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Chapter 5: Home is where everyone knows your stories.[/center]
Rating (by chapter): PG.
Disclaimer: Willow, Tara, and any other Mutant Enemy characters that might creep in are not mine. Nobody's getting paid for this, and that's really just fine.
Feedback: Yes, please!
Distribution: Anywhere is fine, just ask first, please.
Spoilers: None.
Notes: If the creation story at the beginning of Tara's tale sounds familiar to you, you've probably played Werewolf, or possibly Mage (the old versions). Believe it or not, that world is where this one started, a looong time back.
It's come a long way, I think.
Summary: Tara tells a story of ages past...
As Tara stepped into the firelight, her eyes showing a restrained panic, Willow got up from their bench and made her way to where their teachers were standing. Moving as quickly as she could without bumping into anyone, she got to them just as Tara started to speak.
"Umm, h-hi! Umm, Gareth here," indicating the boy who was still gripping her hand as though she might run away any second, "has asked me to tell a st-story. Umm, what sort of stories d-do you usually l-look for?"
"Do you think she'll be OK?" Willow whispered loudly to the two women, causing them to jump. "She seems really scared."
"Public speaking is a bit intimidating, the first time," Kate whispered back reassuringly. "She'll be alright."
A bit intimidating? There's the understatement of the year, Willow mentally retorted. But she stayed quiet and turned her full attention back to where her best friend was fielding requests from the audience.
"No, I'm sorry," she was saying, "b-but I couldn't. The stories of the clans are p-private, only for the clans themselves." There was a general murmuring in response.
Suddenly her eyes lit up. "I do know a story I could tell," she announced, some of the uncertainty fading from her voice. "My m-mother used to tell me the histories of the ages before when I was a girl. M-maybe I could tell the story of the First Age?"
This was met with varied sounds of affirmation, and more than a few 'It's been too long!'s. Seemingly encouraged, the blonde smiled and cleared her throat. Gareth, apparently satisfied that Tara wasn't going anywhere, released her hand and went to sit at the edge of the firelight.
Willow watched her friend waiting as the noise of the crowd lowered into silence. Tara's nervous, panicked look was gone. In its place was a look of patient serenity. Willow found it hard to look away.
She was so scared, and she faced it down. Now look at her. She's amazing...
With the people around the fire finally hushed, Tara began to speak.
"In the time before the beginning of all that we know," she began, her voice ringing louder and clearer than Willow had ever heard it, "there were no people, no lands, no Gaia. There was only the darkness, and the Three that made the darkness their home. The first, Fiain, was strange and unpredictable, but its creativity was inexhaustible. The second, Fiodoir, was a being of great intellect, and a lover of permanence and order. And the third, Dragan, was clever and quick. Its great passion lay in endings, in that which was ephemeral. You might think that such beings would be destined for conflict, and you'd be right. They fought countless battles, battles beyond our ability to even imagine. But at some point, looking upon the field of their conflict, they discovered something that would change everything."
Willow smiled at the tale, familiar but always a little different with every telling. She let the tension she'd been feeling, her concern for her friend, drain away, and just listened.
"The Triur, as the three beings are called, looked into the debris of the battles they had waged, and discovered that in their wake they left not ruin, but
life. Fragile, interdependent systems of spirit that were created, existed for a time, and then ended, making way for others. And the Triur were forced to look at themselves, and to realize that they weren't as opposed as they had at first thought. They were
complimentary, far greater together than they were in themselves alone. And so they began upon the greatest adventure of them all; they joined together to produce offspring. An offspring far greater than themselves. Her name was Gaia, and her creation was the beginning of the First Age."
Willow heard sighs of contentment from several of the people nearby. She couldn't help but agree; to find such unity after so long spent in conflict was a beautiful thing. And then to come together in the creation of something so magnificent...
"Gaia was born a mother, creating even as she formed. Creations of the spirit being not enough for her, she gave herself a material form, making of herself a home for all that was to be, forming a closer bond between creator and creations. And she was a loving mother to all. She wasn't doting, for she showed favour to none and allowed all to find their own way. But she wasn't harsh, either; every race was given the ability to flourish in its own way, and every being could feel in its bones that it was loved. Because Gaia was mother to them all, and a mother has a place for all of her children in her heart." Her mouth twitched into a little smile at that.
