Scents
 

 by Michelle Wilder
 
A story of another world

 

-

"I'm seeing it through the eyes of a child, you could say."

Dane suddenly yelped and scrambled up, scratching and elbowing us! He planted a huge paw right in my hip and his ribs in my face, and attacked Alfaarr!

Then he went at everyone else!

He licked, slobbered and wagged a dance with yips, yelps and whines.

"~YES~!!! WHAT HE SAID!!!"

Or that's what we decided he meant, while I hugged him on the floor and he twisted and laughed.

-

Breathing in the warm, dry air through Dane's soft ruff, I realized something.

I had to call my mom. I had to see her.

-

"I find myself thinking of all those centuries, never having the joy of a puppy about."

He sounded sad, but he was smiling at us when I looked. Dane and Aya both looked, too. He grinned at all of us.

"Though there've been babes and bairns aplenty, I suppose... and gods know this one is childish enough!" Father leaned forward and lightly tugged Dane's tail. He yipped loudly. Father chuckled and sat back.

"We're truly blessed, Vivian! Times of wonder and grace!"

Aya bit my tail and I growled, which would've been scarier if I could've faced her but I was in an odd position and couldn't seem to get around...

Dane joined in, but instead of batting me around too, like usual, he leapt over to counterattack Aya, using his devastating neck grip!

Or so I imagined. I'd really lost whatever connected my brain to my back legs...

Dr. Vivian picked me up and set me on stiff legs.

I waited for the lurch that would tell me that one of my four corners had collapsed... and waited...

"Well! Look at you!" "Brava! Brava!" Dr. Vivian and Father both applauded at the very moment I realized it too!

I was ~standing~! Really standing on my own!!

Then Aya kicked out from under Dane and by chance connected with my right shoulder... and I tumbled over. But I knew ~how~!!

Dr. Vivian made funny noises at Dane and Aya that were supposed to make then quiet students, I guess, but she picked me up again and placed me just... so, again...

And I was! I was! Holding myself... carefully... balanced between too stiff and... messing it all up... I looked over at Father...

He wasn't smiling all over like I thought he would be.

He ~did~ have a smile, but it was little. Instead, he was almost crying.

Then he nodded. Go on, I'm watching.

I had to turn, hold myself straight. Think. Feel. I was still standing!!

Decided on my right back one. I didn't know why, but it felt readier...

I leaned... ~ever~ so carefully forward... and felt...

My foot moved. Down. A step! I was still ~up~!!

Wobbling didn't count!

But I didn't know which one to move next! I guess I whined. I'd walked! A step! I was standing up!

I ~couldn't~ fall!!

Aya was in front of me. Standing. She took a step, right rear. Stopped. Looked right at me and, ever so... slowly... slowly.... moved her left front leg an inch.

Dane nipped my back. Held on. Huffed. Got you. He didn't even lift, just held me.

It was harder. ~Way~ harder..

I didn't have... good... balance with my back leg that... way.

I tried.

I tried again.

I moved my front leg with a jerk. Too far.

I lost my balance -

Dane huffed.

Aya did something I couldn't see. I was still up! Dane!

I whined with the effort, two legs feeling like they were all that was holding me and ~so~ not wanting to fall! and... moved my front leg.

All that was keeping me up was Dane.

Aya took a long step. Left rear.

It didn't look safe.... she had three legs together!!

But Dane still had me. I was safe, even if Aya looked wobbly all of a sudden!

"Aya!" Father barked, like, "Look out!"

She jerked! We both jerked! And like bowling pins, her legs just went ten different ways! It was so funny I ended up hanging from Dane's teeth, nose in the rug, and I didn't care!

I could stand up! And ~everyone~ fell down!

-

Father said balancing was the hard part, and I'd learn that quick enough, but if I moved ~both~ front feet...

Dane hopped. Aya hopped. I watched them...

Dane hopped again, a tiny one... Front legs...

I bounced slowly on my front legs... all toes and neck and shoulder.... and fell.

But I felt it! I almost... if I could bend my elbows...

Father helped me up and took my ruff and I yipped! Yes!

And I hopped!

~Walking~ was hard! ~Jumping~ was easy! And FUN!

I hopped twice!! I turned to show Father, and fell, but it didn't matter because he saw me! He was laughing and smiling and was proud of me and I ~walked~!!

-

In no time at all, I was jumping! And it was ~easy~! It's just you have to make sure your back legs wait a second before, after your front jumps, before ~they~ jump, or you crash! And if you jump both together, almost, too close together at the same time, you just go up or lose your balance, but it feels funny too, and it's fun! And if you just jump in front, you don't go anywhere, but you can look higher! And it was almost, just I could feel myself going ~forward~ and... and Dr. Vivian and Father said it was practice for balance and almost the same as ~running~!

