Moon 514- Blaze and the White Griffon

by Drew Briney

  This was home.

  She raised her arms high into the air and stood upon the tips of her toes as she rhythmically rotated and swathed her tail back and forth as if trying to create a spinning kaleidoscope image for someone watching from above. She stopped and then held that pose for quite some time before falling to the ground to stretch her legs more thoroughly. Several moments and several positions later, her muscles felt loose and her body felt invigorated. She was ready.

  Nearly running, she leaped off of the outcropping and dove.

  For nearly one hundred feet, she fell freely, enjoying the thrill of the air feathering her hair and stretching the skin on her face. As she neared the surface of the water, she inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with as much air as she could manage to gather. She didn’t need the extra air for breathing – her gills allowed her to breath with great ease underwater – she simply enjoyed the sensation of taking a deep breath before crashing into the water. Soon, she was deep underwater; but she quickly spun herself upwards so she could feel the air bubbles tickle her skin. The water was cool and felt refreshing after stretching under the hot sun and she exulted in this lavish experience.

  Before swimming anywhere, she looked around to see what creatures might be nearby and what new plant life might be worth exploring. A numerous school of fish, startled by her violent entry into the water, hastily swam away. She spotted several species of fish deeper in the waters towards the ocean floor but it was another mammal that caught her attention.

  Crossed between a manta ray and a flat bodied dolphin-like species, her people called the creature mayutha. Very large and brownish in color, mayutha sported large wings like a manta ray but also had two stubby dorsal fins that were nearly parallel one to another though they angled slightly away from each other as if making a fat letter “v.” Its long tail also sported a smallish fin towards its base. These fins made the mayutha convenient for riding: two handholds and a footrest. The magic woman called to mayutha, humming with her harmonious voices and projecting them throughout the water with psionic guidance. She sang to it beautiful harmonies that were known to draw mayutha to her people – and it came.

  She swiftly observed that this particular creature was especially large and it swam with unnerving speed. It would take extra strength to hold on if it carried her at full speed. As it approached her, its graceful wings flapped in the water and arched in a wide circle to slow down its speed as it drew close to the magic woman. Anticipating its move, she swam into its projected pathway and spoke pictures to the creature’s mind, showing the mayutha her desire to swim with it and to travel briefly around the reefs below. Then, as if choreographed for an expressive dance, their paths merged and the magic woman gracefully molded her body into place – hands firmly gripping the dorsal fins, feet barely anchored to the smaller fin because they could scarcely reach the distance.

  They swam speedily, freely, and harmoniously. With seeming ease, mayutha pulled the magic woman through the ocean waters, keeping their bodies as close to the ocean floor as possible so their pathway was constantly twisting, ever changing, and partially gyrating. They toured colorful reefs, observed a startling array of different species, and enjoyed their mutual pleasure ride. Perhaps too quickly for the magic woman, the mayutha was done with the journey. A fickle species led by their emotions, mayutha were quick to obey the calls of her people but just as quick to determine that they were finished. She sent the creature a mental image of where it should leave her and it accommodated her request.

  Moments later, the mayutha leaped out of the water with reckless abandon, throwing the magic woman high into the air. She facilitated that throw by thrusting her body away from the mayutha and leaping into the air herself. This was her favorite part. Arms spread like a bird, she slowly bent her body as gravity began to redirect her path back into the water. Another deep breath and another deep plunge into the ocean, she reveled in life’s most luxuriant pleasures.

  The scene changed – and then it changed again. At the untamed speed of thought, several scenes spanning several years passed by in mere hours of time. Evelia was soon immersed in memories from another culture, another world.

  Words from an alien language effortlessly flowed through her mind – and comprehension effortlessly followed. In Evelia’s Order, the concept of speaking a foreign tongue had been purely academic so this experience gave her the very false impression that learning another language was easy – and although it was untrue in a general sense, it was very true for Evelia this time.

  In the darkness of thought, Evelia listened to the words of another alien as if through the mind of the magic woman herself. And the words she heard were very harsh. She felt the sorrow of the magic woman as she listened to the condemning words of another alien woman. Evelia grieved, feeling the strong bond that comes between two people when their memories are shared, feeling the unbreakable sentiments of companionship that only come when two people share their innermost thoughts one with another, feeling a unity of friendship that she had never known before – a friendship with someone who had passed away before they really became friends at all. Her heart nearly sank into irreparable despair as she listened to the verdict of this alien woman – an alien woman who was representing a jury of her peers who had condemned the magic woman to exile – exile to earth for an indiscretion that Evelia felt was relatively trivial, exile for lying to protect a loved one from suffering exile for something he had done wrong, a wrong that she had forgiven him for committing, a wrong that didn’t really matter, a wrong that may have been right under the circumstance.

  Evelia remembered the magic woman telling her that she was not an exile on earth and she now knew this wasn’t true – but she forgave the magic woman this indiscretion. She understood her feelings.

