Chapter Two: Rain, Rain
She just couldn't get a break, could she? Because just as she was starting to sort out who Melisande was and why she needed to find her, some crazy blonde woman with her hair in pony tails on either side of her head burst through the door carrying a lit candle.
"Emily!' The woman demanded, "Emily! Are you alright?"
"Emily?" She inquired. "I don't know any Emily."
"Goddess!" The woman screeched. "You're a changeling, aren't you? What have you done with Emily Browsing?"
It took the blue girl a moment to recognize the name Emily Browsing. When she did, though, she had to stop herself from laughing.
"I'm supposed to be Emily Browsing, aren't I?" The blue girl asked.
"So you really are a changeling!"
"No. Emily Browsing never existed. She was just something for me to mature inside, something soft and fleshy and well-protected to give me a safe place to grow, and a body when I matured."
"Some sort of magical parasite?"
The blue girl blinked. That was an odd one. There was really nothing to say to that kind of single-minded determination that somebody else was bad.
This woman obviously wasn't going to be convinced that there wasn't a bad guy here.
"WELL?" The woman demanded. "Aren't you going to try to defend yourself?"
"What's the point?" The blue girl snorted. "You've determined that I'm evil. Why bother trying to convince you otherwise if you don't WANT to listen to reason?"
"So you ARE evil!"
The blue girl would have laughed, had she not been wary of what the woman intended to do with that lit candle.
The woman began screeching some sort of incantation.
The blue girl winced, then watched the shape of the woman's power, trying to divine the woman's intent.
The shape of the woman's power revealed nothing useful, at least not until fire began to snake through the air, coming straight towards her.
She increased the amount of water droplets in the air, suddenly glad that there was water running, and the fire eventually extinguished.
"How... how... It was a foolproof spell!" The woman stared at the charred braid of wheat in her hand.
The blue girl stared at the woman.
"Foolproof..." The woman snarled. "YOU DESTROYED MY FOOLPROOF SPELL!"
"WENDY!" Another voice, a woman's voice, called. "WENDY, SHUT UP! What the hell is WITH you and your fascination with my daughter!"
The blue girl smirked as she heard footsteps approaching the room. The footsteps stopped abruptly, however.
"Oh my god... Oh my GOD! Wendy, Emily is in the motherfucking SHOWER! What are you, some kind of sicko?"
'Wendy' blinked, then called, "Your daughter isn't here, Sandra."
"You think I'm going to buy that kind of nonsense?" The third woman, apparently Sandra, burst into the bathroom.
Sandra blinked as well when the blue girl looked her in the eyes. "Emily... honey... your hair is blue... your eyes are blue!"
"Is that unusual?" The blue girl asked.
She tried to remember what color eyes Emily had--- there was a song that her parents had taught her, something about how her name was Emily, and she had eyes and hair of specific colors... But all she could remember was "My name is Emily, I have ---- eyes, I have ---- hair, I am just five years old."
Sandra's skin became very pale. "Are you... Are you wearing contacts? And did Blake put hair dye in your shower again?"
"Contacts? Hair dye?"
Wendy turned to face the new woman. "You don't understand, Sandra. That isn't your daughter."
"What do you mean that isn't my daughter! Who else could she be?"
"I'm not your daughter," the blue girl said. "The crazy witch has the right of that, at least."
Sandra rolled her eyes and stared at Wendy. "Wendy, just what is going ON here?"
Wendy shrugged.
The blue girl sighed. "I'm not Emily Browsing. Emily Browsing never existed."
"What are you talking about?" Sandra stared at her. "Emily Browsing most certainly existed last night! Is this some sort of weird Mage trick?"
"Mages aren't tricksters. I'm being honest. Emily Browsing never existed."
"Don't make me call Arid and Hari on you, Wendy."
The blue girl almost recognized the names. Almost.
"Call them. I'm right and they'll know it." Wendy crossed her arms across her chest.
Sandra sighed and left the room.
The blue girl turned back to Wendy, who appeared to have nothing more to say.
With some peace and almost-quiet for the first time, the blue girl returned to her ponderings on the significance of the name "Melisande".
Within a few minutes, though, Sandra returned to the tiny room and announced, "They're teleporting in, and they're bringing the damned cat with them, too."
"I would hardly say I'm damned to hell." A voice that seemed abnormally smooth, almost the way an eternally smug cat would sound, delivered the words in a tone almost like a purr.
