Beginnings

Having not written in three days I was quite surprised that what I wanted to write was Beginnings. Usually my first thought is Aftermath.

At the end Noshern talks about how a few days of not doing something undoing what you've done before. If you suffer from any sort of anything, bad leg, bad hip, bad shoulder, or the such that takes daily work then you may have experienced this. Having a bad leg myself and having something to take that stops it from paining me, I know what it's like to forget a day or two and then not be able to function from the pain.

I can't see Noshern adding that warning unless he suffers from a bad muscle or some such. He's usually very much a "just do it" kind of guy.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




Vera and I argued a great deal about the tree incident. I shouted and cursed her for making me hurt the tree. I told her all sorts of hateful things for prying into my life, for making me face my own memories, my own fears. All in all, I was a young, foolish boy. I would see the same reaction in boys I pulled from slave markets, the more abused boys who needed to be pushed least they never face their own pasts. Vera very calmly accepted my words and my annoyance and anger, all the while quietly allowing Erit to get closer to me. When I needed to get away from her, when her silence and calm façade finally got to me, I would go in search of Erit and swear and shout around him instead.

The immortal woman often set a new member up with an older male and female and sat back to watch what sort of relationships bloomed. Many became a family unit, mother-father-child. My own was a bit more complicated. Erit took on the role of teacher, mentor, friend and the possibility of something more. Vera began as saviour and mentor but shortly became friend and confidante. Whenever I broke down, she would be there.

And on those rare times Vera breaks down… her people call me from wherever I am and I drop everything for her.

Time passed slowly in the temple for those first few months. Lessons and my screaming at Vera were an everyday happenstance. The people of Vera’s temple became so accustomed to my swearing and screaming that they seemed not to hear at all by the time Noran arrived at the temple. By the time he and his group arrived, Vera was shouting back.

Our fighting escalated to the point that as Noran arrived, I called Vera something absolutely horrible that I dare not repeat. Vera and I had been walking towards the greeting area of the temple, for notice of visitors had arrived and we were going to welcome them. As soon as the words came from my mouth, I knew I had crossed a line, I knew I was in trouble just by the look on her face. She grabbed me by the back of the neck and squeezed hard enough that even I, knowing that I could not die, did not try to escape from her grasp. Vera dragged me through the temple, apparently going to throw me out, literally, and tossed me as if I were a rag doll. I struck the ground and felt things in my body threaten to break as I bounced and landed at the feet of our visitors.

In times of great emotion Vera and I both have the ability to call on extreme feats of strength, speed and agility. We do not measure up to a Sidhe, but the boost is usually enough to escape the situation.

And apparently a pissed off woman can reach that emotional level quite easily.

Vera, no doubt, knew that Noran was on his way. She was also fed up with my anger and annoyance. There was more than enough intuition and intelligence in that head of hers to put two and two together and figure out how to settle me down and get me back under control.

Noran looked down at me and blinked several times before he adjusted the straps of his bag, “second time I’ve found on your belly and in trouble, boy. What has he done, Vera?”

“What has he done?” I snapped back, leaping to my feet, “why do you take her side? I’m the one being tossed around like a rag doll,” I turned towards Vera as I continued speaking, “when I’ve no idea how to defend myself!”

“You’ve power,” Vera jabbed a finger back at me, “and if you’d have the balls to use it, maybe you wouldn’t be defenceless you ungrateful little bastard. Noran, you’ve given me a brat, take him back.”

“He is daemon.”

“I am not daemon!” I shouted at Noran.

The ground rumbled beneath my feet in response to my anger. Noran’s people looked about, concerned, as Noran gave me a look that stopped all emotion. The leader was having none of it and was quite used to dealing with overly emotional young men. The difference between Vera and Noran was that Vera had more than enough time and patience to deal with a young man. Noran had a much shorter lifespan and was not going to waste time mincing words.

