[Fiction] Growth [Complete]

[z-Silvestru]

She had been working on this for days. When Satyr wasn't here, when Thistle wasn't demanding her attention, Chloe was in her back yard, working with her plants. Because it was winter, she shouldn't have had much to do, but every time she thought she was done, she realized that she had something else to do. And it was all the plants; anytime she communicated with them, they told her something else they wanted done. Had she not loved them, she might have been irritated. But it was impossible to stay mad at them.

But it was so depressing right now, with the garden so bare and bleak. The dark skies rumbled softly, promising a winter rain. Chloe pulled her sweater tighter around her body, watching as the first drops fell from the sky. A heavy rain was soon falling, and it drew even more color out of world.

She missed the green; her eyes drifted closed as she pictured the vibrant green of the growing season. The wet didn't bother her, but she finally drifted into the house. She listlessly changed her clothing, peeling the wet cloth off her body and switching it for dry and warm garments.

Still feeling rootless, she checked on her indoor plants, pleased to see that they were green. The only pot without green was the bulb that she had planted last week; the Spiloxene capensis bulbs slumbered in their box, fresh from South Africa. The three bulbs had been expensive, but after seeing a picture of their distinctive blossoms, she had been unable to resist. And how she wished they would bloom.

"If properly trained, the natural extension of your abilities could eventually end world hunger and rainforest deforestation. You could save the fucking biophere. More importantly, you could help in terraforming extra terrestrial spheres."

Machina's words nagged at her brain, making Chloe frown. The natural extension of her powers... what was that? She moved to her back door and looked into the backyard, at the old oak tree. Its branches grew in unnatural curls and twists, shaped by her earlier to create several "benches" for up to ten people to sit. It was two tier, with a branch that coiled into a short ladder to the second tier. It was a little fanciful, but Sylvan had been playing that day.

So was the extension of her powers to make living furniture? Chloe didn't think so. She also didn't think that it was to putter around in her garden, making her roses pretty. She'd spent a lot of time focusing on altering her vines that she could call forth, but she couldn't seem to make them resemble anything *real*. It was frustrating.

"Break it down," she muttered, the sound of her voice bringing Thistle to her side. As she stroked the dog's soft fur, she asked herself, "What could you do to end world hunger?

"Make better crops? But I can't make anything other than the vines.

"Can I make stuff grow faster?" That stopped her. She could make plants move around and she had asked them what they needed for rapid growth, but she'd never been able to encourage their growth by telling them to grow. "Maybe it's time to try, then."

Chloe moved back to the empty planter, dragging a stool from the kitchen to sit on. She sat down and stared at the planter, gathering herself. In a firm voice, she ordered, "Grow."

Nothing.

Chloe took a deep breath and tried again. This time, she was silent as she focused her mastery of plants on the box, ordering the slumbering bulbs to wake up and bloom. Grow.

Still nothing, and her full lips pinched together in aggravation. With a frown, she focused on the box again, putting every effort into her attempt. Still nothing, and yet another try was attempted, and still another, until she was drained and tired. She had been so close...

Chloe took care of Thistle and gave the dog some attention, amazed at how lively and precotious the puppy was. She was in love with her, and she silently thanked Satyr for his gift.

After some rest, she got back on her stool and tried again. For hours she perched on the stool, staring, focusing and fighting that first shoot of green to pop out of the waiting soil. Exhaustion dragged her down again, and Chloe listened to her body, stopping her efforts.

Again and again, she tried, only to be impeded by her own limits. Chloe began to curse her attempts, but she refused to stop. Each time she had to stop, it was only the barest break that she could make it, and then she was back at it, focusing her will on the plants, visualizing them bursting forth from the ground. But as time passed with no results, she became desperate.

She began to push, forcing her body to more than she had ever asked of it. In the Rashoud Facility, they had warned her never to do this, but she ignored that advice, driving herself forward. She stared with her eyes and her will, until she was sure she could see the bulbs resting in the soil, and then into the bulbs themselves and yet deeper still. She felt as though she was tumbling forward, being drawn into the bulb, through the fibers composed of the bulb and past them. And still she fell, into the cells of the fibers and into the double helixes of the base chemicals of life and there, in the darkness at the center of everything, she found it. She found Life.

Chloe reached out, and touched that pulsing colorless, invisible energy with her own type of invisible energy, and Life shivered. She pressed a little harder, coaxing it with Quantum fingers, and she felt It stir with an unstoppable energy. It wants to come. It wants to grow. It just needs help. And she poured help into It, her Quantum digging deep into Life and doubling It, tripling It and more.