"Az," Sandra stammered. "I didn't mean any---"
"---He knows quite well that you meant no offense." This voice was crisp. Words came at a clipped pace.
And suddenly, three Mages were visible: a tall, thin man, his entire body as blue as the blue girl's own... a slightly shorter woman with silvery blue hair, sky blue skin, and blue-black eyes... and an even shorter man with blond hair, light golden skin, and almond-shaped golden eyes.
"Wendy, meet Az in his human form," the blue man said. "Az, play nice."
The blond Mage stared at her, his wide eyes meeting hers directly.
The blue girl got the feeling that the other Mages had been expecting some sort of witty reply, and the blond's lack of giving one made them uneasy.
"She's another of Arik's," the blond pronounced after long contemplation.
So Arik was her maker. Arik was another name she knew she shouled recognize, but she didn't. Arik and maker seemed to go together, but if she'd been given the word "maker" before hearing his name, she wouldn't have made the association.
Odd.
The female Mage seemed taken aback. "A Construct? Of Arik's? In this household? But where is Emily?"
"You're looking at her," the male blue mage said. "I don't think she ever really existed."
The blue girl couldn't help but affirm it. "She didn't."
"I see. Well then, Construct of my older brother, please state your name and Purpose."
The blue girl shook her head. "I can't. I don't know."
The blond looked at the broken mirror, the running water. "Something interrupted her change... Post-physical, pre-mental, perhaps?"
Some part of the female Mage seemed to reach out. The blue girl felt her mind open up for the female Mage. Automatically, she reversed the process.
Information about the female Mage flooded her-- named Hari, sworn to Air, took the role of Arid's lover some eight hundred years earlier, didn't much like Az, sometimes ate whipped cream straight from the tub.
The connection ended abruptly.
"I think it happened during the mental change... She's aware that she's a Construct, and she has some vague understanding of her Purpose, but the automated defense functions haven't shut down yet."
"I see," Arid sighed. "Az, this is your specialty."
Az moved forward, his hand reaching out to touch her forehead.
Where her mind had allowed Hari in on suffernce, it seemed almost to welcome Az--- it opened wide, allowing him complete access, with no defenses, no counterattacks.
Deep, deep inside the recesses of her mind, something seemed to come together. Images flooded behind her eyelids, bombarding her with information and impressions.
The girl she had come to identify as Melisande, lying on her side on a divan, her hair swept back, a slight smile twisting her lips: good image. Melisand lying on her back on the same divan, running her hair through her fingers, clearly bored: bad image. Melisannde at a party, laughing: good image. Melisande, looking sad: bad image.
Melisande, Melisande, Melisande. Good image, bad image.
When she could finally wrench her eyes open, Az backed away from her. He turned away, fled.
Arid stared at her. "Construct--- state your name and Purpose."
"I am Emry. My Purpose is to serve, protect and maintain the happiness of Magesse Melisande of Water, daughter of Magus Coren and Magesse Raine."
According to the clock on the kitchen wall, it was 7:25 AM. Emry stared at it. Sandra Browsing hadn't taken the news that Emry really was a construct particularly well, and neither had her husband, Kevin.
She couldn't really bring herself to care. She needed to find Melisande, needed to begin her work.
If a Construct didn't fulfill its purpose, or at least try, it died.
The need to reach Melisande overrode almost everything, but somehow Sandra had talked her into at least staying one more day, so that they could put their (and her) affairs in order.
Emry supposed she owed it to them--- they had taken good care of her incubator, after all. If they hadn't done that, then she wouldn't be able to fulfill her purpse.
The telephone did something strange. It made noise, a loud noise, loud and annoying. She stared at it, wide eyed.
After a moment, she reached out and picked up the part she had seen Sandra use, then pressed the biggest button. "Hello?"
"Emily! Oh, good, so you aren't sick." The voice belonged to a human male, probably a Silent.
"Why would you think otherwise?" It felt strange. This person knew her by her incubator's first name, but she couldn't seem to recall him.
"Well, you didn't call me to wake me up, like you always do. Anyways, I'm heading over now. Be there in ten minutes."
"Um..."
"Look, Emily, I don't have time to stop by the grocery store this morning, because we're cutting it close as it is, so your brother's going to have to---"
"---cutting what close?"
"We. Have. To catch. The bus. We will be. Late. For the Bus. If we stop. At the grocery store."
"I think that's a moot issue."
