Sequel to The Circle of Dominion
Harmony shivered as her bedroom vanished, replaced by the entrance to Yggdrasil. Teleportation was a strange sensation. She felt like she was dropping through a layer of icy water that lasted for less than a split second. She looked around at the surrounding Lost Forest of Choill, with its beautiful pink leaves. With her second sight, she could see the energy humming between the root systems of the sentient trees, so reminiscent of a neural network. She could sense the consciousness that pervaded the forest, a curious and gentle mind with no concept of aggression or hostility.
"It's even more beautiful when you can see it properly, isn't it?" Rhapsody asked softly. She stood next to Harmony, her face glowing with affection. She was in her green summer dress, her long, toned legs visible to mid-thigh and her arms bare. Her lavender eyes were filled with joy. It had been a very enjoyable night as they explored the limits of what was possible with Harmony's mirror-touch synesthesia. Harmony had always hated the disorder and would have given anything to be rid of it. For the first time, she had enjoyed all of the extra sensations it had supplied and was actually grateful for the strange disorder – or as Rhapsody called it, the gift.
"It really is beautiful," Harmony agreed with a dazzling smile. "Everything in my world became more beautiful when you entered my life."
Rhapsody floated up and embraced Harmony, her eyes growing moist. "I love you, Harmony. I've spent many years enjoying the idea of someone I could fall in love with, knowing it would almost certainly never happen outside of my imagination. It's kind of ironic how you focused on living vicariously through your characters to experience love too. I never thought a real person could compare to the person I imagined."
"Why haven't you attempted to have a relationship before now?" Harmony asked tentatively. She hoped the other woman didn't feel like she was prying into a private section of her life. She had grown used to the idea that she would only find the love she wanted in her own imagination. Now that she had found something so much more real, she didn't want to do anything to screw it up.
Rhapsody leaned back so that she could look into Harmony's eyes as she spoke. The fairy studied her face with a serious expression, her large eyes like pools of lavender Harmony could lose herself in. "Being able to see a person's soul makes falling in love extremely difficult," Rhapsody told her with a wistful smile. "I can see a person's physical body, their behavior, their thoughts, and their hopes and dreams. Those aspects of a person are primarily driven by the spirit piloting their body. Even though the way mortality operates causes the body to filter out most of the spirit's memories, it doesn't change the root personality. Most spirits are young and frivolous, exhibiting selfish traits similar to a toddler. There aren't very many old spirits that have been through dozens of incarnations. Usually, when a spirit has left mortality behind, they move on to other realms. It's rare that a spirit will incarnate more than two or three times. Mortality is a brutal place, and once a spirit has experienced it once, they will often move on to experience new concepts and enjoy the growth from lessons learned while mortal. Every once in a while, there is a spirit that understands that mortality requires many iterations to truly grow and mature as a spirit. They understand the pain they will endure but continue anyway. It takes a special kind of spirit to return to a place as difficult as the mortal realm and continue growing spiritually. You are one of those special spirits, Harmony. Your body is young, but your spirit is old. That is why you have spent your childhood going out of your way to take care of everyone. Your spirit is blindingly beautiful, something I couldn't ignore even if I wanted to. From the first time I saw you, I could feel the radiance of your spirit. I knew that you were someone I could fall in love with and not feel like I was bonding with the equivalent of a child. You are the first mature spirit to incarnate on this world since I arrived. That's why I haven't had any interest in anyone else."
Harmony couldn't stop a playful smile from stealing across her lips. "Are you calling me an old lady?"
Rhapsody raised an eyebrow, her expression stern. "Do you have a problem with old ladies? You know I'm over half a million years old, right?"
"Touche," Harmony grinned back at the beautiful fairy in her arms. She leaned forward and kissed those expressive lips, shivering with delight as she felt the synesthesia mirror the sensations.
"Didn't you two reach peak saturation last night?" Taxti's voice asked dryly. She had appeared out of nowhere, Serenity and Aurora each holding one of her hands. She stood in front of the two of them with a languid smile on her face.
