The Plane’s Children – Chapter Seven – Emersli1

Reading Time:
9 Minutes

What happened was terrifying. 

As soon as the sentinels with the recovery team took hold of Tony to roll him onto the backboard the being lying beside him came awake with a shriek of outrage.  They hovered in front of Tony, eyes glowing turquoise while their silver hair came loose from its braid and floated around them in a nimbus of psionic force.

It was obvious both sentinels could now see the being, and both were terrified.  Blair moved in front of them, drawing the attention of the furious person.  “Please.  We’re Tony’s friends.  We don’t mean him any harm.  But we have to get him to a safe location.  Coming online is a shock to the body and mind.  His shields are solid, but his body is still going into shock.  We need to get him to the Center.”

Cuetla stepped over beside Blair … and BOWED to the being.  Reaching out to his spirit animal, Blair tried to get some sense of what was going on.  All he got was a sense of deep respect and immense age.  Looking sideways at his partner, Blair gestured to Tecu.  “Are you getting anything from your spirit animal?”

Jim made his usual face at having to deal with the ‘mystic’ … but he did reach out to Tecu.  “Just … I think he loves them.  Not like, romantic.  Like family.  That’s it.”

Blair nodded and refocused on the protective spirit.  “OK.  So, you’re family, right?  We’re family?  Tony’s family too, and we just want to take care of him.  Please?”

Alone looked at the young guide standing before them with a pleading expression.  Quirky spoke up in his defense.  “He really means well.  Blair cares passionately about all the sentinels and guides in his territory.  He even cares about the ones in other territories.  He just doesn’t really see us as … well … people.  Blair knows and respects me as an individual, but he doesn’t put that in human terms.  And I can’t talk to him the way you can talk to Tony.”

Grumpy chimed in, “They’re young, but not stupid or heartless.  They really do just want to help.  And we don’t really know what’s going on with your spiritmate, because we haven’t seen this before.  Everyone else is either one or the other.  He’s both at once.”

Alone looked thoughtfully at the man, and then slowly moved aside.

Blair’s breath whooshed out of him in a great rush.  “OK people, we’re good to go.  Let’s get him back to the Center and we can do a full evaluation there.”

The recovery team moved slowly towards Tony, becoming less hesitant as the hovering spirit didn’t react.  They gently picked Tony up and placed him on the gurney, rolling him quickly out the door.

For a moment, Blair wasn’t sure what to do about the spirit.  “Would you like to ride back with us?”  He felt wrong-footed and awkward.  An unusual occurrence for him.

He nearly fainted when the being spoke to him.

“Thank you, young one.  I will come with you.”

Blair looked at Jim, who looked just as freaked out as he felt.  Then, suddenly it occurred to him … “Would you mind answering some questions as we drive?”

Jim shook his head.  “You might want to think about it.  Once he gets started it’s hard to stop him.”

Alone smiled serenely.  “Whyever would I want to stop him?  How else are children to learn than by asking questions.”

Blair’s head spun with the possibilities.  As he and Jim left the apartment, Jim dropping a word to one of the recovery team still hovering outside to get the door fixed ASAP, Blair considered the opportunity he’d been given.

He practically skipped into the elevator.

“OK, so…”

By the time they made it to the center, Blair was in Heaven.

So many questions.  And so much embarrassment.  When they got out of the car, the first thing Blair did was grab Cuetla in a big hug.

“I’m so sorry!  I didn’t mean to treat you like you weren’t an actual person!  I wish you could talk to me, like …”  Suddenly Blair looked up.  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t even ask your name.  And if you have names …”  He looked back at the spirit wolf in his arms.  “Do you have a name?  I mean one I didn’t give you?  Would you rather I called you that?”

A strong hand landed on his shoulder at the same time an almost-wet tongue swiped across his face.

Apparently he was forgiven.  Looking up at his partner, Blair exclaimed, “I know, I know.  We need to get to Tony, but this is important.  THEY are important.  And I’ve…”

“Done the best you could Blair.  It’s not like they’re chatty.”  Jim seemed to consider that.  “I don’t know if wolves and jaguars even have the physical ability to form speech.”

Alone had to laugh at the young spiritmates.  “I’m glad you understand now, and Quirky and Grumpy have always known that you valued them … and didn’t understand how … dismissive you were.  And I am the one they call Alone.”

Blair gave Jim a playful shove.  “No question which of ours is Grumpy, huh Big Guy?  And I can write a paper … put together some seminars… this is information that our people need.  But right now.  Yeah, let’s get to Tony.”

Moving into the S/G Center, Blair led the way to the iso-rooms while Jim intercepted the curious receptionist.  Finding the room they’d assigned to Tony, Blair signaled Alone.  “I shouldn’t go in there right now.  Some Sentinels and Guides get very territorial, and we don’t know how Tony will react.  Actually, we don’t know whether Tony’s the Sentinel or Guide.  Which is it?”

He looked expectantly at the being beside him.

