Fox Ball

Once I finally got some alone time with Rose, I thought it would be best to try to get to know her a little bit better, since we are going on this quest together. It could be dangerous, we both knew that, but the risk was far outweighed by the consequences of not doing it. Apparently, for such a big jump from Calvanaire to the human world, we need to gather certain ingredients from elsewhere on the island. Back to the Forbidden Forest it was, back to the clearing where Tyler…I shook my head to rid myself of the thoughts and put a placed upon smile on my face. We were due to set off with first morning light, so we had the sun on our side. I was just about to speak when Rose did it for me.

“I’ve said a lot of things that I’m sure didn’t make sense to you today. Like my involvement with Peter and why I know so much about him. What happened to my family and why Derek is so close to me.”

I cleared my throat, desperate to know. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” I offered with a sheepish smile.

“No…” she seemed to hesitate, “you deserve to know the truth.”

She glanced up at the star twinkled sky, sighing deeply before looking at the water crashing against the beach. She was silent for so long that I thought she had changed her mind. Just as I was about to reassure her that she didn’t need to tell me, she began speaking. “My parents died when I was 10 years old and Derek was 7. And it was my fault. My abilities were out of control back then because my emotions were all over the place. I was a preteen with a younger brother. My parents couldn’t be anymore stable if they tried. They tried to help me control my emotions, reminded me of the cost if I didn’t. I chose not to listen. One day, I got so angry at Derek that I lit the house on fire. The one and only time that I have ever been able to control fire. Or rather, the fire consumed me. The fire spread quickly and without any resistance. I grabbed Derek, the closest one to me, and pulled him out of the flame filled house. I was about to run back in to grab my parents when the roof collapsed on them, trapping them in the burning building, and thus, ending their lives.”

I truly didn’t expect things to get so heavy so fast, but I guess I should have expected that considering the statements she was making earlier. Before I was able to let her know that it wasn’t her fault, she continued speaking. She had a distant, sad look in her eyes as she watched the crashing of the waves. “We were homeless here on Calvanaire, with no hope of survival due to lack of food, water, and supplies. We were beggar children and no one had sympathy for us. The whole town had heard of what I did and they refused to help us. With good reason I suppose.”

She took a deep breath. “Bendigeidfran was the first to help us. He was much younger back then and didn’t need to use a cane. He gave us food and water and shelter until we were old enough to get jobs and earn our own wages. He taught us control. I am forever in debt to that man.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as if the next portion of this story was more scary than the last. “When I was 15, right before getting my first job, I was recruited into Peter’s army. He trained me to be better than I ever thought I could be, but he refused to take Derek on too. He always said that Derek was too young, too immature for him to use him. That should have been my first clue that something was amiss, but I ignored it. Happy to finally have a steady income to provide for the little family I had left. He sent me to Earth to find you, sent Derek too. I was so happy that he had included my little brother that I didn’t even question why. Why was he allowed to join me? Why was he after a child? No offense.” She winked at me, but it didn’t have the same glimmer it usually did. She just seemed…defeated.

“And then I actually met you. You were everything that Peter wasn’t. You were soft and kind and so, so cute. You experienced a hardship in your life and yet you didn’t let it overcome you, as much as you might have thought it did. You were a good person. And then I remembered everything that Bendigeidfran had taught me, had taught us. To always look at the hardest life with compassion and grace and find the positives within that person no matter what. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find anything wrong with you. The more I got to know you, the more I liked you. The more I saw myself in you and the more compassion I gave you that I should have given myself when I was your age.”

She gave me a side-eye, watching as the flush spread all across my face and down my chest. She could only smile in return before continuing to gaze out at the sea. “I met you and everything changed for me. I remembered who I wanted to be, who I was with you, and who I was taught to be by the most influential parent figures I have ever had. So I came back for a short time to get Bendigeidfran’s approval for what I wanted to do. I knew what Peter’s plans for you were and I refused to let that happen. I couldn’t let that happen to you of all people. We planned a setup, for once you got to Calvanaire. We planned on letting you know the truth of what happened to your parents. We planned to intercept you in the Forbidden Forest. And we planned to bring your loved ones here. We had all of this planned and yet Peter had his own plans it would seem.”

Anger shot across her face. “He had his own plans. Now my brother is involved, of my own desire, and your brother was killed. He had his own plans for sure, but next time, next time we will ensure that we have the upperhand on him.”

She turned to look at me, gathering my hands up in hers, the look in her eyes was determined. A fire that could not be extinguished behind them. “I promise you. You will not leave this island without your loved ones. I wish I could provide you closure, and I’m sorry I didn’t get there in time to save him. I wish so many things. I just hope you’ll let me make it up to you.”

Emotion welled up in my eyes. But for once, I wasn’t crying tears of sadness, but rather unadulterated joy. I pulled her into my chest, Rose making a quick squeak before I placed my lips on hers in a kiss that can only be described as explosive. We moved together with a fluidity that I had never known in my life. The touch of our lips, sending sparks through every fiber of my being, helped to calm the storm building inside me. It was like being sent on a vacation far away and coming home all the same. Once we parted, both of our lips glittering with our mixed saliva, a flush on my cheeks that was mirrored by my partner, we couldn’t help but fall into a fit of giggles.

She suddenly turned to me, a serious look on her face. She grabbed both my hands, bringing them up to place a kiss on each knuckle which sent butterflies fluttering through my entire body. “I think I love you.”

The admission, something that would have frightened me before, only helped settle something within me. “Good.” At her indignant scoff, I could only smile at her. “Because I think I love you too.”