A Clover and a Bee

It’s a windless day, cool and still. Steam rises off the geothermal lake, carrying with it the faint smell of sulfur.

Luna is nearly done with her twenty-fifth book. She can hardly believe that she has written this many. At the beginning of her career, a chapter could take her days to write. Now she can finish a book in a couple of sittings. The book--titled The Queen’s Gambit --is loosely based on Bastian’s quest to find his daughter. Luna had to fill in a lot of gaps, but she managed to cobble together a strong plot based on her brief conversations with the mage as well as what Lark told her later about seemingly prescient dreams she had experienced. She was surprised when she learned that her daughter dreamed about Dom and Bastian’s adventures in the fae realm. Luna sometimes wonders if there’s something special about Lark, something otherworldly like there is about Elysia. But Lark appears to be nothing but normal other than her brief brush with the fantastical and ethereal. Despite the plot holes Luna clumsily covered and the strange motivations on the part of the novel’s antagonist, The ...

Sheba has been very lethargic recently, worryingly so. She sleeps constantly, and moving seems to strain her. Quentin--her de facto caretaker, despite Sheba’s obvious preference for Lark--has started to grapple with the idea she might need to be put down soon. Thus, he isn’t surprised when one night, Sheba begins to moan and pant. This is it , he thinks grimly, I guess I should call the vet.  

Lark has dreamt about chess every night for the past week. In the dreams, she stands fixed to a spot, unable to move for what feels like hours at a time, her only company the unspeaking fairy on the opposite side. It’s becoming tiresome.

"I can't believe this is happening," Luna smiles weakly at her husband, "it seems like they were babies just yesterday." "I know," Quentin agrees, "time makes fools of us all." It's finally time for the twins to age up to teens. Luke and Lydia are thrilled, but Luna can't bring herself to accept that her children are so close to leaving the house. Just four years of high school, and then they'll be off to start their lives. Luna snuggles into Quentin’s arms as she tries to acclimate to the thought of being one step closer to an empty nest.

It’s an early weekday morning, and the Bees are awake and buzzing around the house: the children are getting ready for school, Luna is quickly making a somewhat healthy breakfast, and Quentin is on a conference call with the director of an upcoming film for which he composed the score. Lark is the last child to get to use the bathroom, the privilege of being the youngest and easiest to push around. She’s been dancing cross-legged all morning, waiting for one of her older siblings to take mercy on her. The relief at finally being able to use the facilities is unquantifiable. But when she flushes the toilet, it begins to overflow. "Poop," she mutters to herself. This is the fourth time this week this has happened to her.

Polaris studies her oldest granddaughter. Lydia looks unbearably like Quentin, but her voice reminds her so much of Luna when she was a child: surprisingly deep for a girl, with an intelligent sounding timber. “I don’t know if mom told you, but I’m on student council,” Lydia brags, “I beat out Anatol Svard for president., and his parents paid for actual printed campaign posters.” “Wow,” Polaris replies, “that’s impressive.” “And I have the highest grades in class.” “Is that so?” Lydia deflates a little. “Well, I’m tied with Luke. But my extracurriculars should count for more! He’s just in the stupid chess club, but I’m president of student council.” “I see. Are you always this competitive?” Lydia blinks, “Life is a competition, and I’m going to win.” Polaris smirks, “that’s the spirit.”

The last time Polaris Bee had seen her daughter, Luna had been in tears. She had just informed her mother that she was moving across the globe with her boyfriend, a man who--while she liked well enough--Polaris hardly knew. Like any mother, Polaris’ first instinct was to protect her daughter. She asked all the questions that Luna should have asked and answered herself before she decided on this move: “Are you sure he’s the one? Do you think you should consider options closer to home in case it doesn’t work out with him? Will Aurora Skies be accepting to someone who looks like you (or Quentin for that matter)?”  Luna responded with a single sentence that has stuck with Polaris for all these years: “How could you possibly even think you know what’s right for me when all you’ve done is endanger me?” She followed up by letting loose years of grievances on her mother, accusing Polaris of a number of misdeeds: jeopardizing  the lives of her children with her indecisions and ...

