Chapter Eight: Colors of the Wind
Iris was looking at the hamlet Kaiba wore.
"It's called a jacket." Vanitas explained.
"Hamlet?" Iris asked. "Is it for keeping you from getting hurt?"
"Exactly." Vanitas said. "And if it gets to warm, you can just take it off. So, what river is this?"
"Kueukohonic." Iris explained.
"Well you have some interesting names here, Iris." Vanitas said with a smirk.
"Well your name's interesting too, Vanitas." Iris said with a smile of her own as Sora grabbed for the biscuits in Vanitas's bag.
"Hey!" Vanitas said as he pulled Sora away. "If you want them, just ask."
"Sora always has trouble with that part of getting things." Iris said with a smile. "This is my brother Sora."
"Well, how do you do, Sora?" Vanitas said extending his hand.
"Uh…" Sora said as he stared blankly at the hand.
"Oh, you shake it." Vanitas explained.
"Why?" Iris asked.
"Uh…" Vanitas said. "To be honest, I don't know. It's what a lot of the men do when they meet where I come from. I'll show you. Iris, take my hand." Iris reached out with her left hand. "The other one actually." Iris switched, and she took Vanitas's. He then gently took it up and down. "This is how we say hello."
Sora then took Shadow's claw and shook it.
"We say hello like this." Iris said. "Wingabo." Iris then brought her hand from her left side to the right.
"Wingabo." Vanitas repeated as he did the same motion.
"And this is how we say Good-bye. Ana." Iris said as she was about to use the same motion when Vanitas put his hand on hers. "No offense, but I like hello better."
Shadow then jumped in and tried to pull the two hands apart.
"What is that thing anyway?" Vanitas asked.
"Shadow the Heartless." Iris said. "He doesn't like strangers."
"I'm not one anymore, am I?" Vanitas asked, and Shadow yelped angrily.
"Well he's stubborn." Vanitas said.
"Very stubborn." Iris said with a smile.
"Can I have this?" Sora asked as he pulled out a circle with an arrow on it.
"Ah sure." Vanitas said.
Sora looked at it.
"What is that?" Iris asked.
"It's a compass." Vanitas said. "It helps you find your way when you get lost. I can just buy another one in London."
"London." Iris repeated. "Is that your village?"
"Yes." Vanitas answered. "It's a very big village called a city."
"What it like?" Iris asked.
"Well it's got streets filled with carriages, bridges over the rivers, and buildings as tall as trees." Vanitas said.
"I'd like to see those things." Iris said, even though she only had a vague idea of what they were.
"You will." Vanitas said. "We're going to build them here. We'll show your people how to use this land properly. How to make the most of it."
"Make the most of it?" Iris asked. The way her and her people lived was just fine.
"Yes." Vanitas said. "We'll build roads and decent houses."
"Our houses are fine." Iris said.
"You only think that because you don't know better." Kaiba said. Ishizu then began to walk away. Maybe Kaiba was closer to Seto than she thought. "Hey wait, don't take it that way!"
Ishizu left in her boat until Kaiba got in the way of it.
"Wait!" Vanitas said. "There's so much we can teach you. We've improved the lives of savages all over the world."
"SAVAGES?" Iris shouted in outrage.
"Uh, not that you're a savage." Vanitas said nervously.
"Just my people!" Iris said angrily.
"No, look, that's not what I meant." Vanitas said.
"Let go!" Ishizu said as she tried to whack Vanitas's hand away with one of the oars.
"No, I'm not letting you leave." Vanitas said calmly.
Iris then jumped into a tree.
"Look," Vanitas said as he climbed up the tree after her. "Don't do this. Savage is just a word. A term for people who are uncivilized."
"Like me!" Iris said as she hung from the tree.
"Well when I say uncivilized, what I mean is-" Vanitas said before the limb he was on broke, and he fell to the ground, not hurt but winded. Iris looked at him and decided to forgive him for what he said, but she also decided she needed to teach him what it truly meant to be alive… To be a part of the Earth.
"What you mean is, not like you." Iris said.
You think I'm an ignorant savage.
And you've been so many places,
I guess it must be so.
But still I cannot see,
If the savage one is me.
How can there be so much that you don't know?
You don't know.
Iris then brought Vanitas to a cliff where they could see nothing but a large forest for miles and miles.
You think you own whatever land you land on.
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim.
But I know every rock and tree and creature,
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name.
Iris then brought Vanitas to a bear, and he was about to shoot it out of fear when Iris put her hand on the gun and lowered it away.
You think the only people, who are people,
Are the people who look and think like you.
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,
You'll learn things you never knew
You never knew.
Iris and Vanitas followed the bear to his den where there were at least three cubs there, and Vanitas picked one up and looked at it sadly, grateful now that he hadn't shot it, and the cub giggled and patted Vanitas's hair with his paw.
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue core moon?
Or asked the singing bobcat why he grins?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Iris then took Vanitas to a forest path, and Kaiba looked around, and almost everywhere there was an interesting color, there was wind.
Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest.
Come taste the sun sweet berries of the Earth.
Come roll in all the riches all around you,
And for once never wonder what they're worth!
Vanitas and Iris then took a boat ride and saw two otters come out and splash around.
The rainstorm and the river are my brothers.
The heron and the otter are my friends.
And we are all connected to each other,
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends!
Iris and Vanitas then saw two eagles, one male and female, fly up a sycamore tree.
How high does a sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you'll never know.
Vanitas and Iris then watched the sunset, both with a newfound respect for the other's cultures.
And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue core moon!
Or know whether we are white or copper skinned!
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain.
We need to paint with all the colors of the wind.
You can own the Earth and still,
All you'll own is earth
Until you can paint… with all the colors… of… the… wind. . .
Vanitas and Iris looked at each other, but while Iris's respect for her own people grew, Vanitas's respect for his people was quickly deteriorating, especially for Xehanort.
Suddenly drums sounded, and Iris's eyes widened in alarm.
"What's that?" Vanitas asked.
"The drums." Iris said. "They mean trouble. I-I shouldn't be here."
"I want to see you again." Vanitas said.
"I can't." Iris said as she looked away.
"Please don't leave." Vanitas pleaded.
"I'm sorry." Iris said. "I have to go."
Iris ran off, holding back tears. Was she falling in love with this man?
Choas does not own Pocahontas or kingdom hearts, but she does own Iris and Surane belongs to SuraneSpiral!
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