Keeping A Secret

By Donna and Abs

The other men working in the stables had been keeping an eye out on Gideon, letting him work but not letting him overdo it. After the blood transfusion from Connor MacLeod, he had done well for a while.  But with each passing blood test, it had become apparent that it had only been a temporary fix.  As his white blood cell count steadily increased, all hopes that his cancer would go into remission were set aside. 

Con and Dani exchanged glances as they watched him struggle to carry a water bucket to one of the stalled horses. Instead of energetic and alert as he had been after the transfusions, Gideon was now listless and tired nearly all the time, and the increasing temperatures during the day appeared to suck what little energy he had completely away from him.

"Gideon, aren't you supposed to go for another blood test today?" Con asked as Dani deftly took the bucket away from him.  Gideon nodded wearily. "Why don't you go a little early and get it over with. We can take care of every thing here.”

He and Dani had to almost push Gideon out the door and in the direction of the clinic. Gideon sighed and started walking. He was getting very tired of having the doctors poke him with needles every other day. They were nice, but he still didn't like it.  So, when looking back the way he had come, he saw that Con and Dani had gone back inside the barn. Gideon smiled and changed direction. He would go the Mission to rest for a bit. It was always cool and nice inside of that building.

Faith was also having a hard time with the heat. Of the three sisters, she was the frailest, and didn't have as much strength as Hope or Grace did. Her house seemed stifling, and even though she was wearing her lightest summer frock, she was hot and miserable. Remembering the beautiful garden she had found the other day, Faith gathered up her sewing and the ring of keys and headed out the door. Surely it would be cooler there!

* * * *

On the other side of the wall, a flower bent in the breeze.  Or was it the breeze?  Even in this cool place, there was hardly a wind to stir it.  Then there was a flap of wings, and a butterfly appeared, shining in the afternoon's sunlight.  A hand came out from the foliage around the flower, and snatched the butterfly in mid -air.  "Not you too," said a soft voice.  "Not you too."

* * * *

Faith was kneeling down by the little gate, fumbling with the keys, when she suddenly realized she wasn't alone. The shadow of a man was falling across her. Startled, she looked up. Seeing who it was, she relaxed.

"Hello," Gideon said with a smile.  Faith recognized him of course and smiled back.

But her friend looked pale and tired. Perhaps he would benefit from some time in the secret garden as well. "Gideon?" she asked. "Can you keep a secret?"

"I can do that," he said with a happy smile. Faith unlocked the gate and after pushing it open, motioned for him to look inside. Gideon got down on all fours and looked, and seeing the beautiful garden on the other side, he immediately crawled through the little door. Faith was right behind him.

"I like this place," he said as he stood up, turning around and trying to see everything at once. "It is magic."

Faith agreed, of course, thinking he just meant it was a really special place. But Gideon, smiling, said, "No, really magic.  Do you see them?"

"See whom, Gideon?" she asked, looking around. She didn't see anyone, but she thought she heard something that sounded like the tinkling of tiny bells. Shrugging, she walked over to the fountain to see if the water was still flowing through it.

When she looked in, however, she thought she saw a face of a woman looking back!!!  When she stepped back, alarmed, Gideon chuckled.  "That's the fairy of the fountain," he said. “She won’t hurt you. She likes you.”

Putting her trembling hand over her mouth, Faith looked again. The face smiled at her.

"She wants to say thank you," Gideon chuckled.

"I will say it for her," said a voice, and suddenly a young woman was standing beside her.  She was about Faith's own age, and she knew at once that they would be friends.  She just didn't understand what she was!

"But Gideon told you," said the girl, as if reading her mind - which was exactly what she had done.  "I'm a fairy."

Faith was a Scot, and had grown up listening to stories about the wee folk. But she never imagined that she would be ever standing and talking to one of them. She swallowed hard and curtsied. "Nice to meet you," Faith said politely. "My name is Faith. Is the girl in the fountain your sister?"