Pain tore through her mind, and Chloe screamed and doubled over, coming back to the real world. Her concentration was shattered, but she couldn't care; her body ached too much. Holding her head, Chloe squeezed her eyes shut, her body shaking with internal agony. Slowly, she opened her eyes, staring at her lap. There was blood on her jeans, and she frowned in confusion. A hot tear rolled from her eyes, and Chloe wiped it away - but a flash of red caught her eye and she checked her hand. Her tear was not water, but blood. "Oh, no," she breathed, her head lifting and looking for her phone. "I need to call-"

Pale pink stars, almost white, with green and blue centers stopped her mad hunt for the phone. "I did it," she breathed, staring at the exotic African blooms. They were the last thing she saw as she passed out.

[Satyr]

Satyr had plans to have dinner and a movie with Chloe again tonight, He was starting to wonder if he should consider changing his citizenship given the amount of time he spent in the US as of late.

He arrived outside the house and started to walk up to the door when he plainly heard Thistle barking and whimpering in distress. Within an instant hundreds of possiblities ran through his head, none of them good. Satyr immediately teleported within the entryway of the house just inside the door. Thistle ran out of the living toom and barked at Satyr and ran back into the livingroom quite panicked.

He ran into the livingroom after her and found laying on the floor face down in a small pool of blood. He was so surprised he almost didn't notice the newly blooming flowers in her hair. He quickly checked her vitals. He noticed blood-stains leading from her eyes. Her heartbeat strong, her breathing was normal. She had a slighty elevated temprature, but it was fading. She must've passed out.

He had no idea what could've caused it, she showed some of the signs of a stroke or a concussion. He quickly got a cold compress from her kitchen; applied it to her forehead and concentrated his Quantum on healing any damage.

No change, other than cleaning the blood from her face, Satyr was at a loss. It must've been some sort of taint backlash, which would explain the flowers. Satyr rested her head in his lap as Thistle laid down keeping her small body in contact with Chloe's.

He had studied taint and it relationship to Novas ever since he first became aware that his own cloven hooves were not the norm. He stroked her hair and continued to focus his healing energies in her direction as Thistle occasionally crawled up on her and licked her face.

It continued as such for about twenty minutes when finally Chloe's eye's fluttered open and focused on Satyr. "G'evenin' beautiful, ye gave us a scare." He said as Thistle bagan to wag her tail so violently she threatened to take off like a helicopter. "Are ye feelin' better?"

[z-Silvestru]

Sylvan rested in the earth, roots tangled around her body. She was in the earth and a part of it, linked with the living force of the ground. She was warm and verdant-

It wasn't right, not quite. She felt good and warm, but she didn't belong here. She belonged somewhere with a house, and a fuzzy puppy, and a good friend - and more.

With that realization, she was one her floor, eyes blinking slowly open. Thistle was eagerly licking her face, and Satyr was gently holding her in his lap. "Satyr?" she whispered. "I didn't think you were coming over until tomorrow." She put her hand on Thistle's head, scratching her ears softly. The puppy flopped against her in a position that demanded more attention and Sylvan complied, digging her fingers into her puppy's fur. "I'm not complaining about it, but why are you early?"

[Satyr]

"I didn't think you were coming over until tomorrow. I'm not complaining about it, but why are you early?"

An edge of fear crossed Satyr's eyes as he heard her words. "It... is tomorrah, luv." Chloe saw real concern in his eyes, "We shoulda call a doctor..." He stopped himself. "Nay, I dinnae trust those Utopian bastards." He considered getting up, but couldn't leave Chloe.

"Umm, then who?" Chloe stifled her urge to insist she didn't need a doctor; she had passed out. "If not them, then who?" Satyr shook his head. "We shoulda ge' ye on th' couch." He said as he gently lifted her and set her down just as carefully. Thistle jumped right up on the couch as she couldn't bear to be far from Chloe. "I migh' be able ta take care o' ye, but I canna help ye if I dinnae know wha' happen'd."

"I was thinking about what Machina said," Chloe sighed, settling deeper into the couch. "And I was trying to make the flowers bloom." She turned on the couch, as if just remembering to check on them. "They... bloomed."

