there it is, the viscosan blade. its shattered pieces laid out. more myth then fact surrounds it and its maker. but, the awards arrayed near it, seem to to indicate otherwise. half of them have been only awarded a dozen times, in their countries\' centuries of history. half again are usually only given out posthumously, and some of those are clearly older then the others.
some say that the sword was magic. others say that it was his ring. some split that difference and say it was both. there are those that believe he was a god, a demon, or a man possesed by either. me, i believe that he was yliaki rather than man. i guess i was wrong.
[occ: if this was television at about this time you\'d get the opening theme, (i\'m thinking a sad/tragic martial kind of thing, but not a dirge), a photo/video collage, and the credits.]
i\'m not sure why i picked up the hilt of that sword. but, i did. i had seen it nearly everyday. but that day, i just had to pick it, hold it. dozens, maybe hundreds, of other people must have done exactly that. at the very least the people who set up this shine picked up the blade and its pieces.
i really can\'t describe what happened. i picked it up, stood there feeling its weight and balance. i blinked, and i was standing somewhere else. i\'m not sure where i was. the light was odd. it was still blue, but it was yellower then the azure sun. i was standing near the foot of a small hill. near the crest was a rather large tree. sitting under the tree is a human. he has a sword across his knees. as he runs the sharpening sword along the edge it, the only way i can describe it, the ringing has a purring sound.
he holds the blade up to the light to examine the edge. as he twists it back and forth, i catch the scalloped ring engraved at the base of the sword. the vicosan blade. i guess i must have said it out loud, since he looks up.
\"what this thing?\" he looks at the sword. \"i guess it has been called that. well, by the more formal i think. the more adventurous sometimes called it the demon\'s bane. but, it\'s always simply been my sword.\"
he is a large man. but, then he is, was perhaps, a smith. but, there is something that i didn\'t expect. he seemed too relaxed, there wasn\'t the intensity that i had expected. but, he was steuben, at least i think he is.
\"where am i?\" was the only thing i really could think of to ask.
he shruged. \"i\'m not sure. but, i think this is the surface. a ... friend, and a good man, once spoke of a place like this.\" he looks up. \"though he spoke of \'the moon of his home\', not three. so, i guess this isn\'t there. but, he was right. the nights are truly a beautiful thing.\"
he stands up. he slides the sword back into it sheath. the hiss of steel on leather has a contented note to it. \"well, you\'ve probably come a fair ways to see me. i can\'t imagine why. well, lets head off to somewhere a bit better for discussion.\" he slips the sword high over his shoulder.
he heads off to the village that is nearby. i follow after him. i watch the sword. it seems subtly different from back home, more alive some how.
\"you said you weren\'t sure where we were. where do you think we are?\"
he pauses for a moment. \"there are two answers for that. it depends on if you think you are alive or dead.\"
\"alive\"
\"well then it\'s easy. you are not in yliakum. you are on the surface, somewhere.\"
it\'s like he has some other clue about where we are. but, for now i guess that will do for an answer. the other half of his question draws me.
\"and if dead?\"
\"someplace better then i have any right to expect to be.\"
with that we arrive at the edge of the village. we walk through the village to the centre. the people greet him openly and warmly. he responds similarly with an open smile. i begin to understand what he meant. we arrive at the village tavern, and head inside.
he walks up to the counter and hands over his sword, to the bar tender. he walks over to a table, and i follow. when we sit down, the bartender comes over with a pair of mugs. she sets them down on the table. the aroma for cinammon, cloves, citrus and alcohol waft up from the mugs. she looks over at me.
\"and who is this now?\" she says.
\"a traveller,\" steuben responds. \"met him out in the fields. given the lateness of the day figured i\'d waylay him for a bit.\"
she laughes. \"somebody new to tell your same old stories of that cavern to?\"
\"and i see you listening to them every time i tell them.\" he responds with a smile.
she turns to leave. \"well, if he does begin to bore you with them, there will be plenty of other people who would be willing to entertain you.\"
\"ahh. miranda\'s a fine woman. if ever can get up the courage, perhaps i\'ll court her.\" he says after she has left.
i was lucky i hadn\'t quite lifted the mug to my lips when he said that.
\"what? the same man who --\"
he cut my off with a raised hand as he drank from his mug. he puts the mug down.
