Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nixie frowned when she heard about his clan.

"Well, I have to leave my financial empire to someone when I leave dry land," she said. "I was going to leave it to charity or something, but I suppose I can set aside something for you. Set you up so you don't have to worry again. Do we have a deal, then? You help me find my coat and in return I leave you enough money so you can stay free for the rest of your life."

Nixie watched the thoughts race through Jace's eyes. He was so young, so inexperienced. Her heart felt that peculiar tugging that she had thought was impossible.

"Come here," she said opening her arms. "You look like you could use a hug."

Nixie hugged Jace and settled back into the sofa. The poor boy was so tired that she didn't want to disturb him. She held him a long time, occasionally petting his soft hair. He was too young for the responsibility she planned to put on his shoulders, but she was to world-weary to bear it much longer. Or so she had thought.

Now, holding this boy in her arms, she wondered how different things would have been if...

Austin discreetly came through the door with a few shopping bags in each hand.

"Miss Prince-Hughes," he whispered when he saw Jace sleeping in her arms. "I bought all the things you specified in your text-message. Is...is he wearing your sweat pants?"

Nixie smiled at the faithful chauffeur and jack-of-all-trades. "Yes; I didn't think it would be appropriate for him to run around naked. Even if Sovenn let his slaves do that. Especially because Sovenn let his slaves do that."

"Where should I put these?" Austin asked.

"Just in my bedroom," Nixie replied. "I think he'll be spending the night with me."

Austin gave her a surprized look. "I thought he'd be bunking in my room."

"What? Do you want to wake up with fox fur between your sheets?" she demanded.

"No, it's just that--you were saying about propriety--and he might be young but he's still--you know--a he," he babbled.

"You are too easy to tease, Austin," she chuckled. "But...let's just say it's a glimmer of maternal instinct I didn't know I had."

"Ah." That explained everything. Austin was still haunted by that day he'd found her at the foot of the stairs...bleeding and crying...He shook his head to clear it of the memory as he went to put the shopping bags in her room.

Nixie stroked his head comfortingly as he started to dream. She held him close and started to hum a song that hadn't passed her lips in the last 10 years. A single tear trickled down her cheek. She scooped him up and took him to her room. She tucked him into bed and then stretched out beside him, still stroking his head and shoulders comfortingly, and still humming her haunting but soothing song.

Nixie drifted off to sleep even as their voices harmonized. She dreamed of the sea--her favorite dream. The cold-water kelp forests, the underbellies of glaciers, and the rolling playful surf. She and Jace slept together, snuggled close, all through the night, and it was the first night of decent sleep either had had for a long, long time.

In the morning, Nixie got up and showered. Towel wrapped around her, she peaked in her room and saw that Jace was still asleep. She darted in, grabbed some clothes, and ran back to the bathroom to change.

Fresh as seaspray, she went to the small kitchen to find Austin cooking crapes.

"Why do you do this?" she asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "You know I fired you weeks ago along with the rest of Sovann's staff."

"You assume I took this job because of Sovann," Austin replied, expertly flipping the finished crape onto a plate. He added cream cheese and strawberries and handed the plate to her. "You know my loyalties were never with your late husband."

Nixie smiled at her last and most faithful servant as she took the plate. She sat down to breakfast while reading the paper, catching up on world news.

"Morning, Jace," Nixie said as she absently patted the seat beside her. Her eyes never left the paper. "Breakfast? Austin makes divine crapes."

Austin sniffed the air. "I smell...blood. Jace...is there anything you need to tell us, young man?"

"You should let Austin take a look at that--he was a half-decent field medic in some armed force of some nation somewhere," Nixie said as Austin slid another crape on a plate and handed it to Jace. "If you're having an allergic reaction to my soap, I can get you some new stuff. Just let me know what you need..."

She trailed off as she focused on an article.

"It looks like our oyster and kelp filter systems are getting some notice. Maybe other aquaculture fisheries will start doing the same thing," she indicated a small column. "So at least some of my innovations are receiving a positive reception. That's reassuring."