Chapter 2: Come What May

January 10, 1977

The kitchen in the Flynn household was Martha Flynn's domain, and everyone was glad. Sean's adopted mother was a very good cook.

Fresh baked biscuit aromas were overlaid with the smell of bacon frying. Sean knew that butter from their own cows, and Jams and Jellies from their own orchard would complement the biscuits. Eggs and finely sliced sautéed potatoes would accompany the bacon to make a meal fit for a king, or a hungry young Wizard.

Sean smiled as he pushed the kitchen door open and saw his Aunt Liz. That meant that Megan was here too. That was a good thing because he wanted to tell Megan about the dove dream to see what she thought about it.

Liz Cavalla was Megan's mother and Sean's foster mother. Sean had stayed in the Cavalla foster home while the adoption process slowly defeated the bureaucratic hurdles. Liz and her husband Ben were Sean's first 'parents' after his own parents died. Sean's adoption by Seth and Martha Flynn meant that he moved from the Cavalla home in Phoenix, Arizona to a ranch in the Bradshaw mountains. The adoption didn't mean that he forgot about his foster parents or their boarders, Sheila and Susan, from their Phoenix home. Sean's solution as to what to call the Cavalla's and their borders was to make them all honorary aunts and uncles. Everyone was happy with his solution.

Lightning pushed past Sean with a lick that covered the whole side of Sean's face. The huge dog made his way to a blanket in the corner and settled with a sigh. His gaze was focused on Sean.

Lightning was a mix of English Mastiff and Irish Wolfhound. He seemed to take the largest attributes of both breeds.

"Sean, did you wash up?" Martha asked with raised eyebrows. Martha was a matronly looking woman with brown hair and twinkling blue eyes. Martha and Seth had adopted Sean when his parents were killed.

"Yes, Momma," Sean said with a grin. He knew what was coming next.

"Well, you forgot to comb your hair young man," Martha gently scolded. She knew his hair was uncontrollable but she didn't want him to quit trying.

Sean's hair was a wild red mop that Sean didn't seem to have a lot of control over. It wasn't so much that it looked real bad or stuck out from his head in different directions, at least in Sean's opinion. It just looked, wild.

"No, I didn't forget, Momma," Sean replied. "I combed it but this is the way it wants to stay."

"Did you use anything like hair spray or some of that Brylcreem that BB got for you?" Martha asked.

A head with a wild mass of blonde hair popped up to look over Liz's shoulder. The little girl grinned. Sean grinned back and winked.

"No Momma. I didn't use your spray and I think BB meant the Brylcreem as a joke," Sean answered and then his grin widened. "I just wet it and tried to comb it. At least my hair isn't as wild as Megan's."

"Don't go pulling Megan and me into this," Liz admonished as she swung around in the chair and deposited Megan on the floor.

Megan immediately grabbed the chair and pulled herself to her feet. The earth rumbled faintly when the six month old frowned at Sean. She wasn't happy with his remark.

"Stop that, Megan," Liz admonished her daughter. "He was just teasing you." She turned back to Martha and said, "I've tried hair spray and everything else I could think of on Megan's hair. Nothing keeps it in place. Maybe crazy hair is one of the things Udit forgot to tell us about Wizards and Sorceresses."

"Megan," Martha said warningly. "If you shake my house, you'll break it and I won't be able to make you more cookies."

"I wanted him to look good for these people from the Councils," Martha explained while looking at Sean's hair critically. She sighed and shrugged. "Nothing to do about it, I guess."

"You're mean," Megan said to Sean as she pouted.

"No I'm not," Sean said with a smile as he walked over and put one arm around the little girl's shoulder. "I was teasing you because I like you," he explained. Silently he thought to her, "You know that I wouldn't be mean to you."

Megan lay her head against his arm and thought, "I know you wouldn't." Aloud she said, "You're not supposed to tease me if you like me."

"Yes I am," Sean said with a grin.

"No you're not," Megan said grinning back.

"Enough," Martha said brusquely. "Sean, get in your chair. Megan, do you need help getting in the high chair?"

"I can get up with Lightning's help, Aunt Martha," the baby girl said as she turned and walked to her highchair.

Lightning got up from his blanket and walked to the little girl. The big gray dog dropped his head. Megan braced her hand on Lightning's broad head as he lifted and raised Megan to her highchair. Lightning had reached his full growth of 42 inches at the shoulder and nearly 52 inches to the top of his head. He was just a year old so he would still fill out more, but he already weighed over 110 pounds. The gray wolfhound/ mastiff mix was huge.

Martha shook her head as she watched the dog walk back to his bed and lay back down. "I wish I knew just how much he really understands." She was astonished when Lightning looked at her and seemed to smile. She could only smile back, and wonder why she was smiling. Martha shook her head again, and turned back to the breakfast she was cooking.

