In a very few moments I had gathered my wits about me and I had gathered my grief as well, for the understanding Hybrids have of emotion differs from that of Triggered Rogue. Since that Eve of Convergence, Hybrids not only experience and understand the cold logic of emotion, but now and also - the pain of a deep empathy of emotion in others.
Something happened during the alignment to the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction of these half-Rogue/half-Wild beings at the extreme, opposing end of the damage it caused in those who had been Fully Passed. Our findings are such that, it cannot be called damage at all, but along with failure at having caused damage to their memories it rather mutated that memory into the photographic. And ever since that night… our Hybrids have become Empaths as well.
Added to the myriad gravitational phenomenon that the planetary alignment caused in every being on the planet, the ancient mental connectors have been awakened within anyone who chooses to go the way of the Stone: a thing - which might be referred to as pain. Because of this Hybrid's extended level of empathy, exposing any level of deep grief over the loss of my much loved courier, were I to allow it to flow, would be a cruelty and I had no wish to harm him. He had come to speak his report to me and had risked his life to bring me the courier’s EverBlight - for this dust, in particular, was of great value to me.
Once I had accepted the tin of dust, he asked for permission to speak, which permission I would not hesitate to grant to him and gladly so, for no Hybrid speaks without necessity.
And so he bowed, and so he spoke:
“Purple, my love, I retrieved this tin from the ground where I had scratched a small hole and then buried your courier’s remains as I awaited my capture, for a captive I was about to become – and by your One, my love, even the King himself. I knew this EverBlight, in particular, would be of great value to you.”
My stomach jumped at hearing this, as the Hybrid knew it would, and he allowed the moments he and I would need for the both of us to bear up under my feeling of dread at hearing of His Majesty again, so soon.
To fill those moments of silence, that would have otherwise been uncomfortable, I asked him his name and at this, he bowed once again, this time eloquently so, and removing a make-believe hat from his head, he swooped the floor with the thing. In a grand gesture he went down on one knee and remaining so, he said, “William. My name is William. But you, my love … and only you… may call me Bill.”
Love: to feel it more fully and completely than any other being on the planet, as do the Wild, or to never actually feel it again: to go the way of the Stone; or to refuse and triggered to Full Rogue -this is the choice that every Hybrid must make. Love: regardless of the return of it or the unrequited pain of the thing… retaining the ability to feel the truth of the emotion itself… had seemed the logical reasoning behind the choice of going Stone for this One.
He would not only expose this love of his by speaking of it before us all throughout his report, which the law of the Council decreed he must chronicle, he would also feel my return of it, or he would learn of my lack. He would recount also, I knew, of his capture and his time, chained together with His Majesty in the dungeons for 10 days. His capture was the choice he had made rather than his other option which, in his logical opinion, was nothing except that which would expose me to danger.
Wisdom spoke to me then of our needs, we three, to be out of the unfamiliar territory that the living room had become and she spoke to me alone of a basic need to escape the shrieking that the perfect pitch of the soft flames was screaming into my psyche. Retreating from the discomfort that the flames sang out would, Wisdom whispered, help me to regain my balance once again.
To be loved by a One… is to be completely loved, fully loved and permanently loved, by that which is beyond human comprehension, for Hybrids are the only beings left alive whose tones have the capacity to blend with and to merge with those of the Wild. Once their affections are conveyed and accepted by a Hybrid’s intended, that One will give up his or her life to protect the object of that affection. A Hybrid may die while their love continues to live on. However, should their loved one cease to thrive, so does that One die as well.
****
Jewel waited by the fire, toning with fire song and mutating the mood into that of something more pleasant and Bill, a beautiful being from the inside out, followed behind as I made my way toward my comfort place.
Long and dark, with a bit of gray here and there, his hair was neatly tied back in his customary way and, at first glance, appeared to be cut short. But this night, those twin braids that began at the front seemed to hold together the evening’s state of our minds as well as they would hold back his cache of hair.
He was large, healthy, male, not heavy, not thin, but muscular. Although his wrists were thick and his hands defined him as that of someone unafraid of hard work, he was gentle of touch. Always the gentleman, he was also gentle of speech.
