Homelands Pt. 04 Ch. 01

The man regarded him silently for a moment. Then, with a curt nod, he turned and walked away. The cane apparently wasn't needed to make up for a limp or anything, to judge by his comfortable stride.

"Fucking weirdo," Eric muttered to himself.

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Scene 5

Setting: Gabriela and Jennifer's home in Los Angeles. Later that night.

POV: Gabriela

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Gabriela was just finishing up the dishes when Jennifer came in and offered to help.

Typical.

Sometimes she wasn't entirely sure that she wasn't married to a man.

Though, in fairness, she knew that Jennifer thought the same about her from time to time. They each had their own ways of conforming to and rebelling against gender stereotypes. Jennifer was the breadwinner. Gabriela did most of the cooking. But Jennifer, a compulsive neat freak, did all the cleaning. Gabriela was the disciplinarian, while Jennifer was soft on the kids. When they were intimate together, Gabriela wanted passion, while Jennifer wanted to make love. And Jennifer had hardly slept with anyone else during all the long years they'd waited for their sons to come of age, whereas Gabriela had spent more time in her brother's bed than her wife's. Jennifer had more or less given her approval to do so, but Gabriela had known all along how much her wife would have appreciated it if she didn't take advantage of their arrangement every chance she got.

As dysfunctional as their relationship was, you could almost think theirs was a real marriage, rather than a political arrangement. At times, it actually had felt like one. They'd both gotten good about playing their parts convincingly.

"Did Annie pick out a dress?" Jennifer asked as she took the last plate from Gabriela.

"Eventually, yeah," Gabriela said. "Feels like it wasn't that long ago that I was getting ready to go to the prom. And now our little girl is. Isn't that weird?"

"Well, it wasn't that long ago, for you," Jennifer said.

She never missed an opportunity to remind Gabriela that she was much older. The two of them had married Hank not long after Gabriela had come of age. Jennifer, on the other hand, had been initiated only a little while after Gabriela's mother had been.

"I guess so," Gabriela said, wringing out the sponge.

"Sorry," Jennifer said, wrapping her arms around Gabriela's waist. "Didn't mean for it to come out that way."

Gabriela sighed.

She really did love the woman. Not the way Jennifer wanted her to. Not the way her wife loved her. As close as she and Jennifer had gotten, as much as she considered the woman to be a genuine life partner, Gabriela could never feel that way about another woman.

It was no fault of Jennifer's though. Gabriela just wasn't built that way.

If she had been as interested in women as Jennifer was, she probably couldn't really have asked for more. Jennifer was beautiful, caring, mature, supportive, a wonderful mother to their children, and as good a provider as she could have asked for in a spouse of any gender. The two of them fought a lot more than Gabriela would have liked, but rarely about the kids or money or anything of the things their friends all fought about. Just that Gabriela wasn't as romantic and attentive as Jennifer wanted her to be.

And Gabriela couldn't really blame Jennifer for that. Her wife never once said anything about the time she spent with Wes, however often it might have been that Gabriela could tell that she wanted to. It wasn't as though Jennifer expected to be the only one in Gabriela's life. She understood that Gabriela needed a man's affections. All she wanted was that when Gabriela was with her, she put forth a little more effort. Which was hardly unreasonable. After all, she herself had promised, many times, that she'd do so.

As far as women went, Jennifer was hardly unattractive either.

She honestly wished she could offer Jennifer more of what she needed.

But at the same time, part of her wanted to say that it didn't matter any more. Soon enough, Annie would be of age, and they'd be returning to Summer. They'd swear their vows, and begin honoring the customs of their court. That meant that when they returned here to the Playground, they'd pair off with one another, forbidden from having sex with anyone but their randomly assigned mate. They'd already drawn lots, and Jennifer was to be paired up with Veronica, while Gabriela would be stuck with Kurt. They'd still pretend to be married, for the sake of maintaining their mortal identities, but another woman would be warming Jennifer's bed at night. Then Veronica could worry about whether she was doing enough to satisfy Jennifer's need for romance.

"So what are the boys up to?" Gabriela asked.

Jennifer gave her a flat look. Then, with a sigh, she said, "Playing video games. You know how they are. Takes them a while after they eat to rediscover their sex drive. Gotta let the digestive system work and all that. I'm sure they'll be pawing at us again soon enough."

