The Advocate faces her toughest challenge as she enters her duel with araNyamArjAra -- to prove that humans are more than prey. The lives of those she swore to protect and the very future of her mission depend on her. Can a thirteen-year-old sorceress win a test of power against an immortal goddess?

by Randalynn

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"DUEL, n. A formal ceremony preliminary to the reconciliation of two enemies.
Great skill is necessary to its satisfactory observance; if awkwardly performed
the most unexpected and deplorable consequences sometimes ensue."
-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
 
"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. I consider them unwise and I know they are
dangerous. Also, sinful. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly
and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet retired spot and kill him."
-- Mark Twain

 
 
The trouble with pretending to be brave is that sooner or later, you're going to have to back it up.

I was about two minutes away from dueling a goddess on a middle-school football field, and damned if I didn’t start wondering if this was such a good idea, after all. I had plenty of power, that wasn't the issue. I was pretty damned smart, too, when I stopped trying to claim that I wasn't. Still, there was something to be said for my actually being stupid -- only a fool would try to take on a being so old, her beginnings are beyond the earliest recollections of humankind.

But here I was, readying for battle. And the worst of it was, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This was my first real magical duel (not counting my initial skirmish with Leander), and if I wasn't careful or lucky, it could easily be my last. Of course the Cat Goddess did promise not to try and kill me, but accidents happen, right?

I flickered back into existence floating over the football field. No one had moved an inch while I was gone.

"Thank you for the time to prepare," I said pleasantly. "There will be no interruptions from human law enforcement."

The Cat sniffed. "As if they could stop me from doing whatever I wish."

I smiled. "Of course not. That's my job." She sniffed and shook her head.

Akomachi looked at me with a disapproving eye, and her voice spoke in my head. 'Respect, Becca-chan. If you wish her to respect you, you need to show her you are worthy of respect. Start by showing her the respect an elder deserves, since she has been here long before your history was little more than tales told around a fire.'

I looked down, accepting the rebuke. Akomachi smiled. 'Diplomacy, Advocate. Remember, when you do win, you want her to acknowledge you as an equal, not be angry because an insolent child has pushed her way in where she doesn't truly belong.' I nodded.

"My apologies, araNyamArjAra," I said softly. "Although we are on opposing sides, it is inappropriate for me to speak to you in such a manner. Please forgive me."

The goddess looked at me, curiosity warring with surprise in her eyes. "Forgiven, girl. Your words do you and your mother credit."

There was a long silence, and then Akomachi spoke to us both. "What exactly are the rules of this duel? How do you both intend to determine a winner?"

That stopped me for a moment. "I would think," I said slowly, giving the goddess time to speak first, "that it is more a question of who loses as opposed to who wins. Since we are both very much involved in this battle, we will both judge its outcome. When one of us acknowledges the other as the winner, the duel is over. Does that sound acceptable to you, araNyamArjAra?"

"Yes." She drifted slightly, still looking at me oddly, as if seeing me for the first time. "The defeated must accept defeat, or this exercise means nothing."

"And it is just you and I, will against will, power against power," I continued, still allowing her time to interrupt. "If either of us can affect the other in such a way as to force her to acknowledge her loss, the duel will end."

"Agreed."

"With no action or interference from allies on either side."

The Cat stretched herself and nodded, an odd glint in her eyes. "Agreed." She turned her head and addressed Leander and the demons. "You will all keep your places until this contest is concluded." There was a growling from the assembled demons, and a few of them shuffled angrily in the ranks. Leander just nodded.

There was a long silence, and Akomachi nodded. "Very well, then. The rules are set and the lines are drawn. You may begin."

I recognized the ritual sentence just barely in time and darted upward, rocketing fifty feet above my former position as a bolt of energy sliced through the place where I had been. Scarcely pausing, I threw a spell of my own before teleporting behind the goddess and casting again.

She countered my first attack with another targeted beam of magic while she stepped aside to let the second spell pass. I threw another spell and again teleported, this time to appear directly above her. As she countered my last spell, I cast again and ported once more, appearing to her right with another spell at the ready.

Cast, port, cast, port. Time and again, over and over. But she managed to counter every spell no matter how fast I was.

Then I noticed a young boy cutting across the field. He stopped, stunned at the sight of the two of us throwing magic at each other while a bunch of demons and a woman in black leather watched. I could feel the Cat Goddess's attention shift to him, and in that instant I realized she was about to use him against me.

