The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 19. Chapter 19 - Auntie Peg, Dotty Marbles, & Heavyfeather

Theolan and the mystic were preparing a treatment for Lahari when they heard a quiet knock at their front door.

“I’ll get it, honey,” Theolan said to his husband, trying to make his voice sound less hollow.

He opened it and was greeted by Dotty Marbles and Auntie Peg with the three children. Thech, Jzuna, and Fennah had been with the queens and Ninyani since the evening two days prior.

“Hello, lovely people,” Theolan said to them, “Lahari is still… resting.”

“I’m sorry,” Dotty Marbles replied. “Peggy and I have an appointment, and we’ve kept these three wonderful individuals for as long as we could.” She looked down at them. “Thech, Jzuna, and Fennah, Peggy and I loved having you spend the last couple of days with us, and we’d love to have you over again tomorrow. We just need to run right now, but we’ll be back in the morning.”

“It’s no problem at all,” the mystic said, walking up to the little group. “Welcome back, kids. Are any of you hungry? We can make a snack if you’d like.”

Just as Auntie Peg and Dotty Marbles were heading back out the mystic’s front door, Sumi and Harakin came up the path toward the house. Sumi was holding a beaten and bloody child. The two young women warned the queens that the child’s skin was burning hot to the touch, and that they suspected the child was a Shift. Auntie Peg escorted them inside, then she and Dotty Marbles left the group again and headed back out into the Shifton streets.

“I feel bad making Theolan and the mystic take care of all those kids,” Dotty Marbles said.

“They can handle it. I feel bad making people wait. I hope Heavyfeather hasn’t been at the space for too long.”

Dotty Marbles let out a laugh. “It’ll be just fine if she gets there before us. What we’re doing is very important. I’m sure she won’t mind waiting.”

“I know it’s important,” Auntie Peg agreed. “That’s why I want everything to be perfect.”

“Peggy, it will be; it will be!”

A few minutes later, the two queens turned down a narrow alley and opened a door partway along it. They stepped into a dark hallway with a faint light at the end and headed in its direction. The two turned the corner, and the glow of several torches illuminated an immense woman.

Auntie Peg and Dottie Marbles stepped into the torchlight and looked up. Both of them were smiling.

“Hello, Heavyfeather,” Auntie Peg said up to the giantess.

“Sorry we’re late,” Dottie Marbles added.

“You ladies aren’t late for anything,” Heavyfeather replied in her booming voice. “I haven’t been waiting here even five minutes.”

Auntie Peg, Dottie Marbles, and Heavyfeather were standing together in a room that could accommodate the giantess. She was easily three times the height of the queens.

“Glad to hear you weren’t here long,” Auntie Peg said, giving Dottie Marbles a look, which she ignored.

“I think this space is going to be absolutely magnificent!” Dotty Marbles declared. “The back entrance where we came in is very convenient, and the big wooden main doors open onto Lesser Teshon Way; I couldn’t be happier. What do you suppose the Oselians used this place for?”

“Haven’t got a clue,” Heavyfeather rumbled. “This room must have been some sort of auditorium.”

The ceiling was very high and there was a large stage set into one of the walls, but there were no chairs or seating of any kind in the room.

“I used to explore this building,” the giantess said, and she added with a reverberating chuckle, “back when I was little. I don’t know why the second floor has all those matching empty rooms. The construction seemed odd to me as a child. They aren’t barracks; those are on the other side of Teshon City.”

“I can’t wait to see the rooms,” Auntie Peg replied. “When you told me about the upstairs of this building, it just sounded perfect! Do you mind waiting here, Heavyfeather, while Dot and I head up and check them out?”

A different booming voice interrupted the three women.

“Hello?”

Auntie Peg, Dottie Marbles, and Heavyfeather turned to the set of large glass doors that led out onto a wide enclosed pavilion beside the building.

A giant man was kneeling in the open space. He was looking in at the trio with a very surprised expression.

“Who are you?” he asked in a curious rumble.

The queens looked back at Heavyfeather.

“Another giant?” Dotty Marbles whispered.

“I’m sorry,” the huge man said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you ladies, but may I please speak with you?” He was staring at Heavyfeather.

She turned to Auntie Peg and Dotty Marbles. “Check on the upstairs and I’ll go out there with him.”

The glass doors to the pavilion were much taller than the wooden doors at the front of the building, and they had been Heavyfeather’s entrance. She ducked and exited through them, and the two giants stood facing each other. The walls that surrounded the space barely came up to either of their waists.

Heavyfeather asked the giant man, “Who are you?”

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he stated. “My name’s Ogomo.”

“I’m Heavyfeather,” she replied. “How is it we’ve never crossed paths?”

“I was born in Teshon City, but my sister and I left when I was 12 and I began to grow. I haven’t been back since.”

“Why didn’t you move into the underground?” Heavyfeather asked. “There were huge chambers below that could accommodate even me. Why did you leave the city?”

Ogomo looked confused. “What underground?”

His response surprised Heavyfeather. “You didn’t know about the underground? It’s where all the Bio-Shifts of Teshon City lived. I think the community was established over a century ago.” She then added in a growl, “A lot of our kind have been murdered over the years. I’m glad you escaped and were able to survive.” She smiled. “And I guess I should say, welcome back to Teshon City!”

Inside the old Oselian building, Auntie Peg and Dottie Marbles climbed a wide set of concrete stairs that led to the rooms on the second floor.

“Another giant?” Dotty Marbles whispered again.

“I know!” Auntie Peg replied dramatically.

“Could there be romance in the air?”

Auntie Peg paused and held up a hand. “Honey, Heavyfeather is a lesbian.”

“Oh?” Dotty Marbles replied, then realization came. “Oh!”

“Yeah,” Auntie Peg said.

“She and…”

Auntie Peg let out an amused laugh. “Yes!”

“They’re a couple?! They’re a couple! You’re totally right, Peggy,” and Dotty Marbles snickered at herself. “I think I’m just so into men, I never realized that she wasn’t! Heavyfeather is with Pinga, who knew? Well, I guess you did.” She chuckled again. “Sometimes I’m so oblivious.”

Auntie Peg laughed at her beloved, as the two poked their heads into the first room.

There was not much to it.

“It’s just an empty square with a window.”

Dotty Marbles looked into the next room and Auntie Peg checked the one across the hall.

“This one’s the same. It’s all so bland and grey.”

“Maybe we should paint it.”

Auntie Peg and Dottie Marbles stepped up to one of the windows that looked out over the city, and they embraced.

“It’s going to be perfect, isn’t it?”

“I think it is.”★