Other Fan Fiction ❯ Jade cocoon: shadowed past in the rains ❯ something amiss ( Chapter 4 )

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reaching down-keeping his ears and eyes open in case something awful was behind him in the quiet tunnel and if he needed to










make a break for it-he grabbed his blank papyrus, placing it over the tomes script, and began copying more of it just like last time, intriguing












orgul mostly because far more than just history was written within this volume he considered nothing less than magnificent. theorys,long forgotten a













nd little known storys,secrets, techniques and for combining divine beasts,personal diary writings of the masters ages ago,prophecys-and, orguls favorite













subject-science(he surmissed that is was possible to build a flying machine based on his ideas garnered from reading into the script,among other curious things











possibly considered heresy by adults where he lived)

























as he copied, setting each full piece of paper down for the ink to dry and replacing it with a blank piece of parchment,orgul reflected as he did before reading













while he copied. this time he reflected on the first time he had worked up the guts to bring his tools to copy, and then read his unlawfuly copied written knowledge,













and how he had been so nerv-wracked thinking perhaps someone would know, that he had only been reaching for his bag where the first copied pages lay hidden- alone













in his room,completley safe-jumping in fright screaming how he was sorry he was sorry he was sorry upon hearing a noise rustle from somewhere behind him, sure that












someone had come to end his life- staring wide eyed at the entrance realizing it was only birds flying by (his sister walked past his door a little after this,she had










wanted to play wih him and some other kids, stared curiously at him in sitting in a heap feeling like he could blow chunks no less, pointed, and laughed at him)











shaking his head to clear his mind as orgul continued copying(nearly getting ink on the old script.this mortified orgul so badly that this caused him to really spill ink,













which fell incredibly close but only splattered grimly on the stone below him,almost on his copied manuscripts too) orgul read.














and..curiously enough as read..the topic this time was not on arcane history or practical uses or their methods, not lore or science or wild stories so unimaginable














even orgul never wantesd to tread near them at any point in life..no..what was written was related to something in relation to a meeting the various elders had











discussed just hours earlier. something much worse.














orgul felt his forhead tightening beyond his control,wanting at this moment to holler and keep hollering so that worlds would shatter,the young man struggling














to keep his hands steady on the old script, paper and ink bottle and brush. but perhaps it was his uncontrollable rage turning into grief that kept his grip















steady and avoiding tearing up what he held-both actions would have been the death of him - ''... so its true...'' orgul thought over and over in his mind, and said out loud.















. .











the next day








..





















a soft




mournful horn blowing joined the morning greeting calls of divine beasts, who responded back, the only sounds breaking the silence












of the deep night, also a quiet thanks that day had come once more.












those sounding the far off horns as the border, and those sleepily listening, rubbing their faces who had to get up early, knew that the watchmen and cocoon masters














liked to join the divine beasts crys at the same time, feeling a distant kinship with them even more than the villagers did, living so to them as the borders were













just where foliage swamped together.


























throughout the day, some slept in,soem worked the fields so all could eat, and despite the lack of sun always apparent here, being where they were maggone












didnt depend on sun as plants in places like syrus or even our world does,and they did. they made more than enough to feed their people(strict population control













guidelines always were in place in thsi village though. this was so they didnt entrench onto too much forest, or build up too many people which is what they would have








had to do long ago if things were different)











windows, and doors were opened,shops unlatched, the various silk mills beggining to be filled with its occpupants for their part of the day, and busy-body wives and fathers











booted their children outside to play-or go off to their various trades and vocations they studied for, lost among various villagers going to and fro where they wanted.













eavesdropping. she liked eavesdropping. she found it as entertaining as an interpretive dance, or watching clouds roll by.





























sitting behind a row of large urns,and holding her knees-sitffling uncontrollable laughing that threatened to burst from her













cheeks because she also foudn eavesdropping, succesfully,hilarious at the speakers expense. this time it was 3 large men who












stood in apart discussing various things that men about to go off on their business do-and many things she would rather not know











right now- were complaining in their gruff,slowly rising, voices about how they felt they were being kept in the dark about the locust















attacks, yes one said, he was glad they hadnt happened again, especially to magonne,but they could happen again and they werent being














told what mattered, another said. it was their right to know,because it might affect his pregnant wife who was expecting, but him even














more! the third ones voice rose almost to a shout. she sighed, feeling deflated. it was always a risk she felt, but she never felt a













morning was good unless the conversation was something new, and unheard of.




























this ongoing and subject that tired her to no end because she had listened to it a thousand times,as most serious adult conversation did to her,













would end the way it always did in the spot-not that they all didnt but she wouldnt leave feeling bad if something better was














said-the three men would keep talking, louder and louder, until at last a very pretty-but crabby- woman who had had terrible luck















finding a mate would stick her head out of the window nearby ,unable to take it anymore-silencing the men for a while before they











started up again and thats when she would make a break for it.






















