Dusty stood in the sand filled arena and looked back at me. “Not really what I thought of when I imagined what sort of Fairyland you had.”

I said, “It gets better.”

As we climbed the stone steps out of the arena and came up to the level ground, we saw a complex training ground with ropes, towers, nets and obstacles. This was new but I had expressed a need for it.

Dusty looked back at me again. “Nice, but hardly the date I imagined.”

Past that were fields. A pair of Fairies were making heavy gossamer glass coverings over the plants. One of them gestured our way and said something to the other before running over to us.

“My liege.”

The Fairy turned to Dusty and bowed, “Duchess, please forgive my interruption.”

I asked Dusty, “Art thou a Duchess?”

Dusty said, “I’m not even allowed to visit the Netherlands as far as I know, so probably not.”

The Fairy said, “It was remarked that thou wert no longer a member of the North American Deaths, so that means that thou art now a Duchess since that is apart from a Daft Fairy, and a few singular beings, is the next most scary thing.”

Dusty asked, “And thou dust know who I am?”

The Fairy nodded enthusiastically. “We all follow our royalty. I am a big, big fan, my Liege and Duchess. We keep track of everything we possibly can.”

He looked at me and got a startled look. “Don’t worry, my liege, we won’t be giving the Duchess any spoilers no matter how much she hurts, torments and makes us plead for mercy.”

Dusty asked, “Plead for mercy?”

“Yes, your grace. Please be merciful.”

Dusty gave me a side eye, “Is this Fairyland just arena’s and exercise courses?”

The Fairy said, “No your grace, there are the workshops and mountain gardens. That’s about an eighth of the Fairyland. This is the river region in the center but the octopus sanctuary takes up two of the seven outer regions. Beside that is the Malta reproduction project. We are trying to mostly make a copy of Malta’s just before Second World War splendor, but with all the old ruins intact, and since a lot was built on ruins, and then built on those ruins, and we want them all pre-ruins, and since ruins are pretty they are making copies of the ruins and the restored ruins, so this will keep a lot of Fairies busy for quite a while. Most of the rest of the areas beside that are taken by the Cyprus project and with the waters around it, the remaining four quadrants are going to be tight.

“We are quite proud to be one of the largest ongoing projects in Fairy.”

Dusty asked, “When will it be finished?”

The Fairy said, “Since I am a farmer, guard and guide, I don’t know all the particulars, but my estimate, would be never.”

“Never?”

“Just an estimate, your grace, but since they are mostly using old memories and original construction methods, I don’t see how it could be completed sooner. The arguments over some of the old ruins makes one wonder how well a Fairies memory can hold up for twelve thousand years.

“What I came over to warn thee about was the need to take cover. A dust storm has been scheduled. I should get back to covering the plants.”

Dusty asked, “Why a dust storm?”

The Fairy said, “Only way to really get a ruins to have that natural weathered look.”

Before disappearing, Dusty touched my arm. “See if we can visit Malta, I’ll check on my end and see if the Deaths know anything. I’m not yet sure which of them will still talk to me.”

#

I summoned Avery. “Dusty wants to visit Malta. I don’t want to reveal your secret, but if I don’t try to see if the local Deaths will let her, she may suspect something is up.”

Avery said, “I stay in disguise. No reason she would even be interested in me. Just ignore me and if she asks, just tell her I’m a charity case and I can’t talk.”

I asked, “Do you know how to find the local Deaths?”

Avery said, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

#

I went to my studio in Malta and then got nervous about what the dust storm might be doing to my studio in Fairy. I put on dust goggles and a filter mask and went through the gateway I had set to connect between my studio in Real and my studio in Fairy.

#

The gateway and all my equipment had been moved to a well lit chamber. There was a large glass wall at one end and further past the wall there was the opening to a huge furnace and a large crucible suspended from beams.

A Fairy put a bookmark in the large book he was reading and closed it. He got up from the table and bowed. “Greetings your highness. Hast thou chosen a name for thy Fairyland?”

