Virgo
In the last seconds before the dustcloud hit him, mr. Field realised that their chances of survival where minimal. He knew what it could do to the lungs. As a young man he had lived through several bombardments on London during the war. His parents had sent him to a small Catholic school in England on the south coast that took in boarders, but the threat of invasion in 1940 had been such that the school was closed down, and young Hubert Field had finished his schooling at Eton* instead, which had instilled in him a horror of the system, even though he had made a lifelong friend there: Frederic Mountjoy. In July 1942 he had knocked on the doors of the Special Services, announcing that he was a conscientious objector as far as killing Germans was concerned, being himself part one, but that he had no hang-ups about fighting the Japs, and could they use someone who spoke both lingo's as well as Malayan? As it happened, they could, but not before thoroughly checking him out first, and so he was interned for a while with other conscientious objectors, and forced to work (often amidst the jeers of countrymen who regarded them as cowards and traitors) with the London fire department clearing the victims from under the rubble after every German air- strike. Though the worst of the Blitz was over by then, he had seen too many corpses, and too many people who were still alive but later died of internal injuries, casualties of breathing in too much stone-dust and particle debris. They had choked to death.
"My wife, my son…"
He heard them cough.
"The boy was right, it was too dangerous. We should never have come. Folly…but oh, my Vimi, and Laura, and the baby…"
And suddenly he could breathe again. The air was pure. Though all around the cloud billowed, over the little group of father, mother and son a protective aura was spread. A man in Golden Cloth was shielding them.
Saga.
Gratitude and relief flooded mr. Field. His eyes sought the Gemini Saint's in an unspoken 'thank you'.
The man had clearly been weeping, and well he might: if Shun was right, then his twin brother had just been killed. Words could not serve to tell him how sorry he was. Yet if he were any judge of character, the Gemini Saint would not want this either. Sometimes, people are best left alone to grieve.
"It is over. You can go. Go!"
They struggled to their feet. Mrs. Field cast a glance at Saga, saw, understood, and went past. Esk, upon a nudge from his father, followed suit. Outside they looked upon he smoking ruins of the Cancer Temple. Behind them, on the zodiacal clock, the light of Leo was wavering.
"All is destroyed…"
"The boys, oh, my God, where is the boy?" whispered mrs. Field.
They staggered up the stairs, until, halfway, Esk gave a cry: " There! There's two of them!"
Shun and Ikki descended to meet the family.
Mr. Field awaited them hands on hips and frowning.
"Young man, at the risk of sounding ungrateful, was it necessary to bring the house down? We nearly suffocated!"
The two brothers looked at him and then each other, rather sheepishly. As Saints they were trained to hold their breath for over long periods, so even the giant dust- and steamcloud brought about by the destruction of Main Blade Winner had not hindered them, and therefore it had not occurred to them that pulverising the Cancer Temple would have such dire effects on ordinary mortals.
"I'm sorry." said Shun contrite, "We wanted to make sure that nothing remained of Deathmask and his deeds. By the way, this is my brother Ikki."
"Welcome on the team." said mr. Field, clasping Phoenix's hand, "Glad to have you."
After a brief introduction and explanation (neither of the brothers was keen on going into the details of what they had witnessed) Ikki suggested they had better move on, if the family was still determined to continue.
"We need a breather." Esk told him," My parents are not up to so many stairs in one go."
"Not a problem." said Shun with a laugh, " We can carry you."
To demonstrate he swept mrs.Field up in his arms.
"Oh dear! This hasn't happened to me since our wedding!"
"I remember that." growled mr. Field, " Eight floors up and the lift was out of order, I nearly broke my back. Oh no you don't, young fellow, I am not going to be carried like a blushing bride, a piggy-back will do for me, thank you."
And so, with mr. Field scowling that he felt quite like Anchises ** on Ikki's back, and mrs.Field giggling like a young girl in Shun's arms, and Esk panting behind, up they went, through to the Leo Temple.
The fifth flame was guttering like a candle as they arrived.
And were greeted by the screaming of a new-born baby.
"What the hell was that? " asked Ikki.
" A baby, or I am no father." said mr. Field, "But what child…"
"Your grandchild, Cap." came a familiar voice from the doorway, " Say hello to Daddy and Grams and Gramps, little Roo!"
"Laura ! Laura!" shouted Esk, "My Laura, my child, my darlings, you are alive, alive!"
After the first explosions of enthusiasm among the Fields, questions, recriminations and tears mixed with the joy.
