Chapter 29

Ben Connelly did follow the Faeri Lord of the White River country. He slogged out of Lake Union’s chill and just walked with Habben for a time. The further he walked, the better he felt. Habben had been right about that.

He studied the ruins of Seattle in the few places where they survived the obliteration of the Reclaimers and the cataclysmic collapse of the Veil –none of which he knew anything about. Most of the city was gone, superseded in time and space by the makings of the Veil. It had been replaced by beautiful Addl’laen, who dominated most of the Denny regrade with her court, and the Elvine city. And soon enough, he was ready to start asking questions.

“What would you know, Ben?” Habben asked first.

“I don’t know where to begin.” he admitted. “I don’t even know what happened.”

“Well then there’s a good place to start lad.” The Faeri smiled that eerie smile of his.

They’d rounded the east face of Addl’laen into her southern exposure at a range of a hundred yards and now came into sight of two figures standing together. Ben Connelly recognized Shannon Hunter almost immediately.

“Is that…” He started to question, but both thought better of himself and was cut off by the Faeri, who drew him to a halt.

“No.” Habben said. “It was, but no longer.”

“That’s Shannon Hunter. I know it is.” Ben said.

“No. That’s the Lady White Leaves, Ben. Shannon never existed. She always was the Lady White Leaves. From the day she was born, she was. She just didn’t know until she went to Addl’laen.
Listen well now, lad. Addl’laen, is the holy of holies. She, is the Tree of Life, for all. She, like all trees, can sacrifice herself, to save a life. She took a dangerous gamble, and won. That’s what happened, Ben...
Our great mother sacrificed herself, and every single one of us to save that one leaf, right there.” And the Faeri spoke emphatically as he pointed. His finger fell squarely on the dark little figure at Shannon’s paled side. Not on Shannon at all. But Deh Leccend.

“That Leaf, Black. That Leaf is the killer you’ve been looking for. It was he who slew your partner, Mr. Fastez, was it?” Habben was quick to lay a gentle hand on Ben’s arm. Ben looked from the duo in the shadow of Addl’laen to the Faeri and back again. He blinked. For some reason, Carlos was at rest in Ben's mind. He did not feel so disturbed by his partner’s loss. Something had changed in him for the greater.

“I’m glad to see you’ve grown.” Habben smiled softly. “Now, let me tell you, the miracle it is to be here with you today, is inconsequential to what really troubles me. Perhaps, you can help me solve it?”

“I don’t think I even understand what you’ve said already, creature. How could I help you solve any of your bizarre talk?” Ben spoke bitter and shook his head.

“I’m sorry.” He promptly apologized. Habben’s expression didn’t change at all.

“Addl’laen sacrificed her life, to save that one. A killer. The killer of killers. Why do you think that is? Doesn’t that trouble your detective’s mind, agent?
More to the point. Why would she save that one, bound to the Lady White Leaves’ entire ordeal, hoping by some miraculous loophole in the laws of life, that she might keep herself alive in the gesture? That’s a ludicrous gamble, you know. So much life at stake, and she couldn’t even be sure it would work.
It’s doubly complex though, when you figure, if the Lady White Leaves failed to stop the Powers, Traemin and Gane, the Black Leaf would have likely already perished. And she would still die. Maybe she took the gamble, knowing her death was inevitable if she didn’t.
But I think there’s more to it than that. Can you tell me what it is?” The Faeri was long winded, but Ben was tracking now. He could see the oddities in the act -forgetting the fact that it was all positively unbelievable from the start.

Ben decided to assume what the Faeri was saying was true. After all, he was talking to a Faeri.

He didn’t even have to think about his answer. Standing here, unnoticed by Shannon and her dark companion, beneath the Tree of Life, in the company of a Faeri Lord, everything just seemed so clear. Every piece of the puzzle just clicked into place.
It was Shannon. The answer was the Lady White Leaves.

“Yes.” Habben smiled widely. “I’ve thought as much. But Why?”

Shannon was the answer. Ben could feel it, but all those puzzle pieces didn’t display a clear picture once put together. He watched the Black Leaf turn and walk away from her. Shannon gave chase playfully.

The answer was right there on the tip of his tongue, lit up so well it blinded him to its obviousness. Love.

“Imagine, Ben.” Habben started as if reading his mind yet again.

“Imagine standing before a Goddess, and being all that she sees. Why at the end of all things would Addl’laen sacrifice herself, and leave those two, alone and alive.
You see. Shannon, the Lady White Leaves, wears her leaves. Addl’laen’s sacrifice could not kill her. In some ways, I’ve begun to wonder if now she’s fully Faeri. I wonder if she will age and die, or live forever alongside us to ensure the Powers never come back. But that’s beside the point.
Just imagine standing before mother earth, our mother, Addl’laen’s mother, the goddess herself. Imagine being all that she sees for that dire moment in time where her only child, the tree, has died.
Why would Addl’laen choose that?”

“Love.” Ben said what he’d already thought and Habben had hinted at. “She wanted Earth to see Love.”

“So that’s it then.” The Faeri seemed disappointed. How anticlimactic, his sigh said. And yet, it had a peculiar mix of, 'just as he’d suspected.'

“I guess so.” Ben said, staring after the disappearing figures of the Lord and Lady of the Leaves Black and White. But then it really hit him.

Why did Addl’laen do that?

Perhaps they just weren’t smart enough to figure it out. Perhaps it was not for the children of the tree to understand. Or maybe, just maybe, there was no answer.

Ben scratched that idea instantly. It was something more.

Something...foreboding. Something...dark.

* * *

The Leaves had no concept of attention from others watching them. They were the only ones who remembered the entire thing. Most everyone else was so newly reborn they likely couldn’t piece it all together just yet, if ever. They cared little for any eyes that might find them, -too happy to have just made it through together. The ordeal was at last behind them, and judging by the odd outcome, they rejoiced in the fact that they had made a difference. If they hadn’t, things would’ve turned out just as Shannon had expected –bleakly for all.

In that line of thought, she suddenly found herself thinking of how it all began.

“Deh?” Shannon asked. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“You may ask me anything, always, Lady White Leaves.” He nodded with a graceful smile.

“It’s silly.” Shannon smiled back.

“I don’t mind.” Deh answered.

“Ok.” Shannon stifled her grin as best she was able. “Why… why were you shooting those trucks that night? At Murton and Norton? I mean, why shoot at trucks? Of all the things to shoot, you take out a bunch of tonkas? I keep wondering why. It just struck me as bizarre when it was happening. And I might have never seen you, had you not been. And this whole end might never have come.”

“Oh?” He started, arching an obsidian brow.

“Why were you there at all?” Shannon spoke over him.

“Easily answered.” He grinned. “It would seem that despite my orders to hand down the admonishing, by the bigger picture, I was there to meet you.”

Shannon frowned. That was a nice answer and all. In fact, it was a beautiful answer, better than what she’d asked for. But it was not what she’d asked for. She wanted to know the direct reason for his being there that night, and for why he’d shot at the dump truck fleet at all. It hadn’t made sense to her when this all began, and it didn’t make any sense now. Such petty puny displays of his power made anonymously made zero sense.

“Not what I meant.” She glowered playfully.

“Oh.” He answered. “Why was I there?”

“Yeah…” She eyed him evenly.

“You don’t know?”

“No.” She firmed up.

“Then I’ll have to tell you some time.” He smiled, turned, and started walking away. Shannon gasped a mockery of offense, then gave chase. There really was all the time in the world to hear that story.

She supposed…it could wait.