Goodbye, My Brother
EVERYONE LEANED OVER to look into Thomas's face, Charmian kneeling beside him and holding his hand tightly in her own. She chewed on her lip as the glow from Chibiabos faded, and leaned closer. He lay still and silent on the cold stone floor, and her eyes began to water; then, after what seemed to be an eternity, she thought she felt a coldness seeping up into her hand, and glanced down at it, then back up at his face.
The slightest flinch passed across Thomas's features, then his eyes slowly dragged themselves open. He blinked a few times, brow furrowing, and brought up his free hand to put it to his head. He grimaced.
"Ow..." His eyes opened and he now saw everyone leaning over him, and he blinked a few more times, his eyes growing wide. They shifted from one to the next and his brow furrowed before his stare focused on Charmian.
"Charmian...?" He looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Why are you all staring at me like that...?"
Charmian's own eyes grew huge as she felt her heart seemingly expanding in her chest. He looked at her again when she let out a choked noise, tears flooding down her cheeks, and a second later she'd put her good arm around him, her face pressed to his chest. Thomas's mouth opened in surprise but no sound came out.
"I'm so glad you're back," Charmian sobbed, her voice muffled.
"Back--?" Thomas glanced at everybody standing over him, baffled. "Where did I go--?"
Moon Wolf bent down and carefully took hold of Charmian's arm, pulling it away from him so he could sit up. She sat on her haunches and wiped at her eyes as he did so, an utterly confused expression on his face. "Did I miss something--?" he asked, then his brow furrowed again. "Weren't all of you..." He looked around once more. "Where's..."
"He's gone," Charmian managed to get out, still sniffling and rubbing her eyes. "It's over."
"Over--?" His mouth fell open. "And I missed it--?"
Charmian shook her head and couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. "You came back in time for the best part!" She put her arm around him again, and all that he could do was glance around at the others and bite his lip.
"Baby Brother--?" Peepaukawiss suddenly said, and they all glanced toward Chibiabos. He was rising to his feet now, but he seemed even paler than before, and when he held up his hand Charmian thought she could almost see through it. Immediately Manabozho and Puka were before him, and Charmian let go of Thomas to step toward him herself.
"Chibiabos--!" She halted and looked at his fading form, anxiety stabbing through her as she remembered losing him on the Spirit Road. "What's happening--?"
"I cannot stay here much longer," Chibiabos murmured, looking at his fingers wistfully. "The life that the Ogimah-Quae gave me is leaving."
"Where will you go?" Charmian asked as the others crowded around. "Will you go back to the Spirit Land?"
He slowly shook his head. "I too was turned back from the Road," he said. "And my body will not survive here long. My fate will be the same as Chakenapok's."
Charmian sucked in a breath and her eyes stung. "A lost spirit--?" she cried.
Puka grasped Chibiabos's arm and Manabozho gestured desperately. "Isn't there anything you can do? Anywhere you can go--?" he exclaimed.
"Baby Brother!" Puka wailed. "You CAN'T be lost again!"
Chibiabos shook his head again. "I do not belong in this world or in the Spirit Land. I cannot stay in either. I do not know..." He paused, then lowered his hand. "I will find someplace."
Thomas looked at Charmian as she gnawed on her lip, the tears welling up in her eyes and her thoughts racing frantically. After a moment she blinked, then gasped and jerked her head up. "Chibiabos! Scott's Cave!" she exclaimed; everyone looked at her and she gestured. "It's the gateway between the living world and the Spirit Land! Maybe you could stay there--? Since it's right between, maybe you could live there! If the Weavers let you in--and we have to go back there anyway! I'm sure they'd let you stay!"
Chibiabos furrowed his brow slightly. "Oh, Baby Brother, it's an EXCELLENT idea!" Puka cried, grabbing his arm and shaking it up and down. "It's just PERFECT! You can have a nice place to stay and you won't have to be all LOST again!"
Chibiabos lowered his eyes and frowned. "I do not know..."
"Oh, just do it and get it over with!" Mudjikawiss snapped, crossing his arms and scowling. "So THESE two babies won't have to go WHINING about it forever!"
