Chapter 4
Laura and Kimber brought food, placing it on the stone pedestal south of the table. The canopy had been removed so that the stars and moon were visible. Kelly was still asleep. Kimber was a tall, thin girl, several points below her preferred BMI- enough that some people worried about her and pushed food at her. Her hair was naturally curly, her eyes strangely to far apart, and too starkly, flattened almond shaped for her identified ethnicity. Her skin was dark, golden honey in tone- sunlight pushing through a jar. She was supposedly Hispanic; she was accused of being an alien hybrid. Physically she was 21, intellectually she bounced from 12 to a hundred. She was either extremely ‘blond’ or quite profound in her observations. She tended to wear the two piece dress that had a distinctly Egyptian look about it. The top had one strap over the right shoulder. The top piece was loose and allowed the bosom to fill it and leave folds, while the gold, elastic band kept it tight to her rib cage. The white, rippled skirt barely fell mid-thigh. The gold waistband hugged her hips, navel exposed. There was evidence for muscle lines on her stomach. She wasn’t thin from not eating.
Laura was dark chocolate, and carried the accent of the island she was raised on. Her hips and butt were big, and the curve of her back was pronounced. She sported a military cut, and a gold painted tattoo of an Aztec like hummingbird. She liked wearing the brightly, multicolored, strapless, summer dresses from her origin point, but would tolerate all white for ceremonial reasons. Technically, servicing ‘this boy’ was supposed to be all ceremonial in nature. He was a boy to her, even though he was designated legal age. She preferred older men, as they carried the chisel feature of wisdom earned through having lived, trial by fire. That, and she grew up in the circle of elders and had likely fixated on attributes that indicated health and longevity. Her work was not pleasure, just work; she accepted the ideal that true work always held pleasure, but her only wanting was to train the initiate to survive the ordeal to come.
Telmar was Asian. His face had the chiseled expression that is associated with having endured losses. He was Chinese descent, and perhaps mixed. He didn’t discuss his family or heritage. He had accepted his fate and become renown in the practice. Mother had taught him. Mother was teaching his wives through him, as was the way. Mother wasn’t his biological mother. Mother was jokingly old enough to have lived through the last fall, and she would tell you as much. Mother could care less if you believed it, as long as you heeded her ‘recommendations.’
Laura brought Telmar a peeled orange. She held the orange near until the smell of it brought him out of his trance.
“Do we engage him now?” Kimber asked.
“No,” Telmar said.
“But he is so hard,” Laura said. “Aren’t we supposed to help relieve him?”
“Not yet,” Telmar said.
“I thought if you have an erection over four hours you need medical attention,” Kimber said.
“He has cycled,” Telmar said.
“Quite a lot, apparently,” Kimber said, catching a stringy thread of precum. There was enough pooled on his stomach to lube the penis, make it shiny; something she liked to do before going down on it. “I can’t get pregnant during a ceremony. Right?”
She brought her finger up to smell it and was going to taste it, but Telmar took her wrist and pulled her hand away. She pouted. He sucked her finger clean.
“Yes, even this small sample could get you pregnant. He doesn’t have to cum inside you.
This is enough.”
“Oh. But he can’t cum while dreaming, is what I meant,” Kimber said, trying to recover.
“He can. It’s called a nocturnal emission,” Telmar said. He returned to his position at the head of the table.
“Like Emissary?” Kimber asked.
“What?” Laura asked.
“Emission comes from the word emissary, right? Just like fickle comes from the word fick,” Kimber said.
“Fick is not a word,” Laura said.
“Then where do you suppose fickle comes from?” Kimber said.
“You can both go now,” Telmar said.
“But we’re supposed to help you wake him,” Kimber said.
“On the third night, if he has not awakened, then you must engage him,” Telmar said.
“What would happen if we rush him to emission now?” Laura asked.
“It depends on where he is in the dream world,” Telmar said. “It could rush him back, it could separate him permanently from his body. Most likely, nothing. If he is in random chaos, which tends to be the dreams at this stage, he will not reach threshold.”
“Which means he won’t cum,” Kimber said. “So, I could ride him without consequence… to him.”
“My, aren’t we horny today,” Laura said.
“And you’re not?” Kimber asked.
“I said we,” Laura said.
“As long as we are in his sphere of influence, we will be aroused,” Telmar said.
“Or until he stops dreaming,” Kimber said.