"What do you mean, moot issue? School. Mandatory."
"Um..."
Sandra walked into the room. "Emry, is that Elton?"
To Sandra: "I don't know." To the male: "Is this Elton?"
The male sounded annoyed. "Emily, you know damn well it's me. What's going on?"
"I think it's Elton," she told Sandra. Sandra yanked the telephone from her hand.
"Elton, hi. Are you on your cellphone? Oh you are. Sorry to waste minutes. But Emily's... changed a little. Well, a lot. And, god, Elton, this is so hard to explain... I think maybe you'd better just come over here. If you miss the bus, I'll drive you to school myself. Oh, good. Be sure not to run! You don't want to sprain that ankle again."
After a few more moments of chatter, Sandra pressed a button on the telephone and put it down, back on the thingie from which Emry had removed it.
"Elton is going to be here soon."
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
Sandra didn't answer immediately. Instead, she busied herself--- taking a tall, thin mug from a cupboard and pouring herself some of the dark liquid in a pot on the counter. When Sandra finally turned to face Emry, the expression on the Silent woman's face was both tired and sad.
Sandra took a sip of the steaming liquid. "He used to be your best friend."
"I see."
But she didn't see.
There was really nothing more to say, she realized as she looked at the woman who had given birth to her incubator.
They didn't fill the dead air with idle chatter. Instead, Sandra drank her coffee and Emry stared at the kitchen table and thought about Melisande.
She had to stop herself from jumping when the kitchen door opened and a young man stepped through. The sudden brightness made it hard to see for a few moments. The only details about his form that she could glean were that he was tall, had unruly brown hair, and wore glasses.
"Morning, Hari," the young man said, seeing the blue girl.
Emry didn't bother to correct him.
"Ms. Browsing? Where's Emily? What's going on?"
"Elton..." Sandra heaved a sigh and looked into her coffe cup. "Emily... Is sitting at the kitchen table."
Emry waved.
Elton's mouth opened wide. "No way!"
He turned to look at Emry, then looked back at Sandra, then back to Emry. His gaze vacillated between them, his jaw hanging. He looked almost angry.
"I don't believe this," he murmured, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Ms. Browsing, are you sure you're feeling alright?"
"Oh, I'm fine. But Emily went to bed with a headache last night," and it was here that Sandra broke down and actually began to cry. "And she woke up like that, and now she's saying that her name is Emry and she's a Construct and Emily never existed and she wants to leave and never come back..." Sandra choked on a sob.
Elton stared, then looked at Emry, as if she would know what to do. Emry shrugged.
He moved forward, patting Sandra's arm, muttering such inanities as "It's all right, everything's going to be fine" to her.
Emry sighed, then stood and left. Sandra could explain. She needed to pack--- if she was going to leave tomorrow and not sometime next century, she needed to be able to leave the instant she woke up the next day. She would also need to study maps and plan her route.
She headed to her room and searched it for something to hold clothing and supplies. At length, she found a large, soft bag with a long strap. It didn't have many pockets, but it would hold two changes of clothes folded small, some underwear, human money, and food.
She paused for a moment in packing lightweight clothing. It was only early spring, and this was... Kentucky. Yes, Kentucky. Her gaze traveled to the map hanging on one of the bedroom walls. South from Kentucky, through... Tennessee. And then from Tennessee on into Alabama, into Florida.
She stuffed two outfits, folded small, all the money she could find in the room (twenty-one dollars and forty-two cents), and a couple of jackets into the bag.
Foodstuffs. She would need foodstuffs, also. Well, she could sneak back to the kitchen for that.
But in the door stood Wendy. She held her braid of wheat and lit candle.
The woman was insane or obssessed or something. There was just no other explanation.
"Going somewhere?" Wendy asked. "I thought you promised to wait until tomorrow."
"I did, and I intend to keep that promise. I am making all the preparations for my journey."
"At least you aren't asking this poor family to take you."
"What would be the point? I sincerely doubt that there is a... conventional means of transportation to where I intend to go."
"So what are you going to do? How are you going to get there, anyways? And where ARE you going?"
"To find Melisande. How I get to her is none of your concern. She will provide a way."
Wendy sneered at her. The braid of wheat passed through the flame again, and suddenly, fire was crackling straight towards her.
Emry smirked. "Idiot."
Her right hand reached out. Now that she truly understood her power, making the weak witch's flame go out was easy.