"Aye, I believe that." He said with a slight laugh. He looked from the planter with the unusual petals and back to her, noting all the flowers in full bloom. "Ye seem ta ha'e gotten an aberration..." he said as he ran his fingers through her hair so that she could see the change. There was something she saw in his eyes, she had seen the look many times. He was slightly aroused by this new change.

She sat up and took her hair in her own hands, shock spreading across her features. "I have..." Her fingers grab a blossom and pull. "Ow!" she yelps, making Thistle whine. "Donne do it if it hurts." He moved to pull her hand away from her hair but she resisted. "It shouldn't hurt!" Chloe shrieked, panic in her eyes. She yanked harder, gritting her teeth against the pain.

"Chloe, Stop!" It was the first time he had ever raised his voice to her and it stopped her completely. He continued now more quietly and calmly. "These ar'a part o' ye e'now." He took her hand in his. "Just as much as your fingers are, or your hair and your skin." He caressed her face as he spoke the words.

"Satyr, it's not a part of me." Her voice is calmer now, thought it still shook. "It's not. It wasn't there yesterday. It's not really me!" Satyr simply smiled. "Dae ye think I always had these?" He said gesturing to his horns, and then to his legs and hooves. "Or these?" He took the lock of her hair gently from her. "These flowers are just as much a part o' ye as me horns are ta me," He looked deeply into her eyes. "and they are beautiful."

"I have flowers growing out of my head," Chloe growled. "Wool is one thing but this... this..." She burst into tears suddenly. Satyr took her in his arms and held her tightly in the moment, but a faraway look overtook his features.

Satyr was elsewhere entirely...

He held her, but she wasn't Chloe. Her green eyes sparkled at him; her red hair fluttered in the salty winds. More, Satyr wasn't Satyr... He noticed that he wore boots, and could feel his feet within socks... but, even though he was aware what it meant, it didn't matter because she was in his arms. He recognized the rocky shoals of his home. He knew he was home.

He refocused his eyes and Chloe was no longer crying, she was looking at him with a questioning eyes because... he was crying.

[z-Silvestru]

She couldn't be more aberrated - the glowing was bad enough, but the flowers in her hair! It made her some kind of plant-human mix, which was impossible. Yet, here she was, with Spiloxene capensis flowers growing out of her head.

She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help it; it was too much for her to absorb. Too much to consider that she might be a freak for the rest of her life, because glowing was one thing. It was too much power, and it leaked off, right? So she glowed because she leaked. She could deal with that.

It was funny - leaking was better than growing something strange. It's not like a finger was growing out of your head. It's just some flowers. She saw a sliver of green through her tears and brought it around so that she could see it. And Spiloxene capensis leaves, too. My head is a Spiloxene capensis bed. None of this was helping her.

She glanced up at Satyr, at her friend and maybe a boyfriend, and was started to find him crying. "Satyr? Honey, what's wrong?" Chloe asked quietly, slipping her arms around him.

"Honey?" Ok, then, I guess that just moved him into definitely boyfriend category.

[Satyr]

Satyr tried to blink the tears away, but they kept coming. He pulled away from her, attempting to focus his thoughts. "I- I remember... I sa' her." He knew as soon as he said the word 'her', he'd have to explain.

He wiped the tears from his face as he remembered the conversation he had with her right on this very couch, only weeks ago. He hesitated before decided that he needed to tell her. "I saw th' lass I.. I donnae know if I wa' married ta her or... I donnae even know who she is, but, I know wher' ta look now."

"Oh," Chloe said, pulling back a little. Satyr looked at Chloe through tear soaked eyes. There was a certainty in his eyes. "Chloe, e'en if tha' lass an I were marr'ed, it's been eight long years sin' I became The Satyr;" He offered her his hand as had become his custom. "I ha'e moved on. Ha'e you?"

"I had to move on; there's no chance of Josh coming back," Chloe said, relaxing a little. "Satyr, I'm sorry... I just got worried when you mentioned another woman." Satyr regarded her warmly, "I jus wann' ye ta be there wit' me. Ye were th' one who made me see, tha' I need'd ta know who I was."

"Ye ha'e learned ta accept me for who I am, Chloe." He ran his fingers through her hair, taking a moment to examine the petals of a flower. "I think this be lovely, I think your hair is wonderful, and by th' way..." He caressed her face sending tingles down her spine. "Ye called me 'Honey', Chloe." He said with a playful smile.

"I...." Chloe stumbled. "I was... overwrought." Satyr only smiled. "It's okay, I understand, I shouldna ha'e drawn attention ta it." His eyes locked with hers and she could still see the remanents of tears in his eyes. "Hae are ye feelin', love?" He smiled wryly.

