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randomweavingFic: Changeling
Characters: John Dorian/Perry Cox
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Chapter Rating: PG-13 (language)
Description: This is a wildly AU story with fantastical elements based on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thuri's Nano writing project. It begins late in season three, before Carla and Turk's wedding, and from there follows the characters as they face the Change, a strange, magical phenomenon that is turning ordinary humans into half-human creatures from fantasy.
Chapter listings: Contents Post
"It's been over a week, Carla, we have to do something..." Elliot was gnawing on one of her fingernails, and only stopped when Sean's hand covered hers and squeezed it lightly.
"I don't know what more we can do," Carla replied, her own voice tight with worry. "He's eating again at least, and he's taking care of Jack..." the Latina nurse sighed, looked over to the den, where JD sat on the ground, handing blocks to Jack when the boy held his hand out for them.
"Yeah, but he's not talking to us..." Elliot heaved a sigh, her tail twitching. "And he's not flying, and...it's like he's not there anymore."
"He's lost a lot," Carla reminded her softly.
JD didn't look up, though he fought the urge to roll his eyes, wondering distantly if he should tell them he could hear everything they were saying.
No. It wasn't worth the effort. He handed Jack another block, keeping his attention focused on the child, trying to tune out the worried, hushed voices that were drifting in from the other room.
Turk came in, dumping an armload of wood into the woodbox, and shook himself. "Colder than a witch's titty out there. It's almost June...what's with this weather?"
Sean shrugged. "They were having record wind storms in New Zealand, when I left," he offered. "Everything's gone crazy with this Change thing. Last I heard they were predicting the worst hurricanes we've ever seen."
"I suppose we should be glad we're in California. Even if it looks like something out of the Little House books out there," Elliot said absently, still watching JD. "It's like he's sleepwalking..."
"Yeah. And something needs to wake his ass up," Turk replied, face unreadable as he turned his attention to his best friend, slumped on the carpet and ignoring them, still.
Carla frowned at her fiancé. "Easy, babe," she said softly, sliding closer to him and leaning against him, tail curling around his as she looped an arm through his elbow. "It's not that simple, you know."
Turk scowled. "It should be," he muttered. "Damn it, Cox treated him like shit for the better part of three years. Why's he taking it this hard?"
"Because he loved him," Elliot replied simply, shifting to lean back against Sean. "You'd be a wreck, too, if it had been Carla. You were a wreck, when she was Changing, and everything went fine with that..."
"That was different."
"Why was that different?" Elliot said, folding her arms over her chest. "We might not have understood it, Turk, but they loved each other. It's not like we can just..." she waved her hand helplessly. "We can't just snap our fingers and make this better."
"Yeah, fine," Turk snapped, moving away from Carla and adding a few logs to the fire. "I don't need a lecture. I just hate seeing him like this." He swished his tail a little, agitated, and glared at the flames.
Carla moved silently over to him, slipping her arm around his waist and kissing him softly. "I know you want to fix it, baby," she murmured. "But Elliot's right. None of us can fix this for him. We just have to make sure and be here when he needs us."
"If he ever notices," Elliot said pessimistically, leaning against Sean, who sighed and pressed a kiss to her temple, arm looping around her shoulder.
In the den, JD sighed. They were trying. He knew that. They'd been wonderful to him, attentive, to his every need...they were worried, he knew. He should give them something. Anything.
But reaching out that much would disturb the gray fog around him, and he liked that fog where it was, blunting everything, keeping him from feeling.
"He will," Carla assured her. "He'll be okay. When we get out of here..." she sighed. "He'll find someone new, and he'll be able to heal."
JD shook his head, brows furrowing a little, and Jack handed the block back to him with wide eyes, quailing at the expression. "Not you, bug," JD assured him softly, giving him a new one. Find someone new. No, he wouldn't. It was just him and Jack now. That's just how it was. Their little family would just stay little.
That thought took him too near Perry, and threatened the fog, so he pulled back, again shutting out the words of the others and focusing on Jack again. Jack--the only reason JD was still alive, the only reason he forced himself to eat when Carla or Elliot or Turk brought him something. The only reason he got out of bed each morning.
Jack kept him going, when he honestly would rather have given up.
Still, even with Jack, he wasn't completely safe.
