Dialog

     Harata had gone back into the slowly failing darkness with the purpose of setting false trails. He hoped to throw off the pursuit for a few more hours at least. Inside Mina’s one-story log home, the remaining five sat in the living room. Kat and Chieko were sitting on a ratty blue sofa. There’d been enough room for Ayame to join them, but she’d opted instead to sit on the overstuffed, mismatched brown armchair. The shunning was obvious, but it wasn’t clear which party had committed it. Blue and Mina were positioned on slatted wooden chairs from the kitchen.

     The Night’s Herald was about to open his mouth, but was beaten to the task of speaking by Chi.

     “Can you tell us about the Legend now?” she asked eagerly, bouncing a bit in her seat. Kat glanced at her, annoyed.

     “Yes, I shall tell you now. You are all aware of the Legend of Diasminion, are you not?”

     “Who isn’t?” replied Kat petulantly. Blue ignored her, continuing in his relaxed, even tone.

     “The Legend states that the world will come into a time of crisis- one from which it can only survive with the aid of its Champions. Should the Champions fail, or should even one Champion refuse to complete the Task, the world will be destroyed.”

     The Night’s Herald paused. No one seemed to want to breathe.

     “We have reached the time in which the Champions are needed. Should we fail, Qian Ra will slowly split apart and everything will perish.”

     “We?” Mina, Chieko and Kat echoed each other’s single word. While Kat’s voice was timid, Chi’s was bright and curious. Mina’s voice rang with skepticism. She added, “What do you mean, ‘we’?”

     “You are the Champions of your Clans, as am I.”

     “Yeah, sure,” Mina’s sarcasm-laced voice was a bit loud. “How do you know if I’m a Champion or not?”

     “There are signs. What you felt outside, you thought was a weapon. That was one of them.”

     “I don’t buy it-“ Mina began, but she was cut off by Chi, who was holding up her hand timidly, as though in class.

     “Wait a minute… that- that weird feeling happens when Champions get close to each other?”

     “Yes.”

     “Our train…  It came from Mianuus. Did you- do you- live there?”

     “Yes.”

     “You’re a Night’s Herald, right?” the GelbFaust’s eyes were wide, staring at Blue. She ignored Kat and Mina, who were making impatient noises. “You worked in a temple?”

     “Yes, I did.”

     “That temple in the sports grounds, in the Parks?”

    “That one.”

     “That’s why… “ she trailed off, still staring at the Night’s Herald, her face bathed in utter belief. The other two didn’t look nearly as convinced.

     “All of you,” Blue continued, “also own a piece of jewelry- one which was passed along for generations in you family. The settings may have been changed, but the stones are the same. For some reason, you cannot part with it, never misplace it, and have never bothered to learn its origin.”

     Chi was fingering her emerald earrings, while Ayame’s hand was clasped around the pendant in her pocket. Kat fished around in her handbag and pulled out the citrine necklace that Chieko had envied earlier. Mina stood abruptly, stalked out of the room and returned moments later. She shoved a gold and rose quartz brooch under Blue’s nose. Her face, though furious, betrayed a hint of fear. She flopped back into her chair, twiddling the brooch nervously.

     “Where’s yours?” asked Chi in a conversational tone. Blue flicked his wrist, and a dagger, concealed in the sleeve of his robe, slid into his hand. Kat screamed. He turned the blade toward himself, and at the end of the hilt, a bright blue sapphire glinted in the lamplight.

     “That’s not jewelry,” observed Chi.

     “It doesn’t have to be. I just guessed that yours would be, based on your Clans. It’s the stone that’s important.”

     “Why?”

     “Another sign. I’m not sure if they have another purpose.”

     “Okay, so, say I’m the Champion of the Sabio,” Mina began, her voice hard, “and you’re the Champion of the Night’s Herald. And you are?” She pointed at Chieko.

     “GelbFaust,” she squeaked.

     “You?”

     “Don’t you dare address me like that! Show some respect-“

     “Empirian, obviously. You?”

     Ayame hesitated, head hung low, then muttered,

     “Dauern, miss.”

