Kanga watched him leave. She didn't know what to do with the ewe. 
She didn't think she could bring herself to leave her to fend for 
herself. 

"Me-suh will helpen yose walk-suh." She offered. And helped the ewe 
stand.

"I don't want your help! I'll be fine! We are strong! I'll make it 
to my flock fine!" She snarled but, didn't push Kanga away.

"Yose comen withen us." Kanga began to bark orders for them to move. 

Kanga had heard the ewe say they did what they had to, to survive. 
She knew the ewe would not refuse help seriously if she wanted to 
survive.

*****

He said not to follow but, how could Lucca not help? He crawled low 
in the grass following. It was easy for the short sneasal.

~

Chirin took a look back up at the flock as he left. He took off fast. 
Why wait?

Chirin held out his flippers as he ran down the hill. He made long 
leaps, clearing several yards with every one. Many strides passed 
under his flying body before his feet touched down. He bent his legs 
to absorb impact, tensing his muscles to their strongest. Even at a 
time like this, running fast, leaping far thrilled him. 

The gift trailed behind him, angled out. He had used it more today 
already than he had on most days of his life. It had told on him. The 
long fast run down the steep hill cooled his body, which sparkled 
with sweat. He was hungry and thirsty. But he did not stop to graze 
until he could no longer see the flock. He ran to put distance 
between them and himself. He would not change his mind. He had come 
for Lindi and he would not fail her again.

His leaps were on the edge of danger. There was a feeling of chaos in 
his movements. Born of anguish and the desire to ram something, he 
rammed the air, with his downhill charge. His footsteps bordered on 
reckless; he could have tripped. Once, he slipped a little, saved 
himself with the other foot. He grunted on landing. The exhilaration 
drove him on. 

The big ram stopped down the hill to eat. They were out of sight and 
he was ûnphos again. Like he had been coming here, only now he was 
filled with grimness and purpose all over again. More focused, more 
urgent, and everything else was put on hold, on hold for her. 

He ran lusting like a demon, seeing Rizaa fires inside of him. Wind 
shook the trees and he leaped flying. He held out his arms and felt 
like a feather, remembering how Selenity had loved to play that game. 
He ran to the base of the hill and stood near the woods. 

He put his nose to the ground, grazed while he searched for their 
scent. It didn't take him long.  Dung had been left here and there 
too, over the ground trampled with sheep smells. And the residue left 
by the ewe's gift. Gifts given to someone, infused into their being 
from another, were never the same as the gift in its original owner. 
Never as powerful or as focused. It was like an image copie, 
transferred, like when Chirin had rubbed mud on stone and then 
pressed leaves onto it to transfer the symbol. It was always less 
clear. 

That boded badly for him if Ke-Doma was behind it. But he had known 
he was already...hdn't he. 

~

From here he saw the ridges that created the valley, just beyond the 
forest. Chirin watched them in the broad daylight, sharp and clear, a 
beautiful vista in the sunny afternoon. Crazy Lights walked beside 
Chirin, one amp seen and the other only felt by him, the two rams 
walked down the trail as the day wenton. Chirin walked slightly to 
the side so his friend had room.

He stopped, sniffed the wind. enemies were all over the place. The 
ram growled, feeling small, very much alone in a place he had never 
been, following the trail of a flock that would probably try to kill 
him if they caught him again. Chirin kept back behind them and used 
the skills he ahd gained fighting, and avoiding, Bua na kuros, to 
shield his gift's pulsations from being felt. 

Voices of the spirits in the grass formed words to him in his mind. 
Chirin sought words in he wind and found them. ~Dead falls.~ He had 
said that was where he was, hadn't he?

He did not seek out the other as he approached, at first. What was 
his plan, anyway? He would meet Ke-Doma first, learn from him what he 
could...then use it to get Lindi and them away. He would use all he 
could figure out, he would do away with these evil ones who offended 
the dead and made the skies shiver. Who slit the throats of souls, 
stabbed the ghosts in the back. Chirin picked up to a trot. Up ahead 
was a stream, he could hear the water...and far up ahead, was the 
flock. 

Chirin stiffened and stood listening to the water...and smelling a 
sneasel nearby somewhere. He breathed shallow, his body could be seen 
in its gentle in and out movement of air. Sneasels. His gift splayed 
through the rushes. 

Ancient ones lay low and little sprouts' spirits giggled in the 
grass's sway. Chirin reached out towards the danger, but couldn't 
tell much of anything...until he reached farther, sensing.

Lucca laid down close to the ground. He tried to stay as still as he 
could. He didn't want Chirin to know he was there. If he did he knew 
the ram would make him turn back. From the way he spoke with Kanga 
he knew he would be turned down. 

Lucca wanted to help. he stayed quiet. Waiting for the ram to move 
on before he began to follow.

~

Sweat glistened on his skin in the summer heat. Chirin drew the winds 
around himself to cool off...and to siphon out the location of his 
enemy.

Chirin's gift took to the air far and long. He churned the winds in 
the immediate area, slowly circling their direction from which they 
hit him. He did so until the sneasel's smell was again revealed. 

"I smell you." Chirin began to back away. the smell seemed familiar, 
but sneasel scents still put him on edge after all this time. He let 
go the wind and headed on, putting distance between himself and the 
sneasel who might have been following him. 

He stopped again, further out. If the creature was still following 
him then it was probably powerful, and desperate. And in a place with 
Oceaciana's curse, it was probably not alone. 

When he spoke, it was not his own voice. It was the air above him, 
settling down around him and rustling the grasses. He fine tuned the 
movements to create the sound of words.

~Show yourself.~

Lucca shivered in the grass. Paws over his head. What was that? He 
tried not to whimper. He couldn;t take it! He ran through the tall 
grass.

"Ghosts! Ghosts! Run'a!" He ran, the little sneasal was scared.

"Lucca! Oh, no--No, Lucca! It's okay, it's me!" Chirin leaped after 
him, but stopped. "Lucca I didn't know it was you! i didn't mean to 
scare you. Nothing's coming to hurt you."

His waving tail slowly lowered. All his relief at  there not being a 
pack of sneasels about to jump him and slash him to ribbons, had been 
ruined. But what had Lucca been following him for, anyway?

"Lucca."

He poked his head out of the grass slightly. 

"Chirin! Run'a! Ghosts'a coming'a!" The sneasal ran to him. "We'a 
need to run'a!"

"Where?" Was he really talking about something separate? Those words 
in the grass--that was me Lucca! I thought you were something else--I 
didn't know what was sneaking up on me! Do you mean that? Because if 
you do, I'm sorry."

Chirin did not run yet. He stood with a growl hanging low in his 
throat. His tail lashed. He would bolt up the stream if he did run.

"that'a you...." Lucca looked stunned. His ear perked and fell. His 
eyes filled with a curious gloss. "You'a do that! Lucca much'a 
impressed...and a bit'a scared."

"Yeah...it's me. But...really...to put things in perspective, I could 
hurt you a lot more easily with my electricity than i could with a 
silly little voice. And I would never hurt you. Just like you'd never 
hurt me. We're light-friends. The voice, everything--that was for my 
enemies, I thought you might be another sneasel or even a pack of 
sneasels. But now I know you're Lucca." He stepped back towards him, 
then with a flick of his lights, called him over to walk with 
him. "So...what brings you to follow me?"

He stepped towards the stream...and for the first time, let the wind 
spirits take hold of his gift and reach along towards the distant 
pulse of a force that he had come to recognize as Ke-Doma.

"Well'a....Lucca wanted to help'a. Lucca hide thinking you'a make 
him turn back'a. Cause you say'a Keha and Chari no can come'a." 
Lucca looked at his feet. "Lucca will'a go back'a now since you'a 
know Lucca following'a." 

"Well, I didn't mean to make you feel bad." Chirin headed along the 
stream, going northeast. He could feel the pulsing growing stronger, 
it reverberated from the sky and the bottom of the underground to the 
inside of his gut, and all along his marks. They channeled it and 
honed his direction. He was going the right way.

"I didn't want anyone to know, or try to stop me. I'm going to see Ke-
Doma."

Chirin ran a shudder along the water, skipping over with a subtle 
flute of wind that changed the babbling voices for a moment. They 
seemed to say something else, their conversation rising in fear. He 
felt forward as he hiked along. 

~Ke-Doma?~ He called him like the reeds calling more wind through 
them.

"Ke..doma? Me'a hear dat name before somewhere'a. Shoot! Lucca no 
recall'a though!" The sneasal sighed. 

Lucca looked the way he came. he began to walk back.

"Lucca...I never said you could not come. But if you are going...I 
can only say you're probably wise to do so, for your own good. Please 
don't tell them that I am going ot see Ke-Doma. They'll only worry 
about me...just tell them I've gone east to track the flock, which is 
true."

He almost wanted Lucca to come, but that would have been selfish. 

"Lucca....Lucca will no tell'a them you going to Ke-doma." Lucca 
wanted to go.

"Thank you. It means a lot." Chirin almost asked him to come with. He 
even opened his mouth to speak. He never said it. "My thoughts will 
be with youlike they are with the rest ofthe flock. Help keep my 
lambs safe...if you want to help. Help keep them all safe back there 
in the flock and send them my love and my light for me. I miss them 
already." A little smile moved his mouth. 


~

~Mure'mar? What makes you call out to me?~

The mogur did not stir from where he sat near the river. He listened 
to the spirits. He focused the power, forced a stronger connection 
with the spirits.

And Chirin felt it pull taut like vines around a tree, or a snake 
around a branch...taut but moving, very alive, muscle created through 
air stretching and holding tight, electricity and sinew. 

~I've come to learn from you...like you made your offer to me. I've 
come to accept it.~

Chirin moved his gift, shifted it over the ground, through the 
burbling water, felt grains of ground moving as insects tunneled 
through them beneath the leaf litter of the forest he now hiked 
through. He was on the lookout for himself, trailing the flock's 
scent...which had been lost amoung the threads of the streams. 

The stream he followed seemed to gather up colours into it, passing 
them on around his feet as he walked in the shallows to keep cool. 
His gift made everything more vivid to him, brought out the cries and 
whispers of the spirits. It let him know acutely that he was never 
alone.

~Then...I shall prepare for your arrival Mure'mar of the west.~

Prepare for his arrival? Was he trying to trap him? Chirin froze on 
the bank of the stream. Only the trickling moved. 

How, really, would he do that? Chirin didn't know what he was getting 
into. But no...Ke-Doma hadn't implied any harm...he couldn't read 
minds. He could do a lot of things, but if he could read minds then 
why not just attack Chirin where he stood?

Then, there was the problem that might arise of explaining why he had 
fought Far-shout. Well, he could just say he hadn't known it had had 
anything to do with Ke-doma. That was pretty much true anyway. Would 
Ke-doma or anyone have a shred of respect for someone who didn't even 
try to help their friends? The more he thought about it, the more in 
the clear he felt himself to be, and yet, Chirin found it very hard 
to unglue his feet from the side of the stream.

Fear moved through the gift easily. He immobilized it until he had a 
grip on his emotions again. He again picked up moving. This was the 
only way...he could not sneak up on that ewe with the gift and spring 
his friends out. And he couldn't sneak up on Ke-doma...

...not yet. This was the only way. 

Chirin listened to his feet splashing in the stream. It was a litle 
cooler once he got into the shade of tall oak and hemlock. He stepped 
along on free stones. The flock had long since lost him, but he was 
not following their trail directly anymore. 

What if they were slaughtered or something before he could save them? 
Chirin shook his head, what was he getting into? Why was he doing 
this, why hadn't he just stuck with Kanga and the others, why was he 
being so stupid? Lindi was why, he couldn't get her out of his head. 
Again she embraced him in his mind. The field of her beautiful body, 
where his hands had bounded and played, explored. Chirin watched the 
water ahead.

The stream was joined by another and another. Chirin found himself 
walking along the bank of a river. The pulsations of the spirits grew 
powerful, singing like a deep throated chorus through the water and 
chirin enacted his gift to tone down the blugeoning it was giving him 
through the marks. Teaching was what he needed... it was the only 
way. 

Shadows of trees thickened; the sky was mostly blocked by black 
silhouettes of trees. He had hiked forever. Chirin stopped to eat 
sedge from the riverbank. He needed a rest for his legs if nothing 
else...he had been moving relentlessly, too driven to go on any 
longer. 

He prepared himself. If this was a trap he had to be ready to spring 
out of it, escape at all costs. If he escaped he could head straight 
to the flock and do what he could, though it was bound to be little. 
He wasn't giving up that easily. Whatever Ke-doma could teach him he 
might learn in time for himself. It would just take too long. 

He hiked steadily downhill, too preoccupied to enjoy the beauty of 
the water bounding down the rocks. He was afraid, and tired, and only 
Lindi's face kept him moving forward.

