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jimmydragon) wrote2021-05-28 10:48 am
jimmydragon) wrote2021-05-28 10:48 am
Up On The Mountain
OOC: This takes place after THIS POST.
Grandfather Takawitha pronounced his blessing over Jimmy, Mark, and Walter. TIn turn the Adamses thanked the holy man and his assistant with offerings of tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, cedar, boxes of foodstuffs carefully packed, and an envelope of cash that would cover any expenses for their trip home.
Before leaving Grandfather Takawitha pulled Jimmy aside and told him, "Tonight or tomorrow, the spirit of the Faraway Mountain will come," the old man said in his low, gravelly voice. "Listen to their voice, but do not be afraid to follow what your ancestors and the people who have accepted you as theirs have to show you."
Jimmy nodded his acceptance of the holy man's words. He was filled with both a sense of relief and trepidation at once. Would he finally come to know who his real father was? With no further remarks, the old man and his younger assistant got into their old blue Chevrolet sedan and headed down the gravel drive toward the road. The heavy vegetation slapping the side mirrors of the old car as it lumbered off.
After a light meal, Jimmy and Mark mounted the two horses that they would take partway up the mountain to where the permanent tipi site was set up. Walter, Erica, and Lily had helped the two men check and double-check the things they would need that had not already been hauled up to the tipi site the day before. JImmy was mounted on Walter's black gelding, Marvin, while Mark would be taking the bay mare, aptly names Sassy, that both Lily and Erica tended to ride rode the most. Erica seemed almost chuffed by the thought that her new friend, Mark, would be riding what she considered to be her horse.
"You be nice to my friend, Sassy!" Erica pressed her forehead against that of her horse. "You know your way around and Mark is new here."
The horse blinked and let out a sigh, and looked back over her shoulder at Mark as if she had completely understood what the girl had said to her. Jimmy suppressed a laugh. In all probability, the horse probably did understand every word. At least, that's what he was always raised to believe anyway.
"Ah, don't you worry about us, Erica," Mark grinned as he patted the horse's neck. "I'm sure that Sassy and I will get along just fine. And if I'm not mistaken, I think I spied her watching me packing an extra apple or two as an incentive, so I bet she knows."
"We'll back tomorrow sometime, Kitten," Jimmy pulled back on the reins to back Marvin up slightly. "Can we count on you to keep an eye on the ridge and let your Mama and your Papa know when we're coming back down?"
Erica's face blossomed into a smile and she nodded in agreement. There was hardly anything that her favorite cousin could ask of her that she wouldn't agree to. That Jimmy set her about such an important task along the same lines as she had done in helping her mother for the sweatlodge was of particular importance. For Indigenous people, it was important to include the children the sacred and the spiritual into their daily lives from a very young age. It was how he was raised and he was pleased that the traditions were continued. The modern world always presented its own set of problems but Lily and Walter seemed to be managing the balance better than many others that he knew of.
The pair said their goodbyes to Jimmy's aunt, uncle and the kids and headed toward the well-worn trail that led to bluffs where the tipi was tucked. Of course, they could have hiked the nearly two-mile distance, but given how long the sweat lodge ceremony had taken, it was important that they get to where they were going by nightfall.
The morning fog had long since burned off and dappled sunshine shone through the leaves that sheltered around the homestead and up the mountain. After they reached the edge of the forest, Mark was the first to break the silence.
"You have a really nice family, Jimmy," Mark smiled. "Thank you for bringing me and for trusting me with something this important."
The sweatlodge had left Jimmy feeling oddly connected yet somehow removed from his usual consciousness. He was aware of his best friend's words but didn't respond right away. At last, a smile crossed Jimmy's face and he nodded. "You make a difference, Bro. Who else could I possibly trust with something like this?" Suddenly, he let out a soft chuckle aand grinned at Mark. "And who knows what we are going to find once we've got you settled at the tipi and me half naked on the side of the mountain under a full moon?"
Grandfather Takawitha pronounced his blessing over Jimmy, Mark, and Walter. TIn turn the Adamses thanked the holy man and his assistant with offerings of tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, cedar, boxes of foodstuffs carefully packed, and an envelope of cash that would cover any expenses for their trip home.
Before leaving Grandfather Takawitha pulled Jimmy aside and told him, "Tonight or tomorrow, the spirit of the Faraway Mountain will come," the old man said in his low, gravelly voice. "Listen to their voice, but do not be afraid to follow what your ancestors and the people who have accepted you as theirs have to show you."
Jimmy nodded his acceptance of the holy man's words. He was filled with both a sense of relief and trepidation at once. Would he finally come to know who his real father was? With no further remarks, the old man and his younger assistant got into their old blue Chevrolet sedan and headed down the gravel drive toward the road. The heavy vegetation slapping the side mirrors of the old car as it lumbered off.
After a light meal, Jimmy and Mark mounted the two horses that they would take partway up the mountain to where the permanent tipi site was set up. Walter, Erica, and Lily had helped the two men check and double-check the things they would need that had not already been hauled up to the tipi site the day before. JImmy was mounted on Walter's black gelding, Marvin, while Mark would be taking the bay mare, aptly names Sassy, that both Lily and Erica tended to ride rode the most. Erica seemed almost chuffed by the thought that her new friend, Mark, would be riding what she considered to be her horse.
"You be nice to my friend, Sassy!" Erica pressed her forehead against that of her horse. "You know your way around and Mark is new here."
The horse blinked and let out a sigh, and looked back over her shoulder at Mark as if she had completely understood what the girl had said to her. Jimmy suppressed a laugh. In all probability, the horse probably did understand every word. At least, that's what he was always raised to believe anyway.
"Ah, don't you worry about us, Erica," Mark grinned as he patted the horse's neck. "I'm sure that Sassy and I will get along just fine. And if I'm not mistaken, I think I spied her watching me packing an extra apple or two as an incentive, so I bet she knows."
"We'll back tomorrow sometime, Kitten," Jimmy pulled back on the reins to back Marvin up slightly. "Can we count on you to keep an eye on the ridge and let your Mama and your Papa know when we're coming back down?"
