Of Gaea (41 page)

“You both survived.
That’s a good thing.” He studied Sasha’s chest.
“He wasn’t such a selfish prick after all, was he?”

“
No, he was still a prick. That will never change. He did
the right thing and that’s what’s important. He did what he knew
had to be done, rather than turn a blind eye to it.” Ari
interjected. “He did what he knew I wanted him to do.” She added
softly looking at Sasha’s ink. “For that alone, I will remember him
forever.”

She turned and began walking away.
She was suddenly tired of the death,
of the blood and sorrow. She could hear, not only with her ears,
the keening of the dying and the grieving. She had caused it and
she had ended it, but every action had a reaction. This was one,
she did not want in her nightmares.

“Oh, I almost forgot.”
Kleisthenes put two fingers to his lips
and whistled. Then he waved enthusiastically.

Ari turned to see a man she had thought she would never see
stroll across the clearing.
She had never heard his voice, but she knew his
face. His was the face in the photographs with her
mother.

He stopped in front of her and grinned broadly.
“Hello
sweetheart.”

Shock and numbness coated her voice. “Hi, Da.”

H
er birthday was a grand
affair. Not that she wanted it to be, but she couldn’t seem to find
a way to discourage her overly enthusiastic father from his
madness. He was trying to do everything possible “to make up for
lost time”.

The men, herself excluded
from the plans to keep it a surprise, had determined her backyard
the best for the operation. Not only was it larger than Sasha’s but
she didn’t have all the training equipment cluttering up the
space.

People began arriving in
flocks. Ari had been introduced to a hundred faces, but none of the
ones she wanted to see. None of the people that had cared enough to
write her, even though they really didn’t know her whereabouts or
situation.

Sick of the noise, the
people, and the stares, Ari slipped away. She mentally tapped
Sasha’s shoulder as she dipped into the woods. They were safe now,
or as safe as wild forest can be.

They would always be safe
for her. She felt the hum of life and opened herself up to it. It
brought her a kind of peace as she walked.

Ari didn’t have to tell
her feet where to go. She had made this trip a dozen times over the
last few days. Every time she felt overwhelmed, she’d slip away and
follow this very path.

Ari knelt at Leonidas’s
feet first. “Hi. Happy birthday. I didn’t forget. Sasha’s is
tomorrow but you knew that already, I guess.” Ari traced patterns
in the soil and smiled in delight as a tree grew from the
thought.

“This is my gift to you.
We’ve discussed moving to Sparta, in Greece. I’m not really fond of
it, but they think I’ll be safer there. I’ve been outvoted and it
seems rather childish to try to fight them. You knew my dad there
I’m told. He’s full of stories. Most of them are about how you
refused to help him to the point where he finally stopped asking.
The property you left Sasha needs attending, too as well, I’m told.
Then there’s meeting the Guild and all that rot. And… well there’s
a lot of stuff, and chaos going on right now that can’t be helped
but I guess you already knew that.”

“But enough about me,” Ari
touched the trunk of the flowering myrtle tree. It was full grown
and beautiful. “This is how I think of you. Beautiful and exotic.
The tree belongs to Aphrodite but you know that already. A sign of
my love, as well. You acted without me asking even though it was
outside your nature to do so. Thank you. I’ll never forget
it.”

“He was a noble man.”

Ari turned to face her
father. She glanced behind him but didn’t see Sasha.

He must have seen it on
her face. “I asked him if I could come. This once. I want to talk
to you, about the past, about Sparta.”

Ari slid her hands into
her pockets and lifted her chin. “You already have my agreement to
go.”

“You haven’t asked how I
survived. You haven’t asked the why of anything. Have I done
something wrong? I’m… I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m
trying.”

Ari studied him. He looked
on the brink of panic and sorrow. She had hurt him, through simple
neglect. It hadn’t been intentional, but after so much time without
him, how would she adjust to having him?

“I am sorry.” She said
finally. “I think this is very new to both of us.” Ari smiled
shyly. “I’ve always had Kleisthenes, so I never really needed a
father.” She watched him flinch. “I don’t say it to hurt you, it’s
just fact. I really don’t know what to do with you or how to act.
Neither of us, it seems has that experience.”

“Perhaps, if you cannot
accept me as a father, then we could be friends?” he said slowly as
if he was thinking it out as he spoke. “We could try there
first.”

Ari nodded and her smile
widened. “I think I’d like that. Kleisthenes, actually, told me it
would be rude to ask, but since it’s just you and I, how did you
survive?”

