24 Marks

"So," Sarah was saying, "The difference between folks like me, and folks like you, Mingan and John is that your cells constantly regenerate through your connection to the powers that be, the great spirit, mother earth," waved her hand dismissively, "whatever you prefer to call it. Normal humans, mortals like myself just age day after day."

"We don't regenerate forever, though," John put in. "Eventually we wear out, for various reasons. We grow senile, tired of this world. Some last longer than others."

Elloreah nodded carefully where she sat leaning on the high back of a chair while John worked the tattoo needle on her back. It stung, but it caused relatively little pain.

"I knew, of course, that magic wears us thin. It is the same on my world, though also different, I suppose," she told them. "It is the mortal aspect that I always found baffling. I had seen the short span of lives of animals in our world, though even they were touched by magic. They would die more often and also repopulate more quickly than creatures of magic. I didn't realize that humans had such short life spans."

She caught Sarah's eye. "I'm truly sorry," she said to the blonde woman.

Sarah laughed and shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry for," she told Elloreah, patting her hand. Her large brown eyes sparkled with amusement. "I worry more about John outliving me..." she added, and though it was said with a teasing tone, Elloreah could feel the earnest concern in her new mortal friend.

"There," John said, lifting the needle. Elloreah let out a breath. "Your glamour is in place," he told her. "I hope you like this form, because they will be near impossible to change for some time."

She sat up stretching, almost relishing the way the twinge of pain caused when her movement pulled at the fresh wounds. "How long?"

John shrugged. "Depends on your regeneration rate," he worked to clean his tools. "A few years, I suppose?"

Elloreah let out a shaky laugh. "I doubt I'll need them that long, but I am sure that my people can remove them once I'm back home."

"Right," John said gruffly. "About that, Elloreah," he said, not looking at her. "We don't open gates from this side," he said, shaking his head. "Not anymore."

Elloreah nodded, determined not to lose hope. "Someone still might come for me," she said with forced confidence.

John shook his head. "Lass, I've been here for many many centuries. The gates between our realm and this are no longer what they once were. The last to open was over sixty years ago. Until you appeared, of course. The gates to nearly every realm, not just ours, have since been sealed from this side."

"Well, perhaps it is time for change," she replied with forced confidence.

John said nothing more for a long while as he cleaned his tools. Sarah dabbed at Elloreah's marks, wiping away the last remnants of welling ink and blood. John turned to her for a long moment, as if struggling for the right words.

"I cannae say I know for sure what can happen," he wiped his hands on a towel and looked down at them, considering. "But I do know that the Tutelar have locked down immigration to earth the last fifty years.

"There were a great number of wild, magical creatures that would slip between worlds just as you might change your clothes. They've found it more difficult to slip between realms, though their home world is much closer than yours is."

Elloreah nodded, and John reached out to her. "I don't tell you this to discourage you," he said kindly. "I tell you because you should know."

She took a breath and nodded. "Thank you, John, for your honesty."

He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "You're a sweet girl," he told her. "Like someone else I know." He made his way to Sarah then, ruffling her hair, and bending down for a kiss.

Sarah giggled and pushed him away. "Stop it," she told him, grinning ear to ear. "You still haven't answered all Elloreah's questions."

John sighed at that and nodded. "There is more to it. The Tutelar are, part of the reason behind the changes." John went to her then, checking over the tattoos he'd made on her shoulder. "These look good," he told her.

"Tutelar, is that who Mingan works for?" Elloreah asked.

"Yes and no," he told her. "Mingan is associated with the Tutelar, but he is more of a contract worker. He is tied to them by family and honor."

Elloreah pulled her shirt back into place. "What about the Tutelar? Mingan's link to them, I mean."

"Mingan's sister works closely with the Luminary, or overseer of this region. Yes I know, pompous title. He's based some two hundred miles south. Mingan helps them, in his way, mainly for his sister. You see, Mingan is from a very strong family. And his sister is a Seer, one of the most powerful currently working with the Tutelar."

"That's enough."

Elloreah, spun, startled to find Mingan there, leaning against the doorway. She hadn't sensed him. Her hand went to her collar bone, and she realized that the rune to control her powers that John had given her must have worked as he'd promised.

"Though I don't mind you filling her in, I'd prefer to decide for myself what I tell her of my family," he added gruffly. "Certain meddling old fools know more than is good for them." He pushed off from the door frame and limped towards Elloreah. "So, John finished your marks," he said nodding at the tattoo needles, clean and laid out in their trays to be put away. "May I see?"

She nodded, unbuttoning the top few buttons of her blouse and pulling down the fabric. His hands were warm as he placed one on her bare shoulder, the other holding the garment away from the freshly healed ink. She closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of his breath on her neck and shivered despite herself. He'd had a strong effect on her with her empathic abilities, but now, with those emotional ties cut, it was as if the physical attraction she'd had towards him only grew in urgency.

"Where is the new one?" he asked John. "The one that blocks her empathic nature?"