“So you hunt on the island, then?”
“We do, but rarely. Only for what we need. We rarely eat the meat of the animals, so we mostly hunt them for their skins.”
“I know you don’t eat the meat. You were so fascinated by the foods we eat, it was clear you didn’t experience food from game or grain. So what do you eat? As we speak of food I grow hungry.”
“Of course! You didn’t eat this night. For that matter neither have I. I had almost forgotten. Here, let me show you how we eat.”
She took him back out to the main body of the cave. She picked up a container. The hollow drumlike object seemed to hold bones or stones in its center. When she shook the drum, it rattled loudly. Shortly after she put it down, a young girl appeared and dropped to her knees before Jileana, bowing her head.
“What may I do for you, my mistress?”
“Sana, this is Jaykun. He is my guest. You are to get him anything he needs if it is possible. He knows little of our ways and you are to help him become acclimated to life here. For now, we are hungry.”
“Yes, my mistress. I will prepare a meal for you.” The young girl stood up and hurried away.
“Sit. Relax. We have had a long day,” Jileana said invitingly as she sat down on the smooth cave floor and patted the floor beside her. Jaykun took her invitation readily, taking the seat beside her. She was smiling at him, looking soft and beautiful to his tired eyes. There was something decadent about having her completely naked all the time. He could reach out and touch her any way he liked at any time he liked. There was no confining clothing to get in his way. He had free access to all of her dark and beautiful bare skin. He quickly tried to quell those compelling thoughts because his lack of clothing allowed it to be all too obvious when he found her arousing. Still, his restraint came too late and she leaned into him with a chuckle. Her hand came to rest on his chest, her fingers drifting silkily down his breastbone.
“Food first,” she admonished him. “Then we will settle all other appetites.”
He gave her a low, short growl. “I cannot help it if you are so unbelievably delicious to my eyes. Especially if you run about indecently lacking in clothing.”
“Clothing is highly overrated. It weighs a body down and tangles it up. It is impractical.”
“Yes, I can see that, considering how you live. But you have spent the past few days learning and adapting to living in my world. Now I will be given the same opportunity in yours.”
“And are you looking forward to that?” Her gaze drifted from his. “I know I offered all of this to you without any warning. I must say, you have taken very well to it.”
“Before I was cursed by the gods, I roamed this world with my brother, doing what I am doing now, only voluntarily rather than being indentured to it as I am now. I traveled far and wide, and in those travels I saw things, many wondrous and magical things that you could never imagine. The adventure that gained me my immortality alone is quite a story. It taught me long ago to be aware and to be flexible. I should have known there was something about you…something different and magical. Actually, I did know. I simply was so taken with you that I didn’t allow myself to see what was right before my eyes.”
“It was not my intention to trick you. I didn’t know what you would think of me. I had to protect my people. The Krizans know of us, but no others, really. We are mostly thought of as beings of myth or legend. It is best that way. Almost none know of the portal. Fortunately, the portal between our worlds is only open for the span of the week of the full moon. The three nights waxing, the day of the full moon, and three days waning. As soon as the moon wanes three nights the portal closes until the next moon.”
“That’s why we had to go tonight. It was going to—” Jaykun took a breath in harshly. “Are you saying the portal is closed now? Closed until the next full moon?”
“Why, yes. Is there something wrong with that?”
He reached out and grasped her arm, giving her a little shake. “I was only supposed to be here a few days! You mean I am trapped here until the moon turns full again?”
“Trapped? This is no prison, Jaykun,” she said sharply, her eyes attaining a wounded appearance. “You will be treated as my honored guest. I don’t think you appreciate the rarity of the invitation I have extended to you. I warned you…tonight or a month from tonight. I said it more than once.”
It was true. She had said it more than once; he simply had not understood her. Had not understood the limitations involved. From her perspective they had been obvious.
The truth was, he should never have come in the first place. He should have remained focused on his newly won city. He should have focused on getting his brothers home to their wives. Instead he had foolishly and selfishly chased a woman into another world. Looking back now he couldn’t understand why he would do something so headlong. Why? Why had he done it?
He looked at Jileana and he knew why. Because he had been unable to reconcile the idea that she would leave him so soon after he had just gotten to know her. He had not been ready to let her go. He couldn’t explain it, but he had not been ready.
And now his brothers would suffer for it. It would be a waning now before they could leave for their homes, forcing them to travel in the growing colder weather. That and they would worry about him when he did not return after the few days’ time he had told them he would be gone. The term “worry” was perhaps an understatement. They would be aggressive as they searched for him, taking ships into the storms that surrounded Serenity, not realizing that the island was magically protected against all human intruders.
“Is there no other way out of here?”
“There are only the moon portals to the Overworld. Your world.”
“That’s what you call it? The Overworld?”
“Yes. And the ocean is the Underworld. Serenity lies between.”
“And no ships can ever make it through the storms?”
“Never,” she assured him. “Ships that try are either turned back or completely destroyed. It’s madness to even try.”
“How many moon portals are there?”
