Theia continues to learn a great many things about the environment and about herself -- as Gaia's avatar and as a woman.

WARNING: If you have a fear of snakes, then this story isn't for you. A large nonpoisonous snake figures prominently in this story.

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Gaia's Avatar
by Terry Volkirch

Part 2

Gloria had fun looking over résumés and it was good practice for her since she'd have to occasionally hire and fire employees. She sat at Theia's desk with the avatar looking over her shoulder at the computer screen.

"What about her?" the blonde asked. "She looks like she might appreciate a little shopping." The guard's picture showed a fashionably dressed woman with her face well made up, and her résumé showed she'd spent a fair amount of time working in Hollywood, where image was everything.

Theia raised a single eyebrow but the effect was wasted. Gloria couldn't see it.

"I don't think that's an appropriate requirement for the job," the avatar scolded.

"It most certainly is! Remember how this all started? You need to get out and shop, and I'd like to think the experience would be much more pleasant if our bodyguards had a little fun too."

"Bodyguards aren't supposed to have fun. They're supposed to watch out for potential threats and protect us."

"Well, duh," Gloria said, showing her age. "But who says they can't have a little fun too? Besides, if we treat them well, they'll be more loyal."

"That's true. I'd trust them more that way. We could have them rotate with one or two of them staying close and joining us in whatever we were doing at the time. The rest could lie in wait and watch for trouble. I like it!"

The blonde grinned and turned to look at Theia over her shoulder. "Paranoid much?"

"Comes with the job, honey." Theia winked and the two women had a good laugh.

***

Leaving the logistics to the security force, the two women took the New York boutiques by storm. Two female security guards in plain clothes accompanied the two shoppers and after a spur of the moment shopping bonus was given to them, they even joined in a little themselves. The rest of the guards, a mix of men and women, hung back and tried not to look bored.

There wasn't much of a problem with security in the expensive boutiques. They already had their own security measures in place and could deal with virtually any criminal element. That left nothing but fun for the four shoppers.

Theia got a crash course in feminine chic that left her stunned. She'd never seen so many beautiful clothes in such wonderful colors. She didn't understand where her aesthetic appreciation came from and she didn't care. She soon lost herself in the moment and simply enjoyed herself.

The four energized shoppers spent an obscene amount of money, and after several hours, they chatted endlessly for the entire ride back to the office tower. Theia's transformation truly was complete. She was all woman and loved every minute of it.

Being so strong, the avatar carried all the bags. That left the guards free to act if necessary so they didn't mind. The four shoppers rode the elevator up to the top floor together before the goods were distributed. Then Theia headed for her office with her best friend in tow.

When she got inside, she immediately dropped her bags and got a pained expression on her face.

"What's wrong?!" Gloria couldn't help notice.

"Poor Clementine!" Theia rushed over to the couch where her loyal companion rested. "Did hissy kissy snakey wakey miss Mommy?"

"Cold. Sad. Yes," the snake replied.

Theia lifted the entire 120 pound snake like it was light as a feather and let it coil itself around her. She no longer minded being completely wrapped up because she was strong enough that the snake couldn't constrict her breathing if it tried.

"Good girl," the woman cooed. "Is that better?"

"Warm. Happy. Yes."

"Honestly," Gloria had her hands on her hips after having dropped her own bags of clothes, but she was still smiling. "You two are hopeless."

"Awww. Don't be jealous," Theia teased. "Clementine would gladly give you a little hug too if you let her."

"No thanks." The blonde shivered with dread.

"But she likes you! Come on. Just a tail around your ankle? She won't hurt you."

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes! Come on. Group hug."

Sometimes the young woman wasn't sure when Theia was joking, but she could see the serious look on the avatar's face and knew she wouldn't escape without trying.

"Okay. Just a little hug though."

The blonde edged over until she stood close enough for Clementine to lower her tail and gently wrap it around the woman's ankle. She shivered a little but it wasn't so bad. It wasn't at all slimy like she imagined.

