Njoro was sitting at the deep end of the cave on top of a reindeer skin.
The Savage had taken Mungpuk's body with him outside. She'd tried to insist that they should give him a worthy ceremony, but the Savage had dismissed her protests and just set off to dispose of the body some distance from the cave so it wouldn't attract any bears or tempt the dogs.
She had cried when he left, and when he told her there was no point in trying to set off on her own, as the storm would devour her and he would track her down with one of his devices, she barely listened but instead gave him a short, absent nod.
Maybe she should do just that. Set off. She would be sure to pass over to the Otherworld all too young, but it would leave him out here alone, and that would suit her well.
Still, when she came to think of it, he seemed to have already travelled all the way up here alone. He would probably just set off to hunt down the main party at the destination instead. Even if they had taken a separate route north from Lhasa there still was a risk that he would track them down and destroy the whole operation.
And a whole lot more.
She wondered where Pi was hiding. Maybe he was just waiting in a distance far enough from the cave so that neither her vision nor the Savage's devices could find him?
He might already be disarming the Savage this very minute, lying in ambush in the snow, grabbing him from underground as he walked by, struggling with the body of poor Mungpuk.
Yes. That was possible. And it would be quite a shock for that awful being.
But then again how could Pi have picked the exact spot where he would know the Savage would be passing by? After all, she was the Seer in this entourage.
Maybe Pi had just left her there? On her own. Trapped by a predator deep within the ice.
She almost felt sick at the thought.
Of course he would never...
She was blinded by the headlight coming through the cave entrance.
"That's that", the Savage said.
Njoro said nothing, and just looked down.
"It seems we'll have to spend the night together, there's no point trying to move on at this hour."
She still refused to respond.
"I guess I won't need to tie you up for the night as you haven’t already rushed off in some mysterious suicidal gesture while I was out? Kind of surprised me, as you people have so many incomprehensible ways. Incomprehensible to me, anyway."
Njoro stood still and hoped he would stop talking soon.
"Ah, pardon me. How indiscreet of me. We're not even introduced, and I'm babbling away like we were old friends. Mac here, pleased to meet you."
Njoro said nothing.
"I see. Let's not push it too far at our first date, then. You just keep your place in there, and I'll lay here out by the opening - in the more chilly parts. We're not savages, after all, are we?"
She wept quietly as he turned his headlight off.
"And! None of that witchcraft stuff while I'm asleep. You hear me?"
Showing posts with label ice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Reminders from the Dreamtime
Njoro felt good. The food hadn't been too bad. Actually she would never have believed that stewed polar bear would ever feel so satisfying, had anybody asked her back home. Or that lying here, thousands of miles away from any settlement, far into the northern ice-cap buried in a snow-cave in a raging storm, could have felt so much like home as it did now.
She thought of the day they left Lhasa.
Leaving the city, all the walls along the port had been decorated with banners. The banners contained the usual 'reminders'; simple messages meant to keep you remembering the basic truths of life. Things like the fact that you were never alone. That everyone came from the same Dreamtime, that we all have the same needs in life, and so on.
Along the brick corridor leading to the windcraft, there were a series of glass boxes on the wall. They were all backlit with candles, and all contained simple verbs in different conjugational forms.
They were meant to be concrete reminders of how one shared the same experiences in life, regardless of their viewpoint, sex or other seeming differences.
Whether one was first, second or third person, singular or plural, masculine, feminine or neuter, it was all just down to simple variations in grammar.
The first one read:
The message was a very simple one, but very effective in explaining such a basic concept, she thought to herself. She let her thoughts wander, and found that she was getting very excited about the journey they were about to embark upon, now that they were actually leaving. Something seemed to open up inside her, like an invisible extra skin that she'd never noticed before, but became very aware of now that it started to disappear. Another sign passed her head:
The message seemed all too appropriate. She had to admit that the last year in the confinement of the House had started wearing her down a little. To the point that most of her meditations were mostly spent on keeping the positive charges flowing freely, instead of doing some real work. Not that she didn't appreciate her duties and all the trust that gradually had been put into her as the years passed. She almost blushed at the thought of the clumsiness that permeated her entire person in her apprentice years.
