Chapter 485: Punctuated Equilibrium
Nedra gave Penelope a knowing smile when she joined her outside the castle.
"What?" Penelope chuckled. "What is that smile for?"
"I see you changed," Nedra said, glancing at the clothes Penelope had on that were no longer covered in Zagan’s blood.
"It’s not what you think," Penelope followed her gaze to the clothes she was wearing. "We just did the enchantment. And yes, I put on fresh clothes. It’s not a great feeling being covered in the blood of someone you love, even if they are okay. Thank you again," she sighed and glanced back up at Nedra.
In truth, she barely knew Nedra, but somehow through all of this it felt like they were sisters. There was something extraordinary about this particular moment in both of their lives when they were brought together for a shared purpose, and it made being by Nedra’s side feel natural.
This female had helped her heal Zagan, after all, even if she was resistant to do it. Nedra had allowed herself to let go of her fear and hatred in order to help the male who she considered her greatest enemy, and that alone was remarkable. It would be difficult to comprehend if Penelope hadn’t also felt that hatred toward Zagan, but whereas she had the mate bond to move beyond those initial feelings, Nedra had done it on her own.
"I should thank you," Nedra said, shaking Penelope from her thoughts.
"What? Me? Why?"
"You didn’t see the way the Veiled responded when you declared your love for him. You were too focused on him to notice. But that was... it was one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed. How could I not be affected by it?" She smiled.
"Still... I felt you join in healing him," Penelope started to get choked up as she recalled it. She thought she had lost him. "I know you didn’t want to. Thank you."
They both walked next to each other in silence thinking about all that had occurred in such a short period of time. It was truly so much. Zagan and Penelope... Seth and Nedra.
"There is this theory in evolutionary biology," Penelope thought aloud. "So evolution is the unifying and core theme in biology, because it accounts for both diversity and unity of life. There is no question about its truth to the field of biology, but the way it actually plays out over time—whether it is slow and gradual or very fast—that part is still unknown..."
"Okay, what?" Nedra chuckled. "Why the lesson, Dr. Winter? What are you saying?"
"Sorry. Force of habit," she smiled. "There is this theory called punctuated equilibrium that reminds me of what we have gone through here. It’s when drastic change happens very, very quickly. Sudden change is like a punctuation that’s then followed by long periods with little happening—long periods of equilibrium. I hope that all that has happened on this island is like the Goddess’ punctuation in our lives and that everything remains calm and peaceful for a long time afterward. A long equilibrium where we can all just... live. Without threats."
"I hope that’s true," Nedra sighed. This was all enough excitement to last a very long time. "So..." she said, her eyes darting to Penelope’s with a playful glimmer that wasn’t often there, "I was right."
"Right?" Penelope’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "Right about what?" They were just discussing evolution, weren’t they? What was she right about?
"That you are his mate, of course," Nedra said with a smug smile.
"Oh yeah, that," Penelope rolled her eyes. "Have you been waiting all this time to say I told you so?"
Nedra shrugged. "Maybe."
It was hard not to feel at least a little smug about it, because it was such a rare thing to happen and the only hint she had was an obscure scribble in the margin of an old book. The fact that it was true and that Zagan actually ended up being a vampire with a mate was still so difficult to comprehend.
"Well, I didn’t think it was the case at the time. It was definitely unexpected. Who would have thought the Goddess picked out the very person for me that I was so focused on eliminating from this world?" Penelope said, looking at their feet as they walked.
"I guess you were both drawn to each other even before. He was obsessively gathering all of the alyko and you were singularly focused on trying to create someone to kill him. When all along, you were already that person who could do it," Nedra chuckled at how elegant and simple it truly was at the root of it. "Two lovers drawn together."
"Why did so many people have to get hurt in the process, though?" Penelope mumbled to herself.
"We can’t see all the parts. Even with the Veiled," Nedra said softly. "There is much more happening than what we see and understand. But it all balances. That is the way." She sighed.
Why did her and Seth have to go through so many years as they did? Why did their children have to begin life without them? There were no satisfying answers to these questions that were so loaded with emotion and longing, but somehow it felt that they were exactly where they were intended to be at last.
When they finally arrived by August and Seth, the vampire was back to looking enraged as he pounded against the walls of his enclosure. Apparently he discovered again that he was stuck in an invisible cage, and he was not happy about it.
"Are we all ready for this?" August asked.
Her arms were crossed waiting for them to return. She was ready to get this over with. Her patience was running thin dealing with this irate creature who was acting like an overgrown toddler, and her time to get back to Graeme felt overdue. Something was tugging at her more insistently than usual, urging her to return to him, and she was eager to finally be able to respond. It was too long that she had been away.
"Yes," Nedra nodded, glancing at Penelope who was at her side. "We are ready."
Seth was standing off to the side, eyes narrowed at the vampire who now seemed less interested in the fact that he was among fae and more interested in tearing them all apart. Nedra felt his presence for the first time as a strength rather than a weakness. They were so intimately connected now that her fear for his safety was replaced by an overwhelming gratitude for his presence.
"I hope you know though that if he explodes and I get vampire bits in my mouth, neither of you will ever hear the end of it," Nedra added.
"In that case, I would blame August," Penelope suggested. "This is her idea."
"Yes, okay. If the vampire explodes, I will take full credit... I mean blame," she rolled her eyes. "You two are funny."
"So remind me how we are doing this," Nedra said, her eyes set on the creature who was snarling and spitting now, his lip curled back over his fangs in a threatening display for them all to see.
"Can you see the light inside of him?" August asked.
"No," Nedra and Penelope answered in unison. There was no light at all. What was August talking about? This vampire was overflowing with an absence of all the beauty that existed in the Veiled around him. He was like a great void scattering any external energy that dared come close.
"Okay, well believe me when I tell you that it’s there. It’s faint, but it’s there. So let’s focus on using that spark of his own to heal the rest of him. We’ll just be the kindle that gets the fire rolling."
"So there is a fire," Penelope mumbled to herself. La Loba lit a fire when she sang the creatures into being whose bones she had gathered, and perhaps this wasn’t actually all that different.
"Yes, there is a fire. And it is going to burn him to life from the inside out," August said, concentrating now on the vision of what she imagined would come to be. It had been delivered to her out of the air like a daydream. This vampire would have a beating heart by the time they were done here. She was sure of it.
