Mouse and Natalia
Mouse couldn't stop smiling as the bus pulled into New Orleans. She loved this city. Natalia had caught up on her upbeat mood and was offering occasional small smiles of her own. Despite the flu or whatever it was that everyone was coming down with, she couldn't help feeling happy. They all got out of the bus and got their stuff up to their rooms. Mouse turned slightly as she heard a bell chiming, and then was running.
"Mama!"
"Ouiai, enfant, c'est moi. Careful of dese ol' bones, ouiai?" Mama chuckled into her ear as she hugged the ancient looking, petite black woman in her colourful ragged clothing. "It is tres bien t' see yo' again, 'tite ange. How y' been?"
"Some bad stuff, but I'm good."
"Eh, y' gon have de bebes, 'tite." A hand caressed her swelling belly and Mouse smiled slightly.
"Yeah...kinda a long story behind dat one, Mama." Mouse breathed in the comforting scent of spices and the sweet yet dark scent of the bayeaus...those things that just smell like Mama.
"So, what took yo so long ta come back and see Mama? I been most worried, 'tite." Mama looked down at Fafnir. "Yo better be looking after ma 'tite ange, loupe. Else do I havta make me a new rug, heh?"
"He's done what he can. He's still just a wolf."
Hey! Actually, I am a wolf. So there.
"You don't make much sense, Fafnir." Mouse laughed and bent slightly to rub his ears.
"Y'all gon bring y' new famille to da bayeaus, 'tite? I got gumbo and some craydads on da stove..."
Mouse licked her lips. "That sounds fantastic...but uh. Kinda here as a band gig. So, they're performing tonight."
The old woman clucked her tongue. "Je comprends. And hey, 'tite...you know da motto of da Creole..." The bells on her wrists chimed together softly, the amulets hung round her neck and woven into her hair proclaiming her as a practicer of the light side of Voudoun.
"Laissez le bon temps rouler!" Young and old voice joined in together, laughter clearly evident. Mouse yelped as Mama swatted her bottom.
"So, are y' gonna int'duce moi, cherie? I want to make sure y' been treated right."
"More then right, Mama, more then right." Mouse hugged the woman again. "I missed you!"
"Missed you too, 'tite, missed you too. Don't stay away so long next time, hear me?" Mama said with affection. "So. Which one do I need to scold for not making an 'onest femme of y'?"
"Kinda not his fault..."
"Honey chile, when da bebes come, it's never the papa's fault," the old woman said dryly. Mouse laughed.
"Oh, you have *got* to meet Zac..."
"Why? Is he da one I need t' put un grisgris on?"
"No. Actually...I might ask you later to do that. But we'll need to keep it between the two of us. They don't..."
"They don't know Voudoun. But you been da cheval, 'tite...you sure you can do dis life?" Mama asked carefully. The loa never let go easily. Mouse nodded.
"I have to. Taylor... il est mon couer, mon aime, Mama. I would die if I left him."
"I want t' meet him."
"And so you shall!" Mouse turned to see that most of the people on the Hanson tour had gathered while she talked with Mama. "Hey...uh. This is Mama. She's a good person."
"'Tite, don' flatter me none. Da loa have dey plans."
"You didn't have to look after me..."
"But y' were so small and helpless lookin'...always did have a ding for strays. Why de hell else would I keep dat mangy hound? Ouiai, *you*, Bleu." The hound dog lying across the footpath looked up briefly, and thumped his tail once before laying his head across his paws.
Ouiai, Mama. Je suis un bon a rien dawg.
Fafnir gave him a cautious look.
Diana
"It's good to meet you," Diana spoke up. "I'm Diana Hanson."
Mouse
"Pleased to meet y'," Mama said as she looked at Diana keenly. Somehow she always managed to give the impression that she looked right down through to your soul. "Bon. Souris..."
"Ouiai, Mama?" Mouse knew that tone.
"Some people here aren't as well as dey should be. Tu pense..."
"I don't know, Mama."
