A Big Shiny Blue Marble

***I was driving home late at night recently and I saw the half-moon hanging big, fat and a little dirty-looking near the horizon. It got me to thinking of writing something nice for the 50th chapter of this. So with a little thought and a few changes, the world's on hold for couple of nights in Colorado.

0_o

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Book of the Forsaken Part 5

Jonas rolled his eyes as he looked across the late winter landscape. He was careful about it because he didn't want Elliott to feel badly, but if the young man didn't stop pestering him with endless questions about Lizzie Mungra soon he'd have to say something -- or slit his own throat in desperation. It had gone on for miles.

"Why are you goin' to Leatherville, Mister Bull?" Elliott asked, "Do you live there, or, ... You know where that Mungra lady lives, don'tcha?"

"In the first place, my friend," Jonas sighed, "you need to stop calling it 'Leatherville'. Saying it that way just tells everybody that you're not from around there. Nobody says it that way. Anyone who knows the place calls it Leddervile.

In the second place, why I'm going there is my business, and yes, I do know where they live."

"Why have we stopped?" Elliott asked as he saw Jonas sitting in his saddle and looking a little ruefully down at some depressions in the snow from his passage in the other direction with Sully the day before. He was learning, but he wasn't nuts about the cost to him of Sully's friendship.

"I'm waiting for you to get busy," Jonas said with a smile as he pointed, "I remember this patch here. All these plants here sticking up out of the snow under the edges of that tree like they're hiding under there? They're snowbells. This patch is the first one that I've seen this year." He didn't finish his thought that he was now glad that he hadn't crushed them all when he'd landed there after Sully belted him one for being stupid.

"Well?"

"Well do I just pick 'em?"

"No, you just take your knife and you cut them down low on their stems," Jonas said as he waited.

After the first two attempts where he worked in silence, Elliott found his curiosity again, "Hey, Mister Bull --"

"Uh, it's Jonas," the larger man said.

"Ok, thanks," Elliott nodded, "Are you seeing one of them yourself?"

Jonas looked over, "You mean one of the wild mountain goblin girls?"

"Yeah," the young man said looking up as he walked back with a large bunch of the flowers.

"No, Elliott," Jonas smiled with a sigh, "I'm not as smart as you are. I'm glad to have met you, though, and I'm glad that we got here before it got too dark to see the flowers. Now, we're going to ride to where she lives, and if you don't want to ruin this chance to do any more than meet her, well I'm telling you now.

Besides maybe telling her that you were new in town and you only saw one of the shows that we do by accident -- and only if she asks, don't you say one thing about those shows. Lizzie is a really nice girl. She's pretty open about things, but she won't want to hear about how you got stupid over her because you saw her doing the things that she does to make a living, alright?"

Elliott nodded, "I hear you -- and thanks."

Jonas smiled, "You might make out ok, Elliott. I can see that you're brighter than most, already. You'd best try to keep them flowers covered in a handkerchief and tucked into the front of your long coat just a little, and I'll thank you not to wave them around as we ride through town, ok?"

"Ok, Jonas," Elliott shrugged, "But is there a reason?"

"Well, you need to keep them out of the cold, now that you've cut them, and ... well, Ledderville's a bit of a shithole in some ways. I mean, it looks a little nice in a lot of the town, but there's assholes there the same as there are in any other place, I guess.

We ride through there together, you and me like we are, and you holding a bunch of flowers with that dazed and happy look on your face, ..."

He shook his head, "There's enough things said about me as it is, ok?"

Elliott was about to ask further, but he got it then and said nothing as Jonas looked away, grinning from ear to ear at the hot blush that he saw on Elliott's face in the gathering gloom.

He sighed to himself quietly, thankful that he'd finally found something to keep Elliott's mouth shut for a while.

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Lizzie Mungra was very surprised as she opened the door. "Well hey, Jonas. I thought you were headed out for a rodeo."

"Well I was," he smiled, "but I changed my mind and decided to come back. I uh, ... I brought you a birthday present," he said, indicating his companion.

"This is Mister Elliot T. Hopkins, future banker, and not long after I met him on the road here, it seemed to me that I ought to introduce you to each other."