     “So what about the guy who came with you? I would’ve pegged him as the Dauern.”

     “Harata is the Clanless One,” Blue replied patiently.

     “He is?” Chi’s excitement seemed to have tripled. “Wow…”

     “If he’s the Clanless,” Kat spoke up, “shouldn’t he be the one telling us about this? Why are you doing it?” She eyed Blue with distaste.

     “Because he’s more adept at setting trails than I am. Should the HeadHunters find us, we’ll be killed.” The Night’s Herald’s eyes betrayed no emotion.

     “Good riddance,” Kat replied, staring into the void of Blue’s eyes.

     “If one of us is killed, the rest of us will die as well.”

     “Everyone dies,” Mina stated flatly. “Honestly, it doesn’t scare me all that much.”

     The five people sitting in the room were silent for a time. Kat’s insides were churning. How could she be a Champion? What was she even doing here? Was the Night’s Herald telling the truth? Would all the world perish if she didn’t take up this new responsibility? She didn’t want to weigh the possibilities before her. She wanted to run- run forever and never stop.

     Chieko, on the other hand, completely trusted the man who, only a short time ago, was holding a knife to her throat. She felt he’d given the only possible explanation for some of the stranger things that had happened in her life. She wondered if being a Champion would be dangerous.

     Mina, livid at being hoodwinked into letting total strangers- creepy strangers, at that- into her living room, fumed. What could she do to get out of this? What was this, anyway? Her logical mind quietly picked apart the situation. In the first place, the Night’s Herald was either lying or telling the truth. If he was telling the truth, fine- she was the Champion of the Sabio. She could either join him or refuse. If she joined him in this supposed “Task”, she’d be leaving behind her work- nothing mattered more to her than that. Of course, going with them would offer the opportunity to test some of her research in the field. That wouldn’t be a bad idea at all… and, if it turned out that he was lying, she could kill them all pretty easily. If she remained behind, and this guy’s story turned out to be a fake, life would just go on as usual. However, if the world truly would end, she’d be killed as well. Despite what she’d told Blue, she wasn’t too keen on meeting her end at the moment. And then there was the question of why he would be lying about such a thing. Two men and the rest women… no, if that was the reason, she’d kill them before they laid a hand on her. They could be suffering from some kind of psychosis, delusional to the point that they actually believed the world was in danger. The “signs” were uncanny, true, but still…

     “I need some time to think about this,” she said aloud. Kat nodded in agreement.

     “Of course,” the Night’s Herald replied. “I realize this is an awful lot to swallow. You should get some rest,” he stated, looking specifically at Ayame, Chieko and Kat.

     “Oh, and I suppose you’ll be wanting to sleep in my bed now, too,” said Mina irritably.

     “Please cooperate,” said Blue.

     “What choice do I have, anyway? If I say no, that one,” she pointed at Kat, “will just use her wonky mind-control thing on me.” Kat’s face darkened, but before she could speak, Mina continued. “Couldn’t you people at least tell me your names?”

     They looked at her in stunned silence.

     “Certainly,” the Night’s Herald said softly. “My name is Ishiyama Blue.”

     “Blue?” squeaked Chi. “What kind of a name is that?”

     “I am Minato Katakiko. You may call me Kat. This is Kawamoto Chieko.”

     “Hey! I wanted to say my name!” the GelbFaust fretted.

     “I’m Azu Ayame.”

    “OK then. My name is Moria Minako. Please call me Mina. If you’ll follow me…”

     She led the other women into her bedroom, leaving Blue alone in the slatted kitchen chair. There was light outside now, and it had a misty quality to it. It wasn’t long before Harata came trudging back into the cabin. He flopped himself ungraciously onto the ugly blue sofa.

     “Did you tell them?” he asked anxiously.

     “Yes, I did.”

     “How did they take it?”

     “Not that well, but the GelbFaust’s pretty enthusiastic. Her name’s Chieko… the Empirian is Kat, and the Sabio- the green-haired one- is Mina.”

     “They’re all girls,” Harata observed nervously.

