A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 48

Narreth's eyes opened fairly wide as she heard demonic words from him. They weren't the right dialect, but she understood most of it as he told her that they wouldn't harm her and that they were trying to see if she was bleeding or not.

"You -- you speak to me," she whispered, "How did you learn?"

Sully held up his hand and looked at Jonas, "Don't you be starin' at me like that, Bully-boy. I've been alive and rambling around on this world a sight longer than you. Now, dya see much in the way to blood at all?"

"No," Jonas replied.

But it wasn't enough for Sully for some reason and he looked down, "I believe a girl has a right to her privacy, but I need to know. Forgive me, Lady," he said as he straightened a little and with two fingers and the softest touch that he could manage, he spread her cleft just a little and looked for blood for a moment. When he looked back down at her he smiled, quite obviously relieved. "Better than I had hoped," he said in demonic before he looked at Jonas again.

"Do the lady a favor now Jonas and look in me large pack there. Bring me my spare blanket and get me my Mexican cape, that poncho thing, would you?"

Jonas nodded and brought what he'd been asked to, and he looked at Sully for a moment. "Don't get mad at me again, Sully, but why did you call her a lady? I'm not being stupid. I'd just like to know."

"Jonas," he said as he worked to get her wrapped in the blanket, "These creatures, most sorts of them, they're not stupid. They've got brains the same as us, and they've got living hearts too. You wouldn't even blink if she was a human girl and I said that about her. Well, they're all ladies, Jonas. You just need to see that."

He looked down at Narreth and drew a deep breath as he began to speak to her.

"I was a man who sailed on large ships for a time, and once, the ship that I was on was in the hands of a fool when a storm found us far away from here. I'm sure that I am the only one who lived. I found myself in the water and hung on to a piece of the mast and beam. When I opened my eyes, I already had a burn from the sun, but the wood that I clung to was dragging along a beach in the waves.

It was a small island, and I lived there for a time alone. I was beginning to think of ways to make a raft when I found that there was someone else there, a young demon girl. We lived there for two years, and I'd say that it was the happiest time for me. But when she was with child, the same thing happened to her as has happened to you."

It was clear that Jonas didn't understand a word, though he didn't interrupt at all and only listened, watching the female demon there in his arms as she looked up. Sully was quiet for a time, but then he said quietly, "She bled to death, and there was nothing that I could do to staunch the loss. I lost my love and the child in an afternoon."

He smiled a little then, "But I think that with a little luck, you might be alright. How are you called?"

"Narreth," she said quietly, "And you?"

"My name is Thomas Sullivan," he said, "but most call me Sully. Where were you going?"

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Billy had been listening to the wind and wondering with a little worry where Narreth had gone when she'd left to hunt, saying that she wished to hunt alone and without his rifle involved.

He was about to say that he'd better try to find her somehow, when they heard someone calling from outside. Billy became human to anyone's eyes and walked with Randi to see a pair of men on foot, leading their horses in the thick snow while Narreth rode on one of the animals under a few layers of clothing.

Randi got the horses squared away in the barn with Jonas after the brief introductions had been made as Rudhi helped to get Narreth inside. With a lot of talk which caused eyebrows to rise all around, Randi and Rudhi began to get a hot meal ready for them all and Randi broke out her second last keg of Copper's ale to share with them.

Narreth had an earnest conversation with her son for a few moments as he held her, thankful to have her returned to him. She knew that he wouldn't be as upset about what she'd come to accept as she was, but she'd given up on wanting to resurrect their breed of demons. The effort would be better served in just trying to live as well as they could. It was still her wish -- and it was only a mother's wish by then that her son find someone for himself.

"I do not know how it is done among humans, but I have met one who seemed to care for me when I came to them earlier. I know little of him but his name and that he can speak some of our words. If nothing comes of it, then I have lost little, but I think that we might have friends here and to me, that makes this world a little better to live in." She tilted her head a little and he saw that she struggled a bit over just how to ask him a question.

"From what he said to me," she said looking down, "He had a demon for him once, long ago, but she died. How different are we to humans?"

