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By Amber Michelle K. and Rune Grey
Within the chaos of the last few months of her sisterhood, the city had been attacked numerous time by foraging bandits. This was nothing new to her; it happened almost weekly now, as food in the plains outside the city became more scarce, driven away by the expanding population. Miang had never been allowed outside during one of these attacks. Maybe it was foolish, and perhaps she should have been more concerned with her own safety, but she was no stranger to battle. Even if real war was only a distant memory, she was positive she would be able to defend herself if the need arose. Making her way across the living room was difficult. It wasn't really a /large/ room, but when one's legs felt like jelly, it certainly did feel like a long trek. The burgandy carpet was too soft, and the furniture - chairs, a few little tables, a nice, embroidered sofa - was too far between to be of any help to her. Walking slowly seemed to help... The door stood open at the far side of the room, just wide enough to allow a slender figure through, and the shouts drifting in from outside seemed to be closer - the battle was drawing near, or people were running. It wouldn't be the first time. The doorframe was a welcome support, once she finally reached it. Maing grasped it tightly for support, her free hand pushing the door open further to reveal the peaceful, windswept street her hosts had the privilege of calling home. Nothing. The cries were clearer if still unintelligable, but not a thing stirred along the cobblestoned expanse of the road. The sounds of battle were growing louder now, the chaotic din that always accompanied the sound of battle. Miang turned slightly, her gaze drawn to the source of the sound as the fighting as if by a magnet. The street, which had been almost empty of life beyond a few unfortunates, suddenly erupted into a dizzying scene of blood and violence. It seemed like a battle that the defenders were doomed to lose. A handful of Nisan guardsmen, well equiped but obviously inexperienced to Miang's eye, were being forced back down the street by a larger group of invaders. She had never seen the raiders before, and never in her wildest dream had she expected to see them this close. Poorly dressed, dirty, almost savage shadows of the human beings they had been, they tore into the guards with a glee that would have had no place in any civilized realm before Deus had risen. Miang couldn't believe her eyes. Somehow, the image of battle in her mind had been cleaner, more efficient than this... and her opponents more than just a hoard of screaming animals. Was this what they had always referred to as the 'sad effect of a lack of civilization'? The fight pulsed in front of her like a dream, a personification of death that only humans could hope to create with their untamed violence. The last guardsman fell with a scream that sent an unpleasant shiver up her spine, and the group of bandits dashed forward toward whatever destination they had in mind, some yelling and dragging wounded comrades along, and others staying behind to pick over the bodies of their most recent victims. A tall, blonde young man too thin for his height dashed to a corpse near her door and shoved one of his companions out of the way, his hands grasping for a weapon. She watched, too morbidly fascinated to look away. She hadn't believed there were creatures this pathetic in the world, until now. It was a longsword he pried out of the guardsman's hand, fashioned partly after a katana with a long, shining steel blade and a curved edge. It was a beautiful weapon, of a kind that she vaguely remembered admiring in the past at some occasion or other. He rose swiftly and darted forward so fast that she hardly had time to gasp before the blade was pressed to the side of her neck, and that boyish face she had admired from a distace was staring at her with hostility burning in his eyes. The raider snarled, shouting something almost incoherently at her as he held her against the wall. Miang flinched slightly, trying to pull away as the edge of the sword drew a hot line of pain along her neck. The blonde young man snarled again, pressing her back against the door frame. Possiblities flashed through Miang's mind involving what the raiders had done to any of the others that they had captured - those that had been found afterwards. None of them were pleasent to consider, the tales that came to mind when you considered the actions of barbarians. This one seemed determined to add substance to those tales as he shoved her again, groping for his free hand for the belt to her robe. She seemed oddly detached, part of her utterly unafraid of what this man could do to her. After all, if this rude little boy had any idea who he was dealing with he would... would... Miang would have shaken her head if she had any room to do so, to try and jar loose that memory. But now... there was nothing she could do, not if she wanted to avoid having her head taken off. The next pull nearly knocked her off