She looked a little confused, and Elliott looked shocked. Lizzie held out her hand and Elliott took it in a gentle handshake, "I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss M-."

"Lizzie's fine," she smiled.

It took her three seconds to decide that she liked him a little right out of the gate, since he held onto her hand where most people didn't want to touch her, and the way that he was polite and so unsure of himself over wanting to make a good impression to her counted for a lot in Lizzie's book.

"Jonas never told me that it was your birthday, Lizzie," Elliott said rather bashfully, "but he did tell me that you like these." He held up the bunch of half-frozen, half-wilted snowbells and her surprised smile past her tusks made him feel pretty good.

"It's not my birthday, Elliott," she smiled at him a little shyly, but it was obvious that she was very pleased to meet him, "I'm afraid that Jonas was just kidding, but I think that it must be Christmas again or something. Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea or coffee? You look a little chilled from the road."

Elliott nodded and Lizzie got her first look at his profile. All in all, she really liked what she saw. More importantly, she liked what she didn't see. He might be a young man her age trying to make his way in the world the same as anyone, but she knew right away that Elliott T. Hopkins was not an asshole. That counted for a lot too.

Most of all, she could see that he liked her as well and he had a way about him that put her at ease and made her forget that she was a goblin, and for once, Lizzie Mungra felt like an ordinary girl in the company of a nice-looking young man who liked her.

"Please tell me that I can keep him," she smiled at Jonas and he nodded, "Oh, please, if you would."

"Aren't you going to come inside, Jonas?" she asked, "Caroline's gone to get some flour. We were going to have a roast and she needs it to thicken the gravy."

"I'd really rather just know where the store is, Lizzie," he smiled, "I've been wanting to talk with her."

Lizzie suddenly knew, and she beamed up at him, "It's right over there," she pointed, and he nodded his thanks and turned to go.

Caroline was still a little annoyed with herself for the way that she'd tried to make her feelings for Jonas plain the day before. It had just come out of her and she was embarrassed over it. She should have known better, she told herself as she walked back to her home looking at her own feet.

She found her way blocked by a large man in a dirty duster coat and a low-down cowboy hat. "Excuse me, please," she said, hoping that he wasn't one of the many jerks that she ran into everywhere who seemed to think that the idea of reminding her that she didn't fit in here -- or anywhere -- had never come to the dim minds of anyone like him before.

"Hi Caroline," he said as he looked up enough to let her see his face, "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Jonas!" she said in surprise, "What are you doing here? I thought that you -- "

"Well I was, Caroline," he said a little sadly, "I was doing the same thing I've always done, telling you some garbage about a spring rodeo, There's no such thing."

"I know that," she said, "but I never said anything, because I could see that you just wanted to get away every time. What happened? Why are you back now?"

"I learned a few things," he said, "I found out that I have some people who care about me -- leastways I hope that they still do. I found out that I'm not the greatest thing on legs as a person, and I learned that I've been a big idiot. It's already cost me Sully's friendship. I wanted to see you again before I lost the last of yours."

He shrugged and smiled ruefully, "I've been an asshole, Caroline and I'm so sorry for it. I -- I, uh, also wanted to say that if I haven't completely trampled your heart into the dirt, I'm ready now. I finally know what I might have and I'm really hoping that it's not too late."

He felt Caroline's tusk against his ear then and he felt as though he could let out the breath that he'd partially been holding back as she hung onto him tightly and she sobbed a little. She pulled back to look at him, "You mean that?"

"Yes," he nodded, "I just needed an adjustment and Sully gave me one when he clocked me. I had it coming. If you still want me, Caroline, well I want you. If you try hard not to kill me, I think that I'd love to spend my life with a wild goblin girl -- if you'll have me. The more that I rode, the more I saw that I love you, but I guess I was just too full of myself to know better, and when I thought of how I must have made you feel, month after month ...

Caroline, I'm so sorry that I hurt you."

"It's alright," she whispered with another little sob as she wiped her face, "I love you, Jonas, I always have. Come on, I've got a roast to cook up. We'll have a while to talk."

Jonas Bull put his arm around Caroline Mungra the wild goblin queen and they walked back to her home. Caroline looked up and she was a little surprised at the look of happy pride that he wore.