[z-Silvestru]

Chloe blushed hard, cursing the fact that blood rushed to her face with all the speed of a virgin on prom night. She would love to be able to hide her feelings more, not understanding that was part of her charm. "I still feel like there's Pax is using a mallet on my head," she sighed, "and my stomach is roiling with stress."

Satyr remained wisely silent for once, merely nodding in sympathy. There was a companionable silence for a moment; then Thistle made her demands to go outside urgent. Silently, the two novas took her out back, their hands clasped as they watched her try to break through the plant fence that grew around the back yard. It gave the hyperactive puppy something to do while the 'grown-ups' talked.

"So what now for you?" Chloe asked softly, her hand warm in his. Her eyes were intent on the dog, making sure she didn't actually get through the living wall. "I mean, you've had this vision; you said it hasn't changed anything between us, but you aren't going to ignore it, are you? You're going to go find this woman and find out who you were, right? That whole moving on thing?" And she was babbling again. "I was just wondering, you know."

[Satyr]

He regarded Chloe as she carefully watched Thistle run from one end of the yard to the other and back again. "Ye know tha' e'en if she bolts, she wouldn't go far." She glanced up at him and noted the twinkle in his eyes.

"I canna ignore th' vision," He found himself remembering the moment vividly, he fought back the tears; trying not to draw attention to it. "I wan' ta take ye with me, but that woulda ha'e ta wait until aft'r th' trial."

He found himself considering his reaction to it, I cried, I haven't cried... well ever. Am I subconsciencely mourning her, whoever she is? He set those questions aside as he admired Chloe’s beauty and the new floral arrangement in her hair, he liked it if even she hated it. “If yer stom’ch is… queasy, perhaps we shouldna ha’e dinnar jus’ yet,”

"I'm sick about this," Chloe sighed, shaking a blossom at him. "I know, you like it. It's... it's a sign I'm getting quantum backlash. That's not good."

He brought his hand to her forehead. “Hmm, yer still a wee bit warm. Maybe a hot bath woulda help a bit,” He brought her hand up for inspection, noting that it had at least three tons of dirt on it; the other was no cleaner. "Um, sure, yeah," she agreed half-heartedly.

“Aye, ye did suffer a quant’m backlash, it means ye were probably attemptin’ somt’ing yer not ready for, Let me ask ye,” He turned to her, looking deeply inro her eyes. “When was th’ last time ye felt totally in tune wit’ yer powers?”

[z-Silvestru]

"The last time..." Chloe trailed off as she considered. The answer came to her in a rush of sensation, as she recalled a dimly lit diner, with young thugs in gang colors and old men with guns behind her. There had been a rush of power through her that had been to so complete, so real, that she had barely had time to deal with it. But she had dealt with it, with an instinctual ease that had come from somewhere deep inside of her.

"It was the diner, Satyr," she answered, "but you had already guessed that, hadn't you? It was the only time I've felt in tune, really in tune with them. They were just there, and there was no thought, no effort; the quantum just bent to my will, before my mind could actualize that desire."

She sighed, then whistled, and the dog came shooting back to her side. With a smile, Chloe opened the door for her puppy, and Thistle bound inside. "Just before I blacked out, I think I saw the spark of life, the thing that makes all things live and grow. And I think that I sparked it," she admitted softly. "When I was in the bulb, in the fiber, in the cell, in the DNA, I was in tune, but that felt like I was being carried along by the quantum.

"The Vodun call being possessed by their loa as 'ridden' and when someone is possessed, they are often called the horse," Chloe said, displaying her growing knowledge of non-Christian religions. "In the diner, the quantum was the horse. When I made the flowers bloom, I was the horse."

[Satyr]

Satyr remembered the diner well, Chloe had come up next to him and encircled the gun-men with her vines, he knew that she had endangered herself to help him, he saw it in her eyes. Which was sort of funny, since she the only reason he had stood up to the hit-men in the first place.

"Settin' aside th' hard science, what did it mean tae ye?" he asked as they walked back into her house. "What do you mean? What did it mean to me emotionally? Spiritually?" Satyr smiled, "Aye, all o' it." "It means that I really don't know anything." She looked back to Satyr with a slight sad look. "Ye show much wisdom, Chloe." He said with a rubbing of her back.