balance as the raider finally wrapped his fingers around her belt, trying without much success to loosen her belt with one hand. He cursed in frustration, and was pulling the sword away from her neck to cut the belt away when a loud voice cracked across the the street. The raider jumpd, almost as if he had been shocked, and turned away to search for the source of the voice. Miang tried to back away from the blonde raider, hoping to escape before the raider turned his attention back to her. The raider simply snarled and pulled on her belt again, roughly pulling her back against him. But as he started to pull again, trying to emphathise that she was not going to escape, a hand in a black leather gauntlet clamped down on the blonde man's arm with enough force to rip a cry from his throat. Her unexpected savior hauled the raider away, using enough force to lift the man off of his feet and into the gutter on the side of the street. All that Miang saw was the flutter of a black, tattered cape and a glimpse of a smooth, polished mask before her rescuer turned his back on her. The raider immediately scrambled to his knees, pressing his forehead to the cobblestones and begging for forgiveness. Miang slowly backed into the shadow of the doorway, her eyes fixed on her dark clad savior as he advanced on the raider, the fury in his voice so strong that she was surprised it did not strip the blonde raider's flesh from his bones. The cringing, terrified young man simply huddled on the ground until a single kick sent him tumbling down the street. Fear should have fluttered in her veins, and churned her stomach. Surely any normal person would have been found running in terror... yet she felt nothing but a vague sense of relief that the pathetic bandit was rolling from the cloaked man's kick rather than inflicting violence on /her/. It just didn't seem real; no one had ever threatened her like this before. Not even the lowliest villain had the nerve to strike a Sister of Nisan... Perhaps those cumbersome robes had some use after all. The figure turned from the fleeing man to gaze her through his mask, and she took an unconscious step back, faltering when her back pressed against the doorjamb. Fear struck her then, though not in response to the mortal danger she was supposedly in. The man had saved her; why would he go through such trouble, only to turn around and kill her later? No, it wasn't his intentions that frightened her... It wasn't his mystery, it wasn't the battle raging just beyond her sight around the bend, and it wasn't even a delayed reaction to her close call with the blonde raider. The feeling reached more deeply, rooted in a memory of a sky clouded with ash, and red, and... "You're late again..." She whispered, fingers clenched around handfulls of her robe. He meant her no harm... Why be afraid? "I..." "My apologizes..." the figure replied, his voice deep and rich - certainly if someone else had spoken they would have been a nobleman, or great leader. But instead it issued forth from a polished silver mask, mirror bright in the afternoon sunlight as Miang's benefactor took a step towards her. "I hope that you did not come to harm under the treatment of that young buffoon...?" he inquired solicitiously. Miang stood breathless for a moment before her unexpected benefactor, a nagging feeling trying to crawl up from the back of her mind. It occurred to her that this was a little unusual for a bandit - and she assumed he /was/ one of the attackers, from the exchange between this man and the blonde child - but it didn't strike her as out of place. This was familiar to her, as so many things were - this, she knew, from /somewhere/... She didn't like mysteries - especially when her own mind was the subject in question. And this person... Greatly daring, Miang shuffled away from the wall and lifted a frail white hand to the man's mask. Surely, if she could just /see/ the object of her curiosity... The man stopped, lifting up one hand to clasp hers lightly and in the process keep it away from his mask. "Patience..." he told her, a very faint teasing note in his voice. "There is a time for all things, and I fear that this is not one for revelations..." Her expression must have been a little shocked at that moment, for her benefactor raised up one hand and absently brushed the hair our of her eyes. There was an uncomfortable feeling that he was studying her, from behind that polished mask - but studying her for what? He gave no clues as he stepped away, turning to walk back into the chaos of the street. "Wait!" She started forward, but she was only a few steps away from the door before his quick stride took him around the curve of the street and beyond her sight. A flash of his cloak and a flicker of shadow on the cobblestones teased her, but then they too disappeared, and she was left alone in the middle of the street, robe half-tied and shifting in the wind. //Wait...