Chapter 9-Shadow of Suspicion

Shibu had been a remarkably good patient through the first two weeks of his enforced holiday. The cycle of long rest, good food, and time had given Shibu a chance to do the two things he needed to do most.

Rest and heal.

But both Felice and Cici already knew that there was part of Shibu that would not be held down, even if his body had been strapped to the comfortable and fluffy couch in the living room.

Recuperation also allowed Shibu to catch up on his studies. Over the days of enforced rest, the young boy had only one really productive activity. Felice allowed him free run of her nearly endless supplies of herbs and natural ingredients.

With the days of practice to keep himself busy, Shibu had graduated to more complex potions, far beyond the almost reflexive skill required to concoct simple healing potions. The simple elixirs were the stock in trade of the healer. Selling the potions for a fee only slightly greater than the cost of the glass bottle, and the cork made Felice and family enough money to survive and prosper in a village where they had already cultivated years of respect. Felice doubled as the village doctor, healing anyone who came to her with everything from the normal childhood cuts and scrapes to the effects of varying degrees of illness.

Felice kept not only the village itself healthy, but the entire Township and precinct around it. It was not uncommon for Shibu to see patients arrive from Bonta to Brakmar, and sometimes even as far away as Pandala. Felice always gave first, and thought about her own costs long after. Many who came to her had barely enough money to return to their own lands once they were healed. Many dozens of others had no money, nor any form of wealth at all beyond what they could grow, mill, or make. Felice cheerfully accepted any sort of reasonable donation, passing along things that she could not use to her fellow craftsmen, and other villagers in need.

Shibu grew particularly excited and interested when he knew a potion which he had made had helped cure someone, or at least made them feel better, at least for a time. He would sit with each visitor for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. Interacting, and talking with the young boy gave most of the patients a chance to escape their illness for at least a short while. In return, Shibu learned everything from the geography of Pandala to the foreboding reaches of the frosty kingdom of Frigost, which was closer to the polar cap then it was to any other spot in the World of the Twelve.

But midway through his fourth week of captivity, both Felice and Cici noticed a change in Shibu's usually bright demeanor. He grew moody, and stopped talking, along with spending most of his day doing nothing beside sleep.

Felice and Cici had seen enough of medicine of different types to understand and diagnose what was troubling their younger brother. Shibu had made no secret of wanting to go out and play, especially when the spring weather came into its full bloom, and groups of his friends would stop by his house to see if he was well, or at least willing to try and play Boufball again.

On one particularly beautiful green spring day, Cici could sense the wave of resentment radiating from her captive little brother.

Just as Shibu had done at the beginning of the season with the baby bird, Cici decided there and then that now was the time to liberate Shibu.

She walked over to the comfy couch which had become a sort of plush cage for the young boy. Cici flounced down onto one of the thick cushions right beside Shibu. Without giving her little brother any hope of escape, Cici grabbed him, hugged him close, and kissed him in her familiar way on his nose.

"Know what little brother?"

"Yeah I know. Girls like to slobber a lot." Said Shibu, as he wiped his nose absently with the corner of the blanket which now covered the couch.

"Nope. That's not what I mean. I think I've come up with a new medicine for you." Cici told him directly.

She almost giggled right out loud, nearly giving the whole thing away, as Shibu's face took on a somewhat twisted and puckered expression. Shibu knew as well as Felice that while Cici had many talents, alchemy was not first among them. Whenever Cici made the healing potion that Shibu took with every meal, and before bedtime, Cici's creation was an awful sour mash of ingredients, rather than the sweet and slightly floral taste intended for healing potion.

"Come on, it's not all that bad. This time you don't have to drink anything." Cici said to him in a gentle, consoling way as his puckered expression faded slowly away. "This one you'll like, because it's medicine I think you've needed for a while now. It's called fresh air mixed with a whole bunch of spring sunshine."

