A change of pace...

[Abenaki]

[[Closed]]

The river water was cold and crystal clear as the father gently lowered his son's head beneath the surface, his grip on the boy's head and shoulder tight and unforgiving. There was a sense of grim determination hanging on the air, tinged ever so slightly with swellings of pride. Other fathers were there as well, flashing forgiving and reassuring smiles as they too forced their progeny beneath the flowing waters. From the shore an old man watched carefully, his hands busily fidgeting with the rune stones cast into the sand...

Jada twitched instinctively, kicking to get above the surface, but his father's strong hands held him under. Rapidly fear became more oppressive than the water crushing in around him, and Jada kicked again. Slowly his lungs began to burn as the oxygen in his chest was used up, and the pain grew into that of a boulder sitting on his ribs. Panic took hold, but no matter how he thrashed or contorted, twisted or kicked, his father's unrelenting grip held his head just beneath the surface of the cold, clear river...

"Nda!" Sitting bolt upright, Jada's hands went reactively to the back of his head as his frightened exclamation dissolved on the night air. The sound of ragged, labored breathing took its place to fill the warrior's ears, while at the same time his heart beat like a drum in his temples. "Just a dream." Jada intoned in tradespeak as his hands dropped to his sides in fevered relief. Several minutes passed in silence as the drums stopped their beating, and the ragged gasps for air slowly calmed into smooth, regulated breathing. "Just a dream." He repeated, this time internally...

The small cooking fire from earlier in the evening had gotten dangerously low while he had slept, so Jada slowly spent another several minutes tending the dying flames as he composed himself. In his head the scene replayed over and over again, not only because of the dream, but because it was buried deep in his memory as probably one of the most terrible ordeals he had ever suffered through. The day at the river had been the day that Jada the Boy became Jada the Man, and had awoken on the riverbank as a shaman's apprentice no less...

Why am I having these dreams now? The warrior pondered as he worked, building a pyramid shaped lodge of sticks and branches over the ashes for the flames to climb up and grow again. Why now and not back then?

With the fire burning happily once more, Jada took a step back from the flames and sat down beneath the branches of the ancient oak tree where he had made his camp. Forced by habit to do so, he scanned the outer perimeter of his tiny clearing, searching the sparse woods for signs of movement. Bit by bit the dream dissolved from his thoughts, leaving the warrior firmly in the present and not still clinging to the memories of the past, and being in the present meant Jada had more things to worry about than something that had happened so many years ago. First and foremost on his mind, now that the dream had faded, was the fact that only three days ago he had been fighting in Scara Brae; a fight that had resulted in a broken wrist and a massive blow to his back that Jada could only barely recall. I wasn't in the Citadel. Jada knew, recalling from previous experience that seemingly everything that happened in the Citadel was righted by the place's mysterious sorcery. And that wasn't a dream...So how is it possible that I woke up outside of Radasanth with no injuries?

It was a conundrum that puzzled the warrior, and one that was beginning to bother him more and more with every passing hour...

[Sasha the Eternal]

Time. To some, the passage of time is a joyous occasion. Festivals and celebrations litter the lives of those individuals as they revel day to day in their mortality. To others, the passage of time is a curse; an inescapable bane on their lives like so great a doomsday spell. They know their mortality, and they are afraid. These beings are the ones most prone to put inhibitions aside when a chance to research immortality presents itself. There is a third group of beings, however. These beings are the ones that are somehow outside the normal flow of time. Some claim to have found the fountain of youth while others are nothing more than the product of time magic gone awry.

The white-garbed being now fleeing through the waist-high prairie grass somewhere on an island off one of the main lands belonged to the third group, but looking at her would never give away that fact. She had been running for three days straight, or at least that’s what she figured a native to this place would say. It felt like she had been running for a heartbeat. She had escaped her prison by sheer force of will, but now that she was free, she didn’t know what to do. So she continued to run. Halfway between the physical and spiritual realms, her ghost-like figure had scared half an armada, nearly every forest animal she came near, and three farmers out in the fields. She didn’t really notice, or care, until the sun started going down. “Night” was the prime time for other spirits to show themselves to the physical world, if they could, but it also meant that spirits that were not particularly friendly could show up. Haste had led her into many traps in her “youth”, and after a few thousand years of contemplation, she decided that she should probably slow down where traps could be present.

This world, she noted, was just like one giant trap at night.

