ROLEPLAY

#35 Zo’ro-Argh

Dear friend Fey-lin,
I’m sorry I was away for so long, but I had to check on something. You will forgive me when you understand. I give you here my hopes and theories.

I’ve known Tepsen for quite a while and just as Krill does, I have the same clan name he does. I have always suspected he was family to me.

He says he doesn’t believe he was, but I’ve often had the impression he protected me.

You may remember the first few meetings of the N’ASA, when I kept on appearing and vanishing while attempting to decypher some of Tepsen’s notes. I am under the impression he keeps an eye on me, and also that he keeps an eye on some of us. You realise what it means? We try to make him come, to find him, but he’s in fact besides us whenever he wants to. How can he be invisible, though, I do not know.

On the other day, when we were at the marauder camp and I’ve realised things weren’t going our way, I’ve just followed my instinct and tried to distract Kigan and his people so you could find the best strategy. I was relying on Tepsen at the moment. I think I was right. I wonder if I’ve been usefull, I hope I was.

Of course, I think you will understand that I can’t tell you anything more about it. I will have to add, though, that I do not have to fear any kind of torture there is. Any kind there is.

#36 Fey-lin
Once in Pyr, by the Kami’s grace, Lai-poko, Xiao-mei and Fey-lin prepared to travel to Zora. Fey-lin requested a few moments to rest and send a letter by an izam. Xiao was curious, but didn’t seem to be suspicious. Once the izam was on his way, the three hominas took the road.

In their path lurked no unforeseen trouble before the jungle’s backdoor to the desert. However, the other side was an altogether different story. Fylish (the Torbak) and Kipuckas barred their way, but didn’t do so for long –or passed their way without seeing them.

Skirting Desertstock by the south to avoid getting too close to the goo, they entered Zora and soon met with the Amazons, who have already gotten there by their own means.

They went to the bar, where Fey suggestet that Xiao had a taste of Pe’Psy-Coka, drink that she accepted to taste out of curiosity. Everything was fine.

Fey’s letter was asking for a remedy, made out of purified sap by the Kamis, the same kind of potion Lenja the demented was taking to help her fight the Goo infection she was subject to. The barman gave it to Xiao, who couldn’t tell the difference with Pe’Psy-Coka.

After a serving, Xiao felt ill, her head aching. Fey-Lin was observing her with attention.

Xiao : I’m under the impression two people are warring through my head… I don’t feel irght.

Fey-lin felt slightly uneasy. Nobody knew what were the Goo proportions that went into that drug, but they thought it would be less tan what was inside Lenja’s body, so the Goo could be eliminated by the homina while the effect was suspended by the remedy. Would the rest of the components of that mixture keep any noticeable effect? Fey was wary of that, especially since no one else knew what was happening inside Xiaomei’s body. Slowly, memories were starting to thug in Xiao’s mind.

Fey : Remember, you are in Zora. Concentrate on this place. Fuulao ké.
Xiao : I’ve been… a long time ago. Before I met with a scary Tryker.
Fey : We learnt about5 it, too late, alas. We couldn’t reach you before…
Xiao : Before what? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
Fey : He brought you to the Verdant Kingdom. Don’t you remember following him on that road?
Xiao : I remember a pink mist… lots of pink misth.
Ingfarah (just coming in the bar at that moment) : Pink misth…?
Fey-lin, nodding : Yui, you came close to the Goo and its… vapors, is that it?
Xiao (stomach churning) : Yes. He was so completely obsessed with the goo. I think we passed through the Grove of Umbra. He needed to meet with someone in the Lakes.
Lai-poko : Who was it?
Xiao : I do not know.
Fey : Could you see him?
Xiao (holding back her tears): Yes, from afar. He was a Tryker, I can’t say anything else about him. I don’t understand. What did I do to him to deserve this?
Lai : Nothing, XIao. You’re not guilty of anything. He’s a mad criminal. What he did to you is just unfair.
Xiao : Yes, but he’s still running free. He can do it again, anytime he chooses to.
Fey: Him? No, he was murdered. This Tryker he met, he’s still unknown.
Phao-zhu : He spoke of his daughter to a MacFay.
Xiao : No, that is impossible. He was behind me in the camp, the other day. You’ve not seen him?
Lai : He would have simulated his death at the hands of Kigan?

