Foreshadowing, Part I (copyright 1993 Kerri-Ellen Kelly)
FORESHADOWING
[Cast of Main Characters: Caryn Alma Morrison, artist and graduate student in history. Carl Frederick McDermot, her on-again, off-again boyfriend and graduate student in medieval literature. Megan Shannon Powell, Caryn's best friend and high priestess of a wiccan coven. Brian Cameron Trevelyan, Megan's fiance and high priest of the coven. Lord Kieran Patrick MacBride.]
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Cuntelleugh an brewyn us gesys na vo kellys travyth.
--Gather the fragments that are left so that nothing may be lost.
(Cornish proverb)
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The woman stood in the bathroom, swirling clouds of steam roiling and cascading in the air around her. She let her peacock blue robe slip off her shoulders and smiled at the sensuous feel of the satin caressing her flesh on its journey to the moist floor. The mirror in front of her presented a blurred image of her secretive smile.
She stepped into the shower and put out her hand to feel the pleasant scald of water almost, but not quite, hot enough to burn her. She wet her long black hair and felt it laying heavy on her back. As she up-ended the shampoo with one hand, the translucent gel felt soft and slithery on her other hand. She put down the bottle and rubbed her hands together palm to palm. She then ran her hands carefully and thoroughly through her hair, spreading the shampoo around and then briskly massaging her scalp. Then she leaned her head back into the hot water and let the water wash all the rich lather away from her, forming a brief whirlpool of color at the drain before it flowed away into the dark recesses of the sewer.
She sat down in the tub and let the hot water fall over her knees and face, spraying around her as she reclined beneath her manmade waterfall. She reached out to the side of the tub to get what she needed and prepared to dream of her lover. She brought the tool towards her pale flesh, holding it gently to her skin and then pressing more firmly, letting the sensations overcome her. She shuddered in a brief foreshadowing of ecstasy to come.
She leaned back in the tub and let her body relax, her arms at her sides and the warm water still falling down upon her. She closed her eyes and began to dream.
She stood in the darkness and felt his presence. She could not see him but felt him in her mind and with her senses. Her mind filled in the details...details of dark locks of hair falling over his shoulders and down his back. Of a sardonic smile and eyes so dark as to seem only pupils. Of soft skin covering hard muscles. Of a low voice rumbling within his chest and vibrating in the air and on her skin.
And then she heard it, his voice. Her ears reveled in the sound of it and her soul felt nourished again after an eternity of starvation. "My love, have you finally come to me? I have been waiting for you for eons. You have slipped from life to life eluding me...why have you forsaken our love?"
"'Twas not by my design, my love. I have sought in vain every time to find you again, but others have forced me on...have forced me to live without you. I live in agony waiting to rejoin you each time, but each time I die and they force my rebirth. Come love me and hold me fast, my darling, and we shall not be parted this time. Come love me and let us share in our reunion at last."
He came up to her and put his arms around her, his dark cloak enveloping them both as he held her close. Her mind began to spin and she felt a weakness start to spread throughout her body, a delightful languor that she had no desire to resist. Her lover drew her down to the floor and lay her gently there, lying next to her with his cloak pooling around them on the formless blackness that somehow had substance beneath them. In reality, liquid pooled about her body in a moist echo of her dream.
He began to draw his hands over her breasts, cupping their sweet fullness and brushing his thumb over her tight dark nipples. He bent over her and brought his tongue down, darting quickly and tantalizingly over her large nipples, pulling them into his warm mouth and sucking on them, then releasing her aroused flesh so she would feel the cool air wafting over her in a wash of sensory stimulation.
She shivered as she fell deeper and deeper into the mists within her mind. He filled the cavities and gathered the mists together, braiding them with her wisps of thought. He bound her with herself to hold fast her mind and prevent her from escaping into reality and away from their shared fantasy. The darkness both enfolded her and contained her, as she contained the darkness within her. She felt her body becoming insubstantial as the darkness within and the darkness without reached together to become one, dispersing her flesh as insignificant. Her essence reached out to become one with the darkness. Her lover's essence and hers, yet another braid; a mass of twisted fibers of spirit and space...a magickal melding of two souls intertwined with the darkness and yearning to be one.
She held a duality of images in her head...at once the fantasy of her lover possessing her flesh in a glory of sensation with the mental dance with darkness and the physical reality of warm wet flesh and the shower bathing her world in steam. The images began to blur together into one great fantasy as her lover played her flesh into an aching tension screaming for relief while the tendrils of darkness within reached out to induce oblivion and persuade her and her lover to join the darkness forever...forever one, never to be separated.
As she came to her climax, her spirit soared, escaping upwards like a bright fiery phoenix...but the great bird wheeled about and plummeted willingly back down to the dark depths, to be one with the void forever. She lay in the arms of her lover, leaning against him with a great weakness and a smile on her lips as she freely gave herself up to him and to the darkness.
She leaned her head back against the cold porcelain of the tub, a satiated and happy smile resting on her cold lips, the knife fallen from her hand, and the water washed all the blood away from her, to form a brief whirlpool of color at the drain before it flowed away into the dark recesses of the sewer.
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I believe in the power of the word to create reality; it is the foundation of magic. I believe in magic.
(From Falling Out of Time by O.R. Melling)
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A loud buzzing noise invaded her thoughts, thrusting the dream back into the dark recesses of her subconscious. The gates of her mind swung shut with a clang, to prevent her remembering the dream. Caryn sat up in her warm waterbed, the sheets tangled and twisted about her limbs, and tried to wrest her befuddled mind from the confusion of sleep. "Shit! Another Monday! I really need some serious caffeine!" she mused.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and winced both as her nude flesh was shocked by the frigid air permeating her basement apartment and as her bare feet encountered the icy coldness of the tiled floor. She shivered as she put on her satin robe and made her way first to the bathroom. She turned on the shower, as hot as she thought she could withstand. Then she stepped into the kitchen, fumbled to flick the switch on the coffeemaker and sniffed the rich coffee grounds with a euphoric expression. Then she turned and retraced her steps.
Caryn opened the door and shut it behind her. She stood in the bathroom, swirling clouds of steam roiling and cascading in the air around her. She let her peacock blue robe slip off her shoulders and smiled at the sensuous feel of the satin caressing her flesh on its journey to the moist floor. The mirror in front of her presented a blurred image of her secretive smile.
She stepped into the shower and put out her hand to feel the pleasant scald of water almost, but not quite, hot enough to burn her. She wet her long black hair and felt it laying heavy on her back. As she up-ended the shampoo with one hand, the translucent gel felt soft and slithery on her other hand. She put down the bottle and rubbed her hands together palm to palm. She then ran her hands carefully and thoroughly through her hair, spreading the shampoo around and then briskly massaging her scalp. Then she leaned her head back into the hot water and the water washed all the rich lather away from her, forming a brief whirlpool of color at the drain before it flowed away into the dark recesses of the sewer.
Caryn sat down in the tub and let the hot water fall over her knees and face, spraying around her as she reclined beneath her manmade waterfall. She reached out to the side of the tub to get her razor and shaving cream. After lathering her legs, she brought the razor towards her flesh, holding it gently to her skin and then pulling it gently up her leg.
Suddenly, Caryn shivered, with a strong unearthly feeling of deja vu. Why should taking a shower, something she had done thousands of times previously, now produce such a sense of unease? It seemed somehow a warning of danger, but in the sense that an abyss will beckon with a welcoming hand; an almost desirable danger. Caryn shook her head back and forth, willing the sensation to go away. She stood up for a moment and reached to turn the radio in the tub on. A techno tune invaded her space at a loud volume. "There--that makes things more normal and everyday now!" She grinned inwardly, and then allowed her inner smile to show on her lips as she sat down to finish shaving. Her heartbeat quickened and her free hand tapped a rhythm in counterpoint to the strong backbeat coming in on the airwaves.
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From darkness we are born to light;
In light we bear joy and sorrow;
In light we bear memories.
Be kind to my memories, O gods,
For they are orphans,
Be kind to me, O gods,
For I am an infant again,
Newborn into darkness.
(Wayland Drew)
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Caryn fidgeted nervously in her plastic chair, scanning the food court anxiously. A tall slim woman with long wavy red hair tiptoed silently behind Caryn's back and then tapped her on the shoulder. Caryn uttered a loud piercing scream and then flushed with embarrassment as everyone at the surrounding tables turned to stare at her.
"Ye ghods, Caryn, what the hell is wrong with you? I admit I shouldn't have snuck up on you, but you're never this jumpy!"
"Oh Megan, I'm so glad you were free for lunch today. I just had to talk to someone--I think I'm going crazy!" Caryn's fingers drummed continuously on the table and her left hand kept reaching up to comb through her hair. "Strange things have been happening lately, but this morning was just too much! It started when I woke up; I haven't been calm since. Can we go somewhere quiet to talk about it?"
"Sure, honey, sure. Let's go outside by the river."
Megan put her arm around the shorter woman's shoulders and shepherded her across the floor and out through the double glass doors. The two women walked across the courtyard and sat down on a concrete bench in a shady spot overlooking the river.
"Now, my love, what's all this about being crazy? What has one of the most self-possessed creative people I know jumping and scared?"
"Meg, when I woke up, I couldn't remember what I had dreamed, but I thought it was a good dream...because I was happy. But something felt wrong about it. Anyway, I figured I was just sleepy and confused, and I didn't worry about it. Then, when I took my shower, everything started getting real strange. While I was shaving, I had this feeling like I had gone through everything before, but in a different way; a dangerous way. And it wasn't just years of habit...this was different, like I had just done it recently. The really scary thing was, even though I felt danger, I liked the danger. It excited me. And then things kept getting worse."
"When I was in the kitchen making breakfast and I went to cut off a slice of bread, a glint of light caught the knife, and I just stared at the knife. When I looked up at the clock, I realized that I had spent over twenty minutes standing there with the knife in my hand."
"And also, for quite a while now, I've been having these daydreams, over and over again, about the same man. I'll be sitting at my drawing table, trying to complete a project, and I'll go off in an erotic reverie that lasts an hour or more, and waste all the good daylight and my whole afternoon. But I have no idea who it is or even who it could be. Although in the daydreams I am very comfortable with him...and very aroused....and very attracted...I have never met anyone like him, so how can I be so attached to a fantasy man who doesn't even exist?"
Megan sighed. "There's always a good reason for everything, my love. You needn't fear for your sanity. I'm sure there's an excellent reason for it. We have but to find it. What does your fantasy man look like?"
"Oh Megan, he's everything I've ever wanted! Long dark hair, past his shoulders and down his back. Dark eyes that laugh even when he doesn't. A wry grin that peeps out at me every time he lures me into falling for his tricks. He's taller than me, but not so tall that I can't put my arms around his neck without straining. And his voice is so luscious, with just the hint of an irish brogue. He has hair in all the right places, but not too much of it. He has a beard and a moustache and the loveliest eyes. He is witty and intelligent and wise. And he even smokes a pipe! He is everything I've ever dreamed of, that I thought it was impossible to find in one package."
"Caryn, love.....this is more than just erotic daydreams, isn't it? I mean, you've described a rather solid image--a lot more than a shadowy dream figure. You sound enthralled...even infatuated."
"Maybe so, Megan. Even though he doesn't exist except in my mind, I find myself losing time to thinking about him more and more each day. I'm obsessed with him, but I just can't find it in myself to be upset by that. I fret and worry about whether or not I'm going crazy so much lately, but when I dream of him, I feel calm and serene. I feel balanced somehow. But when I come to myself again, the world is all topsy-turvy and I feel like I'm losing all grip on reality. It is as if he is my reality, and everything else is the fantasy."
Megan leaned back and looked thoughtful. Her air of knowledge and wisdom seemed incongruous with her slight elfin frame and ethereal air, but her wisdom did not sit so very ill with Caryn, who had often sought advice from Megan on all things from magickal and mystical to mundane or amusing. Megan liked to seem unworldly and unaware while secretly laughing at the silly people around her.
"What you need, cara, is for us to talk to do something to find out if what you are experiencing comes from within you or without you. I can see that you won't be able to comfortably continue your life until we get to the bottom of this. Would you be free to come to our coven gathering later this week, or shall I arrange something sooner?"
"Your coven....Megan, I don't know. You know I believe in the occult and the paranormal and all that, but..."
"But you don't believe it has any real role in your life...right?"
"Right."
