Kalona’s Fall (8 page)

“Yes,” he said, nuzzling her hair and whispering into her ear. “I found your favorite
lake.”

She pulled back a little so that she could smile up into his eyes. “I am glad you
called for me.”

“I am glad you came.” He returned her smile. It frightened him how her presence could
make him so happy, and how her absence could make him so miserable, but he pushed
aside those thoughts, determined to stay in the moment, to enjoy every instant he
had alone with her. “I made you something.”

Her smile dimmed. “Oh. You’re ready to complete the next test? We must call—”

He touched her lips with his finger, silencing her gently. “I am ready to complete
the next test, but first I want to show you what I
made
for you. I didn’t use magick. I didn’t call Water. I only used my desire to please
you. I need no test to school me in that.” Putting his arm around her shoulders, he
guided her to the spot where he had beached the boat.

He felt her little start of surprise. “You made this for me?”

“I did.”

She pulled free from his half embrace and hurried to the boat, running her hands over
the symbols carved around it and making soft sounds of delight. When she looked up
at him, her eyes were filled with tears.

“I wanted you to be able to float on the lake in peace and to think of nothing but
the beauty that surrounds you,” he said. “I hope it pleases you.”

Nyx rushed to him and, laughing, hurled herself into his arms. Clinging to his neck,
she covered his face in kisses, between kisses saying, “Yes, it pleases me! I love
it! Thank you! Thank you!”

He was laughing with her as he spread his wings and lifted her from the ground, twirling
her around. Neither realized they were hovering in the air until Nyx’s gaze tried
to find the boat. She gasped and clutched his neck. Kalona tightened his arms around
her.

“Trust me, Goddess. I would never let you fall.”

Nyx gazed into his eyes. “I trust you.” Then she kissed him. Not playfully, or gently,
as she had before. The Goddess kissed him as if she thirsted, and only he could slake
her need.

Kalona responded to her passion carefully. He wanted to crush her to him and to claim
her as his own. But even more than that, he wanted to please her. So, he let Nyx take
her time exploring his lips, touching his face, combing her fingers through his long,
thick hair. All the while he held her. He kept her safe.

Too soon she paused her exploration, though the flush of her face and the deepening
of her breath told him she had enjoyed herself as surely as her words did. “I like
the way you taste,” she said.

He smiled, glad that he had tempered his desire with patience. “And
that,
my Goddess, pleases me.”

“Would you take me out in your boat?”

“It would be my pleasure, but it isn’t my boat. It is yours.”

“Kalona, sometimes you say exactly the right thing.”

He snorted as they drifted slowly to ground. “Sometimes, but not often.”

“I think you’re getting better at it,” she said.

“I could not get much worse.” Taking her hand, he helped her into the boat. “I-I made
a mess of the Air test,” he said, pushing the craft out into the water before he got
in with her. When she didn’t answer him, he made himself keep busy with the wooden
paddle, steering the boat out onto the glasslike surface of the lake.

When he finally looked at her, Nyx was watching him, her expression unreadable.

“You are still angry with me?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I was never angry with you. I was sad and disappointed.”

“Knowing I have caused you sadness wounds me,” he said. “I will do better with the
next test. I vow it.”

“It wasn’t the test that made me sad. It wasn’t the test that disappointed me.”

“What then?”

“You were cruel to Erebus. He did not deserve that.”

Kalona almost snapped the paddle in two. Unable to contain his jealousy, he blurted,
“You do not prefer him!”

“Kalona, you
both
were created for me. You
both
have a purpose and a place at my side. If you do not want to sadden or disappoint
me, you will not harbor enmity for your brother.”

Kalona struggled to control his inner turmoil. He wanted to cry out, to tell her that
he couldn’t bear to share her, couldn’t bear to think of her covering Erebus’s face
with joyous kisses, or exploring the taste of his lips.

“I vow that I have love enough within me for the both of you,” she said, moving forward
so that she could press the palm of her hand over his heart. “Trust me, Kalona. I
will never break a vow.” Then she kissed him and Kalona could think of nothing but
the scent of her skin and the wonder of her touch.

The waters around them exploded with trilling Fey. They leaped over and around the
boat in agitation, calling frantically to Nyx.

“Yes, yes, I understand you. I know the place. I will come. I will come.” The Goddess
told the creatures, and with satisfied chirps, they disappeared as quickly as they
had appeared. Nyx sighed and wiped water from her face and his, smiling apologetically
at him.

“Let me guess,” Kalona said. “Erebus is ready for his test.”

“You are correct,” she said. “May we continue what we began later?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, turning the boat toward shore, hiding his hurt and frustration
from her.

He helped her from the boat, pulling it well up onto the rocky shore. He was silent,
already anticipating the joy Nyx would feel at whatever magnificent show Erebus had
concocted for her this time, when the Goddess circled him with her arms from behind,
pressing her cheek against his bare back and nuzzling his silver wings.

“I wish you would choose happiness. There is such wondrous happiness between us—enough
to last an eternity,” she said.

He pressed his arms over hers, loving the feel of her warmth against the moonlit coolness
of his skin. He drew a deep breath, and with it made a conscious effort to release
his frustration.

Kalona could feel her smile. “There! That’s better,” she said, and kissed first the
middle of his back, and then each of his wings. He thought she would release him then,
though he remained very still, hoping to gain even one more small moment with her.
She took her arms from around him, but she remained close. He sensed her hesitation,
and then she stroked each of his wings gently. “They are so beautiful. I could look
at them forever and still find different colors within them. Did you know that they’re
not really white?”

“They are behind me, thus difficult for me to see.” His smile was reflected in his
voice.