"Skippy, love, how did you…"
"The usual way, my dear, though next time I insist on hospital with all the trimmings. Much more comfortable."
"That's my plucky girl." said mr. Field glowing with pride.
Mrs Field was holding the baby, wrapped in some white material (a piece torn off Leo's mantle) and cooing: "Just look at him, isn't he perfect? Look Hubert, he is going to be a redhead, just like you, look!"
"That bastard who took you away from us, made me miss the birth of my son! You could have died!"
Shun and Ikki, slightly embarrassed at witnessing to private a family affair and happy at the same tome because the Fields were happy, smiled. Shaina, who had reappeared in Sanctuary a week previously and had immediately contacted Shun, whom, she had told him, she had felt sure she could trust, had put them in the picture. Both were more than ready to help those marvellous people in return for what they had done for their friends. Including, if needed, fighting Aiolia.
"Where is Vimi? Is she with you?" Mrs. Field, divided between grandmotherly pride and motherly concern, looked for her daughter.
"Inside, you had better see for yourself." Answered Skippy quietly.
All went in, apprehensive of what they would see.
A dark, golden brown glow emanated from the hunched body of a young man: Leo. He was on his knees, and in his arms he held a woman. Long, silvery blonde hair trailed over is chest where her head rested.
"He is deep in healing trance!" exclaimed Shun.
Mrs Field was down by her daughter in a flash.
"Poesje! Mijn kindje! Wat doet hij met je?"***
Ikki kept her from interfering.
"Don't touch them! He is not harming but helping."
"Wat zeg je? Mijn kindje, dat hij haar loslaat!"****
"Helena! Calm down. The boy said something about a healing trance…"
""Aiolia is gifted with a great power. I suppose Scorpio hurt her, Leo intervened and had to heal her…"said Ikki.
"Healing? " asked mrs. Field in a tight voice as her husband hurried to her side, and she clutched his arm, " Making better? Hubert?"
"Queer spoke to me of this possibility…something Ilya told him. You saw it done with Pauline…I…did not want to say anything yet…we have so often had hope…"
"Oh Hubert, if he could, if he would…"
"Perhaps he is "
"Vimi was not hurt." said Skippy, " Unless it was teleportation, which also had an effect on me, by the way. The other fellow 'beamed' us here. She went…I don't know, crazy like, and then this one took her and, well, they have been like that ever since."
"Right." said mr. Field. "Let's straighten this out. We have reached part of our objective, which is getting you girls free. We need to find the others now. Helena, stay here with the children. When that lion chap snaps out of his trance you will lead them all back to the helicopter and pull out."
"Provided the lion will let us leave." said Esk
"Which is why you, Shun, will stay as well." said mr.Field, turning to the Andromeda Saint,
"I place the fate of my family in your hands, my boy. Do whatever you have to do, but see them safe!"
Shun nodded.
"Phoenix, you and I are going in search of my other sons and my friend, and complete the other part of the mission, which is to meet Athena. Let's go."
Ikki followed the man without protest. He liked the quiet authority of mr. Field, so different from what he was used to.
"Have you noticed? That is the first time he refers to Nick as his son." said Esk.
"He knows well how Nick loves Vimi. Not many men would, a girl in her condition, and Hubert deeply respects him for that."
""If this story is to have a happy ending, there will be wedding bells in it." said Esk, and then he returned to the adoration of his own wife and son.
The flame of Virgo had lost much of its brilliance as the Phoenix Saint and mr. Field reached the corresponding Temple. Along the way the Englishman had Ikki fill him in on all he knew of the Saint they were about to face.
"Shaka is completely self-assured and in control of his emotions. He never doubts, or when he does, he chases that doubt away with meditation. He sees himself as the man closest to God, a reincarnation of Buddha no less."
"Which one? As I understand it there are at least five original Buddha's, and endless Boddhisatvas who reincarnate as well. I have personally met the present incarnation of two: the Panchen and the Dalai Lama.***** Tenzin Gyatso may be the spiritual and political leader in exile of Tibet, but he struck me as far to modest a man to claim being closest to God. Nor did he ever mind that I didn't believe he was the incarnation of anything but himself."