"Not even close," Rhapsody informed her archly.
"Where's your grandma?" Harmony asked her nieces curiously.
"She's talking with Nidhogg," Taxti answered wistfully, nodding her head upwards. "The oversized bat stole her when I had my back turned for one second. He wanted to ask her about the world of mortals. He hasn't had any dealings with mortals in tens of thousands of years and just hears stories from the rest of us. Since we haven't dealt with mortals in almost a thousand years, Rhapsody has been the only source of information about life outside of the Circle, and she has a very difference way of looking at the world than a mortal like Joline would."
Serenity and Aurora both wore huge grins on their faces. They both looked completely energized, even though they hadn't slept the previous night. Rhapsody had assured her that Yuccas Fitter completely removed the need for sleep, fulfilling all of the needs that sleep normally provided for the body.
"Aunt Harmony," Aurora began excitedly. "Taxti has been showing us how to teleport! We can do it by ourselves now. It is super easy."
"Really?" Harmony asked in amazement, glancing at Taxti in surprise. "I thought teleportation would be some kind of advanced magic."
"Nope," Taxti shook her head with an indulgent smile down at Serenity and Aurora. "Displacement magic is one of the easiest kinds of magic to learn. It still takes a certain amount of comprehension of abstract concepts, but these two are really clever. I've been impressed with just how fast they catch on to some of these concepts. I wonder if it is due to something humans deal with in the current world of technology, or if these two just have a natural affinity for magical theory."
"I'm going to guess that these two are a special case," Harmony commented with an affectionate smile at her nieces. "They keep surprising me with how much smarter they are than I was at their age. What else have you learned besides teleportation?"
A second Serenity appeared next to the first one, grinning at Harmony excitedly. "I learned how to make an illusory clone of myself that has enough substance to feel real to other people."
"I haven't figured that one out yet," Aurora admitted enviously. "I did figure out how to levitate though!"
So saying, she slowly rose up in the air until she was at eye-level with Harmony. "It's not really like flying," Aurora informed her matter-of-factly, her eyes tight with concentration. "You have to focus on weight and density to make this work. Taxti says flying is harder to learn, but easier to maintain once you figure it out."
"Now I know who to call when I can't reach something on the higher shelves in the garage," Harmony smiled wryly.
"Since when is there anything you can't reach, Miss Six Feet Tall?" Rhapsody demanded in an amused tone.
"We have shelves that are ten feet high in our garage," Harmony shrugged. She felt a sense of warm contentment at seeing her nieces so happy. Their lives had improved so much since Rhapsody had entered their lives.
"We saw someone with a jet pack try to fly over the wall," Serenity told her with a giggle. "You should have seen his face when Harnketi suddenly appeared in front of him in the air. She pointed her finger toward the outside of the wall, and he decided he had something important to do elsewhere."
"He actually made it inside of the circle?" Harmony asked in surprise.
"No, he was still between the outer and inner walls," Serenity answered, her eyes still sparkling with mirth.
"Have things chilled out yet, or are they just getting crazier?" Harmony asked Rhapsody curiously.
"They enthusiastically attempted to elevate the bar for crazy," Rhapsody shook her head ruefully. "Some of the nutjobs showing up at the outer wall were trying to make shrines or offer sacrifices of flowers---Self-proclaimed druids and witches. Then there were the UFO enthusiasts demanding that we release all of the abductees that I have supposedly taken over the last few decades. They brought a megaphone and stood just beyond the EM field shouting demands. I decided to extend the EM field by a few hundred feet. There were a lot of chagrined cries when all of the laptops and phones everyone brought with them got fried. There was one guy working on an honest-to-god catapult to try and launch himself over the walls. I had to dissolve it before he ended up killing himself. The military finally sent more soldiers and forced everyone away from the circle, then blockading all of the roads in the area. They have drones patrolling the area outside of the new EM field in case anyone gets past their perimeter."
"Are they trying to get in again?" Harmony asked, her brow creased with concern.
"No, not at the moment," Rhapsody shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face. "They've decided to take more cautious approach this time, now that they understand this place isn't defenseless."
