Dawn Read online

  “Touchdown in 3… 2… 1… Contact! Landing gear stabilized. 1320 meters above mean sea level. Showing 925 millibars and 1.05 of standard gravity,” the loudspeaker barked sending Dawn back to the present.

  Her uncle yawned himself awake and stretched before shouldering the bag that held Dawn’s meager belongings. A few plain dresses, some books her father gave her for her last birthday, and a few childhood mementos―all of her previous life wrapped up in a canvas sack. He smiled to Dawn and beckoned toward the door. “Let’s go meet your new family.”

  Dawn tried to smile and take the offer graciously, for she knew he meant well, but she knew it wasn’t her home. Time would heal wounds they say, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt in the meantime.

  She joined him at the door and watched as the lower ramp opened. Suddenly a blast of fresh cool air washed over her with sweet smells of spring. Seconds later, fresh sunlight bathed over the pair all but washing the mild chill out of the air. Dawn had forgotten how good fresh air could truly be!

  The pair stepped clear of lower ramp and moved a few hundred feet away. They waved as the ship lifted back into the air. The human copilot waved cheerfully back. With the blast from the exhaust quickly fading, Dawn found herself standing in an immense alpine meadow abounding with wildflowers. A purple butterfly teased her nose as she sniffed a flower, the antics of the little insect sparked a small fit of laughter.

  Her uncle smiled softly, happy to see her laugh for a change. There was no denying his own sadness at the passing of his sister and her family, but his current priority was to do the best he could for his niece. “The path leads to a bridge at the edge of the meadow. We’d best be on our way.”

  Dawn squinted and looked across the field. She was unable to discern any path at all! Dutifully she followed her uncle across the gently sloping meadow, and enjoyed the sights and fresh air. Tall trees surrounded the meadow while distant snow-capped mountains framed them all around. The meadow sloped away sharper yet and revealed a slow stream spanned by a large stone bridge. At the stream’s edge she caught sight of two figures. The first was a child of about three years of age, with brilliant reddish-orange fur and hair, sporting a splash of white along her belly from nose to tail. The second figure was an adult, a striking lady dressed in light green. But it wasn’t the dress that caught Dawn’s eye, the lady was a beautiful Auroran, snow white from top to bottom with long white hair. Long hair indeed! Dawn had never seen hair so long and silky before. It came down her back so far it seemed to flow into her tail.

  The two newcomers quickly caught sight of Dawn and Llewellyn approaching and came up the ford to meet them. The young child half ran, half tumbled up to Llewellyn’s outstretched arms. He spun her around high overhead and the little girl giggled away.

  Closer now, Dawn could more clearly make out the Auroran. Tall and graceful she showed signs of late pregnancy but carried it effortlessly as she approached. Dawn couldn’t recall ever seeing anyone quite so beautiful. She suddenly became self-conscious of her own bland dark coat, but was too mesmerized to dwell on it.

  “This,” began her uncle, “is Heather. Heather, this is Dawn.”

  Heather

  The little girl squirmed and bobbed until she was let down and suddenly ran up and hugged Dawn. “Heather! I’m Heather! Oh… Daddy said that…” Pointing over to the Auroran, “And this is Maria, my Second Mother.” She darted over to Maria, leading her forward by her hand. “And this,” she offered as she suddenly put her ear up to Maria’s belly, “is Lily! …I think… or maybe Siôn…” She wrinkled her nose, unsure of what to think of a baby brother.

  Dawn bobbed and shook Maria’s hand, “Delighted to meet you, ma’am.” Dawn found herself staring at the Auroran, awestruck.

  “Delighted to meet you too, young lady.” Her dove-like voice echoed in Dawn’s ears and she giggled giddily.

  Maria and Llewellyn shared a quick embrace and nuzzled each other lightly. As they parted Maria mysteriously offered, “And the twins…”

  “You’re having twins?” her uncle asked, visibly confused.

  “No, but they might be,” she offered back.