"Gunya-gunya." 

Chirin knelt on a rock that the riverwater wreathed in muscles of 
foam. His yellow body was like a giant flower or something, bright 
daffodil colored against the earthy tones of stone, forest understory 
and river water. the river overpowered his voice as he put his nose 
to the stone and prayed to his powerful uncle's spirit. ~Give me 
strength to get through this...let it pour onto me from the oak and 
the hemlock. Let your lights open up from Watakko, I am open, let it 
pour into me. Gunya-gunya, I will never forget you and I will do a 
dance in your favour.~

Chirin concentrated hard, letting the spirit spill his magic into 
him. ~Thank you...~

He turned his thoughts to Pon-pon. He did not broadcast these prayers 
throug his gift; he kept them private; the last thing he wanted was 
Ke-Doma hearing them, but since he was not broadcasting them that 
would be impossible. It was private, between him and these ancestor 
spirits. But Ke-Doma might have seen him curled forward in a scarred 
yellow ball on a grey boulder, surrounded by tumbling white water, 
praying. 

~Pon-pon, you told me to seek the Mure'mar of the east...I am about 
to go to him. I have discovered he is not all good...he may be very 
evil. I go to him to see theknowledge I need to rescue my friends, 
my...Lindi. Please...lend me the power to escape if I need it...I 
will never forget you and my lights shine with you, within them.~

~

Ke-Doma sat near the river, he listened to it. He sensed the spirits 
lost within. he would call out to them and use them. he rose to his 
feet. As he promised he would prepare. He grasped the apricorn charm 
about his neck, the green orb in his flipper. He smelled it and of 
the secret treasure within. His knowledge of how to use it within 
his mind. 

~Nasaqo. Bring me five ewes. Pick those who will not speak much. I 
have need of them.~ Ke-Doma looked beyond the river. A place of 
great spirit gathering lay out there. 

Far-run sat. He awaited his student. 

*****

Nasaqo brushed through the crowd. So? These were the new ones? 
Lindini hid in the back with Iris and Sera. She didn't know what was 
going on. She hardly knew Iris but, she felt a friendship with her 
now that she was among so many strangers. She watched the larger 
island ewe picking out ewes. 

"What the fuck! Ke-Tomo you moron!" Nasaqo shouted.

"What!" He growled coming over. "I am the mogur's son you can't call 
me a moron!"

"You brought in a mainlander! Stupid!" Nasaqo glanced at the 
ewe. "You stupid shit!"

"Back off bitch!" He snapped at her. 

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Nasaqo growled.

"Well....we just hide her in the flock! Dad is going to be busy for 
awhile so maybe he won't see." Ke-Tomo was kicking himself. "You 
better keep to the middle of the flock if you know what's good for 
you!"

She just nodded and stayed near Sera and the others, scared out of 
her mind.

"Well I think you Nossy!" Nasaqo grabbed the flaaffy. "You have been 
such a stuck up bitch since the farm! Time to get some learning you 
need!"

"I will not!" Nysokatta struggled as the amp ewe grabbed her. "I am 
not going anywhere near Far-run! I am not that scared little ewe 
anymore!"

"Oh! Brave are we now? Well we'll kill little Norrie if you don't do 
what we say!" Nasaqo wrenched her away from the others and with the 
four other ewes. "You tell that stranger anything and she becomes a 
pred meal! Understand!" 

Nysokatta stared at Norrie. Shewas crying in Juhkura's grasp. The 
elder ewe grinned, she pulled on the yearling ear. 

"Do what they say and she will be just fine." Juhkura grinned.

"Yes....I will...." Nossy cried, she began to follow Nasaqo. 

"Nasaqo wait till you clear the Dead Falls before you take that mud 
off their tails. I don't want anyone knowing we are out here." 
Juhkura let Norrie run back into the flock.  

"Auntie Nossy!" Norrie cried. Lindi held the little ewe, they had to 
take care of one another. Poor Nossy, she left to get away and ran 
into this.

"She'll be fine Norrie." Lindi whispered to her. "She can take care 
of herself."

~

Chirin rose from his seat of prayer. gunya was all around him, all 
inside him and Pon-pon was in his marks, in his veins. The ampharos 
rose from the boulder and wandered north, down the river as it became 
larger. Feeling another need strike him, he leaped from stone to 
stone in the dappled shade. He thought of what he was leaving behind. 
Whom, really--his family, those two lambs and Kanga. He was shining 
his lights for them right now. ~go south, as fast as you can. Go 
south.~ Should he have been so quick to leave them?

What if Keha and chari came? Was it better or worse if they came to 
him now? Chirin was on edge now. The actions of those ewes back by 
the forest had made him reluctant to trust anyone oranything. He 
found it hard to trust the river's rflection of his face, when he 
climbed up to a mostly still pool formed by rocks, and looked in.

The tattoos on his cheeks seemed to make his face look longer. The 
slight rippled of the water only accentuated their squiggly pattern. 
He felt them moving within him, the gifts of ancient ones stirring in 
his skin. It was time to go; he was ready. With the spirits all 
around and on hi like wings, Chirin leaped the rocks and approached 
where he knew the mogur was waiting. 

Mogur, Mure'mar? They were similar yet different. There was more to 
his powers than he had known. Pon-pon had told him that the way to 
realize the extent of it was to go see the Mure[mar of distant lands, 
because it varied in unprecedented ways. There was an ancient 
connection to marowaks hidden within his gift, he knew that, the 
Mure'mar all knew that. What it was had been lost to Pon-pon and even 
his teacher too, long ago. 

~Ke-doma. I am here.~ At a charizard's height, Chirin stood on the 
opposite back of the river, facing the older ram, the much older ram. 
He felt like an overtall, clumsy oaf when he looked at Ke-Doma. The 
ram's long beard striped down n front of him and he sat perfectly 
still. Chirin's lights churned in their orbs and his whole body felt 
like it was squirming with worms on the inside. Caterpies crawled the 
insides of his skin. Sparkles fluttered on the moving water and 
reflected the light on the inside of him. Many lights but no clear 
beams. 

The presence of the elder one seemed to cut through him. He said he 
had prepared himself, but chirin had prepared himself, too. now came 
the moment of truth--what would the ram demand of him, and how far 
would he go? He had told himself he would do anything for her; would 
he? What if he learned things he didn't want to know--what if he 
tried something and hurt himself beyond repair? What if the ram's 
powers possessed him, and he was no longer in control?

~Ebony tried to possess you, chiirn,~ he thought, ~I wouldn't say 
anyone has a fair chance of that...you are worrying yourself 
unnecessarily. If he wanted to possess you and could, he would have 
done so already.~

Chirin stepped into teh river, which had deepened. The swim across 
was smooth and very refreshing in the hot humid June day. He swam 
powerfully but peacefully, with barely a ripple. his gift fluttered 
around him like a thousand butterfrees that had found something 
sweet. 

Arriving on the other shore a small distance from him, Chiirn let the 
wanter hang its beads on him, relieving him a little longer from 
Phos's heat. "I'm here." Chirin didn't say anything else...he figured 
there wasn't anything to say. Water dripped from his chin, his 
flippers; through his discipline a flicker of light here and there 
betrayed his fear. He shifted from foot to foot, till he got hold of 
himself, and took deep long breaths. It helped a little.

"When you look into that river what do you see?" Ke-Doma remained 
seated, his eyes shut. 

The elder ram sat feeling the spirit world about him. He let them 
whisper to him. He knew the ram was coming. And now the time to 
share the knowledge would begin. He felt the ewes coming. His 
daughter bringing the five as he requested. 

Chirin looked into the river. He wondered, was it a trick question? 
It was a simple question, and he hated those. He didn't answer at 
first. There were so many things he saw in the river, after all. 

He looked hard, there. the opposite of everything--the souls of 
everything that peered into it, appeared in water. He had known that 
since lambhood. He felt inadequate and somehow cheated...like he was 
part of a grander scheme and Ke-doma had known it since even before 
he had said he was coming. He knew, and the more Chirin looked and 
thought, the more he just knew he knew. The mist of his gift snapped 
a little in the air, before he smoothed it out. Gunya was there with 
him, he felt it. 

The more he looked and concentrated, the more he was aware of a 
spiralling sensation, like he was diving into the river with his 
soul. The river was opening up to him. Light, dark, dancing ghosts of 
light, he was a sheep dressed in the light of Phos, two reflections, 
one from each eye...

"I...I can't answer...i don't know what to say. I guess I see the 
realm that is the river and is me."

"Then you do not see her? There was once a great stanler doe. She 
was very prideful of beauty. the bucks all desired her. But...beauty 
does not last forever as we all know...." Far-run opened his dull 
green eyes. "A ringuma came, attacked the herd. She got away but, 
her body was racked with scars. She went on, she felt self hate each 
time she saw her reflection. Where you stand she would sit staring 
praying her once beauty would return."

Ke-Doma sighed. He looked out into the waters.

"One evening she decided she would do something if no one would take 
her ugliness away. She leapt into the river. Her body is somewhere 
far down river. A few bones scattered in the rocky underbed. A truly 
sad tale that is what I see." He turned his head to Chirin. "For I 
see beyond the natural world."

Chirin thought about what Ke-doma had said. "No...I saw no doe. I saw 
no ringuma. But to think that doe is the only one who has stood here, 
who has died here, who has made a decision here that affected her 
life so deeply--well, there is more to any one place than one tale. 
You tell me that beauty doesn't last forever, that people 
change...you're right. Look at me..." Chirin was covered in 
scars. "These scars are my life. One might say they made me more 
ugly. Look at my chin. I have no beard. Where I come from, I am 
considered, well, handsome enough." He smiled a little. "The ewes who 
come from Oceaciana tend to consider me ugly--Probably lamblike, even 
ewelike, above the neck anyway. Your doe you speak of survived 
something horrendous. Her scars I could have identifed with...I 
probably have as many, maybe not...I didn't see the reflection you 
speak of. I saw too much to zero in on, mostly I saw myself.

"My scars have made me more beautiful. That is what I think to 
myself. I evolved a blank sheet of white and yellow, and my scars are 
the paint that life has put on me."

He thought some more. "I'm sorry I'm talking so much." He smiled 
again. "I'm just trying to understand the meaning of yur story, so if 
I'm off the mark, just, disregard wht I say--this is only my fourth 
summer after all. This doe wanted to go back, she did not want to 
remember all of what had been the good times. I too have lost more 
than one flock to violence. It is hard to come back...and live with 
those scars. I have, so far, and I think that when someone can rise 
over that and live to laugh again it is a beautiful thing."

He lookd at the river again, knelt and shone his lights for the 
spirit he had not seen, but now knew was there. "My lights for you, 
may you find your peace in the spirit world where you run through 
these forests."

Ke-Doma shook his head. 

"You misunderstand so badly. My story had no moral, no teaching 
other than this....I see her, I hear her whisper her tale to me for 
I have long been infused with the spirit realm." He stood, he looked 
level into the young ram's eyes. "The power I hold, the gift you 
seek has it's dark side."

He lifted a flipper and pointed out a large stone. 

"You are right about one thing, the doe wasn't the only one to have 
left a mark on this land. Here a houndour bled his life out with a 
bullet in his haunch. he laid here kept the hope that it would stop 
bleeding. You see this gift has a price. Once you take it your eyes 
will forever be open to the spirit realm. You will hear things see 
things you might not like." Far-run stroked his beard. "I warn 
before I give this gift to you. I had a student once...my own son. 
Once given the mark he went mad. the spirits would not leave him be, 
he....I regret the choice of giving him the mark."

~The story has a teaching if one learns from it,~ Chirin wanted to 
say, but he wasnot here to argue.He was here to save these ewes.

"All my short, inexperienced life, all my half-sighted life, one 
thing I have never chosen is the option to live in the dark. I choose 
the light even if it is ugly. There has been no dark hole, no pit of 
shadows that I hav e not shone into to try and see what it is about. 
Given horrific memories, I would never reliquish them. I have many, 
and to choose not to see is to choose to live in the dark.I take no 
comfort from ignorance and never have. I cannot grow on ignorance. 
Life has a dark side that i have already seen plenty of...and where 
you say there is a dark side, there is an equally light side as well. 
You say yhat I will see the spirits' pain. I believe that I will see 
their joy as well."

Chirin was shining acceptance to Ke-doma. "If you say I have the gift 
to use it with, I will receive your mark. Everything I have learned 
has carried a light and a dark side. I seek more. There is a saying 
that I learned when I was young, it says, that it takes both sun and 
rain, to make a rainbow."

He sat down next to Far-run. "I'm ready to open my eyes to another 
realm that you say I will see with greater clarity."

Chirin had known each mure'mar or whatever they called themselves, 
had their own marks to give. Pon-pon had borne many. Chirin calmed 
himself with deep breathing and by looking at the flamelike dance of 
sunlight on water.