Erica's face blossomed into a smile and she nodded in agreement. There was hardly anything that her favorite cousin could ask of her that she wouldn't agree to. That Jimmy set her about such an important task along the same lines as she had done in helping her mother for the sweatlodge was of particular importance. For Indigenous people, it was important to include the children the sacred and the spiritual into their daily lives from a very young age. It was how he was raised and he was pleased that the traditions were continued. The modern world always presented its own set of problems but Lily and Walter seemed to be managing the balance better than many others that he knew of.
The pair said their goodbyes to Jimmy's aunt, uncle and the kids and headed toward the well-worn trail that led to bluffs where the tipi was tucked. Of course, they could have hiked the nearly two-mile distance, but given how long the sweat lodge ceremony had taken, it was important that they get to where they were going by nightfall.
The morning fog had long since burned off and dappled sunshine shone through the leaves that sheltered around the homestead and up the mountain. After they reached the edge of the forest, Mark was the first to break the silence.
"You have a really nice family, Jimmy," Mark smiled. "Thank you for bringing me and for trusting me with something this important."
The sweatlodge had left Jimmy feeling oddly connected yet somehow removed from his usual consciousness. He was aware of his best friend's words but didn't respond right away. At last, a smile crossed Jimmy's face and he nodded. "You make a difference, Bro. Who else could I possibly trust with something like this?" Suddenly, he let out a soft chuckle aand grinned at Mark. "And who knows what we are going to find once we've got you settled at the tipi and me half naked on the side of the mountain under a full moon?"
no subject
It seemed that the sweat lodge ritual had deeply effected his friend. There was a kind of disconnect between what was said and going on around him and whatever was going on in the younger man's head. Mark just went with it. He knew from his own experiences how such spiritual tests could effect a person for quite some time, and Jimmy was only part way through his journey. "I don't know, but I appreciate it." Mark grinned back only partly suppressing a chuckle of his own. "I don't know, bruh, but as long as nothing worse than a bear or two, I'll be good." He patted the rifle. Not that he intended to kill anything, let alone a bear, but a few shots fired into the air should scare them off.
His own thoughts drifted to his vision and that he had 'spoken' with the snake on his arm. He had always hated that thing, that thing that kept him alive, but Hadrian had told him that it hated its existence as much as he did. He found that he didn't hate it quite as much. A shared sentence, perhaps? But there was something else it had said that while it didn't give hope, made him think about this curse from a different angle. He shook his head, forcing his thoughts to the present, to the mountain, and to Jimmy. His own small revelation could wait until he'd had a chance to talk to Stelios.
no subject
Looking down at his left hand that had been resting on his thigh, he remembered the vision he had of it appearing scaly and inhuman. It looked completely natural now, of course, but would this vision quest that his family had urged him to go on give him the answers that he needed? Given what Maze, Meryt, his grandparents, and even his own mother had hinted about his somehow being “different”, he vowed he wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Even though Mark had made the journey up to the tipi, with him, he would definitely have to go up to a higher elevation on the mountain alone. He would have nothing more than his pipe, a blanket, and very little else. Whether he would fast and pray for the night into the next day and into another night, he wasn’t certain.
As the horses made their way along the steep rocky trail, Jimmy could make out the lodge poles of where the tipi stood. Glancing back at Mark, Jimmy pointed to the ridge and what would be their home for the next couple of days. “Just a little bit further and we should be able to set up camp pretty quickly,” he grinned.
When the two men finally arrived at the top, the trees and trail opened up to a clearing surrounded by cedars, spruces, and a few fruit trees. Aunt Lily had made it a kind of hobby to make the place as efficient as she had made the family’s cabin. Even if they were up at camp, they would always have something that they could forage from what amounted to an entire food forest that surrounded the tipi. Thankfully, bears, and other wildlife seemed to respect the space, too. Was it the prayers and blessings of Grandfather Takawitha and the others that came to the space that established it as safe? Jimmy couldn’t be too sure.
Jimmy slid from the saddle and immediately began undoing the cinch on Marvin’s saddle. “You earned your oats today, my friend,” Jimmy patted the horse’s neck and began leading him toward a makeshift horse enclosure. Inside the corral, there was a small spring that bubbled up from the ground on its own and into a trough that held water that could be readily accessed by both humans and animals alike. Once the horses were put away and secured, Jimmy and Mark made their way to the tipi. Jimmy unsecured the door and led the way inside the surprisingly spacious dwelling.
There were spaces for beds along the walls of the walls, a central pit where they would build a fire, and along the back wall was a permanent alar. On it was a buffalo skull, a bundle of white sage, and other objects that his aunt and uncle had suspected he and Mark might need.
As Mark got himself settled, Jimmy set about starting the fire. Since they still had a few hours till sundown, Jimmy mentally and physically prepared himself for the night ahead.
no subject
His friend was already starting the fire as he brought the last of the supplies inside the tipi and took a long look around. Despite his long life, it was his first time inside the traditional indigenous dwelling and the space and level of comfort with the beds around the edge and he was impressed. He set everything down in neat piles before crouching down in front of the fire, which was just catching, across from Jimmy.
For a few moments he was quiet, just watching the flames, and he sensed that Jimmy's mind was already on whatever exactly it was ahead of him. "You doing okay?" he asked softly as he sat down from his crouch, propping one arm on his bent knee. "What happens next, and what do you need me to do?"
no subject
"Don't worry, I'm fine. This is just sort of what we call having a 'soft head'. The sweat lodge can do that to you on occasion. I have to admit though, I haven't been in a sweat for about nine months, so it was long overdue," Jimmy admitted.
Perhaps, Jimmy wondered to himself, that had something to do with the strange hallucinations he had during the sweat lodge ceremony. He had entered it almost expecting his sister, Mara, to appear to me as she had in dreams over the last few months. At the thought of his little sister, he couldn’t help but wonder what she might have thought of all this had she survived that horrible day.
