“You came.” I just nodded. She hugged me, but then she was out of my arms and into Carl's. “Daddy, you need to get up and come into the house so I can fix you.” She tried to pull away, but Carl clutched her to his chest. “I already got the bandages, like you told me.”
I sat back on my heels and I watched as Carl silently broke. His tears fell down his face, trailing into his beard. But Carly neversaw a thing. I was trying to be hopeful. He could heal from this. I pulled my magic to me and I reached out a hand, but Carl caught it. I met his eyes, and he slowly shook his head.
He was telling me not to waste my magic. He flicked his gaze to everyone, but I didn’t care. “I trust them.” I looked over my shoulder at my friends, but then my eyes fell on Erubus. “Well, most of them.” I saw my words hit, and he flinched a little, but I didn’t care. I didn’t actually know who he was. “I feel like I should apologize, but I don’t know you.”
I turned back to Carl, but he still shook his head. “It’s too late.” I begged him with my eyes, but I saw the decision on his face. He was set on this outcome, but I wasn’t.
I pushed. “I healed from the brink, so can you.” I tried to pull back my hand, but he shook his head again. His face was turning gray, and the light was fading from his eyes. But he took a deep breath and rallied.
“Daddy, let Amy help us.” Carly’s little voice was heart wrenching. “Please.” She tried to pull away from his chest, but he started coughing, and his eyes widened a little as blood poured from his lips. “Daddy!” She screamed as she tried to pull away again.
Blood coated her back, as Carl lost his grip on her as he choked on his life’s blood. He finally caught his breath, and he stared into Carly’s eyes. I watched as his defeated eyes filled with all of his love for his daughter. “Baby girl. What is the first rule of our kind?” His laboured breathing was starting to gurgle, fluid building in his chest. He was waning. Everyone could see it, but he was holding on to make sure his little girl was okay. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
She trembled as she shook her head. “No daddy, please.” She pleaded. “Stay with me.” She looked up and kissed his cheeks. “Let me make you better. Let Amy help. Please, daddy.”
He closed his eyes, and I could see his resolve teetering on the edge. He wanted to stay. “What’s our first rule?” He pulled back to look at her. “Come on, baby girl, what’s our first rule?”
Her lower lip trembled, and her tears continued to fall as she sniffled. She wiped her nose with her sleeve, as only little kids could, and she swallowed before she answered. “There is only one shaman at a time. One shaman at the time, for the balance of the world.” Carly looked at him, and he nodded. But another tear fell, and she leaned closer to his face. “But I’m not ready. I’m not trained yet. You promised you’d train me.”
Carl collapsed, so I pulled Carly away and helped him get to the ground fully. He was trying to sit up, but I pulled him back. I laid his head on my lap and then Carly cuddled against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as he stared up at me. “I wish we had more time, baby. I really do, but you are special. Like Amy here. That’s why the Goddess chose her to help you through your first vision. And why I chose her to take over for me here?”
“You said you would watch over me.” She cried into his chest and his face crumpled.
“Oh I will, baby. I will watch over both of you every day of the rest of your lives.” He kissed her head a few times. “I might not be here physically, but as long as the Goddess will allow, I will be with you.” He hugged her close as I ran my fingers through his hair.
I looked up at Erubus, but I honestly stopped caring. “There is a way to check in.”
Carl snapped his eyes open. “What?”
“It obviously can’t happen all the time, but I think the Goddess will understand if I do it.” I gave them the only thing I could. Hope. “Carly, on the days that missing your daddy gets too hard, when it hurts too much, I promise you that your daddy will be there to help you through it.”
She shook her head as she looked up at me. “Don’t lie. Once he’s gone, he’s gone.”
I gave her a small smile. And I closed my eyes, opening myself to my power, and I called out. “Grandma, I need your help here. This little one needs hope, and you can help give this man a sliver of peace.” I felt her hand on my shoulder as everyone gasped. I opened my eyes and I looked up to see her smiling face.
“Hello again Carl.” Carl stared up at my grandmother and then closed his eyes, and his face filled with peace. “Your little girl here is adorable, my lad. You did good.” She sank to her knees as Carly looked up at her. “Hello, wee one.”
She sniffled again. “Who are you?”
“I’m Amy’s grandmother. And this…” She turned and waved her hand, the new cottage shifting to her old one. “This was my home, once upon a time.”
“Daddy said the lady who lived here died a long time ago.”
“And I did.” She waved her hand again, and the old cabin ignited into flames. “There was an attack, much like this one. And like your father here, I gave my life for those I love. That gives me a little leeway with the goddess.”
Carl looked up at her. “Leeway? How?”
“What’s leeway?” Carly sat up against Carl, still clinging to him, but grasping on to the tiny thread of hope she was being handed.
“Leeway, my girl, means the Goddess looks away when I nip down here to see my girl here.” She leaned over and I felt the ghost of her lips on my forehead. “When something like this happens, Carl. The Goddess looks the other way when, say, someone calls for you.”
“How is this possible?” Hanna looked at me, and then back at my grandmother.
She smiled up at my friends. “You know of her magic.” The girls nodded, but Erubus stayed still. I saw the tiny smile thatsprang to her lips as her eyes landed on him. “Well, Amy sacrifices a tiny amount of magic to call for me, and another to help me come to this plane.” She waved her hands at me. “When she needs me, I come. Do you know what that means, little one?” Carly shook her head as my grandmother dropped to her knees beside me. She raised her hands to hold Carly’s face. “It means that when you are really sad, and you need to see your daddy. Amy can call him here for you and the Moon Goddess, in her understanding, will allow him to come to you. So even if he is gone, even hundreds of years from now, if you need him…Amy will bring him here for you.”
Carly closed her eyes and tilted her head. “I can’t feel you.”
“No baby, you can’t. I’m not physically here. But that’s just one aspect of love, right? Physical touch. You will see your daddy, speak with him, get advice from him.”