"Then if you accept the gift for all that it is then I shall bestow 
it upon you. When night falls we shall begin." He slipped the charm 
from his throat. "This charm holds all I need to transfer the power. 
I have had this charm for so long. Even when the humans had me i 
refused to give it up. My teeth have kept it about my neck."

He sniffed it and rubbed a flipper over it. His ears flicked, both 
cut oddly and ended in rounded tips. His ears flicked as he recalled 
the humans cutting him. He recalled them cutting his ears, marking 
him like some common beast! The metal ring in his ear still hung 
there. The strange markings on it, he felt it gave him a part of 
their cunning. He turned his head to the setting sun.

"For all she taught me I must give my thanks to Demona. The dark 
charizard taught me what I know. And to Ebony who opened my eyes to 
it's true powers. For without them my understanding of it all would 
be so weak." He held the charm towards the setting sun. "Thank you 
for making me great!"

Chirin's eyes followed the charm in his hands. Far-run held his 
attention, like he had reached into his cheat and had those teeth 
around his heart. Ebony? What was Chirin getting himself into?

Well, Ebony was dead--a spirit. She was merely one more of that 
realm. Now Ebony was dead--obviously because of Chirin himself. He 
held his thoughts private, closing them to the outside world. He used 
what he had learned from psychics in the past, like Xeon, to do so. 

He didn't know what to say to him. ~Wait until night.~ Was that when 
said spirits emerged? He studied the old ram's mutilated ears, the 
ring pushed cruelly through it. That had better not be what he had to 
get--although he had the feeling iFar-run meant the marks on his 
flipper there. Chirin looked down at his own flippers, with their 
long tattoos squiggled down the length of each one. He would have to 
find another place for it. 

Chirin watched Phos dance on the river. He listened to what it said, 
he opened his senses to the growing world around him, humming with 
vitality and short lives at their peak, the frantic revelry of 
summer. He tried to take in the world as he still perceived it now--
for he might never do so again. This might be the last day. Demona--
he had learned plenty from her too--her and Ebony. That someone so 
old and supposedly wise could have appeared to him acting like an 
angry brat, did reinforce the lesson that some people really did -
never- change.

Ebony. He would be getting a mark of Ebony. Lindi's face bloomed 
before him. He thought of past lessons, everything a lesson if he 
chose it to be, if he perceived it as one, and he did. He would be 
trusting darkness again, but this time it would act on himself. 

He could only guess at what he would become, but he had suffered much 
and always come out himself. He had defeated her once, he could do it 
again, and better. 

"Who is Ebony?"

"Ebony is the great destroyer. I once loved her and hated her. Loved 
her for the gifts she gave me, hated her for what she did to me. The 
great gengar stole me from my home, like Demona had. She forced me 
to study the ruins on Oceaciana. Like Demona she forced knowledge 
upon me so she would benefit. The Betaka lu Horku was an obession 
for her. For it allows a half life for ghosts. Let's them walk as if 
they were flesh creatures again." Far-run rubbed his marks. "For non-
ghosts it opens us to the spirit realm. Allows us to manipulate 
them."

"i see." So that was what allowed Loki to do what he could do? He had 
this gift, he must. He had had them when Chiri had first met him, 
they had faded over time. Now they were definitely back. Chirin was 
sonly beginning to understand. "i'm sorry you had to go through what 
you did. You were manipulated--used. I know how you feel...a little, 
anyway. I was born with rare gifts...some of the oldest ones of my 
race, have told me I am the first in many many generations to be born 
with what I have. I've taken it as a blessing and a curse. It 
attracts the wrong attention on someone, it does."


He sat thinking. 

"Once I knew the ritual created by Horokus, the greatest of gengars 
she gave me what I needed to create the mark. All I asked for my 
troubles was to bear the mark as well. I thought I would bring the 
rebirth of the Mogur tribes. Even then my kind were dying off. I am 
the last of them." He cupped the charm. "Unless the power begins to 
pass through our blood rather than having to rely on rituals my kind 
will come to an end."  

Chirin reached out and held his flipper. He could feel a transfer of 
powes between them. "Maybe not. I know I am burdened with rare things 
too. I know we share a current. You and I spoke over a long way, you 
and me. We may be different, but in bearing the ancient powers we 
have things in common." He knew he possessed these powers, he could 
feel them--and he had been to the spirits enough times to know. "We 
are both in demand by powerful and greedy creatures. Power brings 
with it corruption....that's a danger the both of us face."

"Ebony....has long vanished. I tried to seek her out, to seek 
further training yet...she was no where to be found. And Demona has 
long been murdered. I am old. Time is growing thin just like my 
race. A human town lies not far from here. Go there sometime, ask 
the sheep near Maroton, ask the farm sheep and you shall see what I 
speak of."

So Far-run didn't know he had destroyed Ebony. Chirin didn't know 
whether to tell him, only that for safety, he wouldn't. "I carry in 
my blood, gifts that are one in a million million, or so I was told. 
I guess that there are more than one million million out 
there...maybe you and me are the only ones, but maybe not. Maybe 
there's hope."

Hope of what, though? Was it a good thing that the gift would 
persist, if it did?

"As long as one breathes there is hope. I have hope I will pass it 
on to one worthy and who will be the salvation of the Mogurs." Ke-
Doma watched the approach of the ewes.

"It is true, the light still shines if one heart remembers. I take 
your lesson hoping to be one of them. It is a terrible thing for 
one's bloodline to die. I guess even if I do have it, that I lack 
something else--your blood, your race. I'm of mainland blood. I 
guess...no one can be everything. But we can all be something."

"If you carry on my power then it is of no concern to me wheter you 
are of my blood or not." Ke-Doma let the spiits gather as the sun 
dropped further in the sky. Night was approaching. 

"Time will tell. I'm expecting lambs; I know one of my lambs out west 
shows signs of a gift; there may be more who do."

Chirin felt chills over his skin. He looked around, feeling crowded 
in even more as the twilight approached. He was hungry- he got on all 
fours to nibble on the riverside grass. "Good grass," he said between 
bites. 
 
 Chirin hoped to pass it on himself, he realized; he had learned that 
he would pass on half his gift to every lamb he had. That he did so 
meant he had the full gift, and was probably theonly ampharos alive 
who did--except for Ke-Doma, but it was impossible to know for sure; 
the only thing that had revealed that Chirin was one such lamb was 
theknowledge of Bua and of other even more ancient ones. and who 
knew? They could even be wrong about something there. But he doubted 
it. 

"Ke-Doma. The ewes you asked for." Nasaqo spoke.

"They know the chant?" He turned to watch them.

"Yes, they know. I taught those that didn't on the way here." Nasaqo 
reported.

Nossy watched them, she just stood unsure if she should try 
something. Trying was better than just resigning to what they 
wanted. If she did she knew Norrie would suffer. The black skined 
flaaffy stared at the ground hoping for help. Her white fur ruffled 
by the air. 

nasaqo sat by her father and gestured for the ewes to do as well. 
They sat around them.

Chirin turned his head. His eyes met the ewes', and immediately his 
attention was drawn to one ewe in particular, one with black skin and 
white wool, so unusual. But that was not what drew her to him. It was 
her eyes. Her eyes and her lights were afraid. Chirin was getting a 
bad vibration about all of this. Spirits poked him; the river 
shivered. 

"Hi. I'm Chirin-chirin of Pharos." He smiled at her, and at the 
others. "How are you?"

"Fine." Nossy looked up from the ground. She looked at the other 
ewes. For the most they seemed calmed, relaxed. Well they had been 
in the flock longer. "Just....nervous."

An approving look came over Nasaqo's face. She turned to her father. 
She knew the time was approaching. She would do her part in this 
transfer of the gift.

"Yeah...well...I'm nervous too so it's mutual." He smiled gently at 
her. She was not happy...he wanted her to be. He didn't recognize 
her, so she hadn't been kidnapped from their flock. But from 
another? "I come from far away, and have long sought out the Mure'mar 
of the east..who turned out to be Mogur." He wanted to help her, make 
her happy. "Is this...hard to do? How come you are nervous?" It 
didn't bode well. It meant things could go wrong.

"I'm a....I'm a terrible screw up. I've messed up before. I'm just 
nefvous I'll mess up that's all." She looked at her feet again. 
Nossy kept thinking, For Norrie. Just get through this for Norrie. 
Lie to this ram appease Far-run and Norrie will be fine.



The talk of a chant, and the ewes seating themselves so obedintly 
told Chirin a lot on its own. Something was wrong here. This was not 
a delightful occasion, theopening of knowledge, the opening of the 
eyes to a new realm. It was tainted with negative energy. These ewes 
were not happy. Oh, some looked all right, none of them showed overt 
signs of duress, but it was thee. In their lights and in the solemn 
way they sat down. There was no cheer in the other ewe's voice. It 
was a stiff and sombre setting. Definitely not the way that one 
should enter into this kind of things. Enter with bad vibes and they 
would stay with you all through your lifetime. They might be mostly 
blotted out, but there would always be a dark stain on the memory of 
receiving the mark. 

Chirin smiled. He twinkled his lights. "I'm honoured you chose to 
come help me here. This chant--what is it?"

True that he had come into dark plaes to receive what certainly 
soundd like dark gifts. But they could be infused with light, 
anything could. Powers were what they did, not what they were called. 
No matter how "dark" this gift might be, when he received it he would 
use it for his purposes, which he liked to think were good ones. In 
this case it would be. It might be hard, but he had to believe it, or 
what was the use?

"It is an Oceaciana song. It is to bring the spirits. to draw them 
in to ensure the ritual is a success." Nasaqo answered.

"I see...thank you." He was going to be receiving a ritual and mark 
of Oceaciana. It would be with him for the rest of his life. What was 
he doing? would this make him vicious or something? Lindini wasn't 
vicious; she was anything but. She was a gorgeous flower who had 
bloomed for him. And this was worth getting her back. 

Chirin wondered if there was more he should know. He'd made up his 
mind anyway, so he didn't see the point in asking, but he wanted to 
know more anyway. 

"what happens if it is not a success? Not that it would not be. I 
just wonder. You see I don't know anything about the sheep of the 
east. I am new to this."

"If it is not a success I must turn to look for another. If it fails 
you will bear the mark and have few glimpses into the spirit realm 
but, you will not be truly infused with it." Ke-Doma sat thinking of 
Keha. Keha was a failure, though Far-run knew it would fail. He did 
it to keep his son busy and out of his affairs.

"Ahh. I see, thank you...I was just wondering." It was good to know 
that he would not be destroyed, corrupted, mained or otherwise ruined 
by it forever. It would just fail and he would have at least tried. 
Because of his first infusion of gift, he had a feeling it would 
succeed. He was however beginning to wonder if he wanted it to. 

Of course he did. He would try his utmost, although he was wondering 
about something...if what he experienced of the spirit realm right 
now--which he felt was plenty, it was all aroundhim after all--what 
would it be like once he had this mark? Would it seize him, thrust 
him into madness? He remembered the unouns in his head, how they had 
nearly driven hi insane after they had absorbed into him. Their mark 
was on him forever, just not in a visible way. 

With a full belly, Chirin settled back downinto a sitting position. 
He closed his eyes and began to meditate. To his thoughts came words, 
he realized the significance of his crossing the river, and 
shuddered, eyes closed, with a vision.

~I crossed the river today, Gunya; it was the river from my old light 
path to my new. You were with me when I crossed the river. You rode 
on the wind that breezes behind me when I walk, you were those two 
wings of wing that always accompany my arms when I am moving forward.~

~I crossed the river today, I felt the spiralling of falling into the 
water's light dance. Shiny shimmers shaped themeslves before me and 
made forms that I will someday desipher. I watched the sparkles dance 
as the sunlight yellowed; I watched Phos throw forms over the moving 
water, the river was speaking to me.~

~It was telling me that I had crossed this river for a reason,it was 
tellingme to prepare, that this is the sunset of a new life for me. i 
will get Lindi safe, I will free these ewes, no matter what I may 
become. I crossed the river, we crossed teh river, and my old self 
will not die, it will merely change, like it changes every day.~

~We crossed the river, Gunya. Thank you. Hold close to me, hold me, 
hug me like your charm i wear on my arm.~

> "I'm a....I'm a terrible screw up. I've messed up before. I'm just 
> nefvous I'll mess up that's all." She looked at her feet again. 
> Nossy kept thinking, For Norrie. Just get through this for Norrie. 
> Lie to this ram appease Far-run and Norrie will be fine.

"Well...I have meditated, I have spoken to my uncle. You know what? 
He is sitting next to me. He will be with me, and I will be with you. 
You can do it...and if you mess up, I believe that you can fix it." 

