Ch: 51 Cards on the Table

Tawny woke at first bell, tangled together with Liam in a few of the thick, sensible, wool blankets that the home seemed to produce in endless supply.

The moon was still out, shedding cold light over the world, most of the world. In their tiny poolside garden, under the blooming cherry tree, the light was golden and warm.

Her sigh of absolute Joy shook a few petals off the boughs. They drifted in the oddly warm morning, to land on Liam’s cheek. 

“Perfect.” She whispered to the goddess currently making herself comfortable in her soul.

#

 

Liam woke when the sun came over the wall. Her golden rays assaulted his eyelids, when he failed to open them she laid siege.

Somehow, no matter which way the exhausted and confused man turned or twisted, the sun remained in his face, bazing golden haze into his eyes.

When he eventually surrendered and opened his eyes, Tawny was there, holding a tiny silver mirror, wearing nothing but an enticingly wicked grin.

“I had the strangest dream, Tawny. I might be ill.” He groaned.

 

Tawny helped him to his feet, guiding him towards the bath. “This way, a soak will fix you right up.” She pushed him along happily, keeping up the chatter. 

“Really, I’m surprised you slept so late, laying on the ground at that. Perhaps there is something wrong with you.”

 

She pushed him off to float and slipped into the water with a sigh. “You may not have been ready for a new contract so soon, but gods and spirits it was past due.”

 

“Is that what is wrong with me? I had the most unusual dream. Did I collapse in the garden?” He mumbled. “Knowledge was arguing with War inside me, is this how Gary feels? Very disorienting.” 

 

Tawny began pushing his limp form around the pool, the way Shai did with Gary…

“I see what Shai sees in this, it’s soothing. You will be fine in a little while. We had a lot to work through last night.” She said quietly.

“Mmm, yes, he said it felt nice, now I see… wait, how are you…?” With a sudden jolt and bubbling sound, Liam sank to the bottom.

 

Tawny reached down and fished him out unceremoniously. “That was real?” He whispered, looking down to where her bare hand clutched his shoulder. “We can… We did?”

 

“We did, we can, we will again, as soon as you eat something.” She said with a smile that made his troubles fall away. “If you look, War has more competition for your soul now. He must be so cross over that.”

#

 

Shai’s house had to use actual dishes, rather than Gary’s handy magic nonsense… that meant washing up. 

Otho was quite a cook, but a slob too. He used almost every dish, kettle, pot and wok in the house and a good slice of  what Gary had stashed in his magical backside.

 

Gary, ws a weird one, that guy lived like he might come home and find everything but what he carried with him was gone. He carried a stash of essentials that could set up a comfy home anywhere. 

Which was really weird for a guy who could set up an actual home literally anywhere in a few minutes. Becky was still mulling over her silly brother’s weirdness as she wandered outside to collect Otho’s dishes.

 

The old man was wrapped in one of Gary’s thick wool blankets. He relaxed in a chair, playing his shamisen to the birds… 

And the hump shelled, wagon sized, turtle that was dragging itself closer across the grass.

 

While Becky screamed, thick clots of sticky mud and clay dropped to the grass with wet splatting sounds. Small crayfish and leeches squirmed in the mire, as the creature continued its slow advance.

Annie came charging around the corner, mane and tail flying. She whinnied a challenge into the sky, echoed by Winslow and Flora, who followed after.

Falco’s chittering warcry sounded from the depths, shattering what little peace remained, as the waterfowl took flight in honking terror.

Luna and Khan heard the shriek, as one they reached for weapons and nothing else. The nude pair sprinted from the stable at top speed. They skidded around the house, into a scene of madness.

 

Becky stood pointing in horror, while her hooved friends milled about searching for a threat. 

Falco chittered and squealed from the water, demanding to know who was frightening his new girl.

Otho had his instrument in hand, but had stopped playing in alarm when she screamed.

“What is it, child?” He demanded. “Why do you carry on so?”