"In time, though, something happened to break this peace. No one knows exactly what caused the change--"
"Speak for yourself," Willow heard Jody muttering to Kate, but she barely registered it, so caught up was she in the story.
"--but whatever the initial cause, the result was a deadly imbalance. Fiodoir's influence over Gaia's creation began to increase, and with this increase came an obsession. Choosing one of Gaia's sentient races--humans--as its tool, the great being determined that it would weave a pattern over all. No longer was it content with the natural cycles and balances that its symbiosis created. It would transcend all of this, and remake Gaia's creation in its own image."
Willow gasped along with everyone else at the horror of this.
It's awful! It's like, like your dad looking at you and saying, 'Well, you've turned into a fine young woman. But there are really a few improvements I'd like to make,' and then getting out his surgical tools...' She shuddered inwardly. She knew where the story was going, but forced herself not to think about it, just listen.
"At the edge of the darkness where the Triur still dwelled, bound together now around their child, Fiodoir determined that the first and most important thing to do would be to bind Dragan, keeping the being trapped so that Fiodoir's precious patterns need never be severed. It found it now a simple thing to entrap its peer, bound together as they already were. It skillfully wove the bindings, making the strongest prison ever imagined, and skillfully it settled them over Dragan. Before it realized what was happening, the fierce destroyer-being was bound in the shining threads of stasis. It thrashed and struggled to break free, but for every strand it broke its peer wove another. It called out to Fiain for help, but Fiain took no interest, having not enough coherence to truly understand the trouble. It demanded that Fiodoir should release it, but was given no heed. It beseeched Gaia for aid, but found Gaia strangely silent. The realization that it was truly trapped, possibly for all time, cut off from its peers, cut off even from its daughter, slowly dawned upon the great being, and it descended into madness; a deep, driving madness. In its madness, it found a new name for itself, and a new purpose: Truailliu, which means Corruption. If it could not free itself, it would attack all of its peers' creations from within, breaking the patterns, cracking creation, and ultimately destroying the power that held it captive."
The story was almost tangible, all around them in the air Willow could feel it, like she was immersed in the depths of a great pool of words and images and ideas. She looked to her friend, moving her attention briefly from tale to teller. Lit from behind by the firelight, Tara was like a soft shadow limned in golden fire. Her softly windblown hair was like a halo dancing gently around her head.
Like a goddess. The words came unbidden, and she could not have said, afterwards, if she had said them aloud or not. Certainly no one else seemed to take notice. Which was good, because what an embarrassing thing to suddenly blurt out about your best friend!
No time to think... story's still going...
"Changes were occurring on Gaia as well. With the sudden shift in the balance, the spirit of Gaia found herself being drawn into a slumber, unable to take any direct action as Fiodoir's chosen people began to change the world. The cancer started out small and isolated, as cancers do, but it grew. More and more of the tribes of humanity were conquered by the new ways, becoming part of the conquering culture. They abandoned all harmony with the rest of the world, acting instead as though the world were something created to serve their needs. Their numbers swelled, and their influence grew. And always among them, hidden from their notice but never absent, the children of Truailliu--vampires, evil spirits, and even darker creatures--exerted their corrupting influence. In a last desperate act before falling at last to an aeons-long sleep, Gaia looked into the hearts of humans still untouched by the blight, infusing them with the power and spirit of other animal races, and in this way created her own children to fight the growing menace."
Oh, she means werecreatures, I've gotta remember to tell her about how I met some that one time oops she's still talking time for that thought later!
"But without the spirit of the great Mother to guide them, Gaia's children lost their way, and they couldn't stop the sickness. Humanity, having abandoned all previous traditions, found new ways to live. They began to build as their living-spaces great engines of destruction, which they called cities. These cities served Fiodoir well, for they replaced the chaotic mess of life that was to be found everywhere else with straight lines and corners, and began stratifying human society as well. No longer, the new city-dwellers reasoned, was humanity to be a purposeless collection of differing peoples with their own ways and values. There was only one right way; the way of the civilized. And everyone would fall into line and be better for it. It was simply destiny. And so humanity came to mirror the values of their manipulator, Fiodoir. Slowly at first, but gaining speed all the time, the world began to fall under the dominion of humanity."