"That's enough," Gloria said quietly. "Can I go now please?"

"Are you sure you don't want a bigger hug?"

"I'm sure. Baby steps, Theia. Baby steps."

Clementine released the blonde's ankle and all three of them slowly separated on good terms. The internal glow from the shopping trip even came back, leaving Gloria in a very good mood.

So far, it was a mostly good life and much progress had been made, but there was still a long way to go for Gaia's avatar.

***

Late that night, the avatar rested on the black couch in her office after having woken up from a bad dream in her adjoining bedroom. She had much of the office space made into living quarters so she wouldn't have to commute to work. It was much safer and easier that way.

She'd been sleeping very well up that evening so she knew something was wrong. Gaia had to have been sending her a message in the form of a nightmare and it caused her to take some time to reflect on her life.

As a respectful gesture to the Earth goddess, she had a very large round bed with sky blue silk sheets, fluffy white pillows and a black comforter with white stars in the middle of her room. All of her furniture and accessories were constructed using environmentally sustainable organic materials and she even added low energy lighting to save on energy. She felt obligated to make such an effort but she still made mistakes, and still had a lot to learn.

Her nightmare started out with a graphic demonstration about how her fancy new clothes were manufactured. All of the poisonous chemical byproducts from the synthetic fibers and all of the sweatshop labor greatly disturbed her sleep, but that was nothing compared to the big picture. All of the pollution, habitat destruction and social injustices in the world added up to make a nightmare of epic proportions. Gaia cried out in pain and the avatar woke up crying, feeling every bit of that pain.

She sat on her couch, leaning heavily against Clementine, and started crying again, the memories from her dream still fresh in her mind.

"I'm sorry, Gaia." She sniffled. "I'll try harder. I won't let you down."

The avatar had so much responsibility that she couldn't help feel overwhelmed sometimes. She needed someone to share her life with and give her some support. Having a python for a close companion was nice but it wouldn't do for the long-term.

Theia normally kept her office very warm for Clementine, and she added a humidifier to keep the snake moist. That didn't make for the most idea sleeping conditions for her but she didn't care. She needed companionship more than physical comfort so she stayed on the couch to finish the night with her loyal snake friend.

***

Early May brought nicer weather that was welcomed by many, including several species of birds that flocked to Theia. They somehow knew who and what she was and communicated with her in their own way, giving the avatar lots of useful information about the state of the environment. Migratory birds were especially useful when it came to information. They flew long distances and identified several wilderness areas that needed protection.

Theia had so many avian visits that she modified her office to allow open access to it. The pecking on her office windows threatened to drive her crazy otherwise. A bird or two would fly in, give a fond greeting and short report and be on their way after a quick nibble at the large bird feeder that was attached to the outside of the window. The avatar kept the covered feeder full for her visitors, knowing that they had to expend extra energy to go out of their way to reach her office.

The visits were always enjoyable and she looked forward to seeing more animals at her new, more accessible location in Sacramento. It still surprised her that she could talk to animals, all animals according to her dreams. She also looked forward to testing her knowledge of human languages. She'd dabbled on the computer and discovered she could read every foreign language she tried, but reading wasn't the same thing as speaking.

So far, birds were her favorite type of visitor. They saw quite a lot as they flew overhead and they had many interesting stories to tell as well as information to give. They were always welcome any time of day, though they were warned about Clementine.

Pythons couldn't help but look at birds as food and the large snake made several birds nervous when she stared at them. Thankfully, Gloria and Theia kept her well fed so she behaved herself.

It was one particular warm spring day that had Gloria lounging on the black couch in Theia's office while waiting to discuss lunch plans. She'd watched Theia deal with a couple birds as they came and went while she absently stroked Clementine's head. The large snake rested her head on the woman's lap and snoozed after having been recently fed.

