The Chicken or the Egg?

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            Eky waited until his supervisor wasn't looking, then picked up the basket and ran out the back door. The sup wouldn't notice he was gone for at least ten minutes; the man was always too busy to keep his eye on everyone at once. Eky and several other kitchen workers had gotten into the habit of slipping off once in a while, while the others would cover for the shirker. After all, they never got a day off, and it was hell to stay in that damn kitchen all the time, so it was natural for them to make time for themselves this way.

            Keeping up his steady run and expertly carrying the basket so that its contents would not be thrown out, the young man made his way into one of the many clearings behind the compound. It didn't take him long to spot what he was looking for.

            "Hiiiiiii!" sang the now-familiar voice. He could see Lessa down by one of the numerous little creeks that flowed through the hills behind the compound. She was standing and waving vigorously. At her feet lay the boy whom Eky had only recently become friends with. The youth's expression was annoyed, as if he'd been dealing with Lessa's energy for some time already.

            "Hi, Sori," Eky greeted the boy. "Lessa being weird again?"

            "As always."

            "Okay, look, you two! I'm not always the one who's hyper." Her tone was accusatory as she arched an eyebrow at her friends. "I'm just having a good day, that's all."

            "Whatever. So, whatcha bring?" Sori reached for Eky's basket with one hand, brushing his hair from his eyes with the other.

            "That new sweet bread Anx made, some of James's better jam, and eggs."

            "Eggs?" both of the younger people reiterated in confusion.

            "Yeah." Eky snatched back his basket from Sori and started digging through it himself, handing a small loaf of bread to both of them. Then he pulled out a bundle of cloth and carefully unwrapped it to reveal three eggs. "Look." He quickly shelled one of them. It was boiled. "They're good this way."

            "Yeah, right," Sori scoffed.

            "No, really! And they're even better with a little salt, but I couldn't get any. Here, try it." The kitchen man handed Sori the shelled egg and watched as the boy tentatively bit into it.

            "Heyyy, this is kinda good."

            "Told you!"

            "Aw, shut up."

            "You going to make me, little boy?"

            "Yeah, bring it on!" Sori stretched out on the grass with arm raised in a challenge.

            "You're on!" Eky joined him, grasping his hand, and the wrestling began.

            Lessa just watched them in silence. Then she leaned over Eky and plucked one of the eggs from the cloth. As she leaned back again, she absently slapped Eky's butt.

            "Eep! Don't do that, Les! Whoa, noooo…dangit."

            Sori laughed, pinning Eky's arm to the ground. "Haha! I win!"

            Eky scowled and raised his arm again.

            Lessa dropped the egg and scrambled to her feet, jumping away.

            The egg rolled until it touched Sori's elbow. He didn't pay much attention to it, already staring at Lessa. "What's wrong with you?"

            Lessa looked at him with wide eyes, glanced at the egg, and opened her mouth to speak but her expression abruptly changed. Eky recognized the look and bolted to her side, getting there just in time to hold her hair back for her while she emptied her stomach on the grass. "It's okay, it's alright," he murmured, putting a hand on her forehead even as she continued.

            Sori stood, brushing himself off. "Okay, I've definitely lost my appetite."

            "Shut up," Lessa moaned without looking up or straightening up.

            "Just tryin' to distract ya." The Mouri glanced to Eky and touched his cousin's shoulder, concerned. "Really, what's wrong?"

            Lessa didn't seem to hear him. She mumbled something that sounded like "shell your own food" and then, with another moan, she tumbled forward. Eky caught her and carefully swung her up in his arms. He and Sori exchanged another glance, both perplexed and anxious.

            "Maybe she's been training too hard." Eky blew at a few stray strands of green hair that had fallen in his eyes.

            Sori couldn't help brushing his own hair out of the way, then reached to swipe some wisps from Lessa's face. "Yeah, that must be it. C'mon, let's get her to the infirmary or something."

***********************

            Ulner sighed. "I thought you said they were gone."

            "They were." D'torei sighed himself, putting down the half-empty bowl of rice. "But they're back now."

            "D'torei, you really should talk to the master about these…these…"

            "Dreams. Visions. Apparitions. Hallucinations. Delusions. Whatever you think best fits." The man stood up, his long auburn hair swinging behind him, making soft whispering noises against his robes. "But the point here is, I am having them again. And we both know from experience what happens when I do."

            Ulner stood up and stretched until his spine popped, smirking when his friend winced at the sound. "Yeah. They come true."

            D'torei nodded. "Exactly. So, do you understand what you have to do?"

            "Well enough, I guess. I gotta go now. I promised that little kid that I would come visit here around this time."

            "Since when do you like kids?"

            "Since Lessa introduced me to Rinfi. If you'd just come out of this stupid shrine once in a while, D'torei, I think you'd be interested in these kids. They're really bringing new life to the place."

