Guardian of the Dream
Part Two - The Flower's Guardian
Chapter 4 - The Flower's Son
Torogai came into the hut while Yugno was lighting a fire in the sunken hearth. "Balsa, did that thing attack you?" she asked.
Balsa shook her head. "No. It attacked this man, Yugno, first. When I tried helping him, it started attacking me." She paused. "That was... Tanda."
Torogai sat by the hearth and heaved a sigh.
"It looked like Tanda, but it was... inhuman,” Balsa said. “Its presence was like a beast’s. And the way it moved was beyond Tanda's physical ability. Not to mention that overwhelming strength it used to try and kill me." She paused. "Look at this."
Balsa undid her belt and pulled her upper layer of clothing loose, baring her left shoulder. The skin was purple and swollen. "I was ready for that kick and used a breathing technique to help deflect it, so I got off lightly. If it had surprised me and I’d taken it head-on, my bones would have been crushed. The kick was that strong.”
Torogai nodded. "That's right. If it had been anyone but you, they would have died there and then." She silenced Balsa with a look before she could interrupt. "I'll tell you what happened to Tanda in a second. But before that, introduce this man."
Balsa explained how she’d saved Yugno five days ago, and that he was Li Tou Ruen--"the one loved by the Li." She also told Torogai that he was fifty-two years old, regardless of what he looked like. Torogai stared at Yugno throughout the whole explanation, making him uncomfortable and fidgety.
Even after Balsa finished speaking, Torogai didn’t stop staring at Yugno. "Unbelievable! It’s like my master Norugai said. The threads of Fate really do exist..." Torogai muttered.
Torogai shook her head to clear it, then told Balsa what had happened to her over the past few days. She told her about the people who weren't waking up, like Tanda's niece and Chagum, and about the dream she’d had so long ago... and about the son she’d given birth to to in the Flower's world. She explained the Night of the Flower and what she’d witnessed at Noshir’s hut that afternoon.
"That was Tanda, Balsa--you know that. But it wasn’t him, either. His soul was snatched away by the Flower. That idiot,” Torogai added under her breath.
Torogai glanced from Balsa to Yugno. "Why did Tanda attack you? Do you have any clue why?”
Yugno went white as a sheet. "Well… you know… but… that's not… To think that the Flower's Guardian would actually come…" His voice was no louder than a whisper.
"Don't mumble like a terrified fool! Explain yourself properly!"
Yugno ducked his head in surprise at Torogai's tone. When he looked up again, he couldn’t quite meet her eyes.
"Please don't shout. Why are you shouting? I don't understand any of this myself!" He scowled and his forehead crinkled as if he was thinking hard. "First, let me get something straight. From what you said, you must be Tomca, right?"
"Yes. But that's a name I stopped using more than fifty years ago."
Yugno licked his lips. "Uh, if you’re Tomca... then you gave birth to me in the world of the Flower?"
“Obviously. But don’t go around calling me your mother. All I did was help the soul of a dead man who was living within the Flower's seed turn into a new soul."
Yugno wrinkled his nose. "I don't see you as my mother. You're nothing like the Tomca that my dad described."
Torogai wrinkled her whole face. "Dad?"
"Yeah. The man you call the Flower's Guardian." Yugno sighed. "Ever since I was born, I've only ever had one dream, over and over again. You know the one: the Flower continuing to grow in that garden shrouded in pale blue twilight. Dad’s always there... he always seemed so much taller than me. Anyway, he told me about the circumstances of my birth and the job I was supposed to do for the Flower. When I was young, I never thought any of it was strange, since I dreamed it all the time.
"When I found out that other people dreamed many different dreams, I was surprised and started to wonder why I was the only one..."
Balsa stretched to get rid of the lingering pain from her injuries. "Can we get to the point? All this talk of dreams explains nothing. Why is Tanda a monster and why is he coming after you?"
Yugno blinked. "Well… I don’t understand that, either."
Balsa grabbed Yugno's shoulders and shook him, annoyed. "You said the Flower has a job for you. What is it? Did the Flower send a monster after you because you haven’t been doing your job?"
Yugno shook his head. "No! I did everything I was told to!"
“And what were you told to do?" Torogai asked.
