Page 58 of Dark Stars
"Thank you, Grandfather," he whispered,sending out a silent prayer as well. A responding sound echoedthrough his head, like the fading tones of a great bell countlessmiles away.
Letting out a shuddering sigh, he finallypushed himself upright, slowly and carefully, eventually working upto actually standing.
Darkness surrounded him, a seeminglyinfinite pool of fluid, but just a few steps forward broke theillusion, his surroundings nothing but a shallow pool with highsides that blended seamlessly into everything else. Heaving himselfup and out, he found himself just past his father's garden, notquite where everything turned wild and untamed again, a sort ofgray area where he kept mulch and the like. Guess it was the onlyplace to fit a hasty pool full of healing spit.
As he reached the steps of the templegrounds, covered in ivy most of the way but giving way steadily tosmooth, gleaming, dark stone that was actually bone, he could hearvoices and just barely smell his father's fragrantblood-and-jasmine tea. The blood came from creatures that wouldnever even see Earth as a dot in the sky, sweet and fruity,excellent in tea and other foods and drinks. After he'd no longerneeded his mother's milk, Bobby had drunk a lot of it growing up,though even for the primordial dark, water was still best.
The voices stopped as his steps grew closer,and he'd barely rounded the corner around a set of columns when hisarms were full of frantic, crying boyfriend. "Hey, hey, I'm allright!"
"You almost weren't!" Alejo said, thumpinghis chest hard. "You stupid fucking primordial asshole!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't know everything wouldbe that bad, especially as I was juiced up on power from thetalisman my grandfather gave me. Did I at least get rid of theshadow?"
Standing nearby, Ahmad chuckled. "You didn'tjust drive off Shub-Niggurath's shadow, you drove them severalgalaxies away to heal from your mother's venom. The entire vial wasperhaps overkill, my son, but I certainly do not blame you forchoosing an excess of caution. Thankfully, your beloved had thesense to enter the primordial dark enough to call for help. Yourmother heard and gathered you and your friends up and brought youhere."
"Oh, dark. Jones and Harold are here?"
Ahmad smiled faintly. "Off exploring, toocurious to hold still once they knew you would be all right. I'vesent a guide with them, so they will not get into any serioustrouble."
"I think you should have sent a small armywith them." Bobby drew back enough to wipe the tears from Alejo'sface. "If they're gallivanting off, why are you still so fretful,sweetheart?"
"Because I've seen you get chewed up andspit out twice now, and it's stressing me the fuck out!" Alejosaid, thumping him again. "Your dad promised you'd be fine, but youlooked— you looked—"
"You were in a bad state, it's true," Ahmadsaid. "As I said, if your mother had not heard his cries and feltlike going to help…"
Alejo sniffled and rested his head againstBobby's chest. "Your family is weird."
Ahmad and Bobby chuckled.
"Who says 'felt like going to help' socasually. She's yourmother. How would you feel if your wifesaid she let your son die?"
Ahmad lifted his hands in a show of peace."I was being flippant. The truth is a good deal more complicated.You must understand that true primordials are nothing like myhalf-human son. They do not see and hear and feel and taste andeven touch the way we do. Hearing your cries, understanding themfor what they were, realizing it was her that you called,understanding it was a matter of seconds instead of eons, and somany other little things, made the matter tricky. I love herdeeply, more than a human should be able to love such anincomprehensible being, but she is older than time itself. Humansthink they understand what life is like for ants, but they'll nevertruly comprehend it because their minds do not work that way andnever will. That's all." He smiled warmly and rested a hand againstBobby's cheek. "That is why my son is so precious, the rarest andmost precious thing in all of creation, so unique that even hismother realizes it, and so she was better able to see and hear asshe needed."
Alejo let out a shaky breath, part sigh,part sob, entirely bewilderment. "This is all definitely going totake getting used to."
"You can walk away if you want, you know,"Bobby said. "I know me and my family are a lot, to put it mildly.That's why I never went looking for any sort of mate. Did notexpect to find one, honestly."
Ahmad scoffed. "I'm not the only romantic inthis family, whatever you and your mother pretend otherwise."
Bobby grinned, kissed Alejo, then took hishand. "I thought I smelled tea walking up this way."
"You did indeed, come along, "Ahmad said,his frosted-glass eyes bright with amusement, mouth curved in asoft smile. "Your mother and grandfather are off gloating toeveryone about you, how is that for a family dust up? Hopefullythey'll all get bored soon and move on, at least until theyremember again in 500 years and pick a fight out of seeminglynowhere."
Sitting down at the table, Bobby smiled asAhmad poured them tea, enjoying the bittersweet, faintly fruityscent of it. "How long was I out?"
"A good six days, give or take a few hours,"Ahmad replied. "I would have worried more myself, but that muchregeneration fluid would bring back the dead, or near enough, andwhile you were dangerously, alarmingly close…"
Alejo sighed. "Can we stop getting youalmost dead now?"
"Hopefully," Bobby replied. "The only thingleft on my agenda is to deal with that nasty little friend of yoursstill waiting for us at my house."
"I'd completely forgotten about him," Alejosaid.
"Forgot about who?" Jones asked. "I seeyou're finally awake. Took you long enough. Thanks for letting uslook around, my lord."
Ahmad made dismissive motions. "You needn'tbe so formal, not with me."
Matching his scoff, Jones took a seat at thetable, Harold sitting beside him, leaving one empty seat to Ahmad'sleft that was set anyway in a nod to his beloved, who could notjoin them so easily but always made her presence known in someway.
