Aya's Hero Story.

[Kion]

"My life, like so many before me and so many after, has been filled with ups and downs..." My grandmother began, smiling one of her smiles. Her high cheekbones lifted the sagging skin and her teeth shone pearly against the soft pink of her lips. Crows feet spread from her eyes, showing you how much she loved to smile this way, but those bright green eyes, that should have gone dull with age, watched you intently, measuring up your size like a hawks, and if you bothered to really look, you'd notice that her lips twitched with mischief.

My grandmother was a beautiful devil, and not a person from her era could ever hope to deny it.

She died at the ripe old age of eighty-three, which, in a way, suited her. She used to always say to me,
"Rosey, it doesn't really matter how old you live to, as long as you LIVE, too!" and then she'd laugh and laugh. Seems to me she hardly ever got to the punch line without closing her eyes in mirth and having to stop for a bit.

I would always chuckle politely, but it wasn't till she sat me down one night and began telling me a story, just a story at that time, about a woman and a man and a beast...that I saw how true that really was.

Scroll one, Gathering Water:
"You should always laugh at life, Rosey. If you don't, life'll laugh at you!"

It was 1867 in Ar'lean, the birds sung like they always did even though the clouds were belching rain and the people who lived under the canopy were climbing the great trees that fenced in their homes.
Of course, when I say "people" I mean "children", because in those days only the children of the households enjoyed gathering water.
Each full-grown Ar'leanian tree was about five miles around and twenty-four miles high, and they grew in circular aerials so that the capital of Ar'lean was a wide-open space, but even then you couldn't see the sky for all the leaves. People that lived on the outskirts of the inner town often lived a few miles above the ground in tree houses. These people often became weather-watchers.

Buckets of every size and even the occasional clay vase, pot or pan were strapped to the backs of the fidgeting young with the use of a soft, tightly knotted cord. Among the lines of about a hundred or so children from ages six to eighteen that were digging toes and fingernails into the bark where footholds had been carved thousands of years ago, was a girl by the name of Aya.

She would and was known by many more names and titles then simply Aya, though. You see Aya had no last or middle name, so the villagers quite liked adding there own names into the mix. Aya was eight and full of some sort of wisdom that children often think they have, but unlike most children, Aya's wisdom was often correct. She had these pair of wonderfully bright green eyes that could make a grown man melt into butter and these smiles that could make the mans wife jealous.

She was small in stature but often made the boys cry, and if anything else in the world, Aya loved water gathering.

Sweat trickled as the humidity smashed into there faces and children in a mass of arms and legs grunted and tugged and raced up the trunks of the peoples livelihood. Water gathering in Ar'lean was the most important chore in every young persons life, not only did it take strength and heart to complete the task, if you came back empty handed it could mean the end of your family.

In Ar'lean there are no lakes or ponds or streams, in Ar'lean there is only rain every other day or so, and that is evaporated so quickly that it never makes it to the ground. The rain stops being rain at about twenty-one miles up. Ar'leanian trees have grown roots on the tops and the bottoms of their trunks, the bottoms are for staying in place and the tops are for drinking and living.

The people take after the trees in this way, their houses are on the ground under the mass of knarled roots and greenery, sheltered from the blistering sun and then, when the clouds decide to open there arms and release the gift that they have cradled there, the people send up there "roots" and drink for the time.

Of course there are storage tanks for drought or for those who've been unable to have children or the children have perished, unable to withstand the demands of "life".

It is to say that it was in the Ar'leanian genes to be strong and to have heart, and no one took more pride in this then Aya, even though she was vastly different.

"OI! John, I'll be beaten you this time up there!" shouted a voice.
"You just try! We've only got twenty more miles to go and if'n I fill nine buckets my momma's gonna be maken 'er cake!"
"Cake? Can I come over, then?!"
The boy who's mother had promised the cake looked up at Aya's dust and shouted,
"Ya! Aya, you up here 'gain for that Miss. Black?"

Aya ripped a splinter out of her fingernail with her teeth then spat it down.
"She ain't got no kids for herself, you know!"