"Does this mean that - "

"Yup," he said.

"That you want to be my man and everything?"

"Yup," he said.

"Well is that all you're going to say?" she asked him.

"Yup," he laughed, "Caroline, honey, I've got a lot of things to say to you, and I really hope that you'll be my girl. I can talk to you all night if you want, but you know that I'd really rather just show you, and for once, I don't want to break your bed if you'd let me try to show you how I feel about you. Would that be alright?"

"Yup," she chuckled as she put her arm around his waist.

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As Billy stood in the bathroom trying manfully to get some of the tree sap from his palms, Randi was in the kitchen, laughing with Narreth as she tried to teach her some English with mixed success when Sully came in and shifted a little uncomfortably.

"I wanted to tell you something, Randi," he said, "and now I'm finding that I don't really know how to go about it."

Narreth smiled a little as she touched Randi's arm, "Thomas like you like girl."

She shook her head, knowing that it hadn't come out as she'd wanted, "Like you ... his girl small," she said, holding her palm fairly low to the floor.

"I'm wanting to say that we -- well, Narreth and I are thankful that you've offered to let us stay and begin here, but ... well, I've never had any children, but I'm finding that it's a nice thought to me that if I had a daughter, I'd hope that she was like you, that's all."

Randi smiled, knowing then what was meant, "Thank you, Thomas," she whispered as she hugged him for a moment, "You'd have been a great father, you know. I see it in the way that you take care of Narreth -- who ought to be getting back to bed, since we agreed on another day there before she gets to run around much at all."

As she turned to go with Sully back to her bed, Narreth stopped and looked back, thinking of what she had in her mind suddenly. Sully turned back, and she spoke to him.

He looked at her and then at Randi as though he wondered what he'd done to deserve to be tested in the way that he often seemed to be. He looked down at the floor for a moment and shook his head.

"My girl here wants to say that she thinks that you might get up to something with Billy soon. She says that she's happy if you do, but she also knows that humans are different from demons. You might find it in your heart to be wanting something with him that goes on for a long while and I've tried to tell her that human girls use their heads and not only their hearts -- especially if they've been hurt there in their hearts in any way. She says that she understands."

He listened to the demon a little more and then he looked a little skeptical for a moment, but Narreth nodded firmly to him, so he did his best.

"She's telling me that I don't know the ways of some demons," he shrugged, "but I can see that she's got a point, since the way that she took my old heart and claimed it was as quick as lightning. She says that you might see what you're looking for -- if it's what you want, before he even speaks about it. She says that there was a sign that girls where she's from used to look for.

The other kinds of her people did this, she says, but no males did it like his kind, and I'm thinking here that she means the Ch'arnn."

He listened a little more and he tried to argue a little bit but Narreth was adamant, so he shrugged, "I don't know," he said, "I know Billy as a good-natured young man, always polite and considerate.

But Narreth says that if something happens between you, you're to watch his wings if you can. If you have his heart in it and everything else, you'll likely see it in his wings before he says a word. She says that it can happen just that quick -- they lay their hearts down in the blink of an eye.

But there's a danger right then all the same, and not to you, Narreth is telling me. She says to choose the place well so you're not disturbed at all. At that instant -- if it happens, and I'm still for doubting -- as much faith as I've got in me girl here - well then he's yours, my love, but he's also claiming what's his at the same time."

He bent to hear a bit more and his eyebrows rose before he straightened, looking rather surprised, "Right then, Billy will only be kind and considerate to you. She says that in that moment, he'd likely kill anyone who disturbed you both. She says it comes from their past, and that the moment passes quickly, but right then, watch out. She says that long ago, that was when a male would likely be attacked by others for his female. I'm not really getting what she means here, but if the moment comes, then you'll see it in his wings. She's telling me that it's the emotion of it and that it's also a warning to other males."

He smiled, "I still can't see it, but I think that I can understand it. Also, it's Narreth telling us, so I believe her."

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"Where are we going?" Billy asked as she led him and Randi rolled her eyes.

"Well if you need me to spell out it for you," she chuckled, "I want to be alone with you for a while, that's all."

He watched her clothing fade from sight in a little wonder as she climbed up to the hayloft, "But, ... it's cold for you up there, Randi."

