Chosen Mate Ch 06

Harry's notes, Chapter 6: The last line of chapter 5 reads, "And then the world changed for both of them." To say nothing of how it changes for Oldman; no longer is he restricted to Harry's thoughts and comments; he will play a larger part now.

I have an oil painting inspired by this chapter that I think would make good cover art for the book but have no idea how to post it to this site at the moment.

I'm dropping this one in ROMANCE again. If you do not understand why then I have not done my job as a writer. Show me the love and comments at the end of this chapter or I feel it will be late in this month before I get back to adding more.

Please excuse my poor editing. I tried to get someone to refine my grammar and comma use but was unable. Enjoy this chapter. I feel it is the best yet.

Chosen Mate

Chapter 6

Birth

Sandra seemed to burst into flames as her true form was revealed by her declaration of love. Things... were moving about her, attracted by light or energy emitted from the wing-like aura of light and power, revealed by her admission of love. Sparks like lightning bugs or fireflies and larger balls of softly glowing lights encircled her, attracted as a moth is to a flame to bathe in the light of her aura; wings fanned gently in unknown cosmic tides, like some water plant moving gracefully in the ebb and flow of the ocean. Her body, lit from within, was bathed by a light that felt like a blessing of peace and contentment; her serene visage emitted a promise of safety, protection, and a grace to be bestowed on those that were deemed worthy.

Harry stared at her in amazement; she was not a mere photograph now; love flowed from her into his body, filling it with an alien energy. He felt as if he were a battery being charged. Looking down at his hands that were becoming covered with a pins and needles sensation where tiny sparks played about the finger tips. He could feel her thoughts calling him to her; meeting her gaze, he could see himself from her eyes.

Was he worthy? Dared he stand, take her hand, meet those frosty receptacles that had captured and enslaved him from the very first time; did she see herself out of his eyes? Compelled to look deeper into them, he was lost, drawn down into their depths, examined, appraised, inspected in detail and then allowed to frolic about her on a lightly held golden leash.

He heeled at her command in ecstatic enslavement. He was entranced. ...Yes, that was it, entranced. He fell to his knees before her.

Sandra smiled her heart full and bursting; a torrent of emotions poured from him. She felt love that was so deep and tender and painful, that she gasped at the intensity and overpowering need. She glowed brighter, fed by the pure fuel of his devotion as he gave all that he contained to her. She poured her love into him in a flood. Then he was gone.

***

--Wow, Oldman said. ...Harry really did it this time.

She stumbled back in shock and amazement. The look of devoted worshipful love on her face before the transformation was wiped clean by the surprising thoughts that came from Harry that were clearly not his own. Harry had no thoughts within.

--Oh please, Oldman said. ...Get up Harry.

--Who are you? The thought escaped her as she reeled in confusion and shock.

--I'm me. I'm Oldman. You can hear me? I'm real. I thought I was. Why didn't you answer me before? What are you Sandra? Somewhere deep within Oldman, data was being gathered rapidly.

Sandra was not quite sure what was going on in Harry's head. There was a strange entity there, conversing easily with her. Somehow it was blocking what should have been an instant rapport between them at the finalized declaration of love. That love, that had no measure in its depth and expanse in the connections formed by her race, was denied by Harry's mental absence from his abandoned body. It seemed she had no recourse but to communicate with... it. And if it had harmed Harry in any way she would dig it from the body and rend it as wild mothers have protected and avenged their offspring from time unknown.

Oldman viewed her thoughts apprehensively, wondering if she could do that.

--Have you hurt him ...Oldman? She savored the flavor of the name and the essence of the entity in her mind and hesitated. It was not hostile or malignant... it was a friend... also worried about Harry but not deeply concerned. It was accustomed to the periodic travels beyond his body that had begun at his...its... birth, appearance, or awakening within Harry's conscious. The travels where Harry's mental foot held the door open to his body as he wandered the desert like wasteland of shining paths radiating out from the now unmarked egress to his body. A sob broke from her as she centered her attention on the closed door.

--Open it, she thought to Oldman. ...Bring him back.

--I can't. I don't know how. He answered back. ...I don't have the skill.

