Home Sweet Home

[Guest Del Marian Girl]

Megan slowly opened the door the quiet spread that was Evermore. She wondered if the name had been spoken in jest, though she didn’t think even Fafnir would have really gotten the joke.

“Hello?” she called out, straining to hear any signs of life inside.......

and finding none.

She gave a low sigh and sat the two shopping bags on the floor, her arms finally thankful for some reprieve. A cart next time. Even if it’s just for a loaf of bread.

Once her arms stopped shaking she began to take stock in her surroundings. The kitchen was spacious but primitive by her standards, not even one plug for a coffee maker. It was clearly built with pre-industrialism in mind. She could have cooked and entire Thanksgiving meal for 24 (including turkey) on the burners of the wood stove alone, never mind the cavernous maw of the oven that she could have roasted a whole boar if she had wedged it in there sideways.

Needless to say, this was a big house.

Megan had to wonder as to how extensive was Fafnir’s family? She was already muddled with the immediate family ties, knowing Meli and Janis were mixed in the genetic soup somehow, which mean magic users. She gave a slight shudder at the thought. No, it wasn’t in any fear of the wielders themselves. It was just the idea that any misspoken spell around her could easily go whizzing through the house and set the couch on fire.

That would make for one hell of a holiday homecoming.

Her attention now drifted to the living room. She had noted before that the furniture seemed odd and out of place. What was glaringly obvious was that it was native. She recognized the French Provincial rocking chair from the Earth realm right off the bat, and she was sure the scrollwork on the couch was at least from the same planet, if not the same era. This caused her to frown. Just how much a jet setter Was Fafnir?

He was interplanetary hopping; it would explain a lot, mainly why he wasn’t here. There were no notes, or any sign that he’d been at the house since her sojourn to see to Sara’s well being. In fact Her note was still sitting on the kitchen table where she had left it.

Not that she was a paranoid person. Well, okay, yes she was; but she was more perplexed than worry for Fafnir. The big guy was a rough and tumble guy, and a dragon to boot. Not like he’d get into a jam he couldn’t get out of. No, what worried her was that perhaps the lug had left for other reasons. That day, when he had hustled her out of harm’s way and brought her here for one. She was Sure there had been some bubbling romance between them, yet he had never taken advantage of that emotion. Needless to say, that totally perplexed her.

With no logical reason, suspicion had begun to rear its head in the form of a tiny crystalline dragon. The Rex was not above jiggling an emotion to get a response. What is Tim had tip toed through Fafnir’s brain. Worse still, what if Fafnir Had acted not of his own volition?

Worry began to burrow into her brow.

With a snort she tossed her head. If Fafnir hadn’t wanted her here (no matter in what capacity) she was sure he would have booted her out. Well, if she was to be his guest, she would make sure that he at least came home to a functional household. This place had been in mothballs for years. It was about time things got shaken out.

She rolled up a sleeve and broke out the brooms.

[Guest Del Marian Girl]

It had taken a few days to get the place moderately in shape. Turned out it was mostly dust (and a lot of it), nothing that a broom and a few rags couldn’t conquer. She had taken her time, pacing herself, especially when it came to moving the larger pieces of furniture like the couch. For once she was thankful for polished wooden flooring.

There was no way she could tackle every room in the house, and it was clear that many hadn’t been lived in for years. She could easily tell which one had been his. Even with the layer of dust indicating its lack of usage, the piles of papers (mostly bills and invoices) and collection of beer bottles under the bed indicated that he had done most of his work in his bedroom when he had taken up station at Evermore. That had been some time ago, if she went by the dates on the paperwork.

Once that room had been cleaned out, she moved her stuff in. Yes, it was presumptuous of her. Perhaps it was more a challenge than an acceptance of her roll in his life. Besides it had a more live-in feeling; and his scent, however faint, still clung in the comforter draped across the foot of the bed.

She didn’t feel as lonely then.

It was funny. As much as she resented them, she couldn’t help but miss her extravagant pack. Brimstone for the most part Was an okay fella, when he wasn’t brooding about this and that. Tim? Well, Tim was Tim. You either took him or left him. She would have rather left him, but after being here in the quiet house, she almost missed his incessant finagling

Almost

She supposed if she were really feeling out of sorts, she could have gone over to the RDI. She’d have a sound reason in visiting Sara, but she didn’t want to tip that boat. It was going to take time for them to get used to each other, and even More time for Sara to shake that horrible drug from her system, if she could. Megan had seen what K-2 did, and as far as she knew, nobody survived. Still the Vashtalians had remedies that had never been tried. There was always hope, she supposed.

Then there was the matter of her own little setback. It was like she was at some sort of mutated plateau. Fresh cuts and break healed as they were supposed to, but her general well being seemed stunted. She still had no strength, except in spurts, mostly when she lost her temper. One window still bore the brunt of such spurts, boards criss-crossed over the open panework.

Why was she perpetually exhausted? Megan was sure it had something to do with those damnable spheres. Brimstone had suffered the same, until her blasted mother came and “fixed” whatever was wrong with him. Of course the stuck-up bitch couldn’t have bother to fix Megan of her ills before up and vanishing into the wild blue yonder once again. The thought left a sour taste in her mouth.

Of course Megan could have gone to Lahnia like everyone and his brother suggested; but there was something that seemed to hold Megan back, making her put off the inevitable again and again.

What if they couldn’t fix her?

Megan’s scrubbing strokes on the kitchen floor slowed as the thought once again jarred through her head. She snuffled a bit, then picked up her pace, tears dropping down on the brushed woodwork.