"Thank you. I wish I could be more confident but, when one must be 
called upon to perform such things one is....nervous. One is not 
free....of thought that is. Thought of doubt, that is." She didn't 
know if he would catch her drift. She looked at Nasaqo, she hadn't 
caught hold of it.

Chirin sensed something strange about the inflection of her tones. He 
had thought she was going to say she was just not free, until she had 
gone on. He didn't understand, but he could tell she was troubled. 
Putting two and two together wasn't hard after the kidnapping he had 
seen. He still wasn't sure, but maybe that ws what. And what if it 
was? He still couldn't do anything about it, not right now.

"When it is all over...you will look back and think, 'That was not so 
bad.' Or even if it was, you will think, 'Well, now itis over.' There 
is always a light on the other end if you see one coming, and all you 
have to do is know it is coming. You are in control of whether it 
is...when you do not think you can do something, you have to change 
that thought. Think, well, it may not be easy, it may not happen 
tomorrow, but it will happen. It will."

"I'm sure I will look on it like that sometime from now. I just 
feel....well I think I can escape these feelings. I've done it once 
but, they came back to me." She hated Far-run, hated them all. 

Chirin saw that twinkle in her eye and his eyes seemed to twikle 
back. He thought before speaking. "When those bad feelings come to 
you, I will help you. I came here, like I try to go everywhere, with 
the object of spreading light. It feels good to me and good to 
others. I hate to see dark places with badness, when all they need is 
a little attention."

"I would like that. Thank you...Chirin was it?" She smiled, she 
thought about getting out of here, getting out with her niece.

"Yes, Chirin. What's your name?" she was so much prettier when she 
smiled, her black face beneath a cap of white wool. So unusual, so 
unique.

"I am Nysokatta." She said politely. She was feeling better, she 
felt like she could break away from this flock again. If she had 
done it once she could do it again.

Chirin was growing more nervous. If these ewes messed up, would his 
marks get ruined or something? Chirin breathed deeply to calm 
himself. He reached out and gave her flipper a squeeze. "You can do 
it..I know you can." He grinned at her. "Sometimes when we get 
nervous all we think of is what can go wrong. But then you know what? 
I think maybe if we took that and flipped it over, like a leaf. A 
leaf has two sides; I imagine it being like a leaf. and when we worry 
all those bad thoughts,all the negative energy gets stuck to one 
side, the side that we can see. So all we see is darkness and what 
can go bad. But then, that gives you the chance to take that leaf and 
turn it over. And see, because all of the negative vibes have been 
channeled to the one side, there on the other side are all the good 
ones."

"I wish I could turn over this bad leaf. I am just nervous is all. I 
do sense those negative vibes. We sit here with them around us. But, 
ads you said they can be turned around." Nossy glanced at Nasaqo, 
she seemed to still be clueless. Nossy was hoping her point was 
coming across.

"They can...and they will." Chirin's smile became more subtle. He 
squeezed her flipper. "Just you see." 

"I hope so." She tried to smile, she wanted Norrie out of this mess.

"Know so. Things will get better...we will see this evening through." 
He breathed in then out again, he closed his eyes and let the images 
form in his mind. He saw the ringuma from the other year inhis hea 
again, because of what Far-run had mentioned before. The ringuma was 
on a distant hill, and she was sobbing. But the sobbing sounded 
strange, it was not a ringuma sobbing. Chirin opened his eyes and let 
his mind shift away from all of that.

He awaited what would come. Relaxing took time, but he came arund, 
laid himself open to the soul. He prepared for what would probably 
involve pain. Receiving his first marks had been painful beyond 
description, and he had welcomed it, the rubbing of new substance 
into the fabric of his light-path.

"Yes, the evening will be something to be nervous about Nysokatta 
but, one must steady herself. You never know what might happen if 
you don't." Nasaqo turned to the flaaffy. 

"Hush child! You mustn't make her anymore nervous." Ke-Doma put a 
flipper gently on his daughter's shoulder. "Let her be. She will 
ease her nerves with talk." 

Chirin tried to keep his mouth shut this time. Talking too much would 
only create friction that for rightnow he couldn't afford to have. It 
wouldn't help Nysokatta, and it would not help Lindi or anyone. As 
much as it pained him, he had to pretend he agreed with just about 
everything that was going on right now. The solemn, strict atmosphere 
made everything feel cold. 

He turned to Chirin.

"Now. Where to create your mark? Where you wish to have it place 
shall affect it's purpose." Far-run held up his flipper. "This is 
the most potent of locations. This is my seat of power, my conduit. 
Through this I can feel the spirit realm, lasso the ghosts and bend 
them to my desires." 

Chirin looked at the mark, on the flipper. He studied it, more 
intricate than his own squiggle markings. He didn't care, though; his 
original Mure'mar *merkus* would always be special, scared and 
beautiful to him. 

"If that is most potent, so be it then; I will have mine there as 
well." He had seen it there on Loki. 

"Then it shall be there." Ke-Doma took the charm in his grasp, 
he spoke in oceacianain as he asked the spirits to infuse into the 
items held in the charm. 

Chirin didn't know the language, but he held his own thoughts inside 
of him, in the language he did know, his denryuu language he had 
learned whenhe was young. It seemed no one outside of the west spoke 
it, or at least not in this part of teh world. Well, it was of him, a 
deep part of him. He looked down the length of his flipper, wondering 
what they had in store for it. He had told himself he would only do 
what he had to to get Lindi back. But he found himself wanting it 
all, wanting only the best. 

He shut his eyes and felt the flow of etheral powers. He felt his 
senses open to them. He stood. He let the strength of his island 
blood steel his mind against the horrors before him. He learned to 
remove his emotions toward them. 

"Where you choose to have the mark placed shall effect the 
difficulty or ease to control this power. I allowed Ebony to place 
it upon my flipper, it may be the most difficult focal point to 
control but, it allows the strongest of connections to be made. I 
have struggled many years but, have learned to use it, to tame it."

He ran his flipper over it. He could see the doe out in the water 
once more. He saw many souls gather. He knew night was drawing 
towards them. He spied across the river where the huge stone lay. 
The stone that appeared as a massive turtle sitting and facing the 
river. 

"I will have mine there as well, then. Only, since my other marks are 
on that side as well I do not want to interfere with them. Would the 
opposite side of the flipper work as well, or is there room on the 
outside?" He held out his right flipper, which like the rest of him 
was rather oversized. "Or is it best to place it in a clearer spot?"

He would have no compromise--not if this was his one chance to 
receive what he needed, this was to be his gateway to teh spirit 
world like nothing he had ever known. 

"it will weaken it only slightly." Far-run tapped his daughter's 
shoulder. "Go ahead, go prepare the stone." 

"Yes, I shall." She made her way to the stone.

"Well," said Chirin, "i want nothing held back...this is my only 
chance, I want it as good as it can be. Do you mean it is best to 
place it next to my other mark, or on the inside?" He flipped his arm 
over, showing the all yellow side. "There is room either way, or so I 
hope."

"I believe the inside will be better. I do not want to damage your 
*merkus*." Far-run watched as his daughter prepared the stone.

Nasaqo opened her charm, she dipped her flipper into the paint, she 
began to chant once more as she drew the necessary betakas. the 
stone was covered in them as her chanting ceased.

"All right. I'll do what you think best...so long as it won't harm my 
gateway to the spirit world. I do not want my marks damaged...they 
permit me to use another aspect of my gifts and they are sacred to 
me."

chirin looked down at the inside of his right flipper, a blank strip 
of yellow soon to be given a permanent form. He was willing, and he 
prepared for the pain. 

His marks that he had already 
were tingling, this coming from all the energy in the air, the 
electriciy coupled with Far-run's extroardinary aura. They were 
rousing the powers in his *merkus*. when he had both together he 
could only guss at what would happen, how they would interact. There 
might come times when they would conflict. 

Would the souls of both, vie for power against each other within him, 
or would they work together? They were his; he should be able to 
control both. He had gained much mastery over the marks he already 
had; they too had powers to pick up the vibrations of the spirits, 
which resided in the electricity in everything. Where they did it 
through the electricity and allowedhim to channel his gift, this 
would enable him to reach the spirits from the otherside--and for the 
spirits to reach him.

"There, across the river we shall begin. Turtle Rock is a most 
magical place. The spirits draw their essences there. We shall call 
out to them from there." Ke-Doma motioned for them to rise.

"Turtle, is that like a squirtle?" said Chirin, getting up. He flt 
the tension in his body and thought of the light to help it loosen 
up. He kept up his controlled breathing as the river flowed more 
subdued tones through the shade, where Phos had left them. 

Ke-doma held such control over the other sheep here. He made the 
motion and all of them obeyed him without even speaking. It was 
scary, thought Chirin.

"It is another name for a squirtle." Ke-Doma watched Nasaqo pile the 
dry grass, she placed a ring of stones about it. She slipped off her 
own charm, she sat chanting in a low voice. Ke-Doma nodded 
approvingly.

"Ah." Chirin nodded, then wtched as the older ewe performed the 
ritual under Ke-doma's supervision. The old ram still id not have a 
positive feel about him. He was hardened and unhappy, weighed down on 
by the ages until it had come squeezing itself out of him, in the 
form of this embittered need for control. He watched her heap the 
grass into a pile, and while she chanted he closed his eyes. the 
usokki came dancing into his mind, the first time in a while. Red on 
blue, blood on sky and berries on twilight snow. The usokki in his 
vision danced to the giggles of a young smeargle.

Nasaqo began to position the ewes about the stone. Far-run sparked 
his tail over the grass till it ignited. he at last opened his 
charm. He plucked the items from it. In his flipper was an immature 
apricorn and a quil. 

Chirin's eyes were captivated by the fire. It stirre fear in him. His 
nostrils filled with the burning scent and he fought the urge to bolt 
away. It was a contained fire but his ancestors did not know that. He 
shifted in his seat and settled back down. His lights seemed to 
reflect the flicker of the flames. Chirin's eyes were wild.

"This is a very special quil. I can only bring it forth at night, I 
dare only bring it under nightfall." The black object was pinched in 
his flipper. "This is a quil given to me by Ebony herself. A spine 
plucked from her very back."

Ke-Doma placed it in his palm and began to chant. He kept his eyes 
upon the quil in his flipper. He raised his tail and the ewes began 
the chant. Island words flowing from lips.

Chirin watched the qiull in his hand. It seemed to shift back and 
forth with him, carrying him whenever Far-run moved with it. Chirin 
would be receiving the dark magic of Ebony herself. 

The chant held him floating between this world and that one as the 
twilight died. Ebony's eyes glared again at him from the grass. His 
*denki* around him like a shield. Her laughing face, her mocking 
words. Spirits hiding, spirits ambushing. Violence collided with the 
rut slowly climbing in him. Lust and blood seemed to lift his body 
and his heart's pounding was the drum that began to transport him.

Breathing deep and seeing the light inside, Chirin calmed his pulses, 
his body's rhythms held steady, and ready.

Far-run opened the immature apricorn. From it he produced a small 
bead. He held it in his palm.

"This, Ebony told me was the very poisons of Horokus." He shut the 
apricorn with the other beads held within. "It shall waken your mind 
to the spirit realm."

Chirin's breathing became shallow. Poison, the hoops of night shade 
thrown over the dead arcanine's body...poison. He would do it for 
Lindi...and for the chance to see more, know more, be more. He had to 
think. This was permanent. But his mind was made up.

He blinks his head jewel in acknowledgement. He had broken a sweat, 
despite his every effort to calm himself. He would be receiving this 
mark by way of a spirit who had haunted him, hated him. It would work 
and she would be waiting for him to open his eyes to her...and yet he 
did not flee then and there. Lindi. He ran now and he would never see 
her again.

Far-run placed the bead into the quill. 

"Lay upon the stone." He placed the quill near the fire. 

Chirin swished his lights over the stone befor lying onhis back. a 
stinging ran through his *merkus* and from there, through his body. 
The shudders nearly overcame him. Lying down he felt his pulses rain 
against the rock.  above him the sky seemed to swirl. Spirits were 
everywhere, dark and light, swishing, dancing, holding back in fear 
and trembling to touch him. He clung to deep breathing, to seeing the 
light. But he could not close his eyes.

Far-run let the thrill of the spirits run across his skin. He felt 
the fingers of many spirits reach out and touch the quill. He began 
a new chant, his deep voice carrying the words through the night 
air. 

He raised his flippers skyward, he let the island words pour out. 
The ewes joined in. Nasaqo throwing herself into a dance. She 
bleated to the spirits. 

Chirin held gunya close, Gunys was afraid. Pon-pon was afraid. Dreama 
scattered and reformed inside hi smind. The spirits had gripped him 
and he was seeing them. His sweat scratched itches all over him and a 
swell of fire rolled in his belly. The chant threw him forward, up 
into that dark sky. He could still bolt, he could still turn 
away...he could go bck west and forget he had ever run into this 
place. but he could not forget Lindi. 