Puka gave him an evil look and stuck out his tongue. "Beats you! You just don't want him to become a GHOST!" Mudjikawiss paled and started stepping back toward the tunnel.
"Please, Chibi...?" Charmian started to say, when Manabozho stepped up beside her. She glanced at him and shut her mouth when the two brothers looked at each other.
"Please, Big Brother...?" he asked softly, and she saw that his eyes were red and wet. "Even if I can never see you again...I don't want you to be lost. Not like he was. Not like you already were. I don't..." He paused and bit his lip, then took a shaky breath. "I don't want you to be all alone."
Chibiabos stared at him with mild surprise on his face, then his eyes softened and the corners of his mouth turned up just slightly. "All right," he said. "I will try Scott's Cave. And make friends with the Weavers." His smile grew.
Manabozho let out his breath, and Charmian touched his arm. Thomas just rubbed at his head. "I really feel I missed something important," he said, but didn't bother asking.
There was a scuttling sound, and they turned their heads to see Marten scampering toward the coating of ashes that Chakenapok had left behind. He poked around in them for a moment, then his face lit up and he held up one arm triumphantly, something small and glittering in his fingers. "Ta-da! FOUND it! Thank goodness! I don't know WHAT I'd do if I lost THIS!"
Charmian turned and started walking toward him as he scampered back. "What is it--?"
The Mikumwesu halted and held up a little glittering spirit stone. "Glooskap! I'm sure glad that Chakkitypok guy didn't keep him!"
Charmian's eyes goggled and she clapped her hand to her face. "GLOOSKAP!!" She bent over to look at the spirit stone and chewed furiously on her lip. "He just DISAPPEARED! How do you get him back--?"
Marten let out a huge sigh and rolled his eyes. "Well, DUUUHHHH. You think Glooskap ever leaves home without a SECURITY SYSTEM?" He stepped toward the middle of the cave and gave a huge grin. "He told me all about it on the way here! He said, just in case that dumb old Wolf tries anything with HIS spirit stone, he's got a backup plan! He said, he might try to take it over, so he had a way to make sure that wouldn't happen! He said that if Malsum tried anything, his body would go back into the stone itself, and NOTHING else would be able to get in! Not Malsum, not Chikkypoo, not ANYBODY! Then, his body AND his spirit stone would be safe!" He beamed proudly. "Self-contained security system! Better than ANYTHING by Brinks!"
Charmian gaped at him, then rubbed at her head. "You mean...you can actually do that...?" she asked, mildly confused.
Marten rolled his eyes again. "Glooskap can do ANYTHING!" He turned and lifted up the little stone, waved it in the air a couple of times--"Wake up, Glooskap, time to wake up!"--and then dashed it at the floor. Everybody cringed when it struck the stone, but it bounced a few times before rolling toward the opposite wall, and as soon as it clinked against it, there was a great poof of glittery smoke which made them wave their own hands at the air. It slowly dissipated and revealed Glooskap standing by the wall, blinking like a deer caught in headlights. His eyes shifted from left to right, and back again, then he held up a hand to rub at his neck and gave his most winning smile.
"Eh...oops," he said meekly. "Forgot to watch my back."
Charmian let out her breath and felt relief flood through her. "You're okay!" she exclaimed, and he looked at her, then at the others, then down at himself to make sure he was all in one piece. He dusted at his sleeves and straightened himself out.
"Yeah, I'm okay...a little bit rumpled, but what can one expect, from being stuck inside an itty-bitty little rock, without any MTV or anything even resembling modern plumbing..." He lifted his head to glare at Marten. "You know, you COULD'VE warned me! Why do I even carry you around if all you do is--absolutely NOTHING?!"
Marten's jaw dropped, then his eyes squinched shut and he clenched his little fists. "I DO ALL KINDS OF STUFF!! REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF!! I CAN'T HELP IT IF YOU DON'T WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!"
