Once again, thank those of you who are sticking with me and, most especially, those of you who take the time and effort to review. It is most gratifying to hear that I am able to please you. Since this is my holiday piece, I hope you don't mind that I am gleefully bashing those inhabitants of the Spiran World who irritate me past endurance. It's just in fun, you know, and I'm really not a vicious person. ... Would you care to purchase the Causeway at Bevelle? I can give you a real bargain.
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After
Chapter V
Paine and Nooj hesitated on the edge of the fourth stair from the bottom of the winding staircase. Paine eased herself down to the third and lay prone, her head hanging over the edge, alert for any sound or movement. Somewhere, on or about ground level, was a gathering of women Nooj was not eager to meet again.
She cursed softly as the skirt of her dress wrapped around her legs and all but immobilized her as she attempted to crawl nearer the cave where the Elite Guard was headquartered. She would have given a century of eternity to have her leggings and shorts back. Nooj had descended to the third step and remained there, leaning on his cane, his body bent forward to catch any information she might convey. She gestured him on. There was as yet no sign of the women who had dedicated themselves to the defense of their Meyvn.
"Let's go down another step and if they come out, you can run interference while I get away," he suggested.
"Probably won't work. You aren't fast enough."
"Well, damn it! What do you suggest? They'll consume me."
"Don't worry, Meyvn. I'll beat them off. Like I did last time. Have you got your silver tongue ready to calm the beasts?"
"Sarcasm does not become you, Madame. Let's get out of here."
"Wait a minute, let me have the lacings from your cassock."
"Why?"
"To tie up this damned dress. It keeps tripping me."
She took the long tough cords he handed her and kilted up the full skirts to free her legs.
Nooj complained, "How am I supposed to keep this thing from falling off?"
"It would probably slow them down if it did. ... Hold it together with your hand. You're sounding more like Shuyin the closer we get to these women; do they have some sort of intelligence suppressing effect on you?"
He ignored her and continued down the broad flat flight. As his left foot touched the last level, he saw the first of the band of women emerging from beneath the steps, creeping out of the low cave which sheltered them. With a supreme effort, he hurled himself down the last riser and - fell flat on his face. In a moment, they were on him, shielding him with their bodies as though he were under attack from a horde of fiends.
"Meyvn! You're back! You're safe her and we'll defend you." The impassioned women chanted in an improbable chorus.
Paine leapt into the fray screeching a random war cry at the top of her considerable volume. At first, the Elite Guard were frozen by the sound but quickly recovered and continued their demented efforts to protect their idol.
Nooj had begun to pull himself free during the brief hiatus but was promptly again submerged under a heap of adoring bodies. There seemed to be an endless number of them as they continued to pile on, crushing him beneath their well-intentioned protective mass. He felt like a pet hugged nearly to asphyxiation by a loving mob of children.
Like a Valkyrie, Paine strode into battle. She wrapped one fist around a mass of flowing hair and violently threw the woman hard against the stairs, momentarily stunning her. Then with a flurry of chopping blows, she began to disentangle the others. Only a few tried to fight back; their specialty seemed to be passively interposing their bodies between that of their beloved and any perceived attacker. It didn't take too long for the Warrior woman to clear the field. She extended a hand to the fallen Nooj and hauled him to his feet.
"We'd better get out of here before it occurs to them that I'm the enemy and I'm only one," she gasped.
Nooj was shaken but intact. "Next time, I'm planning on being a misogynist. Maybe then I can bring myself to hit one of them."
"Don't talk; keep moving." Paine tugged him along at a somewhat rapid pace.
"I'm moving as fast as I can. Remember, I'm not exactly suited for racing." They soon left the darkly looming presence of the stair to Vegnagun behind them and were in the outskirts of a peculiar forest which bordered on the meadow.
Around them rose the slim birch-like boles of young trees with leaves of amber, ruby and emerald – all glowing as though illuminated from within. There was no underbrush, only the trees rising from a dense carpet of spongy, yielding moss which was occasionally starred with tiny white flowers. The air was fresh with a faint fragrance of newly bruised citrus while spears of light pierced the shadows of the forest and revealed that it looked to go on for further than they could see. There was no obvious path, just the carpet of green stretching in all directions until it was lost in a misty glowing distance. They had advanced several hundred yards into this place before noticing that the meadow lay behind.
"All right. We can stop now. Those women don't seem willing to move far from their base. They only followed us a short way. And there's no sign of Shuyin, either." Paine leaned against the slender trunk of a golden leafed tree and crossed her arms.