"What who understands?" the tall, raw boned man asked that walked in the door from the ranch yard. Seth Flynn was a touch over six feet tall and weighed just under 200 pounds. His sandy hair gave him a boyish look that belied his 46 years. Seth's Marine Corps career gave him the straight backbone and shoulder back carriage.

"I was just wondering aloud how much Lightning really understands," Martha explained.

"You'd better wash up and comb your hair, Poppa," Sean warned. "Momma won't let you eat if you don't."

Seth grinned at Sean and said, "You think so, huh?" He gave Martha a quick kiss as he passed her while heading for the bathroom.

"You know so," Martha said grinning back after the kiss. She managed to slap his butt as he walked away.

"Morning," Seth greeted the tall Indian that entered the kitchen as he was leaving.

"Mornin'," Udit grunted as he walked to the coffee pot and filled a cup. Udit was taller than Seth by a few inches but he was so thin that he looked gaunt. His face was a mass of wrinkles that seemed more accustomed to smiles than his present scowl.

Udit was a Shaman from the White Mountain Apache Reservation. He had lived with the Flynns in the Bradshaw Mountains since shortly after the Flynns adopted Sean. His purpose was to train Sean, and now Megan so they could survive the forces arrayed against them. Udit's training efforts included everyone in the clan that had gathered around the baby boy. His training of Pete and Susan, another of Sean's 'Aunts and Uncles', owed their lives to that training. A Brujo had attacked them and they were able to fight off her influence. Udit was well respected in the their little clan.

Everyone was silent until Udit sat at the table. His glare at Sean could have had something to do with the silence.

"Um, is something wrong?" Liz asked.

"Sean payed a joke on Udit," Megan said.

The kitchen door opened and Sheila and BB entered hand in hand. They were still newlyweds in everyone's minds, including theirs, even though they had just celebrated their first anniversary. Sheila's pregnancy was becoming very apparent at six months along. They had taken another mini honeymoon and returned the night before. "Good Morning everyone," Sheila said with a grin as both of them headed for the coffee pot.

"Morning," Martha replied. "Played, Megan. Sean played a joke on Udit," Martha corrected.

"Sean played a joke on Udit," Megan repeated correctly. She was still learning to talk and everyone helped whenever they could.

"I thought he wasn't going to play more practical jokes on people," Liz said frowning.

"No. That isn't quite right," Sean corrected her. "I won't play jokes on anyone using power. I can still play jokes on people as long as I don't use anything that a normal person couldn't use. All I did was move quietly like Udit taught me."

"What did you do?" Liz asked.

"I used safety pins to pin his moccasins to the throw rug beside his bed," Sean explained. "He kind of fell down when he tried to walk."

BB was just taking a drink of coffee when Sean explained what he did. Hot coffee spewed from his mouth and nose accompanied by a coughing fit. All eyes were on BB and Sheila as Sheila started pounding on BB's back in an effort to start him breathing right again. The trouble was, she was laughing while she did it.

BB finally got a little of his breath back and gasped, "What are you laughing about?"

Sheila could only shake her head for a moment before she gasped out, "I don't know which was funnier. The image of Udit trying to walk with his mocs pinned to the rug or you blowing coffee out your nose."

"Falling down was not funny," Udit grumbled. His lips twitched as he fought a smile. "Brandon blowing coffee out his nose was funny."

BB glared at Sean and gasped, "Did you do that on purpose?"

"Pin Udit's moccasins to the rug? Yes," Sean said innocently.

Udit couldn't handle it any longer and broke out in guffaws. "It was funny, Brandon. It doesn't matter if he did it on purpose. It was funny," Udit said while laughing.

"So was you falling down," Sean said quietly. "I didn't mean to cause BB to do that but I did mean to pull that trick on you. I had a reason for it though."

Udit slowly stopped laughing as what Sean said registered. He turned to look sharply at Sean. Finally he asked, "Okay, what was your reason?"

Sean frowned and his forehead wrinkled in thought for a moment before he said, "We have to meet a delegation with representatives from every Council in the world today."

Udit nodded and waited for Sean to continue.

"I don't know if you realize it but, you've been getting more and more nervous over the last few weeks," Sean explained slowly. "You were getting so tense that no one could talk to you. You weren't functioning the way we need you to."

"I wasn't that tense," Udit protested.

"Yes you were, Udit," Megan said. "I didn't think about playing a joke on you to get you to think about something else but I'm glad Sean did."

Udit looked at Megan then back at Sean. "I don't..." he started but changed his mind. He turned to Martha and asked, "Have I been, um, tense?"

Martha gave a very un-lady like snort. "Seth and I talked about it a few days ago. We decided that we needed to talk to you about how 'tense' you have been if you didn't snap out of it before today." She made quotes with her fingers when she said tense. "Sean's little stunt may have made you mad but, you aren't so wrapped up in this delegation that you can't think. We decided last night that we didn't need to talk to you about it. Do you want two eggs or three?"