"Shaka has had regular conversations with God, or the Big Will or whatever since childhood. He is utterly convinced that the life of one man compared to the immensity of a universe which will one day disappear anyway is nothing. Oh, and the words compassion and mercy do not figure in his vocabulary, save to say that he has none. "
"Charming. Reminds me of my time in the Service. Some chaps were utter nutcases in the end; had to be put out of harm's way. Nothing more dangerous than a fully trained commando with delusions of grandeur. Except the deskjockeys who send them out in the field forgetting that they deal with real people, made of flesh and blood. But I suppose that kind of attitude is instilled with your mother's milk in Sanctuary.
"Actually, Shaka grew up in a Buddhist monastery in India."
"India? Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha, was Indian, but the country is still largely Hindu and Muslim with a few other religions thrown in as well. Anyway this Shaka fellow sounds very different from my brother-in-law Lama Dorje. Just goes to show how every creed has its various interpretations. Dorje quite literally will not hurt a fly. That is true Buddhism. I've only ever known him flip his lid on the subject of Martial Arts. He does not object to his brother's violence, because Tsarong, as a Khamba warrior, does not try to justify himself: he kills people because he wants to, he does not package violence with convoluted philosophy that high kicks that can hurt and kill people are just another form of meditation to learn to know and control oneself better. 'A weapon is a weapon, and a Martial Arts expert is a live weapon.' Dorje used to say. I can only concur. In the Service we too were killers, and we told ourselves that it was for honour and King and Country. Bullshit."
"I would love to see Shaka's face when you tell him that." said Ikki with a dry chuckle.
"Then you shall, Phoenix." said the Virgo Saint, appearing hovering in lotus position some five feet above the ground in his Temple's cella, " I trust my expression is to your liking."
All mr. Field had seen of Shaka was a blurry picture of a black and white surveillance video, so he was not prepared for the shock of meeting him. From Ilya's description he had gathered that Shaka was blonde and pale-eyed, and though he knew that there were blue-eyed Brahmin in India and that even blonde hair was possible, but so rare that he had presumed that like Jane the Chamaeleon, the young man was a kidnapped white child.
He was not.
Shaka was indeed Indian, and an albino.
In the forty years since leaving SOE, mr. Field had not forgotten basic training. Observing the young man to the smallest details, he drew his conclusions and chose what course to take.
"So. You are the leader of the opposition. Have you heard that the Warriors of Blue Graad are sacking Rodorio? What do you intent doing about it?"
Shaka ignored him.
"You have escaped death many times, Phoenix, including death at my hands. I shall not allow doubt to rule my spirit this time."
"Excuse me, but aren't you going to answer this man's question?"
"Question? I hear but the yapping of a small dog that thinks he can take on a God. One does not pay attention to such."
Mr. Filed was far too experienced and far too adult a man to allow himself to be drawn by the deliberate insult. Ikki however was of lesser mettle still.
"One should. One might actually learn something."
Opiuchus, Chamaeleon and Taurus are quite capable of settling the affair." said Shaka.
"And when they have done your dirty work for you, you won't be challenged by Aleksej anymore."
"That is a bonus, yes."
"Freddie would enlist that fellow at once. He reminds me of why I left the service: of what I might have become had I stayed."
"Would your next step be eliminating your Pope?"
Shaka unfolded his long legs and touched earth. For the first time he acknowledged Mr. Field's presence.
"Dokho has been appointed Pope by the Goddess."
"Agreed. Yet Aleksej was also appointed by Athena." said Ikki.
"A miscalculation. At the time none of us had returned yet and there was no knowing if we ever would. She had no choice but to replenish her depleted forces with lesser quality."
"Yes, and since the three who stand up for Rodorio are Dokho's followers, it would not be too bad a thing if they somehow succumb to that 'lesser quality'. A pity the Pope himself will not come out to put down the Russian Revolt - what a chance for Shaka to step in should Dokho 'unfortunately' meet his death! One has to think of everything, does one not, when playing the Great Game?" said mr. Field.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Oh but you do, and that is the trouble. You are excellent at the Game, too. My felicitations. Incidentally, may I also compliment you on your command of the Japanese tongue? It is useful, is it not, to know the language of the opposition, particularly when they are not aware you do. A pity that you had to show your cards so early in the game."
"You talk too much. Because you are a mere mortal, I will grant you a chance to save your life. Turn aside from your road: death awaits you in my Temple."
"I cannot turn back." said mr. Field quietly," Four men that I love are in danger somewhere ahead. "
"If they are yet alive, they will die, as you will."
"Not if I can help it!" cried out Ikki, " I did not understand half of what you two were saying even though you spoke Japanese, but I will defend the Englishman with my life! His courage is greater and his cause nobler than ours ever was."
