The Dancer walked with ‘Tj’Chin’Ker out from the warmth of the bar, and into the Richmond winter night. It wasn't the harsh, dry winter he had thought they may have been…flying? …to when they had left the shores of what was once the Pictlands. And what he had, at first, thought might have been Eboracum had instead been someplace he may have remembered as good grazing land in his time, but was now not. Even Eboracum, that amazing human habitation, had changed several times since he had last been inside those walls. ‘Ker wished he could have seen each step the city had grown into.
They had not flown to a place like the Northmen had found, and now named Iceland. Nor the other place the Northmen had found which they called Greenland. Iceland had been lovely, and cousins to his own people had flourished there before humans stumbled upon it. The place they now called Greenland, was a land perfect for seal hunters, whalers, and very few others from what he had been able to tell.
But now he was in this “States” place, and further, the one named for the purity of a human queen who wasn’t all that pure. Or even quite within the bounds of being pure-ish. But it would have been impolitic to point this failing out to the monarch, and just as much a gamble to point it out to those of her people who loved her so much they wanted to found new lands in her name. Though not actually in her name.
Elgin stood on the curb in front of the pub, and as ‘Ker joined him at the edge of the laid cobble street, he could see the broad shouldered little man smiling into the cold night air. The man looked serene. Content.
“This is your place.” ‘Ker said to his ultimate elder.
“Oh, the bar? Yes. I own it, though only a few people know it. I have many such properties. It has taken me ages to get the human world to start taking care of itself as it should. And over the eons, I have had to weave so many webs, connect so many far flung elements, that keeping track of them all takes me more effort than I would like to admit.” He turned to ‘Ker then, and smiled broadly, his large, blocky front teeth blazing white in the light from the bar’s sign. “I’ll let you in on a secret, Grandson.”
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‘Tj’Chin’Ker was stunned, if not completely honored, by the familiarity.
“My wife, Ahoo, wants me to retire. It's a silly idea, and I have told her exactly that. But, as long lived as she and her people are, I will outlive her. I will continue on so long after her passing that only I will remember her. So, I try to not crush her dreams of me easing off my running of the great Family Business, and sometimes I even think about taking a back seat. Allowing some of my most trusted helpers to step up for a few hundred years while I take time off. And here is the part I will deny if anyone were to ever ask…”
‘Ker shuffled his feet to face the immortal little man, and leaned slightly in.
“I am afraid to let someone else take the reins. No matter how competent those men and women I train are, I am afraid of what could go wrong if I let them take over while I take my wife off to live in some home in indolent luxury during her Golden Years. But for my Ahoo, my divine Djinni, I will do it.” With that confession, the old man chuckled.
Just then a car silently pulled up in front of the two men, piloted by a man that ‘Ker could barely make out from the other side of the dark windshield. This car was the nicest ‘Ker had yet to see. Not nearly as long and imposing as the slender black monster that Cole had driven them in from the Aero-...uhm…place after they had landed some hours ago now.
But this quiet vehicle barely even hummed like that other one had, it was so quiet, ‘Ker would have been surprised by its appearance had he not seen it roll up to the curb where they now stood.
Two doors swung open towards the two men on the sidewalk, and the interior light spilled out onto their feet and legs. Bending low to look into the interior, Elgin looked pleased and said “Thank you for the ride, Melodie! Lovely to see you this evening.”
And as he slid gracefully into the wide back seat, “Has David been in touch with you? If not, I know where he is, and can direct you.”
A woman’s voice answered him from the driver’s seat, though ‘Ker still couldn’t quite make out who she was. The light coming from the cabin was blocking his clear sight of the driver. But, the old man had slid in, so ‘Ker did as well. And within moments of his bottom being cupped by one of the single most comfortable seats in which he had ever placed it, the car slithered away from the curb by the bar to make its way through the portion of this city which Elgin Stark referred to as “the Fan.”
From the shadows of the newly darkened cabin, Elgin’s deep, calm voice told ‘Ker, “We’ll be there in a few short minutes. Who we are meeting is looking for you in particular, and we need to put a stop to it. The sooner the better.”