It had been her mother that first had suggested she should join the House. Not that she hadn't felt the attraction herself throughout her early childhood. Every sign was there. Her insight was very strong in her earliest years - as they usually are in children before they became confused by their external learning. But Njoro had something more on offer. She remembered one incident when she was about three years old. One of her friends had lost her toy. Not any toy, but the one toy that makes the daily struggle of any three year old worthwhile. The kind of toy that would give comfort when gravity had played one of its naughty tricks, or when the world seemed nothing but a ruthless dark void, loveless and scary. Her friend had cried her eyes out, and no-one could give her any remedy for her great loss. Suddenly Njoro had said, without looking up from what she was playing with on the grass, "It's behind the large bush behind the well." And it was. It was the first time she could see so clearly and know how to use it for something specific, and from there on everyone knew her skills would only grow stronger with time. She knew this, her mother knew this, and when the first delegation from the House visited them just after her fifth birthday, they all seemed to recognize her as an old friend. She still remembered the smells and sounds of that magical visit. There was much laughter and warmth that day.
But even if the House proved to be exactly the home she believed it would be on that summer day when she was five, over the years her days had given her fewer and fewer challenges when it came down to using herself to the full. Not that she didn't enjoy the feeling of safety, but something inside her had started to get restless, wanting to move on, even to seek some kind of danger. At least these were the feelings that surfaced now that her invisible skin had started to disintegrate, and they were finally setting out on their great journey to the north.
Pi walked a few paces in front of her. He was talking to Sha-Ton while gesticulating energetically in the air between them. He smiled, as always. She was a little anxious, but still very excited about how they would function together now that they were on their own in a small entourage far from the safe haven of the House.
Oh, shut up.
She thought of the day they left Lhasa.
Leaving the city, all the walls along the port had been decorated with banners. The banners contained the usual 'reminders'; simple messages meant to keep you remembering the basic truths of life. Things like the fact that you were never alone. That everyone came from the same Dreamtime, that we all have the same needs in life, and so on.
Along the brick corridor leading to the windcraft, there were a series of glass boxes on the wall. They were all backlit with candles, and all contained simple verbs in different conjugational forms.
They were meant to be concrete reminders of how one shared the same experiences in life, regardless of their viewpoint, sex or other seeming differences.
Whether one was first, second or third person, singular or plural, masculine, feminine or neuter, it was all just down to simple variations in grammar.
The first one read:
I
am
You
are
He is
She is
It is
We
are
You
are
They
are
The message was a very simple one, but very effective in explaining such a basic concept, she thought to herself. She let her thoughts wander, and found that she was getting very excited about the journey they were about to embark upon, now that they were actually leaving. Something seemed to open up inside her, like an invisible extra skin that she'd never noticed before, but became very aware of now that it started to disappear. Another sign passed her head:
I
breathe
You
breathe
He breathes
She breathes
It breathes
We
breathe
You
breathe
They
breathe
The message seemed all too appropriate. She had to admit that the last year in the confinement of the House had started wearing her down a little. To the point that most of her meditations were mostly spent on keeping the positive charges flowing freely, instead of doing some real work. Not that she didn't appreciate her duties and all the trust that gradually had been put into her as the years passed. She almost blushed at the thought of the clumsiness that permeated her entire person in her apprentice years.
It had been her mother that first had suggested she should join the House. Not that she hadn't felt the attraction herself throughout her early childhood. Every sign was there. Her insight was very strong in her earliest years - as they usually are in children before they became confused by their external learning. But Njoro had something more on offer. She remembered one incident when she was about three years old. One of her friends had lost her toy. Not any toy, but the one toy that makes the daily struggle of any three year old worthwhile. The kind of toy that would give comfort when gravity had played one of its naughty tricks, or when the world seemed nothing but a ruthless dark void, loveless and scary. Her friend had cried her eyes out, and no-one could give her any remedy for her great loss. Suddenly Njoro had said, without looking up from what she was playing with on the grass, "It's behind the large bush behind the well." And it was. It was the first time she could see so clearly and know how to use it for something specific, and from there on everyone knew her skills would only grow stronger with time. She knew this, her mother knew this, and when the first delegation from the House visited them just after her fifth birthday, they all seemed to recognize her as an old friend. She still remembered the smells and sounds of that magical visit. There was much laughter and warmth that day.
I
feel
You
feel
He feels
She feels
It feels
We
feel
You
feel
They
feel
But even if the House proved to be exactly the home she believed it would be on that summer day when she was five, over the years her days had given her fewer and fewer challenges when it came down to using herself to the full. Not that she didn't enjoy the feeling of safety, but something inside her had started to get restless, wanting to move on, even to seek some kind of danger. At least these were the feelings that surfaced now that her invisible skin had started to disintegrate, and they were finally setting out on their great journey to the north.