     “Yes, they are.”

     “Will all of the Champions be girls?”

     “No,” Blue replied. He seemed to be thinking of his dreams. “Some of them will be women.”

     It took a moment before Harata realized that Blue was joking.

     “No, seriously…”

     “Seriously- there will be some other men. Why’s it important?”

     “Just curious,” the Clanless replied glumly. The truth was, having grown up surrounded only by boys and men, he was a little uncomfortable around women. He knew he should behave differently around them, but was never sure how. He cringed at the idea of running around the country trailed by an emotionless Night’s Herald and a gaggle of females.

     “I got the impression that they’d like you to talk to them,” Blue stated.

     “Me? How come?”

     “Well… as you’re the Clanless-“

     “Okay. I get it. I’ll talk to them tomorrow… uh, today. Later.”

     “You ought to get some sleep. How’d the trails come out?”

     “Could be better. I got lucky though, and ran into a stream. Unless these guys are perfect, they’ll probably assume we used the stream to cover our tracks.”

     “Good.”

     “Aren’t you tired? You don’t think that we can both sleep, do you?”

     “No. Mina’s not too convinced we’re worth trusting. It’d be best if one of us stays up, just in case.”

     “What’re we going to do if she won’t come with us?”

     “The Champions have to be united, or else… well, we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. Give her some time. She’s Sabian- they’re logical people, not really emotionally driven. She’s just got to weigh the facts.”

     Great, thought Harata, another robot.

     “I’ll stay up,” Blue offered. “You can’t have slept well last night when you were in jail.”

     “You were in jail?”

     Mina had re-entered the room and was crossing the floor to stand before them.

     “Yeah,” was all Harata said in reply.

     “Why were you in jail?”

     “I got caught working on the docks and I’m not, uh…”

     “Pantagruel,” Blue filled in helpfully.

     “What were you doing, working on the docks?”

     “I woke up on a ship, so I guessed that I worked there. Maybe I fell, or hit my head, or got sunstroke or something.”

     “Don’t you know who you are?”

     “Well, kind of.” Harata pulled a sheepish face. “I know my first name. I know about the Task. That’s about it.”

     “So, you got put in jail?”

     “Yeah, well, they weren’t so sure what to do with me when I didn’t turn up in the computer.”

     “He really is Clanless?” she asked Blue. Harata fished around in his pocket and pulled out the ID he’d been issued.

     “Here.”

     Mina took it from him gingerly, sat down in the empty kitchen chair and began to scrutinize it.

     “Hang on,” she said vaguely as she got back up.

     “What’s she doing?” Harata asked as she hurriedly left the room. Blue shrugged, looking unbothered.

     She returned moments later and sat down again. As she re-read the ID, she passed her hand over the front and back a few times. Frowning, she tried again. Nothing seemed to be happening.

     “This is real,” Mina stated in a flat, empty, voice. She held out the palm of her hand. Blue and Harata leaned forward and saw a small, round discoloration there.

     “It’s a Lie Detector,” the Sabio explained. “There’s not a forgery in the world that can fool an LD. This is real.” She sounded intensely disappointed. “Are the HeadHunters after you because you broke out of jail?”

     “No. I was let go.”

     “Then why-“

     “We had to hold up a train after we were caught trying to sneak out of Mianuus. Chieko and Kat were our hostages. We took them because they’re Champions, too.”

     “You can’t remember anything about this place?”

     “Nope.”

     “How long has it been since you woke up on the ship?”

     “About three days.”

     “The Dauern told me about what happened in the alley. I patched her up a bit. Mind you, I’m no Decameron- I’m much better at taking them apart than putting them back together. Well, I was wondering- what do you think of all this-“ she fluttered her hands to illustrate. “I mean, do you really think this world is worth saving?”

