Igneous lay with his arm cradling Steffanie as she fretted about her migraine. He certainly had a lot to think about. Winning Steffanie's affections was not the difficulty he was facing. He had been her bedmate for weeks. It was deciding if he wanted to take their intimacy to another level entirely. The spiritual aspect of the great rite appealed to him greatly. But the possible responsibility of a child was an option he had never really considered. From the descriptions given by the angels the children matured within hours and Igneous was uncertain how he felt about the entire possibility. 'Perhaps,' he mused to himself, "I can meet Malcolm.' He turned toward Steffanie and realized she had drifted back to sleep. He scanned the room, but saw only Brownstone.
"Pardon me, Brownstone, but how might I be introduced to Malcolm?"
"It is difficult to get his attention sometimes. He is so very busy. Give me a moment, I will try to flag him down."
A few minutes passed then a shining young man dressed casually in street clothes appeared. He dimmed the shine immediately when he noticed Steffanie was asleep.
"Mom's got another migraine it seems. You must be Igneous. Pleased to meet you, I'm Malcolm." The young man stretched out his hand which Igneous shook gravely. "You probably have some questions for me."
"To put it bluntly, yes. Do you remember much of your maturation process?"
"No, not really. I remember Emily, seeing Mom, her holding me close, then being whisked away to many different places to learn multiple languages. Playing with Emily was great though. That is my only real childhood memory."
Upon hearing her name, Emily appeared with another young girl in tow.
"Malcolm!!!" She huge flying tackle hugged her brother, knocking him flat on the floor. Then she, black hair flying, and the blonde girl tickled him till he cried mercy.
"You must be Iggy." Emily announced. "This is Severina, daughter of Thor. She and I get to be ghosts unless somehow Mommy finally gets to have us."
"And what is it like being a ghost?" Igneous asked seriously, having only recently reattained his own form.
Shyly Severina answered:
"Sometimes there are gray times, and sometimes I feel as solid as a human being. Emily and I spend a lot of time in Vishnu's library visiting Ganesha and in Asgard visiting my father's family. Lately Morpheus has let us use Lucian's library and the real Morpheus has been letting us meet our real siblings. Did you know I named myself after Mommy's favorite Mission U.K. song?"
Igneous shook his head no, then Emily blurted out, "Can you give us a brother?"
Igneous was rather taken aback.
"Malcolm is the bestest, but he is busy all the time. You love Mommy, give us a brother to play with."
"Right this instant?" Igneous asked, a smile beginning to play around his mouth.
"Yes, we will make sure you have privacy."
Igneous had noticed how difficult finding time alone with Steffanie was. If there wasn't a guardian or three hanging about, there was an entity asking for assistance, or simply swarms of the the fey that just wanted to be near her or play in the fairyland she had constructed for them, complete with ceramic magic pumpkin fey abode.
"How will you assure privacy, Emily?' he asked politely.
"Well first you call on the privacy angel, then the privacy fairy. Then just in case someone has to check in on you, you invoke the confidentiality angel and finally the confidentiality fairy. They all know me, so I can have them here in a jiffy. Please Igneous, we want a brother so badly!" Emily wheedled.
Igneous considered his options. Steffanie was already a week into this migraine, and since he was obviously wearing his heart on his sleeve where even a ghost girl could see it, what did he have to lose? He nodded.
Emily crowed with delight. Then she got down to business. She went through the process slowly, step by step, showing Severina and Igneous how to invoke privacy and confidentiality around an oracle. When she had completed the process she kissed Igneous on the cheek, then vanished along with a waving Severina.
Igneous scanned the room. There were faint blue lines of energy and a light sprinkle of twinkly dust along every crack and crevice around the doors and windows. He and Steffanie were completely alone. He watched her sleep for a little while, then began lightly caressing her aura, which she kept very close to her body. She sighed and snuggled in closer to where she could feel his energy. He leaned on one arm and began to stroke her hair back from her face. She felt tingles as his fingers brushed her skin and her nipples immediately tightened into small brown buds. As his hands caressed her sides, tingles travelled down her arms, swept through her middle and fired synapses all the way down her legs and back. He traced the curve of her lips and she smiled.
"Would you like my hands to be as your hands?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, please, " he answered using her voice.
His fingertips melded with hers and he traced the outline of her lips again, this time feeling her breath. Then, when he brushed the hair back from her brow he could feel the long silken strands running through his fingers. He played with her hair awhile, just enjoying the sensation. He noticed her eyes open and as she looked directly at him, he felt a jolt of energy. Though he knew she couldn't actually see him, he felt as if he was completely open to her gaze. It was not a comfortable feeling, and it took him a moment to acclimate before he could really look into her deep green and brown hazel eyes. As he focused first on her right eye, then on her left, it felt as though a window was opening and he was gazing past her iris into her essence. Transfixed he hovered over her amazed by the clarity of her trust.