Glooskap opened his mouth to retort but Charmian interrupted him. "Actually, he did do a lot to help," she said, and Glooskap's mouth snapped shut, and both of them turned to look at her with wide eyes. "He helped me wake up the brothers," she explained, gesturing at everyone around them, "and that's how we defeated Chakenapok. And got your spirit stone back."
She saw Marten's eyes go huge and glassy, then they slowly squinched shut again and his mouth opened wide from ear to ear, all of his teeth showing in the hugest smile that she had ever seen. Glooskap scratched at his head and frowned a little but didn't protest.
"Huh," he said thoughtfully. "Who'd've thought that Mikumwesu could actually be good for anything other than furry bowling."
Marten's grin vanished and he hopped up and down and waved his arms. "I've told you a kabillion times! I'M ALSO GOOD FOR MAKING WAFFLES!!"
Charmian opened her mouth to speak but something grasped her arm, and she turned her head to see Manabozho staring at her. He bit his lip and peered to the side. She looked to see Chibiabos still standing nearby, his face even paler than before; she took in a breath, then tugged at Glooskap's sleeve.
"Glooskap," she said, "We have a few loose ends to tie up. First we need to get to Scott's Cave--really fast. It's on the East Bluff, toward the north end--is there any way you can--I don't know--"
"What, give you a free ride?" When she blushed he lifted his head and waved at the air dismissively. "Of course! Free rides are my speciality! Well, that, and charming the ladies." He paused. "And waffles." He turned toward the tunnel entrance and rubbed at his chin, then shook his head and turned to the next one over and nodded. "Ah, here we go...this one's a lot better. What's your whole itinerary--?"
"Scott's Cave first," Charmian said. She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Then the Sky Tree, then...we'll figure it out then."
Glooskap nodded once more and gestured at the wall next to the tunnel. "Step right on through, then. First stop, Scott's Cave!"
They all hesitated briefly; Marten at last rolled his eyes and hopped toward the wall, waving--"Well C'MON, it's not going to open up by ITSELF!"--and jumping up at it. Charmian winced when she expected him to smack right into it, but he disappeared through the stone with a tiny puff, and was gone.
Glooskap shrugged. "What, you still don't believe me...?"
Charmian rubbed her injured arm. "It's not that I don't believe you," she said; then, "But your name is the Liar."
He started huffing a little but she walked toward the wall and tentatively stepped through it, feeling something much similar to the strange sensation she always got when entering and exiting the Fairy Arch. She had to shut her eyes, the feeling of passing through solid rock was so odd; when the slight pressure against her subsided and she felt her foot strike the floor, she at last opened her eyes, and found herself standing in a darkened tunnel with glowing blue webs lacing the walls. Thomas stepped out behind her and looked up at the ceilings.
"Well," he said, "at least one thing seems to have turned out right..."
"I think we're not far from their main chamber," Charmian murmured, glancing around. After a moment she noticed the cave entrance with the shadows moving on the walls and her face lit up; she gestured at the others with her, and they followed her toward the room.
"Hello--?" she called out, her voice echoing, and immediately the scuffling clicking noises inside the cave increased, and the shadows started moving forward. "Anybody home...?" She cocked her head when a great number of the large spiders came to the entrance, waving their furry legs and clicking just as she'd last remembered them doing. They seemed to recognize her, and patted at her arms with their furry feet.
Puka's face went bone white and all of his feathers stood on end. "AAGGGHHH!!" He dove behind Manabozho and clung onto him for dear life, his eyes nearly falling out of his head.
Moon Wolf's brow furrowed and his mouth fell open. "Those are the--the Weavers--?" he blurted out, then nearly fell over trying to back away when they came toward him next, patting him with their feet and clicking. Charmian had never seen his eyes so huge before, and she had to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, these are the Weavers," she said. "But don't worry, they're harmless...Geezhigo-Quae herself said so."
"IF GEEZHIGO-QUAE TOLD YOU TO JUMP OFF OF SUNSET ROCK, WOULD YOU--?!" Puka screamed.
