Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Old Mother River

[Adrian Moss]

The River called to him. It always did. She was the source of life everywhere he had been, or read about. Now the mighty Congo called to him to share in her knowledge and Epoch spanning wisdom. Rivers endured.

He sat down on the banks, one foot sinking into the brown depths. She pulled on him ever so slightly and that made him laugh. She would pull on him as powerful as she was because she knew she would win. She always won and it was the game that made his life worth living. Shaman stood up and got ready to jump in when the clouds darkened somewhat and a few rain bursts fell across the city. No one paid it no mind. When your King was the Lord of Thunder, you accepted such things as a fact of life. It was warm, after all, and they could all retreat to an air conditioned shop, or home to lounge in the luxury that more than a decade of peace had brought.

For Shaman, a storm meant something else. It meant a family member was angry about something. Due to the size of the storm, it was more likely that they were miffed, than truly angry. When the storms were in your blood, you came to understand such thing. If our Father was Einherjhar, and your Sister Morrigan, you also learned these things. Shaman called upon the winds and moved rapidly toward the palace. He was tracked, but his passage was become normal enough now that he wasn't given too much attention.

He landed near the palace, and a servant came forward.

"My Father?" Shaman asked.

"Meeting the Ambassador from Bolivia. Something about Uranium quotas."

Shaman thought. An Ambassador meant either clear skies or thunder, not this minor disturbance, which meant ...

"Lady Morri?"

"Near her quarters, last time I heard, ... Shaman."

"The man had wanted to call him 'Sir', but Shaman was having none of that. He was who he was. Nodding to the man, he took off once more and sought out his sister.

'Remember this time, don't blow up her skirt ... or look down her blouse.'

'But ... they're so nice ... and round ...'

'And sharp and long and lethal!'

'Maybe she won't notice?'

'And maybe being dead won't hurt much.'

'Point.'

[z-The Morrigan]

Tahir was under the bed. Supposedly, he wanted to be there, and his posture, slumped in sleep, supported that belief. But Morri could smell the anxiety rolling off her furry friend – anxiety she was causing. The Blood Queen was in a bad mood this morning.

She didn’t have to be but she was letting herself be annoyed. It was the circlet. Ever since the morning she’d met Sakura, she’d been aware of new powers. But they weren’t from her; they only worked when she wore the circlet. Not for the first time, Morri wondered what it was made from. It appeared to be crystals carved into small bones, bound together with thin strips of tendon. She’d found it in the Crystal Caverns, deep in the bowels of the Primal Lands.

It was odd, to have access to more powers. The thunder rumbled again outside, reminding her why she was unamused. The red-eyed nova had been struggling all morning to control the weather directly. To date, her changes to the weather had been from emotional disturbance rather than any conscious control on her part. Now, her attempts to gain control had been… well, the only word for it was failure.

With a snarl, Morri resisted the urge to throw the circlet across the room. She needed to be patient. Like Ein was eternally patient, always showing her nothing but consideration and care. Morri drew a deep breath and released it. Under the bed, Tahir shifted slightly. He’d told Morri that he didn’t like it when she used the circlet; according to him, she smelled ‘funny’ when she used it. He hadn’t been able to explain further, and she hadn’t been able to smell what he meant. Privately, she was sure he was just being silly. Males often are silly.

With a sigh, Morri carefully rearranged the skirt she was wearing, fanning it around her crossed legs. In a rare fit of fashion-consciousness, she’d wanted to wear the broom skirt today, along with an off-white blouse trimmed with lacy flowers. It was cute; a little flower-child, but cute. Taking a deep breath, she started to concentrate, only to jump at the knock on the door. A lightning strike started to build, only to be dialed back by something else. Probably Einherjar; he was willing to allow her some practice but not the kind of practice which caused property damage. It was annoying to be restrained, especially by a man, but she was more irritated because she wasn’t trying to make a storm at all!

“Come in,” she called without getting up to check the door first. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead and waited to see who was interrupting her.

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman walked in, neither happy or sad, but oddly ... content for someone so recently tossed around like an emotional kick-ball.