Ing : It’s very hard to simulate your own death without making your dead body disapear at some point.
Fey : Wait, you’re talking about you’re abductor, Ba’kyl? Or the one he met in the Lakes?
Zendae : He’s been immersed, I think, following the Tryker funeral rites.
Ingfarah : Xiao… your abductor was behind you when we came for you?
Xiao : The one who brought me to the camp, whatever his name is, is still there, Ingfarah.
Fey : But… Ba’kyl had testified he did it… I guess he’s the Tryker the kidnapper met. The real one is one of the marauder from the Black Sap (Sève Noire)! They persuaded Ba’kyl to surrender in his place, to be captured. That’s why they killed him, so he wouldn’t break and say it. But how could they convince him?
Xiao : The drug…
Lai : Ba’kyl was brittle, unstable. The marauders are expert manipulators.

Xiaomei put her face in her hand, shook her head. Fey-lin comforted her as well as she could.

Fey : You have family here?
Xiao: No, nobody.
Fey: We’ll take care of you. We need to make sure whatever you took has no more effect on you. The best would be for you to stay under observation, close to a healer. Did they tell you anything about what they gave you?
Xiao : They told me it would wake me up… and it made them laugh to no end.
Ing : It just sounds like the Black Sap itself.
Fey (focusing on Ingfarah) : What do you know about the black sap?
Ing : I know that I spent the eight years of the swarm on the bark. I didn’t get to security with all of you through the rainbows.
Fey : It means you spent that time with that marauder clan, doesn’t it?
Ing : Not really. If I had done that, I’d probably have drunk from that sap, and very few can come back from it. All of the Tears (Larmes) stayed behind during those years. We fought at the side of the marauders when we had to retreat into the Prime Roots, but staying with them until the end probably would have meant we’d have ended up being part of them. The Tears ended up treading their path alone in the end.
Fey : You chose wisely. I had hoped the loss of Ki’yume would have made the black sap vanish to, but it seems they still need and use it.
Ing : There are reasons for which so many of our numbers turned to marauding. Some of us never came back… entirely sane… from those height years of hell.
Fey : I’m sorry.
Ing : You shouldn’t. I say how things were, I’m not expressing regrets.
Fey : I am sorry because all of the corrupted souls become a danger to Atys. Tell me, maybe you know some Trykers who are part of the clan.
Ing : Acour, for sure. Osrik. Most of the clan is of Matis birth, I have to say.
Ingfarah’s lips twisted in bitter, slightly angry way.
Ing : Ezek. But this one is a recent acquisition for them. The other two are old timers –from before the swarm.
Fey : Why did they let you go, XIao?
Xiao I remember a conversation. They said I’d be of use to them once back among my people.
Fey : I guess it means they were planning on feeding it to you again once you were here. You’ll need to stay here, in the city, where we can protect you. There is no place where you can hide forever, but there are means we can take to help you hide. Stay close to a healer, learn what you can of his trade. Grow strong, but don’t grow lonely; cultivate the company of people who can and desire to protect you.

They found her a place to stay, new clothes, and as close to a new self as they could. Fey-lin went home to prepare some chaï, for her and Xiao-mei.
Looking at the slaveni leaves slowly sinking in the scalding hot water, she thought of what Xiao had said, and what she could figure out of it. She brought a cup to Xiao, honneying it a bit, then came back to write a letter to Luth MacFay.

#38 Xiao-mei
The Jungle… its mysteries, its secrets, the mystical feeling one couldn’t help but notice floating in the air. Xiao was happy to be back among her people, even though her tormentor’s shaddow felt like it had the substance of reality.

A few days earlier, she had met a few troubling people. It all started with that Zoraï with the weird name… Kyo-shin Zamurato. What did his parents think about when they named him? She decided his name would just be Kyo. He told her he’s been hired as her personnal bodyguard, but had refused to give her the name of the one who had hired him. From the moment they met, he followed her everywhere, day and night.

