Episode 142: Monster (Aadya)

Aadya and Greg met in the conference room. They walked there together too, but once the large wood door had shut behind them a silence had enveloped them.

They stood, quiet, for an entire moment, ninety-seconds, until Greg turned to her. “She probably won’t eat you.”

“Did you say anything before you left? At all?”

“I said I was going out,” he recounted, a hint of a grin creeping up the apex of his mouth. “It was an intervention.”

“For what?” she asked.

“I doubt it will be an issue after last night,” he prefaced his confession. “But I had a drinking problem.”

Aadya wasn’t sure drinking could be a problem, so she just said, “Oh.”

After a moment, because clearly it was significant to him, she said, “Do you need anything?”

Maybe she should stop drinking.

“I had some medicine from Konrad, with instructions to get more from Zero. Will I need it?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I’ve never tried to stop drinking.”

She might know soon. She wasn’t sure how attached to it she was. The idea made her recoil, because she enjoyed her drinking nights.

“I can plan to see Zero later to be safe. Anyway, my mom has no idea where I am.”

Aadya pulled herself against him as best she could and kissed him. “If you decide you want to talk about this later, we can. if this was it…”

She kissed him again, because he had no obligation to share more with her. After their talk about Molly, and everything she had meant to his life, she knew this would be a difficult morning for both Greg and his mom, not just because he was bringing home a wife after a few days but because she, Aadya guessed, had loved Molly too.

If he didn’t want to delve more into the drinking, she was fine with what he had offered. She would support him, and at least cut back and only drink at festivals. If at all.

“I’m ready.” Aadya said.  She held his hand.

“Later, whenever you want to know,” he offered. He kissed her again.

Now, they both had to focus on his mom.

She promised to be herself, that whoever this woman was she would have to learn to accept her as she was.

She promised to try, and not be stubborn about the previous promise.

Whatever happened, this was for Greg. She would be what Greg needed.

The only issue was her nerves, and how well meeting her last mother-in-law had gone (deadly, dangerous, disaster).

She slipped her fingers across his wrist and palm and wove them with his. “Hopefully she doesn’t get mad about your over existing.”

She meant to tease him, but it sounded flat beneath the waves of angst. At least she was from Babylon; it was strange to be with a human in some ways, such as the lack of pointed ears, but he was from a place that was more predictable and he was definitely not albino. Things were likely to be okay.

“I get it,” Greg replied – to the mad comment. “You’ve seen me. Now imagine me in a bed all day. Doing nothing.”

She didn’t want to. But she could see the broken man beneath the flirty aggression the night they met. He wasn’t flirting just to flirt, he was flirting because he had nothing to lose.

“Is there anything I should avoid saying?” she asked

He squeezed her hand, but still didn’t transport them. “I don’t think so.”

“Anytime, then,” she teased.

Greg looked down at their hands and smiled, a small exhale of amusement heard just before the travel pack moved them outside of a creamy white house with oversized bushes teeming with flowers. A white metal door stood between them and another door.

She took a deep breath, and heard him do the same.

Breathe, she reminded herself, for the future. It was just a person; she met new people often. Daily.

“Maybe she isn’t home,” Greg hoped.

“Nervous?” she teased. She was. He had to be. Unless she was misreading him.

“If you aren’t, it’s because you don’t understand yet,” he replied. He took a step toward the door. She felt her water flush her body in a cool don’t panic wave.

There she stood. The goliath of the past hour or three, the woman that had brought the man beside her into the world.

She was tall. About the same height as Aadya, which in all the realms was tall for a female.

She had his lips and green eyes and the same copper hair, cascading in loose wide waves that left Aadya wondering where Greg’s curls came from.

She had narrow eyes; green but narrow, possibly because of how she was looking at Greg, which resembled many angry things at once. A scowl most encompassed it. Her mouth opened. “Going out?’

“I did. I went out,” Greg replied.

He sounded innocent, like he hadn’t just changed his entire life.

She looked at Aadya, her twins protruding too much to feign innocence, her red and white striped clothing too alluding and not at all hiding her future. She should have just brought all the kids.

His mom’s arms folded across her chest and her body blocked the doorway. “They found your truck in Oakland.”

After a moment of watching his mom stare Greg down, Aadya took a quiet breath and stepped forward, Greg in hand. “Hi, I’m Aadya.”

“Mom,” Greg said, as though he were taming her. “This is.”

He froze. She tried to hard not to laugh. Between how terrible of an idea it was and how awful her greeting had turned out.

“A person,” he finished.

Not really, a fairy, your wife, your forever.

“Aadya, this is my mom, Karina.”

