Page 66 of The Goddesses' Gifts

“Is this what you and Alyndra have been sneaking around and working on,” Uncle Lhoris asked as mother crawled across the reed picnic mat and sat in my lap. Rhisikho and Illian wrapped their arms around her knees.

“Yes,” I answered. “Put your hands palm down on the ground,” I told mother, and she did. I called up my current and pressed my hands over hers. I pulled threads from the ley line and turned my focus and intent on my mother’s mutilated ears. For a moment, I could see them as they should have been, a ghost of their shape. I used it as a template to build upon, pulling the material from other places in her body, a tiny bit from Rhisikho and Illian since they were made from her too. Between the three of them, there was more than enough cartilage, blood, and skin. Nobody would miss a bit of it.

Mother hissed but didn’t flinch. I knew it wasn’t comfortable, but she trusted me enough to not disrupt the working. I shuddered after a handful of heartbeats and released her hands, the task complete. My own hands tingled and almost felt numb from the buzzing energy that had been burning through them. Mother clumsily brushed her fingers at her ears and realized they felt very different. Her eyes went wide with realization.

Rhisikho giggled and pulled a mirror out of her bag. “Look Mama,” she said and handed the mirror to mother.

She took it with trembling fingers and saw her ears whole for the first time. They were short with a slightly rounded tip, and lavender freckles dusted the new skin. Mother sobbed but tried to stifle it. “Are they real?” She turned back to look at me. I nodded and my own vision went blurry. She looked back in the mirror and sobbed again. “Are … are they mine?” her voice choked off.

“Yes, Mama,” I said and wrapped my arms around her. Illlian and Rhisikho wrapped their arms around us as she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. Something I hadn’t seen her do since I was a small child.

My father and Uncle Lhoris got to their feet and looked absolutely gob smacked while they examined Mother’s ears. They hovered anxiously; no doubt compelled by their bonds.

“Thank you,” she eventually gasped, and I almost held my breath waiting to see if they … well, worked.

She turned her head to look at Uncle Lhoris and said, “They look just like you said they might,” but her voice tapered off and a look of confusion came over her. She turned her head again and touched the tips of her ears. “What’s that?”

“What is that?” she asked again, her tear reddened eyes wide with wonder, as Uncle Lhoris reached for her.

“It's the magic all around us,” he said, wiping the tears from her face with his palms and pulling her to her feet. “You have an entirely new sense to get used to. I recommend just taking it in until you start to recognize the patterns.” I could see the wonder in his eyes when she turned her face away from him again, picking up on some new wave or eddy and following it.

“This is incredible, Oshruli,” Uncle Lhoris said to me as mother wandered with the twins. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just accomplished?”

“I made her whole,” I shrugged. “Aunt Alyndra has an entire book of notes you can look at later. It’s not very practical.”

Uncle Lhoris looked down at me with his hands on his hips and shook his head. “It’s amazing,” he said as he went to follow after his mate. She was still weeping in fits and starts. “Simply amazing.”

Rhisikho and Illian were holding mother’s hands, as if they were keeping her oriented and told her about what she was sensing.

“That's probably the tree you're feeling now, mama.” Illian pointed to the nearby tree.

“The soft buzz is all the animals and moving things,” Rhisikho said. Explaining everything we knew from living with that sense our whole lives.

Father pulled me to my feet and nearly crushed me in a bear hug.

As much as he tried to keep mother at arm’s length, they had a lot in common. Scars, suffering, and surviving being a few of those things.

“You’re a good elf, Oshruli,” he said, his voice a little unsteady, which caught me off guard. “Adukli wanted to throw you away but look at what fantastic things you can do. I’m so proud of you.”

I hugged him back. “I could try to heal some of your old wounds too, ahba,” I offered. “Regrow that missing toe.”

"One miracle a day,” he said. “Let's let your mother have hers today."

The End

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