NJ94121505

NJ December 15 2005

(I know, ten days have passed but we've been kind of focused on my foot and recovery but then this happened
last night...)

Leonurus looked at me and smiled widely as I blinked.

"Are you back now, little one?"

How did she know? From what I can tell it's less than the blink of an eye when I transition from here to there
and back again. Almost undefinable temporally.

But she noticed.

I was still in Fleur's arms and Theta was squatting next to us.

I took a deep breath and stood up, rubbing my hands down my thighs as if I was wiping something off of them.
I wasn't sweating but I felt like I had been.

I walked toward the Queen and nodded, bowing slightly. "It is well met, Queen Leonurus."

Both Fleur and Theta's heads jerked up as they noticed that I used the Queen's name though she had not yet
been introduced.

"Ah, you know my name. And I yours. You are aware of this now, are you not? I can smell the knowledge on
you."

I smiled slightly as I nodded. "I am Danny...and Damiana, right?"

Leonurus smiled widely then as she took off her ornate crystal crown with a satisfied sigh and set it aside.
She stepped up to me and wrapped her motherly arms around me almost whispering.

"Welcome back, Damiana. You have been missed. Good hunting."

I fought the tears and swallowed hard. Those words, I am discovering, are more than a simple greeting. Their
whole world revolves around them.

"Good Hunting, Leonurus," I smiled in return, wrapping my own arms around her and feeling her soft velvety
softness against the length of my body. She smelled of warm honey. Good enough to eat. *smile*

Sue Mac, near the rear, stood now with Theta. "Damiana? The Damiana? Damiana the Gold?" she
whispered to Theta.

Theta smiled his wings humming excitedly, nodding. "She's been a bit lost. Here, I think she is remembering,
and being found."

That wonderful wasp head tilted in her delightful predatory way. "Ooman and honeybee?"

Leonurus stepped over to a table that was covered in beautiful decanters and began pouring liquids and
gesturing to folks to sit on these awfully comfortable looking cushions. "Come, let us sit a bit and talk before
we introduce you to the hive."

That smile. Damn that smile. It warmed the heart. The smile of someone who approves of you in all ways,
making you happy just to be around them. Like a grandmother or a good friend. But that really didn't cover it,
either. Damn this limited language.

I moved back to sit down on a cushion and if I'd had hackles they'd have risen as I spun around and stared at
what I thought at first was a blank wall.

It wasn't.

Remember the critters I'd mentioned earlier that sort of gave me the creeps?

I realized one was standing there. Blending with the wall. A statue of a creature.

With all her slender arm blades folded against her body and her triangular head frozen in place.

I very slowly moved backward, with one hand behind me so that I wouldn't bump into anything.

"What...is...that?" I whispered. My eyes wide.

Fleur spun around, her eyes narrowed as she was suddenly standing in front of me. I don't think I've ever seen
Fleur move that fast. And she was standing in a way I'd never seen. In a way that told me she knew how to
fight. Something about her I was unaware of?

Leonurus chittered musically and hummed.

The creature slowly seemed to come to life and step forward. It was if she moved out of the wall though I
know she was simply standing in front of it.

She was a HUGE praying mantis. A chameleon mantis?

Ghost Mantis suddenly came to me. Accompanied by my heart turning to ice for a moment.

"This," introduced Leonurus warmly, "is Chalkambarah. My Personal Guardian."

The great white mantis bowed low and tilted her head to look at me. I felt a thrill go through me. And god
honest, I felt my nipples harden and my tongue suddenly tickled!

Chalkambarah smiled.

Leonurus stepped forward. "Being Queen has its responsibilities and every Queen has a Personal Guardian. I
have had Chalkambarah since I bested her in the arena. This was her chosen 'punishment' or rather, this was
her payment for her loss."

Leonurus walked up to the towering mantis and gently stroked her hand across Chalkambarah's deep naveled
stomach. "Wasn't it?"

The mantis' arms wrapped tightly and affectionately around Leonurus. "Yesss, my ssssweet queeeeeen."

Even the deep raspy voice was a bit unnerving.

I swallowed hard and both Fleur and I bowed to her.

"Good hunting," I said to her and she nodded, smiling. "Good hunting, Ooman Damiana."