Shai paced back and forth outside the vale. It had been three hours since
he had chosen KazeHa. Three hours of his chosen denying him and what they
shared. It was unimaginable that something like this could happen. KazeHa
had seemed to like him when they were talking before, so why did he run
away from him now? Why was he refusing all the love and friendship being
offered him? Shai knew that KazeHa came from a people who were very
different from the Valdamarians, but he couldn't understand it. KazeHa had
a good grasp on what a companion was, heck he probably had a better grasp
on it than most Valamarians, but for some reason he wouldn't accept Shai.
Shai reached out with his mind, hoping to touch his chosen's mind, and found it blocked. It had been blocked for two hours. The first hour KazeHa had been open and Shai had been easily able to touch his chosen's mind. Although all he got was grief and anger. Everything had been all messed up inside KazeHa. It was like his emotions had swirled into a raging tornado inside him. It had made it almost impossible to speak to him. All Shai could do was wait and hope that the boy would calm down and realize that Shai didn't mean him any harm. He only wanted to love KazeHa and have KazeHa love him in return.
::Shai?::
Shai turned around. Standing behind him was companion Ylsa. ::He ran away from me.::
::Who ran away from you?:: Ylsa tilted her head and moved closer to Shai.
::My chosen. I didn't even get to tell him my name. He just ran away and won't come out of the vale.:: Shai turned to Ylsa and rested his head against her flank. ::I don't know what to do. He is blocking me out!::
Ylsa nuzzled Shai. ::Maybe it would be better if your chosen talked to another Herald.::
::It is late, Ylsa. Everyone but us is asleep.::
Ylsa was quiet for a moment. Her eyes seemed focused inward and Shai realized she was mindspeaking to someone. ::My chosen is still awake. He says he will come and talk to your chosen if you would like him to?::
Shai nodded as best a horse could. Anything that would get his chosen to look at him, would make him feel better. He couldn't stand things as they were now.
* * *
Alexian yawned and put his book down on the table by his bed. He had fallen asleep reading again only to be woken up by Ylsa asking him to come to Firesong's vale. Quietly he crawled out of his bed and got dressed trying not to wake KazeHa. Finally he was ready to go talk to the distressed Herald-trainee. Alexian walked past the spot on the floor where KazeHa slept, never noticing that KazeHa was not there. He cursed silently as he made his way out of the Herald's wing and out into the field. It was damn cold and the grass was wet with dew.
"Alright, I'm here. Now where is your new chosen, Shai?" Shai nickered and pointed his head at the vale.
::Shai says he's in the ekele.::
::Thanks for helping me, Herald Alexian:: Alexian nearly gasped as Shai's mindvoice spoke softly inside his head. He was so shocked he could barely stammer a "Your welcome."
Quickly, Alexian made his way inside the vale. All around him the night was still and quiet. However, the closer he got to the ekele, the more the silence was broken. It was soft, but Alexian soon realized the sound was that of someone crying. He increased his pace a little as he caught sight of the ekele. :: Ylsa, love, do you know who Shai's chosen is? ::
::No, I am not sure who was chosen. All I know is that Shai chose a boy, a foreigner I think.::
::Okay.:: Alexian walked up the steps slowly. Trying to give the boy a chance to realize that he was coming. As he finally reached the door to the room where the boy was he noticed that the crying had stopped. Perhaps the boy had finally realized what was being offered to him? Then it came, soft as a breeze, a voice speaking in a languge Alexian didn't understand.
"Watashi wa otokono o kage, watashi wa nanimo mimasen deshita. Watatshi no hahen koko'ro ni kakuretei-masen deshita kurayami nomukou hikari wa otoshimono. (2) Watashi wa samusa dake kazeo. Uchino tsubasa-" The boy stopped speaking as Alexian came into view. The two looked at each other and both seemed to be in shock. Alexian couldn't believe it. Shai had chosen KazeHa!
"KazeHa.you were chosen?"
KazeHa didn't say anything. His eyes widened and he looked ready to bolt. His eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks still damp with tears. Alexian moved in front of him and dropped down on his knees in front of KazeHa. "KazeHa, are you alright?"
The tears, which had begun to dry suddenly, sprang back to life. Every barrier that KazeHa had built up around his heart came tumbling down in a massive landslide of grief, love, anger, and confusion. Without warning KazeHa fell forward into Alexian's arms. The moment they touch Alexian was overcome by the sudden explosion of KazeHa's mind crashing into his. Alexian's mind staggered back as KazeHa's mind seemed to drown him within its cry. Alexian tried to cry out and found himself falling even deeper into KazeHa's tormented emotions. So many things came crashing at him that Alexian couldn't understand what he felt. Vaguely he realized that he was beginning to lose consciousness.