"You can call her that.  My name is Fae.  I'm the Guardian.  That is Endora.  We were trapped in the fountain, and because of it, some plans have gone astray.  We need to put them to rights - at least try to - but first we need to finish metamorphosising.  She opened her hand to show her a butterfly.  "Meet Vanessa."

"Hello Vanessa," Gideon said, stepping up beside Faith. "You are beautiful. I like butterflies." There was the sound of tinkling bells again.

"How. . . how many of you are there here? Are we trespassing in your home?" Faith asked, suddenly worried that they shouldn't be there.

"There are not many here - but one who was supposed to be here has flown elsewhere.  I came to find out what went wrong, and I ended up getting trapped in the fountain."  She waved her hand and a pretty blond girl sat up in the fountain.  She was naked, but it did not seem obscene.  "With Endora," she added.

Endora was smiling at Gideon, who was standing there staring wide eyed at her. He had never seen a naked woman before, but somehow, it didn't seem to bother him.  "You are beautiful too, Miss Endora," he said politely. "I am tired now. I think I better sit down." He walked over to a bench and sat down heavily. All this was exciting and fun, but he just had no energy to truly enjoy it. Within moments, a bushy tailed squirrel had come to him, looking for a handout and making him smile.

Another blonde, this one wearing a sheer silk wrap, came from the garden to sit beside him.  "You are also beautiful," she said to him.  "And thank you for saying I was."

He ducked his head, blushing with pleasure. "It is true," he said simply before turning his attention to the squirrel. Making a little chittering sound at it, he attracted the squirrel’s attention, and it scurried up on to the bench to get closer to him.

"Gideon has an almost magical way with animals," Faith commented as Fae watched with interest. This was all so strange, but somehow she didn't feel frightened any more.

Vanessa, the one in the silk wrap, smiled.  She seemed content just to sit beside Gideon as he played with the squirrel.  Fae walked to where the water was flowing out of the fountain, and then asked Endora, "Where is Hydra?"

"She was not caught with us," replied the one from the fountain.  "The water did not flow; I hope she is all right."

Gideon looked up and held his head to one side as if listening. "There is someone in the little waterfall over there," he pointed. She says something about a rock blocking the way and she can’t get out."

"I feel her," Fae said, "so she is well.  Gideon is right, that must be her."  They women all went over, and Fae dislodged the rock.  The water ran clear and fast over the ripple of a female face, this one with dark hair and big eyes.  She was smiling, as if relieved.

Faith decided she needed to sit down too. She took up the position on the other side of Gideon, and he patted her hand reassuringly. "Don't be afraid," he reassured her. "They are all nice people. Just like you and your sisters."

Fae looked back at her new friends and said, "She will morph now.  We will all be here.  All but Melissa."

"Melissa?" Faith said. "There is a Melissa that lives with the Knights in Camelot. She has beautiful blonde hair, and is very sweet. They said something about her losing her memory due to a fever or something."

"She's our honeybee," said Vanessa seriously.

 "And a bit on the adventurous side," scolded Fae.  "She must've seen the castle in the distance and wanted to see it closer."

"She is going to have a baby. Can your kind do that?" Faith didn't know. If they couldn't, she didn't want her new friends to get their hopes up that the missing one had been found.

"Oh, yes.  And the Old One will want to know this right away!"  She concentrated a little, and then smiled.  "When she lost her memory our tie was broken," she explained.  "I came here to look for her, got caught, and Quinn was sent out there."  She waved her hand.  "But something happened to HER, too, and we don't know where she is.  At least Melly is all right."

Faith shook her head. "I don't know a Quinn," she said. "Maybe some of the others do." Beside her, Gideon shrugged. He didn’t know anyone named Quinn either.

"I will have to find her.  Can you keep these safe while I look?"

"Of course," Faith replied. Gideon patted her hand again.

