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 Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:37 am
One
Getting a kayak and oars to her planet had been a lot easier than Chariklo had initially imagined. Which boded well for future visits involving bringing up some creature comforts, like furniture. She just would have to make sure it was all Ikea and to remember the allen key. Easy! And maybe… maybe she could bring up a surfboard or two once she was done checking out the islands. Surely one of them would have an area suitable for surfing. But in the meantime, she really needed to focus on what the hell she was doing.
Heaving a small sigh, the blonde returned to her cautious rowing. So far, the seas had been calm and gentle, but she didn’t want to risk rowing into some freak riptide. Especially with the ever-present fog making things a little on the difficult side. But, she had a compass and she was on the lookout for any glowing pillars. And, even more important, she had a map that had been beautifully painted on some of the durable hide she’d even seen that had been carefully stored away. It didn’t give her a ton of information, but it had least had the closest islands on it.
Taking a little break from rowing, Chariklo stretched out her arms and popped her neck and shoulders. Then, trailing her fingers in the cool sea water, she wished she knew a chemist or two. It would be so useful to know if this water could support life! And if it could… maybe she could bring up some fish and starting rebuilding the ecosystem from there. And if fish could survive, what about mollusks or otters? Then she could move on to sea birds. She’d had enough visions to know there there had once been so many birds here. And here she was, the Senshi of Seagulls, on a planet now totally devoid of said birds. It was a depressing thought. But something I can maybe fix someday, she thought wistfully. In the meantime, all she could do was try to learn as much as possible and do little things here and there to help.
Setting her hands once more on the kayaks oars, Chariklo rowed, seeing a glimmer of white in the distance. Grinning a little, she pulled harder on the oars to increase speed. She wanted to set foot on that island before lunch.
Deciding hat she could work better if she sang a little, Chariklo began to hum under her breath before building up to actual singing. And it was only after the second run through that she realized that she was singing the song that Bianca had taught her. And while not the most rousing song, something about it suited this time and place. And this time, when tears fell from her eyes, some of the pain seemed to leave. She wasn’t entirely convinced that it would ever stop hurting, but since that dream, it was hurting less. She had done her best. Bianca’s death wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t entirely absolved of responsibility, but the full fault wasn’t on her. And somehow, she didn’t think that Bianca would want her to only remember the horror of her last few moments.
Pretty sure she’d find a way to kick my a** if I didn’t remember the good stuff instead, Chariklo thought with a little mental burble of laughter. Losing her friend so traumatically was never going to stop hurting. That was just being honest and realistic. But dwelling on it as she had been doing for so long didn’t help.
“I still miss you, baby,” she murmured. “And I wish like hell you were here so I could show you this place. It’s amazing here and I feel like you’d have loved it.”
Giving herself a little shake, Chariklo let the tears fall and made herself remember all the best things about her friend. The thoughts helped to keep her moving and when the kayak bumped up against land, she pulled herself out and splashed into the water to pull the boat further up onto the sand. Once that was done and she was sure that the tide couldn’t steal the boat from her, she dug some food out and sat down, watching the waves.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:38 am
Three
Groaning a little as she stretched out her aching arms and legs, Chariklo felt a little thrill of accomplishment as she pulled the oars of her kayak to land upon the third island in as many days. The last two islands had been, well, dinky and the amount of knowledge she could glean from them had been limited. Though the second had been home to a small grove of the prettiest trees. They’d looked mostly dead, but Chariklo had almost sworn that she could see the tiniest of budding leaves on one of them. Wishful thinking, maybe. If anyone had lived on those islands, it had been small families. Nothing big enough to leave any writing or clues to their existence. The thought was a sad one and she wished that she knew one way or the other. It didn’t feel right to be tramping her way through what might have been someone’s back yard without paying any respect.
Shaking herself back to present concerns, Chariklo was more than pleased to see that this island was on the bigger side. And according to the map she’d found, was close enough to the big island (Jokal, whispered a tiny inner voice) that she could row home tonight if she really wanted. Home… well, it was in a sense, wasn’t it? And words like base or headquarters sounded so cold and clinical. Besides, wasn’t home where you kept your stuff? And she’d certainly brought enough stuff to make the place her own.
