Episode 190: Helicopters (Talise)

This was supposed to be a joke, but the day had taken a turn for the serious and she was unable to see the humor in her dying wish. It wasn’t a dying wish, it was a babymoon and a last moment married and a last change to be just her and Niels before a lot of things changed.

She used the amazing view, of waterfalls and trees and huge rocks with penguins perched on their edges and herds of horned animals with shaggy brown coats, to hide her face as she processed everything that was about to happen.

It was perfect, because it was a chance to feel before she had to pretend it was okay. Being the heir, accepting that what was about to happen would happen, was tough. Her fingers were laced with Niels’s, forever his. No matter what happened in the coming days, she was his.

Her other hand stretched along the edge of the windowpane. The distraction was useful and breathtaking. Niels, as always, had blown her away with everything. She hadn’t expected miles and miles of waterfalls, falling over the crest of every mountain edge and hill into pools that churned toward the next. They flew up stream, toward the heart of wherever they were.

This, Niels, was perfect.

“You know,” she said, feeling how words felt as they left her lips. They didn’t sound pained, or scared, like she worried. She continued, “there are only two days left in the week and I’m about fifty percent likely to die today, doing this. Or maybe I’m forty percent more likely to die tomorrow since I won’t be home today.”

“Can you recover from death by helicopter?” he teased.

Of course she could… but her babies. She resisted the urge to put her hand against her stretched stomach. Years ago, she had been teased for having kids so young. She was young, but she loved them so much. These two were special in a new way, because they were her first with Niels.

In a few hours, she would be in labor.

“I can recover from being digested, but that doesn’t mean I want to,” she replied.

He grinned, that amazing grin that was just for her. “I’ll let the pilot know this should be a death-free flight.”

Then he kissed her, with the lips that tabloids tried to describe but no story had ever done them justice. They were amazing, and the way he kissed was so Niels. It was firm but desiring, instead of demanding. He always asked for her with touches that said I want you to want me. He was amazing.

She needed to snap out of it. He wasn’t dying, he was fine. She was the one who was going to die. And she wasn’t even going to die forever. And their babies would be fine, because Zero was a great doctor and they had magic and she was having dragons. No need to drown when she was a hundred feet in the air.

When their lips fell apart and her eyes absorbed the prickly shadow of his jawline, she breathed. This was all going to be fine.

She followed his eyes as they flicked out the window. His arm wrapped across her to point toward a large animal with a fish flopping between its boney tusks. She laughed, then kissed him one more time.

“I love you for doing this for me,” she told him.

“Every waterfall on the continent in under five hours,” he reiterated.

Yeah, Niels, you found the perfect place for my dying wish, good for you, except she loved him and it was perfect.

“I think I should die more often,” she joked.

Never again, was the hope. She would die, sort of, but not like this. Being eaten by an animal or other little tragedies were no big deal. A sword to the heart didn’t even bother people. This mattered though.

It was why she had agreed to delivering the babies so early, even though she had just found out she was pregnant. She wanted them to have the best chance and Zero had promised they would likely survive as regular humans, and they were dragons. Plus, she needed to make sure she was married when they were born. If the order of dying and babies happened wrong, or if someone took the babies… She would never forgive herself. This was hard, but Niels would get to be there.

The helicopter turned to follow the water and a huge arc of waterfall tumbled across the edge, filling a giant turquoise pool with water.

“Niels!” She turned to him, her eyes wide and her emotions ridiculously over excited.

Niels laughed, and his fingers brushed her hair behind her ear. “This one’s lame, wait for the next one.”

There was no way a waterfall could top this.

“I bet they’re all lame,” she said, her eyes glued back to the window.

“I’m pretty sure Elesara is the only realm that’s fucking amazing,” he whispered into her ear.

“Because it’s yours?” she teased. “We don’t have waterfalls like this. Or helicopters.”

“Because it’s yours.” He brushed his face against her jaw and cheek and his hand pulled her face toward him, so he could kiss her lips.

Ahh, he tasted so good.

“Do you want a helicopter?” his pools of blue eyes asked her.

She tried to brush her hair back, but it was already tucked neatly behind her ear. She blushed instead, her skin warm.

“Do you think Pai or Loji would throw it off a cliff?” she managed to say.

He laughed and enveloped her. “I think Pai would be offended if you looked at a gnat the wrong way.”

“It was her turn to laugh, against the warmth of his arms. She pulled away, because waterfalls, but she knew he would be there when she wanted more.

“I want a helicopter,” she stated. “But I think that’s what dragons are for. Maybe though…”

“I think you need something to look forward to, since this week is guaranteed to suck,” Niels agreed, to the helicopter.

