Page 33 of Dark Stars
Once the bread was rising and the kitchentidied up once more, he ventured into his many, many shelves ofbooks, until he reached the small space he kept clear for timeswhen he needed to visit home. He could simply go when and where hechose, but such cavalier travel between worlds, between planes ofexistence, could cause untold damage. So he'd made himself adoor.
Stepping into it, he unlocked it with agentle push of arcana. The sigil carved into the floor and thensoaked in his blood flared to life with his firefly green light.With a brilliant flare, he vanished.
He reappeared in a time and place that theuniverse had mostly forgotten, of ancient, pulsing stone and darkstars, a shattered moon that reflected the dull red light of adying sun.
In front of him was a temple carved fromdark purple stone threaded with shimmering veins of black and red,the bones of a creature older even than his family, forgotten evenby them. Before he could move, a figure appeared at the top: tall,lithe, dark skin, dark hair, and eyes that gleamed like backlitfrosted glass, smooth and unmarred. Once, apparently, his father'seyes had been a delicate brown, almost gold, but after endlessmillennia as his mother's beloved, he had absorbed much of heressence, making him immortal, powerful, and no longer entirelyhuman.
Human enough still, though, to teach his sonhow to be one.
"Bobby," his father greeted. Once calledAhmad ibn Sa’id al-Bahili, nowadays he simply went by Ahmad or,more often amongst Bobby's relatives, Consort of the Secret One."What brings you here, my beloved son?" He embraced Bobby tightlyand kissed his cheeks before cupping them to study him closely."You look tired. And frustrated."
"It's been an interesting few days," Bobbyreplied, and relayed all that had happened since he'd agreed tohelp Harold by dealing with the cult.
They sat on a smooth, long rock that servedas a bench in an area of the temple that most would not recognizeas a garden, filled with pustulant, writhing things and somethingvaguely resembling purple and black ivy that slithered and suckedat anything it considered an interloper to its territory. "Thekamleps are doing well, I see."
"Yes, they recovered from the fungus justfine. You've quite the situation on your hands, but I am happy youhave at last met your beloved. I cannot wait to meet him. I don'tenvy you having to dance around your great-grandmother's followers.They were wretched evil back in my time, and I doubt they'vechanged much in the centuries since."
That wasn't how his parents had met, buttheir situation hadn't been all that different. Ahmad had beensummoned as a scholar of the obscure and dark, in a time when thatshould have gotten him killed as a worshipper of the devil, orsomething like that. He'd been called to examine strange ruins, andan even stranger green substance that was very much like stone, andyet like no stone anyone had ever seen, that thrummed and sang inthe mind and turned men mad.
The very same material that made up thecollar around his throat now, showy and extravagant and nothing hismodest, humble father would have tolerated in his old life. Butthere was very little he would not do for his beloved, theprimordial being he'd fallen madly in love with against all logic,reason, and sense.
Ahmad cupped his cheek, stroking his cheekbone gently. "You will handle it all just fine, my precious son.You've conquered worse just in recent times."
"I'm more concerned about Alejo. He's veryfragile."
"Yes, you lot do like to call us humansthat," Ahmad said with a fond chuckle, letting his hand fall away."He's tougher than you credit, and marked by our lovely stars herefor you, so do not insult him and those stars by questioning theirchoices. That way lies things even you would be troubled by. Thatbeing said, your Alejandro strikes me as the hopelessly romanticsort."
"Well, like would recognize like,Father."
"None of your smart remarks," Ahmad saidwith a smile. "I'm saying, don't be so hard on yourself. He's anadult and made his own choices, including those that led to himbeing so worn out. Nothing a night's rest won't fix. It's not thefirst time he's done it to himself, and it certainly won't be thelast. All part of being young, I assure you."
Bobby knew that, of course he knew that, butall the same, it was reassuring, to hear it directly from hisfather. "Do you ever get tired of it? All this?"
"In the earliest days, I was easilyoverwhelmed and intimidated by it all. There were days I ran awayto somewhere quiet and safe to give myself a moment to breathe. ButI never regretted it, no. Never wished I'd made a different choice.Why would I? I would have lived a normal life. I would have diedand become earth, and then only dust, and then nothing at all. HereI will live for as long as it pleases your mother, and should shedecide to kill and consume me tomorrow, I would still be part ofher, and I would have it no other way. She defied the terrible,eternal dark to have me, she keeps me well in a temple made of thebones of the universe itself, and she loves without condition. Whowould want any other life?"
"Most humans, I would think," Bobby saiddryly. "Don't know many who don't mind that their spouse may oneday eat them like a spider finished with mating and tired of themate."
Ahmad laughed. "If I was like most humans,she never would have chosen me. I have lived a long life, moreyears than any human can really count. She is the love of my life,and you are our perfect son, the sign of our union, our love andtrust and joy. I cannot fear death, even at the hands of my ownbeloved, when I have lived so joyous a life. If the dark starsreally marked Alejandro for you, then trust them and him. He willget frustrated, and overwhelmed, and sometimes seek the things heonce defined as normal, but he will never regret."
"Thank you, Father. I always value yourcounsel."
"I am always here for you, my son. Now runalong before your relatives come for your head, as they are notbest pleased with you right now, little mischief maker."
Bobby laughed, hugged his father tightly,sent out a greeting and farewell to his mother, and departed.
Back in his own space, the first thing henoted was the shower running. Alejo was awake. Bobby headed for thekitchen, because humans always wanted food, especially wheneverything was upside down and topsy-turvy.
All signs of his bread and stew were longgone, save for half a loaf of bread sitting on the counter in abasket, and a container of leftover stew in the fridge. Well, atleast it hadn't all gone to waste. Foolish to have left it all, butclearly Alejo had woken up and tended to—and enjoyed—all.
Of course, that would have been hours ago.Alejo was probably hungry again.
What time was it? A glance at the clockshowed it was going on three in the morning, so he'd been gone forquite some time, even though the conversation with his father hadlasted only minutes. Just waking up meant breakfast, so breakfasthe would make.
Chapter Thirteen
In the end, he settled on an old reliable:huevos rancheros. Setting everything out, he started with makingthe salsa, then set that aside to build flavor and set to work onfrying up some potatoes, onions, and ham to go on the side.
By the time Alejo appeared, still damp andflushed from his shower, all that was left was to fry up the eggs.Bobby barely remembered to do so, though, completely distracted bythe sight of Alejo in soft gray sweatpants and a clingy black tanktop that did lovely things to his shoulders.
