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 Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 12:57 pm
Yaholo leaned up from his position as his sisters left. He, too, began to laugh. Their laughter was amusing to him, very amusing, or so it seemed. At the end of his laughing fit a scowl formed, and he turned to face where they had scurried away to. They were prideful, weren't they? They needed to be put in their place, didn't they? He grunted and spat on the ground, before jumping up into the nearest tree. Alright, if they weren't going to take him to Aisha and swallow their pride, then he would just have to go to her by himself.
Most of the initial journey was taken by tree, as funny as it sounds. He hopped, ducked and navigated his way through many vines until he arrived back in Andile. He knew that it was unlikely that he would get across the waters without some form of cloak. Sure, a disguise wouldn't fool anyone, but blending into the shadows was imperative. His father had always told him to crouch low and stay quiet while sneaking up on a possible prey during hunting practice. Of course, he had decided to ditch the arrows in favor of a hammer, but the lessons still applied.
Carefully, he slipped back into his home and snatched his cloak up off of his bed. It was the one that Natsu had allowed him to keep when they traveled up to Zena, despite his better judgement, which he then altered to remove the fur trim and fluff. It was dark enough to cover him and thin enough to keep him cool, making it an ideal cloaking device. He slipped it on as quick as he could and rushed back out into the forest. Now that he was wearing the cloak, hopping from tree to tree would be too risky. It could get caught on branches or crystals, and he was not having that on this important journey. All that was left was to run towards the shore, which was only about an hour away on foot.
About halfway to the shore, something that his mother had told him jarred his memory, and caused him to change course. Alkidikes often took the route through Andile, not Emeka, to get to Isle Ekene. Something about jagged cliffs and danger, yeah, not something he wanted to risk getting into. However, as he went along this particular path, he found himself slowing down. He wasn't tired, but his heart was racing. He remembered this path... Something about it was... Familiar. He hustled along and hoped that the feeling would just go away, and felt a wave a relief wash over him as the shoreline came into view. Now that he was on the beach, all he needed to do was get across without being seen! He rushed forward, only to pause in mid step. Dark eyes slowly turned towards a nearby tree and a lump formed in his throat. There, sitting ragged among the sand and foliage, was a makeshift rag doll. It looked similar to him... Very...
He lunged for it and tucked it away in his satchel, before racing across the water. He had to get away from that path!
The journey across the water was easy enough, until he realized that he wasn't on Isle Ekene, he was on Isle Amara. WELL DAMN. This wasn't good! How the hell was he going to get to Ekene without getting caught? He heaved a sigh and clutched the cloak close to his body, as if it were his only lifeline, and remained ever close to the trees. If he had to jump up into them in order to avoid getting caught, he would. Maybe if he was lucky, they'd just think that the person running through the trees was one of their settlers and not a halfbreed who they want to murder for no reason. But as he ran, he observed how sparse the trees were towards the eastern side, and took the route to the west. He knew he had to head straight from where he had arrived, and if he kept running and keeping a low profile, he'd make it to the other side without any trouble.
Isle Amara was a beautiful place, judging by all the blurred visuals he had been able to catch a glimpse of while he darted through the trees. However, the sight of Ekene in the distance was enough to make him squeal. Finally! It was so close! The waters reached up to his lower calf, which would make crossing incredibly easy, if he wasn't caught while doing so. Cautiously, he glanced left to right and nodded to himself. It was now or never! He put as much work into his stride as he put into his hammer swing, and greeted the Isle with a hug. The final leg of the journey... Finding his Mother... It was finally here.
Something, call it instinct, told him to head north west through the trees. However, as that thought came through, a voice told him to take the beach around. After a minute of deliberation, he decided to take the trees, but stick close to the beach in case he needed to escape. He lowered his hood and folded the ends of his cloak just above his ankles before he hopped up into the trees and jumped as if his life depended on it. He would prove them WRONG. He was a daughter of Aisha, they would see! He could be just as good as them! He was coming to prove to all of those rude, purist warriors that HE WAS ONE OF THEM! And nothing was going to stop him!
Finally, after hours of tree hopping, Yaholo reached his destination. Aisha was within his sight, he could see her! But... He could also see the guards... DAMN IT! He frowned from his spot high up in a neighboring tree and sat, pondering how he was going to distract them... Hmm...
A sly smile rose to his features... He had a bag of nuts! Maybe he could chuck them in a random space and they would move over there so he could sneak in? It was worth a shot! He grabbed a good handful of the nuts from his bag and flung them diagonally, before quickly moving to another location. Then, he watched, while flicking a few more. Had they taken the bait? He gazed back and forth and grinned. Yes! They went through the bushes to check out the noise! Now was his chance! He shuffled down the tree and ran the remaining length of forest to greet Aisha.
