Chapter 23.ma – Meeting of the Minds
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Acceptance of the Self

Book 1: Attunement of the Hearts

Chapter 23.ma - Meeting of the Minds

___________________ ღ♥ღ ___________________

Madelaine

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ •.¸ ¸.• ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

 

[ - Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 11:45pm - David’s House - ]

 

Ellie sits in an uncomfortable plastic chair before a game of Dungeons & Dragons that’s going full swing, with miniature figurines for each player and each enemy on a huge map in the center of the table. Ellie’s mini avatar is a demon-lady cloaked in deep purple robes, while Dawn’s is a tall elven cleric in a flowing white dress. They’ve been playing for a little over an hour now, and I’ve grown tired of watching them.

 

I take one last look at the viewing screen before I turn and leave the giant black-barked tree housing it. I walk out to the beach, and find a spot to sit down in the sand a few meters away from the surf. 

 

I stare out at the ocean, and I allow my thoughts to bloom. All of my senses dim as I focus inwards, concentrating on returning to the memory of the lighthouse that I’m trying to make into my private sanctuary.

 

In that other reality, I sit with my legs crossed on a polished wooden floor. In this room, the storm outside is reduced to a low level background sound, with the occasional crack! of thunder and flash of lightning. I take a deep breath, inhaling the scents of lavender and pine that permeate the air. When I open my eyes I'm greeted with the sight of huge bay windows looking out into a dark, stormy sky. The view beyond the lighthouse is totally obscured by roiling grey clouds, we're literally inside the storm.

 

I smile as I listen to the rain pounding on the glass. I always found storms to be peaceful, good for thinking. Hence why, the last time I’d come here, I'd conjured this tempest up by imagining the sounds of rain and thunder, the sight of lightning and clouds, the smell of ozone and potential, and all the million other little sensory tidbits that signify storm in my mind, and made them my reality with a bit of focus and determination.

 

Unfortunately, it still takes me a decent amount of concentration to maintain this imaginary setting. If something distracts me, it’s like being shaken out of a dream. 

 

Which is exactly what happens moments later when I feel a tingle across my whole mind, and gain an awareness of someone new arriving in my headspace. A moment later, Anne materializes beside me in the sand of the viewing tree’s beach, also sitting cross legged with her big brown skirt hiding her legs.

 

Hey Anne, I say through the mental equivalent of grit teeth, forcing myself to keep my focus on the lighthouse room while a small bit of my attention is reserved for lifting my beachside body’s head and turning to look at Anne. Hey, at least this is good practice.

 

“Hello Maddie,” she says softly. “I hope I’m not interrupting? I have some urgent news for you and Ellie.”

 

I turn my full focus back to the beach mindspace, and raise my head to stare at her. She looks grim, and serious. Oh boy, I think to myself. So much for practice.

 

“Not at all,” I say, banishing my hold on the lighthouse room for now, “I’ll get Ellie.”

 

I stand up and offer Anne a hand up on instinct, which she takes and uses to pull herself to her feet. “Thank you,” she says. 

 

I feel my cheeks heat up. “Um, you’re welcome,” I say. 

 

I rush inside the viewing tree at a speed that surprises me, before I remember I’m still in my own head here, too, and my only thought just now was ‘get away from this situation’. I’m guessing the only thing that kept me from being this fast before was my own inhibitions.

 

I zoom over to the big screen displaying what Ellie’s eyes and ears are seeing and hearing, and come to an abrupt stand still when I decide to stop. 

 

Out the eye-window, I can see we’re still seated at the east side of the table between Dawn on our right and Derek on our left, facing off against Carl, Brandon, and David respectively. Trevor sits at the head of the table as always, and right now he’s busy rolling dice to determine just how fucked Carl’s Druid character is now that the skeleton vampire lich has a hold of him. I take all of this information in at a glance, then focus my attention on communication.

 

Hey cutie, I say to Ellie internally, Anne’s here with an important message.

 

Anne joins me a moment later before the viewing screen, and as she does Ellie flickers into existence beside me. She’s still in her beautiful girly body, but now she’s dressed in the same purple sorceress robes her character in the D&D game is wearing.

 

“What’s up?” Ellie asks, her hands held in front of her and hidden inside her robes’ giant sleeves.

 

Anne, in her usual green blouse brown skirt outfit, takes a step closer to us, drawing both our attention.

 

“I need at least one of you to accompany me back to my system’s mindspace, we have some questions for you about your world, and we’re currently in a meeting with our sister, Leahna, and a childhood friend of ours named Spar.”

