A Morning Dew. (Part 1.)

[TheStratovarian]

Tossing more roughage to the cart, I smiled and gave a chuckle. I missed doing this.

"E make, e hahau!" The cool mornings lent themselves well to simple work as my hooves felled more. (Breathe, Strike!)

There wasn't much to this. A lashing hoof, and I could remiss to being back home.

"Eia hou. E make, e hahau!" (Again. Breathe, Strike!)

The morning mist was a bit heavier this morning. Even my own hooves carried far when they hit the bamboo. 

Most of the path was clear, outside a bit of a snarl that had been leaning for a good while. 

The hurricane was the final straw. And being an off day, as good a place as any to help with cleanup around the isle.


Sunlight had started to burn through some of the mist when I heard the first sounds of travelers to the abbey. 

"ʻO ke kaikunāne." I offered, approaching with a new set to toss in the cart. (Apologies brother.)

A look around to the quiet still, and following upon such with "kaikaina ian, I am sorry." 

A smile, and a shake of the head to absolve mischief implied here. He gestured about the cleared road.

"Yes. Most fell during the storms." 

"If you wished a sit a spell before your ascent back?" My own hoof waving to a cleared stone bench.


A bow and smile my answer. "I might partake of an answer, but you tend to be a reflective one brother ian." 

"Hmm.." A look about once more, and finally in the nature of good company asserting itself, in the silence. I continued. 

"I am loathe to leave a void about while you recover. Perhaps then, I might offer a tale of your choosing to pass time until you feel ready to continue?"

"I am not the best of storytellers, but, I may still weave a tale or two."


Silence stretched on for a time, before Ian decided, pointing to me. 

"I, er, are you sure? Me, me?" 

A nod answered me, and my thoughts to sit and drift back, filtering in and out of the swirling mists of the past.

I shifted back into the now, with ian gently tapping my snout. "I'm fine." my response quickly earning a frown from a fellow believer.

Chuckling, in a little, my mood lightened for a second. "It will be. But perhaps a good point to begin a story with."

"What can you tell me about october that you know?" A shrug and point to the lips had me rolling my eyes for a second. "Right, rhetorical question. Sorry."


"October is a golden gilded lily." 

"It shines. It glows. So brightly that one might marvel at its hue."

"October, dear october, for all its glitter. For all its gold, belies a corrupted heart."

"It offers such a sweet scent to those landing. But I shall not harp farther, ive not the fingers for it." 

A smile, and giggle in a little from ian.


"We shall go back into the mists of time, of my journey here. To escape the forgotten wild."

"I can give them words, but it seems that at least, I might offer a better way, for my words are not up to conveying this with the levity of such."

"It's up to you, but I at least feel it fair with your vows unable to ask in words what my words give."

Describing darnathi, whatever they do, my words do it injustice. It is a touch, different, there is respect given, trust implied and laid bare. 

I could no more tell you how brother ian did what he did, save he was there.

I smiled, and closed my eyes. Through the dark i waded, letting memory flow, surround and bouy me.

[TheStratovarian]

Bidden quietly, the cadence and words to remind gathered. Spoken, inside, a vow, a promise, and regrets they sang of. And the sirens of the night Began.

Ua makemake au e mālama i ka maluhia.  (I only came in peace.)

Akā, ua alualu mai lākou iaʻu ma ka ua.     (But they chased me through the rain)

ʻO kēlā mau meaʻawaʻawa, ka meaʻino e pepehi nei.   (Of those dark that hunt, the evil that kills)

Nā kui a me nā kui, nā niho a me nāʻae         (Claws and fangs, tooth and jaws)
e lawe mai ana i ka ua koko e kau i loko        (bringing bloody rain to pool in)
he holoʻana, mai kahi'ē mai, i kaʻeha a pau.   (a flight from, a flight from, all the pain)

E ola i kēia pō                     (To live this night)
me nā holoholona a puni     (with beasts about)

E kaua kaua? E hūnā wau? Hiki iaʻu ke hāʻawi i nā koi?  (Should I fight? Should I hide? Should I give in to demands?)

Wale kekona ke koho.    (Only seconds to choose)

Ke kumukuai o ka noa    (Whats the price of being free)
he pōhaku'ōlinolino?       (a brightly shining stone?)

Hoʻokiʻekiʻe i ka naʻau      (Greedy hearts in )
manawa pōloli pōloli        (hungry predatory minds )
ʻike i kaʻuhane hou           (sighted on a new soul)
ka mea i hana i loko o ko lākou wahi. (that meandered through their lair. )


ʻO ka pōhaku kūpoki a me ka ea ahi.       (Cobbled stone and burning air. )

ʻO ke ahi wela, akā ua hoʻokūpī i ka hula. (Breathing fire, yet harried wake.

Kuʻi kaʻelemakule a me ka mea hou e hoʻomaka ana i ka hoʻomakaʻana o ka papa  (My old one ending and new one starting at the beginning of a mast)

---

Wet, bone-chilling, wind cutting, wet. The sirens screaming upon the poles. 

I heard them, and pushed into town, letting the dark hide me, as rain did my steps. 

I, soon. I could see the lights, distant upon the dock. I would be gone soon. 

Soon, I would be away. A new chance at home. It still bled freely. They needed to see, to send the stranger away. Or they would offer their own throats to slit when he turned upon them in his hunger. 

They always talked, the sweetest voices to tempt, to disarm us. Them, not us. 


There! And there too.. Hmm, I might run, but the numbers, and they must know this place, I do not. 

ʻo ia! (dammit!) Breathe... March high. Face down the ruler of this pack. Without him, they will hesitate.


"Hand it over stripe. Saw you with't. Heard'ja talkin too for passage. Ya do, might get to walkin this off. Don't and we feed ya to the waves. Just another tribal."


Hmm, cat, maybe, can see a bit of the sheen, still, watching. Yes, watching the saddlebag, not me. 

"I wish no trouble. Nor conflict. I wish to pass, and see myself from trouble this night. Let me pass." I could hope.


"See, not how it goes here. These are my boys, and you gotta pay, whatsa word. Tribute. For walkin through. Can't have no-named tribals trashin up the town."


Spirits, be with me this night. 

"ka hanu, hahau!" And the one behind me crumpled. A second I could hear kneeling, as it words filtered in. 


"He's breathing, all sorta bad." 

Bracing, i could only breathe in. Out. Focusing, and.. Move!


"I wish it could have happened another way brother. I do."


I felt the bones of the feline gang boss crumple.

I felt the rake of claws upon my hide in my charge.

I felt the impacts of clubs along my body.

I felt nothing inside as I trampled him, and left him, broken, bleeding.

I felt only one drive, pushing me on, the boat and its solitary light upon its prow. 

I felt only triumph when the captain dared not remove me from his boat.

I only felt in the morning light, when I passed out on the dock. Battered, bleeding, but free on august.