Who were the dark spirits to make him so afraid anyway? This might be 
his only chance to overcome them. since when would he run from those 
who violated others' rights, when he was being given a chance to stop 
them? 

His belly lifted and fell, he breathed to he rhythm of the bleating 
song. 

"You shall be of the natural world and of the spirit realm." Far-run 
listened as the acid within the quill began to boil, it bubbled out 
the tip slightly. "Expose your flipper to me."

Chirin held his right flipper out, inside exposed. He could hear the 
poison boiling, acid spitting at the air. He was ready...he was 
seeing dark but within that, seeing light. The ewes' bleat was 
Lindi's moaning under him, his shudder was her orgasm, and his. The 
wind feathering over him was his body roughly shoving against her, 
his breath singing in and out was his desire. He was sunk so far but 
never was it gone from him. 

His eyes stared, feral. and his mouth was open. His breathing the 
only thing left helping him to not snap up and bolt. 

Far-run grasped the quill. He held Chirin's flipper down, putting 
the weight of his shoulder on it. He took a breath. He would begin a 
new chant.

"I would clench your teeth now....this is going to burn." Far-run 
recalled his turn. 

Chirin did so, but only slightly. He had gone limp, because in his 
mind he had found a light, the same lighthe had sought out and 
grasped a hold of when he had first received his other tattoos. He 
was rising higher, and the pain would strike him but he would not 
fall to it. 

He placed the tip to the flipper, his chant broke from his lips. He 
began to glide the quill over the ram's flipper. His own flipper was 
very steady as he began to create the betaka. 

The poison screamed in Chirin's body. It pushed tears streaming out 
his eyes. His throat clenched up...but he was grasping the light, 
riding over the sea of black water that threatened to engulf him.

His entire body was convulsing as the poison began to leak through. 
The sea was riding higher. Chirin was swimming to the light, he was 
up northwest again. He was paddlign over the waves towards the 
lighthouse. 

The pain stabbed him with a million thorns, sand inside his veins 
scraping. He struggled not to even flinch, although he was. His body 
squirmed with the invasion of dark magic. He swore to Phos it was 
tearing him up, raking dark rank stinking claws up and down the 
insides of his veins.

"It is the poison. Your mind is adjusting. You will be weak for 
sometime but, we shall watch over you." Far-run spoke calmly. He 
continued his task.

Chirin's eyes shifted left and right as the pain bubbled and fell, 
like the mudpots of the geyser. The poison hissed inside him, 
steaming, like a thousand snakes had bitten him. His jaws seemed to 
lock open and his breath was loud, as if he was drowning. Air was 
hard to find, he was bobbing at the surface of life.

A muffled bleat escaped him. Chirin held silent after that. The 
poison cried out his eyes. He was crying blackness, shadows, all 
through the tears, his whole body oozed blackness. Pain tingled into 
his extremities. He had never known anything but pain.

Far-run felt the gathering of the forest spirits, souls of those 
lost, the Nosoki and Yosoki playing freely about them. Ghosts 
ancient and young danced wild fiery dances about them. His very mind 
was reawakening to them. He felt his own markings burn with pain as 
he created a new betaka. 

Chirin saw them, glowing like fungus, flashing and dimming. Light 
created and destroyed. Their bodies flailed, swinging back and forth, 
their necks throwing their heads in violent arcs, spines whipping 
like willow bands. His backbone crawled, the spirits shrieked. His 
ears were quivering, taking on the same wiggle they always had now 
and then, just when the moment felt right. 

Fire feathered over ice. Hisses exploded. Chirin laid his ears back. 
His eyes were closed, then open, it didnot matter. the forest was 
watching him. Spirits tossed themselves from the trees. The very 
leaves were speaking, they gossiped among the branches. Inside his 
veins, dry bark cracked, twigs snapped. Insects scuttled. Within the 
ground they were rising. The roots of the trees, dancing their own 
dance.

It was harder to rise above the pain when it was not just the body 
crying out. When Chirin had received the *merkus na mure* it had beenhis 
body crying but his soul gazing into a higher realm, less touched. 
This was the soul searing as the poison reached him. The visions of 
the island tore at him. He was bursting blood, crying blood. Still he 
sought out the light.

Nossy shivered. She had seen it before. That night they created 
Keha's betaka. He had screamed so wretchedly. She had felt sorry for 
Keha as he was held down and he screamed out to the night air. His 
legs trying to kick away his father and brother and the ewes. She 
had stumbled upon it. Hidden in the brush she had watched it all.

"Wake to the world! Become one with it! Let it infuse into you!" Ke-
Doma shouted. He let the ewes chant carry his flipper across 
Chirin's, let the chant guide his hand and quill. 

Chirin heard the voice come to him like a drum beating out of the 
sky, a thunder heartbeat. Hooves dancing on grass, thumping, the 
heartbeats of his ancestors. He was in the womb of the world and the 
voices, the dancing, all beat to him down from the heavens as the 
acid burned him from the inside. He had clammed up, wind blowing cold 
over his burning body. Nothing could take away the fire. 

Thunder poured like poison, his closed eyes still oozed tears. 
Darkness angled at him, bangs like claws hanging over the sky, 
wailing spirits. He was in Pandemonium's heart, he was tumbling in 
the bowels of the spell.

voices could be heard, voices he had never heard before. It was like 
a tunnel opening, and through a long bracken choked trail they cried 
out to him. Through the pain they screamed, they writhed like seaweed 
in the water. Their eyes looked at him and the tunnel grew wider.

Ke-doma didn't cringe at the scent of burning flesh. The acid flowed 
eagerly from the quill. The stench filled his nostrils yet he 
continued. The power of song and souls surrounding them focused his 
hand. The fire cracked and his daughter's hooves beat upon the 
ground. The many generations of Mogurs whispered to him.

They instructed his hand, they gave him the strength to continue. 
They breathed power into the newborn betaka. And from deep withijn 
he felt the great Gengar stand before them. The very creature whose 
poison he used. 

Horokus who tried to spread light but, was betrayed and destroyed. 
In his viens the poison coursed and he felt the many spirits reach 
for him. To tell him of their deaths. He felt Horokus looking upon 
his work. He felt the gengar in everything, the quill, the acid, the 
night, he felt the presence lift and enter into it all.

The other voices had opened up into a spirit filled night. Chirin was 
in another realm, the realm of suffering, it must be. He smelled fire 
and meat burning. He did not know it was his own skin. 

Spirits danced to the crackling fire, they waved their flippers, 
tails swinging to the flag of the flames. Their breath was his 
screaming..Chirin did not know he had begun to bleat. He saw silver 
eyes, he heard her voice.

Far-run listened as the ram bleated. It was a pain he knew well. He 
had felt it the night he was given his mark. The poison swallow up 
his blood, flowing, changing his mind, changing his blood. Burning, 
raging, devouring away the locks that kept the mind closed to the 
spirit realm. 

There was nowhere to run. Chirin's mind was pried open, thoughts dancing 
out as he struggled to contain them. He realized this was part of 
theprocess. It was the spirits themselves truggling to open him and 
he must not resist them. The pathways were being created...or rather, 
the walls around them were being knocked down. He laid himself bare 
as they tunneled through him.

Predators hunted, they leaped at his inside thoughts. He was torn by 
teeth from every angle. Blood flung itself at the black night. Smoke 
grew from smouldering grasses; blood crusted on stones. 

Ewes chanting words Chirin had never heard, their feet beating grass 
blended with the heartbeat of spirits. their breath was poison 
pushing into his wrecked body; Chirin was a blackened thing and his 
limbs cracked, dry and murderous. Spirits surrounded him. the unnel 
was not a tunnel anymore, it was a forest he had comeout into, but 
the path had disappeared. It had been the makingg of the marks; he 
was here and there was no escape. Chirin's eyes were closed and he 
saw them still.

~Lindi...!~ Chirin saw him...a giant gengar, comingoutof the night 
sky he stared up at. The sparkles were sweat and crescent Clef 
was his eye...then his vision doubled, there were two eyes. They looked down 
at him and he felt the poison leap in his body. The pain had numbed 
him so far he could not remember what it had felt like before.

He felt the mental anguish of the gengar and those who had followed 
hi, identified with him. He saw Ebony again...she had never died. The 
dead were never gone. He had defeated her, denied her her half life. 
Chirin lay confulsing violently on the rock, sweat beaded big clear 
pearls on his yellow and white skin. 

Ke-Doma released his flipper. He stood back solemly chanting. Now he 
left the ram there on the rock. He could see the young ram shudder, 
sweat rolling from him, the poison was pouring through his body.

"Now we wait." He told the ewes. "His mind is adjusting, learning to 
precieve the spirit realm. He is waking to a new world. We watch 
over him while he speaks to the spirits. This is the time where he 
shall be accepted fully and endowed with the gift or they shall 
reject him."

They sat silently. Far-run regathered the instruments he used for 
the ritual. All went back, sealed within his charm. Far-run laid 
down to rest. He had taxed himself.

~You never deserved it...I would kill you again!~ Chirin's anger 
reached up to snatch at the grinning gengar. Spirits cowered in the 
grass; they rolled over, tumbling down through the soil. The air was 
choked with them and their fear. Chirin smelled fear on two levels, 
the fear of his own body and the fear of the spirits. 

His flipper was on fire, the sensitive skin on its inner surface run 
through with black lines of poison. The rock itself was growling.

Around him the air was anything but quiet. The trees were black 
antlers against the night as the chorus of chaos struck itself up 
inside of him. Poison coursed up and down the riverbeds inside of 
him. Chirin writhed on the stone, the stone below him spoke. It spoke 
without words, it knew.

~You killed her.~

Foxtails flashed behind the trunks of jungle trees. ~Yosoki, go.~ 
Chirin sang the song again. He snapped his head every which way. The 
spirits glanced off his gaze, Dreama grinning. The black lamb 
chasing, leaping through branches that had quivered at her approach. 
She was here, she was not far from him. She was in these lands. She 
had followed him?

~More than that has followed you.~

Chirin faced her silver stare in a hideous black face. His black eyes 
met hers. Ebony was in the sky, in the air, she was the night. She 
had embraced him all tonight...

~No!~ Chirin leaped thorugh her. He grabbed hold of his mind again. 
He was no helpless bystander to this. He rammed trough the spirits 
forged against him. He ran at them with his own brand of magic. and 
then he realized the power of the ~betaka.~ It was never the same for 
any ampharos, any pokemon. Chirin slashed through the night, cutting 
cords that wanted to pull him into death. the dark ones had known he 
was coming.

Chaos lay in his wake, spirits jumbling, bouncing freely against each 
other, slithering through the grass. Night wind blew them through the 
air in a chorus. Ghosts shivered and whispered to him. Chirin saw 
their deaths played through. The doe he had heard about, the scars 
burned on his own skin. The ringuma too, who had also died a violent 
death. 

The stone ws water, it was moist with the fluids of his own body. 
chirin lay in pain, too weak to go on--but he had to. He stopped now 
he would sink into them, they would become him andnothing would be 
left.

He focused on the light he saw. He leaped at it and clung towards it. 
And above him he saw the face of another. An ampharos ram bearing 
many tattoos. 

~You wear his marks...the marks of my killer.~ 

~Who are you.~ Chirin sat up on the rock. Sweat was in his eyes. He 
blinked them clear and still saw them--unouns lurking above and 
within the grass, the spirits of plants and of soil and worms, hiding 
low. He had thought all of this was a trip to the spirit world and he 
would return, or awaken. But he was already here, already awake. Eyes 
came out of the swirls of the black rainbow. He had thought he had 
grown good at reading them but all he had been seeing was the edge of 
their essence--not all of this...all of them. They were among the 
ewes, they were in the forest, in the crowd. They flung themselves in 
and out of teh dying flames.

~I am him, Chirin-chirin...him who was wronged.~ Chirin saw the 
ampharos, an old ram who bore many marks...the *betaka* included. ~I 
have come to stop you. You cannot enter...I will not let you or 
anyone who bears the *merkus* of Pon-pon to live with me.~

Rage ran through him. Chirin gathered it like the charge in the rut. 
He flung something out at him--the spirits nearby sent racing after 
the old ampharos. Chirin stood up on the rock as his powers ran. He 
realized he had nothing holding him back. His flippers were wings and 
his tail was a rudder. He stood still while his soul did anything but.

~You judge me...You cannot judge me!~ Chirin chased the ram with a 
vengeance. ~Half sighted old one.~ His soul smouldered. Chirin chased 
him with dark wings flying. Shadows climbed after him. Chirin felt 
grass encircle him like a womb, together with a bruising pain in the 
snout and a coppery, salted taste as the other spirit ran. He 
realized he had fallen on teh ground, and what was more, busted his 
lip. 

