Chapter 2 - When All Things Being Equal -- Are Not

Chapter 2 - When All Things Being Equal -- Are Not

'...it IS the Equinox,' he said.
Emmelina turned to face Daryl; bold as brass, his face tanned as a new copper penny, smiling and welcoming as a devil's bargain on a cold night.
He looked down and regarded the paper he held. '...As to your letter...' A glance up at her, one eyebrow cocked, '...it seems you have plans to visit the South?'
Em tried to recover herself quickly, tired from a busy day already. 'Ah, yes, well...um, do let us take a seat Daryl?' Em flustered, feeling odd to be offering a chair to the man who owned it, and in his own home. One of them.
Daryl seemed to know what she was feeling and smiled to himself as he leaned up from the door jamb and sauntered into his parlor, taking a seat in the armchair near the fireplace.
'May I offer a tisane? I just brewed up some mint with catnip, hops and camomile...'
'Sounds perfect.' Daryl smiled at her, crossing his long legs at the knee and sitting back with a sortof satisfaction.
Em bustled off to pour tea, smoothing back stray locks and attempting to fix her braid. Diosa, but she hadn't been expecting this! ...Suppose she'd have to get used to it, hadn't she? Bloody Daryl seemed to be enjoying the discomfiture his sudden appearance had given her. Yvanna and Rosa had both assured her he was hale and whole and indeed he seemed to be so...
Armed with a tea tray Em returned to the parlor and set it down upon the table. When she poured for Daryl, she found him staring at Anara's portrait, transfixed. What was he thinking?
'The luff of hiz life,' Yvanna had dubbed Anara...well, if true, what else could he be thinking except, how long until they would be together again? She set his tea quietly upon the end table beside him.
'Gracias,' he softly acknowledged the gesture as Em took her seat upon the sofa across from him. She decided to approach Daryl with her enquiries, taking the offensive early in the game.
'Daryl...I dreamed, recently, that you and I were back there, on the beach...you were with Anara, while I was with my father...the tall man, Axelis, and another woman, my...sensei?
I mean, my teacher. Or, is she Anara's teacher...?' Em sighed frustrated, 'It's all so confusing...' She paused, took a sip of tea. 'It was a dream, wasn't it?'
Daryl turned away from the portrait and regarded Em.
'No. No dream.'
Well. There it was, then. Not a dream. So...'Well, what was it then? Another timewalk, within a timewalk?'
Daryl looked away, and picked up his tea.  'Rather, something beyond that.' Took a sip. 'Within the timewalk we were in, we...traveled, to another, ah, dimension, for lack of a better designation.'
'It is still confusing. How does one differentiate? How did you come to tell...what's what?'
He glanced out the windows, the light turning to gold with long shadows of afternoon. Another eyebrow rose in answer, 'Long, frustrating experience, my dear Josephina...'
Em blushed and looked down at her tea, hearing the appellation.
'However,' Daryl regarded her letter once more, 'This particular trip, down South, I would caution against it.'
This caught her attention. Straightening, Em set down her tea.
'Why ever not?'
Daryl uncrossed his legs and plunked his well-worn boots out before him, crossing his ankles, and leaned his head back upon the chair. Gazing once more at the portrait, he ventured, 'You recall I once mentioned I knew who your enemies were, Josephina?'
Why was it that her blood sister's name made Em blush? It seemed to imply an intimacy of sorts...between her guardian and herself. But what was this about enemies? 'I...think I recall that you briefly mentioned something about that, long ago. You never did state who they were.'
Daryl fixed Em with a stare. 'They were, and still are, the same enemies that your mother had.'
'What do you know of her?' Em was emerging from frustration and verging on anger now. 'Daryl, first you say you 'knew them well', my parents, then you claimed that you only met them here, briefly! What am I to believe?
--Anything?'
Daryl hid a small smile as he rose and began to stroll over to the window. Pulling back the curtain he regarded the street outside. 'Your mother left her family home and went to stay with the Pages when young, did she not?'
'Yes. It's one of the things I wished to investigate whilst visiting there...'
He turned to look at her then, sharply. 'Don't.'