The Young Zoraï kept on training like nothing happened until a second Zoraï, just as weird –or even weirder!-, came by. His name was Krokwai and he told them he was the leader of a local tribe. They talked together for a while and very son, he told her he had secrets to get rid of the poison. She couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering if there was something to be learnt from that homin. She decided top lay dumb, to entice him to speak, and simulated interest in what he had tos ay. Flattered by the homina’s interest in hiw chosen subject, Krokwai told her about the remedies his Clan had invented and proudly showed her a vial.

Xiao-mei’s sap froze in her veins. A purple vial. She did her best not to show how scared she was, asked if his tribe occasionally sold those to strangers. Krokwai told her it never happened, that you had to show yourself worthy of it. Xia attempted to learn more of it, but didn’t manage to. This knowledge was for members of the tribe only.

The homina was thinking about how she could pry the details out of him when a third Zoraï walked up to them. His gait was proud and tall, an ironic smile hovering at the corner of his mouth. Just then, a Matis lady who was close to them joined the group, obviously unhappy with the presence of the last of them.

- Who are you? What are you doing here?
- They call me the Devourer of Hope. Nice, isn’t it?
He turned to Xiao and asked her :

- Do you remember me, Xiao-mei?
- No. Should I?
- No, it’s just perfect like that.

She was in way over her head in such company. The Matis was demanding the newcomer leave the Jungle at once, and the Devourer of Hope was demanding that Krokwai never approch Xiao again. Krokwai was lost, and the more he expressed his loss, the more threatening the newcomer became and the more twitchy the Matis became. Xiao was the unwilling spectator of a show she just didn’t understand, trying to follow the developements from behind Kyo’s shoulder –who just wouldn’t accept the possibility of an unobstructed path between the Devourer and his charge.
Placid lake becoming quicksilver, the Matis assailed the Devourer of Hope… who dispatched her effortlessly. Kyo turned to Xiao and shouted :
- Run! Now, to Zora! Quickly!

She didn’t need him tos ay it twice. She went as fast as she could, glancing once behind to see her probably hopelessly outmatched bodyguard doing his best to protect her… to protect the young Zoraï who felt like the harbinger of chaos.

She hid close to the entrance of the city. Close to people, close to guards who could protect her, shivering in fear, listening to sounds she could only imagine. Nobody seemed to have pursued her.
She decided to come back and check on her protector… hoping he was still alive, and now happy he’d been there.
She found him slightly wounded, but still in one piece… mostly. The other one was nowhere to be seen.

The day had been a tad too harsh for her taste. She had to tell Fey-lin about it. Her wisdom would guide her, and maybe she knew of some of those people.

Xiao-mei lay on her bed, looking at the roof, thinking on the events of that day. The bodyguard surging out of nowhere, the master of poison, the protective Matis, and that terrific Devourer of Hope who seemed to know her, but that she didn’t remember.
There was a strange attraction to the powerfull presence of the blue fighting machine. But that isn’t something she’d tell Fey-lin. She wouldn’t like it.

#39 Krokwai

Krokwai was finishing the repairs on his armor, bathered from an unfortunate encounter that left him quite biter. On a day the Amazons didn’t see him, he had to be caught by Spinah and a torbaks pack! Well a pack… the beast was huge anyway. At least as huge as… he shook his head, prefering sweet oblivion to hard memories.
He had work to do. There was the prospect of a new recruit. And he knew he had impressed her! He nearly managed to convince her to join right at first, that much was clear. Without those bothersome interferences, she’d be one of them by now. He scratched at his mask. What was that big Zoraï’s name again? The one so full of himself? He said something that sounded important, but Krokwai couldn’t remember what.
Anyway, a new homina into the tribe could count as another of his accomplishments, but he would have to make sure there wasn’t too much trouble between his hominas. They’d all want to be with the chief, it was just normal.
Suddenly, he wondered if it was such a good idea to give Ilaho a mission such as keeping an eye on that particular potential recruit.
Putting on his armor, he took the road towards the Kipees mound and ended up at the Giant’s Hand without really understanding how. « They should build some roads in that mekking jungle! » he roared. And then, he ran, because Spinah was around.