Karina, Greg’s mom. Carina, her daughter. She laughed, under her breath.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she replied. She wanted to shake her hand, but she should have done that already, and Greg’s hand was hot beneath hers. Or hers was hot. She couldn’t tell.

His mom stood there for a moment, then let them inside her home. The floors creaked beneath their feet, with paths worn into the stain of the wood. There were two main rooms: the living room with a tv and a computer and the kitchen with dark green cabinets and chairs set at the counter.

She squeezed Greg’s hand and smiled when he looked at her.

“Have some coffee.”

“What was your truck doing in Oakland?”

“Being rejected by my friend.”
“Since when do you have friends?” she demanded to know.

“It’s nice to see you too, Mom.”

His mom stopped in the corner of the kitchen, next to a coffee machine. “How do you like your coffee? Black?”

“Yes, please.”

His mom pulled a large ceramic mug, blues and creams in crisscrossing patterns covering the outside. She lifted the coffee pot and poured steaming liquid, until the cup was almost full.

She handed it to Aadya, but didn’t offer anything to Greg. She did watch him, for any response.

And that’s when she knew. Her anxiety didn’t matter, Greg’s did. This was his mom and he needed her there, to be something more than nerves.

She let it go, all of it, and focused.

“How did you meet Greg?” his mom asked.

Aadya took a sip of the coffee. It was hot and bitter. She didn’t like coffee, but she took another drink. She could drink coffee, if it made things easier.

She could be a person too.

“He was at a zoo, and we met at one of the exhibits. He needed some help, after his shirt got caught on something.”

Her life was basically a zoo.

“It was the komodo dragon exhibit,” Greg added.

“And work?”

“I’m still living off the interest,” he replied. The money that entwined them more, because it had been given by Talise.

She was proud of who Talise had become, and how she had stepped into her own interests in helping instead of just following in the kingdom’s footsteps. Her and Niels’ charity would …

Greg. This was Greg’s moment.

She smiled at him, while he rocked his hands against the counter he was leaning against and came over to the island she sat at.

Behind where she had stood, Aadya noticed a large glass jar full of knobby pigs feet.

“I might have found one of the boys,” he told his mom.

“You’ve thought that before. It’s time to let them go,” his mom insisted.

She didn’t want to be the person that defended him and his sanity, but he wasn’t offering anything either. She can her hand across Greg’s back, because whatever kind of person she was supposed to be she was his wife first.

“I met Jay too,” she supplied. “They look alike.”

His mom turned away to face the sink. her hands slipped into a drawer. “You must be from that parallel universe, then,” she scoffed.

If she were Titania, she would be pulling something out of the drawer that would aid in murdering her.

She was not, Aadya continued to remind herself. There were plenty of normal things that could occupy drawers.

Aadya watched her turn, her hands holding a slight tremor of frustration back. The drawer must have been an excuse to recover from whatever emotion had swallowed her being. Lightening the mood was next, then.

“How did you guess?” Aadya asked.

She laughed, but her tone sharpened, “He doesn’t need someone perpetuating his delusions.”

Greg had grand visions for things and a mind that could stay several steps ahead, but he was far from delusion. He wasn’t sure when his mom would be introduced to Elesara, but Aadya knew once she was the delusions comments would become jokes, or stop, depending on her personality. Aadya hoped they would become jokes.

She wondered where Greg’s father was. Dead? Not close to Greg?

Murdered by his mom.

That thought was a joke, to herself.

Jokes were meant to be shared when things were awkward, instead she was encouraging the mood. This wouldn’t do. She began looking around for some context clues as to how to relate to Karina. Her mother-in-law. The house was small. It was the kind of house people lived in because it was reasonable for their family – cozy. She wondered what Greg thought of her living environment, the size and chaos and decor.

She kept getting distracted in her nerves to do this right. If she kept letting her mind escape she would never connect.

“Maybe I can bring Jay by sometime, if you want?” Greg asked.

His mom raised an eye toward him. “Bring him by from where?”

“I got an apartment,” Greg replied.

Aadya tried not to laugh, because somehow Greg made moving into her bedroom and life sound simple and easy.

It felt simple.

His mom was looking at her and she was a strange girl with a very large belly full of babies.

Not his babies. In some ways this was stupid. She was a queen and didn’t need in-laws or boyfriends or babies.

Yet she was here.

Greg got up and opened the fridge.

“What happened to you?” his mom asked.

“What do you mean?” Greg asked from around the fridge door. He buried himself back inside and pulled something out.

“You look really young – healthy.”

“I stopped drinking,” he said.