\"the courage that marches you towards your death, is by far less then the courage to ask such things of a woman.\" he looks towards the bar. \"especially one like her.\"
he looks back to me. \"so, tell me what has been happening back in yliakum.\"
so i did. we spent the reset of the evening and some of the night in that tavern me telling stories of what had been happening home. him telling me the lesser details of life there. i met several of his friends there, and heard more of their stories. i laughed at their jokes and drank more of that spiced drink of his. i forgot his deeds, everything that he had done. i saw him as a man, enjoying his simple life.
miranda came over to our table. \"okay, you two, time for you to be heading home.\" she looks at steuben \"and i\'ll help you home too.\"
i look over at steuben, and take stock of my state of affairs. \"i\'ll help him too.\"
\"good, cause he\'ll be puttin\' you up for the night as well.\"
we pick up steuben and drape his arms over our shoulders as we carry him out. i take his weight as miranda closes up the tavern. i look up and simply stare. the sky is filled with countless tiny lights. also in the sky are three large discs, two are white and the third has a yellow tinge to it. i don\'t notice when miranda takes up part of steuben\'s weight. she follows my stare.
\"they\'re called platinum, silver and gold. now come along.\"
\"they can\'t be.\" steuben says muzzily. \"too heavy. they\'d just fall down. there\'s no vault to attach them to.\"
we carry steuben along in silence for awhile.
steuben looks up. \"maybe they\'re falling already. but, then they\'d be getting bigger. so maybe they\'s moving sideways as well.\"
we walk along in silence a bit more. steuben looks up again. \"big circles. that\'s it. big circles. that way they are always falling, but never get any bigger.\"
miranda looks over at me. \"you\'ve never seen them before have you?\"
\"no.\"
\"i kind of thought so. you have the same feel about you as steuben did when he first arrived.\" she pauses. \"you haven\'t come to take him back?\"
i shake my head. probably not one of my better ideas. i swallow hard. \"no. but then i\'m not sure that anyone could take him anywhere he doesn\'t want to go.\"
\"good.\" she relaxes a bit. \"he\'s hiding here,\" she continues. \"from himself mostly, i think. but, he\'s happy here. i don\'t want that disturbed.\"
i think over the stories and legends that have been told about him. \"i think perhaps he has earned it.\" i pause. \"no, i won\'t disturb it.\"
\"ahh. here we are,\" she says.
we stop infront of a smithy. she pulls the door open and we step inside. i feel the warmth of the banked fire in the forge itself. miranda manouvers us deftly arround the smithy and up the stairs at the back. we lay him down in his cot.
\"we used to know. we used to be there. go, you\'ll see.\" he rolls over. \"the gods. they took so much from us.\" his voice has anger and frustration in it. steuben begins to snore.
\"i\'ll be fine,\" i say to miranda. \"you head back.\"
she leaves. i sit down at the table and swiftly fall asleep. i wake up the next morning. the first thing i notice is the length of the shadows. i hardly have anytime to wonder about it. the next thing i notice is the appearent size of my head, and the regular ringing sound. i think the two are connected until the ringing stops. i careful lift my head up, and see some bread and cheese on the table. i grab a couple of mouthfuls and head to the smithy.
\"ahh, you\'re awake,\" steuben says. he is watching the piece of iron in the forge. he shurgs and pulls the piece from the forge and lays in on the anvil. he hangs the tongs near the forge and places the mits on a nearby shelf.
\"head back up,\" he says. i head back up, steuben following me. he heads over to a chest in one corner of the room. he pulls out a couple of blankets, and a few other items. he pulls out a rather large book.
\"don\'t know why i kept this.\" he places the book on the table. \"don\'t know where it even came from.\"
i look at the book. it is bound in dark leather. the title was probably embossed at one point in time. i can only make it out by the remaining depression. \"steuben viscosa, volume\" the number is obscured.
\"i think perhaps, you may have better use of it then i do.\" he continues.
i reach out for the book to open it, and blink. i look up at my ceiling. i\'m laying down in my bed, and my head still hurts.
\"oh, you\'re awake.\" one of infirmary orderlies is sitting next to my bed. \"you gave us a bit of a start there.\"
i lift my hand up to my head. i feel my head, there is a bandage there.
\"you hit your head pretty hard when you fell. what happened?\"
i look down at the hand that i had picked up the hilt of the vicosan blade with.
\"i\'m not sure.\"
i sit up. i promptly grab both side of my head to try and keep it from spinning off.
\"easy, easy, \" the orderly said. \"the master said that he wanted to see you when you came to. just lie back down, i\'ll go get him.\" the orderly heads out of the room.
i get out of my bed. something large and heavy falls to the floor. i ignore it as i walk to the window and look out. i\'m in yliakium. the light, the air, everything is as i remeber it. i turn around and look back at my bed. the heavy object was a book. i walk over and take a look at it.
as i walk over it occurs to me that i didn\'t have it before. and if i did it would have been probably been placed on my bed table. the book is bound in old leather. the title once had probably been embossed. looking carefully at the depressions left i can just make out the title. it reads \"steuben viscosa, volume\", the number is completely obscured.
[ooc: end of ep. roll credits, and start closing theme. probably something a bit more of an upbeat martial. kind of like \"bring all the wisdom to britain!\", by taku iwasaki, and definitely not a susa march.]