Her son smiled as what it was that she might be asking for came to him, "Near enough and far apart," he said, "What matters most is what the ones like -- as in anything. Humans fear demons, mostly. But if this one does not -- "

She looked past him to see Randi standing by the door, "I think that this one wishes to speak to you."

Randi had come to say that she didn't think that Narreth ought to be anywhere but resting in a bed, now that she knew what had happened, and that there was a bath for her to get cleaned up. Narreth smiled and tried to beckon to Randi and when the redhead had stepped a little closer, Billy gladly translated Narreth's heartfelt thanks and asked if she might have a chance to speak to Sully for a moment.

When he stood before her, looking down at the small female who looked up at him from the uncharted depths of his poncho which she still wore and looked lost in, Narreth smiled as she reached up and managed to get the huge hood pulled back. "I wish to say my thanks to you for what you have done. Many here would not have raised a finger -- at best, I have learned from my son.

I have my own sad tale to tell," she said as she reached for his hand to hold it in both of hers to look at it for a moment. "I am told that there is a bath for me, and I would obviously like to be clean again before I am to be sent to rest in a bed, and ... you cared for me not long ago. I wonder if I can ask it of you again to help me in and out of the bath. I now would rather not have my son do it, and the rest are strangers to me -- and I would not ask your companion for this. Would you help me again? I have nothing more to hide from you, Thomas, and I hope that it is not too much to ask of you."

Sully nodded and asked Randi where the bath was.

As she stood in the bathroom holding onto the edge of the tub, Narreth watched as Sully removed his flannel shirt and his undershirt before he stepped forward to help Narreth into the tub. But before he took his hands away, she asked him if he would mind staying with her. "I do not think that I am in much danger of drowning, Thomas, but I like you and I wish to talk."

He held most of her mane up so she could lean back before he let it fall to hang over the edge and she smiled again, feeling better for the warmth. "Do you have a female now?" she asked, "I think that you must Thomas. You seem to be able to care for one well for a male of any kind."

Sully smiled a little as he shook his head, "No, Narreth, I've got no one. I'm much too rough and tired-looking for anyone to have much interest, but thank you for the way that you make it sound."

She reached for his hand again and as she looked at it, she spoke even lower, "I am not as young as I might look to you, Thomas, and the way that I look is proof that I am not as wise as I had once thought myself to be, but I know a few things, I think.

I know that you do not find me ugly, and the knowledge pleases me to know. You might laugh, but you have your own attraction to me."

She smiled as she turned his hand over and ran her fingers over the work-hardened callouses. "I know that you have much strength for your kind, and though we are different to each other, I think that I can tell that you are a good male."

She sat up a little as she reached to place her hand against the middle of his chest, marveling at the size and the way that it felt to touch his warm skin. Sully looked down and then he looked at her face as she pulled his hand gently so that she could place it in the center of her own. On someone like her, his hand covered some of both of her breasts, spanning both nipples easily.

"Here is another thing that I know," she said, "We both have hearts which drive us. I find such a hope in me to know Thomas as a friend. Neither of us is young but, ... I find a little hope in me that you might wish to know me and if you wish for a female to love you, I think that if we are careful, I would like nothing more, when I am a little better from my trouble. I am sad for the loss, but it is better this way if there was something wrong with the small life which was in me.

In you, I find someone with a kind heart, and I think that ones like me are not unknown to you. It is me who has the most to learn," she smiled softly to him, "and if you wish it, I would learn of you and be happy for the lesson.

I have always been one who was strong and cared for others. Now I wish to care for me -- and you, if you think that you would want a small demon female. With a little care and perhaps a lot of luck and your help to guide me, I wish to find a shape to hide here as a human female now."

Sully stared a little, but he knew what he was hearing and he wasn't stupid at all. He lifted his hand from her chest and touched her face. "I think that I must be in a dream, Narreth, but I know what you're trying to ask me. I'd be happy to help you, and happier still that I met you, though you need to get a little strength in you by resting. I would be happy to take care of you.

