Arosa looked at the little girl as she adjusted the gold, symbiot-created glasses on her nose. Morah smoothed down the white shirt she wore over a glittering pink gown as she resumed her seat on the pink bench.
Arosa wondered for the thousandth time if she should have come here. It had been an impulsive decision to come visit the Valdier palace. She was searching for answers and hoped that perhaps seeing how the older Valdier interacted would give her some guidance.
Instead, she felt more confused than ever. The longing inside her grew stronger as she watched the couples laughing, kissing, and talking with each other. Those moments reminded her of her evening with Tamblin. With still no response from Aikaterina or Arilla, she had sought the only other person who she thought could help her—Morah.
“Okays, where weres we?” Morah asked.
“You were explaining that what I was feeling is love,” Arosa replied from where she was lying on Morah’s bed.
Morah nodded, almost toppling her princess hat. “Okays. Buttercup, you takes notes this times,” she instructed.
Arosa gave the little girl a faint smile when she looked at the symbiot over the rim of her glasses. Buttercup was laying on the floor in the shape of a rabbit. There was a child’s tablet lying between the symbiot’s paws. Buttercup wiggled her nose and sniffed the tablet.
I think I’m glad that Arilla can’t see me now, Arosa ruefully thought.
“Okays, does the Kings of the Leprechaun’s makes you mad?” Morah asked.
Arosa frowned and began to sit up. She stopped when Morah gave her a pointed look and shook her head. Leaning back and relaxing against the pile of pillows again, she demurely folded her hands like Morah had instructed earlier and shook her head.
“No. Should he?” she asked.
“Onlys if yous in love like Aunty Riley or likes Springs. They is always threatenings to buries a body. Spring could do it becauses she likes to digs holes. Maybes I should tell Aunty Riley she needs to talks to Spring,” Morah responded, tapping a finger to her chin.
“Is that the only way to know if what you feel for someone is love?” Arosa inquired.
Morah shook her head. “No. My mommy and daddy loves each others a lots. They have a quiets love. I thinks that is the kinds of love that you and the Leprechaun has,” she decided.
“What do you suggest I do?” Arosa asked.
Morah stood up and walked over to her. She watched with growing apprehension as Morah held her hand and looked at her with a solemn expression. Worried, she sat up.
“You’s gots to go to him. Loves is what makes the worlds go round,” she said in a low, determined tone.
“But—what do I tell him when he finds out that I’m not really the Queen of the Wood Fairies?” Arosa asked in a hushed voice.
“If he’s loves you, it won’t matters. My daddy didn’t cares that my mommy was a dragon. He loves her because she’s my mommy,” Morah declared.
Arosa frowned. She wasn’t sure it was the same thing—but maybe it was. She lifted a hand to her chest. The strange beating was there again, along with a fluttering in her stomach. Both feelings were alien to her.
“I’ll go,” she said.
Morah reached over and hugged her. “Don’t forgets to tells him the truth. Mommy says if you tells the truth, he’s gots to forgive you,” she added.
Arosa nodded. “I will. Thank you for your guidance, Little Priestess,” she replied.
“Are you hungrys? My daddy was making us some dinner,” Morah said.
Arosa shook her head. “No, thank you. I have a few things to do before I go,” she said.
“Do you minds if I eat all of your foods? I’s starving,” Morah said, rubbing her tummy.
“It would be a shame for it to go to waste,” she teased.
“Oh, I forgots something! You needs a pretty dress. I have lots of pretty dresses,” Morah exclaimed.
Arosa wanted to protest, but the excitement on Morah’s face was too much for her tender heart to decline. Ten minutes later, she clutched a beautiful green and silver doll gown to her chest and stepped through an opening back to the Hive.
She solidified and walked along the path, rolling the silky material of the doll gown between her fingers. She looked around the long cavern. While others who came here saw rough stone and boulders, it was an illusion.
She waved her hand and a ripple of gold flowed outward, revealing her home. She brushed her fingers against the polished marble statues of different beings from many places in the universe. The statues moved under her touch. The polished marble floor had designs of different star systems embedded.
She smiled when she saw a new image forming. It reminded her of the power of her species. Young symbiots lounged along the River of Life that streamed out into space through the large Gateway. She looked up at the ceiling. Brilliant colorful ribbons of stars, planets, and nebulas floated overhead.
Along each side, rows of pillars held up the arched ceiling and no longer looked worn or crumbling. The smooth, cream-colored surfaces were now unblemished with age. Behind the columns , unseen by others, were alcoves that gave privacy to those that visited and those that lived here.
She walked over to her own alcove where she enjoyed creating replicas of worlds and the creatures who she imagined would one day live on them. She traced her fingers over the current model she was working on. She smiled when she realized it was very similar to Valdier.
She looked at the table next to the chaise lounge where she had placed an ornate symbiot bracelet with the etchings of a bat in flight. The symbiot was pulsing with light. She hurried over to it and picked up the bracelet.
“Show me,” she requested.
Flashes of images poured through the symbiot to her. “Tamblin,” she breathed when she saw his tired face.
The symbiot tied to Batty shared the struggle against the poachers. Arosa trembled when she saw time after time Tamblin barely escaping from the traps set by the larger men. She closed her eyes.
“I can’t look the other way and ignore them,” she whispered.
She retraced her steps to the main cavern. Impatient, she dissolved and soared across to the star chart for Tamblin’s small moon. She activated the appropriate gateway and floated up to the platform.
“I’m coming, Tamblin,” she said, stepping through the gateway.
5
The Minor Moon of Leviathan
“Batty!” Tamblin yelled as the small bat tumbled from the sky.
He tightened his grip on the saddle as they spiraled downward. He could smell the pungent scent of burned hair. The tiny bat struggled to right himself.
Tamblin cursed when a rock wall came into view in front of them. Batty frantically flapped his wings, but they slammed into the wall. The impact knocked the rider from his perch.
He clung to the saddle, his feet dangling as they slid down the rock face. Tamblin lost his tenuous hold on the saddle when Batty used his thumbs to grip a narrow crevice in the rock.
For a brief second, he was weightless until his feet connected with a ledge. He teetered backwards, his arms flailing outward as he tried to keep his balance. He looked over his shoulder and swallowed. While the ledge he stood on might not be very high for a poacher, it was deadly to someone his size. He twisted and pressed his back against the rock wall behind him.