“Or until he stops dreaming,” Telmar said.
“Would you like relief?” Kimber asked.
He invited her in between the table and his chair. She sat on the table. He rose to meet her. Laura broke the orange and fed it to him. Kimber and he shared the same orange piece together, while engaging each other in a ceremonial way. Their lips met. Orange juice ran down their lips and chin. Kimber chased it through his beard with her tongue. Laura supplied more orange, even dipped a slice in the precum available from Kelly. Telmar pulled Kimber to the edge of the table. She lay back, allowing her legs to go up, her knees folding over his shoulder. She had to pivot to lay beside Kelly. In her rocking, her shoulder touched his shoulder. Laura came around and kissed Kimber, orange in her mouth.
The boy sat up. “Fuckkkk!” ‘Nocturnal emission’ drove him up from the sleep. He became aware of the other three, sexual congress in progress for at least two, and stark awareness of his being naked. He stood up on the table, pointing the stick he still clutched. He did not try to cover his erection. It continued to point, too, oozing.
“Fuck! What the hell is going on here,” Kelly demanded.
“I can explain,” Telmar said, still hugging Kimber’s legs.
“Don’t stop,” Kimber said. She sighed heavily. “Fuck, I was almost there.”
Kimber disengaged from Telmar with a deep rocking of her hips, and rolled off the table. Telmar and Kelly pointed at each other, equally sturdy despite age disparity, and despite one had finished its business. Kimber pulled her dress down and used it to dry the outside of her. The boy retreated to the edge of the table, pointing at her, then back to the man. He didn’t know who to point at. Telmar’s wand seemed more officious than the boy’s stick.
“At least someone came,” Kimber said. “Maybe cum again?”
“No. We need to bathe him, give him clothing, and true relief,” Laura said.
“Stay away from me, you, you, you pervs!” Kelly said.
“Lakin, you need to be calm and hear the explanation,” Telmar said.
“Lakin? Who is Lakin?” Kelly asked.
“Your name is now Lakin,” Telmar said.
“My name is Kelly!” Kelly said.
“Your parents hated you?” Laura asked.
“Kelly is a perfectly reasonable boy’s name,” Kelly said.
Laura made a face that suggested hopeful skepticism.
“You never heard of Gene Kelly?”
“Oh, it’s your last name,” Kimber said.
“Fuck! Where are my clothes?”
“Those had to be disposed of,” Telmar said. “There is a robe over there. There is food and drink as well.”
“I am not eating anything from you,” Kelly said, climbing down from the table. He found the robe. It was awkward pushing the stick through the robe. It snagged and got stuck several times and he had to slow down just to get it through. For the duration of his trying to robe himself, which had him spinning in circles, no one advanced on him, and he seemed completely unaware of their existence. He couldn’t tie the robe. He didn’t focus on this fact. He returned to pointing the stick at them. He was unaware of how much time he took dressing.
“We’re not going to harm you or poison you,” Laura assured him.
“You’re damn right you’re not,” he said. He backed away until he ran into something hard and unseen. He turned. There was no wall.
“You cannot leave yet,” Telmar said. “You cannot leave until you have full understanding of it.”
“What is this?” Kelly asked.
“You are centered on the ceremonial table,” Telmar said. “Your sphere of influence is locked to the table and defined by this invisible barrier.”
Telmar sat on the table, in the middle of the long side, facing south. One of the hexagon tile rose to meet his feet. Kimber and Laura set on either side of him. Tiles rose to meet their feet, as well. Kimber stretched her legs straight out, and when she brought them down, the tile was where it needed to be to catch the length of her legs. She tapped it twice, and it withdrew back into the earth. She alternated kicking her feet like a kid, until Telmar tapped her leg with his wand, indicating he wanted her to be still. Kelly walked the perimeter of the invisible barrier, touching it with his left hand. His erection had fully surrendered. All the while, he kept the stick pointed at the strangers. He came back around to full south, and the pedestal with the food and drink on it. He eyed the water.
“Quench your thirst,” Telmar invited.
“No!” Kelly said, tapping on the invisible wall. “What sort of sorcery is this?”
“Oh, this is beyond the levels of sorcery,” Telmar said. “If you survive what is to come, you will become Fringe.”
“I knew you were going to try and kill me,” Kelly said, pointing the stick more fiercely.
“Not I,” they said in unison.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Telmar asked.
“I was fishing with my brothers,” Kelly said.