"Hey Morri," he said with more familiarity that was most likely proper. "I find this place" he waved his arms slowly around," ... I'm looking for the words ... static, built, impermanent. I mean, the gardens are nice, but ... well, they do what they're told, instead of what they want to do. Does that make sense?"

"I'm not used to this. I like things uncomplicated, wild, ... alive by no one's will but their own. I'm sure all this building and press of people has its place and its purpose. I don't begrudge it that, or man's nature."

The young man looked perplexed.

"It's not for me though. This will never be home ... not for my soul. I like my own head, and my own will, and the freedom of the living, breathing life that doesn't care who I am, or whose Son I am, or even that I am a nova ... because I'm small compared to her, and I'm just fine with that."

Having gotten all that off his chest,

"I'm going up-river for a day or two. No agenda, no goal. I'm going to feel the flow of the river, feel the vines in my hands as I climb they biggest tree I can, and do whatever else catches my fancy. Want to come along?"

'It will be fun! You, me and a million mosquitoes.'

'Heh ... sounds like summer on the tundra to me.'

'Point.'

'And having her get all sweaty and wet has nothing to do with this? Right.'

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri was quiet a moment, weighing the pros and cons. On one hand, it was a chance to get away from the mind-killing frustration of trying to figure out wind-walking. On the other, it was with Shaman. It was nothing against him; he was a male and young. He was also pack. Family. Whatever. Ein might want to call her his daughter and see the three of them as sisters, but in her heart, Morri knew they were just her pack. Close enough to family that she didn’t have to tell Ein that he wasn’t her father; that she wasn’t his daughter. She wasn’t really sure what he’d do if she said that. Probably just nod and say, “Okay.” It wouldn’t so much as phase him; nothing did.

“Alright,” she said, rising to her feet in a fluid move that left her skirt floating down around her legs. Turning to Shaman with a smile, she said, “Let’s go. Tahir, wanna come?”

Shaman’s eyes widened when the massive form squeezed from under the bed like a golden nightmare. “Yes,” the lion rumbled in Feliod, shaking dust from his fur. “It will be good to get out and have some fun.”

“He’s coming,” Morri told Shaman, stretching with so much force that she rose up on her tiptoes. Shaman couldn’t help it; his eyes went to the bottom of her shirt for that tantalizing sliver of skin so briefly revealed. “How are we getting there?”

[Adrian Moss]

'Don't look! Don't look!'

'Yeah, and ask for the Moon and the Tides too.'

'Okay. Just a peak.'

'...'

'No comment.'

'...'

'...'

'Sorry. Busy, now close the door.'

Morri's news seems to really make Shaman happy.

"Get there?" he laughs, "I guess we'll run. I can fly to keep up, I hope can keep up."

He drifts out with a the casual grace of fish swimming in the current.

"Frankly, I was heading out of town when I thought of you ...," giving a nod to Tahir, "you both. I decided that sometimes is nicer to have your own laughter echoed in the deep places."

He looks to Tahir,

"Admittedly, I'm more bear in temperament, than wolf, or human."

When they reached the garden, he spoke again.

"Maybe on the roads you can tell me tales of your experiences. Mine you might find a bit mundane."

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri blinked and looked a bit confused. "Like what?" she asked.

"What like what?" Shaman asked.

"What tales?" Morri clarified.

"Like the tales about your history, what you've done."

"I... don't know why you'd want to hear about that," Morri said. She crouched a little and said to Tahir, "On my back, please." The lion grumbled but clambered up into position, his fore paws draping over her shoulders while his hind claws dug into her side. The sharp claws that could rend rock didn't seem to hurt her as she looked at Shaman and said, "You fly. I'll keep pace."

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman took blissfully up into the air, spinning slowly about, arms outstretched. When Morri and Tahir joined him,

'FREEE!!'

'They aren't with us.'

'Huh?'

'Not - flying.'

Shaman glided back toward the ground, somewhat shame-faced.

"Stories ... I like stories because they are all connected. For instance, your story doesn't end with you and me today. It will continue into tomorrow and has it's roots in what has come before."

'How do I say that we never stop growing without sounding totally bonkers?'