Pi walked a few paces in front of her. He was talking to Sha-Ton while gesticulating energetically in the air between them. He smiled, as always. She was a little anxious, but still very excited about how they would function together now that they were on their own in a small entourage far from the safe haven of the House.
I
love
You
love
He loves
She loves
It loves
We
love
You
love
They
love
Oh, shut up.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The power of many
After the age of restoration, there had been a common belief that meddling too deeply in the past - prior to the great purification - would do nobody no good.
The reason for this was that being exposed to the primitive mindset of the eternally power-struggling and heavily polarized Ancients would only drag your own mind back down to the same basic level of thought, and harm your own balance.
But Pi didn’t seem to have anything but the usual glowing enthusiasm in his eyes as he continued his speech at the gathering back in Lhasa before the trip started.
”Imagine if this opportunity really holds the key to obtain a deeper understanding of how the Ancients were able to build their structures, how they exchanged information, why they viewed the world with their brains split in half? It could tell us so much about who we have been and how we got to where we are today."
Njoro's senses seemed to try to tell her that seeking this knowledge could have awful consequences, and she raised her voice "How can this be of any good? The changes taking place in the Middle North these days seem to be re-emerging ideas from the old times. We all know that any return to this misunderstood worldview can only lead us to yet another disaster. Do you really believe that getting too far into this would give us any advantage at all?"
Njoro felt that she had posed her question quite sensibly, and with much clarity. She felt content about it.
"Dear sister Njoro. I believe the most valuable thing would be to understand their mindset, to begin with. If we knew how the Ancients could become so totally out of balance with this world, we could maybe use this knowledge to stop these ideas from spreading once again. And we need every advantage and insight we can get in order to handle the situation we're in.”
Of course this was very reasonable.
”Yes, but such a journey could cost us dearly, and already it seems we’re only able to keep things together with a full circle operating from within the House. On an everyday basis.” Sister Tsha-Tui had a vulnerable tint in her usually tranquil-beyond-words voice. ”And what if we overspend our energies on a task leading us nowhere? It would put both those part-taking in this quest in great danger, and at the same time weaken our strength back here. What then?”
”I see your point, Sister, but already the changes have brought upon us so many challenges that holding fort here can only keep us afloat for so long. I would strongly regret it if we waited here until this disease of thought had spread all over the planet once again, and all we can do is stay here and defend our last bastion.”
Pi seemed so eager to take on the journey that he would pick any reasonable (or even unreasonable) argument to convince the assembled circle of Brothers and Sisters of the House that the expedition was nothing but a good idea. He had an air of obsession about him, and obsession was something that was usually unwanted within the walls of the House.
But Pi being Pi, his radiant enthusiasm would leave you with the impression that this was the most wonderful of solutions, and that everyone would experience extreme happiness and joy if they were to share his positive view on the situation. He just had that quality.
"I believe you more than insist?", Sister Tsha-Tui said.
"I would never claim any authority that would allow insisting, but I ask the Circle of the House to consider my argument."
At this point Njoro knew he'd already won their faith, but said nothing.
”I see. But you would only bring a handful of companions?” Sister Tsha-Tui finally said. ”We can only follow our duties with the most experienced souls still in the circle of the House, so I will suggest that you choose only from among those young and eager enough to be willing to go, and who share your faith in the success of this journey. And not the least; willing to share your fate.”
"Let the Inner Circle fall to silence and look for the answer at the centre of the Wheel."
They all joined hands, took a deep breath and closed their eyes.
After a moment of eternity, they returned one by one, and as every pair of eyes had adjusted to the waking world, they sat up and were ready for a decision.
"What did we see?", Sister Tsha-Tui said.
"Ice.", one elder said.
"Ice.", Maya-Shi said.
"Darkness.", the Oldest said, in her slow, hoarse voice. "Darkness. And ice."
"Ice. And something very old." Sha-Ton said.
"And more ice.", Pi said. Smiling.
"Ice.", Njoro finally said.
"And a whole lot of fire", she thought.
"Then we have decided." Sister Tsha-Tui raised her voice as to make a conclusive air around the room.
"Who will you ask to join you in this task, Brother Pi?"