"I do not doubt his courage, and admire it as you do." answered Shaka, " His cause however is a petty and selfish one. What are the lives of four people? A drop in the ocean of infinity. It is the world Athena protects"
"Ah, the Bigger Picture, I did wonder when that would crop up." said mr. Field, " One makes everything subservient to it, until it becomes so big a picture that it blots out all others. Nothing like a believer to cure you from every form of extreme Faith. I have debriefed dozens of believers in my time: boys and men, who, in the light of their Ideal, could perfectly justify the War, the Concentration Camps, the crimes committed for Fuehrer and Emperor. Denazification was the hardest part of the Liberation: you can fight the soldiers on the beaches of Normandy and in the jungles of Burma, but you can not root out the Ideal. In their minds, they were right and that was their tragedy. We, the Allies, were similarly blind to our faults. And yet you are not altogether wrong, Virgo Saint Shaka."
"How can you say that!" burst out Ikki, " Of course he is wrong. He has to be wrong: one only has to count the corpses."
"True." agreed mr. Field," But your arithmetic won't work. He will tell you that the corpses were necessary sacrifices and so they are if you take his Bigger Picture. We too have our corpses, our necessary sacrifices, that weigh on our conscience."
"Little, compared to his pile." said Ikki venomously, "And they don't weigh on his conscience at all, for he doesn't have one. "
"That is the difference between us." said mr. Field, approaching Shaka till he almost touched him, " And so you will try to kill me, ruthlessly and efficiently, without regret. Whereas I would be weighed down forever, where I to kill you. Though I would try to do so just as ruthlessly and efficiently."
So speaking mr.Field brought up his hand to Shaka's face, as if to caress him, and suddenly, as it reached the Virgo Saint's left temple, there was a small gun in it, and he pulled the trigger.
"Missed." said Shaka, reappearing at some distance, " Did you really believe you could kill me?"
"Not for one moment."
"I was aware from the start that you kept a weapon hidden in your sleeve. You are not an honourable man."
"Not at all." agreed mr.Field, " I was trained to be a spy: to do what is necessary with all possible means, including lying, cheating, and slitting someone's throat from behind. I even lied to my family about it: they still think the Service picked me out for that line of work. Not something to be proud of, but it is what I chose to do. The alternative was to be a regular soldier, and kill poor sods from the opposite side who probably did not want to be in the war anyway. And they came home and were told they were heroes. War isn't heroic: it is dirty and degrading. No medals, no parades for the spies, the shadowsoldiers, though! Not quite cricket what they do. Bad sports. The English have that sense of' honour' too, you know. Perhaps that is why I live in Belgium, where lying and cheating is a way of life and tax evasion a national sport. The lovely thing about Belgians is that you can tell that to their face and they will quite agree, even add more crimes and misdemeanors to the list. ******Knowing one's faults, admitting them and accepting criticism is a sign of maturity. I considered myself lucky for forty years that I never had to kill a man, and believed my own 'denazification' was complete. Apparently the old instincts are still there, ready for use when my family is threatened."
He smiled.
" I can easily uncover the lie beneath your earlier words now. You would have me believe that you think my values are equal to yours. You do not. Hypocrite! In reality, you judge your values best. You patronise me."
"No he doesn't!" shouted Ikki, angry almost beyond words, " What does he have to do to please you? He meets you halfway, he tries to understand, and you spit in his face! He minds killing terribly. You never give anyone a chance and chase all doubt from your mind and then swat people like flies and you never listen or think about what they tell you!"
"You are over-emotional, Phoenix. That is your handicap. It clouds your judgement. Doubt is death to a Saint."
"But life to a human being! You doubted once, Shaka, don't you remember? You saved me from limbo because of that doubt! And you were right! Do it again. Use that grey stuff the Englishman failed to blow out of your thick skull and for once, think!"
"Instead of shouting you had better commend your soul to God." said Shaka, "For I will destroy you."
"Oh, please, not again! You can try. And it is no good cutting off my senses or hit me with the Treasure of flipping Heaven, 'cause I've had it before. I will resist you."
"Oh, you are both so very young." murmured mr.Field, "So very intense. How nice it used to be to feel so deeply about a thing!"
"All of your attacks are known to be too." said Shaka," Manifestly we are equal. Yet I am the reincarnation of Buddha, and you are no more than a monkey in my palm."
"As a point of interest," began mr. Field casually, "How come a Buddhist with the Brahmin, feminine caste symbol on her brow ends up an astrological symbol working for a Greek Goddess?"