Gabriela snickered. "That's not what I meant."

Jennifer raised a thick eyebrow.

Lowering her voice, she asked, "Did you hear what Eric said earlier, at dinner?"

Her wife nodded.

"Had to be him, right?"

"A cane and a bowler hat? Yeah, I'd say it's a safe bet."

Eric hadn't said anything about there being a dragon on the cane, but Jennifer was right. There really weren't many other possibilities.

"I guess this is where you say `I told you so."'

Jennifer shrugged as she leaned against the marble counter. She wrapped her arms around herself, and Gabriela thought she noticed her wife's dark skin pebbling. As if a sudden chill had swept across the room.

"Thanks for not doing so," Gabriela said.

The shorter woman snickered.

What could Hank want? To scare them?

To check up on them?

She didn't say that aloud. Jennifer was convinced that Gabriela still had feelings for him. And that was a sore spot. Understanding as she might be of Gabriela's preference for men and the time she spent with her brother as a result, she definitely did not understand why Gabriela didn't loathe and despise Hank.

It wasn't that she missed him. At least, she didn't think it was. But she couldn't deny that she didn't feel the bitterness Jennifer did. Nor did she quite understand that, since Jennifer had never been in love with him anyway.

Or maybe that was precisely why it was so easy for her to hate him.

"He hasn't spoken to you, has he? Any of those times you saw him?"

Jennifer shook her head.

It just didn't make any sense.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Gabriela asked.

It was clear from the look on her wife's face that she did in fact expect Gabriela to do something. How Hank had become her responsibility, she couldn't have said. Probably the same way Annie became "her" daughter whenever she got in trouble, even though they both knew that she was Jennifer's.

"I don't know," Jennifer said.

Right. So she was just supposed to do it, whatever it was.

Gabriela sighed.

Was that what she'd been like with Hank? Was that what drove him away? Having to put up with not one but two women who got mad at him for not knowing what they wanted from him even though they refused to tell him?

No. Of course not. Whatever it had been, knowing Hank, it had been political. Like the marriage itself had been in the first place. One way or another, he'd realized he didn't need House Moody or House Hardt anymore. What could have changed in such a short time, Gabriela couldn't have said. But that had to have been what happened.

"We having dessert?" Eric called out from the living room.

Both women gave a start. Soft as they'd been speaking, the sudden boom of her son's deep voice sounded like a thunderclap.

"Soon, baby," Gabriela called back. She finished setting up the coffee and set out a plate of the cookies she'd baked earlier that afternoon.

Spooked as she was, she didn't even bother going for a double entendre.

Why couldn't the bastard just go back to neglecting them?

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Scene 6

Setting: Gabriela and Jennifer's home in Los Angeles. Later that night.

POV: Patty

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The two girls sat on Veronica's bed, practicing altering their appearance.

Veronica's brown eyes going wide. "You look... you're getting crazy good at this."

Patty grinned. "Thanks." She glanced at the mirror hanging from her closet door. She looked a few decades older. The effect was more convincing than you ever found in movies when they tried to make young actors or actresses look old. There was still something off about it. But if you didn't look too closely, you might have thought she really was in her fifties. "Just takes practice. It's not like I'm any stronger than the rest of the family. Certainly don't have anywhere near the raw power Olivia has, let alone Aunt Zoey."

At that thought, her grin faded.

In just a few days, Kurt would be initiated by the women of his family. When Patty finally got her chance with him, how was she supposed to compete with his sister and mother? How could she expect him to be anywhere near as impressed with her? As if it wasn't bad enough that the two of them were both better looking than Patty was, they were also capable of doing things with their powers that Patty could only dream of.

She'd only been with Olivia one time, and it had been an experience she'd never forget. Patty was more comfortable with other women than Veronica was, but she still hadn't expected Olivia to rock her world the way she had. Hadn't wanted her too, truth be told. Patty'd only agreed to fool around with her to prove to herself that her cousin wasn't as good as she thought she was. Unfortunately, Patty had been wrong about that.

Kurt was bound to fall for her. And Patty couldn't even blame him.

"That's hardly a fair comparison," Veronica said. "Neither you nor your mother are from the Eternal Garden of the Sun, after all."

"So? What difference does that make?"