After a momentary pause to let that settle in, Tara's voice continued, smooth and warm as honey despite the unthinkable events she was describing. "But the cities weren't just the hands of Fiodoir on earth. Looking closer, they were also the mouths of Truailliu. For every city--and there were more and more as time went on--had one commonality. Each city was unable to support its citizens on its own. Every one had to take from elsewhere, taking food and water and people and labour and culture from every land and people in its reach, always growing larger and always growing hungrier. This essential need of cities to grow and consume was the cause of the many forms of slavery, the slow poisoning of all of Gaia's children, and the rape and destruction of most of the world. The children of Truailliu thrived in the cities, and encouraged the many diseases of civilization--rape, murder, oppression, poverty, and wars so horribly unlike the wars we know as to be a different thing entirely."
Jody leaned back and whispered to Willow, "She's really in her element, huh?"
"Sure is," she whispered back excitedly. "It's like she's a different person... except in a way she's more herself than ever!"
With a wink, the older woman turned her attention back to the story. A bit bewildered, Willow followed suit.
Tara was in the middle of a sentence--Willow had missed a bit, talking with Jody. "-was certain, the only question being, would Fiodoir have conquest, making over all of Gaia in its own image, or would the victory belong to Truailliu, corrupting all of mankind's works from within and poisoning the rest of the world until everything collapsed and it was freed at last?"
Even though she already
knew how it turned out, Willow found herself worrying about the outcome.
Why? is she influencing us, or is it just good storytelling? As if on cue, Jody looked back and winked again, grinning.
Ohhhkay, that was weird. I bet she does that on purpose, to make me think she can read my thoughts! Only how can she do it on purpose if she can't
read my thoughts? Oops, story!
"But in the ten thousand years since the terrible unbalancing had set things onto this course, there had been other changes, and there was another story being told. Some agents of the two powers had grown disenchanted with the goals of their fellows. Some of Gaia's children remained, still fighting the cancer. And even among humanity there were many who went their own way, and they often found themselves opposed to the works and minions of the two powers. And among all of these peoples, prophecies circulated. Prophecies of a great apocalypse to come, in which all of the true powers on Gaia would take up arms against each other and decide everything, then and there. Other prophecies told of how to prepare for this time. In particular, some spoke of finding three people who were marked from birth with the symbols of the Triur--on one, the crescent moon, on another a spider's web, and on the third a spiral. If they were found and brought together, it was said, they would be able to restore the balance, bringing to each of the great powers what they lacked--for Truailliu, compassion, for Fiodoir, restraint, and for Fiain, coherence."
Willow suddenly realized that the tale would be over soon, and Tara would be
very thirsty. It was hard to see, her eyes having been adjusted to looking toward the firelight, but she managed to hunt around until she found someone with a water pitcher and a spare cup who was willing to share. Filling the cup, she approached close to the firelight and caught Tara's eye.
The blonde shot her a grin, not pausing from the tale. Willow realized she had missed even more of the story.
"So when the appointed day came, and the great and terrible war for the fate of the world was preparing to start, the defenders of Gaia were starting to despair. Many were gathered to witness the first battle. Many others were preparing for the war. But unknown to most of them, the Three
had been found. As the armies began to move, the chosen three walked onto the battlefield between them. And after ten thousand years of fear and degradation, the world was saved by a single embrace. The three that Gaia's chosen had gathered became one, and merged with the spirit of their Mother, waking her from her aeons-long sleep by becoming her consciousness. Gaia rose up, and every being on earth felt it in their heart. And the war was over, because how can you fight for dominion over a world when that world is vastly powerful, nearly omniscient, and takes a dim view of being ruled over? Perhaps even more importantly, the newly awakened goddess reached out to her parents and gave them healing, restoring the balance. And so the first age ended, and the second age--an age of peace--began."
