'
[2009 – October]
Looking at the tiny black featherling curled up in her palm, Arya's beak parting widely as she yawned in an indescribably adorable manner, her eyelids heavy as she hooted ever so softly while falling asleep, a burst of incredible tenderness welled up in Jean's heart, the smile on her face gentle and radiant.
She knew that Arya trusted her, but truly feeling the trust in the way the little owlet just fell asleep in her palm was an entirely different concept. This was something inexplicably precious and Jean's heart couldn't help but melt a little more.
Arya had the wisdom of a human toddler, and in a way, she was truly like a child that she and her love took care of. Not to mention Elijah's bond with the little avian, even her own relationship was one of tender caring and endless patience, not unlike the bond between a parent and a child.
Having listened to the tiny avian's 'epic tale', Jean had also forced herself to suppress her giggles multiple times, her motherly temperament shining through as she listened carefully and praised the bubbly owlet without holding back.
Thanks to her psychic abilities and her love's deliberate control of Arya's mental shields, she could understand and communicate with the tiny avian, which had made it even easier for her to forge a bond of her own with the little braggart.
Gently moving her hand up, Jean cradled the sleeping owlet close to her chest before she continued reading her book, which was titled 'The Children Of Men'.
It was an old fiction classic about a dystopian world where the whole population suffered infertility while living under a fascist regime.
It was a rather intriguing read but it had a somber undertone for Jean as she couldn't help but draw parallels between the human race facing extinction in the book and the uncertain future of mutantkind in the real world.
The problems faced were obviously different but the fragile hope that both parties, fictional and real, carried within them was the same. No one wanted to see their own race disappear in the river time, plucked from Earth through the cruel machinations of fate.
Absorbed in the pages of her book, Jean didn't even notice it when her love returned home, only able to shake off her daze in surprise when Elijah's lips found her cheek from beside her while she was laying on the couch.
"You're home … ", she whispered as she turned to him, her lively green eyes glittering with soft joy.
He smiled charmingly in response as he left another kiss on the tip of her nose, making her giggle at the ticklish sensation, her little nose curling up.
"I also brought food.", Elijah voiced out, his hand gesturing to the paper bag on the coffee table, which contained some Indian take-out judging by the smell.
"You two had a nice afternoon?", he asked with a calm smile as he moved onto the leather sofa, squeezing himself in the gap between her lithe form and the backrest, his right arm wrapping itself halfway around her before his hand came to rest on her own hand, which was still holding onto Arya's tiny body.
"I was just reading but Arya had her own 'epic' adventure in the forest. You know that she is a little tyrant, don't you?", Jean answered quietly with a soft laugh, snuggling close to her love, "How was your meeting with Emma?"
Sighing a bit, he shook his head, his nose brushing past her temple while he gently inhaled her scent. Elijah's mood was obviously a bit heavy as replied: "I will tell you later. Now, I just want to listen to you read me something, Firefly."
Knowing that he would keep his word, Jean didn't probe unnecessarily as she understood her love well enough to know how rare it was for him to seek comfort in such a manner.
Turning her head to face him, she saw a look of timeless love in his shadowed eyes and couldn't help but steal herself a soft kiss from his lips before turning back to her book and starting reading out loud, her telekinetic abilities causing it to hover at a comfortable distance to her eyes and helping her turn the pages.
Almost as soon as she started to read, Jean could feel her love relax, his powerful heart falling into a more gentle rhythm, their legs entangled intimately.
…
With Jean's beautiful voice caressing my ears, it became much easier for me to just push aside the matter of the 'vaccine' that I had discussed with Emma, at least for the moment.
I had naturally started to occupy my mind since I wasn't sure to what extent I would have to interfere, or more precisely, wanted to interfere in that matter.
The 'vaccine' was something that concerned all of mutantkind, and while I didn't necessarily see myself as a member of this race since I was a Realm Lord, meaning that I represented a unique race on my own, I was still concerned about how this would affect Jean, Emma, and the others that I cared about.
Still, I had decided to not make a decision before the meeting with Erik and Xavier since it was still mainly those two that would have to come up with a plan to deal with this in the open, considering that Emma was not involved in the mutant business 'officially'.
Setting those thoughts aside, my thumb gently caressed the back of Jean's right hand as I felt Arya's sleeping presence there.
I had naturally felt it when she drew on my power in the afternoon while hopping through the forest. An ethereal barrier of mine was keeping her safe every moment of the day though, so I wasn't worried about her.
Not to mention that she could also use the Darkforce Dimension to move to my side at any point in time.
On the hand, I was worried about those that Arya might meet and confront since her ability to draw on my Darkforce made her the bane of all things living if angered, much like myself.
For this reason, I limited the destructive power that she could borrow from me, disallowing her to use the most lethal aspects of Darkforce, which was the devouring of life and light.
After all, Arya was still an infant. She was in no way mature enough to understand the consequences of lashing out while using an energy force like Darkforce, nor was she old enough for me to teach her about the consequences of such any time soon.
So, all I could really do was ensure that she was safe while limiting the strength that she could borrow from me.
If I didn't do it like this, it was very likely that Arya would be too much of a danger to other living beings to let her have the freedom to explore the forest by herself. Though 'by herself' was a bit of a half-truth, since part of my extraordinary perception was always on her, looking out for her well-being and watching her explore carefreely.
Admittedly, I may be a bit overprotective but since I was technically a 'god', I doubted that anyone would have the guts to call me out on that.