// But he was gone, and she was alone again. Again. It occurred to her that she was probably better off that way, considering what had just happened, but once curiosity was ignited, it did not die easily, and that man... he was a curiosity. Something familiar in a way that made her shiver both with fear and the wish to decipher the new puzzle that he had presented to her. Or perhaps it was a part of the big picture that she could not fully see, merely unveiled once she had set eyes upon him. Was he their leader? Was he the one everyone whispered about, possessed of such strength and intimidation that he drove the jagged forces of the rebels by sheer force of personality? Miang backed slowly toward the house again, stumbling over the arm of a dead Nisan militia man and almost losing her balance. But she caught herself and backed against the door, finding some reassurance in the smooth wood at her back as she watched the street in a vain hope of catching another glimpse of the cloaked man. Maybe it was just her imagination. After all, the smallest things sometimes triggered that feeling; it was like she had seen /everything/ before, at times, and that simply wasn't possible. She was only human. Grudgingly, she re-entered the house and pushed the door closed, walking across the parlor with a bit more confidence as she headed toward the hall to get back to her room. She might as well rest... the battle had passed, and regardless of how curious she was, it would be no use to 'worry' her benefactors... ************ Golden candlelight, gold as the sunrise was gold, filled the room with its warm glow. Only the very corners of her small room were in shadow, outside of the dim circle of light, full of mystery. The curtains had been drawn as soon as Miang returned from her ill-fated journey outside, and though the sky outside was not completely dark, dusk had crept up faster than she expected. Was it really that long? The clock beside her bed ticked relentlessly. No other sound penetrated the walls; all she could pick up was her own berathing and the tempo of her heartbeat in her chest, slow and lethargic. The battle was surely done, but 'Elly' had not returned, and neither had Fei, or their friends. It really /hadn't/ been that long... The attack had been timed to strike at late afternoon when shops had begun to close, just as it always was when this particular group decided to attack Nisan. Their leader was intelligent... and he was also quite strong, and... Miang pressed her hand to the cool glass window panes, staring at her reflection. Well, he was quite charming. Almost gentlemanly... How odd, for a common bandit, a Lamb... He knew better than to show his face; why, he could be wandering the streets of the town every day, and no one would ever know the difference, unless perhaps they were familiar with his voice. No wonder they always knew when to strike. Yet... despite what she witnessed, he was always pushed back. The heroes of the 'war against god' were there to protect Nisan from harm. Where was his great strength when he faced them? Or had he succeeded this time? It hadn't been /that/ long, true... but for someone who seemed so concerned, Elly was taking quite a long time to return... //"...A freak of chance - an afterthought. Don't delude yourself into thinking you are special. She won't care for your pretense."// An afterthought...? She closed her eyes and let her hand fall. No, perhaps Elly was too busy taking care of the people in the Cathedral - the refugees, the people who really needed to be cared for. Miang didn't need to be under the girl's watchful eye. There were so many more deserving souls waiting for that sunny smile, so why pretend that she was in any way important to these people? They didn't really want anything to do with her, and she was fine now that they were all gone and there was nothing to distract her or bring back such horrid memories. Oh, if only Fei had never spoken to her... A freak of chance - that's all it was. Just chance, nothing to do with destiny or luck or... or anything! There was no puppeteer pulling her strings /this/ time. She had her own will now... she'd proven that by taking a knife to her wrists the moment she woke up in this accursed, familiar city. Something made Miang open her eyes just then, breaking the fragile threads of the world she was creating for herself behind her eyelids. It wasn't a sound, or a brush of air... it was nothing but the unmistakable feeling of eyes upon her back, that prickling of the hairs at the back of her neck that told her she was being watched. And lo, within the depths of the reflection in the window was the wavery form of a young girl, dark of skin and crowned with hair the color of Nisan's pale grass plains. Perhaps she should have been startled... but she knew that face. It was a little different than she remembered, but it stood out clear in her memory, much the way Fei and Elly had been clear when she first set eyes on them. There was nothing behind it, however; no memories resurfaced, though Miang felt she should remember this person standing in the doorway behind her... All she could dredge up was the knowledge that the girl, 'Emeralda', was one of the people whom Nisan had come to call 'savior'. "Elly