“There are several throughout the oceans, but to go through them would mean traveling a distance from here. The portal we went through is the closest one to the actual Isle of Serenity. Ah. Our supper,” she said when Sana returned with a plate of multicolored food on it.
“Wonderful. I have missed this,” Jileana said with eager anticipation. “Your food is delicious—don’t get me wrong. But this is so much more delicate and varied.”
“What is it?”
“It’s fish of course,” she said, reaching for a yellow fleshy strip of meat. That was when he realized it was raw.
“You…you don’t cook your food?” he asked, trying hard not to sound horrified.
“No. We simply debone it and eat it as nature intended it to be eaten. Try it. I promise you, you will like it. Try the orange one. It is delpi fish, a sweeter, fattier fish. It simply melts on your tongue. Go on, try it,” she urged him. “If you like, you can wrap it in seaweed or kelp. Like this.” She demonstrated, rolling the fish up in the seaweed and then popping it in its entirety into her mouth. “Mmm.”
With a brave, steady breath, Jaykun imitated what she had done, and after only a moment of hesitation, he popped the fish into his mouth and began to chew. To his surprise a burst of salty sweetness washed over his tongue. He had never eaten raw fish before; he had never realized it could actually taste good. Fish had always been one of his least favorite dishes, the flesh of it always so dried out from cooking, in his opinion. But prepared like this, it was lush and juicy and so surprising.
Jileana laughed at the expression on his face. Try the purple one. It is more tart. We cradle it in kofi leaves, which are sweet, to offset the bitterness. Like this.” She demonstrated, laying the flesh in a cuplike leaf with purple veins running throughout it. She took a bite, then offered the rest to him.
Before he knew it, they had cleaned
the plate of every last piece of fish and all the leaves and seaweed. More than satisfied, Jaykun sat back with a sigh and smiled at her.
“I can see now why our foods seemed so different from yours.”
“I am afraid you have a greater variety than we do. But our food is still delicious and there is plenty of it. The ocean is a trove of different kinds of fish and even we have not experienced them all. But we do have our favorites.”
“I think I liked the orange one best.”
She laughed. “Most children love that one.”
“Are you saying I have the palate of a child?”
“You can take it that way if you like. But the delpi is a sweet-fleshed fish and that appeals to children. But it happens to be one of my favorites as well, so believe me, I am not judging you.”
“Well, I will take some consolation in that. So…now what do we do?”
“We sleep. It is late. You still need to heal and rest some more. I have a bed, as you see, or we can sleep in the ocean. There is nothing like sleeping in the water, your body floating free.”
“And risk being drawn out to sea? No, thank you.”
She laughed again. “We tether ourselves so that doesn’t happen.”
“I think I will stick to the bed. It is what I am used to,” he said, moving over to it and sitting down upon it. She rose and came over to him, doing the same. She leaned into his side and reached to catch his mouth with her own, giving him a slow, searching kiss.
“Mmm. I don’t foresee much in the way of rest if you continue to kiss me like that.”
“Don’t worry. I will let you sleep…for now. We have had a big night and it is much to absorb.” She smiled at him and fingered a strand of his hair, smoothing the curl of it. “There will be much to see tomorrow and I must introduce you to the empress. Just remember, she is a woman of great logic. She will want to be reasoned with in an intelligent manner. But like any monarch, she can be pushed too far. She will not tolerate someone telling her what to do.”
“I am usually a bully when it comes to this, forcing Weysa’s will upon people. It is my duty to do so. The goddess would not give any quarter and neither must I. However, since there is no way I could bring an army here to bully your people, I will have to be content with using diplomacy. I will be satisfied if I can get your empress to raise even one temple to Weysa.”
“It is a reasonable goal. I don’t see how she can refuse.”
“I will ask for more of course and settle for less. I will approach this as a bargaining would be approached.”
“Just be careful. Don’t be greedy.”
“No. I won’t. Stop fretting. I have done this before,” Jaykun assured her.
“Very well. Now come to bed. Sleep.” She moved to draw him into a reclining position. Once he lay down, she cuddled up along his side and rested her head on his shoulder.
She closed her eyes, and with a deep sigh of contentment, she fell asleep.
Jaykun awoke to a heavy, strong punch slamming into his chest. He was grabbed by both arms and hauled up onto his feet. No mean trick considering his size and weight. Still disoriented, he shoved at the man who was manhandling him and became aware enough in time to throw up an arm and block the roundhouse punch aiming for his head. Instinctively he countered the attack and sent a crushing punch into his attacker’s jaw. The man, of equal build and strength to Jaykun, staggered back under the force of the hit. He recovered quickly, though, and lunged forward with renewed fervor.
But suddenly Jileana was between them, shoving the other man away with all of her strength and standing protectively in front of Jaykun. “Silan, enough! Enough of this!” she barked at him.
“What is he doing here?” Silan demanded of her, his big body lunging forward threateningly. But she pushed him back again and Jaykun realized Silan allowed it because he didn’t want to hurt her. “In your bed?”
“He was sleeping. And I had hoped this morning he would be making love to me. But you have ruined that!”
“Good! You are an unmated woman, Jileana! This is highly improper!”