I had learned much of William throughout my isolation, by the way of the updates that had made their ways to me by homing pigeon. Through the snippets of Intel that these links - ever so frequently - carried to me I knew that just hours before full alignment had taken place William was ordered to surround me with his protection by His Majesty. But until tonight I had never seen him. Neither had I known that I had been encircled by this rock of such fortification that anyone who wished me harm would achieve nothing but the dashing of themselves to pieces against him before making their ways through to me.
Before the beginning of this new slot of that thing we used to call “Time” I had been sporting with the girls in our customary game of darts, in that little bar, in that little town. On that night, in that place where newcomers were always well and quickly noticed, he made the most of his uncanny gift of remaining unseen by those he wished to be unseen by. And on this night, I learned that all of those girls were gone, and that the only two survivors from that civic, were William and I.
On that night, His Majesty was William’s King as well as my own, and he had borne me over a vast distance to his King once it had begun - and we humans had fallen unwitting. One month later William carried me away from a man, no longer king, away from his punishment of me and away from his wrath, which had rendered me unconscious – bearing me then over a vast distance of another sort - to those few of the Thorning Purple, to our Elemental, Jewel, who knew the ways to Aubergine: who possessed the ability to pull into the Conscious Green. And here, with all tenderness, they cared for me.
Once I was well enough to hear such things, they told me all that he had gone through to ensure my survival as he brought me to them. And for this, I loved this One as only the Wild Human can love on account of such devotion.
I accepted these moments and while William stood silently by, leaning slightly although never off guard, against the trunk-turned-doorpost of my tree-friend who had decided to grow into the arch of my doorway - shoring up my ceiling there – having long ago rooted himself in some unknowable place beneath the red stones of the floor.
He was a masculine tree and had chosen as companion - that ancient philodendron who plotted her own route by any and every map that my tree-friend had decided to use. And she grew all about him. And she rooted with him there.
I was explaining these beings to William as I paused beneath the arch they made, and I passed him by for my favorite mug of my favorite tea, wrapped in my favorite comforter: an afghan that my girlfriend had crocheted for me in another life, another form of time.
The air seemed cleaner or fresher perhaps, beneath and around them – the lovers. I could breathe when I was near them because somehow they made it easier to breathe. I had placed one of my rockers near them just to sit and enjoy the act of simply breathing beneath them and I had also placed a certain pillow nearby so I could grab it easily when I needed to sit Zen.
The lovers made me feel safe and I wondered about it so often that I had turned it into another of the research questions I enlisted in order to stave off the boredoms of long periods of isolation: “Is just me or do the lovers have the same effect on any others: Hybrids; Triggered Rogue, Troth-Plight; Shuai-Jan; the Loathsome Fringe; Breeders; Elementals; The Vague; EverTame; Feral; and others Fully Wild?” And I asked William then - did they make him feel the same way too - while standing beneath them like that? For, before the Elemental's group had arrived I had been completely alone in the Conscious Green and had no way of knowing.
But the important question that remained at the front of my mind was that of certain ability, which The Fully Wild possess, and those also with the Wild half-cells of the Hybrid.
There is a place that is called: the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction. It’s above and behind your right ear and it’s a very important brain region. It’s a special place because it is a brain region whose only purpose is: - thinking about other people’s thoughts. Concerning that place, there is an ability called: Trans-Cranial Magnetic Stimulation, which magnetic pulse only those Fully Wild and also the Hybrids, are able to replicate and then telepathically pass through the skull, into that small region of any brain but that of the Elementals, and temporarily disorganize the function of the neurons in that region.
It was for this reason that I wondered whether my unexpected nervousness was from within me or was the Hybrid implementing a particular skill that accompanied this telepathy, as he uncrossed his arms, raised them up over top of me and taking hold of a heavier branch of the arch, leaning himself into them… and smiling.
His eyes, clear, blue, silver-lined eyes, looked up to take care that his hands, which were firmly grasping the arch, did not harm my old friend’s garland-love. He gently shifted his overhead grip, and then shifted his sentinel cares back to me. And at this, the first time of many times I would lock eyes with him, the very nature of this One immediately sliced very cleanly and very clearly through that special region of my own brain and he made himself very much at home within every part of my mind.