"I know," she smiled down from the top of the ladder, "I put a ton of blankets up here earlier. Come on up."

He was a little astounded. There was a large basket there, and he could see that she'd packed it with all sorts of things to eat if they wanted, and there was a large flask of Copper's ale there as well.

"It's for our discussions," she said, "This way, we don't have to go anywhere if we get a little hungry or thirsty."

Billy wasn't stupid, but he wondered if he was missing something here, "What will we discuss?" he asked, doing his best to keep an innocent look on his face.

"Oh, I dunno," she smiled, "we'll have to see what comes up, but like this, we can talk about philosophy, or even simple arithmetic. I think that there might be differences in the way they teach that in a human school compared to a Tarkroth school."

"How do you mean?" he asked, "I think that it must all be the same anywhere."

"See," Randi smiled as she pulled him down to the blankets, "that's something that I'd like to test if I could. I'm pretty sure that where you learned it, it's the same as it is here to start with. One plus one is what, Billy?"

"Two," he said.

"Of course," she smiled, "and how many times does one go into one?"

"Once," he shrugged.

"See, that's where there might be an error," Randi grinned. "I think that we'll need to experiment because I hope that the true answer might be in the thousands. Just wait here for me a minute, ok? I want to go and lock the door from the house," she said as she got up.

"I'll be right back," she smiled at him and he watched in shock as she ran to the end of the loft and jumped off the edge and disappeared from his view to land on the floor twenty feet below in darkness.

"Randi?" he called out, "Randi, are you alright?"

He heard no reply other than the soft sounds of a few footfalls and a half-stifled giggle. Billy looked out over the darkened barn floor, but his eyes flicked to the door which led into the house when he heard the quiet click from that direction as it was locked, but he was too late when he looked and there was no one there.

As he scanned the darkness with his eyes, he heard the footfalls again in the straw on the floor and his eyes flicked in that direction, but he was too late again. Whatever he'd heard - and he had to assume that it had been Randi - was now on the other side of a wall which separated the cattle stalls from the main room. The soft swish of long steps was nearing the other end of that wall a little quickly for the slow speed of the sounds. He was startled and a little at a loss as he heard more steps moving away.

Billy leapt out of the loft himself, spreading his wings to land almost silently on the floor below and he began to hunt for her, wondering what had gotten into her and liking her little game. As he came around the wall, he heard the steps on the other side and when he looked there, he saw nothing, but he heard a soft scraping noise from the loft a moment later.

He didn't understand how this was possible. He'd heard no wings fluttering other than his own, he thought as he walked to the ladder and began to climb up slowly, careful to make no sound as he listened.

Not far from the top, he stopped and listened to a little more of the scraping and then he saw a match flare into life ahead of him at the other end. In the middle of that flare of light, he saw someone and he blinked.

He was looking at a silhouette which made no sense to him for who ought to be here, and yet it seemed to stir some dim recognition in a way that he didn't quite comprehend. The shadow there which was surrounded by the glowing halo of the match raised its arms and a moment later, there was a little more light from an old hurricane lantern which hung from a beam up above and the match was extinguished carefully as the lamp was turned down to a little above being barely lit at all.

The shadow dropped down low and it turned to stand facing him in a deep squat almost directly under the lantern.

Billy could see well in total darkness, but the glare of the lamp actually made seeing more difficult because of where the shadow was in relation of the placement of the lamp as it softened the edges and cast a bit of a warm glow.

He stared as he saw some details as the shape before him seemed to weave just a little from side to side. He wasn't certain of what was going on, but he stood absolutely motionless as he tried to determine enough for him to go on.

That was Randi's trouble now. She crouched in the shape that Narreth and Rudhi had helped with and advised her on as she'd learned to form it. Outwardly, she was the thing which Narreth had gushed over, but inside, Randi still had mostly human vision, only slightly improved from what hers had always been. She could sense in other ways to a degree, but for the night vision that she had, she'd have been better able to locate him if he moved a little. Since he was standing still, she had trouble seeing him, and so she weaved to try to gain a little definition, and she sniffed softly to try to catch his warm scent and maybe a little of the heat which must be coming off him here in the cold loft.