- - -
Rain fell thinly between Brelanda and her flock. Grave situations weighed on her, she felt her responsibility weighing heavily on her, and he knew she had to make a choice. That choice, however heartbreaking, would be for the benefit of her flock. That was what being an eyomah entailed. She knew that no matter what she chose to do, someone would come out of it hating her.
The flock stood waiting. They all knew why she had called the meeting. Only Heero-ki was grazing, being obstinate in not acknowledging her leadership. Brelanda could care less.
Brelanda spoke four names. "Cirrus...Tulip. Drael and Rusamu. Come forward."
Tulip knew what Brelanda was going to say to her. Then again, she had little respect for the eyomah if she had the nerve to admonish them! By killing Tamar they had done what was right. They had prevented him from wronging another ewe ever again. She set her jaw stubbornly, gritted her teeth and stepped forward. "First off, I want to say, that--"
"Shut up," hissed Cirrus through his own clenched molars.
"How dare you tell me to shut up. You're not my mama." Tulip glared at her older brother.
"I am. And both of you please be quiet," said Amurin, their mother, quietly from the main flock body. She knew her two eldest children could by way of their tempers easily make things worse. In fact, she knew they would.
Brelanda waited until both of them were quiet. Being an eyomah meant she must protect all of her flock, but she didn't have to like all of them. "I have learned the role you played in the deaths of three sheep today. Two of them innocent lambs."
"How did you find out?" said Rusamu with his head still down. Rainwater dripped slowly off his chin.
"From the sole surviving witness, herself a lamb," said Brelanda. "All throughout your lambhoods you were taught. You were taught by your mothers and grandmothers, and by me, to respect life. We are all the creations of our ancestors, creations that they took the care to create. And they created us not to kill each other. I as eyomah of this flock not only condemn any murders--regardless of motive--but those who commit murder have no place here."
She paused to let them speak.
Cirrus could not bring out any words. He knew he would be banned from the flock, he was not exactly popular. It was not like him to spout pretentious rhetoric--unlike, he thought, a certain younger sister of his.
"For the record," said Tulip, "it was two sheep, not three. Maelstrom's body isn't there."
"Mai Maalstrom woos picked up bai the -toruku-, es that naay good enough for yuh?" Thalenes burst into fresh tears. "Ooooh mai bebbeeee." She crumpled down into the arms of Fluttershine, another flock elder who held the big ewe and stroked her back while Thalenes bawled.
"I nevertheless will not turn you out of the flock if most of the sheep here want you to remain," said Brelanda.
"Taarn ooot the maaarderers!" cried Thalenes. "Turn them ooot! Ahm not flockin' with nooo flock what theeey're a part of!"
"Neither am I!" Shiri's mother added, her face also streaked with tears. She shook her flipper and buzzed her lights at the four of them. "Exibos, you burakos! Exibos!"
Tulip only glared defiantly back at the weak ewe who, in her opinion, was only speaking out of grief over the loss of her lamb and not through the logic that a rapist had to die. She held no remorse for what she had done. She regretted that the lambs had been lost, but the ewes could have more lambs. To side with Brelanda was to advocate the rape of ewes. Still holding her teeth clenched tight, she flared her lips. "Rapist lovers!"
Thalenes marched right over to Tulip and gave her a slap in the face that nearly knocked the yearling ewe back onto the grass. Fluttershine and another ewe had to hold her back. Thalenes was bleating to get at Tulip, who only recovered and stepped back, still glaring at Thalenes in disgust. Amurin went over to see how bad her cheek was, but Tulip gently pushed her flipper away.
"You turn them out and predators could get them! Tulip and Rusamu are yearlings! They're babies, they could die, then even more sheep will have been lost!" said Amurin.
"Aym used tuh toughin' it ooot on the mountains, et's whah' wurr meeede for," said Thalenes. "An' ahm noot flockin weth that burakos in nooo flock o' mine!"
Brelanda sighed heavily and nodded.
"Tulip, Rusamu, Drael and Cirrus, you are hereby banished from my flock. Take your lights far from where they may be seen by me and mine...Exibos." Brelanda then lowered her eyes and turned from them. They were dead to her, at least for now.
"You can't do this!" Amurin followed after Brelanda, tapping her flipper.
"It is done, Amurin. I'm very, very sorry to do it."
Thalenes watched the four young amps head off into the mist. To her, it was little consolation. Their leaving would not bring her Maelstrom back...it would not make up for her own foolishness.