            "You know I can't do that. We've tried it."

            Ulner grimaced. "Sorry, moment of stupidity."

            "Not a problem. But you were going, so go."

            Ulner nodded, bowed, and left.

            D'torei groaned loudly and let himself fall back on the mat. "Why?" He covered his eyes. "Why can't I stop them? Why do they come to me?"

            "Because I love you."

            He was on his feet and on guard in the space of a breath. "Who's there? Where are you?" But he could see no one in the shrine with him and no one in the space he could see beyond the door. "Dear gods…" He slipped back to the floor, folding his legs beneath him. "Am I going mad?"

***********************

            To this day, I do not know why I awoke when I did. But I do know that when I did, I had one helluva whopping headache. So, naturally, the first words out of my mouth were, "Owwwww…netherhells."

            After a moment, I realized I was alone in this room. That was odd. There was always someone in nearly any room of the castle, at least the ones I went to when I was trying to keep from getting lost.

            And then I remembered. I'd been out with Eky and Sori; Eky had brought the food. There were…boiled eggs. And when I'd seen that boiled egg, when I'd felt it in my hand…I'd felt like someone had just fired off a space rocket in my head. I had thought that I was in a forest for a moment. And in that moment, I'd found myself screaming. There was something happening before me that had me screaming that way, something that made me angry and afraid… But then the moment was over, I was beside a hill, holding an egg, and Sori and Eky were looking at me funny and then I'd gotten sick and…then I suddenly couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

            And here I was.

            I took a good look around me. "Huh." The boys must have brought me to the infirmary when I passed out. But where was the nurse? I distinctly recalled that there was always a nurse or two on duty in here. I sat up and swung my legs to the side of the bed. My head was going to explode!

            I waited for a few moments, allowing the pressure a chance to settle out in my head, and then rose slowly to my feet. I nearly fainted again. "Ohhhhhh, shit."

            "Such a foul mouth."

            I jumped. Which wasn't a very wise idea. I think I moaned while I leant against the bed for support and comfort. "Hello?" I called, as soon as my head got level again.

            "Hurry. Not much time now."

            I honestly hadn't a clue what was going on. But something told me I had better get out into the hall, and I'd better do it fast. So I strode toward the door, thinking briefly that had a nurse been in the room, she would have stopped me before I could take three steps. But then I was out in the hall. I would later be told that the nurse had had to run up to the conservatory, where one of the cleaning boys had shattered a giant glass vase twice his own size and been badly lacerated.

            So, here I was in the hall. Now what? I had to…upstairs. I had to go upstairs somewhere. It wasn't until I was halfway to the second story that I realized I had no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it. What was wrong with me? Well, it seemed that the only way to find out was to keep going.

            I couldn't tell you how I got where I was going that day if my life depended upon it. It seemed to me that one moment I was on the stair and then the next I was standing somewhere on the seventh and top story and staring at a wall. I blinked several times. My headache was suddenly gone. But where was I? And why was I wherever I was?

            "Hurry. We are losing precious seconds."

            I took advantage of this return of sanity and self-control to analyze this strange un-embodied voice that had been commanding me about. It was most definitely female, and youthful, yet it possessed in it something I couldn't describe…almost like an ancient wisdom…and I thought, Is that an echo?

            "Stop that! Hurry!"

            And then suddenly my right palm was pressed to the wall and then my left hand too. "What the netherhells is g—"

            Suddenly there was a loud pop, like a wine bottle being opened, and I was blinded for an instant by a bright whiteness that I thought in that brief moment was really only in my mind, and then I was sitting on the floor against the wall on the other side of the corridor. A jolt of pain screamed through the back of my head and spine. I'd hit the wall, I realized. No, I'd been thrown at the wall. Oh, shit, it hurts!

            "Yes, I know and I'm really so very sorry; that really couldn't be helped, you see. Come now, time's really going to be against us now."

            I blinked against the tears of pain that were starting to well in my eyes and looked up. "You…" It was the girl from all those weeks ago, the one I'd run into during my first escapade through the compound. How had I managed to forget her so completely?

            "Well, actually, you didn't forget. The memories were stolen and replaced in a way and…oh, there's no time for this now. Get up, will you?!" But then she was standing before me, and her hand had my arm grasped firmly, and she yanked me to my feet with a surprising strength. "Where's the cat?" she asked, but was distracted the next instant. "Oh, dear, but it's been so long since we've spoken, hasn't it? Come on! If we don't hurry, he'll have us before we can put up a fight." And she started to run down the corridor with me in tow. I couldn't help crying out as I was yanked along; the pain from my collision with the wall still throbbing up my back.

