NationStates Jolt Archive

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
Sutta Nipata
Akisha opened her eyes. The roaring ocean flooded not only her sight, but all her senses.
She felt at “one” with the ocean. She was the ocean, the ocean was her.
Its not that you are just the water, you are everything that makes the ocean, the algae, the sponges, the wood debris, and life, you are also the mystery in the dark depths of the unknown.
Akisha blinked and she was herself again. Well, she was still one with the ocean, but lost all sensation for it. Things got fuzzy when she dug so deep into the abyss.
She rubbed her arms, millions of goose-bumps rose on her skin. Then she felt a tug on one of the linings of her gown. She looked down and smiled.
“Kisha, what you thinking bout?”
“Nothing, Kikia.”
“You sure,” her wide brown eyes with concern as she asked the question.
Akisha bent down and placed her hand on her little sister’s small shoulder.
“Sweetie, let’s go to the garden.”
Kikia bounced up with joy; this was her and Akisha’s favorite spot. They often spent hours in the garden.
As they walked to the garden, Akisha thought, I need to stop getting tangled up in this escape before I get noticed.

Those words always repeat in my head. I cannot forget those words.

A gruff older woman’s voice came booming in Akisha ears. “AKISHA, it is time for your lessons. Teacher Solomon has brought a young monk for you to learn the prophecies from. AKISHA come now.”

Akisha stumbled to her Nannie. “Nanna now? I want to play in the roses.”

Nannie grabbed little Akisha by the ear. “Now.”

Akisha sat on a chair in the lecture room. She swung her legs back and forth, her feet not able to touch the floor.

As Solomon entered the room a figure stood behind him in a black coat with the hood hiding his face. Akisha yelled out in happiness, “HEY Solomon, can you talk to me again about the unicorns.”

The monk whispered into Solomon’s ear, “Why she is so young. Are you sure she is ready?”

“I do not get to decide that. The councilors have made that decision.”

“Then I will begin.”

Solomon left the monk alone with Akisha. Standing outside the door, he heard her cries.

That was so long ago, yeah 15 years, but it is so vivid to me.

Fifteen years burned into her vision.

Maybe if I find out how to spread love those will all be of the past.

Finally they had reached the rose bushes and she was at peace. At least for now.

OOC: Exactly what can other rpers do in this? What roles can we be?

OOC: Exactly what can other rpers do in this? What roles can we be?

Whatever you would like...be creative....

Jonas St.Clair was a simple young man. He didn't ask for much and never got much, all the while keeping his head up. Life rarely gave him a good role of the dice. His father was a merchant and mother a seamstress. His father always pressured him to go into business but Jonas saw nothing but greed in such work. Discontented, he would stay from his home for long hours, exploring and just walking for no reason. Often, he would come home to a hand upside his head and an earfull from his parents. However, it didn't bother him, Jonas was patient and all around just laid back. When it came to schooling his parents sent him off to an education which didn't suit him, there was nothing he desired from it. The outdoors was his passion not mathmatics and psychology. He would spend great amunt of times outside, soaking in nature and all she had to offer. His hands were a powerful tool, he would work on local farms and sometime hunt though he rarely came back with anything, not that he was a bad hunter just didn't choose to kill anything. When he became old enough, he left his darkened home, an abusive father and a neglecting mother to discover himself and his purpose. His apartment was small and plain, he hardly occupied it. Jonas was a loner most of his life which used to never bother him but as he got older he yurned for something more. Finally, he took a job as a groundskeeper at an estate. It was the perfect occupation for him. Doing his best to make the grounds excellent, even dabbling in construction though it was still a new trade. It offered him chances to stay outdoors and use his hands and admire nature again. Akisha and Kikia were a sight he'd seen before, though he hadn't worked there for long. He was finishing up trimming some trees when he saw them enter the garden.
"Good day to you, Ma'am" Jonas said with a smile as he picked up several branches. "And to you" he looked down at the small girl.

Akisha's eyes wondered up. Her full blood red lips smiled and a dimple on her left check appeared.