As the four of them disappeared down the field, Amurin and four other ewes went after them--her own yearling sister Kikai, their mother, and Drael and Rusamu's mother. Morgor and three other lambs joined them. "Come on. We're going with them," she said to her son.
Brelanda put her head down into the worn, calloused palms of her flippers and sobbed. The mist echoed her pain, lights fading into the fog of the tears of the spirits.
Kyaru watched the adults consoling each other as the four banished souls, now dead to the flock, disappeared into the fog. She had no one here to run to...but one thing that Tulip had said echoed in her mind. It was true that they had never found Maelstrom's body.
As the flock headed westward into a new portion of the field, putting the disaster behind them in the only way they could, Kyaru slipped from the stand of sheep and trotted off along the path of the -toruku.-
- - -
Maelstrom lay letting the pain and water seep deep into him. He existed as nothing but absorption of pain. His body felt broken; he hurt in so many places that it all blended together as one. Above and around him, the storm's roar was dying down. Thunder and lightning receded leaving a limp drizzle behind. Maelstrom tried to uncurl and met only more pain. He must be broken in many places...how had he even gotten himself wedged in here?
He closed his eyes again. Would this be all for him? Could he even crawl out of these rocks? He would never grow up to be a gûndah, never win ram battles, never father his own lambs or leave a legacy. And he would never see Mama again. -But maybe I'll see Shiri again.- He wouldn't be alone if he died. Shiri's spirit waited for him. And as a strange tingling overtook him, he realised she just might be there with him right now.
Was that what this strange feeling was? Shiri speaking to him, Shiri shining onto him? If it wasn't, what was this white light shining down on the rocks? He opened his eyes and the light was all he could see. A white light flecked with all the other colours of the rainbow. It shone and it healed him.
-Oh Phos, is this me dying?-
The light faded and he was still there, lying among the rocks. Only now he could move, he could do all that he had done before, without pain. He felt bigger and stronger than ever. -Shiri, I know you're here! If I'm dead now, you can come out, and we can play together again!-
"Shiri?"
He struggled to get up and out from the rocks but they held him fast. Maelstrom grunted and squirmed. He could not get out. Growling, angry now, he bucked his body and pushed. He twisted his neck around so his face faced upwards. He was looking into the dripping branches of a spruce tree that had grown into nearby rocks. A taillow sat in one of the lower branches, watching him in curiosity.
Maelstrom glared. "I'm stuck!"
The taillow twittered in laughter, then took wing into the cloudy sky.
Confusion only made the ramling more angry. How had he gotten stuck? If he was stuck, he still had a body. Or had he been cursed to be trapped in here in the afterlife? Was he really an evil lamb? Had the flock cursed him?
-Well fuck that!- He wasn't going to obey any curse! He was going to get out of here and have his revenge. "RRrrr," he grunted, pushing at the rocks. He panted and lay there, letting his head slide to the wet stone. -They'll pay.-
- - -
Tallaluna took a moment out of the day's long hike to look at the land spread out before her. Over the ridge was a distant meadow, and shrouded in the blanket of mist were faint lights. The twister had ripped a path of destruction through the woods, leaving a snake of scarring in forest and field.
Her scyther blade with a wood shaft shoved up into the base, a weapon which her flock had called a -skiku-, was tied against her back by a silken thong that stretched diagonally across her chest. She was a warrior ewe in her flock, but had left them on her -ritus n'eyoban-, the initiation of passage that would mark her as a full fledged warrior ewe. A warrior had a code to live by. Avoid other sheep and survive on her own was the rule she had vowed to follow until her return.
The young ewe, only two years old, looked up at the pallid sky. She had already had to fight off a ram on her -ritus.- She had won, but he had only been a young ram, nowhere near maturity. And she had dropped her -skiku- twice. Because flippers had no digits, the moves she could perform with a weapon were very limited. Nevertheless, she had decided to become a warrior so that she could extend herself to the best of her abilities, not worry about what she would never be able to do.
But she had bested him. A feat she probably would not have done with a full-sized ram. Among her kind, the giant mountain amps, mature rams were over twice the size of ewes.
But just let a gûndah encounter a seasoned warrior ewe. Tallaluna allowed herself a small smile. He would learn that size was not everything.
Tallaluna was grateful that the flock was some distance away. Otherwise, she would be too tempted to join them. Her vows would only extend so far over her need to socialise.