"My story doesn't begin with Einherjar. It lives through him, but goes on before him, it touches the lives over everyone around him, and reaches out beyond my ability to see. Stories are living things that will go on forever, or at least until the last living thing dies in this universe."

'Of course my story may well end in the next few hours.'

'FREE!!!!'

'Sigh ... yeah, we know.'

"Tell me one of your stories, Morri. I want to hear about any part of your life you are willing to share."

Shaman barrel-rolls,

"But the best thing about stories is that they are ours. No one can learn from them as well as we can learn for ourselves. In the same way, your story has the ability to shape mine, and all the stories that I will tell for all my time."

'And I really want to learn.'

'Do you think she'll understand that?'

'Not sure.'

'Why don't they make a handbook for this?'

'They did. Morri ate it.'

Morri had to consider the fact that this boy was plain crazy. He certainly made less sense than a boy of his age ... but if he was telling the truth, and wasn't crazy, then he really looked at the world in a very different way.

[z-The Morrigan]

What was Shaman’s best speed in the air was a slow jog to Morri; she had no trouble running, even with a mostly-grown lion on her back and “My story starts with Einherjar,” Morri said stubbornly. She completely understood what Shaman was saying and she logically knew that she was being pig-headed. However, being pig-headed was something that she was good at – which Ein could attest – and she was unwilling to even admit that the time in her cage might have been of benefit somehow. To her, all that came before Einherjar found her was suffering – not a story but a nightmare.

“Okaaaay,” Shaman said, sounding like he was drawing on a well of patience, “tell me that story.”

Morri hesitated, then spoke. “I was in the cage. I looked up… it was set in the floor, so I had to look up all the time, to see anything other than the vitrium walls,” she said, picking her words awkwardly. She didn’t appear to have a gift for story-telling. “I remember that Ford had come in with someone… Oh, Ford was the doctor taking care of me. He was part caregiver, part warden. He did it out of fear, but he still did it.” She paused and mentally retraced her steps to pick up her thoughts. “Ford came in with someone, a male I hadn’t smelled before. I was naked and collared, like always. I was sure he was there to hurt me. I could…”

Morri cut off sharply, her throat thick with emotion for a moment. “I remember his eyes, mostly. He stared down at me like he was weighing me.”

“What was he thinking?” Shaman asked suddenly, wondering what his father had pondered upon seeing the collared, naked beauty (which was less thrilling in the context Morri was painting it, despite the promise of abundant cacao skin the image dragged up in his mind).

“He told me, ‘If not me, then who?’ in regards to what to do with me,” Morri answered. She’d never thought about what would have happened if Ein had asked a different question. He hadn’t and she’d never questioned the what-ifs – the what-weres were much more terrifying for her. “I watched him enter the cage without sedating me, which I had never seen. I kept warning him away, but… he was utterly unafraid.” Something warm had crept into her voice as she spoke of Einherjar; Shaman was getting to see her regard for him. “He showed me that I shouldn’t be afraid of him, that he wouldn’t hurt me. Even when I stabbed him, he never hurt me.”

“Stabbed? Our father? Why?”

“Because he told me no,” Morri answered. A smile flitted over her face and was gone. “I wanted to leave, and he wanted me to learn to trust him.”

“You learned to trust, right?” Shaman queried.

“Had I not… I don’t know what he would have done,” Morri replied. “But yes, I trusted him, and he let me kill the men who had tormented me. He taught me to make the price of hurting me too high. Spilling their blood made it easier to keep going after. Vyse and Hatchins. Khatar.”

The feral turned to look at Shaman as her feet fell in an easy rhythm. “Is that what you wanted, little one?” The endearment that Suns used for younger cubs slipped out of her lips before she realized that Shaman might not want to be called that.

[Adrian Moss]

At that moment, Morri realized that in his own way he considered him a little cub, though he couldn't have known the reference.

He flowed around them, bobbing in the waves.

"Thank you, Sister. Now I am a little bit stronger. I know more about my Father. I know more about how those close to him see him, and how he's treated them."

'Don't say it.'

'I have to.'

'Don't'.

"I also know that now you trust me, if even it is only a little bit ... and that tells me something about myself too. I am a little less alone. I am a little bit wiser and you have taught me how wisdom should be used."

