Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Nexus Earth - Chapter 10.5: Soul Searching

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Skye woke up in a palace. For a long moment, she stared at the ceiling of the room, trying to remember if this was her old room at BoneGate. Then the memories eased back into her mind: her husband, the truth about him, Bazaroth – for the third time, finding Kazuo, losing Kazuo and then the battle. “Right,” she whispered and got up.

She’d been asleep for long enough, but she didn’t really feel rested. She rarely did in the days following the battle. Too much had happened for her to feel much of anything. Skye had been depressed before; she knew that’s what was going on again. But for the first time, she didn’t even feel the need to snap out of it.

The blue aura was still around her as she showered; Tsunami hadn’t seen fit to give her back to Luna yet. Skye was almost getting used to it, in a quiet, tired way. It wasn’t a crisis of faith as much as an acknowledgement at her faith was out of her hands.

After drying, Skye put on the Daralaan robes she had found in a house. The outfit was a white dress under a red and black sash. It had ribbons and streamers of cloth and even something that looked like two little bookmarks hanging from the front of it. It actually fit her and though the human found the robes ostentatious as hell, it was better than the shredded blue kimono she’d been left after the battle. The beautiful priestess braided her pale hair into twin French braids, the ends falling over her shoulders. It was a strange mix of innocent and beguiling, and like any look that Skye attempted, she made it look good.

The blonde woman left the palace by back ways; she’d never admit it, but she was avoiding Lily and Kai. Lily because the woman was far too comfortable with what they had done in the Bankai and Kai because… she wasn’t sure why. It might have been that he’d seen her weeping for Kazuo like an addled schoolgirl. It could have been because of the dreams she’d been having – mostly about him. But it was mostly because she didn’t want to see him, not until he was willing and able to send her away. Not until he got her off this rock and started finding Kazuo. Again.

Once she was clear of the palace, Skye relaxed a little. As had become her custom, she had all of her possessions on her. Her whip hung from her belt, while her new sword was tucked into the other side of the obi. Her fans were secured along her back, hidden under her sash. If she got sucked away somewhere else, she was ready to go.

The medcamp was her destination. As always, she got stares. Men stared at her body as she moved; women locked onto her eyes. But everyone looked at the sword. It had been, Skye had found out eventually, Prince Alaric’s, Lily’s brother. He had been the heir to the throne until his death. Some Daralaans had been offended to see her wearing it, but Skye had ignored them. Most seemed to accept it was her due as her hero, and to be honest, Skye kinda liked it.

The members of CRT-4 waved at her as she approached. “Ruri around?” she asked before she could get drawn into a conversation. One of them pointed and Skye followed the finger into one of the buildings.

“Hello, Skye.” Ruri’s greeting was a subdued as the woman herself. “What can I do for you today?”

“I need a favor,” Skye said, smiling the way that always got her what she wanted. “I’ve been magically given pointy elf ears, and I was wondering you’d do a genetics test to see if that’s all magical or if my DNA has been altered.”

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Ruri didn’t even blink. “I have often wondered myself,” she informed Skye coolly, her eyes hiding her true thoughts. “The idea is compelling, that magic can change your base genetic code.”

“Compelling? Try not to sound so interested in me as a lab experiment, mkay? I happen to be really worried about this,” Skye confessed, frowning. “What does it mean if I’m not human anymore? I mean… that schisse is just ficken messed up and I’d really like to put my mind at ease, if I’m just human. And if not, I need to figure out what the Holle I am.”

“Very well. This should take twenty-four hours, given the pressing matters I have at hand.” Ruri turned to a table and took out some instruments. “I will need hair and blood samples from you.”

“Of course,” Skye sighed. “You’re a doctor. Tsunami knows they’re all vampires.”

“Vampires do not consume hair,” Ruri pointed out drily.

“Are you joking with me?” Skye asked.

“No, I’m not.”

“Of course you’re not,” the priestess sighed softly. She rolled back her sleeve and bared her arm. Ruri was good; the prick of the needle barely hurt. Skye endured the blood draw and then the hair pluck.

Ruri examined the end of the hair and nodded. “I have what I need,” she said simply. “Come back tomorrow.”

Skye opened her mouth, but Ruri was already turning away. “Uh, thanks,” Skye muttered before spinning around and walking outside. The sun was high in the sky as the blonde stepped out into the daylight. She tipped her head back and let the warmth bathe her face. Her feet knew where she was going, and without hesitation, they started her on the path.

She was only a little late by the time she walked up the steps to the temple. It had suffered greatly during the invasion and fighting; Tsunami’s blue house of worship was cracked and crumbling. As Skye walked up the steps, Daralaans greeted her, their faces creasing into huge smiles of welcome. They called her name, delighted to see her – she was their priestess and they were her flock. “Morning,” she said, putting on a cheerful smile for them. “What are we doing today?”

“One of the braced walls fell in the night,” a Daralaan named Wiqial told her.

Skye made a face. “The one we thought might?”

“Yes,” Wiqial replied, his short blue-green hair already caked with dust. He looked tired and sad as he added, “Since you weren’t here, I started everyone on clearing the rubble.”