ask me to see you," the girl stated softly from the doorway. Soft, but strong; it seemed loud compared to the deep silence of a moment ago. Oh, so she was remembered after all, was she? Miang couldn't decide whether that was a good thing, or bad. They could be worried about her safety or simply trying to spy while they were not present... and this was such a perfect spy at that. "I'm fine, Miss Emeralda. Are things finally calming down out there now? Elly has been gone a long time..." The name twinged... Yes, so perhaps she missed the presence of those eyes. Somewhat. Emeralda nodded and entered the room, a mixture of meekness and determination making an unusual echo in her footsteps. Was she afraid, too? "Elly is worried." She tilted her head, piercing with her golden glittering eyes. "Who was dark man?" A shiver seized Miang's spine, quickly suppressed. /That/ was not the question she expected to hear from the girl. Maybe, 'are you feeling okay?' or 'have you remembered anything else yet?' but not... that. No one was supposed to know about... Were they spying on her? Did they really see the necessity to keep her under /constant/ watch? She wasn't a Wel, or a monster that might rampage at any moment. She just wanted some /peace/! After a bit of a struggle, Miang managed to smooth her features and compose herself. Somewhat. "I..." She shook her head, unsure how to answer. The girl wouldn't believe her, and Elly wouldn't believe her... Fei most certainly wouldn't believe her. But she was speaking the truth. "I don't know who he is..." The girl simply nodded, and none of her thoughts on the matter decided to reflect themselves in her face. She reminded Miang of a living statue sometimes... She was alive, and she had feelings, but her features always seemed indifferent to the world. Even in Krelian's laboratorty, she- Miang's eyes widened, and she spun away to look at the window again. Krelian! That gentle turn of the hand, and smooth voice... He was that pretty general that worked for Sophia when she returned from her sojourn in the desert. Such a sweet voice, but sad eyes... Perhaps.... "Elly will be back soon." She twisted around to look at Emeralda, and the girl shrugged with the same lack of expression she had entered with. Was she just not experienced at showing her emotion...? Expression was hard-wired into humanity, but the sisters said this girl was an artificial being - did the same rules not apply? "You really Miang?" How many times had see seen that question reflected in someone's eyes since that first meeting in the garden with Fei? Too many times. How /tiring/. /Yes/, she was Miang. Who else could she possibly be? Her memories were all of being 'Miang', her name was 'Miang'... What chance that she was /not/ Miang? Couldn't they all just go away? If they didn't want to believe her fine, but why keep asking over and over again? All of these familiar faces, just when she had gotten used to this familiar /place/... no more! It was with a sigh that she answered the girl, as she tried hard to keep her annoyance from coming through in her expression, or her voice. Emeralda hadn't done anything to her. It was all that boy's doing, her son... "Yes, my name is Miang..." She turned back to the window, staring out into the darkness. "That is not a very good name to have these days, it seems.." There was a long stretch of silence. She could see the girl's reflection if she focused on it, but she wanted to look out and see the stars. The candlelight was just dim enough that the shapes outside resolved themselves into something other than blobs of black when she tried to pick out different objects: trees, bushes, a firepit in the little park beyond the fence. The stars were hidden from her eyes by conspiracy of the trees and a tall house, but... it was still beautiful, illuminated by the gentle light of the moon. Miang bit her lip, brushing her hair back absently to keep it from drifting into her face. She wanted to be out there walking the streets; she didn't care if the attack was over or not. Nothing would happen to her. She was a Nisan Sister, and people did not attack the nuns from the cathedral - even the bandits had refrained from hitting that part of the city, despite its obvious richness and prosperity. They respected that boundry, and it was only her lack of symbolry that allowed that boy to attack her earlier. Perhaps that masked man knew what she was... if he wandered the city, perhaps he'd seen her before on an errand. It wasn't impossible. Would that mean...? Yes, perhaps he simply didn't want her to know. What use would a mask be, if it did not hide its bearer's identity? Her guest shuffled forward, and Miang's focus drew back to the reflection of the room. Emeralda's tread was heavy on the wooden planks, but she moved with a delicate fluidity that Miang found herself envying, just a little bit. It was the grace of a cat, a dancer, an angelic silver gear in flight... The girl's arms slid around her waist; it was just a quick squeeze, like an affectionate hug between a mother and her daughter before