Chaos encircled him, spirits warm and cold. chirin searched through 
this world, rolling on the grass. He was too weak to stand. He 
searched the spirits for a friend. All arond him they laughed and 
cried.

The ram spirit had disappeared. as it receded Chirin felt the wkies 
descend, the winds push in on him like walls. Everything grew 
fingers, everything was feeling over him, touching his skin, looking 
through him. All the while the poison boiled.

~

Iris and Sera stayed near the others. they all looked frightened. 
the flock had been brought here. Shiga had tried to run but, the 
gengars came and brought her back. Sera cried for Dinty, she looked 
about the flock hoping he had been here somehow though she saw him 
grow distant as they chased her off tot his place.

"Lindi what are we goin to do?" Sera shivered as she cried.

"Sera, we will be fine you will see." Iris rested a flipper on her 
big sister's shoulder. "We got away once we can do it again."

"I don't know Sera but, Iris is right. We will be fine. We stick 
together through this and we will be just fine." Lindi patted her 
shoulder. She hugged Tiga close. She was among her friends and 
daughter. And they were all among the enemy.

"Are yose shure? I mean last time I only got away cause the other 
ewes all got tired of me voice." Sera looked at the others. 

"It will be! Just believe it will be fine Sera." Iris hugged 
her. "Look we are still a flock! You me Lindi and the others from 
the valley. We can overcome this!"

"yes, we were a strong flock back in the valley and we will continue 
to be a strong flock! We won;t let them get away with this! We will 
get out of this! You will see." Lindi smiled at them. 

"Keha will come for me. And Kelanie. I know it!" Hitoni sat with the 
lamb in her lap. 

"Keha is brave, I'm sure he will." Lindi looked at the others. She 
knew Chirin was just as brave, and that he would come.

~

Pain struck again, lessening with each burst through his blood. 
Storms electrified in the air, storms of chaos that he oculd see and 
that he had created. This could not be the same thing that Far-run 
had, and yet it was. Chirin reached deeper into the powers of the 
spirits, the powers still forming inside of him. He reached deep into 
the power to scatter. 

His arms seemed to race out over the forest, crawling up the trees 
and running with the spirits at the speed of exhilaration. He tumbled 
with the clumsiness of rage, danced at the depths of chaos. 

the spirits saw in him an audience. Their stories, their memories 
were flooding him. He only belatedly realized that he had begn to 
kick against the ctone, he faced it, curled like a dead lamb kicking, 
a chick in an egg. ~Leave me alone,~ But they would not leave him 
alone. It was like telling the world to leave him alone. This was his 
world now. It poured in and he poured out, him and the spirit world 
mixing until he could not tell where the lines were, and could not 
imagine a world without the spirits as he saw them now. 

symbols tumbled through his vision. They danced the unouns' dance. 
Fractals whirled and roiled like clouds overhead. They swirled 
underneath, in the ground that he saw as anything but solid. There 
came a voice shifting, deep as death and deeper. ~Carceris,~ it spoke 
with the grating of stone a thousand caverns below. ~Comas toh 
carceris.~ 

Chirin slammed back the hands pulling, They were the dark spirits. He 
sent their control, their unity scattering from him. Broken they 
could not reach him. He struggled back up, floating again to the 
ground. Around the fire he whirled, up and down he seemed to leap 
when he told the air to help him. He sought light, sought something 
friendly in this world where the darkness had cupped its wings around 
him. He had only thought he had been anticipating the danger.

 Far-run rose to his feet. He eyed Chirin. He looked at the youth as 
he fell from the stone.

"Is there something wrong with him!" Nossy shivered as she backed 
away. Had she screwed up some how? She watched the ram, he might be 
the one to get them out but, if she screwed up and killed him!

"He is fine, for now. A believe a powerful spirit is with him. 
Speaking to him. He will be going through such fits till the poison 
cools and his mind accepts it. When the spirits accept him or reject 
him he shall settle down." Far-run answered as he observed the ram.

~Carceris.~ The word dripped like blood from hissing fangs. Blown 
through the foul breath of a tomb, steeped in suffering. Chirin saw 
the other ram again and felt his pull. 

~Come to me.~ The smell of ewes in heat surrounded him. Plump ewes 
danced on blood soakd ground in a wild jungle. But Chirin heard the 
bellows of animals screaming their deaths. Blood stank, stung his 
eyes. Steam reached up from puddles of life essence, rain fell, the 
blood of the suffering. 

Chirin wrenched out of the grasp of the dark ones. He fled down a 
path on four legs, his mareep soul running from the jaws of hell.

"I wonder as to what he sees. For us all it had been something 
different. When he wakes do not ask. For it is a private journey and 
if he chooses to share he shall if he doesn't that is his choice." 
Far-run spoke to the ewes.

Chirin reached towards the daylight through the dark. He tumbled 
through dead leaves as poison smells reeked around him. Nightshade 
berries, crushed on the ground, their stench shoved at his snout. He 
lay still with his head to the stars.The spirits circled overhead, 
twinkling with cruel gleams in their eyes. Chirin did sometihng he ha 
dnot done yet...he stoped fighting. 

He looked, into the eyes of a thousaid suffering spirits. He sought 
there in their hatred of teh world, something that might have been--
no, not just might have been...but might be. ~Mama.~ He saw her 
crying loving face. The unouns circled her again, the wreath of a 
rainbow, joyful chaos framing her head. 

~Chirin. I will always love you.~

Chirin leaped after the unouns, he ran with them, fleeing towards the 
warmth of the June night. He leaped onto the steelix's head and sang 
a howling song. Spirits congregated around him, they were his 
friends, bones and dark things and bristling fur; they were his 
friends, gleaming light orbs and sparkling horns. Glistening, pink 
and yellow and red, tumbling aroundhim while he leaped and sang, they 
were his friends.

Chirin fell rolling in a field of green. The moans of ewes in heat, 
rams rutting reached him. His body lay supine with his legs half 
against the stone. His eyes sparkled paradise.

There was a song playing, high reedlike sounds fluting through the 
sky. The notes took on a frenzy of trills as Chirin mounted ewe after 
ewe. Everywhere was grass and mating ampharos. Above him, the sky 
swirled with pinks and blues, clouds took on shapes, the shapes 
became dancing bodies, dancing clouds turned to a white smoke all 
around him. He shook in the throes of climax, through the mist. Ewes 
brusihng against him from all angles, his musk a visible haze. He 
rubbed his cheek, his side against the ewes' bodies, swiped his face 
against their noses. A plump ewe, laughing, grabbed his flippers and 
leaned back until he fell towards her.

~

Sand blew past him, sand white and soft. Chirin roamed a beach with 
no water. Sea winds blew and birds cried from somewhere. The spirits 
of a strange land led him to a distant peak. It was the tall spire 
that the waves made love to; it was Pharos. Chirin stod on the peak 
as a drumming sounded far below the reedlike song. It was a 
thundering heartbeat, he stood feeling it through his feet, spirits 
vibrating through the air. The sun was setting in the sky.

~

He opened his eyes. He felt the grass below him. The ewes' smells, 
their hushed voices returned to him. He smelled the ancient musk of 
Far-run and the smoke of the extinguished fire. Mimishi's moan 
reached him, gasps in the drk forest as summer trickled away. The 
spirits were curled up in the brush. Dead birds zipped from piles of 
debris, sang mournfully on tree branches. Memories of raided nests, 
fallen eggs, killings in the crowns of trees rained down on him. 
Chirin picked his head up. 

"Nysokatta?"

His voice came out accompanied by others. Nothing was alone here, 
nothing that had stood in this world alone before was alone now; 
spirits attended everything, and they always had. He had just not 
beenable to perceive them so clearly as he did now. 

He perceived them, and he had so little control over the opening and 
closure of teh gate. In a way his mind would never close again. He 
did not want it to. 

Suffering haunted the spirits. Some of them who had made this their 
home still remembered. The screams of others who had received the 
marks here...some who had been forced, so many generations ago...

The mark screamed on his right arm with the tangle of tortured 
spirits who cried to him. He was hearing the wailing souls that he 
had heard for the first time such a long time ago, inside the caverns 
just south of the lake. 

chirin watched them with many senses. Each spirit had its character, 
its own story and motives and desires. The light-path never really 
ended. He would be one of these, someday, as he had been before he 
had been born. 

He felt the acid thrumming more slowly through his body, becoming an 
undertone to the shrieking melody it had struck him with at first. In 
the last sore pulses of pain, he sat catching his breath. 

The ground seemed to wiggle; the wind made the grass spirits nod. It 
had grown cool. chirin  sat up and leaned against the stone, startled 
again and again at the crowds of spirits. They were so many they were 
hard to concentrate through. All of their different feeling were a 
cacophany clogging his senses. the heartbeats of many created a 
thumping stampede. And through it, other feelings flowed. Sorrow and 
fear. It tumbled from the ewe Nysokatta. She was full of hurt and 
terror, although the air did not send him the reasons. He only felt 
it as a river of pain from her beating heart to his. 

Further off in the forest, little hints of danger reached him. They 
twined around the vines of breeze, differing currents of air.

"yes....I'm here." She answered, not sure if she was supposed to, 
she glanced towards far-run who didn't seem bothered by her speaking 
out.

Her voice was more alive. chirin leaned towards her, but dizziess and 
pain forced him to blanch back against the stone. He breathed softly. 
The spirits crowded around him, the grass and the rocks, sitting like 
a crowd of wide-eyed children, faces never constant. some more light, 
some more dark, all some manner of in between. Their vibes blended 
into a rainbow of emotion. 

His confusion reflected theirs. He looked at Nysokatta, the constant 
through the chaos. "I'm okay...didn't know...if you wanted to know." 
His smile was weak but clear. "You did not mess up...your dancing 
transported me..."

"I did?" She smiled and finally took a breath. She was relieved.

Her smile broke through the sorrow and the sadness of death that hung 
around the place. It shine through the shadows that were made by 
spirits that still longed to play in a living body like they did, 
that feared they had been forgotten by those they cared about in life.

"It worked...I know that." There was no going back. The rustles in 
the cooling night were both the dead and teh living, showing 
themselves to him like he had never seen them, even in visions it had 
never been like this. 

"I'm glad it worked then." Nossy sat by him, she recalled the night 
Keha recieved his betaka.  

"Yes...it is not like i thought it would be, but then I guess I was 
wise not to try to project what it would be....only that it would 
probably surprise me." He had not thought of the consequences, he had 
just taken the plunge knowing it was the only way.

"I was told it was amazing what one could see once given the betaka. 
That one could see beyond the living world." Nossy looked up at 
him. "You must rest for now, don't try to use it so quickly."

"Yes, you must let yourself become used to it." Ke-Doma added. "When 
you feel you can I shall teach you how to control them."

Far-run stood he faced the ghosts out in the fields. He raised a 
flipper. He forced the gengars to come near. 

~Lift the stones, play with the leaves, make the forest dance!~ He 
watched as they did as he instructed, with a grin. the ghosts flew 
about creating the sight of floating stones, the grass swirled and 
leaves danced upon their breathe. 

The strains of the forced dance reached him in needles and teeth, 
glistening, wriggling like maggots. "I'm just watching...feeling it." 
Chirin didn't have the strength to do much more. He was watching the 
unfolding of his new life, this was his light-path now. It was teh 
reality he would wake and sleep to. It was dreams, visions and daily 
life all in one, now, and it was far greater than the sum of its 
parts.

He watched stones shift and stir. Leaves shook, played games with the 
dim moonlight throwing dancing dots over the ground, beyond the reach 
of the sheeps' lights. Chirin watched teh ghost pokemon who could not 
hide from him like thy once had. He stood on both sides of their 
world now. 

Other spirits, smaller ones, ran from the gengars, they ran from Far-
rn's hold. Chirin felt Far-run's powers muscle through the chaotic 
night air. He reached out too, trying. It was feeling where his 
electric gift was moved by thought; they were two different mediums 
and yet they crossed over into each other. 

He yearned to make the spirits' forced dance end. How long could he 
hold out? How long could he settle for putting up with an evil now 
for good later?

A pikachu appeared capering near him. Chirin half smiled at it. The 
pikachu's form apeared the color of moonlight and it grinned at him. 
~You want to free them. I've been watching you.~

Chirin was hesitant to say too much. His people had told him of the 
toruble that *pia* could cause and he was not sure if this was one of 
them. It had no horns...but among its stripes was a stain that looked 
like blood. 

~I just want others to be happy, is all.~

The pikachu bared its teeth, laughed and scampered off with giant 
leaps, moondancing, feet never touching ground. It dashed at teh 
gengars forced into their dance steps. It tore up grass beneath it in 
its path. 

~He wants to free you, gengars!~ The pikachu disappeared into the 
forest. Chirin held his breath and stared at the silver eyes, little 
moons in the forest. 

