The Theron Residency (Brides of Theron Book 4) (9 page)

“I know that you know a little bit about how the Drylon’s attacked the Theron people. Don’t you?” She nodded but did not speak. “They took out the cities first and then they took out any other community of people that they saw. They preferred to kill people rather than take them hostage. Hostages meant more mouths to feed, more people to take care of. Their ultimate goal was to exterminate us all. At the time of the attack, I was on a starship hunting Drylon ships as they left the planet. Once we realized that we had chased them away from our sector, every warrior was given leave to check on their families.” He took her hand and began to lead her to the rotting grave markers.

“My uncle Samel was in the city when the first waves of the battle killed him. I checked on him first. He was the only family I had left. His apartment building was vaporized. For miles around the once-bustling city he lived in, there was nothing. I came back here hoping that maybe because Grendalia was so remote, far in the forest away from the city that my family would be saved. But, when I came back home I found this...” He motioned to the destroyed houses around him. “The burning shells of houses some with the charred remains of the people I knew and grew up with. Several of the miners whose lives were spared from the bombing returned nearly the same time I did from the tunnels in the mountains. Together, we began the task of burying the dead. There were no survivors in the community. Not one aside from those that were away. After the dead had been buried, the miners left and never came back. They left to find somewhere else to live. This land is tainted. I am sure that no one would want to live on it again. At least until the evidence of what used to be is gone for good.”

The names scratched on the markers of the graves were no longer legible. He would make it a point to remedy that. “My mother, Sala, was lying in the doorway carrying my baby brother, Seil. My sisters Glenna and Rama were in their room playing with their toys. My father Eroch was in the ale house. It turned out that he did not fare well after my departure. What I found comforting was that my mother was wearing this necklace and my dad was wearing this ring.” He showed her the jewelry as he mentioned them. “I polished these stones and set them myself before I left. I like to believe that because they still wore them, they never stopped loving me. That maybe if they were still here, still alive, they would have accepted me back into their lives and forgiven me for leaving. But, I will never know because Gatton killed my family. He destroyed this town. I can never ever get any of it back again.”

Laura stepped away from Ceran and he watched her as she picked many of the various wildflowers as well as the small grendalia blooms that were growing on the meadow. She made several small bouquets of the flowers and put them on each one of the graves of his sisters’ and brother. She made a large assortment with many bright colors and put it on his mothers’ grave. She took a single flower from the bouquet and placed it on his fathers’ grave. She looked at what she had done with satisfaction and returned to Ceran. Putting her arm around his waist she leaned into him and he enveloped her in his arms. They stood there for a while, listening to the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves. They could hear a faint whistle through the branches.

“I need to tell you something Ceran,” Laura looked up to him. When he nodded for her to continue, she said, “I know that you may not believe me when I say this, but your mother says to tell you, ‘Welcome home son.’” He felt a tear fall from his face and watched as it hit the ground. He looked at his mate and wondered how she knew this. He imagined his mother’s voice carried in the breeze saying those exact words, but they couldn’t have been real. He couldn’t remember the sound of her voice anymore. He almost couldn’t remember what they even looked like.

“How…” Embarrassed by the tears and showing her his blatant weakness he wiped away the tears as he backed away from her. She took a step to follow him but hesitated.

“I told you that I have…particular gifts.” It was as if she was carefully choosing her words because she knew they would be hard to believe. “I have certain psychic abilities. I can sense…Well, perceive emotions and energy. I can even detect residual energy from those individuals that have passed away when they wish to present themselves to me.” She looked over to a small hill near the trees. “Your family is there.” She pointed in the direction of her stare. “I can see that you got your eyes from your mother. Your body is similar to your fathers. He has broader shoulders but is thin and tall as you. You have your father’s hands.”

