Revision [4263]

This is an old revision of ShesuEveLeavingJoesCabin made by JonahPetri on 2009-02-14 15:25:48.

 

August 21nd, 2007
Somewhere in the mountains of eastern Oregon.


Late at night, Shesu is woken by someone shaking him. He opens his eyes to see Jacob standing above him. He awakens slowly, having fallen asleep amongst the others who are lying about the cabin in various borrowed sleeping bags, his sleep having been deepened by the long day and magical healing. Lara and Zack lay passed out to his right, the pair having used their combined powers to heal the various injuries of the group. Behind them lay Sam and James, James still in bandages and taking up the cabin's only bed, Sam having fallen asleep at the foot of the bed still clutching James' hand. Alex has curled up at the foot of the bed, and the cat, Mu, has chosen Alex's sleeping bag as a good place to bed down. Nearby Mu lies Golem who, having been worn out by chasing the cat, appears to have fallen...dormant? asleep? at the foot of the bed.

Eve lies sleeping to Shesu's left, and Joe is snoring peacefully across the room against the far wall. Abdul and Jacob were to Eve's left, but their sleeping bags have been cleaned up, rolled neatly and placed on the table.

Jacob has his shirt off and his wings unfurled. Their gentle blue glow fills the dark cabin with an eerie light. The wing that was "popped" in the final battle glows a little dimmer than the other, but much of its vitality was returned by Lara and Zack's healing power. Jacob smiles his child-like grin when he sees Shesu awake, but his face darkens a bit, tinged with sadness.

"I've come to say goodbye."

"Jacob... so soon?" Shesu pleaded, but his eyes met Jacob's, and he knew that there would be no convincing him. Shesu sighed deeply, as his throat tightened into a lump. "Will I see you again?"

"Of course! I will find a way to contact you. I'll be safe. Abdul says there's much to do, and that he needs me."

Shesu paused, and silently slipped out of his sleeping bag. The cool night air touched his skin, and he shivered gently with the chill. He turned, and followed Jacob and Abdul outside. He and Jacob embraced, each one wordlessly knowing that there was no telling when they would next meet. Suddenly, an idea occurred to Shesu, and his face lit up as he knelt to the ground. He focused his energy, and quickly grew a tightly knotted piece of dark wood. The wood pulled and stretched, growing in places and withering in others, and creaking and cracking against itself, until it had formed the shape he had imagined. He stood, and held his hands out to Jacob. In his palms lay a small, wooden sculpture of a lion. It was not a normal sculpture, which might have been shaved or polished, but rather it appeared as if the wood had actually grown into that shape of its own accord. Shesu, barely concealing a smile, pressed the statue into Jacob's hands. "Be the lion, little brother."

Jacob took the statue into his hands, staring at it. He turned it over in his hands for a moment, before placing it in the satchel slung over his shoulders. "I will have to have something for you next time, big brother," he smiled. He paused, and then leaned in to Shesu, and whispered, "Abdul wants this a secret, but you should know: He is taking much of the cold steel with him. He says he will need it for what comes next. I trust him, but he told me not to tell the others."

With that said, he turned to look at Abdul, who quietly said, "It's time." The two walked a few paces out into the clearing near the cabin, and Jacob unfurled his wings to their full breadth. He took a few moments to stretch them before scooping Abdul onto his wings. The two of them rose into the night, did one loop around the cabin, and disappeared over the treetops.

After they had left, Shesu stood alone in the cold night air. He thought back to all those who he had lost before. He remembered his parents, gone in a flash of violence. He struggled to remember his parents' faces, but they had faded too far from his memory. He thought back to his year of silence, the joy of acceptance into the Ashari, and the loss and pain of being banished during his spirit quests. And then his thoughts turned to Jacob, who was as much family as any of them, and who now also was gone. An overwhelming feeling of loneliness flooded over him, and he sunk to the ground, his head in his hands, and wept.

August 22nd, 2007
Somewhere in the mountains of eastern Oregon.


ShesuAshari Shesu and Eve were walking in the woods outside JosephCooper's cabin. The morning had passed slowly, but neither one had any inclination to do much of anything. The nightmare images from the battle at ZaizensTemple temple were still fresh in their minds, and the events of the past weeks weighed heavily on them. They had left the others back at the cabin, and decided to take a walk to clear their heads. The lofty canopy filtered the sunlight as it fell to the forest floor, and as the gentle breeze rustled the treetops, the dappled shadows danced along the leafy duff. There was no path to follow, but the underbrush was light enough that they could walk where they wished. They wandered slowly up a gently sloping incline, towards the top of a short hill overlooking the cabin, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I need to do something," Eve exclaimed, breaking the silence of the mid-morning. "I've got too much rolling around in my head right now. All of the things we saw and did inside the volcano, I keep replaying them in my mind. I'm still working out which of those deeds were mine, and which belonged to something... else. I need some other distraction to keep me sane. Let's go somewhere, do something. Anything."

In his deliberate cadence, Shesu replied, "I have been thinking much the same thing. I was also troubled by what I saw in Zaizen's temple, and the corruption of that place leaves me... unsettled. That place needs someone to heal it, someone to guide it back from his evil to its natural state. I know that the temple must hold special meaning for you, and... it would mean very much to me if you were to come with me, back there, and help me set it right."

"Yes... that place, I don't know what I think about it yet. Part of me feels as if it is my home, and part of me reviles it. I want to make it into something new, something better. I was thinking of a refuge, for metahumans. A safe place, where we could go to be amongst our own kind. A place protected from all of the horrid evil in this world." Eve kicked a rock up the hill ahead of her, and every few steps it rolled back to her, and she kicked it again.

