Special thanks to Kryst, Myra the Sark, JinjaGirl25, Glowblade998, Cheetha Suno and DragonInferno for reviewing.
Another chapter! I think most of you were anticipating this one! There will be a few more OCs in this one and I hope you like them!
Just one more thing, DI you write really awesome stories! Why don't you ask some friend to post them on their account if you don't have yours? I'm sure everyone would like to read them on the archive! :) And Cheetha Suno, if your having trouble with your fanfic page or anything at all, feel free to ask me for help - I promise I'll do my best to help (I had the same problem when I first made my page, I couldn't log in for an entire month!)
Over the Ocean of Memory
Beyal gazed out, over the railing and at the dark-blue sea. His eyes as distant as Kanna's once were. Their ship would dock today and they'd be making their way to Jeredy Suno's last 'known' location the very same second, as Chase had put it. Beyal felt tired, but he couldn't really blame the boy. Chase and his father were as close as a family should be, that was the only way Beyal could describe it because he never really had a 'father figure' or whatever it was his teammates called it. He didn't really have a person in his life that could be deemed the title of 'father', 'dad' and/or 'daddy'.
But he had some vague idea of what a mother was.
"ZEN! GIVE ME BACK MY BOOK!" nine-year-old Kanna yelled as she chased her impish friend through the temple's corridors.
"No way! You spend too much time with your nose in these dusty books! Ya' need to get out and stretch those scrawny little legs of yours!" he teased and sped up, it would not do good for him to be in the grasp of the girl's rage. She got annoyed quite often but it was a real surprise if she ever got angry - unfortunately, Zen had a way of making the impossible happen.
"And you need to get something in that empty head of yours!" she yelled after him as they continued their chase. "Now give me back my book!"
Beyal sighed from his seat at the large table in the Temple's dining room, his head in his hand as he tried to concentrate on what he was reading. Kanna had been chasing Zen all morning and their shouts rang throughout the entire Monastery. Normally someone would silence them, but unfortunately, the two(and Beyal) were the fastest in the temple and with Master Ey out for his usual walk, there was no one who could have some authority over the two.
"Something wrong, Beyal?" he heard a gentle voice say. He was met by the sight of Ella, the young woman who cooked almost every meal at the monastery. She was also the Temple's healer and caretaker to all of the children many have 'dropped off' at the monastery's door.
"No Miss Ella." he answered in quiet voice. He didn't know why he was so shy, everyone was so outgoing here. Thankfully, he managed to get over the habit, well, mostly - he was still a bit shy around Miss Ella.
"Why so formal child, I hold no title so you might as well call me Ella." she said gently "I'd actually prefer it."
"Okay Mi- Ella." he quickly corrected himself and Valerie chuckled at his efforts.
"Whatcha reading?" she asked in a curious tone, leaning over his shoulder to get a better look at the book that was neatly resting on the table in front of Beyal. She raised an eyebrow "Mythology?"
Beyal averted him gaze, his cheeks turning a soft pink at being discovered "Uh huh, something seems familiar about it." he explained in a small voice that was almost completely drown out by his friends' shouts "I think I heard it once but can't remember."
Ella smiled, gently putting her hand on Beyal's small shoulder as her eyes grew soft "Well, maybe someone told you a fairy-tale once." she explained carefully. Beyal looked at her in total bemusement "Huh?", but she just giggled "It's a kind of made up story. Like a legend but it contains things that have no probability of ever happening in the real world, at least not for most cases."
Beyal nodded, even do he still had no idea where he heard such a thing as a fairy-tale before, but suddenly, it wasn't really important.
"Would you like me to tell you one?"
So, in a way, Beyal knew what a mother was - or, at least, he knew what it felt to have one. Valerie was a really kind person, a person who is always willing to listen and understand you. It's a person who guides and loves you unconditionally. Who's always there for you and would never leave you, no matter what - or so you think.
Beyal was ten, he had spent three years living at the Tebab Temple, but to him - it was his entire life, his earliest memory was of coming here after all. He usually sneaks out to the roof with Zen and Kanna, but he really doesn't need to. There's always someone awake here, be it whichever hour of the day or night - everyone had their own time to sleep. Beyal always liked watching the sunsets and then the stars with his friends, but he also liked the sunrises. So he slept in between the two, which was 'perfect' by everyone's standards.
Tonight, however, wasn't the case. Tonight was one of those nights when Ella would read to him, Zen and Kanna a fairy tale - since they all shared one room, but his two companions usually fell asleep before she even reached half of the story. But Beyal never fell asleep, not until he heard the ending.
"Hey, Ella?" he said when the woman paused to yawn.
"Humph?" she asked tiredly.
"Where do you know all these fairy-tales from?"
Ella was visibly taken aback, but then her eyes seemed to soften and she smiled a sad smile. Her green eyes glimmered with longing and her voice was reduced to a whisper. "I used to tell them to someone special a long time ago." she said before looking away.
And that's when Beyal realized, he wasn't special to her. Someone else already held that place in her heart.
Beyal didn't blame her, her wasn't exactly anything special back then. There wasn't anything special about him, unlike with Kanna or Zen. Kanna had so much knowledge, she could remember most everything she ever read. And Zen could always sense what others were feeling, he could feel their desires and regrets. Kanna had the gift of Memory and Zen had the gift of Empathy, but he - Beyal didn't have a special gift. But they didn't mind, for them he was one and the same - special in his own way.