But somebody was already pounding up the stairs and heading for her room.
Elton burst into the room, looking shocked.
"Aren't you causing enough trouble?" Elton demanded of Emry.
Emry merely indicated Wendy, who was staring at her charred wheat braid.
Elton stared at the braid, which was even then beginning to... heal, apparently.
"That's... that's... been enchanted by a Fire Mage," Elton whispered.
Emry rolled her eyes. What was this Silent, an idiot? Of course it had been enchanted by a Fire Mage! Any other wheat braid would have been ashes.
Elton's finger reached out to touch the braid. The charred plant sparked again. The spark traveled up Elton's body, burning the boy. His skin began to sizzle and fall off, crumbling to ash on the floor.
And soon enough, in Elton's place stood a young man whose hair and skin shifted from shades of red, to orange, to yellow.
Emry smirked. "Welcome to the world, fellow Construct. State your name and Purpose."
"I am Blaize, created by Arik to serve the Magus and Magesse of the Fire Forum in whatever ways needed."
"Welcome, Blaize."
Wendy could only stare. "There are... two of you now... But..."
Blaize turned to her. "You bear a magical item enchanted by one of my fellow Mages. Just how did you come by that item?"
"Wheat is a symbol of air for members of my family... It's an heirloom."
It was then that Arid entered the room.
Emry rather hoped that the rest of her life would not follow this trend. Complications were annoying.
4:14 AM
She rolled out of bed and dressed in long pants and a longsleeved shirt. After a moment's thought, she took a jacket from her closet and then headed downstairs.
The kitchen was empty, thankfully. She had gleaned the understanding that any time before 6:00 was an "ungodly hour", and few people would be about.
That was as she needed, then.
Emry opened the cabinets and inspected their contents. It took her a little while to find the foodstuffs instead of the dishes. Once she found it, however, she felt a little overwhelmed.
She didn't recognize half of the foodstuffs. It took her a little while, but she eventually decided on a box of granola bars, a box of crackers, four bottles of water, and some cereal bars.
The clock on the kitchen wall now read 4:26.
Emry slung the bag's strap over her shoulders, adjusting the bag until it settled at her waist. She pulled her jacket's hood over her head and opened the kitchen door, making sure to withdraw a keyring with the nametage EMILY and lock the door with one of the keys.
With that, she headed off into the early morning. She had a long walk ahead of her.
5:28 AM
Diane swore at the truck, half tempted to kick a tire.
In the cab, a male singer's voice was blaring from the radio. She ignored it, staring at the ground.
"Son of a bitch," she muttered. "Son of a bitch."
After a few moments, though, she swung the cab door open and climbed back into the truck. The engine started perfectly, which made her glad she'd shelled out the money to have it fixed.
The radio stations in Kentucky weren't worth listening to, she discovered. Sighing, she flipped the radio off and turned the C.B. radio on.
"Hitchhiking's legal on in-state highways, ain't it?" A male voice asked.
"Dunno," somebody replied. "Why, you got a hitchhiker flagging you down?"
"Eeyup. Weird little Blue Girl. Wonder what she's doin' out this time o' night. Might as well find out, eh? If it's legal, good. If it ain't, well, the cops already hate me in east KY."
Diane sighed again and flicked that radio off too. Maybe if she was lucky the C.D. player and the tape player would work in conjunction, and she could listen to a C.D.
No such luck. Which meant it was either other truckers talking about nothing of interest to her, bad music, or talk radio.
Well, she'd eat her own arm before she listened to talk radio.
She decided on other truckers.
7:30 AM
Finally, a vehicle had stopped for her, though the engine made a strange wheezing sound.
Emry heard a door slam, then footsteps, and the driver came around.
"Need a ride?"
"Yes, thank you," she murmured.
He helped her into the truck, then went around and climbed in also.
She stared at the steering wheel. It was huge. Rain's sake, the entire truck was huge!
8:00 AM
"Thanks."
The driver looked over at her. "Thanks for what?"
"Helping me."
"No trouble. Where you headed?"
Emry's brow wrinkled. He'd asked that question before, and she'd given the same answer. "South."
"Yeah, but to where?"
"Kentucky-Tennessee-Alabama-Florida."
"I'm not heading to Tennesse, Alabama, OR Florida, kid. This truck stops in Lexington."
"That's fine. I'll find another in Lexington."