I gestured for him to sit and sat across from him. “Greetings. Never thought of a name, I should see more of it. After the sand storm of course.”

“Of course, your highness.”

“I was told that my Fairyland was going to be an octopus sanctuary, and a collection of restored ruins and multiple ruins from Malta and Cyprus. Isn’t that a rather large project?”

The Fairy said, “Huge really. Thou art employing thousands of Fairies. Employment in Fairy has never been as high thanks to thee. I know, this wasn’t what thou didst expect but thou didst shake hands with the contractor and size twenty worlds are large projects even if they are simple. Then, when the contractor asked about resources, Quinn Gray, the Quinn Gray, assured him that thou couldst handle all the expenses and provided a Fairy to help make sure materials wouldst be available.

“When a contractor is handed the power to go all out and ignore material costs, well, he wouldn’t want the job to end too soon.”

I asked, “How did I end up with an octopus sanctuary, Malta and Cyprus?”

The Fairy scratched his head. “My best guess is that you live in Malta, Cyprus is the other large island in the Med, and Quinn Gray’s one true love is Avery. The plans Quinn gave the contractor and all the initial pourings supported it so, the contractor went with those suggestions and started to elaborate.”

Avery summoned me. “Joshua Bear, Avery here. I spied on the lady that manages Death in Cyrus. She has a nice Fairyland with lots of trees and birds. She lives in a huge cavern and makes her own clothing. When I saw her she was trying to swap out batteries in a cd player so she isn’t entirely out of date. You will have some issues though. I think she’s your type.”

I said, “Thank you, Avery.”

Avery said, “Lisbet please. When I am in hiding I try to keep using my identity’s name but I wasn’t sure you would answer the summons without my real name.”

I said, “I don’t want to just invade her Fairyland, do you know how I could meet her in Real?”

Avery said, “You have all the powers of a Death and Deaths can set up to detect when souls start to wander in a region. You could always try to catch her at work.”

#

There was a spirit trying to throttle a man who was kneeling by the side of the road. “Look where you’re driving idiot. I have kids.”

The man was talking on his cell phone. “I think his neck is broken, what do I do to save him?”

I summoned Snake, “Snake this is Joshua Bear summoning thee, what wouldst thou charge to save a man with a broken neck?”

Snake said, “Show me the scene.”

I let him see.

He responded, “Sorry, this one is out of my expertise. Wow, she’s a looker.”

I looked and a woman with a classic figure and braided hair touched the spirit and it disappeared. She looked at me and I instantly went to Fairy. She had the face of angel.

I stood in the middle of the Arena in my unnamed Fairyland and wondered at myself. I thought I had gotten over my fear reflex. I took to the air as a raven and flew to where my workshop had been and I had left a few gateways.

There was still one gateway remaining in the old workshop so I used it to return to my workshop in Malta.

#

In my workshop, I went to the refrigerator I kept there and took out an ice cream bar since I was starving.

I shut the freezer door and Someone cleared their throat. I lept to the side and spun. The Lady was there. Again I went to Fairy.

I sped time, ate my ice cream, turned into a Golden Eagle and flew to the gateway back to my workshop in Malta.

Her back was to me and she was looking at one of my early works of art.

I looked away. “Sorry, I have a fear reflex that makes me run away sometimes.”

She asked, “Do I scare you?”

I said, “The prettier a girl is the more scared I get.”

She laughed. “Thanks for the compliment. You cast these sculptures?”

I said, “I am practiced at doing them in Real with real materials, but I mostly make molds in gossamer and pour them in Fairy.”

She said, “I do fiber craft. I made this dress. Do you like it?”

“Sorry, I am scared I will flee if I look at you, or worse fall in love.”

She laughed again. “Do you fall in love that easily?”

I said, “Most fickle man you know, probably.”

“Why are you scared?”

“I first fell in love in kindergarten. I got repeatedly crushed by every sweet looking girl I fell for.”