Dry grass flowed through her body as the wind swayed the tall blades; her dress practically stood still, untouched by the physical wind and only moving to flow around her body as she walked. Eyes halfway between the two planes of existence saw a rather strange sight, but it was a sight she was used to seeing. Solemn animalistic spirits guarded the place where they last lay before the carrion picked them clean. A small pack of wolf spirits howled to a non-existent moon, sounding a chorus like a hundred mourning wails. This whole world was so full of death… the battlefields and cities of the human world could hardly compare to their equivalents in this place. What deities would place so much potential for death onto a world? None that she knew, and she had met her fair share.

At the edge of a sparse forest, she paused. Placing her right hand over her heart, she closed her physical eyes and reached out with her spiritual eyes. Only the strongest of spirits would resonate with her beacon; if she sensed nothing, it would be safe to enter. Forests were notorious havens for disgruntled spirits. There was nothing there, or more importantly, nothing there that she needed to be wary of. The quickest way through a place was traveling in a straight line, so that was what she did. Her incorporeal form passed through hills, rocks, and trees with equal ease. A few woodland predators shied away from her, but other than that, the forest was empty. Then she felt it.

It was a presence she hadn’t felt for quite a few eons. At first, it startled her enough to pull her out of sync with the material world, but as she stayed in the spiritual realm and listened to the spirit in question, she realized that it wasn’t the same one she dreaded so much. Her spirit shuddered as she remembered the first time she had been captured for experimentation. Her more recent bout of captivity was like a resort compared to her treatment back then. It was the first time she had actually feared for her life. But this was neither a few million years ago nor was she a captive any longer, at least not in the traditional sense.

The spirit of the shaman, that was what her first captor called himself, was different in this man. He wasn’t malicious that she could tell, and he certainly wasn’t evil. Taking a couple “steps” closer, the white-clad beauty was just about to shift herself back into the physical world before remembering how easily spooked humans were in general. She let out an inaudible sigh and moved back a small ways away from the clearing. Best to not scare him if she didn’t have to. It had been a long time since she had interacted physically with any sort of life form willingly; perhaps he would be good company for a while.

Safely out of sight, she began to shift her body into phase with the material world once more. Silvery-white hair was the first thing to appear, glistening moon-kissed silken strands that flowed on an ethereal wind around a slender body. She was taller than the average woman and her body showed very little in the way of fat. A light tan color started spreading through her body as it went from ghost-like to solid. Slender arms and petit hands were crossed over her chest for a moment before a flowing white dress cascaded over her body. The white silk and lace that surrounded her as she began walking toward the clearing once more was a modest covering, but it still showed that she was clearly feminine.

Now fully back in the physical world, her footsteps actually made audible noise against the ground. It was a strange sensation to hear her own walking, but apparently it happened to everyone all the time. He would probably look up toward the direction of the noise, too. With a few trees left, her pace slowed and she almost seemed to glide across the ground. When she passed the final tree, she smiled and spread her skirts to take a seat on the ground, propping her chin on the back of her hands.

“Would you mind if I stayed here for a while? I don’t particularly like traveling at night.”

The sweetest honey would have been dulled by her words. Her voice was soft and genuine, not hiding anything; it would be nigh impossible to find ulterior meanings in her voice. What would she have to lie about, anyway?

[Abenaki]

Footsteps...

Jada's heart skipped a beat as the sound of a twig snapping underfoot shot through his meager camp. Close footsteps... the warrior's mind judged as his hand went instinctively for his weapon. Cold dirt and sparse grass met his grasp, however, and for a second Jada's focus on the approaching steps was broken as he glanced down. Where his hand rested was only earth, and feverishly he searched for the short iron sword that was his almost constant companion. Too late he realized the weapon lay several feet away next to a pile of sticks and branches that he had hacked up for firewood. With his weapon to far away to grab, the warrior's second option was to pick up the nearest rock as a lone figure penetrated the inner perimeter of his camp...

The rock dropped harmless at Jada's side as the single most captivating woman the young warrior had ever seen settled down opposite the fire, casually resting her head in her hands. Her silver hair, so alien to everything Jada had ever seen, shimmered in the firelight, framing eyes like emeralds that seemed impossibly deep. Unconsciously his jaw dropped open just enough to betray his surprise, and for several seconds Jada was paralyzed...

Her voice snapped him out of his reverie with its sweet, sincere tone, and he responded almost reflexively.

"Nda." He responded almost hesitantly, and then remembering his tradespeak, "I don't mind."

The realization that he was staring prompted Jada to peel his gaze from his guest, and he busied himself prodding the fire once again. Despite the fact that the fire was already burning along happily, he just needed something to take his attention away from the eerily enchanting woman sitting opposite him.

