Sin hadn’t been lying. The method to accessing your aura was quite an involved and precise process.
It was far from the CTRL+M key sequence Cas had grown used to in Siablo.
The first step was focusing, and that came easily enough to her. The next was ‘sitting in the silence of her mind’, a task which Cas’s year-long stint in a cave had prepared her immaculately.
The third step was to find that ‘spark’ inside of her, and steps four through eight were buried unattended somewhere in her notes, busy as she’d been failing to succeed at step three.
Night fell, and Sin – with an uncanny insight into her progression – patted a strong hand on her back with a gentle smile.
“You’re a quick learner!” he commended with a winning smile. “It isn’t often people learn to still their minds so naturally, but I think it’d be best if we continued the rest of the progress another time. Come to me when you’ve found that spark.”
Cas didn’t argue. Despite her earlier intention to leave the party early, it had gotten late, and Cas was surprised to find herself among the stragglers.
Being a potluck, there wasn’t much set up to be done, so the party dispersed more than it ended. People flaked away from the main mass in groups, and the space around their training area was especially barren. The previously interested children and smokers having left after the first thirty minutes.
Sakkari were hardly interesting sights, after all, and watching a meditating Sakkari was perhaps even less interesting than watching grass grow.
Cas, against her better judgement, took a shortcut through the central square, were a few of the women were chattering eagerly around a fire, and the fari Apothecary was taming the last of the dying flames.
Past all of this, in a particularly empty section of the village square, Tami sat on a basket by her hut.
Sitting cross legged below her, Nadia patiently waited as the woman attended to the flowers woven into her hair, delicately removing them one at a time.
Cas had just come into view, and Tami whispered something down to the child below her, who beamed and quickly left, flicking her shawl over her half-finished hairdo.
Tami smiled at her. “Girls!” she laughed, “they’re always more fond of running about than getting their hair done!”
For some reason, Cas moved closer to the woman, something in her smile seeming to invite her for a quiet conversation.
The immediate surroundings were empty of anyone.
Still, Tami took a careful look around before addressing the Sakkari.
“So…” much like her daughter, the woman’s nervousness was conveyed through a smile. Unlike the girl, however, there was something deliberate about the woman’s expression, as if it had been designed to draw Cas into a sense of comfort. “How did you like the party?” the woman asked.
Cas thought of saying something sardonic, comparing it to a prison, but something drew her towards the more sincere expression. “I’m glad to have come.”
Tami brushed aside a strand of dark hair from her face. Her fox ears were large and dark, and the large tufts of fur at their tips were brushed up like eye-lash extensions, giving the woman a funny expression whenever she flickered her ears nervously, as she was doing now. “My daughter…” the woman said.
Cas remained silent, unable to express her own nervousness and seeming all the colder for it.
Tami took a deep breath. “I… suppose she’s already asked you, hasn’t she?”
“She has,” Cas said.
Tami was a beautiful woman, notably so in this village, and her beauty was always highlighted by the proper control she seemed to have over every aspect and expression of her life. Her makeup, her hair, her emotions…
It was quite a sight how all of that deteriorated at once, however.
Slouching, her shawl drooping beneath her chin into a messy arc, Tami’s face contorted into a fearfully embarrassed posture, shame dragging her ears into drooping winks.
“My daughter is an Unari,” she admitted gracefully, speaking the fact with an unabashed voice. “I’m sure you know what’s to become of her, but… she can’t contribute to this village, ever. She’ll never give me any grand-children, I know, and she eats enough for two, aha!” Tami let out an uncharacteristically nervous laugh. “Can you really blame me if the tenderness of my heart keeps me from abandoning her?”
Tami seemed to be asking the question genuinely.
Cas answered. “I can’t blame you at all. In fact, I actually-”
Tami, in the haste of her speech, continued strongly, rising up into a straighter stance even as her face fell into deeper dejection.
“Well… I’m sure I’ve made quite the impression since we’ve been introduced. I’m quite the figure around here, actually.” The boast came naturally to Tami, though without the usual spirit that distinguished the woman. “Like Sin, for example, I got you an early meeting with him, didn’t I? And I’m sure I could be of more use to you.
“If… if it’s not too much to ask, great sage.” Tami stuttered her words out. “If you could do me the greatest favor I’ve ever received. I’d be forever in your debt.” Tami bowed in her seat, bending over so that her face hid itself facing her thighs.
Cas had already made up her mind to save the girl, by this point, of course. She’d just yet to find the right time to announce it.
Looking at the desperate woman as she was now, however, Cas thought it would be a good enough time to do so now, and said.
“I was planning to save her in either case, lady Tami,” speaking in that affected politeness the grown ups here used with one another. “Your daughter will-”
“Really!?” Tami, for her part, abandoned all sobriety, popping up like a spring, blasting Cas with a smile so brilliant it almost blinded her.