Sandra wailed, physically and mentally, as this knowledge was revealed to her. Her aura contracted close to her body, dulled with the knowledge imparted by Oldman. The shriek of mental distress coming from her frayed Oldman's senses. He thought quickly.

--Easy Sandra, easy, I'm sure he's fine out there. Oldman patted her mind and held it tightly in a commiserating embrace. ...The shock of seeing your true form, finding out he wasn't going insane, his doubts of his worthiness of you must have sent him wandering.

'Wandering?' Sandra thought 'Wandering?' Freshened distress and tears consumed her.

***

Yes, Harry was wandering, not intentionally though; and he was afraid he was lost. Blown head over heels into the paths in his head by the explosion of love that detonated from her, he was thrown far beyond where he had ventured before. There was a sudden burst of fear, quickly quenched, as he tumbled to a halt and looked around as if for a marker that showed his location; but, there were no markers here. All to be seen were the pulsing threads that appeared to have no end.

The sight and feel of her image and mind shone forth, carried with him as he was shot away an instant after meeting her eyes, mind and the love that poured from it in a torrent, washing him far into the sea of the nothing, where he floated among the myriad paths. The blast of her released love echoed there now among paths that he did not recognize. He held her image in his mind like a treasured photograph.

He thought suddenly of the Green Warrior and looked for but could not find it. Jack Daniels cures indeed, he thought. He returned to her likeness, burned into his mind in that brief instant, recorded in breathing detail.... She was Fay... God, she was beautiful. He must find his way back to her.

--Oldman! ... OoldMannn! There was no answer. He looked about for a direction.

***

Oldman's mentally inhaled breath alerted Sandra to some occurrence.

--What is it? She inquired, standing.

--I heard him. I heard him call. Harry's hands moved to his head, grasping it on both sides. Sandra rushed to him.

"Harry! Harry!"

--Stop, this is hard enough as it is. Oldman admonished her. Sandra pulled back from her crushing grip, releasing his body from her tight frightened arms.

"Harry?" She questioned timidly, searching for his thoughts.

--He can't hear you. He's not here, Oldman answered.

--Then why are his hands holding his head? She asked fiercely.

--I put them there; I'm trying to hear him, Oldman replied. ...Now be quiet. Haarryyyyy! Haarryyyyyyy!

This was too far beyond her keen mind; she needed help; she went to the phone and dialed Donna. Gerry answered on the forth ring.

"Hello?"

"Gerry, let me speak to Donna." She spoke rapidly.

"Well, hello to you too Sandra, Hey Donna, Phone! What's up?" He asked. Sandra sighed.

"There's not time to talk about it, ask Donna." She told Donna in frantic words to hurry over; there was a problem with Harry. The telephone cut off abruptly emitting a busy signal.

Sandra felt Oldman's thoughts return to her as she was hanging up the phone.

--I can't find him, I can feel him out there but I can't find him. Harry's knees were beginning to hurt and stiffen. Oldman caused Harry to stand, relieving the pressure. Sandra flew to him, literally, across the room; she again called his name as she fell on him in frenzied concern. Oldman sent an irritated thought at her as he struggled to keep Harry on his feet.

--I keep telling you he's not here. He grumbled thoughtfully as he flexed Harry's knees. She stepped back, looking at Harry's zombie like movements as Oldman eased the stiffened knees. Sandra calmed as she processed the information.

--You can move him? She inquired, interest growing in her thought despite the situation.

--How do you think he gets anything done at all when he leaves to wander out there? His mind indicated the door closed to the paths beyond.

--Put him back in that chair, she thought. She arranged the robe around Harry's body as it moved to and sat in the chair. Sandra sat in the large comfortable chair with it. Turning its face to hers, she combed her fingers through its hair and beard. Her worried eyes searched its empty, unseeing ones.

"What am I going to do with you?" she wondered aloud, pressing her body to his unanswering one, kissing it tenderly, stroking its chest, letting her softly falling tears drip down its body from her pillowed head.

--Don't you mean what are we going to do with him? Oldman thought, and conveyed to her his feeling of being in solitary confinement. Her warm proximity caused Harry's body to react normally.

--Good old Harry, you can always depend on him, Oldman emitted in amused laughtered thought. She settled into its lap and snuggled against Harry's body.

