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Inverness [FF, fantasy] - Part IX - Solstice

Crimson Dragon

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(c) Copyright February 2001 - All Rights Reserved

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The sky lightened slowly in the east.  The moon, fighting against the
heavens struggled to rise.

A familiar voice broke through the hard rocking of Collective Soul
announcing the moonrise and the celebration.  The music rose again
into Bobby Fuller.

Alison turned towards See-El, her eyes questioning.  Deja vue infused
her.

"Celia," he mouthed and she nodded.  The DJ's voice was the same as
the woman who drove the music in The Portal.

Alison glanced around her, sure that a tall, dark man would be
slipping through the crowds, parting the smoke before him.

Suddenly, a tugging on her arm caught her attention.  Mercury, her
body moving to the beat of the sixties, already had recruited Sondra. 
Alison rose to her bare feet, wondering just how she was going to
dance with the evening gown on, but followed Mercury and Sondra as
they wound through the crowds of dancers into the close light of the
fire.

The music grabbed her, and she laughed as the three formed a small
circle, abandoning themselves to the law that would always win.

                         <---===***===--->

She missed the music as the last strains of amplified guitar faded
from the atmosphere.  Her legs halted, and she stood hushed, like the
rest of the crowd, her hands resting against her thighs.  She looked
up.

Through mist that had appeared as if by magic, she saw the tall, dark
man and the man she remembered from the shower lobby slowly leading a
small parade of women and men.  The woman from the room, Janey, she
thought, walked between them looking faintly bemused.

As they reached the edge of the stage, she thought she spied See-El. 
The big man smiled to her, and she waved back with a small movement of
her fingers.

The men retreated, and Alison watched as the tall woman raised her
arms towards the sky.  From the east, a beam of pearl broke over the
canopy of the trees to illuminate her.

Janey's voice echoed across the clearing, clear and resounding.

"We celebrate the coming of the Solstice.  May fantasy remain with us
forever."  She paused, as if uncertain about dignity, and then tossing
concern to the wind, announced, "Now, let's party!"

As her arms lowered back to her sides, the crowd around Alison cheered
as the music fell into Savage Garden.

Alison watched as the people on stage slowly dispersed, joining into
the crowd, or finding the endless food that Inverness had provided.

As she turned back to the group, Mercury grinned as her pink top
sailed easily into the bonfire.  Bare breasted, she moved, dancing
with abandon.  Alison shook her head, grinned, and joined with the
dance.

                         <---===***===--->

She was dancing with Mercury to one of the infrequent slow songs that
Celia allowed.  Chris Isaak sang about wicked games while the girls
moved easily together.  Alison wasn't used to dancing with a girl, and
she continued to step on Mercury's toes, but her partner didn't seem
to mind.

Mercury's bare breasts pressed comfortingly against Alison's, and
where she may have been self-conscious when Mercury guided her into
the embrace at the beginning of the song, she was no longer.  They
kissed, lightly but passionately.

"See," Mercury whispered.  "It's not so bad."

Alison shook her head, and continued to turn until Josh fell into her
vision.  She blinked, sure he was an illusion.  Not here.  Impossible.

"What is it?" Mercury asked, moving slightly away from Alison.

Alison blinked again, focusing her eyes where the man had been
swallowed by a pair of twins wearing gaudy Hawaiian shirts.  As the
Hawaiian twins danced around a stopped figure, Josh re-appeared.  Any
hope of melting back into the crowd vanished as his eyes lit upon
Alison, his mouth dropping slightly as he noted Mercury.

"Josh," she whispered.  Butterflies to rival the torchbearer ones
flittered against her stomach.

Mercury turned her head, her eyes searching the crowd.

"He shouldn't be here."

Alison shook her head.

"No," she replied.  "He shouldn't."

Such a Wicked Game we play.  To make me feel this way.

                         <---===***===--->

Mercury and Sondra continued to dance, but less frenetically, near the
fire's edge.  Firelight glistened off Mercury's bare breasts as she
moved, her body effortlessly keeping the rhythm of the music.  Her
eyes flicked occasionally towards Alison, through the crowd, but
continued to be distracted back towards Sondra by a quick word or
gesture by the blonde.

