In the Azarath of the past…
While she waited on her teacher to emerge from her private chambers, Raven studied the tapestries adorning the hallway. She had had many chances to study them over the years, as she spent a lot of her time waiting on her teacher while Azar saw to her other myriad duties as spiritual leader of Temple Azarath.
She sensed a slight agitation slipping through the great carved door. She must have been talking to Coman again, Raven thought to herself. She reached up with one small finger and traced the outline of one of the figures on the tapestry, an elephant wearing a turban bedecked with pearls and rubies.
"Hello, Lord Ganesha," she said to the embroidered animal. She had seen a pho-to-graph of one in the mag-a-zine that Theron had given her. She had been surprised to see that not all elephants wore hats. But I suppose not all elephants are devas of Wisdom, either, she thought.
Being the lowest figure on the tapestry, Ganesha was the closest one to her. She traced a golden thread up from his head to the next figure, a tall lady swathed in a cloud-white gown. On her head was a golden helmet and in her hand a staff around which a great serpent twined himself. "Athena," she whispered to herself as she continued to trace the golden thread that connected her to the next form. She had to balance on the balls of her feet to reach this one, a bright flame with brilliant eyes that stared out at her, eyes that seemed to follow her whenever she passed by this door. "Rama Kushna," she said, almost singing the words now. Slightly higher than that, enough that she had to stand on her toes to reach it, was another lady, this one enfolded in robes as blue as her own. Angelic wings spread from her shoulders and blended into Rama Kushna's flame. "Sophia," she sang softly to the glistening threads that outlined the figure.
The topmost figure was just out of reach. A lovely woman, with eyes shaped like the almonds that grew in the arboretum and wearing bright robes layered one over the other, meditated among leaves of other plants that Raven could not name. The outermost robe was flocked with blooms, but she could not tell what kind of flowers they were. She hopped and stretched, but still she could not reach the lady at the top. She jumped a little higher, sweeping her hand above her with determination, and found the tapestry with her finger at last… only to bring it crashing down on top of her. The heavy door swung open just as she landed on her face, buried under the heavy fabric and sneezing at the dust that had puffed up from the upper edge that she had worked so hard to reach.
She was afraid to move as strong hands picked up the tapestry and revealed her to the light. She saw Rinzen's ever-placid face peering at her for a moment before he turned to re-hang the drapery on the wall. Azar gazed down at her student with weary eyes.
"Getting wrapped up in your studies again, I see," she observed as Raven picked herself up and shook the dust off her cloak. "Rinzen, before you hang it up again—" she began. It was in her hands before she could finish her sentence. "Here is the one you wanted to see. What do you think of her, now?"
Raven's tiny finger shook a little as it finished its journey and stroked the small flowers on the lady's robe. Miniature orchids. She had once seen her old nursemaid, Galya, tending them in one of Azarath's many greenhouses. "The others are all gods of wisdom. I have learned about them all, now," she replied softly. "But I do not know this one. Who is she?"
"Kuan Yin," Azar answered. "Goddess of Mercy." She nodded to her student, and then handed it back to Rinzen. "From the land of China, on the Homeworld. Of course, to us, all of these are but symbols of wisdom and not gods that we worship. Can you tell me why she would be here, with these others?"
No one but Azar ever asked her what she thought. Raven chewed her lower lip as she thought for a moment. She wanted to give a proper answer to the gift of a question. "Because… because mercy is more important than wisdom?"
Azar nodded. "Close, but not quite. It means that wisdom must be tempered with mercy, my little one. But this is something you will learn over time. As you grow, you should find both wisdom and mercy within your reach." She rested a hand on Raven's narrow shoulder. "We will learn more of them later. For now, we must walk a bit, in order to begin your next lesson."
As they made their way down the long stone-faced hallway, the child had to slow her steps down to keep pace with the halting steps of the woman that towered over her.
"Like many of your lessons, what I am about to teach you is an ancient mystery," Azar began. "And it is a very powerful skill. We have kept this secret within the Temple Azarath over these many centuries. It is only to be passed from teacher to pupil. It is never to be written down. Housed in the wrong mind, this knowledge would be dangerous indeed."
