Unquiet Slumber (35 page)

“As long as they don’t live in trees!” Nathaniel exclaimed with hope.

Tianna chuckled. “I loved staying in the trees and had a wonderful time. You were so cute hanging upside down.” She gave Nathaniel a big smile.

Nathaniel just snorted in return. “One of these times, we’re going to be at a village that gives me the advantage and then look out Faye Girl!”

Tianna laughed as she walked over to prepare her horse for a long ride. “Don’t hold your breath, Blue Boy.”

By the time the few days of traveling were up, they were ready to visit Eden and to once again be shrouded behind magic. Their travels had been much harder now that they had to be on constant alert day and night. Although Tianna slept in Nathaniel’s arms, her other protectors slept very close by.

When they exited another set of woods, they heard water babbling. As they approached a large river, Seth repeated what the wizard book said, “The village sits on top of an elevated plateau overlooking a river.” He looked at the cliff face that hugged one side of the river and said, “I think we need to go up.” He pointed to a trail that gradually ascended toward a plateau.

Once at the top, they all began to feel a tingling sensation, and Tianna knew they had arrived at their next village. The feeling here was more like Willow, so everyone relaxed a little.

Tianna had memorized the spell she needed to use. She rode up as close to the feeling as she could get and spoke the words. Soon there was a shimmering and the village of Eden appeared. As before, they were greeted at the entrance and welcomed with warm handshakes.

The Faerdi greeting party consisted of tall, thin males who were wearing long, colorful robes and loose fitting pants in flowing materials. The robes were open, revealing bare chests. Although they seemed fit, they weren’t overly muscular.

The females that approached had figures that were much more pronounced than in previous villages. They were extremely feminine, appearing strong and protective as they carried young children on their hips. They wore loose fitting dresses in varying length in the same flowing materials. The tops of many of these dresses plunged very low or were tied loosely up the front revealing ample breasts. Given the number of nursing mothers they saw, Tianna thought their dress design was very practical. Her fellow travelers just enjoyed the view. For once her figure wasn’t going to stand out. One thing they all had in common were welcoming smiles that made their brilliantly colored eyes twinkle.

They were escorted into their village. Instead of wooden or stone structures, they lived in large tents, which came in all shapes, sizes, and colors of the rainbow. In Trille, the streets were straight and buildings arranged neatly in rows. Not here. There seemed to be no method to where structures were placed and they seemed to run into each other. The roads, if you want to call them that, were just wide paths that snaked their way in and around the tents. The village resembled a maze.

The doors to many of the tents were open and Tianna watched as villagers, many of them children, seemed to come and go freely. This wasn’t a village of many individual families. The Faerdi lived as a very large, closely knit community.

As they walked along a path toward a large center tent, the greeters asked about the travelers. Nathaniel wasn’t about to let Tianna repeat the same mistake as in the last village, so he instantly introduced himself and Tianna as a mated pair.

It was apparent by the number of children they saw that family was very important to this village. When Tianna asked about this, she was informed that they believed the more offspring you had, the more blessed your family was. The elders asked how many children Nathaniel and Tianna had. Nathaniel, thinking quick on his feet, told them a story of how they had been together for a short time and hadn’t yet been blessed by children.

The elders seemed overly thrilled. “You must attend our evening meal at the full moon. It’s for mated pairs to ask for blessing on their union to make it fertile.”

“Maybe you’ll be blessed while you are here.” An elderly, heavy set female said sweetly while she patted Tianna on her stomach.

Nathaniel chuckled and said, “A little Tianna running around would be sweet. Right, mate?” He gave Tianna a kiss on her head and patted her on her stomach.

When Gabriel started to talk about all of his descendants, the elders’ eyes opened wide and they whacked Gabriel on the back with a roaring laugh. Gabriel was going to be treated like a god while he was in Eden.

As they continued their tour around the village, they observed how the females pampered their mates. They seemed to consider it a great honor to take care of them, and the males in turn had only eyes for their mate. They flirted endlessly with each other.

When Tianna asked about this behavior the answer was, “A happy mate is a content mate. A content mate will give you lots of babies.” Seeing the number of children running around, their theory seemed to work.

Tianna also loved to watch how the males treated their mates that were with child or were caring for small infants. The family roles completely reversed. The males doted on their female’s every need and rarely let her lift a finger.

Nathaniel’s grin grew larger the longer he observed the normal couple behavior. The males touched and kissed their mates whenever the opportunity presented it, and he quickly started to mimic this behavior with Tianna. Nathaniel leaned over and whispered into her ear, “I’m really going to like staying at this village, mate.” He kissed her cheek and then swatted her on her behind.

Tianna could see that Nathaniel was going to keep his promise and get back at her for all of the teasing she did to him in Willow. When she thought back to all of the trouble she brought to their journey, she decided they needed to be pampered for a little while. She would happily serve all of her protectors while they were in Eden and tolerate Nathaniel’s mimicked behavior.

When they entered a tent full of piles of clothing, they were given local clothes to wear. The flowing robes were quite attractive on the Draaks and showed off their muscular chests. When Tianna first put it on her outfit, she questioned its design. The other females told her, since she hadn’t yet been blessed with a child, it was to keep her mate interested so that their nights would be fruitful. Tianna’s cheeks heated up as she peeked down and saw how much of her figure the dress revealed.