Noticing that the fire could use just a little more fuel, he threw a couple of small pieces of elder wood on the small flames. Only when he saw the subtle increase in smoke and fire did he continue. "What happens next is I am going to go up to the next peak with my pipe, a blanket, and very little else. I will spend the night there, and yes, it is going to be cold, so make sure you stay warm,” Jimmy warned. “If I'm not back by late afternoon tomorrow, then it's time to saddle up Sassy and see if you can find me - or what's left of me," he grinned.
The truth was, something could always go wrong, even when in prayerful contemplation with Spirit. Strangely, he wasn't too worried about it, and yet, there was a feeling, a decidedly different sensation radiating from his heart outward even before they had arrived at his aunt and uncle's cabin that morning.
An hour or two later, Jimmy left the lodge and continued up to the next peak. It was a bit of a hike but not so much that it would have taxed him too much for the night ahead.
Successful guitarists and musicians were not a humble lot when it came to their place in the world, and yet now as he was attempting to connect to the core of who he was as a person, that was exactly his end goal. With each step, he made silent prayers of gratitude to his ancestors, to his parents and sister, and to Wakauntanka for all that he had been given - for his career, his strong friendships, especially with Mark and of course for Caroline, Stelios, and of course, for his relationship with Jocelyn.
As he made it to the appointed spot, he laid out the colored cloths indicating the four directions and where he would be spending the night and part of the next day, his thoughts turned to his Grandfather Two Horses’ words all those months ago saying that this vision quest was necessary.
Putting the blanket on the grassy spot he sat down on it, placing the channunpa pipe across his bare knees and began to watch the natural world around him.
no subject
It would have been easy to joke or make some light-hearted retort to Jimmy's comment about finding what was left of him, but Mark didn't. "Late afternoon. Okay." It would be a long, anxious wait. "You fucking better be in one piece."
Once Jimmy left, Mark gathered up some more firewood from outside to feed the fire throughout the night and found some jerky that Lily had packed for him, not that he felt he had much of an appetite right now. What surprised him more was that he didn't feel like drinking anything stronger than water. That need for alcohol that always itched at the back of his head was quiet for once.
He sat again by the fire, pulling one of the blankets around his shoulders. The rifle was near to hand if needed, but other than that, all he could do now was wait for Jimmy to come back off the mountain tomorrow, or worst case go search for him.
The Vision (Part 1)
By late afternoon of observation, reflection and the occasional prayer, Jimmy found himself nodding off. Closing his eyes, he let the sounds of the birds, the wind whistling through the spruces and his own breathing to lull him to sleep.
It had only been a few moments when the sound of a familiar voice caused him to open his eyes again. Struggling to focus, he found a beautiful young woman dressed in soft white doeskin sitting opposite to him. As soon as his eyes were opened, she gifted him with a smile. She seemed familiar, but her face seemed to change even as he looked at her.
“I’m glad you came, thiblo*,” the young woman said.
It was that one word that caused Jimmy to remember just who the woman was.”
“Kamimila?” he managed, though his voice sounded distant even to his own ears, though she seemed real enough. “Mara?”
“Well, DUH!” the woman snorted. “You didn’t think I would let you go through all this without showing up did you?”
She may have died when she was only four, but somehow, his baby sister’s personality was still there.”
“They actually let you say ‘duh’, on the other side?” Jimmy smirked. “What happened to all those traditional ways the elders always talk about? By the way I miss you every day.”
“It’s more integrated than you think, silly,” the Spirit Who Was Mara, said, then nodded at his last comment.” I miss you, too.”
“I’m sorry if I wasn’t the best brother.”
“Since when?” Mara laughed.”You put up with me following you around. I mean, sure we fought like siblings do, but you were - and are always my hero, Jimmy.”
Mama and Papa and the others send their love and prayers for your vision quest. Papa says, no matter what happens, you will always be his son in his eyes”
Jimmy couldn’t help but feel more than a little confused and taken aback at his sister’s comment. “I have no idea what you mean by that, Kamimila. Papa always said I was his son as far as he was concerned. And in spite of my being here or the love from family on Mama’s side, I always felt closer to my Lakota kin.” He then gave her a smile. ”I think that is due in large part because of you.”
The spirit that was the adult version of his baby sister nodded. “I am told the man who knew our mother has been aware of you. No matter what happens, know that you have thousands of ancestors standing behind you - including Two Horses himself.”
Jimmy closed his eyes and nodded, grateful to hear the name. But as soon as he opened them again to speak to her once again, the spirit of his sister had disappeared. All that was left was the field around him and the sound of the animals that awakened as the mountain became shrouded in the falling darkness. Glancing skyward, Jimmy heard his stomach growl with hunger. Ignoring it, he turned his thoughts back to watching and observing and hoping that he would come to understand his little sister’s words.
The Vision (Part 2)
He glanced up at the night sky to see the brightest stars beginning to peak out and let their presence be known. It wasn’t hard to imagine that there were millions or even billions of other planets, other worlds, all rotating around the countless stars in the sky. Were they other places, other times? Did they see things in a similar way with as much a sense of Connection as what he was feeling now? Of course, no one could ever answer such questions with absolute certainty. The Great Mystery rarely dealt in such absolutes, yet even that realization made him feel more connected to All That Is.
All around him, the nocturnal animals were waking up. The owls called out to each other, at times sounding more like South American monkeys at the zoo than they did birds. Coyotes yipped in the direction of the tipi where Mark was and the night became less something that someone would fear and only added to the ease he was allowing himself to feel. It was in that moment that he realized, he hadn’t even thought about the guitar, the clubs, Caroline or even Joie for a while.
The night was becoming cold, and the breechclout that he was wearing offered little protection. After his stomach reminded him how hungry it really was, Jimmy shifted to put the wool Pendleton blanket underneath himself around his body and sat back down on the ground. The blanket offered just enough added warmth. His newfound comfort along with his hunger pangs actually helped him to recenter himself. Listening to the creatures of the night, he closed his eyes and let them lull him back to sleep.