No one quite knew where Aya had come from, but they knew she wasn't an Ar'leanian. There had been one rainy day when, at the age of four, an older child of fifteen had found her in the nook of an older root.
"OI! Its a baby!" He had yelled down.
"A baby? What the 'ells a baby doin' here?!"
"Dunno..." The boy turned his attention back to the wide-eyed foreigner; only a foreigner could looks like this. "How'd you get up here, darlin' ?"
"Aya." She held her hands up to him.
"Huh?" He picked her up. "That your name?"
"Aya."
"Do you have parents, Aya?"
The child was silent and looked down, she clenched her fists and shook the mop of sleek black hair. She looked up and glared a mighty glare that only four year olds can do so well.
"NO."

Miss. Black was an older woman, about seventy-five in flesh but a hundred and ninety-one in mentality. She was long past the age to have children and her bones would sometimes refuse to take the short walk to carry her to the tanks anymore. Aya lived behind the headman’s house, close enough to the tanks to bring Miss. Black water.
"Child, your no Ar'leanian." Miss. Black had said the day she decided Aya was six.
"Why's that? I'm good at hunting mushrooms and bringin' wood. I'm good at everything, why ain't I an Ar'leanian?" Aya had asked gruffly, her green eyes blazing. "Don't ya tell me its 'cause I don't look like ya'll."
"Don't mouth Aya-Girl." Miss. Blacks pale blue eyes danced. "Its time you gathered water."

Mostly the children train at six with an older child or a cousin, they learn the basics from taking care of small wounds to all night climbing missions on trees only one to two miles long. There was no excuse for missing training, not even for deaths. Young death wasn't exactly commonplace in Ar'lean, and it certainly wasn't ignored. But if a child fell from the tree and died, then he had failed in his "life", hadn't he? Gathering water was harsh, life is harsh, learn the lesson and climb to the top...and when you start to go down, watch your step.

Lesson learned, Aya was taught.

"When you’re on the top of an Ar'leanian 'life' tree, the first thing you notice is how bright

[Kion]

everything is, even in the pouring rain." Taught the master, "It may be scary to see every thing so in focus but don't loose your footing, or you could loose your water."
"Plus your life." Mumbled a pupil.

Yet, up in the trees, few were afraid. The excitement peeks when you can see the lighter color of the roots and leaves, normal in size, shifting up above your head. This is where things become easier. After climbing you’re aloud to rest for a drink and maybe a short chat.

The new children are taken by the hand and shown the ladders that lead to the very top. Its wet here so there are caves carved into the younger, softer roots of trees and layered with waterproof chemicals. These trips, depending on how long the rain lasts, what the weather-watchers say, how low the tanks are, and how big your tree is might last for days.

Long trips were the best, it meant more days when you could look at the sky, that bright blue orb filled with gray blobs and an unyielding sun. Night was more normal, it was dark like at home, but there were so many bright lights! Even then the sun was in the sky, but it seemed farther away, like an invisible hand had pulled it back so the children could see all the other tiny suns that winked down at them.

Sometimes the younger kids were so surprised, no matter how many times they were told about the 'sky', that they wept for mothers and had to be cradled until they could see it for what it was, a miracle.

Aya looked up at the thin layer of brush and felt the drip-drop on her scalp and clothing. Her long black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail braid. Her dirty hands pushed away twigs as she walked up the ladder to the top. The older kids, who were used to the endurance climbs by now, were already unloading and setting up.

"'Ey, Josh, you'll unload me, wont you?" Aya called to a friend her age. He nodded his straw colored head and silently made to untie her and help lie down her buckets. Josh was always silent and helpful, he hardly ever spoke, but when he did he looked you straight in the eyes and told you what he thought. Aya, though, loved to talk and when she looked you in the eyes, she often lied. They were the best of friends.

Scroll two, How to live:
"When there isn't any cake left, make your own. It always tastes better that way, anyhow."

Ar'lean was apart of an alliance to a nation of people called the Arey-meyra, and after years of peace they were finally getting their taste of war. Even in that time of peace Ar'leanians had been frowned upon. It was thought that they were quite savage to live in such an advanced age and still force children to work in such dangerous conditions.

Like most rich nations they were inclined to want to force their ideals and traditions on there lower counterparts. When the Arey-meyra government had threatened to over take the Ar'lean nation they were surprised when they took it as a joke. Instead of being surprised, the headman had to be excused because he was laughing so hard.
"How many Arey-meyra does it take to bring down an Ar'leanian?"
"I give up, how many?"
"None! Arey-meyra can't fight!", Became a well known joke.

