Chapter 3

"The jar ..." a woman cried out, "the jar has been broken."

"The source of our water is gone," lamented another villager.

Eototo raised his hands and the village fell quiet. A priest stepped forward.

"The ceremony is over," the priest said. "Our test begins. Please return to your homes for now. I must talk to the water bearer family."

Obediently, the villagers shuffled out of the central plaza, leaving it haunting in its stillness. Only Julia, Michelle, the priest, and the Katsinams remained. One by one, the Katsinam dancers removed their masks.

"Julia," Michelle said. "Please go home."

"But mom -" Julia stopped when she saw the priest turn to her.

"It is not our intention to exclude you from all things," he said. "You too shall have duties to help us, but these will be relayed to you by your mother."

"I understand." Without looking at the priest or Michelle, Julia turned away and began walking. The trip back to her pueblo was longer than she remembered from past festivals. Instead of the villagers milling about, they hid away within their adobe and sandstone homes. Mothers ushered their children away from the windows as Julia walked past as though her skin had erupted into boils and scabs and that she might taint their young. Julia forced herself to look straight ahead. She was nothing to these people, only Michelle accepted her fully. To everyone else she was just a bastard, a stray saved from the dumpster of the natural world. No matter how close a community was there were always people whose toes touched air, the people one mistake away from falling away into nothing. It seemed Julia and Michelle's final mistake had happened today.

Like her, Julia's pueblo laid on the outskirts of the society it dwelled in. In theory it was a place of honor as it was one of the first homes to be touched by the awaking sun, but now it just seemed to have been pushed out in front to be burned in place of the rest of the village. The ladder to the second level of the pueblo, where her room was, seemed like too much effort. Instead, she entered through the front door and made her way up the stairs to her room. She knelt by the bed and laid her head in the crook of her arms and did not move.

At ten o'clock Julia heard the front door open. She didn't raise her head from the hands nor did she stand up from the corner of the bedroom. Michelle walked past to her room without looking into Julia's. "Come on," she said. "I have to start packing."

"Why?" Julia mumbled.

"I'm going to Japan to see Heihachi. You're to stay here and fire a new jar and find a young, unmarried man of perfect character to complete the ceremony. We must create a ceremonial jar if we're to survive."

"Did they tell you to do this?"

"No, Julia. They wanted me to stay and create the jar while you found the man who would give it its power. Where are you? Help me get ready."

Julia pushed herself up and stood in the doorway to Michelle's room with her arms crossed. "Why are you defying them?"

"Because they don't understand what Heihachi is capable of. The breaking of the ceremonial jar was planned, not an act of desperation. Heihachi wanted to keep us busy while he hunted down Ogre because Kokyanwuhti once defeated Ogre. He doesn't want us to find out how it was done."

"But they said not to go."

"Julia, if I had always followed their orders I would have never found you." Michelle opened a suitcase and began placing folded clothes into it.

"Just because it worked out once doesn't mean it will work out again. If this Heihachi is as bad as you say then what makes you think this will work out and you'll get what you want. Obviously he wants something or he wouldn't have sent that ninja to interrupt the ceremony and destroy the water jar."

"We know what he wants. Kunimitsu said it - he needs the pendant."

"And you're going to bring it right to him."

"Actually," Michelle said. "I'm giving it to you." Michelle reached around to unclasp the necklace, but Julia stepped back.

"I don't want it. I don't want your parting gift. I want you to stay."

"I can't do that, Julia. Heihachi is planning something and we need to know what it is."

"So just like that you're leaving. Abandoning me. Just like my real mother!"

Michelle stopped packing and turned to face her daughter. "Julia, you know that's not true. I would never abandon you."

"Then what do you call this? Protecting me? You can't protect me if you're not here."

"Julia, please."

"Forget it," Julia said as she backed away. "You do what you have to, Michelle. Just go."

Julia ran before Michelle could say anything else.

* * *

Her usual hiding place at the edge of the village was too obvious. That would be the first place Michelle would look. Instead, Julia double backed to the Hopi Cultural Center and took a side road that ended in a sharp drop. Beneath the overhanging rock was a ledge, just wide enough for a single person to walk along, which led to a small hollow in the mesa. It was not quite a cave, but was deep enough to provide shelter from rain if it ever came.

Here the earth surrounded her. There was a sense of protection and warmth. It was like being in the womb of the earth mother. Far from being claustrophobic, she always felt more at peace enclosed in the solidity of the earth and nature. Even in such an unforgiving land as the Arizona mesas, there was always life, always beauty. All you had to do was slow down and breathe. As her mind calmed, Julia became aware of the thin black line of ants trickling from a hole in the wall and marching around her feet.

'Industrial as always,' thought Julia. According to Hopi mythology, there had been three previous worlds, and each time the corruption became too great for the world or the gods to bear, the faithful were gathered together to be saved while the rest of the world was destroyed. Legend had it that the Ant People had been entrusted with the protection of the faithful people the first two times the world was destroyed. It was the Ant People who taught humans to work together and harvest food for the winter ... to always look to the future.

'And that's all mother was trying to do, wasn't she?' Julia asked herself. Michelle was trying to prepare her for the day she would have to make her own decisions and to live the life without her mother's protection and guidance. 'And I bit her for it.'

Julia pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head in the crook of her arms. When she moved again the shadows had deepened as the sun moved higher in the sky. Judging from the stiffness in her joints, an hour or more had passed. She heard the crunch of gravel beneath boots.

"Julia? Are you there?"