“Lakin, you need to get this, and accept it soon: you have no brothers. You have no family,” Telmar said.
“You killed them?!” Kelly demanded. He wanted to back away but could not.
“Not I,” they said.
“They may still be alive. We don’t know your story. We don’t need to know your story.
You were asleep when they brought you. Stiff as a corpse,” Telmar said. “Think back. Kelly was fishing. Did it come from the water?”
“From the forest…” Kelly answered, too quickly. He became quiet, following it. His brow crinkled with effort.
“Stick with it. It’s like remembering a dream,” Telmar said.
“It was in the shadow of trees. I think it was a tree, so perfectly still yet… It reached for me. It came forwards as male. It came forwards again, female. If I lied, it inched forwards,” Kelly said.
“Did you ask it questions?” Telmar asked.
“It said its name was Dell, or Della, depending on the aspect it’s projecting,” Kelly said.
“Wow, what a sophisticated assessment,” Kimber said.
“And means you’re hyper-heterosexual, or it wouldn’t have bounced genders,” Laura said.
“Not that there is anything wrong with that,” Telmar said. “In some ways, ambiguity can be harder to sort.”
“I like harder,” Kimber said.
“What in the fuck are you guys talking about?!”
“You said fuck,” Kimber said.
Kelly came forwards, pointing the stick aggressively. “You will tell me what this is about.”
“Did you ever read the Trades of Fall?” Telmar asked.
“There’s like five volumes! Of course I didn’t,” Kelly said.
“Seven, actually,” Kimber said. “Most people don’t discuss the other three, but they’re legit.”
“So, you didn’t read it,” Telmar said. “Did you even finish high school?”
“I got my equivalent,” Kelly said.
Telmar nodded. “Hopefully that will be enough. You strong in the sciences?”
“I am not interested in joining your cult!” Kelly said.
“Good, cause this not an interview,” Telmar said.
“Interviews can be fun, though,” Kimber said.
“Fuck you,” Kelly said.
“Any time,” Kimber said.
“I demand that you release me!” Kelly said.
“You can leave anytime you want,” Telmar said.
“But first, you have to put down the stick.”
Telmar stood up on the tile. Laura did, too, but Kimber simply pushed off the table lighted on her tile. Kelly renewed his threat presentation. Telmar and Laura stepped off their tile, even as they were descending back to earth. The three of them walked away from the table. Laura and Kimber went East and West, respectively. Telmar went towards Kelly, who retreated from him. Kelly was confused who to arm himself against. They left the sphere of influence, leaving Kelly stuck inside, trying to figure it out.
निनमित
Telmar returned to the circle after Kelly had calm enough that he had sat down, his back against the invisible barrier. Kelly immediately stood up. He brought his stick up to bare. Telmar also had a stick. His stick was polished, stained, and came across as if he were holding a magic wand.
He turned sideways and pointed back.
“If you want to duel, you should turn your body sideways, effectively decreasing your target size,” Telmar explained.
“That’s stupid,” Kelly said. “At this range, who would miss?”
Telmar smiled, his wand illumining at the tip. With a flourish he released a volley of balls of light. Most of them flew wildly. One struck, mid chest, and took Kelly off his feet and took him back hard to the invisible wall. He slid down to his feet, and sank further to his butt. Telmar came forwards.
“Even the best of magic is wild, it flows through lightening shaped paths, extremely random,” Telmar said. “Are you ready to learn?”
“I don’t want to do this,” Kelly said.
Telmar nodded. He sat down on the ground facing Kelly, going into the lotus pose. He held his wand with respect.
“Once you have a virus, it will run its course,” Telmar said.
“I have a virus?!” Kelly asked.
“I don’t know. Do you? I am speaking in metaphor. You will find much of the education I give you will be symbolic in nature,” Telmar said.
“I don’t want to learn from you. I don’t want anything from you!” Kelly said.
“You want to leave?” Telmar said.
“Yes!” Kelly said.
“Then you must learn that much from me,” Telmar said. “I am not really interested in whether you stay or not. I am not really interested in whether you or your family die or not. And if you will me being most starkly direct, I cannot teach you everything you need to know. I can give you basics. Basics are mostly true, generalizable to everyone, but at some point, you will begin to find subtle discrepancies. You will find your path is individualized. Only you can walk this path.”
“Are you threatening my family?!” Kelly asked.