Putting together what Cici was trying to say took Shibu less than a single happy breath. He leapt up from the couch, hugged Cici close, once again displaying the admirable strength her little brother possessed. "Thank you, big sister!" Shibu said with a happy giggle that sounded like sweet music to Cici.

"You can go out, and play. But if you start feeling sick, or get too tired, you come right back here for rest and maybe a little snack, okay?" Cici told him firmly but gently.

This suited Shibu from the tail on his hat, to the soles of the shoes that Cici made for him. He had not put them on in almost a whole month, but feeling their weight again seem to fill Shibu with his usual overflowing amount of ferocious energy.

As happy as Shibu was to dash out to the middle of the village green, and start forming up teams for Boufball, it was both Felice and Cici who were just exactly as happy as Shibu, for the boy's own sake.

"Now, I can start the laundry, and the cooking. You take the first shift of watching over Shibu. I'll relieve you just before supper time." Cici told Felice with a trace of Shibu's happiness in her own voice.

Felice smiled warmly. "Thank you so much, Dear Heart!" Felice replied. Cici knew it had been a long month for Felice too. Seeing her boy being himself again was as much medicine for Felice as it was tonic and elixir for Shibu.

With Cici out from under foot as well, Felice was free to work her own sort of magic in the kitchen, which made her one of the best cooks in the village.

Shibu seemed to blow out of the house on a gust of hurricane wind, out onto the green grass, and into the midst of his friends game. That game ended quickly, as both teams gathered around Shibu to re-form and hopefully get the best kicker in the village on their own team.

The warm sunshine and the soft breeze which kept the heat away seemed to fill Shibu with another level of energy altogether. Quickly enough, the impromptu game became a lively lesson in ball control without using the hands. Shibu could almost stand on the ball itself and dance a lively jig while the ball continued to roll this way and that. He went up holding himself up by one arm with the sheep style ball under his hand.

"Okay guys!" Shibu shouted. "I say that I can stay like this for an entire week. Who wants to try to take the ball out from under me?"

As Shibu spoke up, he held his single arm push-up, and actually turned along with the ball beneath him slowly so he could look at his teammates as he spoke.

Watching from a safe distance not all that far away, Cici was worried for a moment. But her little brother's display of both balance and strength meant that Shibu was indeed feeling much better than the poor frazzled boy who had fallen from the tree a month earlier. Cici decided not to intervene, but rather to sit back and watch the fun from a distance.

One by one, his teammates large and small came at him, intent on knocking him off of the ball, or taking the ball that Shibu now kept alternately beneath both hands, or beneath both feet, as the young kicker made quick work of dodging every boy in the village who wanted to try, while keeping easy and fluid control over the ball, which now seemed to be a part of him.

The other boys regrouped, and came at him in sets of two, three, and even four at a time. Shibu seemed to dance a ballet on top of the ball, bending, twisting, dodging and turning so as to avoid being so much as touched, let alone the ball itself, which was always beneath both of his hands, or both of his feet as Shibu moved from side to side in a simple but fluid display of movement and dodging that allowed Shibu to show off skills dormant for almost too long for Shibu.

It was as if Shibu had never missed a team practice, and could score as many goals as he liked, anytime he wanted, even against his own team.

Very soon, the members of that team lay strewn across the field, flat out exhausted and panting on the soft grass.

One of the boys signaled the teams surrender by changing the subject to something more exciting.

"Come on Shibu!" Dylan called out between heavy breaths. "Let's see you kick!"

Shibu, who was standing on the ball, which was rotating beneath his feet hopped off the ball with a giggle, popping it up with a tap of his toe, so he could spin it on one finger while he looked around in the soft grass for the best place to spot his kick. He quickly spotted a place in the grass not far away that would give him a good running start at a smashing kick.

Shibu set the ball down, and whistling with confidence he walked back five long steps, determined to get a good run in to the ball for his first kick in practice in a very long month.

Watching intently from the porch not far away, Cici saw Shibu set himself more like a runner than a kicker, and then he was still for just a moment before he moved.

