Suffer smiled...he seemed as though he was a child as he sit there, pondering his thoughts...contented, she thought to herself, "Perhaps I'll just nod off..." but suddenly, as Paush recollected his days as a young pup, she recognized something...it was a flash of black, something to quick to understand, enough, though, to make Suffer stand right back up and look at him straight in the eye, and she gave him a look that said something muffled and confused and could not be heard correctly.
Paush sat up suddenly. "What is it what do you see young one...what is it that makes you startled as so?" He asked inquizitivly.
Paush nodded, this could frighten one her age, but something else was bothering him he just had to ask "Are you sure it is your blood? What else do you see?" He asked "One so young yet so powerful..." he thought to himself...he had never felt such a presence of power before.
She thinks deeply, and she says, "Vushaj ...He was Vushaj...That is what he was..." and she sees him, coughing blood, dying, dying... So that is it then...she thinks to herself...the mystery is solved, the piece of the puzzle fits... "You knew him, my father...I see him fade...He was strong...I can see him in your mind, fast and slick" Suffer sits, unmoving. Then she says, "My mother is not there. I knew it would be so. For you see, Woe, she is the one. The one who sees all...but she cannot see one thing, for no one has told her. But I, I was told. You see, my mother and father should not have been. It was forbidden...he was of one tribe, and she another...his family could never bear such mingling love. Or so I was told...I knew not of whence they came...So now my father is found...he is of your blood, of yours and mine. He must have been someone of great status, but I cannot tell. I see nothing anymore...You mind has gone black and I cannot see anymore...but Woe...she can tell you of these things...of your questions...I can feel them grow but I cannot answer them..." She sits...exhausted and nearly contented...and weeps....
"Vushaj...but...he was a friend...a very good friend...almost a brother...He's the only one who belived me when I said I wasn't blind in the begining everyone thought I was with the eyes I have. Ever since we were best friends...at least until the plague. No one knows what saved me, and what killed him. He told me that if I ever I saw you or your sister again to say 'I'm sorry'. He was not one to be messed with he was revered as a high priest to the gods. He was my greatest friend and was only two years older then me...I miss him so much..." If he had tear ducts he would be crying...but only his low tail flame reflected his depressed mood.
She sighed..."You knew him? Was he a great man? Where was he from? WHat of his life? I fear there is much to be learned of him, butnothing of mother...so he was a Vushaj....do you recollect his name? Was he beautiful? I only know of his rich midnight fur, blackest as my Woe. My motherly keeper, she told us little of him, but she says she knew him, of him rather...she says he was the most beautiful male she saw...if it is true, how could he have such awkward pups?"
"He was lovely, his ears were perfect, his eyes were beautiful his name was Umobet the great, he decided one day to leave the village, I begged him not to go...but when he came back he was married to a female strange to us...very strange...I never caught her name...at that time I was scared of her because she things different then our own ways...her magic was not our magic and her accent and ears were different. Something else was strange about her...people didn't like that and attacked her, and killed her...but not before she had two eggs...My sister took them in and hid them...she died of the plague long ago so did Umobet he caught it while praying to save his people, very few of us survive today. Me some think my eyes prevented it because thats where it attacked first, it attacks the senses then works down to the vital systems very quickly, causing the bodies defenses to fail...its really quite sad." He sighed his tail tucked between his legs, he oviously was sad.
"Umobet...Umobet..." Suffer spoke the words, rolling the letters over her tongue, unfamiliar...She sat next to the larger male and said, "If e'er you met Woe, you must tell her...you must tell her what you told me, and then some...you will promise me, won't you? She must know, for when she does I know something will happen..." and she sat still, unable to comfort him as Woe could, but tried her best, by recollecting his sister, and her wise old beauty, and how she loved him so. Then she said, "Do not be frightened, or unsure, for these days are not to be of war anymore, and I do not blame your people for my mother's death. It was fear that was their folly, and I know now that you have suffered so great a loss that perhaps we should mourn together" Marking the sand with a strange symbol, here was the memorial for days past, and since has never faded.
Paush sighed "Days of war draw near I fear, the Graders grow more violent everyday, and soon enough their shall be an uprising I fear...A pirate in the sea plunders their ships...a group in the north ploting their downfall...and me here...wishing that they would do this diplomatically rather then violence...Thats how your father would have liked it and thats the way I like it. Violence may be the only way though" He added an Anubial pendragon howling around the symbols and then traced it with his finger and as he did it turned black and hardened into the rock... "Dark Magic is different from Black Magic...depending on how it is used. It is Black magic if used for evil. Dark magic if used for good." He smiled "Kinda like telepathy"
Suffer watched him gracefully trace her primitive symbols, and said, "I will follow you, if it is your wish...and help spread the word of peace...I will stay for as long as I can...for I've no where to go, and no one to go to..."
Paush smiled "If you wish to follow you may but you do have a quest...you must find your sister for your destiny is to be reunited with her...I fear my quest is in vain...I already predicted violence and murder will end the Grader's reign. But you must find your sister, When you do find her, expect me there...for my there you shall find something that will change this world forever. I do not know what I jsut know it will change this world forever."
"I cannot find her...I have searched...perhaps it is not meant to be..." she muttered, but she knew there was no truth in it. There was something in Paush, though, she knew she must be a part of, as it were this was part of her destiny...she could not tell Paush that eventually she would leave him, and she would not let him see this...however, she knew her time with him was not over, and they would continue to spend time with each other through the various travels she endured, and that this meeting was not one of coincidence...
Paush smiled "Do not give up hope for I shall help...trust me on this. I never give up...never...if you wish to come with me then follow." He started to walk down the mountian as the sun went down. He smiled and watched the sun. "Things come and go like the sun...Destiny is a never ending thread though...it shall never be cut."
Suffer followed him and listened intently to his words...although not exactly sure as to what they meant, she knew they held great significance to her and she nodded in approval..."So marks the beginning of our adventure..." she whispers, though she knew no one else was around to hear...
Paush slowed down so Suffer could catch up and smiled "I knew you would follow...our adventures will be a great many and your quest will be complete I just know it." He smiled and started padding down the mountian "Well at least I won't be alone this time." he thought to himself.
Suffer, grinning, paws up to Paush..."I'm glad I have a friend like you..." and off they travel to some unknown future. END