parting, and Miang stared with wide eyes at their reflection. "Not a bad name," Emeralda whispered into her ear before she pulled away. The words were indelicate, but oh... how could she have misjudged this girl? "I go tell Elly you're okay." No one ever really hugged her... not really. Oh, the sisters did occasionally, if someone felt particularly bad... Why, she remembered quite a few hugs when she first woke up, although she was still watched to this day, as if they thought she'd try to take a blade to herself again. Nonsense, that - now that she knew she could, there was no point in tempting fate. Emeralda's steps retreated from the room, and down the hallway. Miang traced the last remnant of her reflection in the mirror, her fingers almost white against the darkness beyond the glass. She wanted to be out there, to enjoy the calming, windswept moonlight. The gardens of Nisan were sorely missed, even though she'd been gone merely a day... Elly would be here soon... perhaps she could put an end to this nonsense and get back to the cathedral. Their attention, their /fawning/, really, confused Miang to no end. What made her so special to them? All she wanted was to be left alone... it was the best she could hope for. Perhaps she could make them understand that. And if not... well, Nisan wasn't the only place in the world with the remnants of civilization... ************ Cool moonlight... it was so beautiful. The cobblestone paths through the park behind Elly's house looked like marble, their flaws hidden by the forgiving illumination of the night. Tall wrought iron bars stood between Miang and their creamy twists and turns, but she gazed anyway, a hopeful prisoner wishing for a way out of her confinement and into the waiting arms of freedom. The star-specked nights of Nisan were always a delight - she wanted wander it and discover every new twist in the mundane townscape, see the side of the city that never showed its face to day. It was a habit she developed after first finding herself in the cathedral. There was no curfew in the quarters reserved for the sisters, although night walks were discouraged now that the attacks from the plains had become more frequent. But no one in their right mind would attack a sister. It just wasn't done. Even the Solarians had more respect than that. Miang padded alongside the fence and drew her hand over each iron bar, hoping to find a break that her eyes couldn't see in the darkness. There had to be a gate, or what would be the point of taking a house near the park? The grass was cool, sifting between her toes, almost feeling wet but not quite, and the dirt dry and dusty on the bottoms of her feet. It would ruin the nice sheets she had been provided with in that room, but a bit of extra laundry wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? Besides, she knew better - washing her feet after these midnight walks had become another habit. At the cathedral, she had to do her own laundry. Ah there - her fingers found a catch in the solid march of bars, and her hands danced over the metal until she found the latch. Perfect. She couldn't resist... perhaps it would not be wise to worry her hosts, but why on earth should she let them restrict her freedom? She was no prisoner, and they had no right to treat her like one. The note on the table would let them know where she was, so as far as Miang was concerned, they would simply have to cope with the fact that she wanted her midnight strolls. Maybe she was spoiled, but even sisters should be able to indulge themselves in /something/. The gate swung open silently - its hinges were well oiled. Did Fei and Elly like evening walks as well? It wasn't impossible - that was how Fei found her in the first place, as ill-fated a meeting as that was. It was an interesting place, this park... For some reason, it looked a little bit more familiar to her than the rest of the city, aside from the cathedral. It was like a grass-covered bowl, dipping down in a gentle curve, with the five houses arrayed around the top of its crest serving as stoic guards. Her feet followed a smoothed path from the iron gate, obscured by the shade of the trees now but extending in a snowy curve down into the grass to the center of the indentation. Every house had a path... they all led to a simple little fountain at the very bottom. It must have been a gathering place; the stones echoed with whispers of voices, laughter... Or maybe that was her memory, something she couldn't quite pinpoint. But it was quite pretty... Sophia's friends lived here. Yes... or so Elly had said during their walk from the cathedral. Perhaps the saint herself had also made residence in one of these houses, when she was not working in the cathedral. It had that serene air to it, of gentle smiles and open arms. Miang's steps caught and she tumbled to her knees with a cry, her reverie breaking into sparks of pain. She managed to stop her headlong fall with the heels of her hands slapping into the cobblestones, but she wasn't sure that was much better than the alternative - it still smarted terribly, the ache reaching into her arms as well. Everything was going to be bruised... more reason for the others to think she could not take care of herself. Slowly, so as not to irritate her hands or knees any further, she shifted aside to look back at what had caught her toes - a crack in the cobblestones, smoothed over with years of exposure to the elements, but still jutting just enough to catch an unwary visitor and teach them a lesson. Someone like herself. Why, she should have expected it. That crack was old, it had been there for years and years. She remembred tripping over it another evening, a very long time ago. What a way to bruise one's dignity as a sister. But that sweet general of hers... 