Aftermath

For a good dealof this I was wondering why Ashun wanted to introduce Durth to her ... er... siblings.

Then I realised and went "ooooh"

Last week when I posted I had said that my previous week had been terrible. Well the last seven days have been such an underworld in a handbasket that for four out of seven days I did pretty much nothing more than stare off at nothing. Ishk. I think it's done with now, though so hopefully I'll get more writing done.

Read, Review and Enjoy.





“This is Gwert,” Ashun motioned to the odd creature that had landed on top of the trailer, “and that over there is Mish.”

Durth looked towards the lean form Ashun pointed to. Tall and lean, the cheekbones were too high, too wide against the sunken cheeks. Huge round eyes blinked some sort of third eyelid. The eyes and the hair were the same colour, an auburn colour with flicks of black. Pupils shaped like little stars and a nose that was too flat. At the end of the long, delicate fingers were not nails, but instead little holes, sheaths for hidden claws.

“Oh, hullo…” Durth said as he blinked at the oddly textured skin. She was beautiful in a creepy sort of way.

“And this is Ashtroph, my elder brother.”

Durth turned to Ashun and then towards the tree, where she motioned to. At first he thought Ashun was pulling his leg, as he saw nothing there. And then bright green eyes opened and the creature stepped away from the tree trunk. Ashtroph’s skin looked exactly like the crevassed, gray-ish brown, joints creaked as the seemingly sexless being stepped towards Durth. Durth, being of healthy body and a god damned sound mind, stepped back and tried to put distance between himself and the creature that sent a tingling fear down his spine.

“Father made him out of several different daemons who are long since extinct, ash and some kind of tree daemon that was once revered as a god,” Ashun stepped up beside Ashtroph, running a hand along his shoulders, “none of my siblings here are viable and father tried to destroy us when the world ended, when the Program swept in looking for him. Ashtroph’s mother gave her life to save the rest.”

“Oh, that’s sad.”

“Paw planted her here as memorial.”

Durth frowned, a very long moment of silence following Ashun’s words as his mind turned the information over and over, “wait. Planted her here?”

Ashun motioned to the tree Ashtroph had been standing against, “Ashtroph’s mother survives, only in a different form that she was before.”

“The tree. Is Ashtroph’s mother?”

“Yes, for when the tree daemon’s first manifestation dies, it is placed in the ground and grows into great trees. Mayek trea.”

“But, Sidhe live in mayek trea,” according to myth and his crazy elementary school teacher.

“No. Sidhe live in old time trees, mayek trea are sometimes mistaken for old time trees, though I don’t see how even the stupidest people could make the mistake. An old time tree is a type of oak that only comes to sexual maturity after several hundred years and only produces flowers, and thus offspring, every twenty or so years after that. A mayek trea can flower several times a year, even in the middle of winter,” Ashun muttered, “Old time trees produce nuts, mayek trea produce a velveteen white fruit that in an older age was so precious not even kings could afford it.”

“Well if the daemon all died out and…” Durth trailed off, motioning to the tree, “you can’t tell me that that was once a living being.”

“Trees are living beings, even the ones who were not once people,” Ashun’s head cocked to the side, “if your definition of what is living and what is not is a being whom you can speak to and receive a coherent answer from, then not even Ashtroph counts as living.”

“What?” Durth looked to Ashtroph, there was no reaction in those bright green eyes.

“Ashtroph cannot communicate via verbal or mental means. His only mode of communication is pheromones. Those invisible chemicals that people give off, that people can only understand in an unconscious manner.”

“So, he’s still living and breathing, I can see him-”

“Ashtroph does not breath.”

“Oh.”

“Are there any other definitions of what makes a person a person that you would like to try.”

“Intelligence, even I can tell he’s intelligent.”

“Most people are so retarded that I’m surprised you can dress yourselves in the morning.” Ashun retorted, “but if we ignore my own thoughts on your ability to comprehend intelligent thought. What of those that are not all there,” Ashun twirled a finger by her temple, “where do you draw the line of what is and is not alive, what does and does not deserve to live?”

“People deserve to live.”

“People? Look around you Durth, you are standing in the middle of a huge grassy plain that was once a sprawling city. The water that comes up from the ground will not be useable for four of my peoples’ generations, that is nearly a thousand years, because your people, the ones you think deserve to live, poisoned the land and themselves. Why do people deserve to live? Why did the Sidhe deserve to die? Why did my brothers and sisters deserve to fall to keep the people alive? Why should my children not take precedence over a race that has already proven they are incapable of ruling the world without destroying it?”

“Well…”

“Perception dictates one’s reality. In your reality people were abused and deserved better. In my reality it is people who were the abusers and the world, the animals, Mother who deserves better. Whose perception is ultimately right?”

“Yours.” Durth muttered.

“Why do you say that? If my perception was right, if you believed my perception was right, then your perception would be my own perception.”

“Well. You are the pregnant female of a race well known for tearing people limb from limb, therefore crazy lady who can kill me is right.”

“I am right, not just because I could kill you,” Ashun shook a finger at Durth, “but because in I believe in looking after the world on which we all live on. Without the world we die, without us the world thrives until another intelligent race arises.”

Durth considered for a long moment, “in that, I can agree. That belief that keeps the world alive will keep us alive. But a person. Intelligence.” everything was getting garbled about inside his head and he wasn’t even entirely certain what his original idea had been.

“There is no clear, concise answer as to what intelligence is or what makes one person correct above all others,” Ashun murmured, “but personally I believe a person’s intelligence is seated in their own capability of realising that those around them have every right and reason to believe that their own self and their own race is the correct and right race. That the choices each person makes, to that person, is the correct and right and proper decision. Intelligence means knowing and understanding what separates the races.”


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