-and when at last she did finally throw her head out and begin yelling(strangely late this time) she got up and ran at full speed












away from the overhang, eliciting like always only an accusatory 'heyy' from only one of the three men.knailune knew life only as one thing. simple.























it was becoming a luxury for her as time went on..but knailune still clung to her childhood. and since today no chores had been asked












of her by her and her brothers mother, shisen, or her new stepfather(knailune didnt know him enough yet to like being around him much












less asking anything) the young woman decided to hang with kids younger than she was again-remembering to say sorry to them for how













she had promised to be there the other day, but had to help her mother with that brat- who always seemed to promise non-stop enjoyment, as long













as there was somethign to do with them. at the thought of this..knailune picked up her speed, leaping over the grasses.


























she had actually asked them upon arriving(ignoring one of the boys stares who she and ther others knew liked her) to follow her to her house















because she wanted to invite her brother to play with them, which they did,having oddly thought of nothing to do yet. and so when she knailune















told them to wait for her for a second and she had poked her smooth milk-white head through the open door to her brothers quarters-she only














was able to get out a sylable before clearly seeing as she looked around that he wasnt there.she sighed and left with the other kids, remembering













that she would find him later on.
























her freinds sometime later decided to toss rocks across a small pond on a side of the village not too populated(she always said she













would go with them here but usually missed the chance) and it was pleasant. but though thes sky was relatively clear and each of knailunes stones













felt smooth, missle shaped and like winners,something wasnt..quite..

























when this seemed to lose its excitement, the gang of children stuffed their pockets with as much rocks as they could, and tossed rocks high up















into trees, this ending only when one of the trees shook ominously sounding as if something was shaking it from in the leaves and branches, angry,















and all the kids ran away screaming dropping rocks left and right- but however clawed, hairy and dangerous the tree monster may have been..










knailune half heartedly jogged after them..sighing.























long after coming to a rest some ways away, the gang of kids had decided to sit on the grass for a while, one or two of them even falling














asleep(unaware that some of the children had quietly dug holes in the earth and were burying them slowly under piled-on dirt) she wasnt very














hungry, but some of the kids suggested that they were hungry at this point, and that someone should go get food for them-settling on knailune-who













had the most money ebing the oldest but made them cough up some too- while in the town, knailune took this opportunity to look for her brother.













he wasnt at one of the silk mills or looking for knailune. he still wasnt inside his room,nor was he hanging around the weapons depot( knailune














learned with time that he like most of the boys like to spend hours staring at all the shiny deadly weapons)
























-arwell to m- knailune thought at one point she heard him saying something from behind her-seeing no one when she spun around expecting orgul-












an old lady instead knailune had seen alot of times was just stooping down to pet her house cat and gave knailune a look shaking her head as if the













young woman had just said something very foolish out loud which she had not - supposing perhaps he had arranged some prank on her with the children














she hung around (hed done this before. shed almost got him good by doing this, once) sghing again. she didnt feel well. knailune trudged to a market,














returning to her freinds with about 15 dripping hot skewers.

















some of the kids whined asking her what had taken so long, and to be honest knailune hadnt known she had been gone for so long. but once














knailune stuffed a e skewer forcefully in one of her freinds mouths, and passed the others around, and they ate in peace no more was













said for a while while she ate and tried to enjoy her meat(it was good. their meat is way better than anything we know here. and healthier)












and some tried going swimming on a full stomach in the pond that could be seen some ways away(coming back clutching their bellys feeling very







sorry they had done this too)





























later when each of the children felt up to it-there had been some light-hearted brawls over being 3/4 buried in dirt- one of the kids













left and came back with a ball, made of a a type of rubber and unique because rubber was rare to magonne, the village not having any real













need of the substance. there was alot of excited yells for no one among this gang or children(or any they knew at that) thought the idea













of chasing a flying crazy ball was at all boring, and soon it was being kicked and tossed with enthusiasm high in the air at one another.













it happened that no one had noticed until a little into this that one person was missing who particularly like kicking a ball(perhaps












she had gone back to her house for some boots. she did have rather sharp toe nails among all the kids) so that a lot of heads were suddenly









turning, the ball ignored, searching for her.




















it was one of the girls, zan who took the initiative upon herself to run after where the missing one sat, calling her name in a loud obnoxious













voice though it was meant in good fun..her smile dropping as she approached and put a handon knailunes shoulder, who was so still it frightened












the girl somewhere deep inside.knailune sat stock still where she sat. if one looked closely, it might have seemed like she had been staring so














long out across the grass without blinking for so long that she was either dead or her eyes had become glazed from not blinking enough-but as things















were, zan or anyone could see that her eyes were also twitching in an odd way.gulping,zan wasnt too comfortable with grown-ups and their moods yet,

















zan gingerly put her small hand on one of knailunes, both of which were wrapped tightly around her knees pulled up against her chest.''..um h-hey















big sister-zan liked calling her that-come play w-with us ooh!'' zan yelped falling














backwards on her rump. knailune was crying all of a sudden.