"How do you do that?" the blonde asked, leaning forward slightly after the latest visitor flew outside. She waited until the crow left before she said anything. It kept eyeing her suspiciously and she was afraid she'd spook it.

"Do what? Speak with animals?" Theia seemed oddly preoccupied after the visit. "I haven't a clue."

"Is it something you could teach?"

"I doubt it, since I don't know how I do it myself." Theia stopped a moment to think. "Actually, I might not even be doing it. Maybe Gaia is translating for me and feeding me the translated version. I have no idea."

Gloria pouted and quickly leaned back, disturbing Clementine.

"Oh. Sorry, Clementine." The young woman gently slid out from under the snake's head and moved to sit on the edge of Theia's desk.

"So what do they say?" Gloria continued.

"They chirp or squawk out a respectful greeting and then blurt out some grievances. Sometimes they also describe some interesting sights they'd seen." The avatar sighed.

"Okay, but what specific things did that crow have to say?" she said, pointing to the bird that was enjoying a quick meal in the bird feeder outside.

Theia blushed.

"What? What is it?"

"You ... she said something interesting about you, actually."

"Me? What? What did she say about me?" Gloria couldn't imagine what a bird would say about her. She always sat quietly out of the way and let Theia do her new life's work.

"She noticed the way you were looking at me and made a casual comment. That's all. I wouldn't worry about it." Theia felt a little uncomfortable. She strayed into unfamiliar territory and feared losing control. She'd always been in control of herself and her emotions. It wouldn't be professional to have an emotional outburst, especially in front of someone else, so she got up with the intention to hide away in her bedroom.

"Wait a minute!" Gloria moved to intercept. "You don't think you can get away with saying something like that and running off, do you?"

Theia gave a sheepish grin and shrugged.

"What did she say?" The blonde insisted.

"She said she thought you ... liked me or something. There. Happy?"

The avatar roughly brushed Gloria aside and ran to her bed. She flopped down on her stomach and started crying, not believing that what the bird said could be true. No one had ever loved her, except her parents. She couldn't accept that her best friend shared her own feelings, feelings she'd been denying herself for the past several weeks.

Several minutes later, she felt her friend sit on the bed and place a comforting hand on her back.

"You need to be a little careful with your strength," Gloria said quietly. "You hurt me when you knocked me out of the way."

"Sorry," came the muffled reply. Theia still had her face buried in her comforter.

"So are you going to cry the rest of the day, or are we going to talk about this?" The young blonde gave her shy friend a sad smile, confident she could get through this. It was only a matter of time before her true feelings were known. She'd planned on eventually telling Theia how she felt, but she never thought she'd be beaten to it by a crow.

Theia sat up and wiped her tears away with the back of her hands, and the two of them had a rather short discussion. There wasn't much left to say so they just confessed their feelings for each other and relief washed over them. Then they hugged and cried a few happy tears until a new sensation overwhelmed all others.

The two women pulled away, and after Theia carefully dabbed at Gloria's face to clean the smeared, all natural eye makeup, they stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Theia's blue-green irises radiated love and Gloria's light blue irises sparkled with the same message. Their work brought them together for a professional relationship over three years ago, and they just kept getting closer until what they had went beyond friendship. Now their eyes met and pulled them the rest of the way to where they both wanted and needed to go. They kissed, gently at first and then more passionately as they gave in to their long suppressed desire.

***

The months passed and the love between Gloria and Theia grew strong in spite of their busy schedules. Since they worked in the same office, they spent plenty of quality time together, sharing every moment they could, including meals, shopping trips to earth friendly stores, and a bed. The blonde woman even helped her lover try a little makeup, insisting it would help set the mood for special occasions.

Theia returned the favor of makeup lessons by sharing her knowledge and love of the environment. She taught her friend and lover to celebrate life in all its forms. The acclimation period had started slowly with Clementine but soon snowballed into every animal species. Even insects and worms were welcome.