"I'm surprised they haven't tried nuking it yet," Harmony muttered darkly.
"Oh, that's definitely on the table," Rhapsody assured her dryly. "It's more of a last resort, however. They don't want to destroy what they think could be a treasure trove of advanced technology."
"I wonder how Mystery is doing," Harmony murmured, her voice full of concern. "Do you think the government is bugging her?"
"Yep," Rhapsody confirmed with a nod and a roll of her large eyes. "The NSA showed up at her house about an hour after she returned home. They put her on a jet to Fort Meade before she even got a chance to have a relaxing bath."
"That doesn't sound good," Harmony noted worriedly. "Do you think she's in any kind of danger?"
"No, she'll be fine," Rhapsody assured her confidently. "Azeban is with her in case she does run into any trouble. The NSA considers her a critical source with all communication given flash priority. She's been assigned a protection detail as well. The CIA, DIA, and President will all be meeting with her to discuss what she knows about the inside of the circle. Right now, she's the most important person in the world."
"I guess we're kind of trapped here then, aren't we?" Harmony asked with a frown. "The moment we end up outside of the circle, we'll have some government agency snatching us up."
"No, you won't have to worry about that," Rhapsody told her reassuringly. "I've set up some wards around your house and another one that surrounds you and the kiddos anytime you leave the circle. Anyone with ill-intent entering the field won't recognize you or remember anything about the circle."
"Wow," Harmony breathed in amazement. "That's pretty damn precise. How do you even make something like that?"
"Those are secrets about the universe you'll learn in time," Rhapsody answered with a mysterious smile. "I'll introduce you to some angels I know when the time comes."
"Like, actual angels from biblical times?" Harmony asked disbelievingly.
"No, nothing like that," Rhapsody laughed ruefully. "Definitely not like that. You'll just have to wait for that introduction. It will probably be a few decades before you're ready for that kind of information."
"I'm assuming you wanted Mystery to talk to the intelligence agencies," Harmony commented, watching Rhapsody thoughtfully. "Otherwise, you would have warded her and her house as well. Or is that against those rules you were telling me about?"
"Well spotted, Harmony," Rhapsody smiled approvingly. "I actually do want the leaders of this world to know about what resides inside the circle, as well as the calamity that awaits them if we fail to revive the other circles. If they understand that the continued survival of this world depends on us being left alone, they'll be less likely to cause trouble. Of course, it won't be that easy. They aren't just going to believe everything she tells them, or what I've told her. They're a suspicious bunch and will suspect an ulterior motive. They'll try to use her to arrange a meeting with me."
"That would be an interesting meeting to watch," Harmony noted with a snicker. "All of those uptight bureaucrats trying to throw their weight around. They're used to being the most powerful people in the world. It would be interesting to see how their attitudes change when they realize they are so outclassed."
"They'll act with fear and make poor decisions if I don't handle them carefully," Rhapsody sighed with a shake of her head. "People never make good decisions when they are made out of fear. I'll probably have to invite some of them into the circle and let them see that there isn't anything dangerous waiting to break out of here and wipe out the world."
"I would suggest never letting them learn about the Yuccas Fitter's immortality component," Harmony commented critically. "The last thing the world needs is those clowns living forever."
"Yeah, that will be our little secret," Rhapsody agreed with a chuckle.
"What happens if they react out of fear anyway?" Harmony asked with a curious tilt of her head.
"Well, I'll have to be a little more heavy-handed if that happens," Rhapsody admitted, her lips quirking up on one side. "There are limits what I'm allowed to do without inviting interference from other entities, but if it is in direct response to a threat to me, then I have a lot more leeway."
"This is kind of boring grown-up speak," Aurora complained, looking up at Taxti hopefully. "Can we learn some more magic?"
Before Taxti could respond, the gigantic form of the dragon, Nidhogg, flew down to hover near them. Harmony's mother stepped off his head and floated several hundred feet down to the ground next to Harmony.
