs.
I am confused at his actions, why would he do that?
I can not hear anything going on, even with the door cracked open. Sighing, I close the door and sit down at the desk and pull towards me a book that was sitting on it. Opening it up, I begin to read a random page.
'.... she breathes new life back into me, this beautiful woman. I never thought I would feel so complete, I feel more complete than before I was split in two...'
I close the book, as I realize this is Bav's personal journal. Now, I realize what he is writing before he comes to bed at night. He's always told me it was important thoughts for future contracts....
I smiled though at the few words I read, and as tempted as I was to read some more, I left the journal alone. I stood up and went to look at the other books that were there nearby. Reading the titles on the ones that held them. A black spine with red shiny letters on it, caught my eye.
"The Fire Within. Sounds interesting." I mumble out loud and take the book from the stack and open it up and read the title page.
'The Fire Within By: S. Ignis 1690/8'
I was impressed this book was one from Jakesha and was written over two hundred years ago. I turn the page and begin reading.
'Many are unaware of the flame inside, marking them as an Elements Catalyst. Those Catalysts are the makers of history, the ones who mark our great turning points in advancing our civilization. It was a Catalyst who created Graphemeium, who united the world of Jakesha, helped design the airships, and who helped save us from certain death if we had not learned to build the towers to live on during the time of the rising waters. We owe the Catalysts so much, but we forget about them, we forgot that there are some of us that are different. They who the Elements have blessed with a heart of fire.'
This is an interesting bit of literature. "Is it a history or a book of fiction?" I rolled my thoughts to myself out loud, jumping in the next instant.
"It's debated and argued as being either." Bav's voice suddenly rings out from behind, making me jump up from the chair.
"You startled me." I inform him, breathless, clutching my chest in a futile attempt to slow my rapid heart down before it beat out of my chest.
"I'm sorry, my love, are you ready to come back down for dinner?" He asks with a forced smile.
"Yes, why did you bring me up here in the first place?" I ask, hoping to get an answer.
He takes an awkward breath in between in teeth, making them hiss. "There's a problem with my mother.... She is not always the woman you got to know earlier..." He begins.
"What do you mean?" Now, I'm really confused.
Groaning he explains, "She acts and behaves differently, while it's still Lirael Queen of the Fae.... it is not my mother you just met. She has three personalities and this other personality is quick to anger and take offense but can be reasonable, depending on how angry she is. She'll look younger than what she did earlier too. Then the other one is the wise, shrewd and crafty side of my mother who will look like an old crone. Don't accept anything from her while she is an old crone, and I do mean anything. I'll sit between you two tonight, so that I may interfere if she acts up, but hopefully my mother comes back quickly."
As he takes my hand, I inquire, "Has she always been like this?"
Bav's jaw tenses, "No... The Erlking cursed her. I'll inform you more on the matter later."
He snaps us back to the dining room and bows to Lirael, who looks even younger than before.
"Your Majesty." Bav takes me down in to his bow, and I quickly curtsy with him.
"So you are the little woman who has stolen Prince Bavarthos heart..." She coldly assesses me with her eyes. "You may sit and eat with us." She dismissively waves her hand and Bav helps me to my seat before taking his own in between his mother and I.
The air had become heavier, making every body tense.
"So Rakara..." Lirael said my name, it rolling off her tongue like an insult.
I quickly look up to her as she smirks, resting her chin on her hand.
"Are you a whore?"
My fork fell on to the plate with a clatter.