 

Gary appeared in the door, followed by Shai. With a furious shout, the boy made his mad new armor appear around himself. 

Dashing between Becky and the shore as his armor arrived, spinning his strange baton, he skidded to a stop. “Becky get back, somebody get Otho!”

Khan was brandishing a short spear, while Luna had a deeply recurved horn bow ready, a viciously barbed arrow nocked. 

They scanned the water searching for a threat…

#

 

Flora had decided humans were all weird and settled in to graze the local foliage, it was rather tasty. Surprisingly so.

Annie and Winslow were still guarding the girl, but there was no real point. Guard her from what? Silly humans.

#

 

Khan, Luna, Otho and the horses watched in confusion as their friends went mad.

  Gary had his baton out, shaking a martial beat and looking very angry for some reason. Shai had a hand full of Becky and was dragging her backwards while drawing a sword from her storage gift.

Esperanza had Amy by the hand and was desperately trying to capture a fast toddling Wilford, who was headed for Gary with giggling laughter bubbling on his lips.

 

Somehow, the toddling boy eluded Esperanza’s grasp, bumbling right past Gary to stop directly in front of the enormous beak of the creature. He turned to face Gary with a look of disapproval.

 

“Turtle!” He said, as once more, that strange sensation shook the listeners, bringing to mind a massive bell ringing in the distance.

With a jolt, the others realized that a shelled horror the size of a merchant’s wagon was among them and close enough to snap up at least one with ease.

The tiny, leather clad ruffian waddled the last few steps and hugged the creature’s leg, smearing clay, foul silt and muck all over himself.

 

With his eyes locked to the creature’s, Gary slowly eased around the enormous head. It’s terrifying beak followed him impassively, simply tracking his movements in reaction.

He gripped Wilford’s jacket and dragged him away with a convulsive leap backwards.

 

The enormous creature looked the group over. From Otho, blanket draped over his lap, staring up in wonder and delight, to the horses, stamping in agitation and wondering what the fuss was over.

Khan and Luna slowly eased to the side, putting themselves between the old man and the monster.

Gary still had his bizarre staff out, its chimes fallen silent. He stood warily, balanced lightly on his toes and shifting his body subtly, to a rhythm only he heard. 

He felt Shai slide up, joining him between his family and slow moving terror from the depths.

 

The horses grew tired of the nonsense and wandered off to join Flora in exploring the local flavors. Falco crunched on a mudbug near the shore, whistling a merry tune on his blowhole.

The turtle blinked its eyes, so slowly the humans could feel the time pass as a physical presence.

The creature settled its wide plastron to the grassy turf and began withdrawing its head and limbs into its shell. 

 

Thick sheets of mud and ooze peeled away, plopping wetly to the turf, crawling with small life and wriggling things. Once fully inside…

 

Absolutely nothing happened. Donkey and horses grazed, Falco enjoyed a catfish and a swan discovered that the dolphin was not a catfish. 

It honked gruffly when the familiar swatted its fluke across the bird’s beak for taking a curious peck.

 

For the humans… Esperanza dragged a furiously struggling Wilford back into the house, getting covered with clay and silt in the process. Amy followed after, hushing and shushing her little brother. Despite the eerie silence he maintained throughout the ordeal. 

When the door slammed closed, the remaining humans kept a distance from the quiescent shell, but relaxed slightly. 

“Turtle indeed.” Otho remarked calmly, while drawing out his pipe. The old fool had never risen from his chair nor put away his instrument, he just sat there smiling benignly.

After a moment, he began to play again, something light and cheerful, but slow and measured. It felt like spring breaking winter’s grip early; sweet, but slightly precarious.. 

“We should wait and see what transpires… Gary, please do change back, the swans are wondering if you are edible. Crawdaddie armor… indeed.” Otho Chuckled at his young friend. “Madness.”

 

“I work with what I have, if Wheatford had a decent spiritual enchanting program…”  Gary grumbled.

His bizarre armor vanished, replaced by winter clothes in a mysterious and confusing way. 