  A shocked look rushed over her uncle and briefly all his fur stood on end. This obvious emotional display from her outwardly stoic uncle caught Dawn by surprise, and she giggled in spite of herself. Suddenly aware of her actions, she nervously mumbled, “Sorry, sir…”

  He shook his head, “No, I probably deserved that. Let’s get to the house before I get in any more trouble.”

  The quartet gathered together, set out across the ancient bridge, and headed deep into the tall woods. Not scared so much as feeling that she had a comfortable blanket of life all around, Dawn found herself very much at peace.

  “Sorry, ma’am, but you mentioned twins,” prodded Dawn.

  “Yes,” she answered, “the Third Mothers. Llewellyn filled you in on the family, didn’t he?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Maria stopped and stared at Llewellyn, “You never set her up for introductions?”

  “No,” said Llewellyn flatly.

  “You had her in your charge for three days….”

  “It never came up.”

  “Never came… Did you actually ever even introduce yourself?”

  “No. She remembered who I was. It seemed unnecessary.”

  “And that,” began Maria, “is why we keep you out of social forums.”

  “And I am very grateful for that,” Llewellyn smiled at Maria.

  Maria rolled her eyes and then nuzzled him playfully before turning her attention to Dawn, “So, the condensed version: Ivy is the First Mother. She teaches music and designs and constructs woodwinds. April and May are the Third Mothers and are luthiers. Do you know what a luthier is?”

  “Yes, ma’am. One who makes lutes, mandolins, guitars and the like.”

  “Excellent! Well, and you no doubt guessed, as the Second Mother, I’m responsible for your education as well as tending to the smaller children.” Maria cleared her throat as they started walking again, “The house itself: first floor is the workshops, kitchen, library, dining room and great hall. You are free to rummage the kitchen at any time so long as it doesn’t interfere with a given meal. Are you used to three or four meals a day? We do only three.”

  “Three is what we did as well, ma’am,” replied Dawn as she started to get dizzy from the blinding pace of Maria’s speech.

  “That works out well then,” she continued. “The library is locked to keep small hands out of it.” She shot a quick glance at Heather who beamed in return, “Ask and we’ll unlock it for you at any time. Second floor is the sitting room, nursery, Heather’s bedroom and the master bedroom. Your bedroom is on the third floor. There are full bathrooms on every floor…”

  Dawn nodded as her mind raced to try and store everything she had said. Suddenly she wished her uncle had covered all of this before. Her bedroom was on the third floor. What? Was she being stuck in the attic?

  As the forest gave way to a clearing, Dawn’s concerns suddenly seemed unjustified: the house was massive. Three stories proper and then an attic! A smart looking timber frame house built with the largest timbers she had ever seen. Rounding it out were large windows everywhere. Two chimneys poked out of its slate top, while all around the base of the house was another parade of wildflowers.

  “It’s not much, but we like to call it home.” Llewellyn remarked with a smile.

  Maria poked Llewellyn playfully, “It’s massive and you know it. The Shukurae actually helped set the beams and frames for it,” Maria explained for Dawn’s benefit.

  Dawn realized that the Shukurae she had met before obviously had known her uncle, but was surprised nonetheless to hear that they helped build their house. There was certainly a story or two to be heard there!

  Maria led them to the front door, which was opened wide to the mudroom beyond. A set of dutch doors, the top one open for air, connected to the interior. As Dawn stepped inside, he
r claws clicked on the hardwood floors and she had to consciously retract them. No sense messing up a nice floor! No sooner had they entered than a hallway door opened and out stepped an elegant lady. Reddish-orange and white like Heather, she sported even longer and brighter red hair. She smiled broadly and gave Llewellyn a quick embrace that was warmly returned.

  “I hate it when you have to run off like that,” she murmured before turning her attention to Dawn. “You must be Dawn. I am Ivy, First Mother of the house. We are glad to have you here,” she said fondly.

  Dawn bobbed politely, “It is a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Just then two more ladies stepped into the hall. They had coats like jaguars and shortly cropped red hair. Oh, how she envied those rosettes! They were spitting images of each other from head to tail and they were dressed alike as well.