When he moved, it was all Cici could do even with Ranger sight to keep track of Shibu, who was tearing along the grass at full speed after just two steps. Shibu was also growling at the top of his lungs as his toe met the ball in the absolutely perfect spot that had been his target.

In Cici's view,the ball simply ceased to exist. But she did hear a loud almost explosive sound, and feel a wind gust rise over the village green that seemed to be made of a small tornado! There was a brief clipping sound among the shorter branches of the tallest tree around the green, and then Cici caught sight of a nearly round hole blasted into the overhead canopy of leaves. The ball, quite simply, was gone, and for good.

"Yeah, Shibu! You showed them! Score one for Shibu!" Cici cheered from her now slightly less shady spectator seat on the porch.

Shibu decided playfully to ham it up just a bit. Standing alone in the middle of the field, now quite without the ball, Shibu made a point of slowly bowing to all four directions. As he did so the long tail of his hat flopped out over his head, and down in front of his eyes!

Cici laughed so hard that she nearly fell off the barrel that had become her impromptu seat!

"Sorry boys, but game called on account of lunch." Cici called out in the style of a referee. "Come on in Shibu, even superstars need to eat!"

Far from being angry, the other boys on the team got up from the grass where most of them still lay sprawled out from trying to catch Shibu. The rest of the team picked up their kicking sensation, and carried him triumphantly across the grass from the village green, to his front door, not far away. Then they set him down, making a point to brush away any stray blade of grass that still clung to his uniform. They patted him softly on the back, and were even more gentle about messing up his unique long tailed hat, which was surprisingly soft and warm to the touch.

"Go on and eat Shibu." Dylan told his friend. "We're going to need you in top shape if we are going to play for the spring championship in Bonta this season."

"Okay Captain!" Shibu responded brightly. And with that he turned, to allow Cici to escort him into the house for food and rest.

After a moment, as Shibu ran off toward lunch, Cici's head appeared again in the window facing the porch.

"Thanks a lot guys." Cici said to the remaining team members. "I think it's great that we have our Shibu back." She told the group. "Stop by my place later on, I have apple cider and fresh-baked cakes for dessert." Cici told the boys coyly.

The muted rumbling of the team stomachs sounded like the distant cheers that they hope to hear in Bonta stadium later on in the springtime.

"Sure enough, Cici!" Dylan replied. "Come on fellas, lunch is probably waiting for the rest of us as well. See you later, Cici!"

"Right, Dylan!" Cici replied brightly. "And thanks again guys, you were just the medicine Shibu really needed."

Shibu was up on his toes as he made a dash for the porch. Cici watched in amazement as her little brother stopped absolutely still where the porch itself began, and then stepped up, across the porch and into the house with a step so quiet that not even Cici's trained ears could hear it.

"Show off!" Cici whispered in the nearly silent deep forest voice which only another Ranger could hear.

Shibu beamed, and sat down at the table, where warm soup, fresh bread and dried fruit awaited him.

"C'mon, Sis!" Shibu said brightly. "There's plenty here. Tuck in if you want to!"

"I had some while I was making lunch for you, Little Brother. I'll just watch you eat."

So saying, Cici pulled up a chair opposite Shibu at the table, and watched with delight as Shibu seemed to pack away what seemed almost like his own weight in his favorite foods. The nearly angelic expression of relief on Cici's face caught Shibu's attention as he picked up his soup bowl, and tipped it back, draining it with a quick, loud slurp!

"S'madder, Sis?" Shibu inquired, as Shibu set the empty bowl down again.

"I'm just so glad to see you feeling so much better, Sweet Shibu."

Cici was even more delighted to see Shibu's usual self-confident smile. "Ya, I feel like I could jump right over that tree." Shibu interjected, flashing Cici a thumb's up gesture universal to the Ranger's sign language.

"Don't get any big ideas for a while, Mister Smarty Hat!" Cici quipped. "You and I still need to have a little chat about what happened, how and why." Said Cici in a more subdued voice. "Let's you and I take a walk, as soon as you're done, OK?"

