The night sky spread above them, deeper and darker than he could remember seeing before. With both moons having hit the phase where they were both black as pitch, there was nothing to dim the light of the stars but the small fire he was sharing with two of the most important people he knew.
"Daddy," one of the boys asked, laying back on the blanket with his father, "what are stars made out of?"
"Stars, huh?" He glanced up from his place to keep an eye on the second son, who was merrily roasting marshmellows on a stick they'd picked up on the way here. Momentarily satisfied, he began thinking of an explaination. "Stars," he said thoughtfully, "are like great big fires... they're made out of something like air, but the air that stars are made out of burns a lot brighter, and a lot hotter."
"Can we make a star?" the boy asked curiously.
"Sort of," his father agreed mildly. "They're very hard for people to make, though... they're so big, it would take us a long time to get all the fuel we would need."
"Like a year?" he said incredulously.
"More like ten years. Or a hundred."
"Or a billion?!"
"Or a billion."
"That's a real long time," he marvelled. "Why does it take so long?"
"Well, Corwin," the dad said, sitting up, "how long would it take to dig a pile of dirt--" he held his hand six inches above the ground-- "this high?"
"Um..." Corwin thought about this. "A second," he decided.
"Very good." He raised his hand to two feet above the ground. "How about a pile this high?"
"A minute?" Corwin guessed.
"Pretty good. Now how long would it take you to make a pile as big as you are?"
Corwin gave some thought to this. "An hour?"
"Davan, watch the stick, guy, make sure it doesn't catch fire." He looked from the second to the first again. "It might just take you an hour," his father agreed. "Now how long would it take you to dig a pile as tall as the house?"
"That'd be a real long time," Corwin mused ponderously. "I dunno!"
His father nodded. "It takes longer and longer to make something that's bigger bigger, doesn't it?"
Corwin made a thoughtful face. "So like a star, would take a long time because it's really big?"
"That's right," Dad agreed.
"It doesn't LOOK big," he said suspiciously.
"That's because it's really, really, really far away... and we can just _barely_ see them from out here on Sarvia."
"How far away ARE they?"
"Billions and billions of Davan put that stick out right now before I put it out for you."
"Billions and billions?" Corwin pressed, heedless of the fact that his father was now getting up to pry the stick out of his younger brother's hands. He had enough sense to wait until the blackened husk of his brother's roasting stick was smothered in dirt, and until his brother had been reprimanded with a stern word and a disapproving look before picking back up where he had left off. "Billions and billions?" he repeated hopefully.
"_Very_ far away." His father sat back down, sitting his other son (who was now wearing a dejected look, but aware that crying wasn't going to get him much) on the blanket aside him. "There's one star that's pretty close to us, though," he added. "Can you guess which one it is?"
"Mmmm..." The boy looked upwards, and pointed. "That one?"
"That one?" Davan asked hopefully, pointing at another point in the sky.
"No, it's not those. Actually..."
"That one!" Davan declared, pointing at a different one. "That one, daddy?!"
"Not that one, either..." Dad leaned in to whisper. "It's the sun," he revealed.
Corwin laughed. "That's silly, the sun's not a star. Stars come out at night!"
"Oh yes it is!" Their father smiled, looking to the sky and laying back down. "It's the closest star to us, so it shines the brightest of all... it's only ninety-six million miles away, which is a whole lot closer than any other star out there." He reached over and tousled Corwin's hair. "Tell ya what," he added. "Tomorrow, we'll go to town and get a book on the stars and the planets. Whatdya say about that?"
"Can we get a book on dinosaurs, too?!" the boy asked, excited.
"I wanna Mudge book too!" Davan yelled, sitting up.
"Maybe if you two are good, we'll wait until the end of the week and get one." He looked skywards again from the blanket, eyes turned to the stars. "You two about ready to go home?"
There were noises of assent from both boys. "I'm thirsty, Daddy, can we get some water to drink?" Corwin added, hopefully.
"There's some in the car." Slowly, he brought himself to his feet, both children also getting up as he did. "Do you think you two can help me with the cooler?" he inquired mildly, looking to them.
"I can do it!"
"Let your brother help you."
"I'm helping!" Davan chimed in, scampering towards the beverage container, and the two of them were over the hill towards their vehicle in scant moments. Their father watched them go, a small smile lingering on his face, before he strolled towards their campfire.
When their voices could no longer be heard, he snapped one hand to the side, seizing hold of an unseen neck, and murmured a phrase that shattered the world around them.
"You are a fool to test me where I am more powerful than you," Yaijinden said to the slick, oily thing strugging vainly against his grip. "Especially with a deception so cheap, so easily stolen from my own memories."
