RIP
GEEZHIGO-QUAE TOOK A step toward Thomas and held her hand out toward his chest. He took in a startled breath, Charmian doing the same, when a glow surrounded him, hazy white misting into pale blue, which seemed to almost become a film of fire, almost something between the attacks that Moon Wolf and Chakenapok had used, only not so bright and violent. Thomas kept his place, but the look on his face was enough to show that he was just about ready to panic and go running; Charmian's fingers tightened and she mentally urged him to wait it out. After a moment or two the glow began to fade, and Geezhigo-Quae pulled her hand back, leaving Thomas looking himself over in confusion, yet seeing nothing different.
He lifted his head to meet her eyes. "What...what did you just do...?" he asked, as if not sure whether he wanted to know.
Geezhigo-Quae lowered her hand. "Your Wendigo medicine," she said. "I have removed some of its nuisance."
Thomas blinked. "Huh--?"
Charmian came forward, brow furrowed. "You mean...he doesn't have his powers anymore--?"
Geezhigo-Quae shook her head. "He is still half Wendigo. He will always have his windling medicine." She tilted her head again. "Yet I have made it not so bothersome, now."
"Bothersome--?" Thomas looked beyond confused as Charmian looked him over. "How do you mean, 'bothersome'--?"
"For one thing," the manitou woman said, "you will no longer have to rely upon blood to survive. The same food that humans eat shall be good enough for you."
Thomas's eyes widened. "Thomas," Charmian said, and he dragged his stare away to look at her. She was holding his hand, and she lifted her head to meet his eyes, her own wide as well. She lifted his hand.
"Feel it!" He clenched his fist, then opened it, and she ran her fingers over his own, a smile spreading across her face. "You're not cold anymore!" she exclaimed, and folded his hands around hers as if to prove it. After a moment or so like this, she wasn't even shivering, and she let out a laugh. Thomas looked at his own hands as if he had never seen them before, and a disbelieving smile started to come to his face. His eyes even started to grow wet, so Charmian grabbed hold of his arm and started to pull him after her, waving at Geezhigo-Quae again.
"Goodbye!" she exclaimed. "And thank you!"
Geezhigo-Quae nodded once, then smiled. Charmian and Thomas stumbled toward and out of the doorway, nearly running into the others standing outside; they frowned slightly on seeing the giddy look on Charmian's face, but didn't question. "Glooskap!" Charmian exclaimed. "Can you get us to the Island--? The Crooked Tree, near the west shore."
He frowned a little and rubbed his chin. "Well...I'm not too sure. I've never been there so I'm not sure exactly where it is." He looked at her. "Do you have anything from the Tree maybe, that I could use as a focus to draw you back there--? Because it's either that, or you have to take the Sky Tree, and--"
Charmian winced. "No offense to this Tree--but I think I've had enough of it!" She dug in her pocket and pulled out Nokomis's pinecone. "The owner of the Crooked Tree gave me this, do you think it's good enough--?"
Glooskap nodded, then glanced at the Tree. "Sounds like it should work. However, I'm afraid you'll have to go through on your own; it's about time Marten and I got heading back home."
Marten's face fell. "Awwwwww! Do we have to go so soon...?" he whined.
"Oh." Charmian's smile faded as well. "Well...I guess it's goodbye, then." She held out her hand and Glooskap shook it as if he should be a businessman. "Thanks a lot for everything you did!"
Glooskap nodded again. "Sorry for the trouble with the mutt," he said with a sour face, "but he won't be causing problems anymore." He patted at the pouch he'd placed the faux spirit stone in and waved at Marten. "C'mon now, Abi, you knew this time would come!"
Marten puffed up and hissed. "DON'T CALL ME ABI!!" He jumped up onto Charmian's shoulder and threw his little arms around her neck. "But I don't WANNA go! I LIKE it here! I want to go see where SHE lives!"
Charmian made a face. "Trust me--it's a LOT more boring!" she said, and carefully pulled him loose. His lip started quivering and tears welled up in his eyes. She sighed and scratched his ear. "I'll come back soon, I mean it. You've never seen me break a promise yet, have you?"
Marten pursed his lips and looked hesitant. "You're sure...?" She nodded and he fidgeted. "And I'll get to come visit--?"
"If Glooskap and Geezhigo let you, then sure. Who knows, maybe I can even come and see you sometime."
The Mikumwesu's face lit up. "Yeah! That's even BETTER!" He hopped up and down. "You can take one of my short--"
"NO THANK YOU," Charmian yelled, Glooskap reaching out to grasp Marten by the tail. "We'll come back, I promise. And maybe you can...tell me another one of your...really, really long and boring stories."
Marten's grin grew huge and he threw his arms around her neck again, hugging tight. "Okay! I'll hold you to it, you know!" He hopped from her onto Glooskap's shoulder and waved. "Bye! Hope you come back real soon!" He blinked and lowered his hand. "Hey, wait a minute--what do you mean, boring--?"
Glooskap put his hand over the Mikumwesu's mouth and shooed them. "Right through the trunk there," he said, and they looked. "You should come out not too far from the Crooked Tree, at least, if that pinecone of yours isn't a fake!"
Charmian peered at the trunk uncertainly, but was nearly bowled off of the branch when Mudjikawiss stormed past her. "I am going back to that damned DOOR room!" he snapped. "Seeing as that piddling Flint is now taken care of, my duty here is done, and I will be heading back to MY people!"
Charmian furrowed her brow. "Are you sure you want to go that way...?" But he was already making his way back into the Tree, shoving several Michinimakinong out of his way as he went. "Well...okay. See you some other time, then." She glanced at Peepaukawiss, who chewed his lip a little, then stuck it out and stood up straight.