And I fell asleep.

-

Dr. Vivian said I almost fell down, I fell asleep so fast! But I deserved it too, she said! I was working out all those muscles that I didn't even ~have~ two days ago! She said I was a very strong puppy and developing soooo fast I'd be running around all over in no time! That soon Aya and Dane would be taking running and jumping lessons from ~me~! She said my daddy was so proud of me he couldn't stop talking about ~all~ the things I could already do and how talented I was! That I was the best little puppy any of them had ever seen!

I could see warm light swing in time with a gentle rocking feeling. My tongue was out just enough to taste her hair... her skin, the fire... the reassuring scents of home and my... family.

Aya and Dane were still Waere. I could smell them. Father was somewhere... I couldn't hear him, but he was near. And Dr. Vivian was sitting by the fire, holding me to her neck. Rocking.

I was just awake enough to hear her whispered reassurances, hardly understanding, her pulse much louder in my... heart.

-

When I woke, Aya and Dane were sleeping on the couch, barely managing to fit, Dane curled up and Amy using his back as a pillow.

Dr. Vivian carried me down the hall to show me Alfaarr in my bed, his legs splayed out over the edge.

-

She asked me to try another healing, on her, while everyone else was asleep because she was pretty sure it'd knock me out too, and she could write her notes then.

I blinked yes.

But I didn't want to try on her, not really. Whatever happened with Dane, I wasn't trying and it just happened.

But Dr. Vivian- something more was wrong, that I only knew from her examination, when I felt it... and I didn't know how to heal, I just wished.

She scratched her hand, even less than Dane's had been, but there.

I looked at it, the small blood. I could smell it. I tried to smell more, to be ready before I had to touch it...

I could smell her healing... thing. What made her a doctor. Even though I couldn't before. It wasn't really a smell, but I felt it in my nose and at the back of my tongue and... it was something ~like~ a smell.

And it was different than when she examined me.

And it was sick... more than before. It was like garbage and vinegar. I closed my eyes and wished. And licked.

Her skin was different-feeling than Dane's. Maybe that it was just human skin, with no fur or layers. He doctor-tingle taste was still there, but on my tongue it was just skin.

I tasted the blood and a different, salty stuff for just a second, and then other, tiny things. There wasn't really any outdoors smell... but it was like that, like dozens and hundreds of animals and plants, more than Dane's little feelings, but just the smallest...

Some of them went away and some stayed the same. I tasted a sour one... but it wasn't really sick, just different... and it went away, bit by bit. There was still some there when I stopped, but I couldn't taste it enough to find more.

A sharp, sweet smell, like an apple. I knew it was the thing that hurt her chest and was surprised it tasted that way, that it smelled like... a tree, almost. Like leaves smelled.

I licked at it, tried to understand, but it stayed the same taste a long time, like it wasn't as mixed-up as her normal smells...

It disappeared.

I searched a few sniffs and licks, but it wasn't there anymore. The taste of blood was gone, too, just the little not-really-outdoor smells... and the tiny sour one...

I decided the sour one wasn't the really bad thing and that the scratch must be gone, so I stopped.

I couldn't lift my head.

I could barely open my eyes.

Dr. Vivian was holding her other hand to her chest. She was crying.

-

She'd been right. I collapsed, way more tired than from exercising. I was hardly able to stay awake to listen to her. Her petting wasn't helping...

"You healed the cut, Maisie."

She said it so quietly. She was touching her chest again and I whined. I knew she was sad, but it was a scared kind of sad.

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby, I was just thinking about something else." She ran her hand down my back and drew out my tail. It felt nice...

"I looked, and at least two scars I had are gone, and... some pains..."

She stroked me, half-way between putting me completely to sleep and waking me a little. I knew she was talking about her wrists and fingers, and her breathing. I could feel them when she did that, how she was remembering what they were like before... It made me stop worrying.

"Honey... if I can arrange it, would you try a healing on someone you don't know? I know it's hard for you, but it might be very important?"

I thought, yes, of course.

She smelled scared, but I could tell she wanted to laugh, too.

-

I woke up beside Alfaarr, in my bed. His breathing was really deep and slow and the tip of his tongue was showing just a little in his Waere face. He looked cute.

I could smell how old he was. Or feel it. Like his... like he was heavier than he really was. Like there was more to him than just what I could tell with just my nose. I didn't want to wake him up so I carefully wriggled in a tiny bit more, just so I could put my head on his leg. Arm.

He was over a thousand years old. He smelled like Dane and Aya, but had more outdoors, and more little animals and things than Dane, and he had some of the same tingle as Dr. Vivian, but not as much, and different, somehow.

I wondered if healing was what I smelled, not just doctor. I didn't think I smelled that way...