Since Gloria had long since gotten used to the python, she had no problem paying random visits to her girlfriend whenever the mood struck her. It was during one of her surprise visits that she found Theia with a puzzled look on her face.

"Something wrong, my love?"

"Hmmm?" Theia abruptly shook her head and turned to face the blonde. "No, I was just wondering how Yorkshire could get so cluttered with trash."

"Yorkshire as in England?"

"Yes, of course." Theia said. "Apparently, littering is a big problem over there."

"Where did you hear that?" Gloria was confused. So far, all of the migratory birds came up from the south. There'd been no reports from Europe before.

"A little bird told me." Theia joked and pointed out her recent visitor gorging himself in the bird feeder. "That little European robin actually flew all the way around the northern edge of the Atlantic Ocean just to tell me how upset he was about all the litter. The little fellow has pluck. I'll give him that."

"Wow."

"Wow is right. Oh, and he'll be staying in our bedroom tonight. He'll need some rest before he flies back. I insisted. I hope that's okay."

"Sure, as long as he doesn't mind sharing the room with me."

"It shouldn't be a problem. I discussed it with him and he claims he's not afraid of you." Theia smiled when she thought about the robin's bravado. He put on a good show but he was still wary of both Gloria and Clementine.

"So what exactly did he say?"

"Well, before we worked out tonight's sleeping arrangements, he showed me visions of Yorkshire."

"Visions?"

"Yeah. That's how animals communicate a lot of their messages to me. The robin twittered in annoyance as he sent me visions of shredded plastic bags, candy and cigarette wrappers and an endless number of empty bottles scattered across much of the countryside. It's quite a mess over there."

"Really? I had no idea."

"Neither did I." Theia frowned. "When he finished the visions, he gave me a direct message using sounds and body language. I seem to be able to understand virtually every possible method of communication."

"What did he say?"

"Literally speaking, he said that the land isn't fit for a view."

"Fascinating," Gloria found herself sitting on the couch, stroking Clementine's head. She often found herself in that same position doing the same thing without thinking. It was almost as if the snake called her over and she answered. "So what are you going to do about it? What can you do?"

"Good question. I think it's time to reorganize."

The two lovers brainstormed and borrowed a few ideas from government as well as business. They ended up with several departments and created top positions for each, adding a press secretary, public relations manager and marketing director among other things. The dictum, 'reduce, reuse, recycle', would soon be known and practiced worldwide. The fate of the world counted on it.

***

Theia continued to work hard to create an ever increasing array of global initiatives, all aimed at making the planet a safer and healthier place to live. She continued getting input from her avian friends and finally felt comfortable accepting human visitors as well. She began using her newfound knowledge of all the world's languages, something that was fairly easy to do in New York City, where well over a hundred different languages were spoken. She got valuable information and advice from everyone she talked to, young or old, rich or poor, educated or not. Everyone gladly helped.

Gaia's avatar was famous so the large number of requests to see her wasn't a surprise. Neither were their reasons for seeing her. The various people who visited either talked about their home countries, if they were recent immigrants, or about the state of the city. New York could be quite grimy and full of litter so it was good to get the reports. The constant feedback made it easier to identify problem areas and test the effectiveness of various initiatives. A fair amount of city pride and loads of money made the work easy and satisfying, and Theia's reputation could only improve.

Speaking so many languages impressed her visitors, and it got a fair amount of press coverage. It also helped distract her from her impending move. She painfully recalled an emotional conversation she'd had with Gloria about leaving. She didn't look forward to leaving her true love behind, but her work in New York was nearly finished and the day finally came when she had to address the issue of moving.

"Do you have to go?!" Gloria whined. The two lovers slept in late one Sunday morning and stayed in bed to discuss the move to California. They'd spent so many blissful days and steamy nights together that neither could bear the thought of being separated.

"You know I do. I can't stay here and do what Gaia needs me to do. Please. Don't be difficult."

