The Lake
Co-post with Beryl and ProlixityThe bluejay Dream flitted around Beryl's room, trying to get the firey diety to wake up. Finally he just lost his patience and landed rather rudely on his head and started tugging at the feather-tuft on Byrne's head.
"Wake up! Fire silly god, wake up!" After each sentence the Dream punctuated the phrase with a bonk to the poor tired one's head.
*ow* he yawned, hand flapping the annoying bit of fluff and feathers away. *Go away. It's not time for the centennial celebration and venus isn't in juxtaposition.* yawning again he turned over and pulled the blankets back over his head entirely
"WAKE UP!" Nevada flew around the diety's head and pecked at his head through the blankets. "Beryl wants to see you!" He kept pecking and yelling, making a racket that could wuite posibly wake the dead.
Tossing the blanket up suddenly, he threw it in the direction of the dream. *Beryl?* he echoed. *Why didn't you say that?* Getting to his feet he was out the door and halfway down the steps before he stopped. *Where is she?*
"By the lake, by the lake!" Nevada flew in front of the firey child, leading the way to Wind.
*lake? Water? No way!* he stopped, shaking his head stubbornly. *No water, no way, nuh uh.*
"Not in water, near it! Beryl away from bank. You be fine." The Dream kept flying ahead, not waiting to see if Byrne kept up.
*Nuh uh.* he repeated. *Have her come here if she wants to.*
"She can't!" Why was this god being such a trouble maker? "She's stone, she can't move!"
*Stone?* he answered. *Why?*
"Healing. Now come!" The Dream flew around the diety's head a few times before winging towards Beryl again.
*did the refrigerator send you?* he asked suspiciously. Why was wind stone?
"NO!" Fed up the reluctant god, Nevada flew around and started rudley pecking the diety's backside in an effort to get him to move.
Dodging in annoyance he said crossly *cut it out!*
"THEN GO!" He kept aiming at the diety to get him to move. Was he always this annoying?
*No.* he said flatly, sitting down. *You're mean and I don't like you!*
"But Beryl wants to see you!" The dream landed in the snow infront of Byrne, looking miserable. His wings were huddled up and drooping, looking absolutely dejected and pathetic.
*Are you going to keep being mean?* he asked warily
'Not if you go see Beryl." The Dream put on his best 'puppy face' for the diety. Hopefully it'll work.
"What's going on?" Prox could move very quietly when he wanted to, and had come up on the Dream and the Fire deity almost silently. He looked back and forth between the two.
*oh very well.* he was far from mollified, but got up obligingly enough to follow the dream.
The dream jumped up in surprise before recognising the kitten. "Beryl wants to see Byrne!" With that Nevada hopped up and perched on the boy's shoulder looking expectant.
"Is it time already? I thought it was tomorrow... " Prox trailed off, feeling vaguely embarrassed. "Did I sleep a whole day?" he asked Byrne, following after them.
"Yup, yup! Today!" He hopped around excitedly on the boy's shoulders, jumping from one side to the other. Beryl wanted out.
*What's today?* he asked.
"We're going to make a bonfire, so Beryl can burn out of her statue," Prox answered cheerfully. "If you didn't want to help, I was going to get a coal from the fire inside."
*Why is wind, stone?* he asked.
"Beryl back today!" The dream got more excited the closer they got. The sun was just setting, making the winter sky seem to blaze with fire.
Off in her place by the water Beryl stood waiting. A gift was curled in her hand again, a bit of light glinting off it in the twilight.
"Because her body needed renewal. That's what the note said." Prox shrugged and confided, "I don't fully understand it either."
*huh.* he shrugged.
Beryl was getting impatient. It was time to break out. She felt it, she needed it. Her wings were screaming to stretch. The stone skin showed none of this of course. The only change in her pose from recent visits was her hand, lightly curling around the necklace for Byrne. It was a small token, but perhaps it would do.
Nevada finally got fed up with waiting for the bipeds and flew ahead, chittering and flying incircles around Beryl's head.
*What are you goign about now?* he asked in irriation at the Dream.
"I'll gather some firewood," Prox volunteered, and headed for the edge ofthe forest to gather dry brush and dead tree branches. It took a few armfuls, but soon enough he had a small pile of dead wood beside the statue's feet.
*So you want me to light that?* he felt slightly cranky, having been woken up, badgered, pecked and now expected to use his powers after an overextension already.
Beryl continued to sleep in the stone. A small curl of warm air reached out to Byrne. A whisper light breeze tickled his ear. "Byrne, I have something for you." The breeze was gone as quick as it came, the only sign it had been there was the fact that there was something curled in her hand.
"I can still get a coal if you don't want to," Prox said anxiously, hearing the note of irritation in Byrne's voice.
*No.* he said reluctantly *Beryl has a gift for me. I suppose I should help out again. * Concentrating, the small bundle caught fire and he sat down abruptly. His head hurt now.
Berfore the fire could damage the gift Nevada flew over and took the necklace from her hand, gently placing it in Byrne's lap. "Thank you."
He hopped up onto the young diety's shoulder, making small chirping noises and 'combing' his hair in an effort to make the firey god feel better.