The memory of a ewe wronged, someone brought here to be abused, 
marked his mind as her spirit cried out to be heard, thinly through 
the shadows. It faded back when he reached out. But the residue of 
emotion was markedly like what hung like an odor around Nysokatta's 
black face.

Chirin looked down at his right flipper. He turned it over to see the 
inside. An intricate tattoo had been burned into the flesh, searing 
it. The lines stood out, black poison etched into proud flesh. It was 
like a light glowing too bright, if a glare could come fromm a 
shadow.

She sat studying the tattoo now scored into his flesh. He would wear 
the mark now. Charivari....she smiled, thought of her friend. He too 
wore the mark. She felt hope rise. She could get away, she and 
Norrie.

Chirin let her see it. "It still hurts...probably will for some time 
now." His gift moved out through the spirits, testing the waters of 
this new angle of his abilities, added onto what was already there. 
Spirits rustled, grass shook and bushes blinked. Leaves twitched and 
the area he had sent the new gift out into, stirred. He had tread on 
the minds of spirits. He watched them, they watched him, he knew he 
had the power to grab at them and force them to do his bidding. They 
scattered and re-formed, floating iagainst and through each other. 
Branches rustled up over head and all around teh rock the spirits 
played and listed around. The night was full of faces. 

He couldn't reach out to hurt them....not these. He was overcome by 
curiosity and they swarmed around him. chirin shivered as they began 
to realize he was there...now that he had reached out to them.

"Yes it will hurt. You are strong. I've seen others racked with the 
adjustment for days. I made the transcendance quickly as well. I was 
strong and have grown stronger since." Far-run proudly smiled and 
faced them all. "You may be what I have searched for, the one to 
bring life back into the Mogur race."

The words chilled him. Ke-doma had uses for him; he looked at him, 
observed him and liked what he saw. Someone like Ke-doma would not 
let him go so easily if he saw the hope of his race resting in him.

He wanted to swear out loud. It wasn't fair that he had been born 
with all this...Ke-doma was one more who clamoured for him, wanted to 
use him...saw salvation through the manipulation of him. what had he 
done...how could he have been so stupid?

Stupid? Was that really the word for it? He couldn't have known. 
Maybe reckless...but he didn't regret it, all the same. The spirits' 
eyes widened, some of them seemed to be all eyes, just watching, 
their entire forms become engineered for observing, mere spectators 
to the world...others seemed to have evolved into things that did 
nothing but watch, looking for what they sought in everything and 
everyone, everywhere. They looked into Chirin now. He could spend the 
rest of teh night figuring what would come next when he gazed into 
the world of eyes. The eyes--would they ever stop watching him, 
pleadng them? He saw them as clearly as he saw the living; they were 
chaos brought into being. He reached out to one of them...and its 
giant eyes seemed to shrink. The spirit pulled back from his reach 
and fled. Chirin nearly chased it with his gift, reached the claws of 
his will around it. Poor thing, he let it race off...but its pulses 
reached him, tapping back through the grass. The other spirits closed 
in, a crowd of sad children. 

"There are so many of them, Ke-doma...so many...good Phos." Chirin 
could not tear his eyes from them, they were there no matter where he 
looked. Always moving, dancing and stopping to stare. Around teh 
bushes they looked, hid and some merrily chased. In other places he 
heard sobbing, others still rippled with laughter.  

"Yes....Keha was rather mad for days during his adjustment. He 
screamed and fought it violently. It took five days before he could 
even remember who he was." Nossy said quietly.

"Keha was a failure and died a failure! He is dead to me in my 
eyes." Ke-Doma snorted. "I will not have his name spoken in my 
presence again."

Chirin fought a wave of anger. He had to fight it, because anger was a 
powerful emotion. It bristled from him and drew spears of red. He 
stifled it, feeling the cloud ripple out from him. The spirits, 
disturbed, stirred and some fled; others watched, seeming to absorb 
his stirred emotion. Ke-doma was a monster, and Chirin had become the 
tool he had been searching for. He breathed seep, feeling waves of 
calm slowly penetrate him. For their good he had to hide how he felt, 
he drew a cover of calm over himself and projected images of a deep, 
soft velvety blue dark, the sort of soft quiet that one could go to 
sleep to, something that brought warm chills. 

It was hard to do, very hard. The new tattoo pulsed through him, 
angling pain up into the big veins that brought his lifeblood al 
through him. The poison ignited in him and he felt the anguish of the 
great misunderstood spirit who had helped to give him what he now 
had. 

Was this the world Loki lived in?

"The countless souls that go through this world in unrest, wanting 
what they had in life. Fighting to become living once more. Many are 
out there, many stories, many souls. They are the strength of my 
power of your new abilities." Far-run played his thoughts out to 
them, he made the nosoki and yosoki dance. 

"They want to live again...they fear being forgotten." Chirin 
thought. "There are many other realms where the dead go and I visited 
more than one of them, just before." He did not want to talk to much 
about what he had experienced, but he could mention that bit. 

Stories strained to him through the sky, branches dripped flashes of 
the pasts of many spirits. Some hung in and around the trees, as if 
they were tethered there. From these came sadness, desperation, 
anger. Why did there have to be so much suffering that he could do 
naught about?

"Yes, when your mind is tuning into their world they take you fully 
into their realms. Their memories and speak to you through them. 
Then they release you, you are now of both worlds. The Natural world 
we experience everyday and the spiritual world that is the 
underlying realm we but, get a glimpse into briefly unless we open 
our eyes to it fully. Your eyes are wide open now." Far-run raised 
his flippers, he released his hold on the ghosts. He turned to 
Chirin. "As well as your mind. In time you shall learn to control 
it, I can see it in you. You have what it takes to truly develop the 
power." 

Chirin watched the spirits tumble into freedom again. Chaos engulfed 
them like they could breathe again. their relief lapped on ths shores 
of his own awareness. He had presence out that far, but he wasn't 
sure how. "There...is a realm full of suffering spirits...a powerful 
ram's spirit tried to pull me in. He didn't want me entering this 
awareness. I fought--" He swallowed, wetting his mouth. Spirits 
seemed to wriggle in a halo around his ears as they sagged. "I fought 
him off."

He didn't mention he had also fought Ebony off...a weak Ebony, but 
one who wanted to return. He had not killed her all the way...if such 
a thing could happen. If it could, then he could do it now, all 
right, but only if he honed his skills. 

"You fought a spirit? Chirin...." Far-run looked at the ewes about 
them. "If this ram's spirit wanted to deny you this understanding 
then you will find it a most troubling gift. Perhaps it was a 
mistake giving you this insight. I fear i may have put you in harm's 
way." 

Chirin had a feeling he might not like the news. If 
he blanched at this, he was sure glad he'd kept Ebony unmentioned. 
And it would stay that way. Chirin was just in awe, or in confision, 
that the fact that he had killed (as much as he could kill) Ebony had 
not been revealed. He had almost been expecting that quill to break 
in half or something the moment it had tuoched him. The enmity 
between them was that strong, and Chiirn felt it pull taut like a 
band of sinew when they ha faced each other. 

"I've been in harm's way already...I'd rather go meet it with my eyes 
open, than closed." 

It was beyond his understanding...Care and concern emanated from Far-
run. How could he hold those feelings for Chirin while he viewed his 
own son with putrid disgust? Was it because Chirin 
possessed "respectable" powers? Was it because Far-run had grown 
embittered by years of never finding a spiritual peer, at least in 
terms of ability? 

Hate and compassion flashed like cold sweats around him for Far-run. 
He swung towards caring again. Who said you had to hate your enemy? 
Who ever said anything was that simple?

"A wise choice. Very wise." Nossy said as she glanced about at the 
others.

"I fear the things my father sees with the power. I would rather not 
have it." Nasaqo spoke. "I see the spirits once in awhile. I journey 
with father with pokenip. That world is terrifying yet it does have 
a certain beauty to it at the same time."

"I can understan the fear...I journeyed a lot with pokénip myself. At 
other times, the spirits would come to me in visions. But always it 
was a world I could travel to and retreat from. This time...I amd 
here and there, just like I always was, but my senses do not close to 
it...and this is not like a pokenip journey in some ways...it is more 
clear." Chirin watched teh spirits toy around Nasaqo, leaping and 
flying. some caught others in playful acrobatics while some sulked in 
the grass. He let his focus ripple outward again, reaching for the 
minds of the spirits. 

A young stantler fawn stepped from the bushes. Chirin thought it was 
sticks, leves moving at first. the spirit was of the forest, blended 
with the land it had spent its life hiding in. hiding, he received 
the memories from the leggy, spotted fawn, spots now like moonlight 
on the ground through leaves. Its eyes like the river sparkling, 
dark, clear to show a brown bed. 

Chirin watched the fawn, reached towards it with empathy. The young 
stantler bounded towards him, radiating the need to be sheltered, 
mothered.

~No, you misunderstand...I cannot be your mama.~

The fawn filled with hurt. Chirin saw its death played over. A 
persian had stumbled on it while it lay in hiding, during the time 
when its mother had gone out to graze, reluctant to let the world see 
her fawn yet. It had been too soon. 

~I am so sorry.~ Chirin realized the young spirit, so much like an 
*akkis,* stood close to him, not wanting to go. For now he let it 
stand there by his side. Why not offer the poor soul a little comfort?

He reached out to touch it and his hand passed through the vapors. 
All he felt was a cold spot. Chirin reached out with feelings 
instead. His newfound ability to stroke spirits with his powers.

The childish spirits spiraled and yapped. Flame dances to the moon, 
Ke-Doma laughed as the vulpix like creatures pranced to his 
commands. Bright silver eyes reached out to them as they played 
along the river bank. They glowed with silvery bodies. they howled 
to the moon and skipped in the cool breeze. 

They played about the group whispering stories, giggled, sang and 
chased one another. This was the world Far-run woke to so long ago 
and the world just opening to Chirin. A whole world hidden alongside 
the natural world they all knew so well.

Chirin drew his legs up about him, getting usd to moving his body 
again. It didn't feel the same. There were sensatons he was aware 
of...how spirits lived not only around him, but in him. He had been 
looking to the outside world and the crowds jam packed with the dead, 
but he had not taken a peek into himself. There was a power now that 
he held. As he changed position, it seemed to shift with him. He 
tensed his arm slightly and waves rippled out strangely from it. The 
waves could be felt through the reactions of teh spirits as it spread 
awway. The dead ones bowed and some of them leaped up into dances, 
others turned and ducked in the grass. Still others fled. Chirin did 
it again, very gently; power pulsed out like a will of its own. He 
sent out gentleness with it; the spirits' eyes grew wider again and 
he felt the watching return. ~I won't hurt you.~ And in that great 
throng of the world he felt among them, many who would hurt him.

*****

From the forest edge he was drawn to the sounds of the chants. He 
watched the sheep dance and pray and the odd ritual proceeding 
before him. Gundo sat amazed. He watched it all with great interest.

Chirin's eyes did not pick it up. He felt a wave of curiosity lap at 
him, at the spirits. Some looked that way, Chirin sensed something 
coming from the bushes. There were living creatures among the spirits 
who did not even sense their presence...except maybe as an impulse, a 
startle out of nowhere, the way most pokemon sensed the spirits, just 
on the edge of perception. Chirin's eyes must be as wide as some of 
theirs were.

Around the dying fire the spirits played in the light; around his own 
tail ball they toyed with his twinkle. Chirin drew his tail around 
against his leg to watch it.

A nosoki bounded over, sat before them. The vulpix's red eyes 
running over them all. It smiled at Chirin.

~You're dead you do know right?~ The creature grinned as it lied. 
The pranking creature leapt to the stone. ~Your body lies cold and 
dead up here. The poison burned through you and killed you! Come 
see.~

It sat on the stone grinning.

~Dead.~ He could be. This could be the afterlife...he had felt enough 
pain and he had changed enough...he was one with the spirits now...

~Nonsense,~ he thought to himself. ~You're not dead.~

Chirin faced the mischievous spirit. Bubbles of glee trickled from 
it, it hit him stinging. Chirin's tattoo, scarred onto him like tar 
and blood, squirmed and stung in a fresh, brutal way within the 
swollen, pink flesh around it. Chirin carefully moved his own 
electric gift towards the wound, aiding the swelling a little. Trying 
to make sure it had not infected and helping the tenderness that was 
emerging. 

He did not want to believe the little one; ~I feel very much 
alive...if this is death then it is as I had guessed...that the dead 
are not dead.~ He had spoken to Nysokatta too...she had not seemed to 
find him dead. But this world of spirits, the ones that shifted 
before him as he moed his foot...

He tried to step around them, realized his foot walking did not hurt 
them. They were of a realm other than flesh...one more sign that he 
was not dead. He found himself counting the ways, needing the proof. 