She said, “I can help you fix yourself. Let me think on this. What you have is a conditioned response that you programmed yourself with when you were young to try and protect yourself. A lot of children do that sort of thing. That’s where a lot of fears come from. If you are a king of Fairy, you can probably change your internal programming but it is hard to just extinguish a behavior.

“I want you to be able to look at me, so let’s try a simple experiment. What was your first impression when you saw me? Tell me the truth and don’t fear embarrassment, we are past that.”

“I saw your figure and thought it was classic, like a statue but living and not posed. Then the shape of your perfect face and those lips that made me think of kissing. Am I saying too much here? I think I should apologize.”

She said, “No, I respect honesty. What next?”

“Then I saw your dazzling eyes and the terror started. That was it.”

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She said, “Well then that was easy. You can manage lips, but eyes are your trigger. So relax, really relax. Slow your breathing and tell yourself, “When I start to get scared when looking at a girls eyes, I will think of their lips instead. Repeat that to yourself and visualize it.”

I thought about it and visualized her lips. “Do you really think this might work?”

She said, “It is all about self control and managing your own programming. Tell yourself that you are ready to handle this and your old way of defense isn’t helping you. Take your time and focus. I will just look at all the wonderful dragons you have sculpted. We can test you when you are ready and try again if you fail.”

I spent a while imagining her eyes and when the fear started I imagined her lips. I repeated to myself the instructions she gave me and when the fear stopped forming I opened my eyes and turned to look at her.

She smiled an I thought of those soft perfect kissable lips. Like an endless loop when I saw her eyes I imagined the perfection of her lips.

I looked down. “It partially worked, but now I am pretty much gone in love with you. Don’t worry, I won’t stalk you or anything. I have a girlfriend and I don’t want to be a two timer on top of all my other flaws.”

She asked, “Are you in love with her?”

I glanced up and looked away. It was clear that she was a Daemon. The other Daemons I knew could read all my emotions and tell if I lied. “Dusty is a retired Death and she wants to know if she can visit Malta without issues.”

The lady asked, “Do you love her?”

“I am infatuated with her.”

She asked, “Does she love you?”

I said, “I don’t know. We like each other.”

The lady took my hand and said, “If she loves you and you love me, she may want to fight.”

I thought about this wonderful woman’s lips. As she help my hand I thought about kissing her.

She let go. “Well maybe we went to far, but you know one of the secrets that opens another heart is affection. Those of us who can detect affection are often strongly effected by it. You should probably go and break up with this girl before you come back to be with me.”

I looked at her but not her face. That way I could manage to not go into the loop of thinking about kissing her. I was looking at her figure and that wasn’t helping much either so I looked away.

She said, “Well you clearly have a lot to think about. So when I summon you, what should I call you?”

I said, “Joshua Bear. How should I--”

She said, “Call me Calypso.”

I looked over and she was gone.

#

I was working on sketches of statues of birds and horses from pictures on the internet when I felt another person’s dying moment call me. I considered going to see Calypso, but I was sure I was just going to break my heart. I didn’t want to give up my relationship with Dusty. I thought about Dusty. Then I remembered that I knew about Calypso. Something in mythology. Someone who enchanted men’s minds or something. She sort of had, but really it was me and I was just going to have to reprogram myself.

I looked her up on the internet. She didn’t enchant Odysseus but instead she kept him prisoner after falling for him. After seven years the other gods made her set him free. She was apparently powerful and magical, but she didn’t take over men’s minds, at least not in the story since Odysseus never fell in love with her.

#

I considered going to see Dusty since the last of the three videos about me had come out. I didn’t want to see it without her but I was still trying to figure out how I was going to tell her she wouldn’t be allowed in Malta. I didn’t want her to know about Calypso.

I made some jewelry for Dusty and got a little carried away. I felt bad about it since I had an impression of rich men paying of their infidelity with other women by giving them jewelry. She wanted some, so I thought about her various outfits and made watches and pendants and bracelets for her. I was nervous about rings since I didn’t want her to mistake it for a proposal.

