Exton

My mind is spinning like a hamster wheel - and like a hamster wheel, it's going in circles and getting nowhere. All I can think is that I might lose Star, and then what? What will my life be worth without her? I have a son now… and Mera, I can't abandon them - but what kind of father can I be without Star?

Gods of the Aesir, I pray, look down upon us, and help us. Not for me… I've done nothing to merit your favor… but for Star, who's never hurt anyone in her life. Help her, save her, please!

Silk enters, comes to stand by me. Her eyes are a mask, giving nothing away. "Warrior… we have her settled. She sleeps still, but you may come in and see her."

I stand, my joints creaking like an old man's. Silk looks me up and down, assessing, then nods. "Follow me."

I follow her into a part of the Manse I've never seen, a room that's been fitted up as a hospital room of sorts. Star is lying back in the bed, pale and washed-out and still as death. There's an IV in place and a monitor is recording her vitals, not that I know what I'm seeing….

"There will be someone within call. Press the call button if you need anything." Silk glides from the room, noiseless as a ghost.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, light as spidersilk, but strong. "Sit, Erik. You can watch her from one of these chairs, and be out of the way if anyone needs to tend to her."

I drag a chair right up to the edge of the bed, close enough to touch her, and sit. Unlike an actual hospital, the chairs have some air of comfort; but it's lost on me as I lean forward, elbows on my knees, my chin resting on my hands.

I speak without looking up. "Gods, Raina, what am I going to do if she dies?" The words hang there, heavy as lead. "She's my life. Without her, I might as well be dead myself."

Raina crosses to the other side of the bed with another chair. She smiles sadly - such an alien expression on my confident, self-assured sister! "She loves you, Erik; she always has. If there's any way to come back from this, to come back to you and the babies, she'll find it. Don't count her out just yet, brother. She may look fragile - and especially now - but she's tough."

I smile myself, remembering. "I can remember when she couldn't talk without stuttering and how long it took her to get over that; and our first night together, out on the widow's walk; the look on her face when she first met Wolf, and Tiger and Phoenix…." I lean back in the chair, still talking. "The day she told me about the assault, and the day she watched me and Keon take on the Fae who raped her… the look of relief in her eyes when Jack came back from the Unformed Plane and told her the last of the rapists was dead. All the people she's helped and healed… surely that counts for something. Doesn't it?" I raise my eyes to Raina, but find no answers there, only compassion. "I hope she'll be okay with not being able to have any more kids," I say, just babbling now. "A Viking clan… you know, adoption's a common thing, damn near an everyday thing… but I don't know how she'll take it."

Raina smiles. "She'll be all right, Erik. She has you and Mera and Mr. No-Name out there. She'll be fine…."

A sylph comes in and flies agitatedly 'round the bed, followed by Silk. "The Wyldfae K'thyri is here, warrior, and Gareth as well. Both have pledged their blood to the cause so long as there is need."

A shadow detaches itself from the doorway, the grim figure of the hooded man. "I must ask you to go back to the library now; we must begin immediately. We will send word as soon as we know anything." The gray eyes beneath the hood meet mine. "Take heart, Warrior. We are doing everything humanly possible for her, and more besides. Speak to Keon when you return to the library; I expect he will have words of comfort for you."


Back in the library, I move to sit, but Keon waves me to the window. "Look, brother." He points to the woods adjoining the Manse and for a long time, I can see nothing; then my eyes adjust to the darkness and I can see

Lights. A thousand or more pinpoints of light, like someone scattered Christmas tree lights all through the woods. Lights on the ground, in the trees, in the air, lights of every color of the rainbow and more beyond that. I look and then turn back to Keon, puzzled.

"Each of those lights, brother, is a Fae keeping Vigil for the Star. They direct their magic to this house, to healing and sustaining she who sustains their hope. Ye're not alone, Erik. The Fae are wi' ye, and the Wlydfae, and the demifae, all working together to save her."

His strong, callused hand is on my shoulder, and it's the only way I find my way back to my chair, for my sight is blurred by tears….