     Harata didn’t answer right away. He remembered the police swearing at him, laughing as they beat him up. He remembered the sickened feeling he’d had as he walked through the slums. He thought about having his every move observed by computers and living guards. He remembered Ayame telling him that any Dauern who didn’t go to work would die. His homeland really did seem to be a miserable place. And yet…

     “This country is far from perfect,” he began evenly, slowly, carefully choosing his words, “but I don’t think it falls to me to judge whether or not to condemn it. Of course, I have the power to do so, but as I’m not all-knowing I think it’s best I do what I was put here to do. Perhaps by simply doing that, we can all be a catalyst for change.”

     Mina didn’t say anything in reply. Harata found himself unnerved by her eyes, which were utterly empty. At first, he’d blamed the phenomenon on the floodlights outside, later on her glasses. He could tell now that her gaze was truly a void, a total lack of recognition. Hers was the empty look of a stranger passing in the street, looking without seeing, accepting without acknowledging. Even as emotions flickered across her face, she continued to look upon others as though they weren’t there. He found himself wondering if she was blind, simply turning her face toward the sounds that people made.

     Finally, she broke the silence, slapping her hands against her knees and standing up purposefully.

     “Thank you. I believe that’s all the questions I have at the moment. I’ll consider your proposal and give you an answer as soon as I have one. For now, I’m going back to work. You can both sleep. And don’t worry- I’m far too busy right now to cause you any harm. See you when you wake up.”

     She walked away, leaving Blue and Harata staring after her.

     “That,” whistled the Clanless, “is one weird girl.”

     Blue and Harata decided to take Mina at her word, finally succumbing to exhaustion. When Harata woke later, at about half past noon, he was surprised to learn that none of the girls had gotten up yet. However, when he got up to look around, he found Mina in the kitchen, making a sandwich.

     “Lunch break,” she explained unnecessarily. “Want me to put on a pot of coffee? I can’t do anything in the morning without caffeine.”

     “That’d be great, thanks,” the Clanless replied. Had Mina decided to join them, then? She was certainly more amiable now than she’d been earlier. Feeling mildly uncomfortable, he decided against broaching the subject, instead asking, “Where’s Blue?”

     “Out in the back,” Mina waved a hand to indicate the outdoors, “doing some kind of freaky meditation thing. He’s a real piece of work, that one.”

     “Yeah,” Harata replied in a non-committal tone. True, he agreed that Blue was pretty strange, but he didn’t really want to encourage more tension between the Champions.

     “The coffee will be ready in a few minutes. You gonna go wake up your sleeping beauties?”

     “Yeah, I guess I should.”

     As he left the kitchen and walked toward the door of Mina had gestured at, the Clanless tried to ignore the discomfort that was growing rapidly within. The girls would want to talk to him. It would probably fall to him to convince Kat, the miserable Empirian, to join them willingly. He wondered what kind of questions they would ask. He wasn’t sure if their questions would be as logical and pointed as Mina’s had been. What if they decided to ask personal things? He decided that the best course of action would be to talk to each individually, and stick to the story he’d told the police- he couldn’t remember his past. Of course, he could tell the Champions about the dream, though.

     He knocked on the bedroom door before entering, and was surprised to hear a cheerful voice reply,

     “Come in!”

     Kat and Chieko were sitting on the double bed, looking as though they’d been in the middle of a conversation.

     “Morning,” Harata mumbled sheepishly.

     “Hi!” Chi said brightly. Kat was simply looking at him, making him consider how rumpled he must look, having slept on the sofa.

     “I haven’t got any clothes,” the Empirian informed him.

     “Don’t worry, Ayame took some out of you suitcase when she got your shoes. They’re in my knapsack. Hang on.”

     Harata returned with two sets of clothing a few moments later.

     “I’m not sure whose are whose,” he explained as he set them on the bed, trying his hardest to ignore some underwear which was peeking out of the pile.

     “They’re all wrinkled,” Kat informed the Clanless in a dejected voice. She was holding up a pair of black slacks.

     “Maybe you could iron them,” Harata offered helpfully. The Empirian looked at him as though he’d just uttered an unforgivable swear word. Chi giggled nervously.

     “Empirians don’t iron,” the GelbFaust’s bright voice was matter-of-fact.

     “My apologies,” Harata said awkwardly, not looking at Kat.