"Caryn, I've tried to tell you before, and you never let me finish, but love, you have great gifts and if you keep denying them someday they'll jump out and bite you in the worst way. And you never know....holding something back that sorely wishes to get out sometimes causes many things to happen, including hallucinations and odd dreams. I'm not asking you to believe in gods and goddesses or any permutations thereof, but when you gather people together who are sincere truthseekers, you have a higher probability of finding truth in the seeking. Maybe this man is indeed real and we can find him for you. Or maybe he is a part of you trying to become real. There are so many explanations and I can't help you without further data, Ms. Analytical Theorist!"
"Alright, alright. At this point, all I want is calm and peace in my life again and some stability. I just want all this craziness to stop. I'll do anything that might work, including supporting your beliefs, even though my skepticism will probably sour the whole ritual anyway."
"Ah, but ye nivver know, me lass....I just might convert ye! And, in all seriousness, I don't think you're as much of a skeptic as you think you are. I tell you three times, my love, you are very talented and talent has a way of expressing itself, whether you will or not, and it will most likely do so at the worst possible time, or so it usually seems. But the Goddess always has her reasons. Let me get back to work now, and I'll come by in two days and pick you up at your place. If anything else happens, call me and let me know. If I need, I can call the coven for an emergency, but you only have two days 'til the normal gathering, and though you're frightened, I don't sense any real danger to you yet. Okay by you?"
"Sure, Megan. I feel very foolish for acting so crazily in the first place; I can cut it for a few more days. I can make it."
"Okay, then; that's settled. Come here and get a hug from Mama Megan, cara. You look like you need it."
"With all my heart." And Caryn walked happily into Megan's outstretched arms for a strong hug, feeling almost as if Megan's arms were shielding her against the world and all that frightened her. And she drew back a little, looking up into Megan's face and kissed her lovingly on the lips.
"Besides, I've missed you Meggie. I'd say yes to anything to spend the night with you and Brian again." And a wicked smile traced its way across the lips of both women.
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"...At first I wanted to bundle up the past, lock it in a box and bury it in some dark place. But that's not how it's done. You unwrap the memories, scatter them on the wind like ashes, and whisper a prayer to the sun."
(From Falling Out of Time by O.R. Melling)
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Caryn drove absently down Lake Shore Drive toward her apartment, thinking furiously. She kept a running mental dialogue going with herself while her scientific, rational side warred with her emotional side. On the one hand, she wanted to dismiss everything that had been happening to her as stress-related. She felt like calling up her sometime significant other and arranging a rendezvous for him to screw her brains out, and then maybe she could get her life back on an even keel again. Then again, what had been happening seemed far too odd to just be stress, and she liked to think herself open to strange ideas. So maybe talking to Megan's coven couldn't hurt. Hell, she was just about ready to grasp at straws and do anything to make it stop. All this was hurting her art contracts, and soon school would be starting again, and then things would get real crazy.
Caryn pulled the car off into one of the many parks lining Lake Michigan to think. The argument kept raging in her divided mind, each perspective fighting for supremacy in her confused thought processes. Finally, after arguing out loud with herself for over half an hour, Caryn shook her head a little and came to a decision. She would try both methods. She would call Carl as soon as she got home AND she would go to the coven meeting. Having come to some decision, however inconclusive at this point, Caryn allowed herself to relax. As she lay back in the driver's seat, the stress of recent days caught up with her abused sleep-deprived body, and Caryn's eyelids slowly moved to meet one another. Her head nodded down and Caryn slept.
The honking of a passing car startled her and her eyes opened. She looked around confusedly until she realized where she was. She got out of the car and started walking across the cold muddy ground toward the lake. A montage of images began to impress on her senses as she moved closer and closer to the lake: Black skeleton trees sharply outlined against a gunmetal grey sky. Dark violent waters crashing over crude concrete slab breakers. Screaming birds wheeling about in the sky, plummeting down to the water's surface and soaring up rocket-like into the sky again. Dingy dirt-bestrewn patches of melting snow next to puddles and miniature black swamps of mud and grass. Dust, sand and particles of snow next to the water whipping up in a whirlwind in the air to lacerate cheeks. A cloth sign whip cracking in the gusts. A fence knocked down flat on the sand, with the water lapping at its edges, further up the beach than she'd ever seen the waves. And the incongruous sight of two ducks, happily bobbing in the froth and crashing waves.
Caryn walked ever closer to the dark waves, fascinated by the endless vista of water as far as she could see. Water crested and rippled in a violent natural parody of dance; a chorus line of coordinated kicks by feather-adorned dancers transformed to watery grey and white--constantly in motion and constantly renewing itself. Caryn picked up a rock and threw it in, watching as the ripple of its entrance immediately disappeared, swallowed and subsumed by nature's violent environmental supremacy, ignored and invisible in the angry choreography.
Caryn stepped closer, drawing her jacket around her and zipping it up against the cruel winds. She sat down on a bench not far from the edge of the water to listen to the music of the waves. The sun kept moving further down the sky, making things darker and darker. A man spoke behind her; she jumped.
"My love, I keep trying to reach you and hold you to me, but you can never stay. What can I do to help you come back to me?"
Caryn turned her head around and stared in shock to see the man of her disturbing dreams standing in front of her face, with the wind whipping his dark cloak back and forth and snarling his long dark locks. His brogue became more evident than usual in his deep voice as he spoke again.
"Please, my love....why do you look at me so? My heart bleeds to see the pain in your eyes and to feel your anguish radiating from your body in waves. Why do you look at me in such confusion and fear?"
He stepped closer to her, the better to see her face. "Oh...wait...I have it, my love; you are awake this time. So you do not remember and you do not know me." He bowed deeply before her. "My humblest apologies, my lady. Madam, will you permit me to approach you?"
Caryn could not yet talk...she felt frozen and numb, but she mutely nodded that he might approach. Her fear rose up from inside her, but she could deny him nothing. Something in her called out to him: something very old, very strong and very precious, but she did not know what or why she felt this way.
He came close to her and sat down on the bench beside her, with slow cautious movements so as not to alarm her unduly. He reached out and picked up her hand in his, raising it to his lips for a sweet courtly kiss and then bringing it down again, but retained it in his grasp.
"My lady, I belong to you, and you to me, and I have been waiting for you to return to me for centuries. I wait for you to end your struggle and rejoin me, but each time you slip from my arms to touch the earth once more. I speak to you and make love to you in your dreams...the only place where this world and the next meet where the boundaries are thin enough and where you have full memory of all your lives. But my soul has grown weary of waiting, and my heart is aching to be one with you, my love. And over centuries, a mage can build up enough power to cross the boundaries freely if desired. But I had not meant to reach you consciously yet, love...I did not want to startle you or frighten you. I had thought you to be daydreaming and to touch you through the mists of sleep once more."
Caryn shook her head, tossing it back and forth in wordless denial of his words. Though his words plucked at the taut harpstrings of her soul deep within her, she could not allow herself to acknowledge such a tale as true.
"Oh, my love....you are young yet in this life and have not yet found yourself. How it hurts me to see you so confused. And I know now that my words in your dreams must have made things worse for you...for you are not ready to end your life and come with me now, are you? Oh my sweet, what have I done to you? I will make it right again. Come here, my darling...come into my arms."
And he gathered her into his arms and held her close, stroking her hair gently and murmuring unintelligible sounds to calm her soul. As Caryn began to relax again, his murmurs started to take form in her ears: "sleep, my love...sleep until you are more ready...sleep and consider this a dream so that your soul may be calm again...sleep until I may come to you without fear...sleep and forget, my love." And as Caryn fell once again into slumber, he lifted her in his arms, draping his cloak around them both, and carried her to her car. He placed her carefully behind the steering wheel in the driver's seat. He kissed her lovingly on her brow and shut the door. As he turned to walk away his cloak swirled and flowed in the wind, becoming a piece of the darkness and disappearing into the black nothingness, with naught to show he had even been there.
The honking of a passing car startled her and her eyes opened. She looked around confusedly until she realized where she was. She got out of the car and started walking across the cold muddy ground toward the lake. A montage of images began to impress on her senses as she moved closer and closer to the lake: Black skeleton trees sharply outlined against the glorious reds and oranges of the sky at end of day. Dark violent waters crashing over crude concrete slab breakers. Screaming birds wheeling about in the sky, plummeting down to the water's surface and soaring up rocket-like into the sky again. Dingy dirt-bestrewn patches of melting snow next to puddles and miniature black swamps of mud and grass. Dust, sand and particles of snow next to the water whipping up in a whirlwind in the air to lacerate cheeks. A cloth sign whip cracking in the gusts. A fence knocked down flat on the sand, with the water lapping at its edges, further up the beach than she'd ever seen the waves.
Caryn walked ever closer to the dark waves, fascinated by the endless vista of water as far as she could see. Water crested and rippled in a violent natural parody of dance; a chorus line of coordinated kicks by feather-adorned dancers transformed to watery grey and white--constantly in motion and constantly renewing itself. Caryn picked up a rock and threw it in, watching as the ripple of its entrance immediately disappeared, swallowed and subsumed by nature's violent environmental supremacy, ignored and invisible in the angry choreography.
Caryn stepped closer, drawing her jacket around her and zipping it up against the cruel winds. She sat down on a bench not far from the edge of the water to listen to the music of the waves. The sun kept moving further down the sky, making things darker and darker. As the darkness continued to descend, it became more and more difficult to see the watery ballet. A man spoke behind her; she jumped.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Caryn turned her head to see a uniformed patrolman about 20 feet away from her. She arose from the bench and turned to face him. "I'm fine, Officer. In fact, I was just getting ready to head home. Thank-you for being concerned."
The policeman smiled at her. "Glad to hear that. You get home now...it's getting late and this area isn't a good place to be after dark."
"Yes, I know...thank-you for reminding me. Have a good evening, Officer." Caryn walked past him and strolled back through the twilight to her car, to drive back to her apartment in Hyde Park.
* * * * * * * * * *
Neither a lofty degree of intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together, go to the making of genius. Love, that is the soul of genius.
(Mozart)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn casually strolled through her apartment in her robe towards the kitchen. She had really slept late! As she walked past the front door, a flashing red light to her right caught her eye, so she stepped over to check the messages on her answering machine. A feminine voice issued from the speaker: "Caryn, this is Louise, at the gallery. We had someone come in who wanted to talk to you about an art commission. Could you give him a ring?" Caryn grabbed a pen and the notepad nearby and jotted down the info as Louise continued.
Caryn walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and sat down by the phone with the notepad in hand. She dialed the number that Louise had given her and waited patiently for an answer. A woman with a pleasant voice and the hint of an Irish origin answered, "Mr. MacBride's office. Bridget speaking. Can I help you?"
"Yes. This is Caryn Morrison. Mr. MacBride spoke to Louise Westmont over at the Dream Gallery about my doing an art project for him."
"Oh, Miss Morrison! Of course. Mr. MacBride would like to meet with you personally to discuss the project. I believe he wants a portrait done, but I'm not sure. His schedule looks free this afternoon...will that be alright?"
"Certainly. Did Louise give him my address?"
"As a matter of fact, I believe so...a Hyde Park address?"
"That's it. Would 3:00 be good?"
"That would be just fine. Just let me confirm this: Mr. MacBride will meet with you at 3:00 p.m. today, at your studio. Correct?"
"Correct. Thank-you, Bridget."
"My pleasure, Miss Morrison."
As the phone clicked, Caryn thought to look up to see what time it was and stared in horror to see 12:30 in front of her. What with showering and dressing and cleaning up this cluttered mess, she would barely make it! She gulped down her coffee and ran for the bathroom.
* * * * * * * * * *
We will part here at the crossroads to walk away into the night. I would meet with you again from time to time when you are alone. I am never very far from you. I love you.
(From Falling Out of Time by O.R. Melling)
* * * * * * * * * *
The doorbell rang and Caryn pressed the speaker to answer, smoothing her hair back and glancing around the apartment to make sure she hadn't left out some errant underclothes or something equally embarrassing. "Yes; who is it?" And a familiar voice came wafting back at her. "It's me, cara...Megan."
Caryn buzzed her up and waited anxiously for Megan to arrive. As Megan got off the elevator and walked over, Caryn stood in the doorway and greeted her. "Megan, what are you doing here? I have a potential client due any minute."
"I came to talk to you before the circle tonight."
"Tonight? Oh lord...I forgot, what with this commission coming up out of nowhere. I thought it was tomorrow. What time do we have to leave?"
"Not 'til 6:30 or so. I just came early to talk to you and explain a few things beforehand."
"Oh..that's alright then. Why don't you just sit down. We can chat 'til he gets here but then I'll have to ignore you for a bit while I talk shop. OK by you?"
"Fine by me." And hearing Caryn's doorbell, Megan said that that must be her client now.
"Probably. Let me see."