Whatever kind of city Lexington was, it would be as good a place as any to tranfer to Interstate 75, according to the trucker's road atlas.
There was a long silence.
"So," the trucker drawled, "what's your name?"
"Emry."
"Why you going to Florida, anyway? Not much there but a bunch of old people, unless you hit the south. And you don't look like a partying girl to me."
"I have a friend there I need to see."
"You need this friend bad enough to hitchhike instead of catching a plane?"
"There isn't an airport where she lives. Hitchhiking is more accurate."
"She must not be ver' close to a airport if hitchhiking's more accurate 'n flying."
Emry said nothing. Melisande wasn't very close to an airport at all-- the Water mages had managed to pollute the entirety of Dog Island with high-energy magic. This magic made it impossible for mortals to survive on Dog Island, and the airspace near Dog Island had been closed due to mysterious mechanical failures and mirages.
She'd found that out in a note on the trucker's atlas.
8:25
At length, the trucker looked over at her. "So, are you one of the Blue Girls?"
"What?"
"You know. Those Water Mage groupies. Dye themselves blue."
She shook her head. The name 'Blue Girl' sounded familiar. Emily probably would have known about them.
But she'd never heard that term before. She was sure of it.
12:32 PM
Emry rolled out of the truck at the truck stop, and moved away as quickly as she could. If she heard a badly rendered version of "I went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma, Philadelphia, Atlanta, L. A." ever again, she didn't know what she'd do.
Probably, it would involve using her power to create fluid into the singer's lungs and drown them on dry land.
Diane frowned at the message on the CB radio.
"I've got me a potential hitchhiker here, a Blue Girl," a trucker affirmed.
"Don't pick her up-- I heard there was a creepy-ass Blue Girl hitchin' from Kentucky to Florida."
"Yeah, there is one, all right. Don't say a damned word unless you talk first. Just sits still, starin' out the window, and don't eat. She'll say no to anything you offer her. She doesn't even have the decency to fall asleep!"
"Guess they are all a bunch of weirdies."
Diane's lip curled. Memories of when Jackie had worked in women's clinic flooded back-- all the talks about Jackie's patients, all the old anger that Jackie had been fired over nothing... All of it.
Not creepy, Diane decided. Damaged.
She was so lost in thought, she nearly missed her exit. Luckily, she managed to change lanes in time. She still had about half an hour to go until she reached Knoxville. She'd need to rest in Chattanooga.
Then, after she stopped in Gadsden to make her delivery, she could head on home to Birmingham for a night.
It would be so nice to sleep in her own bed again. She'd gotten tired of sleeping in the back of the truck or greasy motels behind truck stops.
3:38
Emry stared out the window at the approaching city. So this was Chattanooga. It wasn't anything like Knoxville at all. In what seemed to be near the center of the city was a giant building, made out of brick and glass, with a triangular roof.
"That's the Aquarium. You should go see it," the driver said.
An Aquarium? That didn't sound like anything to be found in Knoxville. Then again, just about anything that sounded nice sounded like something she wouldn't find in Knoxville. She could sum up her time in that particular city in two words: long and orange.
She almost hadn't been able to find a ride south soon enough. When she had, she'd been contented with a tall young man driving a well-worn red station wagon.
Chattanooga, however, looked nice. Not a bit of orange to be seen.
"Where are you headed after this?" The young man asked.
"South." It was her default answer. She really didn't feel like explaining why she was hitchhiking from Kentucky to Florida.
"Where south?" The young man asked.
"Alabama."
Odd, how easy it was to lie to Silents.
"I'm dropping you off in Coolidge Park, okay? It's downtown, so it's basically a short walk from anything you need. Visit the Aquarium while you're here, okay?"
Emry nodded.
The station wagon stopped in a parking lot in front of a wide green area.
"Well, this is Coolidge Park. Good luck on the road, eh?"
"Eh," she affirmed as she readjusted her bag and opened the car door.
She stepped out into bright sunlight. People were sitting on blankets on the grass, typing away at laptop computers. They were wearing jackets and huddling over their computers, but they were there.
Emry was glad she had put on her jacket in Knoxville; she'd hate to be digging around in the shambles that was now her bag. She settled on the soft grass and took the first bite of food she'd had since the public bus trip in Pokey.
She dug around in her bag for the box of crackers and a water bottle. After she shoved the box of granola bars aside for the sixth time, she gave up and pulled it out, then dug deeper for her water.