They passed other tapestries as they walked down the hall. These were covered with strange knots and curves that seemed to turn in upon themselves. Raven had tried to trace them once, while she was waiting in the hallway during one of Azar and Coman's many debates, but she had the circles to be fantastic mazes in which her fingertips always got lost. Some of them even had serpents twining about the borders, and these twisted beasts were attempting to swallow their own tails. Raven was never sure if these serpents were the evil ones that haunted the Eden of the Homeworld – she had read the Christian Bible that was housed in the library -- or if they were the symbols of wisdom spoken of by some of the Temple Priests.
"We are baptized in peace," Azar continued. "We dwell in the light of our pacifism. Our only defense against the violence of others is our ability to escape them before the strike lands."
At the end of the hall, they began descending the great staircase leading from Azar's private quarters and into the Square of the Font of Wisdom. A spray of water danced from the gleaming fountain, its white noise nearly drowning out the leader's teaching. "You have already learnt the lessons of a novitiate of the Temple, child. You are now to learn a skill that should not be taught to the uninitiated. They might have the knowledge to slip through the dimensions to their destination, but they will not have the wisdom to use the skill with respect to others. Once you have completed this training, no longer will locks or doors or wood or stone or great distance be a barrier between you and what you seek. What stealthy violence one could commit with this talent, if one did not have wisdom and mercy and compassion where others are concerned."
That should be an easy promise to keep, Raven thought to herself. Who can I tell that does not already know this? She could think of no one else in Azarath who did not already know this particular secret.
On the far side of the Square, they turned down the avenue that passed by the Eternal Flame sanctuary. As they passed that way, Raven peered sideways without allowing her hood to turn – a trick she had learned long ago after the exaggerated movements of the bird's beak at its tip earned her a scolding from Coman when she was supposed to be focused straight ahead. She hoped to catch a glimpse of her mother taking her turn at the round-the-clock vigil at the Flame, but she was not there.
As they neared the gate of the temple complex proper, Azar continued her lesson. "All dimensions that we have discussed before are at your disposal to reach your destination. All but one special dimension. Can you tell me which one that might be?"
Raven fought the urge to scratch her chin as she thought, trying to remember her previous lessons on the Known Dimensions. There was one very different from the rest… "The fourth? Time?"
"Correct!" Azar replied. "The temporal dimension is forbidden. The threads of the past have been woven already and must not be disturbed. The future must remain unknown to us. We must avoid disturbing that dimension, whatever the cost."
As they exited the gate, Raven asked, "Why are we going so far away from the Temple?"
Azar allowed herself a slight smile as she replied, "So I can teach you how to go home."
My Dearest Dawn Child,
It seems so long since we have seen you! Karen is always asking when you are coming back for a visit, and Old Bill watches the door for you every day. I know that your school is starting soon. Do you think you would have time to visit your "elders" before you plunge into the ocean of academia once more? We have plenty of room. You could bring your young buck, too, if he wanted to come. (I have to find out what his intentions for my cousin are, you know.) If more of your friends wanted to come, we could camp down in the canyon and have a bonfire. Karen could make her famous campfire potatoes, and I could bore you with my old ghost stories. Be sure to bring your friend Joseph. I am sure that some fresh air and Karen's six-egg omelettes would cheer him right up.
Raven smiled as she read the latest email from her cousin. From her last stay with him, she knew that he was convinced that his wife's cooking could cure any ailment. His letters always made her smile, especially after her daily meditation.
On a more serious note, I would like to have a talk with you about the stories you told me about yourself, if you are up for it. I am puzzled greatly by the connection you told me between you and him whose name I will not write here. How a parent could control the spirit of a child like that… in my experience, souls don't work that way. My Lakota heart tells me another story. I thought that—
A flurry of agitation was rolling down the hall towards her bedroom. She set the printout aside and opened the door and came face to face with Garfield's knuckles, poised to rap on the door.
"Beloved?" she asked the knuckles. She took his hand into her own and pulled him into the room. He gathered her up in his arms as he crossed the threshold and hugged her tightly. She felt an immense sadness mixed in with his usual sweet-and-tart air. "You are disturbed? What—"
He interrupted her with a light kiss on the cheek. "Let's talk about the tests later, babe, all right? Not all the results are in yet. There's something a little more urgent I need to tell you first."
"Something –" she began. She extended her awareness from beyond them and sensed that others were in the tower. And one that she did not recognize. She tilted her head to the side. "There is someone else here."
