22. Morelle

22

MORELLE

M orelle couldn't take her eyes off Allegra as the little girl carefully maneuvered another piece of carrot into her mouth. There was something magical about watching a child discover the world, even in such simple acts. She'd met the other children in the family during the large dinner Annani had hosted on Saturday, but none of them was as special as Allegra.

Amanda's little Evie, who was nine months old and already walking and saying a few words, peeked at strangers from behind her mother's legs and only smiled when playing with her older cousin. Alena's newborn son was still too young to show much personality. Kalugal's son, Darius, who was six months old and had serious eyes and inner calm, seemed to evaluate everything around him, marking him as a future warrior or leader.

Allegra, though, was special. There was a spark in her, a brightness that drew people in. Morelle could easily imagine this child growing into a formidable female, leading the clan with the same grace and authority as her grandmother.

The thought made her smile.

She would be there to see it, to watch this remarkable child grow into the person she was meant to be.

"You're completely enchanted by her, aren't you?" Brandon murmured from beside her.

"She is adorable," she whispered back, watching as Allegra demonstrated her mastery of spork-holding to her attentive grandmother.

When the conversation shifted to Jasmine's mother, it finally drew Morelle's attention away from Allegra's antics.

"I don't remember much about her," Jasmine was saying, her voice soft and still a little weak. "All I have left from her is a jewelry box, the two rings and a gold chain that were inside, and a deck of tarot cards that was tucked in a hidden compartment." She smiled apologetically. "But as much as I searched the cards for clues, I didn't find any. Eventually, I just accepted that she wanted me to use them as a way to express myself, but now I question that once more. Maybe there was a message hidden in them somewhere after all."

"Was it a standard deck?" Syssi set down her fork. "I don't know much about tarot, but Amanda has delved a little into Wicca, so I know that there are several standard decks, and then there are decks made by various artists. She owns one that had a very limited print edition, and it's worth a lot of money. Maybe that's why your mother left it for you. Maybe it's valuable."

"It's not one of those." Jasmine sighed, absently playing with the stem of her water glass. "It's a nice deck that is no longer in print, but it was quite popular in the nineties when my mother got it."

Annani's eyes held that particular gleam that Morelle knew meant she was pursuing a theory. "Maybe the clue is in the jewelry box," she suggested. "Do you still have it?"

Jasmine nodded. "I do, but I don't want to take it apart. The box and the few items that were in it are all I have left of my mother."

Morelle understood that feeling all too well—the desperate need to hold on to any connection to a lost parent. She had nothing tangible from her own mother, just memories and that one dream visit that had pulled her back to consciousness.

"We can have the box X-rayed," Kian said. "There is no need to take it apart to see if there is anything hidden in the lining or maybe the wood itself. Will you allow us to examine it?"

Jasmine nodded, but she didn't look too happy about it. "I don't know why the sudden interest in my mother. I know that my quick healing indicates that I'm close to the source, but on the other hand, my long transition indicates the opposite."

"You grew two inches," Ell-rom said. "That's why you were unconscious for so long. Your body did that in ten days, and it required shutting down all nonessential functions to preserve energy for the growth."

Morelle smiled. Her twin was a deeply spiritual person, but that didn't mean that he wasn't pragmatic and logical as well. He always analyzed things, breaking them down into their base components and coming up with the most likely explanation. He only invoked the Mother of All Life when there was no other way for him to explain certain phenomena.

Jasmine shook her head. "That doesn't prove anything. Other Dormants have grown in height without being out for so long. Don't get me wrong, I would love to believe that my mother was an immortal or a goddess and that she's still alive somewhere, but that's not likely. My father was devastated after her death. He couldn't even look at me without getting sad or angry because I reminded him of her."

Syssi and Annani exchanged a look that spoke volumes, some silent communication passing between them, and at Annani's nod, Syssi turned to Jasmine.

"I had another vision about you or someone with eyes very similar to yours. We are starting to think that the visions did not show me you but your mother. Do you remember her ever mentioning Kurdistan or the Kurdish people? Did your father say anything about her being from that region?"

Jasmine frowned. "I remember her singing to me in what I assumed was Persian, but maybe it was Kurdish? I don't know the difference between them."

"Do you remember her wearing any special jewelry?" Syssi asked. "Some distinctive piece that has stuck in your memory?"

Jasmine shook her head. "No, why? And why are you asking questions about Kurdistan?"

"In my vision…" Syssi said, "the second one, I saw the same woman in traditional male desert clothing, with your eyes and a curvy body that gave her away as a female. She wore a pendant that caught the sunlight and looked like it might have been amber or something similar. It was partially hidden by her scarf, so I couldn't see the design, but there was something carved on it.”

"I don't remember anything like that." Jasmine fiddled with her napkin. "Did she speak Kurdish?"

"She didn't, but some women a short distance from her mentioned two Kurdish towns. I remembered the names because I've read recently about the Kurdish women warriors and their rebellion against Iranian oppression. They are very brave, and they actually led the rebellion. Kurdish women have a long history of fighting for their freedom. They've been doing it for generations."

"Women. Life. Freedom," Annani said. " Jin, Jiyan, Azad?."

"Something about this sounds familiar," Jasmine said.

"You might have read it or heard about it on the news," Brandon said. "Their cause is finally seeing some light in the Western media. You'd think that brave female fighters who wage war against the worst oppressors of women would be mentioned by every feminist organization in every country, but it seems like these organizations have lost their soul or rather sold it to the highest bidder."

Morelle frowned. "How can a soul be sold?"

"Easily." Brandon wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "And not even for a good price."

Allegra chose that moment to offer Morelle a slightly squished piece of zucchini. "Illy! Eat!"

That broke the somber mood and tension that had built around the table, and Morelle accepted the offering with exaggerated delight, making the child giggle.

"Good. Eat," Allegra declared, immediately turning to find her next victim.