Pi let his eyes wander slowly around the room.
”Njoro!”, he looked right into her eyes and made her feel special. ”Will you follow me?”
”Yes.” She felt no resistance at all.
”Brother Sha-Ton!”
”As you wish.” The young man stepped forward into the midst of the circle.
He went on and carefully selected his small entourage, and as they closed the meeting with the usual ritual of gratitude, Sister Tsha-Tui added a special sequence at the end that she insisted would be of crucial importance to their success in their task.
Now, months later, as she pushed herself through the ruthless white landscape, she thought that the suspicion of trouble she had felt back then had only pointed to the tiniest tip of the massive iceberg that this task now had become.
The reason for this was that being exposed to the primitive mindset of the eternally power-struggling and heavily polarized Ancients would only drag your own mind back down to the same basic level of thought, and harm your own balance.
But Pi didn’t seem to have anything but the usual glowing enthusiasm in his eyes as he continued his speech at the gathering back in Lhasa before the trip started.
”Imagine if this opportunity really holds the key to obtain a deeper understanding of how the Ancients were able to build their structures, how they exchanged information, why they viewed the world with their brains split in half? It could tell us so much about who we have been and how we got to where we are today."
Njoro's senses seemed to try to tell her that seeking this knowledge could have awful consequences, and she raised her voice "How can this be of any good? The changes taking place in the Middle North these days seem to be re-emerging ideas from the old times. We all know that any return to this misunderstood worldview can only lead us to yet another disaster. Do you really believe that getting too far into this would give us any advantage at all?"
Njoro felt that she had posed her question quite sensibly, and with much clarity. She felt content about it.
"Dear sister Njoro. I believe the most valuable thing would be to understand their mindset, to begin with. If we knew how the Ancients could become so totally out of balance with this world, we could maybe use this knowledge to stop these ideas from spreading once again. And we need every advantage and insight we can get in order to handle the situation we're in.”
Of course this was very reasonable.
”Yes, but such a journey could cost us dearly, and already it seems we’re only able to keep things together with a full circle operating from within the House. On an everyday basis.” Sister Tsha-Tui had a vulnerable tint in her usually tranquil-beyond-words voice. ”And what if we overspend our energies on a task leading us nowhere? It would put both those part-taking in this quest in great danger, and at the same time weaken our strength back here. What then?”
”I see your point, Sister, but already the changes have brought upon us so many challenges that holding fort here can only keep us afloat for so long. I would strongly regret it if we waited here until this disease of thought had spread all over the planet once again, and all we can do is stay here and defend our last bastion.”
Pi seemed so eager to take on the journey that he would pick any reasonable (or even unreasonable) argument to convince the assembled circle of Brothers and Sisters of the House that the expedition was nothing but a good idea. He had an air of obsession about him, and obsession was something that was usually unwanted within the walls of the House.
But Pi being Pi, his radiant enthusiasm would leave you with the impression that this was the most wonderful of solutions, and that everyone would experience extreme happiness and joy if they were to share his positive view on the situation. He just had that quality.
"I believe you more than insist?", Sister Tsha-Tui said.
"I would never claim any authority that would allow insisting, but I ask the Circle of the House to consider my argument."
At this point Njoro knew he'd already won their faith, but said nothing.
”I see. But you would only bring a handful of companions?” Sister Tsha-Tui finally said. ”We can only follow our duties with the most experienced souls still in the circle of the House, so I will suggest that you choose only from among those young and eager enough to be willing to go, and who share your faith in the success of this journey. And not the least; willing to share your fate.”
"Let the Inner Circle fall to silence and look for the answer at the centre of the Wheel."
They all joined hands, took a deep breath and closed their eyes.
After a moment of eternity, they returned one by one, and as every pair of eyes had adjusted to the waking world, they sat up and were ready for a decision.
"What did we see?", Sister Tsha-Tui said.
"Ice.", one elder said.
"Ice.", Maya-Shi said.
"Darkness.", the Oldest said, in her slow, hoarse voice. "Darkness. And ice."
"Ice. And something very old." Sha-Ton said.
"And more ice.", Pi said. Smiling.
"Ice.", Njoro finally said.
"And a whole lot of fire", she thought.
"Then we have decided." Sister Tsha-Tui raised her voice as to make a conclusive air around the room.
"Who will you ask to join you in this task, Brother Pi?"
Pi let his eyes wander slowly around the room.