I needed to see my mother and tell her what was happening.

I needed to see her to show her I was still me.

I needed her to meet Father...

-

The telephone rang. I was asleep one second, and then awake.

I heard a thump and some skittering of nails on the floor before someone changed, then I heard Aya answer.

"Hello?"

I realized it must be Sunday morning and that it must be my mother because she often called Sundays and nobody else would...

"Oh, yes, Mrs. O'Hara, excuse me. I'm Aya Maghuin, a friend of your- son's... Yes, I'm visiting, with my brother..."

I tried to get up, and Father's hand scooped me up instead. I was still a Waere, and couldn't get the phone.

Father got up, holding me, and I saw he was still dressed, except for his shoes. He nuzzled my head and smiled.

"Shall we go see who's calling?"

I smiled yes and-

I was standing beside him. The cold rush of air was kind of surprising, again, but the really new feeling was being tall.

Father had one arm around me and I realized that it was how he'd been holding me, but his arm was out... He grinned and patted my back, as if to feel where I was.

"My! Did you do that on purpose, Maisie!? That was an amazing thing... I think I know how a conjurer feels!"

I was still a bit surprised, myself, but I heard Aya talking again and looked that way.

"Alright, that can wait! Let's go answer your caller." He swept his arm like an old-fashioned... old manners. Person.

I had to laugh at my brain and licked at him as I went by. He laughed, too and I knew he was feeling his nose in the air.

"Oh, here he is... yes, please wait, I'll get him to the box..." Aya put her hand over the cone and whispered, "It's your mother, I told her you were out for a walk..."

She gave me the earpiece and I smiled thanks at her and leaned in.

"Hi, Mum, I'm sorry I missed when you called."

There was a funny echo in the line, and a long pause.

"Jacob? You sound odd..." She sounded upset.

"We have a bad line, Mum, I have an echo on this end, too. Do you want me to ring you back and try for a better connection?"

As I was speaking, I realized I had no idea what else Aya had told her about her and Dane being there. Or if that was why she was unhappy. But she seemed better right away.

"No, I can understand you fine... I was talking to your friend, Aya. Where do you know her from? I don't remember you speaking of her and she has such an unusual name..."

"I met her brother in the park a month or so ago, Mum, and then this week... we met again, or they looked me up, really."

I had to see her. I looked over at Father sitting at the table, smiling at me.

"Mum, could you come around today? I'd like you to meet my friends, and... I need to- to talk to you?"

"Today? I don't know..." I wondered what Aya'd told her.

"Could you, please? I can meet you at the tram, at the petrol station past Pacific? I really need to talk to you. Please?"

She was quiet a few seconds.

"Are you okay, Jacob? You do sound different."

"I'm okay, Mum, really. Can you please come, for supper, maybe? I can even call a car for you, if you need?"

Father smiled and waved at me, then pointed at himself and mouthed, "Me. I'll get her."

"We can come pick you up, Mum. Please?"

"Jacob? Are you well? You're not sick, are you? Please tell me if you are... I know you hate doctors so but if you need to see one-"

"Mum, I'm not sick, really, believe me. I just need to talk to you and tell you something..." I could feel myself starting to cry.

Dane bumped into my leg and looked up at me.

"Please, Mum..."

"Alright, Jacob, I'm going to check the schedule and take the next tram. If you want to, I'll meet you at the station, but I can walk alone just fine and give you time to straighten up."

I had to swallow. "Thanks, Mum. I'll try to be there, or my friends will?"

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Um-hm" I nodded.

"I love you, you know?"

"Me too, Mum. I'll... see you."

I pulled the hook down and had to hang on to it.

"Maisie? Are you alright?" Aya took the earpiece from me. "Do you need to sit down?"

Father pulled a chair out from the table and held it for me. I sat. He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. I reached up for one. Dane put his chin on my leg and whined. Aya sat down in the end chair.

Aya blinked at me. I looked at her.

"My mom's coming."

"We heard. Are you okay?" She looked like I looked not-okay. I looked at her, at Dane...

"I can't go meet her... I might change..." I had the horrible thought that I might change while she was... there.

"In the bedroom, Maisie." Father leaned down and looked at me sideways. "Did you do it on purpose?"

I remembered he said something like that in the bedroom... I shook my head.

"No... I, it just happened..."

"Are you as tired as the other times?" Aya smiled. "You look a lot better."

I shook my head. I wasn't.

"But something's wrong...?"

I looked at her, and Dane and... I leaned my head over so I could feel Father's arm. They... they were all born Waere. They never had to tell anyone what they were, or their parents...

"I have to tell Mum about... what's happening." I looked at Dane and he smiled. "I have to tell her about being Waere and she doesn't even- I don't think she even ~believes~ in me! That Waere exist!"

