| Dead - Laura Laura finds herself dead... now what? | | by: | |
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| Item Size: 83 Additions
Created: 11:11am on 05-19-2007
Modified: 8:40am on 08-15-2007 | |
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[Introduction]
"You're dead," the voice was flat, passionless, no emotion attached to the phrase that meant so much. Dead. The person seemed to be waiting for something. He was standing a few feet away, his brown hair curling around his head, unkept, but not dirty. The eyes were deep brown and carefully neutral. There seemed to be no feeling to the man, none in his way of standing, perfectly straight, no slouch, none in his clothes, faded jeans and an unimpressive T-shirt the color of grass, and none in his face, tanned and slightly weathered skin that was smooth and without flaws. The nose wasn't prominent, his eyes were spaced perfectly, and the eyebrows were simple and unnoticeable. The only interesting thing about him was that he had just mentioned death as if it was an everyday occurrence. Unfortunately, to him, it might be, but to Laura, it most definitely was not.
"What," she asked without thinking. Dead, that meant... she looked around and heaved a sigh of relief. She seemed to be floating in the air. Below she saw the car which had almost hit her sister. Her body was lying beside the car and her little sister was off to the side, crying. Then she looked down at her hands. If she was down there, how could she also be up here?
"You're dead," the voice repeated, in the same flat voice. "You have choices," a new phrase, said in the same exact, passionless voice. Laura shook her head. Who was this man? How could he be so... insensitive?
"Maria is ok, right?" As long as her sister was okay she suppose that she could deal with being dead. She wasn't sure how her family would cope with it, but she'd never been very good at judging their reactions anyhow.
"Your sister is just fine. She will be very uncertain and scared of cars from now on, but she is alive and well." There was a note of caring in his voice and understanding. "As I said, you have choices."
Laura finally focused her attention fully on the man. "Ok, what kind of choices."
"You can choose to go to heaven," a pause, "or you can choose to go to hell," another pause, "you may also choose to stay on earth, or be reborn to earth," he paused one last time, "lastly, you may choose to be a detective." He handed her a watch. It was shaped like an old fashioned pocket watch, complete with chain and wind, and the front was elegantly carved to look like an angel at the top looking down at a devil at the bottom. The top was white and the bottom was red, both parts looking equally inviting. He opened it and there was a small button at the top left that was white, a small button at the top right that was red, a small button at the bottom left that was blue, a small button at the bottom right that was green, and a large button in the middle that was brown. "If at any time you need to ask me questions, you may press the button in the middle to summon me. The top two are for heaven and hell, the bottom for rebirth and detective." He looked at her speculatively, "Do you have any questions?"
"I'm worried about my sister. Now that I'm dead is there anything I can do to help her out? Like, um," Laura felt sort of stupid. She had never seen anything like this in the movies or read it in books. Still, she couldn't help thinking that ghosts sometimes influenced the world, at least supposedly and so did angels, "as a ghost on earth, or an angel or something?"
"You were your sisters caretaker and now you worry for her safety." He let out a small sigh, "there are many things you may do for her. You can stay and watch over her as a ghost if you wish, however you may not influence the real world as much as you might want to. Also, those that are once influenced by a ghost, will eventually build up a tolerance for them. As an angel you would need to do some work at first in order to be strong enough to watch over her. You may do either if you wish, again, it is your choice." Laura had a feeling she might have limited herself with her question. The man... who was this man anyhow? He hadn't actually introduced himself. How much was death like life. Should she just be listening away to the first person who talked to her?
"Who are you?"
The man actually chuckled, "St. Peter."
"Saint... Peter...? Isn't that a Catholic thing?" Laura had an aunt who was Catholic. The lady was always trying to get her mother to take Laura and Maria to church. Well, Laura supposed taking advice from a Saint ought to be safe enough.
St. Peter laughed, "It's a Bible thing if you want to put a label on it. I am part of Jesus' original apostles, the one who "stands" by the pearly gates of heaven to let "worthy" people in. Unfortunately, many people never find the pearly gates without help. So I decided to make sure they all could find their way. Any more questions?"
"Sure, if you're the heaven person why are you offering so many choices? Shouldn't you be partial to heaven?" Laura was starting to like the man. It was odd, but he wasn't such a bad sort once you started talking to him.
"I am partial to heaven. After all, the more people in heaven, the less people are on the earth. However, every person has to make their own choice. Many people aren't interested in going to heaven, they think it's going to be too nice for them, or they are scared of what might be up there. It is their choice to not go. Heaven is only scary if you want it to be."
"Why would you want heaven to be scary?" Laura was getting way off track now. She needed to find out what the best button to press would be.
"I don't want heaven to be scary, however many people feel they don't belong there, so it is scary. Also, many people think that they have to be a certain way, or they want to be a certain way, so they try to be perfect so they can go to heaven. Scary is in what scares you." Laura sighed and wondered what it would be like to be scared of heaven. She was scared of other things, like her little sister getting beaten up, or hurt by her father.
"If I want to help my sister which choice would allow me to help her the most, and the soonest? Would going to heaven be best? Or is there something which would be better?"
Saint Peter smiled a small smile, "That depends on what exactly you want to do to help. Do you just want to keep people from hurting her? Are you trying to keep her fed? Do you want her to die and join you in the afterlife. If you choose to stay on earth, realize that you are only going to be able to help her *as you are* not with any of the power that you have because of who you are. Staying on earth is like a stasis, you remain as you are and in order for you to help her you will eventually have to get pretty inventive in order to protect her like you have been doing all your life. If you go to heaven, you will be able to tap into the magic energy you have inside of you, but it may be a while before you are able to handle it, and it also may be a while before you receive much of it. Again, you will need to be pretty inventive in order to continue to help. You also have the option to join the detectives. That may be a help, but it may be a hinderance. It will take more for you to do some things, and less for you to do others. Make your decision wisely if you wish to give her your continual support." He paused and looked sternly at her, "But do not think you are the only thing that can help her. Besides the fact that you can only do some things for her, she must learn lessons on her own in order to become a strong individual. Don't forget that."
Laura wasn't sure how to respond to that. She knew her sister needed to learn lessons on her own, but since there really didn't seem to be an option that would allow her to be there for her sister much she didn't think the was a lot of danger of overdoing it. "I think I will go to heaven then." There, it was a choice, and it would allow her to develop some sort of magic powers. Surely magic would be useful. There was a time frame. She would just have to hope she didn't take to long and since heaven was supposed to be a good place, maybe she could get help from someone there with taking care of her sister.
His eyebrows lifted a bit, then went down to normal, "Alright, then take my hand," and he outstretched it.
"What's with the funny look? Didn't think I'd make my decision so fast or do I not seem like the heaven type to you?" She wasn't sure she appreciated the lifted eyebrow thing.
"Perhaps a combination of both. Have you changed your mind now?" Laura shook her head.
"No." She took St. Peter's hand. It was her first time holding hands with a guy who wasn't her father, and it somehow didn't count.
He nodded, then they started lifting up into the air. Several clouds passed them by until they were standing in front of very large doors. Off to the side was a small desk that looked like it hadn't been used in years, with a little stool behind it. The gates were just as pearly as everyone had said. White and pink pearlecent swirls spread up tall columns and the gates themselves were less metal and more pearl strands. The massive size was daunting to say the least and the colors seemed to slowly change as time went on. "You are standing outside of heaven's gate, are you sure you want to proceed?" St. Peter's eyes glowed a bit as he said it.
"You make it sound like a scary place. Maybe that's why people are scared to came here. Is there any particular reason why I wouldn't want to proceed?"
"I can't think of one, I just like to double check." He smiled at her, a full, soft smile, "Heaven is nothing to be afraid of."
"You're a strange guy St. Peter. Maybe it's a generation gap or something. At any rate, yes, I'm sure. I want to enter heaven now." The gates were actually one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. They looked pricey too. She supposed pricey didn't mean much though, in heaven. Only the best, right?
St. Peter placed his hand on the gate, and it swung open with ease. A bright light filtered in from behind the doors and he started walking through them while holding her hand. Once on the other side, she could see large islands of clouds with many buildings on them. St. Peter reached up and a bright light formed around him. His clothes changed, or rather, dissipated into long white robes. His hair became bright and light, his face clean and slightly less dark. Large white wings came from his back, unfurling into an arch around him. A halo formed above his head and a few white feathers fell from his wings. The wing span was unbelievable and he was positively glowing when he looked down at her. His shoes had been replaced with soft white leather boots that continued up his leg under the robe. "Welcome to heaven, Laura. I *am* Saint Peter."
"I guess so." He cleaned up very nicely. "Why don't you greet people looking like that? They'd be extremely impressed."
He laughed, "People are intimidated by me. If I greeted everyone like this, then they might run away or feel they are unworthy. So I save this face for when I'm in heaven." A small cherub came up and flew to Laura.
"Welcome to heaven! Choose your looks." And a small screen appeared in his hands. On it were the words, hair length.
"Hair length?" Laura asked the chubby little cherub. "I get to choose my hair length?" She couldn't believe she was looking at a real, honest to God, cherub. "Can I poke you in the tummy?"
The cherub looked at her confused, "Yes, you may choose your hair length, and yes you may poke me in the tummy but I'm not sure why you would want to."
St. Peter laughed, "Whenever you go to heaven or hell there are many things you may choose. You can choose your features to a certain extent, and you may choose other things like wings or halo or clothes. The cherub walks you through all processes, so be nice to him." Laura grinned and poked the cherub lightly in the tummy, the squiggled her finger in a tickling motion.
"Are cherubs people too? Or are they a whole different race? Can I be a cherub? Do cherubs really have anything to do with love and Valentines day?" She wasn't sure who she was asking, as she was busily tickling the cherubs tummy as she asked her questions.
The cherub dropped its screen and started laughing hysterically, "stop, please, stop!" it moved around and around and tried to get away from the finger on it's stomach. St. Peter smiled, "Cherubs are a subrace of angels. On the rare occasion that two angels get together and have children, they are cherubs. They have a lot to do with love because they are conceived in pure love and given existence because of the same thing. Just because they have become a standard of Valentine's day doesn't mean that they have anything to do with it."
Laura stopped tickling the cherub. "Your very cute," she told it sincerely, "and I think I'll leave my hair just the length it is." Laura thought it would be fun to have a little cherub child some day. "What makes an angel? Are they a race of their own too?" The cherub emitted a few more giggles before picking it's screen up and resuming. The screen now said, eye color.
"Angels are beings who dedicate themselves to something, either good or bad. Some dedicate themselves to helping others, those are the ones we call angels. Others dedicate themselves to hurting others, those are the ones we call fallen angels or demons. Both are not races so much as people who chose to do these things. For instance, you could become an angel or a demon." St. Peter's voice was soft and velvety, full of emotion and life now.
"Your voice is different in heaven. Demons don't have cherub babies though, do they?" There was so much to death. It was really very amazing.
St. Peter laughed again, "My voice is dependant on my mood. When I'm on earth, I have a job I must do and therefore, I don't want any emotion to show because it can greatly affect what happens to those that die. And Demons don't have cherub babies, they have devil babies."