He approached his Mother slowly and bowed down to her.
"Beloved Mother, I have come to commune with you." He said. "Will you turn me away, Mother? The others find me disgusting, while I continue to try to prove to them that I belong among them. I ask for nothing more than your decree. Am I your daughter, or am I a castaway?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:46 am
In the dark of the night, the glow coming from Aisha's crystals and the crystals from the circle of trees surrounding the clearing Aisha was held in were beautiful. They radiated the moonlight, letting loose a soft blue light into the world. Aisha was grand, her trunk soaring hundreds of feet into the air, shooting past the other trees, which were on their own vastly large to begin with, and making them seem like her children in comparison.
The water that bubbled out from Aisha's base created a small pool around her body, supplying the lotuses that grew on her lifted roots nutrients for their birth to come.
The night was still, nothing seemed to stir, and the guards that protected Aisha had resumed their watch, ever ignorant of Yaholo's intrusion.
The lotuses that the women spoke of were small and sprung from the small, low branches that Aisha spouted from the base of her trunk. They shimmered a soft rose color, the pools of blue light deepening their shadows.
Yaholo would have to get much closer if he were to get his answer.
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:08 pm
After moments of silence waved over him, Yaholo rose to his feet again, but kept his head low out of respect. Maybe she hadn't heard him? Should he move closer to her? He sighed nervously and stepped carefully, as if he were walking on eggshells, before kneeling beside the base of her trunk. There, he took a deep breath, and smiled up to his mother.
"Beloved Mother," He said, bowing his head again. "I come to you in search of an answer to a question that brings me pain and determination. The majority of my sisters cast me away and tell me that I am not your daughter and that I have no right to be among them. But my heart tells me that you are the only one who can decide who stays and who goes, Mother..." He paused and extended his hand to touch one of the lotuses, before sharply lowering his hand back to his side. "Forgive me if I have disrupted you... I only want to know what you think of me..."
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:56 am
The night stood still as Yaholo waited for his answer. The time ticked by... but nothing was happening.
Eshe approached from the shadows, emerging from her home near Aisha's massive trunk. She came around, behind Yaholo, and stood next to him, not yet looking his way. "If you want to find nectar in Her flowers, you have to pick them from her with your own hands." She reached out with both hands and gently pulled one of the little buds from the side of Aisha. She stroked the side of the flower, and it opened its petals for her, a small pool of honey-tinged nectar held in its center. "Each nectar color is different, Aisha's way of showing she knows which of her children in calling." Eshe proceeded to cup the flower to her mouth and drink from the nectar.
She looked to Yaholo finally. "You've sneaked past the guards." It was hard to tell if it was a statement or a question from the way she had said it.
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:13 pm
Just as he was beginning to lose faith, a voice spoke to him! However, he knew that this wasn't his Mother speaking to him, and turned to find Eshe standing at his side. Instantly, he froze and moved to bow towards her.
"Yes, yes, sadly it was very easy!" He squeaked. "I mean... Uh... I threw some nuts to distract them and they took the bait, so... I'm sorry...?"
Then, his focus seemed to take a shift. Wait... He was supposed to take a flower from Her himself? A sudden fear struck his heart, and he turned slowly towards where Eshe had taken her flower. What if it didn't open...? What if he hurt his Mother by touching her? His gaze went to Eshe and back to Aisha, before he gently tugged a bud from his Mother's side just as his elder had done.
"I hope I haven't caused you any trouble, either of you..." He said, stroking the side of the flower. "Thank you for my life thus far, I am very grateful to you and to all those who have loved me. You are all reasons why I wield this hammer and why I will continue forward on my way."
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:57 pm
The bud being cupped in Yaholos's hand sighed open gently, its petals unfolding backward. But inside was nothing. There was no nectar in the bloom that Yaholo had picked for himself. Just the bottom of the flower.
Eshe raised an eyebrow at Yaholo. "You have chosen to wield a hammer?" She gently touched a finger to a petal of the flower that Yaholo held and it closed itself back up slowly, protecting its insides from harm. "Do you regret the choices that you've made?" It was a question that required deep though. Did Yaholo regret choosing Tale and choosing a hammer over his Alkidike lineage? Would he have wanted it any other way?
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:27 pm
Yaholo stared blankly into the emptiness of the flower and dropped his arms to his side. So, he still meant nothing despite his own feelings. Was he doomed to be stuck in between for eternity? He looked away from Eshe and closed his eyes, as tears had begun to form. He took a step away from his elder and from Aisha and unsheathed his hammer, and stared daggers at it. Was this really the reason why he was damned? This hammer? The only thing that made him feel strong?
Slowly, he bent down and placed the hammer on the ground, before turning his attention back to Eshe. He gaze was filled with pain but not distaste.