At length, she had everything she needed and sat down to her meal.
Granola bars tasted awful. She finished an entire bar, but decided not to start on any more at the moment, and never to eat another one again when she found the Water Council.
When she'd finished her lunch, she packed everything away again, threw away her trash in a convenient can, and started in the general direction of the park's exit. Maybe somebody could take her to a truck stop so she could find a ride that actually went somewhere.
"...Tomorrow we land and my ship has been sold," Dar Williams crooned from her CD player and tape player working in conjunction.
Diane pulled into the truck stop, checking her gas automatically.
She had enough for Gadsden, at least. She was stopping anyway-- even though she didn't need gas, she still needed something to eat on the road, and maybe even an audio book.
As she got out of the truck, she noticed something blue sitting on the curb outside the shop. It was blue from head to toe.
As Diane passed, the Blue Girl looked up. Even the whites of her eyes were blue! Blue lips parted, revealing a blue tongue, but white teeth. "Are you going south?"
So this was the Blue Girl hitchhiker.
"Down to Gadsden, and then to Birmingham. That far south enough for you?"
"Then I may... ride with you?"
"Yeah, 'course. I could use the company. Dar Williams is getting a little old.
It felt like sacrilege, saying that. But she didn't want the girl getting scared off and hitching with somebody far less likely to be friendly to her.
The girl had been kicked out of several trucks, or so she'd heard on the CB. Apparently, she had scared the people she rode with.
"Come with me," Diane said.
The girl stood, followed oh so willingly. Trustingly.
And somewhere, the part of Diane that had not stopped second-guessing since she was nineteen queried, Damaged?
Diane unlocked the passenger side door for the girl, then headed back into the stop. None of the audiobooks in the store looked particularly good, but the box of Pringles looked tempting enough to actually buy, as well as a few other road foods.
She offered some of the food to the girl.
"No, thank you."
Diane shrugged. If the girl didn't want to eat right now, she could probably coax her into eating something later.
"So, what's your name?" Diane asked as she started the truck up. "I'm Diane, in case you're wondering."
"Emry."
"Where you from, Emry?" Diane pondered asking Who are you running from, where are you running to?, but decided against it.
"Kentucky."
Definitely a scared one. Afraid to accept food, afraid to give out any more information than absolutely necessary.
But the way Emry had followed her so easily, so trustingly...
Something didn't fit.
They sat in silence for a while, until Diane decided that she couldn't take it anymore. She just started talking, telling Emry about just about anything and everything that came to mind.
Emry said almost nothing. Every now and then, she made a short comment.
So quiet. Just what happened to you, girl?
As they passed some tiny town on I-59, Diane at last managed to worm some information out of Emry.
"I'm not a Blue Girl. Before today, I didn't even know what they were."
Diane looked over at the girl. She was blue from head to toe, albeit different shades of blue on different parts of her body. In fact, it looked like somebody had taken a normal person and just... tinted them blue.
"Then why are you blue?"
Emry didn't say anything for a long time. At length, she said, "Because I'm not human. I'm not a Mage, either, exactly, but I guess I come close."
Diane sighed. That hadn't been much of an answer, but it was probably the most personal information Emry had revealed.
She wheeled the truck on to the exit to Gadsden. At length, she found the supermarket she was delivering to. After she'd completed the delivery, she headed back to the truck.
Emry was asleep.
Diane smirked and headed towards Birmingham.
7:54 PM
Emry woke with a start.
The truck had stopped, and for no good reason, apparently. Diane was no longer in the driver's seat.
Emry whimpered. If Melisande found out about this, she might misinterpret it and become angry. She didn't want to start off her relationship with Melisande in anger.
At length, Diane returned to the cab of the truck.
"Sorry," Diane said. "Had to take a leak. We're about thirty minutes out from Birmingham. I'm stopping there for the night, and if you're as tired as I think you are, you can room with me if you want."
Emry blinked. "I... Am not sure that is an offer I can accept."
"You gotta sleep sometime, might as well be in Birmingham. Don't worry, I don't have any amorous ideas for you. I'll just let you sleep on the couch or something."
"That will... I suppose that would be alright. May I?"
"I invited you, didn't I?"
8:26PM
Emry stared.
They had arrived in a truck stop.
"You... live in a truck stop?
"No. Jackie and I live together in one of the motel rooms they gave to her as an apartment. You can sleep on our couch."