"Thank you for the stimulating conversation, Joline," Nidhogg boomed in his loud voice. "It has been a long time since I've learned so many interesting things about the world."
"The pleasure was all mine, Nidhogg," Harmony's mother responded with a brilliant smile. Harmony still couldn't get over how young her mother looked now. She looked like a shorter version of Harmony.
"I still can't get over how huge Nidhogg is," Harmony murmured in awe as the dragon flew back up into the higher branches of Yggdrasil.
"You'll notice that I'm significantly bigger than Nidhogg," Rhapsody commented pointedly.
Harmony looked Rhapsody up and down with pursed lips. "I'm just not seeing it."
"She's the world tree, silly," Aurora informed Harmony in an exasperated voice. "She's way bigger than Nidhogg."
"Oh!" Harmony exclaimed in mock surprise. "I do believe you're right, Aurora. How silly of me."
"Are you back on the sarcasm train?" Serenity asked disapprovingly, her mouth turned down into a small frown.
"Choo choo," Harmony replied with a smirk.
"Are we going to get these two back to school before classes start today?" Harmony's mother asked Harmony as she cast an appraising glance up at the sun that was rising above the eastern horizon.
"No!" Aurora and Serenity both shouted in sync, consternation thick in their voices.
Harmony stared at the two of them thoughtfully before glancing inquiringly at Rhapsody. "What do you think?"
Rhapsody gave her a flat look in return. "Sure, make me the bad guy."
"Can't we just teach them here?" Taxti asked hopefully.
"Yes!" her nieces exclaimed eagerly, their eyes pleading.
"Kids need other kids to interact with," Harmony remarked firmly, ignoring the pleading looks from her nieces. "You can still come here and be with us, but only after school. There will be plenty of time for you to spend time inside the circle, especially if you don't need sleep anymore."
Their expressions wilted as she spoke. She decided to throw them a bone.
"How about this," Harmony began, a small smile forming on her lips. "I'll let you teleport to and from school instead of taking the bus, but only if you find a good spot where nobody will see you appear and disappear."
Her nieces perked up and their expressions became considering. "Would we be allowed to do any magic at school?"
"No showing off," Harmony answered firmly. "You can use magic as long as it's subtle and other people can't see you using it. Would that be okay, Rhapsody?"
Rhapsody nodded, biting her lip to hold back a grin.
"Okay, how does that sound?" Harmony asked her nieces expectantly. "Deal?"
"Deal," they chorused, grins on their faces.
"Is there some kind of scrying spell that will allow them to view an area before teleporting so that they can make sure nobody is around to see them using magic?" Harmony asked Rhapsody and Taxti musingly.
"It's actually tied to the teleporting ability," Taxti answered with a nod. "When you are thinking of the place you want to teleport, sentient entities will feel like glowing points around the place you are exiting. As long as they know the place they are teleporting, they should be able to feel both the presence of sentient entities in the area, as well as the focus directed at the location they have chosen to exit."
"That sounds perfect," Harmony nodded approvingly. "Okay, just make sure to always be careful about not letting other people see you do any magic. I know you'll want to show off to your classmates, but please show some restraint and avoid anything that will bring more attention down on you. Rhapsody said she has put a kind of force field around you that will keep anyone who has ill-intent from remembering who you are when they get close to you, so you should be safe from any threats."
"Declan offered to go with them as well," Rhapsody informed Harmony in a dry tone. "I'm pretty sure he just wants to go experience life outside of the circle, but he would definitely keep them safe if anything were to break through the ward."
"That makes me feel a lot better about things," Harmony sighed in relief. "Not that I don't trust your wards, Rhapsody. I'm just always anxious when they're not under my eye."
"Aw, I want to be on guard duty," Taxti complained bitterly. "How come Declan gets to do it?"
"I was hoping you could start giving Joline some history and magic lessons," Rhapsody answered with an artful look of disappointed regret. "I suppose I could let you go hang out with Declan instead and help watch over Aurora and Serenity."
"Oh, no, that's just fine!" Taxti blurted out quickly, glancing at Harmony's mother with a hungry expression. "I'm sure Declan can handle this just fine."