"What would you make of something like that?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him. "I think ye may ha'e peeked at th' 'womb' o' th' mother." He said with a slight wry expression on his face.

"Part of me wants to say, 'Ew,'" Chloe comments. "Part of me is sure that's not the worst thing I could see." Satyr only laughs, "Shoulda I ha'e said 'pistil' instead?" Showing Chloe that he had a degree of knowledge in the area of Botany. Chloe only giggled.

He ran a bath for her, pouring in some bath salts and bubbles. He found himself wishing she had an old style clawed foot tub, but alas he'd make do with what he had. He rechecked the water coming from the spout to make sure it was suitably hot, not that it could have scalded her or anything.

She walked in after feeding Thistle for the night, and found Satyr standing off to the side near the sink. Her bathroom was about half the size of her kitchen, but there was enough room for two people to maneuver around eachother at the same time, as Chloe and Satyr found themselves doing. There were several lit candles scattered around the room, as she walked in he partly closed the door and turned down the light. Chloe blushed noting Satyr was making no attempt the leave before she disrobed. Chloe glanced around the now slightly unfamiliar room.

She shyly removed her clothes before the Pan-like nova, she wasn't sure why she was embarrassed given the number of times he'd seen her nude recently. He took her clothes and set them on the sink. He smiled as she gingerly put her toe into the soapy water, a slight smile crossed her lips as she found the temperature to her liking; she quickly reclined into the tub, letting out sigh of comfort.

With the bubbles covering her somewhat she found herself relaxing. She still bore a slight blush as she looked on as Satyr knelt beside her. He picked up a washcloth from a nearby rack and dunked it into her water. He rung it a couple times and brought the warm, damp washcloth to her shoulders and began to massage her with it. The minutes stretched on in silence as Chloe readily accepted his ministrations. He'd would have been lying if he said that he wasn't fighting every urge to jump into that tub with her. Given that she had suffered another aberration, the very last thing she needed was 'Satyr the randy goat-man' having his way with her in the bath.

So, he gently massaged her, working much tension out of her back, every so often taking a moment to smell the flowers in her hair. He wasn't at all surprised to note that the scent only added her her already intoxicating pheromones that he was pretty sure he was addicted to now.

Thistle ran in, having finished her food and feeling slightly neglected, she planted her fore-paws on the edge of the tub, and strained to get into Chloe's face, but she just couldn't reach. Chloe found herself giggling over Thistle's dilemma.

Finally in her frustration, Thistle barked at Chloe. Satyr laughed. "Lass, she says she wishes ta complimaent th' chef on anotha fine meal, bu' she regrets ta infoarm ye, tha' she needs ta make poo-poo in tha' back-yard," Thistle barked a second time. "Again." He looked at Chloe with a bemused expression, she laughed out loud and splashed at Satyr over her shoulder.

[z-Silvestru]

The moment of levity passed, and Chloe quickly dressed, throwing on just enough to be decent enough to go outside. It made her miss the days of living on the farm out in the middle of nowhere. Out there, you could walk around outside of the house without much or any clothing. You could hear someone coming, so there was time to get back into the house and be dressed before company arrived. Chloe had a soft, wistful moment, remembering those days, but the sour chased the sweet, and she remembered too, the bad she had left behind.

As they once again watched Thistle tear around the yard, Chloe said, "When I was so full of power," she said softly, "when you were asking about what it meant to me... I think it means that I touched life, somehow. Am I supposed to do that? Am I supposed to touch life like that?

"Satyr, what am I doing?" Chloe asked, her voice soft and uncertain. "I just don't know. Don't you think there are things that we are not meant to meddle with? Like... well, what I just did. I made something grow. That breaks a billion rules of science, and yes, I know that novas can do some incredible stuff, but that's more than incredible. That's... god-like."

There. She had said what was really bothering her. Deep inside, she was afraid that she was crossing a line that no mortal should cross. Even if she had this power, she shouldn't use it, not if it was wrong to use. Her teeth curled around her lip and caught the full skin, making look her vulnerable and uncertain.

[Satyr]

Satyr stepped behind her, gently slipping his arms around her waist; affectionately nudging her head with his. "Chloe, ye jus overextended yerself a wee bit," "Donne take this th' wrong way, but Ye tried ta force a plant to take root in stange soil, and urged it through quantum forces to flourish in late autumn deep within the northern hemisphere."

"The soil was carefully mixed," Chloe insisted, her voice terse. Satyr knew that there were a few things she took seriously, and her plants were one of them. That heat in her voice could be a spark of wounded pride. "But you're right on the second point."