"Anytime, Sis!" Shibu replied quickly. "Just as long as we don't worry Mom, All right?" Shibu asked using the Ranger's forest voice so that he would not be overheard.

Cici nodded in silent reply, and waited for Shibu to finish eating every morsel of food Cici had fixed for him.

A few minutes later, as Shibu stood up and shouldered his bow and quiver, Cici was also ready to go.

"Felice?" Cici called out gently.

"Yes, Dear?" Felice called back from her workroom where she was finishing a batch of sleeping potions.

"Shibu and I are off for the woods and some more Archery practice. We'll be back in an hour or two, will you be alright?"

"I'm fine, loves!" Felice called back brightly. "I just won't have all three of us falling asleep if I fumble one of these bottles."

"Never happen, Mom! You're the best! You need anything collected from the woods, while we're out there?" Shibu called back.

"Maybe some willow root, sweetheart. But don't tire yourself looking. I have enough here for today, I believe. You two go and have a good time. I'll have tea and snacks waiting when you come back!"

That thought made Cici smile. Her afternoon tea with Felice was a high point of her day when she wasn't hunting, or giving Shibu the Ranger lessons he loved nearly as much as his mother and Cici herself!

Silently, Cici extended a gloved hand to Shibu. He took the offered lift, and soon found himself riding rather than walking as Cici hoisted Shibu up to her shoulders, and the pair made a single set of tracks for the woodlands on the edge of the village.

Cici was up on her toes as soon as she had grass beneath her feet. Ten long strides allowed both to come to a stop before two great tree stumps, the remnants of oak trees so massive that legends about the trees had continued to grow more than one hundred years after both had been cut down. Years of smoothing by weather and the passage of the Rangers who knew the spot well had transformed the hardwood into a welcome spot to sit and relax, as both stumps had been cut down to ground level.

Cici sat first, as Shibu eased onto the other great stump facing her.

"I can't come right out and tell you what happened." Shibu began, "Because I'm still not sure." Shibu began haltingly. "You saw what I saw. The wind took me off of the branch and down I went." Shibu explained.

"I saw that much, and I'll have you know I've never been so scared, in this life, or the next." Cici remarked shortly.

"Sorry, Sis." Shibu replied in an even more quiet whisper. "I didn't do it on purpose.'

"I know, sweetheart. I'm sorry. Go On. What about those blue lights?" Cici continued.

"I remember throwing my arms out, trying to ride the wind as much as I could." Shibu said. "All at once there was a blue circle in front of me, and I rolled and tumbled into it." Shibu told Cici. "I was falling too fast to change direction."

"I saw that blue circle too, Shibu." Cici confirmed. "So it wasn't your imagination." Cici told Shibu. His expression of relief was as if someone had lifted a weight from Shibu's shoulders.

"Then, all I remember was someplace white, all around me, and then there was another blue circle under my feet, and I was falling again. But it was as if I jumped off a lower limb of the tree. I was falling more slowly." Shibu explained slowly, picking his words carefully as he spoke, thinking vividly about everything he could remember.

Cici nodded agreement. "You did disappear for just a moment. Then there was a second blue light, much closer to the ground. I saw you fall out of that opening, then you hit the grass at the base of the tree, and I don't remember much after that until you were in bed and Felice was using her brushes on both of us." Cici confessed.

"It's OK, Sis." Shibu consoled gently. "I guess we were both pretty scared there for a second or two."

"Yep-yep!" Cici replied, expertly mimicking Shibu like the black crows who lived deeper in the woods.

That made Shibu giggle! The sound was like the crackle of a warm fire on a cold night to Cici's Ranger heart.

"So, these blue lights are real." Shibu reasoned, using the keen mind that Cici knew he possessed. "We could both see them, so they were no hallucination." Shibu said resolutely.