The inconceivable happened. Shaka opened his eyes, and there lay apprehension, if not direct fear in them.
Ikki was no less astonished.
"Brahmin? Feminine?Her?!"
"I was in India for a brief period, so I could be wrong about it, but as far as I know only women of the highest caste, the Brahmin, wear such a dot to mark their status. Men, I believe, are recognisable by the way they fold their turban. Anyway, the caste symbol, though not religious in se, is mostly practised among the Hindu, rarely among the other Indians, and the Indian government has tried to abolish the caste system anyway. To a true Buddhist it would be an abomination. A creed that demands respect for the smallest insect can not hold with such social divisions in society, and certainly not with calling people pariahs, unclean, unfit for anything but the dirtiest work. Still, it happens. I don't mind if a Brahmin recoils from my very shadow, but it is hard on a pariah.
"So that is why you always stand with your back to the sun, eh, Skaka? Afraid our shadows would soil you. And you are really a girl underneath. You should be wearing the Mask. Who is the hypocrite now?" laughed Ikki, delighted to have caught out the lofty Virgo Saint, " you've managed to hide your boobs quite well over the years, or are they just two peas on a plank? Maybe you took too many of those pills they make Saints swallow daily."
"Ah. My son drew the right conclusion about anabolic steroids. " muttered mr. Field, and added, louder: " There is no need to be rude, Ikki. It was her choice."
"Indeed. My choice. " said Shaka, regaining her composure (though she did not close her eyes), " Male and female are irrelevant in Sainthood. They are the same."
"Marin will be delighted. Can she take her Mask off then without having to kill or marry the man who sees her face? Wasn't the last woman who pretended to be a man in Sanctuary executed?"
"She was, because she wished to be a woman before she was a Saint. I laid aside all considerations of my sex long ago, and reached Enlightenment, the abandonment of all desire, through meditation before ever coming to Sanctuary. Therefore I was granted the privilege of going without the Mask. There was no deceit; and no one saw me as a woman either."
"Not flesh and blood like the rest of us? I'd like to see that." said Ikki with a wicked glint in his eyes that alarmed mr. Field. Without warning the Phoenix Saint barged into Shaka, stripping away the burgundy coloured toga that she wore when not in Cloth as they fell bodily to the ground, Ikki on top.
"I am flesh and blood, and I have learned a thing or two, Virgo. Have you truly abandoned desire? How will your body react to temptation?" whispered Ikki, as he pressed his lips on hers.
"How far I would have gone had Cap not intervened I can't say." Ikki would confess, much later, shamefacedly and privately, to Shun, "I truly don't know if rape was on my mind. I had a lot of anger in me. But I suppose I am quite capable of it…what do you think, little bro'?"
"Did you mean to hurt her?"
"Yes…yes. I did. I wanted to punish her for all the airs she gave herself. Demanding that I bowed to her like a God. Her damned self-righteousness. The attitude. 'I am closest to God'! 'I know no doubt!' How I detested that! I wanted to see her brought low, to see fear on that serene face for once..."
"Did you?"
"A glimpse. A mere hint."
"Did it give you satisfaction?"
"Probably more than I would if I had raped her. What a bastard I am. What do you think of me now, Shun?"
"Surely you do not expect me to despise you for what you almost did? I never have for what you did do."
"I am not surprised. Magnanimity was a lesson you never needed to learn, little bro'. It took me awhile: with your help and our new family, I may eventually get there."
A strong hand grabbed Ikki by the scruff of the neck.
"No!"
The Phoenix saint found himself staring into the furious face of mr. Field.
"You came to help, but if this is how you go about it, I am better without. Go! Away with you!"
"You tried to shoot her moments ago! What kind of logic is that? She will thank you with taking your life."
"Nevertheless. Call it my own particular brand of honour. We are at war: under my command, as long as Freddie Mountjoy is missing. And you will wage war my way; or I have no use for you."
Ignoring the bewildered Ikki after that, Mr. Field extended his hand to Shaka to help her to her feet.
"Don't treat me like you would a feeble woman!" she spat back, and slapped his hand aside. She rose and stood naked, defiant, facing the men.
"Take a good look at me! I was born female, and an albino. I was left at the door of a Buddhist monastery. All my parents gave me was life, and the symbol on my forehead, that I might be treated according to their caste, for they were Brahmin. The nuns that raised me taught me to meditate. Forced by my albino nature to keep my eyes closed in the sun, I gained uncommon strength. Yet boys are favoured, and I decided to negate my femininity. Would my parents have abandoned me had I been male? "
Her voice trembled a little, betraying emotions she denied having.