 

My eyebrows rise. I glance at Ellie and meet her emerald green eyes. She looks torn, probably unsure if she should go with Anne because she’s the only one who’s done it before, or if she should stay since she’s the one enjoying D&D right now.  

 

“I can go,” I volunteer, “It’s about time I visited your side of our connection anyway, Anne.”

 

Ellie tilts her head questioningly. “Are you sure Maddie?” she asks.

 

I nod. “Absolutely,” I reply, “You go have fun with Dawn and the guys, I’ll report back once I’ve answered all of Anne’s people’s questions.”

 

Ellie pouts, filling her cheeks with air and blowing it out in a sigh. “Fine, but you better be ready to give me every detail when you get back, mixter!”

 

I smile and bow my head slightly. “Of course, madame.”

 

Ellie rolls her eyes, then steps up to me and pulls me into a tight hug. “You better come back,” she whispers in my ear.

 

“I will,” I promise, smiling at her worry. It’s nice to be cared about.

 

Ellie nods, and after hugging me tightly again she allows me to disengage so I can move to stand by Anne. 

 

“So um, how do I get to your world?” I ask our resident alien.

 

She smiles. “I will assist you, just hold my hand and concentrate on following my lead.”

 

“Okay,” I say. 

 

I clutch her hand slightly tighter than I mean to, excited and scared in equal measure. 

 

“Goodbye for now Ellie,” Anne says.

 

“Bye cutie,” I say.

 

Ellie smiles and waves before poofing out of existence and returning to her role as tiefling sorceress.

 

In a blink, Anne and I are suddenly standing on the root-bridge that delves into the mists beyond our mind. The ocean churns along beneath us, and turning back I can see the black barked, orange leaved viewing tree towering above the rest of the normal-colored jungle trees of our mindspace island.

 

“Don’t let go of my hand,” Anne instructs, “even if you can’t see it anymore. Use your imagination and your will, and stick close to me as we go through this. If all else fails, follow the bridge, it will lead you to me for certain.”

 

I nod. “Got it,” I say.

 

She nods back, and then turns and pulls me along towards the mists. She walks right into the wall of swirling fog, and disappears from view. I plunge in after her, bracing myself against the cool dampness of the space within the mists. 

 

I hang tight to Anne’s hand as we walk, though I can no longer see anything but the white-grey mists. I keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving in the direction that Anne is tugging me. The further we get from my mind, the less in control of the situation I feel. In fact, the further I go the less I feel anything at all. It’s like all my senses have been muted, there is only the focus I keep on my link to Anne. 

 

I trail her consciousness carefully, and it soon becomes apparent to me that we literally are just a pair of consciousnesses now. No bodies, no brains, nothing. And yet I find myself picking up on the ways that Anne navigates through this strange twilight zone space of in-between without the aid of a body. I follow in her wake, using the natural currents of the strange liminal space around me to my advantage.

 

Anne and I are so close we’re touching, maybe even so close we’re blending into each other, slightly? It’s hard to describe, but I start to get little glimpses into her surface thoughts, and I get the impression that she gets the same from me.

We’re tethering ourselves to each other, and that tether can pass all kinds of information between us, including thought, Anne thinks to me. 

 

Gotcha, I say, I’m following your lead.

 

You’re doing great so far, keep it up, she replies.

 

I feel her intentions to move as soon as she has them, and I follow them as if they were my own instincts. As I mesh with her surface thoughts, I find out that she’s labeled this strange space ‘the Aether'. And she thinks that what we’re doing is propelling ourselves through it via will alone.

 

Anne is centrally focused on following the path through the Aether that she wove into the root-bridge. It's like a guiding current that weaves through this storm of infinite potential, and we’re speeding ourselves along it like a train following the rails.

 

Time passes strangely in this space between minds. It could have been minutes or hours that we traveled, it felt like both and neither. 

 

Anne notices my curiosity, and leaps at the chance to sate it.

 

The bridge is rooted to both our world’s timelines, so each time we use it to cross we’re guaranteed to wind up in the exact same two realities we inhabit at almost the same time that we left the previous reality, she explains. It does take a small amount of subjective time to navigate through the Aether like this, during which we’re connected to neither of our systems: it’s just you and I alone in the riot of experience between worlds. It can be hard to maintain a grasp of time while untethered from it like this.

 

We're untethered from Time? That is pretty freaky, I think.

 

It is unnerving, yes, Anne says, but I personally find this place beautiful enough to warrant the loneliness and the risk. 

 

Risk? I ask nervously.