Caryn pressed the speaker to answer, smoothing her hair back again nervously. "Yes; who is it?" And a male voice came wafting back at her. "It's Kieran MacBride, Miss Morrison."
"Come right up. It's apartment 1206, just off the elevator." Caryn buzzed him up and waited anxiously for him to arrive. She stood in her doorway and waited to greet him. The elevator doors opened and a man walked out...slightly less than average height, wearing mirrored sunglasses and a dark blue suit, with a colorful celtic knotwork tie. A neatly trimmed beard and a moustache adorned his face, and his black hair was pulled back in a long ponytail down his back. He walked up to Caryn, taking his sunglasses off and putting them in his jacket pocket.
"Caryn Morrison, I presume. 'Tis a pleasure to meet such a talented woman." Caryn held out her hand for a handshake but found instead that her hand had been raised up to be kissed. "Sorry, but old habits die hard." And he smiled at her with sparkling eyes and a roguish grin. She looked up into his dark brown eyes and felt a sense of shock and dizziness. She mentally shook herself and attempted to be professional.
"Quite alright, Mr. MacBride; I actually enjoyed it." And she stepped back to allow him to enter the apartment. As he walked in, Megan stood up from the couch where she was sitting. "This is my good friend, Megan Powell."
Kieran bent over Megan's hand and likewise kissed it. "Lord Kieran Patrick MacBride, at your service, milady."
Caryn did a doubletake. "LORD MacBride? Oh, I'm sorry; your secretary didn't say."
"Oh, you needn't worry about it, lass. In America I don't use the family title. I just drag it out now and then to impress the ladies." He winked at Megan. "Am I interrupting something, ladies?"
Megan answered, "No, not at all, Lord MacBride. I'm just here to take Caryn to a get-together later on this evening. We're in no hurry and you're not interrupting."
"Please, ladies, call me Kieran. I'm not in Ireland anymore. There's no need to be so formal. And what are you lovely ladies up to this fine evening?"
Caryn shot a warning glance at Megan. Megan replied, "Oh nothing but a wiccan circle, milord. Care to attend?"
Caryn stared in shock at Megan, appalled that she would say such a thing in front of a complete stranger. Megan looked at her and answered Caryn's unspoken thought. "Caryn, he's one of us. He's Pagan. Aren't you, milord?"
"Aye, milady; that I am. Or at least you could call me that and not be far from the truth." And he pulled up on a chain around his neck just barely visible beneath his shirt to reveal a beautiful sterling silver pentacle. "And I needn't ask how you knew. You are a woman of great power. In fact, a high priestess, are you not?"
"Aye, milord; that I am." And Megan grinned at him. "We run an eclectic wiccan coven with celtic overtones, mostly irish and maybe a little welsh. I imagine you'd be comfortable with that, right?"
"Aye."
"And I also imagine that the problem that I meant to address tonight in particular isn't really a problem anymore, right?"
"Aye. My, how perceptive you are!"
"Yes, I can tell we are both wise in the ways of power. I want to talk to you later, milord...in private."
"I am at your command, milady."
While this dialogue had been happening, Caryn had been staring in sheer disbelief at both of them, wondering what in hell was going on. She decided to restore a little normality to the situation. "Lord MacBride...you wanted some artwork done?"
"Kieran, please, milady! Yes, I had in mind a painting, done in medieval styles like those lovely paintings you have at the gallery. Irish landscape, with a castle in the background. The woman in medieval garb...green velvet I think. Knotwork border around the painting. Lots of rich colors...reds, greens, blues and purples...with gold accents. Do it pretty much like your "Killarney at Dawn" piece at the gallery."
"And the model? When would she be available?"
"Oh, I think she's very available. I want you to do a self-portrait."
"Huh?"
"I will explain my reasoning to you later, milady. Suffice to say I want a painting of a medieval irish woman, and I want the woman to look like you."
"Now I'm really confused....but you're the client. What about cost?"
"Cost is not a problem, milady. I can afford the best materials. How about $1,500?"
"Trying to pay my tuition for me, I see. Alright, Kieran, we have a deal. I'll draw up my standard contract and send it to your secretary."
"Good...now that we have that taken care of, we can sit and chat....or can I take you lovely ladies out to dinner....?"
Caryn looked at Megan. "I'm up for dinner if you are, but I need to do an errand on the way over."
Megan nodded. "Dinner sounds wonderful."
Caryn turned to Kieran. "How about I meet you two someplace after I do my errand?"
"Milady, 'twould be my pleasure. How about the Abbey Pub out on Grace? Megan and I will head there in my car and wait for you."
"Fine; I'll see you both there." The three of them headed down to street level, parting with a wave to head off to the two separate cars.
As Kieran was holding the passenger side door open for Megan, he explained. "I would have offered to take Caryn for her errand, but I felt this to be an excellent opportunity for the two of us to talk. Is that acceptable?"
"An excellent idea, milord. I approve."
Kieran shut the door and walked around to get into the driver's seat of the black Cadillac. He sat down, started the car, put a CD in, and pulled out into the street. "The band is a new favorite of mine; I hope you don't mind. Black 47."
"No; I like them also. Fine by me. Now, milord...why have you been haunting my friend in her dreams and making her dream of death?"
"Hmmm. I like a woman who is direct and concise. It's a long story, milady, but the gist of it is, I have been in love with your friend for a very long time. We lived together back in Ireland in the Middle Ages. The idea was that we would be together after death and NOT go 'round the circle again. I thought both of us to have enough power to do it, but your friend keeps getting trapped and being reborn again. Each life, once she realizes it, she usually tries to die and come back to me, but it hasn't worked. I try to stay in the background and love her in her dreams, but it's been a very long time, and I'm more impatient now. This time around, I just can't seem to have the finesse that I need. After frightening her the other day in the park, I realized what I was doing to her, and so I'm going to be with her the more mortal mundane way until she knows who she is. I think she really does have enough power this time, but she doesn't even know it yet. I'd really like your help, milady. I love Caryn so very much."
"Wow. This is NOT what I expected....a soulmate trying to be found. THAT I expected. But you're not a reincarnated former love. You ARE the former love. Wow."
"Then you believe me?"
"Of course I believe you. What can I do to help? And I hope that you'll not try and have Caryn die on me now once she knows...I'd have to try and stop you."
"No; this time we will live out her natural life together, I think. Trying to cut things short never worked before anyway. Besides, I like America in this era. What we have to do is to get her opened up to her power and to her memories of our lives together."
"Well, I think we can start on that tonight, with your assistance, milord. The concept of how much power YOU could raise is mind-boggling."
"Oh, milady, you will make me blush! I will follow your lead this evening, because this is your coven and I would never presume to interfere. If you need anything out of the ordinary, you have only to ask. I am at your command."
"Hmmm....how do you feel about open relationships, milord?"
And they both began laughing as Kieran tooled up Lake Shore Drive.
* * * * * * * * * *
He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.
(Rafael Sabatini)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn walked into the store with a vaguely impatient air about her. She asked the saleswoman who approached her where she could find Carl McDermot. "Oh, he's in the office--do you need me to show you where it is?"
"No, I know where it is, thank-you very much." And she headed off toward the back of the store. Arriving at an oak door, she knocked a few times and then pushed it open. "Hi, Carl...I had a few minutes and I wanted to stop by and check in with you."
Carl moved close and put his arms around her with a smile. "Even a few minutes with you is equivalent to an eternity of paradise."
"Awww...go on with you now," she grinned, gazing up at his twinkling eyes and long bright red hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Yer full of the blarney, ye are."
"'Tis not blarney to but speak the truth to such a goddess as you."
"Come on, Carl...I'm still trying to be annoyed with you for the last stunt you pulled on me...stop trying to distract me with your benighted charm and guile!"
"I thought you forgave me for standing you up last Friday."
"No, I said I'd consider the matter. And I'm still considering it."
"Baby, you know I'm sorry, don't you?"
"Yeah, you're a sorry sight, and that's for sure."
"C'mon, Caryn...cut me some slack. You know you can't resist me." And he bent his head down and started nibbling at her ear. But Caryn didn't respond. She realized that he just hadn't been able to charm her like usual for quite awhile. And she mentally replaced him with Kieran, with his dark long hair and sparkling eyes, and her pulse started to race. She turned away from Brian and gathered her thoughts again.
"Quit it! I have a dinner date with a client and then I've agreed to go hang out with Meggie and Brian and the group tonight."
"You? Go to one of their crazy rituals? You're kidding, right?"
"Carl, although I don't really believe in what they do, I have never condemned it or called it crazy. You can be a real jerk, you know that?"
"But Cammie, they call themselves witches. You think that's reasonable and rational?"
"Don't call me Cammie...I outgrew that long ago. And I outgrew your prejudiced attitudes too. Every time I think you've grown up and matured, you prove me wrong. It's their religion, damn it, and it's very real to them! I have to go. Don't bother coming over tonight like we planned...I won't be coming home tonight. I'm going to stay the night at Meggie and Brian's place."
"Geez, Caryn...give me a fucking break already! What do I have to do? I WANT you!"
"Carl Frederick McDermot, you're 25 years old. It's about time you got a little control over yourself. Maybe I'll call you once I stop being pissed with you. And maybe I won't. Maybe I'm just sick and tired of your chauvinism and your lack of consideration. In fact, come to think of it, we are through. Don't call me; I won't pick up the phone." And with that, Caryn spun on her heel and left the room, her long black ponytail swinging with the vehemence of her movements.
* * * * * * * * * *
And she, she lies in my hand as tame
As a late pear basking over the wall;
Just a touch to try and off it came;
'Tis mine--can I let it fall?
(From A Light Woman by Robert Browning)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn made her way quickly to the table where Megan and Kieran were sitting. She was a great deal more serene than when she had left Carl's office, but her movements were still brisk and purposeful. When she sat down at the table, the two people who cared so deeply about her could tell she was upset.
Megan looked at her very carefully. "What's the matter, cara? What happened?"
"Oh, it's just Carl again. He was calling you guys crazy again, Meggie--he's such an arrogant bigoted snob. Every time I see him, he makes me so angry that I never want to see him again. Then he'll call to apologize and he'll turn on that irish charm of his...oops, no offense meant, Lord MacBride."
"I thought we agreed on Kieran, milady. Or if you feel awkward with that, call me Pat like some of my other friends do. And I'm not offended in the slightest. Sure, and haven't I had to use more than a bit of the blarney meself in my lifetime, doncha know?" he drawled with an exaggerated brogue. He grinned mischievously at her with bright sparkling eyes. "Now calm down and have some of this fine food and an irish coffee and tell me all about yourself, for I must admit that you are very intriguing and attractive to me."
A flush of red spread rapidly across Caryn's face. "My, I didn't think I knew how to blush anymore. Wow...what can I say but that I'm flattered?" and flustered, her mind filled in. She kept imagining his arms around her and his tongue in her mouth, and her body started to tingle just thinking about it.
"Caryn, do you believe in reincarnation or love at first sight?" he asked.
Caryn's heart started to pound furiously in her constricted chest. "Wh-Why do you ask?" She groaned inwardly at her telltale stutter. She occupied herself with eating and drinking to cover up her reactions.
"No reason, except that Megan and I were discussing past lives and how she and Brian got together, and I wondered how you felt."
"Well, I've never fallen in love at first sight before, but I saw it happen with Megan and Brian, so I have to believe in that." Caryn gave herself an imaginary kick in the head and wanted to sink through the floor as Kieran and Megan smiled at her. Why in hell did she let that "before" slip in there? "As to reincarnation, I have always believed and still do believe in the concept, though I am not sure that I have lived before."
"Cara, I thought you were going to let that hypnotist try a past life regression once...didn't you find out anything?" Megan asked.
Kieran bent his head close to Megan and whispered in her ear "She's got very strong shields, as I'm sure you've noticed. There is no way that a regression would tell her anything until we break down the shields first."
"What are you two whispering about?" Caryn queried suspiciously, knowing they were talking about her. "Look, just because you're both Pagan doesn't mean you can talk about me so I can't hear you...I may not understand everything, but I resent having you whispering there."
"Sorry, cara...Kieran was just saying that you must have very strong shields and that probably the hypnotist couldn't get through them."
"Well, that is approximately what happened. But someday I'd like to know one way or the other; it's hard to say you believe in something when you have no proof to back it up," Caryn replied.
Kieran stood up gracefully. "My ladies, I believe it is time we adjourned to our next destination. It's 6:45 and time is a-flyin' by. Megan, why don't you go in Caryn's car and I'll follow you both in my Caddie. I'll get the check and meet you out in the parking lot."
Megan nodded. "Sounds great to me...see you outside."
* * * * * * * * * *
Kemer wyth na wrylly gasa an forth goth rag an forth noweth.