The song of the fire tuned with the silver around the gray of his eyes, melting it into that of the softer sides of that metal, and it seemed to me that he could see clear through to the back of my head.
In answer to my inquiry the Hybrid said, “Yes.”
*******
The kitchen floor was also of red but differed from those reds of the sitting room. These had been laid and then coated with something that brought out each of the hues and, around all sides of each brick corner, a tiny, round, emerald green, stone, somehow ran. Coated with something that brought it all to a high sheen, that which should have glared merely glowed in its reddish sort of way and those scheming greens, each organizing their surrounds, gave it all more the look of a landscape that some enlivened mind had fired and melted into a solid, living, whole.
I approached the counters where I kept my tea things. These were all of marble and also green but of different hues that matched perfectly. There was an island/counter of the same and above this were the wrought iron racks, where my copper things for cookings hung. It felt beautiful in here and always warm. From this room the world outside went away, and along with that world went every feeling of confinement.
Rusticity camouflaged technology: the wringer washer - behind a double set of pantry doors; wooden whiskey barrel – a trashcan atop the incinerator, which burned it all away. Smoke was pushed and pulled through a filtering system: pulling a bit of carbon dioxide into the greenhouse to be inhaled by the jungle within; pushing the rest to the jungle outside. Gray water was pulled through filters also, and then pushed back into the outlet of the pool to flow once again fresh and pure, into the spring where it had its source.
The deep, double sinks were of black granite, which also glowed clean. Next to this, to the right, was the stove. It had six burners and the even heat of its fires was that of one of the natural gasses that were created by another of our life-systems. The double ovens had been installed side-by-side, over the stove. Behind and above these, hung the vent that bore the odors of my cookings away, but first filtering every lovely aroma, or every botched, burned, stink away for, Rogue and every other creature out there … still retained the sense of smell and we had no wish to thus lead them here.
****
As I resumed my comfort beside Jewel, positioning my feet upon the rabbit skin next to hers, she began stopping the cold away from them by the warmth that engulfs every being fortunate enough to be favored by the close proximity of any Elemental. William waited for the inevitability of my being so comforted and, as I sipped my tea, my grief lifted for just a little while and it was then that the Hybrid began his report.
“Purple, my love, if I may be so bold in addressing you as such, I begin my report in the accustomed manner: with that which my own eyes and ears have seen and heard to be true; and I will end it with a recital of a personal message to you from Aubergine….
And so he began:
“Once I had borne you away from the king, he was confined to the Dungeons. Because of your report to the authorities of his attack upon you, one of the King’s Troth-plight accompanied by another, gained entrance to your encampment during those two days, and these two washed away your blood, which the King had spilled while you lay unconscious throughout his abuses of you. These two burned all evidence of his attack of you. For this reason, after two days the Rogue Court tired of the King’s tears and the True Court was by the lack of this piece of evidence and deceived also by him for he does, of certain, seem very sincere. Hence, they one and all ordered his release.
Although, after I had swept you to safety, the King’s Guard had summoned all the King’s ministers and those who thought themselves nobles in order that you may be investigated and discredited before your Judge, their investigation of your history only served to prove your valor.
Feeling intrepid the King then, very unwisely, laid open his secret plan to your Judge, strongly urging him to rule in favor of your total destruction, which would have won the King the destruction also of the Thorning Purple entire, as well as all who support you who reside in this country.
However, this far-seeing Judge listened intently to all that was said by the King and also by your own Wise Counsel who spoke for you in your absence and the Judge took to heart every word she spoke. In his wisdom, this Judge recognized the truth of her words and of the other evidences, which supported all that you reported to him previously, and by ruling in your favor – he ruled against the King.
While you lay healing here, your Judge then ordered that your One, the King, be cast into the dungeon for 10 days in recompense of his abuses of you, beginning at a time, which the King’s Defense and your Judge would agree upon.
It may be of some small comfort to you, to know that this Judge censured the King very severely before the Court with his promise of a much longer internment under lock and key, should the King defy his ruling of No contact. Thus, the King was sorely defeated behind the Bar of that Room, albeit much less severely than he would have been would one of his Rogue have Judged between the two of you and much less severely than he will suffer by my own hand because of his abuses of you. For I assure you… our paths will cross, his and mine.