"Yeah, mom."

Michelle stepped into the opening. "I thought I might find you here. Are you okay?"

Julia nodded.

"Room enough for two?"

Julia scooted to the left and waited as Michelle stepped over the ant trail and sat beside her. "I'm sorry, mom."

"You don't have to be. Considering all you've been through as a child - the questions you must have about your origins, the doubts you've faced about your worth - a single outburst after so long is nothing I didn't expect. To be honest, I thought it would have happened sooner, but you've always been strong. You've always held back your anger, and you've always sought to master your fears on your own. Even against the Ogres. Do you remember?"

Julia nodded. The first time she had met them she had been a child of no more than four years old. The Katsinam had once more flooded the Hopi village. To non-Hopi, the Katsinam were spectacles, half-naked men in body paint and masks dancing and stomping dusty feet. They thought it quaint, unable or unwilling to grasp their significance. The Katsinam were not men, but spirits come back to give their blessings and help the Hopi live and renew their bond with the earth. The masks, like names, were powerful; they transformed the wearer, gave him a new identity, none more terrifying than Nata-aska and Wiharu, the Black and White Ogre.

She remembered how the festive atmosphere had suddenly ground to a halt. The distant drum beat changed to a hollow rattle, and a metallic scraping accompanied the deathly sound. Three figures, tall ones with turkey feathers forming a loose fan around their horned heads, emerged from over the ridge. In the middle was Soyoko, the Ogre Woman, carrying a basket large enough to place children in, and Nata-aska and Wiharu walked along on either side. They carried a bow and arrow in one hand and dragged a bloodied saw in the other. Long alligator-like jaws clacked fiercely in anticipation of feasting on the flesh of children, turtle shells rattled like bones from their calves.

Wiharu, the White Ogre, roared and grabbed one of the Koyemsi, mudheaded clowns, and threw it to the ground. As the Koyemsi knelt, Wiharu sat on its back and roared again, pressing the saw against the clown's head. The clown moaned and clawed toward the crowd to rescue him. His red mask, the face resembling a grounded electrical socket, turned to the children with whom he had danced and played games with between ceremonies, but they only hid behind their parents. Blood splattered against the hostage clown as the Black Ogre, Nata-aska, waved its saw at him.

Julia stepped forward and the Ogres turned to face her. They roared again. Wiharu stepped over the cowering mudhead and began to shuffle towards her, leaving a red trail behind it. Wiharu loomed over her, its dark figure blotting out the sun. A growl rumbled from deep within its throat, and it snapped its jaws hungrily. Closing her eyes, she held out an offering of food. For a long time, she held out her hands still with food in them. Was it enough? Why weren't they taking it?

When she opened her eyes again, Soyoko stood before her. Her straggly hair whipped around like the folds of her black robes. Vacant eyes, empty yet somehow alive, seemed to suck away Julia's breath. Blood dripped from her knife, and the cane she carried to grab children jangled. She looked at the offering as though weighing it against Julia's life. Soyoko reached out and placed Julia's piki bread into her basket. She stretched out a hand to her guardians, a message to leave Julia alone. As swiftly as a snake, she turned and led the ogres through the crowd, collecting food from children and bargaining with parents for the children themselves.

"You gave me the courage to face them," Julia said.

"The courage was always inside of you. As a child, though, you become used to attributing your actions to others - even the good. Here." Michelle pulled her hair up and unhinged the clasp to her necklace. "It's important that you have this now."

Julia took the pendant and turned it over in her hand, marvelling at the way it caught the light. It was like a sunrise delicately balanced on her fingers. The fine burnished turquoise, the size of a human eye, and the polished silver wings and claws which held it were coated with a layer of time no polish could wipe away. Yet there was a strange feeling of familiarity. As she bound her neck with its silver chain, she hadn't been able to shake the idea that it wasn't the first time she had felt its metallic embrace.

She ran a finger along the slippery turquoise. It was warm. "Where did you find this? I feel like I've seen this before."

"It's a family heirloom. Our family has guarded it for generations."

"Guarding it? Why?"

"It's been said that this pendant gives its wearer the power to control spirits. In fact, your grandfather came to our lands to take this for Kazuya Mishima. Turns out he found love instead and refused to betray the Hopitu. To keep us safe, he returned to Kazuya so he couldn't be tracked back to our lands." Michelle turned away, as though from the memory. "Most likely he was killed."

"Then who is this Heihachi that Kunimitsu mentioned? She said Heihachi killed Kazuya."

Michelle gave a weak snort as a laugh. "He's Kazuya's father."

'So,' thought Julia, 'I'm not the only one abandoned by birth parents. If anything the Mishima family sounds worse. At least my mother let me live.'

"Julia, it's very important that you never take that pendant off. You cannot let it out of your possession. Ever."

Julia nodded as she put it on. "I'll protect it with my life."

"I hope it won't come to that. There are only a few things worth dying for. This is one of them. The only other thing I can think of right now is family. Jun Kazama knew that too."

"Who's that?"

"A friend I met in the tournament," Michelle said. "I haven't heard from her in a while, but she was never very talkative anyway. I should finish packing if I'm to get to Japan. Heihachi has some questions to answer. I know it's a difficult request to make of you, but I need you to stay here and keep the pendant safe." Michelle touched Julia's cheek lightly. "Be strong. Remember ... all the courage and strength you need is already inside of you. I'll come back no later than two weeks."

"You'd better," Julia said, "because you won't be here to stop me from coming after you."