“Enough is enough, boy, make your peace with Vera and be done with it. It’s either her or the world and the people and the people will eat you up and spit you back out for their dogs to chew on. None of them care for you or for your wellbeing. The only person who will look out for you above all else is standing behind you and you are building a wall between the two of you. Make your peace.”

“I don’t want to,” I grumbled, “she-”

“Doesn’t matter what she said or did, make your peace.”

“I-” all words abandoned me as Noran gave me that look again. I lowered my head and submitted to Noran. The man had saved me and treated me fairly despite all else, “I’m not a daemon.”

“That’s not how you make peace.”

I made a sound at the back of my throat and turned back towards Vera, “I make my peace with you.”

“And if he argues,” Noran said over my shoulder, “bend him over your leg like you keep threatening to do to everyone else who comes through here.”

“Everyone else is not him,” Vera responded quietly.

“That patch on the back of your head’s gotten larger, boy,” Noran stepped around me and smiled at Vera, “and your eyes are almost completely purple now.”

“Purple?” the word came out as a squeak.

Despite her promise to find me a polished surface that I could see my reflection in, Vera had not followed through. Between the lessons and my screaming and swearing she became distracted and had lost track of time or the promise or something. I still had no idea that my dark brown locks were changing to the more familiar blond of the time. Nearly everyone was blond, or at the very least a very light brown. My dark hair singled me out and gave me an edge over everyone else. I didn’t understand that the reason why the people of Vera’s temple could not meet my eyes was because they were changing to a shade of purple that did not normally appear in nature. Rarely a flower might bloom with the colouring of my eyes, but it is a throwback, a recessive gene as civilizations call it.

Vera and I both have eyes that have been described as the same, the purest colour of a very specific colour that was brightened and pulled a person’s attention to it immediately. Under the canopy of our trees our eyes glow, not glitter like a Sidhe’s, but glow. We have no need of natural light under the leaves and branches of our trees, in the darkest hour of the darkest night, when even a Sidhe cannot find its way through the darkness, Vera and I can walk as if the sun were shining overhead.

“Yes, we discussed your transformation when you came,” Vera responded.

“You’ve also gained weight,” Noran added, “that’s good to see.”

“My eyes have turned purple,” I snapped, “purple, and you neglected to mention this fact to me? And what patch on the back of my head? There’s not patch on the back of my… you mean a patch of changing colour. Changed hair colour? What colour is the patch of hair?”

“A beautiful blond,” Noshern stepped around me and looked me up and down, “I would like to check on your recovery, take me to your room.”

Noshern, like many healers, was blunt and straightforward. He wasted little time in making it clear what he wanted or expected from a patient. And he never asked.

“I don’t have a room,” I said after a moment of silence as I tried to comprehend what was expected of me, “I stay with Vera, in her rooms.”

“Down the hall,” Vera said, motioning behind her, “and to the left, third door. You know the way, Noshern.”

“Yes,” Noshern muttered in response, “yes I do.”

Noshern led the way back into Vera’s temple and through the greeting hall. At the end of the hall were three doors on either side, Noshern took the last door and opened it, motioning me in. I stepped into the room and waited as Noshern closed the door quietly. The healer looked at me and then up and down with a look that clearly stated that I was supposed to have done something.

“Strip off the clothing, I cannot tell your condition when there is fabric in the way.”

“Oh,” I didn’t want to strip, but I did because even then I knew Noshern was not going to accept ‘no’ as an answer. When the last bit of my clothing was on the floor, Noshern looked me up and down and stepped closer to me.

Light came in through a trellised wall and many branched candle holders that were all lit. The room was meant to be a reception and inspection place, the candles were lit when a visitor was announced. There was more than enough light for Noshern to see every inch of me.

“Not wasted as you were before, skin has lost its pallor and has taken on some colour. Your eyes,” Noshern stepped up to me, “were rimmed when last we met, with purple around the inside, now there is a ring of your original colour around the outside. Your hair is changing slower let me,” he took one of my hands in his own and turned it over, studying first the nails and then the palms, “Nails were cracked before, now they are whole, two months of growth should not have done that much.”