But here now, I will speak words that will be of great encouragement to you, my only love, for I perceive that your heart is made heavy by the extent of your injuries and your mind struggles in its search for hope.
Upon the hearing a Call to War from the King, many of the inhabitants of the land have disregarded such a thing. Wild Humans, the Tame gone Feral, Elementals, the Vague, all of your Generals, and even those Untriggered Rogue; Hybrids all - who are newer friends to the Thorning Purple, have refused to side with the King in his war against you. Many also, who make up the Judiciary, refuse to support him in this endeavor.
They are not afraid of him but regard him as a lone individual of exceeding low intelligence, who is contrary to the popular good will of the people, even to his own people as well as our own Thorning Ones, who turned away the envoys that carried the King’s demands of them. The Thorning Purple ran them off empty-handed and completely disgraced. These, live on even now, as we speak.
Thus goes the war: On the side of your One, the King there are troubles without and within. There are no signs of abuscade or of sudden attack and nothing that betokens the approach of infantry, but only that of the dust of the parties that have been sent to collect firewood: the enemy is encamping.
Our Converted Spies report, that the King’s authority is weak: sedition is afoot; the men are weary and nervous; and the King is in a condition of dire distress that his soldiery will not be submissive to him and, unless submissive, they will be practically useless.
At the time of this report, I have ordered our own soldiery to simply concentrate all our available strength, keep a close watch on the enemy, and obtain reinforcements. Although I do not make light out of this persuasive and deadly opponent, I do not overly concern myself with the prospect of capture by the King as I continually exercise much forethought.
There is much love, loyalty and respect between your Purple and yourself and I treat all with humanity while in training. My commands are habitually enforced and so your army is well trained within the bounds of that happy shrewdness, according to that which Wisdom continually instills in us and, my love….
…none of your Purple complains.
“And now, if it pleases you” he said to myself and to the Elemental, “I will continue on with that which the Elders have agreed I would speak directly into your ears and also into the ears of any that you deem worthy of hearing: direction, spoken into my ears from that which High Wisdom imparts to you from the lips of Aubergine.
“We thought it most wise that I commit her message for you to memory, as the whole of it would be lost entirely were it delivered to you as ashes, mingled with the ashes of another tin box. For, had I not retrieved your letter to your Judge from the courier’s boot and hidden that document in his ashes before I buried the tin, none would have understood where we are positioned in this skirmish without the knowledge that your letter had not arrived at its intended destination.
“As for my report of the dungeons, while chained with the sniveling King, this I shall report to you tomorrow after all have had time to rest from our journey. For tonight’s report, let it be enough said that Jewel and the Wild had come upon me after I made my escape from the King, just as they were leading the Breeder, the new Hybrids and the Wild to Aubergine to be judged before they were brought here to you. Had this not been the case I would have not known the way of the pull into The Conscious Green for, Aubergine and the Elders must needs judge me as well before I am allowed entrance.
Once judged, I was granted permission to be pulled in as well and so, to you who are much loved by many, I do hereby, officially, recite from the lips of Aubergine herself…”
“…against my will, my fate,
A throne unsettled, and an infant state,
Bid me defend my realms with all my pow’rs,
And guard with these severities my shores.”
My Dearling, Purple,
Word has flown to me by the wings of the bird that, through Providence you have escaped your constant companion, your One, the King. I write to you from a strong position in my Keep, as you live within The Conscious Green and remain, guarded well, as you continue to heal and to cleanse these sores that for long had festered.
Today, as always, I speak to you from my heart, as one who has been right where you are: as one who identifies with your situation; to teach you the ways to get back up from places that seem to be too low to rise from and to tell you; because I understand you, that I love you.
To you, even thus held I say: take heart. You are not alone in how you feel. I have also looked like a fool for love. We have all looked like fools for love and for our dreams and for the adventure life has to offer. You are not alone in this for, even our Princes of old declare that, however wise one may be it is no more than ‘but the scanty wisdom of man that, on entering into an affair which looks well at first, cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it.’