Beyal couldn't sleep, he often couldn't when a shadow of a doubt emerged to haunt him. Tonight, his mind found it amusing to dwell on just what place he held in the hearts of his friends and mentors. A stupid doubt, but often an unavoidable one.
"Hey Beyal?" he heard someone whisper. When he raised his head, he was meet by pale bright-teal green eyes staring back at him. Zen lay in bed with his blanket pulled up to the bridge of his nose, only his intent eyes were visible - which meant Beyal couldn't see the expression on his face.
"Humph?"
Zen shifted under the blanket, eyes never leaving his friend "What's wrong, bud?"
Beyal blinked, 'leave it to Zen to notice' he thought, '...and care.' a small voice added in his head "I just... I was just wondering..."
Zen shifted again "You know you don't need to worry." he said soothingly and finally uncovered his face, revealing a small, friendly smile "I mean, we do care about you. We just don't express it with words, their unnecessary. I don't know how things are done in the 'outside' world but Trax tells me that people are usually too ignorant to recognize anything but words sometimes."
And again, Zen spoke like those were the most obvious things in the world - because, indeed, they were. People just had a way of overlooking them. And again, Beyal was awestruck by the simple wisdom of his mischievous friend. "I..." But Zen apparently wasn't finished, good thing too - Beyal didn't know what to say.
"And... we don't have to prove ourselves... and... that's why I'm going to tell you a secret... just because... you're you..."
Secrets, the most precious information, most precious knowledge anyone could posses. And it was also the most precious thing to become the keeper of - because a secret was also the crown of trust, sharing one was sharing one of the deepest parts of yourself with another and entrusting them with your everlasting friendship.
That day Trax and Sky were supposed to go to a nearby village.
Beyal looked on as they prepared to go on yet another trip into the world, all though, in this case, it was only to the town on the base of the next mountain - all in all, it only took three and a half hours to get there. And for Sky and Trax, that equaled as a brief stroll.
Trax was a big, burly man, his skin was the darkest tan(only a few shades darker from Zen's), in the Library and he was bold and had a spiky, white beard. His dark, chocolate brown eyes were always accompanied by a stern expression.
Sky, who was only three years older than Beyal and his friends, wasn't actually Trax's brother. He was, instead, a street rat that Trax had taken pity of and brought to the Monastery. Trax had wanted to leave him in Ella's capable hands but the kid had grown on him. Sky had incredibly pale skin, paler even than Kanna's. His hair was a bleach blonde, almost the same color as his skin. He was very skinny so his cloths and cloak always hung off of him. Sky, even though a very bleach shade, was the color of his soft eyes. The combination made him look a bit ghostly and unhealthy. All in all, he looked fragile, and he didn't speak much and when he did, it was in a small, whispering voice.
They adjusted two big bags on their backs. They were supposed to fill them with the supplies on which the Temple was running short... and to carry a few things out. Beyal bit his lip, it was now or never!
"Hey Sky! Trax!" he called as cheerfully as he could manage, which was pretty convincing given the fact that he was thrilled that they were at the Temple and not traveling right now.
"Oh, hello Beyal." came Sky's quiet, whisper-like voice. Sky gave the younger boy a small, timid smile. That was Sky, the ever gentle soul and another close friend. Beyal returned the smile. "Are you going out?"
"Yeah, were goin' to get a few supplies." replied Trax, shifting the ginormous backpack that would no doubt be so full of food that it would be ready to burst when they came back. Trax was incredibly strong and was in charge of training the youngsters, the most important quality he thought, however, was speed. He was an expert in training the body, so he usually helped Valerie with healing when he was here. And despite his appearance he had quite the soft heart when it came to his fellow monks.
Beyal lowered his head, scratching his arm nervously "Can you...? Do you think... I could maybe..." he paused for a second "Come with you...?"
There was silence in the entrance hall and just when Trax opened his mouth to reply a spiky head poked itself out of Sky's backpack "Oh, please let him come Master Trax!" Zen pleaded.
"You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you?" came Kanna's irritable voice as her head emerged from Trax's backpack, Zen just sent her a impish grin. Trust Zen to keep a secret, but he knew who he could tell and Kanna couldn't help but join him in whining their way into letting Beyal come along with them.
"Well since were already taking two rascals with us," Trax laughed "Why not?"
And that's the first time those four pulled Beyal in one of their stunts.
Beyal shook his head. Why in the world had he begun remembering? Maybe because those moments had now ended forever. Maybe because there was nothing to remember when he was still enjoying the present. Maybe because you only start remembering when it becomes the past.
Beya found he couldn't look at the ocean anymore, Sky had once described it as one of the most beautiful things he ever saw, had described how the sky kissed the sea during the down and dusk. Sky always said that, if he had the chance, he would take him to see the sea. It felt almost wrong to gaze over the horizon without his older friend.
Just then, someone bumped into him shoulder. "Uh, sorry." they murmured before hastily moving past, but Beyal still managed to catch the blur of white locks as the girl sped away. He gaped. It couldn't be!
He saw the girl stop by a boy her age, but he couldn't really tell who they were with the many people blocking his view.
On impulse, he made a wild dash for them, occasionally jumping over some unfortunate passenger. The two turned a corner and so did Beyal, but instead of facing the two look-a-likes he found himself facing Dax and Jinja.
"Whoa, Beyal, where's the fire?" Dax breathed in surprise but Beyal paid him no mind and jumped over both him and Jinja. He didn't stop to give an explanation to the speechless pair as he sped towards the two cloaked figures. He rounded another corner but the Kanna and Zen were nowhere to be found.