"You say that I had a choice, a choice!" He exclaimed, before lowering his head in respect. "I never had a choice! I was abandoned and left to wander into Tale, where I was found by my father! After years and years, I longed to know if my mother was still alive. My father loved her very much, and no matter how much he tells me, he has not gotten over her!" He paused, tears rolling down his cheeks, before digging into his satchel and pulling out the doll he had found earlier. He tossed it several feet in front of him and bent down.
"That was mine! I know it was because it looks like me!" He cried. "It was ripped away from me as a toddler because the settlement I had been given to thought I deserved to die! But, look at me!" He stood up and threw his arms outwards. "I am still alive, I have gone against every possible obstacle thrown at me since the day I was born and I refuse to be beaten down!"
He bent down to retrieve his hammer and sheathed it, but kept his stance.
"This was my choice, because it makes me feel strong!" He said. "Arrows made me feel insecure, wielding swords didn't feel right, but this hammer made me feel like I could do something to protect those that I loved! To say that I regret this choice is to say that I regret protecting my family and friends!"
Then, he stared straight at Eshe, his expression slightly more fierce.
"And if I ever were to say that I regret protecting those that I love," He seethed. "It would be the same as saying that I wish I had never been born. But all of you would prefer that wouldn't you? All of you! You'd rather me be dead than to have my assistance, my undying loyalty! What selfish sort of women are you to deny yourselves someone who could add to your army? I would do anything to serve and to protect, but all of you want nothing to do with me! Ungrateful you are! The lot of you!"
Once more, he bowed his head, and heaved a sigh.
"Now, to answer your question, Elder Eshe. If I have only one regret in this world left to bring to light, it is not this hammer, nor this loyalty I have to all of you..." He paused and gazed to her with a smile. "It is that fact that I have been born, that is the only regret I have to my name, and I fear that it will always be."
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:53 pm
Eshe watched patiently as Yaholo unleashed his feelings of hurt, hate, and loneliness into the air around them. "Everyone has choices. A hammer is a choice. It was not forced upon you." She said this with a calm and even voice, no judgement or discrimination whatsoever. "Others will judge you, and it is up to you to decide what you make of these judgments. How deep they will cut." She bent down to retrieve the doll Yaholo had thrown and held it out to him.
"I'm sorry to hear that you regret living, Yaholo. I was there for your birth, and I come to grow attached to those that I help bring into this world. To hear that my gift is being squandered is not something I enjoy." She brought her hands back after Yaholo had taken the doll and touched the leaves hanging from Aisha's trunk. "Is acceptance by many more important than the acceptance of the few you hold dear? Mother Aisha opens her blooms to Sisters, that is true, but this is how we hold her power in our weapons. Your choice of a hammer does not make you a forlorn child without a true home. It is a consequence of the path you have chosen. Aisha chose to create you. I have seen many plea for a child that never comes." She sighed and stared off into the distance, thinking of the couples that were rejected by their Great Mother.
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:14 pm
Yaholo blinked and cradled the doll gently in his palm as it was handed back to him. It had felt good to let his feelings out, they had been pent up for years, just simmering and waiting for an outlet. Now that they were out in the open, he... Felt calmer than he had been before. He gazed towards the doll and took a breath.
"I'm sorry that you are sorry for me, my Elder." He said, his eyes following her. "I didn't know that you were there when I was born. There's still so much that I don't understand, such as how I ended up in the wrong settlement to begin with... My mother has no real explanation for that, but her anger is just the same." He cracked a smile as he thought about his mother. "She's quite a character, my mother. I can see why my dad still lingers upon how wonderful she is..."
Then, he faced Eshe rather sharply, his expression slightly shocked.
"But, wait, so, I... I'm still wanted by Aisha even if I keep my chosen path?" He asked. "While it is important to me that I am accepted as an Alkidike, the most important thing to me is that our Mother includes me as her child. I know it may sound dull witted, but I would do anything, besides giving up the hammer, to prove my worth to you and to our Mother! Honestly I would!"
He bowed down again and smiled, broadly.
"And though I may regret being born," He said. "I thank Aisha for her choice to create me, because my mother and father feel blessed to have me, and their happiness and praise are things I hold dear to me. Thank you."
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:48 pm
Eshe brought herself back to the current conversation. She looked at Yaholo slightly confused. "The path you have chosen is the path you have chosen. There is no keeping or not keeping of your decisions." She removed her hand from the leaf that it was previously holding.
"Aisha created you from herself. You are a rather unorthodox Child of Aisha, but a Child none the less. Others may not accept you as a Sister, and that is their choosing." She touched Yaholo's shoulder gently. "It is your choice as to what you do with yourself from here." Eshe released her hand from Yaholo and left the hybrid standing under the Great Mother, returning to her home once more.
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