Of Gaea Read online

  They both saw her at the same time.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Thank the Mother you’re safe.”

  They spoke at the same time. And Ari simply turned away and closed her eyes.

  “I’m not feeling well.” She murmured. “I wanted some place quiet. Some place undisturbed. I suppose I’ll have to try harder.”

  “I know what Sasha did. He’s frantic. He’s in the woods, checking the usual spots and I thought to come here. Of course, I didn’t tell him that.” Nasya stepped forward then stopped.

  “Thank you.” Leonidas quipped. “You don’t look well.”

  Ari opened her eyes to see him crouched centimeters from her face, studying her. She didn’t even have the energy to jerk back in shock. She jabbed out her arm and shoved him instead. “Personal space. You’re inside it.”

  “My garden. Back at you.” He grinned. “Come on. You can’t lay here. You’re disturbing the plants.”

  Ari glanced at the plants which were much closer than she remembered them being. “I’ll leave.”

  “No.” Leonidas grabbed her arm and she really didn’t have the heart to shake him off. He looked pointedly at Nasya. “Sasha still has my ring. My word still stands. I’m going to ask you to leave.”

  Her brows furrowed together then she nodded slowly. “If you need me just call. No matter how close or far I will hear you and come.”

  Ari merely nodded.

  “Come on.” He draped an arm companionably around her shoulders. “Tell me what’s got the love birds all riled up.”

  “Sasha doesn’t love me. Or I don’t think he loves me. He didn’t answer so I suppose that’s answer enough. He wouldn’t even look at me when I asked…”

  “And I’m a flying pink elephant. Try again.” He opened a door to stairs and squeezed next to her to walk abreast up the stairs.

  “I think that it’s more he loves Gaea. I just happen to be her vessel.”

  “You’re not a vessel. So that statement doesn’t pass. Try again.” At the top of the stairs he opened a heavily detailed carved door and shoved her through. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

  Ari wasn’t sure what she had expected from the living quarters of Leonidas but the clean- spotlessly so- airy, bright loft was not it. The furniture was natural wood and white and stood out against a complex mosaic floor pattern.

  “It’s cork.”

  Ari glanced up at Leonidas. “What?”

  “The floor you are so heavily studying. It’s cork.”

  “What’s the design?” She dropped her gaze back to the floor.

  Leonidas grabbed her by the shoulders and moved her. “Follow the line here.”

  She looked up perplexed. “What?”

  “Trust me.” He waved his hand at the floor. “Follow the line.”

  Seeing no reason to blow him off, Ari walked along the lighter colored pathway. It snaked in a curve and on occasion she had to go around a piece of furniture but she never lost sight of her place. It was confusing yet very clear. The very center was shaped like a round flower with evenly round petals.

  “Not all paths are easy to walk. Yours is harder than most.”

  Ari looked up from the path.

  Leonidas stood against a bar and she could see the box to a frozen pizza next to him. He motioned to the path. “The way you walk will not always be straight and clear. And you may not always see the big picture until the end.”

  Ari carefully studied the floor and was startled that from the center she could see the entire pattern. The tree of life circled out from her feet. She glanced back up at Leonidas and he smiled.

  “You can stay here for a bit. I expect that you will clear your mind and know what the right thing to do is.” A timer dinged and he moved behind the bar to the oven.

  “What’s the right thing?” Ari walked over and sat at the bar.

  “Get the hell out of my house and convince Sasha to say the words out loud. Oh, here.” He walked away a moment and came back with a sachet and a book. “He does love you. You’re being foolish. Though I do believe Sasha deserves whatever slap you give him. Might wake his ass up.”

  Ari recognized the book. She lifted the sachet and sniffed. A strong scent of herbs leaked out from the fabric.

  “That is for Sasha. The herbs I promised. Place one tablespoon in eight ounces of boiling water. Steep for ten minutes and then make him drink it. It will taste foul. He’ll think it is poison, but it will help his strength regain faster and it will help prevent, we’ll call them impressions, from others.” Leonidas had been moving as he spoke and a plate of hot pizza and a glass of ginger ale was placed on the bar in moments.

