After all, there's only 9 more sleeps 'til Christmas!
Got my children to watch The Snowman yesterday, via the miracle of YouTube, then watched half of The Muppet's Christmas Carol while filing!! This week was slow, disorganised and hard. Next week won't be much better. I'm stage manager for the Auditorium Opening ceremony. They are still working on the Auditorium Yes, it needs a capital 'A', trust me!!
In the meantime, Christmas at a colleague's flat this afternoon, for which I am providing mince pies and cutlery, so I must shortly to the kitchen!
This entry, and a lot of the end, needs a lot of work. Reading back I get a squirmy, sad feeling. But I'm going to post honestly, so I apologise for the quality that came with the rush to finish. On the plus side,
He strode down the steps purposefully. The High Priestess followed him, looking as though this was pretty much what she had expected to see, Bas’hirra and faux aristocrat included. The soldiers fanned out about the chamber as Tiraza came to flank her mistress, almost too excited not to speak but knowing that doing so would result in her exile from the chamber.
Utaba turned to face those who approached. He looked ready to pounce at any moment. Ibakafir, on the other hand, seemed to be finding this all dreadfully funny.
“Samatra,” said General Asadina, “it is a shame you didn’t come home. We could have arranged this better, waited for the full moon, or at least found the right thing for you to say. As it is, you have put much more effort than was necessary into this whole operation. Did you not think you would be watched? Did you not think we suspected you would return? These are the halls that the Gods built, and their followers, after all. And of course, it helps if you’re well informed.”
Warda looked at Ibakafir, who was smirking horribly.
“Him?” came a scream from across the chamber, “Him! But I thought you were helping me! I helped you because I thought I was the chosen one! You said I was! You said you loved me!”
Sayshari Rardi had made surprising progress across the empty floor and now stood looking imploringly over at Ibakafir. With a slighted general on one shoulder and a slighted woman on the other, Utaba became unsure of his position. With a jerk of his shoulders, great wings unfolded from behind him, but not wings of feathers, wings of golden sand. It was a screen between those who seemed ill intentioned and those who were here on their own business, not so thick they couldn’t talk, but there all the same. Much like Ibakafir was still at his back. He hadn’t forgotten.
Ibakafir started to laugh. “Love? You? You bloated old carp! I am a creature of divine inspiration! You don’t get a body like this without some thought being put into it! Vistara made me exist, and Bahail gave me purpose! And with everyone in place, you may get to ask them yourselves if they are proud of me before long!”
General Asadina gave the Sayshari a tired and disgusted look, then turned his attention back to Ibakafir. Warda was too angry to speak, but was trying to keep herself calm for Sammi’s sake. The girl was trembling from head to toe, licking her lips as her mouth was dry from fear and she had no idea what she should do.
“Esteemed Bas’hirra,” began the general, “what is it, in particular, that you want? You have covered yourself well by informing everyone who had the power to get you into this chamber. I presume you have also been in contact with the High Priestess,” he gestured, she glanced away, “but I am a general betraying my Shar, possibly the first one do to so in a hundred cycles. When I leave, unless I can take the power and backing of a new era behind me, I am likely to be executed. I have nothing to fear from you. So tell me, what is it the immortal desire?”
Warda noticed he did not include Utaba in the list of things he did not fear. She presumed he felt safe as long as things precious to Utaba were behind him. She moved to study Ibakafir. There was wall behind him that she couldn’t see, and it took her a while into his speech to realise why that was; he too had wings, but his were made, like much of himself, of shadow. It was Ibakafir who had most wanted to bring them here. Those were his feathers littering the floor of Sammi’s vision, symbols for the wings of an angel, on which they had flown to this place.
“General,” said Ibakafir, disregarding the honorific’s of the man as he had of the demi-goddess, “I wanted to see what would happen! Did you not hear me when I said Bahail gave me purpose? She was a being of pure beauty, and also its pursuit, and also the sort of happiness that comes when one delights in the simple, the surface things, or in oneself. I used to perform all manner of wild acts and defiant schemes just to make the two of us happy. I one went so far as to replace Jabanil’s favourite spear with the steering pole of a raft, can you imagine? He was livid, chased me to the sea and back but Bahail and I laughed for days. The tricks I can play for humans, the stories I can tell ... they make me money, yes, but do they make me happy? Do they fill me with divine delight, as in those first days? Of course not. I am sick of the mundanity of this world. Now, with these two precious gems,” he spread his arms and wings wide to encompass Warda and Sammi, tripling in size and at last seeming like something other-worldly and dangerous, “we shall at last have some fun!”
