There wasn’t really much to do before Sheila planned on packing it in. The tarpaulin on the tent had to be fastened securely; the bedding had to be laid out just right, things like that. It wasn’t until Sheila found herself adjusting the covers on their pillows that she knew there was next to no chance she was getting a lot of sleep tonight. Tirga had been right about her. Sheila’s nerves were on edge, and would likely remain that way until she found Gaja.
Knowing that, Sheila brought out the one thing she knew would comfort her now. A photograph, old and nearly faded in areas where she had held it for extended periods of time. The last picture of her son before they had to send him away. He was smiling at the camera, his cheerful demeanor coming through just as clearly as his bright red hair. Sheila had to choke back a sigh at seeing him like this again and wiped a tear away from one eye.
Memories of his childhood, growing up on Jade with all the other children, rushed back to her. Gaja had been a large boy, bigger than anyone else in his age group and some out of it, a fact he took great pleasure in. Though she was disappointed Gaja had inherited her birth defect, Sheila took comfort in the fact that her son didn’t seem to care. Indeed, Gaja far preferred his human form to his hybrid form and objected to transforming for any reason into that “shrimpy” form. Tirga and the other members of the Edge Guard chuckled any time they heard that, and Sheila could only wait and see if his attitude changed as he grew up. It became a standing joke that they had a werecat child and a human child from the amount of time Gaja spent in his human form.
Whenever they would visit the Diggers, Sheila and Tirga made sure to bring their children, who were invariably the life of the get together. Gaja’s youthful exuberance was tempered by Aeila’s cautious nature, although she inevitability got drawn into whatever mischief Gaja perpetrated. Pranks, ranging from “kick me, I’m a dumb Arch-Mage” signs, to hiding ancient tomes of power from their owner were leveled against his favorite target, Dr. Diggers. Ever since the first time the good doctor had used his “Skull ‘O Death” on him after he accidentally revised a scroll to give the user purple hair, Gaja couldn’t get enough of the angry emanation. This led to problems when the boy felt he had to do ever more flamboyant things to get the desired effect, but to him, it was worth it.
Eventually, Sheila sat him down after Gaja had set fire to Dr. Diggers’ hair in an attempt to ‘kick start’ the death skull and explained that Theodore was not joking around with him when he did that, he was actually very angry and very hurt. A shame-faced Gaja went back to Dr. Diggers and said he was sorry to the smoldering arch-mage, and he got his hearts desire when Theodore started doing the technique whenever Gaja asked him to. The boy missed the hail of expletives that usually accompanied the flames, but settled for the main event without the extras.
Their children were inseparable for the most part. Aeila provided the wisdom in their numerous exploits, and Gaja supplied the ideas themselves along with the impetuous nature to do anything once. There was many a time where Aeila had been invaluable in talking Gaja out of a particularly insane scheme, like the time he wanted to charge other kids for tours of the local swamp. That alone would have been fine and very enterprising for a boy his age, but the swamp in question happened to be inhabited by a Bog Thresher that had thus far slipped through many hunters’ fingers. Gaja was heard to have said, “No problem. If anyone gets eaten, we’ll give ‘im their money back.” Aeila said he was crazy, and dragged him back to Tirga where he got a little talking to about the relationship between tour guides and customers.
Sheila wiped another tear away and chuckled. To this day, she didn’t know how her son had survived long enough to be sent away. The boy seemed to be bound and determined to kill himself through curiosity. English even had a particular phrase that fit Gaja to a tee. That Gaja had survived in a world like this was an even bigger surprise. Though Tirga and Sheila had never lost all hope, they had to be honest with themselves. Sixteen years was far too long to have any real expectation of reunion with Gaja.
Reaching back into the pouch she had gotten the first picture from, Sheila removed a second photograph and smiled broadly at the face that looked back at her. Technology was truly a wonderful thing. It had given her a chance to see the man that her son would grow to be without him being there. The picture was of a twenty year old man, presumably what Gaja looked like now. Gina had taken the original picture and digitally aged the figure to what he should look like today. First a couple years, and then each year as Sheila came back for “updates” on her son’s appearance. Everyone else thought the practice was weird, and that Sheila really needed to get over Gaja’s assumed death. Even Tirga tried to talk her out of it, saying that it wasn’t healthy to hold on that much to a ghost.
Sheila never listened to any of them, and now a macabre practice had turned into one of the only ways to find him. Gina had assured them both that the picture would be accurate, at least insofar as genetically. If Gaja had dyed his hair, or undergone plastic surgery for example, then there would be no way for the program to anticipate that.
Since learning that her son was alive, the various Diggers children and others had gotten interested in exactly what this mystery boy looked like. They were not disappointed. Gaja at age twenty looked like the paragon of man- heavily muscled, with chiseled abs and pecs; strong, sensitive blue eyes; high, well-defined cheek bones, and a friendly look that set many a heart aflutter. The computer had estimated his final height in human form at nearly eight feet tall, coming within a hairsbreadth of Onoli’s height. Tirga tried to claim that the boy took after him, but anyone could see much of what made up Gaja was the male equivalent of Sheila, made more obvious by his inheritance of her birth defect.
Several of the former children, in particular the female offspring of Brittanny and Brianna, had expressed interest in meeting him after he got back. They hadn’t even tried to cover up their blatantly obvious sexual longing after the man in the picture. Sheila immediately agreed, with the condition that he be allowed to settle in a little first. The last thing he needed after being away for so long was to be set upon by the daughters of overly-aggressive parents who acted far too much like their mothers. (Although, Sheila couldn’t help but be proud that her son inspired such a reaction without even being there in person.) Yes, Gaja would have a lot to catch up on when he got home.
Finally tired after thinking of all the things that would happen after they were finally reunited, Sheila yawned and stretched inside the tent. She shifted into hybrid form to provide Tirga with more room when he came in and slipped in-between the covers of her sleeping bag. Tomorrow was another day. Another day closer to her son.
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(Posted Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:43)
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