  The scene changed again and again. Soon, Evelia understood more deeply the message she was to share with the magic woman’s parents – and although she could not speak this foreign language that required two sets of vocal chords to properly communicate, she knew that she would be able to communicate the message with great ease telepathically. She had learned better today how that worked and she was much more confident about her abilities to communicate almost anything she would want to communicate to most any species imaginable – if not all of them.

  WHEN SHE AWOKE FROM HER REVERIES, Evelia felt deeply disappointed as she looked around her hospital bed. Very different from anything she had ever experienced before, she was thrilled to awaken to the fresh smells of heavy vegetation all around her and to feel as if the room was overflowing with an abundance of regenerating oxygen and energy. But her ankle throbbed and she felt some discouragement to be awakened to her own reality – the life of the magic woman seemed so much more complete, more fulfilling, more natural. Evelia wanted to immerse herself in the next series of lessons from the magic woman but she estimated that it would be wise to see what time of day it was and to speak with Blaze about any developments that might be happening first.

  She sat up in her bed – an ergonomic bed – and stretched her legs. Reaching towards her ankle, she uncovered the injury to get a good look at it. It burned. Although she had zero understanding of how to heal injuries – a glaring disappointment from the latest installment of new memories – she intuitively understood something about this particular type of pain. She called upon the energies in the room to move around her, through her, within her. She called upon the cooling energies of the room to pass into her ankle and for the blistering energies in her ankle to flow out of her and then into the receptive soils of the vegetation by her side. Small bursts of steam emanated from the soils and left a mist of refreshing moisture in the air for her to breath in. She continued cycling the energies around her in this manner for several minutes until the pain in her ankle was so negligible, she wondered if there was any pain left at all. Moments later, it resurfaced and she found herself going through the same cycle without even thinking about it.

  “You are amazing.”

/>   The words startled her. Until now, Evelia had believed that she was alone in the room. Looking behind herself and over her right shoulder, Evelia found Blaze sitting by her bedside, quietly observing her efforts to find comfort.

  “I feel refreshed just sitting next to you,” he observed. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Mostly,” she confessed, a myriad of thoughts and feelings flowing through her mind. Even if the pain from her ankle was momentarily reprieved, she felt confused about a great many things and she couldn’t really feel honest about saying that she was feeling better without explaining all of that. “I learned more,” she added.

  “I know,” Blaze answered. “I have been watching you for a few hours now, listening to your gentle humming as you softly rolled back and forth in your bed. I recognized some of the melodies from the magic woman’s humming while we were with her. I am excited to hear what you have to tell me about all of that but we do not have very much time.”

  All of a sudden, a flood of life’s concerns smothered Evelia. “What time is it?”

  “The hearing starts in a half hour,” Blaze answered. “You’ve been sleeping for a very long time. I also have several things to tell you but we do not really have time. Can you walk on your ankle with a crutch or do you need more help?” Evelia noticed that Blaze was using contractions more freely – or perhaps deliberately – and wondered what thoughts were generating this change.

  New maternal instincts arising, Evelia didn’t answer the question and asked her own as she pushed her legs off of her bed and tested them on the ground. “Where is Elayuh?” she asked worriedly.

  “She is fine and in safe hands,” Blaze answered patiently. “Do not worry about her. Do you need help walking?”

  The young woman was unsure how to answer. On the one hand, she ventured that with some painkillers, she could probably walk a significant distance just fine. Then again, if she continued to move energy through her ankle, she could probably walk fine as well – but she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on much anything else – and the corridors of the ship did not have as much energy as this room did so she couldn’t be absolutely sure. Then again, her background offered zero concept of wheelchairs so she only understood that Blaze was offering to carry her and that seemed like a lot to ask. Then again, that didn’t sound so bad ...

  “I am not sure,” she confessed shyly.

  “Well then, it sounds like we should probably get moving,” Blaze announced, standing up and walking towards her. “We are nearly on the opposite side of the ship as the room where we scheduled the hearing. The entire crew has been invited, although crew members who operate the deck will be observing holographically,” he informed her as he put his arm under hers and wrapped it around her backside and grabbed her legs with his other arms.

  Self consciously, Evelia noticed that her pajama pants had been removed when Blaze nodded towards her legs. She grabbed one of the sheets from the hospital bed and wrapped it around and over her body. Although only a couple days had passed since she had changed how she now chose to be dressed, it felt very natural to her. If anything, the way everyone else dressed, the way she used to dress, seemed artificial and constricting. She immediately noticed that the flow of energy around her slowed down and that her environment felt more stuffy, like walking into a storage room that hasn’t been opened for years – sort of musty and stifling to breath. But she knew Blaze was right for suggesting that she wrap a blanket around herself. Some people would be judgmental of her attire – and under the current circumstances, that would not be a good thing. But they would be forgiving of her clothing if she was wrapped in a hospital blanket. For now, that was good enough.