Harmony bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watched the faun backpedal. She remembered that Taxti and Declan got along like oil and water.
"What time is it?" Harmony asked Rhapsody curiously. "I'm so used to being able to use my phone to check the time that I'm helpless without it."
"Oh yeah, let me have your phone for a second," Rhapsody held out her hand expectantly.
Harmony handed her phone over with a questioning look. The fairy took it and held it in front of her face for a moment. After several seconds, the Apple logo appeared on the screen.
"There, now your phone has an exclusion zone around it," Rhapsody informed her, handing the phone back. "It won't get shut down when it comes close to the circle."
Harmony eyed the fairy thoughtfully. She just casually added an exclusion zone for an EM field that would somehow stop her phone from being affected. Was this how magic actually worked? It seemed so strange to see magic act more like a program than what she thought of as traditional magic. She remembered Rhapsody quoting Arthur C. Clark, that sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic to humans. She was clearly using technology that was significantly more advanced than what humans used. How were Aurora and Serenity using magic though, if it was just some kind of advanced technology? She had so many questions.
Glancing at her phone, she noticed it was only a few minutes until class started.
"Serenity and Aurora, it's time for school," Harmony told her nieces as she put her phone back in her back pocket. "Remember, make sure nobody sees-"
She broke off as her nieces both teleported, giving her an impish grin as they vanished.
"Those little punks," Harmony sighed in exasperation. She stared levelly at her mother as the other woman chuckled. "I'm never going to get used to you looking so young, Mom."
"Me neither," her mother agreed with a pleased grin. "I really like being young again."
"Me too," Taxti commented with an appreciative smile as she looked Harmony's mother up and down.
Rhapsody rolled her eyes at the faun, an expression that looked particularly expressive with her enormous eyes. "You are shameless, Taxti."
"This is true," Taxti agreed pleasantly. "I feel no shame."
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," Harmony spoke hesitantly as she stared at Rhapsody, who was still hovering in front of her with her arms on Harmony's shoulders.
"By all means," Rhapsody smiled at her invitingly. "Ask away."
"I'm not sure if it would be a rude question to ask," Harmony began in a tentative voice. "I don't suppose you could just read my thoughts?"
"It's not rude," Rhapsody assured her with a dimpled smile. "Harnketi wouldn't mind telling you where she came from either. The answer will certainly surprise you. The only record you have of who she was as a mortal is her title, The Lady of Cofitachuqui."
"That's who Harnketi is?" Harmony's mother gasped in surprise. "And Harnketi was her name? That sounds more like a Pueblo name."
"She was driven out of her native homeland in the Southwest after being accused of witchcraft," Rhapsody explained, a look of disgust on her face. "Their healer became jealous of her success in healing some of their sick when she enlisted my help in healing them. After she was driven out, Azeban accompanied her to the Southeastern tribes, where she used her intellect and natural charisma to climb the ranks until she ruled over most of the Southeastern tribes. When the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, visited the area, they threatened to use their superior weapons to murder the children of the tribes unless Harnketi accompanied them in their travels to act as a guide. She agreed to their demands in order to save the children of the tribe. You can imagine what they really wanted her for. Harnketi was a beautiful woman, and they only had one thing on their minds when they coerced her into leaving with them. They killed her after a few months, after she continually attempted to escape and ended up killing several of the explorers. After her death, she was given the choice to reincarnate, move on, or return as a Baykok and exact revenge on those who prey upon women. She chose to become a Baykok. She joined me here after the European colonizers wiped out the majority of Native Americans. Her purpose became less compelling after the nineteenth century, when law and order was established in the United States. She's been trying to decide if it is time to give up her life as a Baykok and resume a mortal life."
"That's terrible," Harmony's mother murmured sadly. "Humans can be such cruel creatures."
"When you say, 'resume a mortal life', do you mean be reborn?" Harmony asked with a frown. "Or would she just transform into a human?"