"Devil babies," she repeated, glancing at the cherub. "I'll keep my eyes too." The screen changed once more to say, body, and several different forms appeared, strong, lt, tall, short, and many others. There was a sub category called clothes.
"Yes, devil babies. You don't want to know." There was a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I think I'll keep my body. What's with the clothes option? Is that a touch screen?" Upon her saying clothes, the screen changed. A series of robes, all shapes and lengths, appeared. There was the basic style, also some that seemed to be from different countries, and all were shown in white. A list of colors fell along the right side of the screen. Each color name was pictured in it's color. She debated the page with interest. What would she look like in a white kimono?
"The screen isn't touch, it's voice activated." The cherub answered.
"I want a white kimono," she decided aloud. The cherub nodded, then the screen changed to shoes, with a list of colors lined up again as with the clothes.
"I'll take those white Japanese sandals." Again, the cherub nodded. Finally the screen turned to halo's, with a small list of colors.
"A halo?" Laura considered it, looking over the color choices, which included white, black, silver, gold, platinum, green, blue, red, and yellow. "I'll take a platinum one." The cherub nodded, then the list changed to wings, which included so many there were more than one page of them. The range on the first page was from simple bird wings to more complex bird wings. "Um, next page?" The page changed to consist of many types of butterfly and moth wings. "Moth wings..." moth wings were really pretty and might look really pretty with a kimono, but they seemed like a strange type of wing for a heavenly being. So many people hated moths. "Next page?" The next page included other insects wings, dragonfly wings and beetle wings, many others of that type. She shook her head. "Next?" The last page held mythological wings, things from dragon wings to sphinx wings and water creature wings. At the bottom of this page was the words End. Dragon wings? No, they were too lizard like. Sphinx wings? Maybe, but they weren't as good as the moth wings. She sighed, "back two pages please." The butterfly and moth wings appeared again. This time she looked the page over very carefully. Finally she chose a Japanese moth's wings, with a very long name. "I want the ectropis excellens wings, in white." The wings looked like lace. She was sure they would be beautiful, even if they were moth wings.
"Wings chosen, however, the wings will start in white, but one cannot determine the exact shading and coloration the wings will become, do you still wish to continue?" Laura considered it. The wings would be beautiful no matter what color they became.
"Yes, I still want them." The cherub nodded.
"Then we're done, St. Peter will take care of the rest." The cherub handed the screen to St. Peter, who took it and nodded once. Then he returned it to the cherub who flew away.
"This will hurt, however it will be worth it." He floated closer to Laura and placed his hands gently on her shoulders, "Are you ready?" Laura braced herself and wondered why he hadn't warned her it would hurt before she made her choices. She hoped it didn't hurt too much. Would it really be worth it? She closed her eyes and waited.
"Good," the voice was soft and soothing. Laura could feel her body begin to heat up, a slow warmth that spread throughout her and then became a little too hot. The feeling reached out to two points in her back, and she could feel something seem to stretch out from her, a pull that kept pulling, not tearing but something close to it. She felt what a butterfly must feel as it comes out from the cocoon, one wing stretch from her body, then another, she could feel it pull and then unfurl and the dampness start to dry. Then she was lifted up from the ground by an unfelt presence and her body began to change a bit, something was floating above her head and her wings were connected... she could feel how one would begin to manipulate them. Then she felt an ache all across her body and her feet were on the ground again. But they felt strange, and so did her clothes... She opened her eyes and looked at St. Peter, who looked like he had just experienced a holy, but also wholly exhausting, experience. He was smiling at her. "What do you think? Did I do good?"
"I..." she looked down at her feet, then her legs, her chest, her arms, then she craned her neck off the side to stare at the most beautiful set of wings she'd ever seen in her life. "Wow," she looked up, but she couldn't catch sight of her halo, "you did awesome." She smiled back.
"Good, then welcome to heaven Laura, you are free to explore as you wish. However, please do not try to fly on those wings for at least a day, and after that, you should not try to support your weight on them for a while, until you are strong enough. The muscle has not yet been built. Now, if you'll excuse me," he looked off a ways, "I have an old friend I should visit." And his wings outstretched, so long they were, they must have been as long as the small cloud they were on, and he took off and flew into the distance.
Laura watched until Saint Peter was completely gone and wondered what she should be doing next. One thing was sure. She had a lot to learn, and she needed to learn it fast if she was going to be of any help to her little sister. She tried walking, straight ahead. It would either get her somewhere or not. One never knew if they never tried.
The very first thing she came to was a street. It didn't last long on it's own though, suddenly she was in amongst a city of mostly white buildings. The buildings were all of moderate height and most of them were well taken care of. She could see what would be heaven's "seedy" part of town off in the distance. The people were all friendly looking, most of them in older styled clothes. They smiled and waved to her as she passed. The town center was just a few feet into the city, and there was a large well/fountain there. Off to all the sides were what seemed to be shops.
She wasn't sure exactly what she was looking for and she didn't have any money to buy anything from a shop. Actually, she wasn't sure what passed for money here. Was there money in heaven? She needed to know how to become strong so she could... She was starting to feel like a broken record. What were these powers she was supposed to be gaining? How was she supposed to tell if they were being gained or not? Could she influence how quickly they developed. She suddenly felt very lost. An older lady who was sweeping the ground came over to her.
"Hello miss, are you new here?" Then she laughed slightly, "I'm sorry, of course you're new here. Can I help you at all?" Laura sighed and looked at the woman with a slight smile.
"I just don't know. I'm so confused. You see, I died. I suppose that's fairly obvious. The thing is, I wasn't finished helping my little sister grow up and my family can be really dangerous, so I still want to help her. After Saint Peter talked to me it seemed like I ought to go to heaven so that my magic would develop, but now that I'm here I'm just not sure what to do, or where to go."
The woman's face lit up in a bright smile, "Well, you are in the first town of heaven, one could say it's the starter town. Everything you need to know to continue on can be found here." She pointed off to one of the store fronts, "That's the fortune teller and over there," and she pointed to another store, "is the map maker, get one of his maps of heaven," she pointed to a different store, "and if you would like to ask about fighting or protection go there to get some more knowledge, the man in that shop is so nice," then she looked at Laura again and her smile got bigger, "basically anything you would need to know to start off is here!" She giggled, "that's why this is known as the starter town. Anything else?"
"Well, what about paying for things, how does that work?"
The lady nodded, "Well, you can get this thing from St. Peter, it's called a card. It builds up credits which is like a name for universal money. The credits you get for doing things like helping people out or doing things at a job. Credits are only used for some things, not for all things. Most everything you don't need credits for. If you wanted a cell phone, that's one of the few things that require credits, because you're using the air waves of earth as well as heaven's waves. Lastly, if you want something, please make sure to go to the counter and "cash out" because if you don't, you will be considered a shoplifter even though things don't cost anything." She winked, "and you don't want to be labeled a shoplifter in heaven, right?" Laura shook her head.
"What happens to shoplifters?" It didn't seem like much of an offense if everything was more or less free.
The lady shook her head sadly, "They are taken to hell for a time, it depends on how bad the offense was." Then she looked up, seeming a bit shocked, "Oh, but don't worry, it's not like they'll do that to someone at first. You have to have repeated problems with it for it to go that far. Usually you just have to do community service of some kind, like working for a gardening place and not make any credits."
"Ok, thank you." Laura decided to try the fortune teller. She'd never been to a fortune teller on earth and a part of her had wanted to for a very long time. It sounded like fun. It seemed a bit frivolous, but under the circumstances she figured she had the time. She gave a wave to the lady and went into the fortune tellers shop.
The shop front was decked out in purple and black lace curtains and two candles were burning on each side of the window. The door had a crystal ball on it and said "Fortune Teller inside waiting for you". The building looked dark past the door, and she really couldn't see anything past the flickering of candle light. A black cat was curled up on the welcome mat outside the door. Laura bent down to pet the cat.
"I hope you don't mind," she told it, "but I want to get past you and go into this shop." She had a habit of speaking to animals. This cat however, didn't seem to mind at all. It stretched into the petting for a moment, then stood up, stretched it's whole body, and walked off the mat. Then it sat primly and licked it's paw as it watched her. "Thanks," Laura opened the door and walked into the dark room, pausing just inside the door to allow her eyes to adjust to the candle lit room. She noticed that her white kimono practically glowed as the candlelight reflected off of it.
"Hello and welcome, Laura," a soft feminine voice said from one corner of the room. There were many candles in the room, a chandelier of candles hung from the ceiling and overall it was easy enough to see the shapes of furniture. The voice came from a table set up with a cloth of undiscernible color in the back left corner. There were two chairs, one on each side of the table, and there was a crystal ball set on the table. "Please come in and take a seat. You are slightly wearied and need a break. Your day has just started but yet it has been long." Laura walked forward and sat in the chair.
"You know my name?"
"Of course, I am a fortune teller, while that restricts me a bit, it also allows me into a different world of knowledge." She smiled, Laura could see that she was mostly covered in shawls and thin pieces of fabric. "I know why you are here, but please, ask me the questions you are thinking of."
"I," Laura felt herself relaxing in the company of this strange woman who she could barely see, she sighed, "I just want to make sure that my sister has a good life. I just want her to have the opportunity to be happy and now I'm in heaven. I need to know how to best develop the powers I need to help her, before it's to late to do so. I hope that counts as a question."
"Indeed. How do you plan on helping her? Do you wish to keep everything bad from happening to her? Do you simply wish to be able to watch over her?" Her voice was steady and even, and she seemed to be weighing everything Laura said.
"I wish to keep her from being raped or beaten to death for one, but, I also want to be there for her in a sisterly way. I want to be able to communicate to her in some way that she's still loved. Our family is really abusive and up until now I've been able to shelter her from so much of it. I guess I'm asking for an awful lot."
"I see," The lady looked thoughtful for a moment, "So, you wish to know how to better protect and communicate with your younger sister while still being able to remain by her side." She nodded, "Correct?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I want," the woman was amazing. She really did seem to be able to read Laura's mind.
She smiled and put long fingered hands over the crystal ball, "Then lets see what is best, shall we?" The ball started forming a swirl inside of it. The colors red, blue, green and yellow all moved from different directions in the ball and meshed together, "Now, look inside and tell me what you see." Laura leaned forward and peered into the crystal ball.
The colors shifted and swirled and she started to see pictures of her family. Her sister running from room to room trying to escape their father, and her mother in the kitchen cooking. Then she saw herself walking into her father and him falling to the ground, unconscious. The picture changed to her sister at school and kids pushing her around. Then she saw herself walking through a large wood and lighting it on fire. The flames seemed to lick up the sides of the crystal ball, and she could almost feel the heat from it. Then she smelled the smell of burning hair. "Away from the ball now please," she heard the lady say anxiously. Laura backed away.
"What's happening? That fire..." she reached up and touched her hair.