I tell you truly, there is no element of poison created that can bend the hue of High Wisdom into any other thing than those things Highly Wise. There is no poison that contains any element possessing the ability to hurt any aspect of the hues of your sincerity, of your strictness, of your benevolence, or of your courage. Neither is there poison in allowing yourself to disappoint another in order that you become true to yourself…and thus, to live.
There is poison only in the betrayal of your own soul, would you have allowed your selfhood to continue to burn slowly away in the fires of the true nature of your One. For your One exudes the poison that had kept you reduced to your previous extremities: more oppressed than the penniless; more scattered than the homeless; without head; without order; despoiled; torn; overrun; enduring every kind of desolation.
Our Sovereign teaches that love for our enemy is in no wise poisonous, but the poison freely partaken is the self-betrayal of loyalty to the barbaric nature of those whose sole purpose always incontestably escalates to become the source of very death. Such is the nature of this poison.
Dearling, do not allow these betrayals in your life to become a poison to you but rather, be you opened by them. Do not shrivel away from the pain that lies at the center of your own sorrow. Do not close yourself off or hide from your fears, however justifiable for, “Fear is nothing else but the betrayal of the succors that reason offers. And the less the hope that lies within us, the greater do we esteem that, which vexes us great.” Understand that, by the word of our Sovereign, I bid you to embrace reason.
When fear is your enemy, it is human nature to run from it, or to wrestle with it. But embrace reason and fear will no longer betray but rather, the vexations of fear will flee from you. Take a firm hold on the succors of reason. Never fear to hope. Never forget who you are or that you - are a Wild Human. For I need you now and I call you to task.
You are so named for The Master and Commander of peculiar lifeblood, which is that hue appeasing to the veins: it is that color of a vehemence that is unconditional; undying; unfading; and it is unquenchable. Neither can it ever be bent or divided into that of a different hue. It is that true hue which was hidden within the blood of your spirit as surely as your body was knit within the womb.
Thus, you must speak without ceasing to The Thorning Purple, Wild Humans, the Evertame and Feral, and to all those who remain, in such ways as I instruct you now. Bid them henceforward:
“Take notice of our Tame ones; Prisoners held and, in consequence, Slaves to their constant companions, just as we once were – their Rogue loves, male and female, – who seek nothing but to injure them on every level imaginable. Make ready to harbor them, to minister to them, to give them shelter. Prepare to give them rest and time to heal, until they once again, as have we, found the people they know themselves to be, until however long a time it takes for their courage to return to them.”
Sing out strongly to those weak ones, and gently to those strong, without ceasing to Thorning Purple all:
Speak thus to them, Dearling:
“Bear up all Humans captive, for I must speak to you plainly now and in truth: Your escape and thus, your deliverance is of no avail, which does not depend upon you, yourself. You only are reliable, certain and durable, that depend on yourself and your valor. And never forget this: You are so strong.
“Remember that Providence provides to each of us the approach to that which it demands of us. This is opportunity! Therefore do not allow it to pass, for you at last see your liberator appear:
“Your liberator is within you.
“Do not fear this truth for here speaks the voice of reason and thus of courage! And if your hues do not yet equal those of Thorning Purple, at least they will savour of it and I promise you…
… it is enough.
“We will receive you with love, with a thirst for revenge, with stubborn faith, with devotion… and with tears. My door is open to you and my Thorning Ones will not refuse you homage for, to all of us - this barbarous dominion stinks.
“Gather your courage now, and gather your hope, and undertake this enterprise. Know that there is nothing but fear, jealousy and the prospect of punishment in the heart of your warder, the One of your experience, male and female alike. But on the side of Purple there are the laws, there is shelter and the protection of friends and the State to defend you. Indeed, the very Universe grows tense in anticipation of defending you!
“Although the popular goodwill toward us grows, nevertheless those Trothplight attending the King and Rogue one and all, continue to be so rash as to conspire against us and thus, against the State. But whereas in general those conspirators have to fear before the execution of this plot, they have also to fear the sequel to their crimes; because once the State is through with Rogue on account of these crimes the males and females alike will then have the people also for an enemy, and thus your captors will become the captives without hope for any escape. With my own eyes I have seen this happen… hence I have a great hope for your escape.”