 

I’ve been reading up on this in my spare time, she explains. If this is the Aether, then it’s completely uncharted territory. My world’s magic makes use of the aether sometimes, but nothing like this. Traveling through it is almost unheard of, and traveling to an entirely different world on purpose is insane, but somehow we have this seemingly-protected channel between our systems. 

 

I file all of that away for future worry. Terrifying, I think-say back to her, what exactly is this channel protected from?

 

Honestly it’s unclear, she replies, but there’s been a really high fatality rate for those who mess around with the Aether.

 

Damn, I say.

 

We don’t have time to say anything else on the subject, because all of a sudden we pass through some sort of barrier that sends another shiver through my mind. The space around us suddenly feels far more hospitable, it’s like we’ve entered an oasis of calm amidst a storm.

 

Haha yes! We’re here, Anne exclaims.

 

She suddenly grabs onto the link between us tightly, and drags me along after her. Almost immediately, she’s tugging my hand and we’re walking out of the mists together onto the root bridge again, this time looking out at a much more mountainous forested island. It’s a riot of colors, thanks to the trees’ canopies which range from blue to orange to black and every other color besides. The root bridge rises up out of the sea and disappears over a cliff on this side of the island. 

 

“Damn,” I say, “Nice place you got here.”

 

Anne turns to me with a smile. “Thank you, this is my sanctuary. We’ll be going to Amira’s for this meeting, however.”

 

I nod. “Sounds good, let’s go.”

 

She nods, grips my hand a little tighter, and then the both of us flicker out of existence.

___________________ ღ♥ღ ___________________

Anne

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ •.¸ ¸.• ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

 

Holding tight to Maddie’s hand, I teleport us through the mindspace to Amira’s citadel. We arrive in what would be the throne room of a normal castle, Amira’s turned it into her own private viewing screen room. She stands before the massive screen depicting what our body is seeing with her arms crossed, in her full black armored get up.

 

There’s no way we can get here without her inviting us in, and there’s only one spot in her whole sanctuary where visitors can enter, so even though we’re behind her I know she knows perfectly well that we’re here. 

 

As if on cue, she grumbles, “About time you got here,” in our native tongue without turning around.

 

I smile, rolling my eyes. “Reporting for duty, Amira ser,” I say sweetly, also in Amaranthian.

 

Maddie’s eyes are wide when I glance at them. “This is trippy,” they say in the same language, and I know they mean their understanding and speaking of our tongue.

 

I shrug at them. “You get used to it,” I say with a smile. Then I turn my attention back to the love of my life, who still has their back to us.

 

I close the distance between us in the blink of an eye, and wrap my arms around her waist from behind. “And I love you too,” I say softly, out of Maddie’s earshot.

 

Amira fights free of my grip, and turns to face me. Their face is stony, but I see right through them and know they’re just as pleased to see me. They shake their head slowly, then pull me into an even tighter hug. 

 

“Glad to have you back love,” they say. 

 

I nuzzle my nose into their shoulder. “Glad to be back,” I say.

 

Amira raises her voice. “You can come here Madelaine, I mean you no harm.”

 

Vaguely I hear Maddie say, “Ok.” But my attention is reserved solely for my Mira. It takes some significant prying for my love to separate herself from me, but I reluctantly let go at last and turn to watch Maddie finish walking up to us. They’re dressed in a black scoop neck top and comfy looking leggings this time, and I get the feeling they’re still experimenting with their gender. I dim my awareness of our tether however, to give them some privacy of thought. 

 

Watching them approach clears my head of the hearts that had filled it upon sighting Amira, and I return my attention to the business at hand. I turn to look at that viewing screen behind us, and behold a scene extremely similar to the one that had been here when I left. Our body sits at a round table in a claustrophobically small corner of an inn in the city’s academy district. Leahna, our system’s sister, sits across the table to our left, while Spar, an old childhood friend and confidant, sits across on the right. 

 

“We’ve filled Spar in on most of what’s happened between our systems,” Amira says, gesturing to Spar on the viewing screen. “Maddie, if you could answer some of her and Leah’s questions, that would be ideal.”

 

“We’ve been able to fill them both in on the basics of your world,” I add, “but some of the finer details we didn’t know.”

 

“Alright,” Maddie says, “hit me.”

 

They step up to Amira and I and look towards the screen.

 

“The one called Madelaine is here now with us,” our voice booms aloud in our native tongue. I realize Ania must be awake and fronting, handling the conversation with Leah and Spar while Amira and I keep Maddie company. Ania’s always good about helping us out when we need it.

 

“Hello, Madelaine,” Leah says softly, “I am Leahna Tahana she/her.” 

 

“Yeah, hi,” Spar says, “and I’m Spar she/they.”