"That fire is the strength within you." Laura's hair was untouched, but she could feel a heat coming from her head right where the fire would have touched. "So long as you didn't look too long, you are fine. Hmm," she looked thoughtful, "I think you should go get a map from the map maker, and go to the large battleground and speak to Lord Alberid. He will be of better assistance to you now than I can be." She smiled at Laura, "Good luck!"
"I thought I was supposed to tell you what I saw," Laura objected, although it was more because things seemed to be moving a little too quickly all of a sudden than anything else.
The lady took a deep breath, "My apologies, I was watching from your eyes." She closed her eyes, "Indeed I did ask you to tell me what you saw, however upon watching the scenes pass I couldn't wait to tell you where to go. By all means, if you would like to slow the pace a bit I can. What else can I do to help you?"
"No, it's ok," Laura replied, "I'll go to the map maker right away. I did want things to move quickly after all." She stood, "thank you."
She nodded, "You are very welcome. And you are also welcome here any time, feel free to return if you want to know anything else."
"I will," Laura replied, turning and walking back to the door. She opened it carefully and very slowly so that she wouldn't end up accidentally hurting the cat, who had settled itself back down in front of the door. It looked up at her as she opened the door and meowed once before moving off the mat again.
"Sorry," she said to it, "I didn't mean to disturb you again." Once she was out of the shop she headed straight for the map makers shop. The map maker's shop was brightly lit and the smell of old fashioned cooking came from the open window. The door held a simple etching on it that read, "Map makers". Laura opened the door and went in.
An old man was behind the counter. Behind him were several shelves with so many map cases that one wouldn't be able to tell what they all were for unless they were the ones making the maps. He looked up, "Yes? What can I get for ya," he had a thick Irish type accent and didn't seem too happy at the company.
"I need to go to the large battleground to see Lord Alberid," Laura told the man, "and I need a map to help me get there."
The man's eyebrows raised, "Lord Alberid? On the battleground? Who told ya that?" He seemed sceptical, and a little surprised. "I have the map you're lookin' fer, but..." Laura smiled at the man. It felt good to have unsettled someone who seemed so sturdy and level headed.
"The fortune teller told me that he was the person to see. Why?"
The old man shook his head, "Fortune teller, schmeller, never had one o' those folk when I started workin' here, I'll tell ya!" He turned away from her and started looking through his map cases, "I swear, they do all the hard work and leave ya feelin' like ya shoulda done somepthin' more with yer life! They make it hard to feel fulfilled!" One moment more and he had a case, slightly dusty from not being used, that he handed over to her. "Just let me warn ya, if you think he's gonna be easy to work with, yer wrong. He's one o' the hardest types to ever get along with, and 'e don't like people!" He looked slightly mean at her, "so don't be thinkin' you'll get soft treatment 'cause yer a gel, got it?" Laura smiled at the old man.
"If he's the person who can best help me accomplish my goal than I'll do whatever I need to do." She took the map. "Thank you."
"I hope you don't end up eatin' those words missy," he growled, "and if you find someone interested in lookin' into mapmakin' and becomin' my apprentice, let me know, or send em my way!"
"Ok," Laura figured the person who would put up with this guy would have to have a goal in mind themselves, but she didn't bother saying so. She smiled at the man and left the shop, stopping just outside of it to examine the map.
It was huge! There was a small map off to the left corner of it indicating where in heaven this place was, then there was the rest of it. It appeared to be the full shape of a cloud which was just a few hops away from Jesus' Forest. The cloud had a forest circling around the outside edges, but then there was a whole town of ruins. Different parts of it were labeled, including "Jason's Wound," and "Henry's Deathbed," but there was also a house that seemed to be made from a part of the ruins labeled, "Lord Alberid's Home, disturb at your own risk," which was circled in red. There was also a circle of ruins right near his home that was labeled "The Battlefield Arena, Lord Alberid's turf". The map certainly did a good job of making Lord Alberid sound dangerous. Laura had dealt with plenty of dangerous people while she was alive she doubted one dead person was going to do her in now. Studying the map a bit further to get her bearings she turned and turned until she felt she had the directions right. Then she carefully rolled the map up, put it away and began walking.
The walk seemed to take forever. The roads were not rough or even uneven, yet it seemed to be a long time in getting to where she wanted to go. Many towns and villages passed by. What once looked like familiar territory seemed unfamiliar. Urban housing turned to large city, and then turned to forest. After many hours, she came to the edge of what she thought must be the large battleground. The trees here were so huge she couldn't even see around some of them. It was mostly pines and oak trees intermixed with a few bright birch's. The ground was littered with old leaves and moss was underneath almost everything. She could see a few mushroom rings and what looked to be bright butterflies, but could be faeries, flying around. Faeries? Well, heaven seemed like the right place for them. She paused to consult her map. If this was the battleground then she needed to angle a bit to her left to reach Lord Alberid's home. She returned the map to its case and resumed walking.
"Hey!" a very high pitched voice called from one of the balls of light. "Hey! What's a newborn human doing in *this* wood?" A bright red faerie stopped in front of her and peered at her. The wings were long and sweeping and were red and pink striped. After just a moment, Laura was surrounded by different colored balls of light, that moved up and down, taking stock of her. She smiled at them and then laughed.
"I'm here to speak to Lord Alberid," she replied. "You're all very beautiful."
They looked back and forth between each other, "Lord Alberid," they kept repeating. Then one of them grabbed her hand, "you don't want to see Lord Alberid, he's mean, leave thoughts of him for other people, come here and play with us, we're much more beautiful!" And several faeries joined in, all of them trying to get her to move away from her goal.
"No, I'm sorry," Laura spoke in the firm but kind voice she'd often used with her sister. "I have a little sister who very much needs my help and I was told he was the fastest path toward my goal of keeping her from serious harm. Perhaps once I know she's safe I can come back and play with you."
The faeries didn't stop, "no, he's much too mean for you to have to deal with him! Play with us, we'll make things better!"
"No, I'm sorry," Laura allowed more conviction to show in her voice this time so that it was a little less kind. "I have to go." She pulled away from the fairies and walked in the proper direction.
"Awwww," came the chorus of several faeries. A few of them tugged at the edges of her clothes futilely before giving up, "Well, don't say we didn't tell you so! He's so mean he'll probably try to eat you for breakfast!" Laura sighed. The fairies reminded her of children and she very much doubted this man would eat any person for breakfast, at least not while he was in heaven. There had to be someone who would prevent it.
"I understand, I've been warned." She gave them a smile and continued onward. It was another several moments before she exited the woods. What looked like a scar across the land was what she saw. A battlefield was a very loose description of it. The ruins of a once beautiful city that had been carved into the woods itself stood before her. Towers were toppled to the ground and tree homes had been burnt. Many creatures had made the place home, but she could see how things would have been very bad for a while. There was still the slight stench of fires not long extinguished in the air. Moss and flowers scattered the ground and a few small trees had started growing. All she could see was the sight of ruined buildings with a few small shields and weapons left lying on the ground, as if a testament of what had failed. Why would such a place exist in heaven? It only told her that there was much she didn't understand. She didn't have time to try to understand everything, but she would like to know the story of this place some day. She consulted the map again, then put it away and resumed her walk.
After another long walk, she heard the sound of someone deep in practice. She was coming up to an area that reminded her of the Roman Coliseum. There was still standing a door that looked to be in use, a wreath of some sort was attached to it, and the remains of the building circled around to one side. The noises were coming from the side. Drawn by the sounds she approached the coliseum, carefully circling it and trying to get a look at the person or people inside. Just past the door was a ruined wall that went all around the huge arena. Most of the wall was destroyed which allowed her to see easily past to the person working out.
He was tall, lean and deeply tanned. His hair was so light of a blond color that it was almost silver white. She couldn't see what color eyes he had, but his face was hard, and scarred. In fact, most of his body was scarred, which she could see because he was working out with a long sword in a loin cloth and nothing else. His whole body was moving so fast she could just barely see that his eyes were closed. It looked like he was doing a dance with how fast he was moving and the way he was swinging and arching and almost leaping into the air as graceful and light as a feather. He was a beautiful sight to behold.
This didn't seem like an especially populated area. Between that, and the fact that the map marked a fighting arena as Lord Alberid's domain, Laura had a feeling she'd found him. She waited patiently for an opportunity to speak to the man and make sure. The opportunity seemed to take forever to happen, however. In fact, it was almost a full hour before he seemed to slow down. Then it was another half hour before he stopped completely, balanced perfectly on top of his sword hilt while the sword was attached point first to the ground.
Then his eyes opened. They were gold. A striking golden brown that looked right at Laura and pierced her right through her soul. She felt like someone had walked across her whole being and looked at what was her and made some sort of decision about her. She was stuck in the gaze for several moments before he fell lightly to the ground and pulled the sword out of it's one inch hole. The man continued to stare at her, although now she wasn't caught by it.
"Lord Alberid?" she asked although her voice caught midway through his name so it sounded a bit strange. If he wasn't, he was certainly someone important, and impressive. The man simply nodded and, without looking away from her, sheathed the sword in a sheath that was lying on the ground right next to his foot. "I'm hoping that you can help me develop my abilities so that I can help my sister." He was definitely the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. He topped the rock stars and the movie stars. She tried not to let that show in her face. He simply shrugged, as if to say, why should I? Laura wasn't sure how to respond to that, but she wasn't going to give up. This man was evidently her best bet to get this accomplished quickly. If she had to camp out and become his groupie in order to get his help she would.
"I know that this isn't very important to you but if you were to help me it would make a very big difference in a very young girls life. It could mean the difference between life and death for her." She watched him closely for any sign that she was getting somewhere at all. A sign that she didn't get. He turned away from her and started walking towards a doorway that was nearby. She hurried to follow him. She couldn't afford to let the man escape. She hurried over the rubble that had been wall, ducking her head so she wouldn't mistakenly hit it on any of the remaining structure. He walked deeply into the forgotten corridors of the arena walls. His pace was quick, but he almost seemed to be leading her, staying just enough ahead that he could disappear at any moment, but also remaining close enough that she wouldn't lose him. Laura followed him as quickly as she could, hoping that if this was some sort of test she would pass it. It only took a few more minutes before she found herself feeling like they were traveling in a full circle. As she looked out one doorway, she realized that she was right. Well, if he wanted to walk laps that was fine with her. He couldn't avoid her forever... she hoped.
It was another two full times around before he stopped and exited away from the arena where she had first seen him. When she followed him out, she could see him in the distance facing away from her, standing completely still with his sword in the air glinting the sunlight off of the blade. It made him look like an angel going into battle, it almost seemed like he had rainbow wings. She moved closer, but not too close. She had a felling he was about to start fighting again and she didn't want to get in the path of his sword. "Are you ignoring me?" She called out to him. It seemed like that could have been a mistake, since the point of the blade was now at the center of her throat. His eyes gleamed fiercely.
"Grr," a soft growl came from his throat. Seeing him up close was unbelievable. She also got a chance to see a rather nasty looking scar that swung across his neck. He shook his head and turned away from her. "No," it was more of a low growl than an actual word, but she could understand it, barely.