Hearing her brother use such a big word made Cici extra proud of Shibu. Anyone else his age would still be a broken, scared and tearful mess. But Shibu's mind would never allow that. Once more, Shibu was the youngest adult Cici had ever seen, and she was glad of it, for both their sakes.

"I think you're right, so far, Shibu.' Cici confirmed. "I also think they came from you, Little brother."

"Me?" Shibu said doubtfully.

"It's logical, Shibu. You were alone in mid air. I was too far away. Making blue openings in space is something not even the Great Cra has ever been able to do."

"Let's try to do it again!" Shibu said after a moments consideration.

But the idea still sounded like Shibu. Quick and impulsive.

But this time, like at the base of the tree, Cici found herself caught up in Shibu's outburst of both quiet strength and magnetic confidence.

"OK, Little Brother. Let's see what you've got! "Cici's usual words of encouragement to Shibu made him smile again. But this time, it wasn't the cocky grin that Cici was so very used to seeing under those handsome blue eyes.

"I know I can do this." Shibu confessed quietly. "I've seen it over and over again. In the dreams I had while I was healing."

"Then go on, Ranger. Just do what comes naturally." Cici replied as if Shibu had already succeeded.

Shibu stood up quietly, to give himself a little more room to move his arm. He flattened his palm and thrust his arm outward quickly to full length. Cici saw a fine sheen of blue light gather on Shibu's palm, and then flicker out, more like a small firefly. Shibu dropped his arm with a dejected look on his face.

"Try again, Shibu, and this time, think about being in trouble." She advised more quietly.

Shibu quicken his movement, as he thought once more about falling out of that tree.

This time, Cici saw a brighter and more energetic light leap from Shibu's palm, and suddenly a few inches away from Shibu's hand was a vivid blue circle of light, with what seemed to be a perfect white center!

"Shibu!" You did it!" Cici said jumping up from where she sat. As Shibu seemed to shrink a bit, as he prepared to jump into the opening.

"Shibu! Wait!" Cici called out. Shibu saw her look quickly down at the ground. She brightened as she spotted a large acorn laying on the ground at her feet. Cici swept it up onto her gloved hand, and started to toss it thru the blue opening. But then she stopped. Just long enough to draw her short-bladed knife. Cici cut a small cross into the hard coat of the oak seed. Then, she took a moment to show the marked acorn to Shibu, who nodded with a slight smile. Satisfied, Cici tossed the nut casually into the blue opening.

"Now, Open another one a few feet away." Cici said quickly.

This time, Shibu didn't try thinking about much of anything. The casual flip of his hand was more like a firm push against something invisible. Shibu was as surprised as Cici was as another opening which matched the first one popped into existence a yard or so away. The moment there were two openings, an acorn popped out of the second opening and plonked with a hollow sound against the roots of another massive tree nearby.

Cici gasped softly, and sprang toward the second opening to sweep up the acorn that had made the passage thru the blue openings. As she picked it up, she turned to Shibu, showing him the cross she had cut into the shell of the nut.

"Same acorn." Cici observed.

Shibu plucked the nut from Cici's upturned palm and bracing the nut on the side of his thick index finger, Shibu displayed some of his understated strength by cracking the nut with a downward pressure of his thumbnail.

As he enjoyed the impromptu snack, Shibu turned to the second opening, hopped forward slightly, and before he could think, Shibu appeared back in the first opening, reversing the way the nut had gone. Shibu stepped out onto the grass again without thinking, and simply stood a step away, his arms crossed and smiling triumphantly.

Cici's quick eyes and quicker mind took in Shibu's instant movement, as well as his almost too casual unharmed state.

In a moment, the dynamics of Shibu's unusual skill hit Cici's mind as if that acorn weighed ten pounds!

"Shi-bu..Come...and sit down with me." Cici said slowly, more than a bit dazed.

Shibu noticed the change in Cici's voice, and stepped over to her, with the long stride worthy of a Ranger. Shibu noticed that both of the blue openings winked out of existence as soon as he stopped thinking about them. Shibu looked at Cici as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Cici had to draw a deep breath, and hold it as she took Shibu's hand's in her own. Only then did Shibu notice that Cici's hands were shaking.