“Ghita didn’t wait to see
if I was actually dead.” He jumped into the conversation
wholeheartedly. “She just took off. Your great-grandmother, who is
too old to travel or she would be here, found me and began the
healing. It took more than one healer and several months before I
could even walk again. By the time I was capable to look for you;
it was already too late.”

“So Kleisthenes knew all
this time?” Ari mused. “That was unkind.”

“No, not all this time. I
believe Mother didn’t tell him until he called requesting
equipment.” He looked away. “I want to apologize for not trying
harder. I gave up. Thought it was hopeless. Thought I would never
see you again. But I couldn’t stop myself from loving you. Even
though I didn’t know your fate. I love you. Then, your grandmother
received a letter.” His eyes came back to hers. “I’m sorry. For not
being the father you needed me to be. I’d like a chance to get to
know you better. Will you stay with me in the Douneas House rather
than the Pantheon? I think you’d be more comfortable at the House
then in the Temple. But it’s your decision.”

“You’re trying too hard.”
Ari murmured and stepped forward and took his hand. “Just let what
comes, come.” Ari squeezed his hand. “I know you love me. That’s
obvious, you’re here. Let everything else just come when it does.
We’ll face the scary hurdles of awkward father daughter moments
together. I promise.”

Together they walked to
the riotous array of colored foliage that marked where Ghita and
Lyris had fallen. Ari had asked it to grow, and it did. She had
wanted the color for both of them.

“It’s beautiful.” Eryx
commented.

“It reminds me of their
souls. While they tried to live their lives in a box that was too
poorly shaped for them, the color of their souls touched everything
around them. They are home now. The flowers will remain long after
the memory of them is no more than a shadow.”

“I loved her, very much. I
think, she could have done it, but Ghi… she let fear kill the
dream.”

“It was necessary or I
would not be here.” Ari turned away. “It’s not the past that we
should be trampling through anyway.”

“Right.” He led the way
back to the extreme party. “You’ll love Sparta. It’s beautiful. We
have fields and orchards a plenty and there are gardens within the
temple atriums unlike any you’ve ever seen before.”

Ari let him chatter on the
walk back. She had no doubt she would love the land. She always
connected well with natural environments. It was the people she was
worried about.

After millennia without
Gaea, would they really accept her presence without waves? Who
would listen to a young girl that claimed to be the Goddess reborn?
Who would truly believe?

She wasn’t naïve enough to
believe all the Tainted and Pure were dead from one little
skirmish. What influences did they have in Sparta? And would she
really be as safe as everyone insisted she would?

She was about to find out.
Whether she wanted to or not. This was only the
beginning.

And so we’ve reached the end.
A first book is scary stuff and
there’s so much I should say, and yet, I don’t want to bore anyone
with a long winded speech.

Chiefly, I need to thank Melissa and Lana from Girls
*Heart* Books. Their patience and prodding is the only reason I
even considered publishing to begin with.
I never thought I could. Thank you
girls, for believing in me (even when I didn’t.)

Anna, who is a supreme, chiefest of editors must be
congratulated for making it through the poor (initial editing) of
the book. She is worth her weight in diamonds. (I would have said
gold, but gold is just not valuable enough.)

Beta Readers,
and Bloggers that participated in the ARC readings and reviews I
also thank you for your time and your love.

I am always forever grateful to my family, who, showed
admirable restraint when I was a little more than difficult to deal
with.
Thank
you for not burying me in a shallow grave. Or feeding me to
pigs.

W
ell, I made
it
.

I never
thought I would get here.
After a year of writing, revisions, editing and rewriting,
it’s finally done. Writing a book is scary, serious
business.

Thank you everyone who has made it to this page.
You mean the world
to me.

A lot of thought and research went into
Of Gaea
. And a lot of instances where the
characters told me how they were going to do things instead. But
that’s the fun part of writing. It’s never exactly as I imagine it
to be.

I love Greek mythology, and I’m so happy to be able to
write from an inspiration of Gaea.
The Goddess of the Earth really isn’t
featured directly as she’s usually passed by for the more common
Pantheon. While I didn’t use any story of her directly for writing,
the heart and soul of her remain.

All the names littered throughout have a meaning.
Some of the more
traditional Greek are harder to say (I practiced in a mirror
several times and I can’t even say them half the time) but I felt
it added more to the story to have that essence in
there.