Heading on up the ridge and through rocky terrain, away from the flock, she heard the bleating of a lamb--or a yearling? Talla followed the noise. She did not smell a flock nearby in the rain-wet air, nor did she see any lights. But they could be hidden just over the next bend of stone.
When she came around the outcrops towards the lone spire of a spruce, the bleating became louder. It was intermittent--stopping, then starting up again. Talla's -skiku- slapped against her back as she broke into a run. Something carrying on that way was going to attract something interested in eating it. She looked overhead, ready to fight anything that arrived on wings.
Heading towards the pines, she saw pink skin sandwiched between two stones; blue light with a haze around it as fine water droplets carried its reflection. It was a flaaffy. Once again her vows came to mind, but her vows had said, no -flocks-. One sheep was not a flock. Tallaluna made her way slowly down towards the sheep--he was down a long way--and nearing him, she crouched down on the stones and stared at the ramling; despite feeling jaded to the world, she was amazed.
However had he gotten in there?
- - -
Maelstrom saw the strange ewe standing some distance away, studying him as he lay pinned between the hugging stones. He ceased his struggle and lay there, as humiliation washed over him. He knew by now he was not dead. But what did he say to the ewe, how did he get out of this without admitting that he was stuck? He kept himself from giving another bleat. Hadn't he been crying for help just before? And now that help was here he couldn't bring himself to ask for it?
The world was full of nothing but pain anyway...as soon as he had found a friend she had been ripped from him. Anything that he loved was ripped from him...why did he want to ask for help? Why did he want to go on? For a little while he had thought he would be dancing with Shiri...
The rain was coming down harder again. -I'll go meet him, at least,- thought Tallaluna. To him she would be just any old ewe, despite the addition of a weapon strapped round her back. He was not to learn that she was a proud warrior ewe...he was not to learn that she was a little scared...out here all alone, two years old with no flock. But they were at least alone together.
She expertly picked her way down the rocks towards him; she drew nearer until she stood over him. She again crouched, looking at him close up. When she spoke, her voice was soft.
"How did you get in there?"
Maelstrom's face was fierce as he looked into the ewe's pale amber eyes. "-Toruku- threw me in here." He breathed fast, still fighting his confinement.
Tallaluna stood up. "Stop. You're not strong enough to move that rock by yourself. But the two of us--might be able to move this one." She braced herself next to the smaller rock and found a place for her flippers to push. We have to both use what power we have combined. "On the count of three you must push. One, two, three."
Maelstrom gave a push, bucking his small body against the rock that was pinned against his back. The stone began to grind and shift.
Tallaluna put her back into the work. For a slightly built ewe of two years, she was strong. She used the discipline that had been drummed into her to pace herself, pushing enough to get it moving and then using the momentum to her advantage. She was careful to remain in a position that did not strain her back. By the time she tired out, the stone had been shifted a couple of inches.
Maelstrom felt the space he was trapped in opening its jaws. The ramling wriggled out, sore and spent. He crawled out on flippers and knees into the rain. He stopped in a puddle. Something was different.
"For someone that a tornado picked up, you are lucky to not have been injured," Tallaluna could see him well enough to see he had barely a bruise on him. "Nevertheless it is best we seek out some healing berries for you, just in case. There may be injuries you are unaware of."
-I'm evolved...- Maelstrom looked down at his pink flippers. The white light made sense to him now. He was lifted and let down at once. He had evolved, but Shiri had not been there.
-Just because the light had another source doesn't mean she wasn't there.- For all he knew she could have given him the power to evolve. It didn't matter. He would still avenge her death. He started to stand up, and looked up at Tallaluna from a height he had previously only come close to by rearing.
Maelstrom took one step and lost his balance, landing forward in the puddle.
Tallaluna rushed to him and helped him get up. "I stand corrected. Perhaps you were injured. Does anything hurt?"
"No." Maelstrom held his flippers out and tried to get the hang of walking as a biped. He almost wished he had not evolved if it meant he would have his footing now. But no pokemon ever went back.
"Were you hit on the head? That can harm one's balance." Tallaluna knew that just from her training battles...
Maelstrom took two teetering steps, then nearly toppled backwards, but his back met Talla's firm palm. "I don't think so. I just evolved."