* Alexian opened his eyes. Looking around he found himself in a garden. The garden appeared very familiar even with all the soft white haze that seemed to surround everything. Childish laughter softly filled the air and Alexian turned around to see where the laughter came from. He blinked as the child came into view. It was a little boy, his short black hair tossled by the wind. The child danced and laughed as if there was music playing that only he could hear. The child wore a strange red and gold outfit that reminded Alexian of the cloths he had seen in Shiratoshi. The wind danced along with the child, filling the air with pale pink flower petals. As Alexian watched the boy come dancing up to him, and stopped, smiling up at Alexian with the guileless innocence only a child possessed.
"Hello. I'm YoShen. Are you here to play with me?"
Alexian bent down so that he was eye level with the child. "Well hello, YoShen. I'm Alexian."
YoShen smiled at Alexian. "Do you want to play with me and Kaze?"
"KazeHa?"
YoShen blinked up at Alexian. "KazeHa? I haven't met him. Is he one of Uncle FaLi's samurai?"
"I don't think so. So tell me YoShen, who is Kaze?"
YoShen giggled. "Silly, Kaze is the wind."
"The wind? Do you play with the wind often?"
YoShen smiled and Alexian gasped as the wind came swirling around the boy again. "We play all the time, Uncle FaLi likes to play with us too. He makes us play silly games."
YoShen giggled again and danced off down a stone path. He stopped and turned back to Alexian and called to him. Alexian stood up and began to follow YoShen. As they walked through the garden Alexian noticed that the feeling of familiarity was growing. YoShen danced over a small curved bridge and the wind rippled across the water. Alexian froze as he finally realized where he was. Alexian reached out towards YoShen - *
Alexian gasped and sat up straight. Warm hands pushed him back down and Alexian looked up into a pair of warm and familiar eyes. Healer Fandel smiled down at him. "What happened?"
"Well, Alexian, it's a long story."
"KazeHa?"
"He's sleeping off a heavy dose of medicine. We had to drug him since he was projecting so strongly. It took three Heralds and his companion to finally get him shielded." Fandel shook his head. "No one has seen anyone with mindspeech this strong since Herald Vanyel went active."
"He has mindspeech?"
"In spades." Fandel sighed at looked back at Alexian with weary eyes. "He also seems to be a very powerful fetcher. Herald Elespth also thinks he has some type of magic, but she says it's unlike anything she's ever seen before."
"Shit." Alexian sat up slowly and the room seemed to spin and go gray briefly. "Can I see him?"
"You can go sit by his bed but he won't wake up for several more hours."
Alexian slowly got out of the bed and followed Fandel out of the room and down the hall. The room was only three doors down from where Alexian had been resting. Even that short distance though was crowded with swarms of running and shouting people. Alexian pulled Fandel against the wall and out of the way of the rushing hearlers. "What's going on?"
Fandel looked at Alexian, his eyes filling with a deep and weary pain. "I told you, KazeHa, is very powerful. When his powers, well, blasted open you could say, it caused at great deal of damage. In fact it caused a pretty good earthquake and a massive windstorm to come out of nowhere. We weren't prepared for it and so there were quit a few injuries. We're very lucky that no one died. A small section of the older part of the palace caved in."
"He said he played with the wind."
Alexian's eyes widened and before Fandel could stop him, Alexian opened the door to KazeHa's room and rushed inside. He stopped barely inside the door. The sight before him nearly floored Alexian. KazeHa lay sleeping on a bed near a window where Alexian could see Shai. The companion looked nearly as ill as KazeHa did. The companion whinnied softly as Alexian moved closer to the bed. He looked down at KazeHa and wanted to cry. The boy's normally warm skin was a sickly pale white. Deep black bags hung under KazeHa's eyes. His breathing was shallow and resting nearly unconscious by his bed where the three heralds who must have been shielding him. They looked up at him with weary eyes.
"Did Hearler Fandel say we could stop shielding him yet?"
Alexian just blinked. He wasn't sure what to say but Fandel saved him. "The dyhelli have said that they can teach him the basics of shielding while he's unconscious so you are all free to go."
The heralds all smiled and sighed, relieved.
TBC.