In a family known for their smiles, Tami’s was the brightest and most genuine Cas had yet seen in this village. It made her feel happy just looking at it, not to say what Tami was feeling, as the woman rose up into a stand, shivering as if warm water were running through her frozen body and attempting valiantly to keep quiet in the evening.
“Really?” she asked again, looking almost tearful.
“Yes, really,” Cas answered.
It was strange. All this time, she’d been worried and afraid about what taking Nadia in would mean. She’d been terrified of the responsibility and potential consequences.
But, through all her ruminations, she’d never once imagined that she might ever feel this happy, as the crying mother embraced her in a sobbing hug.
----------------------------------------
Tami had naturally lauded her with all the thousands of colorful complements and blessings the people of this village had at hand.
Cas had, of course, heard them all many times over, being the savior of the village and all.
Still, Tami’s rendition reminded her of one of the stranger phrases the villagers promised::
‘I will feed you with the marrow of my bones if I must!’
It wasn’t meant to be a literal phrase, of course. Still, Cas couldn’t help recoiling at the imagery of seeing people as food, and then – after a moment of dispassionate thought – she realized that, technically speaking, people were food, being made of the stuff after all.
And that dark thought sparked a bright idea.
…
In truth, Cas wasn’t sure why it took her this long to think of something this obvious.
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Kari trudged in through the door, dropping the basket of Korren stalks at her feet, where in Cas picked them up and began shoveling them into herself.
Korren plants were the staple crop of the five villages.
In earth terms, they were like a very short stalk of corn, with a large bulb of grass-grain growing at the tip of the thick stalk.
The stalks themselves were inedible, but were still harvested diligently, being mostly used for their fibers which – by the summer – would be ready to be turned into fibers for clothes.
It was a very efficient plant.
However, upon eating them, and paying a little attention to her materials sheet, it was easy to see that they had everything required to make human food. They had carbs, sugars, vitamins, salt… it was all just locked away in a thick forest of cellulose and other indigestible stuff.
Searching quickly in her material’s sheet, Cas found that Tanti grass was an edible plant with a similar ingridents list, and – remembering the taste of that plant, recalling it’s floppy, watery leaves and acrid flavor – Cas set about making it.
By now, there was five pounds of Korren stalks floating inside Cas.
It was tough material, almost woody in texture, and it resisted her at every turn. It was an action a lot like chewing for her. Instinctually, she just knew where to move the food, how much saliva to add, how to avoid biting her tongue. In service of this analogy, she’d even conjured some harderend teeth and a set of jaws that set about masticating the crunchy stalks.
Green, acrid juice spilled out into her as the crushing jaws pressed the stalks. The chemical bath that was her body heated up, almost foaming reactively as it stripped away everything from the now bleached looking strands of fiber, her interior warbling as everything swirled together like a blender and the previously stubborn strands fell apart of their own accord, and there Cas juggled all the requisite materials expertly into their final products.
New Material Produced: Separated Korren Fibers!
New Material Produced: Separated Plant Blood!
Chemistry 101: +29xp
Kari looked at the updates with a little interest.
The Korren fibers, almost four pounds of silky, pressed strands she regurgitated onto large rug made of the same material.
They ‘plant blood’ she was sure was probably chlorophyll, and that was absorbed with little fanfare.
What interested her more was the third and final byproduct of the reaction. The system didn’t acknowledge it because it wasn’t a ‘new material’. No, rather it was a copy of something Cas had eaten before: the edible Tanti Grass. Or, at least her attempt at copying it.
Cas spat out a green block of food that looked a lot like vegan spam.
The block slid out of her like it was a cassette tape, dropping onto a bowl that had been set infront of her and jiggling there like a block of soylent green, not that Cas could tell the color.
“Try this."
Kari raised an eyebrow and plucked a corner of the gelatin between her fingers, popping it between her teeth and chewing with a neutral expression.
“Well?” Cas asked with interest as Kari swallowed.
Kari shrugged. “It’s fine.”
Cas giggled. “Sucess! By the way, what color is it?”
Kari still wasn’t in the mood to take part in their habitual revelry, turning away with a neutral mask.
“You’re thinking of feeding her with this, aren’t you?” she asked accusatorily.
“What’s wrong with that?” Cas said, ripping away a root portion a Korren stalk and analyzing it.
“Where are we supposed to get more of these plant stalks?” Kari challenged, allowing a sour expression to show on her face for the first time all day. “We’re not going to get more rations, you know? And You barely made a single bowl of food from all this!” Kari gestured at the four pounds of plant fibers Cas had thrown up beside her.
“We’ll trade,” was Cas’s simple answer, still analyzing the bright roots of the jagged plant stalk. “We can let people know that…” Cas paused to mull over the offer for a second. “Right. If they give us their stalks, we’ll give them half the food we make with it. It’s not like this town doesn’t have enough rugs, and I’m sure everyone will appreciate having a bit of extra food for the winter.”
“And where are we supposed to get water!” Kari stood up, throwing another challenge at the plan. “It’s not like you can make water from stalks!”