"You surprised me." He added after a short pause. "I didn't expect anyone to be out this far so late..."

[Sasha the Eternal]

The one thing Sasha was most grateful for was how little certain things changed over various timelines. The image of ideal womanly beauty to men was one thing that the gods never seemed to change no matter how many times they altered other aspects of their creations. Since she was currently confined to a single form, she was even more appreciative of her own subconscious. When she first came to this world, her mind shaped what she imagined the world’s populace would appreciate. By the expression on the man’s face when he saw his visitor, she simply reaffirmed the notion that she had indeed made the correct choice. Shock, awe, the slightest bit of lust; not to mention the sudden relaxation of certain facial muscles and the inability to speak straight… the word “awestruck” described his expression perfectly.

Seated as she was, the emerald-eyed beauty chuckled as the man busied himself tending a fire that was keeping her surprisingly warm. The spirit realm had no sensation of warmth or cold, except as flavors of spirits. A cold spirit was one to stay away from; a spirit that burned fiercely would be great one day… though it could easily burn out and turn to ice instead. She didn’t know her own temperature, but that was just as well. Seeing the future wasn’t as good as she had thought it would be, so she left satisfied with the one glimpse she was granted by a bored deity.

“And I did not expect to meet another so far from the cities, but here you are as well.”

Her smile faded slightly as she stood and wrapped the sleeves of her dress a bit tighter around her body. Walking over to one of the thicker trees, and consequently closer to the man, her eyes looked everywhere as if taking in the scenery for the first time. She placed her right hand on the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes as if listening for something. It may have been just a trick of the light, but for a moment, her hand seemed to glow with a dim silver radiance.

“It’s colder than I anticipated it would be, but it’s still somewhat warm. Perhaps that is because you are here? This whole wood is a cold place.”

It seemed only natural that she talk about the warmth of the tree’s spirit, after all, he was also attuned to the spiritual realm, if only to a lesser degree than her. The thought that her words could be taken literally never even crossed the ageless woman’s mind.

“Oh, you may call me Sasha, if you like. It is the name I seem to have fallen into possession of.”

[Abenaki]

The tree...is warm? Jada's mind stumbled for a moment as a confused expression crossed his face. Fallen into possession of her name? Tradespeak was still the warrior's second language, and while his proficiency in the tongue had grown considerably during his time in Radasanth and Scara Brae, the oddity of his visitor’s words metaphorically threw a wrench into the gears inside his head. For a split second he was convinced that he had heard her wrong; attached the wrong meaning to the wrong word...

"I am Jada." He responded mechanically, the language processing portion of his brain still churning away in a mess. 'I am' followed by his name was one of several stock phrases that Jada had learned first many months ago, and was the default answer to any question involving names.

There is something off about her. Jada decided almost arbitrarily, noting the odd behavior exhibited by his guest. Her movements were odd, almost like she wasn't used to the feel of her own body. Her voice was odd, in its beauty, and her words made little sense. Even the look in her eyes was peculiar, as if everything around her was somehow new. All of these little anomalies were gnawing at the back of Jada's mind, making him wary and uncomfortable. While Sasha appeared harmless enough, the warrior still found himself wishing he hadn't dropped his stone, or that his sword was a little bit closer to his side.

“Where do you come from...Sa...sha?” The sh was a sound not commonly found in Algonquin pronunciation, and Jada felt sorry for butchering his guest's name as he forced the sound out of his throat. He was also reminded that while his understanding on his new tongue had grown considerably, his development in the speech department was still dragging along slowly...

[Sasha the Eternal]

“I come from a place very far away… farther than the distant stars that cannot be seen from this world and farther still. The place of my birth is one of an infinite number of places where spirits flow after their mortal coil has fallen. I am not a ‘human’, no matter how much I look like one, if that is what you meant by your question.”

Was her grasp of the near-universal “tradespeak” flawed? She had spoken plainly enough, but the man, Jada, seemed even more confused since she started talking to him. It was a curiosity that she wished to explore, but a wariness inside her stopped her from saying anything that may confuse him even more. Her mind flashed back to the first thing that came out of his mouth. She had taken it for a surprised grunt, but it may have been more. Perhaps it was not her grasp of the language, but his that was the problem. If it was his language that was the problem, switching to her first language wouldn’t solve matters either. Even if the tongue of the gods could hear and understand any language, it couldn’t be understood by many outside the divine.

“I am sorry if my words confuse you. It is hard speaking to another who is so similar to myself, but so different at the same time. You… are a shaman, are you not?”