~Yes?~ Chirin followed the dead vulpix. His eyes followed its grin. 
Would some illusion of his body be there? How much of what he was 
seeing was illusion....\what would an illusion be like to see now?

~See! You lie here, tongue lolled out, tears and drool pouring out. 
It was such a horrible death to watch!~ The Vulpix sat on the stone 
creating the illusion. 

~Oh! Dear! It was a most horrific thing to watch!~ A red eyed eevee 
leapt up next to the vulpix. ~Brother was it not horrible to see?~

~Yes! Very horrible! Frightening the way he screamed....~ The vulpix 
sat paws on the illusion.

~I pity you poor ram. You screamed like an ewe.~ The eevee stiffled 
a laugh. The nosoki grinned at one another. ~You should relax your 
mind now. After all you are dead. You need not think so much now.~

~The word is pronounced -you-, not eww,~ Chirin sent on a cascade of 
tickling sensations. He had dealt with these kinds of spirits 
before...but now, staring at the illusion ofhis body, he was struck 
by its realness. But he had dealt with that too. 

He began to understand why Far-run controlled spirits, at least to 
the effect of pushing them away. Many of them wanted to control you. 
Chirin stared at the illusory body. Knowing it was not really there 
was not enough. Staring hard he began to believe...

Far-run heard enough.

"They are trying to trick you, trying to take hold of your body. 
There will be those among this other realm who will try everything 
to live again, even steal a body." Far-run lashed his power out to 
the gengar. 

~Sefua! Sefua! Nosoki!~ Ke-Doma waved his arm, watching the gengars 
carry away the nosoki.

~I see.~ Chirin's mental words were sent rolling out on a shivery 
surface, like the ribs of sand in a tide pool or the batting of 
clouds that sheeted the sky sometimes. ~I have had times when spirits 
have tried to possess me. They...I have been attacke by them in the 
past. thank you...for fending them off.~

Chirin shuddered again. He was too weak to even stand by the stone 
for very long befoer he gave in and leaned against it. Surely there 
had bene a better way than enslaving those gengars again? There was 
somthing different about his own powers that contrasted them from Far-
run. He didn't know how, but it was not in mgnitude, but more in 
colour and flavour. He felt it again. He had a lifetime to discover. 

Chirin's energy floated out through the masses gathered. He was 
trying to get a feel for extending it, unfurling the bud of the 
abilities that had been awakened in him. It produced a strange 
scattering effect, not scattering the spirits, but dancing through 
rows of energy, scribbling as it went.

~You are welcome. There are vultures in this other realm. The nosoki 
mostly jest and gambol but, they do try to steal from you.~ Far-run 
rubbed his marks, he released the gengars once more.

~Yeah...they have little or nothing to lose.~ Chirin loked again at 
the stantler fawn. Its sadness and its need kept pipping from it, 
reaching him in little clouds. As Chirin watched, more young spirits, 
seeing him with the fawn, began to approach him.

Nysokatta listened to the talk of spirits. She shut her eyes. She 
listened to the world around her. She prayed things would be fine. 

Far-run sat watching the young souls pour forth. He watched merely 
out of curiousity. He sat listening to a few stories, his heart long 
steeled against them. 

Nysokatta glanced out toward the woods. Gundo! The traitor! She 
turned away without given him any real notice. He didn't deserve 
acknowledgement. She sat thinking of Norrie, she had to get out. 
Maybe she could sneak away. She was Nysokatta! A wandering ewe! She 
wouldn't resign to having her freedom taken from her!

Chirin was surrounded by young spirits, and some older ones...he 
could only tell ages from aura. auras blended until the individuals 
were hard to tell from each other in some places, like a clump of 
bushes all growing together. Their sorrowful stories filled him with 
a need to do something to help. He blinked his lights to them gently. 
His presence was all that he could give them--his audience. 

More spirits poured in, rained down from above and around. 

~No...too many. I cannot hear all of you...~ Chirin found them 
crowding the air and fringing against his own essence. Before he knew 
it, he had lifted his flipper. He sent out a wave to push them gently 
back. It was a push that forged itself inside the pit of him. He 
hated to do it...and when the poor souls backed away, forced to 
retreat, he hated himself for it. 

~I will spend time with you...just not everyone at the same time...it 
is too much for one pokemon.~ Why were they crowding aroundhim like 
this? Even now, moer had gathered in the distance. It dawned on him 
that they were all drawn to him because he was the only one here, 
aside from Far-run, who could see them and hear their stories at all. 
Ke-doma was right. They hungered so much to live again that he could 
see the hunger, with his newfound sense of spirits. They yearned for 
it so much that even a living pokemon paying attention to them must 
make them feel a leap closer.

For now, maybe for most of his life, Chirin could be an observer to 
them, a helper to the forest spirits. They had feelings too. 

Chirin watched Nysokatta's gaze. She stared out at teh forest again. 
Chirin sensed no danger, but a presence nonetheless...a familiar one. 
He shone his light--and the beam was alive with them, wild gyrating 
symbols, spirits like unouns and like insects, a cloudlike mass of 
colours and shapes...beings. His light glared with a thousand strange 
rainbows. 

"Good Phos...my light." Through the haze he did not even notice Gundo 
at first. Then he did. 

~Gundo!~

"Chirin?" Gundo raised his head towards the sheep. "Is that you?" 

The piloswine came a little further out of the forest. he sniffed 
the air. 


"Yes...it's me." Chirin saw him framed in spirits, staring through 
them with a vacancy that told chirin he could not perceive them. 
Chirin himself had once looked that way. all Gundo saw was the sheep, 
their lights; Chirin.

"So you did come east after all!" Gundo smiled he trotted over. With 
his weak eyesight he didn't know Far-run was among those that sat 
there.

"Yes, I did." Chirin didn't regret his decision. He remembered the 
day with clarity now...and he realized he would remember the day 
always, as part of his life before this change. 

"Gundo....traitor." Nysokatta whispered under her breath. He ousted 
poor Chari, even after the ram helped him so much.

"Who is out there?" Far-run raised his head. The gastlies spun to 
his command they flew out to check the creature. They returned.

~Piloswine~ They answered to Far-run.

The waves sent from the ghosts as they were enslaved momentarily, 
reached Chirin a lot stronger than anything else. He shuddered and 
his own newfound powers stirred in the bushes and grass. He forced it 
to be calm. 

"Oh, no." Gundo had told him he had betrayed many...betrayed Loki. "I 
met Gundo earlier on, only a few days ago actually. He told me he 
betrayed...some pokemon, all I saw was someone who would have died 
had I not gotten him out of that cave. I couldn't leave him to die. 
He regrets what he did...he and I parted company after he left to 
seek his own life," he explained to Nysokatta. He had to at least 
state that Gundo was his friend, say something.

"He is a coward. A coward and a betrayer." Nossy spoke low, she just 
stared at the spot of grass in front of her. She had hoped she found 
help but, if he was friends with Gundo he must be friends with 
Huntkos and the other traitors. 

Chirin was silent. What could he say? "I only saw sonmeone in need 
and tried to hepl him--i did help him. I figured why make things 
worse...well, I did what I did."

"I truly am sorry for what I did Nossy. I was tricked myself." Gundo 
sat. "I was made to believe Guntaka-dra was weak, that he would lead 
the entire flock into demise."

"You know Charivari?" Far-run already knew it, but he didn't want to 
startle the piloswine. After so many months of spying on them he 
knew who the hog was. 

"Why...yes." Gundo answered.

Chirin knew him all right. He forced himself to stay silent on the 
matter. It was going to be hard to keep himelf from speaking out for 
so long...to force ihmself to be what he was not, appear to be this 
compliant student. He had probably already spoken out to much about 
his past experiences with demons and spirits. The mroe naive he 
seemed here, the better off he was.

"Quite a strange place. Hardly the way I remember it a year ago. The 
Dead Falls are still there but, the humans began to work on this 
other forest, began to kill the trees. Why kill trees? Humans so 
filled with strangeness." Gundo sighed. 

"Where is Charivari these days? I would like to see him. Speak with 
him." Far-run grinned.

The grin chilled him. Chirin waxed warm and cold for Far-run, and it 
was leaning towrd cold. The ram seemed to see the world as something 
he could just peruse when he wanted to, without regard for anyone or 
anything. Loki was still Chirin's friend and he would do his best to 
help him. 

"Not sure. He left the caves after he was overthrown." Gundo sat, 
this was a strange ram he never had seen before. He reminded him 
slightly of Chari. "He just felt he couldn't tell just anyone where 
Chari went. 

"Oh! Forgive my rudeness. Nasaqo please take the ewes across the 
river. I am sure they must be tired after all of this." 

~Nysokatta is speaking too much! I don't trust her! Take them back 
to the Dead Falls daughter.~ 

"Yes, father I shall do that." Nasaqo rose to lead the ewes away.

Chirin shot to his feet. He wanted to go with them. The spirits 
crowned him, rising up in the air like he had disturbed their sleep. 
His frustration scraped inside him. He didn't want her to go. 

~Nysokatta,~ he pressed the thought towards her, letting it ride out 
on the currents...the spirits seemed to cleave to either side of 
aisle for his words. He beckoned one spirit to carry it for him--the 
little fawn. ~I am with you.~

~Yes.~ She remained calm, she had Far-run use such power with her 
before, she knew he was using the spirits to route the message. 
~Thank you, but, how can I trust you? You openly admit to being a 
friend of Gundo. He and his friends all betrayed Chari. Charivari is 
a very close friend to me, to see them treat him so hurt me as well.~

~I am new to this place. I never knew what Gundo did. I cannot prove 
you can trust me with words alne...i came here to help...and i will.~

Chirin wanted to end the conversation. What if Far-run could sense it 
somehow? He could sense a lot of what Far-run did and he could 
plainly see the spirits racing. vapors and clouds morphing...Far run 
could probably see them just like he could. t least the spirits who 
had sent the words were far gone now...towards Nossy.

Nossy didn't know if she should trust him. She could do worse 
though. What did she have to lose? She followed the other ewes. She 
glanced back at him before crossing the river.

She would need to do a lot of thinking before she trusted anyone. 

Her last wave of thought sent to him told him of confusion, 
uncertainty. She was unsure about him, but he what she thought right 
now just didn't matter. He would worry later once he had gotten her 
and the others free. How long had Far-run been doing this? How many 
sheep were there? He gazed off towards the gurgle of the river, 
through the whirling spirits, curling, playing in the dark. They 
seemed thickly gathered around this rock, he noticed, taking a look 
farther away for the first time. 

That's when it dawned on him. He could find out where that flock 
was...by following the path Nysokatta and the others took.

He wilted back down, wanting to wither away. At east he knew where 
they were going, somewhat--across the wiver. He would follow the 
trail of her tears.

None of teh ewes had been on heat, which Chirin was actually grateful 
for. He had no energy to settle them right now anyway...the tattoos, 
new and old, were sendinghim signals, and his *betaka* pulsated with 
aging pain from the poison. The spirits ran and jumped, scattered 
away from the vibrations of Chirin's hot and angry feelings. They 
rolled away like waved from the turmoil, dead leaves scattered by a 
spin of wind. 

"Where is she going?" He had to ask. His voice was innocent, his face 
left blank and his lights likewise. He stared after them as they left.

"Back across the river. With the others to sleep." Ke-Doma remained 
seated. "Now Gundo where might have Chari gone? You must have some 
idea right?"

"Excuse me for seeming ignorant but, who are you?" Gundo cocked his 
head at the ram.

"I am Far-run." He answered.

"Far-run." Gundo knew he was sitting with a powerful ram but, he 
didn't know till the name was spoken he sat with Chari's enemy. "I 
don't recall hearing that name before."

He lied and watched the ram closely.

Chirin was in a good position to hear this conversation. He didn't 
like how Far-run was talking about Loki, at all. So there was more to 
this than he had nown? He had nown from the start he would be 
uncovering a lot he had not anticipated and that this went very deep. 
Chirin lay back against the rock and made himself look like he was 
more intent on looking at the spirits, getting used to their newfound 
presence in his awareness, than he was interested in hearing the 
conversation. Gundo was lying--Chirin had learned the name from Gundo 
himself. He wanted to hear more now...Chirin sat afraid and weary, 
but his ears were very much alert.

"I see. I am rather known in these parts so it surprises me you 
don't know my name. Not even Ke-Doma?"

Gundo shook his head.

"Sorry. I was a farm pig before living in the valley." Gundo sat, he 
would wait for a chance to break free of this mess. 

"Interesting. From where?"

"Maroton. The farm was there. " The hog rooted a bit in the debris 
near his feet. He chewed a root and stared a bit at Far run as if he 
was totally an ignorant creature.

Chirin chewed his cud. Far-run was suddenly surrounded by idiots.