(Cornish: Take care that you do not forsake
the old way for the new.)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn looked around her and examined her surroundings. She stood on a floor with an inlaid wood design of a five-pointed star encircled. Facing east, there was a large table in the center covered by a white cotton tablecloth, embroidered in colorful knotwork designs. On it were several candles, one of them already lit, a crystal-topped wand, a long-stemmed goblet full of red liquid--probably wine, a rose, a small decanter full of a golden liquid, a salt shaker and a long slim sword.
At each compass point there was a small table with a candle and something to represent each major element: a goblet of water for water, a tree branch and a dish of earth for earth, incense and a decorated fan for air, and an oil lamp for fire. The people in the room with her were dressed in simple white cotton robes with colored sashes. Megan had given Caryn a white robe to wear also. Everyone stood just inside the circle on the floor, alternating male and female. Kieran stood next to Caryn, as if to support her.
Caryn was very unsure; the meeting with Kieran had prevented Megan from briefing her entirely on what to expect. Megan had had time to tell her that she would translate the Irish Gaelic as she went along, and that nothing should be frightening or threatening. If Caryn felt afraid, she was to say so immediately and Megan would take care of her. Megan had also said that they were to consecrate Caryn to her abilities this evening, so that Caryn could learn to understand and control the things that had been going on, and for Caryn to go along even if she didn't really believe.
The funny thing was that Kieran had practically ignored her since they got here, until coming just now to stand near her. He had been in whispered consultation with Megan over in the corner for at least half an hour. Caryn knew they had been talking about her, because they kept glancing at her while talking. Finally, Kieran had written something down on a piece of paper and given it to Megan and then headed over. He had given her a hug, but hadn't said a word to her, and Caryn was too nervous to start talking herself.
Suddenly the murmurs of conversation ceased and Megan and Brian stepped into the center of the circle in front of the altar. Megan had braided her long red hair into a crown around her head, and she wore a bright golden torc around her neck and gold armbands. Brian's blond curls hung free down his back, and he wore gold armbands also. He began to speak in a deep mellifluous voice--a trained actor's voice which carried clearly to all parts of the room.
"Oh most beautous and gracious Lady, grant us your presence in this circle. Oh most wise and powerful Lord, grant us your presence in this circle. We invoke your aid in our undertaking this eve. Join us in our celebration of love and life. Let this circle become sacred and blessed in your presence as we consecrate ourselves to your glory. So mote it be."
When he had finishing his incantation, the members echoed his last words in unison. "So mote it be." Megan walked with slow measured steps to the small table at the north point of the circle and lit the green candle on it, saying "Aduiaidh. From the North." She turned and faced the center altar, raising the dish of earth and the tree branch high above her head. "Talamh. Earth. We invoke thee," and placed them back on the table.
Then she walked to the east point of the circle and lit the gold candle on it, saying "Anoir. From the East." She lit the incense on the table in front of the candle and grasped the decorative fan lying beside it. She fanned the smoke rising from the incense to circulate it throughout the room and turned and faced the center altar. "Aer. Air. We invoke thee."
Then she walked to the south point of the circle and lit the red candle on it, saying "Aneas. From the South." She lit the oil lamp and turned the flame up high, watching it dance with every breath she exhaled. She turned and faced the center altar, raising the oil lamp high above her head. "Tine. Fire. We invoke thee," and placed the lamp back on the table.
Finally, she walked to the small table at the west point of the circle and lit the blue candle on it, saying "Aniar. From the West." She dipped her fingers into the goblet, sprinkling drops of water in front of her towards the east and hearing the candle flame sputter slightly at contact with the water. She turned toward the center and raised the goblet of water high above her head. "Uisce. Water. We invoke thee," and she placed the goblet back on the table. Then she walked back to the center altar and raised her arms high. "Let the four Powers protect and guide us and let none break this circle until our work be complete."
Megan lowered her arms and spoke in a normal voice. "We seek at this time to aid Caryn in her search for knowledge. She wishes aid in discovering what has been hidden from her and in knowing the gifts that You have bestowed upon her. Further, she wishes Your aid in learning to use these gifts in the ways that will honor You best and further Your purposes while enriching her life. Please let Your spirit come and guide us in helping her tonight."
Brian looked around the circle at the people gathered there. "Let us all share something of our own awakenings and gifts with Caryn to help her better understand of what we speak." He looked at a man on Caryn's left. "You start, Devon."
As Caryn listened to the personal experiences of the members of the coven, her mind started to wander, daydreaming of what it would be like to be in bed with Kieran. When the man next to her finished speaking and silence descended on the room, she realized that it was time for her to take a more active part. Megan approached her and, taking her hand, led her to the middle of the circle.
Megan bent her head close to Caryn's and spoke in a low quiet voice. "Cara, I want you to read out loud what is written on this paper in as loud and as confident a voice you can manage. It's something very special for you to say to make this occasion complete for you. One thing...I forgot to ask you--people usually pick another name, a special Pagan name when they are initiated. Do you have a name that I could consecrate you with?"
Caryn thought for a minute. "Call me...call me Moira," she whispered almost soundlessly to Megan. And she looked at the piece of paper and started to read it, but she abruptly dropped it on the floor. She didn't need the paper; the words seemed etched in her mind in letters of flame. Her eyes closed, she spoke the fiery phrases in a clear voice. She swayed slightly as she stood there, and her mind whirled with wisps of thought that would not come solid.
Caryn started to shudder and slump toward the floor. Her mind wanted to burst asunder with sensation. Kieran stood close to her and put his arm around her to hold her up and give her strength. "Just hold on a little longer, my love, my little Moira...just a little bit more," he whispered. In her befuddlement, she confusedly wondered how he had heard her whispers to Megan. Her body would not stop trembling and shaking.
Megan kissed Caryn on the forehead gently, saying, "Imeoidh a dtioc faidh agus a dtainig. All that will come and all that ever came will pass away. Take joy in the happiness and learn from the sorrow and be all that you were and all that you want to be. I hereby christen thee Moira in the sight and presence of the God and Goddess. Blessed be." She reached out and anointed Caryn's forehead with the oil. As the oil touched her skin, Caryn's eyes rolled up into her head and she fell bonelessly back into Kieran's arms.
Kieran picked her up and held her in his arms, waiting for the closing of the ceremony. Brian raised his arms high. "I release the powers who have gathered to aid us in our purpose. Our thanks for their aid." He grabbed the sword from the altar and walked to the edge of the circle and cut across the floor gently with the point of the sword.
The circle of people gathered there spoke in unison with him for his next words.
The circle is open but unbroken.
May the peace of the Goddess go in our hearts.
Merry meet and merry part
and merry meet again.
Blessed be.
* * * * * * * * * *
Dixit et avertens rosea service refulsit,
Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem
Spiravere; pedes vestis defluxit ad imos,
Et vera incessu patuit dea.
--She said no more and as she turned away there was a bright glimpse of the rosy glow of her neck, and from her ambrosial head of hair a heavenly fragrance wafted; her dress flowed down right to her feet, and in her walk it showed, she was in truth a goddess.
(Virgil)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn stirred slightly as Kieran laid her on the bed in Megan and Brian's bedroom. "Paddy, darlin', you're here," she murmured. But her breathing stayed even and her eyes did not open. Kieran covered her with the quilt he found at the foot of the bed and then walked back into the living room to talk with Megan and Brian.
Caryn slipped deeper and deeper into sleep. An image started to emerge from her subconscious and she began to dream. She stood in the kitchen of a large stone hall, clad in a long gown of deep green velvet, her hair plaited and hanging down her back. An apron covered her dress to protect it from all the flour and sugar strewn on the table around her. "Quickly now, we must get the sweets into the ovens so they'll be ready in time. 'Tis milord's birthday and I want it to be perfect."
"G'wan with ye, milady. 'Tis gettin' ready for the celebration ye should be doin'! I'll keep an eye on all these shiftless loafers. Go up to your chambers now," the sturdy red-haired woman admonished her. "Ye'll nivver be claimin' that Colleen O'Malley couldn't run her kitchen as it ought. G'wan with ye now!" She smiled at Caryn and made shooing motions with her hands, moving with Caryn toward the doorway.
As Caryn made her way up the winding stairway to her tower rooms, her maidservant came down the stairs to meet her. "Lady Moira, hurry! I'll be havin' no time to do yer hair properly if ye canna hurry!"
A deep voice spoke behind Caryn. "Aislinn, she's perfect just as she is. Sure, and she's the most beautiful creature in the world." Caryn turned to see the wide smile and sparkling eyes of her husband behind her. "Just take off that apron and brush out that lovely hair and then she's all mine."
He pulled her aside on the stair and put his arms around her. He murmured quietly into her ear, making her melt and tingle at his warm breath in her ear. "You are all mine, you know. Just as we carved on that tree so long when we were but children. Paddy and Moira, forever together. I'll never let you go, never." And he bent his head down to hers and covered her mouth with his, plunging his tongue deep in her mouth and hungrily clasping her body close to his. "I want you, my love. My lady, I belong to you and you to me. I cannot wait for this evening to be over so that we may draw the drapes on our bed and be alone together."
Caryn smiled dreamily at him. "And I also, my love. But if you do not free me to Aislinn's care, the evening will not start and thus cannot end. And then what should we do?" She stepped out of his loosening grasp and began to ascend the stairs once more, looking back over her shoulder at him standing there on the stair. "Wait down in the hall, my love. 'Twill not take me long, I vow."
He blew her a kiss and watched her graceful form walk up the stairs behind Aislinn. "I would do anything in my power to have her mine forever. And she will be. By all the Gods, she will be!"
* * * * * * * * * *
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs by my side
(From Bohemian Girl: Song by Alfred Bunn
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn wrestled with the fading wisps of her dream, trying to hold them to her and regain her dream. She fought to keep from wakening. "Are you alright, Caryn?" Kieran, Megan and Brian stood around the bed, gazing at her with concerned gazes. Kieran was closest to her, and held her hand in his.
"I'm fine, truly." She felt alive, gloriously alive. Her body tingled with sensation and she could sense their presences in a way she never could before. "What have you done? I feel fantastic!"
Kieran looked deep in her eyes. "Are you sure? You were unconscious for quite awhile. We've been very concerned."
"Oh, Paddy, you know I never want to wake up in the morning...I just wanted to dream forever and ever."
Kieran looked at her very closely. "What is your name?"
"Moira O'Sullivan Mac..." and her voice faltered. "Why did I say that? My name is Caryn Alma Morrison, and I'm fine! Stop hovering!" Her voice started to sound angry as she realized that something was going on. She sat up and raised her voice to cover her fear. Her head started to spin a bit as she sat up, and she leaned back against the pillows.
"Caryn, you've got to calm down and listen. What we did at the ritual this evening was break down your shields so that you wouldn't be blocked from your powers anymore. But it also appears that your memories of your past lives are bleeding into your present memories. There is nothing wrong with this, but you're going to have to learn to distinguish between them. Don't be afraid." Kieran squeezed her hand in reassurance. "We all love you very much and we'll help you through this."
"I didn't just meet you today either, did I, Paddy? We were married once," she mused.
"And I hope will be again, my love. I've waited a long time. But it will take awhile before you're balanced again, so there's no rush."
Caryn shook her head. "But I don't entirely understand. How come these memories...these lives...I have different names and professions...but you've always been my Paddy MacBride. I'm confused."
"That explanation will have to wait a bit, my love. I didn't exactly do things the same way you did. Now lay down and rest a bit. We'll have a lot to talk about when you wake up." He smiled at her and caressed her hair. "By all the Gods, it's good to see you again and have you know me!"
"I'm still confused, but I guess it can wait. I am still rather tired." She lay back and closed her eyes.
Kieran bent down and laid a featherlight kiss on her lips. "Sleep, my love. We'll all be here when you wake up." He winked slyly as he and the others quietly left the room and shut the door behind them.
* * * * * * * * * *
To couple is a custom,
All things thereto agree:
Why should I not then love,
Since love to all is free?
(From Famous History of Friar Bacon--Unknown)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn's lashes lifted up slowly and she looked out to see Brian, Meg and Kieran sitting on the bed next to her. "Hi darlin'; feelin' frisky?" Kieran grinned at her.
"Mmmmmmm. And what would ye be havin' in mind, me lord?" Caryn grinned back, her mind happily ticking off the possibilities.
[Cast of Main Characters: Caryn Alma Morrison, artist and graduate student in history. Carl Frederick McDermot, her on-again, off-again boyfriend and graduate student in medieval literature. Megan Shannon Powell, Caryn's best friend and high priestess of a wiccan coven. Brian Cameron Trevelyan, Megan's fiance and high priest of the coven. Lord Kieran Patrick MacBride.]