When Tianna approached Nathaniel the first time, he grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap. He was obviously interested, and she feared nights were going to be challenging. Gabriel also approved of Tianna’s new wardrobe. He decided he needed to stay very busy to help distract his growing urges.

Over the first few days, the Draaks tried to learn about the village trade. Besides being exceptional with weaving colorful materials, they also had extraordinary skills with potions and the use of herbs. Some of the mixtures they made were used to create the wide variety of colors they used to dye their fabrics.

In exchange for being taught village skills, Gabriel and Marcus helped them build new tents for some of the growing families. Seth gave the children lessons about the stars at night.

Nathaniel spent any time he wasn’t chasing his mate around working with the local healers. Everyone was fascinated by Nathaniel and Tianna’s use of blue fire for healing. Anyone that even had the slightest ache or injury requested their healing power just so that they could feel the tingling sensation. Tianna swore she had many repeat patients.

Gabriel continued his warrior lessons and encouraged local protectors to join in. He wanted to assess their abilities to fight. Although they weren’t physically strong, they held the ability to be very cunning fighters. They used spells to trick their attackers into seeing things that weren’t there, or they made sounds to frighten or confuse them. Combining these skills with his warriors’ fighting abilities could make them an excellent addition to a fighting team.

Tianna was once again euphoric and tried to do and learn everything. The villagers were amazed by her connection to nature as well as her potion and spell skills. They exchanged knowledge, and Tianna was thrilled to be with people who embraced her uniqueness.

Like in Willow, whenever the opportunity presented itself, Tianna would be found with a child nestled in her arms or resting on her hip. She was often asked to carry the babies that needed calming. Her blue fire or just her humming or purring would always do the trick. She would loosen the front of her shirt and press them against her bare skin. They would snuggle contentedly against her. Nathaniel would watch, wishing he was one of the babies.

Tianna was so tired at night Nathaniel often helped her to their tent. Much to his dismay, she would be fast asleep by the time he finished braiding her hair before bed.

One day, Tianna met Jesper, the village wizard, and his young assistant named Kaylee. She appeared to be around 14 years old. They both were overly fascinated by Tianna’s hair. When she told him that she was part Faye, he let out a shout of joy. He said Faye hair had all kinds of magical properties and asked her if it would be alright to take it out of the braids so he could work with it. When she agreed, he also asked Nathaniel, as her mate, for permission to touch her.

Nathaniel chuckled at the idea that he had to give permission for other males to approach her. He agreed, but stayed close by to make sure he didn’t touch his mate any more than was necessary.

Once out of the braids, the wizard could make her hair act alive. He could make it reach out and caress his fingers and wrap lovingly around his arms. As Nathaniel had always suspected, her hair did have magical qualities all of its own.

Jesper took a strand of her hair to show how much power was in it. He proceeded to demonstrate how his normal potions were greatly enhanced by just adding a small piece of her hair. After the display of magic, many of the adults and children asked to touch her hair. Tianna ended up just leaving it out of the braids, and Nathaniel got pats on his back for having such a unique mate.

Seeing Kaylee’s excitement in assisting her wizard master, Tianna had to chuckle. She reminded her so much of herself when she was a young apprentice. Over the next few days, she made a point of spending time with Kaylee, where they shared stories about life as a female wizard.

Tianna asked, “My parents realized that my future would most likely include being a wizard’s apprentice when I demonstrated my healing fire at age 3. What made you stand out so that they decided being Jesper’s apprentice was in your future?”

Kaylee replied, “Besides sneaking out and being under Jesper’s feet helping him with spells and potions whenever I could, I also showed unusual skills with those expecting a child.”

Tianna’s curiosity was piqued and she asked, “What kind of skills?”

Kaylee explained, “By just touching a woman’s belly, I could tell if she was pregnant and whether it was going to be a boy or a girl. I could even identify the exact position of the baby as the baby grew larger.”

Tianna was impressed. “That’s a wonderful skill to have in a village so dedicated to family. It could give you the ability to help move the baby into proper position before attempting a delivery. I’ve lost several babies because of being born breech.”

Kaylee smiled with pride as she said, “They say that I’ve saved many babies and their mothers.”

They continued to share stories of when their various skills first emerged. Tianna saw so much of herself in Kaylee and decided to help her start her own wizard book. She even shared with her the spell on how to magically lock the book so others couldn’t open it.

Tianna chuckled, “Just look for the ‘X’ to see if anyone attempted to peek. My wizard master still carries the mark and so does Nathaniel.”

Tianna found that she enjoyed working with a young apprentice and promised to find a way to come back to see her someday to check on her progress.

On the night before they were to leave the village, the mated members of the quest were asked to attend the special blessing meal on the full moon. Nathaniel couldn’t wait to attend this meal with his mate on his arm.

Nathaniel arrived at the special meal with Tianna, acting as if they were a happily mated couple. Gabriel and Marcus also attended; Gabriel was allowed to attend even though his mates were no longer living. Seth, being unmated, was sent off with the children and all of the young adults that hadn’t yet taken a mate.

As the mated couples walked into the gathering place, they were led to a large open area which was surrounded completely by draped colorful fabric with trees towering behind them. There was a large fire in the center of the room that was already in full blaze, and low tables were positioned on the ground at a slight distance from the center fire. Around these tables were pillows and rugs for people to sit or lay on. The only light, other than the fire, came from torches that were scattered throughout where people would be eating.