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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 1:37:25 GMT -5
She laid a hand over his, turning her face into the caress and closing her eyes. "And you me." She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. "I must have done something right enough in my life to have my path guided to cross yours..."
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 1:49:18 GMT -5
Lei chuckled a little. “The fates have smiled on us, my love, and may they continue to do so, to keep you safe.” He withdrew slightly a moment only to brush his hand over her stomach, sadness touching his eyes. “Perhaps someday,” he began softly, “your body may be healed completely, so we may have a third blessing in our lives.” Lei closed his eyes and sighed softly, a light mist clinging to his eyelashes. “Oh Thrade, if only… I wish…” He passed a hand over his face, if only to wipe the sadness from it.
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 1:55:10 GMT -5
Pain lanced through her...it never really went away, though she learned to live with it...at that memory, the child that had been taken from them before it even got a chance to live. "I know..." She framed his face in her hands, closing her eyes and letting her forehead rest against his. She had no indication with her body that it was damaged so badly she couldn't carry another child and she would not believe otherwise until she had proof beyond a doubt.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 2:02:00 GMT -5
Huo Ting kept the soldiers at bay, quietly giving them duties to do, for he saw that the two lovers needed to be alone, but for a few more moments. He saw the sadness between them, and mourned for them in his own way. He turned away, to give them privacy, waving anyone who was taking too long a glance.
Lei wiped at his eyes again with a shaky breath, and managed a smile for Thrade. It was a painful thing, rarely spoke between them, for it would consume them if they let it. Lei tried to make it a point to look to better things, for it made his heart hurt to remember what evil had done to his wife, and to the little one's future. He lowered her hands from his face and kissed them in turn, his eyes shining. "Come, let's get going. The sooner this is done, the sooner we can go home." He smiled then, the smile touching his eyes.
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 2:08:29 GMT -5
She kissed him lightly and nodded, walking by his side back to the camp once they had composed themselves. She wrapped a piece of cloth around her arm as Cezir swept down to join them for a moment, preening Thrade's hair gently as if sensing her mood and comforting her. When they started moving again, Cezir shot up into the air and Thrade followed, her form shrinking, wings flaring out.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 2:13:44 GMT -5
Lei mounted his horse with a face of hard resolution, the mirth fading from his eyes. Huo Ting knew that some change had gone through Lei. That warrior spirit was flaring in his eyes. Huo Ting did not need a second glance, but mounted swiftly, calling the soldiers to move out. The horses churned water as they raced over the fjord and the pace was faster than before. It seemed that Lei wanted to arrive ahead of schedule, but that did not phase Huo Ting. Even the soldiers had picked up on Lei's mood and turned all the more serious. This was no mission led by a pacifist priest, no longer. This was personal.
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 2:21:19 GMT -5
Thrade flew ahead. She could tell as she swept past villages that they were reaching their goal. The people there had a wary look, even out in the fields or traveling. They were tense and watchful, like they were expecting a disaster to fall on their heads. No one knew when a mere disagreement between the men in power around them would turn into violence. It made Thrade angry and she knew it was going to make Lei angrier. He couldn't stand when the people suffered because of greed or pride, especially when it was the greed and pride of one or two people causing it. Didn't any of these men know how to rule following an example? she thought disgustedly. The emperor had twice the trouble and responsibilities and HE wasn't greedy or childish.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 2:34:35 GMT -5
The troop slowed slightly as they turned on a main road, clods of dirt and stone flaying about as they galloped down the worn path, lined by lush green rice paddies. They were round and layered and looked like verdant terraces that climbed the rough terrain that had been ploughed row by row by the local farmers, the country folk as rough and sturdy as oxen. Thrade was correct in noticing that the people here were wary, and many lived in fear, for their very livelihood could be destroyed by the hungry maw of war, their hard work burned by some unfeeling mob with a spare torch. They cowered in fear at the riders, some beginning to run for their homes. It could not be helped.
They slowed again in unison as they passed the verdant fields as the land sloped downwards suddenly into a field where the grass lay trampled in waves. And in the midst of it, the remains of a village lay tattered amongst scorched ground, still smoldering in places. The horsemen decreased their pace, looking aghast at what had been done. Lei raised his hand for a halt, dismounting quickly, and hastening towards the remains of a once thriving community.
This is what he had been dreading most.
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 2:38:13 GMT -5
Thrade landed in the middle of the ruins and shifted back to her true form long enough to shift into a wolf, wanting the sense of smell and hearing for investigating. She folded her ears against her head as she sniffed around. The burns throughout the village had an odd, acrid smell she didn't like at all but couldn't really identify. They were probably using new ways to burn things faster, she guessed. It wasn't unheard of.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 2:48:01 GMT -5
Huo Ting turned and pointed to a handful of men, ordering the rest to stay put. The six of them followed Lei’s path and then fanned out to look for survivors. Lei had a hard lump in the pit of his stomach which turned cold when he walked up to a house and saw that the door had been bound shut. He turned abruptly to look at the neighboring house and saw the same.