            I was only half conscious by the time we reached the first corner and failed to remain fully conscious for some time after that. But eventually, the girl came to a stop and held me out before her. I tried to focus on her face, but simply couldn't. "Hm," she said, her voice scrutinizing. "You must have hit your head harder than I thought… Well, I can't do anything for that right now. Where's Halo? He could fix you up, surely."

            But their refusal to help the other three seems to have made the turned Ronins think it necessary to do away with Tenku and Rekka.

            "What was that? What did you say?" she asked, eyes wide.

            "I didn't…" I realized suddenly that I was scared to death for some reason. All of this mess had started with that damned egg! Which came first: the chicken or the egg? I thought. I felt certain that I was about to pass out.

            "No, no! You can't faint now. I must know, who told you this?"

            I gasped at the pain in my back. "D'torei," I choked out. "Please, it hurts."

            "Don't talk anymore! Just think toward me and I will hear you. Now, what else did he say when he told you this? Think of the whole conversation, I can pick out what I need."

            I moaned, wanting to lie down or scream or something, but couldn't help recalling that first time with D'torei now that she had mentioned it.

            Her eyes grew even wider. "Lies!" she hissed. "They are lies! You mustn't believe them. And you are not who I thought. But then where is…ah," her eyes became sad, "you poor thing."

            I couldn't stifle the scream that came from my lips suddenly. She covered my mouth and glanced about her nervously. I wanted to weep for the pain, and sobbed against her hand. The pain flew up my spine and it might as well have been acid. I realized that she was speaking to me urgently, and I felt all my attention willfully pulled away from my agony to her words.

            "Don't believe them, they lie. They don't know it, but they do. Ryo is not safe! The others are not turned; their families are safer with them. You are being used, manipulated, the Black is not your own, but a tinted reflection. Do you understand? He's dead! Dead! You have it now, he left it for you. Resist them! The light is your hope, stop being the shadow, stop—"

            And suddenly her voice stopped, her hands were forcefully ripped away from my arms, and I began to fall. I was unconscious before I could realize anything more.

***********************

            Kento stood up again. "You can't do this!" he bellowed.

            "I can and you know it." Cye did not open his eyes. "You can't expect me to…to keep fighting. I just can't do it anymore."

            Sage put a staying hand on Kento's arm. "I think I understand…but if you give up Suiko, it goes to either Sori or Kyri."

            "…I know that."

            "So you want it to go to them now?"

            Cye finally opened his eyes and looked up at his friends. "Whether Sori gets it, or Kyri, either way, they'll have a way to defend themselves better." He paused, turning his face to the window. "And if I kept it, I don't…I don't think that I could use it, or I might do something stupid if I did. It's time for it to move on."

            Kento made an angry noise deep in his throat and turned away from them, striding away into the kitchen. Watching him go, Sage sighed. He rubbed his hands across his face and glanced back at Cye on the couch. The failing Warrior still gazed to the window. "Cye," began Sage slowly, "if you're absolutely positive you want to do this, let's not let it go to waste."

            Cye turned back to him. "What do you mean?"

            "I think that we can use this passing of Suiko to our advantage, but it may be tricky, and we'll have to plan it carefully."

            "I'm listening."

            Sage took a deep breath, as if to prepare himself for something. "Okay, then, before we start planning this, we have to talk to Kyri."

            "Why?"

            "Because…" and Sage glanced down at a piece of paper in his hand before continuing, "I think Suiko will go to her."

***********************

            She went through her checklist once more and, finding everything where it was supposed to be, finally called up the stairs. "Time to go!" she shouted.

            "Coming!" came the reply.

            "Get the bags, will you? They're by the door."

            "Sure." She waited till she saw him at the foot of the stairs to leave her place by the door and sprint to the kitchen. She grabbed a bright red marker and, after consulting her wristwatch, scrawled a message quickly across the dry-erase board in large bold lettering that would surely be noticed. 'Left at noon. Will call when plane lands. Feed the cats. There's pizza in the fridge (DON'T EAT IT ALL AT ONCE!!!). Don't forget to set your alarm clock. My cell number is #6 on speed dial if there's an emergency. See you in a week or two. ~Mia'

            Satisfied that she'd written down all the last minute details necessary, she rushed out the door, snatching her jacket and the one beside it from the rack by the door and shoving her feet quickly into her unlaced sneakers even as she passed over the threshold. Only a little over a minute had passed before the truck was roaring down the drive.

            "Um, can you slow down a little?" asked the boy in the passenger's seat.

            "Nope, I go one bit slower and we're gonna miss the plane."

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LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR:

            Sorry if this one took a while to produce. I'm afraid I must take my leave of you for a while. I have to deal with my real life before I can effectively go about my life in the fandoms again. May you never know true pain. Thanks; love; hope to see ye soon.