"For thousands of years the Ar'leanians have known that working hard prepares a child for life. Water gathering is an enjoyable exercise, almost an Ar'leanian sport. It’s a coming of age ceremony, not child labor. We, as a people, wont tell you how to raise your children, and in return we wont point out that your crime rate is larger and your children and adults more prone to suicide, while ours are too busy loving and caring for each other in the tree tops to even think about taking anything from them! They know life is precious. This is what we teach, this is how we survive."
Said the headman in defense. The Ar'leanians thought the Arey-meyra were weak, and they were right. So weak that they were inventing ways to be lazy and strong at the same time. Weapons.

Those that stuck up their noses had never been to Ar'lean. It was too dark, too rough, too hard. Those who had gone on trips there hardly ever left with the same feelings.
"It was rather romantic there, wasn't it? Everyone was so."
"Friendly?"
"Yes!"

But war was inescapable, no matter how many times a adventurer raved about that way of life, or how many Ar'leanians went to work in other parts and make friends and careers, the feelings of those few people changed the minds of a whole.

Whether the Arey-meyra saw Ae'leanians as a threat, or they just butted in to do so, soon Arey-meyra was at a war with one race, and that’s when the word racism started.

"We refuse to die for you." The headman had growled as the Arey-meyra government on a trip to Esor kidnapped him. It took fifty men to take down his youngest son and thirty to take on the headman and his wife; they were getting on in the years.
"We refuse to die to weaklings! MY PEOPLE WILL WIN." and with that he had succeeded to spit in every Arey-meyra face.

The media was in an uproar, the Arey-meyra people were livid, and the Ar'leanians prepared for a war that would show the world that genocide in Ar'lean was nothing more then crazy talk.

All this in a matter of nine years.

Scroll three, Cruelty:
"Rosey, no matter how many times you walk in a circle, you'll still end up in the same place, so why the heck are you walking in a circle?"

Aya was sixteen, the legal age to be married but no one seemed to be able to fit into her schedule. She was working as a water gathering teacher, a weather-watcher, and a pulley inspector. This was an invention (however old) that came from the Arey-meyra, so people were reluctant to use it. It was decided that the pullies were to be used strictly to send messages up and down, and water and children would still be sent up the traditional way.

"How are you supposed to get married when you work so darn much?" A girl had asked her. Aya had laughed.
But besides the question here and there, most people were proud of her hard working spirit and whispered,
"She'll be one for the war, ones like her."
"That'll win it, our Aya."
"Too bad she isn't REALLY an Ar'leanian..."
"Shut yo' mouth."

Even as a child Aya had noticed the looks on the adults faces, they were worried about the Arey-meyra, but the people had never imagined that they would search out and jail the headman! This enraged them.
"Its only been a few months sense they did it...but already most of the men are gone off to fight, arn't they Josh?" Aya asked quietly as they neared the end of the forest.
He nodded.
"I'm so angry, I think I'll fight." She growled.
He nodded fiercely and adjusted his pack.
"Even trading with them! This time...you think they'll act different to us in the village close by?"
He paused then shrugged.
Aya shook her head and they hit the end of the last tree, light flew where a trail lead to the nearest trading post.

[Kion]

"Only a hundred miles to go!" She sang joyously. "No rain till next Tuesday, Jack said. Too bad, the kids, there ready, you know?"
He grunted and looked her in the eye.
"Thomas isn't."
"No, no." She disagreed, "That boy, he's stronger then he lets on." she gave him her smile, the one that lifted up her high cheek bones and made her eyes deep pools of thought.
They took a step.

CRACK.
The explosion shook the ground and if it wasn't for years of balancing the two would have fell to their knees.
A tree fell.
Josh's face registered horror and Aya's shock.
A...tree...fell.

Screams erupted from every which way, and then another crack and another fell.
Before they knew what their feet were doing they were running toward there home, dodging branches and roots and fires that were springing out of nothing. A stone came hard on Josh's skull but he ran behind Aya without thinking. Blood ran from his forehead and threatened to run into his eyes so he wiped it away with his hands. All they heard was crying and bellowing.

When the running was done, it had only taken an hour, but that hour was hell, eternity, and pure fear. They were at their home, the village, or what had once been. Now there was just fire and blistered tree trunks and crushed arms and legs.
"What...kind of axe can split an Ar'leanian tree like firewood?" Aya breathed. She looked at Josh.
Josh was looking at a dark, hideous creature that was making the most unearthly noises.
"Thomas." He said.