"Shibu, my adorable little brother." Cici began still trying to sort out what she was thinking."You came to us as a miracle, now we have another one we can share." Cici told Shibu slowly.

"I don't understand, Cici." Shibu replied at once.

"Little Brother, I need to tell you some things. Things I've never said before. Mostly because I don't want to swell your head." Cici confessed.

"Huh?"Shibu wondered, looking at Cici a bit strangely.

"Shibu, you're special. You always have been, and you always will be." Cici began. You are like no one else in this whole world. You have to know that by now, Little Brother."

Shibu dropped his eyes, as well as his head. "Yup." Shibu said in a quiet, frightened whisper. "I don't know who I am, or now, what I am."

"Oh sweetheart!" Cici replied. "You're amazing, that's what you are." Cici said, taking Shibu gently into her strong arms and holding him close. As Cici held him, she began talking to him, quickly, as if Shibu might dissolve in her arms and she might lose him forever.

"Shibu, you were born on a lightning bolt. You began with a miracle. And you're still at it." Cici told him, her voice rising with strength becoming to a Ranger.

"This ability you have.' Cici said slowly."Is the greatest thing I've ever seen." Cici counseled. "You can climb, little Brother. Trees or anything else you want. I bet you can go thru walls, or anything else." Cici told Shibu as she began to reflect on Shibu's new skill.

"I bet nothing can stop you from going anyplace you want, anytime."

"Me?" Shibu whispered. "I'm just me, that's all."

This time Cici almost growled as she held Shibu.

"Shibu, would I lie to you?" she asked shortly.

"Never, Ever, Cici." Shibu replied.

"Then here is the truth. I'll tell you exactly what I see and feel every time I look into those brilliant eyes of yours." Cici continued. "You know Astronomy, Shibu?"

"You know I do, Sis." Shibu replied.

Then you know what a meteorite is?" Cici asked, sounding pushy.

"Rocks that glow as they fall from the sky." Shibu told her without much enthusiasm.

"Then you also know that some of those have metal in them?"

Shibu nodded listlessly.

"What sort of metal, Mister Blacksmith?" Cici pushed again.

"Steel." Shibu replied.

"Right, Cici interjected. "Star Steel, Another gift given to a boy born on a lightning bolt, and under the Sea Dragon." Cici recited. "That's the Shibu who I know, who I love and who I admire. That is you, right?" Cici asked, squeezing Shibu a bit roughly, so that Shibu had to flex his own muscles to wriggle away, and stand on his own again.

"Yep, that's me." Shibu replied with a slightly more confident tone of voice.

"Then you're also smart enough to start figuring out how to help people when they need it with the way only you can move around."

Cici told Shibu sternly. "Don't let your power define you, My sweet Sea Dragon. You define your own power, That's what you've always done, and that's who you are. Understand?" Cici insisted in a tone that would except only one answer.

"Yep-Yep!' Shibu shot back, fast, bright and slightly cocky.

"Now That's my Brother Shibu!" Cici answered both relief and energy returning to her own worried eyes.

Shibu was still, and thoughtful for a moment before he spoke again. "We can't tell people about this, Cici. Not all at once anyway." Shibu reflected soberly. "They wouldn't understand, anymore then they would understand what I keep under this hat of mine."

"Both of those are decisions you have to make, Shibu. But I want you to understand one thing, OK?" Cici asked at last.

"And what would that be, Sister Mine?" Shibu wanted to know.

"Whatever you decide, and whenever you decide it, I'll always love you and stand beside you, Brother mine."

Cici was surprised but not terribly shocked as Shibu turned, and hugged Cici strongly enough to take the breath from her lungs! "Let's head for home, Cici. I bet Mom is looking for both of us about now.

"Yep-Yep!" Cici replied brightly as she took Shibu's hand in her own and let him lead the way home.