She sighed as if in exasperation. “Silan, you are the most uptight and prudish selkie ever to be born on this planet. That mode of thinking is so far out of date it has a grizzled old beard. And even if it were a reasonable thought, why would you try to resolve the issue by throwing punches? Honestly. Are all my brothers this pigheaded?”
Ah. Brother. Well, that explained things a little more clearly to Jaykun. For a moment he had been afraid that Silan was her lover and Jaykun had inadvertently found himself in the bed of another man’s woman. In truth, he didn’t know enough about Jileana to know if stringing two men along at the same time was something she would do. But the thought sat ill with him. No, he realized, he did know her well enough to know she wasn’t the sort to do something like that. She was a decent and honest person. He had gotten that much of a sense of her.
“Your sister is an adult capable of making her own choices,” he said to Silan. “She is a sensible, intelligent woman. It is her choice who she decides to consort with, is it not?”
Silan seethed, growled, and clenched his fists as if he were trying to use every ounce of his self-control to keep from ripping his sister away from Jaykun and lunging for Jaykun’s throat.
Jaykun smiled. Let him try, he thought. He would be in for a rude awakening. Jaykun was not easily brought down.
“Silan, enough,” Jileana again barked at him.
“Where have you been?” Silan demanded after turning his attention back to her. “Do you know the state you’ve put Father in? You’ve been to the Overworld, haven’t you? That’s where this is from, isn’t it?” he demanded of her, jerking his chin in Jaykun’s direction.
“Silan, stop being rude!” she snapped, losing her temper. She placed a hand at the center of her brother’s chest and shoved him hard. “Yes, I’ve been to the Overworld.” She shoved him again. “And yes, he is a human.” Another shove. “And yes, he is my lover. And yes, this is none of your business! Now, you either let me introduce you properly and civilly or you leave right now.”
“Fine. I’m leaving. And I’m going to tell Father what you’ve done.”
“No, you aren’t! You are going to allow me the courtesy of explaining myself to Father without your interference and prejudiced opinions!”
“Just try to stop me,” he dared her on a sneer. Then he turned on his heel and marched out of the cave.
“Damn. I’m sorry,” she said, turning to face him. “Truly sorry for my brother’s deplorable behavior. Your welcome here should not be like that.”
“It’s fine,” Jaykun assured her as he pulled her closer. “He’s not the first brother I’ve met who disliked a man courting his sister.”
“Is that what this is? Courting?” she asked with a tease in her tone. “It feels so much more sordid than that.”
He laughed. “Perhaps. But you are worth more than a cold, thoughtless tumble. I cannot promise you much, but I can promise you that.”
“Why, Jaykun, that’s practically romantic,” she said with a laugh. “Now come, let’s break our fast, and we can go see the empress and then my father. Hopefully we can attend him before my brother poisons him too harshly against you.”
“Then perhaps we should attend your father first and the empress next. I do not wish for your father to think too ill of me. It’s bad enough that I am committing egregious sins with his daughter.”
“How funny humans are, that love is a sin.”
“Well, love is not so much a sin, but a man using a woman for sex with no thought to making her a wife is apparently frowned upon in polite society. It is different from culture to culture of course, but it seems to be a trend throughout all the lands I have been to.”
“It is like that here in some respects as well. Or it was. Some people prefer the old ways, but the younger ones are more free-spirited like I am. My father will have to accept that about me. And he has…for the most part. But my
brothers are another matter. They are overprotective of me. Severely so in Silan’s case.”
“Well, I do not wish to incur the wrath of any of your brothers or your father. By the by, how many brothers are we talking about?”
“Only six.”
“Six!” Jaykun choked out. “And all are overprotective of you?”
“No. There is a fair enough balance between those who are and those who are not. I mean, to some extent they all are, but some of them understand that it is my life to live as I see fit. So long as you do not harm me, you have nothing to worry about from them.”
“And how many are zealously overprotective like Silan?”
“Silan is in a class by himself. However, there are two others of a similar bent. Not quite so fanatical, but similar.”
“Lovely. And the other three are more fair. Well, at least they are split in twain and not all will be wanting my head on a platter.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, patting his chest. “We’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.”
There was the sound of a throat clearing behind her and Jileana turned about to see Dremu standing there awkwardly.
“Dremu! I forgot all about you! I am so sorry!” she exclaimed.
“It’s all right, my lady. I found a place to sleep with some of the other servants. They got a cave just for those who are coming and going as guests. It was nice. Nicest place I’ve slept in a long time.”
Dremu put the trunk he’d had tied to his back on the floor of the cave. “I checked,” he said. “Not one drop of water got in.”
“It was a part of the spell I cast. It makes things light and waterproof. It helps when we have to travel here and there with things we don’t want to get wet for whatever reason. Though I must say it isn’t something that comes up often. We usually don’t mind getting things wet. Now come on. We have a busy day ahead. Dremu, you can follow Mishka around today. She is a serving girl who works here. Follow her lead and you will learn what is expected of you.”
“Yes, my lady. Anything you want,” he said, bowing low to her.