Stories of the Woods

The Book of Poems

Lei sat quietly in the corner, the glass of wine in her hand untouched.

It was more crowded since the last time she'd been here. Myrnah seemed to have made lots of new shifter friends when she and Jannosh had fought at Tsingy de Bemahara . There were some faces she knew, and more faces that she didn't.

Lei glanced around the room shyly. No one seemed to be paying a lot of attention to her, but she still felt uncomfortable. She caught her father's eye across the room; Sergei was sitting with Jannosh and a group of other Russian shifters. They all had hulking bodies and ashy hair, and her father was easily the biggest and ashiest. He smiled tightly at her before turning away and replying in quick Russian to something another man had asked.

He hadn't wanted to go. Memories of the last time they'd been here, the last time they'd visited Apollo and Jannosh and Myrnah, still rushed through their minds and hurt their hearts. Their home in Hamilton had been too quiet since the last time; it was a silence that rang and scream and rattled in the insides of Lei's head. That was the reason Lei wanted to go when Jannosh had called them. His voice had been gentle and soft on the phone, and he made it clear that no one would be offended if they didn't come that year. Sergei wanted to avoid the place where Wei had died, but Lei  had been filled with a sudden desire to be there. To be where her sister had drawn her last breath.

"Lei?" She looked up at her name. Lilah Winters stood in front of her, her lovely face smiling and her huge blue eyes compassionate and full of so much emotion. "How are you? I've been meaning to speak to you all night, but everyone wanted to see my ears."

"Your ears?"

Lilah laughed, embarrassed, and swept her wonderful red hair back. Her ears were long and pointed now; they were the signature marks of elvish origins.

"Oh yes, I forgot." Lei smiled at her, and she found it wasn't forced. "Ildor saved your life by turning you into an elf. Jannosh told me all about it."

"Yeah, it's quite a change." She smiled back at her earnestly. A small silence fell. "Anyways, I was just looking for you since Nigel was asking about you."

Lei's heart skipped a beat as Lilah turned and beckoned to someone. She leaned to look around the slim girl, and her gaze was immediately met by electric blue ones.

"Nigel!" Lilah called over the noise and the music. "I found her for you!"

Lei smiled as brightly as she could as the dark shifter approached. The first time she'd met him was at the shifter gathering last year; she'd really grown to like him, but everything ground to a halt when Wei died. She hadn't seen him since then.

He was just as tall and wiry as she remembered. His skin was as dark as night; his bright eyes contrasted sharply with his tone, but it was a contrast that Lei had liked immediately about him. He was slender, but not as thin as she remembered - there was something bulkier about him, as if he'd gained some muscle tone. Lei wondered what he'd been doing to change.

However, the biggest change was his clean shaven head - gone were the bulky dreadlocks and the single rubber band that held them back. It was startling, and she wasn't sure if she liked it. The planes of his face looked sharper without them - he looked older.

Nigel smiled shyly at her when he reached her. It was that smile that had first pulled her in when she met him- it was quick and fleeting, like a butterfly. It was a beautiful sight.

"Lei." His voice was soft and deep, and she shivered. "You look good."

"You do too." She replied, smiling back nervously.

"I think Nigel's been working out." Lilah punched his arm good-naturedly and Nigel grinned. "Trying to impress anybody special, buddy?"

His electric eyes flashed to Lei before moving away just as quickly. "Nice try, little girl. I got a job in the shipyard back in New Orleans."