“It is our duty to keep our race pure,” Earth Son said.
“That is our Skin Clan forefathers speaking. Kill the misbegotten children. Eliminate the unwanted genetic line. Ignore trust, obedience, loyalty, and love in the search for perfection. It was the Skin Clan, but it not our way.”
“This is insanity. They breed like mice. All of them do. The oni and the humans. This is our world. If we don’t eliminate them, they will overwhelm us.”
“If they offer their loyalty and we give them our protection — do they not become one of us? They do not lessen us — they make us greater.”
Earth Son worked his mouth for a minute, and then finally cried. “No! No, no, no! They are filthy lying creatures. I am Stone Clan head of the Westernlands, and I say that the Stone Clan will never accept this!”
“I do not care what the Stone Clan accepts.” Wolf cocked his fingers, wondering if Earth Son would be as stupid as actually start a fight with all the tengu assembled. Since Earth Son was holding shields, he could strike quickly. “Know this — the tengu are Wind Clan now. I will protect them.”
Earth Son made a motion. It was a start of a spell. What spell Wolf would never know. Wolf snapped his hand up to summon the winds, even though he would be too late to block the attack. Thorne Scratch reacted first. With deliberate calm, she struck out and beheaded Earth Son.
“We will not follow the path of the Skin Clan.” Thorne Scratch cleaned the blood from her ejae.
Red Knife, True Flame’s First, nodded. “Those that offer loyalty will be protected.”
Jewel Tears gazed down at Earth Son’s body. “As temporary Stone Clan head of the Westernlands, I recognize that non-elfin can be beholden.”
Chapter 23: Peace
Tinker woke slowly. She had been dreaming, but for once, it was a pleasant dream of the new viceroy palace being complete. She had walked from room to room to room, marveling that all this was hers. Theirs.
When she opened her eyes, she knew instantly she was in her own bed at Poppymeadow’s because Windwolf lay beside her, his black hair poured like silk across the cream satin sheets. Contentment poured through her like warm honey. She snuggled closer to him. For once the taffy thickness of the saijin-induced sleep didn’t seem threatening. If she was with Windwolf, then everything was right with the world.
And then with sudden dark coldness, she remembered the tengu. She had promised to protect them but then let the elves drug her. What had she been thinking of? The elves would have only seen the tengu as enemies.
She sat up, hands to her mouth to hold in the cries of dismay. What had happened after she was carried away? Was Jin, Grace and Xiao Chen and all the others already dead?
“Beloved?” Windwolf sat up beside her.
“Oh gods, I failed them! I promised Jin I would protect the tengu! I failed them.”
“You did not. You are my domi. Your promises are mine. I protected them. It was, after all, the right thing to do.”
She knew, in a way she wouldn’t have know a week ago, what she had asked of him, and how different he had to be from other elves to understand. There been a secret fear hiding inside of her that he wouldn’t understand, and instead of being a powerful protector, he was in truth a ruthless killer. That cold knot of fear dissolved.
“Oh, thank you!” She hugged him tight. She didn’t need anything else but to be in his arms and hear his heart beating. She snuggled closer, wanting to drown in the saijin-laced honey contentment. She never wanted to let him go; never wanted to risk losing him forever again.
“It was the least I could do after you solved that small dragon problem I had,” he said it with complete seriousness, but there was laughter in his eyes.
She laughed, tangling her fingers in his hair and pulling him down to kiss her. She delighted in his taste, the feel of his hands on her, finding the hem of her nightgown to slide up her bare skin.
“I love you,” she murmured. “I’m never letting you go.”
His gaze went serious and deep. “I am going no where, my love.”
Only a time later, after a proper renewal of their relationship, did she think about another small dragon problem.
“What happened with Impatience when we did the flux spell? Is Oilcan okay?”
“He is fine.” Windwolf smoothed away her greatest fear. “Your spell did not affect the little dragon. And the tengu have been quite useful already. With their help, we had a long discussion with Impatience about creating a pathway to Earth. The question is where to put it.”
“What about the Squirrel Hill tunnels? They go nowhere now.”
Windwolf considered for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, that would be expedient.”
Using the tunnels would open four lanes of traffic between Elfhome and Earth and yet be easily controlled. “Wow.”
“I told you, beloved, you and I would shake the universe until we find a way.”
Epilogue: Cup Of Joys
Elves may live forever, but their memories did not. Every elfin child is taught that any special memory had to be polished bright and carefully stored away at the end of a day, else it would slip away and soon be forgotten. The eve of Memory was past, but Wolf wanted to share the ceremony with his domi — even if somewhat belated. They had time now. He wanted her to know how to save the memories of all that had happened in the last few days, the good along with the bad.
Wolf settled before the altar of Nheoya, god of longevity. His beloved sat down beside him.
Tinker took a deep breath and let it out in deep, heart-felt sigh. “This is going to be like being dragged through thorns — there’s so much I regret. So many ways I’ve fucked up.”
“This is not to punish yourself, beloved. Nothing is gained from that. The worth comes from reflecting on the events — removed from the passion that blinded you at the time — and learning from the mistakes.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Think of it as something that has happened to someone else — the person that you used to be and not the person you are now.”
She nodded and lit the candle of memory. Together, they clapped to call the god’s attention to them and bestowed their gifts of silver on the altar. They sat in companionable silence, waiting to reach perfect calmness before starting the ceremony. Wolf reached his center quickly, but waited until Tinker was ready to pick up the cup of tears and taste the bitter memories.
He allowed himself to reflect on his failure with Jewel Tears and the bitter things she had to say to him. There was some truth in what she had to say. He allowed silence to create a gulf between his heart and hers, so that their dreams took different form. He would have to remember this, remind himself to keep his heart open to his beloved, so that they could share their dreams.
Dawn was breaking, and the cups of tears were drained, so they set aside their bitter memories. As light spilled into the temple, they lifted the cup of joys.
All Wolf’s new moments of happiness centered on Tinker. They were scattered through his days, bright like diamonds. As he took them out, played them close and stored them away, he found a pattern to them. In every occasion, he had known he had at last found the one that could not only understand his vision, but see possibilities that he hadn’t considered, and had the ability to make it real. He found at the root of it all, a loneliness he hadn’t allowed himself to acknowledge, an awareness that he had been totally alone while surrounded by people, an emptiness now completely filled.