Part 28
“Done!” Fire laughed, and the two shook on it with their free hands. “And by the way,” she continued as they made their way to an open space on the second-highest lawn with their lunch, “You’re probably right about how many devoted fans we have, and how devoted they are, and you’re right that I never thought about it before. But I’m not going to let any of them become as devoted to me as you are to my father. I’d never allow an uncontrolled Compulsion of loyalty to me to be cast like Alilia did, though to be fair to her there was no predicting what you and the others of The Volunteers did then. That was pretty crazy, but now that it’s happened once we know to watch out for it.
“Father’s love-life is so complex it’s mind-boggling, and while he seems to be making it work, I’ll never risk going through that. I may have elven blood, but it’s my human blood that seems to rule that way. I’ll love one man, and no other. I’ll share myself with him, and no other.”
“Hmm.” Balen went with a sly smile as they sat down on the lawn to eat. “You almost sound like you have him picked out already.”
Then she saw the stricken expression that suddenly appeared on Fire’s face. “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” she said, and trailed off as she realized that she didn’t know what she was being sorry for.
There was a very long and strained silence that passed between them as both of them seemed caught in the gaze of the other, then Fire’s face hardened with determination.
She’d been casting to subtly ensure the privacy of their conversation from the ears and minds around them without giving it very much consideration, but now she ceased that, and spoke in such a sharp tone that it drew the attention of all around her. “I have, I do have him picked out already, and I am absolutely sick of hiding it!”
She set her plate down and stood. “It isn’t easy being seven and having many of the feelings of adults, you know! Especially since in many ways I’m still seven, and I still have many of the normal feelings of seven-year-olds! And we don’t know what the hell everyone expects of us, we don’t know how much adult behavior the world will accept from us, so we hide what we think everyone else might not accept, but to hell with that! To hell with anyone who won’t accept me for what I really am! To hell with anyone who won’t accept the love I share with others!”
and floated three meters in the air, and suddenly her tightly-controlled power was obvious to almost everyone there as it gathered with the
gathering fell silent as she drew their attention, and she emanated such a palpable aura of danger that many there discreetly
a crap anymore about anyone who’s so mind-locked into their old-fashioned and obsolete attitudes that they might disapprove of my life-choices! I’m laying the truth bare in front of the whole world, and I’m
Karz, who was still on the patio. “I declare right now, before everyone, that Karzog is my destined love, the first love of my life, the man I’m going to marry! It doesn’t matter that he’s a dragon and I’m a half-elven, half-human warlock! He’s an elf for me whenever I want him to be one, and I’m a dragon for him
Balen called
assumed the dragon Simulacrum that she’d previously worn only for Karzog, with almost the same coloring as her normal
care who knows it, and if anyone has any objections
wings, his sinuous neck and his tail. She did the same to him, which made
declared in a determined tone; “I approve of their love wholeheartedly. Any who disapprove had better not let me hear about
“We stand with Karzog and Fire and Mark in this. There is no practical reason why Fire and Karzog should not share a deep and profound love, and it’s been building since she was born. They’re of
Alilia, Six, Val, all of The Volunteers, all of The Forty-four, Silaran, Equemev, Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Dalia,
knew that it was a public declaration, and that many of the thousands watching would have shared their experience with the rest of the world. A moment of absolute stillness ensued. It seemed they waited to see if any