This is when Aya screamed, finally. The fires were licking the dead, weren’t they? The red on the soil was blood, wasn't it? That crawling demon making those sounds is a child, isn't he?

Hurrying to him made no difference, touching his body made him squeal, his face was once so determined, but now his eyes rolled up into his head and blood spewed from his lips. She loved Thomas dearly; he had potential to do so much good.
"Oh, oh...Thomas..."

The child died.

The village was dead, but there was no silence to it. All the friends and memories cracked and fell with the trees. Suddenly they were alone.

Aya sobbed bitterly into Josh's clothing and he shed his own tears alone after they had buried his two younger sisters whom they found together near the tanks. Julie was missing an arm and had probably bled to death; Dela's head was a good five feet from her body.

They spent a shivering night in confusion under the openness, openness more open then it had ever been in the trees. This was the opening of wounds and scars, this was the start of hatred, and this was the beginning of the circle of war. The moaning of the half-dead didn't stop, but they had no way to lift the wood or treat the injured. They listened.

Others were off trading, others were off fighting and when they heard the news, one by one, they came back and grieved and hated and went numb.

"Mamma? Mamma? MAMMA?! MAMMA!!" The child’s hand grabbed the torn shirt and held it to his face.
"Shush, shush. Let go." Said the father.
"MAMMA---MAAAAMMAAAAA!" The child sobbed. "Brother wants cake...brother...he wants...he wants..."
"Shush now, let go. Danny let go. LET GO." The fathers voice filled with emotion and he pulled the boy away roughly.

"Is there anything left to fight for?" Aya asked in a whisper.
Josh paused and looked her in the eyes. He nodded.
"Oh." She pushed back the stray hairs on her head, "I guess were fighting then."

[Kion]

Scroll four, Spy:
"When threes nothing to do, do nothing, because that’s something, nothing is."

The moaning had stopped. Either they had all died or the surviving Ar'leanians had buried them all. The injured were being cared for as best as was possible. Ar'leanians knew plants, so they knew easy accessible medicines.
"Hold that root there." or "Drink this, quickly so as you won't taste it" and "There you go, powder it fine, now." became some of the few sentences that were spoken.

In the day the people worked in silence, except for the playing of children, to rebuild what they had lost. The tree trunks were disappearing, the shacks and houses slowly coming up and the lives of people went on, but the pain and anger remained glued to their insides and churned their stomachs. Water gathering became the job of all the people, not just the children. Whole families climbed after their children who shouted for them to just go back.
"But mom, what if you fall?"
"I wont, I did this when I was younger too!"
"Please, go back mom, please just go back. You worry me."
"But..."
"Don't lose faith in me! I can bring back twice as much as usual! I can!"
Only shortened trees had been spared, who ever had done this had been watching them, hadn't they? This meant less water; children began to fight up in the branches over buckets.
"THAT ONE'S MINE!"
"But my grandma, she's sick, come on, your my best friend!"
"Get your own!"
"She needs liquid!"
"My sister needs this more then any old lady!"

At night the people huddled together around cooking fires and ate lizards, frogs, snakes, squirrels and mushrooms. Earlier that day a child of nine had found and brought home a dead boar and they were ready to fix it...but no one seemed to be able to.

Josh took the pig and cut it nicely, he then walked to the farthest corner and threw up. The lucky family ate as the fire crackled around them and they gave thanks to Josh.
He nodded.

Heads turned and questions poured from every mouth.
"What have we done to deserve this?"
"Nothing!"
"Why did all this happen?"
"Jealousy!"
"What should we do to stop it?"
"Kill!"
"Kill who, exactly?"
No one seemed to have an answer.

People on the outskirts of the 'inner' Ar'lean were coming in by the dozen and joining the mission to rebuild, but there was a problem. Ar'leanians weren’t exactly "up with the times", they were wary of new technology that didn't fit with there way of life, so they let it be.

One particularly dark, rainy night, the whole of the survivors and the Ar'leanians from the 'outside' were packed tightly under one of the few remaining Ar'leanian trees. Some of the 'outside' had been building makeshift tree houses to house people and shelter them from the sun that gave the elderly sun burns and the children sun stroke. People hung on porches and tried to build cooking fires.