I had a heavy box full of jewelry for Dusty. I was a bit embarrassed by how far I had gone. At the same time I couldn’t help but think about what I might give to Calypso. Avery said, she was trying to get batteries in her cd player. She probably didn’t have power in her Fairyland. I owed her something so I used the tricks Quinn had taught me to make her a laptop that would connect in Fairy and not need power. I used one with a cd player as an example and made it self repairing. I didn’t make it come and go at will since that was one of Quinn’s secrets.

#

I saw the air shift and knew someone was behind me in my workshop. I dropped and glanced at the curved reflection on the chair leg beside me and stood. “Hello Calypso.”

I was looking at her torso and she laughed. “That habit is just going to add another level to your infatuation.”

I changed into me holding her laptop. I held it out to her. “The pass word is, ‘Day-O.’ Capital D, a, y, dash, capital O. You can change it.”

She laughed, “The password is perfect, but I don’t have power in my Fairyland.”

I said, “This doesn’t need power and it will give you the internet as well. Do I need to gift you?”

She took it and asked, “It’s not going to capture pictures of me is it?”

I said, “No, I made it like I would make it for myself and didn’t think about that as I was doing it. Probably for the best, I might have given into the temptation if I had thought of it.”

She said, “My friend Circe wants to meet you.”

I shook my head, “If she looks anything like you, I probably shouldn’t. Falling in love with your friend isn’t going to make me popular with either of you.”

She shifted her torso and adjusted the dress she was wearing. I looked away. She laughed and disappeared.

I looked back at the empty spot and thought for a moment about her kissable lips.

#

I had finished a mechanical horse on a surfboard on a wave of gold that continually shifted and made a pretty good illusion of a curling wave. It was complex and I wasn’t sure that it could run a year before needing repair. The motor ran on a laptop battery that had a charger built into the base, so it could run for eight hours before recharging.

There was a click I didn’t like so I was trying to find the spot where two parts where hitting when Calypso appeared in front of me.

“Have you broken up with that girl yet?”

I said, “It’s been two days, I haven’t gotten the courage to see her, but I don’t plan to break up with her.”

Calypso said, “I can’t decide if your just that much of a romantic or if your the player you seem to be in your videos.”

I asked, “You saw my videos?”

She said, “I have been using the Laptop you gave me. I love it almost as much as I adore you. I have all my music on it and I found your video online.

“If you haven’t broken up with this Rusty girl, you probably are a player. Sad, all these girls you left behind.”

I was looking at her torso, since her face would just make me think of her lips and kissing her. The dress she wore, showed her cleavage so if anything it was worse. I looked away.

She said, “I bet your one of those bad boys that can instantly take off a girls bra.”

“No, I am clumsy about that and I have given up embarrassing myself with attempts.”

“Really? You know I have a huge collection of bras that you could practice on. Honestly I wouldn’t mind at all.”

I asked, “How did Odysseus not fall in love with you? It doesn’t make sense that he would leave you after you bore two of his children.”

She said, “Nauseous and Nauseous were not my kids and they were born before Odysseus showed up on my shores. I did have a daughter by Odysseus and Nauseous made up a story about taking her to bed, but he was too old for her that never happened. When I kicked Odysseus to the curb, of course Odysseus made up a story about me loving him and his remaining aloof.

“Wait, you just managed to change the subject when we were talking about my bra collection. Do you think my breasts are too large?”

I asked, “So you loved Odysseus?”

Calypso said, “He was all charm at the start and very convincing. He managed to fool people into thinking he could navigate. Think about it, The Mediterranean isn’t that big, if you can tell east and west, then you should be able to figure out north and south. Or you could just follow the coast and ask directions from the first fisherman you meet. Most of his story is just him covering up how inept he was. Seriously, how could anyone be lost that long and still stay in the Mediterranean? He was the sort of man that could never bring himself to ask for directions.

“Yes I was fooled by him, since he fooled himself, I thought he was for real. I wasn’t even six hundred at the time, and I was lonely so I was nearly as much of an idiot as he was.”