Before I could think about it too much, I materialized between her and the boy, screaming "RUN!" at the top of my lungs. As the boy headed for points unknown, I turned to find her staring straight at me, a satisfied smile on her face. Then I felt her cast.

My shields snapped into place an instant before a tidal wave of energy hit me from every possible direction.

All at once, everything went white, and cold, and LOUD, and it was all I could do to keep myself protected. I was surrounded by her raw power, pinned in place. I could barely move, let alone think, as I struggled to keep her from changing my reality.

I was clearly on the defensive -- I couldn't even counterspell, the magic was so strong. Already I was beginning to feel weakened, fighting with everything I had as her onslaught continued. As a mage, I was strong and had tremendous reserves, but she was literally a goddess and seemed to have an almost limitless supply of energy.

'I can't fight her forever,' I thought, my frustration bordering on anger. 'It's like trying to build a dam in the middle of a flash flood. I'm struggling so hard to withstand her attack I can't even make a strike of my own.'

I cast my mind through the archives in my head -- strategic, tactical, and magical -- trying desperately to find a way to overcome her attack. Without as much concentration to hold it back, her attack began to press my shields in tighter around me, and I could feel them start to falter.

'Power,' I screamed in my head, 'I need more power!'

As panic began to set in, I heard a voice echoing in my head. "The oak breaks, but the willow bends."

It was my Sensei, my Tae-Kwon-Do teacher. I scrambled to remember when he said that. Then it came back to me in a rush.

###

"Owww!"

Tommy Madigan lay on the floor in front of me, rubbing his shoulder. He had been taunting me about how I shouldn't be here, about how girls shouldn't learn to fight. He made me angry, and I used too much force in blocking his strike. Not expecting that response, Tommy was caught off balance and fell heavily to the ground.

Everything stopped. All of the other students turned and watched as Sensei helped him up off the mat, then turned to me.

"Rebecca," he said, "tell me why that was wrong."

I must have been eight or nine at the time, and I looked down, a little embarrassed.

"Because I hurt him?" I said softly.

Sensei laughed. "No, little one. That is part of what a martial art is for. This is not a dance, it is a battle. You are supposed to win -- although I do recommend not striking out in anger." He shook his head. "The problem with what you did is that you used your energy to turn a defensive move into an attack. It can be done, but not the way you did it. Not with that sort of defense. How did it feel?"

I thought for a moment. "Wrong somehow. Almost like I was trying too hard."

He nodded. "You were. A true battle could go minutes or even hours. By using energy in both defense and attack, you weaken yourself and give your opponent a way to wear you down."

I felt frustrated. "But I can't just let him hit me."

Sensei smiled. "You're right. You can't. Attack me, Rebecca." When I hesitated, he patted my shoulder. "Don’t worry. I want to show you something."

So I took my stance, bowed, and struck out at him, over and over again. Each time, he stood completely still, moving only as much as he needed to deflect each blow. They slid harmlessly past him, time and again, until I stood in front of him breathing hard and trembling, totally confused.

"You see?" he said, smiling again. "I used only the energy I needed to divert your attacks, making your blows land elsewhere, or not at all. The energy of your attacks was wasted, and while I remained alert and ready to strike, you have become tired and ready to quit."

He held up a finger. "But if I had tried to fight each attack with my own energy, I would be as tired and discouraged as you are now." I stood there, still panting. Sensei sighed. "An oak and a willow stand side by side. The oak stands firm against the wind, while the willow shifts with it and allows it to pass. When the hurricane comes, which will survive?"

"Ummm ... the willow?"

My teacher nodded. "Because it knows enough to let the wind do the work, and push it out of the way. Remember Rebecca ..."

###

"... the oak breaks, but the willow bends."

I smiled, and my shielding rebounded as my will grew stronger. 'I can't dodge her attack,' I mused, 'since it's coming at me from all sides equally. But if this energy can neither be created, destroyed, or avoided, maybe it can be . . . used?'

I closed my eyes, focused, and created a series of layers for my shields. The magical energy she kept throwing at me sank into the outer layers, and eventually became a part of my own shields, making them stronger. The harder she attacked, the stronger they became, and eventually they were strong enough to hold back the onslaught with only a minor energy expenditure on my part.

Immediately, the strain on me began to lessen, and I could see and hear the world outside again.

" ... obviously she is incapable of responding to my attack." The Cat Goddess was agitated, her tail twitching with frustration as she spoke. "Surely this means I am the winner!"