Well, unless they were telling her everything…

Aadya mustered a serious tone. “I see why you wanted me to come.”

“Ashamed to come home alone?” his mom mused.

“No,” Aadya said, dismissing the comment. She stood and headed toward the big jar. “He promised these existed and I was certain they didn’t. I never would have believed.”

If she had to, she could stomach them. Her visit to the sea kingdom had taught her a lot about what she could and could not handle eating. Feet – for Greg – were on the could list.

“Galaretka? Do you want some?”

She had succeeded in diverting the conversation. The word… she tried to sort where it came from and what it meant about Greg. She looked around the living room edge, which she could see without turning or moving, and noticed a small shelf with a few books about Poland on them. Polish… interesting.

“I have to try it. Please,” Aadya replied.

Please kill me for thinking this was a good idea, more so. Greg looked amused as he ate his normal yogurt.

His mom went to the fridge and pulled out a jiggly mass full of the beige pig stuff. She served Aadya some.

Jiggly pig parts. Hadn’t Nell mentioned pigs were intelligent…

She drove the thought away. There were also peas and carrots and parsley within the concoction.

“How many children do you have? Or is this your first?” his mom asked.

“These two aren’t my first,” she replied. A number would have caused new issues and, as she scooped a bite toward her mouth, she promised herself not to give much away that day.

“Whoa,” Aadya said. Somehow, whatever was in the jar had been transformed into something edible. It wasn’t terrible, though she wasn’t a big fan of whatever comprised the jelly part. Overall, it was decent. “That’s nothing like I expected. It’s good.”

“She was born without taste buds,” Greg said, apologetic.

“At least she has manners,” his mom said.

Aadya took a sip of coffee, which decidedly did not go with the galaretka.

“My grandfather loves raw fish. Squishy and chewy things even. Really anything. But he likes it. I’m used to strange foods, textures. That’s most of the barrier to enjoying things like this. Once you overcome that, the flavor is good. And my father was a merchant. He brought a wide variety of things home.”

Greg’s mom smiled. “You are welcome here any time.”

She had no clue what she had done right. She wasn’t going to ask, because being herself was apparently working.

“Thank you. Hopefully,” she looker at Greg, and was painfully aware she was glowing despite her effort not to. “Hopefully, I’ll be around more.”

“And you?” his mom asked him, as though he planned to hide in his apartment instead of see her, while Aadya ate too much of things she didn’t love.

“I’ll bring Jay over tomorrow, if you want to see him again,” Greg suggested.

“Do you need anything? Help moving?” his mom asked.

Deflecting was healthy. It made sense – why should Jay be alive and suddenly found after days? He shouldn’t. It was simple logic. But, he was. What they needed was all three sons home.

Even if she could get them, which she knew she could.

She paused. That thought, brought by luck, would need to be revisited.

“I was just telling him he needed to throw a housewarming party,” Aadya teased.

“I should. The place has a really strange fountain you’d like.”

“Do you enjoy gardens at all? “ Aadya asked.

His mom pointed out the window, beyond the pigs feet and sink, to her yard. Aadya moved toward the window and looked out.

“A bit,” his mom said.

She took it all in: flowers, in disarray and blooming. It felt natural, not planned or over groomed.

Another piece of her settled into the idea of Greg, and how well he fit in her life. She looked at him and smiled, her heart pounding in her chest.

It was silly, because it wasn’t as though he was the one that loved gardens.

But, he already loved someone who did.

“May I?” Aadya asked. She moved toward a door that led into the garden. There was an energy about it, with bees buzzing and a world of houses and fences around it, that made it feel like someone had crafted a space in the world devoid of any rules. This was where life was allowed to be, wild and free and entangled in other lives.

She took her time, smelling each: coneflowers and cornflowers, bluebells, sprawling blanket flowers that stretched their yellow petals to soak up the sun, exposing their deep red centers. There were poppies, too, and lupines in purples and pinks.

Bees were everywhere, hundreds more than the Dells.

“Greg doesn’t have a job or income,” his mom stated aloud.

The sound broke her trance and she looked back at them.

“That’s okay, I have both,” she said.

“Besides, I’ve convinced her that aluminum is priceless, so every time I need money I just sell her some.”

“He did,” Aadya acknowledged.

She loved the garden, but was curious if his mom knew anything about meanings. She found a red columbine.

“Did you know this flower symbolizes anxiety?” she asked as she let the flower fall from her hand. “I try to keep it in the background of my garden, but the red flowers are so beautiful.”

“I like my garden big, bright, and full of bees,” she stated.

If the Dells had bees like this garden… maybe the chaos had some value. She could start a wildflower garden, try and attract a colony.