Lei reached out and started to tear the charred boards from the door and clawed open the door. There was a billow of ash that greeted him, dusting over his kimono. It was acrid inside, the same smell that Thrade had picked up outside. He put a sleeve over his nose and mouth, the air drawing tears in his eyes, and stepped inside, disappearing from view.
It was but a moment before his voice, muffled from inside the house but clearly unmistakable called out. “By the gods, what have they done?!”
Every soul in the village. Every one, had been locked inside their homes and burned alive.
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 3:05:48 GMT -5
Thrade recoiled and shifted back into human form, unable to stand that smell. Her green eyes were wide. "How could they.....?" She stared into one of the houses. Families, including clearly wives and children, all of them.... This wasn't war, this was sadism.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 3:17:29 GMT -5
Lei turned his eyes away and walked out of the house, shutting the door quietly behind him. He couldn’t look upon them any longer, but the feeling he could not shake. A whole village, tortured and killed for nothing. The family he had seen were of two adults and in their arms was cradled a small form, most likely a child no older than six or seven. Their spirits were in a state of unrest, of limbo, bound to their bodies as they had died in a violent end. He put his back against the door, running fingers through his hair, spreading ash across his forehead.
Huo Ting and the soldiers looked to Lei silently, no word spoke among them. He confirmed the horrible truth, that the entire village was dead. Lei would take it upon himself to put the spirits of the dead to rest, for that was the only way to honor their passing. Even if they wished to bury the dead, the burned bodies, more ash than solid flesh, would only fall apart in their hands, and none were willing to go through the deed, not when it was a useless gesture.
All that could be done was prayer, and Lei raised his head to look at Huo Ting. “Send them away, send everyone away. They do not have to be a part of this sad truth. Leave my horse and ride a few miles down the road and make camp, I will be along before sunrise.”
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 4:21:54 GMT -5
Even as he turned toward her, the expression on Thrade's face would show telling her the same thing was useless. She wasn't going anywhere.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2012 23:26:22 GMT -5
Huo led the horseman away as Lei requested, the face of every man a mix of anger or sorrow. Some gave a few last glances at the destruction but soon they were out of view. Lei gasped a bit, the negative spiritual energy weighing down on him. He walked to his horse and retrieved from the saddle bags a small jar of salt, a small rolled up tatami mat and a branch of the sacred tree. He had thought ahead, grimly, but knew that he had to be prepared for anything. But nothing like this. He pressed a hand on Thrade's shoulder as he passed her.
Upon the ground before laying the tatami mat at his feet, he sprinkled the ground with salt, meant to purify the area. He then sat on the mat, a somewhat useless gesture as far as keeping his kimono clean which had already been streaked with ash but was traditional in the shisôsai. Lei closed his eyes, holding the tamagushi branch in his right hand and began to chant in low voice what sounded as a mournful song.
After several minutes, when he began to repeat the verses, a winking mist of sparkling blue light began to rise from the charred ground, and tiny orbs of light began to emerge from the doors of the burnt houses. They surrounded him, hovering for moments before beginning to circle about where he was sitting as the song was sung. His voice was lilting among what sounded like ghostly chiming to the beat of the chant. Then everything stopped, the orbs slowed and froze, hovering in the air before Lei opened his eyes and whispered, “Move on, spirits at peace. Rise to heaven as is your rightful place. Rise to heaven and linger here no more.”
The orbs shivered and suddenly darted up, swirling upwards towards the darkening sky, illuminating the clouds as they passed through them, disappearing from view. There was a light rumble of thunder as the sky darkened and rain drops slowly began to fall. Lei sighed heavily and rose to his feet, looking spent. His face remained serene.
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Post by KD on Jul 6, 2012 23:33:01 GMT -5
Thrade had seen him do this before and knew to leave him to it. There was little she could do for the spirits, it was lucky for them they had Lei for it. As he sang their souls to rest, Thrade moved quietly through the village, seeking out what forms of life remained. Some would say this land was tainted and should never be used again. Thrade didn't agree. There was still life. Still hope, even if no one ever lived here again. She knelt among the ash as Lei freed the spirits, moving around the area. By the time the rain started to fall, there were hints of green starting to poke through the ash in several places. Vines, grass, and so on. And in the center of the village, a tiny but hardy flowering tree, its branches tough and strong.
Thrade lifted her face to the rain for a moment before turning her focus to her husband. She moved to him and pressed a canteen of fresh water into his hand.
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