Aya stood up.
"I'm leaving tomorrow, I'll return soon, I promise."
The people looked at her strangely.
"They'll kill you." Said a boy from the balcony.
"Where are you going?" Asked a middle-aged woman named Marce.
"A village."
"THEY'LL KILL YOU!" The boy said again. "We came back because they’re killing us outside this nation! Those...people." He spat the word. "They don't fight with fists, have you ever heard of TNT?"
"I have."
"Its what they used on the trees, isn't it? Those--"
A hand reached his shoulder and he trailed off and shook his head.
"He's right." Stated Marce.
A thirteen-year-old girl stared at her charred roasting stick.
"They just killed my dog, you know? They just killed him 'cause he was mine. They just slit open 'is gut and left 'im on my porch." She shook.
"He was just a dog, 'e wouldn't have h-hurt anybody." Tears weld up in her eyes, she blinked them away.

Aya shook her head.
"I don't look Ar'leanian. I have tan skin and dark hair and green eyes, who would ever think that I pledge my loyalty and my life to the Ar'leanians?"
She looked around at the fair-skinned, blonde haired, blue-eyed people that sat around her.
Josh nodded.
"The closest village here...we trade with them. They know you."
"I'll go to another one, a different direction. Maybe to the north. That one...it's Klause, isn't it?"
A pause.
A middle-aged man spoke. "Why are you going, though?"
"They have televisions, they play 'the news' live. We don't have any use of that here...but--" She glanced at Josh. "I'll spy."
"Stupid." Someone muttered.
"IT'S NOT." Josh barked, leaping up.

The crowed fell into a startled silence, a baby cried in the distance. This was one of those rare moments when Josh would speak, the baby was hushed.

He paused and thought about his words.
"We...are sitting ducks." He started slowly. "All were really doing is wallowing in our sorrow when we should be acting. There are many still out there, still being slaughtered and wrongly judged. There are families that need to know about the dead..." Josh lowered his eyes to the fire.
There were nods, and all froze at the last sentence.
Josh's eyes shot up again.
"I'm.... tired of lying here dumb and deaf to the world and the danger. Stupid is what were doing. Stupid is trying to rebuild Ar'lean that will only be knocked down if we refuse to go out and find..."
Find what?
He paused, his eyebrows knitted together in thought. Breaths were held.
"AYA IS STRONG!" He shouted suddenly. "I AM STRONG AND SO ARE YOU."
A few people jumped.
"She leaves tomorrow and will contact us any way possible everyday."
Marce opened her mouth.
"Not another word!" He demanded. "Will someone still speak?!" He straightened out to his full height, seven feet, five, and glared a challenge.

Not a person stirred. Even if they didn't agree with him, how could they have spoken? This was the headmen’s eldest son, after all.
Aya squeezed his shoulder.
"Thank you, Josh."
He closed his eyes and nodded.

[Kion]

Scroll five, News:
"Rosey, good things come when there called. How long have you been getting the dial tone?"

It was hot, deadly hot. The pack straps rubbed against her bare shoulders, but she was determined and she was no stranger to discomfort. Josh walked with her for a few miles and then he stopped.
"I've got to stay." He said simply.
"I know, what with being the make-shift leader and all." She hugged him tight.
"Don't...die." He murmured.
"Yeah, you too." They parted.

After hours of humming, eating, resting, and walking, Aya made it to Klause without much trouble. She was just another traveler no one looked at her with any suspicions. She kept her Arleanian slang to herself while talking to merchants and always looked everyone straight in the eye.

She was told that the nearest hotel was only about three blocks away and she rejoiced. Money was no issue, year’s back, before she was born; the nations had all decided to have the same currency.
"One room...for how long?" a dark skinned woman asked, her shirt said 'Bethy'.
"Ah." Aya fidgeted nervously. "Put me down for a week, okay?"
"A week? Business?"
"Something like that." Bethy nodded absentmindedly.
"420 geru a night. If you leave early, please sign out. Your room comes with free cable and you can request movies on your remote. The fee will end up on your bill. Your room number is 24 and heeeere..." Bethy shuffled through plastic cards, "Is your key!" She handed it over with a smile.
"On the cable...is there news? News about the war?"
Bethy frowned.
"Yes, its a pain, isn't it? Those Ar'leanian jerks really get to me." Bethy winked. "But they’re almost gone, aren’t they?"

Aya HATED Bethy.