“I am not. You are a threat to your family. If you go home, you will bring them danger. If you use your given name, you will bring them danger,” Telmar said. “Once you leave the sanctity of this space, you are on your own and can do as you wish.”
“When are you going to let me leave?” Kelly asked.
Telmar extended his hand out, dropped the wand he was holding. It dropped to the earth.
“When you can do that, the present season will end, and you may depart without hindrance,” Telmar said.
“What was that thing I encountered? Demon?” Kelly asked.
Telmar shrugged. “What is your impression?”
Kelly pointed. “Just answer my questions.”
“How can I answer your questions when I don’t understand your perspective?” Telmar asked. “Things look quite different in the trenches, than they do from a mountain top perched over the terrain.” Telmar waited to add more until he had evidence that Kelly was considering the response. “Some people see demons. Some see evil. Some see death. Some just shadows. The truth of it is neither demon nor evil, but an attribute of life. It can be death. My preferred analogy is shadow. There can be no shadows without light, which means there is hope. The questions for you are ‘where is light’ and ‘what is casting the shadow.’ For better or worse, you engaged this thing and it has you. Or, you engaged this thing and you were elevated, your perspective is changed and you can’t go back to the way things were before you began to see. Your old you is not lost, in fact it gave you the trajectory that elevated you at the right time and right place, and you are still alive due to circumstance, or accident, or luck, or insight, or I don’t know- fate. The other perspective is that you died, the person you thought you were is gone. You are not you. You never were you. This thing that has come is you and not you and it will be back. Every quarter it will return and you will face it. You can keep it at bay. You can surrender to it. You can befriend it, or at least come to terms with it. But you cannot kill it. It will exist as long as you exist. Change you, and it goes away.”
“And something new falls into its place?” Kelly said more than asked, resentment evidence in his voice.
“Isn’t that the way of life?” Telmar asked.
Telmar picked up his wand. He held it up, waiting for Kelly’s eyes to lock on it. He let go. It fell.
“Why does it want me?” Kelly asked. He didn’t seem to see the gesture.
“I don’t know. Maybe it didn’t come for you, but you got in the way,” Telmar said. “Really doesn’t matter why. You can ask it, next time you see it. We have evidence that they can lie.”
“We?” Kelly asked.
“Mother, Lambly, Laura, and Kimber,” Telmar said. “Mother is my host. The other three are my wives.”
“You have three wives?” Kelly said.
“They walk the path with me. You’re welcome to take one with you when you leave. Or all of them,” Telmar said. “You will likely find it difficult to find a woman to host you, given the nature of your troubles. With caveats. Once a quarter, as your encounter draws nigh, you will find the people around will have an increase in libido and decrease in discernment. You will find people, men and women, wanting to engage you sexually whether they should or not, and few will have the willpower to resist you. The closer you are to the event, the greater their wanting for you. If you survive the event, you will find they don’t remember you, or being intimate with you. Also, they will have a peculiar increase in disdain for you.”
“What?”
“Consider it a compensation plan for being fringed. For much of the year, you will be practically invisible, shunned, and it will take immense effort to engage people. Four times a year, you will be strangely irresistible. If you were fortunate enough to find a place or buy a place, you would need a wife to hold it- and she needs to be sufficiently knowledgeable in the arts to understand the complexity of feelings towards you. Most of the troubled simply roam the lands, avoiding others as much as possible. You don’t want to be in a city or even a village when your trouble comes calling. You are fringe.”
Telmar again demonstrated releasing the wand.
“You said ‘they.’ They can lie,” Kelly said.
“Troubles,” Telmar said. “That’s what I call them. The wives accepted my terminology.” The edges of his lips went up, but his eyes seemed sad. He quoted: “To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing- end them…” He fired a volley of light balls at the sky. They pinged against the invisible barrier, temporary illuminating the structure. He held the wand out and opened his hand, dropping it.
“You quote the Given,” Kelly said.
“There was a lot given. Some things resonate with me more than others,” Telmar said.
“I just want to go home,” Kelly said.
“You want your parents, your siblings to die? If Trouble can’t get you, it will take them,” Telmar said. “It will take them out of spite. Out of hunger. It will use them to manipulate you. The longer you withstand your troubles, the more attractive you become to them. It will take your family and friends and still come for you.”
“Can it be killed?”
Telmar shrugged. “I have learned to live with my troubles.”
“Troubles? More than one?” Kelly asked.