Veronica gave her that look she gave people when she thought she was covering up her impatience a whole lot better than she actually was. It was a look that only Veronica could give. It made Patty feel small and stupid, yet somehow she couldn't quite resent her sister for making her feel that way.

Actually, Veronica wasn't the only one who could do that. Nick was pretty good at it too. But their brother was even worse at hiding how disappointed he was that you didn't know what he knew. Yet just as convinced that it didn't show.

"The sunlit folk are much older than we are. Them and their moonlit cousins," Veronica said. "The original immortals came from the Eternal Garden and the Shadowed Glade. Of course, most of the people in their courts are of mixed heritage, same as us. But you can be sure that Aunt Zoey is a few steps closer to the first of our kind than we are. There's more mortal blood coursing through our veins than not, I suspect."

"How do you know all this?" Patty asked.

Veronica blushed. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course," Patty said.

"I stole one of Grandma's diaries last summer," she said. "Well, didn't steal it, really. Just made a copy without her knowing. Which certainly feels like stealing."

"Wow," Patty said. "Can I see it?"

Veronica fretted at her lower lip for a moment before nodding. Then, without a word, she got up, went over to her shelves, pulled a cheap paperback down, and handed it over.

Except it wasn't a cheap paperback. It had just looked like one while it sat on the shelves, surrounded by other fantasy and romance novels. Now, though, sitting in her hands, it had transformed itself into a leather-bound, gold-plated hardcover.

Patty flipped through it. Their grandmother's handwriting was hard to read. Not because it was sloppy, though. It was anything but. Patty wasn't used to reading old-fashioned cursive though. Besides which, the ink was pretty badly faded.

Whether that was because of how old it was or the fact that it was a mere copy of the original, she couldn't have said. Sometimes, things didn't come out quite right when they used their powers. That problem seemed to go away with practice, but Veronica wasn't as disciplined as she was. She could tell you all about how things should work in theory, but not much more than that.

"Makes for a pretty boring read, most of the time," Veronica said. "But there's a lot of good stuff buried in there. Seems Grandma did a lot of traveling before she met Grandpa."

"Can I make a copy?" Patty asked.

"Sure," Veronica said.

While still holding the diary in one hand, Patty handed it back to her sister with the other. Simple as that. One moment there was only one hardcover. The next there were two.

Her sister replaced what once more appeared to be a thick fantasy novel on her shelves.

Patty opened her copy of the diary and turned to a page in the middle. The ink had grown a little fainter, as she'd feared that it might. But not by much.

"Thanks," she said, without taking her eyes off the yellowed pages.

"No problem," Veronica said. "Just don't tell anyone."

"I won't," Patty replied. "Have you read this whole thing?"

"A few times," Veronica replied.

"Wow." Patty stared down at the pages without really seeing what was there. Veronica had said it was one of their grandmother's diaries. The thing had to be six or seven hundred pages long. Had their grandmother written down every thought she'd ever had?

Her sister smiled softly. "It's been close to a year."

"Well, yeah. But still." Patty sighed. "I just can't wrap my head around it all. We've known what we are for a while now, but we still don't know anything about the Homelands. At least, some of us don't."

Veronica laid a hand on Patty's shoulder.

"You think we'll get to go there, someday? After Annie comes of age?"

"I think we have to, whether we want to or not," Veronica said. "She doesn't go into much detail, but Grandma mentions something about a rite of initiation. I think families with underage kids are, I don't, not really part of the court. But once everyone's of age, they're expected to return to court, swear vows of fealty to the throne, and so forth."

"Oh," Patty said.

She hadn't even considered that there might be some kind of government or something. A court. Of course. Just like in the fairy tales.

What must their king or queen look like?

Patty blushed at the thought.

"Sounds awful, doesn't it? How do you go from living your whole life in a democracy to having to bend the knee to a damn tyrant?"

Leave it to Veronica to take all the romance out of it. Patty had stopped watching fantasy movies with her sister because she'd end up talking through the whole thing, ranting and raving about the myth of the benevolent monarch. She was probably right, but the whole point of fantasy was make-believe.

Only this wasn't a fantasy.

Yet somehow Patty couldn't help feeling excited. She knew she ought to share her sister's sober assessment, but, on balance, she was pretty sure she was glad their people had kings and queens. It seemed so... majestic.