Her backpack safely thrown into a corner and her shoes and socks off Aya sat down and looked at the remote. So many buttons...

She pushed "Power on" then flipped through the channels until "NEWS - WAR ON AR'LEAN" flashed across the screen. Aya slid up the bed till her back met pillows and she held one between her arms and legs. She watched.

"--Some nations such as Trila, United League and Dunmi have spoken out on the sudden attack on the inner Ar'lean town, calling it 'Unforgivable', 'Truly shameful' and 'A disgrace to all of human kind'. --"
Aya nodded and felt the urge to spit.
"--'What I can't seem to get my mind around...' the President of Trila continued, '--is how you can stand on your high horses and tell the Ar'leans that you do it for there children’s safety, but you killed most of the children in this act! The nation of Trila cannot and will not help in your effort to kill a people, in fact, we announce today that we are the allies of the Ar'leanian people--'"
"What?" Aya shouted excitedly.
"Trila has now declared war on Arey-meyra. Johnson, can you share your views about--"
"Oh...oh..." Aya jumped off the bed and dumped out the contents of her pack. She pulled out pen and paper and scribbled notes. Aya pulled out a stone and ran it over the paper roughly. It glowed green slightly and then the writing floated away softly.

Aya had never been one for crying, and this wasn't one of those times were she could have, even if she wanted to, but she was so happy. So, so happy.

Josh heard yelling and saw the young boy, Trever, practically falling over himself with excitement.
"Aya...Aya...she wrote!"
"Already?"
"Haa...haaa," The boy breathed, "She wrote!"
Josh made his way through his people and came into Trevers hut; his grandmother shook her head and pointed at the parchment.
"Its a miracle, isn't it?"
Josh picked it up and read.
--We have allies. Trila fights among us, others soon to join. Write back quickly. --

Josh looked up with a great smile, the first in weeks. Around him, in great piles, stood rows and rows of paper. Josh wrote to General Smith and he wrote back.
--Trilla's an ally Have they contacted father, the headman? -- Josh wrote, sliding a stone over. It glowed purple and then his words went and then more came.
--We had no idea...--
--Father is alive, I know it. Where are you? --
--Three miles to Esor. -- In cover of course. Die your hair, where contacts and take different routs.
--Only three? --
--Yes sir--
--Bring back my father. Please, no civilian deaths. --
--Understood, sir. --
--After capture we will learn of Trilas plans. --
--Understood, sir. --
--Smith...how many battles to win a war? --
--In this one, sir? --
--Yes. --
--Were here to rescue our headman, sir. Were here to take him home. Were fighting for revenge and nothing else. Who's to say when a war ends? Who's to say...--

That night Aya dreamt of the laughing children in her classes and saw Thomas's laughing face.
"OI! Aya! Why do you have such dark skin?"
"Dunno Thomas. Guess I spend too much time up in the trees, my skins turning to bark!"
"That’s a lie!" His glare turned into a beaming smile and a trickling giggle.
"Be weird if'n you turnd to a tree." He laughed.
"Be weird if'n I had pale skin and blue eyes and blond hair."
"Why?"
"Cause then I wouldn't be Aya."
"That's the truth." but just as suddenly as she turned to see his new smile, she was surprised to see nothing but a pool of something liquid black.
"Thomas?" She called. "THOMAS?"
"He's dead." Said a voice.
"I know it." She whispered.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Trees fell around her and she didn't move an inch. People fell from the sky and she watched them break limbs and cry out in terror.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

She fell to her knees and the soil felt sticky under her jeans. She was lying on bodies.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"HELLOOOO??" A voice called.
"OI?" Aya awoke with a start, she looked around her and felt odd waking up in a soft hotel bed with the TV hissing at her.
"Oi..minute...JUST A MINUTE." She called.
"So'k." The woman yelled back. "You sounded like you were having nightmares. Everything ok?"
"Ah...yes...thank you." Aya shoved 'oi' back into her mouth and stumbled into the bathroom to

[Kion]

wash away the spit.
The womans footsteps dodder away.

Arey-meyra was nosy, weren’t they?

Aya checked her paper and found a lonely note.
--Good Job-- Was all it read.
That was Josh, wasn't it? Oi.

After changing the channels again and changing clothes, Aya tied back her hair and went down to breakfast. Maybe she'd find a nice bar that served more then eggs and bacon for breakfast. Maybe a good steak.