He stops and looks her in the eyes, his young face trying to look serious.

"I also now know what is important to me. I will never be my Father, but maybe I understand more about what is truly worth fighting for."

Again, his features lighten and he is just a young man again.

"Have you ever taken looked at one life you've saved? What's it like to alter the current of life? What's it like to be their Salvation? That turning point in their lives they will tell their children and grandchildren about? Your story has become part of them now."

[z-The Morrigan]

"I... don't really know," Morri said with a shrug. "It's nothing I've thought about. It's what I've just done. Wrongs needed to be righted, and they were. That is all there was to it. Nothing more. Ask Ein. He will tell you about it. He's had twenty years to see a life altered."

Before Shaman could push for more, the red-eyed feral changed the subject. "You can control the weather right?" She wasn't sure that talking about the circlet was a good thing; Tahir, knowing where she was going, tensed. Scaredy cat.

"I can," Shaman said.

"Well... I need someone to get the flying part down. I want it to be a surprise for Ein." And he would be surprised. He'd probably be pleased; no more having to carry her if they needed to take to the air. She still remembered her delight the first time he'd convinced her to go flying - the soaring freedom of being above the ground. She'd always enjoyed it, and always enjoyed sharing it with him. He'd enjoy seeing her master the ability.

Why does that matter?

Morri was a little taken aback by the thought. She didn't do everything for Ein, but giving him little gifts that brought him pleasure made her happy. Banishing the errant thought, she smiled at Shaman and asked, "Can you help me?"

[Adrian Moss]

With a slight bow, he says, "It would be my pleasure."

'And we can wrap our arm around her and lift her ...'

'And Stabbity-stabbity.'

'Talk about putting the Ro-no in Romance.'

'Oww ... that hurt me and I said it.'

"Okay, Sis, this is what worked for me. You know how when you run and your foot hits the ground, and it feels like it pushes you back up? Do you feel yourself move the air around you with just your body? It is the same way with taking off. You essentially take a small step onto the wind, and it pushes you up. You feel yourself calling the winds to your side and under your feet. The next step pushes you higher. Five or six steps and you'be cleared a small tree."

Shaman grins widely.

"I missed that lesson: the one that says 'Watch were you're going. I ran into more than one tree learning this."

'That's right. Fill her with confidence in our ability to fly.'

"The point is, you already know how to fly, you just call it running along the ground. You feel the wind, right? That's flying at a really low level. Don't see it as anything different, because it's not. It is just instead of feeling the wind, you are calling it to you. Wind calling is the same mental thinking as putting one foot in front of the other. It really is."

Shaman lands on the ground and demonstrates his technique. Five steps and he is up and spinning back toward her.

"Once you're comfortable with this, I'll teach you how to take straight off from the ground, but one thing at a time."

'Forgetting something?'

'Footsteps, wind, trees ... nope.'

'Sure?'

'Pretty much.

'How about landings.'

"Oh! Landing is pretty much the same way. You slow your stride and let yourself step back down. Enough steps down and you're on the ground again. Don't panic. If you have trouble, I will come up and..."

'Now what Brain-boy?'

"... I'll toss you my belt and lower you to the ground."

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri’s red eyes stared at him for a long moment. He was starting to wonder if she got it at all, but he was starting to learn that his ‘sister’ wasn’t as dumb as her quirks and oddities made her seem at times. She closed her eyes and a gust of wind pushed into the clearing, ruffling her skirt. She missed the way that Shaman’s eyes dropped to her bared legs, looking for skin. Tahir didn’t, and when Shaman glanced at him, he swore that the lion was smirking at him with knowing eyes.

Morri took a step and there was a touch of resistance before she continued through to the ground. She didn’t look dissuaded; instead, she just drew up another burst of wind, snapping her clothing in a titillating way as she took another step. The cushion of air didn’t hold; Morri frowned but tried again and again. Shaman was starting to wonder why she was having so much trouble controlling a power when she shifted her weight into the cushion of air and it held. A grin crossed her face as she put her other foot up on the ‘step’.