He looked down at his hands and tried to remember his father. She was right. Everything she said was right. “I can see your brother in your mother’s arms and your sisters are hanging on to her skirts. Your father has his arm around your mother. His eyes crinkle up like yours when he smiles. They are thanking me for bringing you here and ask that I take care of you. They want me to remind you every day that they never stopped loving you. Looking back, they know that you would never have survived if you would have stayed with them.” Tears were streaming down his face now and he fell to his knees. All he could hear was the sound of the wind as it whistled through the branches. If only he could listen to their voices one more time. “Your mother says that it brings them joy to know that there’s still a small piece of them that lives on in the universe.”

“I wish I could hear them. I wish I could tell them I am sorry.” Ceran sobbed.

“There is no need. They can hear you and think that they are the ones that should beg your forgiveness. Should you forgive them, they will finally be at peace. They will finally be able to leave this place for a better one without regrets. You see, the time for mourning is over.” Laura said as she slowly knelt down by his side and gently put her hands along the side of his face. “They will always be with you in here.” She placed her hand over his heart and he reached out for her, squeezing her to him. “They aren’t mad at you Ceran. They all love you. It is time to let them go.”

He could feel her fingers as they combed through his hair. He’d never cried like this in front of anyone before. Maybe that was an aspect of finding your soulmate. Laura would never find him weak or stupid for crying on her shoulder. Everyone needed someone with whom they could allow the emotions that they caged within themselves to be set free. Otherwise, all of our troubles could get so overwhelmingly hard to bear, tearing us down from the inside and ripping us apart. “It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered in his ear. It seemed like she could almost read his mind. How could she possibly know what he was thinking at that moment?



“They’re gone now. They went up into the light, probably to a place where the souls of your dead go. Do your people have a place like that?” she asked looking down at his head in her lap. She was running her fingers through his hair as he looked up at the sky. “On earth we call it heaven.”

“Yes, we have something like that. Once our warriors are burned on a pyre, their souls move on to the spiritual dimension, or what we would call a place of rest. No pain or sorrow exists there. I hope they find their peace there. Maybe one day, I might find them there again.”

He fumbled around for the clasp of the chain around his neck. “I think that my mom would want you to have this. I mean, it would mean a lot to me if you wore it.”

“I would be honored.” He sat up and started to fasten the clasp around her neck. He adjusted the chain clasp behind her neck and touched the stone as it rested on her chest, grazing the skin around the pendant with his fingertips. Her heart fluttered at the feel of his deft fingers as they brushed against her skin. The rush of adrenaline made her dizzy as she looked up at him.

“You’re beautiful. The stone even matches your eyes.” She felt the skin tighten on her face as the edges of her lips formed a graceful smile. Why was it that she was always blushing in front of this man? It was as if she was a menopausal woman having hot flashes in his presence. He had to be ‘the one’ for her. There was no other explanation for it.

With the release of his parent’s souls, it was now time to bring back the happy memories he had of this place. She thought about when she was a kid. The good times that existed before the kids started to bully her because they had finally figured out that she was different. “Where I grew up was a beautiful place in spring. My dad had a sailboat and he would take it out every weekend when the conditions were right. Sometimes it would just be him and me, or he would let me bring a friend or two. My mom didn’t particularly care for boats so she rarely went with us. The days we set sail out into the Atlantic and waited for the sun to set were my favorite. Once the sun was safe below the horizon, we would head back for the marina. In the winter, the weather was too harsh to take the boat out. I would look forward to spring because I knew that after the blankets of ice and snow thawed, we would go out on the boat. It was my favorite time of year. Did you have a place like that here, some place that you found peace?”

“Yeah, I did. There is a lake up on that hill over there. It has a hot spring just next to it where the water is warm. When it gets dark outside, all the plants and insects that live inside of it start to glow. It’s really beautiful. It is a bit of a hike though. I can show you if you want?”