Alone sighed.  “He is both.  When the Plane told me I was whole in myself, I didn’t understand.  Now I think I do.  Tony has gifts from both the upper and lower planes.  He is something new, or perhaps very old, both Sentinel and Guide.”

“And you are his spiritmate.  But what about a partner?  If he’s the only one of his kind, what kind of partner does he need?”  Blair looked concerned.

“He may not need a partner.  Or he may find that he needs bolstering on one side or the other.  We won’t know until he wakes up Chief.  So let’s not worry about that for now.”  Jim turned to Alone.  “So, do you need to be with him, or can you give us a rundown of what you know about the case?  The quicker we catch this guy, the better.  Because he’s not going to stop.  Not until someone stops him.”

“We will stop him.  But right now, I think I need to be with Tony.  He used some sort of device to record our conversation.  Maybe you could listen to that.  At least until Tony and I make it back together.”  Alone stepped through the closed door and found themself in a room with shielding that cut off all senses, physical and psionic.  

They didn’t like it, but maybe this was what Tony needed.  Sighing, they lay carefully beside the still body in the bed.  Closing their eyes, Alone sank into the dark … looking for their spiritmate.

It was time to come back.

Tony and Alone had been together in the dark.

Once Tony got his shields up, the physical and psionic input had died down to a low rumble.  He had reached out to his spiritmate, and gotten a sense of wholeness he felt he’d been searching for his entire life.  The sense of vast age, of waiting in growing loneliness and despair, made Tony want to cry.  That this being had waited for him through many, many lifetimes.

But they were together now.  Partners.  While it didn’t really feel as though Tony needed Alone to ground his senses or shield his emotions, having a companion who would walk with him through every bit of life he had left, and apparently be waiting for his next life to do it all over again, well, it was humbling.

Suddenly there in that quiet darkness, Alone pulled away with a snarl of outrage … and left in a swirl of protective fury.  Tony was left floating alone in the Void.  but the Void didn’t feel unwelcoming.  In fact, Tony felt as though he had finally come home from a long mission … a sensation he’d never really had before.

“I’m sorry, Treasure.”  A feeling of acceptance and warmth surrounded him.

“You can speak to me?”  A hesitant query sent out in the Universe.

The warmth grew fonder.  “I can.  You are a child of the lower plane, and yet we are all created by the One.  We are all family.  You are welcome here on the upper plane whenever you choose to seek me out.”

“Alone tells me you don’t know who killed Flicker and Amalda Vernon.  She says you want me to find the answers.”  

“You are capable of finding the answers, Treasure.  I cannot see all things in the lower plane.  My perceptions are limited.  I assure you, if I learn of anything I will tell you immediately.  But the odds are not good.  I am not what you think of as God.  We are all children of the One.”

“Why do you call me Treasure?  My name is Tony.”  Here in this stillness, waiting for Alone to return, it felt as though he might ask any question.

“I call you what I understand from the name you use.  It is not your true Name, as I would have given it, but it is serviceable enough.”  The Plane sounded amused.

“What would you have Named me then?”  Tony could practically see the capital letters in the way the Plane spoke.

“I think, had I had the Naming of you like in the olden times, I would have Named you Quicksilver.  You shift and change as suits your need, and your mind works quickly to pull disparate facts together into a solution.”

Huh?  “Did you Name Alone?”

A deep sorrow seemed to fill the space.  “I did.  But I did not Name them Alone.  Their people began to call them that after many generations without finding their otherself or mate.”

Tony felt indignant.  “What did you Name them?  The Names you give mean something.  Something important.  They shouldn’t lose that just because I took forever to get around to being born.”

A glimmer of humor cut the sorrow.  “Oh Quicksilver, you have lived many lives.  But it is only in this life that your gifts have been demanded.  From now through forever though, as often as the One directs, your lives will be lived together.  Do not fret on what is past.  But I named my child Morningstar, as they were the first.  And brought the light to all my children.”

So, Morningstar.  The child of the Upper Plane.  And Quicksilver, the child of the Lower Plane.

Tony felt as though he were hovering on the edge of a great realization, when Alone burst back into his awareness.

“Tony, we need to get back.  Your friends are worried, and we have much to do.  I’m sorry we can’t just stay here together for a while.”

Shyly Tony asked, “The Plane gave me a Name of my own … when it’s just us … I’d like it if you called me Quicksilver.”

Alone was awed and charmed at the same time.  “It would be my great honor to do so, Quicksilver.  And I am not surprised the Plane Named you.  You carry gifts from both the Upper and Lower Planes.  Why should you not carry Names from both?”

“OK, let’s get going, mia stella.  Can’t keep Blair waiting too long, or he’ll be off on a tangent and you may never get him back.”

Tony could feel the smile as Alone answered.  “Yes.  Jim warned me.  I didn’t listen.  Blair is definitely curious about many things.  Everything.”

With a warm feeling of farewell from the Plane, the spiritmates moved back towards the lower plane, and the questions that awaited them there.