33 - There dwells a spirit, waiting to be released

“It’s not a dream; a miracle perhaps, the work of a god who understands love and need and the human heart.”

“I don’t believe in miracles," Merlyn protested weakly.

“Then believe in me. You created me, Merlyn. A dream, an unobtainable dream. That’s what you told Alton that day when you first showed me to him.” Alan stepped closer to Merlyn in the way one would approach a wary animal. “I’m not a dream and I am not unobtainable. I’m real and I’m yours if you will accept me.” He held out his hands.

Merlyn reached for them then stopped. “If I don’t, if this is so beyond everything I believe is possible that I can’t, what then?”

Alan smiled slightly. “Then you have a statue standing in your studio to remind you of what could have been if you had dared to face the impossible and taken hold of your dream.”

Merlyn nodded. “He talked to me, this god of yours. Twice. He knew that I dreamed of you. Were they dreams?” He searched Alan’s face for the answer.

“Yes and no. He gave them to you but he allowed me to be there, to feel them as deeply as you did, the passion, the desire. Those we shared even then.”

“And then he allowed you to become… human.”

“No Merlyn, you did that. He assisted I suppose you could say, but it was your need for someone to love that convinced him to turn stone to flesh, at least for a time.”

“But not… forever,” Merlyn replied, feeling deep despair. “Only for a few hours when it amused him to do so.” He turned away, staring out across the bay although he didn’t really see it. “You said you loved me. Are those just words he put into your mind, into your mouth, as part of his game?”

Taking hold of Merlyn’s shoulders Alan turned him around to face him. “They are my words, said from my heart. I do love you. Not because I have to, not because he is manipulating me, but because you are you and I am me and I can say with all that is in me, I, Ailín, love you, Merlyn.”

“And I love you, Ailín.” Merlyn touched his lips, feeling their warm softness under his fingertips. “But…” He closed his eyes, unable to look at Alan as he asked, “how long before you are forced to become the statue I created until he decides to let you return to me again for a few hours?”

Strong hands gripped Merlyn’s shoulders from behind and a deep voice said with a trace of amusement, “Do you think I would deny you your need for him, or his for you? Your love brought you here, his love for you allowed him to find you here. That is all it took. From this moment on he will remain human, with all that that encompasses.” There was a soft chuckle. “He’ll be just as you created him, and that includes the scar on his thigh, a reminder of the pain that anger and distrust can inflict.”