Gary’s wardrobe changed slowly, vanishing one piece at a time, whenever no one was looking directly at that particular area. 

“I swear, when we get the cult of Knowledge back in place, Ivy and Tallum are gonna change the world.” 

He seemed completely relaxed near the unknown creature, quietly drying in the sun beside him. Leaning casually on the shell and flicking a small crawdaddie into the water.

“Enchantments baby, I can’t believe you guys don’t put them everywhere!” He had Shai’s weird murdershovel out and began calmly scooping up the clods of sludge. “I know it really drains the ‘ole mana but the results are worth it.” 

Gary worked steadily, tossing mud and wriggling things back into the water. In about ten minutes he shoveled up nearly a half ton of wet clay and silt. All that remained were streaks of mud on the turf and the enormous shell.

“See? Enchanted shovel. Not just for murder Shai, its for shoveling too!” He leaned on the monster and yawned. “Nap time? She says she needs to warm up a bit before we can talk.”

#

 

Tawny flopped back on the ridiculous bed in Shai’s room, pulling Liam after.

“This is their bed!” He whispered, scandal and shock tinging his voice. “We shouldn’t, it’s disresp…-” 

 

Her blunt, carefully manicured nails ran down his chest, silencing him as her pinkie skipped over a nipple. Propped up on one elbow beside him and curling sensually against him, she captured his eyes with hers.

“Shai told me that this house was mine to use in any way. She promised to keep Gary buttoned up in her new gift.” 

 

Her nails dug in slightly as they trailed lower on his abdomen. Leaning in even closer, her breath warming his ear, she began trailing her fingertips in slow lazy circles. 

Her touch sent shivers through him, those delicate scratches just below his navel had a predictable result.

 

“I will apologize to them when they get back.” He growled, seizing her and dragging her down to him. With a happy yelp of feminine surprise and delight, her golden hair spilled over them both.

#

 

“All this static from joy is really messing with my head.” Gary said, while using Shai’s broom to sweep flakes of dried mud and algae from the colorful turtle shell. “It feels like something is going on in my house… but I can’t tell.”

“Tis simply Tawny, mayhap also some visitor or other.” She replied caglily, while plying her shovel to clear away the debris. “Why is it we do clean this creature?” 

“She said it was itchy. You couldn’t hear her?”  Gary had a scrub brush and bucket from Shai’s cleaning closet and was getting after it with gusto.

“Nae, just a distant rumble an summat watery.” She looked to the porch, where Esmeralda had the children corralled. 

“My lady Joy urges me that this creature is one of her children, though long lost and forgotten. Her pleasure at this is noticeable.” Otho mused, still playing mild and calm improvisations on his instrument. “Her resonance with lady joy and your own… influence are causing the fine feelings we currently enjoy… Oh, I believe she is waking again, perhaps we can learn more.”

 

The enormous, colorful legs and head emerged slowly, but did not lift the creature’s body. The young people backed away a little, giving her some space.

“I do feel at ease wi this creature, she do seem wise an wi nae malice…” A commotion on the porch drew Shai’s attention.

Mostly it was Wilford, tethered to a porch rail by a harness knotted together by Yuzef. He sulked furiously, while tugging at the sturdy cord on a regular basis.

Amy seemed happy to enjoy a tea party with her new big sister on the stoop.

 

The tiny scamp fussed and stomped, throwing a very quiet tantrum. Esperanza, Amy and Becky ignored his antics, offering him cookies and pear juice. 

He rejected their bribes in favor of flopping down on his tush and glaring at Yuzef’s complex knots.

After a moment of deep contemplation and soul searching, Wilford squirmed out of his clothes; leaving the harness holding his laundry.

In a scant few seconds, Wilford toddled past the adults like a leaf on an errant breeze. He grabbed an enormous, horned leg and clambered up onto the bright green and yellow shell.