#

I took the box of jewelry to Dusty. She said, “Keep it and just go. I heard about Calypso. We never said this was forever. Just go.”

I set the box down.

She said, “I’ll just throw it all off the balcony.”

I said, “Don’t you might hurt someone, gold is heavy. It was all made for you.”

#

looking up at a casting of a large golden eagle that had just started to solidify, I wondered how Dusty found out.

I asked Harvey. “Did you do me the favor of telling Dusty about Calypso?”

Harvey said, “First off, I’m a cat. We don’t have the same issues humans do. Dusty is still a Death, even retired, so I don’t want to advertise my nature in front of her, even though she knows. So no. I might warn her if she was about to step off a cliff if I thought I might get a treat, but if you are wondering how a woman found out about another woman, my first guess is by smell. But then, I am just a cat.”

I said, most of everything with Calypso happened in my studio in Malta. Do you think Opal or the camera crew or even Selene might have left a spy camera or something?”

Harvey said, “I know Dusty’s smell pretty well, and none of them had a hint of it. Any one of a dozen Fairies could have said something. Fairies gossip and the stuff gets around. But Dusty’s a Death and you have no way of knowing what extra powers she might have. She might have stopped her linkage to detect the dying and fleeing spirits and decided to watch you instead or detect your wavering devotion.”

I said, “I need to drop it. I am trying to blame someone else for my faults. I messed up. I don’t know how I could have done differently but my faults caused it. Do you think I’m cursed?”

Harvey said, “Yes, lets start your pity party. You have a girl you are crazy about that seems to like you. I can smell that from both of you so yeah, your love life is really bad. You got money, Some people like your art. I won’t say anything about what I think but human tastes are different. You can’t even begin to spend all the money you have, you have powerful friends and you rules a huge Fairyland. I think we should all just lay down and cry for a while.”

I said, “You know that rich, famous, popular people have still been known to commit suicide?”

Harvey asked, “You feeling suicidal?”

“No, but even with everything going for a person he can have the things that matter to him all fall apart. Everyone has feelings.”

Harvey said, “You know what you should do? Get up and call a taxi. Don’t use your bike, that thing is going to kill you someday. Go down to the market and buy an entire cooler full of fish and bring it back here.”

I asked, “How will that make me feel better?”

“It won’t. Only seeing your new girl is going to make you feel better. But having a cooler of fish to pick from is going to may me really happy.”

I summoned Calypso. “My cat wants me to go to the market for some fish. Do you feel like joining me?”

Calypso said, “Have you broken up with Musty?”

“Her name is Dusty, and she broke up with me. She already knew about us.”

Calypso asked, “How did she find out?”

“I can’t even guess. It’s my fault anyway so I shouldn’t try to pass the blame.”

She said, “Good, cause I probably caused it. I told my friend Circe. I didn’t even think, but she probably spread the gossip.”

Calypso appeared beside me and took my arm and looked at Harvey. “You know, I can get just about any fish you might want, unless it is rare or a friend of mine.”

Harvey asked, “The thing is, I have had tuna, cat food, goldfish and whatever was in the fish salad we shared. I want to get a range of fish so I can figure out what’s best. Since my owner is rich, I want to know what I have been missing.”

Calypso gave a disappointed look. I made the mistake of looking at her eyes and started the loop of thinking about how soft her lips must be. I switched to looking at her lips and that didn’t help. Even her chin and hair were too much so I looked away. Calypso said, “We are going to have to fix you or people will start thinking I enchant men.

“Wait, just a second. Circe is summoning me. Hi Circe, did you tell everyone about poor Joshua?”

She paused a moment. “Well yes, but being in a video online doesn’t mean he’s famous and all they showed was his back.”

“No he doesn’t want to meet you.”

“No he’s not mad at you, he doesn’t even know you. He’s just scared he might fall in love with you to and that we’ll start think he’s fickle.”