“They are like moonlight, of course, but this close their color reminds me of pearls.
So beautiful…” she repeated, stroking them.

Kalona turned and caught her in his arms. “That you can find such beauty in me is
a special kind of magick.”

“All is well between us,” she said, staring into his eyes searchingly. “Please know
that. Your place in my heart cannot be filled by any other being in this realm or
the Otherworld.”

Kalona kissed her gently. “Tell me, Goddess, where shall I take you?”

“To the east, and then a little north. If I understood the naiads correctly, which
sometimes takes some doing, Erebus has chosen a fragrant spot for the site of his
next test.”

Kalona couldn’t help grumbling. “What is he going to do? Water a field of flowers
for you?”

Nyx laughed and twined her arms around his neck. “That isn’t exactly the fragrance
I recall from this place, so creating flowers there would, truly, be an exceptional
thing.”

Kalona took to the air with his Goddess in his embrace, dreading what was to come.

7.

YOUR BROTHERHOOD PLEASES ME MORE THAN ANY TEST EVER COULD …

“Argh! It is putrid!”
Kalona’s nose was wrinkled in disgust. “I will not take you closer to that mud and
mess.”

“Nyx, there you are! It is lovely to see you.” Mother Earth embraced her.

“It is a pleasure to see you, as well.” Nyx returned her embrace, and then smiled
at the dancing dryads that had taken to following the Great Mother everywhere. “If
ever I wonder where they have gotten off to, I know all I need do is find you, and
there the Fey will be.”

Mother Earth’s gaze went to Kalona. “And if ever I wonder where you have gotten off
to, I know all I need do is find Kalona, and there Nyx will be.”

Kalona bowed his head slightly but respectfully to her. “I greet you, Earth Mother.”

“I greet you as well,” she said. “Whenever you are ready, you may begin your test.
I do hope it turns out better than your last one.”

“I am ready, but—”

“But it is me who has summoned you here! There is no need for you to move from this
spot. From here you will have a perfect view.” Erebus dropped down from the sky above
them, glistening as golden as the midday sun. “Mother Earth, your beauty outshines
the majesty of the pine trees,” he said with a flourish and a bow.

“So charming and handsome.” Mother Earth smiled fondly at him.

Then he turned to Nyx, and from behind his back he produced a single length of a fragrant
herb, topped with a brilliant purple flower. Moving to her, he smiled and said, “Hello,
my Goddess. This plant reminded me of the scent of your skin. I hope my creation pleases
you as much as it does me.” Erebus tucked the sprig in her hair behind her ear.

Nyx smiled. “Lavender! You are right, Erebus. I do so love its delicate fragrance.
I often rub it on my wrists. Thank you.”

“You should have brought enough for all of us so that we could stand the stench of
this place,” Kalona said gruffly.

“Brother, I have actually missed your scowling face, but probably only because it
bears such a resemblance to my own!” He clapped Kalona on the shoulder.

Nyx thought Kalona’s face looked like a thundercloud ready to explode all over his
brother.

“There is nothing wrong with the scent of this place,” Mother Earth said sternly.
“It comes from the mixing of heat and minerals that rest just below ground. During
the winter, many animals come here and take comfort in the warmth it provides. They
do not complain of the smell, and neither would you, Kalona, were you to freeze to
death otherwise.”

“I am an immortal. We never die,” Kalona told her placidly.

“Indeed?” Mother Earth replied. “Never is a very long time.”

“Then let us waste not another moment of it,” Nyx said. “Erebus, what is it you have
created for me with Water and magick?”

“Hopefully, something that pleases you greatly.” With two beats of his great golden
wings, Erebus took to the air, hovering above them, near the lip of the basin that
held mud and fetid escaping vapor.

Mud and heat from earth below,

Mix with magick to begin my show!

Erebus plucked a small golden feather from his unfurled wings, held it up to his lips,
and blew on it. His breath, mixed with magick, carried the feather slowly, surely,
down to the mud and mess below. The instant it touched the earth, there was a
whoosh
that reminded Nyx of how spring rains sounded against a forest canopy, and mist lifted
from the mud, carrying the golden feather with it. As sunlight touched the feather,
the gold in it expanded, glistened, and changed so that the mud was now covered with
mist that held within it all the colors of the rainbow.

“It is not different than what he did before,” Kalona muttered.

“Sssh,” Nyx whispered to him. “His test isn’t completed.”

Erebus plucked another feather from his wing. This one was a long, golden pinion.
Holding it like a spear, he spoke:

With borrowed creation, and my own magick, ancient, Divine,

I call to Water, an invocation to join this test of mine.

Come forth, geyser, rich and radiant in released power anew.

With your might show Nyx that I will ever be faithful and true!

Erebus threw the long, golden feather. As if shot from a bow, it sailed in a beautiful
arc up and then down, down, to land, sticking its quill into the mud. For a moment
nothing happened. Then, just as she was beginning to feel pity for poor Erebus and
his failed creation, the earth beneath the feather began to growl and with the sound
of waves breaking against a rocky shoreline, the feather was lifted up by a column
of water that sprayed high, straight, and strong into the air.

Nyx clapped with pleasure as the geyser continued to spew water and steam through
the misty rainbow into the clear blue sky, so high that Nyx would have had no trouble
seeing it from the Otherworld. “That’s wonderful, Erebus!”

“A powerful and beautiful creation, indeed,” Mother Earth agreed.

Erebus landed before Nyx, grinning like a boy. “And that’s not even the best part
of it. It will never stop erupting—eternally it will geyser in remembrance of you.
Thus I have named it Old Faithful. No matter how long eternity lasts, like this geyser,
I will always be your faithful playmate and friend, my Goddess.”