  “I let him go.” Ari murmured into the glass as she picked it up to take a drink.

  His laughter rang through the room. “Eat, sleep, and then get out. You’re ruining my reputation. There’s a guest bed through there. The door locks if you don’t want to sleep in your clothes.” He gave a suggestive wiggle to his brows. “Then go to Sasha. Trust me, if you had let him go and then you show up, he’ll be groveling at your feet.”

  “Pig.” Ari muttered and blew on the hot pizza. “I don’t want him to grovel.”

  He snorted. “His knees could use the wear. It might humble him a bit. It certainly wouldn’t hurt him.” He walked across the room and the door closed firmly behind him.

  Ari sat with her pizza, flipped open the book and read while she ate.

  WHEN SHE SURFACED FROM THE book, the pizza was cold and the digital display on the cable box read one o’clock. She hadn’t napped since she was five or six. Ari couldn’t see the point in restarting that habit now. Besides she wasn’t really tired or rather not overly so.

  She was more interested in what was written in the book. For as small as it was, it was crammed from margin to margin with information. It was broken into chapter like segments. It was the perfect mimic of a textbook. She had always been a great student.

  Restless, Ari dumped her plate and glass in the sink before wandering the space. For such a prick Leonidas was one of the cleanest men she had ever met. Nothing was out of place. It felt blasphemous to leave her plate in the sink, but she wasn’t washing his dishes. Screw that.

  Instead she wandered over to the curtains and swung them rebelliously open. The open curtain revealed a patio door and a set of comfy looking patio chairs. Since Leonidas wasn’t here to stop her, Ari opened the doors and stepped out. She was polite enough to close the door behind her.

  Instead of sitting in a chair, Ari folded into a papasan. She couldn’t tell what level she was on with the way the buildings were stacked in pueblo fashion, but the view was beautiful. The town was nowhere in sight, but the farmers’ fields and pastures patterned the scenery. Town would have to be on the other side of the building. Leonidas was smart, not wanting the streets to mar his view.

  The wind teased and danced hinting at secrets. Ari closed her eyes and lifted her head to it. She inhaled its clean richness, “Tell me what you hear.”

  It was like dialing an analog radio. There was a lot of noise then snippets of random conversation here and there. Nothing truly specific to her or of anything important.

  “Who talks about me?” Ari asked, not really expecting to hear anything specific.

  “You have to talk to her!”

  Ari jolted and lost the conversation. Kleisthenes never shouted but he had been shouting and she would bet money it was at Ghita. She inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly and concentrated.

  “Kleisthenes, what’s he saying?” It took a moment to find the thread of sound in the air again.

  “It’s not fair to her. You can’t do this.” Pause. “You are her only family here.” Pause.

  The error of her request came to light with the one sided conversation. “The whole conversation. The person he’s talking to as well.”

  “It’s already done.” Ghita’s voice was firm and icy.

  “One conversation. One civil conversation is all I
ask. Please. Do not end it this way. If you love her even a little you will not do this in this manner.”

  “She is not my child to be concerned with.”

  “YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT WHEN YOU TOOK HER FROM SPARTA!”

  “There’s no need to shout.”

  “There’s every need! She called you mother for seventeen years. For one hour I ask you act like one. Think of her instead of yourself.”

  “I WILL NOT WATCH HER DIE! I cannot bear it. My heart would not survive it. Yes, I love Ariadne, but she’s made her choice, and I cannot support her in it. Her blood will not be on my hands, or Lyris’s. Not if I can help it.”

  “You do not know she will die.”

  “Can you promise me she’ll live?”

  Kleisthenes sighed. “I cannot.”

  “There’s nothing more to talk about.”

  “An hour, Ghi. For me. Give her an hour, be what she needed you to be all those years ago and I promise I will not seek you out again. I will stay here and protect her. You have my word on my house and honor.”