Willow used the wave of riotous applause that followed (complete, she noted, with whistling and stomping) as a good time to rush up to her friend and give her the water. Tara accepted gratefully, drinking the whole cupful quickly.
"Thirsty work?" Willow asked loudly, trying to be heard above the din. She got a very emphatic nod in return.
"And it's really hot being this close to the fire... I'm sweating so much!" Nevertheless, the blonde's eyes were shining, and she couldn't seem to keep a grin off of her face.
"You're really great at this!" Willow enthused. "Have you done it before?"
Tara ducked her head a little, allowing a few sweaty strands of dark blonde to fall. "My mother and I used to sit together and share stories with each other--it was the best part of my days! It wasn't like this, though!"
"You shouldn't do that!"
"What?!"
"Hide your face like that, like you're afraid to be seen! You're amazing, and everyone who sees you knows it, so you've got nothing to be afraid of!"
Tara didn't say anything in response, but the crooked little smile she gave was thrilling. A bit put off-balance by the shivers that overtook her, Willow just smiled, too. A few moments later, she said, "I don't think you're going to get to leave the fire just yet!"
Indeed, the crowd's hearty accolade had died down, to be largely replaced by calls for more. Tara laughed and rolled her eyes, then leaned in toward Willow's ear and said, "Could you get me another cupful? I'm going to be even more thirsty when I'm done with this."
"Yep!" Willow darted out of the firelight, looking for the people she'd gotten the water from. A call from behind her drew her attention.
"Willow!"
Willow turned to see Tara holding out the cup. "You forgot this!"
Willow quickly retrieved the cup from a grinning Tara and started weaving her way through the crowd again. Around her the audience hushed, realizing that the girl was going to speak again. Willow caught Kate watching her with a strange, knowing smile on her face, and nodded to herself.
I guess I am
acting pretty oddly. I must be getting tired. Sometimes being really tired makes me emotional and weird, like that time when I stayed up for two days and ended up crying because I missed my dolls so much and I'd left them at home and how were they going to be cared for without me around...
She quieted her mind when she heard Tara's voice speak up once more, but kept on looking for a pitcher.
"Okay," her friend was saying, "We'll keep going, but when we get to the current age I'm done, alright?"
There was a general call of agreement.
"Okay, then. I said that the second age was an age of peace, and it was. With Gaia taking an active hand in the affairs of her creations, the world was a better place. Poisons were cleared away. Habitats were restored. The lonely feeling of something missing that had plagued humanity for so long was washed away, and people could walk abroad at night without fear of the dark creatures that had once preyed upon them. All was well for Gaia's creations. But all was not well for Gaia herself..."
Willow nearly stumbled right into the woman holding out a pitcher for her. "Sorry," she apologised in a hushed voice. "And thank you!" A fond smile was her only response. Willow filled the cup and handed the pitcher back to the woman, who barely noticed when she was given it, so enraptured was she by the story.
Tara has got
to be cheating, at least a little, she thought as she headed back to the leading edge of the crowd.
"Gaia--the new, more human Gaia--wasn't happy. She had a massive love for all of her creations, and helping them in their lives was very fulfilling, but as the years went by, and then the decades, she found herself burdened by regret. She missed the more personal relationships that she remembered from her human lives. Sometimes she would project an image, pretending to be human in order to be treated as an equal, but it wasn't enough; she had to hide her true self in order to do so, and what good is a friend that you have to hide yourself from?"
There were many murmurs of agreement with that. Willow happened to glance over to her right and noticed Gareth standing nearby, tears rolling down his small cheeks. She took the few steps to be next to him, and knelt down. "Hey," she said, staying quiet to keep from disturbing anyone. "What's the matter?"
The boy sniffed loudly and looked at Willow with a deep sadness in his young eyes. He spoke in a quiet, grief-filled voice. "She... she must have been
so lonely..."
Before Willow could respond, the boy had run off into the crowd.
Probably to find his mother and be held, poor kid. She turned her attention back to the story once more, dutifully holding the cup of water in both hands and being careful not to spill a drop.