"What were you doing then?" Laura remained very, very still. She had actually had a blade at her throat before, and it had taught her not to move when that sort of thing happened. He walked further away.
"Testing," he said, the word a soft growl again.
"Are you still?" He nodded.
"Just a bit," she started to realize that the voice wasn't just him growling, but from misuse of a voice. She wondered what he had done to harm his vocal chords in that way. He started slowly moving his sword, starting near the ground and then moving it upward. It was like another kind of dance, perhaps this one more deadly. He began circling her, and each time he moved he was a bit closer. If chopping her to bits was part of the test she wasn't sure how to respond. She really didn't know what to do in the face of this situation. She was scared, her heart beat loudly at her, but there was no way moving or running was going to help. She didn't even know whether he could actually damage her or not, and so she stayed, as if glued to the ground, as still as she could while still breathing. Had the damage to his voice resulted from the scar on his neck? Perhaps. And yet, he got ever closer. She could feel the breath of wind from the sword swinging so close to her body. The blade cut close to her skin, right at the edges of her dress, and she could feel it also close to her wings. It almost seemed like he was trying to see how close to her he could get with the sword. She felt her fear, and weathered it. Under the circumstances there wasn't much else she could think to do.
Finally, he stopped, the blade again right next to her throat. "Are you scared?" he asked, in a low, perfectly calm voice. His eyes were so brightly gold that she could see herself in them. Sweat glistened on his face and arms, and trickled down his chest. He was completely still except for the breath that came in soft short pants.
"Of course I'm scared." Laura's heart beat in her throat. "How could I not be?"
The blade lowered a notch, "Indeed," he paused, "and what does being scared make you want to do?" His voice remained at the level it had been at, low, and calm.
"Well, at the moment it makes me want to stand very, very still and reason with the crazy man holding the blade," she said slowly, trying not to giggle nervously. Being scared did very strange things to her sometimes.
"And do you think I'm crazy?"
"Yes, although not necessarily in a bad way." Laura very much hoped she was not making him angry.
The blade lowered completely to the ground. "Good, always know your enemy." Then he started walking away from her, not looking back. 'There he goes again,' she thought, following after the strange man and wondering what he was going to do next.
He walked away from the arena to a toppled tower. Then he turned and looked at Laura, "You may stay here. Sleep for the rest of the day, and the night, I'll be back in the morning." He turned away and walked around the tower. Laura watched as he disappeared from sight. Well, she had a place to stay for the night and a promise that he would return. It was better than nothing. She turned her attention to the tower, which was a bit decrepit. The top half of it was in pieces on the ground, but there was a wooden door directly in front of her. The stone was white and the size of the tower was decent. She tested the door. The last thing she needed was a pile of rock falling on her head. Who knew, it might break one of her wings.
Amazingly enough, it swung open to her touch, although it did whine a little about doing so. She peered into the room beyond, and was amazed at the size. It was a large room with a spiral staircase in the middle of it. The room had old and frayed carpet on it in a dark red. There was an old couch and large sitting chair that was in bright green. The left half of the room was like a large living room, the couch and chair arranged around an elegantly carved coffee table and there were a few musical instruments along one wall. While she could see the sun in small rays of light from the outside she wasn't sure where it was coming from. The right side of the room was a dining room/kitchen area. The table was broken and the kitchen was so old fashioned that it would take time to learn how to cook anything. All in all it looked normal enough. She entered the room, closing the door behind her. He'd told her to rest and she supposed she'd better. Something about Lord Alberid gave her the idea he was going to be a difficult man to deal with and she really would need all the rest she could get. She approached the staircase. It looked sturdy enough, so she cautiously stepped on one stair after the other. If the bedroom wasn't downstairs, it must be up? She just hoped it hadn't been on one of the floors which had crumbled.
The stairs creaked, but remained in one piece as she made her way up them. However, she would have to be careful, she could sense where some of them would break if stepped on incorrectly. At the top, she found herself in one of the most beautiful rooms she had ever seen. It was a bedroom in dark blue and white. The white was mostly grey now, but the dark blue was still very nice. The bed was a huge king sized monster with a canopy in disrepair. The carpet was white, the walls blue, and the dresser was white. There was a huge mirror on one side and a nice vanity as well. The stairs continued up, but she could see that the next floor was the last one that remained. The biggest problem with the room was dust, and she was not sleeping in a dusty bed. What she needed was a vacuum and a washing machine, but she doubted she would find either one. Even if she did, she hadn't noticed any signs of electricity. Come to think of it, where was the bathroom?
Suddenly, climbing the stairs to the next level seemed more important. Then again, she was dead, did she need a bathroom? If for nothing else, she needed one for a bath. "Please give me running water." She spoke the words softly as she tested the stairs. They were as sound as the others, at least they were at first. The top stairs were rain rotted and falling apart. She had to navigate those especially carefully or she might have fallen. Luckily, the floors were stone, so she was safe once she'd gotten beyond the stairs. The top was completely open to the elements, and it would have to be the bathroom part. A huge iron tub, mostly rusted, stood on a molded carpet. The toilet was wooden and in bad repair, and the pan under the seat was rusted just as badly as the tub. There was also a small basin with a threadbare towel next to it several feet away from the toilet. On the other side of the top was a large wash basin with a ruined pot over an open fireplace. The clothesline was torn in several places and in pieces on the ground. The very top of the tower looked slightly burnt.
"Oh no," Laura groaned, shaking her head. How long would she be staying here? "Please tell me ghosts don't really need toilets and tubs." She stared at the tub for several more minutes. There was no way she could confront this at the moment. She supposed if she had to use the toilet she would just have to... better not to think about it. She returned to the staircase she'd climbed and carefully made her way back to the second floor. She pulled the sheets and blankets off the bed then went downstairs where she dropped them in a pile and went searching for a broom. "Spend the rest of the day sleeping, my ass," she commented to no one in particular. She found a closet on the first floor that had a small tub and a broom and mop. The handles were a bit worn, but the wear seemed to be more from time than anything else. There was also old soap in a basket. What there wasn't, was water. She supposed there must be water somewhere nearby. Or, maybe not, Lord Alberid also seemed capable of stranding a lady with no water. He wasn't mean, but he didn't seem especially thoughtful either. She grabbed the broom and took it outside with the bed stuff, where she shook it out and swept it off before resorting to beating it with a broom. The dust seemed to be infused into the sheets, but she did manage to get the first layer off. They would have to be washed, but if she washed them she wouldn't be able to sleep in them. She hated the idea, but she would just have to sleep in them the way they were.
She put the broom away and remade the bed. One thing was certain, she was not taking her clothes off. There was no way she was sleeping naked on grey sheets which ought to be white. She did remove her shoes before slipping beneath the covers and closing her eyes.
Her dreams made her slightly restless, but she did manage to get a good amount of sleep. When she woke up, it was to the sound of pounding on the door downstairs. "Gee, I wonder who that could be." She yawned and slid out of the bed. She was awake enough to be careful as she hurried downstairs. She wouldn't want to keep someone like Lord Alberid waiting. She opened the door and blinked at him, stifling another yawn. Waking up dead seemed to be a heck of a lot like waking up alive. She could hardly see any light when she opened the door.
Lord Alberid stood in the doorway wearing light pants and a loosely tied shirt. His sword was in it's sheath around his waist and his hair was light and slightly fluffy looking. When she looked at him with awake eyes, he turned and started walking away. Laura sighed, "here it goes again." Although she very much hoped it would be at least slightly different today. She followed, she had a bad feeling that if she ever let him out of her sight she might never see him again. He led them back to the arena and entered through the door to the actual grounds. The sun had just begun to think about coming out from the horizon.
"Do as I do," he said, his voice sounding strained and hoarse. Then he put his hands over his head and stretched up as far as he could. Laura stretched as well. Was this really going to help her help her sister? Was it possible that the fortune teller had been full of shit? Did they have such people in heaven? Maybe she should have stopped and talked to Jesus on her way here. He was supposed to be a very important man. Most people seemed to think he was trustworthy. Lord Alberid remained up for what seemed like forever, stretched up in the air, then he moved further up by lifting onto his tip toes, his face lifting up in the sky. If she looked at the sky how would she see when he stopped doing this and did something else? She hated this sort of thing. She tried copying him but found herself bobbing her head slightly as she checked to see if he'd moved on to doing something else yet. Her legs began to burn, and so did her neck. He stayed stretched for several more minutes and then dropped his hands and looked at her. She dropped her hands and looked back.
"I hope I'm not still supposed to be doing as you do, because if I turn my back on you I won't be able to see you at all."
He stared at her for several moments then reached up again, pulled his arms as high as he could, and then crouched, bringing his arms down and sweeping them past his ankles. Then he swung himself back up and reached for the sky again. She smiled at him and copied the new stretch, without turning her back on him, although it was tempting. She might try it some time in the future. He did the stretch 10 times, then stopped.
It was a long, silent hour that they were stretching. The sun slowly started to rise from the edge of the trees and light began to make the animals start moving. By the time he stopped stretching there were several different animals making noise, and his body was covered in a light sweat. He looked at her, "Now we run," he said, and started moving towards the door. He was beginning to remind her of her gym teacher with one glaring, extra big flaw. Gym class would be over by now. She followed him towards the door. Her muscles protested. She was already in pain and she hadn't run a step yet. He walked out the door and out of the arena and once she was out, started jogging away towards the woods. Laura jogged after him, wondering how long she would be able to keep up and what would happen when she couldn't anymore. He seemed to be trying her limits, jogging softly at first, then speeding up as they went through the forest. He managed getting them to a fairly fast pace for about 5 minutes before he slowed down again. When they finally stopped, they were outside her tower. She was breathing heavily and all of her muscles ached but she had to admit that although he'd pushed her, he'd never gone beyond what she could handle. She panted and stared at him. She would have tried for a witty remark, but she couldn't come up with one.
"Yes?" It was more of a wheeze than a word. He smirked at her.
"Tired?" his voice was amused, and he was breathing slightly heavy, but he didn't even look tired. Unfortunately, his voice cracked at the end, and his face flushed a bit. His finger moved to her tower. "Water," He said, and his voice cracked again, then he pointed away to the woods to a path she hadn't noticed before. Once she looked he turned away from her and started walking towards the arena his blush now covered by his movement.
"That's... all?" She wished she could cover her exhaustion as well as he seemed to be able to cover his. On the other hand, he was probably not as tired as she was. She caught the sight of him nodding as he disappeared into the arena. Once she turned to look at her "home" she noticed a strange glow about the place. Why was it glowing? She approached the tower cautiously.
The door flew open once she got within a foot of it, and a crowd of 10 faeries swirled around her. "Laura!" they all shrieked, "We've recolored your home!" and then they started trying to drag her inside, "Come and see!" The faeries... she stared at them allowing herself to be dragged for the moment.
"Thought you were... elsewhere." She wished she could catch her breath already, and she really needed a drink of water. "Why... here?"