Tallaluna took this in, connecting it with why he had been wedged between the rocks and why he was now uninjured. "It will take a little time for you to learn how to walk on two feet but most learn to walk in just a short while. Congratulations on your evolution."
Maelstrom grunted a reply.
This ram likely belonged to that flock in the way distance, thought Talla as she helped guide the ram towards taking his first flaaffy steps. The -toruku- had been through just that area. It was going to be a long hike back, though, and before he attempted it he had to be better on his feet. She charged herself with helping this ramling get home. She could not join the flock, but she could see him there safely, and she would.
"I'm Tallaluna. Who are you?"
"Maelstrom."
"Good to meet you in light."
"...Yeah."
Maelstrom kept practicing his walk. It scared him to not know how to walk anymore; what if danger came? He still had to live...if only long enough to avenge Shiri. After that he didn't see the point. He knew he was evil now; there was no denying it anymore. At least he could find justice for his one light-friend before laying down to embrace the darkness that seemed to be his destiny.
Tallaluna watched over the flaaffy, letting him slowly learn his balance, ready to catch him if he fell.
- - -
Kyaru did not know where Maelstrom might have gone after outrunning the twister, if he had outrun it at all. She picked up where the trail of the -toruku- left off and ended up hiking over stone. -So it's back to wandering alone, is it? Well, that flock might not be what you're looking for anyway.- If she did not find Maelstrom, would she return to them, or head on alone? It was dangerous to go alone for so long, when you were only a mareep. And long days of travelling alone started to get to her mind after a while. It went against the grain of her kind, and Kyaru knew it. Travelling -ûnphos- could be difficult, she had heard, even for a mature ram, although they sometimes did it when travelling between flocks.
-Of course, a tough ram like you is used to it.-
Kyaru wandered on without any leads except the idea of finding a vantage point and searching for his light. She would be a tough ram, a tough ram, tougher than her flock had been, tougher than her mama had been and could ever be.
- - -
"You should be fine on your feet by tomorrow," said Tallaluna as she watched Maelstrom practice charging over the grass. The two of them had found a small area of grass to munch on and where Maelstrom could relearn walking without falling on a floor of stone. "I saw a flock far out on the other side of the ridge earlier; are they your flock?"
"Probably." Maelstrom tried to pick up a stone in his new pink flipper. He folded the supple limb around it, picked it up and hurled it at a boulder standing on the other side of the grass. It fell short. "But I'm not going back."
"Why not?"
Maelstrom flung another rock at the boulder. "I don't have to tell you."
"You do if you're going to travel with me. You're no yearling; I can tell that by your appearance although you as an admirable size for your age I would say. But that does not make you ready to leave your flock."
"I know when I'm ready." Maelstrom would not tell her why...he would not let her know that deep down, whether because of Moonbeam or whatever reason, he was of the darkness. He had been the bad luck that had caused Shiri to die. If she had not been playing with him she would still be alive.
They had all warned her about him. Everyone had warned everyone about him. Death to those who just wouldn't listen.
"Lambhood is a treasured experience, Maelstrom. It is not something to be thrown away in the wish to become a strong gûndah, or whatever your aspirations may be." Tallaluna took her -skiku- in her flipper and expertly swung it in arcs. Maelstrom stopped to watch her.
He shook his head. "Speak for yourself."
"If you want to travel with me, be aware that I will eventually be returning to my flock, and we do not allow lambs or rams with us. We are the -eyoraië-, the warrior ewes, and I will tell you only this."
"So that's where you learned to use that thing." Maelstrom nodded at the modified scyther blade.
"Yes, and that is all I will say." Tallaluna would not divulge the sacred ways of the eyoraië. Especially not to a ram lamb, no offense to him. She had to hammer some sense into him and get him to go home.
"So you can't teach me."
"Teach you when I myself have only begun to learn? I think not, and besides, you're a ram; you have more size coming on than I shall ever have and that is plenty to learn to utilise. Now, if you will not even tell me why you, a lamb, refuse to head home to your flock, where your mama would probably be overjoyed to see you, I see no reason why I should tell you any of my sacred secrets."
Maelstrom growled. She had him there.
"I'll tell you if you don't make me go back."
"Icannot make you do that, I can only give you advice and hope you take it," said Tallaluna. "But I do wonder why you don't want to return, yes."
"I'll tell you tomorrow." Maelstrom would have thought up a suitable lie by then.
Tallaluna spun the -skiku- in an arc and paused it facing vertically.
"Agreed."