* * * * * * * * * *
Cuntelleugh an brewyn us gesys na vo kellys travyth.
--Gather the fragments that are left so that nothing may be lost.
(Cornish proverb)
* * * * * * * * * *
The woman stood in the bathroom, swirling clouds of steam roiling and cascading in the air around her. She let her peacock blue robe slip off her shoulders and smiled at the sensuous feel of the satin caressing her flesh on its journey to the moist floor. The mirror in front of her presented a blurred image of her secretive smile.
She stepped into the shower and put out her hand to feel the pleasant scald of water almost, but not quite, hot enough to burn her. She wet her long black hair and felt it laying heavy on her back. As she up-ended the shampoo with one hand, the translucent gel felt soft and slithery on her other hand. She put down the bottle and rubbed her hands together palm to palm. She then ran her hands carefully and thoroughly through her hair, spreading the shampoo around and then briskly massaging her scalp. Then she leaned her head back into the hot water and let the water wash all the rich lather away from her, forming a brief whirlpool of color at the drain before it flowed away into the dark recesses of the sewer.
She sat down in the tub and let the hot water fall over her knees and face, spraying around her as she reclined beneath her manmade waterfall. She reached out to the side of the tub to get what she needed and prepared to dream of her lover. She brought the tool towards her pale flesh, holding it gently to her skin and then pressing more firmly, letting the sensations overcome her. She shuddered in a brief foreshadowing of ecstasy to come.
She leaned back in the tub and let her body relax, her arms at her sides and the warm water still falling down upon her. She closed her eyes and began to dream.
She stood in the darkness and felt his presence. She could not see him but felt him in her mind and with her senses. Her mind filled in the details...details of dark locks of hair falling over his shoulders and down his back. Of a sardonic smile and eyes so dark as to seem only pupils. Of soft skin covering hard muscles. Of a low voice rumbling within his chest and vibrating in the air and on her skin.
And then she heard it, his voice. Her ears reveled in the sound of it and her soul felt nourished again after an eternity of starvation. "My love, have you finally come to me? I have been waiting for you for eons. You have slipped from life to life eluding me...why have you forsaken our love?"
"'Twas not by my design, my love. I have sought in vain every time to find you again, but others have forced me on...have forced me to live without you. I live in agony waiting to rejoin you each time, but each time I die and they force my rebirth. Come love me and hold me fast, my darling, and we shall not be parted this time. Come love me and let us share in our reunion at last."
He came up to her and put his arms around her, his dark cloak enveloping them both as he held her close. Her mind began to spin and she felt a weakness start to spread throughout her body, a delightful languor that she had no desire to resist. Her lover drew her down to the floor and lay her gently there, lying next to her with his cloak pooling around them on the formless blackness that somehow had substance beneath them. In reality, liquid pooled about her body in a moist echo of her dream.
He began to draw his hands over her breasts, cupping their sweet fullness and brushing his thumb over her tight dark nipples. He bent over her and brought his tongue down, darting quickly and tantalizingly over her large nipples, pulling them into his warm mouth and sucking on them, then releasing her aroused flesh so she would feel the cool air wafting over her in a wash of sensory stimulation.
She shivered as she fell deeper and deeper into the mists within her mind. He filled the cavities and gathered the mists together, braiding them with her wisps of thought. He bound her with herself to hold fast her mind and prevent her from escaping into reality and away from their shared fantasy. The darkness both enfolded her and contained her, as she contained the darkness within her. She felt her body becoming insubstantial as the darkness within and the darkness without reached together to become one, dispersing her flesh as insignificant. Her essence reached out to become one with the darkness. Her lover's essence and hers, yet another braid; a mass of twisted fibers of spirit and space...a magickal melding of two souls intertwined with the darkness and yearning to be one.
She held a duality of images in her head...at once the fantasy of her lover possessing her flesh in a glory of sensation with the mental dance with darkness and the physical reality of warm wet flesh and the shower bathing her world in steam. The images began to blur together into one great fantasy as her lover played her flesh into an aching tension screaming for relief while the tendrils of darkness within reached out to induce oblivion and persuade her and her lover to join the darkness forever...forever one, never to be separated.
As she came to her climax, her spirit soared, escaping upwards like a bright fiery phoenix...but the great bird wheeled about and plummeted willingly back down to the dark depths, to be one with the void forever. She lay in the arms of her lover, leaning against him with a great weakness and a smile on her lips as she freely gave herself up to him and to the darkness.
She leaned her head back against the cold porcelain of the tub, a satiated and happy smile resting on her cold lips, the knife fallen from her hand, and the water washed all the blood away from her, to form a brief whirlpool of color at the drain before it flowed away into the dark recesses of the sewer.
* * * * * * * * * *
I believe in the power of the word to create reality; it is the foundation of magic. I believe in magic.
(From Falling Out of Time by O.R. Melling)
* * * * * * * * * *
A loud buzzing noise invaded her thoughts, thrusting the dream back into the dark recesses of her subconscious. The gates of her mind swung shut with a clang, to prevent her remembering the dream. Caryn sat up in her warm waterbed, the sheets tangled and twisted about her limbs, and tried to wrest her befuddled mind from the confusion of sleep. "Shit! Another Monday! I really need some serious caffeine!" she mused.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and winced both as her nude flesh was shocked by the frigid air permeating her basement apartment and as her bare feet encountered the icy coldness of the tiled floor. She shivered as she put on her satin robe and made her way first to the bathroom. She turned on the shower, as hot as she thought she could withstand. Then she stepped into the kitchen, fumbled to flick the switch on the coffeemaker and sniffed the rich coffee grounds with a euphoric expression. Then she turned and retraced her steps.
Caryn opened the door and shut it behind her. She stood in the bathroom, swirling clouds of steam roiling and cascading in the air around her. She let her peacock blue robe slip off her shoulders and smiled at the sensuous feel of the satin caressing her flesh on its journey to the moist floor. The mirror in front of her presented a blurred image of her secretive smile.
She stepped into the shower and put out her hand to feel the pleasant scald of water almost, but not quite, hot enough to burn her. She wet her long black hair and felt it laying heavy on her back. As she up-ended the shampoo with one hand, the translucent gel felt soft and slithery on her other hand. She put down the bottle and rubbed her hands together palm to palm. She then ran her hands carefully and thoroughly through her hair, spreading the shampoo around and then briskly massaging her scalp. Then she leaned her head back into the hot water and the water washed all the rich lather away from her, forming a brief whirlpool of color at the drain before it flowed away into the dark recesses of the sewer.
Caryn sat down in the tub and let the hot water fall over her knees and face, spraying around her as she reclined beneath her manmade waterfall. She reached out to the side of the tub to get her razor and shaving cream. After lathering her legs, she brought the razor towards her flesh, holding it gently to her skin and then pulling it gently up her leg.
Suddenly, Caryn shivered, with a strong unearthly feeling of deja vu. Why should taking a shower, something she had done thousands of times previously, now produce such a sense of unease? It seemed somehow a warning of danger, but in the sense that an abyss will beckon with a welcoming hand; an almost desirable danger. Caryn shook her head back and forth, willing the sensation to go away. She stood up for a moment and reached to turn the radio in the tub on. A techno tune invaded her space at a loud volume. "There--that makes things more normal and everyday now!" She grinned inwardly, and then allowed her inner smile to show on her lips as she sat down to finish shaving. Her heartbeat quickened and her free hand tapped a rhythm in counterpoint to the strong backbeat coming in on the airwaves.
* * * * * * * * * *
From darkness we are born to light;
In light we bear joy and sorrow;
In light we bear memories.
Be kind to my memories, O gods,
For they are orphans,
Be kind to me, O gods,
For I am an infant again,
Newborn into darkness.
(Wayland Drew)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn fidgeted nervously in her plastic chair, scanning the food court anxiously. A tall slim woman with long wavy red hair tiptoed silently behind Caryn's back and then tapped her on the shoulder. Caryn uttered a loud piercing scream and then flushed with embarrassment as everyone at the surrounding tables turned to stare at her.
"Ye ghods, Caryn, what the hell is wrong with you? I admit I shouldn't have snuck up on you, but you're never this jumpy!"
"Oh Megan, I'm so glad you were free for lunch today. I just had to talk to someone--I think I'm going crazy!" Caryn's fingers drummed continuously on the table and her left hand kept reaching up to comb through her hair. "Strange things have been happening lately, but this morning was just too much! It started when I woke up; I haven't been calm since. Can we go somewhere quiet to talk about it?"
"Sure, honey, sure. Let's go outside by the river."
Megan put her arm around the shorter woman's shoulders and shepherded her across the floor and out through the double glass doors. The two women walked across the courtyard and sat down on a concrete bench in a shady spot overlooking the river.
"Now, my love, what's all this about being crazy? What has one of the most self-possessed creative people I know jumping and scared?"
"Meg, when I woke up, I couldn't remember what I had dreamed, but I thought it was a good dream...because I was happy. But something felt wrong about it. Anyway, I figured I was just sleepy and confused, and I didn't worry about it. Then, when I took my shower, everything started getting real strange. While I was shaving, I had this feeling like I had gone through everything before, but in a different way; a dangerous way. And it wasn't just years of habit...this was different, like I had just done it recently. The really scary thing was, even though I felt danger, I liked the danger. It excited me. And then things kept getting worse."
"When I was in the kitchen making breakfast and I went to cut off a slice of bread, a glint of light caught the knife, and I just stared at the knife. When I looked up at the clock, I realized that I had spent over twenty minutes standing there with the knife in my hand."
"And also, for quite a while now, I've been having these daydreams, over and over again, about the same man. I'll be sitting at my drawing table, trying to complete a project, and I'll go off in an erotic reverie that lasts an hour or more, and waste all the good daylight and my whole afternoon. But I have no idea who it is or even who it could be. Although in the daydreams I am very comfortable with him...and very aroused....and very attracted...I have never met anyone like him, so how can I be so attached to a fantasy man who doesn't even exist?"
Megan sighed. "There's always a good reason for everything, my love. You needn't fear for your sanity. I'm sure there's an excellent reason for it. We have but to find it. What does your fantasy man look like?"
"Oh Megan, he's everything I've ever wanted! Long dark hair, past his shoulders and down his back. Dark eyes that laugh even when he doesn't. A wry grin that peeps out at me every time he lures me into falling for his tricks. He's taller than me, but not so tall that I can't put my arms around his neck without straining. And his voice is so luscious, with just the hint of an irish brogue. He has hair in all the right places, but not too much of it. He has a beard and a moustache and the loveliest eyes. He is witty and intelligent and wise. And he even smokes a pipe! He is everything I've ever dreamed of, that I thought it was impossible to find in one package."
"Caryn, love.....this is more than just erotic daydreams, isn't it? I mean, you've described a rather solid image--a lot more than a shadowy dream figure. You sound enthralled...even infatuated."
"Maybe so, Megan. Even though he doesn't exist except in my mind, I find myself losing time to thinking about him more and more each day. I'm obsessed with him, but I just can't find it in myself to be upset by that. I fret and worry about whether or not I'm going crazy so much lately, but when I dream of him, I feel calm and serene. I feel balanced somehow. But when I come to myself again, the world is all topsy-turvy and I feel like I'm losing all grip on reality. It is as if he is my reality, and everything else is the fantasy."
Megan leaned back and looked thoughtful. Her air of knowledge and wisdom seemed incongruous with her slight elfin frame and ethereal air, but her wisdom did not sit so very ill with Caryn, who had often sought advice from Megan on all things from magickal and mystical to mundane or amusing. Megan liked to seem unworldly and unaware while secretly laughing at the silly people around her.
"What you need, cara, is for us to talk to do something to find out if what you are experiencing comes from within you or without you. I can see that you won't be able to comfortably continue your life until we get to the bottom of this. Would you be free to come to our coven gathering later this week, or shall I arrange something sooner?"
"Your coven....Megan, I don't know. You know I believe in the occult and the paranormal and all that, but..."
"But you don't believe it has any real role in your life...right?"
"Right."
"Caryn, I've tried to tell you before, and you never let me finish, but love, you have great gifts and if you keep denying them someday they'll jump out and bite you in the worst way. And you never know....holding something back that sorely wishes to get out sometimes causes many things to happen, including hallucinations and odd dreams. I'm not asking you to believe in gods and goddesses or any permutations thereof, but when you gather people together who are sincere truthseekers, you have a higher probability of finding truth in the seeking. Maybe this man is indeed real and we can find him for you. Or maybe he is a part of you trying to become real. There are so many explanations and I can't help you without further data, Ms. Analytical Theorist!"
