“You couldn’t have known the consequences, Eve.” Isabella impressed upon them all.
“What were the other creatures doing?” Eve changed to the subject, wanting to get to the bottom of what was going on.
“Protecting her.” Tae and Eve sensed there was more, fear and panic amplifying the darkness of their conversation. No more words were needed on the subject of the terror that was visited upon the Naïve city by the five creatures protecting Rosalind. Isabella had witnessed some of what happened through a connection to the Eye in that sector, flashes of imagery invading their minds as they thought-spoke. Screams penetrated their quiet, disgust at the carnage leaking in from the Orc who saw it all first hand. In sharing visions between Lucids, Isabella carried more than just sight and sound into the space where they thought-talked now.
“It’s okay, Blue.” Tae soothed all of them with purple calm, her childish voice bringing peace and wisdom with it. “We felt it too.” Tae’s magik was different to anything either of the two women had experienced before. Not all Lucids could commune with each other and even when they did, it was a practical connection where basic information was shared. When Isabella saw what the Eye had seen though, his feelings invaded her which had never happened before. The Orcs that elected to connect to the network would see and hear things that could cripple them, so they learned to control their emotions. They learned to be objective. They learned to feel nothing, but this Eye couldn’t control his emotions. He was unable to remain objective. He felt everything because of what the Archfiend did. He nearly turned his eyes away because of what the purple gorillas did. He nearly disconnected because of what the two huge purple Naïves, and Rosalind did.
“I’m sorry you had to feel that, Blue.” Tae though-said. “I’m sorry I didn't warn you that after connecting with me, you’d be more receptive to mind connections and psychic arts.” Warmth at hearing the genuineness of Tae’s confession spread through them all. “I’m sorry those feelings took you back to that place too.” New visions of deadly fyre and pain swamped them all like the aftermath of a tidal wave. Eve had heard the story and tried to visualise and feel what Isabella had been through. They’d been s close in the past and she didn’t like her friends pain any more than she would like her own, but nothing prepared her for actually feeling what she’d felt in the fight with the Fyrekhan. Isabella marshalled herself and instantly forgave through their shared conscious.
“You said you were on your way to New York? What happened where we dropped you off?” Eve tried to change the subject for a moment whilst she processed what was happening. Feeling more confident in how the three of them could communicate now, Isabella showed them what she found, rather than describing it. A brick wall came to them first, boring and commonplace. Then curtains of dark red light shone across it, shimmering and moving in peculiar ways, fading towards the bottom of them like the northern lights. Too much Barren Sun magik is here they thought-felt. What is it hiding they thought-asked? Eve shuddered at recognising what Isabella experienced next. An uninvited, creeping cold that shocked and paralysed before retreating from its exploration. A symbol that shimmered in and out of focus. What is The Protectorate covering up? All three of them were glad of the last emotion that came through, after the banned magik disappeared. Love. Isabella felt echoes of her students at the scene, Enyo and Eris had used spells she taught them to find out what she herself, found out. With that then came thoughts of Gerard and the time they’d spent together.
“Thank you, Blue.” Tae thought, emphasising that she didn’t need to share the last part of her vision.
“I wanted to feel it again after reliving what the Eye showed me and what gave me these scars.”
“You should go to him.” Eve interjected, knowing the answer before it came.
“No. He needs to forgive himself first.” Isabella gently retorted, all of them knowing she was right. “And we are running out of time.” Two thought-nods meeting the remark passionately. “I need to get to New York and clear up the mess Rosalind’s created before I can investigate why The Protectorate are hiding the use of Necromancy.”
“And we need to get to the Monastery. Seeing what she can do and what her new creations are capable of may pale in comparison to what The Barren Sun will do if she comes back.” Agreement and focused determination swam between them, finalising what they all should do next. If thought-hugs were not possible before, the three companions broke new ground in communing now, by enveloping each other in thoughts of good luck and love. Isabella’s presence drifted away, and Eve asked Tae to get underway, requesting that she take her time.
