Topic: In Spirit

Ghost Walker

Date: 2009-09-22 19:17 EST
Night time.

Always his favorite.

Walking in a field of waving gold that shines as briliantly as though the midday sun shone upon its windblown strands, stalking the strange vision.

As always, it doesn't take long.

A single step leads to the explosion of feathers, pure white in the darkness, as doves take wing from their resting place at his feet. Even though he is prepared, it takes him by surprise, making him jump back as hundred of the lovely birds spring into flight, a cascade of wamr, feathered bodies.

And held in them, glimpses of a vision of pure, aching beauty.

A slender body, gentle curves, smooth contours.

Skin of a pale, honey-gold color, smooth as silk.

Lips a lovely pink, soft and supple as rose petals.

Curved upwards in a teasing, elusive smile.

Showing a glimpse of dazzling white teeth.

But what catches his eye the most, what sticks in his memory, is none of this.

He has eyes for nothing but the fall of spun gold, wild and untames, swirling in an unseen wind.

Held within them, a pair of eyes like the most beautiful of uncut sapphires.

And as he reaches out to this vision, steps forward, the doves are gone.

Taking with them, the vision he cannot seem to pierce through.

The one thing he cannot see with absolute clarity, is only able to catch with subtle, teasing visions.

He jerks awake, settled as always in a familiar pose of patience and calm - cross-legged, hands resting lightly on his knees. Before him, the smoldering remains of a small fire, and beyond it, the sea.

Beyond that, the sun, a bloated, bloody red eye, gazing balefully upon his sitting place where the waves lap at the shore as gently as a lover's caress.

How did he get here"

Memory comes to him unbidden. A vision much as the last had been, as he sat, troubled, on the floor of his home, gazing at the fragrant smoke of the smolder before him.

His father had come to him and sat the opposite of that blackened spot, and for a long time was silent.

Finally, he had spoken.

"I am going to Rhy'Din, my father."

His father had merely nodded. The look on his face is unreadable to all but his own son, the one with the same strange gifts his older sister had had.

Under it, Daniel could see he didn't like it. There's the possibility of losing both siblings, perhaps the most powerful shaman to come along to the People in centuries, and twins, at that.

But his father also knew that Daniel will not be stopped.

Finally, he spoke. "You go to bring her home?"

Daniel had shaken his head. "I go to find her, Father. If she wishes to return, I will help her do so...but if she wishes to stay, I cannot force her to come with me."

His father nodded again, and this time his face betrays an emotion. Sadness.

"And what of you, my son' Will you be returning?"

For the first time, Daniel had been uncertain of what to say. He hasn't been able to see for...well, months, really. Because of the vision.

The doves.

The girl.

"I...I do not know for certain, Father. I can't see if I will come here again or not."

His father simply nods, picking up a bundle next to him and unrolling it, taking from the supple leather a long, blue pipe and a pouch of tobacco. "Then, my son, let us smoke a while. And I will pray that, one day, I may see you and your sister again."

And so they had smoked together a while.

Now, sitting on the shores of Rhy'Din, watching the sun as it touches the horizon, he stands. Tall, slender, and leans, clad only in buckskin breeches, the reddish light reflecting off his russet skin and blazing in his black hair like coals. The wind brushes against him, fluttering that hair to reveal four feathers of four types - muddy red-brown, ebon black, snow white, and golden-brown - held by those black strands.

The Spirit Walk

Date: 2009-09-24 23:06 EST
She had left them all behind. Her family. Memories taken from her in a moment of torture. Of violence. Did they realize why she had run and never looked back?

Believed them all to be dead, enslaved. The woman taken of body as she near had been if not for the gift of her. Only shared by one other. The Ghost Walker. Her twin.

The torment. The torture. She did not want to remember.

"Feathers..."

Whisper coaxed through her mind. Taken. Soft and Intimate. Husky depth of voice. It called to her....but she was fading. Gone. Distant.

Feathers of Four. Her Name. Called and claimed to it again and she knew that she belonged to that name.

The sight of Ghost within the Inn had stirred something in her. Awakened her Spirit. Called out.

Broke through that haze and the horror. Gone was Nimue. Awakened Feathers of Four.

She recalled her twin then. Her Ghost.

A close of eyes. Where there were wild horses in the distance would wait the Great Stag.

Drew the Doe.