As if reading her mind, Veronica laughed softly to herself and shook her head.

"Think we'll get to visit the Eternal Glade-"

"Garden," Veronica corrected.

"-Garden," Patty continued, "too?"

"I don't know," Veronica said.

Patty drew a deep breath. "How can you be so calm?"

Her sister laughed. "I don't know that I am. It's pretty scary."

"Scary?" Patty asked. "If it's as bleak a place as you're making it out to be, I still don't see what you have to worry about. It's me who should be worried. I'm not as smart as you, or as strong and confident as Olivia, or as carefree as Annie. You all will find a way to make that world your own. But me? Where will I fit in?"

Veronica's hand went from her shoulder up to her hair. "Oh, Patty. You don't give yourself enough credit. And you give entirely too much to the rest of us."

"Maybe."

Her sister gave her a sad smile then kissed her on the cheek. "Watch. I bet you're going to surprise yourself, and everyone else, by becoming queen."

Patty laughed. "That'll be the day."

"No royal aspirations for you then?"

"I'd settle for being Kurt's favorite," Patty said.

"You say that now."

Indeed she did. And she would tomorrow too. And the day after that. How could she not? Kurt was everything she wanted in a man.

Eric was absurdly hot. Tall, built like he'd just stepped out of a comic book, and with a face that would put most any model to shame. Plus, Eric had this whole alpha male thing going that was kind of annoying but was a whole lot more effective than Patty wanted to admit that it was.

And Nick? He was painfully cute, and really sweet. Though several inches shorter than Eric, he still had a foot on Patty. And though she knew that she should have been happy with a guy of average height, as short as she was, tall guys had always made her feel a little weak in the knees. Not only was Nick tall, he had much bigger muscles than Kurt, even if he wasn't as massive as Eric. If Eric looked too good to be real, a problem Nick didn't quite have, it would still be fair to say that Nick belonged on the cover of GQ.

But it wasn't either of her brothers that Patty dreamed of at night.

Kurt had a kind face. Her cousin also had beautiful blue eyes. He was taller than Nick, slender, and had a shaggy mop of bright blonde hair that Patty just loved.

Best of all, he never tried to be anyone but himself. And didn't expect anyone else to be either. Never went out of his way to prove how manly he was, or how smart he was, or anything like that. He wasn't modest, exactly. Not like Patty, who wished she could be more confident. But no one would ever accuse Kurt of being too impressed with himself either.

"You know, I don't quite get this thing you have for Kurt, but it is sweet."

Patty blushed.

The two sisters stared into each other's eyes for a few moments.

She wasn't sure what had happened. It was just one of those things. They'd been having an ordinary conversation, and then, all of a sudden, the mood had changed.

Which Patty wasn't about to complain about. Veronica didn't often look at her like that. Her sister was open to fooling around with girls, but she was much closer to hereto than Patty was. Sort of like how Mom-Jay was closer to being gay. Patty didn't exactly think of herself as bi. She couldn't really see herself falling for a woman the way she'd fallen for Kurt. But at least when it came to recreational activities, she could easily go either way.

And when she was in the mood to be with a woman, it was Veronica she thought about most. As good as Olivia was, Patty didn't feel as comfortable with her as she did her sister.

Veronica was everything Patty was not. Her hair was jet black and her eyes dark brown, whereas Patty had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her sister was average height, while Patty was shorter than anyone she'd ever met. Besides, of course, Mom-Jay, who was more or less of a height with her. Veronica was top-heavy, with a relatively modest ass. Her breasts were nearly as big as Mom-Gee's. Patty had a nice handful, but she was decidedly pear-shaped. Guys loved her ass. But she always wished it was smaller. Or that she at least had a chest to match. At least then she'd be proportional.

Guys always said she was cute. But they never said she was pretty, let alone beautiful.

Veronica wasn't as pretty as Olivia or Zoey, or even their younger sister, Annie. But she was pretty. Not cute, but pretty.

Of course, Patty's round face, squeaky voice, diminutive height, and girly mannerisms didn't help in that respect. All in all, she reminded men of a baby. They might not put it that way, and they might want to do grown-up things with her, but she suspected it was true all the same. Better that than unattractive, sure, but it still stung.