"It's a secret. No one is to know yet they are here. I won't tell," he chuckled. He smiled at her as she assured him that she wouldn't tell either.

"Let them stay in the garden," Fae instructed.  "Tell no one of the garden until I return."  She looked at the waterfall and smiled as Hydra, the only dark-haired fairy of the garden, rose out of the water.

"Ooh, that feels goooooood!" she smiled impishly.  Like Endora, she was naked.

Faith swallowed hard. She couldn't imagine being that comfortable without clothes on in front of anyone else, yet two of them were naked, and the others nearly so. "Do you need clothing or anything? Food?" Faith wanted to help out anyway she could, but didn't know what they needed.

Hydra tilted her head.  "What are clothing?" she asked.  Fae, grinning, indicated her own simple shift.  Hydra just laughed.  "Kidding, right?"

Faith stammered an apology. She was wearing a dress that covered her whole body. Vanessa laughed at her, telling her that she would look pretty without those things on her, just like they did. Faith just blushed crimson at the idea. Gideon even joined the teasing, telling Faith with a completely innocent look on his face that if she wanted to take her clothes off too, he wouldn’t tell anyone.

"We're things of nature," Fae explained.  "We are not ashamed of our bodies.  And it is a good thing, too." she added cryptically.

Faith decided to change the subject as she fanned her flaming face. "What does your missing Quinn look like? Maybe she is going by another name now. I met nearly all the women here on Edan at the party that was going on the day we arrived."

Fae tilted her head to one side.  "She is young and beautiful, same as the rest of us.  We are all of different sizes and . .  colors you would say.  Races?  But I do not know of any outstanding race for Quinn.  She just is.  She and I are the oldest, the forerunners.  We do not have an ethnicity."

Faith named all the women she had meet. Some she ruled out as being the missing Quinn because others had known them in the old world. "Oh, I almost forgot. There were some women who came from a city located to the north of here. I didn't talk to them much. They were..., " she searched for a polite word. "They are ladies of the night. They sell their bodies to men."

Fae nodded.  "I will search," she said.  The body selling did not seem to bother her.  "Until then, please keep this place a secret.  It seems very easy for us, before we are fully formed, to be shocked out of recognition.  When they have matured, they can be let out of the garden."

Faith agreed that one of them would stay in the garden until she returned. Fae blew her a kiss, telling her it wouldn't be too long.  And then, suddenly, she was a tiny ball of light.  The light fluttered her cheek, then Gideon's, and she was gone.

Faith took out her sewing, and she and Gideon talked to the fairies about their beautiful garden. It was so pleasant there after the oppressive heat on the other side of the fence.  As the hours passed, Gideon got quieter and quieter. Then, with a soft sigh, Gideon sagged against Faith. "I don't feel so good, " he said in a slurred voice. He closed his eyes as a stream of bright red blood started to trickle down from his nose.

Endora stood quickly.  "Hydra!" she said.  The dark girl ran for her waterfall, catching some of the water in her hands.  Amazingly, none spilled from her hands as she brought it to Gideon.  "I am fertility," said Endora.  "But her water has renewing properties."

When she reached Gideon, Hydra tipped the water over his head.  The blood was washed clean, and though he was near to fainting, his tongue slipped out and licked off some of the droplets from his face. 

He took a deep breath and sighed again while Endora lifted his feet up onto the bench and gently placed his head onto Faith's lap. Gideon felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, but he was feeling so tired he could hardly move. Hydra ran and got more water and they all encouraged him to drink. After he managed to get a handful down, there already seemed to be a dramatic improvement. Color was flowing back into his pale face and his breathing once more strong and regular.  

"This should help," said Endora.  "I am sorry we cannot heal you completely, but Ancy was needed in Sadaam." 

"I feel better," he said with a sad smile. "Thank you. It helped a lot. But I think it would be good if I sleep for a little bit now." His head still pillowed on Faith’s lap, Gideon closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.