11-08-2011, 01:54 AM
Day 6 of my journey.
We reached the coast today. The waves shone as bright as crystal in the burning sun. It was so beautiful, but powerful. I had never seen the ocean such as I saw it today. For some reason, when I laid my eyes on it, I felt a frightening sense of frailness and weakness; the ocean is so huge and mighty, and I am nothing in comparison to it's size. I was reminded of my mortality. And suddenly, I felt a boiling anger. An anger I had never felt before. I rushed to the edge of the cliff and screamed. I screamed the worst of curses, and gibberish. I screamed at the ocean for making me feel weaker. I screamed as if I were speaking to Slade, angry with him for allowing himself to be so injured; I screamed as if I were talking to our old farm, angry with it for collapsing in the fire...
...When I finally had finished screaming, and my throat felt as if it were bleeding, I turned to see Ash sitting on a small rock, smiling kindly to me. She simply nodded her head reassuringly.
“I'm sorry... for that outburst”
“It's part of your grief; it's a good sign. You've needed healing from all that's happened. The loss of your home, the injuries your husband suffered and the fact that you can't be with him while he is healing. You needed to let it out.”
“I hadn't thought of that,” I said with a smile. ...
...What a strange village. Ash and I could see it from the coastal cliffs, tucked in the sides of the cliffs beside a tiny inlet. From where we stood, we could make out some buildings standing on stilts, against the rocky cliff walls, houses stacked on top of each other, and others seeming to disappear into the cliff itself. There was no direct route to the village from the cliff we stood atop, so we backtracked through the woods, searching for a road that would lead us there...
… It wasn't long before we found a road. “Damn, it's burned!” We heard a voice call out. A man with a cart overfilled with a load of what appeared to be dung, but it was a strange murky purplish color. It smelled like it had just been set on fire and then drenched in sea water, and of egg. I covered my nose and we approached the man.
One wheel on the cart had been burnt to a crisp, and as I looked closer, one whole side of the cart was blackened with soot. The farmer sighed, took off his hat, revealing a full mane, like a lion, of hair.
“What is that?” Ash asked, pointing to the awful smelling stuff in the cart.
“Dragon dung,” the man said, confirming my initial guess, standing and placing the hat atop his head again. “I use it for my crops. I'm a farmer, see, and this stuff makes the ground fertile and always brings a good crop in... but the dragons are a bit temperamental. Didn't like me getting so close to their nest.”
“Do you live in the village?” I asked. He nodded.
“Then we'll help you bring your cart back to the village, in exchange for some food?” Ash offered. The farmer smiled and agreed. He moved around the cart, but stopped suddenly, looking to Slither-pig startled. “That's the oddest thing I ever saw!” he laughed...
...I broke a spade, trying to dig a turnip out of the ground. I can't believe it's been so long since the farm was destroyed that I can't even dig crops from the ground properly. I began tearing at the ground with my fingers, making my nails bleed, as tried to free the turnip. Ash grabbed my shoulder as I finally unearthed the pesky root. “Please don't do that. Just take a break, Clairvoyant.” I sighed and smiled at her.
“You've had an exhausting day,” she said. “Why don't you go rest?”...
...I'm in the the farmer's house now; he and his wife have given us a place to stay for the night while we wait for the train tomorrow. We're almost done the journey. I'm sitting in the door, my feet dangling over the edge-- it's one of those houses that's built into the cliff wall-- and watching the sun set. I'll be in Menewsha Town soon. With my Slade, and my sisters. And with new friends and a story we shared. I'm not mad with the ocean any longer.
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