Another gust of wind came and Morri stepped higher, her skirt flittering around her legs. This introduced a moral quandary for Shaman; with her eyes closed he could watch all he wanted and he’d have access to more as she climbed higher. But Morri wouldn’t like that, he was sure.

The smell of ozone thickened as Morri continued her climb. Tahir wrinkled his nose against the smell of it as she got more than five feet off the ground. There, she paused and opened her eyes, looking down at Shaman. “So this is it? Can I wind-walk as fast as I can run?”

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman made sure to stay slightly above his Sister, because otherwise might have meant Stabbity-Death.

"That's it, you've got it."

To her next question, he stopped a moment to think.

'Yes, of course it is.'

'That's the easy answer. Think.'

'How fast does she run?'

'How does she move herself?'

"I'm not sure, Sis. I've never seen you run full out before. I think it matters on how fast you focus your energy. It could also matter on how well you control your winds. I've developed a pretty close rapport with the winds I call to me, so I've become pretty fast, but I am in NO way in the same league as Cora - line. She's crazy fast."

'And hotter.'

'And with someone else, no doubt.'

"As you fly more, you will get faster. Each to their own learning curve though."

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri nodded and dropped to the ground. There was a blur of red and she was gone. A second later she was back, offering something to Shaman. The young nova drifted down to pluck a sea shell from her hand. It was empty of life, but still wet and smelled of the sea. Shaman blinked as he realized how far they were from the coast. "That's fast," the young man said, stifling inappropriate thoughts about other purposes for speed.

"I think at this point," Morri said thoughtfully as the smell of fresh rain lingered around her, "that I'd outrun the winds. Which is sad. So for now, flying will be something that is to be a pleasure, not a way of traveling. Or not a way of traveling rapidly." She smiled and Shaman and asked, "Shall we see how high we can go?"

"If you want." Shaman was clearly pleased about teaching her, and Tahir's suggestion from the morning they'd fought wormed its way into Morri's head. With an angry shake of her head, she dispelled it, but it left Shaman looking at her, worried. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she said, summoning the winds. Tahir grumbled as he watched them climb higher and higher. "Keep an eye out. I don't want anyone seeing us," she added with a playful smile. "It must be a surprise."

Again, why? Again, Morri ignored the unworthy thought. It would please Ein, and that was enough.

[Adrian Moss]

Seashells? Holy Crap!'

"Your flying must be a surprise?" He questioned.

'We've got something for that!'

"Stick close to me, Sister, and I'll show you another trick."

He took off into the air, going into a slow lazy spin until he was sure Morri was with him.

"Have you ever been part of a cloud? Do you want to be?"

Morri looked at him with a small amount of curiosity, the honest smile on his face holding no threat or malice.

Shaman reached out and suddenly the winds bore vapors around them and the vapors strengthened and grew thicker until they were totally obscured.

For someone with Morri's senses, it was easy enough to track her brother. He was close, right were she had last seen him. She could tell he wasn't using the cloud of fog to try anything dangerous.

"Now we ride the cloud upwards and away. As long as we move relatively slowly it will shield us from outsiders, and we'll look like some mist once we clear the tree line - almost invisible. We can abandon it when you feel we are far enough way. What do you think?"

[z-The Morrigan]

"This is awesome." Morri's face was creased with a delighted smile. "I have to admit, this makes the fear of falling a little easier."

"I won't let you fall," Shaman vowed, drifting close enough for her to see the determination in his eyes. His blonde hair fluttered around his face; his build wasn't Ein's but his earnest expression and protective aura was.

"It wouldn't hurt me, probably," Morri admitted, "but it's a nice thought." Her smile was still there, still happy and still way too pretty for poor Shaman. The moisture from the fog gave her hair and skin a shining sheen; the diffuse light through the wetness softened her features. So it was a much worse shock when she asked, "Are you always going to look at me like that, or will you get used to being around someone as beautiful as me?"

[Adrian Moss]

'Ah-Snap!'

'Busted!'

"Aahhh ... that obvious, huh?"

Shaman looked away. "Two weeks ago I was living in a cabin up in the Northern woods of Canada, just me and two other people I sort of saw as parents. Sure, I knew what other girls were, but I had no real experience."