The first day, the young child had cried on JD's shoulder for nearly an hour, after JD had been forced to answer "no" each time to Jack's constant queries of, "Daddy?" Jack hadn't understood why JD was hiding Perry from him, and even though he'd finally stopped asking, about a day ago, JD was still tense, waiting for the next time the boy would wonder about his father.
But he tried to keep the worry distant, as well, focusing only on the now, on giving Jack new blocks, watching him build a huge structure with them. Finally, all the blocks were gone, and Jack knocked them to the ground again, giggling wildly. He stomped through the wreckage, and then crawled into JD's lap. "Day dee go up?" he asked hopefully, flipping his wings out and waving them a few times.
"No, bug, we're staying inside," JD murmured to him. "It's too cold for flying."
Jack pouted, but settled down again, eventually going back to his blocks.
And it was true, it was too cold for the boy outside. But JD'd avoided flying for much the same reason he'd avoided conversation. He knew taking to the air would make him think of Perry. Would remind him of how it felt, the first time he'd flown; remind him of the awed look on Perry's face. Remind him of the times Perry would tell him how beautiful he looked, soaring through the air, unfettered by gravity. Remind him of their plans to fly together someday.
No; flying would break open the scabs on his heart, and so he didn't risk it, even though his wings ached with disuse. In a way the pain was good, something to concentrate on that didn't take thought.
He sighed, now, accidentally looking up and meeting Elliot's eyes. He dropped his own immediately, but the pity and concern in hers stayed with him.
Why couldn't they all just leave him alone?
"At least he's talking to Jack," Elliot said softly, frowning when JD's expression didn't even change, as he looked away from her. Not that he'd had one in the first place. It was as if he'd forgotten facial muscles had a purpose.
Carla smiled sadly. "He loves him," she said. "He'll keep going, for Jack if nothing else."
"But he can't keep going like this," Turk insisted. "Jesus, look at him, baby! He's... he's like a walking corpse!"
"Give him time. He'll get better," Carla insisted, though she sounded like she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince.
JD certainly didn't believe her.
* * *
Perry awoke to the sound of a softly hummed tune, and the creak of tree branches shifting.
He jerked, startled, looking up to see the weave of limbs shifting around him; for a moment he blinked, disoriented by the sight, the unfamiliar sounds, and by the fact that JD wasn't lying beside him.
But after a moment memory returned, and he drew a breath, pushing himself up even as Aleiah appeared in the gap of the branches, blinking in at him.
"You are awake?" she stage whispered to him.
He chuckled a little, wondering how that wasn't obvious to her. "I am now," he said.
The fae child grinned, apparently completely oblivious to the irony in his voice. "Come on," she said, moving forward and kneeling next to him. "Father says it is time to start your training."
Perry smiled, amused. "All right," he said. "But can it wait a few more minutes, there, Bluebell? I just got up."
Aleiah stared at him, eyes wide. "That is not my name," she said after a moment, looking genuinely confused. "My name is Aleiah."
Perry rubbed his eyes briefly. "Yes--yes, I know," he said, stretching one wing carefully before drawing it back in, then stretching the other. "It's called a nickname."
Aleiah frowned. "My name is not Nick, either."
Perry chuckled. "No, no--it's something that humans sometimes call each other, when they're friends. It can be a short version of your name, or something that reminds me of you."
"Oh." Aleiah frowned, then perked up. "I could call you Leigheas," she mused. "Or Brόn."
"Oh?" Perry said, smiling, tilting his head so his neck cracked. "And what do those words mean?"
"Well, Leigheas means a cure," she said. "It is what the healers call the Song, sometimes, and the Touch."
"Mmm," Perry said, climbing carefully to his feet on the solid platform of his nest, twisting a little so his back popped satisfyingly. "And what does Brόn mean?"
She tilted her head up at him. "Sorrow," she said softly. "It fills you. Sorrow and worry and regret. What did you leave behind?"
"Aleiah," came a sudden voice from the still-open branches; they both turned to see Aed standing easily upon one of the limbs, a slight frown on his face. "You do not ask after one's sorrows," he said, "unless he offers to share them."
"I--no, it's okay," Perry said, shaking his head. "I don't mind." He turned back to the child, kneeling in front of her again. "I left behind someone very important to me," he told her. "Someone I love very much, and miss very badly."