" I am a boy of Shadows, I cannot see anything at all. The piece of me that has hidden in my heart is lost to the darkness beyond the light." "I have only coldness. My wings, -" To hear the entire poem which KazeHa was repeating you will have to go to my web page. There I will post it in its entirety. In English of course.
Shai reached out with his mind, hoping to touch his chosen's mind, and found it blocked. It had been blocked for two hours. The first hour KazeHa had been open and Shai had been easily able to touch his chosen's mind. Although all he got was grief and anger. Everything had been all messed up inside KazeHa. It was like his emotions had swirled into a raging tornado inside him. It had made it almost impossible to speak to him. All Shai could do was wait and hope that the boy would calm down and realize that Shai didn't mean him any harm. He only wanted to love KazeHa and have KazeHa love him in return.
::Shai?::
Shai turned around. Standing behind him was companion Ylsa. ::He ran away from me.::
::Who ran away from you?:: Ylsa tilted her head and moved closer to Shai.
::My chosen. I didn't even get to tell him my name. He just ran away and won't come out of the vale.:: Shai turned to Ylsa and rested his head against her flank. ::I don't know what to do. He is blocking me out!::
Ylsa nuzzled Shai. ::Maybe it would be better if your chosen talked to another Herald.::
::It is late, Ylsa. Everyone but us is asleep.::
Ylsa was quiet for a moment. Her eyes seemed focused inward and Shai realized she was mindspeaking to someone. ::My chosen is still awake. He says he will come and talk to your chosen if you would like him to?::
Shai nodded as best a horse could. Anything that would get his chosen to look at him, would make him feel better. He couldn't stand things as they were now.
* * *
Alexian yawned and put his book down on the table by his bed. He had fallen asleep reading again only to be woken up by Ylsa asking him to come to Firesong's vale. Quietly he crawled out of his bed and got dressed trying not to wake KazeHa. Finally he was ready to go talk to the distressed Herald-trainee. Alexian walked past the spot on the floor where KazeHa slept, never noticing that KazeHa was not there. He cursed silently as he made his way out of the Herald's wing and out into the field. It was damn cold and the grass was wet with dew.
"Alright, I'm here. Now where is your new chosen, Shai?" Shai nickered and pointed his head at the vale.
::Shai says he's in the ekele.::
::Thanks for helping me, Herald Alexian:: Alexian nearly gasped as Shai's mindvoice spoke softly inside his head. He was so shocked he could barely stammer a "Your welcome."
Quickly, Alexian made his way inside the vale. All around him the night was still and quiet. However, the closer he got to the ekele, the more the silence was broken. It was soft, but Alexian soon realized the sound was that of someone crying. He increased his pace a little as he caught sight of the ekele. :: Ylsa, love, do you know who Shai's chosen is? ::
::No, I am not sure who was chosen. All I know is that Shai chose a boy, a foreigner I think.::
::Okay.:: Alexian walked up the steps slowly. Trying to give the boy a chance to realize that he was coming. As he finally reached the door to the room where the boy was he noticed that the crying had stopped. Perhaps the boy had finally realized what was being offered to him? Then it came, soft as a breeze, a voice speaking in a languge Alexian didn't understand.
"Watashi wa otokono o kage, watashi wa nanimo mimasen deshita. Watatshi no hahen koko'ro ni kakuretei-masen deshita kurayami nomukou hikari wa otoshimono. (2) Watashi wa samusa dake kazeo. Uchino tsubasa-" The boy stopped speaking as Alexian came into view. The two looked at each other and both seemed to be in shock. Alexian couldn't believe it. Shai had chosen KazeHa!
"KazeHa.you were chosen?"
KazeHa didn't say anything. His eyes widened and he looked ready to bolt. His eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks still damp with tears. Alexian moved in front of him and dropped down on his knees in front of KazeHa. "KazeHa, are you alright?"
The tears, which had begun to dry suddenly, sprang back to life. Every barrier that KazeHa had built up around his heart came tumbling down in a massive landslide of grief, love, anger, and confusion. Without warning KazeHa fell forward into Alexian's arms. The moment they touch Alexian was overcome by the sudden explosion of KazeHa's mind crashing into his. Alexian's mind staggered back as KazeHa's mind seemed to drown him within its cry. Alexian tried to cry out and found himself falling even deeper into KazeHa's tormented emotions. So many things came crashing at him that Alexian couldn't understand what he felt. Vaguely he realized that he was beginning to lose consciousness.