"As if that wasn't enough," Tara was saying, "Gaia found herself uncertain about the good in what she was doing. It was obvious that life for all of her children was far better than it had been, but she wondered if she might be doing them an injustice by not letting them find their own way. How that would have gone, no one knows, because after only a few decades the third age began, with the appearance of the first wound."
There was some brief clapping, which petered out quickly as people realized that Tara was just taking a breath before moving on with the tale. Willow held up the cup to show Tara, and was rewarded with a somewhat weary smile in return.
"Maybe it was Gaia's own troubles and doubts that drew it, or maybe it was just happenstance that brought it, but either way, the floating sphere of light that appeared at the site of Gaia's ascension changed everything. It was a wound in reality itself, a hole in the world. And it shattered the world's paradigm, tearing the world into various fluctuating zones of reality. Peoples' lives were at the mercy of whatever strange rules held sway in their zone. Gaia herself could not survive this ripping intact, and the three parts of her consciousness were torn apart and forced randomly into new roles, new identities in this strange new world. Fortunately for all of us, one of them was able to remember his previous self. Born into a harsh, cold place of oppressive society where people were given numbers as well as names, he was called Gary 2045536, but he knew that he had once been the part of Gaia that represented and completed Fiodoir. He remembered his love and duty for the world, and also the regret and doubt that Gaia's role had held. And he began to plan."
From back in the crowd, Willow heard Gareth's voice excitedly pipe up, "I was named after him!" This drew a chuckle from the assembled mass of people, and Willow looked back fondly, spotting the boy in Jody's arms, clinging to her neck as though for comfort.
I guess he couldn't find his parents in the dark.
"Gary spent years studying the nature and effects of the wound, and researching and meditating upon the nature and effects of every zone's paradigm. Finding that the situation, if allowed to go on, would send the Triur into madness once again, he searched back through race-memories and planetary memory, trying to find a solution. And in time he did. Through various arts, he created another sphere, one he could control. With it, he brought the two spheres into harmony with each other and began calming the energies of the world, returning them to the way they had been in ages past, at the beginning of the first age, before the first great troubles. And when he caused the wounds to be sealed, healing the damage done to Gaia, what remained was the world as we now know it, as Gaia had originally intended it. There was no more need for a guiding hand, and so the spirit of the planet settled into the role she had in the start, that of a quiet mother, always there, always felt, but not interfering. The Three went their own ways in the world, freed from their burdensome destiny. People naturally began to band together into groups, into societies, and their views and beliefs and relationships with Gaia created what the world was like for them. And that was the beginning of the fourth age--the world we now live in, which can honestly be called the best of all possible worlds. And that is the end of my storytelling for today!"
The applause was, if anything, even more thundering than before. Tara left the firelight and eagerly took the drink from Willow's hands, downing it in one long drink. "Come on, let's go get some more back at the kitchen."
They made their way through the crowd slowly, stopped frequently so that Tara could receive praise and thanks and many hugs. When they finally made it out of the throng, they found their teachers waiting for them. Jody was still carrying Gareth, who looked like he was nearly asleep.
She must be stronger than she looks--I
could never hold a big kid like Gareth for this long!
"You've been holding out on us, girl," Jody greeted Tara with a big grin. "I've gotta get this sweet little guy here to his ma, but after that, you two want to meet at the library and celebrate Tara's first night out?"
"We made kolaches," Kate added.
Tempted by the idea of sweet pastry, Willow nevertheless knew that her friend was likely tired, so she looked to Tara to take the lead on this.
"Sure, that sounds like fun," said the blonde, tucking strands of damp, sweaty hair back behind her ear and smiling gratefully.
And so the women parted, to reunite later for an evening of laughter, fun, and sweet, fruit-filled pastry goodness. Walking up the path with Tara, Willow noticed she felt really, disproportionately happy. She checked carefully, but it didn't seem to be coming from anywhere but herself.
I guess it's just the story, she decided.
Because Tara's right. We really do
live in the best of all possible worlds. Right here and now, walking with my best friend, life could not possibly be better. It's just not possible.
TBC
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