He looks back at her and grins, "Than BAM! I run into Coraline, then Epiphany, followed by Bombshell, you, Darrik (damn him), and Sakura. Hell, I've been so dazzled I've probably forgotten a babe or three."

"To make it worse, It seems like I'm the ugliest nova around. I feel like a runt, like people are having conversations that I'm only partially aware of and I'm standing right there, ya know?"

He shakes his head.

"And if that wasn't enough, I think I'm going crazy. I feel like my life is totally out of control."

"So, to answer your question though; I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to look at you totally as my sister. I've got nothing to base any such decision on. Not a clue."

'Atta boy. Play the "I'm Clue-less" card.'

"I'll try. I feel it's important to you, but I'm not going to lie to you about the fact that I look at you and see a beautiful woman. It's the way I'm wired ..."

'For now.'

"I will always try to be honest with you. That I can promise."

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri frowned, feeling unease roll through her. She didn’t like men to call her beautiful, or women, either, really. In fact, she wasn’t sure why she’d just called herself that. “You are not ugly,” she said, grasping on the easiest concept of those presented to her. “You are like Ein – the beauty is deeper than the skin. You are young. Someday, you will be like him.”

She was quiet a moment before shrugging. “I understand that you are not my brother. It is more correct to say pack. It is still family, but there is less awkwardness now. At least, less for you. I am often awkward. I often feel awkward, for poor reasons. I am… working on it.

“But I will not blame you for feeling what you cannot,” she admitted. “We are not related by blood, but by our ties to a man. And I… appreciate your honesty. It means much to me if you would speak forthrightly with me. I am… when I was young, I took things literally. I spoke literally. I still think very linearly, though I have learned to not be literal. Some people understand that, others don’t.”

She sighed as they pierced the cloud cover, the warm sun beating down on them. She was still finding it awkward, but she was slowly getting better. “I think what I’m trying say – rather than forcing family, let us be friends. Can we?”

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman's smile doesn't fade.

"We can be friends. I would like that."

He gives a small shake of his head, adding,

"Don't worry about awkward. When I was ten I was so lonely I tried to teach a Grizzly Bear how to play Checkers. Crazy, I know. Why teach him Checkers when teaching him Chess would have made so much more sense?"

He waits to see if she bites into his joke. He tries a gentle bank, turning it into a roll hoping Morri will mimic this somewhat difficult manuever.

'Flying should be fun. It's freedom for the soul.'

'I wonder if going up to Space feels anything like this?'

'The Song of Freedom is in the Mind. Only we can cage it, and only we can bask in its Glory.'

'You know...'

"Morri, do you have an inner voice? I have mine, and it told me something ... maybe its beautiful?"

"The Song of Freedom is in the Mind. Only the Soul can cage it, and only the Soul can bask in its Glory."

He pauses,

"What do you think?"

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri didn't even attempt with the maneuver, she was still trying to get the concept of going up done correctly. Instead she stepped so that she was matching Shaman when he seemed done with his aerial dancing. Someday, she might be able to do that, but today was not the day for such tricks. She was frowning as she turned to face Shaman again, considering his question.

"An inner voice? You mean like another person talking to me in my head?" There was a slight shiver that passed through her. "Yes, once a therapist used telepathy to attempt to help me recover my memories. That was an inner voice. But what she told me wasn't beautiful." It had been a nightmare;the therapist had talked and talked, trying to get Morri to face the memories of being caged and being raped. Morri had struggled with it as long as she could; when she'd broken herself out of the mindlock, screaming, Einherjar had called a halt to it. Then he'd set aside his duties for the next three hours to hold her and talk her down.

[Adrian Moss]

"Not another person's voice. It is my own voice, but it talks about things on the tip of my consciousness - my perceptions."

'Let me think on this for a second.'

'How do we relate this to her?'

"Morri, it is like a scent you know, but you don't know how you know it ... but it's not scary. Sort of like if you love a syrupy substance, and only after tasting it do you remember that it's honey."

'Was that even clear to me?'

'Honey was a good touch.'

'Yes, honey is good.'

