Dislcaimer: I don't own Princess Mononoke, as much as I wish I did ;)
Crystal Ashes
Blushing Petals
Chapter 7: Erokai's Eyes
The village was everything she had expected it not to be…
On the edge of the small town limestone buildings, like smooth pink cloud, climbed into the foggy pewter sky, each trimmed with glowing green and blue shells, some with their pearly, white insides facing outwards to reflect the colors of the world surrounding it. The murderer in her mind that she called Erokai—the man that towered above all mortals with thin black hair and cunning and sickish faded blue eyes did not fit into this gentle, beautiful place.
Allowing herself to draw curiously closer she noticed that the smooth metal gates had no vicious guards or soldiers to keep visitors at a distance, as the tall gates of Iron Town had had. Tilting her head her eyes flickered, scanning her surroundings, until her eyes landed on a smooth statue that appeared to be made from compressed coral. Snarling she felt her face heat up.
The statue of a great bat stood in the center of the pathway just within the open gates. The bat's wings were open, caught in gusts of summer wind, and his huge eyes glittered, amber stones lodged in its coral head. Below it the statue of a small, genderless person knelt, its eyes staring at the ground below the bat's feet.
"And it is this battle that caused Erokai's people to trap Yaro within him." In these lands Yaro seemed to be the creature that the people looked to as a life-giver. Scowling San pivoted, turning her back on the town, her stomach churning sickly. With the cold wind whipping around her small form she could hear the gaggle of human laughter and speech…
"Their selfish leader will be lead into immorality, while the Clan of Bats will slowly rot away from existence." Her heart thudded, a war drum beating wildly against her ribs. Huffing, her ears perked catching the sound of a gentle, feminine voice calling out to her.
"Hey!" The small bell-like voice rung out through the crisp air, making San's fire-filled eyes search the lush fields. Her eyes instantly caught sight of the blonde girl that she had seen near Asha's Cliff. As the girl drew closer San forced her muscles to relax. The girl waved and at last reaching San she giggled, her bright, sky blue eyes sparkling like lucid stars. "You must be a traveler! I'm Lyura!" The cheerful girl had her pink arm tucked into San's within moments, and was leading her towards the town of Haro. "So what's your name?"
"San." San replied with a forced smile—though not nearly half the rage she'd previously had still lingered within her at the sight of the mourning girl.
Walking beside Lyura, San could see the sorrow prickling at the edge of the girl's carefully assembled smile… If she hadn't watched the beautiful girl mourning she would have never noticed the sadness that lay silent within the girl…
Clenching her fist San eased her own expression and looked forward… Her arm still linked with Lyura's.
As they neared the town three young women appeared from seemingly nowhere to greet Lyura.
"Hi Lyu!" Each bellowed. Lyura's pink lips burst into a wide grin and instantly she motioned to San.
"Look! We have a traveler!" The three drew closer, each with some shade of blue eyes watching San curiously. The tallest (a girl that towered nearly seven inches above San's petite frame.) beamed, her fingers waving ecstatically.
"Wow! You must be from far away!" She gasped, running a gloved hand through her sandy tresses. San frowned, watching them with wide, earthen eyes. "She's so pretty!" The girl declared to her three friends as she bounced giddishly.
Gritting her teeth, San inched backwards, wild thoughts of escape flashing rapidly through her mind.
"Wow… I've never seen someone with such dark eyes!" The other declared. This girl was dressed in lacey blue, like summer skies, that matched her wide, almost bulging eyes. Her face was flushed with pink.
"Her skin isn't sun-burnt…" The last acknowledge—a hopeless girl almost, with blotchy red skin. The others giggled, eying the girl, as though her ultimate pessimism was an everyday thing. San growled. "How's that possible? She looks like she's travelled awhile…" The girl stated unsurely.
If San were not busy trying to look through the bulgy, milk-blue eyes of the people of this stupid town, she would have already pummeled each of these vain girls… Except maybe Lyura—the only girl who did not scrutinize every aspect of San's small body…
"I'd better be heading home…" Lyura said quickly, perhaps the only one noticing the fire rising up in San's dark pupils. "Do you want to join me? Usually my father always lets me bring guests over! Especially travelers, since it's his job to find them a place in our inn to stay." San frowned in response.
"Do travelers come here often?" San asked unsurely making Lyura's eyebrows crease.
"Well… actually, no. They believe that our leader is cursed or something silly like that, so usually travelers stay away. But it gets kind of boring having only a few select people that come and go while the rest are faces that you see your whole life." San followed the girl, noting that their pace had been painfully slow. As if noticing San's disapproving look at the distance they'd made Lyura smile. "Oh… The clothes we wear here aren't like the clothes you're wearing at all, huh? Ours make the women move slow and make us bustle around like angry pigeons!" San couldn't help but laugh at the girl's statement. "I've never seen your clothes before… Where are you from?"