Charmian rolled her eyes. "I've already fallen from it, so I hardly think a jump would do much harm!" She turned to the spiders and started waving at them since she didn't know what else to do. "I came back to get my dreamcatcher! And I have something else to ask about..."
Thomas sidled toward Manabozho. "Is this sort of thing...common...where she comes from...?" he murmured, and all that Manabozho could do was shrug.
"I'm afraid I don't have your web anymore," Charmian was saying, looking down at her hand reluctantly. The web pattern that had been seared into her skin earlier was long gone, and she had no idea what could have become of it. She sighed and lowered her hand. "It seems like I lost it when I went to the Spirit Land. I can bring you back something else on credit, though. You know I'll keep my word." She blushed. "You'll just have to tell me what it is that you guys want..."
The spiders clicked and clacked and retreated, scuttling backwards. Charmian furrowed her brow and watched them converge in a sort of huddle before returning, one of them waving something at the air. When they reached her it held it out and clicked almost proudly, and she took her dreamcatcher back, looking it over. The singe marks of Chakenapok's fire still remained on the frame, so she knew that it was the same hoop; yet the webbing had been completely replaced, and they had even knotted a shiny cave pebble into it here and there. All that was missing was the feathers which had dangled from the bottom. Charmian ran her fingers over the smooth new webbing and stared in awe at the way that it glimmered in the dim light; a smile came to her face and her eyes watered. She rubbed at them.
"Thank you," she said, and had to sniffle. "But I'm not sure what I can give you in return..."
A soft shifting noise came and she saw Chibiabos come up beside her. "Perhaps I can offer them something," he suggested, and turned to the spiders. He stared at the lead one, and the spiders fell silent and stared back with their multitude of tiny eyes; after a moment the arachnids resumed their clicking and waving, and started bustling around the cave, picking up stray bits of web from the floor. Charmian frowned slightly and turned to Chibiabos.
"What did you just tell them...?"
He turned and offered a small smile. "I asked them if, in exchange, they would accept me coming to stay among them. As it is, they have long been worried about the gateway here to the Spirit Land, as there is no one to watch over it, and they are always busy making their webs. I offered to take care of this for them in exchange for your dreamcatcher, and they appear to have accepted."
Charmian's brow furrowed. "So--what are they doing--?"
Chibiabos turned to look in at them as they hurried about, waving their little bits of tattered web. "I believe they are 'cleaning house' for my arrival...so to speak."
Charmian turned to look at the Weavers again, surprised, but after a moment she smiled as well. "Well...I guess you'll fit right in here, then." She looked at Glooskap, who stood nearby with Marten clinging to his head like a barnacle, a panicked look on the Mikumwesu's face. "It looks like we're pretty much done here...I have to get to the Sky Tree to fill Geezhigo-Quae in on what's going on. I'm sure she'll want an update, finally."
Glooskap nodded, then made a face and pried Marten's paw from his eye. "All righty then...as soon as I can see where I'm going." He pulled Marten's other paw loose. "I do believe I owe that fine lady a visit as it is! Rather left her hanging, the last time." He gestured at the Weavers. "You mind terribly if we take a shortcut--?"
The spiders simply waved their legs and clicked, as usual.
Glooskap, Moon Wolf, and Thomas turned toward the wall, but Charmian hesitated, noticing that the others weren't following. Manabozho, Puka, and Mudjikawiss were all looking at Chibiabos with varying expressions on their faces; after a moment Puka's lip started quivering and his eyes welled up. Manabozho's feathers sank and he stared at the floor. Charmian looked at them for a moment, then turned back around to join them, gesturing at the others to wait.
She stopped beside Manabozho and peered up at him. He'd lowered his head so that the others couldn't see him, but she could see the tears in his eyes. It's okay to tell him goodbye, she thought. At least, this time there'll be one. She paused. And you can always come to see him again. He'll be here.
He lifted his head a little and looked at her somewhat skeptically. You're sure...?
She shrugged. Ask him yourself.
He stared at her for a moment, then his eyes shifted toward Chibiabos, and he bit his lip. Chibiabos looked at him in return before giving a faint smile.
"You do not have to say goodbye," he said softly. "I will be here. I promise."