Chuckling a little at her own whimsy, the tall blonde left her kayak above the tide line and began to wander. The trees she’d admired on the other island were here too. So was evidence of a small settlement. As she walked, she was careful to examine the bits and pieces she found, putting some back where she’d found them and tucking others into her skirt. The pieces she kept were tiny trinkets, things that had survived more or less intact. Nothing that could really teach her anything, but things that these people had made and held. Things she could use to give them a decent burial. After all, war had swept through the galaxy so long ago. It would be stupid to assume that it had never touched this place. Even those dead for millenia deserved to be laid to rest and honored in some way.
As she knelt down to retrieve a twisted bit of metal, the world around Chariklo bloomed into a whirl of noise and movement. She knelt, laughing a little as a tiny child ran up to her and shyly dropped a pretty metal hairpin into her hand before bobbing a curtsy and racing off again, presumably back to its parents. Once the child was out of sight, Chariklo examined the hairpin before before smirking contemptuously at the poor quality of the metal used and allowing the thing to fall into the dirt. Still, she wasn’t totally heartless and scuffed her foot a little in the dirt to bury the thing. Behind her, she heard a throat clearing and sighed.
“The morning is going so well, do you think you could try to keep your tedious little thoughts to yourself so I can continue to enjoy my day?”
The moment the words left her lips, she could feel a stern, heavy disapproval hanging in the air. Sniffing in annoyance, she stood and swept her hair from her face.
“Honestly, Pike, you’re acting like such a bore. It should be enough that I came with you for this ridiculous little inspection. Don’t expect me to act as if I enjoy rubbing elbows with the common people. Especially when you demanded I do this instead of entertaining our guests…”
The vision faded, leaving Chariklo feeling dizzy. She closed her fingers around the little bit of metal and held it up to the light, gently rubbing it clean with a fingertip. Sure enough, it was the pin that that had been gifted and callously tossed aside. Carefully tucking it into her skirt, Chariklo decided this was one thing she wouldn’t bury. She’d clean it up if she could and keep it as a reminder to herself of what she never wanted to be.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:39 am
Four
By the time she returned to the castle, late on the fourth day, Chariklo was bone tired. She’d managed to just pull her boat up past the tideline before staggering through the sand to the stairs. And once she’d gotten up those stairs, it had been an act of sheerest will to make it to the Gull’s Nest. All she’d wanted was to sleep. And maybe eat a little once food stopped sounding ******** gross.
It was only after she’d gotten herself cleaned up and wrapped in a light blanket that food had sounded appealing. And even then, she was content with just a few pieces of dried fruit. What interested her far more was cleaning the little twisted bit of metal she’d found. And she she carefully turned the hairpin in her finger, rubbing at its surface with a bit of soft cloth. The memory attached to such a little thing hurt. Imagine, being so ******** self absorbed that you would discard a gift from a tiny adoring child. It was, for lack of a better word, gross. It was the kid’s smile that hurt most of all. The mite had been so happy that the planet’s senshi had accepted the hairpin. That the senshi had smiled down on them.
“I hope you never found out just how much of a c**t she was, kid,” Chariklo murmured as she continued to gently wipe grime away. “Or at least not until you were old enough to cope with it better.”
She wasn’t entirely sure why getting this tiny object cleaned up was so so important to her. The child in the memory was long since gone. She couldn’t help them or apologize. Though… maybe that’s what it was. She felt such a need to apologize to someone, anyone for the revolting way past her had behaved. She wanted to do something to make all of this right somehow. To make up for the neglect of years. She couldn’t bring the people or the animals back to life, but she could do her damned best to show her planet that it was loved. Chariklo blinked a little at the thought. Paused to examine her thoughts and feelings minutely as her fingers worked away automatically. Love was such a tricky thing. But… she realized that she did love this place. She wanted to see it healthy and thriving. For that matter, she wanted to see herself thriving. And she couldn’t do that for herself unless she also did it for her planet.
She also couldn’t do it alone. And for one awful moment, Chariklo felt her breath catch as a wave of loneliness hit. She wanted Angus and found herself missing him more than she would have thought possible. Oh, she knew she loved him. But this was something deeper. She wanted him in her life for keeps. Thinking furiously, she decided that this was a matter she would have to take into her own hands. And this time, things wouldn’t crumble as they had with Ava.
Little by little, she worked until, finally, the tiniest gleam appeared. Satisfied that she could do this much, Chariklo set cloth and hairpin aside. She would continue to work on it in the morning. But for now… Chariklo needed sleep. Blowing out the candles, she snuggled down into her blanket nest and sighed. Moments later, a soft, whistling snore echoed quietly through the chamber.