  The magic woman had been right. Her lifestyle would change, her culture would change, and her beliefs would change. There were many things about Evelia that were drastically changing – clothing was only one small detail. The way she perceived the world around her was changing the most. Her ideas, thoughts, beliefs, paradigms, and understandings about relationships, things, and nature were evolving nearly every moment she breathed. And this life, life on a ship, was not the life that appealed to her. She wanted to be back on earth, back in nature, back home.

  As they walked down the hallway together, Blaze shared mini-summaries of conversations he had with various crewmen while she had been sleeping – discussions about the minor mutiny battle the day before, discussions about the recording that would be presented at the hearing, talk about the tournament investigation, and negotiations concerning how Jazz’s testimony might be recorded for presentation at the hearing.

  Although Evelia was very interested in everything he had to say, her mind was greatly distracted so she missed several important details – she was beginning to understand the weaknesses of her culture – weaknesses of mankind in general. And her ankle was starting to hurt again. There was very little energy flow in the hallway so she focused on moving energy back and forth between her and Blaze. As she did so, she noticed that his steps lengthened and that he seemed to hold her a little higher – her own therapy was strengthening his muscles as well.

  Just as she was about to express her regret that she had not retrieved any pain medication from her room before she left, Blaze told her that he had a pain relieving spray in his pocket that he would give her when they reached the meeting hall – which was just around the next bend.

  When they arrived, Evelia was surprised to see that the crew was yet larger than she expected – by now, everyone on board was probably aware of the size of the crew, how many people came from each Order, and a good deal of other trivia that Evelia was oblivious about. While she and Blaze had been dealing with their personal problems and complications, the other crewmen had been learning about each other and their duties aboard the ship. They would not have been surprised to know that there remained slightly over 420 crewmen alive and well – while Evelia would have expected a number closer to 300.

  Either way, it appeared that most everyone was present for this hearing and she was grateful for that. The ship could never operate successfully with most of the crewmen largely unaware of the real purposes of the journey and with most everyone unaware that mutiny had begun even before the launch. As her eyes scanned the room, she began to notice something she had observed in the newest series of memories: when she focused, she could see the colors of energy surrounding each member of the crew. She remembered learning what these different colors meant and she understood that she could know a great deal about each person based upon the color of energy that moved around them. For the most part, she was pleased to see the high moral standards held by members of the crew.

  The few notable exceptions were, however, quite disturbing.

  “MASTER, ARE YOU GOING TO ATTEND the hearing?” inquired a tentative voice, a voice that was attached to a habitually confident woman. As she expected, silence lingered for several moments – she barely took note of the delay.

  “Of course,” he grumbled in return, perhaps absentmindedly, perhaps distracted. His young hands answered to his aged mind as they flipped through data and recorded new information found on the large screen attached to a microscope. “Astonishing,” he mumbled to himself, almost forgetting the woman standing at the door. “You’re a miracle,” he added with a blank face, his eyes gliding back from the screen to the woman. “These results are more than groundbreaking you know,” he began to explain before getting interrupted.

  “As always, I’m flattered,” she hummed, her sultry voice dripping like sticky honey. Barely missing a beat, she added: “Are you suffering from denial? In a couple hours you could be standing accused of treason. Your very life is on the line and you’re preoccupied with a few drops of my blood?” She finally got his full attention: he slowly cracked a wide grin and his hawk eyes twinkled.

  “Aria,” he airily called back. “Every man and woman aligned to our cause believes himself dead without my continual and daily approval of his life; they grovel at my feet in desperation and beg
for their meds until I know their allegiance is unyielding and wean them because I have no doubt of their loyalty. You,” he emphasized, “are the only one who cannot hold a tattoo or a burn – the only concern I could possibly have is your loyalty. You’re not threatening me are you?” His voice was not menacing but neither was it particularly jovial. That unnerved Aria but she didn’t show it.

  “You’re cute,” she sweetly answered. “I guess I didn’t think of it that way,” she confessed further. “I was thinking that men faced with a death penalty for treason might go turncoat if given the option.”

  “Doubtful,” he responded with unfeigned indifference, drifting back into his studies and making a final few notes. The conversation was over and Aria knew her welcome was more than a little worn.

  “If I’m lucky,” she oozed with seduction, “I’ll see you soon.” With that, she quietly turned and strutted out the door. Her alluring gait wasn’t deliberate. It was a habit, a habit she was rarely consciously aware of. She took an oil vial out of her hip pocket, opened the container, and began applying it directly on her glands located under her jaw. I just may need that extra help, she fretted as she put the vial back into her pocket, trying to act nonchalant and calm as she turned into a busier, more heavily trafficked corridor.

  “THANK YOU FOR COMING,” Aria began, standing at an ornately carved podium that had the appearance of an artistic, twisting tree trunk with a slightly asymmetrical shape. Unseen by the audience was a flat section that allowed the placement of a linatech pad or cube to allow for prompts or visual aids and angled, ergonomically shaped armrests. Her cube sat in front of her and offered a bullet list of points to share with the crew.