Emry blinked. "Why did they do that?"
"She works here-- she and Dennis go back a long way."
Emry nodded. At length, the truck came to stop and Diane pulled the gears in position that meant she was getting out. Emry followed suit.
Inside the truck stop was a tiny diner. Only a few waitresses appeared to be working at the moment. Emry noticed that Diane fixed her eyes on only one of them.
That was probably Jackie, Emry decided. She looked tired.
Within a few moments, Jackie, Diane and Emry were carrying food into Jackie's motel room/apartment/what have you. And then they were putting dishes on the coffee table and sitting on pillows and eating.
Emry thought about Melisande-- what else was there for her to think about? She reviewed the slideshow of Good Image Bad Image in her head, only vaguely aware of the fact that she was eating and Jackie and Diane were talking.
Her particular favorite of the Good Images was the one with Melisande smirking. Melisande was so...
Something. Melisande was something, and Jackie was asking her something.
Emry stared at the empty plate. "My apologies. You were saying?"
"I was just asking where you wanted to sleep. I've only got one bed, and if I've got a couch, I haven't seen it in years, but I have a sleeping bag and some pillows, so..."
Emry thought about that one. "To be honest, I don't think I would be comfortable like that... I... Would like to sleep in water, if possible. It probably isn't, I know--"
"You mean, like, sleep in the bathtub?"
Diane looked puzzled. "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"I... I need to be near water. I... I'm a Construct. You know what that is, right?"
It turned out they didn't, so she explained.
"That doesn't explain why you need to sleep in water." Jackie crossed her arms across her chest.
"The only thing that binds me to my owner is our Element-- Water. Therefore, I need to be in constant exposure to our bond in my sleep, to insure that I do not remain ignorant to her commands."
Jackie and Diane exchanged glances.
"You need not worry. Constructs are immortal. If you do not mind, I will excuse myself, now."
And with that, she stood, gathered her bag, and moved to the bathroom.
It was far from spacious, she decided. As soon as she turned the taps on the bathtub, the tiny shaving mirror somehow stuck to the tile wall began to ripple.
Emry stared. A tiny, tiny metal surface rippling much the same way a pond would, if you threw a stone in it. There was only one time she'd ever seen that before.
Memories of shedding her human skin rushed back, but Emry shoved them away, focusing instead on thoughts of Melisande.
She waited until the tub had filled with cold water to slip into it. The cold soothed her, the way warmth would have soothed a human girl. The experience of the cold water on her previously-overheating body could only have been better if she'd had a bag of ice chips.
Melisande lounged in a freezing pool of water, her own blue-black hair (so much like her mother's, her father frequently said) floating around her.
An undine refilled her goblet with chilled wine. The goblet steamed a little as the wine connected with the ice that formed it.
Melisande took a sip of wine, watching the surface of an ice mirror ripple and swirl. In the mirror, she could vaguely find the faded-looking image of a blue girl.
Her construct. Her very own construct. The future Chair of Earth would be so jealous!
"Rain, Rain," she whispered, moving one finger to point at the mirror. Beside her, on the floor of the baths, lay a hand mirror and a blue doll. "What have we here?"
She took an ice chip from a tray with her other hand and popped it into her lips, sucking on the tasty bit of cold.
And without another word, she cast her magic into the mirror.
The tiny mirror flashed, once, and shattered as the entire room chilled. Emry gasped at the welcome sensation.
From outside the bathroom, she heard a sound. She stood up, stepped out of the tub, all the water she dripped onto the floor returning immediately to her skin.
The door opened soundlessly and she poked her head out.
She flushed blue when she realized what she'd heard, and when she began to comprehend what she was seeing.
Beyond the short hallway, near where she and her benefactors had eaten, Diane and Jackie were undressing each other.
Diane's lips roved along Jackie's chin even as she pulled the other woman close to her chest, hands moving up and down along her torso as she unbuttoned the collared shirt Jackie wore. Jackie made small sounds, turning her face towards Diane's, trying to catch Diane's mouth with her own. At length, Diane succeeded in unbuttoning Jackie's shirt. Her hands then curved upwards along Jackie's skin until she held Jackie's bra-clad breasts in her hands.
Emry gave a little gasp, backed away, touching the wall for support.
One of Diane's hands slid down from Jackie's breast, making its way along that normal-colored skin until it found the buttons on Jackie's slacks. The hand slid under the waistband of Jackie's slacks, moved around inside. Jackie gasped, her back arching, thrusting her chest upwards a bit.