Her fingers extended. Touched those four feathers playing hide and seek in her hair.

Eyes closed. She saw a wash of gold. Glistening blue. Calling in the horizon to her twin.

Spirit and Ghost. Kin by Blood and Soul. Ever. Always. His nature hers. Her nature his. Ever one.

Ghost Walker

Date: 2009-09-26 18:40 EST
"What's wrong, Feathers?"

She smiled up at him as he walked over to where she's sitting, close to the edge of the forest, immediately hiding the melancholy on her young face, seeming as always to be cheered just by his very presence.

"It's nothing, Ghost."

He looked at her with that air of faint disbelief, his dark eyes hooded in a scowl. "You know I know better than that, sis."

She glared up at him, her smile turning to a frown. "It's none of your business, you know, if I'm having a problem with someone..."

Her mouth snapped shut with a sharp click as she realized she'd said too much.

He sat down in front of her, his glower fading, a more serious look on his face. "He dumped you, didn't he?"

At that, he face broke apart, her own glaring gaze disappearing as her face twisted in sadness as she nodded, tears showing in her eyes, slipping down her cheeks. "I don't know why...all I did was tell him that he reminded me of a bear..."

He sighs, smiling slightly and shaking his head. "He knows about our gifts, Feathers, but even so, he might have overreacted. Besides, it's his loss - you're a beautiful girl, and a prize catch for anyone smart and kind and strong enough to hold onto you."

She had nodded, wiping the tears away from her eyes and smiling. "My big brother seems to be the only one to get that."

He grinned, standing, took her hands and pulled her to her feet as he glanced at the wood. "I bet I know what would cheer you up."

She caught that glance, her face lighting up, this time more than a facade to keep him from prying. "I bet I can beat you this time."

He laughed, then stepped back. "You can try, Feathers."

And with that, he had turned to the wood, leaping forward into that tingling change of form into the great, antlered stag he knew to be her favorite, bounding away into the trees.

He gave himself over to the animal as he sensed her joingin him, her own shape that of a sleek, lovely doe, leaping between trees and over bushes to keep up as they had raced through the forest. Had they still been human, they would have been laughing as they chased each other.

It was a long time before they found their meadow, an oblong clearing in the middle of the wood where they had often come to get away from everything, to just be two teenagers without a care. Here, they rested from the run, staying in their animal forms, side by side, her sleek body touching his as they ate of the grasses of the meadow beneath their feet.

As always, in his animal shapes, he could keenly feel the beast's instincts tugging at his more human senses and thoughts.

His human side know that this sleek, beautiful animal at his side is his sister, his twin. He's aware of the bond between them, closer and more intimate than almost any two humans could hope for.

But the animal can too, and its instincts don't account for familial relationships. Its drives are simple.

Eat. Drink. Sleep. Mate...

There was a long moment as she had looked up at him, her doe-dark eyes meeting his own for a long, heated moment.

Many times they had been here before, in these shapes or others. He could feel that strange longing, and even the human half of him had wanted to give in to the beast.

But, in the end, they had shied away, despite that intensity.

The Spirit Walk

Date: 2009-09-26 20:38 EST
"He...he is to be bound to her? But he cannot! It isn't right!" "Feathers, he has no choice. They find him magnificent with his gift, you....they fear."

She turned her head away, and raced off into the woods blindly.Tears blurred her vision as she stumbled and fell. Racing for the clearing that had been their secret place. Their hideaway to escape.

Her father planned on taking her twin from her. Marrying him off to some lovely creature from the neighboring tribe. She could not protest or deny that Ravenwing was beautiful. A suitable bride for her brother....but something tormented and twisted within her with that very notion.

Feathers fell to her knees in the clearing,sobbing as those cries of anguish racked through her body. Her father planned on taking everything from her. Everything she loved.

Feathers might have known and realized that Ghost was there until he managed to clear the tears from her eyes. Saw him sitting on the rock with his head in his hands, body wrought with equally anguish.

She crawled to him, wrapped her arms around his body as he pulled her towards him. Buried her tear streaked face against his bare chest.

"They can't make me leave you Feathers. They will not. I will never leave you."

She could only hold him tighter as she lifted her head to look at him as his hair fell around her. Hiding the next moments that passed between them, doe dark eyes locked on his own dark depths....understanding more and more the nature and feelings that the beasts had ever understood.