"Alright, alright. At this point, all I want is calm and peace in my life again and some stability. I just want all this craziness to stop. I'll do anything that might work, including supporting your beliefs, even though my skepticism will probably sour the whole ritual anyway."
"Ah, but ye nivver know, me lass....I just might convert ye! And, in all seriousness, I don't think you're as much of a skeptic as you think you are. I tell you three times, my love, you are very talented and talent has a way of expressing itself, whether you will or not, and it will most likely do so at the worst possible time, or so it usually seems. But the Goddess always has her reasons. Let me get back to work now, and I'll come by in two days and pick you up at your place. If anything else happens, call me and let me know. If I need, I can call the coven for an emergency, but you only have two days 'til the normal gathering, and though you're frightened, I don't sense any real danger to you yet. Okay by you?"
"Sure, Megan. I feel very foolish for acting so crazily in the first place; I can cut it for a few more days. I can make it."
"Okay, then; that's settled. Come here and get a hug from Mama Megan, cara. You look like you need it."
"With all my heart." And Caryn walked happily into Megan's outstretched arms for a strong hug, feeling almost as if Megan's arms were shielding her against the world and all that frightened her. And she drew back a little, looking up into Megan's face and kissed her lovingly on the lips.
"Besides, I've missed you Meggie. I'd say yes to anything to spend the night with you and Brian again." And a wicked smile traced its way across the lips of both women.
* * * * * * * * * *
"...At first I wanted to bundle up the past, lock it in a box and bury it in some dark place. But that's not how it's done. You unwrap the memories, scatter them on the wind like ashes, and whisper a prayer to the sun."
(From Falling Out of Time by O.R. Melling)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn drove absently down Lake Shore Drive toward her apartment, thinking furiously. She kept a running mental dialogue going with herself while her scientific, rational side warred with her emotional side. On the one hand, she wanted to dismiss everything that had been happening to her as stress-related. She felt like calling up her sometime significant other and arranging a rendezvous for him to screw her brains out, and then maybe she could get her life back on an even keel again. Then again, what had been happening seemed far too odd to just be stress, and she liked to think herself open to strange ideas. So maybe talking to Megan's coven couldn't hurt. Hell, she was just about ready to grasp at straws and do anything to make it stop. All this was hurting her art contracts, and soon school would be starting again, and then things would get real crazy.
Caryn pulled the car off into one of the many parks lining Lake Michigan to think. The argument kept raging in her divided mind, each perspective fighting for supremacy in her confused thought processes. Finally, after arguing out loud with herself for over half an hour, Caryn shook her head a little and came to a decision. She would try both methods. She would call Carl as soon as she got home AND she would go to the coven meeting. Having come to some decision, however inconclusive at this point, Caryn allowed herself to relax. As she lay back in the driver's seat, the stress of recent days caught up with her abused sleep-deprived body, and Caryn's eyelids slowly moved to meet one another. Her head nodded down and Caryn slept.
The honking of a passing car startled her and her eyes opened. She looked around confusedly until she realized where she was. She got out of the car and started walking across the cold muddy ground toward the lake. A montage of images began to impress on her senses as she moved closer and closer to the lake: Black skeleton trees sharply outlined against a gunmetal grey sky. Dark violent waters crashing over crude concrete slab breakers. Screaming birds wheeling about in the sky, plummeting down to the water's surface and soaring up rocket-like into the sky again. Dingy dirt-bestrewn patches of melting snow next to puddles and miniature black swamps of mud and grass. Dust, sand and particles of snow next to the water whipping up in a whirlwind in the air to lacerate cheeks. A cloth sign whip cracking in the gusts. A fence knocked down flat on the sand, with the water lapping at its edges, further up the beach than she'd ever seen the waves. And the incongruous sight of two ducks, happily bobbing in the froth and crashing waves.
Caryn walked ever closer to the dark waves, fascinated by the endless vista of water as far as she could see. Water crested and rippled in a violent natural parody of dance; a chorus line of coordinated kicks by feather-adorned dancers transformed to watery grey and white--constantly in motion and constantly renewing itself. Caryn picked up a rock and threw it in, watching as the ripple of its entrance immediately disappeared, swallowed and subsumed by nature's violent environmental supremacy, ignored and invisible in the angry choreography.
Caryn stepped closer, drawing her jacket around her and zipping it up against the cruel winds. She sat down on a bench not far from the edge of the water to listen to the music of the waves. The sun kept moving further down the sky, making things darker and darker. A man spoke behind her; she jumped.
"My love, I keep trying to reach you and hold you to me, but you can never stay. What can I do to help you come back to me?"
Caryn turned her head around and stared in shock to see the man of her disturbing dreams standing in front of her face, with the wind whipping his dark cloak back and forth and snarling his long dark locks. His brogue became more evident than usual in his deep voice as he spoke again.
"Please, my love....why do you look at me so? My heart bleeds to see the pain in your eyes and to feel your anguish radiating from your body in waves. Why do you look at me in such confusion and fear?"
He stepped closer to her, the better to see her face. "Oh...wait...I have it, my love; you are awake this time. So you do not remember and you do not know me." He bowed deeply before her. "My humblest apologies, my lady. Madam, will you permit me to approach you?"
Caryn could not yet talk...she felt frozen and numb, but she mutely nodded that he might approach. Her fear rose up from inside her, but she could deny him nothing. Something in her called out to him: something very old, very strong and very precious, but she did not know what or why she felt this way.
He came close to her and sat down on the bench beside her, with slow cautious movements so as not to alarm her unduly. He reached out and picked up her hand in his, raising it to his lips for a sweet courtly kiss and then bringing it down again, but retained it in his grasp.
"My lady, I belong to you, and you to me, and I have been waiting for you to return to me for centuries. I wait for you to end your struggle and rejoin me, but each time you slip from my arms to touch the earth once more. I speak to you and make love to you in your dreams...the only place where this world and the next meet where the boundaries are thin enough and where you have full memory of all your lives. But my soul has grown weary of waiting, and my heart is aching to be one with you, my love. And over centuries, a mage can build up enough power to cross the boundaries freely if desired. But I had not meant to reach you consciously yet, love...I did not want to startle you or frighten you. I had thought you to be daydreaming and to touch you through the mists of sleep once more."
Caryn shook her head, tossing it back and forth in wordless denial of his words. Though his words plucked at the taut harpstrings of her soul deep within her, she could not allow herself to acknowledge such a tale as true.
"Oh, my love....you are young yet in this life and have not yet found yourself. How it hurts me to see you so confused. And I know now that my words in your dreams must have made things worse for you...for you are not ready to end your life and come with me now, are you? Oh my sweet, what have I done to you? I will make it right again. Come here, my darling...come into my arms."
And he gathered her into his arms and held her close, stroking her hair gently and murmuring unintelligible sounds to calm her soul. As Caryn began to relax again, his murmurs started to take form in her ears: "sleep, my love...sleep until you are more ready...sleep and consider this a dream so that your soul may be calm again...sleep until I may come to you without fear...sleep and forget, my love." And as Caryn fell once again into slumber, he lifted her in his arms, draping his cloak around them both, and carried her to her car. He placed her carefully behind the steering wheel in the driver's seat. He kissed her lovingly on her brow and shut the door. As he turned to walk away his cloak swirled and flowed in the wind, becoming a piece of the darkness and disappearing into the black nothingness, with naught to show he had even been there.
The honking of a passing car startled her and her eyes opened. She looked around confusedly until she realized where she was. She got out of the car and started walking across the cold muddy ground toward the lake. A montage of images began to impress on her senses as she moved closer and closer to the lake: Black skeleton trees sharply outlined against the glorious reds and oranges of the sky at end of day. Dark violent waters crashing over crude concrete slab breakers. Screaming birds wheeling about in the sky, plummeting down to the water's surface and soaring up rocket-like into the sky again. Dingy dirt-bestrewn patches of melting snow next to puddles and miniature black swamps of mud and grass. Dust, sand and particles of snow next to the water whipping up in a whirlwind in the air to lacerate cheeks. A cloth sign whip cracking in the gusts. A fence knocked down flat on the sand, with the water lapping at its edges, further up the beach than she'd ever seen the waves.
Caryn walked ever closer to the dark waves, fascinated by the endless vista of water as far as she could see. Water crested and rippled in a violent natural parody of dance; a chorus line of coordinated kicks by feather-adorned dancers transformed to watery grey and white--constantly in motion and constantly renewing itself. Caryn picked up a rock and threw it in, watching as the ripple of its entrance immediately disappeared, swallowed and subsumed by nature's violent environmental supremacy, ignored and invisible in the angry choreography.
Caryn stepped closer, drawing her jacket around her and zipping it up against the cruel winds. She sat down on a bench not far from the edge of the water to listen to the music of the waves. The sun kept moving further down the sky, making things darker and darker. As the darkness continued to descend, it became more and more difficult to see the watery ballet. A man spoke behind her; she jumped.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Caryn turned her head to see a uniformed patrolman about 20 feet away from her. She arose from the bench and turned to face him. "I'm fine, Officer. In fact, I was just getting ready to head home. Thank-you for being concerned."
The policeman smiled at her. "Glad to hear that. You get home now...it's getting late and this area isn't a good place to be after dark."
"Yes, I know...thank-you for reminding me. Have a good evening, Officer." Caryn walked past him and strolled back through the twilight to her car, to drive back to her apartment in Hyde Park.
* * * * * * * * * *
Neither a lofty degree of intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together, go to the making of genius. Love, that is the soul of genius.
(Mozart)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn casually strolled through her apartment in her robe towards the kitchen. She had really slept late! As she walked past the front door, a flashing red light to her right caught her eye, so she stepped over to check the messages on her answering machine. A feminine voice issued from the speaker: "Caryn, this is Louise, at the gallery. We had someone come in who wanted to talk to you about an art commission. Could you give him a ring?" Caryn grabbed a pen and the notepad nearby and jotted down the info as Louise continued.
Caryn walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and sat down by the phone with the notepad in hand. She dialed the number that Louise had given her and waited patiently for an answer. A woman with a pleasant voice and the hint of an Irish origin answered, "Mr. MacBride's office. Bridget speaking. Can I help you?"
"Yes. This is Caryn Morrison. Mr. MacBride spoke to Louise Westmont over at the Dream Gallery about my doing an art project for him."
"Oh, Miss Morrison! Of course. Mr. MacBride would like to meet with you personally to discuss the project. I believe he wants a portrait done, but I'm not sure. His schedule looks free this afternoon...will that be alright?"
"Certainly. Did Louise give him my address?"
"As a matter of fact, I believe so...a Hyde Park address?"
"That's it. Would 3:00 be good?"
"That would be just fine. Just let me confirm this: Mr. MacBride will meet with you at 3:00 p.m. today, at your studio. Correct?"
"Correct. Thank-you, Bridget."
"My pleasure, Miss Morrison."
As the phone clicked, Caryn thought to look up to see what time it was and stared in horror to see 12:30 in front of her. What with showering and dressing and cleaning up this cluttered mess, she would barely make it! She gulped down her coffee and ran for the bathroom.
* * * * * * * * * *
We will part here at the crossroads to walk away into the night. I would meet with you again from time to time when you are alone. I am never very far from you. I love you.
(From Falling Out of Time by O.R. Melling)
* * * * * * * * * *
The doorbell rang and Caryn pressed the speaker to answer, smoothing her hair back and glancing around the apartment to make sure she hadn't left out some errant underclothes or something equally embarrassing. "Yes; who is it?" And a familiar voice came wafting back at her. "It's me, cara...Megan."
Caryn buzzed her up and waited anxiously for Megan to arrive. As Megan got off the elevator and walked over, Caryn stood in the doorway and greeted her. "Megan, what are you doing here? I have a potential client due any minute."
"I came to talk to you before the circle tonight."
"Tonight? Oh lord...I forgot, what with this commission coming up out of nowhere. I thought it was tomorrow. What time do we have to leave?"
"Not 'til 6:30 or so. I just came early to talk to you and explain a few things beforehand."
"Oh..that's alright then. Why don't you just sit down. We can chat 'til he gets here but then I'll have to ignore you for a bit while I talk shop. OK by you?"
"Fine by me." And hearing Caryn's doorbell, Megan said that that must be her client now.
"Probably. Let me see."
Caryn pressed the speaker to answer, smoothing her hair back again nervously. "Yes; who is it?" And a male voice came wafting back at her. "It's Kieran MacBride, Miss Morrison."
