Jalemar bent over the sink, scrubbing pots and pans as the sun shone in the open door and caressed his bare back and legs. It was warm and not unlike a loving touch. A soft creaking reached his ears a moment before a shadow fell over the doorway. Jalemar turned his bright green eyes to face his mother. Though confined to a wheelchair, she was still a beautiful woman with long lustrous blond locks. "Is there anything I can do for you, Mother?" he asked.

Amorena shook her head. "You're already doing so much; just keep on with what you're doing." She said, and propelled herself to the kitchen counter where she unloaded a lap-full of vegetables.

"Geigan's garden has been flourishing, I take it?" Jalemar asked, returning to his scrubbing. His muscles moved ever so slightly under his golden tanned skin, causing it to glisten in the sunlight. Amorena sighed. He was growing up so fast. It wouldn't be so long until he was gone from her too…

Jalemar was unaware of his mother's thoughts, occupied with those of his own. He was fourteen, and the changes of puberty were working their magic on him. His last growth spurt brought him to a willowy 6'3" tall, and his voice cracked on a regular basis - especially when he was confronted by a pretty girl. Just thinking about it brought strange, but not unwelcome, feelings to Jalemar. He rinsed the large kettle with hot water, and set it to dry. He raked a damp hand through his golden brown hair, and turned to look out the door. The summer sun was setting, and Jalemar sighed.

"Jalemar?" his mother called from the deck.

"Coming, Mother!" he called, wiping his hands dry.

She was sitting facing the southwest, with her hands in her lap. She looked up at him as he stepped out onto the wooden planking. "Sit down, Jalemar. I've something important to tell you." A concerned expression quickly settled on the young man's face, and he settled gently to the floor in front of her chair. "You're growing so quickly…" she said, reaching for his hand. "Manhood becomes you well, my son. You may think I haven't noticed, but I have." Amorena said, patting his hand.

A few stray silver strands graced her temples. Funny, he hadn't noticed those before. "We can't stop time, Mother." He said. "Everyone grows - in wisdom as well as in age."

Amorena smiled, the skin around her eyes crinkling ever so slightly. "True that. Jalemar, you're looking more like your father every day." She said with a sigh. "Do you remember what I told you about him?"

Jalemar nodded. "He was a drifter, who stole your heart and gave you me." Jalemar replied smoothly.

Amorena laughed. "You put it very eloquently, my child. He wooed me, and seduced me - it was a whirlwind love affair of the sorts romance novels are written of. But our happiness wasn't meant to be. After a few nights, the passion waned, and your father left me, never to be seen again."

Jalemar's eyes were wide, and hard. "The dastard!" he exclaimed.

Amorena patted his hand. "He didn't know he'd left me with child, nor did I know until a few weeks later. By then, no one knew that he was sire of my bastard child." Amorena's eyes closed.

"Bastard or no, here I am." Jalemar whispered.

"I couldn't be more proud of you, Jalemar." Amorena said. "I tried to do right, but I never found anyone to be a father-figure for you, but you seem to have grown up all right. I wish your father would have stayed, to see you, but if he had, others would have seen him for what he really was."

"A letch?" Jalemar suggested calmly.

"Worse." Amorena sighed. "Your father was as Satyr."

Jalemar's green eyes grew wide with shock. Sired by a legend. Everyone knew the insatiable appetites of the horned sort, and woe to those who were caught unawares by them. "But Mother, I thought…"

Amorena put her finger to her lips and shushed him. "Do not believe everything you hear, and beware of things that sound too good to be true. Your father looked and felt human for all intents and purposed, but he was not. No cloven hooves, no tail. Not even his wide green eyes hinted at his true nature."

Jalemar was perplexed. "How did you know?"

"When they called him 'horny', they meant it literally." Amorena sighed. "Hidden in his thick wavy hair were a pair of nub horns, like the Satyrs are supposed to own." Jalemar's hand moved to his head before he consciously thought of doing so. Hurriedly he snatched his hand away. "They'll come in time." Amorena sighed. "And as soon as they do, you'll have to leave."

Jalemar's brow furrowed. "Why?" he asked.

Amorena looked away. "You're a looker, child. You'll break every heart in town, and leave every single woman with a bastard child."

Jalemar opened his mouth to refute this, but Amorena raised a hand, signaling him to wait. "His blood flows in your veins, Jalemar. You'll have no better control over it than he." Jalemar clenched his jaw and scowled. He had plenty of control, and plenty of intelligence. He knew when and how to keep his hands to himself. "Nor will you want to." Amorena finished.

"I'm a responsible man, mother. I can control myself…"

"Just because you can doesn't mean you will, Jalemar. I knew better than to shack up with a travelling man, but I did it anyway. And you're proof of that."

Jalemar was deeply hurt. He stood up and walked wordlessly from the deck. His room beckoned, and he went to it, closing the door behind him. He felt as though he should just pack up and leave now, but he couldn't do that to his mother, even if she had suggested that he would mature to be maniacal about women in that sort of way.

Time passed. Much more than a year; nearly eighteen months before Amorena's prophesy fulfilled itself. Their relationship had grown strong, but they knew the end would come. Their parting was a solemn one, and thought Jalemar promised to keep track of his offspring, Amorena didn't plan to hold her breath. Time would pass quickly for Jalemar, but he wouldn't mind. His naive youthfulness would be quickly worn away, and heaps of experience would be left in it's place.

Baeris' Kshau's Healing Den

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