Dema's head was spinning all day after the marathon session at home the night before. She knew that it was all true, and that somehow she and Cern had to step up to a level of responsibility that neither of them had really understood before. 

They had been through their own bit of evolution, and were committed, if only because it was through Gaia's aid that they had avoided oblivion at the hands of Vlad, to a whole new level of responsibility and caring. The oath of the Lamia had a much deeper meaning for her now.

Finally, by the end of the day, after dealing with the usual backlog of routine matters that always greeted one's return from a vacation, the dark clouds had lifted and she was comforting herself with the knowledge that, as always, those resonances Cern had spoken of would keep her connected, and she would know soon enough if something needed her special attention. No sense begging for new trouble when there was always a stack of the old trouble already on her desk.

So her heart had lightened considerably by the time she showed up at Cern's apartment. As she let herself in she could hear the strains of Malaguena being played on an acoustic guitar, quite expertly. She began grinning. and pirouetted into the room, rapidly stomping her feet and snapping her fingers above her head to the varying Flamenco rhythm. To her surprise, it was Cern who was playing, not some recording. She hid her surprise with a frown and a stern look.

As she danced, her hands piled her long hair on top of her head in the Spanish style, emphasizing the arch of her neck as she alternately raised and lowered her chin, continuing to favor Cern with intensely haughty, smoldering looks. His fingers plucked and danced across the stings ever faster as he watched her stomp and twirl, grinning at her.

He struck a final chord and she ended with a flourish and a majestic Flamenco pose, breaking into a broad grin of her own. He held out his hands with his fingers spread. His elongated thumbnail vanished, as did the guitar. Dema let her hair down and threw herself into his arms.

"I didn't know you could play like that."

"It's one of the things I fooled around with while I was in law school. I didn't know you could dance like that."

"Juan once took me to a special cabaret in Mexico. But you didn't start playing just to see me dance."

"No, all the talk last night had my mind in a whirl all day, until finally it settled down and the ideas about resonance evoked the muse for me." 

Dema nodded in sympathy. "Resonance. It's a marvelous concept. But I don't quite know what to do with it."

"As usual, the devil is in the details."

"That's been my conclusion. I think we will know when there is something we need to respond to."

"And maybe by then we will even know what to do when it happens..."

Dema put her finger on his lips. "Enough talk for tonight. I already know what we should do right now."