"She would resume her life from the moment she died originally," Rhapsody answered, an odd smile on her lips. "She was thirty years old when she died, so she would resume mortality at thirty years old."
"Who was it that gave her the option to become a Baykok?" Harmony's mother asked curiously.
"That was me," Rhapsody admitted with a shrug. "I felt bad for her and wanted to give her a chance for vengeance. I couldn't do anything directly without having other entities ignore our agreement. I intercepted her soul on its way out and made her the offer."
"Has she just been hanging out inside the circle ever since?" Harmony's mother asked in fascination. Harmony smiled at the eagerness on her mother's face. She had been a professor of linguistics for ten years and had a passion for Native American languages in particular. Having someone like Harnketi who was a native speaker of the old languages was like a shiny treasure her mother would be unable to resist.
"She's not a huge fan of Western civilization," Rhapsody explained with a sigh. "She's watched her beautiful land become tortured and disfigured by the endless expansion and plunder of the current culture. She retreated here and stopped going out into the world back in the nineteen-fifties. She goes out to see places that were special to her every once in a while, just to see if they are still there."
"Poor Harnketi," Harmony sighed, feeling a sense of loss on behalf of the Baykok. "I wish there was something we could do for her."
"She's made peace with the state of the world," Rhapsody told her gently. "She's not an unhappy person. We party it up pretty hard in here. She's an amazing singer, and she's a marvel on stringed instruments. The one thing she actually does love about Western civilization is the amount of literature produced and how easy it is to obtain it. I hooked the laptop you got me up to the internet and showed her where to find free fiction stories, and she's been as happy as a conservative at a gun rally ever since."
"How did you connect that laptop to internet?" Harmony asked in surprise. "I wouldn't have thought they brought cable internet out here. Or are you hacking into satellite internet?"
"I just opened up a tiny portal next to your Wi-Fi router," Rhapsody told her with an impish grin. "Thanks for the internet, Harmony."
Harmony laughed at the mundane explanation. She had half-expected Rhapsody to have crafted some kind of magic tech that pulled internet from satellites or cell towers. Opening a small portal certainly seemed like a much less complicated solution.
"I think I'm ready now," Harnketi announced as she appeared in front of Rhapsody out of nowhere. "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to find closure and experience a new aspect of reality."
Harmony's heart pounded in her chest at the unexpected appearance of the Baykok. She was certainly terrifying to look at. She was almost all skeleton with a thin film of skin stretched over the top, and glowing red eyes in a skull that would have given Harmony nightmares if she still needed sleep.
"Okay, one human coming up," Rhapsody announced with a jubilant smile.
Harmony expected there to be a flash of light, or red and blue sparks like before. Instead, the thin film of skin over Harnketi slowly thickened as muscles and fat filled in beneath the skin. Her skull filled out and long black hair erupted out of her skull. It was disconcerting to watch the terrifying visage transform into a beautiful Native American chief. She had dark brown eyes and tan skin, dotted with a few dark freckles. Her face really was beautiful, rivaling that of Mystery's. Harmony felt like a magnet for beautiful women. She was a few inches taller than Harmony's mother and only a few inches shorter than Harmony's own six feet tall. She must have towered over the European explorers.
"This feels so strange," Harnketi noted with a shudder. "I feel so heavy."
"I'll bet you do," Rhapsody laughed, her eyes full of affection as she observed the transformed woman. "You're more than just skin and bone."
"What are you going to do now?" Harmony's mother asked Harnketi curiously.
"I want to experience the world as a human once again," Harnketi replied with an eager smile. "I've spent the last six centuries living for a cause that has little meaning for me anymore. I want to experience the rest of my mortal life and be normal once again."
Harmony watched Harnketi in fascination. She had a sense of charisma that radiated out of her, drawing the eyes and ears as she spoke. There was something in the timbre and pitch of her voice and the expressions on her face that naturally drew a person in. Harmony could see how this woman had become the chief of so many tribes in her last life.
"Where will you go?" Harmony's mother asked, her captivated expression showing that she was caught under Harnketi's charisma spell.