You're right," he said, "we're not all that young maybe, but we're not dead either, are we?"

Narreth sat up fully and she put her arms around Sully's neck. They looked at each other for a few moments, and then she asked him if it was the custom here to touch their lips together. Sully grinned a little and he nodded slightly, "It's called kissing, Narreth. Each touch is called a kiss, and if you're offering one to me ..."

Narreth nodded a little shyly and he kissed her then. When they drew apart, she was grinning herself. "Thomas, my tale is a long one -- too long and sad for a night where I find that I wish to sing over this and you, but I can say that there was once a time when I was dead, though I am not dead anymore, so this and you are gifts to me, I think. But I can say that being dead is to be empty and alone. It was a few years for me in the time here, I guess, but for ... kisses such as yours here, it was almost worth it."

He was surprised, "I don't understand. How could you have been dead?" He thought that perhaps he wasn't comprehending a figure of speech or something like that.

"I have learned that there are many kinds of demons," she said, "far more than I had ever thought. Where I am from, almost all of the females of my tribe were witches. If one was a little powerful in her life, then when she passed, her spirit would go on, free from the body and able to help those in need. The stronger the witch, the longer she was able to help. I was very strong. The rest is part of my long tale, but not long ago, I had a chance to help my son's female and him, but she seems to be gone from her body. I feel alone in it -- and I am not dead anymore, am I?

"You have touched me, and you have carried me. I am obviously alive. I must be, for the way that I am happy in spite of everything and now I ache for another of your kisses."

Sully put his arms around her slender shoulders and he kissed her again, both of them sighing before they broke the kiss to look at each other from very close up. He watched her light eyes as they went from one feature on his face to the next, and he thought that to her, he must surely seem very strange, and yet, from her expression, she didn't seem to be put off in the slightest.

But her expression changed to one of slight dismay then, "I must be filthy. I have left dirty smudges on your cheeks. If you think that you would want me as your female, then I want you for me as well. There is nothing to lose anymore. But if that is so, Thomas, then I wish to look my poor best -- at least I wish to be clean. You did your best for me with the snow. Here we have warm water. If you do not mind the mess that I leave from my dirty fur, then I wish for you to bathe with me."

She chuckled a little, "I am the smallest one here, and I take little space. There is room for you to be here and your new and dirty female wishes to be washed -- if it is not wrong for us to do here." She looked at him and put a tiny little whine into her voice then, "At least, I need help to wash all of my hair. Please Thomas?"

One of the things that Narreth liked about Sully was that he was not so young, since to her, experience counted for a lot, so it thrilled her a little to see him nod and stand up to get undressed. She was used to the size difference between the males and the females of her own kind, but the relative hairlessness of humans was rather striking as she looked as him while he got into the tub with her.

She found that she quite liked it after only a moment's thought. She could see that while he wasn't barely out of his adolescence or anything, he looked very good to her since she could see the way that his muscles moved under his skin from his motions and she decided that, for the want of a relative reference, Thomas Sullivan was in his prime, or not long past it, and he had many miles left in him.

She also really liked the way that his pubic hair was so short, which led her to realise that there was another similarity that she knew that she'd like later on, once she was better. She reached out to touch the hair over his genitals with a fingertip. "Why is this hair so short?" she asked, "It gets cold here, but where I am from, the males have much hair here because they need it. This part of my son is well hidden in fur."

He shrugged, "We wear clothes here and try to live in places that we can make a little warm. Since I have clothes to keep me warm, I cut this hair some, just like I shave the whiskers on my face, when I think of it and I can find a little hot water to do it with. I heat the water in a pot on a stove if I can."

She reached for the long stubble on his face with a smile, "I like you this way," she said, "It is new and different to me. I do not mind it at all, because I am a girl who has the same fur on her face as I have everywhere else, only it is shorter."

They washed each other and after a while, Narreth surprised him by the way that she came to him slowly on her hands and knees, moving up onto him very carefully until she sat and reached for him and he waited until she was settled with her head on his shoulder. Sully reached for Narreth then, pulling her gently against him.