"Come right up. It's apartment 1206, just off the elevator." Caryn buzzed him up and waited anxiously for him to arrive. She stood in her doorway and waited to greet him. The elevator doors opened and a man walked out...slightly less than average height, wearing mirrored sunglasses and a dark blue suit, with a colorful celtic knotwork tie. A neatly trimmed beard and a moustache adorned his face, and his black hair was pulled back in a long ponytail down his back. He walked up to Caryn, taking his sunglasses off and putting them in his jacket pocket.
"Caryn Morrison, I presume. 'Tis a pleasure to meet such a talented woman." Caryn held out her hand for a handshake but found instead that her hand had been raised up to be kissed. "Sorry, but old habits die hard." And he smiled at her with sparkling eyes and a roguish grin. She looked up into his dark brown eyes and felt a sense of shock and dizziness. She mentally shook herself and attempted to be professional.
"Quite alright, Mr. MacBride; I actually enjoyed it." And she stepped back to allow him to enter the apartment. As he walked in, Megan stood up from the couch where she was sitting. "This is my good friend, Megan Powell."
Kieran bent over Megan's hand and likewise kissed it. "Lord Kieran Patrick MacBride, at your service, milady."
Caryn did a doubletake. "LORD MacBride? Oh, I'm sorry; your secretary didn't say."
"Oh, you needn't worry about it, lass. In America I don't use the family title. I just drag it out now and then to impress the ladies." He winked at Megan. "Am I interrupting something, ladies?"
Megan answered, "No, not at all, Lord MacBride. I'm just here to take Caryn to a get-together later on this evening. We're in no hurry and you're not interrupting."
"Please, ladies, call me Kieran. I'm not in Ireland anymore. There's no need to be so formal. And what are you lovely ladies up to this fine evening?"
Caryn shot a warning glance at Megan. Megan replied, "Oh nothing but a wiccan circle, milord. Care to attend?"
Caryn stared in shock at Megan, appalled that she would say such a thing in front of a complete stranger. Megan looked at her and answered Caryn's unspoken thought. "Caryn, he's one of us. He's Pagan. Aren't you, milord?"
"Aye, milady; that I am. Or at least you could call me that and not be far from the truth." And he pulled up on a chain around his neck just barely visible beneath his shirt to reveal a beautiful sterling silver pentacle. "And I needn't ask how you knew. You are a woman of great power. In fact, a high priestess, are you not?"
"Aye, milord; that I am." And Megan grinned at him. "We run an eclectic wiccan coven with celtic overtones, mostly irish and maybe a little welsh. I imagine you'd be comfortable with that, right?"
"Aye."
"And I also imagine that the problem that I meant to address tonight in particular isn't really a problem anymore, right?"
"Aye. My, how perceptive you are!"
"Yes, I can tell we are both wise in the ways of power. I want to talk to you later, milord...in private."
"I am at your command, milady."
While this dialogue had been happening, Caryn had been staring in sheer disbelief at both of them, wondering what in hell was going on. She decided to restore a little normality to the situation. "Lord MacBride...you wanted some artwork done?"
"Kieran, please, milady! Yes, I had in mind a painting, done in medieval styles like those lovely paintings you have at the gallery. Irish landscape, with a castle in the background. The woman in medieval garb...green velvet I think. Knotwork border around the painting. Lots of rich colors...reds, greens, blues and purples...with gold accents. Do it pretty much like your "Killarney at Dawn" piece at the gallery."
"And the model? When would she be available?"
"Oh, I think she's very available. I want you to do a self-portrait."
"Huh?"
"I will explain my reasoning to you later, milady. Suffice to say I want a painting of a medieval irish woman, and I want the woman to look like you."
"Now I'm really confused....but you're the client. What about cost?"
"Cost is not a problem, milady. I can afford the best materials. How about $1,500?"
"Trying to pay my tuition for me, I see. Alright, Kieran, we have a deal. I'll draw up my standard contract and send it to your secretary."
"Good...now that we have that taken care of, we can sit and chat....or can I take you lovely ladies out to dinner....?"
Caryn looked at Megan. "I'm up for dinner if you are, but I need to do an errand on the way over."
Megan nodded. "Dinner sounds wonderful."
Caryn turned to Kieran. "How about I meet you two someplace after I do my errand?"
"Milady, 'twould be my pleasure. How about the Abbey Pub out on Grace? Megan and I will head there in my car and wait for you."
"Fine; I'll see you both there." The three of them headed down to street level, parting with a wave to head off to the two separate cars.
As Kieran was holding the passenger side door open for Megan, he explained. "I would have offered to take Caryn for her errand, but I felt this to be an excellent opportunity for the two of us to talk. Is that acceptable?"
"An excellent idea, milord. I approve."
Kieran shut the door and walked around to get into the driver's seat of the black Cadillac. He sat down, started the car, put a CD in, and pulled out into the street. "The band is a new favorite of mine; I hope you don't mind. Black 47."
"No; I like them also. Fine by me. Now, milord...why have you been haunting my friend in her dreams and making her dream of death?"
"Hmmm. I like a woman who is direct and concise. It's a long story, milady, but the gist of it is, I have been in love with your friend for a very long time. We lived together back in Ireland in the Middle Ages. The idea was that we would be together after death and NOT go 'round the circle again. I thought both of us to have enough power to do it, but your friend keeps getting trapped and being reborn again. Each life, once she realizes it, she usually tries to die and come back to me, but it hasn't worked. I try to stay in the background and love her in her dreams, but it's been a very long time, and I'm more impatient now. This time around, I just can't seem to have the finesse that I need. After frightening her the other day in the park, I realized what I was doing to her, and so I'm going to be with her the more mortal mundane way until she knows who she is. I think she really does have enough power this time, but she doesn't even know it yet. I'd really like your help, milady. I love Caryn so very much."
"Wow. This is NOT what I expected....a soulmate trying to be found. THAT I expected. But you're not a reincarnated former love. You ARE the former love. Wow."
"Then you believe me?"
"Of course I believe you. What can I do to help? And I hope that you'll not try and have Caryn die on me now once she knows...I'd have to try and stop you."
"No; this time we will live out her natural life together, I think. Trying to cut things short never worked before anyway. Besides, I like America in this era. What we have to do is to get her opened up to her power and to her memories of our lives together."
"Well, I think we can start on that tonight, with your assistance, milord. The concept of how much power YOU could raise is mind-boggling."
"Oh, milady, you will make me blush! I will follow your lead this evening, because this is your coven and I would never presume to interfere. If you need anything out of the ordinary, you have only to ask. I am at your command."
"Hmmm....how do you feel about open relationships, milord?"
And they both began laughing as Kieran tooled up Lake Shore Drive.
* * * * * * * * * *
He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.
(Rafael Sabatini)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn walked into the store with a vaguely impatient air about her. She asked the saleswoman who approached her where she could find Carl McDermot. "Oh, he's in the office--do you need me to show you where it is?"
"No, I know where it is, thank-you very much." And she headed off toward the back of the store. Arriving at an oak door, she knocked a few times and then pushed it open. "Hi, Carl...I had a few minutes and I wanted to stop by and check in with you."
Carl moved close and put his arms around her with a smile. "Even a few minutes with you is equivalent to an eternity of paradise."
"Awww...go on with you now," she grinned, gazing up at his twinkling eyes and long bright red hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Yer full of the blarney, ye are."
"'Tis not blarney to but speak the truth to such a goddess as you."
"Come on, Carl...I'm still trying to be annoyed with you for the last stunt you pulled on me...stop trying to distract me with your benighted charm and guile!"
"I thought you forgave me for standing you up last Friday."
"No, I said I'd consider the matter. And I'm still considering it."
"Baby, you know I'm sorry, don't you?"
"Yeah, you're a sorry sight, and that's for sure."
"C'mon, Caryn...cut me some slack. You know you can't resist me." And he bent his head down and started nibbling at her ear. But Caryn didn't respond. She realized that he just hadn't been able to charm her like usual for quite awhile. And she mentally replaced him with Kieran, with his dark long hair and sparkling eyes, and her pulse started to race. She turned away from Brian and gathered her thoughts again.
"Quit it! I have a dinner date with a client and then I've agreed to go hang out with Meggie and Brian and the group tonight."
"You? Go to one of their crazy rituals? You're kidding, right?"
"Carl, although I don't really believe in what they do, I have never condemned it or called it crazy. You can be a real jerk, you know that?"
"But Cammie, they call themselves witches. You think that's reasonable and rational?"
"Don't call me Cammie...I outgrew that long ago. And I outgrew your prejudiced attitudes too. Every time I think you've grown up and matured, you prove me wrong. It's their religion, damn it, and it's very real to them! I have to go. Don't bother coming over tonight like we planned...I won't be coming home tonight. I'm going to stay the night at Meggie and Brian's place."
"Geez, Caryn...give me a fucking break already! What do I have to do? I WANT you!"
"Carl Frederick McDermot, you're 25 years old. It's about time you got a little control over yourself. Maybe I'll call you once I stop being pissed with you. And maybe I won't. Maybe I'm just sick and tired of your chauvinism and your lack of consideration. In fact, come to think of it, we are through. Don't call me; I won't pick up the phone." And with that, Caryn spun on her heel and left the room, her long black ponytail swinging with the vehemence of her movements.
* * * * * * * * * *
And she, she lies in my hand as tame
As a late pear basking over the wall;
Just a touch to try and off it came;
'Tis mine--can I let it fall?
(From A Light Woman by Robert Browning)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn made her way quickly to the table where Megan and Kieran were sitting. She was a great deal more serene than when she had left Carl's office, but her movements were still brisk and purposeful. When she sat down at the table, the two people who cared so deeply about her could tell she was upset.
Megan looked at her very carefully. "What's the matter, cara? What happened?"
"Oh, it's just Carl again. He was calling you guys crazy again, Meggie--he's such an arrogant bigoted snob. Every time I see him, he makes me so angry that I never want to see him again. Then he'll call to apologize and he'll turn on that irish charm of his...oops, no offense meant, Lord MacBride."
"I thought we agreed on Kieran, milady. Or if you feel awkward with that, call me Pat like some of my other friends do. And I'm not offended in the slightest. Sure, and haven't I had to use more than a bit of the blarney meself in my lifetime, doncha know?" he drawled with an exaggerated brogue. He grinned mischievously at her with bright sparkling eyes. "Now calm down and have some of this fine food and an irish coffee and tell me all about yourself, for I must admit that you are very intriguing and attractive to me."
A flush of red spread rapidly across Caryn's face. "My, I didn't think I knew how to blush anymore. Wow...what can I say but that I'm flattered?" and flustered, her mind filled in. She kept imagining his arms around her and his tongue in her mouth, and her body started to tingle just thinking about it.
"Caryn, do you believe in reincarnation or love at first sight?" he asked.
Caryn's heart started to pound furiously in her constricted chest. "Wh-Why do you ask?" She groaned inwardly at her telltale stutter. She occupied herself with eating and drinking to cover up her reactions.
"No reason, except that Megan and I were discussing past lives and how she and Brian got together, and I wondered how you felt."
"Well, I've never fallen in love at first sight before, but I saw it happen with Megan and Brian, so I have to believe in that." Caryn gave herself an imaginary kick in the head and wanted to sink through the floor as Kieran and Megan smiled at her. Why in hell did she let that "before" slip in there? "As to reincarnation, I have always believed and still do believe in the concept, though I am not sure that I have lived before."
"Cara, I thought you were going to let that hypnotist try a past life regression once...didn't you find out anything?" Megan asked.
Kieran bent his head close to Megan and whispered in her ear "She's got very strong shields, as I'm sure you've noticed. There is no way that a regression would tell her anything until we break down the shields first."
"What are you two whispering about?" Caryn queried suspiciously, knowing they were talking about her. "Look, just because you're both Pagan doesn't mean you can talk about me so I can't hear you...I may not understand everything, but I resent having you whispering there."
"Sorry, cara...Kieran was just saying that you must have very strong shields and that probably the hypnotist couldn't get through them."
"Well, that is approximately what happened. But someday I'd like to know one way or the other; it's hard to say you believe in something when you have no proof to back it up," Caryn replied.
Kieran stood up gracefully. "My ladies, I believe it is time we adjourned to our next destination. It's 6:45 and time is a-flyin' by. Megan, why don't you go in Caryn's car and I'll follow you both in my Caddie. I'll get the check and meet you out in the parking lot."
Megan nodded. "Sounds great to me...see you outside."
* * * * * * * * * *
Kemer wyth na wrylly gasa an forth goth rag an forth noweth.