Skye patted his arm. “Thank you.” Together they entered, walking through the ruined building. All over, people worked to save what could be saved; that was the name of the game right now. Later, they would rebuild but for now, what was left of the priceless architecture and art needed to be preserved. Despite knowing what had happened, Skye’s heart sank at the sight of the collapsed wall. They’d hoped that it would remain intact; it had Tsunami’s prayer etched into it. People were already there, picking through the debris carefully. “Alright,” Skye said, pulling on gloves, “let’s get to it.” At her words, the crew redoubled their efforts, bolstered by the living conduit of their goddess.

[z-Skye the Fallen]

They worked for hours, removing piles of rubble and clearing the temple. It was halfway through the day when Wiqial approached Skye, grinning broadly. “Priestess! Priestess! We found something!”

Skye dusted off her gloves and rose with a stifled groan. She’d been kneeling for far too long, picking through the dust and rubble to find jewels and semi-precious stones that had once decorated the walls of the temple. Whatever could be saved would be, and so Skye was picking through the rubble. It was hard work, and sometimes distressing, when personal items or body parts were revealed. The young priestess was so glad for the respite.

Wiqial led her back to the fallen wall. Chunks of stone had been set aside, in lines. Skye frowned at them; it looked to systematic to her but she couldn’t see the pattern. “Isn’t it glorious?” the follower of Tsunami chirped, sounding less like a grown man and more like a child.

“It’s… rocks? From the wall?” Skye ventured, glancing at him uncertainly.

“Rocks… oh, no! You can’t read Daralaan! It’s her prayer,” Wiqial said. “Every word, preserved in the stone, one or two words per piece. None of them fragmented. Nothing lost.”

Skye smiled brightly, despite the dirt and dust on her face. “That is the best news I’ve heard all day.”

“It’s a miracle. We can rebuild the wall, rebuild the prayer,” the man said, his eyes shining. “It gives me faith and hope, just as you do.”

“I’m just Her priestess,” Skye said softly. I don’t even really like her.

“But still. Without you, we would have been lost, Skye. I know you’re only a human, but you are our connection to Her, and you have saved us.”

[z-Skye the Fallen]

The day was long like all the others. Skye and her crew finished when they couldn’t see anymore, the shadows obscuring too deeply to allow them to work. Slowly, one by one, the Daralaans drifted away to their beds. Skye knew that she’d only see a few of them tomorrow; only the core of the faithful came every single day. The others would come once or twice and feel they’d done their duty. Skye wasn’t keeping track; that was between them and Tsunami. She just appreciated the help.

Back at the palace, a hot bath was her personal reward for sticking it out throughout the day. There had been times that she’d considered running away from this task. Skye really hated manual labor and doing it for Tsunami wasn’t her idea of a good time. The fact that the labor left her sore and exhausted didn’t help her want to continue to work.

The sweet heat of the water eased into her muscles, turning her body to warm taffy. “Mmm,” she purred into the room. The sound made her smile, sadly. She used to make that same noise around her husband.

A second after that thought, the tears were stinging her eyes. They were from a couple of things, but they were mostly because Skye missed her husband. Even if he’d been a lie, it had been a good lie. There were very dark moments where she wished she’d never learned the truth, that she could have continued to live that precious lie. Weeping, she sank into the water, hugging herself and hating her life. She hadn’t even found Kazuo, not for more than three minutes, anyway.

Her water was cold before she cried herself out completely. Sniffling, the priestess emptied her tub and dried off, shivering. Then she crawled into bed and shook until she fell into a miserable slumber.

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Skye woke up in the palace again, and again she wondered what she was doing at BoneGate. She wished she were there, because she’d have the blissful time of her marriage ahead of her. It would have been wonderful, to still tremble with that still-secret love and know that she was quietly, desperately happy.

Sighing, she got up and dressed herself, heading for the medical lab again. It was strange déjà vu for her; the members of CRT-4 waved at her again, and once again she inquired about Ruri. She was waved into another building. Here was a break in the routine. The woman wasn’t looking over a clipboard of notes this time but was instead peering through a microscope. “Excellent, you’re here,” Ruri said and that was what passed for a greeting today.

“Hi, there,” Skye said dryly. “I’m fine today, thank you.”

“I must do a full physical on you,” Ruri stated immediately. “I have found some interesting results from your test and I must do more tests.”

“You could ask permission to do the tests,” Skye said irritably. “I don’t have to let you do them.”

Ruri looked annoyed now. “You wanted to know if you were half-human,” the woman said. “And now that I tell you that you are half-human, you don’t wish to know more?”

Skye swallowed hard. It was the truth, the hard reality: she’d been changed by the magic. She wasn’t human anymore. “Schisse,” she spat, sinking into a chair. Her worst fears were coming true. “So… I’m half-elven, now.”

“I didn’t say that,” Ruri said sharply. “Would you allow me to finish, I could have explained.”

“What… what do you mean?” Skye asked, her stomach filling with dread. “Am I saying I’m not half-elven?”

“No. You’re half-Daralaan.”