  Ghita sniffled, and if Ari had eyes on the conversation instead of just ears she would have seen Ghita wipe hastily at her eyes. It sounded like she was crying. Ari was sure of it when Ghita raggedly inhaled. “She is more your daughter than mine or Lyris’s. What can I say to her that she has not heard from you?”

  “That is for you to decide. Ghita, my heart…” Kleisthenes’s voice was so low, so intimate Ari dropped the conversation; some things were best left unheard.

  “Are there others?” Ari murmured quietly and the air buzzed incessantly with random bits of conversation again.

  “Just started walking out of nowhere.”

  “She was probably faking it.”

  “It’s a miracle you know.”

  She grabbed onto the last one.

  “There are no such things as miracles.” Was the response.

  “Then what was it, for that poor girl to get hit by a car and be crippled then to be able to walk again eight months later?”

  “Magic. Wasn’t it?” The last part seemed to be directed at her. With it, she felt like something hit her, and she flew backwards and the papasan toppled. Her ears were ringing and she couldn’t tell up from down.

  “You can’t be left alone can you?” A pair of feet entered her field of vision and she followed them up to see Leonidas staring down at her. He bent down to sit her up and with the motion the world swirled into a kaleidoscope of color and motion.

  Leonidas cursed and Ari felt something trickle down her face.

  She swiped at her face and her hand went through a sticky liquid. The red fluid was a surprise. “My nose is bleeding.” She stated dumbly.

  “Obviously.” Leonidas dragged Ari over to the wicker seat and sat her down. “Sit here. Don’t bleed on the furniture and no more gifts for right now. Give me a second.” He vanished back into the house.

  Ari sat as still as possible. She felt like she had just gone a round with a heavy weight boxing champ and lost. Her body was starting to ache for no reason and when she couldn’t take the incessant pounding in her head anymore she dropped it between her knees.

  “Oh good, you’re already in position.”

  Before Ari could lift her head to utter a sound, her head was yanked up by her hair, and something was placed in her lap then her hair was let go and her head fell into the bowl.

  It looked like water, steaming. When she inhaled the cough couldn’t be prevented but there was something in the steam that cleared the fog from her mind.

  “A few more inhales just like that. Then you can tell me what you were doing.”

  Ari reluctantly did as he instructed and slowly sat back. Surprisingly, Leonidas had a cloth ready and gently wiped her face. His eyes were intense, not in affection, but irritation and possible frustration.

  “What were you doing without a guide?”

  Ari cocked her head quizzically. “A guide?”

  “What has Nasya been teaching you?” He sat back. “A guide, a teacher, a mentor. Technically, you shouldn’t try things without a second to help you out until you understand it.”

  “I’m not an invalid.”

  “No you’re not, but you’re new. It’s like riding a bicycle without a helmet and knee pads. You don’t do that until you’ve gotten so good you can ride with no hands without falling. You just rode without hands and crashed into a brick wall.”

  “Thanks for the analogy.”

  “Anytime. What were you doing when you got bitch slapped?”

  “Listening. That’s all. Nothing fancy just listening to the air.”

  His lips pursed thoughtful. “You’ve got blood all over your clothes. Follow me.” He stood and walked back into the house. With little choice, Ari followed.

  He walked into the guest room and opened the closet. “Pick out whatever fits. Bathroom’s through there. You can shower if you don’t mind going commando.”

  Ari walked into the closet full of woman’s wear. “Should I be horrified you have a collection of woman’s clothes?”

  “They belonged to my sister.” Leonidas’s voice was bitter. He restrained from elaborating. She wasn’t something he was openly comfortable talking about. Not yet. If he listened to the air he could sometimes hear the echo of her laughter. Sorrow slammed him so hard he grew angry. Reason told him it wasn’t Ari’s fault; she didn’t know but he ignored it.

  “Should I ask first? When can I meet her?”

  “She’s dead. I’ve given you permission. Clean up. I’ll be back in thirty. There’s no way you can get into trouble in that amount of time.” He was clip, and turned quickly before he could do something unforgivable.