Yugno’s gaze flicked from Balsa to Torogai. "All I did was give good dreams to people who thought their lives were empty. When the Flower started budding, my dad said it was time to invite the dreamers that will pollinate the Flower. He said I would be the wind, or something."
Balsa gripped Yugno’s shoulders harder. "That song… it's that song, isn't it? The one that you sang for the First Queen."
There was something bitter in Balsa's tone. "I’ll never forget how I felt when I was listening to it. That song made me want all the things that I could never have, no matter how hard I wished for them. Once you've heard it, it lingers somewhere in the back of your head and doesn't go away."
Balsa stared at Yugno. "You used that song to invite weak people's hearts to the dream where the Flower is."
A heavy silence fell over the room. Yugno looked at Balsa frowning, then tilted his head like a little bird. "Are you angry, Balsa?"
Balsa didn't answer. Yugno blinked, then mumbled something unintelligible to himself. "Why are you angry? I gave all those people a gift! A gift that no other singer could give! Isn't that true? Who wouldn’t want to lose themselves in a dream so wonderful that they never wanted to wake up?"
Balsa took a deep breath to calm herself, then said: "Did it ever occur to you that people might not be quite so happy if they knew they would die as a result?"
"What? Die? What are you talking about? Oh, I get it. You're worried that they won't ever wake up again." Yugno frowned. "You don’t need to worry about that. These people were only summoned to the world of the Flower since it’s about to bring forth a seed. After that happens, the Flower won’t need them anymore. Won't they come back once their role in all this is done?"
Torogai narrowed her eyes and looked down. She was trying to remember something. "That's right... Long ago, when I asked him, the Flower's Guardian said that if the dreamers want to return, they can. Even if no one wants to wake up from the dream, it doesn't seem like the Flower is sucking out souls and killing them, like a carnivorous plant captures insects. Instead, it’s calling insects--souls--over to it for pollination, offering sweet nectar in return. Their lives are only connected to the Flower’s existence for a brief time. That's why I wasn't as worried as Tanda about the sleepers. They’ll come back as soon as the Flower brings forth a seed. That’s what I used to think, but now, I’m not quite so sure.”
Torogai rubbed her arms and looked at Yugno again. “If the Flower intended to return everyone to our world, there would be no need to turn Tanda into the Flower's Defender. What's going on, I wonder? Something’s not right…"
Torogai tapped her finger against her forehead, pensive. "When will the Flower bring forth its seed? When is the role of the dreamers finished? If I knew that, I might be able to figure out more by using a Soul Call.” She puttered around the hut, talking to herself in a low voice. Then she turned around and faced Yugno.
"You've watched over the Flower's growth for as long as you can remember. Do you know when the Flower will drop its seed?"
Yugno scratched his chin. "Hmmm. Unfortunately, no."
Balsa, sickened at Yugno's nonchalant tone, faced him head-on in confrontation. "You caused all those people’s souls to go over to the Flower’s world! Don't you feel any sense of responsibility for what happens to them?!"
Yugno stared at Balsa in mute astonishment. "Responsibility? Why? It’s true that I sang a song, but I’m a singer. If people don't want to wake up from a pleasant dream, that's their business; it’s not like I can force them. I didn’t force anyone to do anything, so why should I feel responsible?"
Balsa opened her mouth to say more, but then thought better of it. She decided that their ways of thinking were just too different for an argument to be productive. Her anger was frustrated by Yugno’s baffling attitude.
Frowning severely in concentration, Yugno said, “The dreamers are fine. In fact, they have it good at the moment--all their dreams are literally coming true. The other day, when I was inside the Flower, I had a terrible nightmare... and after that, I got chased down by the Flower's Defender. I'm the victim here, not them."
Torogai raised her eyebrows. "You had a nightmare in the world of the Flower?"
"I told you that until recently I went there every night. I watched the Flower grow a little bit each time, and it was always a good dream. But lately, that dream has turned into a nightmare. Now I'm just too scared to go back there. Maybe it's been like that since the first souls came over and started pollinating the Flower. The Flower's Guardian stopped being like my father. This might sound weird, but it's almost as if…" Yugno blushed.
"Did he turn into a woman all of a sudden? Speak up!"
Torogai's brash way of speaking made Yugno frown uncomfortably. "Uh, kind of. I don't know why, but he stopped being like my father and changed into my mother all of a sudden."
