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The Redemption of Lily Marks

Nathanial was cross-legged on his bed, meditating. The focus seemed to be on how well things had been going recently. There had been no threats against his life, or his family and friends' lives in like a week. That had to be some kind of record, given recent events. Garret had been home almost every day, and he was seeing the pups off to school, even offering to drive them.

This is amazing, Nathanial thought. I couldn't ask for a single other thing right now.

*Nathanial.* It was Zhaohui, the entity from the Elemental Plane of Light that had befriended him after his fight with two Society Investigators. *Greetings, young Mage. How are you?*

*I'm doing fine, thanks. Actually, better than fine. Things couldn't be better.*

Zhaohui seemed to smile. *I am pleased to hear it. I wish to speak with you about something, in person. Would you like to come to the Elemental Plane to discuss it?*

*The Elemental Plane of Light? Um, okay. Just a moment.*

Nathanial unfolded himself and stood up. He thought about how to open a portal to the Plane of Light, and then decided to simply try it. The result was about the same as opening a portal to the Plane of Darkness except that the wall opposite the aperture looked like someone had turned on a sunbeam. The view through the portal was flat, bright, and white at first, then became slightly differentiated. Nathanial still couldn't tell exactly what he was looking at. What if he stepped through into a colossal light bulb or something and fell a great distance?

*Zhaohui? Will it be all right if I come through here?*

*Yes, Nathanial. It will support you.*

Trusting the entity, Nathanial hopped through the portal and closed it. The "ground" was apparently tenuous, but felt mostly solid under his paws. And his view was much better when everywhere had the same level of illumination. It looked like the middle of a cloudy sky but there was more light than during overcast. Everything was various shades of white with some yellows and silvers mixed in. Everything was bright, of course, but Nathanial found his vision improved the longer he was here.

*Welcome.*

Zhaohui appeared in front of him.

Nathanial tried speaking aloud. "Hello."

Zhaohui seemed to hear him but answered with telepathy. *Glad you could make it.*

"You wanted to talk about something?"

*Yes, young Mage. You've been doing well recently?*

"Yes, very! Things are going great, compared to lots of what happened since the start of school."

*Are you wondering why that might be?*

"No, not really. Well, um, if you're asking if I have an idea why, well, we're finally getting a grip on some things, and figuring out how best to deal with the rest."

*Good, yes, that is part of it. There is more, however.*

"More?" Nathanial's ears wavered and his tail drooped in confusion.

*Yes. You see, you have another benefactor.*

He tilted his head to one side. "Oh?"

*Someone who has recently decided your well being is important.*

"Um...well, there's... You mean in my plane or...?"

*They were there once, but no longer.*

Nathanial's ears were almost horizontal, and his tail hung straight down, so deep was his concentration. "Someone who was here, then died, I guess..." It seemed important he figure this out on his own. "They recently decided they should..." A flash of insight. "...send me well being? Well, I can scan for that, let me see..." Nathanial cast out his senses. He accustomed himself to the background energy of the Plane of Light, then worked his way deeper into it. There, he felt something. It was unfamiliar at first but when he recognized it, he did a double take.

"Who is it?" he wondered. "Family, vaguely familiar, female, died recently..." The jumble of unfamiliar signals swirled around him for a moment before snapping into focus.

"Lily?!"

*Correct, Nathanial.*

"What?! How? Why? When? Where? No, there is no Where in the afterlife. Lily? Can't be, but... Wait a minute. I remember her energy from...before, when she was alive, even though I couldn't sense it at the time. Something's different, it's..."

*She now cares about your well being, Nathanial.*

"Yeah. Yeah, I can sense that." His ears perked up, but his muzzle twisted in confusion as he tried to process this.

"W-What about, um-- Does...?"

*Yes, Nathanial. She would like to see you, but only if you are willing, of course.*

A spectrum of emotions swirled across his features, including uncertainty, fear, and finally, longing.

"She...can't hurt me anymore, can she?"

*Most assuredly not.*

"Then..." Nathanial took a deep breath. "...Okay."

Tendrils of light glowed to life, then coalesced into the form of a Fur and took on detail. Lily stood before him, in the clothes she had worn the night she died, but the expression on her face couldn't have been more different.

"M--" began Nathanial, then he switched gears. "Lily."

The white Fox smiled. A genuine one.

"Hello, Nathanial. You're in control of this meeting. That means you get to decide what you say to me and what you ask me. I..." She trailed off and stayed silent.

Nathanial thought about shouting, snarling, and crying, but finally just breathed, "...Why...?"

Lily took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. "I've been wondering that myself since I got to the afterlife. Here's what I've been able to figure out. I was seduced away from being the more or less decent person I am, and corrupted.

"I knew something was wrong," Nathanial agreed. "But I never knew what or why."

"There was...well the details aren't important. I was manipulated away from my good nature. My non-psychotic nature, anyway. I'm not sure how good a mother I would actually have been."

"You...would have been good enough. Dad wasn't the best father either, for several reasons, but he's really learning now, he wants to learn. Looking back, we...think you started a family a little sooner than might have been ideal."

Both their eyes were full of tears. Lily sniffed and smiled a bit. "Understatement of the decade."

After they had dried their eyes, Lily spoke again.

"You may be wondering why I haven't offered an apology."

"You said I was in control of the meeting. I presume it's because you're waiting for me to ask."

"Do you plan to?"

"Would you?"

"I don't know what I could say or do that would even begin to make up for what I did to you."

"You could start by saying 'I love you' and mean it. I don't remember the last time I heard you say that."

Both their eyes were full of tears. "I love you, Nathanial. I love you, son. I love your friends; I've seen them from where I am now. I made a vow in the afterlife, son. I swore to protect and nurture anyone entrusted to my care. I swore this before God--the Universe--and I meant it."

Nathanial's eyes were blinded by tears, but he could still see that Lily was telling the truth. She'd figured out what was wrong and corrected it! He'd wanted this for so long. He finally had a mother! Nathanial threw his arms around Lily and choked out, "I love you, Mom! Thank you!"

They held each other for a while, then Lily took a deep breath, pulled back a little, and stretched up to lick his ear. She pulled back to arms' length, looked him in the eye, and said, "I'm proud of you, son. Give Geoff a hug for me when you wake up, okay?"

"What?" said Nathanial, and he noted the brightness of the Elemental Plane of Light was fading and slipping away. "Wait! This was just a dream? It was all in my mind?! It wasn't real?!"

*It may have been in your mind, Nathanial, but why does that mean it wasn't real?*

Zhaohui appeared next to Lily and they were both smiling. An eruption of impossibly bright light appeared where they were, and Nathanial could feel his mother hugging him and he felt as good as he ever had. Then he noticed that he was in bed and Geoff was hugging him even as he felt his mother's embrace.

Nathanial felt wonderfully fulfilled and full of joy. He knew that something profound had happened. "Give Geoff a hug for me when you wake up," his mom had said, and the realization that she had given them her blessing gave him butterflies.

Nathanial twisted around in bed and grabbed Geoff so tightly that he awoke, gagging.

"What was that for?" Geoff asked, once he'd gotten untangled from his Akita.

Nathanial just looked at Geoff for a moment, a goofy grin on his face, his tail wagging so fast the sheets billowed. He grabbed Geoff again, more gently this time and whispered in his ear, "It'll take a little while to explain."