"tRuCE" it gurgled, whip-like body oscillating helplessly in the air. "TRuCe"...
"Truce?" the khadi murmured, gazing pointedly at the end of it that passed for a face on the twisted spirit. "You come into my dreams, uninvited, and spin me a very comforting illusion so PAINFULLY obviously derived from my memories... Did you think I would not notice? Did you think you could sucker me into some deal?"
"nO SuCKerInG," the voice choked off, still thrashing. "ofFeRInG VIsIoN of WHaT mAY Be YoURs kHAdI, WaNT YoUr HElP wE do".
There was a long pause, as the mists of Dream slowly rolled over them. Abruptly, Yaijinden released the squirming, slimy thing; it fell to the 'ground' and skittered a short distance away, casting a wary backwards glance towards the human. "Speak," Yaijinden said, bored. "And it had better be worth my while."
"sEE tHe dESirE foR NorMALiTy'S ShEeN wE dO," the spirit hissed, coiling up upon itself. "foR liFe THaT maY be Had sHOuLD YOu WaNT it".
"Perhaps," he agreed, disinterested. "Though we both know I know full well I can never have that."
Another throaty, resonant hiss. "BuT whAt YoU SEeK iS noT FoR yOu," it whispered tersely. "YOu sEEk a hAPPiNeSs tHaT iS nOT YOuR oWN".
The mists continued to roll in, thickening the veil ever-further. "What do you want?" Yaijinden asked evenly.
"SeCReT of HUmAN sOuLs" the spirit seethed, its tail twitching anticipatorily. "hUmANs sO fuLl Of POtENTiAL, sEeDeD IN DeEP daRKnESS, raISeD In SiLVer LIGht, sO MuCH StRENgTh untAPpED, bOTtLEd SoULs wOUlD bE So StROnG, VOlItILe sEcrEt Is KnOWn tO tWO BeINgs iN alL oF CosMOs, aND oNE WaS yOuR PrEViOUs OwNEr".
"You want... the cardiectomy."
"yOu SpEAk Of IT sO SImPLy".
"Because it's a trifle of a skill." Yaijinden scowled, gaze focusing on the fading image of the spirit. "Because it's not human souls you want-- it's unstoppable killing machines who can attune to just about any power they want to wield."
"gIvE US tHe CArDIeCtOMy," it rasped. "wE WilL SeE sHE GetS HeR NORmALiTY, YOu WIlL ReAP tHe BeNEfITs Of HEr HaPpINeSs, aNd aLl WiLL BeNEfIT".
He was silent for a long moment. "...you raise an interesting bargain," he murmured, raising both hands above him. "But I reject you, and that which you have to offer."
"DO NoT Be sO HaSTy kHAdI, fOR wE KnOW tHAt wHIcH DrIvEs yOu DesPitE yOuR RELUcTaNcE OtHErWiSE"...
"Are you threatening me?" A cruel smile blossomed on his face. "How... declassé."
The spirit hissed, uncoiling as it gathered its own power-- but it was then that Yaijinden's spell concluded. An ochre light coalesced beneath the entity, spiralling outwards into an intricate circular sigil; the blackness shrieked furiously, realizing too late what was going on, and hurled itself towards the khadi with the rage and fury of an avalanche...
But the prison Yaijinden had created was capable of withholding far greater storms. The light flared once, and the spirit was no more.
When he opened his eyes, he was once again in familiar surroundings. The soft whir of the übercouch's air reclaimation system greeted his senses, as did the sensation of satin sheets over his body; as his gaze focused, Yaijinden could recognize the small glowing dots on the ceiling as the constellations of the glow-in-the-dark stars...
And as he rolled over, he saw Zora. She was yet sleeping peacefully-- not quite relaxed, with all the stress she was working through in her own ways, but she was as good as she ever was nowadays. Yaijinden drew a long, deep breath and let it go, making himself relax... and watched her for a time, letting the vividness of his memory of Dream fade away.
Soon, once again comforted, he leaned over and kissed his lady on the neck before settling back into the bed. She shifted unconsciously at his touch, snuggling back against him; he put an arm around her, and permitted himself a small smile as he gazed into the artificial sky.
Disclaimer: All characters presented here are the property of their owners, and are used largely without permission. If the owner of a character used in this subdomain has issues with the way I mime their voice, there's a Contact link you can click on in order to get a hold of me and let me know. People who don't say anything to me get NOTHING changed, your sorrow is pathetic compared to my amusement at your expense, etc etc.
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