They watched as the main gate below them opened and the cloth creatures were released, singing their thanks. As they accepted the rides from the dolphins and soared away, Sen could not help feeling a twinge of apprehension. She tried to chase it away. I'm sure it's nothing.
Yag slid down the hill on all fours, enjoying the feeling of the sand rushing over his robe. He leapt in the air and twirled around happily, looking over to make sure he didn't get too far from Sen. They did their tricks as they slid down the sandy slide and wound up in the rest area between the first sections of sandy hill. The moon had come out fully, bathing the two wayfarers in crisp moonlight. Yag stood back up on his legs. {Do you think that this will be a good place for us to stop for the night?}
"I didn't even realize how late it was getting! I was just in a hurry to go and then I got caught up with doing tricks. I suppose we should get some rest," Sen admitted.
There was a sheltered spot near the far edge, a little alcove. Sen flew up to it with ease but accidentally lit up the mural inside it. She turned away from it and sat, commenting to Yag as he approached, "I really don't want to see that before I go to sleep…you can look at it, though." Before she knew it, she had drifted off.
Yag nodded and chirped softly in amusement at how quickly Sen fell asleep. He turned to look at the mural. It showed Sen's people living together happily. How odd, that my people don't show up. He quickly bored of the glyph and curled up next to Sen, falling asleep.
His dreams were not filled with peace.
Yag found himself lying down in a pitch black void. He looked up and around and saw nothing but more nothing. Cautiously, he called out, {H-hello?} A sudden crashing noise rang out and Yag hurriedly covered his ears. {AAAGGHHH!} When he looked up again, he saw a pair of dark red eyes in front of him, and blood oozed out of them. A mouth in similar condition opened below them.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGG
Yag, absolutely terrified, turned tail and ran as fast as he could. When he looked
back, he saw he was no further from the face than when he first stared running. {AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!} Yag began to cry out, completely horrified and unable to get away. His eyes opened wide and he roared at the face with all his might. The face shot at him without warning and in that moment Yag shot upright next to Sen and roared again before diving off the alcove and burying himself in sand has quickly as he could. Yag continued to hide there, shaking violently in the sand.
Come back, little scarf! Sen swatted at the tiny piece of cloth, always out of reach. In her dream, the sky was blue with fluffy clouds. The sand was pale pink and went on for miles. No objective, no worries, no ancestor to nag her…
A deep throated roar shocked Sen out of her reverie and she shot up to her feet. A Guardian? Can't be. It sure didn't sound like one!
She looked quickly around for Yag and saw he wasn't there. She began to chirp quietly, then louder and louder as panic set it. I knew something was wrong! What am I going to do now?! Frantically she shook herself around to become more awake.
Sen.
A familiar voice, that of her ancestor's, echoed in her head. She froze. This must be important, for her to use her thoughts like this to communicate. It almost never happened.
Be careful.
What? Careful of WHAT? Dammit, Elder, I've had a REALLY long day! I just want to worry about finding my friend right now.
Sen flew down from the alcove, landed lightly in the sand, and began to look for Yag. A quick glance around the area showed that he wasn't in plain sight, which heightened her rising fear. She noticed the fliers weren't released, so he probably was still in the area. Unless he jumped! Oh, ancestors….
She was pacing back and forth when she noticed a lump in the sand that was moving. Shivering. Out the back of it she could see the tip of Yag's scarf.
Immensely relieved but also a little worried, she cautiously approached the mound of sand and sat quietly down next to it. She spoke softly. "There you are. It's me, Sen. It's okay. Whatever it was, it was just a dream."
Yag felt himself slowly being overtaken by whatever it was took over him last. But this time he was fighting it. He lifted himself out of the sand and fought back against the monster inside him. His eyes flickered, but they did not go out. Yag roared angrily. {YOU CAN'T TAKE MEAGAIN!}
Collapsing in the sand, Yag slipped into a deep, dreamless slumber. His body nearly tore itself apart at the exchange, and it needed to recover.
I'm sorry Sen….
Sen was frightened and utterly confused. She kept a safe distance back from her tortured friend. When it was clear he was not moving, Sen went and stood next to him. She carefully poked his side with a foot, but got no response. Still cautious, she bent down and tilted her head to hear his slow breathing, to confirm he was asleep. He looked awful and clearly wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. Well, Elder, I'll be careful, but I'm not leaving him alone like this, Sen thought resolutely. She sat back down and after a long time, went back to sleep.
Yag's dream was utterly empty. His mind went blank until he roused in the morning. Sen appeared to still be asleep, so he shuffled off to look around. Flying up to the ledge and then to one of the pillars, Yag sat down and meditated with his eyes open. I wonder if this is your doing...Ancestor...
The chirping of a cloth dolphin woke Sen. She blinked and saw Yag was gone, but she was not unduly worried this time. The sun was just beginning to rise, warming her cloak. She took a look around and saw her friend sitting on one of the pillars, presumably meditating. Relieved that he was at least still in the area, she quickly released the fliers and used them to boost herself up to Yag was. "I'm sorry if I ruined your meditation. Are you okay now?"
Yag's meditation was broken when he heard Sen speak, but he wasn't upset. He simply sighed and opened his eyes. {I'm feeling better now…thanks…} He lowered his head, upset with how he acted last night. {I'm sorry you had to see how I acted last night…..it was just a bad dream, that's all.} He hoped Sen would leave it at that.
Sen turned her head to the side. "Hmm. Some bad dream." She sat down next to him. "I'm ready to go whenever you are." She didn't want to rush just in case he needed time to think about what happened. Plus, she needed to think a little too. The apprehensive feeling Sen had previously felt, along with her ancestor's warning, was not reassuring. But I'm not going to duck out after all of this. I can't just leave with his ancestor's scarf. I have to know what's going on, and I don't think it's about me. All in good time, I suppose… She focused on the rising sun and how it bathed the mountain in light.
