Of Gaea (32 page)

“You’re
drowning the flowers.”

Ari started and looked down. The vase was overflowing with
water and the flowers were being flooded out.

Sasha came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her
waist.
“Tell
me what’s wrong.” His breath tickled her ear.

“I’m scared.”
Ari murmured staring out the kitchen window as she
shut the water off.

“So am I.”

Ari jerked and her head cracked against his.
“Ouch!”

They both laughed and held their heads. All the tension
fled. It would be okay. No matter what happened they would always
be friends.

Sasha stepped around her and picked up the vase.
He tipped it,
spilling some of the water out, and carried it to the
table.

“Thank you.”
Ari fussed with the arrangement once the vase was
in place.

“Are you ready to go?”
He held out his hand.

Ari took a deep breath and then placed her hand in
his.
“Sure.”

Nasya greeted them on the porch. “Here,” she handed a
canvas shoulder bag to Sasha.

“Thank you.”
He looped it over his head and turned. “No, she’s
not coming with us.”

“But I’ll be nearby if you need me,” she smiled. “Are you
going to do this or what?”

“Do what?” Ari looked from her to him and back. “What are
you two scheming?”

“Here,” Nasya stepped behind Ari and wrapped something over
her eyes. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

Ari couldn’t see anything. The cloth was soft and velvety
feeling. Before the panic could set in she took a deep calming
breath.

“It’s alright.”
Sasha’s breath danced along her ear. His hands ran
down her arms and he linked his fingers with hers.

Ari felt the tingling sensation of numbness that she
attributed to air and automatically exhaled.
It was only a half a heartbeat
but Sasha’s sudden cough and wheeze was a giveaway. Nasya had
spirited them away somewhere.

“You didn’t
exhale did you?”

He chuckled.
He took his hands from Ari’s and placed a smaller
hand in hers. “Wait here with Nasya a second. I’ll be right
back.”

“Do you know what he has planned?” Ari whispered in case
Sasha was still in hearing distance. Ari didn’t think he was. The
air felt different. Ari could feel Nasya’s presence always,
automatically. She hadn’t expected the ability to include
Sasha.

“I do.”
Nasya sounded pleased. “But I’m not telling. Let the boy
have his surprise. It’s good for both of you.”

“I’m assuming
you approve?”

“You don’t need my approval.” She squeezed Ari’s hand and
let go. “You should strive instead for what makes you happy. And in
second, what makes the both of you happy. Here comes
Sasha.”

It was annoying to not be able to see. However, Ari felt
the air change as Sasha grew closer. It was strange to see without
actually using her eyes. There was so much she could do but didn’t
know how or why. It left her tense and frustrated.

“Okay,” Sasha took her hands. “Come on.”

“Welcome, welcome.” Someone was shouting.

Sasha hurried
passed.

It felt like a maze.
He turned and guided her so quickly Ari thought
she would get motion sick. He stopped as quickly as he had been
moving and stood behind her.

“Ready?”

Ari nodded. “Yes.”

She had her eyes squeezed shut when he removed the
blindfold. Something about the anticipation forced the childish
action. She felt his touch against her temple.

“Open your
eyes.”

Riotous colors fanned out in front of her. Flowers bloomed
in every shade and size in every direction. Butterflies rose from
the blooms in flocks and danced through the air towards their next
meal.

“It’s beautiful.
Where are we?” Ari reached back and linked her
hand with his.

“Norfolk.
Botanical garden. I figured a six hour drive would ruin the
fun of any kind of surprise.”

Ari turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his
waist. “Thank you for making it special.”

He held her tightly. “You deserve more than I have to give,
but I will do everything I can to make up for it.”

Ari laughed and couldn’t resist a teasing kiss. “You are
mistaken. I don’t deserve you. I’ve done nothing to be worthy of
this kind, loving, protective, skilled man.”

His grip tightened almost painfully. “You could have a
thousand others.”

“Grains of sand on a shore.” Ari smiled into his eyes and
ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want the sand. I want the
flower that dares to bloom on the empty shore.” She rested her head
against his shoulder. “Never doubt who you are to me,
Sasha.”

“The same goes
for you.” He rested his head against the top of hers and they stood
there entangled in each other until a child’s laughter warned them
of impending spectators.

“I wish I had a camera.”
Ari watched the couple and their children
come up the path as Sasha drew back.

“Here.”

A black blob filled her vision, and she had to draw back
and focus to see what he was putting right under her nose. A
camera.

Ari whooped a rather unladylike sound and snatched the
camera, rather rudely.
“You are the best!” Then she took off to document
her first, and probably only, visit to the botanical
garden.

It wasn’t just the gardens that were fascinating.
There was a park
with a hill the kids climbed and flew kites in dazzling displays.
There was dinner overlooking the bay and fireworks over it for no
reason other than the simple joy of the lights and
laughter.