     “I’m filthy,” complained the Empirian as she examined a pale pink button-down shirt. “I think I’ll take a shower.” She collected the pieces of clothing that were hers and stalked out of the room.

     “Empirians are funny, aren’t they?” Chieko seemed intent on carrying on a conversation. “You’d think this was her house, the way she talks.”

     “Are they all like that?”

     “I dunno. Some are better than others I guess. Oh, awesome!” Chieko had lifted a pair of jeans to find a t-shirt underneath. She held it up triumphantly. It was white with bright-green lettering, and the sleeves and collar were also trimmed in a color that echoed Chi’s enormous eyes. The lettering seemed to be the logo of a soccer team. “This is my favorite shirt! This was my university team.” She pointed to the logo, beaming. “I can’t believe she grabbed my favorite shirt.”

     “Where is Ayame?” asked Harata anxiously.

     “Over there,” Chi gestured at the corner hidden by the bed. Harata peered over and saw a huddled mass of blanket.

     “Why is she sleeping on the floor?”

     “Um…” Chieko wouldn’t look at him, obviously made nervous by the impatient edge to his voice.

     “Never mind,” he said abruptly. “Let’s go to the living room, ok? You can have a cup of coffee.”

     “There’s coffee?” Chi asked happily. “Great!”
     Once they’d made themselves a large mug of coffee apiece (Mina had left milk, sugar, and mugs on the counter before heading back to work), Harata sank into the sofa. To his shock and displeasure, Chi flopped right down beside him.

     “Your name is Harata, right?”

     “Yep.”

     “I’m Chi. Why isn’t your name Qa Haran? You’re the Clanless, Blue said.”

     “I’m the Clanless, but I’m not Qa Haran.”

     “How is that possible?”

     “I don’t know, really…” Harata shifted uncomfortably.

     “Maybe you’re his reincarnation. That would explain the hair.”

     “Hair? What does hair have to do with anything?”

     “Actually, all of you guys have weird hair- not Kat, though. That really explains a lot…” Chi drifted off dreamily.

     “What are you talking about?”

     “Old souls. The Night’s Herald say we reincarnate. If the soul you have is really old it shows in your hair and eyes. You can see the imprint of your former selves. These days, most people have black or brown or blonde hair, but a long time ago it was different. All kinds of colors. They say that people who have funky hair and eye colors have older souls than other people- souls that haven’t got to Elysium yet. I always wondered if that was true.”

     “I dunno… but I’m not Qa Haran’s reincarnation either.”

     “How do you know that?”

     “He’s dead. Besides, Blue’s met him.”

     “Blue met Qa Haran!?”

     “Yeah-“

     “Where? Do I get to meet him, too? Cause I’m a Champion…”

     “I don’t know. Blue met him in Elysium.”

     “He’s been to Elysium?”

     Harata explained Blue’s trip in brief, Chieko gazing at him raptly.

     “He’s so cool! I wish I could do the soul-walkie thing.”

     The two fell silent then, Harata not knowing how to respond to Chi’s banter. After a little while, he said,

     “I’m going to check on Ayame while Kat’s still in the shower.”

     “OK. Do you think I can take one too? I’m smelly.”

     The Clanless shrugged.

     “I guess.”

     “’Kay then. Talk to you later.”

     At that, Harata walked back into the bedroom.

     “Hey kiddo,” he said softly as Ayame rolled over, blinking. “How’re you feeling?”

     “I’m fine.”

     “You’re head’s gotta be killing you. That’s not ‘fine’.”

     “Yeah, it is.” She smiled sadly. “You don’t seem to understand much about the Law of Clans.”

     “Why do you say that?”

     “I have to be fine,” she replied simply.

     “This Clan stuff isn’t very important to me,” Harata’s voice had anger creeping in it. “You’re a Champion, an equal. On the same subject, you shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor.”

     Ayame continued to smile in an empty way, but said nothing.

     Harata heaved a sigh.

     “You want me to bring you a coffee or something?”

     “It’s ok. I’ll get up now.”