Emmelina began to reply, then closed her mouth, cocking her head to the side as she heard someone approaching up the front steps. 'Someone's here.'
Daryl said nothing but only turned his head toward the door. They heard the doorknob turn, steps within the hallway. Daryl looked at Emmelina.
'Hola! Ah, buenos tardes, don Diego!' It was Rosa! Emmelina exhaled, relieved, as she heard Manuel follow into the hallway, 'Good evening,' he nodded a greeting into the parlor, arms full of baskets of produce. Daryl smiled as they both headed into the kitchen. 'Dinner in an hour or so! Curry tonight! And artichokes!' Rosa called.
Daryl smiled. 'Gracias, Rosa!' He was gazing at Emmelina, looking both domestic and feral, relaxed and aware. She hadn't really noticed til now, with the late afternoon sun shining through the parlor, how different Daryl looked. His hair, for one, was longer, shoulder length and seemed freshly washed, showing more gold streaks throughout; with the sun behind him, his appearance seemed rather leonine. And yes, he looked quite tan and fit, slimmer than she remembered...dressed in sand colored pants with several wide pockets for handy packing, and a white shirt, open rather low at the neck, and black braces. He must have just showered and changed before she arrived...Em detected the faint scent of bay rum.
'You were saying...?'
Daryl drank his tea and blinked slowly, appearing relaxed to the point of
somnolence. 'Forgive me, it has been some time since I last slept...'
'Diego!' Em stood. 'Are you alright?' What had they been speaking of all this time? Here was Daryl, whom she had last seen riding off into the midst of battle with the revolutionaries... Em approached his side and put a tentative hand on his arm. 'I, we, were so worried for you!'
Daryl patted her hand and grinned sideways. 'I'm fine, now. We hit some rough patches with the Federals...but, so far, the battle goes well.' He looked down at Em. 'Gracias, Josephina.'
Emmelina looked at his hand upon her own. 'I, I should apologize, Dar...Diego. What was I thinking offering tea? Are you certain you shouldn't see a doctor? When did you arrive here anyway?'
Daryl kissed her hand briefly, chastely, and headed into the kitchen himself, 'Just hours ago. Stay there! I'm bringing wine.'
Merciful goddess what a day! What a life, Em, face it... Emmelina plunked herself down upon the sofa. Yes, a nice glas vina would do well, she admitted, bending over and unlacing her boots. Well, they had been bivouacking in the rough together. Old war buddies, practically.
Daryl entered, a bottle of riesling and two glasses in hand, to find Em seated lengthwise upon the sofa, her feet up. He smiled slightly as he resumed his seat across from her and poured. 'That's more like it, eh?' He handed her a glass. 'Salud!'
Clink of glasses...hm, the clink of crystal Em thought, that was certainly different from their campout with canteens and gourds.
'Working again, eh?'
'How did you know?' The wine was delicious. Em believed she recognized it from Yvanna's cellar.
'I see all, know all... You are forgetting my gypsy connections.' Daryl nosed the wine and drank. 'Ahh...one misses this...back where duty calls...' Another sip.
Rosa brought in some fruit and cheeses and nut meats, exiting then as quietly as she'd come.
Em felt hungy suddenly. She took some fruit slices and cheese. 'You said you hadn't slept. How are things, Daryl, really? Don't spare the details. I wish to honestly know...and I, well, we both, Jack and I, are concerned...'
Daryl gazed about him. 'Ah. And...where is Jack?'
Emmelina coughed on a nut. Sipped her wine hurriedly. 'He, he is back in Pankhurst... And, actually, he may be on his way to your place in Massachusetts.'She hoped to distract him from further inquiry regarding Jack, and their...relationship.Whatever it now was...
'Indeed.' Daryl narrowed his gaze.
'Yes. I do wish you would speak with him, Daryl! He so wishes for you to resume running that big estate of yours!'
'Sorry, that isn't possible. It must remain Jack's. You both, must always have access. It is of primary importance! Do you understand, Emmelina?' Daryl glanced briefly her way. 'It is not up for debate.' He ran a hand across his forehead. 'What is he doing there?'
'He wants to investigate further into these 'timebursts'as he calls them: we don't know where they come from, what is causing these odd...pops in and out of different timelines...' Em yawned, she couldn't help it.