Dane still smiled at me, and even laughed a bit, and I felt like he was making fun of me, but then he changed, and reached up to take my hand and kissed it.

"Your mom loves you. I can tell just from how you love her." He talked into my hand and then smiled at me the regular way.

"She doesn't have to believe in us, because we can show her? And you'll still be her, her boy..." His smile went away when he thought of that, but he still looked up at me and held my hand to his cheek.

"And even if you change, you're still you. Who she loves. And we're your family now, too."

I started crying when he said he knew she loved me. I thought, when I could think, that Tony must be the most wonderful man to make Dane love him...

-

After that, it was a busy morning of getting ready.

Dr. Vivian had gone home after I'd gone to sleep. She'd woken Aya up and told her she'd be back later on, or would call for sure, but she had "plants and a husband that needed watering."

I tried everything I could, but still couldn't just change. I didn't remember anything different that happened or that I felt in the bedroom, and I didn't know why I wasn't as tired as I was before when I'd changed.

Father said if my change lasted as long as I had before, then I should certainly be in human form for at least long enough for my mother to arrive and for me to talk to her.

And none of my nice clothes fit.

Aya and Dane both dug through my dresser and closet looking for something, anything, and I ended up with an old pair of dungarees I only barely remembered owning, and then Aya only said they were nice enough because she said they looked cute when she belted them tight with a tie.

While we worked at sweeping and tidying up, Father looked at the tram schedule and we figured Mum would probably be by at about eleven, or the one after that, and at a quarter to he drove over with Aya to meet her. I gave them a note so she'd believe them and not get worried that I wasn't there. They knew what she looked like from my pictures.

I wanted to start on lunch, but Father had suggested I should wait for everyone to get back to decide what they wanted and when. While Dane put on his pants and shirt, I filled the kettle and laid out the things for tea, at least, and put on a pot of coffee.

Then we sat down to wait. For a while, we just sat. I was getting more and more nervous about what I could tell Mum, and what she might say or ask...

Dane looked at my hand really closely and mentioned that I needed to trim my nails more... I looked at my other hand and wondered what he meant since I had pretty short nails already...

"If you keep them really short and neat then any dirt you have on your feet's easier to clean up when you change. It doesn't matter when the weather's nice, but it can be a pain in mud." He showed me his nails and they were shorter than mine, even.

I hadn't thought about stuff like that. I knew smells and stuff carried over changes, and even clothes, but I hadn't thought about dirty feet.

I wanted to ask him about changing, and if he could tell me anything more about why I couldn't. Or about what he did when he went running, and where he liked to go. Instead, I asked about his husband.

"Dane..? What's Tony like?"

"My Tony?" Dane looked up and smiled. I nodded. He smiled even bigger and sat up more.

"Well... he's the handsomest man I've even known... he's taller than me, a couple of inches, and he's twenty, and... and he's fey, of course..." He grinned like I didn't know that. I rolled my eyes but then he lost his smile a little bit.

"And he's not Waere... and he's black." He didn't have any smile at all left. Even his ears went back a bit. I could understand.

I had to think what to say.

I had to think again. I looked at Dane's hand that was holding mine. I could smell how afraid he was. That I'd say something ugly.

I twisted my hand loose and held his instead, so he wouldn't get even more scared and hurt me.

"It must be hard, the... the way so many people are prejudiced?" I thought of more and smiled at him. "He's lucky to have you."

He had shiny eyes.

"But how can he not be a Waere? I mean... don't you... ~kiss~? And how did you meet him? Did you tell him right away that you were? And does his family know about you? What does he look like? He's taller than you? Does- do you dance with him? Where do you go to dance?! I've never seen two men dancing except in dance class..."

I was going to ask him if they kissed, what it was like if they did it dancing- He put his hand over my mouth. He was grinning when I checked.

"So... not too shocked I'm married to a black man?"

I shook my head and puckered on his hand. His dew claw was right in my cheek. Inside.

"Mnt oo mnsh..." He moved his hand and I smiled.

"Not too much, I guess." I twisted around and leaned closer, though.

"But how can he not be Waere? I'm one and you barely scratched me and you just ~have~ to kiss him, don't you?"

Dane laughed and squirmed almost the same way I had, and kissed my cheek.

"Yes, we kiss and even have... ~sex~!" He made big eyes and grinned his head off, his ears all over the place. "But nobody becomes Waere from our human forms."

His smile drooped at the end. I thought of all the things Father'd told us, about what even Waere used to think we were. Curse and devil stuff. About Mum.

"Hey, Maisie..." Dane hugged me closer.

"Not everyone wants to be the same things. He loves me and I love him... it's just something he doesn't want."

-

End of Part Seven