A Thing Monstrous and Free

[Colombina]

“A guide?” The woman spoke without kindness or distaste. “We will not harm you, but there is no obligation for any to risk their life for your pursuits.” Her bandaged hand raised to one of several doors at the base of the palace. Some doors had scrolling inlay of gold others ivory figures and faces looking up in what may have been horror or adulation. Windows and doors covered the palace like a hundred eyes. The palace had the dissonance of some Ukalas born creature: discernable but too lavish and strange to be meant for solid places. The leper pressed hard against the door twice her height. She pushed into spacious hall lined with columns and entryways to yet more halls. Like two mirrors facing another, the image seemed endless. It was likely a trick of the scarce light. Only a few beacons broke the dark into manageable portions. “Follow fast and we shall find my King.” Humming as she walked, the woman began to take a memorized path through the labyrinth. There were stairs up and down, high hallways and low ceilings. For a time they were in outer halls, and Miharu could look into a protected courtyard where shrouded bodies moved like beetles. Finally they reached the least remarkable door. The leper looked at Mihara, her posture suggesting what her veiled face could not: show reverence. Knocking and opening the door at once, the leper peeked her head into a warmly lit and surprisingly comfortable sitting room. Elegance survived in patches, sewn together with other glimpses of the same. “My King?” A man was sitting in a tall chair and lifted his head at the title. His thick robes were sand colored and a scarf covered his head, but his face… It was a metal mask with a perpetual expression of serenity. “Do come in,” his voice was soothing and crackled with age. “Who is this?” he asked evenly, looking toward Miharu.

[Miharu Mindi]

Darkness seeped in from every corner of the palace, choking the wolf-girl. Her nose, as sensitive in her human form as it was in the animal's, was clogged with the cloying scent of sickness and death. It smelled like an abattoir, though a hundred years after the last drop of blood had been spilt - old death, slow death, dusty and dangerous.

But she had meant what she said: there was no going back, and what lay behind her was as far from her thoughts as what she'd had for breakfast a month ago. The wolf thought not of what-ifs, left no room for regret. When Siiri was near, she was able to worry about the future or regret the past, but being alone left only the here and now.

Even so, she tracked their passage through the palace. It was instinct, remembering the ways in case she needed to escape on her own. The hallways were confusing, though, and she knew within the first minute that it would be futile. She comforted herself with the knowledge that she could follow her own scent back - and then, to better facilitate that, she took to running her fingers through her hair before each new turn, leaving a few strands to fall to the ground behind her. When she could, she ran her hands along the walls, getting the clammy sweat of her palms on the railings of the staircases, leaving her mark wherever she could.

When they reached the door, she found herself suddenly curious - for what King could rule here? She knew of no kings left in the world above, except maybe Morwen. But she was a god. Would this king be a god as well? Could you be one without being the other? Such were the thoughts that tripped through her brain as she stepped into the elegant sitting room and turned bright golden eyes on the man who sat before her.

His face threw her off, and she blinked with surprise and twitched a moment before the scent of the metal hit her nose, and the flesh beneath it. Then she relaxed a little, recognizing that at least this creature was something she could understand.

Her feet took her forward, though, and her eyes widened a little as if surprised by her own movements. But she was Kelvic, and though it had not been trained into her, it had been bred there long ago by a genius' magical hand - obeisance found her falling to a knee and bowing her head as ribbons of blonde hair fell forward across her shoulders.

"Your highness," she said, and blinked again as if unsure where such a word had been learned. "I need your help. I must find the stones of binding, and I don't know the way. My bondmate seeks them as well, but we are separated. I have nothing to offer as reward except..." she paused, and glanced up at that serene metal face, and swallowed harshly. "I can tell of the world above. I have traveled most of it. I don't know much of people or their lives, but the world itself? I can tell of snow-covered wastes and verdant jungles, the mountains of Kalea and the great city of Syliras, sailing upon the Suvan Sea and tracking through the unknowable dunes of Eyktol. These have I seen and touched and smelled for myself. I would trade such stories for a guide to these stones."