"Someone touched. Special darkling magic...something old and new and from another world...." The old woman looked ar Diana again and nodded sharply. "Ah ha. I know you now...you're one of Mouse's people. Da travellers d'etoile. The journeyers from another star. Y' far from home, star child. But whose that now..." The bells and beads tangled through her hair chimed and clinked together restlesslly. "You got some bad mojo following you, cherie. Something dark and hungry..."
Diana
Diana's eyebrows went up.
"I... I see..." she trailed off.
Mouse
"Ah yes. That would be the complicated something." Mouse got a hunted expression.
"Souris, what have I told yo'? Don't get in things over y'r head, y' end up drowning."
"Yeah, well, didn't exactly have a choice..." Mouse rolled up the sleeve of her shirt, exposing the dulled Eye of Horus tattoo. Mama grabbed her arm and clucked her tongue anxiously.
"Eh, chile, you done drawn someting powerful's attention and no mistake. De Loa been all aquiver, and I betting you know why, hey?" Mama shot her a look.
"Yeah..." Mouse informed the Voudoun woman in a flurry of quick Creole patois what was going on. Mama's face got more and more set.
"Well, I think I better done see dis 'tit chat. Souris." Mouse nodded and started up to their rooms. "Bleu, guard."
"I thought you said he wasn't your dog?"
"I can still use un chien. He just ain't mine, dat's all." Mama's eyes twinkled. "Da bon a rien chien Bleu is..."
Diana
Diana, bags in hand, followed them up to their rooms, many of the Hansons' entourage behind them. Isaac, Zac and Saku were having naps before they had to leave for the concert.
Diana sighed. Her poor, sick children - and grandchild - she was glad this was the last concert.
Mouse
Mama clucked her tongue slightly as she entered Zac and Ike's hotel room, feeling the sickness pulsing at her from their auras. "Dey very sick, 'tite ange," she told Mouse solemnly. "I don' know if I can fix dis. I can help, ouiai, but heal it...je ne sais pas." She shook her head slightly before heading over to Saku's bed.
"Can you try, Mama?" Mouse asked quietly.
"Ouiai, I can *always* try, ma 'tite, but whether the Loa listen..." Mama shrugged eloqountly as she hovered over Saku's cot. "And aren't you da enfant joli, hmmm? Which one dis one's pere?"
"Zac...the younger one."
"Et which old one his mere? I can feel her running through his veins. Such a 'tit chat..."
"Nyx. The Witch's Familair."
"Ohhhh, *dat* one. Strange, I didn't dink dey could have bebes, but you live and learn or ya don't live long." Saku blinked open his great brown eyes and stared up at her. "Bonjour, 'tit."
"'Lo..." Saku rubbed at his eyes, and Mama reached out to stop him.
"Don' do dat, 'tit chat. Souris..."
"Coming, Mama." Mouse handed Mama a wet cloth and the old woman gently wiped his eyes clean before lifting him out of the cot and into her arms.
"Shh, shh, little one...let me look at you, hmmm?" Saku blinked back at her as Mama crooned to him in a mix of broken English and Creole. "Such a fine boy, so big already." She rubbed her hand over his chest as he coughed, and then used the cloth to catch the phlegm he unfortunately brought up. "Pauvre enfant...you're going to have a bad time of dis...da magic in you doesn't like da ding dey got." She jerked her head at the aliens in the room. "And you're only little..."
"Can you help?" Mouse asked again.
"I can help with some, but not all. And I need ta go home and get ma things." Mama's tone turned brisk as she placed Saku back in his cot. "Do you want to come down to da bayeaus, Souris? Or you a townie?"
"I'm just as Cajun as I ever was, Mama, and y' know it," Mouse said in an accent as thick as Mama's. The old woman cackled slightly.
"You gonna be da cheval again? Let the Loa ride you?"
"Not wit de bebes, Mama," Mouse said firmly.
"Wouldn't let you anyway. Not even if Eruzlie herself came and asked me."
Diana
"None of the alien healers we've encounterd can fix it," Diana said quietly. "They don't know what it is - but... but they're not the only ones who have whatever it is. Alien flu, I suppose. There are others who have it now too."
She couldn't wait for this concert to be over so they could all go home.
