A/n just started already behind :(

Chapter 2

He woke when the bell struck so suddenly that it hurt. His head and body had an ache to them as though he had never slept. Again and again the bell struck until on the twelfth ring it fell silent. Varrick could not sleep again until the bell struck once again, a single time.

One in the morning. Why couldn't they come after a full nights rest?

A quarter hour passed and then a half. Varrick laughed at his foolishness as nothing happened. All-powerful spirits late? Not likely. No they wouldn't come and he should just get a good night's sleep.

The next moment he heard a sound. The soft whispering sound of breathing. It sent him throwing aside the curtains of his bed and staring into the eyes of the spirit had the shape of a man but the fur and face of an animal. Its triangular ears were wide and it's green eyes were just as disproportionally oversized. Over all it looked like a darker brown, oversized flying lemur.

It took a moment for Varrick to reclaim his steadiness. "Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?" He asked it.

"I am." It said in a surprisingly human voice. It folded its hands neatly behind its back "I am the spirit of the Solstice's past."

"You seem familiar. Have we met before?"

"I was once a friend of the avatar. Through him, through her, we are bonded."

"Well say what you want and get it out of the way. I've lost enough sleep as it is."

The spirit extended one furry hand that Varrick took. In the span of a second he was in the air and among the clouds. He did not feel the cold of the sky or wind. And when he has brought back down to the earth he did not feel the snow under his slippers.

"This place," he said looking around him, "I know this place." And it was true. He knew the snowy slopes that faded into the sea. There was a cluster of permanent houses by the freezing waters edge. A single boat flew a flag that marked it as Varrick's own family. There was a number of boys playing around the snow. Wrestling and throwing snowballs and whatever else young boys did for fun.

"Something is wrong?" The spirit asked seeing a single tear form at the edge of Varrick's eye though it did not fall.

"There was a boy at my door last night. I feel like I should have given him something" he confessed.

"There is one still inside." The spirit said.

At the end of his words they were inside the boathouse. There was a single boy behind a counter scribbling notes. Everything from his shorter hair to very familiar blue eyes Varrick recognized as a younger version of himself.

"That's me isn't it?" Varrick asked the spirit and he nodded. "And why aren't I freaking out right now?"

"These are only shadows of the past. They cannot hear or see you."

A door opened and a young girl burst in with laughter. "Inni! Inni!" She called him by his childhood name "I'm here to take you home!"

"Home?"

"Yes. You'd like father now. He is very gentle. I wasn't even afraid to ask him if you could come home and he said yes. I raced here as fast as I could before he could change his mind. You'll be home with all of us for the Winter Solstice and for ever and forever!And then father will let you go ice dodging and you'll be a man!"

"Do you really mean that?"

She jumped and nodded and laughed.

"Amazing! You'll be a woman in no time." The boy told her laughing as well and spinning her.

"She really was a woman" Varrick said proudly.

"She had children?"

"Just one. My nephew."

"We need to keep moving." The spirit said and raised his furry hand again. When Varrick took it they instantly appeared in a warehouse. The place was not empty but the inventory was pushed to the farthest edges of the room leaving most of the space open. The doors opened and two young men entered. They were announced by the older man who had been arranging the room.

"Lau! Iknik! Put those notebooks away. It's The eve of the winter solstice! No work tonight!" And he laughed the hearty laugh of a man three times his size.

"Well I'll be!" Varrick said in astonishment "that's old Gan-lan! That old cabbage merchant gave me my first job here in the big city!"

The men of the past shared greetings before others began to arrive. Gan-Lan had told them there would be guests for the celebration. Food was brought in, far more than everyone could eat even if they stuffed themselves to bursting. And musicians came and the air was filled with the light of music. Already couples took to dancing though none would outshine Mr. Gan-Lan and his wife.

The young Iknik took his time introducing himself to Mr. Gan-Lan's guests. The conversations were casual and simple but the watching Varrick knew he was looking more for network connections than a new friend.

His breath caught as he noticed his younger self laughing with a client that was particularly fond of his boss. Varrick smiled as the woman introduced her daughter. Young Zhu Li seemed almost nervous as Ikink took her hand and kissed it like a gentleman. He even noticed a bit of blush on her cheeks that he had not seen when he lived this moment before. He asked her to dance and the night became only about the two of them. Only for that one night.

With no sort of warning the party disappeared. Everything had been shaded in shadow as the room try now waited in was lit by only a few candles even in this late hour. Even In the darkness Varrick had no trouble seeing his office. It was the very same he had been in only a few hours ago. Iknik sat on one side of his desk putting together the last piece of his latest invention. This would be the perfect machine to unveil at the glacier spirits festival. Movers would be a gateway to the future no one has ever seen the likes of before.

But when he said the words he had said a thousand times over, "Zhu Li, do the thing." He was not met with an answer. Zhu Li stayed at her place at her desk with her tea.

"Zhu Li, you're not doing the thing."

"That's because I'm finishing my tea." She answered sharply.

"How else am I going to test my movers?"

"Why don't you do the thing yourself this time?" She snapped.

"But the thing is your thing."

Zhu Li moved so suddenly he had not been ready for it. She slammed down her tea cup as she stood up and slammed the palms of her hands on his desk. "I'm tired of doing nothing but the thing every day. That's all I ever do for you is thing after thing. You never want anything else from me."

"If I remind you that it's your job would you do the thing?"

"No I won't. I'm supposed to be more to you than just the thing doer."

"Listen I-"

"Is that the only thing that matters to you? Money and work and, and, and, things?"

"These are important things. I don't know what you don't see here."

"There are more important things then just things." She pulled a locket from her neck and dropped it on the desk where it landed with a muted clatter. She turned away from the desk and walked out of the office forever.

Varrick called after her but Iknik said nothing. Maybe he was too stunned to speak. Maybe he didn't understand that would be the last time he saw her. Varrick felt himself reaching after her. His hand met only air now as it would have then.

"Spirit, why do you want to torture me?" Varrick asked. "Please, you have to get me out of here."

"These are only shadows of things that have happened."

"And seeing it once in a lifetime is enough." Varrick swiped an open palm at the head of his younger self. Why hadn't he gone after his assistant while he might have had the chance? His hand passed cleanly though as if through air. And the locket she had left, where was it now? How come he didn't know? Didn't he take care of what she left him?"Take me back home. I don't want to look at me anymore."

"Only you did this. Don't blame me."

"I don't care get me out of here!" With that Varrick tackled the spirit with everything he could. The two fell to the ground. The spirit disappeared into the floorboards and everything grew dark. Varrick's body shook. For the first time in a long time, he felt cold.