Akomachi looked at the Cat and cocked her head. "Surely you remember the terms of the duel. She must acknowledge defeat. If your attack renders such an acknowledgement impossible, the duel must continue." She smiled. "Quite clever on my daughter's part. You cannot win without her consent, so you will take care on the field of battle to ensure no harm comes to her."

"As to that, I am not yet ready to concede the contest," I said, trying desperately for a normal tone. The almost-defeat left my voice shaking with fatigue. They both turned simultaneously to see me floating inside my bubble of stolen energy. "And as for responding to your attack ..."

I lashed out with a concentrated spell of my own, designed to turn her fur deep purple. With a flick of a whisker, she countered it with a precise strike of her own magic that deflected the spell into the sky above. Undaunted, the Cat threw another bolt of energy at me, which was absorbed and made part of my shields.

And so it went, minute after minute, each of my spells countered by the barest effort on her part, and each of her attacks merging with my shields to become part of them. As her spells dissolved, I analyzed each one, assembling a picture of her own casting ability from how each spell was constructed.

I noticed that her defense used focused strikes to redirect my attacks -- something like punching an incoming fist to avoid having it hit you. Unlike my Sensei's concern, using power to defend by attacking was not really an issue for araNyamArjAra. According to my gifted memories, most gods seem to have a deep wellspring of energy at their disposal, and she was no exception.

Still, since my magic never actually reached her, she never had an opportunity to study my spellcasting technique. Apparently, her strategy was to wait. Given time, I would wear myself out, since as a mere mortal, I would tire eventually, and then she could take me however she wished.

My shields seemed to upset her, though. From what I could tell, it seemed to strike her as cheating -- as if I'd come up with some stupid human trick to avoid a real battle. Being a goddess, the idea of hiding from an attack behind anything just felt wrong, which probably explained why her "children" didn't have shields either.

Not that her distaste for the concept gave me any kind of edge. araNyamArjAra was fast and tireless. We had quickly reached a point of stalemate, and had settled down to a samurai-like battle of wills where each of us waited for the other to blink. She had long since stopped attacking me, realizing that every strike just made my shields stronger.

Unfortunately, being immortal, she had all the time in the world to wait for me to grow tired. And I, even as enhanced as I was, didn't have that luxury.

Still, I had a tremendous amount of her power wrapped around me, protecting me. Could I use that stored power against her? Heather managed to use Gwen's power to change her. Could I do the same with the Cat?

'I'd have to take her power in and make it my own,' I thought, my eyes never leaving hers. 'Could I do that without being corrupted by it? The Arbiters said I couldn't tell them power held no attraction for me until I had the chance to face temptation head on and beat it. I guess now's the time to see if they were right.'

Before I could think about the madness of what I was about to do, I reached out and pulled all of the power in my shields -- the stored power of an angry goddess -- directly into me, and made it my own.

Wiped clean of her intent in the conversion process, it was raw and harsh and unforgiving, and I writhed and screamed in pain as it roared into me and became a part of who I was. It poured in, filling me from head to toe and overflowing through my skin to bathe me in a glow as bright as a magnesium flare. It flickered across the surface of my skin, raising my hair into a fiery halo of red, and sparks flew as I licked my lips and smiled.

I saw her eyes narrow, and the first flicker of real fear chased across her. I watched the energy for a spell build throughout her body, almost in slow motion. But before she could cast it, I threw my own spell at her -- and trapped her in the very same sphere of magic she almost used to defeat me. It closed on her so quickly, she had no chance to react.

And without shields to hold the magic back, she didn't have a chance.

My spell was something totally new, yet rooted in all of my experience since becoming the Advocate. It had been painstakingly woven from all she had thrown at me, along with the vestiges of the spells her children used, and even vague memories of the first spell the pain eaters had thrown at me, a few weeks -- and so very long -- ago.

And when the glow faded, what had been araNyamArjAra, immortal Cat goddess, was something she could never believe she could ever become.

Human.

She was a little girl, no more than fix or six years old, dressed in a white leotard and tights with matching ballet slippers on her feet. White cat ears on a white satin headband kept her blonde hair held back from her face, and a fluffy white tail was pinned to the back of her leotard just above the curve of her bottom. Whiskers had been drawn on her face with an eyebrow pencil, and her blue eyes were ringed with lines to make them seem more catlike.

Still, for all of the frivolous trappings, she was still, impossibly, just a little girl, and her mouth opened and closed with the shock of it. Her whole body trembled. From goddess to mortal, in the blink of an eye.

