Baile Siochanta (Southern Vampire Mysteries)

Chapter 42 - The Flicker of What's Passed

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Sookie was living a new normal. She arose in late morning. She cleaned and did the shopping, taking advantage of markets being so close. She planned her menu and bought only enough for each day. "So the smells won't bother you," she explained to Eric, but she knew it was really because she enjoyed living somewhere everyone knew her by name.

People she'd known now for over a year waved as she walked past them. "How's your man?" they'd ask, or, "Looks like the business is doing well, then?" Children greeted her and Sookie started exchanging with her neighbors, both in terms of small gifts and small talk.

Brian, the 'fixer' in town, always stepped outside his pub to chat, and Sookie was on good terms with his wife and the wives of many of the other business owners. If Eric had an odd reputation in town, Sookie saw little evidence of it. She chatted about the weather and slowly, started to exchange town gossip. When one of the shopkeepers asked her about children, she knew she'd gained acceptance. It was a personal question, the kind you only asked someone you considered a friend.

"It won't happen for us. I can't, and with our lives? It would be hard anyway." The lies slipped so easily now and if they gave her a moment's guilt, there were the side benefits.

"There's always adoption," her listeners assured her, but Sookie could see that this lack of perfection in the lives of the Northmans endeared her to several and ended any cause for jealousy on the part of others. Still, it didn't mean that when Sookie rose in the afternoon, her human face was the one reflected in the mirror. Since that day she'd accepted her powers, it was her Fae face that took over as she slept.

Every Tuesday, Sookie traveled to Maryann's to use the garage behind her house. Sookie demonstrated some piece of magic and Octavia would turn it against her. Every Thursday, Sookie traveled to the garage again, for this was the day Niall arranged for her to face off against other Fae.

For the past few weeks, Sookie worked with a leprechaun. He wasn't the one she'd met before with Claudine. "Fergus," he'd introduced himself that first day, "Now, let me see what's on your feet."

Sookie found herself handing over her shoes. "Dismal," he'd pronounced her boots and almost at once, the garage was transformed into a workshop where Fergus went about the job of re-making her footwear. "Niall thinks a great deal of you," he'd told her, signaling she should pull up a stool. "He's sworn me to secrecy and promised that I will be sole keeper of your jewels if I let you learn my magic."

"I don't think I could learn that very easily," Sookie indicated Fergus' hands moving, as he used a small awl to remove the stitching that held upper to sole.

"Och, shoes are my passion," Fergus told her, "It's something else I use to protect myself." For the first time since he'd gone to work, he looked directly at her, "You'd do me a kindness if you'd fetch me that hammer over there." He pointed and Sookie saw the hammer quickly enough, but when she rose to get it, she instead found herself wandering to the other side of the garage, more interested in the assortment of knifes and small saws hanging against the back of Fergus' workbench.

After a bit, Fergus scolded, "The hammer, girl! Do you have wool in your ears?"

"I'm sorry," Sookie stuttered, feeling as though she'd been daydreaming. "Of course, I'll get it right away."