He took a long, tottering step onto the creature’s head and plopped his bottom down. Looking for all the world, like an old man sinking into his favorite chair with a pipe and slippers, he smiled.

“Ahh, now I can address you all. Lovely.”  He said in a rich and cultured female voice. “It has been so long since one of you has passed by unfettered…” He cast an apologetic look at Gary, before continuing. “...and been able to communicate.”

 

Shai, having regained her senses, with them, her sense of outrage, moved to charge the creature. “Give back me boy monster, ‘ere…!”

Gary swung both arms around her and pulled her off course, whispering desperately in her ear. “She won’t hurt him. She won’t!” 

 

While they struggled over by the dropped bucket and broom, Otho took charge calmly. “Take care with that child, if he is harmed things will go poorly…” He glanced at the enraged smith, struggling with her man. “Well. worse, things will go worse.”

Otho stood and tucked his instrument away. “Identify yourself and explain why you are attempting to influence these people. Be succinct please, his mother is formidable.”

 

“I am…” The slow easy sensation of a muddy river slipping over its banks, stones tumbling in a clear crystal stream, a still woodland pond, an estuary, vibrant with life and death was a mouthful. 

“Please call me Kai, if you would, it’s the sound a pebble makes when it thunks against my shell.” She giggled with Wilford’s face in the most distressingly adorable way.

 

“He enjoyed that at least… I remembered humans having a better sense of humor.” Kai said, with a wry and careworn smile that was incredibly out of place on a baby.

“When you are sock puppeting my son, it makes for a tough crowd.” Gary shouted, while body blocking a red haired fury.

 

“Shai.” Wilford said, in his strange super serious voice. “Nice turtle.” The hanging judge pronounced her innocent, cooling Shai somewhat. 

 

“An he gives thee permission… Fie! dinnae toy wi me an mine, spirit, wee bairns kin nae consent tae yer influence.” She set to pacing behind Gary, keyed in on Wilford like a hunting cat, ready to pounce.

 

Seizing the opportunity, Otho stepped back in. “We have yet to hear with whom you are affiliated and what you want of this child and these people.” 

He leaned closed and spoke mildly. “I urge candor, my young friends can be dangerous and unpredictable when stressed.”

 

“Understandable, very well, under your current paradigm, I would be a semi divine spirit of elemental earth and water. Though I prefer simply Kai of the waters.” Her beak clacked closed in placid satisfaction.

“As to my agenda, I have none. I saw this one pass, the first free otherling to pause here in so terribly long.” Kai pointed Wilford’s chubby hand at Gary. 

“I nearly went back into my slumber when the silly bug snapped you up. How pleasant to see you still mostly intact.” Wilford said happily, in his strange lady librarian voice.

He turned to face Shai. “And this is entirely new! Not an otherling at all are you my dear? I must examine you, so interesting.” 

 

Hearing her baby boy chortle like a bug collector with a new specimen, chilled her to the bone.

“Enough, give back me boy or we hae no more talk.” Her swords flickered into being at her waist, while she took her shovel in hand. “Ye may try an bewitch me, but I will hae me by back ‘ere we go on.” 

 

With a sing song; “If I may!” Luna flashed by in a graceful and terrifyingly swift blur of graceful limbs. She swooped Wilford up and slid away, like a buttered eel on a hot griddle. 

Wilford’s undignified squawk of displeasure went unheard as he landed in Shai’s grateful arms. She bustled him away with a furious glare at the creature.

 

“Turtle.” He announced from the pillowy bosom of his mother, before burying his face in her warm cleavage and falling fast asleep. 

 

‘This will be much less satisfying.’ Kai’s familiar voice rumbled in their minds, ‘In any case, it has been so many years, there was one of you that passed by from time to time over the last little while. He never stopped here… and he smelled like you.’ 

She extended her neck to Gary, sniffing deeply. Her head was as big as a wine barrel, mottled in bright green and yellow, with bright crimson stripes down the sides. 