Talise held her thoughts for a moment. She had something to look forward to, even if it was silly. Even if it was silly, Niels deserved to know because he had an ostrich. Her thing couldn’t top Audacity.

She watched another waterfall pass then turned to face him. “So, I’ve been journaling this week,” she admitted.

“Anything big?” he asked, as though her journaling was no big deal.

“Really big,” she exaggerated.

His eyebrows raised and he brushed his blue hair tuff away from his eyes so he could see her better.

“I realized,” she said. “A few years ago on the day we got married I made a lot of mistakes. I’m writing them all down.

“Yeah? That was a rough day,” he teased.

“It was horrible,” she agreed. “Our next wedding will be better.”

“More purple,” Niels requested.

Talise laughed, but she felt a little self conscious because she had been giving the idea of a wedding some background thought. “How do you feel about not purple,” she asked.

She wanted an icy wedding in Denmark, something public and snowy. Something different.

“I didn’t know there were other colors,” Niels commented.

Her skin tinged pink, but she brushed it off because he had a point. She loved purple too much.

“Purple it is,” she conceded. “And silver and blue. A frosty blue.”

Niels pointed out the window and she turned to see where his finger led. Out the window, the helicopter swooped around large aqua pools that fed into thick green plants along ridges. Over a dozen waterfalls fell from the pools toward blue-green basins that looked shallow and warm. There was a wooden bridge floating across the water.

“We could have it there,” he said.

She looked at the top of the falls, where a patch of earth made a partial landbridge. The space was large enough for just their family to stand at, and maybe a few special other people.

It was not a snowy venue. It wasn’t Denmark. It was more breathtaking than anything she could imagine.

She looked at him, his face calm and poised as always. “Do you want that?”

“I want you, back, safe.”

Duh, she wanted herself back safe too. They were talking weddings though, not basic requirements.

“I promise to do my best to come home,” she said, to assure him.

“I know.” He hugged her and kissed her until they both forgot the tension of the upcoming delivery and not-attack.

It needed a cooler name, like Operation Don’t Panic.

“Look at those birds!” he exclaimed.

Here she was, making out with the most amazing man in the universe, and he was looking at birds. She turned to see them.

“Are they diving through the falls?” he asked.

Talise watched white birds with brown tipped wings swoop into the falls. Some emerged with little pebbles that shimmered when the sun hit them.

She pushed her hands over Niels’ face. “Suicide isn’t something to be in awe of, Niels.”

“Yeah but how are they not dying?”

Instead of answering, she kissed him, her hands still on his eyes. She felt him smile beneath her lips and when she pulled away he wrapped his arm behind her and they both watched the birds.

“Also,” she said, her eyes still transfixed on the waterfall as it began to slip into the distance. “The food. Our next wedding requires better food.”

“I’m thinking mac and cheese, and those little snack cakes Ach likes,” he suggested.

“Or, guitarios.”

A few years before, a company had asked Niels if they could make a cereal with his face on the box (and the rest of the band). They would be guitar shaped with sweet white frosting on them, like strings. “Why didn’t you let them make that cereal?” she asked.

“We should build a time machine and fix that. And we should bring the kids next time, this is amazing.”

The kids could come to the wedding. This was their time, their flight.

“What do you want at our wedding, that isn’t me or kids,” she asked.

If she focused on having a wedding, she could not focus as much on the reason she needed another wedding. It was ridiculous – dying and coming back so significantly that it broke her vows. She could be eaten and digested and her wedding would remain. Whatever was going to happen…

She laughed. Maybe she didn’t need another wedding, maybe everyone was overreacting because death and Nell’s hands (or whatever monster he was dictating) was different than death at someone else’s.

That would be nice.

He looked at her like she was insane but also well loved by someone equally as insane. “I don’t know. I was trying to figure out who should marry us. Your parents worked together last time.”

“Maybe we should see who doesn’t die by then and just let the living one win,” she joked.

He laughed, dark and temping and in that way that really made Niels Poulsen a God of Rock: dark and desired.

“Have you ever wondered…” she tried to think of a sentence that didn’t end in how many Dragons it takes to avoid dying, because at that moment she just wanted to stay alive and with Niels, but for some reason they were all accepting the dumb fate that they should die for a little bit for the greater good. But, she didn’t want to stress Niels out. He was going to have to deal with her dying and the kids. Then she wondered about his hair, and what it would look like if he didn’t have his signature floppy hanging over the edge of his face. Some might call them bangs, but he would probably be offended by the term. Also, there was no way he would ever cut it off. It was part of him, like waves were part of the sea.

So, she asked him a new question. “How many books you could read in a week?

“Nope. What was the real question?”