"Oh." Aleiah was quiet for a moment, before nodding. "Then you must pay close attention to your lessons," she said sternly, with the air of one who has thought through a very difficult problem and reached a brilliant solution, "so you can go back to him soon."
"Speaking of lessons, Aleiah, you are late for yours," Aed said.
Aleiah looked sheepishly up at her father, then climbed to her feet, moving forward to peck Perry quickly on the cheek before scrambling back to the opening in the nest, squeezing by Aed and vanishing into the morning air.
Aed smiled slightly after her. "I am sorry for that," he said to Perry. "She is still quite young, and not accustomed to dealing with those outside the clan."
"No, I don't mind," Perry said honestly, and smiled softly. "She's inquisitive, and honest." And, truthfully, she reminded him a lot of JD. But then, what didn't, anymore? "I have a son myself--he's only one, but he's like that too. Curious about everything. Though with less talking," he added, chuckling.
Aed's smile deepened. "Yes, I know," he said. "You have much father-feeling for Aleiah, so I knew you must have a child of your own."
Perry nodded, and stood as Aed took him by the arm, guiding him forward. "Come," he said. "We'll get started, so you can return to them, as Aleiah said."
Perry smiled. "Yeah," he said. "I--thanks."
"It is not I whom you must thank," Aed said softly, but did not say more; rather, he turned, wings spreading and quivering a little in the morning mist, then beating rapidly, lifting him into the air. He turned, murmuring something to the tree that made it open from the top as it had the night before. "Follow," he called to Perry.
Perry looked up, then crouched, following the instincts in his wings, and leaped, using the great appendages to push himself skyward. Then, orienting himself in the air, he followed Aed as the Fae led him through the camp, to a clearing near the heart where a great many other Fae were gathered. They landed softly upon the grass, Aed a little more softly than Perry, and Perry found himself standing in the center of a circle of stone runes.
"You will learn here," Aed said, directing him to sit. "The magic of the earth, and the power of the song, can be called upon anywhere. But this is your first try." He pointed at the stones, which Perry realized were not arranged haphazardly but in a careful, precise configuration. "The stones reflect the song, and magnify it," Aed said. "They will amplify it for you, and help you pull it to your awareness. Once you have learned to heal within their circle, we will move outside, but here is a good place to begin."
Perry nodded slowly, not entirely certain he understood, but knowing this was the first step in getting him back to JD.
"All right," he said. "Let's do this."
* * *
Three hours later, they had made little progress.
"Your mind is not clear, Perry," Aed reminded him again. "You cannot think of anything but the song, or it will not work."
Perry scowled. "I know," he said. "But look--the way I heal, I have to be thinking of a lot of things at once. It's what I'm trained to do."
Aed shook his head. "It is not your training that distracts you," he said. "And you are well aware of it."
Perry sighed, staring at the cut on Aed's arm. The healer had made it with a silver dagger--one that Perry assumed must be magic, for though the cut was relatively deep, it did not bleed. Which was a good thing, because if it had been up to Perry to heal it, Aed probably would have bled to death by now.
"You must put him from your mind." Aed shook his head and hummed a few snatches of tune, the cut on his arm closing as if it had never been. "We will start with that, then, and not the healing. Your mind must be in order, at peace, to enact a healing, and you must be able to achieve that state no matter what is going on around you. It is the detachment you have learned, simply applied another way."
Perry sighed. "It's...hard," he admitted softly. "I'm worried about him. I need to know he's okay."
"No," Aed said firmly. "You do not. You need to learn to focus, even not knowing." He held up a hand when Perry bristled. "I do not say this to anger you. I say it because it is the truth. You may one day need to heal him, or your son. And your fear for them will keep you from the song."
Remembering the Fae's previous warning about returning to JD in his time of need, Perry realized he was right. He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to banish his lover from his mind.
"Good," Aed said softly after a time. "Good. Focus on the song--feel it."
Perry drew a deep breath and listened, feeling the sounds that seemed to come from deep in the earth rising in him. He suddenly found himself standing amidst a colorful stream of melody, each thread linking him to something, each color telling him about the world around him. He could sense Aed before him, even without opening his eyes, by change of hue in the air, the slightest altering of melody.