Yugno pursed his lips. "At first, it wasn't so bad. My mother died more than ten years ago, so I was happy to see her again."
He took a deep breath. "But over time... it got worse. Without meaning to, I started to get younger when I was in that world. And when I got to be around twelve years old, the dream stopped being a good one."
Yugno locked eyes with Torogai. "Why did that happen? It felt like she didn’t want me to leave her--not just in general, but ever. It felt like that world was going to take me, make me tiny and powerless, and swallow me whole. That's not the kind of world it used to be. Sprout, grow, flower, then eventually bring forth seeds and scatter. That's how I thought that world worked. But something changed. My mother wanted to stop her baby from ever leaving her side so badly that she went insane and decided it would be better to crush me to death rather than let me be free. I was utterly terrified of her. I shook her off and ran, and since then, I haven’t returned to the world of the Flower."
"Oh, so that’s what your nightmare was about. When you cried out in your sleep,” Balsa said quietly.
Yugno nodded. "If you hadn't shaken me awake, I might have not gotten away. I was incredibly scared, and since then I've been sleeping with a small shaving knife strapped to my forehead so I don't have to go there again. It's like a charm. Mom told me about it when I was small. My real mother wasn't the kind of woman who would frighten any child like that, much less her own."
There was a silence.
"So,” Torogai said, “let me get this straight. You don't know when the Flower will bring forth seeds because you haven't been there since you escaped your nightmare."
"Yes." Yugno nodded.
Torogai sighed loudly. "I don’t know what caused the nightmare, but it seems like your mother hasn't given up on getting you back. That's why she took over Tanda and made him go after you."
Yugno shuddered from head to toe. "Yes. I never thought she would come after me in this world. When I started running away, she screamed that I would never get away and that the Flower's Defender would definitely come after me. Her voice was awful. She shouted that he would crush my throat so that I could never sing again."
Torogai narrowed her eyes. "She really said that?"
"Yes. If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's my ears."
Torogai rubbed her chin.
"Is that important? Does it mean something?" Yugno asked curiously.
"Hmmm. I’m not sure. It seems like the Flower has become like your nightmare-- a terrifying, overbearing mother that won't allow anyone to leave her side. It's possible that the Flower is being influenced by the emotions of one of the souls it’s attracted. For example, someone who wants to die and take a lot of people with them…" Torogai scratched her head. "Spirits preserve us. I don't know who did what to the Flower, but it’s certain that Tanda got tricked by someone. Damn that soft-hearted fool!"
"Torogai, isn't there some way to save Tanda?” Balsa asked. “If he’s in the world of the Flower, is it possible for you to go in after him?"
Torogai scrunched her face up, transforming her usual wrinkled face into a gnarl of skin and bone. "Of course I can! That’s why Tanda is a fool! The Flower’s world easy to enter, but hard to leave. Master Norugai got in and woke me up once, if you remember. But the Flower needed to send Yugno to this world, so it obviously needed to return me as well. The circumstances are completely different now. I couldn't possibly go in there alone and try to take back the souls that the Flower is holding onto so tightly. I would be one tiny bird against a whole flock."
"What if I went with you?"
Torogai shook her head with an exasperated expression that Balsa had seen before when she'd failed to understand some basic magic weaving concept. "You might be a master of martial arts here, but could you win against someone who controls dreams, inside a dream?"
She frowned and heaved a long sigh. "Damn that Tanda. I warned him that it was dangerous…"
Balsa rubbed her own face, which had gone pale with worry. “Would a warning really have prevented Tanda from going? You know him.”
Their eyes met. Torogai addressed Balsa quietly. "Balsa... it’s a tragedy, but Tanda's soul has been already taken over by the Flower. He's become the Flower's Defender, and that means he’s incapable of thinking about anything other than capturing Yugno. Until he achieves his goal, he'll keep attacking. I used the ruined magic weaving tools Tanda left behind to erect a barrier here and around the meadow, but I have no idea how long that will hold back an opponent who doesn't fear pain or death. Since all creatures are scared of fire, I used fire magic, but the fire isn't real. As soon as he realizes the flames can't actually hurt anything, they'll be useless. I shouldn't need to tell you this, but... The next time you fight Tanda, use your spear."