"Jonas. How wonderful a day it is. Good to see you again."

Kikia wrapped her small thin arms around Jonas's leg and giggled. "Can we play hide and seek?"

Akisha smile brightened. "Jonas you can take a break. I will talk to Papa."

She turned to run and find King Jufar, her father. She glanced back. "Kikia you stay here. I will be right back."

Then she ran off towards the corridor of their home, which contained rooms for the warriors.

------------

Kikia smiled at Jonas. "You like us Jonas? We like you."

------------

As she went further into the Warrior's Wing, as Kikia referred to it, the goosebumps came back. Her father did not like her to be alone in this area, but she often disobeyed him. How else would she find him.

She heard a group of warriors discussing with her father about the strategies of conquering distance lands versus those nearer.

Akisha stepped in and was heard before she was seen.

"People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong.
Why not try and see positive things,
to just touch those things and make them bloom?"

A voice not seen in the crowd yelled out, "Yeah, why not we all just frollick through the gardens and not defend our land."

The room erupted with laughter. Her face began to become pink and she was boiling. She smiled curtly and spun and walked out of the room.

She ran back to the garden, releasing her rage and sent it with the rushing wind.

Her bare feet slammed into a pocket in the ground and she sprawled out on the grass. She began to laugh.

Kikia ran over, "Kisha! Kisha, you k?"

But all she could do was laugh.

Jonas set down the branches and dusted off his hands as the little girl ran forward. Akisha greeted him.
"It's always a wonderful day, ma'am" he replied. The small girl wrapped her arms around his leg. "Well, I guess I can" he smiled and looked back up to Akisha. It was indeed a beautiful day out and it got even better. He nodded when she told him to take a break.

He watched Akisha run off and took a knee next to Kikia. "Yes, I do like you both" and he smiled "Now, I'll go hide first. You close your eyes and start counting." All of a sudden Akisha came back but fell to the ground. He stood up and prepared to run to her but she started to laugh and he knew she was alright.

Bump

Akisha stood up quickly and brushed the grass blades, dirt, and dry leaves off of her gown.

"Okay, Jonas you are IT!"

She ran down the many pathways in the garden. The deeper she got into the garden the thicker the trees got. She was running to one in particular. Her willow tree she called The Ancient One.

The tree had been there ions before her time. The tree told her many stories and was wise beyond any oracles she talked to.

She climbed into the wide hole in the trunk. Soon the darkness engulfed her, but she was not afraid. She never felt as safe as she was until she was there.

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
Atisha


Akisha smiled. Her heart felt light when she was in the tree and the life within it spoke to her and her heart fluttered each time it spoke.

Then a crunch broke through that sweet sensation and sympathetic hormones respond, her violet eyes widen.

Jonas quickly took flight down the path, a smile on his face. It was such a nice day out and he was in the middle of it. Kikia would be hot on his trail but Jonas wouldn't go without a fight. After darting down a path and weaving between some trees and bushes, he found himself amidst a maze, one he hadn't been in before nor seen. For the first time in his life: Jonas was lost in the outdoors. A large willow loomed before him. Jonas felt a strange sensation and was drawn closer to it but then he remembered the game and hid off in a bush. He saw Akisha in the tree and pondered on what she was doing, but remained silent.

Bump

Akisha began to hum a song,a song only the ancients would smile and nod to. Inside the dark she felt comforted and soon through that pitch black came a spark of light. It flickered, although there was no air to move it.


And just as soon as the spark appeared it disappeared.

Akisha stepped outside the tree, her eyes glazed over. She stared. Humming the same notes repeatedly.

After several minutes she blinked and her eyes back to normal.

She laughed, "Hey don't give away my hiding spot!"

Her words startled Jonas as he fumbled to regain his balance. It was quite odd, what he just witnessed. "I won't if you don't give away mine. Your sister is out to find me" he said in a low voice.

