Quendalon/Session18LiInterlude
On what wings dare he aspire?\\ What the hand that seized the fire?
- -William Blake, “The Tyger”
Li returned to the dream of the sword. All around was grey mist and the sword rose and fell in her hands. Phantoms of smoke and shadow formed before her and she cut them down smoothly; her body and mind moving in perfect concert with the sword. She was the sword, and the sword was she.
When she woke, she realized she was in the forest. The last Exalt of the Wyld Hunt party was transfixed on her sword, pinned against a great oak, his black jade breastplate shattered. He was dead. She withdrew the massive blade and the body of the Dynast crumpled amongst the roots with a clatter. Blood dripped from the sword and she realized she was not holding Radiance or Brilliance but a grand daiklave of orichalcum and red jade.
Burning Tiger. She threw the bloody thing to the ground, impaling its point in the soft turf, and collapsed before it, the pain of her wounds reasserting their presence.
We are one. It whispered in her mind and she could only shudder in horror. The mists of the dream were swirling away as if before a fierce wind and her memories became perfectly clear. Six Dragon-Bloods lay fallen in her wake and she could picture each of their faces as she had cut them down, the fear and terror in each one’s eyes and the reflection of her own terrible face. She remembered laughing with joy as she slaughtered them.
We are one.
No! I...
She could barely breathe. The sword still flickered with red-gold fire, standing upright in the earth. Her own anima still blazed around her. She realized with a start that her anima and that of the sword moved together, two heat-less fires burning as one. She started to panic, almost hyperventilating.
We are one. It spoke to her again and she almost cried. I don’t want you! I don’t need you!
We are one, another voice spoke in her mind, but not the sword.
***
Wudi stood with Li at the water’s edge, the surf washing over their bare feet. Overhead, the gulls screeched and wheeled in the sparkling sunlight.
“We are one, Li,” Wudi said. He looked down at the young orphan girl. “Look around you. What can you see?”
Li looked but hesitated to answer. She didn’t understand what he was asking. “What can I see…?”
Wudi nodded patiently. “Yes, what do you see? What are the things around you?”
“Well, there’s… ah… you. And the village down the beach. And the seagulls. The sea. The beach itself. The mountain and the trees. Other islands, far away on the horizon.”
“Good. Now, answer me this: am I the sea?”
“Are you…the sea?” Her confusion was plain upon her face.
“Am I the sea?”
“No, you’re you.”
“Where do I end and where does the sea begin?” He gestured to his feet, the waves playing around them.
“I don’t understand.”
“Look,” he said, and leaned down to cup the salt water in one hand. He held it up. “Is this the sea?” he asked.
“It is a part of the sea.”
Wudi let the water run from his hand; then licked a few remaining drops. “Is the sea in me now that I have swallowed it?”
“Yes?” she said tentatively.
“So the sea has become part of me and I part of it, true?”
“You haven’t become part of the sea. You just drank a few drops of seawater.”
“The sea is within me. But it is also out there.” He gestured across the waves. “If you were to travel to a distant land, far from the sea, you would still remember it, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Does that mean the sea is within you? A part of you?”
Li did not answer. Her young face scrunched up in thought.
“What about the village? The mountain? The sky? The birds? Me? You will remember all these things and even should you somehow forget, each of them will have shaped you. Each of them is part of you. And you, too, are part of each of these things. Your breath has disturbed the breezes in the air. Your feet have changed the course of the waves. Your presence has marked the village and villagers. Everything in Creation is interlocked. You cannot help but be one with every thing around you.”
Li nodded, understanding coming to her. “We are one.”
Wudi smiled.
***
We are one, the sword whispered, and Li could not deny it again.
She dragged herself to her feet. The red-gold flames around her and Burning Tiger had flickered low. By the fading light, she looked around, located the clearing where she had left Thorvald and Fetek. She looked down again at the sword.
We are one, she thought. But you will not master me. She reached for it but something within her was repelled by the sight of the congealing blood all along its length. Burning Tiger had nothing of the purity of her Radiance and Brilliance, only the fierce power that called to her and shook her to her core. Taking her cloak, she wrapped it up and made her way back.