Perhaps if she forged a link between the man Jada and herself they would both understand each other better. If he was a shaman, he would understand more about what she was, hopefully. It wasn’t because she didn’t know what she was, but rather the lack of knowledge that others had that made confrontations like this difficult. She had already mastered the sense of herself long ago. With a knowing smile, the slender beauty impassively waited with one hand on the tree nearest her. The dirt that had accumulated from her short time on the ground was not even noticeable now; a careful examination wouldn’t even show a single grain of dust along the entire length of her dress.

[Abenaki]

"Not...human..." Jada repeated back slowly, as he dawned on the startling revelation. That statement alone added an entirely new dimension to his situation, and suddenly his guest's seemingly abstract words began to make a little more sense. What had started out as confusion dissolved into feelings of apprehension in his gut, and that apprehension quickly began to take on a tinge of fear. Without truly understanding why, Jada began to feel almost as if he were interacting with someone, or something, that he shouldn't be. It was a feeling akin to being a small child again; playing with a knife and knowing you shouldn't, even if you could not yet understand that the knife could cut you...

He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came out. He could only sit there and stare dumbly at the woman, all the while trying to piece together some marginal chunk of understanding. If she wasn't human, then what was she? A spirit perhaps? A ghost? For all Jada knew she could be the Great Spirit itself in human form. That last thought lingered on his mind longer than it should, unnerving him. She was certainly beautiful enough to be an incarnation of the Great Spirit, and she seemed to know an awful lot about him while he still knew next to nothing about her...

"I've been trained as a shaman." Jada finally managed to reply, forcing his thoughts to the back of his mind and bringing the here and now to the forefront. "I've never truly felt like one though. I've always thought of myself as more of a warrior..."

His voice trailed off, and his cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment. She doesn't care about what you think of yourself. He reprimanded himself silently. If she is what she claims to be, then you are nothing but a speck of dust in the wind to her...

[Sasha the Eternal]

Had she been wrong to say that she wasn’t human? It had been a reasonable thought at the time, but past experiences told her over and over that the longer she stayed in human form, the more she thought like one. It also confused the spiritual wanderer when the man hesitated before finally responding to her question. Had she truly been so cryptic? What could she have said differently? Questions swam in her mind even as she listened to his response.

“So I was not too far off, at least.” Her soft voice sounded a little relieved when he finally finished speaking. She even smiled again and sat at the base of the tree to lean against it. “But why do you not feel like a shaman? Is that not something to be proud of? Had you not been a shaman, I may have never had this opportunity to meet you. Many of the shamans I have met in my lifetime could wield a blade quite well in addition to their spiritual power… but your sensitivity to the spirit realm has been dulled, am I wrong?”

Closing her eyes, the sight of the physical world was replaced by the sight of the spirit world. It seemed that by staying in one place for a while, a couple lesser spirits had come to seek sanctuary from the more malicious spirits. The spirit of a squirrel chittered away as it ran around the camp fire. A pair of deceased lovebirds sang silently on a branch not far from where Sasha sat. It was a beautiful sight indeed. It was such a shame that the sights of the spirit world were invisible to all but a select few. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, so many new questions constantly replacing things she thought she knew for certain. Perhaps Jada had a few answers, maybe he had none. The pursuit of knowledge could wait if it meant pleasant conversation now and then.

[Abenaki]

"It is something to be proud of." Jada agreed grudgingly. It was true that among his people shamans were treated with the greatest of respect, and that they above all others possessed the knowledge and wisdom to lead a tribe to prosperity. Having that knowledge and using it, however, were two entirely different things, and there never once burned the passion for his craft that many of the elder shamans possessed. There was no doubt that the gift handed him was a great one, but at the same time it was a gift he was not enthusiastic to receive.

"As I boy, I always followed in my father's footsteps." Jada tried to explain, carefully choosing his words. "He was a great hunter, and a fierce warrior. He raised me to be like him - to hunt and fight in the wilderness. Shamans, they just sit in their tents and study the signs..."

There was a long pause as Jada tried to find the right words to speak his mind. Why he was opening up to this complete stranger, a person who may or may not be human or spirit, didn't really seem to bother him so much as he slowly began to relax his position. His muscles became less tense, and his confusion and wariness seemed to wane away as he settled into the conversation. "I just want to feel useful, I think." He added at last.

"What about you?" The warrior asked quickly, almost as if saying Enough about me. The woman sitting near him was an oddity to be sure, and Jada's apprehension lessened, his curiosity increased rapidly. "What do you do?"