Despite himself, Daryl followed suit, running a hand over his face and rubbing his eyes. 'I doubt we'll stay awake long enough to eat...' He smiled wryly and yawned once more.
'ARTICHOKES ARE READY!!' Came the call from the kitchen then.
Daryl blinked awake, and stood, holding a hand out to Em. 'Come, Josephina! Artichokes!'
                                      . . . .
For whatever reason Emmelina found herself and Daryl dining al fresco
in the backyard near the garden; Daryl claimed he needed the fresh air to keep awake long enough to eat something. A wooden picnic table served their needs well enough and with tablecloth and lanterns about, it was indeed a welcome change to dine out of doors watching the sunset.
Dipping his choke leaf into a creamy garlic butter sauce, Daryl savored the rich taste and closed his eyes in appreciation. 'Umm...one misses eating well while on campaign...' He poured more wine for them and switched subjects abruptly, 'Did you know that Manuel is Chilean?'
Trying to catch the drips of sauce from her own artichoke, Em eyed him over her plate. 'I, ah, no, I didn't know he was.'
'You know of the massacre here in San Francisco of Chileans some decades ago when the city was just struggling into some semblance of itself out of the gold rush madness...' Em nodded. She knew of it of course; however such things as gang wars of the Sydney Ducks and various other racist hate crimes waged against the Californios and Mexican, Central and South American immigrants were not taught to school children in history books. Young boys would play shoot-em-up games involving the romanticized version of the story of the outlaw Joaquin Murietta, and that was about the only tale told widely in society even hinting that such things actually were of note. Of course, racism was alive and well nowadays; as Jack had experienced rather too personally.
'...Yes, well, Manuel's ancestors and relatives were victims of that dark bloody stain on the city's history. Rosa, is herself a Californio; her people were well settled here, down the coast toward Los Angeles, for many long years prior to California's statehood.'
Emmelina chewed on this information with her curry...this was some interesting news on the background of her friends here. And, knowing now that such tragedy haunted Manuel, it was no wonder he seemed so dour.
'I'd no idea...how awful for Manuel.'
'Yes.' Daryl nailed Em's gaze with a hard look. 'One's past, one's history and family connections are something that one must come to terms with at some point. There is no escaping one's very...blood.'
Em let the word hang above them; the sky colored with a red haze from the setting sun just above the hills now. As genteel as San Francisco was now, it's bloody past was not far behind it. Although the old Barbary Coast dens of iniquity were mostly gone or tamed by now, still parts of the city were far from safe and certainly Em would never attempt them alone or in the dark. But, in the main now, the City by the Bay was rather improved from it's astronomically high homicide rate set during gold rush days.
'It would seem...' Em began, '...that my mother had as much mystery and intrigue surrounding her as my father. Perhaps before they even met?'
Daryl sighed, drinking off his wine and setting the glass down. 'Or, perhaps they met because of it.'
That was certainly a possibility Emmelina should ponder...
                                 ......
'Bye Bye Love!
Bye bye happiness!
Hello EM-ptiness!
I feel like I could cry...
Bye bye my love, goodbye...
I'm through with romance,
I'm through with love,
I'm done with counting
The stars above...
She was my sweetheart
Til HE stepped in!
Farewell to romance
That might have been...'
Jack sat upon the front porch at Crowley House, half a bottle of wine gone already as he played guitar and sang the old Everleys' song and howled his misery out like a coyote into the night...  Taking another swig from the bottle, Jack decided he didn't actually feel so bad, really. I mean, hadn't he expected just this very thing? Deep down? Sure and he was gettin' used to it, so he was...Jack grinned very lopsidedly and strummed a chord and softly sang, 'I'm through with countin'...the starrrs abovvve...'
He gazed upward at the night sky, dotted with it's jewelled array of evening brilliance, regarding the stars he'd ceased to count...say! There went one now! Jack noted a falling star. He frowned as it began to 'fall' sideways, then streaked off into the west.
Toward San Francisco.
                                 . . . . .
LISTEN! Bye bye Love, by the Ditty Bops
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2STbpl6jjU