“How have yours faired” she asked. “Mine have had some difficulties.”’

“Besides that parasite, they’ve been fine.”

She hadn’t heard of a parasite before. What the Dells needed was a better science program and a larger supply of scientists.

A parasite… she was familiar with one that impacted the bees. “Garlic,” she stated. “Small garlic plants will help deter those.”

“What’s wrong with your bees?” his mom asked, her forehead turned down.

“They keep rejecting their queens,” she said, amused. She seemed to have the same issue. She looked at Greg, and he smiled, encouraging this point of connection. She didn’t need the encouragement, she was beyond ecstatic to have something to bond with his mom over. “Possibly from a lack of diversity.”

“Maybe you just grow the wrong flowers,” his mom replied. “I don’t know anyone else having that problem.”

“Parallel universe, remember?” Greg chimed in.

“Maybe a plant is toxic to them,” Aadya mused. “I’ll have one of my…” workers would not fly. She needed a new word. “Friends,” she settled on. “Look into it.”

They were sort of her friends, but with life she didn’t have much time for strong relationships outside of family.

“And why do you know where Jay was?” she demanded to know.

She had heard the friends comment, the uncertainty…

“I help lost children find homes. Sometimes that home is my own – I’m fortunate to have enough resources to do so. He needed help, and I offered. It was a big coincidence that I met Greg.”

“At the zoo…” Greg said.

“And why were you at the zoo?” she asked skeptically.

“To think,” Greg replied.

Aaya didn’t laugh, but she wanted to.

“Hm,” his mom said.

Now Aadya laughed, because it was a sound she was certain Greg had gotten from her parenting.

“Anyway, Aadya does have a job, and she’s hired me to do some freelance work, so we need to go soon.”

Aadya has a job was such an understatement. Aadya makes up free moments because Greg deserves them was more accurate.

She had no free time for the rest of indefinitely, and the only way she made it work was accepting that there were things she could delegate. It wasn’t her, or Mel’s, responsibility alone.

Speaking of deserving time, his mom would need more than one visit.

“Can we bring a dessert for dinner tomorrow?” she asked.

She would have spaced the visits, but death and all… two in a row and a week before a third would be an acceptable pacing.

His mom gaped at her. “You want to come back?”

“Yes,” she replied, of course she wanted to continue working on a relationship with his mom; she mattered to him.

Even Greg look surprised she was suggesting it.

“See?” his mom said to Greg. “Didn’t I tell you it was a good day to stop?”

“Yeah,” Greg replied, glum. “You fixed me.”

Aadya ran her hand across his back, and looked at his mom. “Thank you, for pushing him a little. I don’t know where I would be without having met him.. all that gold and no aluminum..”

Greg stood. “Can I have the roll that’s in the cabinet? She’s giving me an airplane for it.”

Aadya bit her tongue, because otherwise she would have burst into laughter. While she did, Greg went into the kitchen pretended to search for it.

His mom looked between them, her brow furrowed. “Airplanes are made of aluminum.”

Now, Aadya laughed.

“The ones in her universe are made from some kind of organic material.”

She imagined Alum. “Though, his is essentially aluminum,” she joked.

“Organic aluminum?” his mom asked. She seemed to relax with their joking. She took a drink of her own coffee then stared at Greg till he turned to her.

“Six o’clock. Don’t be late,” she ordered.

“What can we bring?” Aadya asked.

“Yourselves. Greg can’t cook and you have a real job.”

Cooking was easy, with an agreeable partner. If Greg was willing, she would show him something simple. They could even go to Poland, if he had any connection to there, and get something or make something. If not, she would do it herself or take one of the festival desserts.

“What about a dessert?” she offered again.

“I look forward to it,” his mom agreed.

“It was nice to meet you,” Aadya said. It had been; all of her nerves had vanished into curiosity and hope. She seemed like a bossy, kind, all around strong mother.

She seemed like family, and she was. Aadya just had to assimilate.

“You too, Aadya. I am interested to get to know you better.”

“As am I. You have a lovely home and garden.”

She loved the chaos of his mom’s garden. Each display was a look into who someone was. Greg must have inherited her creativity and mix of planning and spontaneity.

Like her garden, it was a beautifully executed combination.

“Thank you,” his mom replied. She pulled Greg into a hug, which he returned with a bit of a pat. She looked at Aadya, then after a second pulled her into a hug too.

Aadya hugged back. She smiled at Greg, aware that she was glowing again, and took his hand. “Home?”

Greg grinned, then looked to his mom. “Bye, Mom.”

She took the hint and transported them.

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