“No, I’m not sharing him with you. No, we didn’t actually share Odysseus, you had him first and lost him.”

“Joshua, she thinks your famous since I showed her your videos. She’s desperate to meet you.”

I said, “I’m going to look like an idiot if she is half as pretty as the legends say.”

Circe showed up. She was incredible. I looked at her lips and then her eyes and then I thought of Calypso’s lips. As I looked at Circe I thought how desperately I wanted to kiss Calypso.

Circe said, “He’s crazy smitten for you Calypso. I though you said he was going to fall in love with me.”

I closed my eyes. Oddly, my new self placed brain damage was making me loyal. It was close to brainwashing, but it was better than running away.

Calypso said, “Circe, we were going to go to the market so Joshua’s cat could find out what types of fish he likes best.”

Circe looked at Harvey and jumped. “A kitty, a beautiful kitty. Hi kitty kitty. You want to go the market and get some yummies?”

Harvey asked, “Are you the type that likes to put ribbons on cats?”

Circe said, “And cute little piggies. I love animals. Were you a bad boy and got turned into a kitty?”

Harvey said, “I’m leaving. Joshua, lets go to the market later.”

Circe said, “We can go to the restaurants and try all the fish dishes and compare them to raw. I can tell you all the fish names.”

Harvey asked, “And no ribbons and no going for my belly?”

Circe said, “Your so cute, of course not. We can just have a fun outing together. Calypso, just take Joshua to your cave. He’ll probably pass out first time you kiss him. I’ve never seen a man so hyped up. The kitty and I can go to the market and have fun.”

#

Calypso turned her back on me. “That’s enough. You need to reprogram yourself. Your thinking about kissing me is making me unable to think about anything else. Who knew that programming someone into a love slave would turn you into a love slave. Probably Circe, but who else?”

I said, “I like being able to resist being disloyal. I don’t want to be an obsessive creepy guy though.”

Calypso said, “It was fun, lets not tempt ourselves.”

I sat and tried to think calmer thoughts about Calypso and I was having trouble coming up with anything that didn’t lead me to obsession. “Calypso, I need to sculpt for a while to clear my head. I want to think of you instead of running away or falling for any pretty girl I see, but right now--

Calypso started kissing the back of my neck. “Just a moment longer before we put this behind us.”

I was doing a sculpture of Calypso but it was ending up looking more like something Picasso might make. Lips, eyes, hair, bosom, legs. All beautiful, all the parts were there but they were all outsize and distorted and fit together clumsily. More scary than pretty or sexy. All the parts were good the total was a nightmare.

I went ahead and converted the illusion to gossamer and made a gossamer mold over it. With a core inside so the sculpture wouldn’t be solid and weigh to much to move, I started casting it in bronze.

I felt a summons but no one said anything. I asked, “Hello, anyone there?”

“Dude, Harvey. Summon me man. I gotta get outta here.”

I brought Harvey through.

Harvey lay down next to my foot. He had a ribbon with a bow around his neck. “Dude pick me up.”

I picked him up and held him. He smelled like vanilla.

He started licking my arm. “Love you man, no really your like what it is. Wow, I am so freaking stoned. That Circe girl has this crazy catnip like mind blowing leaves that splinter your mind to infinity. Did I ever tell you I love you. I mean, my old owner was special, but your the best. I mean that. I just want to sleep in your arms forever man. Wow. Are there like golden colors in the air or is that just me?”

I said, “Could be either, I see them too, but I was gifted that way.”

Harvey nodded. “Circe kept rubbing my nose with hers and asking who I loved, man. So I realized that what really mattered was being scratched and fed by you. Man do you think the flounder was laced? I love sardines and flounder and grouper, but I want you there man. I kind of like that crazy mad girl Circe but like she wants to bathe and perfume me and put a bow on me. Don’t let her dude.”

I said, “She already did.”

Harvey tried to claw at his neck. “Oh man, she did. Dude, don’t eat anything she serves you man. You’ll end up with ribbons.”