 

“Hello to you both,” Maddie says uncertainly, “I am Madelaine, they/them.” They look to me. “How’s this supposed to work exactly?”

 

“Madelaine they/them says hello to both of you,” Ania says, cutting off my reply. I sense her barely containing a smirk. “May I suggest you ask your questions now,” she continues, “so that Maddie can return to her home sooner rather than later?”

 

Leahna nods her head, and her brown gaze sharpens onto us. “Maddie,” she says, “Is there any precedent in your world’s history or mythology for people bonded the way you and Anialah are?”

 

Maddie rubs their chin in thought, thinking. I entwine the fingers of my left hand with Amira’s right, squeezing softly.

 

You know we’re still on duty, Mira thinks to me, what’s made you so love sick?

 

Tethering with Maddie and sensing her love for Ellie, I think, I admit sheepishly.

 

My love smiles down at me for a moment, then returns their attention to Maddie.

 

After a few more moments of thought, Maddie replies, “Not in history as far as I know, but almost certainly in our mythology somewhere. It’s become a concept in pop culture as well, with T.V. shows like Sense8 popularizing it, though that’s only people connected within the same world.” They pause, then add, “I can ask Jay about it tomorrow perhaps.”

 

Ania relays this to Leah and Spar, and they both nod thoughtfully. 

 

“Thank you Maddie,” Spar says, “I have some questions too if you don’t mind. Like, are you all safe? Anne seems to think you are, but said there were no walls, no guards, and no magic, which seems to leave you pretty damn vulnerable to someone hunting Heroes like you.”

 

I blush and glance away from the screen. Amira squeezes my hand slightly, and radiates feelings of love towards me. I squeeze back, letting my own love sing to her privately.

 

“Heroes?” Maddie echoes questioningly. They look to Amira and I again. 

 

“That’s what we call mentally linked people here, because some real famous ones popularized the term a century ago,” I supply.

 

“Ah,” they say. Then they turn back to the viewing screen. “We don’t know for sure if there’s anyone hunting us,” they say uncertainly.

 

“Maddie says there are no hunters that they know of,” Ania’s calm voice relays.

 

"Sure, that you know of," Spar says, leaning forward slightly, "the ones here are working in secret, we only know about them because of Leah's contact. They've been damn effective at keeping Heroes out of the public eye and disappearing new ones as soon as they surface."

 

Maddie frowns, crossing their arms and looking nervously up at the screen. “Fair point, but what would you have us do? We can’t wall ourselves off from the world, that’d probably be even more dangerous than continuing to live life normally.”

 

Ania takes a moment to parse that, then she relays, “Maddie asks what you would have them do, they say they can’t cut themselves off from their digital world without looking even more suspicious than simply continuing to live as they are.”

 

Spar nods, their eyes calculating as they stare at Ania and in turn, all of us. 

 

“I would have you learn to defend yourselves at the earliest opportunity," Spar begins, "I would have you gather allies, and begin discreetly gathering whatever information you can on any who might be hunting you. I would have you prepare yourself for the worst, whilst hoping for the best.”

 

Maddie nods thoughtfully as Spar finishes speaking. 

 

“That sounds like very good advice,” they say, “I’ll take it with me back to my system, and we’ll see about following it. Also, for allies we already have the whole Anderson family, they are likely trustworthy enough to keep in the loop about everything.”

 

Ania passes the message on to Spar and Leah. 

 

"Good work," Spar says with a small smile. 

 

Leah leans forward slightly, her eyes locked onto Ania’s. 

 

“If you can Maddie," Leah begins, "go through your myths and histories as well, because it’s unheard of in our world for there to be a connected pair without a sponsor of some sort. If there’s some precedent in your world, it might help us understand why you are connected to Anialah here. We’ll be doing the same thing on our end, tracking down the best lead we have so far on ascertaining a Heroine’s purpose.”

 

Maddie nods thoughtfully, but the viewing screen narrows with Ania’s eyes.

 

“You’ll be doing no such thing, Leahna,” Ania says firmly. “We will handle it, you must stay here and continue your studies.”

 

Leah rolls her eyes. “If you say so,” she says.

 

“It might be a good idea to take Leahna with you, Anialah,” Spar says, eyeing our sister, “There’s no guarantee that the temple will be easy to find or easy to enter. Her knowledge could be invaluable.”

 

Maddie steps a bit closer to Amira and I, and whispers, “What’s this temple they’re talking about?”

 

I look at Amira questioningly. 

 

“Oh fine, tell them,” they say.