San's mind instantly felt hot. She'd never imagined needing to have a whole background story. And she could clearly see that saying that she'd been raised by a wolf goddess was not an option. So instead she used the only town she'd ever heard of.
"Iron Town." San's words seemed to satisfy the young girl, even when they disgusted San.
"Oh! You're from way far." Chewing her thumbnail Lyura continued in her slow pace, moving like a spirit across the cobbled pathway. "Lady… Eboshi? I've heard lots of… umm…" Her wide, glimmering eyes caught San's, allowing her to catch the sparks of uncertainty that flickered through the girl's azure eyes. At last she huffed. "Anyway, is it nice there?" San snarled.
"No. It's disgusting, and thick with black smoke… My people live near the town. But never within it." Lyura giggled.
"You definitely look more… earthy than I imagined someone from Iron Town would. I've heard that Wolf Gods live within the forest, and that there's a girl that lives among them…" The girl smiled, her eyes now filled with liquid dreams. "I'm envious of her." She said at last, as though confiding a great secret. San frowned, her own giant eyes full of wonder.
"Why do you envy her?" The girl chewed her thumb once again, her head tilted carefully at San's question. As they walked she bowed and smiled to an elderly woman who passed, but her smile and intentions never quite reached her eyes. She was lost in her worried thoughts.
"My… My father told me that the holy men used to live beside the Gods, and that it was a great gift… He told me that the men smelled of fresh rain and pure earth, and that the women had eyes like rich soil, and skin like golden sun…" Sighing she leaned into her absurd dress. "You look like what I imagined, and hardly like the beady eyed inhabitants of Iron Town." San smiled softly, turning her smooth face towards the vast sky that now blushed in soft dusk. "Anyway… Only worthy souls can live among the Gods, and never dirty mortals." The last words left her mouth in a longing voice. San straightened her small form—her body rippling with health, the exact opposite of the fattened forms she'd seen all around.
"Mortals kill gods." She said at last, her body still rigid, memories tattooed into her muscles. Lyura's eyes flickered back to San in shock.
"I… I think that we should drop by my cousin's shop." The girl's voice was lined with a careful lack of emotion this time.
Is that guilt for her ancestor's mistakes? Or is it rage that I would point it out?
San's dark eyes danced with vicious fire as she scanned the small stands, until at last they settled once again on Lyura—a girl so vastly different from herself she wondered why fate would choose to unite them…
Aiko sat, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes—like brilliant, lush grass—trained on the tossing boy. At last Toki entered the room, her fingers combing through her now fresh hair.
"Just Iah and San." Aiko sighed, her own voice hoarse like Ashitaka's. Toki tilted her head.
"I just don't understand 'Iah'… I mean it's so…" At that moment Ashitaka's handsome face crumpled in agony as he screamed.
"Iah!" His body trembled, and his teeth chattered… his body shaking from the fierce pain. His pale flesh prickled with fresh sweat as his face lit with fear.
"He is afraid of her." Aiko said at last, her ivy eyes dancing across his form as he tried to push himself away from the demon that lurked within his fever dreams. Gasping Toki rushed to his side, rubbing his hand softly.
"It's okay…" She cooed. "Whatever it is, it doesn't exist in our world, little hero." Her voice seemed to soothe him, and slowly his movements calmed and he sunk back down, his voice humming San's name as though it were a lullaby. His fingers reached forward—reaching for the images that spun within the sickness. At last he smiled.
"He dreamt of San while you were gone, Toki." Aiko said, as though 'San' were not the constant word his voice spoke.
"So?" Toki's face was blank, her eyes glittering with grumpiness…
"It was… weird. I saw this glow that rested beside him… and it sprouted from his heart and forehead…"
"Maybe San did come. I have heard of stranger things…" Laughing, Aiko pulled a canteen of water from her apron. Pouring the pure, cool liquid into his waiting dry mouth she smiled.
"This boy saved us… How strange, that we are now the ones that stand so defiantly between him and death."
"Yeah, well I think death will be running with his stupid tail tucked between his legs when we're done with him." Toki stated smugly, defiant eyes locked on Ashitaka…
His dry lips formed a the single word once again, his fingers raking the still air, his veins pumping blood rapidly through his form—as though he were locked in a battle….
As though he were losing, and desperately grasping for life.
"This is our home." Lyura said, her eyes twinkling and her body bouncing cheerfully once again. San gasped as she followed the limestone building as it stretched almost endlessly into the blue sky. Standing at its shell-encrusted doors two giant amber bats stood, their heads bowed. San stopped, her eyes wide as she stared at the figures, realization slowly inching across her golden flesh.
Lyura blinked, an unsure smile on her pallid cheeks as she watched San's small hands trace the figure.
"That's Yaro—the life giver." Lyura said, her own hands smoothing her dress. "He is the one who gave my fa—" Before she could finish her sentence a tall man stepped from the house, his arms throwing the doors open gallantly. His presence seemed to make the world stop, and the people on the street ended their interactions to smile and wave to him. San slowly looked to him, her body curling into itself—instinct demanding she prepare to be attacked.