"Very good," Aed whispered, drawing the knife to his arm again and cutting another slit. "Listen to the song, listen to its change. Find the discord."
Perry realized he could feel it--he knew Aed had cut himself again, without seeing it--could feel the slight falter in the Fae's inner song that meant pain.
He focused on it, unconsciously beginning a soft humming as he tried to sort the tangled threads around the wound, to put them back in order.
For a moment, he thought he had it. Then, suddenly, a giggle above him as a group of Fae children flew past distracted him, and he started, opening his eyes. The song ended, and he felt the control slipping from him, the threads of melody vanishing back into the earth.
He looked up at Aed, grimacing. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"No need to be," the healer told him. "That was better. You touched the strands. Now, again."
Aed drove him hard until lunch, and then gave him exercises to do on his own, after, to increase his concentration, and his sensitivity to the powers around them. "You have made more progress today than I had hoped," he said, as he led Perry to the rock enclosure at the edge of the camp that Perry had been told was a dining hall of sorts. "We had feared none of your kind could train in our ways--it has been a very long time since you had any real connection to the earth. But you have proven us wrong. Go now, and eat. We will work again tomorrow."
Aleiah appeared then, leading him down to the enclosure, which turned out to be built into the side of a hill. Once Perry ducked inside, he realized it must go back deeper into the hill than he first assumed, for the room, while not exactly cavernous, was much larger than he would have guessed from the outside. There were low tables made of polished slabs of stone, and benches carved carefully from rock and wood; platters of fruit and woven baskets of breads lined the tables, along with silver serving pitchers filled with some sort of wine or juice, Perry couldn't tell.
Perry followed Aleiah in, sliding into a seat. The Faery child slid into the seat across from him, smiling shyly. "Will you tell me about him?" she asked, reaching for a goblet and pouring herself a drink. "The one you feel so strongly for?"
Perry hesitated. Aed had advised him against focusing on JD or Jack, telling him it would make it that much more difficult to stop focusing on them, when he was training. But Aleiah's face was so hopeful, and if he were completely honest, Perry wanted to talk about JD--wanted to share his feelings with someone, even if it was a young child.
"His name is JD. He...we worked together," Perry told her. "I met him about three years ago, when he was an intern at my hospital."
"A hospital is an infirmary..." Aleiah said slowly, face scrunching up as she concentrated. "But...what is an 'intern'? Is he a Healer, too? I am going to be a Healer, like my father. He is the best in our clan."
Perry smiled, amused, and nodded at her. "An intern is...it's like a healer in training, I guess you could say," he replied. "He's technically a resident, which is also like a healer in training only...further up than an intern, but not a doctor yet. Although he's already a much better doctor than a lot of the idiots at that hospital."
Aleiah made a face, but nodded finally. "If he is already better, then he is a Healer," she said firmly. "Why do you miss him so much? Is he a part of your clan?"
"I..." Perry frowned, wondering how he could explain it to a child. "I suppose, in a way...he is part of my family."
He wasn't sure if he would have to explain it further, but it turned out to be a moot point, when she smiled suddenly and nodded. "Oh, you are mated," she said. "No wonder you miss him so. He must miss you terribly as well."
Perry's eyebrows flew up into his hair, but after a moment he simply nodded. "I...yes, we are. But I don't know if he misses me. We...well, we had a bit of a fight, before I left." He sighed, shoulders slumping a little involuntarily. "I don't know if he'll even want me back, when I return."
Aleiah gave him a look eerily like one he'd given most of his interns at one point or another. "He is your mate," she said, as though explaining something terribly obvious. "Of course he will. Fighting does not change that."
"Not for the Fae, maybe," Perry said softly. "For humans, it does all too often. I'm proof enough of that."
Aleiah snorted. "Not with your true mate," she said, tearing off a hunk of bread and spreading some sort of paste onto it. "You humans have just forgotten how to find your true mate. It is part of what the Change is meant to do, along with bringing you back to Earth."
Perry looked at her, curious, biting into a pear. "Oh?" he mumbled around his mouthful.
She nodded. "Of course," she said with the superior air of a child who knows she is right, waving a hand at him, making him smile. "I am sure he is waiting for you right now."
Perry smiled, though it was sad, and swallowed his mouthful before murmuring, "I hope so."