"That damned fool of a whiner is probably still at the top of the stairs trying to get the courage to start down. ... Before you make another scene, thank you for saving me from my defenders again. Now can I have my lacings back? This thing was never meant to be worn without them." Nooj was having difficulty keeping the garment on his shoulders.
She bent to untie the cords and let the crumpled fabric fall back around her ankles. "If you insist. I always thought you liked to show off your chest. You might not know but that broad, smooth chest was the first thing that drew me to you back in our Crimson Squad days."
"So glad to know my bait worked as intended but I prefer to choose the amount I display, not have to clutch my clothes together like some virgin in danger of criminal assault."
"And Yevon knows you're no virgin. Want to rest?"
He threaded the lacings through their loops and tied them at his throat with an air of relief. "Is that another of your suggestive proposals?"
"Take it as you like." She sank down on the soft springy moss. "I'm tired; I did all the work back there."
"So you did." He dropped down beside her. "Maybe a short break would refresh us. ... I hope my next costume continues to have lacings."
She breathed into his ear, "And my next one is a size bigger."
"Some shoes or boots would be nice."
She pinched him, "Stop talking and pay attention to what you're doing."
He obeyed with a dedication that made her cry out in delight. After a thoroughly refreshing episode, they lay stretched on the moss, once again content with one another and themselves. Nooj looked around him. "Wonder what this place is? Did you notice it before we were in it? I didn't."
Paine, her head nestled in the place his neck met his right shoulder, replied dreamily. "No. I was too busy checking on the progress of your admirers. I think I remember feeling this surface under my feet; it's different from the meadow. But it has to still be part of the FarPlane. There's no place left to go once you're here."
"True. Not until you decide to go on to the higher planes." He had dislodged her and pushed himself up to a seated position. "Neither one of us has made that choice yet. So we must be still in this so-called Heaven. Or some part of it and I don't see any end to it in either direction."
"Do you see any clothes?"
"There's a pile of something to the right that doesn't look like foliage. That's probably them. Want to go fetch?"
She leapt to her feet in a single graceful move. "Sure." In a brief time she was back with the usual armload of clothing. "Here. You've got lacings again. And I've got ... hooks! No more struggling into a tight Lulu-dress. I've got hooks and can just pull it on!" She matched her words to the deed. "Oh god, I can't hook it up the back. Damn! Who designs these things anyway?" She twisted futilely before finally giving up and turning to him.
"Hook me up," she demanded.
"What would you do if you didn't have me here to do this?"
"If you weren't here, I wouldn't need clothes. I'd stroll across the landscape au naturel."
"I don't mind if you want to do that."
"If I did, you couldn't keep your hands off me."
"I beg to contradict you. Who's always suggesting that we take a break or try a little distraction?"
"I never hear you refusing." Her eyes shot red sparks at him.
They looked at one another for a few minutes before erupting into laughter and re-discovering just how soft and springy the moss really was.
"That was nice," she giggled. "Now, hook me up and no diversions."
He reached up to engage the small catches. "Suck in. I can't quite get this one to latch."
"Oof!" she inhaled as the bodice squeezed her chest. "I thought I ordered one size larger this time. Oh ..."
"What's wrong?"
"I got a sudden itch in my brain. Something's trying to get my attention." She was puzzled.
"You've got a Call. Look around until you see a glowing curtain. Somebody still alive wants to speak with you." He was certain.
Paine furrowed her brow. "But who? I didn't leave anyone with any claim on my attention."
"Most likely Baralai. That cotton headed sanctimonious twit never knows when to give up. Go see. Right over there, behind you. Go to the curtain and hold out a wrist. An invisible guide – they're called Gatekeepers – will take it and lead you to your visitor. I'll wait for you here."
Paine, with some trepidation, stretched our her arm as she approached the undulating curtain of light. In spite of the warning Nooj had given her, she jumped when cool fingers wrapped around her wrist.
"Don't be alarmed." A soothing voice calmed her. "I'm a Gatekeeper, here to lead you to your friend."
Through the barrier, which felt to Paine as though she were passing through a current of energized air, into the vast reception area and on to one of the giant swirling columns which afforded a sense of privacy to those meeting, she was drawn by the unseen guide.
"Go right through there. Remember, you cannot touch and have only a short time to say what you need to say."
"I wonder if that's what gave Shuyin the idea he and Lenne could only look," she thought as she slipped into the circular room.
Across the pearly table, leaning his head in his hands as he waited, sat Baralai. Sensing her presence, he looked up and leapt to his feet with the ingrained courtesy that had always characterized him.