I hovered above her, still overflowing with stolen power, and watched her explore her new body with tiny hands that touched and probed everywhere. Her head began to shake, and her breathing came faster, until I thought for sure she would pass out. I saw tears falling from her eyes, and she slipped to her knees and curled up in a ball on the green grass, staining her costume.

I drifted to the ground beside her and kneeled next to her shaking form. I touched her back gently, and she squealed and tried to roll away. But I settled next to her and took her into my arms and just held her as she cried.

Just a girl. Human. Prey.

One of the pain eaters broke ranks and stepped forward.

"She is prey now!" It bellowed, smiling. "Look at her, brothers. The mighty goddess, nothing but a child -- and a human child at that! No more orders from on high, no more crouching in the darkness waiting for her word."

It sniffed, and its tongue darted out. Then it shivered. "And she hurts! Oh, I can taste her anguish from here! Her sadness, her fear! So tasty, so strong! She has fallen so far! I must have it all! She is ours for the taking -- and I will have her first!"

The demon lunged at us both, claws forming on its outstretched hands. Before I could cast, Leander leaped into the air in front of it, moving almost too fast to see. She sliced it in half with her broadsword, and it exploded with a flash of light, leaving nothing but a gray smoke that drifted across the field. The sword seemed to glow with added energy, emitting a hum that sounded strangely . . . satisfied. The rest of the pain eaters froze in place.

Leander smiled. "Who's next?" she asked, taking her stance once again. "My weapon hungers, and I am bored."

The largest stepped forward and growled. "You would kill us? She was your enemy!"

Leander nodded. "That is true. But now she is human and under my protection." Her eyes flashed with barely suppressed anger. "Besides, you all swore an oath to protect her and her young, and now you plan to feast on her pain as if your word means nothing. You are bottom feeders and oath breakers all, and worth less than my spit! So yes, I would kill you. Happily."

The demon shook its head. "We dealt with a deity, not a human. As a human, she is prey. With her transformation, all bargains are cancelled!"

"A bargain struck is a bargain made," Leander replied, clearly disgusted. "You make bargains with humans all the time. This is no different. Oath breakers I called you and oath breakers you are. And if you try to approach her, you will die."

Another demon spoke up. "She is prey now, and we will have her." The rest roared in agreement.

Leander grinned. "You can try." She waved the broadsword in a complex flourish that ended with it in a ready position, held easily above her head. "I look forward to the attempt."

"You cannot kill all of us!"

"So I will kill you first, loud one -- if you take another step."

The goddess looked up at me, her drawn-on whiskers streaked with tears. I smiled and brushed a loose lock of hair from her face.

"Do you yield?" I asked softly. She trembled all over, sighed, and nodded.

"I am human, and by your hand. The victory is yours . . . Advocate." Her little girl voice was filled with sorrow, and she looked away. I touched her cheek and she turned to face me once again.

"You are human, araNyamArjAra, this is true," I whispered, "but you are not powerless. The spell that changed you was not a simple one. I wanted to change you, not take away all that you were. So I made sure that all of what you had -- all of your magic -- still remains within you. "

Her eyes widened, and I nodded. "And now you know that humans can cast as well as gods." It was her turn to nod. "The demons sought to betray you and feed upon you. So rise up and show them what it means to break an oath to a goddess. Rise up and show them what a human can do when she is powerful . . . and angry."

I saw determination grow on her face, and moved away. She stood quickly, bits of dirt and grass clinging to her leotard. A blue glow surrounded her and lifted her into the air, and I rose beside her, still holding the power my shields had captured during the duel.

"Leander," I called, my voice carrying clearly.

"Yes, my lady," she replied, her eyes never leaving her targets.

"The goddess can take care of herself now. Leave their punishment to her."

"As you wish, Advocate." Still facing the demons, Leander rose effortlessly from the ground and drifted backwards until she floated beside me. The sword remained at the ready, but it was clear from her body language that she was now protecting me, and not the girl.

The demons were confused to the point of inaction. Suddenly everything had changed. The prey was no longer prey. The food had ceased to be food and had become something else -- something that hurt them with every taste. The pain and sadness and loss they had felt before was gone, replaced by something they never expected to feel coming from a small human child.

Rage. Powerful, primal, uncontrolled rage.

"You DARE to break faith with ME???" araNyamArjAra's new little girl voice held an edge no one would mistake for anything but a disbelieving anger. "You vultures, thinking you could feed on my pain . . . MY PAIN . . . after swearing to protect me and mine with your lives!"

