Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Way In .. Is the Way Out

I had not been to see Cana since she had fallen within the dream. There was nothing I could do for her body .. it would drive me insane to see her like that .. and it did ... took my breath away. I do not know where Tarra was. Rook was on the quest I had sent him to accomplish. I had arrived in a moment Cana was alone .. placing the things of Ba'atar's that Persephone had brought back. I laid them around her. Pausing only a moment .. she was so like another ... it gripped my chest with fear. Could it be different this time? Could I succeed where I had failed before? Or would it be the bitter taste of a renewed memory...

Also joined me outside and we made our way to my Spex wagon. We sat across from each other. Not much was said between us. Also does not need many words .. and not many words existed that could prepare him. He was not meant to go further than the desert .. nor to leave Marrianne's side .. that task was for me.

I watched his face .. his eyes as they grew heavy. I watched him succumb to the heavy scented smoke from the coals. The soft tabuk hide that Seveya had painted on was with me .. rolled at my thigh. Only then did I begin to build the plains ... the grass .. the horizon .. the gentle breeze. I did not call upon the Three.. we would not be needing them this time. I knew enough .. and I stepped in ...

Also placed his hand on my thigh just above my knee .. I nodded to him. Marrianne joined us .. she led us off across the plains. The solid fertile ground beneath our feet .. the expanse of Sky above us ... the golden grass that parted like waves before our stride. It was not long before we came to the desert. The grass giving way to the white sands. Here I took the lead .. this was the place I knew ... and knew well.

Today the sand was white .. and the Sky was blue. A clear crystal kind of blue .. sharp ... the kind of blue you see in someone's eyes. It was hot .. the breeze blew a fevered breath against our cheeks .. the air was dry.. the sand was dry and it soaked up every bit of moisture from our bodies. Our steps would slip in the shifting sand taking twice the energy for each stride that earned us less than half the distance. Sweat dried swiftly as the parched air drank from us .. it was not long before we even lost the ability to do so. Soon eyelids were like sandpaper across the globe of our eyes .. our tongues felt like weathered boards in our mouths. The lines in our faces deepened and our lips cracked but .. we no longer had enough within us to bleed.

Still we moved on .. passed the barren painted cliffs. Passed the forgotten dry.. cracked lake whose harbor bore only the ghosts of merchant trade. Passed the angry red dunes ... and beyond. I could feel the black-hole sucking sensation as everything fled before the strangers in the desert. Leaving us alone and unmolested .. in the wilderness of it. There was a shiver that passed through the heat waves .. a dread birthed from knowledge ... a knowing and a silent whispered prayer from her residents that I not do exactly what they knew I would do.

And still they pleaded ..

But there was no mercy for them in my soul.

It seemed like an age .. an age where we all lost something ... toll paid to the desert .... before we reached the storm blasted and Central Fire bleached tree .. a black bird sat upon one of the bare twisted branches. A window in the sky stood open next to the tree .. a foul smell from the other side ... and here we came to stop. I turned to find that Marrianne had faded .. nearly clear ... I could see right through her and she was not strong enough to speak this far from the plains. I crouched before Also and I handed him some white flowers.

I spoke to Also .. and I told him to take the white flowers .. for they would protect him. I told him not to let them go .. not to set them down ... no matter what he saw or heard ... no matter what happened to keep them within his hands. I told Also that he must keep the window open for me .. for it was my way back through .. and if I did not get back .. I could not guide him through the desert.

These two tasks I gave him .. to hold the white flowers and to make sure the window stayed open. He did not speak .. but he nodded his head and I saw within his eyes that he understood me and the gravity of what I asked of him.

Without another glance to them I swung a leg over the windowsill and I stepped within.

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