It was the nearby snuffling and grunting that awakened him. Even as Jimmy fought his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he could see the large grizzly searching for grubs underneath a tree that had fallen long ago. Fighting the immediate impulse to panic, run and alert the bear, Jimmy fought to keep his breaths even and not react. Should he play dead, he wondered? The sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears seemed to be the only thing that he could hear. He prayed silently in his mind to Tankashila, Wakauntanka, the ancestors - or anyone in the Unseen Realms to aid him in this rather precarious situation.
At one point he had to suppress a laugh, imagining a headline splashed across the dailies, “L.A.’s Latest Guitar God Mistaken for Grubs and Eaten in the Wilds of Canada”.
Well, if that was the way he was going to go to meet his ancestors and join his family in the hereafter, he thought, he would just have to deal with that…. But definitely not without a fight! Gaining control of his thoughts by pushing his darkest imaginings away, he remained calm.
The bear, now satisfied by a particularly rich section of the log that yielded the much sought-after grubs, finally moved away into the dark edges of the forest, snuffling for more concealed treats along the way. Jimmy had to admit he was grateful that he didn’t end up being one of those treats.
Once he regained a sense of calm, he focused on the lesson that the bear had just presented him. Even when things looked dire, staying calm and facing his fear seemed to be the course of action Still, he knew that it was not the insights that his Elders had encouraged him to seek in the forest. He was there to learn about the parts of himself that remained hidden. To him, that seemed a far-away enough goal that he allowed himself to go back to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was not the creatures of the forest that awakened him but the cacophony of birds chirping and Wiyoheyapa, the sun, our morning star who rules the power of the East. The orb was not visible yet, but the edges of the sky were a gradient of purple, mauve, and blue with the night sky and its stars beginning their retreat. Silently, he felt thankful that he had made it to another day and was about to pick up his chanunpa pipe when he looked down at himself.
Gone was the body that he knew. In its place he saw the same scales or iridescent green and peacock blue covering what would be his arms and hands - only they weren’t arms and hands - they were claw-like fingers attached to arms that were instead wings…giant wings Blinking his eyes he felt as if there were another set of lenses attached to his eyes, and looking back at the rest of himself, his legs and body were enormous!
” No…this is just part of the vision quest,” he said out loud to himself. At least his voice seemed the same. “Is this what you meant Mara? What the fuck is happening?” Jimmy then realized that “using bad words” during such a sacred ceremony was frowned upon by his people, and so he internally apologized to the ancestors. This had to be one of those dreams, he resolved. He would wake up, open his eyes and it would be as much a dream as the last time it happened inside the sweat lodge. Yes, that would do it, surely!
Taking a deep, deliberate breath, focusing on the sunlight that was increasing by the moment and warming him, he slowly opened his eyes to look down…..
NOTHING HAD CHANGED!!
Jimmy fought to keep down another rising tide of panic. Facing his fears with the bear was one thing, but this?! What if this was how he would stay? Where was his breechclout? His pipe? And more importantly, how would he play guitar - or marry the girl of his dreams? “Hi Joie,” he muttered to himself, “it’s me, Jimmy. Yeah, there’s a little something that I need to ask you? Are you into interspecies dating? Because a funny thing about that happened to me on my vision quest….”
It was all that he could do to keep from hyperventilating and running around the ridge in a panic. When he saw a dark, shadowy, yet familiar figure standing on the ridge between him and the sun.
Revelation
Watching the guitarist that had wowed the L.A. music scene and the Fae blood of his benefactoress and her youngest daughter and their family now struggle with a form he was unused to was precious indeed. Of course, the lad was shocked. Who wouldn't be? To wake up and find that you'd changed into a form that you had never known before and not sure how to get out again? Ah, the beginning lessons of those who were born with the ability to shapeshift always amused him - whether or not they could assume the forms that he could, it made no difference. It almost made him feel as if he might be able to laugh.
Who would have suspected that the seed he planted a little more than two decades ago in the Canadian wilderness would turn out so well? he wondered. Melek found himself wishing for a bit of cognac. It would be the perfect thing, even at this hour, especially since he was so very pleased with himself at this moment. If the Celestial had been either his form of a peacock or a dragon, he would have been sorely tempted to preen himself and strut with great pride. None of his brothers, not Azazeal, Amenadeil, or even his his elder brother, Lucifer, had any idea of what he had been planning all of this time.
Oh, yes. Azz definitely most definitely been scattering his seed in as many young witches as he could possibly impress. One or two actually came to term before Dee and his progeny quickly snuffed them out. The Peacock Angel would have liked to have claimed to feel sorry for his brother Azazeal, but in truth, his brother’s failures amused him more than anything else.
Melek on the other hand, had been choosy and enjoyed taking his time. Yes, there were witches in his past, but he had watched more closely than all the rest. Therese Adams had been a beautiful and sensitive young woman. Not only did her beauty capture and hold the Angel’s attention, but she was also known to be compassionate, kind, and above all, curious about the world around her. She had not been afraid of the legends of the Mohawk people which warned about lake serpents that tipped over boats and ate the warriors inside. Even if he had done such things on occasion, he would never imagine doing something so terrible to Therese. She was far too interesting. She would come to the water’s edge and sing the songs in her head and told the lake and the land often how much that she loved it and expressed her gratitude for being born and able to live in such a place. Such a quality made her an irresistible prize to him.
Over the weeks he would listen to her songs. Weeks passed into months until finally, he resolved that he would approach her in his dragonadae form. If she did not flee from him, he would transform into that of a man. As he expected. Therese, for her part, did not run from him but rather reached out to touch his blue-green and violet scales and had looked up into his eyes with wonder.
“How can anything so beautiful be terrible?” she had asked aloud.
Therese’s words pricked in him now - as if that were even possible.
Again, the young woman did not run away but instead offered him a smile and her hand. He had made no enchantment so that he could approach her. What she gave him in those moments were choices that were all her own. Even when he revealed his true self to her, she had not been afraid. Even when she gave herself to him completely, her dark eyes had looked up at him with adoring trust.
It was almost heartbreaking when he told her that the Yazidi People who lived in the mountains far across the ocean had summoned him and he had no choice but to come. He assured, her, however, that he would dream of her often while he was away, and vowed to return when he could.
