Ch 9
"How did you get here?" I asked Dale as we settled in chairs across from one another.
"I don't know. Really." He shrugged, "I was walking home and all of a sudden I was standing in the middle of a corn field."
"Was the land at your feet different?"
"Yeah, I was standing in a circle that looked like the sidewalk, green grass on both sides and a curb. It was like someone had cut a gigantic circle out of the earth and just plopped it down."
"So you were taken by a change circle as well. That's good,"
"How so?"
"Well, if we find out how to send one of us home, the other one is as good as gone as well."
"So I'm guessing you did the same thing?"
"What season did you leave?"
"Spring."
"So you were gone after me, but I just woke up the other day."
"Becky did call me once to swear at me and ask if I'd seen you." He leaned back in his chair and smirked. "I had to ask her why she thought I'd seen you; she said that you'd mentioned finding me and ripping out my guts."
"I was drunk. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a valid idea." I pointed out.
"It's not that funny, the next week there were cops at my door." He grimaced, I just rolled my eyes.
"Pity they didn't arrest you."
"Look!" Dale got to his feet with an angry push and started yelling, "I told Becky that I wanted to move on, that we should see other people! I wasn't cheating on her, I broke up with her- no matter what she told you! I'm fucking tired of this!"
"Why didn't you tell me that?" I jumped to my own feet and pushed him back into his chair. "If she didn't accept that, it was her problem, and you let her poison others against you. If you don't stand up for yourself than you deserve all the spite you got."
"I didn't care, its not like I wanted to spend time with her friends anyway." He shrugged.
"Well now we're being forced to spend time together. So I suggest you make up with Lord Breon, apologize for pretending to be someone you're not, and get on with helping me figure this out."
I left the library to Dale and Lord Breon while his wife showed Skydancer and myself to the womens bower. She had a lot of questions about blooming bushes that Skydancer graciously answered while we waiting amongst sewing women and young children for Lord Breon to finish. The kids were absolutely adorable. Most of them wore a generic shift and loose pants as they ran around the bower and pestered everyone equally. One of them climbed into my lap and demanded a song. I giggled at the young boy and wrapped my arms around him, I remembered some songs Mercedes Lackey wrote and I had downloaded, so I sang a couple of those in English. The lady watched with a small smile on her lips as I sang the ballads about Vanyel; she obviously recognized the melodies, but the words were unfamiliar. I didn't know what they would be in Valdemarian. Eventually I ran out of those and began singing Simon and Garfunkle.
"Are you going to Scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme…"
I wished I had a guitar and someone to play it, supply me with descant and bolster my own confidence. But the basic melody and the soft lyrics were soothing, the child fell asleep in my arms, while others were leaning against the women and pillows that scattered on the floor.
"Hello darkness my old friend…" I finished the first and started the second when Dale walked in to sit against my leg. He started singing the bass while I continued with the melody. I didn't know he could sing, let alone know Sound of Silence instead of memorizing generic rap. I hated to admit it, but I was impressed.
When we finished the kids were all asleep, and the lady's were smiling happily. Dale stood to scoop the kid from my lap and hand him over to his mother.
"So while I'm trying to dig myself out of a whole of my own making you're down here singing tots to sleep. How fair is that?" he griped when we stepped out into the hall. He took the slap I gave his stomach philosophically, considering it could have been a fist.
"Be a rock, or better yet, an island. Don't cry over things you can't change." I chuckled when he frowned and called me a geek with way to much music trivia in my head.
"Hey, if you caught the reference, that means that you're as much a folk fan as I am, so don't start."
Skydancer joined us in the hall and I introduced them. Unfortunatly Skydancer didn't have much Valdemarian under his belt yet, and I couldn't speak it at all. I was the only one who could converse with both of them freely. So I ended up translating for a few minutes before it suddenly occurred to me.
Dale?
He blinked, and then turned to look down at me.
"Was that you?"
Yeppers! I was wondering if I could do this! This is awesome!
+Are you speaking in his mind? Is he receptive as well? Skydancer wanted to know.
Yep, he is, can you speak to me like this Dale?
He frowned and then shrugged, "I can't try. What do I do?"
Just think your words at me.
-Like this?
Congrats!
+Yes, it should be easier than having Enigma translate for us
-Enigma?
It's my name here.
-Do I have to call you that?
Dale… whatever.
-Fine, llama face.
Dale!
He just grinned and left me sputtering behind him, Skydancer looking down at me with a curious expression.
"What is a llama?"
skydancer
- dale