“I think we should take a look at you.” She said aloud to no one and moving towards the nearest scar on the inside of her friend’s hull.
“Do we have time?” Tae said, thinking about their recent discoveries.
“Yes. Rosalind will need days to get to her destination and then when she gets there she will need even longer to perform her spell.”
“How do you know?” The ship and Blue asked in unison.
Eve placed her hands on the scar and leaned in close, closing her eyes and resting her cheek on it. “She consumed a lot of energy in New York. If that amount is to be poured into a spell, it will take a very long time to cast. Especially one that is trying to bring a person back from the dead. Especially one that is trying to bring back one of the four magik architects.”
“How long do you think we have?”
“Ten to twelve days. Plenty of time to heal you, finish healing myself and prepare at the Monastery.” She smiled. “Surelikai blesses the cautious.” She smiled wider, thinking about Cleric Augustine’s lesson. “Now, let’s start at the beginning.” Eve knew they were already in the air. “How did you get here?”
Purple lights around Eve dimmed. “I don’t remember.” Tae’s chirpy voice had lost some of its joy.
“What can you remember from when you first got here?” Eve still had her hands on the scar but had moved her head back and was concentrating hard on it.
“Fear.” Eve was whispering to herself, still looking at the scar with zeal.
Tae instinctively knew to continue even if it was hard for her. “There was a war. My flight and I were doing what we could to protect our brethren, but we were losing.”
“Losing to who?” Eve’s hands had begun to glow white.
“The Ravens.” Eve didn’t break her concentration, weaving her magik delicately into the scar, passing healing energy through her hands as she thought about how odd that sounded. The Protectorate had been working with Ravens and Wind Dancers for as long as she could remember.
“We came to a truce.” Tae answered the unasked question. “When we saw the tide turning.”
“That must have been hard.” Eve said matter-of-factly. Sensing Tae’s agreement, she moved her hands towards each other, whispering anew and concentrating hard.
“Neither side even knew why we were fighting. We just knew we needed to.”
“Such rage and loss without reason. What was that like?” Eve kept moving her glowing hands towards the centre of the scar, whispering, always whispering.
“Confusing.” Purple lights thrummed and whirred as Eve closed her hands together, gently taking them away in prayer and bowing towards where the scar used to be. Tae’s hull was now completely smooth, untouched and pure.
“Scars carry memories and feelings. By talking about them, we unlock our own potential to heal them.” Eve’s voice was a little distant as she stared at the hull. “How does it feel?” She said brightly to snap herself out of her own memory that trapped and scarred her.
“Looser... Less tight.”
Eve took a few steps down towards the next scar and repeated her routine. “Why was it confusing?” She asked as her hands began glowing again, whispers creeping from her lips.
“Members of my flight had such deep hatred for the Ravens. They couldn’t explain why, it was just in their nature. They felt it in the deepest recesses of themselves
, it was woven in to the fabric of their being. I didn’t feel the way they did but I knew that we should hate them, it’s just that none of us could recall where those feelings came from.”
“You needed to respect the feelings of those under your protection and uphold a belief you weren’t convinced of, yourself?” Eve offered.
Purple lights agreed with the statement as white hands moved towards the centre of the scar. “We’d just rescued a flight from being destroyed. There were only three of them left when we arrived, but we pushed The Ravens back. They were in retreat.” Tae’s voice was distant, soft as she remembered something she didn’t want to. Eve could feel a swelling of anger and heat from somewhere, not fully expecting the visceral reaction the memory would bring. “We were being exterminated, Eve!” Tae said defensively all of a sudden.
“Keep going.” Whispers flowed, hands moved peacefully as Eve passed no judgement on the old-young ships past.