Klic dropped down from the ivy-clad wall and landed in the garden. With a thump, his brother Rab landed in a bush nearby. Marsh elves are usually impossible to determine the age of, but these two could easily be identified as juveniles by their smaller size and slightly less developed stench. They still smelled bad, and were both quite filthy and feral-looking, their hair overgrown and matted and full of bits of leaf and other debris. Their tribe's village was some distance away in the swamp, but young marsh elves were mostly left to run wild. So they had come to the garden to steal apples.

"Ugh, I think I squashed a frog," whispered Rab, picking himself up, "Look, it's all burst out the sides."

"Put it in the sack for later," suggested Klic, holding out the large canvas bag they had brought to put their loot in.

They snuck through the gardens keeping low behind large lavender bushes that might cover the smell of Marsh Elf somewhat, and headed for their target - a large apple tree by an ornamental pond, which always had the largest, greenest apples. From many previous scrumping missions, they had worked out a strategy. One of them - usually Klic who was the better climber - scrambled up into the branches and picked the apples. Rab waited below holding the sack open and catching the apples his brother dropped.

"Here's one with maggots in!" said Klic from up the branches, and dropped it into the sack.

"Mmm, I call dibs!" replied Rab.

Just then, Rab noticed there were others in the garden who, mercifully, hadn't spotted them yet. He saw a little girl heading his way, and called up into the tree.

"Someone's coming! There's no time, pull me up!" With that he began to scramble up the trunk of the apple tree, while Klic grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into the branches above. Getting caught was out of the question. Klic still had an ugly scar on his leg from the time they'd been caught in Farmer Bramble's orchard, and had the dogs set on them. They didn't go there anymore.

Of course, in his haste to get up the tree, Rab had left the sack of apples on the ground.


OOC: Dunno if this thread is still going, but I figured I'd give it a prod and see what falls out :p

Akisha nodded and walked further into the garden, the part closer to the swamps.

She frowned as she noticed a brown dirt-caked sake that contained red juicy apples, was left unattended.

Where could have the worker gone?

She decided this was a good place to hide behind the trees massive trunk, besides she figured Kikia would be frightened to come this way.

Her violet eyes narrowed and her button nose cringed. One black eyebrown raised in curiousity.

I am not alone. I hear two heart beats and well the smell might make me vomit. But who are they and why are they in our garden?

She shook her oval shaped head with strands of silky midnight black hair followed her slightest movement and cascaded down to the small of her back.

She turned her face towards the sky into the many leaves of the tree and blinked once, her eyes not showing any sign of fear.

Out of her ruby lips came forth a tone that could frost the air infront of her, "Who goes there? Show yourself cowards."

----------
Of in the short distance Kikia heard her sister's mean voice. She ran towards the tree her sister loved to hide in for hours.
She saw Jonas and looked frightened.

"That's Kisha's mean voice. Let's find her fast."

Her small pale hand grasped Jonas' rough hand and pulled him in the direction of the swamp.

The little girl ran fast for her age and size, she would reach Akisha in about ten minutes.

"You idiot!" hissed Klic as he pulled Rab up onto the branch next to him, "You left the sack!"

They both jumped in alarm when they realised the game was up, and a fierce young woman was staring up at them. At least she didn't have dogs, but it wasn't much comfort to Klic and Rab. At barely four feet tall, pretty much anything could intimidate them if it wanted.

"Run for it!" yelled Klic.

The pair of them jumped from the branches - they were well practised at making getaways. Klic broke into a run at once, but Rab, with a combination of Marsh Elf stupidity and embarassment at having left their hard-earned swag, decided to go back for it. Emitting a sort of kamikaze wail, he tried to shove his way past Akisha and make a grab for the sack of apples.

Jonas was startled that Kikia found him so fast. But then he heard Akisha's stern voice eminating further on and the little girl quickly forced Jonas up and following her. He began to run, legs pumping as he wondered what was wrong and hoping Akisha was safe.
"Akisha!" he yelled out, worried.

As one of the small beings rushed at Akisha, she stood her ground.

Moments later she and the elf tumbled over and over and among the bushes, then they stopped once Akisha's back and head slammed into a large willow tree trunk.

Akisha knew only black at that time.