Remind them, Purple, of our Wise One who said, ‘Never let any Government imagine that it can choose perfectly safe courses; rather let it expect to have to take very doubtful ones, because it is found in ordinary affairs that one never seeks to avoid one trouble without running into another; but prudence consists in knowing how to distinguish the character of troubles, and for choice to take the lesser evil.’
“Understand me well: you must be the general in command of your own life and of your last end, for once you realize your Wild nature, or once you go Feral, and you will, you become the bulwark of the State; if the bulwark is complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is defective the State will be weak.
“And so, you must be stronger than you think you can ever be so that the State may be strong on your behalf. You must rely on yourselves and on your nerve and also use this force offered to you.”
Find the ways to help them, one and all, to see that when one is designing to hit the mark of escape, which may yet appear too far distant, to first learn the limits to which the strength that their bow will attain.
Teach them to take aim much higher than the mark and give them every assurance of this truth: with the aid of so high an aim, all are able to hit the mark one wishes to reach.
Ever shall you remind them that all that is owed to one’s fortune is found within opportunity, which will bring the materials to mold into the form of any circumstance - which seems best to each for, without this opportunity the powers of mind would be extinguished, and without the powers of the mind the opportunity would come in vain.
Give to all the following words, allowing each to choose their good fortune or folly:
“We hold for you the opportunity of many helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules. The circumstances are favorable at this time. Modify your plans for escape from your One accordingly. However, be advised that it is a common defect in man not to make any provision in the calm against the tempest.”
The tempest draws near to them, Dearling, of this you need have no doubt. The King, all Rogue, and every of their Trothplight feel it: all those who dissemble; those pretenders who are so simple to see through. These, one and all, male and female alike, are able to deceive only those who will allow themselves to be deceived, those few whom they are able to curb with ease in so many ways and only for the reason…
…that they well understand this side of mankind.
They and their King are pillagers of property and are violators of women, and thus they dishonor every people. Hence they have caused their kind to be hated with perfect hatred.
What a very rare friend indeed, to keep faith with any such as these! Malcontents one and all! And as soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent you have given him the material with which to content himself. The mind of The Thorning Purple is a place of confusion to minds such as these.
The King has decreed that his Trothplight shall call it ‘talent’ to slay fellow-citizens, however, it is written, ‘Man injures either from fear or hatred.’
To deceive friends, to be unfaithful to them, without mercy, is to be without religion. Although such methods may gain empire, never do they gain glory and so, the friendship of any such as these is contemptible and they are hated.
I will ask no more of you at this time than this additional task, my Wild One: Compose with the writing of your own hand, sealed with your signet, and carried by courier to your One, the King the following challenge:
“Never again shall we, the Thorning Purple, bow to you. No longer will we remain in your Darken places. For my armies, The Thorning Purple entire, are Warlike. And my attack of your state shows itself in that, my army has prevented the concentration of your forces thus; I force you to work individually and in secret.
“I have overawed my opponents, and your allies are prevented from joining against me. And so, I am loved by both the people and by the State.
“Indeed, I challenge you: Gather your army. Show yourself. Attack me.
“You will not because you cannot for I have broken the teeth of your Shuai-jan.
“You believed that new benefits would cause your elite to forget your old injuries to them. Because you are without discrimination you have erred in this choice and your injuries to me will haunt you forever. This is only the beginning of your ultimate ruin.
“Because you are ignorant, the confidence of your imagined soldiery: that of those with whom you surround yourself; those who, to your face, call you ‘friend’; - is shaken.
“Your supposed army: weak friends who sympathize and then tell me your every word- is restless and distrustful of you and trouble approaches you from these places, which you have left unguarded.
“You have failed to conceal your mind.
“You know this.
“And you show this by the wanton guilt in your laughter as you attempt to avoid the ravages of my war upon you. By this, you blunder in that you have brought anarchy into your army of cowards and now you have only put off - to my advantage.
“Begin collecting the stones for your funeral mound, for you - my hated enemy - have flung your victory away. I am close to having exterminated your leaders, I am turning your partisans into friends, and very soon now…
“I will forage upon you.”
