After
a bit of thought, he decided that he'd do what he'd done to get
here, even though it didn't seem to make sense. First, he started
walking here and there, to and fro, visualizing a zone of dissonance
all the while. Once he had that mental picture, he added an image
of Bruno at the edge of the zone; just for a moment, he thought
he saw Mikayla with him. He called to her with all his heart,
and felt something linking the two of them powerfully --
As that happened, a bright, bluish white line formed around him.
"Grab my hand!" he shouted to Val
*****
"Got it," Keisha said suddenly. "Link with me,
and feed to Mikayla."
"What do I need to do?" Mikayla asked as the linkage
started to form.
"Be an anchor," Keisha said. "The way is now open;
call to Jason with your heart."
Bruno felt the four of them mesh; slowly, much too slowly, Mikayla
pushed the power through her lifemate linkage, once again using
her empathy to call to Jason. This time, however, the magic caught
-- and held.
"He's coming through!" Bruno called to the others as
Jason stumbled through.
But Jason wasn't alone. A very thin, tall dark-haired Elf was
with him. Bruno felt his aura; the Elf wasn't Dark.
Thank the Goddess for small favors.
Bruno was about to ask what was going on, but Lady Keisha beat
him to it. "What have you to say for yourself, young man?"
she asked the Elf in her most imperious voice. "Pulling Jason
away like that; what sort of manners are they teaching over there
in the Elf Realm? Answer me!"
Jason's face was a study in contrasts; he looked relieved to be
back, happy to be safe and sound, but chagrined at something.
Seriously chagrined.
Bruno looked at the Elf; to him, it was obvious that the Elf was
male. But to someone like Jason, who wasn't used to Elfs, could
this Elf have looked like a woman?
If that was the case, no wonder Jason looked like that. As Mikayla
ran to him and helped him up from the ground, Bruno was sure that
Jason was very happy that Mikayla wasn't concentrating on the
new arrival.
Even Bruno's weak empathic talent could determine that.
::You're right, Bruno,:: Jelena said. ::Jason thought Val -- that's
the Elf -- was female, and was attracted, even though he didn't
do anything. If he had, Mikayla wouldn't have been able to call
him back like that.::
::Lifemate bonds are so easily shattered?::
::Not exactly,:: Jelena said. ::Let's just say that Mikayla couldn't
use the power of love if Val had converted on the power of infatuation.::
Bruno let the subject drop.
As the Elf stammered out something nobody could quite make out,
Samuel added, "That's my son-in-law-to-be. You don't mess
with my family. We want answers, young man, and we want them now."
Val stammered out something; it sounded like an apology to Bruno,
but he wasn't sure, what with all the accusations flying around.
Bruno waited for the furor to die down, then told Val that he
forgave him.
Val smiled. "I didn't know anyone else here to get training
from," he said with a definite accent, one Bruno'd never
heard before. "Will you help me?"
"If you want to stay here, and get training, Lady Keisha's
the best teacher there is. Reverend Samuel and his wife are also
very good, especially at Human history."
*****
"I know I need training, but I didn't think I could get any
after my mother died," Val said. That's the understatement
of the year, he thought ruefully. "I want to fight Dark Elfs,
too."
Val saw the look of surprise on the two Elfys' faces; apparently,
this isn't what they'd expected to hear. Maybe they knew as little
about Elfs as he knew about Elfys?
Jason had been saying something; Val had missed most of it, but
heard, "-- it's his mother. Val told me. She was killed by
the Dark Elfs during the First Gulf War. We have to help him!"
Mikayla gave Jason a hard look. "Don't we?"
"We will help you," Keisha said firmly to Val "The
first thing we'll do, once you've rested and eaten, is teach you
how to build a stable Room between the Realms, so you'll never
get stuck in there again."
"Many thanks, Madame," Val said. "I'd be extremely
grateful for that knowledge."
"After you've been trained fully, you may join us,"
Keisha said, nodding her head graciously.
"You don't have any trouble with Elfs?" Val asked baldly.
"No, whyever should we?"
"Because most don't fight against the Dark --" he started.
She cut him off. "There are other Elfs who believe in the
Dark threat, lad," she said. "We'll introduce you to
them. Later."
"That would be much appreciated," Val said, as he watched
Mikayla walk away with Jason. Some loves aren't meant to be, he
thought wistfully. But maybe they have some single friends?
*****
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