* * *
Next Chapter
* * *
Characters: John Dorian/Perry Cox
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Chapter Rating: PG-13 (language)
Description: This is a wildly AU story with fantastical elements based on
thuri's Nano writing project. It begins late in season three, before Carla and Turk's wedding, and from there follows the characters as they face the Change, a strange, magical phenomenon that is turning ordinary humans into half-human creatures from fantasy.Chapter listings: Contents Post
"It's been over a week, Carla, we have to do something..." Elliot was gnawing on one of her fingernails, and only stopped when Sean's hand covered hers and squeezed it lightly.
"I don't know what more we can do," Carla replied, her own voice tight with worry. "He's eating again at least, and he's taking care of Jack..." the Latina nurse sighed, looked over to the den, where JD sat on the ground, handing blocks to Jack when the boy held his hand out for them.
"Yeah, but he's not talking to us..." Elliot heaved a sigh, her tail twitching. "And he's not flying, and...it's like he's not there anymore."
"He's lost a lot," Carla reminded her softly.
JD didn't look up, though he fought the urge to roll his eyes, wondering distantly if he should tell them he could hear everything they were saying.
No. It wasn't worth the effort. He handed Jack another block, keeping his attention focused on the child, trying to tune out the worried, hushed voices that were drifting in from the other room.
Turk came in, dumping an armload of wood into the woodbox, and shook himself. "Colder than a witch's titty out there. It's almost June...what's with this weather?"
Sean shrugged. "They were having record wind storms in New Zealand, when I left," he offered. "Everything's gone crazy with this Change thing. Last I heard they were predicting the worst hurricanes we've ever seen."
"I suppose we should be glad we're in California. Even if it looks like something out of the Little House books out there," Elliot said absently, still watching JD. "It's like he's sleepwalking..."
"Yeah. And something needs to wake his ass up," Turk replied, face unreadable as he turned his attention to his best friend, slumped on the carpet and ignoring them, still.
Carla frowned at her fiancé. "Easy, babe," she said softly, sliding closer to him and leaning against him, tail curling around his as she looped an arm through his elbow. "It's not that simple, you know."
Turk scowled. "It should be," he muttered. "Damn it, Cox treated him like shit for the better part of three years. Why's he taking it this hard?"
"Because he loved him," Elliot replied simply, shifting to lean back against Sean. "You'd be a wreck, too, if it had been Carla. You were a wreck, when she was Changing, and everything went fine with that..."
"That was different."
"Why was that different?" Elliot said, folding her arms over her chest. "We might not have understood it, Turk, but they loved each other. It's not like we can just..." she waved her hand helplessly. "We can't just snap our fingers and make this better."
"Yeah, fine," Turk snapped, moving away from Carla and adding a few logs to the fire. "I don't need a lecture. I just hate seeing him like this." He swished his tail a little, agitated, and glared at the flames.
Carla moved silently over to him, slipping her arm around his waist and kissing him softly. "I know you want to fix it, baby," she murmured. "But Elliot's right. None of us can fix this for him. We just have to make sure and be here when he needs us."
"If he ever notices," Elliot said pessimistically, leaning against Sean, who sighed and pressed a kiss to her temple, arm looping around her shoulder.
In the den, JD sighed. They were trying. He knew that. They'd been wonderful to him, attentive, to his every need...they were worried, he knew. He should give them something. Anything.
But reaching out that much would disturb the gray fog around him, and he liked that fog where it was, blunting everything, keeping him from feeling.
"He will," Carla assured her. "He'll be okay. When we get out of here..." she sighed. "He'll find someone new, and he'll be able to heal."
JD shook his head, brows furrowing a little, and Jack handed the block back to him with wide eyes, quailing at the expression. "Not you, bug," JD assured him softly, giving him a new one. Find someone new. No, he wouldn't. It was just him and Jack now. That's just how it was. Their little family would just stay little.
That thought took him too near Perry, and threatened the fog, so he pulled back, again shutting out the words of the others and focusing on Jack again. Jack--the only reason JD was still alive, the only reason he forced himself to eat when Carla or Elliot or Turk brought him something. The only reason he got out of bed each morning.
Jack kept him going, when he honestly would rather have given up.
Still, even with Jack, he wasn't completely safe.