--Put Harry's arms around me, Oldman. Harry's arms tightened about her. Oldman held her with them, thinking only to himself that at least they had one answer to their question.

Donna passed through Sandra's bower without knocking and 'up' to the living room of the apartment that overlooked the bar. Sandra was sitting in Harry's lap. Both were unclothed except for the robe and her wings. They were wrapped about Harry, much the same way as a cat wraps its tail around something. Her attention was drawn to Harry's unminded body as she probed and found none of Harry's usually placid mind in place; but there was another there, as impossible as the fact was to grasp.

--Who is that? She asked Sandra, probing at Oldman's unknown intellect.

--I'm me. Hello Donna. Oldman called in a friendly thought. It knows me, Donna thought in amazement, and again sent her questioning mind forth.

--Same answer he gave me, Sandra thought, and then told her of all she had learned while omitting some information about all of Oldman's abilities. Sandra was still impaled and Harry was still held tight in her internal grip. She turned Donna's thoughts away from her distracted inspection of Oldman and to the problem of Harry's lost mind.

--Donna, we've lost Harry. Donna's confused thoughts labored with the absurdity of the statement and the reality of Harry's missing mind, then questioned, as she struggled to understand how this had happened.

--How do you lose half of your mate, Sandra? Donna wondered at her.

"I told him I loved him and he disappeared," Sandra said aloud.

--Talk about a lack of commitment. Oldman thought dryly. Donna's gaping mind at Oldman's irreverent thought was interrupted by Sandra's abrupt mental start of surprise. Sandra cocked her head, rotating her ears as if to hear some unheard sound.

--Harry's thinking of me. She said with a mental burst. Quivering with emotion, she felt him just beyond her reach. ...Oh Harry, she sobbed out in an anguished cry ...know that I am thinking of you too.

Sandra suddenly froze. A short fast intake of breath, then a burst of wonder and happiness flashed through her thoughts. Her aura dimmed and contracted close to her body. Then she was just there. None of the roiling emotion emanating from before her quick gasp and sudden flash of mental startlement remained. All that was left was her presence. Just the knowledge that she was Sandra was left. It was more than could be said of Harry.

Oldman was left with Harry's body entrapped within Sandra's coma-like one. Donna was torn between dashing off for help and remaining with her sister.

--Great, now she's gone too. So, Donna, I greet you. Oldman thought to her, making a mental image moving sedately in her mind of a cup extended and then raised before a bowing head.

Donna turned and walked to the kitchen, eyes wet at the manners shown by this strange being in the midst of these strange events. Returning with a glass of water, she repeated the gesture to his presence, even to holding the glass to Harry's mouth that Oldman caused to drink. The ritual was calming, an ordinary act in unordinary circumstances. Oldman's next thought released her tension even more.

--Love your wings; do you get to pick the color? A mental blink at the unexpected thought, unrelated to the present situation, and she replied automatically.

--Thank you. Her neon pink wings brightened with the complement, and then her training kicked in. ...Tell me about yourself Oldman. Have you and Harry been together long? Oldman explained while picking her thoughts.

***

Harry moved in an ever widening sphere, searching for a way to familiar paths in the organic like shining threads radiating in softly glowing colors. He contemplated his unknown understanding of Sandra's existence and heritage. His own attempts to make sense of the events surrounding him had driven him to spend day after day at the library, researching the myths recorded from stories passed down from ancient times. He thought on them as he had with other problems, ideas, and wonderments while strolling in meditation in the maze of twisting illuminated paths.

He thought he heard Oldman call for him, as he often did when outside occurrences required his attention or he needed to be fed or watered. Pausing, casting about for the direction of the echoing summons, and then moving in that direction, he returned to his ruminations.

His imaginary feet trod the paths; questions formed within him; conclusions were applied and denied, and suppositions inspected for any feeling of truth. Time had no meaning for him here, as he shifted from one path to another as their junction afforded or denied a more direct route toward Oldman's call. He stumbled in his transit down the gleaming paths, suddenly overwhelmed by a simple question. He looked at it, amazed that it had not occurred to him before. Why had he not heard her voice call for him? Why had he not called her?