The fire slowly built around Beryl's statue, the stone collecting the heat eagerly. A breeze ruffled Prox's hair. "Don't forget the fast cooling, please."
"Are you okay?" He leaned over Byrne, worried now.
Fingering the necklace he nodded. *headache now.* he complained. *I just woke up, after all.*
The Dream huddled up against Byrne, just trying to be nice and make up for being such a littler pain earlier.
The fire kept growing, the stone slowly gathering the heat, turning grey where the heat was. "Little Dream, ..." If she didn't cool off fast enough, the stone wouldn't break. Beryl started to worry a bit, both for herself and for Byrne.
"I'll make tea when we go in," Prox offered. "Maybe that will help?"
He looked up to Beryl. "I didn't forget," he said. "Is the stone hot enough?"
*tea is good.* he said.
"It should be." Her voice was much softer this time as she got ready to separate from the stone. The skin itself starting to glow a soft red throughout, absorbing almost all the heat the fire gave.
Byrne frowned. *it's barely warm.* he complained. Of course, being a fire deity did make one rather biased.
"Okay." Prox hesitated a moment, then pulled his cloak off and began sweeping a pile of snow onto it. Once the pile was large enough, he stepped into the circle of bare ground melted by the fire and clumsily dumped the snow onto the statue, then skipped back to stand by Byrne again.
There was a violent hiss as the cold touched teh statue, steam rising off in a blinding cloud. When things calmed again the statue was totally grey, looking worn and ancient. The surface was pock marked, as if it had weathered storms, blurring the features. There was no sound or movement from the statue. No breeze moved the air.
Prox frowned nervously and reached over the cooling coals to touch the surface of the statue. "Beryl? What - Are you still in there?""
At the touch a sudden, sharp cracking sound split the silence, a small rift forming in the stone skin.
Yawning, Byrne watched with little interest.
Prox jumped back with a hiss, startled by the sharp sound. It took him a moment to calm down and smooth the fur on his tail. He gave Byrne a sheepish glance, embarrassed that he'd been so obviously surprised.
When he'd gotten over his moment of panic, he padded back up to poke the statue again, carefully.
The touch brought another sharp crack, fisures riddling the stone surface. Suddenly the statue's eyes opened, glowing a soft white as more cracks spread over the stone, covering the entire surface in a maze or lines.
With a cry Beryl broke loose, wings flaring to their full size. She remained thus for a moment, the cry slowly dieing away. Her wings dropped back, looking confusedly first to Prox and then Byrne and back, seeing for the first time in over a week.
She gave them a small smile before falling o her knees in the ashes. Her hair hung forward over her shoulders, wings lax against her back. "It is good to see you both."
"How do you feel?" Prox asked a little hesitantly, and offered Beryl his hand to help her up.
Smiling she accepted his hand, rising slowly and unsteadily to her feet. "Honestly? Very tired and thirsty. Could you possibly help me inside to get some water?"
She smiled at Byrne and Nevada who was snuggled up in the diety's hair. "I think those two can find their way back to the cushion in my rooms."
*anywhere it's not wet.*he yawned, staggering less than gracefully to his feet.
"I don't think I can carry both of you," Prox said. But he offered a hand to Byrne anyway.
Beryl chuckled a little at the fire god with the blue Dream nestled asleep in his hair. "You know Byrne, you could just poof yourself back into bed." She smiled, gently disentangling Nevada from his hair before patting it down a bit and leaving a light kiss on his forehead.
he yawned again, waving off Prox's hand *I don't *poof* he said. *do I?*
Prox giggled at that and yawned too. The tiredness seemed contagious. Or maybe Revei was prodding him again. He made a face at that thought and stood up straight so Beryl could lean on him.
"Actually you make a rather lovely plume of flame. I was just generalizing."
Smiling tiredly she leaned her slight weight on Prox, wrapping a wing over his shoulders. It served two purposes, firstly to keep her upright and secondly to keep the kitten warm. "I don't know about either of you, but I need a glass of water and a warm bed."
*Water again.* he made a face, dragging himself towards inside, wings draggling and plume drooping *Yuck*
Prox started towards the house, unable to keep another yawn from slipping out. "I'm tired too. I don't know why," he said to nobody in particular.
"Your body craves fire as mine craves water. It's simply a need." She smiled to Byrne as he walked ahead before turning to Prox.
"Your god is Dream, it only makes sense that you sleep to know him. When I first started to morph I napped about as much as a house cat. That was odd." Somewhere between her last words and the following step Beryl simply fell asleep while walking, gently stumbling into Prox's side as her eyes closed. She simply hung from her wing around the boy's shoulders, her slight weight hanging from his hold.
Prox waited for Beryl to resume walking for a moment before realizing that she'd fallen asleep on her feet. She was light enough to carry, though. That was lucky.
By the time he'd gotten both of them back upstairs, he was nearly asleep himself, the silent call in his mind growing more insistent and fuzzing the edges of everything. He curled up on the end of the bed and slept again.
*lucky* Byrne said, noting Beryl falling asleep. *I think I may *poof* after all.* and then he was gone as well, curling up in the living area on the couch.