In the meantime, Christmas at a colleague's flat this afternoon, for which I am providing mince pies and cutlery, so I must shortly to the kitchen!
This entry, and a lot of the end, needs a lot of work. Reading back I get a squirmy, sad feeling. But I'm going to post honestly, so I apologise for the quality that came with the rush to finish. On the plus side,
He strode down the steps purposefully. The High Priestess followed him, looking as though this was pretty much what she had expected to see, Bas’hirra and faux aristocrat included. The soldiers fanned out about the chamber as Tiraza came to flank her mistress, almost too excited not to speak but knowing that doing so would result in her exile from the chamber.
Utaba turned to face those who approached. He looked ready to pounce at any moment. Ibakafir, on the other hand, seemed to be finding this all dreadfully funny.
“Samatra,” said General Asadina, “it is a shame you didn’t come home. We could have arranged this better, waited for the full moon, or at least found the right thing for you to say. As it is, you have put much more effort than was necessary into this whole operation. Did you not think you would be watched? Did you not think we suspected you would return? These are the halls that the Gods built, and their followers, after all. And of course, it helps if you’re well informed.”
Warda looked at Ibakafir, who was smirking horribly.
“Him?” came a scream from across the chamber, “Him! But I thought you were helping me! I helped you because I thought I was the chosen one! You said I was! You said you loved me!”
Sayshari Rardi had made surprising progress across the empty floor and now stood looking imploringly over at Ibakafir. With a slighted general on one shoulder and a slighted woman on the other, Utaba became unsure of his position. With a jerk of his shoulders, great wings unfolded from behind him, but not wings of feathers, wings of golden sand. It was a screen between those who seemed ill intentioned and those who were here on their own business, not so thick they couldn’t talk, but there all the same. Much like Ibakafir was still at his back. He hadn’t forgotten.
Ibakafir started to laugh. “Love? You? You bloated old carp! I am a creature of divine inspiration! You don’t get a body like this without some thought being put into it! Vistara made me exist, and Bahail gave me purpose! And with everyone in place, you may get to ask them yourselves if they are proud of me before long!”
General Asadina gave the Sayshari a tired and disgusted look, then turned his attention back to Ibakafir. Warda was too angry to speak, but was trying to keep herself calm for Sammi’s sake. The girl was trembling from head to toe, licking her lips as her mouth was dry from fear and she had no idea what she should do.
“Esteemed Bas’hirra,” began the general, “what is it, in particular, that you want? You have covered yourself well by informing everyone who had the power to get you into this chamber. I presume you have also been in contact with the High Priestess,” he gestured, she glanced away, “but I am a general betraying my Shar, possibly the first one do to so in a hundred cycles. When I leave, unless I can take the power and backing of a new era behind me, I am likely to be executed. I have nothing to fear from you. So tell me, what is it the immortal desire?”
Warda noticed he did not include Utaba in the list of things he did not fear. She presumed he felt safe as long as things precious to Utaba were behind him. She moved to study Ibakafir. There was wall behind him that she couldn’t see, and it took her a while into his speech to realise why that was; he too had wings, but his were made, like much of himself, of shadow. It was Ibakafir who had most wanted to bring them here. Those were his feathers littering the floor of Sammi’s vision, symbols for the wings of an angel, on which they had flown to this place.
“General,” said Ibakafir, disregarding the honorific’s of the man as he had of the demi-goddess, “I wanted to see what would happen! Did you not hear me when I said Bahail gave me purpose? She was a being of pure beauty, and also its pursuit, and also the sort of happiness that comes when one delights in the simple, the surface things, or in oneself. I used to perform all manner of wild acts and defiant schemes just to make the two of us happy. I one went so far as to replace Jabanil’s favourite spear with the steering pole of a raft, can you imagine? He was livid, chased me to the sea and back but Bahail and I laughed for days. The tricks I can play for humans, the stories I can tell ... they make me money, yes, but do they make me happy? Do they fill me with divine delight, as in those first days? Of course not. I am sick of the mundanity of this world. Now, with these two precious gems,” he spread his arms and wings wide to encompass Warda and Sammi, tripling in size and at last seeming like something other-worldly and dangerous, “we shall at last have some fun!”