"You always make me feel so good," Jackie murmured.
Emry wanted to go back into the bathroom, where it was safe and cold, and she wouldn't hear a word of this, wouldn't see this, but she felt as though she were standing in a block of solid ice and couldn't move.
"Thank you, I try," Diane murmured back. Diane's other hand moved towards the waist of Jackie's slacks, and the first hand surfaced from within them. The hands worked in conjunction, unbuttoning Jackie's trousers and sliding them down, down, down, along her thighs, to her knees.
This new action revealed black underwear, which Diane quickly pulled down until it had joined Jackie's pants. Jackie shivered and reached behind herself, unhooking the bra and flinging it aside. "My turn," she whispered, turning around.
Diane chuckled. "Not so fast. Stand up, close your eyes. Tell me what you see."
Jackie obeyed-- Emry backed away even farther, her footsteps silent against the carpet as she dropped into a crouch-- and Diane began to slide down.
"Put your arms up in the air. Keep your eyes closed. Tell me what you see."
"Darkness, nothing. I've got my eyes closed, what am I suposed to see?"
But Diane did not answer in words. Instead, she slid down, coming to her knees on the floor. She pushed Jackie until the other woman stood with her legs spread apart. Diane then straightened a little, crossed her arms around Jackie's waist, parted her lips, and pressed her mouth to the cleft in between Jackie's legs.
Jackie gasped, and Emry wasn't sure if it was pleasue or pain. Flushing an even darker blue, she recalled the dream she'd had the night before she Changed, the night she'd begun to learn of her Purpose. Remembering what Melisande's actions had felt like to her, she could not doubt pleasure.
Watching Diane please Jackie with her mouth, the way Jackie shuddered and gasped, every now and then even giving tiny moans, filled Emry with an eagerness to find Melisande, as well as terror.
It seemed that Melisande could turn all things, even the Construct's mistakes, to her purposes. What had started out as weakness and a mistake had become, under the working's of Melisande's hands, a lesson on the rewards obedience would bring.
Diane stopped for a moment, but moved one of her fingers to where she had been using her mouth. Rubbed. "You aren't telling me what you see."
"I'm sorry," Jackie whispered, eyes still closed. "I don't really see anything right now..."
Diane didn't say anything. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Jackie's waist again and took up her previous action.
Jackie soon commenced shuddering, her arms still up in the air. Gasps and moans followed. And, as Diane's actions somehow seemed to intensify in a way Emry could not have explained, a blissful expression crossed onto Jackie's face.
"Light. I see light."
And soon, Diane's action ceased. Diane rose to seat herself on the edge of the bed, wiping her mouth and saying, "You taste so good."
Jackie laughed a little. "Thanks. Now it's my turn."
And with that, she yanked off her shirt, stepped out of her panties and slacks, and turned away from Emry, who released the breath she'd been holding through her nose, glad Jackie hadn't opened her eyes and seen her. Glad Diane hadn't seen her.
Jackie pushed Diane down on the bed, jerked Diane's T-Shirt up over her head and tossed it behind her (only incidentally towards Emry, who moved forward and noted that it said INDIGO GIRLS on it). She then began to tug Diane's sweatpants down until they were at her ankles, then pulled them off.
Diane's underwear followed behind, and then Jackie began to run her hands along Diane's body. Jackie straddled Diane even as she shrugged out of her sports bra.
"So beautiful."
Jackie moved to flick her tongue across Diane's nipples, blocking Emry's view of Diane. Diane's back arched, which must have thrust her breasts closer to Jackie.
And soon, Jackie was moving her lips along Diane's body, going down until she reached the place where Diane's legs joined her torso. Those legs swiftly parted, and Jackie's head moved, clearly peforming the same delights on Diane.
Was not everything Emry saw in humans a lesson?
Diane made a sound, moving upwards, nearly sitting up.
Emry moved back into the bathroom, realizing that she was incredibly lucky Jackie and Diane hadn't seen her.
Melisande smirked and set down the glass of wine. The glass hit the floor made of ice with a clink. An undine quickly moved to refill it, even as Melisande pressed another ice chip into her mouth.
Beside her, the hand mirror stopped glowing. Before her, the ice mirror stopped rippling.
To think, she would have her very own Construct within a day!
She took another sip of wine and contemplated what she had just seen through the mirror.