“I don’t understand why you brought that filthy dog into our house,” Human Female wrinkles her nose at Human Male. “‘That dog’ has a name, and it’s Sheba,” Human Male runs his hands through Sheba’s fur, “and I adopted her because homes with dogs are statistically safer from break ins.” “I don’t think a dog could have stopped,” she stops mid-sentence and yawns loudly before continuing, “Mercury from waltzing into Lark’s room.” Human Female’s eyes are bloodshot, and there are bags under them. Every movement seems to demand a great amount of her energy. “I’m going to train her to guard Lark,” Human Male says, “and she’s a good guard dog. Aren’t you, Sheba? Aren’t you the best guard dog?”

Luna isn’t exactly shocked when she sees her little sister’s Simstagram post: a glass of wine with a fittingly somber black and white filter, followed by the description “should have seen this coming. #cursed” According to their brother Solaris, Nova’s boyfriend Mercury disappeared, leaving Nova no explanation for where he went. While Luna feels for her sister, she isn’t exactly surprised. Mercury didn’t seem like the reliable type the few times she met him. In contrast, Luna’s life is quite boring. She’s fine with it, though. She might be nothing more than a baby warden right now, but at least her life is uneventful. She’s more than happy to settle for uneventful--she’s seen the other side of that coin and she doesn’t care for it.

Luna managed to published her fantasy novel-- The Cursed Fae --before she gave birth to Luke and Lydia. And now Crimson is greedily devouring it while reclining comfortably in front the fireplace at Elysia’s house.  It’s been awhile since he’s had his sutures removed and he’s completely capable of taking care of himself at this point. But at night--when Clover’s absence is felt the strongest--Crimson texts Elysia and asks if he can go to her place, where there are no memories of his sister. She always says yes. Even if they aren’t in the same room, it’s comforting knowing someone is nearby. Tonight, he is reading while Elysia takes a long bath, part of her nightly ritual. He’s so engrossed in the book that he doesn’t notice the bedroom door open, or Elysia’s footsteps behind him.

Luna and Quentin cast long shadows as they stand on the beach. They decided to get married barefoot, next to the sea. It might not have been the most pragmatic choice--even though it is summer, the breeze blowing off the water is chilly and bitter--but it certainly looks romantic

The town is shocked. There’s never been anything like this. Aurora Skies is renowned for it’s lack of violence. Most police officers don’t even carry guns. There have been a total of something like two murders in the past ten years. And in one night, that record is met. The House of Ragnarock and Roll is closed off, the door covered with police tape. The Aurora Skies Police Department, unused to such violent crimes, has to call in forensic experts from other sectors. Even with the extra help, it’s difficult to piece together everything from that night. It doesn’t help that the two key witnesses were drugged. Two days after the murders, Quentin sits with a police officer in the local hospital’s cafe “I understand this is frustrating, Mr. Parker, but I just need you to go through what you saw one last time.”

While Luna loves winter the best, spring is a close second. Her favorite part is the sea of wildflowers that are sprinkled across the hills of Aurora Skies. She picks one--an azalea--and breathes in its scent. Something is interfering with her olfactory enjoyment.

Luna regularly stalks her siblings on Simstagram, since they rarely call or text, and she's developed the uncanny ability to predict what each sibling will post. Solaris posts pictures of his wife and kids, Zenith of his guitars and (drum) kits. Nova posts pictures of herself performing daring feats of acrobatics, and Elysia almost exclusively posts pictures of food from exotic locations. Luna’s book (soon to be plural “books”) doesn’t translate well to social media so her feed is filled with snapshots of generic sunsets. # nofilter # blessed She feels a pang of jealousy when she sees Elysia’s newest upload: a picture of herself perfectly framed in front of a beautiful Egyptian oasis, no doubt the result of her newest travel writing gig. “Do you think I’m boring?” Luna turns off her phone and tosses onto a nearby shelf, out of reach so she won’t be tempted to check Simstagram again. “If you’re hanging out with the likes of me, chances are that you’re not very exciting,” ...