Once inside, she found herself wanting a drink even more. The lovely shades of red and green had been covered with bright blue and pink, a few shades of grass green, bright yellow and purple. She could hardly see any of the original colors through the other ones. "Your house! We take care of you!" they all sounded so happy.
"...you... shouldn't have." They really shouldn't have. She meant it too. "I need a drink." She took a deep breath and let it out. Once her breath was regulated and she'd had something to drink, maybe she'd be able to think what to do about her newly decorated "home". They looked at her in concern.
"Are you alright?" and they all buzzed around her, trying to look into her face all at the same time. It made her dizzy.
"Yes," she replied firmly. They were also making her slightly nauseous, swarming like that. "I'm ok, I just need a drink. I guess there's water outside and down a path. Follow if you want." She went to the door and opened it, walking slowly so that she wouldn't run into the eager fairies. At least she could speak in full sentences now. They all followed her, some of them hanging onto the edges of her clothes, some flying around her body and face, all of them seeming a bit upset.
"Why don't you have a water supply at home? We need to make sure you get one of those. Are you sure you're ok?" and the questions continued, each faerie asking a different question until her head began to ache. She didn't answer any of them. She just walked out the door, closing it behind her and made her way to the pathway.
"I wish I did have water in the tower. I really, really, wish I did." She told them finally as the questions continued.
"We'll make sure you have water! We promise!" they followed her as she walked down a simple path that led to a running stream. The water was clear and deep, the stream several feet across. Fish swam among the rocks in the water, and scattered a bit when her shadow hit the water. She knelt at the edge of the stream and used her hands cupped to transport water to her mouth. It tasted wonderful, crisp and refreshing. One taste of it was almost enough to quench her thirst. The faeries laughed and started dipping into the water, playing games with the fish and her reflection. She took a second handful and splashed it on her face. She felt refreshed, and ready to tackle... well, anything. It was like all the grime and sweat had come off when the water rolled off her face. Maybe she didn't need running water after all. On the other hand the fairies might have redesigned her color scheme, but had they cleaned the dust up? If not she had a definite purpose for water.
"So, why are you all here?" They stared at her like she was crazy.
"To protect you of course!" they looked at each other, then back at her, "We wont let that awful person hurt you anymore!" they nodded at each other, "So, we're going to live in your home and make it so he doesn't kill you!" They seemed so intent on defending her, it was almost comical. Laura smiled and laughed softly.
"He won't kill me." She splashed a little water at the faeries. "You all worry too much. He may be a little difficult and unusual, but he's not a murderer. Anyhow, I'm already dead." They looked at each other and back to her again, shaking their heads.
"Nope, you are very much alive! He has the power to kill though, and he's done it before, and he'd do it again." They looked at her scared. "He's a soul murderer, that's why he's confined here."
"A soul murderer? You mean he can kill souls? Why would someone like that be confined in heaven? Why not, well, elsewhere?" The faeries looked at her and then at each other again.
"Where else *would* you confine one of the biggest criminals in heaven? You wouldn't want him to go to hell where he could do more damage, and you wouldn't want him running around heaven aimlessly, now would you? You really need to be careful!" They looked at her worried again.
"I will be then, but he still doesn't scare me, and he doesn't strike me as someone who would kill aimlessly either." Laura rose from her knees. She had thought that Lord Alberid had chosen to live here on his own. He seemed like the type who would. He was reclusive, like the bird lady who lived on the top floor of her apartment building and only came out once a month for groceries. She lived in seclusion with her birds and she liked it that way. He had a similar feel to him. He had the type of personality that prefers seclusion and was uncomfortable in the presence of other people. How could he be one of the biggest criminals in heaven? How could he not have the option to leave this place? It didn't seem right. "I'm heading back." Some of her sorrow was apparent in the words but she couldn't help it. She was so disappointed. The faeries picked up on it and flew around her.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Did we say something wrong?" They looked anxious.
"You're what's wrong!" said a voice low and snarling. When she looked, Lord Alberid was standing, sword ready, looking with fire in his eyes at the faeries. Laura took a deep breath and let it out, wondering how much of the conversation Lord Alberid heard.
"You won't convince them of that by fighting with them," she suggested as calmly as she could. The fairies were so much like children and Lord Alberid was the type to take them way too seriously. She could see him shaking, the anger in his eyes so apparent that it was like waves flowing from his body. He had lost his shirt somewhere along the line and was standing in just his pants. His body was slick with sweat and as she watched, she saw energy flowing from his body to his hands.
"Go away, go away now," his voice was still low, but it sounded perfectly even, like he had no speech problems, "Stop spreading tales no one wants to hear about anymore, and stop doing it where I can hear you!" The end was a bit of a scream, anguish ripping through his throat, and the energy that had built into his hands, silver in color with a tint of red to it, leapt from him to the faeries, engulfing each of them for a brief second. Then they wrapped themselves around her and started trying to move her away from him. More faeries came from the trees, wrapping themselves around her to shield her from him. It only took a moment and she saw a shield of faeries in front of her, and could almost not see him anymore through the twisting shapes of faeries.
"No," she found herself shouting it, "all of you, just stop. This is so... pointless. I came here of my own free will and," she let out a sound of pure frustration, "and they are just like little children who cannot understand your anger," this she shouted toward Lord Alberid who she could no longer see, but who she knew was there, "or your pain." There was definitely pain in his eyes, when he had sent the faeries into a frenzy. She'd seen it and she thought maybe she somewhat understood it. This caused the faeries to swarm closer.
"No, you'll be protected. We will protect you! You won't hurt her!"
"You are insane! I am not here to hurt her!" His voice wavered and she could feel energy lashing out towards the faeries. The faeries soaked it in, and Laura could see the energy flow from one faerie to all the faeries until it was all absorbed into them. "You will leave me alone! Once and for all!" His voice was so strained, it almost hurt her throat to hear it.
"No, this is all wrong!" Laura pushed at the barrier of faeries. "Lord Alberid, please, get yourself together, you can't truly resolve this by fighting." She didn't know how, but she had to get past the faeries to him. She didn't want anyone to get hurt, and at this point he might actually be a danger to the little creatures. She didn't know if he was or not. When she pushed at the barrier, she was surprised to see them scatter for a moment. Upon seeing his face, she knew he was in a lot of pain, his eyes were red with anger, but also anguish, his body was tense with fury, but also frustration. His sword was balanced in one hand pointed towards the "shield" of faeries and his other hand was outstretched towards them, the energy filling into it again.
"Leave me alone," his voice was cold and hard and again painfully strained. She saw him gathering the energy as quickly as he could, when the faeries cried out at once.
"No! Don't hurt her!" and they flew at him in a swarm.
"Stop, just stop!" Laura ran forward and did the only thing she could think to do under the circumstances. She'd done the exact same thing the day before to protect her sister and now she did it to protect a man she hardly knew. She threw herself onto him, putting herself in between him and the faeries in an effort to protect him from them and them from him. "Can't you just leave each other alone?" Tears flooded her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. What she didn't expect was for the force to knock him over. Over and onto the ground, her on top of him. She heard the sound of his sword hit the ground. She also heard the sound of about three dozen faeries surprised.
"What are you doing?" they all asked, and they flew around her, tugging on her kimono trying to get her off of him.
As for Lord Alberid, he was perfectly still under her.
"I..." Laura pushed herself up a bit so she could see if Lord Alberid was all right. His eyes were wide, and being this close, she could see the slightest bit of water in them. He seemed so shocked he couldn't move. There was a silver light all around him, a light hum that seemed to stem from him. His whole body was heated beyond temperatures most people would call normal. "I want you to leave him alone," she told the faeries, then looking directly into Lord Alberid's eyes she spoke again, "and I need you to leave them alone. As hurt as you are they don't mean you harm. They think they're protecting me." She wondered if he could even hear her at the moment. He stared at her for a few more minutes before seeming to snap out of whatever daze had caught him.
"I..." the voice wasn't from his mouth, but it was his voice. The difference was that it was low and soft and soothing, not in pain. The faeries flurried around her and continued to tug at her clothes.
"You should get off him! He'll hurt you!"
"I..." the voice said again, his eyes seemed to be caught on hers. "I don't understand?" It almost seemed to be spoken directly to her mind.
"They don't understand," she tried, "please, don't hurt them. Let me talk to them. They honestly think I need protected from you and they don't mean to upset you." She risked looking away from him for a moment. "He's not going to hurt me. Just leave me be for the moment." She looked back to Lord Alberid and was suddenly conscious of the fact that she was splayed across a guy, not just any guy either. She felt her face flush.
His eyes closed for a moment, then opened and looked across her face, as though seeing it for the first time. "You... why did you stop me?" the voice was curious, not annoyed or angry, and still came to her mind instead of her ears. She also felt how strong his body was. Every inch of him was solid, not a bit was untoned or flabby. His whole body was like flexible stone. His face flushed just a tiny bit when she did.
"I didn't want anyone to get hurt. It just doesn't make sense. You're justifiably angry, but they are, in their own way, justifiably concerned." She liked the way it felt to lie across him like this but it was making her blush and she knew it was, so she pushed herself off to one side of him and sat up, trying not to damage any faeries as she did so. The faeries all managed to keep from getting injured by her moving, but she didn't expect him to roll with her and end up on top of her, keeping her from sitting up.
"No! Leave her alone!" the faeries started banging him with their tiny fists, trying to get him to move. Unfortunately, he seemed transfixed with her face.
"I'm angry?" He searched her face for something, his eyes curious. Then, he really did seem to snap out of whatever daze he had still been in and jumped up. "Damn faeries!" he growled, this time, the voice came from his throat.
"Oh no," Laura moaned, "he wasn't hurting me!" She grabbed hold of Lord Alberid's hand and tried using it to pull herself up. "Please, don't fight!" She didn't know if she was saying the last to him or the little faeries. Lord Alberid's hand wrapped around hers and he hoisted her to her feet, then turned to look at her in surprise. The faeries flocked around her and wrapped themselves as close to her as they could. She was beginning to get angry.
"He is not going to hurt me," she stressed the word not heavily. "I need you to back off or I'm going to figure out a way to send you all to bed without dinner!" Her voice had a bit of a growl to it at this point. The faeries were really beginning to try her patience. In a flash, they all disappeared from around her and stayed in a mass just beside her.
"No... dinner?" they sounded so confused, yet, so upset, "We get, no dinner..." they swirled in their mass uncertain.
Lord Alberid stared at them for several seconds, then chuckled a bit, lowering his hands and visibly relaxing. Laura sighed.
"There, that's better." She looked to Lord Alberid with a smile of relief, "are you alright now? I'm sorry they upset you." Lord Alberid stopped chuckling, and returned to looking serious.
"They talk to you about me when I can hear their wicked voices. That's not very nice of them." He looked at her and then held a hand to his throat. "I..." he shook his head and then turned, picked his sword up by his foot and started walking away. The faeries took the opportunity to swirl around her. She wanted to go after him but she was afraid she might just make things worse if she did. She sighed.
"There, you hurt his feelings and I'm not at all happy about that. Do you understand? No more talking about him when he can hear you, do you all understand?" She tried to look at every faerie, but there were just too many of them at the moment. They nodded, then looked sheepish.