Balsa’s mouth twisted into a grimace. "Don't even joke about that. I'd rather give him my head than kill him." She massaged the back of her sore neck and shoulder for a few moments, then said, "I can try my hardest to stop him. But if I have to choose between killing him or dying, I’ll choose death. You take care of the rest."
Balsa stood up, then left the hut.
"Don't leave the meadow,” Torogai said.
"What kind of relationship do those two have?" Yugno whispered to Torogai.
"Tanda’s been in love with Balsa since he was a boy. I couldn't guess at Balsa’s feelings."
"Didn't she just say she would rather die than kill him?" Yugno chuckled under his breath. "If she wasn't completely in love, she wouldn't say that, right?"
Torogai scowled. "You like hearing other people’s secrets, do you?"
"If I didn't, I couldn't sing such wonderful love songs."
Torogai’s glare was flensing. "You're nothing like the son that I imagined."
Yugno laughed brightly. "That's life for you! I've traveled for many long years, but I have yet to see a son who grew up and did everything his mother wanted.”
Torogai snickered, but she was still annoyed. She looked at the closed door of the hut that Balsa had recently passed through. "Did Balsa tell you about herself?" she asked.
"No. Only that she's Kanbalese, and a bodyguard."
"I see. Since you might be placing your life in her hands soon, I'll tell you a bit more.
"Balsa’s life has been... largely terrible. She’s trained hard, from the age of ten or so, so that she can protect herself from assassins. She also wanted revenge for the murder of her father, but by the time she grew up, everyone responsible for that was dead. The man who saved her as child was the same one who trained her. He killed eight of his former friends that were sent after them, and ended his life in misery and illness."
Torogai sighed. “Balsa doesn’t believe that her life is her own. Because she was saved so many times, she believes that she’s responsible for saving others--and that her life in general belongs to others. It’s been bought with their blood.
“I don’t know if Balsa loves Tanda in a typical way, but there’s no one on this earth more precious to her than he is. She would never take his life to protect her own. She might really die at his hands if the alternative was to kill him."
Yugno looked thoroughly disheartened. "So when push comes to shove, you're saying she's gonna leave me to die."
Torogai smiled an evil little smile. "Who knows? You shouldn’t rely on just her to protect you from the Flower’s Defender. Try protecting yourself with your own two hands."
***
Balsa closed the door to the hut behind her and looked around the meadow warily. She could sense something lurking in a grove to the south, so she sat down on the grass, facing the threat. The day came to an end; the setting sun passed through the trunks of the trees in the swamp and lengthened the shadows in the meadow around the hut..
Did he manage to set his dislocated shoulder? she asked herself.
The grove was very familiar to her: this was where she’d started her martial arts training with Jiguro as a girl. The bulk of her spear training had been performed here. She remembered dislocating her own shoulder during a failed roll, once. She’d set the shoulder herself with tears streaming down her face, trying with all her might to master the pain. Tanda, standing to the side and watching, had cried with her the entire time.
Tanda cried a lot, but it wasn’t because he was weak. He cried for people, birds, wild creatures--even insects, sometimes. He could have gone back inside the hut anytime if the sight of Balsa’s pain was so unbearable to him, but he never did. He stayed outside with her and watched.
I'll definitely turn you back to normal, Balsa swore to herself. She owed Tanda that much.
Night was falling, and even though it was summer, nights in the mountains were always cold. Balsa worried about him staying outside at night. His enhanced body might be built better for the cold, but she suspected that Tanda couldn’t sustain it for very long. Even if the Flower’s Defender was immune from cold and pain, Balsa knew that his moves earlier were too much for his normal body to handle. Pain was the body's way of signaling its limits. If Tanda ignored pain and cold and hunger long enough, he would die.
I've gotta make my move as soon as I can.
To be a bodyguard, strength was not enough. The ability to plan for the future was an invaluable skill. All good plans factored in what allies and enemies were capable of. Balsa had a good tactical grounding thanks to her years of experience. She couldn’t predict the future, but she could make a few educated guesses about what would happen next.
Balsa snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed people moving close to the hut. It was dark--the sun had long since set--so all she could see of the approaching figures were their blue-black shadows.
Three people… no, four.