They sit in silence for a while. Crimson had invited her to take a seat and have another bubble tea while they talked. Luna thought about refusing until he explained himself, or loudly confronting and shaming him.  She decided that wasn’t worth causing a scene. So the two strangers stare at each other, then look away, then stare again until Crimson finally breaks the silence. “I’m very sorry for following you,” he mumbles. He’s afraid to look at her, but he forces his eyes to meet hers. He’s a little disappointed to see she’s wearing color contacts. He looks away again. “Yeah, why did you follow me?” In an attempt to hide her emotions, Luna’s voice comes out shrill. “I think you know why,” He gestures at himself, waving his hand from his face down his body. He smiles weakly, “I imagine you haven’t seen many people like us?” “Like us?” Luna cocks her head. She wants him to be the one to say it. She doesn’t know why, but she feels like she needs to be in control of thi...

Luna loves winter. It’s a completely new experience. Sure, it got chilly in Lucky Palms, and Sunset Valley had a light dusting of snow on the mountains a couple of months a year But she’s never seen anything like this: white, glistening snow so deep her boots make a satisfying crunch as she walks. She smiles as she falls backward. Spreading her arms and legs outward, she makes a snow angel. Quentin--less prone to fits of whimsy -- opts to stay inside, in the warmth of their home. Despite his frugal tendencies, Quentin has the heat so high it’s like a sauna inside. After she’s had her fill of the snow, Luna gingerly walks up the front steps. She’s careful to shake all of the snow off of her boots before she enters the house.

"Oh. MY. GAAAWD" Quentin winces. He knows exactly what's going on. Despite all of her complaints about her family, despite her constant worrying about them intruding on their life in Aurora Skies, despite all of that, Luna is on Simstagram, stalking her siblings. "Quen, look!" Luna shoves her phone in his face, "Can you believe it?" He squints at the screen,"Umm, Nova has a boyfriend? That's nice, hon." "Ugh, no! It’s not nice--it's Mercury! MERCURY!" Quentin stares at her until she lets out an exasperated sigh, "You don't get it." "No, I really don't." Luna rolls her eyes as she taps Elysia's number on the screen of her phone. It rings once, then Elysia picks up. "Did you see it?" Elysia's voice is so loud that Quentin can hear it across the room. He retreats to the bedroom in search of peace and quiet.

 The next morning, Quentin practically skips outside to retrieve the morning paper. He then sits at the kitchen table, a pair of scissors in hand, and begins to clip coupons. “Oh, hon, there’s a coupon for bumbleleaf!” “That’s nice dear,” Luna mumbles. Why is this burner so hot? she wonders. “It’s only 17% off, but it could come in handy…” “Uh-oh,” Luna takes a step back as the burner becomes just a tiny bit hotter.

“Wow,” Luna exhales as she squints through the binoculars, “Just…wow.” “Beautiful, right?” Quentin whispers in her ear. Luna can barely hear him over the crash of the waterfalls. “I knew you would love it here.” “I do,” her words are tinged with child-like wonder. Quentin Parker and Luna Bee had landed in Aurora Skies just a few hours before, with only a few possessions in tow and hope for a good future. Their first stop, though, wasn’t to their new home – a small cottage that Quentin had mercilessly negotiated for via many aggressive phone calls to the seller – instead, they took the first cab they could get to the waterfalls. “So I guess this won’t be such a terrible place to live?” Quentin had to use all of his charm to convince Luna to move to Aurora Skies. She initially balked at how small and isolated it was, until Quentin pointed out that “small and isolated” is the perfect combination to escape their respective dysfunctional families. “I can forgive you for making...