"But we can't talk about him when you're so close to his arena then! You'll have to go far to the edges in order to talk to us about him! That's so unfair!" Lord Alberid turned back to them.
"Is it you devilish creatures? This is my domain, not your's! You're just watchdogs, nothing more!" His voice was coming out more like squeaks of anger than the violent storm it should have been, but the meaning was clear. He obviously hated the faeries. Laura shook her head.
"We shouldn't need to discuss Lord Alberid any further. If you can't let the topic rest then I suggest you all leave. I've chosen to come here and you don't have to feel the least bit responsible for me." They moved around her in ashamed patterns.
"We're sorry Lady Laura," they said, "we wont do it again." Lord Alberid turned away and started walking again. Laura nodded her head as she wondered just how she'd earned the title Lady all of a sudden. It felt odd. She turned back down the path to her tower. The rush of adrenaline which had allowed her to knock Lord Alberid to the ground had left her drained and she was very much ready to go to bed.
"I need sleep," she told them as she walked, "soon." They swirled around her lightly and brushed away the pieces of sweat that clung to her face.
"Ok! We do water thing for you upstairs, make it so you have water! You go to sleep! Rest well!" The way they moved around her moved her faster to her tower. She was happy to see the bedroom, even with it's new colors.
"Did you clean these sheets, or just recolor them," she asked as she sat down on the bed. The tower seemed to have several faeries in each room now. They looked confused.
"Clean? What's clean?" they asked. They didn't know what clean was?
"Clean is removing dust and dirt," Laura explained. She almost added that it was usually done with soap and water but she had a feeling that might just confuse the issue.
"Oh!" they looked at each other in surprise, "I see!" then they turned to her, "Nope! We didn't clean!" they said proudly. Laura sighed.
"Cleaning these sheets would actually be a good thing," she told them. Children, they were so much like little children. "It would make things much better if they were clean." They looked at her in surprise.
"Really? You want clean?" They shrugged and formed a gathering. Laura could see them gathering energy together, green in color, and then sent it out to the sheets. In a moment, once the energy was done "eating" away at the sheets, they looked brand new, and were dust and grime free. Brand new except for the fact that they were no longer one color. "Is that clean enough?" They asked as they fell onto the bed.
"That's definitely clean enough. Are you all ok? I didn't mean to exhaust you." They giggled at her.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine! Sleep, sleep, that's what you wanted, right? Sleep! We cleaned!" Laura smiled at them.
"Yes, that's what I wanted. Sleep, sleep." She stripped and climbed into bed with a yawn. Being a ghost seemed to suddenly demand a great deal of sleep, but at first she hadn't slept at all. She pondered this as she drifted into sleep.
She didn't feel very rested by the time she got up. She was having this terrible nightmare that she was being chased by something that would eat her up if she didn't get away, and she was running out of breath. She found herself flailing around, and woke up to the sound of pounding footsteps on the ground right by her head because she'd tripped and fallen down and she was about to be eaten and...
"Wake up!" the voice was strained, and sounded terrible. It was raw and hurt, but it did wake her up. She was staring into big, golden brown eyes that seemed to be staring through her. There were hands on her shoulders gripping her tightly, and had probably been shaking her because her head hurt a bit, and... and she was on the ground, Lord Alberid crouched in front of her in his leather pants and loose shirt, and her in... nothing.
"How... wha..." Laura felt that her face had burned itself to what had to be a very deep shade of red. She emitted a sort of squeak and looked around. She was in her room, and her bed was in reaching distance, so she grabbed at a sheet and pulled on it, trying to cover herself. What exactly had happened? How had Lord Alberid ended up in her bedroom? "I'm... awake," she managed as she fumbled with the sheet. He took the sheet from her fingers and gently wrapped it around her, lifting her into a standing position. It was the sweetest thing he could have done under the circumstances and she found herself liking him for it, very much.
"What," his voice cracked badly, "happened?"
"I had a nightmare." What had happened to his voice? "You talked to me without trouble yesterday. Was it with your mind somehow? Why don't you usually do that?" Lord Alberid shook his head.
"Intrusion," he managed before his voice cracked again. He held his throat for a moment then shook his head again, "I don't like to intrude into other's minds, and that's what this kind of talking is like," the voice was inside her mind like it had been the day before. "Unfortunately, I can't communicate the other way at present." He turned away from her, "My apologies for intruding into your home like I am intruding into your mind, I could not wake you by pounding on the door and I heard you fall so I entered without permission."
"I..." Laura sighed and sat down on her bed. That had been a strange nightmare. She wasn't used to having that type of thing. It had been years since her last really bad nightmare. "I don't mind you speaking to me this way. I like being able to really hear your voice, and I understand why you came in. I had the strangest nightmare. I was being chased by something which I thought was going to eat me." She laughed a bit. "It sounds childish really. I was so out of breath, then I tripped and fell and... I suppose that was just because I fell out of bed." She laughed again and wondered why she was telling him all this. He turned around suddenly and looked at her startled.
"Chased... and..." he shook his head, "Sorry. I shall leave you alone to get dressed." He turned away and started moving to the stairs, "And it's not childish, a nightmare is never something childish," his voice was very serious. Laura smiled softly at his back.
"Thanks." She watched as he retreated down the stairs. Once he was out of sight she began dressing, wondering why her guardian faeries had not considered him a danger this morning. Perhaps they were getting the idea that she wanted them to lay off Lord Alberid. Upon that thought, she saw several faeries peek their heads out from around the dresser and under the bed.
"Is he gone? Did he leave? It's safe now, right?" they asked in their tiny scared voices. "He's scary!"
"Since I don't want your protection you're hiding from him to protect yourselves?" Laura laughed. "You are very silly faeries. I think it would be best if you stay home while I go with him, since he's so scary." They nodded then looked shocked.
"But! Are you sure you're going to be ok? He better not bite you! If he hurts you, we'll hurt him back!" They all left their hiding places and swirled around her. "He better be good and not hurt you!" Some of them attached to her hair, others, to the clothes she was putting on. There was suddenly this large array of faeries on her.
"If you're all going to swarm around like that you can do me a favor and tie this kimono properly. As for Lord Alberid I can handle him by myself. He doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I like him." The faeries started tying the kimono, then stared at her.
"Like?" they swarmed around her head, touching her forehead, "Are you sick?" Laura laughed.
"No, sickness doesn't make me like people. It makes me grumpy and tired. Are you done with those ties?" They returned to the ties and then swirled in front of her, nodding their heads.
"Sickness makes Lady Laura grumpy and tired, we'll remember to not make her sick. Can we help you not like him so you can be safe?" They looked eagerly at her.
"Definitely not," Laura tested the stairs to the upper floor and carefully navigated them. She just wanted to wash her face at least, before going downstairs. She had some idea of what she looked like just out of bed. She was sure what she really needed was a brush. Amazingly enough, there was not only water in a nice bowl that had replaced the old bowl at some time yesterday, but also a brush, comb and hand mirror set that was next to the bowl. "Wow, thank you." She washed her face and brushed her hair, consulting the mirror occasionally. "Before any of you think to ask, I am not so grateful that I've changed my mind and stopped liking him. I happen to think he's interesting, polite, well mannered and extremely hot."
The faeries looked at her like she was crazy, "Hot? As in sick, high temperature? Well mannered? We don't think so!"
"Well of course not. He doesn't like you." She debated that. Did it mean he liked her or did he just respect her in some way? "I don't mean hot the way you think, it's an expression it means he's really good looking, not exactly handsome, but that's part of it. I guess you could say he's incredibly attractive." It occurred to her that he might be able to hear the conversation, as he seemed to hear the faeries no matter where they were, so long as they were in his territory. It didn't bother her though. In a way she hoped he was hearing. She really, really hoped he liked her back. She set the mirror and brush down and began walking down the stairs. The faeries followed her and anxiously tugged at her kimono.
"Don't fall into his trap, he wants young girls to like him! He eats young girls for breakfast! He's a monster!" They squealed their protests to her all the way to the bedroom. She stopped when she got to the bedroom and glared at them.
"No dinner," she said simply, hoping they would catch her meaning. They sulked away and nodded their head.
"No dinner," they said softly.
"I'm glad we understand each other." Laura continued down the stairs, the faeries following her, as close as they could. Once downstairs, several faeries that had been sleeping on tables and the couch woke up and came over to her.
"Morning!" they said.
"Good morning." Lord Alberid had evidently let himself back out of the house. "I need to go now. Take care of the house." She went out of the front door. The faeries nodded and watched her anxiously as she left the tower.
Lord Alberid was already in the arena practicing. His sword was out and he was lightly swinging it around in arcs and twirls. He seemed to have been practicing for as long as she had been getting ready. His body was already covered in a light sheen of sweat. Had she taken too long? Well, at least he'd kept himself occupied. She moved closer, careful not to move too close, and waited. It only took a few moments before he noticed she was there.
He stared at her and nodded to the ground in front of him, "Like yesterday," he said into her mind, sheathing the sword. Yes, like yesterday, it was no more and no less than she had expected. She followed him through the stretches wondering how this was going to help her help her sister. She really couldn't afford to be impatient however. What she did notice that was different from yesterday was not only that there were more exercises than before but also that it seemed to be a lot easier. She found herself remembering everything they had done exactly and it was easy to perform. Lord Alberid nodded in satisfaction to her once before starting on the new exercises, which were more strenuous than yesterdays. It was several hours later that she noticed she was hungry and tired. Lord Alberid seemed perfectly innocent of her discomforts though, and said, "Running now," in her mind and moved out of the arena.
It was like before, starting out slow and moving to a faster pace. This time, they stayed in a full out run for a half hour before he started slowing down. By this time, she was very hungry, ravenous even. She wondered what she was supposed to do about food. She'd thought maybe being dead meant you didn't need it. Maybe the faeries would be able to help. They did a hell of a job on bed sheets and water. They stopped at the tower again, this time he looked at her and said, "Enough for now, I want you to spend some time today attempting to scry. Ask the faeries if you don't understand. They'll help," he finished it up slightly disgruntled.
"Ok," she was a bit surprised he was willing to let the faeries help her at all. Why didn't he teach her to scry? She didn't ask, since she desperately needed to eat but she didn't really feel comfortable asking him about food. They were in front of the tower again. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He nodded.
"I'd tell you to not have a nightmare again, but since that's not something you can help, I wont," the very corners of his lips twisted up, "I hope you have more pleasant dreams tonight." He nodded to her and started walking away.
"Thanks," she grinned at his back. He was actually conversing with her! Maybe he was silent more because of his throat than anything else. On the other hand, maybe he was actually starting to like her. She hoped so. She turned and walked into her tower, where she was bombarded by faeries.
"Welcome back!" they all said in chorus. They flocked around her and started clinging to various parts of her body.
"Hi, can we talk about food? I don't want you to all exhaust yourselves or anything, I just want to know if you know how I can best get some." They looked at her in confusion.
