Page 107 of Tiger's Quest
Despite dreaming very clearly, there was no hint of the omphalos stone. I woke disappointed and found I was sleeping nose to nose with Kishan. He had his arm draped over me, and his head was pillowed on my hair, pinning me to the bed.
I shoved him. “Kishan. Kishan! Wake up!”
He woke only halfway and pulled me closer. “Shh, go back to sleep. It’s not morning yet.”
“Yes, itismorning.” I pushed against his ribs. “Time to wake up. Come on!”
“Okay, honey, but how about a kiss first? A man needs some motivation to get out of bed.”
“That kind of motivation keeps a maninbed. I’m not kissing you. Now get up.”
He woke with a start. Confused, he groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Kelsey?”
“Yes, Kelsey. Who’ve you been dreaming about? Durga?”
He froze and blinked a couple of times. “That is none of your business. But, for your information, I did have a dream about the omphalos stone.”
“You did? Where is it?”
“I can’t really describe it. I’ll have to show you.”
“Okay.” I hopped out of the bed and adjusted my dress.
Kishan watched me and commented, “You’re prettier now than you were last night.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right. I wonder why you dreamed of the omphalos stone, and I didn’t.”
“Perhaps you went to bed last night with different questions in your mind.”
My mouth fell open. He was right. I hadn’t thought about the stone at all before I slept. My thoughts were entirely focused on Ren.
He watched me curiously. “And what didyoudream about last night, Kells?”
“That’s none of your business either.”
He narrowed his eyes and scowled. “Forget it. I think I can figure it out on my own.”
Kishan took the lead in walking back to the Silvanae village. A short distance away, he stopped and ran back to the Grove of Dreams. “Be right back. I forgot something,” he hollered over his shoulder.
When he returned, Kishan was grinning from ear to ear, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him to tell me what had made him so happy.
19
Bad Things
We breakfasted with the Silvanae again and were gifted with new clothing. Both of us were given lightweight shirts, khaki pants with a subtle sheen, and plush-lined boots. I asked if they were leather, and the peaceful creatures didn’t know what I was talking about. When I explained, they seemed shocked and said that no animals were ever harmed in Silvanae. They said that the fairies wove all their cloth and that there was no material on Earth as fine or as soft and beautiful.
I agreed with them. They also added that, while journeying in Silvanae, if you hung fairy-made apparel on the limb of a tree at night, the fairies would clean and repair the clothes while you were sleeping. We thanked them for their gifts and enjoyed our repast. As we lounged at breakfast, Faunus appeared carrying a small infant and said, “Before you go, we would like to ask a favor. The family with the new baby wondered if you would name their child?”
I sputtered, “Are you sure? What if I name it something they don’t like?”
“They would be honored by any name you give him.”
Before I could mouth another word of protest, he laid the tiny infant in my arms. A small pair of green eyes looked up at me from the soft blanket. He was beautiful. I bounced him softly in my arms and cooed at him instinctively. I reached in a finger to lightly tap his nose and touch his downy, soft, silver hair. The little baby, much more active than a newborn human baby would be, reached a hand out to grab a lock of my hair and tugged.
Kishan gently removed my hair from the baby’s grasp. Then he brushed the rest of my hair over my shoulder. He touched the baby’s hand, which grabbed onto his finger.
Kishan laughed. “He’s got a strong grip.”