“Well I am daemon, you know,” I snarled at him, annoyed that everyone called me that.

“No, I would think you are more like Vera than a daemon and she does not heal this quickly,” Noshern responded calmly, “I trained under Vera so I can tell the difference. Others cannot, and others will burn a daemon alive to ensure he is actually dead. Bruising is gone, but that is to be expected. Eating well, I see, your hair, where it is coming in blonde, is of a finer quality than your old hair. Finer, more hairs and silken to the touch. She is feeding you very well, only the best.

“That can only mean that you are like her. Vera would not risk killing one of her own by carelessly feeding him imperfect food. Even your old colour is nicer than it was. Still coarse and a bit like a dog’s fur, but no longer damaged. Oh,” Noshern stopped and straightened, looking at my forehead, “you’ve grown.”

“Of course I’ve grown, I’m a young man, young men grow!”

“Yes, yes, of course they do, turn around, let me see your back,” Noshern made a motion with his hand and so I turned. There was a long moment of silence before Noshern continued, “Healed. No puss, no scar, no mark of your injury at all. Impossible.”

A hand touched the space between my shoulders lightly. For a moment there was no feeling and then pain spread slowly from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. Noshern moved first one arm and then the other of mine but my motion was there. So was the pain of muscles that had healed too quickly.

“How much pain does the movement cause you?” he asked quietly.

“Quite a bit.”

“Then you should stretch gently each morning before becoming too active. This will perhaps loosen the muscles. Short of cutting them from your back so that your body can replace what is damaged, your only choice is to stretch and be diligent about it. Not stretching can result in your muscles ceasing up. Meaning you will lose upper body motion.

“How do I stretch?”

Noshern showed me how to stretch my shoulders and back properly. He told me how to do so and how often to do so. I asked a good deal of questions of Noshern about these stretches and he answered diligently.

I would follow Noshern’s stretching routine for thirteen thousand years, until someone decided I was too strange to be normal, could not pass for people any longer. They knocked me unconscious and tossed me onto a pile of wood and then lit the entire thing on fire. I was laying on my back when I awoke, flames working up and around me. I will not discuss the pain or how I escaped, but I will say that the fire did not damage me too badly. The flames ate out my back muscles and when the flesh healed, my shoulders were fine.

Though every once in a while my back twinges and pains me for a time before going away again. During extremely cold winters, this is especially true. I think that if I were ever burned to the point of ‘death’ my pains would go away for good.

“And in time, you will feel better.”

“Good,” I murmured, more to myself than him. I had been careful with my body since waking from my fever. I did not exhaust myself and rested often when attending to the laundry and making the bed. When I bathed, I did not reach to wash my hair, Vera, no matter how annoyed we were with each other, did it for me. Even as Noshern had been explaining to me how to stretch I was looking forward to the days when I could move without hinderance.

“Boy,” Noshern sighed, “These actions, these motions I tell you to do are not a temporary measure, you will have to do them for the rest of your life. It won’t take a few days for your muscles to ease and change and adapt, it will take years. It may be years before you see any actual results. If you are not diligent, if you miss a day of stretching, your condition will worsen and it will do so very quickly. A few days of not stretching can undo the progress you make over months.”

“I will be diligent.”

“And don’t stress your back or your shoulders. No heavy lifting for at least a year, that’s a year of doing the stretches daily and all together, not a year from today, a year of stretching.”

“I will try not to hurt my back or pull a muscle.”

“At least you didn’t tell me you wouldn’t. Most don’t have the courage to admit to a healer that they cannot predict what will happen.”

“My mother taught me not to lie.”

“I’m sure she did,” Noshern murmured quietly, “come, Noran’s boy hasn’t stopped chattering about you since we told him we were coming here to speak to Vera.”

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