Ari prolonged leaving for as long as she could.
Sasha was silently
patient as always as she snapped pictures for memories. At the same
time he was different too, though.

He touched her more.
Her hair, her arm, her shoulder, his hand at the
small of her back. And he smiled more, too. He was still the
formidable soldier to be reckoned with – the rude man in the
outdoor diner had found that out – but he was softer at the same
time. Or maybe, Ari was just noticing it for the first
time.

She was half asleep, cradled in his arms when he finally
talked her into summoning Nasya to take them home.
Ari could have done
it if she hadn’t worn herself ragged with all the excitement of the
day.

She didn’t remember being taken into her house, or being
changed for bed.
She didn’t remember being tucked in. But she remembered the
good night kiss and the gentle touch of a hand brushing her hair
away from her face.

“I love you.”
Sasha whispered quietly.

Ari didn’t respond. She was already fast asleep.

T
he screaming
smoke detector jolted
her out of sleep. Ari choked as soon as she sat
up. Thick black curtains of smoke filled the space where clean air
should have been.

There was no way to make it through the house, not when she
heard it crumbling around her.
She felt the heat, but couldn’t see the
flames of fire through the thick clouds.

Ari staggered from bed to the patio doors and tried to get
them open.
The heated wood was warped and stuck in its frame. She
pounded on them to no avail, and as a last resort threw herself
through the glass.

The patio stones were hot when she landed on them and the
drifting embers were the obvious reason why.
Sluggishly, Ari dragged herself
from the patio into the safety of the yard.

When she was finally coherent enough to glance around she
wished she hadn’t.
Ari wished there was a way to undo what had just burned
into her mind. The entire block was on fire. Some houses looked
like they had been burning longer than others. Even the forest at
her back burned.

It looked like a war zone without the shooting guns and
running soldiers.
Soldiers… Sasha. Where was Sasha?

Her heart
faltered as she stumbled to her feet and ran across the yards to
Sasha’s house.

A blazing inferno greeted her arrival.
Fire consumed every inch of
what was his.

“SASHA!”
Ari screamed at the house even as she knew there was no
possible way for anyone to come running out of the collapsing
structure. “Sasha!” Tears streamed down her face. The roar of the
fire was the only answer she received.

She wasn’t thinking clearly enough to think about putting
out the fire.
If she had she could have been able to save the house. But
in her current state of mind she could have just as easily brought
the house down.

Angry and rather childishly, Ari picked up a stone and
chucked it at the house.
She collapsed in sobs on the warm grass. She
didn’t sit for long.

Someone had to take account for this action. Someone had to
pay for all of it. The balance had to be maintained. It
would
be maintained. She
would make sure of that.

Ari stood and rubbed the tears off her face with her arm,
inadvertently smearing soot with it. No one deserved to die this
way. No one deserved to lose everything they owned in this
manner.

She needed weapons.
Her oversized tee shirt, bare feet and wildly
unruly hair were not going to avenge anyone. A quick scout of the
yard gave her hope, if very little.

The shed still stood.
There were pockmarks on it like someone had
repeatedly shot at it with something and the weapon of choice had
burned for a second then fizzed off. Ari examined it up close and
could see the Gaea Script lining every edge of the building. Why
hadn’t that been done to the house?

Inside everything was familiar and still in place. Ari
rushed around and grabbed a dagger belt. One of the daggers hung
horizontally at her back and the other had another belt that closed
around her thigh to hold the longer of the two. A full quiver was
tossed across her back and her bow was taken down from the
pegs.

The nightshirt and the bare feet meant nothing to
her.
She was
armed. It would be a fool to think she was weak.

Ari ran the three blocks down and two blocks over to Main
Street.
She
didn’t bother with the roads or sidewalks. She cut straight through
the yards and fields.

Everything was decimated.
The closer she got to Main Street the
worse it became. Main Street itself was a disaster zone.

Tainted and Pure fought bloodily but it looked more like a
game.
The
Tainted would destroy and maim and kill. Then the Pure would jump
in and fix it all up. There were dozens of them along the
street.

Ari didn’t have enough arrows for all of them.
It didn’t matter;
she didn’t need arrows for all of them. She drew, and fired in
rapid succession as she walked slowly up the street. She targeted
back and forth between the Pure and the Tainted. Not one more than
the other and not one less. Balance was essential.

By the time she was halfway down the street all eyes were
on her.
When
she ran out of arrows she stopped and scanned the
street.

“Well? Are you going to keep me waiting?”

What remained of the Tainted and Pure gathered together
into one conglomerate.
Ari recognized the shape they took. They had
haunted her nightmares.

Ghita and
Lyris stared at her.

“Now that I have your attention.”
Ari stood straight and unyielding.
“This has to stop. This is
not
your playground.”

“The entire world is mine.” Lyris murmured in a creepy,
dreamy voice.

“Not before I.
I came first.” Ghita hissed.

The two turned
on each other once more.