Dearling, expose the Rogue entire to all - by public post, these descriptions:
“There are six dangerous faults, by which assessments you may, by all means, make certifiable identification of Rogue – male/female – alike:
(1.) They are a reckless race, utterly unconcerned about the consequences of their rash extravagances. Give them opportunity, then observe as they self-destruct.
(2.) They are cowards at heart, which fear leads them into capture. Put this to your test of choice and bring them under a capture of your own choosing.
(3.) They are hasty in temperament, which weakens them by making them susceptible to the provocation of your insults. Insult them and if you haven’t already experienced this temperament… prepare yourself for their wrath.
(4.) Their honor is terribly delicate and therefore, terribly sensitive to shame. Slur their honor and watch as they try to prove it.
(5.) They speak deceptively with those in their encampment, which exposes them to worry and trouble. Give them cause to wonder as to your loyalty and watch as they defeat themselves by their troubled minds.
(6.) They reek of Saturant: the EverBlight of those they flay alive.”
And to all - post the following:
“Speak but seldom with these stupid Ones; for sand and salt and an iron mass are easier to bear than the stupid. Be not the companion of a brute; beware of such a one lest you have trouble and be spattered when they shake themselves; turn away from such a one and you will find rest and not be wearied by this lack of sense.
For you, my spineless Ones, have the potential for Thorning Purple… Evolve.”
To the Shuai-jan, post:
“Because your predominance has been brought about by force …. ever will I distrust you.”
Purple, speak with boldness thus to all:
“My Sovereign dictates that the footsteps we shall leave to be followed shall be as compared to one of those raging rivers, which as when a flood overflows the plains; it sweeps away reefs and buildings and bears away the soil from place to place.
“Everything flies before it.
“All yield to its violence, without being able in any way to withstand it.
“Yet, even though the nature of my Thorning be such, the nature of that defeated king is such that, when the weather becomes fair, he fails to make provision with defenses, with barriers, and with canals so that, when we rise against Rogue again and again, our waters might pass them by and our force would be neither so unrestrained nor so dangerous to them.
“So it happens with fortune, which shows her power where valour had not prepared to resist her. “Thither she turns her forces where she knows that barriers and defenses have not been raised to constrain her.”
And finally, Purple, your signature shall ever be:
“I am Purple Van Winkle and I am a Wild Human.”
“On behalf of our Sovereign you shall say:
“To The King: You. Will. Cease.
“To the Shuai-jan: Bite me.
“To the Spineless: Evolve.
“To the slaves and prisoners: Escape is at hand! Come to us! Do not go back!
“To the Tame Newly Feral: Take up the Purple.
“To all my Thorning Ones: Hold! - yet a while longer.
“To the State: I covet your underpinning.
“To all: In War: Resolution.
In Defeat: Defiance.
In Victory: Magnanimity.
In Peace: Good Will.”
****
At some point in the recital, Bill had seated himself on the rabbit skin and begun cradling my feet ever so gently in his callous hardened hands, in order to empathize - and to mingle the heat of his own with that of the Elemental’s. For the prospects of the challenges presented to me to overtake were one and the same with those also I must overcome. Both had begun me to shiver with the usual apprehensions of being up to the one, and with the other usual excitements of Battle! And both prospects were cold.
But as I contemplated the precepts and the concepts of every of that day’s events and every of that eve’s words spoken here on this night, my mind began to be at ease, with my mind resting upon the shoulder of an Elemental and my feet elevated in the lap of a Hybrid and with every soul I was responsible for cradled within the folds of the safeties I could afford. And although this evening’s news had brought about anything but the meaning of the word Peace to plan out from within that pinpoint of quantum heaviness, which was called The Conscious Green, we three sat at Peace, for indeed “Peace”, was the song that the warmth of the fire sang out to us all.
There was more to be spoken but it could go without saying this night and wait until the morrow, for although our hearts beat in agreement with one another, the differences and half-differences the alignment had caused in us, dictated to the minds of our mingled races that each of us process these new matters of record in our own ways. Be they new ways or ancient, they were primal ways, all.
And so it was agreed that we should sit a while for tea, and then retire, to continue on with this discourse after we broke our fast in the false light of that thing we refer to as “morning” within deep of The Conscious Green.
…to be continued…
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