Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I must not allow myself to be distracted from writing!
Angel helped me down into the canalboat, laughing. "It's Tainted Spirit now," she said with a smile. "Now, tell me what happened to you. Back in Aekea they said..."
"Not untill you tell my why I should call you that," I interupted her. Angel had left Aekea about two years ago to work at the Isle De Gambino.
"I needed a stage name," she explained. "I've got an animal show at the Hotel De Gambino, you know, the place with the Crow's Nest bar at the top... So now I'm Tainted Spirit. This is Angel, or Little A." She petted the cat. "She's a panther cub."
I looked at the cat, who was looking at me in a strange, rather wild way. I had never seen a panther cub before, but I was willing to belive that she was one.
After I had told Angel about how I survived the acident in Aekea and how I lived in Durem now, we had a rather long talk. Later, as we left the boat, me to go home and her to the hotel she was staying at in Barton, she asked if I wanted to spend some time with her on the Isle. "I have a place at the hotel," she said, "it's got plenty of room, and I'm allowed to have guests, so..."
"Maybe," I said. "I'm kind of busy..." I thought for a moment, seeing that this might be an easy way out of a few things.
"Well, I'll come see you in Durem tomorrow, then we can talk about it! I'll take the 6 a.m. train there, you can meet me at the station, right?" I agreed and we went our seprate ways.
I had spent longer then I thought talking with Angel (I still couldn't think of her as Tainted Spirit!) and it was growing dark as I headed home. As the sky darkened, there still seemed to be enough light to see. Surprised, I looked up, and saw a glow in the sky. The glow of something I had, untill now, thought of as a myth. The glow of Gaia's three rings! Yama had told me about them while we camped at Barton Cliffs, but the night had been cloudy and we hadn't been able to see them. He had told me that they were faint and only visible in the clear air of the countryside on nights without clouds, but I, city kid that I was, didn't belive him. "Eirmehz's wings," I wispered, stareing at the shimmering glow that I had never seen before. As I spoke, I thought that the words seemed to fit the moment. They were the words my mother had sometimes said... She had still belived in Eirmehz, god of death. I never had, but the words still stuck in my mind.
I had kept walking as I stared at the sky, and now I had gotten to the Reclamation Facility. A dark shape was perched on the edge of the tank, and I shivered, remembering what had been there earlier. As I hurried past, wondering if I should break into a run, the shape stood up, and by the glow of the rings, I saw that it was dressed as a pirate. I was just about to run when the pirate called out, "Greetings, milady Dawna!"
"Yama?" I called, running over to him. I didn't quite know what to say. Finally, I said, "You were right about the rings."
He smiled. "There are many things to see if one knows to look for them, milady. But I go by other names then Yama when I am in this guise."
We sat on the tank rim together, looking into the water. "I heard that a corpse was found in there today," he said. "I went to thy house, but nobody was there..." He looked at me. "I was glad to see thee here."
I blushed, hopeing the ringlight wasn't strong enough for him to see me. "You don't have to worry about me," I started, then, to my horror, found myself sobbing.
Yama put his arm around me. "Was she a friend of thine?"
I shook my head. I had been asked this twice now. Why not tell the truth? What would life be worth living for anyway, if I became a monster again? And I knew there was no way I could hide my file from Cindy, so I might as well tell Yama now. And that is just what I did. After I finished, I wiped my eyes and said to Yama "Well, I guess you can take me to the police now...or the nuthouse. Your choice."
Yama was looking at me strangly. "I would never betray thee, milady. And as to the latter sugestion, I am quite sure that thou are not insane. But perhaps I could help you?"
I couldn't belive this. I had told him, and he had belived me, and would not tell on me!
We talked for a long time on the rim of the tank. Yama was sure I could find a permanent cure if I could somehow contact a Labtech. I pointed out that as far as we knew, they were all dead. He refused to be a pessimist. As we debated, a silvery shape slid through the water. I recognized it from a schoolbook long ago...a water viper! "I thought those things were extinct, or a myth," I said after it had gone. "What was it doing here?"
"Genetic engineering most likely," Yama said with a shrug. "Most myths have a baisis in fact, but luckily water vipers aren't quite as poisonous as the myths say."
It was getting very late and a bit chilly, and at my suggestion, we strolled back to Durem. We were having chocolate cake and tea at a coffeeshop I know makes lovely cakes, when things, as far as I can trace them, started to go wrong. From our table at the window, I saw Edmund hurrying past...toward the clock tower! I suspect Edmund of being the Sniper, so the sight of him hurrying through the dark streets at that hour was suspicious to say the least. I asked Yama if he would come with me to follow Edmund, and as he agreed, we quickly paid the bill and headed toward the tower.