He was not slimy and pale with black hair and blue eyes… Instead he had warm skin and wild golden hair… Gritting her teeth her eyes at last met with his eyes, like sunshine, that watched her from behind the blonde hair.
"Lyura! This is a traveler? I have not had a traveler here for many, many years!" Smiling, he promptly bent at his waist and bowed. "I am Erokai, Lyura's father… and the leader of this wonderful town." He laughed then, waving to a woman who fought her way through the crowd, her arms full of a fat, white haired baby. "And, of course, the keeper of that austere woman's house!" The woman's powerful stride instantly broke and she spun quickly to face him, her beautiful face scowling.
"Take that back right now!" She hollered, shaking her free fist at him wrathfully. He laughed, and she came up to hug him, her mouth and voice now joining his in a free, heart borne laughter. Lyura smiled.
"This is my father and mother." Lyura chimed, her small form now beside her family. San blinked… The sight of them all standing happily together made something deep within her whimper. Something she had not felt for a long time…
"It's good to meet you." San said, bowing as she'd seen the man do. He stepped away from the door and his wife curtseyed.
"Hello, I'm Naomi." She said. "And you are…?"
"San, from the lands near Iron Town."
"Ah. Well come in! We were just about to start dinner, and of course, there's no Inn here so you can stay with us! Our house has many guest rooms for such an occasion." San nodded and followed the woman inside, her eyes trailing back to the statue…
"What's the statue again?" She asked. Lyura smirked.
"Father will tell you the whole story tonight at dinner… And, of course, if you happen to be unlucky enough to catch him in the gardens he'll tell you again… and just about any time he catches you, or anyone really, he tells the story."
"He's proud of it." San said at last, her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. Surprised she searched the hallway with wide, night-sky eyes. It was her first time inside of a large and decadent home like this.
The smell of incense and human musk filled her head—nearly making her dizzy.
As they neared stairs that went both up and down a boy that looked much like Erokai appeared from the top of the stairs. His eyes were a stunning blue—like shards of pure sky. And he looked just as surprised to see her as she did him.
"Oh, that's my stupid brother Kinu." He came down the plush stairs.
"Brought a traveler Lyu?" He stopped before the pair, his eyes flickering across the room to San…
Erokai and his wife only exchanged glances before Naomi smiled widely.
"This is Kinu, San, he is our second son…" San didn't miss the sadness that bled through her words. Images of Lyura atop Asha's Cliff pulsed through her mind… At last the boy stopped and bowed, his blue eyes darkening as he straightened himself out. "Why don't you show her the gardens? And get her comfortable! I've been delaying dinner, a-and oh!" Sighing she straightened her skirt in a way that seemed to be the entire towns' sign of nervousness. "I left Keenai asleep!" She hurried off, Erokai left behind, chuckling.
"You'll have a chance to meet our entire family at dinner." He said at last, his eyes tracing his wife's hurried movements as she rushed past Kinu. The respect for his wife glittered within his golden eyes. The sight of his awe-struck face made San's teeth clench—his was a mirror of her own Ashitaka's eyes watching her like that. "Sorry for the rush… today's a rather… hectic day. We're not always so rushed." Tilting his head he rushed off in the opposite direction as his wife. "I'll be in the basement." He hollered to no one in particular before his form disappeared behind a wooden door to the left.
Lyura looked exhausted, her face wrinkled as she watched her brother eying San.
"Her name's San…" Lyura said at last, sighing. "You know… he's not always like this." She said at last, turning towards San, as if to express that this was a confidential piece of information that passed between them. San blinked, unable to ignore the ice-like emotion that rolled off of him.
He was the first boy that she had seen since her Ashitaka…
But he was not her sun-kissed Ashitaka… He did not have Ashitaka's endless chocolate eyes, or earthy hair… Or his essence—the very core of Ashitaka's self that had lured her. His eyes, like patches of pure sky, stared like dazzling pools of blue fire… but they hardly held the blaze that flickered infinitely in Ashitaka's eyes.
"I'm Kinu." He said at last, his arms resting solidly across his chest, his eyes summing her up with a final dance up and down her form. San felt like prey—her worth being judged by the predator before he would make any concluding moves…
Standing taller she chewed her lip—reigning in her temper in a way that felt almost foreign.
"I know." She replied, holding him back with her own glare. Shock danced across his features, quickly replaced by a smug grin.
Lyura watched, her eyes darker than before. Shifting her weight and playing with the hem of her sleeve she sighed.
"Come, San, I have a beautiful garden to show you!" San watched the boy Kinu for a moment longer… Something sad lurked beneath his exterior… The same thing that pulsed within each of the family members' eyes…
Whew I've had this done for forever but I never posted it!
BP with love