She looked down toward the ground beneath the helicopter and mumbled, “What you’d look like with your floppy stuff cut off.”

“An Eunuch, I think.”

Her body shook with laughter. “Probably.”

“You want me to dethrone my head?” he asked, more thoughtful.

“I was just curious. I like it,” she promised.

She did like it, and how he stood out. She loved pushing him back into the bed and brushing the hair way before kissing him.

“I think I’d look like my dad,” he replied.

His dad… she’d never met his dad because he was dead from some disease that humans got.

She was about to die, and apparently she was dying enough to go to death realm instead of just see black for a few hours and wake up like it had only been five minutes. Usually, it was just black. If she was dead, she could meet Mr. Poulsen for the first time.

If Niels wanted her to.

“Assuming it’s a choice,” she began. “Do you want me to find him?”

“I didn’t think of that,” he said too quickly. Then he was silent and she wondered if he was feeling things or thinking things or avoiding things. She almost interrupted him when he said, decidedly, “I don’t know.”

“Is that a yes but it’s a big deal?” she teased. “If I’m dead, I can’t be inconvenienced further.”

The idea of meeting his dad actually made her sort of want to die, for a little bit at least.

“I don’t know what you’d say to him,” Niels said.

He must have forgotten who she was, because she had enough words to fill forever with. She’d start with a hi, and her name, and her little Niels thing about the marriage and who he was and how they met and what he was up to and the kingdom and soon he’d be a Dells and Chainskull Death historian.

But, for the sake of not talking too much now and revealing her master plan, she said, “probably that his son is hot.”

Niels laughed. “Hi, I guess.”

“Hi, I’m your son’s wife and I was just stopping by and thought you’d want to meet me and know that he’s the most amazing person ever?” she suggested.

“Second-most,” he corrected.

“If I die, I get demoted.” Demoted from his fictional list of somehow thinking she was amazing. He was amazing, all the tabloids agreed.

“You’re still part of ever.”

His voice was more distant now so she snuggled against him. The helicopter was spinning around anyway so they were just going to see the same stuff again as they made their way back to the airport.

She smiled against his chest and let her hands push warmth from her hand through his body.

“So, what are you naming our boys?” she asked.

“I like Caspian, maybe. It has a personal connection. What are you naming them?”

“I like Alde,” she said. When she met Niels, he had a son named Valdemar, and she had once joked they could call him alde, from the middle of the name, but his nickname was firmly Val. Ever since, she’d loved the name and wanted a son named Alde. Jax was named after an artist, in honor of his dad. Now… it was her chance.

“Caspian and Alde?” he kissed her. “I think that works.”

She felt warmth spread through her in a rush. Caspian, because it mattered to him and he wasn’t going to give that story up easily, and Alde, because it mattered to her. It was perfect.

“I love both names,” she said against his chest. “Our boys.”

It mattered, to have two little humans that were part his and part hers. She loved his kids, and he loved her kids, but this was different. Theirs. Their first twins.

“Did I say thank you for this yet?”she asked.

“Almost.” He reached behind them and pulled a bag out. She ducked her head so he wouldn’t smack her. He set the pack on her lap and pulled his own onto his back. “The pilot won’t let us jump without chutes.”

Talise laughed. She was ready for a flight back cuddling. Jumping, privacy, would be much better. “Perfect,” she said.

She pulled her pack on. “You,” she added. “This. Thank you.”

He slid his hand against her cheek and pulled her near his lips. Her heart raced. “You, this. Thank you.”

She took his hand and pulled him to the door. They opened it and jumped together.

The feel of air whooshing past them made her stomach turn and for the first time, the babies kick. Not the first time, but the first time she noticed. It would be one of the last times too, which was bitter.

Niels pulled her against him. “I hope our chutes tangle.”

His lips were hot. Hotter than his body, which she admired frequently. She used air to push their bodies together and kissed him back, her hands wrapped between his body and the pack. “I hope so too. I would rather die today, with you.”

She didn’t mean it, because she wanted Caspian and Alde to be safe and okay. She wanted them protected from whatever nonsense crap she had to deal with.

“Mmmm,” Niels said into her ear. He kissed her from her ear, down her jaw, to her neck. “Control your destiny,” he said, tempting.

Her stomach flipped, in a way only the promise of love, forever, could do to her.

“No matter what, Talise… forever.”

“No matter what,” she agreed. No matter what.

They fell, tangled in each other, held in a moment that she would never forget. It was a defining moment, one that she could feel was hanging on the edge of significance. It was also a them moment, without any pressure or any obligation. Just them, just where she wanted to be.

It was funny, how important being where she wanted to be was. She didn’t give it much thought often, but today she did. Today, Niels, was hers.

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