The bars name was "Loi misha", which in loose Arey meant "Good eats". Aya liked the sound of that and ordered the Lizard tail, grilled, not fried. She liked the bar even more because its name was in Arey and not the more widely spoken Meyra. The nation had been named Arey-meyra because the two people, Arey and Meyra had raced to find new land and they had found this continent at the same time. Not a highly original name, but to the point, at least.

Secretly Aya assumed that she had been born Arey. The people of Arey were known for their slight tan skin and the green of the people’s eyes. Her black hair, though, might have come from anywhere other then Ar'lean.

Parents...she hadn't had any all her life. Something in her, that no one seemed to understand no matter how many times she explained it, wouldn't allow her to be in a family. Something pushed her away. Sure, people had offered to foster her, or even adopt her, but she just couldn't say 'yes'.

Among her names and titles was 'Biter'. Even from when she was taken down to the village for the first time, after they had found her, had she refused fostering. The headman took it upon himself to raise her, he had loved the unwavering wondering look she gave him, and the moment she smiled his wife had nodded in agreement. She had always been quiet, Josh was like her.

But little-Aya had other things in mind, things that didn't include living with the happy family of four (at that time).
"Oi...oi...little one. I heard you were up in the trees. What were you do'in up in them trees?" The headman had asked in his best baby-voice.
"I was up there dancing." She had said.
"Dancing?!"
"Don't you ever dance in trees?" Of course, this answer succeeded in absolutely baffling the headman and the face he made still can trigger a chuckle or three.
"I heard you ain't got parents."
"That’s right."
"You run away?"
"Can I stay here? There dead."
"Ah..." The headman sent out men to look for two adults in the trees but they were never found.
"Can I be your Papa?" The headman had asked her one-day.
"No." Aya said simply.
"Why not? Then Josh could be your brother."
"NO." She had turned on her heel and bit him soundly on the wrist.

"Ma'am? Ma'am? Your order..."
"Oh, Ah!" She moved her elbows to make room for her plate. "Day--daydreaming you know. Eheh." The server smiled, but her smile said 'Your completely mad, aren’t you?'

She ate in silence and amused herself by eavesdropping. It was mostly woman-speak until she heard the word "Ar'leanian'.
"--Huge battle, I heard!"
"How awful!"
"They came right in and demanded the headman back." Said a balding man who was shoving fries into his mouth as if they would soon disappear.
"Did they--?"
"Oh yeah, all over the news!"
"I didn't see!" Screeched the woman at his side.

Aya froze mid chew.
"I NEED A BOX!" She shouted. Odd looks from every which way, but what did it matter? A box was brought; she shoved her food inside, slammed her money down and ran back to the hotel. She was in her room without breaking a sweat, she slammed the door and locked it three times.

Out came the paper.
--WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?! WHERES THE HEADMEAN?!--
She waited and within moments she got an answer.
--It’s not all-good news. Mom, Pap, and Jim (Josh's younger brother) are alive but malnourished. They’re in the good hands of General Smith. You know, I don't have the heart to tell them about Julie and Dela. I just don't have the heart. --
--Ah.wheres Genral Smith? --
--Esor, we captured it. --
--How many civilian deaths? --
--None, but twenty got some bumps on there heads. --
--How was Trila's leader speaking to your father? --
--Father smuggled a cell phone. --
--What? --
--A cell phone, it’s a really small portable phone. --
--I KNOW that! --
--Then why did you ask? --
--It was more of a 'wow' then a 'what'...--
--Oi. --
She paused.
--Are you okay? --
--Getting there. --

Scroll six, Beginning of the End:
"Common sense is often times mistaken for wisdom. I don't know what wisdom is, but it sounds fantastic."

Aya was learning to hate the news. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion and most of them were against Ar'lean. Channel 2 had nothing good to say, 6 were worthless, and channel 10 had once said "Its un-Arey-meyra to sympathize with an Ar'leanian.”

Aya was learning to hate tons of things, this included:
1. TVs
2. Bethy
3. The people next door
4. Hotel soap
5. Libby Chellings from Channel 19 news who's favorite saying was "Why don't we just nuke 'um all?"
6. Blinking red VCR lights
And last but not least, nosy Arey-meyra house-keepers who checked on Aya every morning to ask "Did you have a nightmare tonight, as well?" at down right sinful hours.