"Paine! My dear! I came as quickly as I heard. Why did you do this? Did he mean that much to you?"
"Sit down, Baralai. What are you doing here? We were finished long ago. ... Oh, by the way, how long have I been dead?" She suddenly remembered what Nooj had said about disjointed time.
"I heard about it today. Yuna sent word to all of us when she found your body on the shore. Why did you do it?" He looked tired and distraught. "Weren't your friends enough to make you want to live? You weren't a Deathseeker all along, were you?"
She was surprised by the question and unsure of her answer. "I don't think so. No. Look, Baralai, this is no time to be tactful. I don't owe you an explanation but since you've come all this way ... I've been besotted with Nooj since our Crimson Squad days. You know we were an item back then. And when he died, I decided it was my chance to get him alone and rekindle the blaze. I figured I'd be ahead of the competition here."
"You put a dagger in your chest merely on the chance of getting back together with Nooj?"
"When you strip it down to the essentials, that's about the gist of it. The way you put it makes it sound stupid, but it wasn't. It was the logical thing to do." She nodded and folded her hands on the table between them. "Do me a favor and tell the others that it's all right. Nooj and I are together again and it's all right. Tell them to make sure LeBlanc is behaving. Nooj worries about his sons. And don't be concerned about me – I'm where I want to be."
"Are you sure? You look strange; you never used to dress like that." He was finally able to take in the entirety of her aspect, instead of just her face.
"You mean this Mage outfit? There's something here that has a definite idea of what its subjects should wear and replaces garments every time you take them off." Hearing the meaning in her own words, she blushed and hastened on. "You'll notice I don't have my boots either." She stuck out a bare foot for his attention.
Baralai belatedly understood the import of what she had said and flamed a scarlet that seemed to project actual heat. "I didn't think ... that is, I never considered ... Oh hell, I don't know what I'm trying to say."
"You didn't think there were any physical relationships on this side, right? That's what Shuyin and Lenne thought too. Yes, we've met Shuyin – he's a sad case. But you're all wrong. Very little is forbidden and what you're thinking about is not on the no-no list. Come to think of it, I don't know what is forbidden here. Existence, or whatever this is, is pretty free from restrictions. Not that I'm encouraging a raft of suicides, you understand." Paine felt herself running out of things to say to the gloomy man facing her and longed for the return of the Gatekeeper.
"You've met Shuyin as well as Nooj. Is he with you too?"
"No, he's looking for Lenne – it's a long story and we don't have time for me to tell it. Things are pretty complicated on this plane and you'll have to wait 'til you get here to understand it all." She hesitated, thinking that, as a priest, Baralai would have a head start on both understanding and functioning on the FarPlane. "Oh, you'll do fine when it's your time to show up. Are the others doing well?" She was nattering, desperately making conversation and heard the bell-like tones of the Gatekeeper with a sense of great relief.
"Time, lady."
"Goodbye, Baralai. Thanks for the visit." She was almost stumbling over her skirts as she rushed away.
"I'll be back." The Praetor called from behind her.
When Paine caught her breath, she was again in the jeweled forest with no sign of the ominous curtain for as far as she could see. With a sigh, she let her legs collapse and coiled up on the mossy floor.
Nooj, who had been sprawled nearby, inched over to her and took her in his arms, cuddling her like a child. "It's all done now. Was it Baralai?"
"Yes."
"I knew it! That whey-faced loon can't bear to know that you're out of his reach. What did he want?" Nooj bared his teeth.
"Don't start with that. He wanted to know why I killed myself. Accused me of being a Deathseeker." She nuzzled against his chest.
"That's rich. So he had to find some excuse for your not rushing back to his arms when I died. I plan to strangle him when he gets over here." He flexed his left hand which was exceedingly lethal.
Paine became breathless with laughter. "You worry about sending Shuyin from the FarPlane to the FarPlane and now you're going to kill Baralai once he's dead. Nooj, I adore you!" She clutched him as though to merge her body with his. "One minute you're a philosopher and the next you're a barbarian. I'll never get bored with you beside me."
He bent over her protectively, "I'm not going anywhere. Shall we see what else this forest has to offer or would you prefer to rest awhile?"
With a little gurgle, she rubbed her formerly spiky hair on his chin, "Neither. Could you just hold me for a while and let me know you're there?"
He wrapped himself around her and gently eased the both of them back to the soft pillows of the moss. She felt the comforting presence of the machina arm and leg pressing against her. She was with Nooj; she was home.
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