Chapter 18: Saint's Feast

We gathered the next morning at the house. The crew from Montecristo looking tanned and happy. It was going to be an early dinner for them and a slightly late breakfast for us, but we had done this sort of thing in the past month, 'meeting in the middle' of our time zones for a shared meal.

I jumped Eru, Con and I through first, and when we arrived, it looked as if a carnival was in progress. There were tables and tents and what appeared to be hundreds of people running around. The smells and sounds of cooking were incredible. Master Lev spotted us immediately.

"Welcome back, welcome!" He said with all the enthusiasm of a believer.

"Thank you, Master Lev. We are glad to be back. Please, you know the three of us already, allow me to introduce you to those you have not met."

I began jumping Legionnaires in, one at a time. I started with Chet and Cyrus.

Cyrus appeared to my left. "May I introduce you to Cyrus Poole."

Chet appeared on my right. "May I introduce Chet Alvarado."

"I can guess what place these formidable looking fellows have in your group!" Master Lev said with a laugh.

"You'd be surprised, I answered. These are versatile gentlemen."

I continued introducing the Legion, one member at a time, saving Ginny for last. When her turn came, I jumped her right into the crook of my right arm. She quickly slid in for a hug and a brief kiss.

"Master Lev, please allow me to introduce Virginia Parkin."

"Please call me Ginny." She quickly added.

"Of course Ginny, Welcome!"

"This is everyone. We would be happy to partake in whatever festivities it appears you have planned, but Ginny and I would like to sit down with you for a moment before anything official gets under way, if you don't mind?"

"Of course!" He beamed at us. Turning to a small knot of onlookers standing behind him, he called out.

"Preva! Would you please see to getting our new guests seated at the place of honor? They would enjoy something to drink, I'm sure!"

As the matronly woman he had addressed led the rest of the crew off to a large table nearby, Lev led us to a small cluster of folding camp chairs, very similar to what we would find back home.

"May I offer you something to drink?"

"We're happy to wait until we rejoin the others at the table, thank you."

I paused for a second, smiled at Ginny and reached for her hand. She placed hers in mine and smiled back.

"Master Lev, Ginny and I are a young couple in love, as I'm sure you've noticed."

"All the signs were there, yes." Lev said with a laugh.

"We are here today to invite you to our wedding." In Taluatan it translated more accurately as 'the uniting of our souls', but it meant the same thing for all practical purposes.

"Oh, wonderful! Congratulations!" Was his instant response.

"I have to apologize to you though. The wedding is only five days from now. I took far too long in deciding that I wanted you there to share our happy day with us."

"I appreciate your confidence, and I certainly would like to attend."

"We understand that all leaders sometimes must deal with politics," Ginny added, "and that there may be others among the Rhel who perhaps should be included in the invitation."

"I see you are as wise as you are beautiful, Ginny. This is true." Lev said with a sigh. "There are others I would do well to include. How many addition people will you allow?"

"I would like to limit it to five, including yourself. The people we invite must know that discretion is required of them. Not all who will be attending are aware of what we really are, or what we do. Just as all Taluatans do not know of all you do."

"I assume language and dress will be a problem?" Master Lev almost brought out into the open his acceptance of our endlessly repeated position that we were from another world, and not deities, spirits or any of the other more wild and exciting alternatives some of the Rhel had suggested. Being a good politician, he did not want to be overheard expressing his true beliefs, lest it drive away some of his supporters.

"Language will be. Dress should not, as long as you allow us to meet the people who will be included." I said. "Perhaps we will need to do a little re-arranging of the seating at the table of honor?"

That instantly became the official plan, and as we walked over to the table, Lev wanted to give me the names of the other four people who I should invite. I told him to look at each person in turn and think their name in his thoughts, I would call them out as he did.

<I will see them through your eyes Lev, and it will seem as if I knew them already>

His eyes went wide, followed by a crooked grin.

<Nice touch, that.> He thought back.

We were ushered to our seats at the main table.

"Rhellians, may I have your attention!!" Lev shouted into the lively crowd. "Quiet please!!"

An organized effort went through the crowd and it was soon much quieter.

"Spirit Master Dave has an important announcement!" Lev shouted to the crowd. He motioned to me, and enthusiastic applause broke out in the crowd as I stood.

This was a perfect time to use one of the new armor's tools, so as I stood waiting for the quiet to grow quiet again I threw a thought command to the suit.

<Comm Active. Public address mode.> A translucent, barely-there line of glistening blue light flickered into existence, running from in front of my mouth along my cheek to my left ear.

"Thank you all. Thank you for this wonderful gathering you have provided for us today."

My amplified voice rang out across the entire open field.

"It is a different gathering that brings me to you today. I have come to introduce you, my friends of Rhel, to Ginny, who five days from now shall become my soul-bonded mate."

Very wild applause and cheering broke out at that announcement, and it was a good ten minutes before they could quiet themselves again.

"Although it has never been done before, I have decided to honor our friendship by inviting a small number of those Rhellians I hold closest to attend the bonding."

That announcement sent the crowd into a real frenzy, and only my sending wave after wave of calming Light into them kept it from growing out of control.