The first day, the young child had cried on JD's shoulder for nearly an hour, after JD had been forced to answer "no" each time to Jack's constant queries of, "Daddy?" Jack hadn't understood why JD was hiding Perry from him, and even though he'd finally stopped asking, about a day ago, JD was still tense, waiting for the next time the boy would wonder about his father.
But he tried to keep the worry distant, as well, focusing only on the now, on giving Jack new blocks, watching him build a huge structure with them. Finally, all the blocks were gone, and Jack knocked them to the ground again, giggling wildly. He stomped through the wreckage, and then crawled into JD's lap. "Day dee go up?" he asked hopefully, flipping his wings out and waving them a few times.
"No, bug, we're staying inside," JD murmured to him. "It's too cold for flying."
Jack pouted, but settled down again, eventually going back to his blocks.
And it was true, it was too cold for the boy outside. But JD'd avoided flying for much the same reason he'd avoided conversation. He knew taking to the air would make him think of Perry. Would remind him of how it felt, the first time he'd flown; remind him of the awed look on Perry's face. Remind him of the times Perry would tell him how beautiful he looked, soaring through the air, unfettered by gravity. Remind him of their plans to fly together someday.
No; flying would break open the scabs on his heart, and so he didn't risk it, even though his wings ached with disuse. In a way the pain was good, something to concentrate on that didn't take thought.
He sighed, now, accidentally looking up and meeting Elliot's eyes. He dropped his own immediately, but the pity and concern in hers stayed with him.
Why couldn't they all just leave him alone?
"At least he's talking to Jack," Elliot said softly, frowning when JD's expression didn't even change, as he looked away from her. Not that he'd had one in the first place. It was as if he'd forgotten facial muscles had a purpose.
Carla smiled sadly. "He loves him," she said. "He'll keep going, for Jack if nothing else."
"But he can't keep going like this," Turk insisted. "Jesus, look at him, baby! He's... he's like a walking corpse!"
"Give him time. He'll get better," Carla insisted, though she sounded like she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince.
JD certainly didn't believe her.
* * *
Perry awoke to the sound of a softly hummed tune, and the creak of tree branches shifting.
He jerked, startled, looking up to see the weave of limbs shifting around him; for a moment he blinked, disoriented by the sight, the unfamiliar sounds, and by the fact that JD wasn't lying beside him.
But after a moment memory returned, and he drew a breath, pushing himself up even as Aleiah appeared in the gap of the branches, blinking in at him.
"You are awake?" she stage whispered to him.
He chuckled a little, wondering how that wasn't obvious to her. "I am now," he said.
The fae child grinned, apparently completely oblivious to the irony in his voice. "Come on," she said, moving forward and kneeling next to him. "Father says it is time to start your training."
Perry smiled, amused. "All right," he said. "But can it wait a few more minutes, there, Bluebell? I just got up."
Aleiah stared at him, eyes wide. "That is not my name," she said after a moment, looking genuinely confused. "My name is Aleiah."
Perry rubbed his eyes briefly. "Yes--yes, I know," he said, stretching one wing carefully before drawing it back in, then stretching the other. "It's called a nickname."
Aleiah frowned. "My name is not Nick, either."
Perry chuckled. "No, no--it's something that humans sometimes call each other, when they're friends. It can be a short version of your name, or something that reminds me of you."
"Oh." Aleiah frowned, then perked up. "I could call you Leigheas," she mused. "Or Brόn."
"Oh?" Perry said, smiling, tilting his head so his neck cracked. "And what do those words mean?"
"Well, Leigheas means a cure," she said. "It is what the healers call the Song, sometimes, and the Touch."
"Mmm," Perry said, climbing carefully to his feet on the solid platform of his nest, twisting a little so his back popped satisfyingly. "And what does Brόn mean?"
She tilted her head up at him. "Sorrow," she said softly. "It fills you. Sorrow and worry and regret. What did you leave behind?"
"Aleiah," came a sudden voice from the still-open branches; they both turned to see Aed standing easily upon one of the limbs, a slight frown on his face. "You do not ask after one's sorrows," he said, "unless he offers to share them."
"I--no, it's okay," Perry said, shaking his head. "I don't mind." He turned back to the child, kneeling in front of her again. "I left behind someone very important to me," he told her. "Someone I love very much, and miss very badly."
