Healers' Call

Adiocion Calls

That night Ken found his daughter sitting on his bed staring at the framed photo he always kept on his nightstand. A nurse had taken the photo of him, Orlaigh and a baby Valda, not long after she was born. It was one of his most prized possessions.

"How did you cope when you found out Mom was from a different realm?" Valda lifted her head and regarded her father still standing in the doorway.

He moved forward and sat next to her, taking the frame and running his fingers across their smiling face.

"Your mother was like no other woman I'd ever met. I used to joke about her being from a different world, so when I found out about Adiocion it sort of made sense." His fingers lingered over the image of Orlaigh. Not a day had gone by when her absence didn't affect him.

"Did you ever go there? Did Mom take you? What's it like?" Valda fired off questions so quickly Ken couldn't help but chuckle.

But he shook his head, wistfully. "For a human to walk through a portal they need the blessing of the King or Queen who govern the land you enter. Your mother could never take me to see Lania without first telling her parents. By the time she had the ability to take me, it was far safer for me to remain here with you."

When he was younger, he would have given anything to see Lania, but now all he wanted was to see the woman he still loved.

"Mauve said it's like the whole place is alive with magic," Valda said, awe lacing her words.

Ken could see the same wide-eyed excitement he used to feel about Adiocion in her eyes. The dream of what laid beyond their world was enticing.

"Your mother used to say every breath there was like breathing in new life, making you stronger and more resilient." Sadness tinged his words.

"Dad, what was Mom like?"

Ken looked down at his daughter, his sadness growing. He felt selfish. Whilst he had enjoyed several years with Orlaigh, Valda barely remembered her. She had to leave when their daughter was barely a year old.

He cleared his throat and thought back. "She was always smiling and interested in everything. Everywhere we went she would ask millions of questions about how things worked or what something did. Her curiosity was boundless. Like someone else I know." He peered at his daughter with a pointed look which made Valda snigger.

"But she was also proud and brave. Brave enough to take a chance and fall in love with a human. Brave enough to bring you into this world."

"Yeah, she was really brave when she left us here," Valda grumbled, clenching her fists in anger.

Ken tugged on her hair, which was just as unruly as his beloved's. "She left us here so you could be safe. So you could grow up like a normal kid with no worries. If you ask me, that was your mother's bravest moment."

He watched the flood of emotion crash over his daughter's face. She reminded him so much of Orlaigh in those moments that his heart ached.

"I have to go with Carrick and Mauve, don't I?" Valda gazed up at her Dad, her expression unreadable.

Ken pondered his answer, brushing his hand down the side of her face. "Only you can make that decision, sunshine." Her shocked expression made him laugh.

"What? You're not gonna tell me that I need to go?"

"Nope. you have to figure out what you want to do yourself."

Valda crossed her arms, sulkily. "That's not fair."

Ken couldn't hold back his deep laugh at her outraged expression. He'd always found her anger comical, even when she'd been a child.