"Food? Like to eat?" they looked at each other, "Like berries?"
"I was thinking more in terms of a cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla milk shake, but berries might have to do all things considered." Heaven was an odd sort of paradise. What she really wanted at the moment was an all you can eat buffet, but here she was settling for berries.
They smiled and started dragging her out of the tower, "This way! Berry's in large amounts!" Well, if it had to be berries, at least they were in large amounts. She allowed the faeries to drag her. Out of the tower, and into the woods they went. It took them several minutes to get to where they were going, but once they got there, she knew it was more than just berries she'd be eating.
The way the bushes were growing made it look like a row of different bushes were waiting to be eaten from. There was a small clearing with a fireplace set up in the middle and a pot was hanging from it. The fireplace was burning away brightly and the smell coming from the pot was unbelievably good. A small boy was stirring the pot, humming to himself as he did so. The faeries ran to him, swirling around and brushing his hair into the air. He smiled, "Hello, what's on your agenda today?"
"Feeding her berries!" they said, pointing to Laura. He looked to where they pointed in surprise. Laura smiled at him.
"It was the only thing they could come up with when I asked about food," she offered him her hand, "Laura." He took it and shook, slightly timidly.
"Mark," he said, "I live out here, eating their berries." His voice was soft and light, his eyes a dark sea green and his hair a dark auburn. "I'm making a pot of stew, did you want any?"
"I'd love some," Laura replied, "but, did you cook enough for two? I don't want to take it if you need it." The stew smelled really good. She hoped it was almost ready. He shook his head.
"I always make enough for several people. You never know who's going to show up for dinner." He blushed a bit, "at least, that's what I always thought. Usually though I just make a lot and save the rest for later. I like to be able to not cook every once in a while." Mark motioned to an old, clean sack that was lying flat on the ground, "You can have a seat. It's almost ready." Laura sat down and watched him, wondering why he chose to live out here in this way. He stirred the stew for several minutes, every once in a while adding a piece of greenery to it. A leaf here, a spring of something else there. Finally he seemed to deem it worthy of being eaten and he pulled it off from the fire.
"Just a moment," he said as he pulled out a couple of clay bowls. Next he was spooning the stew into the bowls, handing one to her. "Here you go, careful, it's been cooking all day so it's really hot." A spoon followed the bowl and she accepted both gratefully.
"Thank you, very much." She carefully took a spoon of stew from the edge and held it up to blow on. "So, how many dinner guests have you gotten since you came here?" He smiled to himself.
"Not very many. In fact," he looked at her with bright eyes, "You're only the second!"
"Wow, have you been here long?" She touched her lips to the spoon and decided to blow on it some more before eating it. He looked up to the sky for a moment.
"Umm, about 25 years or so, I think." He looked back down at her, "So, no, not really all that long have I been here."
"Well, compared to me that's a really long time." Licking her top lip revealed that the stew had a nice flavor. He tilted his head to one side.
"How long have you been here?" he asked, his head still cocked to one side. "A few months, maybe a year?" Laura shook he head.
"Not at all," she grinned at him. "I've only been dead about three days now." He looked a bit shocked, putting his head straight.
"Three days? And you're hungry? Wow, what have you been doing? A lot of exercise?" Laura nodded and boldly stuck the whole spoonful of stew in her mouth. After swallowing it she spoke again.
"I've been stretching and running with Lord Alberid. He's helping me so that I can return to earth and protect my sister." The boy's eyes got wide.
"Lord, err, Lord Alberid? You're training with Lord Alberid?" Laura nodded, lifting another spoonful of soup to cool it.
"I went to a fortune teller in the first town and she said he would be best able to help me." He looked slightly scared.
"Lord Alberid the soul killer?" he managed to say after a few moments struggling to find his voice.
"Well, that isn't the title the fortune teller gave him but she did act as if there was only one Lord Alberid in the battlefield and I feel that I found him. Especially with the faeries flocking around me worriedly all the time. Do you know him?" She tested and ate another spoon of stew. She wanted to drink the stuff from the bowl, but it was probably too hot and it would be incredibly impolite as well. He shook his head.
"Not personally, but there isn't anyone who's been around heaven for a long time that hasn't heard the tales about the strongest, fiercest, and most deadly Lord Alberid. He's killed so many people, destroyed thousands of hellsouls, and saved heaven five times from Satan himself! I'm surprised you've been in any kind of contact with him and you're ok!" his eyes were wide with sock and a bit of amazement. "I knew he lived here, but I've never met him, I'd be too scared to do so."
"Hm, well I'm not Satan and I'm not a hellsoul so maybe I'm safe? I mean he doesn't seem the type to randomly kill because he's bored or something. I like him." He gasped and choked on his stew for a moment.
"I.." choke, "can't imagine liking him either. He sounds so mean and," cough, "and unfriendly to anyone," he finished in a gasp.
"Well, he's not mean," Laura told him firmly, "fierce and silent perhaps and a bit antisocial, but not mean." Mark looked at her in astonishment.
"Are you," he paused, "defending him?" he asked curiously. Laura nodded.
"Someone ought to. He just doesn't deserve to be so terribly feared. He's very hurt by it." She sighed, "I suppose if I'd heard a bunch of stories before I met him I'd be scared too, but tales grow over time and I'm glad I met him without any preconceptions of what he was like." Mark looked at her and smiled.
"I understand!" He laughed lightly, his face lighting up a bit, "I understand! Thank you," he bowed a bit at her, "I was wrong, and I apologize for acting so childish." Laura gave him a warm smile.
"I'm glad, thank you. By the way, you make a very good stew." She was almost finished with it.
He blushed a bit, "Thank you! Would you like seconds?" and he held up the pot. Laura helped herself to seconds very happily and when she was finished she gave Mark a smile.
"I'm supposed to try to scry today, and I don't know how to do it, so I need to be going. Maybe I'll see you again sometime? You're welcome to visit me. I live in the tower near the arena if you're willing to risk coming that way." He stood up and smiled.
"Thank you for clearing up my misconceptions. I'm greatly indebted to you. I hope to see you again." Laura looked around for her faerie companions. She wasn't entirely sure she could return without them. It took only a moment to see that most of them were eating the berries from the bushes, and they all looked satisfied with themselves. She went over and plucked a few berries for desert.
"I need you to show me the way back please," she told them, popping a berry in her mouth. They looked up at her and smiled, rising from the bushes and flying onto her.
"Ok!" and they started tugging at her, guiding her by tug to her tower. She was happy to be back, but there was no time to relax.
"I need to scry but I don't know how. Lord Alberid said you could show me." The faeries looked surprised.
"He said we show?" They looked at each other, then at her and smiled, "He remembered! Good! We show, we show!" and they dragged her upstairs to the top floor. At least they would have had the stairs not collapsed at the moment that they were almost to the top. Each stair crumbled under the weight of one female body racing up the stairs because of a hoard of faeries. She felt her feet break through the wood and her body fall. She had been so careful too, she grabbed at something, anything but found that there was nothing to catch and let out a startled yelp. The boards collapsed on top of her, and the last thing she saw was a piece of wood coming straight for her head.
She felt warm all over. Warm and cozy, and in desperate need of something to drink. Her mouth was dry and felt scratchy. Actually, she also felt a bit of pain all across her body, how had she felt so nice a few moments ago? She opened her eyes a bit, annoyed by the glare that hurt her eyes, and saw a beautiful thing. Lord Alberid was sitting right next to the bed, wherever she was, and his hands were lightly on her arm. She was snuggled into a very comfortable bed and her whole body ached. Lord Alberid's eyes were closed and his body glowed with a white light which seemed to be focused on his hands. He was lost into whatever he was doing. Where was she? What had happened?
She studied his face until the glare became too much for her then she closed her eyes for a bit to rest them. It was only a moment longer before she felt heavy hands on her arm, and a sigh. Next she noticed a heavy weight on the bed by her side. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lord Alberid's head on the edge of the bed, his hands still on her arm, exhausted, and asleep. She attempted to lift her free hand. She found it rather easy to do, although it ached, as though it had been stretched past it's limits. She reached across herself and gently ran her fingers through Lord Alberid's hair. She remembered the faeries being very excited about showing her how to scry. His hair was so soft, it was like she was running her fingers across downy feathers. He stirred barely, lifting his face towards her hand.
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 About addition #1: By: Stormy is Editing  Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 2:38pmSize: 6,675 Characters "Lord Alberid?" She asked softly.
"Hmmm?" he mumbled, gave a soft sigh, and leaned into her hair.
"Are you alright?" She stroked his hair gently, wondering at its softness. It was amazing. He stirred a bit more, sighed again, then his eyes cracked open ever so slightly.
"You're awake?" he managed to croak out, and he tried to lift his head.
"Yes, I am. If it's that hard to lift your head, maybe you shouldn't," she suggested, continuing to stoke his hair. He placed his head back on the bed and sighed.
"I haven't used that much magic in a long time." He spoke into her mind this time, and his eyes fell closed.
"I'm sorry... I.. the stairs broke, didn't they? I've caused you a lot of trouble." It was odd to see him so tired when usually nothing seemed to affect him much. He nodded once and shrugged.
"It's my fault, I probably shouldn't have left you there, everything here is very old. No one's lived in that tower for a little over six centuries."
"Oh, but I like the tower. I mean it just needs a bit of fixing up. Anyhow, I'm the one who came begging you for help. I'm lucky to have a place to stay at all." She fell silent for a moment. "I hope my sister's okay," she said softly, no longer speaking to Lord Alberid so much as to herself. One of his eyes opened and he glanced up at her.
"You haven't been gone that long." His eye closed again. "If you like the tower that much, perhaps we should work on it in the morning."
"It doesn't take very long for my dad to get dangerous," she fell silent, looking at Lord Alberid. Think if she'd known someone like him when she was alive. Surely her father would have left her alone if Lord Alberid had told him to. Of course, what her father had done to her didn't matter, she just wanted him to leave her sister alone.
"I see," she said softly. His mind voice seemed to lightly stoke her mind like her hand was stoking his hair. "You know it could take months to be able to manipulate the living world."
"I... I don't know, but I can only try my best. I'm no use to her like this. At least she didn't get hit by that car." Laura fell silent, trying to get her confused thoughts into some sort of order. "Thank you, I'm glad you're helping me," and she really was, even if she still had no idea what lessons he was trying to teach her. He nodded.
"Are you tired?"
"Yes, although I suspect you're more tired than me. I feel sore more than anything." She lifted a strand of his hair and stared at it. "Your hair is so soft." He blanced at her, barely nodding his head.
"Yes, yes," he said, the briefest of smiles flashing across his lips. "Would you like a bath?"
"Why is it so soft? Have you heard that a lot?" It was nice hearing complete sentences out of him.
"I don't hear much of anything, at least not for the last century or so."
"Before that then? You seem to be aware of how soft it is, and yes, I would very much like a bath, but only if there's hot water involved." A small chuckle came from him.
"Before that... well, things were bad then. I'll make sure the water is hot."
"Are you up to that? You seem pretty tired." He opened his eyes and looked into her eyes for a moment before nodding, lifting his head and pointing to a door.