     She sat up with a stretch and looked at him. In the light of day, she could see that he was handsome in a rugged sort of way. His eyes, such a dark brown, were nearly the same shade as her own. The color reminded her of the chocolates she’d seen in a shop window, rich and forbidden. She’d tasted chocolate once, and recalled its sharp sweetness as she gazed rather sadly at those mildly bewildered eyes.

     Ayame’s own eyes were far too old for her face. They held an ancient wisdom, a resignation. Her understanding of her world was never communicated through her movements, carefully choreographed to entice, excite, and ease the mind. To look in her eyes, however, was to see the pool of sorrow in which her soul was drowning. One could also see her acceptance of this- that she almost willed her soul to suffocate.

     “It’s strange, you know,” she was saying, “I feel like I should know you already. Your hair and eyes and all- but I guess that’s impossible. If I’d met you before I’d have known about the Task or whatever. All that stuff.”

     Harata changed the subject abruptly.

     “If you give me your necklace, I’ll fix it for the chain for you today.”

     She got up and handed it to him- her most prized possession. Why are you so kind to me?  Before she had a chance to voice some version of this question, Kat entered the room, fully clothed, hair up in a towel. Ayame made a slight bow and left the room in silence. Had she looked over her shoulder, she’d have seen the bewilderment in Harata’s eyes replaced by a depthless sorrow.

     The Clanless sat down on the edge of the bed, glanced awkwardly at the beautiful woman who was staring so coldly at him, and took a deep breath.

     “Kat, I’m sorry about before. I know you must’ve been terrified, but there wasn’t anything else I could think-“

     “I want to go home,” she interrupted him, her voice flat.

     “I know you do, but-“

     “If you’re about to wax ecstatic over my position as a so-called ‘Champion’, you can save your breath. I don’t believe it.”

     “Blue says-“

     “Ah, yes. Now I’m supposed to trust a man who only last night said he would kill me.”

     “I don’t think he meant-“

     “You don’t seem to think much anyway. I don’t know what your deal is, but that guy is insane. I’m going to get as far from him as I can, and you should do the same.”

     “You don’t understand-“

     “No. You don’t understand. Can’t you see there’s something wrong with him?”

     Harata didn’t answer. He didn’t want to think about the possibilities. Following Blue had been the one thing he’d done that seemed to make sense. However, there was something about the Night’s Herald that didn’t seem right. And he did say he would kill the girls. Why? If the Champions were dead, the Task couldn’t be completed. The Clanless shook his head like a horse shaking off flies that would only drift momentarily and settle again.

    “You can see. You’re not quite as stupid as I thought.”

    “About the Task, though. It is real.”

    “I told you, I don’t believe you.”

     “I don’t blame you. I didn’t want to believe it either. I still don’t want to.”

     “Then why are you doing this?”

    “I have no choice. There’s nothing else I can do. I have no place in this world if I’m not following this path.”

     Gently, his voice soft, he told her about being discovered on the docks, about truly being Clanless. He showed her his ID and talked to her about the dream. For some reason, he found himself confiding how scared he felt, how alone. When he was finished, Kat was still regarding him with a cold disbelief. What she saw next would haunt her forever.

     “I died in the dream,” he said to her as he removed his shirt, exposing scars so grotesque she blushed and covered her eyes momentarily. She steeled herself and circled him, studying his body as though he was a sculpture on display. She could see several places where he’d been impaled by something. Large gashes puckered his skin. He was a ruined doll, patched back together. For a moment she could remember the dead in the Underground Station, their broken corpses slumping against the walls. She couldn’t help herself- she cried. Sobbed quietly into the palm of her hand. She pitied herself for being able to understand that no one could live and carry scars like those.

     “I was told I had to be torn asunder and made whole, that I might understand that the world is being torn so, and must also be made whole. I died once for this Task already. And I have no choice but to believe and follow. When I tell you that I understand how you feel, I mean it. Please come with us. I’ll protect you as best as I can, so in the end you can go home. OK?”

     With a dry sob, Kat nodded, her face still buried in her hands.

     “I’ll go.”