 

‘I woke when you paused here for a while and the residue you left behind fosters this delicious growth.’ Her chin dipped to sweep across the foliage. ‘I saw these two pass by in their bondage. This little one stopped to investigate the residue of the island almost long enough.’ She clicked her beak in satisfaction.

‘I had hoped that my touch might aid him, so many times I have seen bound otherlings pass by and wept.’ She let loose a high piping whistle of pleasure through her nostrils. ‘I am so thrilled to see what my touch has wrought!’

‘It has been so very long and now there are six of you all together!’ One enormous eye moved close, peering at him. 

‘Perhaps, perhaps. I see two mortals, one wholly living, one standing on the edge of this world and the next. I see tangled threads and spider webs!’ 

 

She sniffed him again, her inhalation whiffling in his unkempt hair. ‘Aclintherios has been meddling… and exactly where he should. Canny old spider.’ 

She ground her beak slowly in satisfaction. ‘He ducked out early and set himself up a few planes over. I was considering asking him if his plane had room for me and mine.’

 

“You know Akli?’ Gary chuckled irreverently. “He’s my bud, we play chess all the time.”

She let that pass unremarked. With great age comes wisdom, that wisdom often reveals itself in silence. 

 

‘I had thought to abandon this world but where there are six, perhaps there are still more.’

She bent to crop the ground cover, shearing it off with her beak. ‘This verdure is worth remaining for, while it lasts at least.’

#

 

Khan, Otho, Luna and the boat crew sat watching the exchange for a while. 

Gary, burbling and gurgling at a colossal turtle in all the riotous colors of a spring meadow, the creature sitting impassively, or slowly eating the lawn. Becky astride Annie, gazing in wonder at Kai, while she grazed calmly. 

 

They wandered off eventually, leaving a rotating token ‘guard’ watching the… whatever it was. He was gesticulating and pulling faces like there was a conversation going on.

Otho sat nearby, sketching, taking notes and using subtle arcane objects from a discreet distance.

The turtle clicked her beak a few times. ‘Your companion may approach, though he will not hear me, until your mate relents and gives me back my boy.’ She snorted in a highly dignified manner. ‘It feels so rude, speaking this way around others.’

 

“Cracks about ‘your boy’ won’t win you many friends here, that’s my boy until he’s old enough to decide who’s boy he is… Don’t test his mother or his sisters.” Gary grumbled sourly.

 

‘Young mortal, he will be mine. Not now, but soon. Then,  in a terribly brief time, he will leave me behind. This is the tragedy of your kind… and mine.’ 

She swayed her head from side to side in irritation. ‘You may learn this soon, you have been touched by both courts. We fae will have our little games.’ She slowly began easing back down to the lawn, cropping the nearby herbs.

 

Becky slid down to the grass and joined Gary. “You’re one of Shai’s fairies? You aren’t what I expected,” She cast a suspicious glance over her. “You seem nice… but I don’t trust you with Wilf.”

“Wilf is not gonna stick Becks. Shai won’t let it.” Gary gave her a side hug in consolation. “You have a point though, folklore doesn’t make the fae seem trustworthy as a group.”

 

‘We aren’t.’ Kai chuckled in terrapin amusement. ‘Many of us are capricious, flighty, or even cruel. Most of those who could, fled the lands of faery long ago.’ Her sigh held ages of slow passing time beyond mortal ken. 

‘Only those of us bound to the lands stayed. And our gods, we forgot them so long ago, never did they forget us though.’ Her beak chattered softly in some indefinable emotion.

 

“So you came here from the fae realm? How does that work?” Gary asked, with professional interest. “Is there a spell or gift to open a gateway?”

 

Kai blinked slowly again. ‘Where do you think you are, mortal? This is the realm of the fae, the Otherworld, Tír na nÓg, the legendary West, Olympus, must I go on? We are slowly unwinding into the void, but still a place of wonder.’ 

 

Her voice took on an air of humility and deep gratitude. ‘We forgot our own gods, shirking our duty to them abominably. Our own immortality blinded us to their importance.’ 