Her tones descended to a fierce growl, and her eyes narrowed into thin slits. "With your actions, you have earned the undying wrath of an Immortal, and it is time you were all paid -- in full."

She raised her arms, and branching forks of blue lightning shot into the assembled demons, as the shock wave from a seemingly endless thunderclap blew Leander and I back a good ten feet from the action. The pain eaters all writhed in agony and collapsed to the ground, their forms blurred in circles of light so bright the illumination reached clear to the school itself.

And when the lightning faded, every demon had been replaced by a little girl. Different races, and a mix of blondes, brunettes, and redheads -- but all the same age as the girl araNyamArjAra had become. Unlike araNyamArjAra, each of these girls were completely naked, and as they slowly became aware of what they had become, the cat girl spoke again.

"Now you are everything you despise, all of you! Tiny helpless prey, naked and alone. You are still immortal, but oh so much less than human." Her voice had become as cold and empty as it had been full of rage. "Because for all of time, until the sun itself explodes and burns the very ground we stand on to ash, you will be AFRAID. Millions of years await you as shy, frightful, nervous creatures, scared of everything and every one. You will be cared for by humans, but no one will ever truly be able to console you, or protect you. And NOTHING will save you from your own fear and doubt. You will provide an endless source of food for others of your kind, and they will feast on you . . . forever!"

She waved her hands and they all rose from the ground, screaming and clutching at each other. I could see the fear coming off of them in waves, reflected in their auras as a glowing greenish orange glow that never seemed to fade.

"Now I scatter you to the farthest reaches of the planet, so none of you might find solace with your transformed sisters!" araNyamArjAra conjured a whirlwind that ripped the girls from their partners and sent them spinning off into the sky in a dozen different directions. "Go, frightened ones! Find your human protectors, live your immortal lives in fear, and always remember what you did to earn your punishment . . . and who delivered it! GO!"

And they dwindled until they were dots in the sky.

And then they were gone.

For a while, there was silence. Then araNyamArjAra turned to me.

"What now?" she asked, her tiny voice full of concern.

"Now," I replied with a smile, "I bring you back to yourself, goddess, and we talk."

"You would . . . restore me?" A touch of hope flickered across her child's face.

I nodded, slightly confused. "Of course. The duel is ended. Why would I keep you this way?"

"As a punishment for my . . . crimes. Against your people." She sighed heavily. "My . . . children. Their families."

I moved closer to her, and lowered my floating form until we hovered eye to eye. "Was this what we agreed? That I would punish you? In any way?" The child shook her head, and I smiled. "Then why would I break my word to do so, when I know in my heart you will punish yourself for what you have done."

She stared at me. "You presume much, child."

I shook my head. "No, goddess. I know you better than you think. When Akomachi was saddened by her childless state, you reached out to comfort her. When you reminded her and made her even sadder, you apologized and tried to make it right. You loved those girls as your children, and did what you did to them because you wanted a family to love. I know you care about others, if you truly respect them. I know you have the very feelings you once claimed were weak when you attributed them to humans."

"The purpose of the duel was to show you that my people are more than prey," I continued. "Now that you have been human, even for so short a time as this, you know we are more than just something to be taken and used -- if not your equals, at least worthy of the same consideration you show to others like you. You have hurt those to whom you should have shown respect. And that hurts you more than any punishment I could ever give."

I watched her face change from displaying a shadow of her former arrogance to showing her sadness as she realized I was right -- and that she had been wrong. The human child bowed her head under the weight of her new knowledge.

"You have done terrible things, goddess, or caused them to be done," I said softly, touching her cheek. "But I know the part of you that cares will do whatever she can to make amends." She nodded, still not looking up.

'She has seen what you wished her to see, Becca-chan,' Akomachi's voice echoed in my mind. 'You have shown her what she did not wish to see, and you did it with love and respect. You make me proud to call you daughter.'

'Thank you, Casa,' I replied, sending her a wave of love and feeling her love in return.

I closed my eyes and used the remainder of her stolen power to restore her. In seconds, she was araNyamArjAra again, last of her kind, feline and powerful -- yet strangely, so much less than she had been before we dueled. I could feel that her arrogance and certainty had been tempered by the knowledge of her disrespect to another worthy race, and the damage she had done.

I drifted gently to the ground in front of the cat goddess, Leander beside me.