'Concentrate.'

Shaman slowed down and kept pace with Morrigan.

"It never scares me, but sometimes it makes me sad. I feel that it is such a strong force that it will reshape me when ... well, when something happens. I don't know what it is, but I know that how I think and feel now is what I've learned, but not what I am. I never taught myself to fly so much as I let the voice guide me into it. It was like I always knew how. I only had to remember something I had known all along. The voice is like that."

He paused as he soared through the damp air.

"I hope that helps. I've never talked to anyone else about it. Never really had anyone to talk to. I never had someone I wanted to talk to."

[z-The Morrigan]

“I am glad you have someone to speak to now,” Morri said simply. She’d had no one until Einherjar, and for so long, she hadn’t even been able to do that. Now she understood what it meant to be so isolated – and how different it was to have someone to confide in.

They burst through the clouds suddenly, Shaman leaving the concealing fog behind as they reached the open sky. The dome over their heads was a clear, crystalline blue; it was the blue that only birds and fliers saw, the pure blue of the sky without distance or windows to disrupt it.

“I am not familiar with such a voice. What does it tell you?” Morri asked, her expression curious.

[Adrian Moss]

"Hmmm ..."

'How to put this?'

'I'm a nut?'

'Not helping.'

"I think it tries to tell me how things are all interconnected. Things like if I save someone and that person kills another, I'm part of that. Or, if I kill someone and lead another to the path of vengeance, I'm part of that too. I ... we don't operate in a vacuum. The strangest thing is that it guides me to not be moral."

'Careful now!'

"Not that it tells me to act in an immoral fashion, just that things happen. People die. It isn't like some people deserve to live and others deserve to die ... it is that life is life. Trying to impose order on it is ... foolish."

'Is she getting this?'

'Hell, I don't get this half the time.'

"At the same time, it urges me to act, but carefully. I can't be afraid of what I can do, or what others can do. I need to figure out what I want to happen and help myself get there."

'Sigh.'

"All at the same time I am having all these rippling effect on people around me. Honestly, I can't understand most of it most of the time."

Shaman looks at her.

"Maybe it will make sense someday."

[z-The Morrigan]

Morrigan laughed. “You have just described life. But don’t mistake order for direction. You have power untold and the ability to shape everyone’s future. Don’t think that you have to not do it.” She cut off his reply with a quick, “I think all I’m saying is don’t be afraid to dream large, to change the world.”

Carefully, using the winds, she lay back on a cushion of air, her red eyes vying with the sun to be seen in the golden rays. “You are the son of the Storm King. He never dreamed small, and neither should you.”

“What do you dream to dare?” Shaman asked.

Morri was silent for a long moment. “I dream that someday I’ll be healed. While that may not mean much, it seems massive to me,” she said. “It would change my world. Beyond that… I have few desires. Children. A family. Safety and peace. Friends and happiness. It takes so little to make life good.”

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman looks at her with real seriousness.

"You don't ask for much. Children envision a mate of sorts. Raising them requires a family, even if it is a family of two. Safety ... I'm not sure if there really is such a thing. I believe we can become safe enough, but that's not really the same thing."

His smile slowly returns, but it is tinged with sadness.

"I'm not sure about Peace. Can novas ever really know peace? Our power seems to permeate our surroundings and bring trouble to us."

"But, I can help with that, if you'll let me. I'm good with friends, at least with the furry, four-legged variety. Two-legs and I start having trouble."

"Happiness ... good luck with that. I haven't a clue on how to proceed. Let me know when you get there though."

His last statement is half joke, half curiosity.

[z-The Morrigan]

"I do not need a mate, only a male." Even as she said that, she knew that even that might be impossible for her right now. She was working on it, but she knew it'd take time. "I wouldn't need a partner to raise a child, only to start one." With the resources she had at her hand, her child would be safe - as safe as he or she could be. Einherjar would never allow anything to happen to a child of hers, no more than he'd allow it to happen to her. So long as he was around, she'd feel safe enough to try. Shaman was right, there wasn't anywhere that was truly safe. But she'd settle for close enough.

"I do well with animals as well," Morri said with a smile. "I... relate." The two novas shared a smile of complete understanding.