* Alexian opened his eyes. Looking around he found himself in a garden. The garden appeared very familiar even with all the soft white haze that seemed to surround everything. Childish laughter softly filled the air and Alexian turned around to see where the laughter came from. He blinked as the child came into view. It was a little boy, his short black hair tossled by the wind. The child danced and laughed as if there was music playing that only he could hear. The child wore a strange red and gold outfit that reminded Alexian of the cloths he had seen in Shiratoshi. The wind danced along with the child, filling the air with pale pink flower petals. As Alexian watched the boy come dancing up to him, and stopped, smiling up at Alexian with the guileless innocence only a child possessed.
"Hello. I'm YoShen. Are you here to play with me?"
Alexian bent down so that he was eye level with the child. "Well hello, YoShen. I'm Alexian."
YoShen smiled at Alexian. "Do you want to play with me and Kaze?"
"KazeHa?"
YoShen blinked up at Alexian. "KazeHa? I haven't met him. Is he one of Uncle FaLi's samurai?"
"I don't think so. So tell me YoShen, who is Kaze?"
YoShen giggled. "Silly, Kaze is the wind."
"The wind? Do you play with the wind often?"
YoShen smiled and Alexian gasped as the wind came swirling around the boy again. "We play all the time, Uncle FaLi likes to play with us too. He makes us play silly games."
YoShen giggled again and danced off down a stone path. He stopped and turned back to Alexian and called to him. Alexian stood up and began to follow YoShen. As they walked through the garden Alexian noticed that the feeling of familiarity was growing. YoShen danced over a small curved bridge and the wind rippled across the water. Alexian froze as he finally realized where he was. Alexian reached out towards YoShen - *
Alexian gasped and sat up straight. Warm hands pushed him back down and Alexian looked up into a pair of warm and familiar eyes. Healer Fandel smiled down at him. "What happened?"
"Well, Alexian, it's a long story."
"KazeHa?"
"He's sleeping off a heavy dose of medicine. We had to drug him since he was projecting so strongly. It took three Heralds and his companion to finally get him shielded." Fandel shook his head. "No one has seen anyone with mindspeech this strong since Herald Vanyel went active."
"He has mindspeech?"
"In spades." Fandel sighed at looked back at Alexian with weary eyes. "He also seems to be a very powerful fetcher. Herald Elespth also thinks he has some type of magic, but she says it's unlike anything she's ever seen before."
"Shit." Alexian sat up slowly and the room seemed to spin and go gray briefly. "Can I see him?"
"You can go sit by his bed but he won't wake up for several more hours."
Alexian slowly got out of the bed and followed Fandel out of the room and down the hall. The room was only three doors down from where Alexian had been resting. Even that short distance though was crowded with swarms of running and shouting people. Alexian pulled Fandel against the wall and out of the way of the rushing hearlers. "What's going on?"
Fandel looked at Alexian, his eyes filling with a deep and weary pain. "I told you, KazeHa, is very powerful. When his powers, well, blasted open you could say, it caused at great deal of damage. In fact it caused a pretty good earthquake and a massive windstorm to come out of nowhere. We weren't prepared for it and so there were quit a few injuries. We're very lucky that no one died. A small section of the older part of the palace caved in."
"He said he played with the wind."
Alexian's eyes widened and before Fandel could stop him, Alexian opened the door to KazeHa's room and rushed inside. He stopped barely inside the door. The sight before him nearly floored Alexian. KazeHa lay sleeping on a bed near a window where Alexian could see Shai. The companion looked nearly as ill as KazeHa did. The companion whinnied softly as Alexian moved closer to the bed. He looked down at KazeHa and wanted to cry. The boy's normally warm skin was a sickly pale white. Deep black bags hung under KazeHa's eyes. His breathing was shallow and resting nearly unconscious by his bed where the three heralds who must have been shielding him. They looked up at him with weary eyes.
"Did Hearler Fandel say we could stop shielding him yet?"
Alexian just blinked. He wasn't sure what to say but Fandel saved him. "The dyhelli have said that they can teach him the basics of shielding while he's unconscious so you are all free to go."
The heralds all smiled and sighed, relieved.
TBC.
" I am a boy of Shadows, I cannot see anything at all. The piece of me that has hidden in my heart is lost to the darkness beyond the light." "I have only coldness. My wings, -" To hear the entire poem which KazeHa was repeating you will have to go to my web page. There I will post it in its entirety. In English of course.