“You must understand Eve. Their hatred was my hatred. Our flight was bound in mind and soul. We shared everything. I couldn’t let them go. Well, I could’ve but didn’t want to. Something stopped me.” Eve’s hands pulsed brightly as they neared each other, stopping as if they were blocked though. “We showed no mercy that day.” Eve’s hands shone bright again but couldn’t move and she willed Tae to continue “I regret taking life out of revenge.” Purple lights dimmed, but white hands shone and finally met. Praying and bowing, Eve stepped back, light headed. Stumbling, Tae caught her in a chair asking if she was alright.
“I’m not as strong as I thought.” She said sheepishly. “I don’t think I can heal any more today.” Soft lights purred in thanks, happy that anything could be done, wondering how it was done. Tae acknowledged that gracious and selfless act, Eve thought-responding that it was no trouble even if, she nearly just passed out.
“We lay memories down like dams. Traumatic events cause these memories to bear small falsehoods, each one adding strength to the dam.”
“Like sticks getting trapped, that trap more and more rubbish.” Tae minded.
Eve smiled at how Tae adopted the analogy easily. “So, by admitting the truth, by acknowledging the good and bad feelings, the rights and the wrongs in their cold hard honesty, we remove the sticks, weakening the dam and letting the water flow more freely.”
“The water being our energy, which when blocked, prevents us from healing.” Tae finished to an impressed Eve.
“I’ll add Bleeding Heart to your title as well.” She chuckled.
“These scars are not from that battle though.” Tae seemed confused.
“Maybe not. They appeared when you were working for The Protectorate though didn’t they?” Purple lights agreed. “Well, pretending to be something you are not for so long and being mistreated as you were, will have revealed old scars.” The lights saddened. “How did you work for The Protectorate for so long? Especially knowing they worked with Ravens too?” There was no accusation in Eve’s question, just curiosity and concern.
“I’d lost everyone that I loved. I was alone. Scared. Tired. Hurt. Confused. I didn’t know if my Flight was alive or dead. I didn’t know if I was the last Wind Dancer or not. I was terrified. Vulnerable.”
“They showed you kindness and gave you hope, didn’t they?”
“I got to see some other Dancers too, from other flights that had been scattered. It was enough to keep me going. Enough for me to think we could all be reunited one day and start fresh. When I was stronger.”
“Enough hope to keep you shackled.” Eve said sympathetically.
“But I never felt strong enough. They told me I wasn’t fully healed and that I wasn’t good enough. They trapped me with my own thoughts and feelings.”
“Praising you just enough to rely on their love. Making you feel part of something. Like you belonged to a new Flight.” Agreeing lights shone around Eve.
“They aren’t all bad though. I didn’t mention it earlier to protect Blue’s feelings, but Elias was one of the good ones. Sometimes he would come and visit me. We’d talk for hours. I liked how his spirit looked. And felt.” Blushing, purple warmth enveloped Eve.
“She’d like to hear how you feel. Knowing the man, she loves, is kind to others, even though not to himself, will help.” They both let the silence run between them and around them for a while, both lost in their own thoughts without intrusion. Private places just for them. Just for a while.
“Why can’t I remember everything, Eve? I can remember what home looked like. What it was like to be there. Then I draw a blank at the Ravens and how we got to this world.”
“I know how you feel. When I was Grandmother Bear, I knew so much about healing, but nothing about who I was or where I was really from.” Eve paused, thinking about recovering her own lost life. “Your memories will be like the scars. You… We will need to keep exploring old truths to unblock your energy and your past.” Tae glowed, a little doubt lurking in her.
“Of course, I want to help you!” Tae was surprised Eve could get that read from her, thinking she’d guarded the question well. Purple shone in delight this time. Eve wasn’t a Wind Dancer and Tae missed her Flight, but she was glad of the new flight she’d made with her two new friends. She knew they’d face more together and she felt stronger for it. They helped and would continue to help each other. Her purple engines bellowed with glee, her insides burned with acceptance and she danced with great happiness as they rounded on the Monastery. It was short-lived when they both saw what was happening in the training square though. Eve’s desire to pacify conflict welled up inside her as she thought about how she would stop the fight between one of her old masters and what appeared to be other Sojela. We must be quick.