"Don't be difficult?!" Gloria sometimes forgot she loved a former man who hadn't had a lot of practice dealing with sensitive subjects. Sometimes she let her emotions get the best of her and needed an outlet. "But I love you!"

"I love you too! Do you think I'm happy about leaving you behind?"

"No! So don't go!!"

"I have to go! If I could, I'd pack up all of New York so we could be together, but that's not going to happen."

That made Gloria pause as something occurred to her. She first berated herself for not thinking of it earlier. Then she got a glint in her eye and smiled, confusing Theia to no end.

"What?" The avatar was afraid to ask but couldn't help herself. "What is it?"

"You don't have to pack up all of New York. You just have to help me pack up my things."

"Huh?"

"I'm going with you!"

"But ... I thought you said you wouldn't leave? What about your family and friends?"

"Duh! That was before we got involved. Why shouldn't I go now? You're my family! You're my everything! Don't you want me to go?!"

"Of course I want you to go, but I'm going to be busy ... maybe too busy to devote enough time to you. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"That's stupid," Gloria spat. "I'm going and that's that."

"Well ... I hadn't planned on telling you this but there are a couple things I've learned since we got together, things that'll affect our future together, things you should know about."

"Oh?"

The avatar had continued to receive dream messages from Gaia, and in some of those dreams, she learned more about herself. She'd have a greatly extended life span for one thing. That meant she'd still be young while Gloria grew old and died.

"What kind of future could we have?" Theia cried.

"A long and happy one! Who cares as long as we're together, for however long that'll be? You can take care of me in my old age and I'm sure I'll be happy."

"But I don't know if I could watch you wither and die!" The former man couldn't stop herself. She curled up on the bed and cried her eyes out.

Gloria spooned against her lover's back and rubbed the other woman's thigh. "It happens. People die. Life goes on."

Theia responded with a sniffle.

"You've taught me to celebrate life, and you're a great teacher. So let's celebrate. Come on. It's not like I'm going to die tomorrow."

"No," Theia choked out. "You're not going to die tomorrow. But there's something else you might have a problem with."

"Okay. Let's hear it."

"My libido is ... off the charts."

"I know," Gloria whispered fondly in the woman's ear.

"You don't understand. It keeps getting stronger too. I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"That I'll wear you out!" Theia wailed.

Gloria smiled and cuddled the woman from behind. Even assuming she couldn't continue to satisfy her lover's sexual appetites, there were always solutions. If she had to, she'd share Theia with other women, even men if she had to. She just didn't want to be without the only person who ever made her feel so completely alive.

"You'll just have to stay here," the avatar suddenly decided after a good short cry. Her guilt and fear kept her from thinking straight. She couldn't accept the bad with the good, and she wouldn't allow Gloria to make any sacrifices if she could help it.

"No, I'm going with you," Gloria set her jaw.

"But you can't! Please! Listen to reason!"

"Who are you to decide such things for me?!" Gloria raged. "How dare you?!"

Theia sniffled again. She didn't have an answer. She didn't have any answers for the moment, and she felt so alone. The weight of the world was on her shoulders, and it could be a terrible burden.

"We can work things out," the blonde said gently, after realizing how upset Theia was. "I'll ... I'll share you if I have to but I'm going." There. She'd said it. It shocked her a little but once she said it, she realized she could deal with it. She had to follow her heart, and her heart led straight to Theia. She was going to California.

The avatar actually felt relief. She didn't have to make yet another difficult decision. It really wasn't in her hands anyway. She had to remember to let people run their own lives, as long as they didn't severely harm the planet. She had to let Gloria decide for herself where to live. She felt so relieved, and so very happy that her tears once again began to soak her pillow.

"Are you okay?" the blonde asked, not quite sure why Theia was crying.

"Yes," her lover replied. "I'm just so happy!"

"Awww. That's my girl."

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.