As exciting as it was to be a "spy" it was even less exciting now because Josh was getting all his information from the troops in Esor.
--Its time I go home. -- She wrote. --What more can I do here? --
--I don't know, but some I feel better knowing you’re there and not here. -- Josh wrote back.

[Kion]

Oh...

--I heard Trila sent troops to protect Ar'lean, though. --
--They did. -- Like a Josh-nod.
--You don't trust them? -- Her heart sank.
--I trust them very much.--
--Then why...?--
--I've been talking with father.-- Aya's heart flew into her throat. --He's back home. Mom won't get out of bed and Jim's been crying. They had hope that we were still alive, but--
--I know.--
--I would be happier with you home, but its safer where you are.--
--I'll be home by night.--

Every step closer was heaven and every rest was hell, wasn't it?

She was home. The first thing she did was kiss Josh and Jim on each cheek. Jim was a year younger then Josh and even though he was fifteen he clung to her like a child. His eyes were sunken.
"Shall I pay a visit to the headman?"
The boys nodded. Josh because he always does and Jim because he looked like he'd been run over by a bus a few times.

"Headman." Aya whispered.
The headman, or Greg Himmil, or Mr. Himmil, or Mr. Headman Himmil Sir, turned to the voice and let out his breath as if he had been holding it in all this time.
"Ah...its my Aya-girl. Oi, I've missed you."
Father figure number one pulled her into his arms and murmured something into her hair.
He said, "At least I have one daughter left."
Aya didn't cry, but she sure felt like she should.

Around the fire, together with the living, the Ar'leanians said a prayer. Trever started it, he had lost his parents and his little brother, Thomas. The fire crackled and shadows flew around his face and around the grass and the flowers that were growing back despite the black ash that spread around the people.
"Dear Mister God," He began.
"Thank you for blessing us with this food and with these people. We swear to you that were not angry or nothing..."
Heads shot up, but he still spoke, loudly enough for the world to hear, it seemed.
"Even though there's a war going on, and people are crying alot, and there are people that hate us...well, Mister God, I just wanna say that I still love you."
Tears were streaming down his cheeks; even in the firelight you could see those tears. Thomas had always said "Mister God", hadn't he?
"There ain't...their ain't." He choked and then went on with a half-hearted smile on his face. "There ain't no explaining how happy we are to still have each other. One day..."

Every head looked up to the stars and the treetops where roots and leaves swayed and stars danced. Aya took Josh's hand and held it between her own. He rested his head there and Jim put his arm around them both.
"One day this war will end, one day every person will be able to forgive the Arey-meyra and they will love us too, won't they, Mister God? Because, no matter what anyone says, I know that no one is different then anyone else. No matter your nation or your race or your age or if'n your a boy or girl, were all the same, ain't we? Were all the same to you, ain't we?" And he couldn't go on anymore. Those troops from Trila had their heads down and their hands over their faces, blinking rapidly. Those that didn't believe in God, mister or not, forgot that they were praying.

"Amen." Came the booming response.

Some say the prayer was too long, or that it was just a kid dreaming, or maybe it was the romantic feeling you get when your half scared for your life and half thankful that you've got one to be scared with, but to the Ar'leanians it was perfect.

They really were strong, weren’t they?

Scroll seven, Grandma:
"Can you tell me who the beast was?" My grandmother had asked me.
"Was...was the beast racism and all that."
"You could sum it all up in one word."
I had thought about it, and she had let me.
"Was it ignorance?"
She smiled one of her smiles and said, "Good girl."

Grandpa had nodded.

"But grandma...I want to know."
"Know what?"
"Why was that girl, Aya. Why was she in the trees?"
"Because sometimes when bad things happen, dear, people need to climb to higher places." She had looked at the time. "Its late, now. Good night, Rosey." She reached down to hug me, her long silver hair making ringlets on the couch cushions.

She took me by the hand and we shuffled to my room.
"I also want to know." I stated.
"Go ahead."
"Who won the war?"
"Nobody wins wars." Was her answer.
"Yeah, okay, I mean did the Ar'leanians turn out alright? Did Aya fight?"
"Rosey, do you know why I told you this story?"
"Ah...the moral."
"Where is the moral in war?"
"Oi, I don't know."
"Me neither." She turned off my lights. "Tell me when you find out, okay?"
With that she blew me a kiss and closed my door.

The story ended.