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:40 am
Five
Feeling rested, Chariklo had decided to spend her last day of this visit cleaning out what had obviously been an office. Stone shelves had survived the passing millenia with little more than a thick coating of dust. The rest of the room… not so lucky. Nose wrinkling in distaste, Chariklo cleared away the dust and broke through more damaged windows to let clean air in. It was a good thing that she’d had a couple sarongs left over to fashion more curtains from. Less of a good thing was the sheer scope of the damage in this room. So far the only things that were still mostly intact were the shelves themselves, the hide maps she’d found and the heavy box they came in and the telescope that she’d brought up from the cellars.
“I am gonna need so much more Ikea that I thought,” she muttered to herself. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do in here other than clean away the dust and moldering bits of paper and who knew what else that littered the room. Honestly, she wouldn’t mind putting it back to its intended use as an office. Or maybe as a little meditation area? Or hell, even as surfboard storage. Whatever. She just wanted it clean and put to a use.
In the meantime, she was thinking that she’d have to have another bonfire before she left given the sheer amount of garbage she was shoveling out of such a little room. Still, she was getting stuff put to rights, slowly but surely. Pausing for a moment, she looked around the area and imagined it furnished. Light colors and subtle patterns would be lovely. Maybe with a couple bright pops of color… The potential was there and Chariklo found herself relaxing as she considered the possibilities.
Moving over to where she rather thought a desk should go, Chariklo saw a ripple of pale light and found herself sitting at her desk, feeling bored beyond measure. Staring at a flicker of candlelight, she sighed before rolling her eyes as the little cluster of older men and women in the room who insisted on chattering at her about pointless nonsense.
“My lady, you must go through with the ritual! It would show our people that you’re ready and willing to take your proper place as the protector of our world! Please, you must see this!”
Flicking her fingers through the candle flame, Chariklo snorted and rose to her feet, scornful laughter burbling forth.
“Why must I? No one’s going to try to attack us! Why should I spill my own blood and eat dirt just to appease a lot of superstitious yokels? You’re all wasting my time with foolishness when I could be putting it to much better use.”
A flurry of arguments broke out as the counselors all tried to speak over each other.
“My lady, consider! All you have to do is formally announce your intent to serve as Chariklo’s Senshi. The spilling of blood and ingesting of soil is merely symbolic of this pledge. It’s so easy. Please…”
“My lady, even your aunt went through the ritual. The mixing of blood and soil is a powerful statement. She knew this, surely she must have explained it to you?”
“How?” By playing the trollop and sleeping with every so-called ambassador that strolls through? The ritual isn’t just for the people, lady! It ties you as Senshi to the world you serve. And it would take so little time to do. You only have to spill the tiniest drop of your drop and ingest the smallest pinch of soil. It would hardly cut into your time spent acting as little more than a cat in heat!”
Chariklo surged forward, smile fixed on her face as she seized the collar of the last counselor to speak and slammed him into the far wall.
“I will thank you to think very carefully of your words. Because next time you talk to me like that, I’ll have you shipped off to toil in some mine. Or worse. Now. I don’t want to hear any more of tying myself to a chunk of rock. It’s useless twaddle and I’ve better things to do with my time. If you’ll excuse me?”
Laughing outright at the shock and outrage in the eyes of her counselors, Chariklo tripped merrily off. Slowly, the furious faces and candlelight faded, leaving the present Chariklo leaning against a wall as she trembled from shock and shame. CLosing her eyes, she let herself slide to the floor as she considered what she’d just experienced. Even in the midst of all the shouting, she’d quite clearly heard what sort of ritual that those people had wanted past her to go through. And the insane thing was that she’d read of similar things in ******** fantasy novels! But it had been important to them on a symbolical level. And she could see why.
She could also see that past her had not only been ******** selfish, but stupid to boot. Why not do the ritual? It would have improved moral among the people on her planet. It would have painted past her in a far more flattering light. But nope! <******** me gently with a chainsaw, she really was little better than a cat in heat.”
Too much to think about right now. Shaking herself, Chariklo got back up and resumed her cleaning, resolutely shutting her brain off until she had the time and space later to give herself over to pure thinking. But once she did sit down to think, more than likely one she was back on Earth, this ritual was going to be considered from every damn angle.
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