”Njoro!”, he looked right into her eyes and made her feel special. ”Will you follow me?”
”Yes.” She felt no resistance at all.
”Brother Sha-Ton!”
”As you wish.” The young man stepped forward into the midst of the circle.
He went on and carefully selected his small entourage, and as they closed the meeting with the usual ritual of gratitude, Sister Tsha-Tui added a special sequence at the end that she insisted would be of crucial importance to their success in their task.
Now, months later, as she pushed herself through the ruthless white landscape, she thought that the suspicion of trouble she had felt back then had only pointed to the tiniest tip of the massive iceberg that this task now had become.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Nospeakland
She didn't care so much anymore about the snow that struggled its way into her weary eyes.
They'd been walking this path for days and days, now driven only by a hope that some new landscape would emerge from the monotonous bricks of white and blue.
Shades of white, shades of blue. Endlessly in repeat.
And the light.
Even though the days were short, she’d never seen such light.
Relentless, ruthless light.
This wasn't at all like the vision of the journey that she'd been presented with back in Lhasa, when the whole mission still lived a comfortable life as a wild idea inside the mind of Pi. The wild and wonderful but quite fragmented mind that she'd be more than happy to influence towards a more understandable nature, had she been in a position where she could do just that.
Pi would always do things like this to her, though. Or so it would seem. Maybe she just did them to herself?
She wondered if Maya-Shi, her most trusted friend back home, was right in accusing her of being deeply - and very unhealthily - in love with Pi. She'd been following him through thick and thin for the last fifteen months. Mostly thin.
White.
Ice.
Nothing but trouble seemed to be the reward of their efforts so far.
She'd put up her usual mask of convincing insecurity against her friend's accusations, and pleaded that it was for the cause - and only for the cause - that she was willing to put herself into these extreme and often very dangerous situations.
But she could see Maya-Shi found the excuse as transparent as she found it herself. The human mind is a puzzling self-defending mechanism at times, she concluded, just as she was interrupted by loud yelling from behind her.
”...e....o..........n..........s......”
Mungpuk's eyes looked like frozen drops of liquid crystal through the sweeps of the howling blizzard. He was rapidly moving his Eskimo lips with exaggerated animation.
"What now?" she thought, trying not to form any expression at all, as the thin layer of ice on her face would then crack, making her skin hurt like hell and add to the uncomfortable situation she was already in.
"Th.. Ro..s ..s...osing.in..o...s"
Bloody wind.
”What?”
”The Rose is closing in on us. Drive your dogs. Set speed.”
”Shit!”
They'd been walking this path for days and days, now driven only by a hope that some new landscape would emerge from the monotonous bricks of white and blue.
Shades of white, shades of blue. Endlessly in repeat.
And the light.
Even though the days were short, she’d never seen such light.
Relentless, ruthless light.
This wasn't at all like the vision of the journey that she'd been presented with back in Lhasa, when the whole mission still lived a comfortable life as a wild idea inside the mind of Pi. The wild and wonderful but quite fragmented mind that she'd be more than happy to influence towards a more understandable nature, had she been in a position where she could do just that.
Pi would always do things like this to her, though. Or so it would seem. Maybe she just did them to herself?
She wondered if Maya-Shi, her most trusted friend back home, was right in accusing her of being deeply - and very unhealthily - in love with Pi. She'd been following him through thick and thin for the last fifteen months. Mostly thin.
White.
Ice.
Nothing but trouble seemed to be the reward of their efforts so far.
She'd put up her usual mask of convincing insecurity against her friend's accusations, and pleaded that it was for the cause - and only for the cause - that she was willing to put herself into these extreme and often very dangerous situations.
But she could see Maya-Shi found the excuse as transparent as she found it herself. The human mind is a puzzling self-defending mechanism at times, she concluded, just as she was interrupted by loud yelling from behind her.
”...e....o..........n..........s......”
Mungpuk's eyes looked like frozen drops of liquid crystal through the sweeps of the howling blizzard. He was rapidly moving his Eskimo lips with exaggerated animation.
"What now?" she thought, trying not to form any expression at all, as the thin layer of ice on her face would then crack, making her skin hurt like hell and add to the uncomfortable situation she was already in.
"Th.. Ro..s ..s...osing.in..o...s"
Bloody wind.
”What?”
”The Rose is closing in on us. Drive your dogs. Set speed.”
”Shit!”
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