Satyr watched Thistle tire herself out in the yard, "Donne get me wrong, I ha'e no where near yer levelae..." Satyr chose his words carefully. "Symbiosis with th' flora." He squeezed her affectionately. "Ye jus shouldna push so hard." "Easy to say now," Chloe sighed, rubbing his arms where they crossed over her waist.

"Lass, all ye need do, is let nature take it's course." He was now acutely aware of her body against his. "Ach, I have some abilites thata donna use tha often, I ha'e a minor gift a' healin' that I only use wh'n needed." "That's handy," Chloe smiled. "Aye, it was." He said with a wide grin as he craned his neck to look her in the eyes.

[z-Silvestru]

Chloe sighed as they fell into silence, and she realized she didn't want to talk about how she'd screwed up anymore. She knew she had; she could feel it in every toss of her hair. It seemed that her life was one mistake after another, and enough of them were her fault.

"So what else can you do that you haven't told me about?" she asked, watching Thistle frantically attempting to climb a tree after a squirrel who had dared to enter the yard. That squirrel looks kinda yummy, Chloe thought, then caught herself. That is not cool. Squirrels are the fluffy sweethearts of the trees! But thinking back, she realized that she had been craving meat more often.

One possible reason why came to her with a startling suddeness. Maybe it was she seemed to be slowly turning into a plant, and eating vegetables were eating her kin. The thought made her a bit queasy.

[Satyr]

Satyr thought back to what he had shown her in the past. "I can be charming by e''en Nova standards, bu I thinka ye ha'e noticed that." He regarded her warmly. She blushed and twisted in his arms, standing up on her toes to give him a kiss. "I had noticed." They had indeed become closer, the way she casually wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, when only five months ago she was repelled; yet strangely intriuged by him, of course back then all he wanted to do was screw her.

Satyr found himself wanting to change the subject by escorting her to her bedroom or maybe the kitchen counter, but he restained himself. "I can also c'mmune wit plants an animals." He grew a smirk. "I imagine tha' b'tween th' two o' us we could make thi' quite th' sanctuary." Chloe smiled wistfully. "That would be wonderful," she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. "Can you imagine it?"

Satyr rubbed her back as she sighed contently in the moment. "Aye, why donne we do that?" He pulled back and looked into her gorgeous eyes. "Settin' yer imp'nding jail time aside, we coulda do it."

[z-Silvestru]

Chloe grinned. "Well, for starters," she murmured, "I don't own this house. Once I leave - and I will leave after the trial - I'll be gone, and this place will just be gone. Yes, I plant and prune and tend this lawn, but that's because I'm bored. No, if I do this for real, I want to own the land I'm working. I want it to be mine, so that I will never lose it to another."

She gave a soft laugh and said, "That is what I was taught. You can lose everything else, but so long as you own the land you live on, you'll always have something." There was some pain her eyes, but there was a sense of peace, too. "It's funny what will stick with you.

"Hey," she said suddenly, looking up at him with a hopeful smile. "Have you ever had anything like that, a saying or a habit that you don't know where it came from? Something that might have been passed down to you, impressed hard enough to get through your eruption? It might give you a clue to your background, Satyr."

[Satyr]

Satyr thought for a long moment, finally looking at the ground somewhat abashfully.

"I ne'er really thought abou' it, bu' I've always ass'med it wa' becau'e o' me powers. I've always cared abou' life in gen'ral." He smiled shyly in Chloe's direction. "I've gen'rally put an'mals above people an' Novae."

He looked at Thistle still attempting to get at the squirrel. Satyr's eyes flashed and Thistle immeditaly lost interest in her prey and began sniffing around living fence. "Donne get me wrong, I care a great deal abou' all living creatures, bu' humanity and Novakind live outside o' balance wit' nature."

He returned his gaze to her eyes. "I may ha'e been a vetr'narian, or maybe some sorta an'mal rights advoc'te." He smiled briefly before kissing her. "Thank ye fer remindin' me."

[z-Silvestru]

"It's the least I could do for you, after all the help you've given me," she replied, and then she realized that wasn't quite true. "Well," she said softly, smiling softly, "I might have something else I can do for you."

Taking his hand, she started to pull him toward the house. "Thistle, time to come in," she called, smiling when the puppy bound up to her side. The three of them entered the house, and Chloe's smile was full of promises as they disappeared inside.