“I’d like that.” He smiled at her just then. The first real smile she’d seen since they had left the market. It made her heart skip a beat. Whenever he smiled, it was like the sun coming out after long cold icy winter warming her soul and numbing her wits. He led her along an overgrown path that she could tell had once been a heavily used walking path. The saplings and tall grasses growing alongside the path leaned in to meet the vegetation on the other side. The ground underneath her feet was paved with smooth cobblestones of all colors and sizes that had weeds and patches of moss growing between them in the small cracks. Every now and then she would come across a stone that was being uplifted by a tree root or the new growth of a little sapling. She carefully watched her footing so that she would not trip on them. As they walked into the forest, the canopy of leaves in the branches overhead blocked out most of the light.

“I used to take my sisters here when we were little. My brother was too little. He would sometimes come when my mother would wash the clothes in the stream.” Every once in a while the light started to penetrate through the gaps in the canopy of leaves above her, warming the air around her. It wasn’t that long before she could hear the sound of water rushing downstream. They stopped when they came to the stream. It was about 10 feet across and reminded her of what she saw when visiting the Smoky Mountains. “This is one of those places.” He motioned to her and walked over to the edge dipping his fingers in the water. “It’s cold,” He laughed and flicked some of the water in her direction. She giggled and ducked, but the droplets of the ice cold water hit her arm. “I can show you my favorite spot if you want.”

“Sure, I’d love to,” she said and dipped her hand into the stream. “Is this water safe to drink? I’m thirsty.”

“We used to drink from it all the time. Since the attack, I don’t know. I didn’t bring a testing kit with me.” He looked behind him to the path they just took. “We’re not that far in. I could go and get the food we got from the market. Then, maybe when we get to the lake we could have a picnic. I’m pretty sure that I have a testing kit in the car, I can get that, too.”

“Sure,” Laura said. He sprinted along the trail to the car. His long, lean muscular legs were worth watching as he took off in the direction they came. He will probably run the whole way, she thought. Sitting on the nearest large boulder, she started to take off her shoes and socks. Rolling her pants up to her knees, she dipped her toes into the water. It was ice cold. Slowly she eased her feet in and let the water sweep them up in the swirling current. The round rocks in the stream bed were covered with blue-green algae. The filaments of the algae were dancing in the water, swaying gently back and forth. She could smell the fecund scent in the air of the decaying leaf litter that crunched under her feet with each step walking up here. This moment right now was the closest she ever felt to being on her own planet.

She took in the scenery all around her. Just to her left a small flying insect was drinking up the nectar from a nearby flower. When it flew drunkenly away, it sprinkled shimmering pollen from its tiny wings. It looked like a fairy right out of a movie sprinkling pixie dust. When it noticed her sitting on a rock, it flew by and sat on a nearby branch. She held her finger out to see if it would crawl up on it so that she could get a closer look. What she saw was incredible. It was a winged creature with a strangely hominid face. Two legs and four arms covered with yellow soft fur. It was about 2 inches long and smiled at her curiously. She inched her finger closer and closer. Just when she least expected it, a small little thing turned and bit her. Not finding her blood very appetizing, it flew off in a frenzy across the stream bank to get more nectar. Why must she always feel the need to touch things? Wasn’t observing them with her eyes ever enough?

She sucked the small droplet of blood off of her finger and followed the tiny winged being’s path with her eyes. Across the stream was a thatch of grass with beautiful purple flowers. Each flower was about 5 inches in diameter and the tips of the petals looked like they were gilded in gold. Intrigued, she wanted to get a closer look at it. Carefully, she stood on the slippery rocks. Each step was carefully made as she checked her footing across the water. She was so accustomed to the sounds of nature that when Ceran emerged from the path and called out her name, she jumped. Slipping on the slick rocks, she fell into the cold water. The bark of the trees seemed to explode in all directions with thousands of small, winged moth-like creatures. With each beat of their wings, they started to glow a soft pink. The faster their wings beat, the brighter they became. They swarmed in a cloud over her now as if curious to see what disturbed them from their nap. They were beautiful. All of a sudden the chill of the water cut through to her skin. She sat on the river bed with water covering her legs up to her waist. She gasped, “Ahh, Sooooo…cold.” She could hear the sound of his laughter through the chatter of her teeth.