  “Dawn, this is April and May, our Third Mothers,” said Ivy.

  Dawn bobbed again while the twins spoke, “Delighted to meet you. We do hope you enjoy things here.” They spoke in almost musical tones, sometimes alternating words and sometimes speaking together. It was dizzying and amusing to listen to and Dawn giggled in spite of herself. The twins smiled mischievously back, enjoying the effect they had created and relishing the confusion.

  “Delighted to meet you two, too,” Dawn managed to get out between the giggles.

  “Pardon me, but I’m going to go ahead and take her things up to her bedroom,” interrupted Llewellyn and started around the corner to the stairs.

  April (or was it May?) batted at his tail playfully as he passed while the other said, “We’ll keep him busy, won’t we…”

  Llewellyn’s fur briefly stood on end again as he proceeded upstairs.

  Maria quickly tried to re-center the discussion, “Dawn, what would you like to do first? Tour the house, eat…?”

  “If it’s all the same, ma’am,” she started, trying to be as polite as possible, “I’d just as soon see my room and take a nap. It’s been a long few days.”

  Maria smiled, “By all means.”

  “So I have a room to myself?” she asked, double-checking.

  “Yes, indeed!” began Ivy, “You are all but a grown lady and we have a very large house. Maria can you handle the stairs? Or should I take her up?”

  “If you can watch Heather, I’ll do fine,” replied Maria.

  Heather ran to Ivy as Maria led Dawn to the stairs and offered her hand. Halfway up the two flights of stairs, Dawn realized she was helping Maria more than the reverse. “How soon until the child?” Dawn asked as diplomatically as she could.

  Maria smiled, “Less than a month, dear. And here we are!”

  The third floor landing split in three directions and Maria motioned to the nearest door. “That is the bathroom. The hot water may take a few seconds to catch up early in the morning, but this time of day should be prompt if you’d like to take a bath.”

  A far door opened as Llewellyn exited and passed them on the landing. Just like the twins, Maria batted his tail as he went by. Llewellyn stopped short and started to nuzzle Maria. Suddenly aware of Dawn, he sheepishly withdrew and marched smartly downstairs.

  Maria laughed and turned away. “And that,” she pointed to the still open door, “is your room. It has a fireplace. I hope you don’t mind.”

  The pair of them entered the room. Long and broad it had two enormous windows, a fireplace and a massive canopy bed with brilliant blue covers. A writing desk with a lamp graced the far wall, while the near had a large wardrobe and a pair of low shelves. It was easily four times larger than any bedroom she had before, and she didn’t have to share it!

  Maria smiled as she started to withdraw from the room, “I’ll come get you for supper if you don’t come down sooner. Do you like it?”

  Dawn raced over to Maria hugged Maria warmly, “Very much so!”

  Dawn hummed to herself as she sprawled on her new bed. Dinner hadn’t set well with her, but the soak in the tub sure did! Still slightly damp, the open window brought a cool but gentle breeze into her room. She all but purred as she flexed and then relaxed her wings, the stretch was doing them quite a bit of good. Wings? Oh yes indeed! Her stately wings filled almost two-thirds of the room they were so large, well more than eighteen feet across. It had been a long time since she had stretched them, much less tried to use them. Jet black feathers perfectly matching her fur coat fluttered in the breeze.

  She didn’t understand them, but she’d had them for as long as she could remember. They would wink in and out of existence just as easily as she might stick out her tongue. Sticking out her tongue… she could almost hear her older sisters and their heckling. “Freak!” That was the word du jour. She sighed to herself as her mind raced. Her new family seemed nice enough, but a black coat was one thing, wings were another thing entirely. Well, they hadn’t batted an eye at her appearance yet, and she was loathe to do anything to change that!

  But oh! how she desperately wanted to try out her wings again. It had been ages since she had a chance to try and fly. There were several large meadows nearby. If only she could just sneak away for a few hours and give it a try.