“Troubles rarely come singularly,” Telmar said. “Will Fortune never come with both hands full but write her fair words still in foulest letters? And takes away the stomach—such are the rich that have abundance and enjoy it not.” Telmar demonstrated letting go of the wand.
“You must let go of what you hold.”
“Stop that,” Kelly said.
“Quoting the Given?” Telmar said.
“I don’t like being schooled! I am not an idiot. I know how to read,” Kelly said.
“In some ways, we are both measuring each other,” Telmar said. “I am testing you, you’re testing me.”
“How do you defeat trouble?” Kelly said.
“I don’t know,” Telmar said.
“How do I do magic, like you?” Kelly asked.
“It’s the wrong question. That sort of question should come with four solutions sets, one of which is the most appropriate response. Testing me is not unreasonable, but what you should be examining is my heart, not my intellect,” Telmar said. “Wealth and trivia are the worse measures for a human being, and likely indicates a lack of personal, essential values. Tell me, what do I keep doing?”
“You are quoting…”
“Yes, but what am I doing? With my hands?” Telmar asked. He held both fist up, one with wand, and opened them. Wand fell.
Kelly stood up and pointed. His hand shook. The stick shook. “How do I defeat them?
How do I do magic?”
“You start by letting go,” Telmar said.
“I can’t!” Kelly screamed.
Telmar stood up, he let go of his wand.
“I can’t!” Kelly cried.
Telmar embraced Kelly, hugged, and patted his back. When he stopped crying he pushed away, still holding the wand. Four women entered, mother, Lambly, Kimber, and Laura. They brought with them food and drink. Sushi, rice, soup. They each carried their individualized, magic wands. They set up a meal for all of them, took their places at the table. Telmar picked up his wand and joined the women. There was a place for Kelly. Telmar, his wives, and mother each sat down the wands they were holding. They then began to eat. Kelly came to the table and sat down. He could hold neither spoon nor chop-sticks. Kimber ate with two magic wands, chopstick styled. He also couldn’t make himself eat without confronting the fact he couldn’t put down the stick.
“Perhaps you would like bread?” mother asked.
Kelly avoided eye contact.
“What? You don’t like my cooking?” Lambly asked.
“Perhaps it’s not food you’re interested in?” Kimber asked. “Want to play?”
“Aren’t you married?” Kelly asked.
“Married, not dead,” Kimber said.
“Feel free,” Telmar said.
“But…”
“She is an adult. She gets to decide what to do with her vagina,” Telmar said.
Kelly blushed.
“What?” mother asked. “You never heard the word vagina before?”
“Not over a table,” Kelly said.
“Do you prefer under the table?” Laura asked.
“They are below the table,” Kimber said. “Our vaginas.”
A wagon arrived with a tree stump in it, towed by two horses. Dirt, roots, and all were in the wagon. A city guard arrived with the driver, and he got out to come around and address Telmar. Kelly got up from the table and retreated to the far side of the invisible dome pointing.
Telmar went out and met the guard.
“Did you get it all?” Telmar asked.
“Do you know how difficult it is to ferret out roots?” the guard asked.
“Did you get it all?”
“We claimed as much of it as we could,” the guard said. “And, per the Captain’s orders, we filled the hole with liquid sand. We’re still waiting for it to cool. We’ll let you know if we see anything in the glass.”
“No need. Laura, fetch your bag. I want you to go back with the guard and inspect the site,” Telmar said.
“Yes, husband,” Laura said.
Laura departed for her things right away. Telmar returned to his meal, without further word to the guard. The guard clearly inferred he was to wait for Laura and wasn’t happy about it.
“You gonna get this stuff out of my wagon?” the driver demanded.
“Unhitch your team, leave the wagon,” Telmar said. “Captain will get you a new one.”
“I like my wagon…”
“You won’t like the trouble that comes with it,” Telmar said. “But if you like, you can empty the contents there. Make sure you get every last atom of dirt.”
Laura emerged from the house with a cloth purse. The flap to the purse was secured to the bag with her wand stuck through loops.
“So, lieutenant. May I share the horse with you?” Laura asked.
“I suppose. We didn’t bring saddles.”
“I prefer bareback. You want me in front of you, or behind you?”
“You could ride with me, if you like,” the driver said.
“I can smell you from here. I’d rather fuck your horse,” Laura said.
“I’d pay to see that,” Telmar said.
Lambly hit him.