Balsa picked up her spear and stood up. Four men carrying torches pushed through the underbrush and stepped into the meadow. Balsa remembered seeing three of them before. They were Tanda's brothers: two older and one younger. The fourth man might have been Tanda's brother-in-law or something, but Balsa had never seen him before.
The men caught sight of Balsa and stood still. The oldest, Noshir, took one hesitant step forward.
“Balsa, is that you? We've come to see Tanda. Is he at home?"
“Noshir. Unfortunately, Tanda is out at the moment."
Noshir's face set in grim lines. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Torogai stepping out of the house. The two other brothers took a step back. "Good evening, Noshir,” Torogai said.
Torogai walked over to Balsa. Noshir licked his lips nervously, then spoke again. "We've come to see Tanda. Where is he?"
"It's a bit complicated, you see. I know you're worried, but we shouldn’t talk here. Come in and have some tea."
Noshir shook his head. "We didn't come for a chat, and none of us are interested in tea. You’re hiding something from us.”
The second-oldest brother panicked at Noshir's rudeness and grabbed his arm. "Stop it, Noshir. We don't even know what's going on, so stop trying to pick a fight.”
Noshir shook off his brother's arm. "You idiot! My family saw a monster jump out through our roof! It looked like Tanda! In the next village over, there’s a girl that won't wake up, just like Kaya! If we don't figure out what’s going on right now, it might be too late!”
Noshir addressed Torogai again. "Master Torogai, you're supposed to be some great and powerful magic weaver, ain't you? Then why haven't you saved my daughter? People are starting to talk. Not just here, in other villages too. Some people are saying that you're an evil magic weaver, and that you’re stealing people’s souls.”
Torogai remained calm. She came a little closer to Noshir and his brothers, but there was no threat in her. "Do you really think I would do something like that? Me and your family aren't that close, true, but for the past twenty years it was me who raised Tanda. We've been curing you villagers of your illnesses for a long time now. You always thanked us at the time, but I see that gratitude is easily forgotten in the face of unfounded rumors."
Blood slowly rose to Noshir's face. "But you didn't do anything for my daughter, did you? You only examined her a little…"
Torogai sighed. "Let's speak honestly, then. We're all family here, so let’s keep all this to ourselves. Kaya isn't just ‘not waking up'. Her soul has been taken away."
The men stirred.
"It's not a curse. Tanda was worried about you, so he didn't say anything, but Kaya's soul has been taken by a monster. I didn't do anything because if I did something wrong, there was a danger that I'd attract the monster."
Noshir’s face fell. "Then, Tanda…"
“Yes. Tanda ignored my warning about the dangers involved and tried to save Kaya by going after her soul. That's how he was caught by the monster. His own kindness was what trapped him. What your wife saw was Tanda's body, taken over by that monster."
Tanda’s brothers stood there as if they were frozen. Torogai’s explanation was a lot to take in, and at first, they were slow to understand it.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Noshir gritted out.
Torogai shrugged. "Maybe it will all work out, maybe not… either way, we're trying to come up with a way to save Tanda and Kaya. Whether you believe me or not is your own choice, but we’re doing all we can to save them both."
Balsa chose this moment to cut in. "And whether you believe us or not, you know that Master Torogai is the only one who can even make the attempt to save them."
Tanda's second oldest brother stood by Noshir's side. "We're sorry for our rudeness. Please try to understand. We were worried about Kaya and Tanda and had to do something. The village is aswirl with rumors.”
Torogai snorted. "I know the villagers scorn you for being related to a magic weaver, but that’s not my problem. The problems of the village are for villagers to solve. Our opponent is the monster. So let me take care of that, and go home."
Tanda's brothers looked at each other. They asked Torogai to save Tanda and Kaya again, then returned to the village. Their expressions were as grim and solemn as lines cut in stone.
Balsa faced Torogai. "As expected of you, Master Torogai. I was wondering how you would explain it all, but you managed. I never realized that living in a village came with so many problems attached."
Torogai smiled a little. "If you live in a village and something goes wrong, there’s a circle of people who will support you. I was a villager until I was twenty, so I know how helpful that can be. Outsiders like us can do what we want without restrictions, but we don’t have the support of a village if we need help. And if something bad does happen, we're the first to be suspected for causing the problem. That’s why villagers hate outsiders. They’re too easy to blame.”
No comments:
Post a Comment