"The tub will be full by the time you get there," his voice said in her mind.
"It's through that door?" He nodded and removed his other hand from her arm, pushing the chair he was sitting on away from the bed. She sat up slowly, still testing her body, but it seemed good enough, so she slid off the bed and headed to the door.
When she stood, she noticed a few candles lite, and the room came into view. The walls were the same stone as the arena, large tapestries were hanging from each wall, giving the whole room a look of elegance. The bed was larger than any she'd seen before, with a canopy, the curtains in a deep red. The floor was wooden and covered in old rugs that looked to compliment the tapestires. There was a dresser and desk in the room and it seemed the chair he was sitting on usually went at the desk. There was also a curtain along one wall, and behind that curtain was the door Lord Alberid had pointed her to.
She went through the door and was greeted with a much nicer version of the bathroom in her tower. The tub was shiny and clean, and over half full of bubly and steamy water. The toilet was similar to an outhouse toilet, except no smell came from it. There was a full length mirror on the back of the door, and a smaller mirror on the wall above the wash basin. There were three large towels next to the tub, and a small table on the other side that had a hand towel, a couple of bottles and a bar of soap. There was also a railing that had a towl hanging from it.
Laura sighed in relief as she closed the door and went straight to the bath, sinking into the hot water and loving the feel of it as it soaked into her sore body. She washed thoroughly, rinsed, then leaned back her eyes falling closed as she drifted into a light sleep.
"Lady Laura!" she heard a soft shrill voice say as a piece of her hair was tugged.
"Hmm?" she opened her eyes lazily, "what is it?"
"Don't drown!" came the squeek from a bright blue faerie that was fluttering in front of her face. Laura stifled a yawn.
"Oh, I won't. I'm fine." She pushed herself up in the water a bit. The faerie kept hold of the hair but moved so it wouldn't tug at it.
"No sleep in bath at scary man's house!"
"Oh, as if! You should be ashamed of yourself. He helped me, why would he turn around and hurt me?" The faerie looked slightly abashed.
"No be mad Lady Laura. We're just worried about you."
"Well that's very nice of you, just don't bad mouth Lord Alberid. He is not hurting me, he's helping me." The faerie blushed, a bright blue spreading across it's cheeks.
"Yes Lady Laura," it said softly.
About addition #2: By: M  Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 2:49pmSize: 316 Characters
About addition #3: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 2:52pmSize: 464 Characters
Inside the bedroom, Lord Alberid had managed to get into the bed and was fast asleep. Lying across the top of the bed was a very old fashioned night dress in a pale pink. Three candles were lit right now, one by the door she was coming in from, one by the bed and one in the middle of the room.
About addition #4: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 3:01pmSize: 252 Characters
About addition #5: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 3:07pmSize: 188 Characters
This was when Laura noticed that her wings were gone.
About addition #6: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 3:20pmSize: 296 Characters
About addition #7: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 4:14pmSize: 281 Characters
"They're folded in for repairing," the faerie said, clutching to her hair and somehow managing to stay there even when she pulled the nightgown on.
About addition #8: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 4:37pmSize: 151 Characters
About addition #9: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 4:38pmSize: 125 Characters
About addition #10: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 4:53pmSize: 176 Characters
About addition #11: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 4:56pmSize: 205 Characters
About addition #12: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 5:56pmSize: 182 Characters
About addition #13: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 5:58pmSize: 220 Characters
About addition #14: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 6:05pmSize: 103 Characters
About addition #15: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 6:11pmSize: 357 Characters
About addition #16: By: M Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 6:20pmSize: 110 Characters
About addition #17: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/13/2007 @ 6:25pmSize: 222 Characters
(ooc: I'm putting the conversations he has w/her in mind in ** format to differentiate.)
About addition #18: By: M Added: Thu, 06/14/2007 @ 8:22amSize: 152 Characters
About addition #19: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Thu, 06/14/2007 @ 8:58amSize: 317 Characters
About addition #20: By: M Added: Fri, 06/15/2007 @ 7:07amSize: 229 Characters
About addition #21: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Fri, 06/15/2007 @ 8:55amSize: 486 Characters
"How is Lady Laura?" one asked.
"Did Lady Laura get enough sleep?" asked another one.
"Is Lady Laura hungry?" said a third.
"Would Lady Laura like some berries?" said a forth. They all seemed intent on her, and started slowly floating to the bedspread, sitting and watching her.
About addition #22: By: M Added: Fri, 06/15/2007 @ 9:09amSize: 353 Characters
About addition #23: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Mon, 06/18/2007 @ 9:00amSize: 277 Characters
"Would Lady Laura like a robe then?" they asked.
About addition #24: By: M Added: Mon, 06/18/2007 @ 9:46amSize: 205 Characters
About addition #25: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Tue, 06/19/2007 @ 8:58amSize: 138 Characters
About addition #26: By: M Added: Tue, 06/19/2007 @ 9:22amSize: 255 Characters
About addition #27: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 11:28amSize: 254 Characters
"Take care Lady Laura," they said in chorus.
About addition #28: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 11:42amSize: 107 Characters
About addition #29: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 12:23pmSize: 558 Characters
"I.." he started, his voice cracking. He shook his head. *You can sit if you'd like, I had a feeling you would be hungry.*
About addition #30: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 1:07pmSize: 292 Characters
About addition #31: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 1:39pmSize: 869 Characters
*Feel free to start eating,* he said and a bread knife appeared beside the bread. He turned away and ladled something from the cauldron into two bowls and put those on the table next. Three small serving bowls came over to the table at that moment, one had brown sugar, one had cream, and the other had raisins. He returned to the fire and came back with omlets, one of each he put onto the plates. Then he sat down across from her and picked up his fork.
About addition #32: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 1:44pmSize: 213 Characters
About addition #33: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 1:50pmSize: 396 Characters
*You honestly don't mind me talking like this, do you?* he said, his voice somewhat surprised.
About addition #34: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 2:06pmSize: 144 Characters
About addition #35: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 2:13pmSize: 50 Characters
About addition #36: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 2:25pmSize: 133 Characters
About addition #37: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 2:37pmSize: 138 Characters
About addition #38: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 2:44pmSize: 106 Characters
About addition #39: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 2:50pmSize: 138 Characters
About addition #40: By: M Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 3:02pmSize: 168 Characters
About addition #41: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/20/2007 @ 6:53pmSize: 241 Characters
About addition #42: By: M Added: Thu, 06/21/2007 @ 7:29amSize: 169 Characters
About addition #43: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Thu, 06/21/2007 @ 9:57pmSize: 183 Characters
About addition #44: By: M Added: Fri, 06/22/2007 @ 7:34amSize: 243 Characters
About addition #45: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Fri, 06/22/2007 @ 8:46amSize: 202 Characters
About addition #46: By: M Added: Fri, 06/22/2007 @ 3:01pmSize: 276 Characters
About addition #47: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Mon, 06/25/2007 @ 8:26amSize: 114 Characters
About addition #48: By: M Added: Mon, 06/25/2007 @ 8:53amSize: 315 Characters
"I'm ready, sorry, the fairies decorated my kimono like refrigerator art. Please don't look at it too hard."
About addition #49: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Mon, 06/25/2007 @ 8:59amSize: 185 Characters
About addition #50: By: M Added: Mon, 06/25/2007 @ 9:16amSize: 185 Characters
About addition #51: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Tue, 06/26/2007 @ 8:43amSize: 826 Characters
*There, is that, perhaps, better?* his voice was somewhat shy as he removed his hand from her shoulder.
About addition #52: By: M Added: Tue, 06/26/2007 @ 9:04amSize: 173 Characters
About addition #53: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/27/2007 @ 9:19amSize: 191 Characters
About addition #54: By: M Added: Wed, 06/27/2007 @ 9:36amSize: 118 Characters
About addition #55: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 06/27/2007 @ 9:52amSize: 322 Characters
About addition #56: By: M Added: Thu, 06/28/2007 @ 7:45amSize: 212 Characters
About addition #57: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Thu, 06/28/2007 @ 8:36amSize: 342 Characters
*There is a lot of damage in here,* his voice was soft. *I should have known better than to have you stay here without fixing it up first. Would you like to fix it now?*
About addition #58: By: M Added: Mon, 07/2/2007 @ 8:40amSize: 63 Characters
About addition #59: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Mon, 07/2/2007 @ 9:59pmSize: 87 Characters
About addition #60: By: M Added: Wed, 07/11/2007 @ 8:06amSize: 89 Characters
About addition #61: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 07/11/2007 @ 11:17amSize: 513 Characters
*Yes, it is a mess indeed.* Lord Alberid spoke as though he expected that to have gone without saying.
About addition #62: By: M Added: Thu, 07/12/2007 @ 7:57amSize: 147 Characters
About addition #63: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Thu, 07/12/2007 @ 8:12amSize: 255 Characters
About addition #64: By: M Added: Fri, 07/13/2007 @ 7:12amSize: 233 Characters
About addition #65: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Fri, 07/13/2007 @ 7:47amSize: 383 Characters
About addition #66: By: M Added: Mon, 07/16/2007 @ 3:13pmSize: 13 Characters
About addition #67: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Tue, 07/17/2007 @ 7:47amSize: 490 Characters
About addition #68: By: M Added: Tue, 07/17/2007 @ 8:40amSize: 166 Characters
About addition #69: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 07/18/2007 @ 1:54pmSize: 117 Characters
About addition #70: By: M Added: Mon, 07/23/2007 @ 7:21amSize: 142 Characters
About addition #71: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Mon, 07/23/2007 @ 7:41amSize: 169 Characters
About addition #72: By: M Added: Tue, 07/24/2007 @ 6:57amSize: 91 Characters
About addition #73: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Tue, 07/24/2007 @ 8:14amSize: 425 Characters
*Careful now, there is likely to be less than you expected, don't be saddened by it. This is to be expected on your first few works of magic. Stretch up and out a bit, try to work feeling back into your arms and legs.*
About addition #74: By: M Added: Tue, 07/24/2007 @ 10:35amSize: 185 Characters
About addition #75: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 07/25/2007 @ 10:04amSize: 345 Characters
About addition #76: By: M Added: Wed, 07/25/2007 @ 10:25amSize: 211 Characters
About addition #77: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 07/25/2007 @ 10:39amSize: 316 Characters
About addition #78: By: M Added: Thu, 07/26/2007 @ 7:32amSize: 412 Characters
About addition #79: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Thu, 07/26/2007 @ 7:58amSize: 249 Characters
About addition #80: By: M Added: Mon, 08/13/2007 @ 7:27amSize: 84 Characters
About addition #81: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Mon, 08/13/2007 @ 8:06amSize: 285 Characters
About addition #82: By: M Added: Wed, 08/15/2007 @ 7:35amSize: 292 Characters
About addition #83: By: Stormy is Editing Added: Wed, 08/15/2007 @ 8:40amSize: 73 Characters
© Copyright 2007 Stormy is Editing, M, (known as GROUP). All rights
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