That was not how it happened, however. He kept putting it off again and again until almost a year later when he returned to the lake. Therese, who had been with child, traveled to the other side of the country to a gathering of the First Peoples of the Americas. There she had met David Two Horses and the two were married in short order. The man did not care about the circumstances surrounding her pregnancy.
Melek was grateful to David Two Horses for having taken care of Therese and her unborn child. He asked her no questions and accepted the boy as his own. Even as he watched from far away, he could see that his son would have both his mother’s beauty and his own. That would serve his ends in time.
It was near torture for Melek to keep his plans all to himself. He had wheedled and manipulated his way into the Unseelie Court. It almost felt a bit dishonest to have seduced and loved Amarante and became a member of Faelyn’s inner court. He knew that with Caroline, his cause would be for naught. She loved the Immortal Spartan and that, as they say, was that. She was far too innocent and loving for his tastes anyway.
But Jocelyn, ah Jocelyn! She so closely resembled her Halfling mother when she was younger that it was almost frightening.
What was even more delicious as he watched the affections between his son and Jocelyn growing that he had sensed his brother Azazeal sniffing around the girl ever since she was a babe in her crib. True to form, the Grigori had been carefully watching and overseeing her development as a child, and it was clear, at least to Melek’s mind, that his brother had every intention of eventually seducing the girl when the time was exactly right. More power to him if he could actually accomplish it. Certainly, Faelyn had not played a witting role in his brother’s plans other than snatching her long-dead husband from the Realm of the Dead and eventually give birth to Jocelyn. What was most interesting was that the girl’s father was of even older Fae blood than his Fae wife.
Could either he or his brother be blamed if both daughters both carried more Fae blood in their veins than either of their parents? That increased bloodline made them more desirable in terms of cementing plans that were bigger than themselves. What was clear to Melek Taus was that Azazeal in aiding Faelyn to bring her husband back was not out of a sense of charity or even a favor from their long-established friendship. Rather it was precisely the kind of Celestial plot that he himself had been making.
And now, the child he had given Therese was a man, and was finally coming face to face with who he was in the form of a Dragon. As Melek allowed himself to be seen, and the now-golden eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?" The large creature spoke with Jimmy's voice.
"I think you know already," Melek said as he took a few steps forward to stand before his son.
The realization that dawned on the face of Jimmy-Who-Who-Was-Now-A-Dragon almost caused Melek's chest to puff up in pride.
"You!" Jimmy said, "I know you!"
"Yes, you do."
"What the hell are you doing here? How did you get here?" Jimmy's questions blurted out quickly one after the other.
"I've been watching for a while, Jimmy," Melek shrugged. Then his voice was more amicable. "You really do look like your mother, you know. She was beautiful and talented. But now it seems as if you're a little.....stuck."
Re: Revelation
Memories of Yule in France came flooding back to him. He had met the man….(was he really a man after all?)
Now somehow he stood before him, claiming to have ‘known’ his mother in every sense of the word and inferring….
"I've been watching for a while, Jimmy," Melek shrugged. Then his voice was more amicable. "You really do look like your mother, you know. She was beautiful and talented. But now it seems as if you're a little.....stuck."
“Stuck?! Oh really? You know, I’m probably just dreaming, hallucinating after the sweat, and not eating. I’m just going to wake up and you’ll be gone and Mark and I will go back to my aunt and uncles and then I will go home.”
“Hmm….I really don’t think so,” the tall, bald figure that was Melek shrugged. “You see, Indigenous people were and are so close to Creation that shapeshifting often just comes naturally to them. It's similar to we Celestials like me…but not quite. You seem to have inherited at least one of my forms. Lovely, I really must say.”
The bastard seemed rather chuffed after making his last claim, as if the predicament that Jimmy now found himself in was not only amusing but completely natural - and worst of all, expected.
Jimmy didn’t like what Melek was inferring. That he had indeed been the unknown, and forever absent ‘father’ that David Two Horse, the only many he had ever known as his Papa, stepped forward to replace. Had he stalked his mother? Then had he seduced her when she was at her most vulnerable?
The whole idea that he had been created not out of love but out of something more sinister welled up angrily inside of him. Jimmy lumbered forward toward Melek as best he could, his arms serving in a way that they never had before, their expanse dragging on the rocky soil. He could at least sense the sheer size of this form, and the fact that although he could speak as he always had, his mouth was now filled with much larger teeth. It was all he could do to resist lunging forward and attempting to take a bite out of Melek.
“You’d better explain what you mean by that. I came up here to find out about myself, not banter back and forth with your arrogant ass!”
“Careful,” Melek clucked admonishing Jimmy, “You did all that difficult spiritual work before you got here and the ceremonies yesterday. For all that hard work and contemplation, you should be happy that you actually achieved your goal.” Melek gave an elaborate, almost Gallic shrug, “Why mess it up now? You are what you are, and I find it ironic that the stage name that you chose pretty much sums it up beautifully. Why not have a bit of fun with it along the way? That is, once you come to know how things work a little better, of course.”
“What I want,” Jimmy’s voice was terse and angry, “Is to shapeshift back out of this….form! I didn’t ask for this, and I sure as hell don’t want it!”
The Celestial’s face cracked a bemused smile. “Oh, but you will go back, don’t worry. However, I really wouldn’t be much of a father if I did all of the work for you, would I?”
’So this guy actually was his real father.’ Jimmy bristled inwardly with Melek’s admission. Before he could let loose another barrage of emotions punctuated by “less than spiritual” expletives, Melek spoke.
“Give me a hint then you son of a bitch!”
“Your family on both sides have known the possibility,” Melek ignored Jimmy’s latest outburst. “Just think about all of the ways that you could help both the Mohawk and the Oceti Sakowin - all of the Nations through what you can do- what you are. Imagine what that could mean to you and Jocelyn…”
At the mention of Joie’s name, Jimmy’s anger broke loose at last. “If you hurt her….” He growled, surprised at the depth of the rumble that came out of his own chest.