(Cornish: Take care that you do not forsake
the old way for the new.)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn looked around her and examined her surroundings. She stood on a floor with an inlaid wood design of a five-pointed star encircled. Facing east, there was a large table in the center covered by a white cotton tablecloth, embroidered in colorful knotwork designs. On it were several candles, one of them already lit, a crystal-topped wand, a long-stemmed goblet full of red liquid--probably wine, a rose, a small decanter full of a golden liquid, a salt shaker and a long slim sword.
At each compass point there was a small table with a candle and something to represent each major element: a goblet of water for water, a tree branch and a dish of earth for earth, incense and a decorated fan for air, and an oil lamp for fire. The people in the room with her were dressed in simple white cotton robes with colored sashes. Megan had given Caryn a white robe to wear also. Everyone stood just inside the circle on the floor, alternating male and female. Kieran stood next to Caryn, as if to support her.
Caryn was very unsure; the meeting with Kieran had prevented Megan from briefing her entirely on what to expect. Megan had had time to tell her that she would translate the Irish Gaelic as she went along, and that nothing should be frightening or threatening. If Caryn felt afraid, she was to say so immediately and Megan would take care of her. Megan had also said that they were to consecrate Caryn to her abilities this evening, so that Caryn could learn to understand and control the things that had been going on, and for Caryn to go along even if she didn't really believe.
The funny thing was that Kieran had practically ignored her since they got here, until coming just now to stand near her. He had been in whispered consultation with Megan over in the corner for at least half an hour. Caryn knew they had been talking about her, because they kept glancing at her while talking. Finally, Kieran had written something down on a piece of paper and given it to Megan and then headed over. He had given her a hug, but hadn't said a word to her, and Caryn was too nervous to start talking herself.
Suddenly the murmurs of conversation ceased and Megan and Brian stepped into the center of the circle in front of the altar. Megan had braided her long red hair into a crown around her head, and she wore a bright golden torc around her neck and gold armbands. Brian's blond curls hung free down his back, and he wore gold armbands also. He began to speak in a deep mellifluous voice--a trained actor's voice which carried clearly to all parts of the room.
"Oh most beautous and gracious Lady, grant us your presence in this circle. Oh most wise and powerful Lord, grant us your presence in this circle. We invoke your aid in our undertaking this eve. Join us in our celebration of love and life. Let this circle become sacred and blessed in your presence as we consecrate ourselves to your glory. So mote it be."
When he had finishing his incantation, the members echoed his last words in unison. "So mote it be." Megan walked with slow measured steps to the small table at the north point of the circle and lit the green candle on it, saying "Aduiaidh. From the North." She turned and faced the center altar, raising the dish of earth and the tree branch high above her head. "Talamh. Earth. We invoke thee," and placed them back on the table.
Then she walked to the east point of the circle and lit the gold candle on it, saying "Anoir. From the East." She lit the incense on the table in front of the candle and grasped the decorative fan lying beside it. She fanned the smoke rising from the incense to circulate it throughout the room and turned and faced the center altar. "Aer. Air. We invoke thee."
Then she walked to the south point of the circle and lit the red candle on it, saying "Aneas. From the South." She lit the oil lamp and turned the flame up high, watching it dance with every breath she exhaled. She turned and faced the center altar, raising the oil lamp high above her head. "Tine. Fire. We invoke thee," and placed the lamp back on the table.
Finally, she walked to the small table at the west point of the circle and lit the blue candle on it, saying "Aniar. From the West." She dipped her fingers into the goblet, sprinkling drops of water in front of her towards the east and hearing the candle flame sputter slightly at contact with the water. She turned toward the center and raised the goblet of water high above her head. "Uisce. Water. We invoke thee," and she placed the goblet back on the table. Then she walked back to the center altar and raised her arms high. "Let the four Powers protect and guide us and let none break this circle until our work be complete."
Megan lowered her arms and spoke in a normal voice. "We seek at this time to aid Caryn in her search for knowledge. She wishes aid in discovering what has been hidden from her and in knowing the gifts that You have bestowed upon her. Further, she wishes Your aid in learning to use these gifts in the ways that will honor You best and further Your purposes while enriching her life. Please let Your spirit come and guide us in helping her tonight."
Brian looked around the circle at the people gathered there. "Let us all share something of our own awakenings and gifts with Caryn to help her better understand of what we speak." He looked at a man on Caryn's left. "You start, Devon."
As Caryn listened to the personal experiences of the members of the coven, her mind started to wander, daydreaming of what it would be like to be in bed with Kieran. When the man next to her finished speaking and silence descended on the room, she realized that it was time for her to take a more active part. Megan approached her and, taking her hand, led her to the middle of the circle.
Megan bent her head close to Caryn's and spoke in a low quiet voice. "Cara, I want you to read out loud what is written on this paper in as loud and as confident a voice you can manage. It's something very special for you to say to make this occasion complete for you. One thing...I forgot to ask you--people usually pick another name, a special Pagan name when they are initiated. Do you have a name that I could consecrate you with?"
Caryn thought for a minute. "Call me...call me Moira," she whispered almost soundlessly to Megan. And she looked at the piece of paper and started to read it, but she abruptly dropped it on the floor. She didn't need the paper; the words seemed etched in her mind in letters of flame. Her eyes closed, she spoke the fiery phrases in a clear voice. She swayed slightly as she stood there, and her mind whirled with wisps of thought that would not come solid.
By my faith in my own abilities and my beliefs in love and a higher purpose, I hereby harness love and truth as my tools and do beseech all forces, spirits, magickers, and powers that be to aid me in my quest for knowledge and to aid me in doing good to and for all people. I vow to use my gifts for good and never ill and to freely teach others who wish to tread my path. I vow to be true and open to myself and to and with others. With openness, honesty, truth and love, thus do I open the Way. So mote it be!
Caryn started to shudder and slump toward the floor. Her mind wanted to burst asunder with sensation. Kieran stood close to her and put his arm around her to hold her up and give her strength. "Just hold on a little longer, my love, my little Moira...just a little bit more," he whispered. In her befuddlement, she confusedly wondered how he had heard her whispers to Megan. Her body would not stop trembling and shaking.
Megan kissed Caryn on the forehead gently, saying, "Imeoidh a dtioc faidh agus a dtainig. All that will come and all that ever came will pass away. Take joy in the happiness and learn from the sorrow and be all that you were and all that you want to be. I hereby christen thee Moira in the sight and presence of the God and Goddess. Blessed be." She reached out and anointed Caryn's forehead with the oil. As the oil touched her skin, Caryn's eyes rolled up into her head and she fell bonelessly back into Kieran's arms.
Kieran picked her up and held her in his arms, waiting for the closing of the ceremony. Brian raised his arms high. "I release the powers who have gathered to aid us in our purpose. Our thanks for their aid." He grabbed the sword from the altar and walked to the edge of the circle and cut across the floor gently with the point of the sword.
The circle of people gathered there spoke in unison with him for his next words.
The circle is open but unbroken.
May the peace of the Goddess go in our hearts.
Merry meet and merry part
and merry meet again.
Blessed be.
* * * * * * * * * *
Dixit et avertens rosea service refulsit,
Ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem
Spiravere; pedes vestis defluxit ad imos,
Et vera incessu patuit dea.
--She said no more and as she turned away there was a bright glimpse of the rosy glow of her neck, and from her ambrosial head of hair a heavenly fragrance wafted; her dress flowed down right to her feet, and in her walk it showed, she was in truth a goddess.
(Virgil)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn stirred slightly as Kieran laid her on the bed in Megan and Brian's bedroom. "Paddy, darlin', you're here," she murmured. But her breathing stayed even and her eyes did not open. Kieran covered her with the quilt he found at the foot of the bed and then walked back into the living room to talk with Megan and Brian.
Caryn slipped deeper and deeper into sleep. An image started to emerge from her subconscious and she began to dream. She stood in the kitchen of a large stone hall, clad in a long gown of deep green velvet, her hair plaited and hanging down her back. An apron covered her dress to protect it from all the flour and sugar strewn on the table around her. "Quickly now, we must get the sweets into the ovens so they'll be ready in time. 'Tis milord's birthday and I want it to be perfect."
"G'wan with ye, milady. 'Tis gettin' ready for the celebration ye should be doin'! I'll keep an eye on all these shiftless loafers. Go up to your chambers now," the sturdy red-haired woman admonished her. "Ye'll nivver be claimin' that Colleen O'Malley couldn't run her kitchen as it ought. G'wan with ye now!" She smiled at Caryn and made shooing motions with her hands, moving with Caryn toward the doorway.
As Caryn made her way up the winding stairway to her tower rooms, her maidservant came down the stairs to meet her. "Lady Moira, hurry! I'll be havin' no time to do yer hair properly if ye canna hurry!"
A deep voice spoke behind Caryn. "Aislinn, she's perfect just as she is. Sure, and she's the most beautiful creature in the world." Caryn turned to see the wide smile and sparkling eyes of her husband behind her. "Just take off that apron and brush out that lovely hair and then she's all mine."
He pulled her aside on the stair and put his arms around her. He murmured quietly into her ear, making her melt and tingle at his warm breath in her ear. "You are all mine, you know. Just as we carved on that tree so long when we were but children. Paddy and Moira, forever together. I'll never let you go, never." And he bent his head down to hers and covered her mouth with his, plunging his tongue deep in her mouth and hungrily clasping her body close to his. "I want you, my love. My lady, I belong to you and you to me. I cannot wait for this evening to be over so that we may draw the drapes on our bed and be alone together."
Caryn smiled dreamily at him. "And I also, my love. But if you do not free me to Aislinn's care, the evening will not start and thus cannot end. And then what should we do?" She stepped out of his loosening grasp and began to ascend the stairs once more, looking back over her shoulder at him standing there on the stair. "Wait down in the hall, my love. 'Twill not take me long, I vow."
He blew her a kiss and watched her graceful form walk up the stairs behind Aislinn. "I would do anything in my power to have her mine forever. And she will be. By all the Gods, she will be!"
* * * * * * * * * *
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs by my side
(From Bohemian Girl: Song by Alfred Bunn
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn wrestled with the fading wisps of her dream, trying to hold them to her and regain her dream. She fought to keep from wakening. "Are you alright, Caryn?" Kieran, Megan and Brian stood around the bed, gazing at her with concerned gazes. Kieran was closest to her, and held her hand in his.
"I'm fine, truly." She felt alive, gloriously alive. Her body tingled with sensation and she could sense their presences in a way she never could before. "What have you done? I feel fantastic!"
Kieran looked deep in her eyes. "Are you sure? You were unconscious for quite awhile. We've been very concerned."
"Oh, Paddy, you know I never want to wake up in the morning...I just wanted to dream forever and ever."
Kieran looked at her very closely. "What is your name?"
"Moira O'Sullivan Mac..." and her voice faltered. "Why did I say that? My name is Caryn Alma Morrison, and I'm fine! Stop hovering!" Her voice started to sound angry as she realized that something was going on. She sat up and raised her voice to cover her fear. Her head started to spin a bit as she sat up, and she leaned back against the pillows.
"Caryn, you've got to calm down and listen. What we did at the ritual this evening was break down your shields so that you wouldn't be blocked from your powers anymore. But it also appears that your memories of your past lives are bleeding into your present memories. There is nothing wrong with this, but you're going to have to learn to distinguish between them. Don't be afraid." Kieran squeezed her hand in reassurance. "We all love you very much and we'll help you through this."
"I didn't just meet you today either, did I, Paddy? We were married once," she mused.
"And I hope will be again, my love. I've waited a long time. But it will take awhile before you're balanced again, so there's no rush."
Caryn shook her head. "But I don't entirely understand. How come these memories...these lives...I have different names and professions...but you've always been my Paddy MacBride. I'm confused."
"That explanation will have to wait a bit, my love. I didn't exactly do things the same way you did. Now lay down and rest a bit. We'll have a lot to talk about when you wake up." He smiled at her and caressed her hair. "By all the Gods, it's good to see you again and have you know me!"
"I'm still confused, but I guess it can wait. I am still rather tired." She lay back and closed her eyes.
Kieran bent down and laid a featherlight kiss on her lips. "Sleep, my love. We'll all be here when you wake up." He winked slyly as he and the others quietly left the room and shut the door behind them.
* * * * * * * * * *
To couple is a custom,
All things thereto agree:
Why should I not then love,
Since love to all is free?
(From Famous History of Friar Bacon--Unknown)
* * * * * * * * * *
Caryn's lashes lifted up slowly and she looked out to see Brian, Meg and Kieran sitting on the bed next to her. "Hi darlin'; feelin' frisky?" Kieran grinned at her.
"Mmmmmmm. And what would ye be havin' in mind, me lord?" Caryn grinned back, her mind happily ticking off the possibilities.
posted by Inkcentricities by Kerri-Ellen Kelly | 6:25 PM
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