  Footsteps. Someone was approaching. Her wings winked out of existence in a light blue flash and she quickly started to re-lace the back of her dress. The flash―it was very much like the flash her uncle had done with the Live Steel. Maybe they were similar in how they worked. More questions! But how to ask them?

  A knock on the door and not a moment too soon, she finished straightening her dress.

  “C-Come in,” she called out, as she quickly started to preen herself.

  Ivy smiled warmly, “You didn’t eat very much for supper, so I was curious if you’d like to join us for a snack. The twins brought out fresh pastries and bread, and Maria is telling stories to Heather while I’m going to be playing the harp.”

  Dawn shook her head softly, “No thank you, ma’am.”

  Ivy nodded her acceptance, and, although slightly disappointed, she started for the door.

  “Ma’am?” queried Dawn.

  “Yes, dear?”

  “You make a living playing and teaching music? That is so very different than my First Mother.”

  Ivy nodded, “Helen was a wonderful lady. Sharp as a tack, quick with her wit, but still had a soft heart. We all will miss her.”

  They both went quiet until Ivy began to leave again.

  “Is it always like this?” Dawn asked as she gestured to the outdoors.

  “Well it is spring so it’s kind of loud. Sorry for that…”

  “No, it’s so quiet.” Dawn gazed out the window for a moment. “Ma’am, I think I will come down. Just for a bit.”

  Ivy smiled broadly, “A little or a lot, we are happy to have you.”

  Chapter 3

  Dawn bound down the stairs. She had slept well, too well. The sun was already making a steady march across the sky. She skipped as she entered the kitchen to find Maria and Heather.

  “Good morning, ma’am,” said Dawn cheerfully.

  “Good morning, sunshine! Slept well I take it? The better mood suits you.” Maria beamed as she packed a small travel bag.

  “Yes, ma’am. Best sleep in ages. Did I miss breakfast?”

  Maria wrinkled her nose, “Well, yes. But who’s telling? Come on. I’ll get you something quick before we head out. Bacon over bread sound good?”

  “Yes, ma’am. That sounds wonderful. We are heading out?”

  Maria cocked an eye at her, “You are going to ‘ma’am’ me to death I fear. Save it for Ivy.”

  “Yes, ma…,” and they both broke out laughing.

  Maria quickly regained herself, “We are making a trip into town. We do that about twice a week on average. You could use some more clothes and last night you asked about the book shop. Speaking of books….” She fumbled through her pockets before producing a key. “Here, go check out our library while I fix you breakfast. No sense of going to a bookstore if you don’t know what we already have.”

/>   Dawn carefully accepted the key and hurried over to the library door. It unlocked with a satisfying click and the solid door opened revealing its treasure: the room was massive! Three, maybe four times the size of her bedroom, it was lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves.

  See what books we already have, Maria had said. Dawn laughed at the absurdity of the statement. There was no way she could gauge this library in a day, much less before breakfast. Absurd or not, Dawn couldn’t resist examining the library in what time she had! Fiction, non-fiction, historical and fantasy, classic and more recent works. Dawn was pleasantly exhausted when Maria finally called to her at the door.

  “A bit overwhelming isn’t it?” smiled Maria. “When I joined the family, Llewellyn asked what I would miss most from the town where I had lived. I replied, ‘The library next to my old house.’” She laughed, “With that as a benchmark, he and his old associates have lavished me with books after books. And I’m not one to complain! Every time some Shukurae come by to visit, they bring an armful of books― and they have very big arms!” she laughed.

  “It is quite an amazing collection.” Dawn beamed, “I assume you can help me at the book store?”

  “Of course.” Maria smiled warmly, “Now eat up so we can head out.”

  Dawn enthusiastically complied and thirty minutes later she found herself walking in that great alpine meadow from the day before. She stole glances from side to side trying to envision where she might try to get a good chance to try out her wings out of sight of the house. It was quickly obvious the entire meadow would be perfect for flight practice, so with that concern taken care of, she was able to focus on the pleasant company at hand.