Melek wrinkled his face and scoffed. “Now why on earth would I do anything like that? I adore the girl and her family. Watched her, her sister, and even her mother grow up. Actually, I think she is absolutely the perfect choice for you, my son.”
“NO! You don’t get to call me that!” Jimmy snarled. “You were never a father to me! You abandoned my mother and David Two Horses was a good man! He stepped up and raised me as his own son! He insisted on making sure that I knew that. Where the hell were you?”
“Where I had to be,” Melek said simply, offering Jimmy no further explanation. “I just thought you should know that there is a lot more to life than being the center of attention - not that I ever disliked being that. Sometimes being underestimated has a clear advantage.”
By now the sun had come up over the ridge. The birds and other creatures of the forest didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary with a dragon and a Celestial arguing on the ridge. The songs seemed undiminished, almost as even louder than they had been before.
“I cannot stay like this,” Jimmy said.
Melek shook his head. “No, you can’t. As for that ‘hint’ you asked for, you will remember once you come to accept the fact that you are Oniare by blood. Once you remember that and embrace it, you’ll be able to revert to your human form. Just be careful who you allow to become aware of who and what you are. People still fear and will try to slay dragons.”
Jimmy blinked. By the time he opened his eyes, Melek was gone. Looking down, Jimmy realized that he was still in dragon form, his scales and leathern wings glowing in the growing sunlight.
Re: Revelation
The rest of the night he slept, fitfully for the most part with fractured dreams mostly about the snake and the vision he had seen inside the sweatlodge. At dawn, he was wide awake and rebuilt the fire, heating some water over it to make himself some coffee. After a while, and no sign of Jimmy, boredom began to set in a bit, so he went outside and brushed down both horses. Not that they really needed it, but it was something to do. He gave them some feed and checked his watch. Just past noon. Jimmy would be coming down off the mountain soon, and he took a look up the trail his friend had gone on but there was no sign of him. Not that he expected to see him. Jimmy had told him to wait until late afternoon, and he would, but he hoped he was okay and hadn't been eaten by a bear or frozen to death overnight.
As the afternoon drew on and there was still no sign of Jimmy, Mark needed to do something and he was growing more agitated. Being alone with only his thoughts and with little to do wasn't helping his sobriety, and he was starting to really want a drink. It was time to distract himself and go look for Jimmy. He saddled up Sassy and, before mounting up, shoved his handgun into his waist band and slipped the rifle into the saddle. A part of him tried to tell himself that Jimmy would be fine and would be coming down the mountain at any moment, but he dismissed it. His friend had been gone too long.
Turning Sassy around, he kicked her on and headed up the mountain.
Re: Revelation
The first few tries had him ending up in bramble bushes or crashing into a pine tree, much to the chagrin of a mother red-winged blackbird who gave Jimmy the Dragon a scolding for messing up her nest and spilling out her children. Thankfully none of them were hurt. His newly minted dragon’s pride, however smarted almost as much as his wings and nose did from the earlier scrap with the brambles.
When he was at last able to get himself off the ground, and with a very few lumbering strokes of his wings took to the sky. It was an interesting sensation to sense the different drafts and to get the feel of how he could position wing, or his rudder-like tail and it would cause him to rise, descend, or to turn. He was at least somewhat appreciative that it wasn’t during his flight that he suddenly remembered how to turn back into his human form.
Landing was a whole other proposition entirely.
Turing in the slight breeze toward the peak that he had started out at, Jimmy folded his wings, trying to glide into the clearing feet first, He hadn’t expected to hit the top of an old spruce tree with the tip of his right wing. The pain of it reverberated through his wing and into his side, causing him to spiral into a landing that placed him face-first on the dirt with a crash. Any animals or birds that had been in the vicinity were quick to run for cover with shrieks and squawks. When the other animals were satisfied that they weren’t in any mortal danger, they went about their business, not giving the large green and blue scaled lump on the hill a second glance.
Raising his head slightly, Jimmy snorted out the bits of soil and rocks that had landed in his nostrils and his mouth. With a low, deep moan, he picked himself up just in time to see Mark on the back of Sassy riding up toward the ridge.
Re: Revelation
He trotted up to the next rise and into a clearing -- not a natural clearing judging by the broken trees, disturbed earth, and other debris. There was a mound on the ground that didn't look quite right. Certainly not a natural part of the environment as it was not only green but blue too. Reining Sassy in, Mark looked on in frozen horror as it moved. The blue and green were actually scales, and as its head lifted and looked towards him....it was a dragon. An actual motherfucking dragon! He'd seen a lot of strange shit in his life, not least his own curse, but never a fucking dragon! What the hell had happened up here, and more to the point, where the fuck was Jimmy!?
He patted Sassy again, but oddly the horse didn't seem that spooked by the fantastical beast. Mark too several deep breaths. He was no coward, had fought many battles, but the impulse to turn and run was almost overwhelming. Instead, he put his hand behind his back to find the reassuring grip of his gun. How would a 9mm fair against those scales? It would be as effective as shooting a tank.
With his hand still resting easily behind his back, he cleared his throat, his heart still thumping hard in his chest, and summoning every ounce of the centurion he was, he tried to sound far more commanding than he felt. A magical creature had to understand humans, right? "What did you do with my friend?"
Re: Revelation
"Relax, Mark," Jimmy let out an almost shuddering sigh. "I didn't do anything to your friend. I am your friend."
Mark made a quizzical face, his eyes growing wider. "Is...is that really you?!"
"Yeah, it's me," he said flatly, resisting the temptation to shake his now very large and heavy head. "Nice to see Sassy isn't too worried about me looking like this. On Game of Thrones, apparently, dragons eat horses. I mean I'm hungry and all, but, I don't think Erica would speak to me if I ate her horse."
Of course, Game of Thrones was a work of fiction, but at the moment, he had no other frame of reference. it wasn't like he had read Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series or any other fantasy or scholarly book in that realm. Jimmy guessed it was probably a good thing to do research once he got back into his human form......IF he ever did!
"I would explain all of this, but I think this is going to definitely take a couple of cases of beer on the beach to explain it all."