Neither of them said a thing, they only held on.

Narreth saw it when he told her in absolute silence, everything that she needed to know in the way that he allowed a female demon -- but a demon nonetheless, to be against him as she was this way. She lifted her head and looked for a long moment as Thomas Sullivan kissed her softly once and laid his head back against the edge of the tub as he closed his eyes.

Narreth laid her head back down on his shoulder and closed her own eyes with a little smile to herself, knowing everything then.

Randi wondered about them. She didn't know a thing here, but she quietly knocked on the door politely. She smiled when she'd opened it to look in, hearing no response.

Thomas Sullivan was asleep, leaning back in the tub, with Narreth hall-sitting, half-lying on him. Her head was on his shoulder and she slept there as with an expression that made it very easy for Randi to see what she must have looked like when she was very young and small.

She woke them carefully and offered to bring another pail or two of hot water for them, but they declined, feeling a little foolish, so she left them.

Sully dried Narreth with a towel carefully before she stood and watched him empty and clean the tub. It was only a little trouble for him to get dressed and a minute later, Narreth was lost in a huge shirt of his and sitting on his lap at the table as they shared some food with the others. She understood little of what was said, but she didn't mind.

There was a brief conversation between her and her son and she told him that she wished to be with Sully, though nothing more than a bath had happened between them. He nodded, trying to show that he was hopeful for her while doing his best not to show the relief that he felt, knowing that he wouldn't have to sleep with her anymore. At the moment, Billy didn't really want anyone. He just wanted time to sort out the way that he felt.

"Pardon me," Jonas said to Billy, "but I'm having some trouble understanding this. From what you said, the lady that Sully and I helped there is your mother. You don't look anything like her, and Rudy over there can talk but she doesn't say anything, only Randi there knows what she says."

So it was then Randi's turn to explain things a little patiently.

"And as far as the way that Billy looks, Jonas. This is only a way for him to appear."

Sully touched Jonas' arm, "A lot of demons can appear in at least two ways, Jonas. I know, I used to live with one. I'll tell you about it sometime."

Randi nodded, "Billy kind of saved my life a while back. When I first saw him, he looked like this, because he didn't want to scare me. But he also wanted to keep me warm, and I guess that it's easier to do that while he was looking like he really is, so I can say that I've seen him, and he is a demon."

Billy shrugged, "I look like Narreth, just bigger."

Jonas looked over as Rudhi came nearer to look at him a little curiously for a moment before she looked at Randi.

"Rudy says that she's wondering a little about something that she sees in you. She's a little afraid to ask you directly. She can speak inside your head, Jonas, but she's afraid of scaring you. She sees that you're pretty sore and wonders about it, that's all."

Before Jonas could speak, Sully began to roar with laughter. "I can see all of the strange things here among us and I'd say that we're a pretty odd group of folks that have met under circumstances that are weird to begin with, but I'm not minding any of that very much at all.

But Miss," he said to Rudhi, "what you're wanting to know here," he said as he raised his mug of ale, "that's a tale for mighty Jonas Bull to tell himself, and I'll warrant that I'm going to be laughing until the morning as I watch all of the faces here as he does.

I'm sitting here with demons and girls and who knows what-all tonight and that's fine.

Go on then Bully-boy," He nodded to Jonas, "and try to explain how it is that you came to be so stiff and sore and what you were doing to get that way."

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After the meal, Randi was busy with trying to make up several beds. To her surprise, Billy was a great help, able to make a bed and have it look good in less time than her and with what appeared to be a lot less effort.

"I feel like an innkeeper," she smiled, "and you're making this look easy and go a lot faster, but I'm dying to know how you learned to do that."

He smiled a little, "I came here as a kid with my brother. We lived on an old base out in the desert. It was huge and there were a lot of beds, but Hank and I wanted to stay in one building since it was easier than trying to remember where we were sleeping all the time. We had to look out for ourselves a lot, so we just learned it, like a lot of things."