"Oh." Aleiah was quiet for a moment, before nodding. "Then you must pay close attention to your lessons," she said sternly, with the air of one who has thought through a very difficult problem and reached a brilliant solution, "so you can go back to him soon."
"Speaking of lessons, Aleiah, you are late for yours," Aed said.
Aleiah looked sheepishly up at her father, then climbed to her feet, moving forward to peck Perry quickly on the cheek before scrambling back to the opening in the nest, squeezing by Aed and vanishing into the morning air.
Aed smiled slightly after her. "I am sorry for that," he said to Perry. "She is still quite young, and not accustomed to dealing with those outside the clan."
"No, I don't mind," Perry said honestly, and smiled softly. "She's inquisitive, and honest." And, truthfully, she reminded him a lot of JD. But then, what didn't, anymore? "I have a son myself--he's only one, but he's like that too. Curious about everything. Though with less talking," he added, chuckling.
Aed's smile deepened. "Yes, I know," he said. "You have much father-feeling for Aleiah, so I knew you must have a child of your own."
Perry nodded, and stood as Aed took him by the arm, guiding him forward. "Come," he said. "We'll get started, so you can return to them, as Aleiah said."
Perry smiled. "Yeah," he said. "I--thanks."
"It is not I whom you must thank," Aed said softly, but did not say more; rather, he turned, wings spreading and quivering a little in the morning mist, then beating rapidly, lifting him into the air. He turned, murmuring something to the tree that made it open from the top as it had the night before. "Follow," he called to Perry.
Perry looked up, then crouched, following the instincts in his wings, and leaped, using the great appendages to push himself skyward. Then, orienting himself in the air, he followed Aed as the Fae led him through the camp, to a clearing near the heart where a great many other Fae were gathered. They landed softly upon the grass, Aed a little more softly than Perry, and Perry found himself standing in the center of a circle of stone runes.
"You will learn here," Aed said, directing him to sit. "The magic of the earth, and the power of the song, can be called upon anywhere. But this is your first try." He pointed at the stones, which Perry realized were not arranged haphazardly but in a careful, precise configuration. "The stones reflect the song, and magnify it," Aed said. "They will amplify it for you, and help you pull it to your awareness. Once you have learned to heal within their circle, we will move outside, but here is a good place to begin."
Perry nodded slowly, not entirely certain he understood, but knowing this was the first step in getting him back to JD.
"All right," he said. "Let's do this."
* * *
Three hours later, they had made little progress.
"Your mind is not clear, Perry," Aed reminded him again. "You cannot think of anything but the song, or it will not work."
Perry scowled. "I know," he said. "But look--the way I heal, I have to be thinking of a lot of things at once. It's what I'm trained to do."
Aed shook his head. "It is not your training that distracts you," he said. "And you are well aware of it."
Perry sighed, staring at the cut on Aed's arm. The healer had made it with a silver dagger--one that Perry assumed must be magic, for though the cut was relatively deep, it did not bleed. Which was a good thing, because if it had been up to Perry to heal it, Aed probably would have bled to death by now.
"You must put him from your mind." Aed shook his head and hummed a few snatches of tune, the cut on his arm closing as if it had never been. "We will start with that, then, and not the healing. Your mind must be in order, at peace, to enact a healing, and you must be able to achieve that state no matter what is going on around you. It is the detachment you have learned, simply applied another way."
Perry sighed. "It's...hard," he admitted softly. "I'm worried about him. I need to know he's okay."
"No," Aed said firmly. "You do not. You need to learn to focus, even not knowing." He held up a hand when Perry bristled. "I do not say this to anger you. I say it because it is the truth. You may one day need to heal him, or your son. And your fear for them will keep you from the song."
Remembering the Fae's previous warning about returning to JD in his time of need, Perry realized he was right. He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to banish his lover from his mind.
"Good," Aed said softly after a time. "Good. Focus on the song--feel it."
Perry drew a deep breath and listened, feeling the sounds that seemed to come from deep in the earth rising in him. He suddenly found himself standing amidst a colorful stream of melody, each thread linking him to something, each color telling him about the world around him. He could sense Aed before him, even without opening his eyes, by change of hue in the air, the slightest altering of melody.