His lips had touched her cheek in a semblance of intimacy, but there
was no burning like the last time he'd touched her, in her bed, so
long ago.

"Why are you here?" Alison asked quietly.  Her fingers toyed with the
rough wood of the table.  Her eyes didn't meet Josh's.

"Does it matter?  I'm here."

Alison nodded slowly.  "It matters."

"Why were you dancing with...her?"

She looked up, startled.  That tinge in his voice, something new,
unexpected, uncertain.

"Mercury?"

"If that's her name.  The topless one."

Alison's eyes flicked out towards her.  Sondra had managed to coax
Mercury into dancing out of her direct line of vision.  Only the
occasional flash of Mercury's arm was visible beyond the back of
Sondra's body.

"Mercury.  Yes.  Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?"

Alison blushed for a moment.

"I...apparently needed it.  I was invited."

Josh inhaled deeply, shaking his head.  "I guess I did, too.  I needed
it.  But you...weren't supposed to be here."

Alison lowered her eyes, nodding in agreement.  She looked up again
rapidly as the music shifted.  Soft Cell, but not quite, began slowly
with a hint of live keyboards.  Her eyes flicked to the stage where
the tall, familiar shape of the Dragon had taken centre stage.  His
voice mimicked the eighties group, and the power swept through the
crowd as the music began to gather tempo.  Others, probably other
writers, joined the Dragon on stage lending their voices to re-create
the familiar music.

Alison's eyes automatically checked the fire, to see Mercury falling
in with the crowd.  Mercury looked up as if aware she was being
watched, and flashed a quick smile towards Alison.

Alison turned towards Josh.

"I have to go."

Josh shook his head, touching her arm gently, urging her to stay.  She
indulged him, remaining seated on the bench.

"Alison.  I...do you love her?  She's...she's...a woman."

"Mercury?"

Josh nodded.  Alison paused for a moment, thinking.

"She's kind, and she didn't walk out on me.  Not yet."

Josh recoiled, stung a little.  Alison regretted her words, but didn't
quite know what to do about it.

"I'm sorry, Alison.  But we had...have...something.  We can try again.
Can't we?"

She felt tears forming where her eyes should have been.  She wiped
them away savagely.  She glanced up at the man singing on stage, then
at the woman dancing now with child-like abandon near the fire, her
brunette hair swinging around her bare shoulders, free.  Her eyes
returned to the man she'd loved.  She slowly shook her head.

"We ended it last night, Josh.  You walked out that door.  I'm sorry."
She rose to her bare feet.  The pine needles beneath sighed at her
presence.

Swiftly, without thought or purpose, she pulled the gown over her
head, laying it neatly on the bench where she'd sat but a moment
before.  She was faintly bemused at the expression on Josh's face,
almost a longing of pleasure lost.

Her eyes left Josh, raised to the Dragon.  Surprised, she found the
singer's eyes resting on her.  The tall creature smiled, almost
singing to her.  She waved slightly and was gratified to see a small
acknowledgement in the tilt of his head.  Her lips automatically
followed his.

"Where did our love go?  Where?  Where?  Where?" she whispered.

She leaned down, pressing her lips lightly against Josh's cheek, then
straightened.

Smiling and unselfconscious of her nudity, she threaded her way
between the dancers to rejoin Mercury and Sondra.

She did not look back.

                         <---===***===--->

It was as though her nudity had sparked an awareness within the crowd.
Many dancers, as though emboldened by the torchbearer's exposure,
shed some or all of their clothing, continuing the dancing.

The Dragon continued to lead the music, shifting personas as necessary
to achieve male or female vocals.  The Dragon, currently a stunning
redhead draped in a form-fitting outfit, grinned as a final rendition
of "Heart and Soul" wound down.

The Dragon on stage shimmered from the redhead, settling back into the
tall man with whom Alison was more familiar.

Mercury, miraculously still clad in her cut-offs, twisted as the
silence of the music stretched.

"Watch out," Mercury whispered.

Alison shivered as the creature's eyes again rested on her.  Suddenly,
she felt self-conscious again, and she had to will her hands to remain
at her sides.

I used to live in New York City.  Everything there was dark and dirty.

Without warning, the Dragon crossed his hands in a flash of blue
light.  Alison blinked.

                         <---===***===--->