"My happiness... is a long time away," the red-eyed nova admitted. "It frightens me. But it is a goal, and if a goal doesn't frighten you a little, it's not big enough."

[Adrian Moss]

"I'm not sure about goals yet. In the immediate future, I don't want to let my family down. For the long term, I don't know. I'm not sure were my mindset will be. I think power warps perceptions. I don't want to make promises I can't keep."

'Male ... mate ... I think we are misunderstanding each other.'

"I understand the whole mate/male thing. Wolves stick together. Leopards do not. Both manage to raise their young just fine. Just don't pick a wolf to be your male. That leads to sorrow, as a good wolf takes care of his own, even unto death."

'I hope that made sense.'

'The wave breaks rocks even as it breaks upon the rocks. What follows is not the same, no matter how much the Mother River wishes it to be.'

"Just remember, your child will be the result of what you give him or her, along with its own perceptions of those lessons. At some point, we all seek out the parent we didn't have. We want to know the other half of who we are."

'Just like I'm nothing like my Dad.'

'I wouldn't say that. We are both primal forces of a sort.'

'Is one associated with the other? Or, are we our own man?'

'I would be afaid to meet a child raised totally in a social vacumn.'

'Yeah.'

[z-The Morrigan]

The Morrigan sighed. "I wouldn't know a 'wolf' from a 'leopard'," she admitted. "I'll do my best to not use a male wolf when I decide to be a mother." She had time - even as something coiled in her gut warned her that she might not have that kind of time. Morri wasn't sure why she felt that trickle of apprehension, only that it was there.

But would it be so bad to have a wolf either? If she could stand for him to touch her long enough to create a child, then perhaps she could stand to have him around her all the time. A gulf of desire, alien and terrible, ran through her heart. A half-forgotten memory of starting at a young man with desire pulsed through her, cutting like an arrow. Angrily, she pushed the memory away. That was from her other life, the one that was gone. Morri knew little about that girl, but the few memories she had made Morri hate that girl. She'd had it easy, she'd been happy. These were things Morri couldn't be, and she envied her dead self so much for that.

"Power can warp you. Moreover, you don't have a memory of what it is like to be without power," Morri added. "You were born stronger than a baseline and will never be subject to their frailties." She smiled, her expression strangely knowing. "So in that way... you're corrupted already. Right?"

[Adrian Moss]

After a moments' contemplation, Shaman nods,

"You're right, I am corrupted by my ignorance. I'll never have that perspective. It may be possible that I have the rush of something akin to an eruption one day. I don't know. Most people don't seem to think that being human once is a strength. I think it is. You'll have something, a tool set, that I'll never possess. Knowledge is power."

He keeps his calm, friendly expression trained on her,

"It only matters as much as you let it, Morrigan. Sure, the Eagle may have been a fledgling once, but to the fish, all that matters is the Eagle. You are that Eagle. It can pretty much nest were you chose. You may hunt were you chose. You've earned that right."

[z-The Morrigan]

"I don't really have that knowledge either," Morri told him. At his look, she sighed. "I remember nothing of my life before I was imprisoned. I don't know what it's like to be human, either. But I do know what it like to be weaker than those who can control your destiny. In a way, that's what being human is. You are weaker than the beings who move and shake the world.

"It isn't a right that allows me to hunt where I will, either. It was given to me by a fluke of nature that gave me a latent node, then another fluke that put me in Vyse's control to be found by Ein and rescued," she said. "You have as much right as you do, which is to say that fate granted this to us. I believe that what we do with our power is what gives us the right to be comfortable with our powers. If we are abusing others, we have no right to the powers we have, even if we have them. It is when we use them properly, then we have the right to keep using those powers. Of course, some ignore that and assume the right." She paused. "Am I making any sense?"

"I think so," Shaman admitted. "I'll have to think about that."

She smiled at her friend, glad that he was enough like Ein that she could enjoy his company. And enjoy she did, flying with her packmate on the warm day.

[z-The Morrigan]

Edited to complete this; can be archived.

[Quantum Fire]

End of Thread

XP: 2 Standard, 2 Nova