Charmian saw Manabozho blink, then his eyes flooded. She was surprised when a second later he was hugging Chibiabos tight enough to make him gasp. She blinked herself, then had to avert her eyes; she wasn't used to seeing him act in such a way, and rather had the feeling that she shouldn't watch.
"Goodbye anyway," Manabozho said in a muffled voice. He quickly extricated himself, wiping at his eyes and seeming to scowl at his behavior. "To make up for the last two times," he mumbled.
The smile began to return to Chibiabos's face. Puka threw himself at him next, letting out a loud wail, all of his feathers quivering. "GOODBYE, BABY BROTHER!!" he yelled. "I'LL MISS YOU SOOOO MUCH! I'LL COME TO VISIT EVERY WEEK!!" He gave a loud sniff. "Well...every MONTH...at the very least!"
Manabozho let out a gusty sigh and had to pry him loose. Mudjikawiss just snorted and turned away, toward Glooskap and the others, without saying a word...though Charmian thought she saw relief in his eyes. She suppressed a smile and watched them head toward the wall before glancing back at Chibiabos herself.
She chewed on her lip for a moment, then gave an awkward wave. "I...hope I see you again," she murmured, then flushed a little. "Hopefully under better circumstances...without Wolves and ice and stuff."
Chibiabos gave her a full smile this time. "I know that you will," he said; when she blinked, his smile grew. "There is one thing I learned from all of this. You cannot help but return to this Island, someday."
Charmian's eyes widened, then she smiled herself, her eyes watering. "I guess you're right. No goodbye, then." She waved again. "Just a 'See you later.'"
Chibiabos held up his hand and waved, and they turned and followed Glooskap through the wall.
Charmian decided to keep her eyes open this time, just to see what would happen. She could feel a slight pressure against her eyes, like the feeling of being underwater, except she saw nothing but stone...but it slowly changed into wood, which shifted from brown into blue, and a moment later she stepped out onto one of the branches of the Sky Tree. She gasped when a pair of Michinimakinong ahead of her let out a yelp of surprise at the group's sudden appearance, and a second later they were surrounded by spears; it took a few moments of explaining before they were allowed to enter the Tree unscathed, though the Turtle Spirits did keep a close eye on them. As they neared the entry to the main room of the Tree, Charmian slowed her step and gave Glooskap the darkest look she could manage; he blinked at her a few times before letting out a great sigh and flinging up his hands.
"Oh, come on out and say it already!"
"I saw the way Geezhigo-Quae acted when I told her about you the last time," Charmian said, and glared at him. "Something tells me you're not exactly high on her list of esteemed visitors!"
Glooskap glared right back. "What makes you think this--? Just because it's been a couple hundred years since we last spoke--doesn't mean the fire has gone cold!"
Charmian's face screwed up. "WHAT fire--?" She waved at him before he could speak. "NEVER MIND! All I have to do is tell her what's happened. Okay? We don't need any melodramatics."
Marten scratched his ear. "I don't know what a mellow dramatiss is, but if it has anything to do with kissing people's hands and giving them pearls and asking them out on 'dates,' then there's lots of mellow dramatiss!"
Charmian's look turned positively ugly. Glooskap let out a miserable sigh and relented, leaning against the wall and sticking out his lip. "I'll remember this, young lady," he grumbled. "That you were the one who ruined what could have quite possibly been the most wonderful pairing in a million moons!"
"In your dreams, maybe," Charmian said, and turned to enter the room. Thomas followed her, but the others held back; she glanced at them briefly but Puka and Manabozho made shooing motions, so she furrowed her brow and went on without them.
Geezhigo-Quae was already turned toward them when they entered, and her ears pricked when they made their way down toward the middle of the room. Charmian tried to keep her face neutral as she walked but as soon as she looked up at the manitou woman, her blue eyes glittering, she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. Geezhigo-Quae lifted her head a little as if surprised, then her eyes softened in a way that Charmian had never quite seen before. She looked...friendly, almost.
"I take it that this issue has been resolved," she said as the two of them came to a stop.