‘They are the ones who kept this realm spinning, while the great ones of my kind fled into the ether seeking new entertainments.'

‘The great fae do swing by to check on those of us who remain from time to time, you have been touched by two on your journeys.’ She said to Gary, eyeing him keenly.

 

“I have never met anyone like you before.” He said with confidence, while scritching her anvil wide forehead.

 

‘Unfortunately, I cannot determine who or what, of the unseelie court has touched you.’ She chomped at a mass of greenery, deep in thought. ‘The mark of the fool however, suits you quite well. Birgid will have her jokes, it should be very amusing.’

 

“Who is Birgid, Kai? What does she want?” Gary asked. Using the magic of human scritchy fingers to extract information was totally cheating.

 

‘Birgid is the eternal spirit of hearth, hospitality, home, music, poetry, fire and crafts. You attracted her attention and received her blessing at some point… Over my right eyebrow ridge please Gary.’

He scratched obligingly, enjoying the smooth, pebbly feel of her hide. She smelled of new mown grass in the sun, lazy summer days by the water and warm earth. She was dangerously soothing.

 

‘When our gods tethered your world to ours, your dreams, and fragments of your souls began to slip over to our world.’ She almost purred with pleasure as Gary scratched her.

‘Many found you fascinating, and many toyed with your people. Dreams and visions of our world percolated through, though magic could never enter your world.’ 

Becky was in the game, using the scrub brush to buff Kai’s head adorably. Her massive eyes were half closed in bliss.

 

‘I smell Birgid’s influence in this home, and far more clearly in the one you dwelled in on your first visit. She had a direct hand in crafting that, I assure you.’ Kai murmured.

“So, I have another spiritual entity haunting me? It’s getting crowded in here already. What’s this mark of the fool thing?” 

 

‘I cannot explain another’s blessing, I see it, but cannot read its design, beyond that both she and Joy have prepared this gift together.’ Becky had the brush working under Kai’s chin now, that was super effective. 

  ‘If Birgid is interested, and Joy has embraced so many of your band, this is a watershed moment.’ She cooed in their minds.

 

She did a little turtle dance of happiness, basically swaying side to side, then bobbing up and down. 

For an extraordinary few moments Gary imagined Thirp doing tai chi in the park... visions of his fast and frenetic spider friend, attempting to move with slow, ponderous grace nearly sent him giggling.

“Kai, you ever think of something hilarious, that no one in the world would understand?” He asked, leaning on her shell.

‘I told a very fine joke earlier, only one of you had the intellect to understand it. I crafted a delightful pun mere moments ago, that went entirely unnoticed.’ She huffed, mildly put out.

 

“Kai, Kai… you can’t work a hostile room with material like that.” His trusty twelve string came out, strumming a simple blues pattern.

“Read the room, warm up the crowd with a song… if it’s really hostile I’ll open on the chorus of a hot number. Something they all love.”

 

He winked at Becky and the enormous reptile, then began to sing in a bold, twangy baritone.

 

You got to know when to hold 'em, 

know when to fold 'em,

 

Know when to walk away,

and know when to run,

 

You never count your money,

when you're sittin' at the table.

 

There'll be time enough for countin', 

when the dealing's done…

 

Poor Shai couldn’t resist the intersection of country, yacht rock and eighties cheese. She never had a chance against ‘The Gambler’.

 

“Aye, Ye may lure me out here wi yer new friend, but I’ll nae be handin me children tae strange spirits.” She  danced at Gary, drawing angry half circles in the lawn with the toes of her boots, swaying and shifting in time. 

“Damn ye boy, stop playin, ye do put me at disadvantage…” She continued her furiously Joyous electric slide, while fuming and smiling at him. “After this number, we'll be learnin’ this one, thee and me.”  

Shai tried very hard to look intimidating, while pantomiming an enormous belt buckle and waving an imaginary cowboy hat, deep in the thrall of Gary’s gift.