"I chose to keep the mark. Through my meditation and my heightened awareness, I entered in communication with the Big Will, and because of that the nuns allowed me to be what I wanted. Not long after my Master came for me and brought me to Sanctuary: but I had already surpassed him, and left the world behind."
"And you obviously thought the world was ready to leave you behind." said mr. Field, taking off his Monty-coat. "Here, put this on."
She refused, proudly, disdainfully.
"What need do I have of clothes? Neither the cold nor the lecherous looks of men can touch me."
"Yes, yes, but my wife will have something to say about those looks." said mr. Field irritably, "Didn't the nuns teach you to say, politely, 'yes, thank you', or, alternatively, 'no, thank you' when someone offers you something out of kindness?"
Ikki guffawed.
"Meditate on that!"
Shaka did not move or speak.
"As you wish." said mr. Field, folding the coat and laying it on the top step, " Take it, leave it, do as you please. I am done here."
He passed the Saint to stand in the doorway
"Wait!" cried Shaka, " Foolish man, I told you: your death awaits you there."
"Somehow I doubt it."
The shadows of the Virgo Temple took him.
Shaka still did not move.
"Well, aren't you going in after him? Take away his taste, smell, sight and the rest, teach him the lesson in humility like you did me?" asked Ikki
"Why? Why does he do it?" whispered Shaka, staring at her Temple as if willing the Englishman to return.
"Ikki sighed. "You never listen. He does it because he loves his children. Some parents do care. There was a lesson to be learned here, for both of us, I guess. Question is, will we learn? The coat is a gift from him to you. You can, of course, throw it away, but somehow I doubt it. That is my gift to you: that doubt."
He entered the Temple.
Shaka, alone, still naked, wrapped her arms about her. She shivered. Then she bent down and picked up the coat.
It was old, threadbare in places, and smelled slightly of male sweat and mostly of tobacco. Not an unpleasant mixture. Slowly, she put it on.
Behind her, the flame of Virgo faded.
"Six Temples they have passed. The worst is yet to come. I wonder, will you reach the end? For my part….I accept…both your gifts."
To be continued.
*Eton is the school to prepare for the military: Eton boys will move on to Sandhurst and the Army. They don't just let anybody in, but it was probably known that mr. Field's father had been a volunteer for the defence of Singapore. For this, he was posthumously given the DSO.
** According to legend, Aeneas when fleeing from burning Troy carried his aged father Anchises on his back
***Kitten! My (little) child! What is he doing to you?
**** What are you saying? My child, (he must) let go of her!
*****There are currently two Panchen Lama's: one imposed on Tibet by the Chinese government, the other, chosen the traditional way and appointed by the Dalai Lama, is one of the worlds youngest political prisoners: Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. The Chinese government hopes to appoint the next Dalai Lama as well.
****** Quite true. Most Belgians take only pride in their beer, chips and chocolate and would be quite surprised if a foreigner had something good to say of their national character.
I have taken some liberties in this chapter (which I wrote immediately following the previous one, and five more to follow in one go! Phew!) but it all appears quite logical to me. When I first saw Shaka in the anime, I did wonder why a man would wear the feminine Brahmin mark. In the manga it is little more than a dot, so Kurumada probably meant it to be symbolic of his enlightenment and reincarnation. However, Shaka is considerably more feminine in appearance than the others, and it reflects in 'her' weight: she is 68 kilos and as tall as Mu (1.82) who weighs 85, and he too is a slim Asiatic! So I opted for a female Shaka, Brahmin and caste-conscious. I never thought her much of a Buddhist. To quote the Dalai Lama: 'I will continue to strive for a solution via direct and open discussions with the Chinese. I am convinced that if the parties concerned meet each other and speak of the future openly with the will to come to a good solution, there will be reached a breakthrough. With reason and wisdom as a starting-point we must come together in an atmosphere of openness and understanding.' (In a recent letter to the ICT, International Campaign for Tibet) Shaka and the rest urgently need to meet the man! Finally, being an albino seemed logical because she is so pale and keeps her eyes closed even as a child. Failing sunglasses, she would have to, or go blind eventually (no, albinos do not have red eyes, that is rabbits.)
The last words Ikki speaks ro Shaka are inspired by the last line of the David Lean movie 'Ryan's Daughter'.