Charmian nodded, beaming from ear to ear. She pulled out her dreamcatcher and held it up so that Geezhigo-Quae took it and looked it over. "He's...not quite defeated..." Charmian said hesitantly, earning a look, "...but it's taken care of. He won't bother anyone anymore."
Geezhigo-Quae ran her fingers along the webbing, then handed the dreamcatcher back so Charmian could tuck it away. "What do you plan to do now?"
Charmian chewed her lip. "I still have a few loose ends to tie up..." She dug in her pack, wincing at the pain in her arm, and pulled out the skin which had been holding her dreamcatcher before, unwrapping Chakenapok's skull. She frowned at it. "I'm not sure what I should do with these. Do you have any idea?"
Geezhigo-Quae tilted her head. "Without a resting place, he will not know peace."
"But...he's a lost spirit. I thought they never knew peace...?"
The manitou shook her head. "Even lost spirits may find peace, eventually, if they have a place to return to." She paused. "Do you know of any place that would have meaning for him, Mainlander...?"
Charmian furrowed her brow in thought for a moment. Then her face slowly lit up and she nodded excitedly.
"I know a place! Just the place!" She wrapped the skull up and tucked it away again. "Thanks, Geezhigo-Quae!"
Geezhigo-Quae nodded as Charmian secured her backpack, Thomas watching. "I thank you, Mainlander," she said, Charmian pausing and lifting her head to look up at her. The old woman's eyes glittered blue. "I must confess...I had my doubts. I did not believe a mainlander could sacrifice so much, just for an Island which is not even hers. Yet you have proven me wrong." Her ear twitched. "And oddly, I find that I do not much mind."
Charmian blinked at her, then felt her ears grow warm. Thomas smiled slightly and she felt like hitting his arm. "I just like this place, is all," she murmured, when a glow at her chest made her gasp, and she looked up to see that Geezhigo-Quae was holding her hand out toward her. She stared at the green glow which enveloped her, and remembered what the old woman had shown her before in the Sky Tree, along with Niskigwun. The light shifted and wrapped around her arms and legs and body, and when she lowered her head to look at her spirit stone, now flaring bright orange-red again, she took in a breath of surprise to see that the glow was there, too. She felt her heartbeat pick up, and her breath caught in her throat.
"It's..."
Geezhigo-Quae tilted her head to the side, and the corner of her mouth turned up ever so slightly. "It appears the Island has accepted you," she said, simply.
Charmian could only stare at the glow with her eyes stinging. Thomas crossed his arms. "Well, it bloody well better, what with all of the stuff you've had to go through," he said, and this time she nearly did hit him, but she told herself not to because of her arm. She rubbed at her eyes and let out her breath.
"You will find Niskigwun upon the Island," Geezhigo-Quae went on. "It appears he was detained somewhat on his way to assist you."
"Detained--?" Charmian's head popped up with a frown.
Geezhigo-Quae nodded, and her ear twitched again. "Apparently...one is not allowed to leave the Crooked Tree, until they have become guests of the lady of the house."
Charmian blinked. "Noko?" She grimaced. "Crap, I forgot about her! Poor Niskigwun!" She made a face and gestured at Thomas. "I think we'd better go get him...before he loses any more of his pride. Thank you, Geezhigo-Quae!"
They turned and started for the door out of the room. "Long Knife," Geezhigo-Quae called out, and they both halted, looking at each other uncertainly before turning back. Geezhigo-Quae nodded at Thomas and gestured at him to approach. Thomas peered at Charmian but all that she could do was shrug and nod him forward. He bit his lip a little but obeyed, crossing the room again to stop in front of the manitou woman, where he stood trying not to fidget.
"Um...yes...Ma'am?" he said, hesitantly.
"Hold your arms at your sides," Geezhigo-Quae said.
Thomas blinked, furrowed his brow a bit, but then did so. Geezhigo-Quae took a step toward him and held her hand out toward his chest. He took in a startled breath, Charmian doing the same, when a strange, fiery bluish-white glow surrounded him.
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