"Just listen to this, sweets, and tell me if this sounds familiar to you at all."
"Where did that book come from?" Bart asked. "What ya got under that cloak, a Bag of Holding or something?"
The young woman rested a hand on the great leather-bound volume that she had just placed on the kitchen table. "I am able to carry a great many things with me that are not immediately visible. Has your technology not achieved this yet?"
"Nah," Bart replied as he set a small plate in front of her. "But I could sure use a Portable Hole, if you've got one. Here you go. I'm all out of ice cream, but I thought you could use a P.B. and J. You've been standing out there for a long time."
Azar picked up the bread and sniffed it. After a slight shrug she took a bite. She started to speak, but lifted an eyebrow when she failed to open her mouth all the way.
"And here's the milk! How could I forget the milk! Does young Azars good. I bet you didn't have anything that sticks to the roof of your mouth like that in Azarath."
She drank down the milk in three large gulps and set the glass down with a satisfied sigh. A milk mustache danced on the top of her lip as she said, "I am fairly certain that they did not have this at the Temple. However, I am not from Azar Ath."
Joey strode across the kitchen, handed her a napkin and motioned for her to attend to her lip. He noted the slight difference in the way she pronounced the name of Raven's home town. "But you call yourself Azar?"
She folded the napkin and set it on the now-empty plate. "I am but one of the Azars," she replied. "There is one for each of the peoples that colonized the other worlds. I myself hail from Azar Noush, the loveliest jewel of them all." She tilted her head to the side and a faraway look crept into her eyes, as if she were remembering something. "Of course, I am a little prejudiced, as it is my world. But surely my lady has told you about them all? She herself was originally the Azar of that land, the home of the Fire of Healing." She stopped as she noted the puzzled reactions on their faces. "She has not delighted you with the tales of Azar Mehr, which holds Mithra's Fire? Or of the glories of Azar Borzin? No?"
Bart looked at Joey. "Did she ever mention any other Azar-something's to you?"
Jericho shook his head. "I think she thought that Azarath was the only such place. Are you saying there are others out there?"
"Others?" Raven's voice preceded her through the kitchen door. Jericho watched her enter with Gar. She was holding his hand so tightly that his knuckles were more gray than green. He wondered what Gar had told her, and what she was feeling now.
"My lady!" Azar exclaimed. She stood so suddenly that her chair flipped over and crashed onto the floor. She dropped to one knee so quickly that she bumped against the table and narrowly missed banging her head its corner. Her voice quivered as she spoke. "I have found you at last, my Azar!"
Raven's hand flew to her heart as she watched the other woman kneel before her. "Please, please stand," she said. "Please, don't kneel. I don't – I don't deserve ..."
Azar stood more slowly than she had knelt. She held out her hands. "Do you know me, lady?"
Raven shook her head. "I am sorry, but I have never seen you nor heard of you before. I—I am not sure what to say."
Azar inclined her head toward Gar. "Did the Azar of Azar Ath not tell you of me? Did she not tell you that I would search for you?"
Joey stood up and maneuvered himself to a spot between Azar and the young couple. She seemed harmless enough, but he did not like the sudden vibrations of stress that he felt coming from Raven. True or not, this stranger's words were going to be difficult for her to hear. He wondered again what she was reading from their odd guest.
"Azar died many years ago," the empath finally replied. "And I thought, except for her mother and grandmother, that she was the only one."
"Oh, my, no," the young lady replied. "There are many of us." She paused for a moment, and then continued. "Perhaps it is as Azar Bahram predicted, that you really do not remember your time as Azar. The shock of Transference does that sometimes. But I had thought that perhaps your teacher would have reminded you of that which you had forgotten. She must not have told you. You were an Azar, too."
A/N:
Galya: I know that many people think that Raven's nursemaid's name was Gayla. I did, too, until I reread the Tales of the New Teen Titans #2, and it was spelled Galya instead. Surprised me, too.
Rama Kushna is a goddess that appears often in Nanda Parbat, which is a Shambala-like place in the DC Universe. (Remember that Raven saw it marked on a map in the library on Azarath.) We saw it in "52" quite a bit. It is where Renee Montoya (the new Question) trained with Richard Dragon. I think Batman has spent some time there. It was the scene of one of Batman's battles with Ras Al Ghul.