 

In the physical world, Ania’s saying “True, but it is also very likely that this temple is under watch by those who wish to make us disappear. I will not take our sister into such danger.”

 

I step even closer to Maddie and say quietly, “Artya, my Goddess, informed us of the location of an ancient temple where Heroes used to go to seek guidance from their divine benefactors. Leah’s notes reference it many times, but the location had been lost to time.”

 

“Or it was lost to sabotage, as is the more likely case,” Amira cuts in. 

 

I shrug. “Fair enough.”

 

“Damn, so you really think it’ll help to go poke around an ancient ruin?” Maddie says.

 

“I do,” I say simply.

 

All around us, Leah’s voice asks, “Do I get a say in this?”

 

We all turn our attention back to the viewing screen.

 

“Of course,” Ania answers, “What do you wish to do?”

 

“I want to come with you, duh,” Leah says. “I know combat magic, I can handle myself. You don’t need to do this by yourselves.”

 

I frown up at the screen. “You know, she’s right Ania,” I say.

 

“Fuck that,” Amira counters, “we can get a speaking stone to communicate with her even when we're far from the city. We don't need to risk her life."

 

Anne, why do you support this? Ania asks.

 

Because we could use her help, it'll be a lot easier if we don't have to sleep with one eye open every night, I answer. Plus, I don’t know about y’all, but to me the city doesn’t seem like the safest place for any of us. Leah’s studies seem likely to make her a target sooner rather than later.

 

Amira stares down at me. I can sense her surprise, and her trepidation. She knows I’m right, and she doesn’t like it.

 

Hmm, I suppose it’s worth considering then, Ania muses.

 

“Alright,” she says aloud, “We’ve discussed amongst ourselves and decided to consider taking you along, if you agree to do as we say on the journey. This is a stealth mission as far as we’re concerned, we don’t want anyone to know our whereabouts unless absolutely necessary.”

 

“A wise choice,” Spar says with a smirk. 

 

“Oh hush you,” Ania says.

 

“Thanks, sisses,” Leah says.

 

“You can thank yourself, Anne and Spar for speaking up for you,” Ania announces.

 

“Thanks Anne! And thank you Spar," Leah says, then she's back to business: "So, when do we leave?”

 

“Two days’ time, when the night patrol changes shifts,” Spar says, “I’ve got an exit route all set for you, and I’ll hold down the fort here, hopefully I’ll be able to secure an easy way back in for you.”

 

“Don’t stick your neck out on our account, we can find a way back in,” Ania insists, “It’s practically our job to know this city’s ins and outs.”

 

Spar nods to us. “Be that as it may, having an easy in might be vital if you attract unwanted attention out there.”

 

“Fair enough,” Ania says.

 

She begins to talk logistics with Leah and Spar, while internally, Amira, Maddie and I all  congregate together. 

 

“Let’s see about getting you home Madelaine,” Amira says quietly, “I’m sure you’re anxious to get back to Ellie.”

 

Maddie shrugs. “If I can answer any other questions I’m happy to. I know Ellie’s okay by herself.”

 

“I think we’ve gotten all we need from you,” I say, “If there’s anything else I can come ask you later.”

 

Together, we begin walking away from Amira’s viewing screen. 

 

“Okay, well I’ll make sure to talk with Ellie and Dawn about Spar’s advice,” Maddie says quietly. 

 

“That would be smart,” Amira says.

 

Madelaine hums in agreement. “Is there any way we can help y’all with this trip?”  

 

Amira glances at me. 

 

“I don’t quite know how you could help,” I admit, “but if you find a way, we’d welcome it. If you don’t, no big deal, we can handle this on our own.”

 

My love smiles and nods my way. 

 

Maddie walks with their brow furrowed for a few more paces. “Okay, we’ll see what we can do,” they say.

 

We cross the threshold into the large ritual circle that allows people to enter and exit Amira’s mindspace. 

 

“Would you like me to guide you back?” I ask Maddie, holding out a hand towards them.

 

They shake their head. “Nah, take me to the bridge and I’ll try my hand at getting back myself. If Ellie can do it, I should be able to as well.”

 

I nod to them. “In that case, take my hand so I can take you to the bridge.”

 

“I’ll see you around, Maddie,” Amira says with a cool smile in their direction.

 

“I’ll look forward to it,” Maddie says with a smile of their own. 

 

They take my hand, and I teleport us away to my own sanctuary. We arrive at the edge of the mists beyond my system’s mind.

 

“Take care of yourself,” I tell Maddie.

 

They nod my way. 

 

“I will.”

 

And with that, they disappear into the mists.

End of 

Chapter 23.ma - Meeting of the Minds

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