Firelight by starlight
By Lisanne and Kai
Firelight, illuminating a group of figures sitting on logs clustered round it keeping warm. The resins in the wood spit and crackle, sending bright glowing showers of sparks into the air to be borne upward toward the cold specks of starlight in the cloudless night sky. The storyteller, silent for now, gazes up at the vastness of space, wondering if her stories are hers alone or come from other worlds, other lives. Do they fall down on showers of moonlight, a counterpoint to the specks of burning wood that are carried aloft? How old are the tales when they arrive? Fresh and immediate, from the past since they took so long to travel, or from the future as wormholes blossom like strange flowers in space permitting egress to worlds yet unvisited by her?
"Tell us a story," they say, passing round the horn of ale, the can of beer, the Aldebaran wine. What shall it be tonight? Once upon a time, or, In a galaxy far, far away? Which of the many voices in her head are clamouring loudest for attention now they have wakened them up by the time honored phrase?
"We're fine now," says Miut, waving as she walks off in a cloud of orange and cedar incense among the giant statues of Sekhmet.
"About this demon you saddled me with," begins Mouse, looking at Zaylar who stamps his tiny hooves and folds his arms across his bare chest.
"I saddled with you!" says Zaylar crossly, his tiny furred tail trembling. "Talisman you promised me! When we go get this book of locations of demon amulets so I can teach you to control your powers?"
Mouse shrugs and looks at me. "Up to her, not me, but I'm gettin' tired of sitting around here." The sweep of her arm takes in the library of the late wizard's home, now hers.
Kusac shrugs expressively, ears flicking, tail tip rising and falling rhythmically on the bed beside him. "Well, you left me in this cell, but I have plenty to eat right now so I can wait it out a few days. But I don't intend to stay here for long."
Shaidan, the cub, tugs at my cardigan, making me look round to see him. He's so like his father, long black hair with a sheen of blue like a raven's wing, high cheekbones emerging form the plumpness of his child's face, amber eyes gazing soulfully at me. "I want to go home."
Kaid glances at Carrie who nods. He throws me a message crystal. Transparent red shot with purple shimmers, it glints in the air as it describes a lazy arc over the fire. I catch it as he says, "These are our plans for the next few weeks. You'll know what to do with them. Just hurry up, will you, we want to see Kusac again sooner rather than later."
I smile absently and pocket the crystal.
Laughter in my mind and the smell of nung flowers. "Entities have their place, too," says Vartra, pointing to his dzinaes, the males and females sent to divert us when we get too serious. "How was your natural disaster?" he asks one.
"Well, not too bad, but that hurricane in the desert last week was not one of my best. It went a bit wobbly on me and spun off in completely the wrong direction."
"It was fine," he says soothingly. "Try a volcano next time. Lots of fire and molten rock and ash. Colorful."
I stir, turning my attention to him. "You don't affect the weather, or Shola's soil."
He smiles enigmatically, a Human smile that just shows his canines. "Don't I? Are you our chronicler or creator?" he askes as he fades from my sight leaving the echo of his gentle laugh floating upward into the night sky with the sparks from the fire.
Leaning forward, I poke the fire with my stick, flicking the wood round the edges closer to the flames. In their depths I see their faces, the familiar mixed with the legions yet to make themselves known to me. Their mouths open as they call out, but I can't hear their words yet, their hands reach for me, plucking at me, demanding and pleading their stories be told.
Firelight by starlight begins to fade. I corral them, push them back where they belong, then I'm back in front of the computer. The scent of alien flowers permeates the room. I sigh and get up. Time for a break, or time for bed so the whole cycle can begin again? It's only 4 am, not dawn -- yet.