'Sandraaaaa' The force of his broken, straining, love torn call reverberated among the paths around him, setting them to vibrate violently out in all directions. He heard her gasp in relief and her desperately overjoyed reply.

'Harry!' And then her spontaneous rushing passage to him. An audible sound filled with the crackling hiss of static, accompanied her approach, increasing in volume until she slammed into his mind.

They shared an instantaneous burst of emotion, crushing all else aside as they were at last mated in mind. It was if they were both part of a single flame, burning together; a warming flame, that would endure no matter what happened to their bodies. They explored each other's mind, caressing each thought, feeling, and secret, encapsulated within the heat of their bonded love. They swirled about each other in a non-consuming inferno of consciousness.

'What is this?' Sandra asked, at last becoming aware of their shared venue. The answer came to her as if it were her own knowledge. They were no-where. She was also aware that she was glad it was not no-when. She examined the kernel of closed secrets where he held the information. The way to no-when was held shut as tight as a gnat's ass. No matter how she pried at his unallowed access, he would not permit the knowledge to be divulged. His love gently pressed away her insistent thought. She wondered what other secrets were hidden there. Then, she felt his own thought as he touched her kernel of secrets.

He caressed it, sliding his being over it in gossamer waves of gasp producing mental thrills of sensual screaming sensation. Her mind orgasmed. A bright ecstatic flash of overpowering purple light filled her existence; it glowed deeply then faded slowly until she was once more able to sense her surroundings through the veil of her afterglow. Her mind heaved with her release. It was evident that he still had lessons to be taught her, lessons that she strived to duplicate as she let her own thoughts flow to his secret spot and slide over it.

He tensed momentarily in apprehensive reaction to her earlier assault and then relaxed again as her soothing, seeking touch moved over him like warm water. She was unable to reproduce his touch. A mental 'humph!' of indignant thought was followed by an impish, mischievous, feeling, and the proposal that she would tell him one of her secrets for one of his. He considered it.

'First tell me how you found me.'

'Oldman said...' He interrupted her.

'Oldman! You can hear him? I'm not crazy? Or am I?' He examined the flames of her thought about him with suspicion.

'Do you not feel me around you as I feel you Harry? Can you not believe the joining of our souls?' Harry saw the truth in her words.

'Take me home then,' he thought at Sandra. She led him back, not knowing how, only knowing where. As they moved toward their bodies she told him of her urgent need; it consumed him, becoming his own. They sped away with ever increasing velocity. The sound of static accompanied them.

***

Gerry still sat in the living room of his house in Backwater looking at the spot where Donna had abruptly passed through to their bower. She had left without hanging up the phone, taking the hand set with her. He went to the kitchen and opened a beer, returning to the living room to examine the dangling end of the phone cord with libation and contemplation. He took another slow sip then set after her curiously.

***

They were back. Harry locked the door in his mind, resolving to never leave it ajar again.

--Hey buddy, Oldman thought. ...You will not believe this, look at Donna. Harry's eyes moved to Donna. Her emotions were clearly visible on her. He could 'see' her surface thoughts, a mixture of things searching for a purchase. Her concern for her sister in her time of need, Oldman's existence, Harry's missing intellect, and how all of this affected her personally. Then there was something else that was quickly shut away as he and Sandra began to inhabit their bodies again. Donna and Sandra began speaking brain to brain so fast that he was not able to comprehend. Instead of becoming calmer at the return of her sister and Harry, she appeared to become more distressed.

--Donna I 'heard 'him. He called to me. I answered. And then, I was with him and we were one. I had no idea; I knew what to expect but there are no words to express it. Donna had experienced it before with Gerry and knew the rapturous joining of the mental bonds of mates well.

--Yes I know the feeling; it will grow as your love does. As it becomes stronger you will always know where he is. Tell me, where was he? How did he get there? How did you bring him back? Sandra became silent; her thoughts shut to Donna's and answered only, that he was no-where. Donna's mental startlement revealed some knowledge withheld. Seeking to end the questioning, Sandra wiggled on Harrys lap. Harry's start of recognition of his and Sandra's condition brought in turn Donna's shocked realization. Then, her scrutiny of Sandra's colored face and wings had her running to the center of the room and vanishing.