Quendalon/Session11ZeraInterlude
The sun was falling, and it was becoming pleasantly cool. The forest was full of beauty - the sounds of birds and the breezes through leaves of maple and birch... but the man noticed none of it. His steely gray-green eyes were locked on a piece of wood, with a target circle carved hastily into its aged surface.
His left hand gripped a shortbow tightly, perfectly comfortable despite the fact that he'd never held the bow before today. It belonged to one of Thundercloud's soldiers, and it was inferior indeed, but in the hands of this man it was still more than lethal.
He had no quiver, no arrows, and he yet he stretched his free hand behind himself as if to grasp one. Zera Thisse's act was more than just physical, he reached for far more than just an arrow. He gathered Essence, he thought about what he had seen in that flashback - the glowing bolt of pure solar fire, and let the string go...
Nothing. Not even a Phantom Arrow. Frustration marred his scruffy, worn face, and he snarled.
"DAMN!" He ran the fifty feet and kicked the target-wood savagely. As it skittered off into the woods, a sound behind him startled him, and he whirled around - for all the world expecting the damnable Forty-Four Devil Blossoms. Instead, his sister Li of Orchid walked to where he stood, and sat peacefully on the stump.
"You reach, and find nothing. Do you know why that is, brother?" Li considered Zera, her scarred face impassive.
"I reach and find nothing because I have no idea what I'm doing. All I have to go on are fragments of memories and -"
"No. This is not true, brother." Li interjected politely. "You fail because you lack the control of your own mind. Your passion is great, your will is strong, but your mind is unquiet and does not let the knowledge flow to you."
A moment passed in silence, as Zera looked off into the trees, and Li let the wisdom of her words sink in.
Birds called to each other, and again the breeze danced among the leaves and teased the ends of their hair. He turned to face her, and nodded finally.
"Brother, this principle applies to more than just your archery."
"I had guessed that. You are referring to the way I deal with Aekino, I'd imagine."
"Correct. Has it occurred to you that when the two of you speak, Thorwald and I say nothing?"
"It has, but it usually occurs to me only when the argument's over. I know that I treat him unfairly - it's just hard for me to deal with the 'me-first mentality' those nobles all have-"
"And you are condescending and harsh, and not just to him."
Zera's eyes flashed with anger, but the emotion didn't last long in the face of Li's cool demeanor. There was no insult, no scorn - the woman only spoke truth, plain and simple.
"So what do you suggest I do? It's quite often that him and I both think we know what's best for the Circle. I don't know how to push aside his flaws and just attempt to make sense..."
"If I could give you all the answers you sought, I'd be a sage, not a swordswoman. It is your challenge to overcome. I do wish you luck, however... for all our sakes. We need to cooperate - there is much to do."
Li rose to her feet with the grace of a swan taking flight, and briefly placed her hand on Zera's shoulder. "Be careful as you practice, or you'll open this wound."
With that, she was gone. The trees swallowed her up and she didn't make a single sound, left no passage.
What she did leave was a lot for Zera Thisse to think about.