[Colombina]

The face behind the mask sighed and world suddenly seemed more worn. "I remember such things, even now. We all do. Though some have forgotten the words for them. All that remains is a form and a thought." He waved his hand, "Such stories would be a cruelty to those kept from the substance forever. If children could be born in Hai, the tales would be a light to them, but this kingdom is barren. The stones and the water will it." Perhaps a smile was on his mouth, his words seemed lighter. "That edict is a mercy. The stones hold both justice and mercy, though which bears which is unknown." The leper king rested his elbow on the arm of his chair and his knuckle raised to his mouth in a pensive gesture. He said nothing but looked at Miharu. The mask with its perpetual serenity grew maddening in the long silence. "Why do you seek the stones?"

[Miharu Mindi]

As the silence stretched on, Miharu's heart fell... and fell. She had nothing else to trade, nothing else of value, and she had failed.

Eventually she simply slumped to a seat on the floor before him where she'd knelt, hands falling limply into her lap. When he asked his question, though, she peered up at him again, golden eyes focused on him with a withering intensity.

"I don't rightly know," she murmured. "My bondmate sought the stones, and I seek my bondmate. If I am to find her, I must find the stones." Perhaps it was true; perhaps in the darkness and bloodshed, she had forgotten why they were seeking the stones. Or maybe she just remembered enough to know that the denizens of Hai might not need to know that there was a backdoor opening somewhere in the land where gods refused to tread.

[Colombina]

The masked king watched Miharu wilt to the ground, overcome by futility. His shoulders raised and his hand lowered toward her, entreating trust like one would if reaching to pet a dog. “Child…” Her sudden intensity made him reconsider, and his cleanly bandaged hand withdrew gracefully. “You seek your mate and that is all?” His voice felt like warm furs in winter even as it sought answers. The silver face looked to the shrouded woman and spoke with all kindness. “Daughter, you need not stay. Go and find some clean robes and a soft bed. I will tend to this.” Her head bowed, an unnecessary gesture as her veil hid her blush. “Thank you, King Ulric.” The shred of familiarity Miharu had excused herself from the room, relieved to finally rest. When she left, the leper king fixed his face on Miharu, radiating patience. “Yours is a sorrowful story, but the journey to the stones… it may ask a blood toll of any who guide you, and it is not a path any take alone. “ He shook his head, “I cannot spare one of my own for any light errand. I am sorry. A faint chance of reunion is not enough.” He gestured to a table beside him where a silver pitcher sat amidst cups with lions’ heads for a base. “It is watered wine. Drink for your comfort.” A gift few would offer in this hole. The leper king continued, “Tell me, how did you come to Hai, child? I can see you are lately arrived.”

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu stared up at the King, and there was no guile in her golden eyes. "My bondmate is all I have ever sought," she said simply, shrugging one shoulder. "And I will until my body lies dead in the ground. Perhaps even after, if what the priests say is true and we go beyond to another life."

She twisted around to look as her guide made her way out of the room, feeling something like sadness at the loss of familiarity. The room seemed somehow less warm, less inviting, and she shrunk in on herself a little. When the king motioned towards the wine, she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "It does not agree with me," she said, unable to abide the taste of rotten things on her tongue. Poison, it was, and she'd no idea why people drank it. Why not eat rotted meat as well? But there was no ingratitude in her voice - it was just the way she was, and hard to take a Kelvic's straight-forwardness as rude unless one was looking to be offended.

When he questioned her, she twisted her hands in her lap, the fingers of one hand circling the wrist of the other and then switching out, again and again, a nervous habit. "I jumped down a hole. There were two groups; my bondmate went in the first and I in the second. All the rest of my group lay dead in the darkness. If I am alive, then so is my bondmate. And I will find her," she said sternly. "If no one will guide me then point me where I must go and I will find her myself. Just because no one's tread that path alone before doesn't mean no one ever will. I have walked paths before with nothing more than my claws and teeth and wits. I will do it again and find her, or die trying."

