Soon we’re heading down the alleyway, shopping baskets in hand, happily chatting like we’ve known each other for years.
I wonder what it is about the folks of the Labyrinth that makes them so easy to be with?
I think maybe it’s their acceptance of folks for what they are. I don’t feel anyone is judging me harshly for being human. They just seem to get that I’m okay on the inside, that I am their friend, not foe.
As we walk, it strikes me that are no posters for events anywhere.
“What do you do in your spare time?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Spend time with family and friends. Eat out, sing round the fire, play games. There’s no organized entertainment, other than what we put on ourselves.”
“Don’t you have any big arenas, for sports and music and stuff?”
She looks puzzled. “No, we make our own music. Sometimes we have a get together in the main square and everyone brings along an instrument and we kind of jam together. Different species have different musical talents. Winged species tend to like wind instruments. Bigger species like minotaurs and centaurs are great drummers with lots of rhythm.”
“What do you play?”
She gives me a sideways smile. “Tambourine.”
“Aha, that figures.” Tippy sure has that kind of hippie flower child vibe to her. “Do you have a large family, Tippy?”
“I’m an only child, but I do have lots of aunts and uncles, and cousins galore. The males in our family, the fox shifters, are not the ones with the power. The vixens are. And even more so if you’re a wixen. There’s only one wixen in each generation. I’m the one who has been chosen in mine. My aunt Felicia initiated me, she’s the midwife who’s overseeing Sammy’s pregnancy and very knowledgeable about witching. She’s laid her hands on Sammy’s belly and can read everything about her youngling. Apparently, it’s the healthiest, strongest heartbeat she’s ever felt.”
“That’s awesome. It’s wonderful how supportive everyone is of Sammy’s pregnancy.”
“Of course. Family is everything to us monsters.”
I’m pensive, thinking of Otis. “The sheriff’s family isn’t close anymore.”
“Yeah, that’s unusual.” Tippy sighs. “It’s really sad, because orcs are the most social of folks. That’s how it used to be with when Bradley Cane was alive. Big parties at the sheriff’s house, all of us singing, dancing. Making music, eating good food.”
“Why then did the family leave Otis to look after his mom alone?”
“I guess they couldn’t cope with the fallout. Bradley was more than a dad, he was the leader of the Cane clan. You’d probably say he was the leader of the Labyrinth too. Since we don’t really have a hierarchy, the sheriff is the one we look to for guidance. There was an outpouring of grief from all of us after he died. Everyone loved him. Sally worshipped him, and never emerged from her grief. Such a shame—she was a powerful orc woman before, but when she fell apart, it all went pear-shaped with the Cane kids. And Otis had to carry it all.”
I feel a lump in my throat. Our lives have had such similar threads.
We’ve both lost a parent and had to care for the remaining one.
Neither of us have had closure.
And while the sexual chemistry between us is off the scale, I can’t help thinking there’s a deeper bond bringing us together.
Almost like… Fate.
As if reading my thoughts, Tippy says, “But hey, its wonderful that you’re here to help him now.” As we head into the high domed cave of the marketplace, she adds, “Now, let’s go buy cake ingredients, shall we?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
OTIS.
When I arrive home, I hear the vacuum cleaner buzzing away even before I get to the front door.
How did she find that, I wonder? I never told her where I keep it. Come to think of it, I haven’t used it for so long, I probably wouldn’t remember where I’d put it.
I open the front door and follow the sound. I find Clem in my small formal sitting room, the one Mom and Dad used to sit in, where Mom would embroider while Dad read the newspaper of an evening. It still holds good memories, but I haven’t honestly been in here for months.
Yeah, the dust would have piled up.