  When the door slammed Ari sighed realizing her mistake. He had used the past tense. “Way to stick your foot in it.”

  It took ten minutes of digging through the closet before she found something that she liked. It was really close to something she had seen Nasya wear at one point or another. Ari debated on snagging the shoes that seemed to belong with her outfit. She grabbed them, just in case, and rushed into the bathroom in fear that Leonidas would decide to come back early.

  The bathroom was as neat and tidy as the rest of the house. The porcelain gleamed and crisp white towels were folded on the back of the toilet. Crisp white wash clothes were folded on the sink basin next to the unused bar of soap that smelled like lavender and rosemary when Ari sniffed it.

  Looking in the mirror gave her pause. Ari crinkled her nose at all the blood. It was down the front of her shirt in thick rivulets, and all over her pants. If someone else had seen it, she doubted they would believe it was from a bloody nose. When she stripped down the blood had soaked through to her underwear as well. Terrible luck.

  Ari pondered the dilemma a moment. She could hand wash them in the sink, jump in the shower and then put them back on damp. She could wrap up in the big bath robe on the back of the door and go ask Leonidas to use the washer and dryer. She could wash them and use her not inconsiderate amount of skill to draw the water out of them. Option C won the toss.

  Heavy banging on the door interrupted the drying process. “I can FEEL you. Just because I’m not Gaea’s child doesn’t mean I can’t feel the elements nearby.” Leonidas informed through the door. “Is it really so damn hard to ask something of me?”

  “I’m just drying my… garments.” Ari could feel her face get hot even as she said it.

  “If by garments you mean underwear, I am not amused. Do you have a problem with commando?”

  “It’s called decency.” Ari gave her underwear a twist and a shake and they were dry and blood free.

  “If you were going to wash your garments then why didn’t you just wash everything instead of borrowing clothes?”

  “You gave me a time limit! And I’m trying to stay within it. And I’m not going without in someone else’s clothes.”

  He coughed. Ari couldn’t tell if it was to cover a laugh or if he really was coughing.

/>   “If it makes you feel better, you can keep the clothes. Just get cleaned up and get dressed. Five minutes.”

  Ari scowled at the door. No doubt he knew she still had fifteen minutes of the original time limit, but arguing that point with him would have been futile. She’d have more success beating down a cement wall with her head.

  Ari took a washcloth from the sink basin and hastily scrubbed down before getting dressed. His sister had been taller than her- how that was possible Ari wasn’t sure, unless the girl had been a giant, like Leonidas- because the long, tiered skirt hung on the ground by a few inches. The top tier was elastic with a draw string that Ari rolled once to keep the skirt from dragging, when she stood still it still touched the ground. She pulled on the thigh length top and tied the wide sash at her waist. She sat on the toilet and pulled on the sandals. They were cool as the top part only had a ring for the big toe and then at the heel fabric straps came out of the soles to wrap around and tie. She was tickled that they matched the dark brown of the skirt and were completely comfortable.

  Leonidas banged on the door again. “Time’s up!”

  Ari grabbed her clothes and hastily balled them up with her bra in the center of them. She saw no point in announcing she wasn’t wearing it.

  Leonidas paced the bedroom like a caged wild cat when she emerged. When he saw her he scowled and pointed to the bed. A bag sat on the bed.

  Ari walked over and saw that it held the bag of herbs and her book. She looked at him questioningly.

  “Dump your clothes in it. To carry your items in.” He shook his head. “Leave it to you to find the caftan. That blue suits you. It matches your eyes.”

  Ari dumped her clothes and picked up the bag. “Isn’t this the part where you show me out?”

  He grinned. “And walk you down the street. Until you get to your street at least. I’m not trying to cross paths with Sasha again.”

  “Why?” she asked suspiciously as he guided her out.

  “Honor is a big thing in Sparta, your Worshipness.”

  “Worshipness is not a word. And don’t call me that.” Ari didn’t wait for him to lock the door before strolling down the sidewalk.