His aura of patience grated on her, and she chafed under it like a rebellious child. Patience should be reserved for when your prey is in sight, when you must stalk it quietly and wait for advantage - not for the time when your prey runs further and further from your nose. Her fingers fidgeted faster, twisting and twirling around her wrists until her pale skin began to turn red and angry. "If there is something you want then say it. Otherwise I should be on my way. I thought to find aid here, and you have been kind. But if you cannot help me to find her then I am wasting time, and I have been told again and again that time is not something that those of Hai find sweet."

[Colombina]

Ulric listened to Miharu's story earnestly, though his interest was only betrayed by the forward tilt of his body. It was as if he was searching for a speck of something, a glint amongst her words to allow her access to secret powers. But the magic fulcrum was not found in a Kelvic’s blunt depiction. When her temper began to rise, he did not alter. The people of Hai had an unsettling implacability. “If I must tell you what I want, then the power of it is lost.” The leper king could only rise from his chair and bid Miharu follow him back through the narrow mirrored halls. “I will show you a way to the stones, though, none will go with you. The path is quick, but it demands a toll. A beast of unknown name prowls this labyrinth, sometimes he finds those who walk it, sometimes he does not. It is an old creature, for it has learned doors to this way that even I have not found.” In the room she now found herself, the columns looked like the whittled bones of surreal beasts. They were pocked and twisted, cruel to touch. Long curtains with moldering edges covered the walls. Ulric knew where to walk and pull the heavy fabric aside. The door was silver, and ghostly white paint illustrated a lace of willowy bodies walking hand in hand, or sitting in chariots without beasts. Gusts of wind seemed to be blowing the figures happily about winding paths. But crude bands of pounded iron sundered the pale roads and the fair faces were mercilessly split by nails. A beautiful thing had been crucified by necessity. “Do not believe the painting. This is a dark road.” Ulric reached up and touched a shred of the image, there was longing in the gesture. “It does not open from the other side. Not this door. So you must be certain.” He waited a moment before continuing, “There will be opalgloams, as this place was dim even in Hazadhar’s glory. But they will be few. Take the path marked by bronze, Take it until the last wall. At the wall, listen carefully, touch the mark and say, ‘Patah’. It will open for you, but once beyond that door, you cannot return to the path. Not by that way.” His silver face tilted as he regarded her, "It is all I can offer you. A reward for faith and devotion to another."

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu followed behind him on silent feet, her agitation fading as she was given something to do, somewhere to go. She twisted blonde curls over her shoulder as she peered around, curiosity taking over everything else.

The door caught her attention, and amber eyes became mesmerized. She stared at the flitting figures, and before she could stop herself, a hand reached out and hovered over it - but her pale fingers didn't touch them. Instead, they grazed the head of a cold iron nail.

His words drew her back, and she turned so quickly that her dirty curls spun a little before settling over her shoulders once more. His words were whispered again and again until she could remember them - she tied them to thoughts of Siiri, did everything she could to hold on to them. "Bronze path to the wall, find the mark, say Patah. Yes. I'm certain," she said finally, sure she would not forget.

A wolf's eyes burned from a girl's white face, scrawled though it was in black ink. But they grew thoughtful, and her head tilted to one side as she stared at the serene silver mask. She stared up at him, and then both hands rose, slowly, ever so slowly, and settled feather-light on his shoulders. She crouched down, too tall as always, and pressed warm lips against the metal cheek. "Thank you," she murmured, lips moving against the mask. "I will remember you, King Ulric, and speak your name to the moon, and the rushing river, and the burning sands. Now," she said, more firmly as her eyes flitted open and her hands released him. "Open the door."