'Don't feel bad,' he had said, while offering her a hand. 'We've all made that mistake before.' He seemed so unsure when he smiled, as if he wasn't used to that kind of expression, although surely around Sophia one could not help but smile. He must have been as melancholy as the blue in his hair, to avoid being drawn up in her cheer. No... Miang cradled her hands against her stomach, flexing them so they wouldn't sting quite as badly. No, but he was cruel too... He was capable of such... such hashness... No. Maybe she shouldn't have come out here after all. It had not been a wise decision. She knew the gardens of Nisan well, but she could not even keep on her own two feet, here. It was an eerie place, full of half-shadows of things she didn't want to think about... not now, maybe not ever. When everything seemed familiar, what did single instances like this matter? No... no, she just wanted to go home... wherever home was supposed to be. The cathedral. Yes... the cathedral. There was a faint sound nearby, the scuff of boots as they scraped across the cobblestones. After a moment a mooncast shadow slipped over her supine form, a cape swirling around her as the stranger knelt down next to her. A hand extended, the glove that covered it heavy with several metal plates festooned over the surface, and the man smiled slightly within the shadowy recess of his hood. The light was just such that Miang could not see his face, his back as it was to the moon in the sky. "Don't feel bad," he says quietly, taking her hand and gently raising her up from the ground. "We've all made that mistake before. You simply must stand and keep walking, and not look back." Same voice, same strong grasp. Like a child she gazed up into that hood, pouring every ounce of energy she had left into forcing her eyes to part those shadows and see the face within. It was a tantalizing and infuriating puzzle all at once; she shouldn't have let herself forget whatever was under that concealing fabric and shadow, and she knew this was someone familiar. "Thank you," she whispered, biting down on her lip and still trying, vainly, to catch a glimpse of something besides the benign glint of his eyes. Also like a child, she had no restraint when she was this tired, this curious; without hesitation, she reached up again for the hood, moving to push it back and be done with the guessing games. With a swift momement her hand was seized, the gloved hand firmly holding her in his grasp. His grasp did not hurt, but he slowly brough Miang's hand to his lips, offering her the lightest of kisses. "Not just yet - be patient," he told her, the smile almost visible in the moonlight... almost, but not quite. "We all make the same mistakes, now as then. Simply be patient, Miang..." With that he stepped away, his cloak fading into the night as moved. The moonlight, far from illuminating him, seemed to swallom him up... Miang stood for a moment without moving, hardly daring to breathe. Her hand fell to her side. She couldn't tell which shadow he was anymore, if he remained at all among the shade of the trees, watching. It felt like his eyes were on her, but it could just as well have been her imagination - another dream. Everything felt like a dream. Maybe he hadn't really been there at all, and it was just a midnight fantasy. But her hand tingled where he kissed it, and she lifted it to the light, clutching it to her stomach. Her palm still stung, too, from her fall. It was no dream. It couldn't be; if she were dreaming, he would have allowed her to see his face. Whoever heard of a daydream where the creator didn't get their way? What a cheat that would be. She gave up on finding him among the trees and turned back to the path, following the pale stones until they led her to the center of the garden. Her reflection in the water of the fountain sat when she did, and stared back at her with a petulant tilt to its mouth when she leaned over to look. Her violet hair glimmered and nearly disappeared against the indigo sky, among the shadows of the still, dark surface of the water. "Patience, he says..." she murmured to herself, stretching a pale hand out to her reflection. "Easy for him to say." Her fingertips touched the silvery surface, and the illusion shattered. Flames are redirected to the Soylent Center, along with their authors... but if you want to contact us, feel free to e-mail us. |