The sun was moving through the sky and soon it would be evening again. He knew that he had to figure out how to un-dragon himself before his Aunt Lily insisted that Walter and some of the other men in the village come help search for him and Mark.
Re: Revelation
It was probably a good thing that dragon Jimmy would explain later over some beers – which he most definitely needed now – as he barely knew what question to ask first…what? how? why? Speaking of which, dragon Jimmy, Jimmy Dragon, now how could that be a fucking coincidence? Even if his friend hadn’t been aware of it, there must have been something on a subconscious level.
He cleared his throat again. “Well, I suppose you won’t have a problem cracking open a beer with one of those claws.” Humour was always good to fall back on when your mind was still reeling. “But I’d prefer to have a beer with, er, human Jimmy than…errr...” He pointed to the huge beast before him. “Or are you – what’s its name? – Drogon from now on.” Jimmy had introduced him to Game of Thrones some months back when they had spent a few weeks binging the series.
Re: Revelation
When Mark hesitated then compared him to the fictional dragon on Game of Thrones, he let out a snorting laugh that moved aside more dirt and rocks Of course, he didn’t mind. During their Game of Thrones binge, Jimmy, not surprisingly, had been rooting for Team Targaryen all the way. But still….
In spite of his current predicament and the fear that he may have lost his best friend over it, Jimmy was grateful that Mark chose to use humor instead.
“Oh, ha, ha, Brah,” Jimmy shook his very large head. “No. The Cliff’s Notes version of this sordid tale is apparently my real Dad, who just happens to be a shapeshifter of some renown, showed up.The smug bastard….” Jimmy resisted the temptation to grind his jaw. Who knew with the teeth he now had if that would cause damage to his human form. “Apparently, this is a part of who I am. Still, I have this idea niggling in the back of my head as to how I can get out of this form and back to my old self….” Jimmy mused, then quickly added, “Hopefully anyway.”
Jimmy realized that his cousin Erica’s horse, probably wouldn’t take too kindly to a huge, toothed thing the size of a plane getting a running jump and flying overhead. He couldn’t say he would blame Sassy for it, either. “Maybe you can take Sassy back down to the tipi rounding the other side. I will take off in the opposite direction toward the lake. It’s straight down, and with any luck, I’ve figured out this flying thing well enough that I can avoid hitting any trees this time.”
In spite of Mark’s obvious surprise at the turn of events, if anyone could help him come to terms with what was going on, his best friend could. If he were fortunate, maybe, just maybe, Mark could help him broach the subject with Jocelyn, too, when the time came.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The two friends agreed that Mark would get a bit of a head start back down to the tipi, while he would attempt to fly down from the ridge and into the lake. If he figured out how the wings and tail worked, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to take a nosedive into the lake, and no one would be the wiser.
“I’ll meet you back down there,” Jimmy reassured his friend. “Just remember, not a word about this to anyone - until I figure out what’s going on.”
“Hey, you’ve got my word on it,” Mark said as he mounted Sassy and gently reined her back toward the trail he had taken up to the ridge.
When Jimmy could no longer hear the ring of horse’s hooves echoing off the side of the hill he lumbered to a place where he would get a good running start toward the upper ridge. Suddenly remembering what it took for the dragons on Game of Thrones to take to the air, Jimmy imagined that might not be a bad approach for him to take. Half unfolding his wings he began running toward the ridge as best he could. Just before a sharp dropoff of the ridge to the lake surrounded by evergreen forest, Jimmy gave two flaps of his wings, and turned his nose upward to try to gain altitude. He cleared the rocks, with only the tip of his tail catching a small wayward sprig of a tall Norway spruce.
As he felt the wind lift his wings, Jimmy focused momentarily on the wing strokes that could take him higher or a slight pulling in from what would have been his wrist, to steer him. Below, he could see deer, bear, and a moose or two wandering in the forest. The deer were most skittish when his large, dark shadow passed overhead. Even if he was famished from his vision quest, he didn’t want to give in to the hunger pangs - not yet. Taking a deep breath, he pulled back slightly on his wings before beginning his nose dive toward the lake. The dark, blue to black waters beckoned and sparkled below him, giving an almost overwhelming sense that it held the answer he was looking for.
Trees, rocks, and the landscape streaked by on either side of him until at last, he folded his wings until he skimmed, nose-first into the beckoning depths. Even at the speed, he was traveling, he knew the lake was far deeper than he would be prepared to go. What if he did turn back into his human form and was so deep he couldn’t get back up to the surface again? He forced the thought away. Of course, he reasoned to himself, with everything else that had happened in his life, the people like Mark, Stelios, and now his true father, there didn’t seem to be much that would surprise him.
Arching his back, he turned his nose back toward the surface. The light of the sun on the surface showed as a small, distorted dot of orange, and what he could perceive of the sky seemed to be showing red and mauve that foretold of the end of the day. Even as he moved in the water, wings, and tail, he began to feel a tingling in his arms and a feeling in his gut as if he were being pulled inside out. The sensation grew until it almost knocked the breath out of him. When he looked down, he saw what had been his ‘wings’ disappear. Glancing back, he realized he no longer had the tail that had been almost as long as a city bus.
By the time he broke the surface of the lake, he was almost completely returned to his human form. Had it all been a dream? Seeing what remained of the scales he had seen while in the sweatlodge convinced him otherwise. It was something he was going to have to come to grips with. He had no idea what had triggered his changing form, nor what the limitations were. Again, he would have to rely on Mark to try and figure it out.
As he padded up onto the shore, he realized he was completely naked with not even a breechclout to cover himself. As Jimmy hiked the short distance back up to where the tipi was, he mused to himself that it was a good thing that he was Indigenous. If he did happen to encounter someone, it was likely that no one would even notice his nakedness as anything out of the ordinary. Besides, he grinned to himself, once he got back to the camp, it certainly wasn’t anything that Mark hadn’t seen before.
