Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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RORY

We had dinner by a fire pit just like Susette and Rhianne planned: pan-fried fish with potatoes and carrots. Everyone loved it, and once we got cleaned up, we settled on the blankets for story time with Susette again. But the kids couldn't settle down because little creatures kept comin' around to check things out.

It seemed Ori wasn't the only salamander around. Switch picked up one with orange highlights, and it ran up his arm and into his hair then back down. No, he didn't sense its mind, and neither did anyone else. It seemed that the salamanders at the cabin enjoyed being around humans. Not something I was expecting.

The orange one got an honorary name since it was often about, and it was Switch who decided to call her Celeste.

"Storytime, Mommy!" Lena demanded, so Susette put on her dramatic voice and started a tale of fairy princesses who kissed aquatic creatures along riverbeds.

Sly and I pulled out our pads so we could research life with a salamander family member, and it turned out to be simpler than I expected.

Insects. I told him, but he was already nodding.

They've got them at the pet store for people who keep snakes.

I shivered, and right then and there I decided to love Ori with all of my being because he'd bonded with my daughter and not a snake. A snake, for crying out loud! I cringed again, and then a little face flashed in front of my eyes that I hadn't thought of in decades.

Plix. He was the mirka I'd bonded as a little girl, and when I was ten, he passed, and it broke my little heart. I was happy in some ways for Bitsy, delighted, of course, to see her so content with a little friend, but she was such a tiny thing, and animals were fragile. I didn't want to see her young heart broken the way mine'd been when my companion died. Sigh.

Slydar slid a comforting arm around me and wrapped his telepathic caress around my soul. We'd face it together, just like everything else.

I kept reading.

So, fish and shrimp, maybe raw meat? That's not so bad. Some insects from the pet store, and stuff people eat too?

He nodded. I don't think the food's difficult. It's the environment. Taking him away from the river means he needs someplace wet if he's gonna be indoors during the winter. He'll get dried out in the heated house, babe. I'll make him a nice, big tank with water features, and hopefully he can come and go on his own. I mean, how is a two year old gonna know what he needs?

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I snickered. Yeah, the whole situation was ridiculous. We had a wild amphibian, not a pet salamander purchased from a store. But he was already kinda domesticated because he'd bonded our daughter. I looked over at Sal, sleeping in Lena's lap and remembered when I'd first seen her on Shurwinn.

Smiling, I thought about how Rhianne'd freaked out about taking Sal away from the desert and to frozen Five Spheres, and I'd calmed her down by saying that the mirka would be happiest wherever Susette was. I realized the same was true about Ori and Bitsy.

Mental nod from Slydar who'd been following my thoughts. Ori wasn't a wild creature anymore; he was more than a domesticated pet because he was bonded to a human with a special Talent. I didn't understand that much about animal communication, even though I technically was what my people called a "seelie" myself.

What was Ori now? Could he return to a life in the wild? He certainly didn't seem to want to. He was curled on Bitsy's shoulder like he'd been born there. I looked at him, and in the dimming light noticed something.

Around us, the fireflies were flickering, and Susette was telling the kids stories of fairies again, but none of them had yet noticed Ori. Slydar sat forward looking at our daughter's new friend.

Switch felt our mental interest and turned to look at his sister then gasped, "He's a magic fairy too!" He pointed at Ori, and Bitsy, startled out of her reverie, cackled with two-year-old laughter because her little salamander was glowing faintly. Not as bright as a firefly, but just enough bioluminescence to be pretty in the dim light of evening.

We all caught a case of the giggles watching Bitsy coo at her pet amphibian, praising him for being made of magic and the best friend of the fairy princesses. She could be hard to understand sometimes, but her mental voice was quite clear that Ori was the most special salamander in all of Nineton, and he'd be awarded a place of honor for all eternity.

Slydar spent the entire night researching and planning, sketching out an indoor environment that he could build for Ori in Bitsy's bedroom. I collapsed, exhausted, and he woke me up for a little nookie during the night, then we both slept in 'cuz Susette agreed to get the kids up in the morning so we could get some extra rest.

Sly went into town that day to the pet store and his brothers Dav and Jenks helped him build a tank for Ori. That left Rhianne, Susette and I to corral the kids without him that last day, but we kept the meals simple and during nap time got the house packed up. By the time the little 'uns woke, we were ready to head home. There were squeals of joy at the indoor habitat for Ori, and Dah was well-praised by the youngens for building such a lovely home for Bitsy's companion.

Bitsy wasn't as diaper free as I'd hoped she'd be, but that came in the weeks after. The joy Ori brought to our lives was worth the trade off, and I thanked Susette time and time again for suggesting that trip to the cabin. Because life got a little sweeter when we had our first animal companion, even if he was a slimy amphibian named Ori who ate bugs and raw fish.

He made our daughter giggle and kept her company at all times. She didn't cry much once she had Ori with her. She relied more and more on telepathy to the point we got concerned she wouldn't develop her verbal skills. But my mom and Rhianne spent extra time with her, chatting away, and since neither of them defaulted to telepathy, Bitsy learned to be properly vocal just so she could get a word in edgewise. That had been their plan, and it worked beautifully.

So, by the end of the summer, we had zero kids in diapers and a new pet with a gorgeous indoor watery habitat. Life only got more full after that, as you can imagine. That's what happens when you grow up and have little 'uns all your own.

It would be ten years before I'd realize the import of Ori in our lives and another ten before I grasped the deepest impact of having a special daughter, but you've gotta wait to hear about all that. Don't worry, we'll get there, but Bitsy's only two at this point, so you've got a ways to go before you find out everything that's coming.

Teasing: you know how much we love it, right?