“Move.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE - PARACHUTES
Khar watched K'Chool hand the parachute over to Xiang, trying to make eye contact. Trying to see into her. She deliberately avoided his gaze, but he could see an incredible sadness in how she carried herself that he hadn’t seen before. Loving her the way he did, he often adopted her feelings, making them his own and experiencing every part of the emotion with her. To some degree he felt what others went through as well, but with her it was as keen and sharp as a swords edge. Delicate and final. He watched as she walked away to give some final directions to Zou, pride flooding into him at the thought of her still carrying out the mission despite how she felt, and he knew he’d need to say something before they landed on now, unfriendly soil. Their home that was infected with deceit and evil.
Xiang sensed they were about to leave so he left Khar’s side to go and speak to Zou, passing K'Chool near the cockpit entrance. She’d made her way to the door to make final preparations for their decent, busying herself with the cheques and balances of what was coming. Khar saw his chance for some privacy and came up beside her, elbow to elbow.
“I’m sorry I snapped at you a minute ago.” He said, staring forward out of the window. K'Chool was fussing over her clothes, tying some loose bits together and avoiding talking for now.
“Families are. Complicated.” He said slowly and deliberately, lacing his words with meaning. “I never even knew my father.” K'Chool stopped fussing for a moment, waiting for Khar to continue.
“And my mum was… distant. There and not there. Helpful and not. Loving and angry. Lost.” She was looking at him know, but he continued watching the sky.
“They make us, and they break us. They build us, and they demolish us. They know us, and they’re strangers. They’re always close to us even when they’re not. Unbreakable connections forged with our souls that we cannot escape.” He took a deep breath, shoulders sagging at his memories from the Naïve.
“It’s okay to feel conflicted with our parents. It’s okay to feel opposite emotions for them. Affection and despair. Pride and shame. Love and hate. What we have with them is immeasurable and hard to understand. A relationship we know and don’t know that only gets stranger and oddly richer as we get older. Things happened with my mo
ther that shifted who we were to each other. It made things harder and I don’t pretend to know anything about what you are going through K’Chool. Just know, that I’m here. Know that I want to be here and will listen if you need it. Take action if you want it.” Another deep and long breath. “I’ll even show him the door to the endless sleep if that’s needed. If that’s what you want.”
He felt something brush against his cheek then. Tender and soft, but cold and wet. He turned to see that K'Chool was crying silent tears. Realising that she’d just kissed him on the cheek Khar blushed, warmth filling him from top to bottom.
“When did you grow up, Weyaal?” She said smiling to a shrugging and content Khar. Then they both turned to look at two old friends in the cockpit having an animated discussion in Chinese. Zou was expressing herself vehemently with her tone and body language, Xiang looking like he was getting told off. He waited for her to finish saying what she needed to, before saying only a few words back. He looked like he was holding back an immense body of emotions, a dam ready to burst, cracked and leaking and she saw it, her own dam breaking. An elegant, feminine and gentle hand made its way to his face, slowly followed by a kiss, years overdue. It didn’t last long, but it carried love, in all of its forms, in all of the languages and their eyes locked, more unsaid things exchanging between them. Xiang closed his eyes before touching his forehead to hers. Zou did the same and then they drifted apart, like flotsam on the tide. K'Chool and Khar wore the exact same surprised and partially mocking face as Xiang came up next to them. The one long friends wear, to get you to talk when you are holding onto secrets. Xiang smiled at them, the expression saying he would explain another day. The one long friends wear, to say that you’ll tell them the secrets you hold when the time is right. Respecting the exchange, K'Chool reached forward and popped the door so it swung open violently, air rushing in and each of them grabbing onto something for stability.
A Dyad in Time Page 45