“Actually, I can,” Cas corrected happily, “though you’re right it’s not much. I can make the rest up from human waste, though!”
Kari grimaced, reminding Cas of what more human sensibilities thought of the idea. “Well…” Cas corrected herself, “I can make a clone body that does that for me.” Cas laughed with some embarrassment.
Kari shot up in a rage. “She can’t stay here!”
Cas… in truth, still didn’t understand why Kari was acting this way, even as she’d been expecting the reaction.
Still, she was careful not to make the same mistakes as last night.
“Why not?” Cas asked, careful to keep her tone open and curious.
Kari calmed down at that, sitting cross legged. “I’ve been eavesdropping again,” she admitted.
Cas didn’t bother to interrupt her with a lecture.
“Elder Nemaris… he was talking to the other village elders during Tami’s party. He said you wouldn’t interfere with the tradition, and that Nadia wouldn’t cause trouble by staying… he doesn’t expect you to succeed, and he’s promising the others you’ll give up. If you do this and keep taking kids in, he’ll be embarrassed.”
“So?” Cas said. “Let him be embarrassed.”
“No, you don’t understand. He’s kind of a jerk sometimes, but he’s a good man! And if he falls out with the other Elders–”
“I know he’s a good man, Kari,” Cas was careful to couch her words in agreement. “That doesn’t mean we let him do whatever he wants, though, or are you saying I should’ve listened to that ‘good man’ when he told me to let you die?”
Kari stepped back as if stung.
Cas winced at this, but continued gently. “I just mean… why are you so eager to get Nadia out of here, Kari?” Cas’s tone was pleading and scared. “This isn’t like you.”
A short, choked sob was Kari’s answer. “I don’t know!” she cried, falling to her knees and admitting everything. “I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but no good thoughts come when I see Nadia’s face!” Kari broke down completely at this.
It was strange to see such a cheerful and stoic girl crying for the second day in a row.
Cas couldn’t help noticing how confused the girl seemed at her own emotions, as she clawed and scratched at her own heart, willing her tears to stop and not understanding why her body disobeyed her so.
Squeezing her eyes shut, clutching at her shawl, Kari bowled over on her knees. “I… can’t feel anything but hate when I see her, Cas. I feel like she’s ruining the life I finally have now. I feel like she’s stealing the life I never thought I’d get, and I know it’s wrong but I can’t help it!”
Delirious run-on sentences were the only tool Kari had to express herself, and she tried desperately to fit them together in some way that made sense.
“I… I was prepared to die when my birthday came,” Kari said suddenly, a strange calm overcoming her voice even as sobs wracked her. “I thought I was being brave then, but I wasn’t! I was scared and couldn’t handle it, and I’m scared, now! I’m scared that you’ll choose her over me! I’m scared that you’ll choose anyone else!”
Kari looked up just in time for a young human girl with strangely dark skin to bowl her over in a painfully tight hug.
Cas squeezed her arms closer around the girl, the large shawl she’d been wearing as a slime fell over her figure like a poncho, and it wrapped around the weeping girl like a blanket.
It was, in truth, an objectively uncomfortable experience.
The desert heat, the extra layers, and the painful hug were a bad mix, but it was the sort of discomfort that distracted Kari from her dying heart.
Cas wasn’t prepared to deal with this. She could feel her inadequacy before the task. Still, she poured every ounce of sincerity and effort she had in her when she hugged the girl even tighter and said: “I’ll never choose anyone over you, Kari.”
“Liar!” Kari spat. “I was listening when Tami told you all those things – “ another sob that shook through both their bodies “ – about how she could get you whatever you wanted.”
The level of spying was surprising to Cas, but she immediately dropped her admonishments. Those could come later. For now:
“She did,” Cas admitted, “but all I promised her was that I’d help Nadia. You’re my best friend Kari. You’re my best friend in this whole world, and I’ll never let anything bad happen to you, ok?”
Cas wanted to pull back and look the girl in the eyes, but was almost afraid to let go over her in order to do it.
Eventually, however, Kari grew restless in her embrace, and Cas was face to face with her again.
Knowing better than to press for an answer, Cas simply sat on her knees, waiting patiently as Kari composed herself, and – with a final few sniffles – forced a smile in Cas’ direction.
“That’s a false smile,” Cas said with light admonishment.
Kari giggled. “Yeah. It’s hard to smile when you’ve been crying all day, haha.”
“Then why?”
Kari paused, a quizzical look in her eye which quickly turned downward. “To say sorry,” she said at last. “I shouldn’t have said all that stuff about Nadia. I… I’m ok with her staying here, now.” Kari said. “I’m still feeling sad, now, but… I want to help you take care of her!”
Cas laughed lightly. “You’re still open for that court advisor position?”
Kari smiled, and choked out a short laugh. A laugh that was forced but which Cas didn’t think was strange enough to press into.
“I… I’ll try,” Kari smiled, looking more natural already.