Re: Revelation
He nodded agreement about taking Sassy down away from being spooked by a huge ass dragon flying over them. Giving Jimmy his word to not say anything, which was no problem. He had his own secrets that he'd shared with Jimmy as well as other not quite normal human friends and acquaintances, he added, "Good luck, bro! And I hope to see you down there on two legs and no wings or massive teeth." He reined against Sassy's neck to turn her around. "I'll keep an eye out for you!" And then he rode away back down the mountain.
Back at the tipi, Mark turned Sassy loose in the pen with Marvin once again. He had seen Dragon-form Jimmy flying over the lake, and he started down towards the shore, grabbing a blanket because with the sun starting to go down, the air had picked up a distinct chill. Before he even got to the lake's edge, he saw a dripping wet and naked friend walking up towards him. Not that he cared, naked men were nothing out of the ordinary for him, Jimmy included. He did grin as he tossed the blanket over to him. "So, a packed bag would probably a good idea to carry around, I'm thinking, just in case you do this in not such a secluded place." Despite himself, Mark found himself watching his friend with some curiosity, looking to see if there was any sign of the dragon left.
"You okay?" It felt right to just check in with him, all his other questions would wait. It would be dark soon enough and they still needed to head down the mountain and back to Uncle Walter's before any worried relatives sent out a search party.
Re: Revelation
Jimmy chortled at Mark’s suggestion. “Yeah, remind me to buy two of everything from here on out - just in case,” he quipped as he began wrapping the blanket around himself. While some of the family may wonder why he was wandering around naked without so much as a breechclout, the blanket would be an acceptable substitute until he could get a hot shower and get dressed again.
"You okay?" Mark asked, as nonchalantly as possible.
Jimmy opened the blanket back up, looked down at his intimate bits. Not seeing any visible sign of dragon scales, he glanced up at Mark and gave a sharp nod before wrapping the blanket back around himself. “Yep. Everything seems to be in order.”
Mark gave a laugh and shook his head. The two had been close enough to each other knowing that there wasn’t much in the world that would come as a surprise about the other and so many times when they would laugh at things that others just wouldn’t understand. Jimmy had to admit to himself, in spite of Stelios and Mark roundly drinking him under the table on his first night in Los Angeles, he truly valued Mark as he would a brother.
Securing the blanket around himself he had his arms free enough to untie the other horse that Mark had had the foresight to bring down to the lake. They weren’t too far from Aunt Lily and Uncle Walter’s cabin and likely the kids, and especially Erica would be looking for any sign of their return. Thankfully, even on horseback, they were less than a half-hour away.
Jimmy tried to respond coherently to any attempts that Mark made at conversation, even though he knew his head was still likely to be soft from the effects of the vision quest and his transformation. His mind would sometimes wander to Joie and he would feel a tiny pinprick of worry as to whether or not she or his future in-laws-to-be would understand what happened and about who…or more importantly, what he was. Then there was his own family to consider. Had his vision of his sister’s spirit been right? Would they, would the ancestors understand about his being able to shapeshift into……something so different from most anyone else he had heard of who could do such things?
Of course, it would take days, weeks or even longer for all of it to settle within him and make sense. But one thing was for sure, Mark was right. If what happened upon the mountain were to happen again and unexpectedly, how on earth would he be able to explain it?
Re: Revelation
He was about to say something to reassure him, when they turned the final bend in the trail and Walter and Lily's house came into view. Jimmy's young cousin, Erica was standing at the end of the driveway, obviously waiting for them. Mark raised his hand in greeting. The door to the house also opened and Jimmy's aunt, uncle, and other cousins came spilling out having clearly been looking out for their return from the windows.
He waved again and glanced at Jimmy, not even trying to guess what he was feeling. "However you want to tell them what happened, or if you don't want to talk about it at all." Although given the blanket covering him, probably some explanation would be needed at the very least. "I'm right beside you, bro."
Re: Revelation
When he and Mark arrived back at the cabin, Aunt Lily, Uncle Walter, and the kids didn’t question his state of dress or inquire as to how things went. They knew that it would take a while for him to process what happened and what he had seen
He went through the motions of taking a shower, getting dressed in clean clothes that he still had in his knapsack. After he was fully dressed, he took a bit of the food that was offered. The elk stew and fry bread were more than enough, but beyond taking a single serving of each, surprisingly he wasn’t feeling too hungry.
That night at the fire pit outside the cabin under the stars Aunt Lucille sat down next to him on the log bench. In the background, he could hear Mark and Uncle Walter nearby playing some sort of game with the kids. Those were the kinds of sounds that he remembered from when he spent his summers with his maternal family. Even now as a grown man, the smells, sights, and sounds of the place helped him to relax. It was what he needed after all he had seen and experienced on his vision quest.
“Auntie,” Jimmy began carefully, “Did my mom ever tell you about my real father?”
Aunt Lily was silent for a few moments before she nodded. “Yes,” she acknowledged. “Patrice told me on the night that the two of them had been together. As sisters, I knew she was seeing something in the woods. Of course, you know our people - there are some things you don’t discuss or speak their names out of fear or just not wanting to know. Anyway, I never questioned her version of anything she told me…..after.”
“Did she describe him to you at all?” Jimmy asked.
Lily let out a long sigh. “Just a little. Your mother said that he was at once beautiful, terrible, strange, and not quite human.”
Jimmy scoffed at the last. “Yeah. Definitely ‘not quite’!”
There was another silence between them, and it seemed as if the entire forest, including Mark, Uncle Walter, and the kids got quiet, too. Jimmy was certain that his aunt was choosing her words carefully, even though she had no idea what had happened to him during his quest.
“Jimmy,” Aunt Lily spoke at last. “There is nothing you can do to change my mind, your family’s mind about you. We love you, we helped raise you, and as you must know, we and the Mohawk People will always protect you as one of us. We have always suspected who or what your real father was. It doesn’t matter. Not to us.”
Jimmy let out a scoff and poked a stray coal back into the circle of stones that made the fire pit. “Not even if I end up being some huge dragon?”
Aunt Lily shook her head and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, planting a kiss on the side of his forehead. “Hell, you’re already a rock and roll star! So you can believe me when I say, not even then.”