"Of course Master Lev has just been informed of his invitation." I said. "But before you applaud, let me call the others up to join us here at the table. You may applaud them all together when they have been announced."

I reached out to Lev, seeing the person in the crowd he focused on through his eyes, and finding the name on the surface of his thoughts.

"Mor Grestain" I turned and looked first at each person before I called the name.

"Ia Sardic" Each time their eyes went wide as I made eye contact.

"Levella Ruk" Small spattering amounts of cheering did ring out, as those seated or standing near those I called reacted to the announcement.

"Brin Dolin" Lev must have saved him for last, knowing I would remember him on my own. He had been one of Lev's most stalwart allies, a party to all our previous visits, and the only one of the four already seated at the table with us. I sent a mental command to switch the suit out of comm mode.

The other three sudden celebrities made their way to our table, and with graciousness, several of the Rhellians who had been seated there gave up their spots. Everyone got handshakes from me and kisses on the cheek from Ginny. I thanked each of the departing three and asked them their names. As they found their way back into the crowd they were received as minor celebrities themselves for their quick generosity.

"Lev," I said turning back to him. "I yield back to you with only this simple comment. I"m hungry!"

This brought a belly shaking roar of laughter from Lev and when he was recovered he yelled at the crowd

"When the spirit is hungry, we must feed the flesh, the old saying goes. Let the feast begin!!"

The next couple of hours were interesting, fun, intriguing, and flavorful. The nearby waters, as they were back home, were a cornucopia of seafood treasures. We had crab cakes and shrimp, crayfish and mussels. There were strips of grilled and seasoned tuna steaks that were so far beyond Chicken of the sea that you couldn't compare the two. We finished off with a delicious sweet potato pie that was as good as any pie I'd ever had.

We were treated to performances by dancers and singers and musicians

Our hosts would have been happy to continue the revelry through the afternoon and into the night, but we were all operating on different internal clocks.

As we were making our goodbyes to the large crowd, I took the five invitees aside for a moment.

"I would like to meet with the five of you, and give you a brief preview of what we will be seeing and doing. I am thinking perhaps I will return the favor and invite the five of you to breakfast tomorrow?"

An enthusiastic and unanimous affirmative response sealed the deal and I arranged to meet them back here at the shrine at what would be eight in the morning, their time. This actually translated to 'the third bell of Drift'. Eru said he would be quite happy to give me the history behind the Talautan time nomenclature, but did assure me that it was for the most part based on nautical practices.

It was not quite noon when I got back to the house, and the first thing I did was call Grandpa A.J.

"Hello Dave! What can I do for you this afternoon?"

"hi Grandpa. How would you feel about hosting me, Eru and five guests for breakfast tomorrow?"

"What's the matter, the cupboard bare again?"

"No, the pantry is well stocked these days." I laughed. "What I don't have is the right time zone. These guests are East coasters too."

"Ah! Are they from near here?"

"Very near!" I laughed again. "They're our supporters from the Focus on Eru's world of Taluat."

"Close indeed! Damn!" Grandpa said, shaking his head. "Say! I have an idea..."

When I got done talking to Grandpa I was feeling a bit restless. The weird mornings recently had kept me from meditating or exercising. I decided I needed to go for a run.

I had been running as exercise for the past couple of months and had discovered that I enjoyed it. I also discovered two other things. First that my Legion mesh made for the perfect jogging gear, especially when I talked Con into making me a pair of Legion jogging shoes that were identical to the boot part of the Legion armor. The mesh was light-weight, sweat-proof and comfortable, as were the jogging boots. Second was the discovery that the firm but forgiving surface of the open areas on Obsidian was the perfect running surface.

I ran a lap that started at the doors to the Meditation Tower, down to and completely around the center ring, then up and around the Garden Ring, back down and around the center ring again, and up and around the Hall of Gifts ring, once again back and completely around the central ring, stopping once again at the front doors of the tower. All together it was an eight mile run.

As I ran, I sought the Light. As my understanding of the Light and my gift had matured, I had learned that everything physical had a Light component, what I was calling its Light signature. This seemed to hold true down to the cellular and molecular level at least. Certainly Ginny and I had found that true when we discovered our healing abilities. I was equally as certain that this was true for the atomic and sub-atomic levels as well. My instincts told me it was, but my senses were not yet able to 'lock on' to anything at those levels, so in my spare moments I worked on this.

I also worked on what I referred to as my Light enhancements. It wasn't something I discussed with the others, but I was slowly eliminating my need for the Legion armor as I developed my own Light substitutes. When Con had introduced the Mark II version, its enhancements included exo-skeletal power enhancements that allowed the Legionnaires to boost their strength, their speed and their endurance. I already had this ability, just based on pumping Light fuel into my cells, to power them beyond their normal human levels. Now I was boosting myself even beyond that by reinforcing the Light signatures of every cell in my body.

Beyond those muscle based enhancements, I was working on duplicating some of the Comm Gear functions as well. The public address mode I'd used was a perfect example. These kinds of modifications were very tricky, and I hadn't actually succeeded yet. They required my being able to build things out of the Light. I could do simple structures very easily. Con may have been built of Light and immaterial once, but it did not mean everything built of light had to be immaterial.