"I will restore the boys and give them their lives back," I said softly. "Will you restore the girls and give them back their humanity?" The goddess nodded. "Thank you. Please make them forget the pain you made them cause, because they would blame themselves for what you spelled them to do."

"It will be done, Advocate. I still love them, even if they cannot be mine. I would not hurt them for anything." She looked down at me, and smiled sadly. "I will also watch over them all in the future, boys and girls, and do what I can to make their lives better."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not easier?"

araNyamArjAra smiled. "I know how humans think, child. Your people like to work for what you get. I will just make sure they get the chance they need to earn their own successes."

She turned her attention to Leander. "Mage. I wronged you, as well, all those years ago. For what it is worth after what I did to you, I am sorry."

Leander shook her head. "No, I deserved to be punished for the things I had done. I know that now. Granted, it shouldn't have gone on for five hundred years, but that is not your fault, and I will never forgive the ones responsible." She looked up into the goddess's eyes. "Once I wanted to watch you die, and be the cause of it. Now . . . I know the past is past. I wish you well."

The Cat returned Leander's gaze, and nodded. "The Advocate was right. You have grown. There is more of the hero in you now -- and something of the champion as well." Leander blushed and turned away. araNyamArjAra turned her eyes to me, and I saw them fill with sorrow.

"Will you release the girls now that I might set them free?" I nodded, and with a wave of a hand, each girl slipped from her time bubble to the ground below, slightly confused from the time suspension and the change in location. The goddess moved from one to the next, calming them with her touch and whispering softly in their ears. She kissed each of them gently on the forehead, then closed her eyes and let them fade and disappear.

"They are where they should be, and as they were before I spelled them." I could feel her sadness, and reached out to try and offer comfort, but the Cat shook her head at my unspoken offer. "I appreciate your desire to help, Advocate, but I have just lost my children. I loved them so, and now they are gone -- and part of their leaving was because of you. I need to be alone now, to mourn their loss and try to figure out where my future might lead -- or if I even have one."

"I understand, Goddess," I replied, withdrawing the sympathy I had begun to send. "Before you leave, may I point out something to consider?"

araNyamArjAra paused, then nodded. "Thank you. The only reason you had to set your 'children' free was because you did not allow them to choose their path. Had you made the offer to an adult, and had it been accepted freely, I would not have stood in your way."

She stood, silent, considering my words. "I am sure there are many humans who would jump at the chance to become your children," I continued, "to become immortal, and a god. You could choose carefully from those who would volunteer, then raise them properly. You could teach them what it means to be one of your people, and how to use their newfound power wisely."

I could almost see the implications spinning through her mind, and decided to take the next step. "And if you were to choose both men and women to 'adopt,' you could bring your people back, given time."

The goddess seemed to freeze, but I could see her tail jerking back and forth, and her ears perked up with interest. I shrugged. "Something to consider, as I said. I am sorry for your loss, but there are always new paths just over the horizon. I wanted you to see . . . the possibilities."

She looked down at me, and gave me a small smile that reached up into her eyes. "Thank you, Advocate. You have given me something to think about, and I am grateful."

She turned her head and nodded to Akomachi. "You have chosen your daughter well, vixen. Love her, for she is worthy of an immortal's love. Care for her as she cares for her kind. And teach her -- because for all her knowledge, she still has much to learn." Akomachi gave her a smile and a deep curtsey, a neat trick in mid-air. Then she turned to me, touched my soul, and faded slowly, as if she were just a mist on the wind.

I stepped back and performed a curtsey of my own to honor the goddess, complete with a head bob. The Cat grinned a predator's grin, stretched in a very feline way, and vanished.

As the adrenaline started wearing off, I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me, and began to fall backwards onto the grass. Leander caught me and lowered me to a seated position, and I gave her a small hug and a smile.

"You need to rest, my lady," she said, smiling back. "Dancing with immortals tends to tire one, so I've heard -- and you have danced quite a lot today."

"Still a few more steps before the music ends, I think." I grinned. "I've got to figure out how to explain the goddess's pyrotechnics to the school administration, and give the authorities a false trail to chase. And of course, there are still the boys to restore. But I think we've finally reached the last chorus."

I stood up and stretched, reaching for the sky and then down to touch my toes. "And between you and me, Leander, I'll be happy when the band goes on break."

We turned and started across the field for the school.

© 2005-2007 as a work in progress, all rights reserved. Posted with permission of the author.

Notes:

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Almost to journey's end, sweet readers. Thank you so much for hanging in and hanging on! *hugs* -- Randalynn
 
To Be Continued...