"I want to go visit with the remnants of my people to start with," Harnketi answered with a smile of anticipation. "I want to hear their stories and capture them in the pages of a book. I feel a burning desire to reconnect with them and help where I can."
"I know someone who would love to meet you," Harmony told her thoughtfully. "Eileen is one of my neighbors, and I think she would love to talk with you. She really wants to meet Rhapsody too."
"I know of this Eileen," Harnketi nodded musingly. "Rhapsody has sent her dreams before when she needs something done in the outer world. I think I will go and meet with her."
"I have her number here," Harmony remembered, pulling her iPhone out of her pocket. "I can call her and see if she's available to meet up with you, if you like?"
Harnketi smiled warmly as she nodded. "That would be wonderful, Harmony. Thank you."
Harmony called the number Eileen had left her with from her last visit. It only rang once before it was answered.
"Harmony?" Eileen's voice answered, sounding startled. "Are you back outside of the ring?"
"No, I'm still inside," Harmony responded with a grin. "I just wanted to see what your schedule looked like today."
Eileen was quiet for a moment. "My schedule? Aside from picking up my kids from school in five hours, I'm totally open. Are you doing okay?"
Harmony felt a wave of warmth in her heart at the other woman's concern. "Yeah, I'm doing wonderful, thank you. There is a woman here named Harnketi that wanted to meet you. When would be a good time for her to drop in?"
"Any time would be just fine," Eileen replied, her voice filled with curiosity. "Should I meet her at the ring?"
"No, I think she can just teleport to you," Harmony answered with a questioning look at Harnketi. She received a confirming nod. "Yeah, she can just teleport to you. And yes, Eileen, this is the same skeptical Harmony from the other day, telling you that someone is going to teleport over to you. I get the irony."
Eileen laughed, a rich and happy sound that reminded Harmony of how easy the other woman was to talk to. She smiled as she continued.
"I'm here with Rhapsody, my mom, and some other locals," Harmony told her with a glance at Rhapsody. "How are things going in the real world?"
"Are you trying to say this place isn't real?" Rhapsody demanded indignantly.
"I meant the real boring world," Harmony amended with a smirk. "This is the real beautiful world."
"Things are a little crazy, as you can imagine" Eileen informed her conversationally. "I haven't seen Mystery on the news yet, so I'm assuming she's managed to dodge all of the reporters camped out at her house."
"She got whisked away to the NSA headquarters," Harmony told her with a small smile. "She's been given a security detail and everything."
"You seem pretty well informed," Eileen noted questioningly. "Also, aren't your nieces with you?"
"I made them go to school today," Harmony explained with a sigh. "There aren't any kids in here, and they need to have interaction with other kids."
"Are you sure that's safe?" Eileen asked, concern thick in her voice. "There are a lot of people looking for you. If word gets out that your nieces are at the school, they could be in danger."
"Rhapsody took care of that," Harmony assured her with a wink at the fairy. "They'll be completely safe at school, or anywhere else for that matter."
"Can you ask her to say my name out loud?" Harnketi asked quietly, her expression still eager.
"Can you say Harnketi out loud, Eileen?" Harmony repeated the instructions.
"Harnketi?" Eileen asked hesitantly.
Harnketi vanished, followed a split second later by a startled gasp from the phone.
"Thanks, Eileen," Harmony said gratefully. "I'll talk to you soon."
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Harmony's mother commented with a wry smile.
"What were you expecting?" Harmony asked with a raised eyebrow. "Fireworks and dancing girls?"
Her mother gave her a level look as Taxti snorted a laugh. "I was hoping to pick her brain before she left."
"She'll be back," Rhapsody assured her with a soft smile. "If for nothing else, then to sleep or get some Yuccas Fitter."
"So..." Harmony glanced at Rhapsody as she felt another overwhelming flood of desire flow through her body. "The kiddos are gone to school for the day, and the house is empty..."
Rhapsody's slow smile turned Harmony's knees to butter as her heart fluttered in her chest and butterflies tried to fly away with her stomach. "We've got four hours. Let's make them count."