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 Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:36 pm
It was late, and Marissa hoped her knocking wouldn't disturb Oqaia. She'd has a troubling night...and seeked guidance.
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:41 pm
Oqaia heard a resonation behind her head. Someone was knocking at the door of Blessed Change, and the sound reached her through the wood that was practically humming from the knock. She was on the front seat, reaching down to talk softly to Varlan- she wasn't surprised the knocker hadn't seen her in the dark.
She clambered back into the main wagon area, and swung open the back door.
"Marissa! You're up awfully late." She glanced behind the woman- no one was with her. "Do you want to come in?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:46 pm
Marissa started as Oq's form appeared before her. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you," she said. To the invitation, she replied: "Please, if you don't mind. My sleep's been less than peaceful...I've had an odd dream."
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:49 pm
Oqaia sheparded the gypsy inside, and offered her a seat.
"Tell me about it. How was it ... odd?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:19 pm
Marissa settled thankfully. Though the wagon door was closed, her arms and back prickled with goosebumps.
"It was..." she faltered, searching for a word, "Strange. I can see it all so clearly; It quite unnerved me, to tell the truth." Her voice lowered. Being completely honest, Marissa had awoken in a cold sweat and with a frantic heart. She was afraid.
A deep breath. "It began as if it was any other day. I was in my garden, tending the camellias, the sun was shining. Kale was at my ankles- I remember, he was tugging at my anklet- it was so beautiful. Suddenly, Kale was gone. I looked around for him everywhere, in the wagon, through the campsite...he was nowhere. I ran into the woods in blind panic.
...then, it became night. It was so dark I couldn't see a thing...I was crying...when I saw a light in the distance. I raced towards it as fast as I could, I think I fell once, and all at once I was in a clearing.
The light was blazing, whirling...it was flames. A crackling fire, and in the center..." Marissa stopped, gazing away into the dim wagon. If there were any substantial light, it would be noticed that her eyes were wet.
"...was Kale. He was in the fire, on fire. And he just lay there, there was no expression on his face at all, he just started and stared right at me... I tried to get to him, but the flames burnt my hands, singed my clothes. I could just see his shirt burning away, but he did nothing...I screamed and screamed for help but no one came and he just laid there. It was awful. And then..." her voice choked, "He began to laugh.
It wasn't the musical laugh he makes when he's hid my silverware. It was a horrid, distant, foreign laugh I'd never heard him make before...it was terrifying. He laughed and laughed and I cried and cried...until I woke up."
Marissa shivered in her chair and slowly raised her eyes to Oqaia's.
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:23 pm
The gypsy narrowed her eyes, as if to peer into the meij and ask it why it would bring such visions to this mother in the dead of night. She had no such power, however- and she sighed, loosing the tightness around her eyes and wondering if her half-sister had a better... relationship with the meij, that she might beseech questions of it.
"That truly is a frightening dream. ...When you awoke, was Kale alright?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:13 pm
Marissa nodded. "I checked on him as soon as I woke up- he was making quiet noises, but he does that often, I didn't think anything of it." The gypsy wiped her eyes and they suddenly filled with worry. "Should I have? Could something be wrong?" She thought of her son, lying fitfully asleep in his basinette.
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:49 pm
"It could be a dream of fortune, a dream brought to you by the meij," Oqaia explained, delving into what Valelldia had told her of the mysterious force that streamed through all the world, "And sometimes, it's just a mother's fear. ...Didn't Kale grow last... by being consumed by flame? Maybe it's just a sign that he's ready for some sort of personal growth?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:07 pm
Marissa looked out the wagon window, where she could barely see PhoenixSong's candlelight flickering through the foggy glass. "Fortune...?" she repeated softly. "Yes, he did grow last by way of fire. But what sort could the meij be implying?" The mother, in her contemplation, reached her hand up to run her fingers through her hair. Her wrist-purse fluttered open as she did so, and her newly aquired Firos Pendant flew from its compartment and skittered across the table, landing face up. Marissa stared at it, then glanced at Oq nervously.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:31 pm
Oqaia's eyes went wide, and Marissa's question was near forgotten.
"Marissa... what is this?" Oqaia reached out, and plucked the pendant from where it lay, looking up with a 'may I' expression written across her eyes.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:34 pm
Marissa swallowed hard. She nodded, as if in permission for Oqaia to handle the bauble.
"It's...it's called he Queen Firos Pendant," the woman explained quietly. "I bought it at the last trading spot...from that lovely Twinket." She peered at it. "Kale seemed infatuated with it. He's held it with him ever since we bough it- infact, it's only because I took it from him in his sleep that he doesn't have it, now."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:38 pm
"It's beautiful," Oqaia breathed, running her fingers over the gem. She stroked it twice, then put it around her neck, as if to see how the bright red stone would look against her pale colored blouse.
As soon as the gypsy placed it near her heart, it began to glow. Oqaia would have yelped, but a beam of light escaped the pendant, flying through the window- as if to esape. Oqaia rushed to the window, forcing herself to see through the night to where the beam of light flew.
...Straight into PhoenixSong.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:46 pm
It all happened so quickly, Marissa barely had time to react. She jumped in her seat, watching the ray of light burst forth. In a flash she was by the window as well, next to Oqaia and staring, stricken and awed, to where the light pointed. Impulsively, the women jerked in the direction of the exit. "Oq..?" she asked in a low tone, "What... is it doing?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:53 pm
"I wish I knew!" Oqaia practically screamed, grabbing Marissa by the hand and dragging her out the exit of Blessed Change and through the grass. They made a furious run for PhoenixSong, Oqaia's mind a frightened stream of fear and wonder. There was so much that could be happening, and she was so afraid that she'd done something terrible. There was still so much in this world she didn't understand- and it was moments like this that reminded her of it.
They were at the door of PhoenixSong sooner than Oqaia had thought- for during the run, her mind had been a million mile flutter of confusion. She didn't allow Marissa the time to react, pushing through the door with a fearful abandon. What she saw nearly struck her down.
Kale was standing, glassy-eyed in the middle of the wagon, his arms twitching at his side and his mouth agape. He seemed to see nothing, feel nothing... think nothing. He was a puppet.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:17 pm
Marissa was silent. She stared at her son, the noiselessness of the air pressing on her head, her ears, her eyes. She wanted him to move, to laugh, to cry, anything- because that look, the empty-eyed gaze he held behind his lids, was all too familiar...
"Oq, it's the dream...it's that same look," she whispered, so quietly she could barely hear herself. She snapped out of her statued state and ran to him, crouched before him and looked him straight in the eyes and searched for a bit of Kale behind those black windows. She saw none and clutched his soulders; he did not move. "Kale!" she cried, "Iubito!" but he made no reaction. Marissa's eyes welled and spilled and she turned to look at Oq.
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