"Very good," Aed whispered, drawing the knife to his arm again and cutting another slit. "Listen to the song, listen to its change. Find the discord."
Perry realized he could feel it--he knew Aed had cut himself again, without seeing it--could feel the slight falter in the Fae's inner song that meant pain.
He focused on it, unconsciously beginning a soft humming as he tried to sort the tangled threads around the wound, to put them back in order.
For a moment, he thought he had it. Then, suddenly, a giggle above him as a group of Fae children flew past distracted him, and he started, opening his eyes. The song ended, and he felt the control slipping from him, the threads of melody vanishing back into the earth.
He looked up at Aed, grimacing. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"No need to be," the healer told him. "That was better. You touched the strands. Now, again."
Aed drove him hard until lunch, and then gave him exercises to do on his own, after, to increase his concentration, and his sensitivity to the powers around them. "You have made more progress today than I had hoped," he said, as he led Perry to the rock enclosure at the edge of the camp that Perry had been told was a dining hall of sorts. "We had feared none of your kind could train in our ways--it has been a very long time since you had any real connection to the earth. But you have proven us wrong. Go now, and eat. We will work again tomorrow."
Aleiah appeared then, leading him down to the enclosure, which turned out to be built into the side of a hill. Once Perry ducked inside, he realized it must go back deeper into the hill than he first assumed, for the room, while not exactly cavernous, was much larger than he would have guessed from the outside. There were low tables made of polished slabs of stone, and benches carved carefully from rock and wood; platters of fruit and woven baskets of breads lined the tables, along with silver serving pitchers filled with some sort of wine or juice, Perry couldn't tell.
Perry followed Aleiah in, sliding into a seat. The Faery child slid into the seat across from him, smiling shyly. "Will you tell me about him?" she asked, reaching for a goblet and pouring herself a drink. "The one you feel so strongly for?"
Perry hesitated. Aed had advised him against focusing on JD or Jack, telling him it would make it that much more difficult to stop focusing on them, when he was training. But Aleiah's face was so hopeful, and if he were completely honest, Perry wanted to talk about JD--wanted to share his feelings with someone, even if it was a young child.
"His name is JD. He...we worked together," Perry told her. "I met him about three years ago, when he was an intern at my hospital."
"A hospital is an infirmary..." Aleiah said slowly, face scrunching up as she concentrated. "But...what is an 'intern'? Is he a Healer, too? I am going to be a Healer, like my father. He is the best in our clan."
Perry smiled, amused, and nodded at her. "An intern is...it's like a healer in training, I guess you could say," he replied. "He's technically a resident, which is also like a healer in training only...further up than an intern, but not a doctor yet. Although he's already a much better doctor than a lot of the idiots at that hospital."
Aleiah made a face, but nodded finally. "If he is already better, then he is a Healer," she said firmly. "Why do you miss him so much? Is he a part of your clan?"
"I..." Perry frowned, wondering how he could explain it to a child. "I suppose, in a way...he is part of my family."
He wasn't sure if he would have to explain it further, but it turned out to be a moot point, when she smiled suddenly and nodded. "Oh, you are mated," she said. "No wonder you miss him so. He must miss you terribly as well."
Perry's eyebrows flew up into his hair, but after a moment he simply nodded. "I...yes, we are. But I don't know if he misses me. We...well, we had a bit of a fight, before I left." He sighed, shoulders slumping a little involuntarily. "I don't know if he'll even want me back, when I return."
Aleiah gave him a look eerily like one he'd given most of his interns at one point or another. "He is your mate," she said, as though explaining something terribly obvious. "Of course he will. Fighting does not change that."
"Not for the Fae, maybe," Perry said softly. "For humans, it does all too often. I'm proof enough of that."
Aleiah snorted. "Not with your true mate," she said, tearing off a hunk of bread and spreading some sort of paste onto it. "You humans have just forgotten how to find your true mate. It is part of what the Change is meant to do, along with bringing you back to Earth."
Perry looked at her, curious, biting into a pear. "Oh?" he mumbled around his mouthful.
She nodded. "Of course," she said with the superior air of a child who knows she is right, waving a hand at him, making him smile. "I am sure he is waiting for you right now."
Perry smiled, though it was sad, and swallowed his mouthful before murmuring, "I hope so."
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