Yag appreciated Sen's care. {I'm ready to continue on.} He stood up and waited for her to stand up with him before leaping off the column and down into the valley below. They slid around the hills once more, doing tricks and enjoying the wind. When they reached the bottom of the hill, it was time to meet with their ancestors again. Yag sighed, not excited for this next meeting.
When Sen dreamed of her ancestor, the spirit was angry. Her face was twisted with wrath and Sen crouched in fear as the spirit leaned towards her.
"I warned you, Sendoa. I told you to be careful. But no. You ignored me!"her spectral voice boomed louder than it had ever before, heavy with anger.
"Elder, I had to see to my friend," Sen tried to explain. Her voice cracked. She bowed, something she hadn't done since her first journey, when they first met. "I'm sorry." Her ancestor straightened back up. Sen flinched, expecting another outburst, but it never came. A heavy fabric draped over her, and she realized her ancestor had wrapped her in an embrace. She felt immensely relieved and extremely surprised. Her earlier fear, once so strong, had dissolved.
"I am sorry, too, little one. I was angry because I was afraid for you. You have spent a long time looking out for others, as I did when I lived. But once in a while, look to yourself. You'll need to. Will YOU forgive ME?"
"Of course," Sen said determinedly.
Yag closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Tepeyollotyl stood there in front of him. Yag bowed only slightly.
{{You do not know why I choose my actions.}} Yag scoffed a little. {A little blunt for you, wouldn't you say?} He felt he could afford to be a bit snarky, seeing as he felt what was going on with him was caused by his ancestor.
{{You have only one job, Yaguareté, to go back to the Tower, your home. You do not have to rule over an entire people in the face of war.}} Tepeyollotyl's tone deepened and Yag moved his ears back, cowering slightly. His ancestor may be dead, but he was still powerful in other ways.
Tepeyollotyl dropped his head and slowly walked over to Yag. Instinctively, Yag took a few steps back, but his ancestor overtook him within moments. Standing behind him, Tepeyollotyl used his own body to move Yag forward. As they walked, Yag saw murals appearing next to them. He recognized members of his tribe running the same direction they were going, and he watched them leap from mural to mural. Dark-robed wayfarers converged on the scene, and Yag watched as the two tribes tore each other apart. It was difficult for him to watch.
The two of them stopped at the end of the line of murals. Turning around, Yag looked up at his ancestor. {...where were you in all this?} Tepeyollotyl's eyes dimmed a bit, and he looked away. He then slowly began to fade. {No...no, no! I have to know!} Unable to move, Yag jerked himself out of his meditation. Tears began to stream down his face, but he held them back, not wanting Sen to see.
Sen sat there for a moment. She had a feeling that Yag's dream didn't go well, and from the corner of her eye, she could tell he was trying not to cry. Poor Yag. Something was very wrong indeed. She was learning from the events during their time together when to keep her mouth shut, — an event that happened frequently now — no matter how hard she wanted to talk. So what had changed? Was she doing something to upset Yag and his ancestor during his dreams? Sen, you've really outdone yourself. She blinked. I really hope I'm not the cause of his grief. Shouldn't have taken that scarf!
Yag shook his head a bit and rubbed his eyes. God, I'm such a sad sack. He really didn't want to look so mopey, so he turned to Sen. {Let's move on. Things will get better.} He stood up, but didn't walk forward. Instead, Yag looked down at his feet. {….you know Sen, I don't want you to think we can't talk. A lot of weird stuff has been going on, and I don't want us to be keeping secrets from each other.} After that, he slowly began to walk to the Underground, dragging his feet a bit and keeping his head down.
Sen followed slowly. She thought about telling Yag about her ancestor's warning. Instead, she asked, "Who is Tepeyollotyl? Or….who was he? I know he's your ancestor, but…"
Yag slowed down so they could walk together. {Well…Tepeyollotyl was the ruler of my people way back when. And as far as I can tell, he did nothing to stop them from martyring themselves in the war. At least, he won't tell me…..} Yag felt the tears starting to well up again. The thought of him being so alone because his ancestor couldn't protect them made him so angry.
Sen tilted her head. "What war? Was it the same one as my ancestor's? Giant white robed guys who fought a civil war over resources and killed each other using terrible machines? My ancestor was one who fought and was one of the last to die. Apparently that's why I'm so headstrong. Or so I've been told. I've gone through the history so many times the images are seared into my being. But you are obviously different. I've been wanting to ask why but I've been trying not to be so blatantly rude anymore." Especially since I could wake that thing up again. Yeah, not gonna forget about that for a while….
Yag listened patiently. {It was the same war. My people fought in it, though they sort of looked like the front runners…more like sacrificed…that's what hurts. Tepeyollotyl hasn't told me much about him, but I do know that when the ancestors fled, he did not survive, but now I know why the erected the Tower in his memory…because he lost all of his people….}
"That's…wow…My ancestor never told me about that. I'm sorry." Sen really wasn't sure what else to say. By now they were in the Underground and the temperature had dropped. The blue sand still felt alien to her after four trips through it. "I should tell you that my ancestor told me to be careful last night, right after your nightmare happened. It wasn't even during meditation, she just spoke to me, in my head! I don't want to alarm you, because you said it was just a dream — and I believe you —, I just don't think she would do that for nothing, you know?"
Yag bit his lip. Her ancestor could tell… Yag nodded. {Yeah, I understand.}Yag was accustomed to the Underground, as it was one of the areas he would wander into on occasion to get away from the Tower. The chilled sand was nice on his feet, since the hot sand got to him after a while. They wandered deep into the tunnels and found themselves near the war machines, a sign they were getting near to the Tower.