Mouse
"I can help them breathe easier, at the very least. And I can shield de bebe from de eyes of whatever is hunting him," Mama said. "He has all de troubles of de chat. C'mon, Souris."
"Yeah...I'll be back," Mouse said and followed Mama down to the bayeaus.
"Mama! Qu'est-que ce?" A male voice shouted out, followed by a wolf whistle. "Hey, jolie fille! Come spend some time wit a Cajun homme!"
"Shut your mouth, Jack," Mouse retorted as she stepped out of Mama's pirogue and into the jetty in front of the house built on stilts. Mama liked her privacy. The man in question gaped for a moment.
"Souris?"
"One and da same, Jack. How ya been?"
"I been good, Souris."
Mama hobbled into her hut, muttering to herself as the wing blew through the charms she had strung up around the hut.
"Dat good to hear, Jack. Not married yet?"
"Ah, non! Laissez le bon temps roule! Why?"
"I'm going to be."
"Do I havta give him da talk?"
"He won't hurt me."
"He better not, or there won't be just things of this earth after his miserable hide," Jack promised darkly.
Soon, Mouse and Mama were back at the hotel and Mama mumured to herself as she went past the eyes of New Orleans finest. She knew what they thought about the people who lived in the swamp. Soon, they were back up in the hotel room and Mama deftly went about her work. With Saku at least. She was more sure of him then the other two.
Isaac
Isaac rolled over and blinked. Who was in their room?
"Hello?" he asked sleepily.
Mouse
Mouse sat on his bed. "Hey Ike. Just me...and Mama. SHe's a very old friend of mine." Mama darted her a glance.
"What yo telling dat boy, Souris?"
"Nothing, Mama."
"Eh, 'tite ange, one day yo be da death of me, you have all dese dings after you, Souris. The little one will breathe a bit easier now, at da least." Mama stroked Saku's forehead and he sighed, aromatic herbal paste on his chest decongesting his lungs. "So. Let's have a look at dese ones den." Bells chimed as she walked over to the bed. "I don't know, Souris...dey different to yo. Some dings might not work." Mama clucked her tongue in costernation as she put a cool weathered hand on Ike's forehead. "A good soul, yes."
"Ouiai," Mouse agreed.
"Which reminds me, cherie. Where is da rat?"
"I don't know..." Mouse whispered. Mama gave her an eagle eyed glance.
"He smart. He find yo sometime, I bet. So, let me see...what to do wit yo, etoile..."
Isaac
"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine," Isaac replied, blinking his eyes slowly.
Then he reached a weary hand for the tissue box and blew his nose with one.
Mouse
"Eh, white folks..." Mama clicked her tongue and Mouse laughed slightly. "Pffft. So. Next. Something to help dat chest of yours. Loosen your airways, let you breathe." She cocked her head slightly as she thought. "Souris, I need..."
"A burner. See, that's what I thought." Mouse nodded slightly.
"But eh, smoke alarms."
"Don't worry about that." Mouse got up and did some creative fiddling to the smoke detectors.
"Good girl." Mama went to her bag and got herself set up. Mumuring a prayer to Papa Legba, she got out a small iron plate on a stand and put some herbs on it. Without any more warning as she turned away, they burst into flames and a clean sweet scent filled the room. "Some of dis be different to yo, I betting. But it usually works. Works better den da doctors most of de time. So."
Saku breathed in the smell, feeling the smoke waft through his lungs and somehow clearing them further.
Mama fossicked in her bag again, muttering to herself.
Isaac
"Wake me in time for the concert..." Isaac murmered.
He dropped the snotty tissue on the floor, rolled over and went back to sleep.
Mouse
Mama clucked her tongue. "Vraiment...Souris." She quickly explained what she thought was the appropriate course of treatment for Saku. "Can't help dem, dey of the stars through and through, but I can help de little one. He is part of de earth. Dis earth."
Mouse nodded. "Thank you."
"Never have to say thank you to me, cherie. What else famille for, eh?" Mama patted Mouse's cheek, then gathered her things. "Be seeing you, 'tite ange."
"Ouiai, Mama." The old woman left and Mouse hesitated at Saku's cot for an instant, before leaving the room herself.