"So you will come?" Shesu turned to her, expectantly.

"Yes. And, we will clean it up, together. It may be difficult, but I believe that Golem knows how to unwind the runes and magic that's been laid into that cave." She paused for a moment, forming the phrase in her mind. She spoke deliberately, "I think if you asked nicely, he would come." Shesu looked at her, but she could not keep her face serious for long, and they both burst into laughter at her understatement. "That little one has such a devotion to you. I think he would follow you to hell and back were you to allow him to do so."

Shesu replied, with the laughter still dancing on his voice, "Yes. I fear, though, that this is a case of mistaken identity. He still thinks that I am Matu, whoever that may be."

At that, Eve abruptly was quiet, and looked away sadly. "Ah, yes." She paused, and looked as if she would speak again, but then shook her head.

"Shesu, we should leave, now. We have nothing else to wait for here. Let's head back and pack our bags."

They walked purposefully back to Joe's Cabin, where Mu was waiting for them, perched on the front porch railing. Shesu paused briefly to give the cat a scratch on the side of her neck, and she leaned into his hand appreciatively. Inside the cabin, they found Lara, Zack, Alex and Joe crowded around the table, discussing a map, while Sam sat by James's bed, sipping a steaming cup of tea. She was sitting near James, who was sleeping. His skin had a worrying bloodless hue, and Sam had not left his side since they had come to the cabin. Her concern for her husband was written in furrows across her forehead, even as he slept.

Eve walked over to the table, followed by Shesu. She spoke quietly, so as not to disturb James. "Shesu and I are going to take off. Thanks, for all you have done. We're going to head back to the volcano, to try to rehabilitate it." The four of them looked up from their map, and Alex met Shesu's eyes, and asked, "Hey Shesu, before you go... where did you say your village was?" Eve and Shesu looked down to see an old atlas map of Nigeria spread out on the table. Shesu craned his neck around to see the map from the normal orientation, and pointed to a green area in the south east of the country. "There, in the forest, near here. It's several days travel north of Calabar."

Joe said, "That was right around where that genocide has been happening, right? Are you worried about your village at all?" Shesu frowned, "I don't think they would have let it affect them. They're well-hidden in the forest, and only the most determined could find them... I knew the genocide was happening, but I have tried to not let it concern me, as I am banished from there, until..." he trailed off, as a moment of realization came over him, and he laughed. "My quest is complete! I am no longer banished. I can return whenever I want!" He smiled broadly, and bear-hugged Alex and Lara in either arm, picking them up off their feet. He yelped joyfully, "I'm finished! It has been so long... I can go back!" He let them down, took a deep breath, and a look of peace came over him. "I would like to go back, to make sure that they're fine. I would like to see Oso."

He turned, "Eve, I know that you very much want to go to the volcano, and so do I. Do you mind, though, if we go to my village on the way? I know you would be welcome there, and I can show you the forest. It is the most beautiful place in the world."

Eve's thoughts were as fast as lightning. She knew that not only had the devastation touched the Ashari Village, but the Left Hand herself had orchestrated the genocide, stolen N'Dore, and razed the village. She knew that she should tell Shesu all of those things, but this was not the time. She decided to let him believe that all was well, for now. She smiled, letting her eyes meet Shesu's, knowing that he couldn't see through her lie. "That sounds great. We'll figure out how to get there on the way. Let's pack."

Suddenly, a cry rose from the back of the cabin, "Matu no go! Matu no leave Golem. Matu stay, Golem no want Matu to leave!" The stone creature ran across the wooden floor to where Shesu stood, and firmly attached himself to Shesu's leg. Golem buried his head in Shesu's pants leg, and chanted "Matu, Matu, Matu stay, no leave Golem... Matu...." Shesu and Eve looked down, and laughed, and Shesu gently pried Golem's arms from his leg. He knelt down, and looked at the little creature. "Golem, Eve and I are leaving, yes, but we would like you to come with us. We are going back to the volcano, and we need your help to clean it, to remove the evil magic from that place. Will you come with us?" Golem's face lit up, and he jumped into Shesu's arms, nearly knocking him over with his weight. "Yes! Golem come, Golem want to be with Matu... Shesu... Golem come with, help, clean, can unwind the magic. Golem help to clean, and Shesu keep Golem safe." Shesu smiled, and put the creature down, who immediately began rolling up a piece of newspaper as if it were a sleeping bag. He placed it next to Shesu's rolled sleeping bag, and looked up, "Golem ready."

Eve turned to Shesu, and said, "Good. Now, what about the Deathblade?" Shesu looked at the cabin's bookshelves, where Deathblade lay, still wrapped in Jacob's cloak. "Yes... I don't know. Can it be destroyed?" Eve replied, "It is too dangerous to leave here. I don't know how to unmake it. Golem, do you have any ideas?" Golem looked suspiciously at Eve for a moment, then waddled over to the blade, and gazed at it. "Golem do not know for sure, but Golem think that best chance for unmaking is in forge where it made. Very, very strong magic, made by Corrupter himself. Need to take back to volcano. Dangerous, but best chance there."

Shesu took the ancient sword off the shelf, and placed it next to his belongings. "We will take it with us, then." Shesu and Eve gathered the rest of their belongings, and Joe kindly lent them a small tent and sleeping bags. "You're about a day's walk from the nearest highway. From there, you can hitchhike your way to Portland, and try to organize a flight." He handed Eve an envelope. "That should cover the cost of the flight. Officially, the Agency hasn't taken a position yet on what happened at the volcano, but I know what you two did, and I am thankful for it. I can swing the cost of a few tickets on my expense account without too many questions being asked." They thanked him, and hugged Lara, Alex and Sam goodbye.

Notes:
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