"I--I think I want to spend a little time on the Island!" he exclaimed. "And catch up with Noko! It's been SO LONG since we've really talked together..."
"You just want to put pitch in her drink," Manabozho grumbled.
Puka huffed and flared his feathers indignantly. "I do NOT! If there is one thing I have learned--it's NOT to play jokes on Noko!" He winced and rubbed at his ear. "I can still feel the sting of the last time I tried..."
"I guess we'd better get going, then," Charmian said, and waved at Glooskap and Marten once more. "Take care!" They started stepping into the trunk. "And leave Geezhigo alone!!"
"Wet blanket," Glooskap muttered as she passed through, but she didn't get to respond, as she stumbled and tottered before regaining her balance on the edge of the little hollow near the Crooked Tree. The others glanced at it; Charmian threw out her mental net, and was surprised to find that it seemed to be working perfectly now. She didn't sense Niskigwun in the Tree, and frowned a little.
"I thought he was supposed to be here," she murmured.
"That Sky Woman said he'd been detained, didn't she--?" Thomas suggested. "Perhaps he finally broke free...so to speak."
Charmian turned her head and scanned the Island, finally picking up something that felt like him, further east. "Well, huh! I guess he moved on ahead of us. Puka--" she turned to him "--I suppose you'll have to tell Noko goodbye for me. Don't worry though, I mean to come back really soon."
Puka's eyes welled up and his lip quivered even more than Marten's; Charmian's muscles tensed, before she found herself in a bearhug, feathers sticking in her mouth and eyes and nose. She sputtered and shook her head, wincing at the pain in her arm, as he wailed and jerked her back and forth.
"GOODBYE, FRIEND!!" he howled. "I'LL MISS YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!" He let her go so abruptly that she nearly fell to the ground, then he launched himself at Manabozho. "AND YOU, BABY BROTHER! YOU'D BETTER COME BACK TO THE TREE SOMETIME OR NOKO WILL BE REALLY MAD! I HAVE SOOOOO MUCH I WANT TO CATCH UP ON!!"
"As if I'm interested!" Manabozho groused, fighting to get himself free. He brushed a few stray feathers from his clothes. "Like I want to catch up on MORE of your stupid jokes!"
Puka's eyes watered. "But...I have so many I want to tell you about!" he exclaimed. Manabozho turned away and he raised his voice. "REALLY GOOD ones! Like the time I built that entire lodge over Mudji as he slept..."
Manabozho halted and peered back at him. "Mudji...?" he echoed. "You mean jokes that you played on Mudji...?"
Charmian rolled her eyes and grasped his arm to drag him along; Puka waved and hopped up and down. "Bye! BYE!! SEE YOU AGAIN!!" he yelled, and--"AAAIIIEEEEEeeeeEEEEEeeeeEEEEE...!!" filled the air as soon as they entered the woods. They let out their breath as they walked, rubbing at their ears, then falling silent. Charmian briefly looked at their dwindling group. She, Thomas, Moon Wolf, and Manabozho remained, and the others stared at the ground as they walked, seeming somewhat disconsolate. She felt her own heart sink a little, and sighed.
It's really hard to believe it's over...
She felt something take her hand, only it wasn't cold. She curled her fingers around Thomas's and her heart lifted a little, so that she peered up at him and offered a small smile. He smiled back, and everything she'd been through felt worth it, just for this.
"Charmian," Moon Wolf said quietly, and she turned her head to look at him. He still stared at the trail, though his brow had furrowed slightly. "There was something you said earlier that bothered me a little," he said. "About when you visited the Spirit Road, looking for Wabasso."
Charmian tilted her head. "Yeah--? What was it?"
"You said that when you got his spirit, you had 'cleared it with Pauguk and everything'...I wished to ask you, before he became lost again...what did you mean by this? How did you convince Pauguk to let Wabasso's spirit go?" He frowned. "As the guardian of the Spirit Road, it is his duty to make certain that spirits do not leave in this manner. How was it that he did this for you?"
"Oh." Charmian bit her lip and thought. "I didn't really have to do much, actually. I just told him who I was looking for, and why, and the next thing I know, he's letting me through. He wasn't that bad...just needed some breath mints." She made a face.
The medicine man frowned at her again. "Did you say Wabasso's name...?" She nodded. "And when you say 'why,' how do you mean...?"
She shrugged. "I just told him that Wabasso drowned, and he let me pass." She paused. "Actually, he asked me how Wabasso died...that's strange." She looked at Moon Wolf. "Why? Is it important...?"
His stare drifted back down toward the path. "No...probably not. I believe it explains why he let you through so easily, though."
Charmian frowned. "How? Why would Pauguk care about one person he doesn't know...?"
"I do not think he did." He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "There is a story told about Pauguk...that he was once human, like us. He was cursed with his skeleton form, forever banished from both the land of the living and the Spirit Land, when he murdered his brother out of jealousy. He drowned his brother." He paused. "His brother's name was Wabasso."
Charmian, Thomas, and Manabozho all stared at him in open surprise. After a moment their stares also drifted back toward the path, and they didn't speak for a long time. Charmian remembered the strange look that the giant skeleton had gotten in his eyes when she'd mentioned Wabasso's name--he'd seemed sad, somehow--and felt a twinge of sympathy for him.
Eventually they came closer to the east shore, and Charmian sent out a mental message, hoping it would be received. They had to wait a few moments before a figure came jogging up the path toward them, and Niskigwun came into view, panting for breath. He halted before them and leaned on his knees, gasping and wheezing; they all stared at him in puzzlement as he lifted one hand and pointed at them, trying to speak, yet getting nothing coherent out.
"Hey, Niskigwun," Charmian greeted.
The Michinimakinong continued gasping for breath, then managed to push himself moderately upright. "L...looking," he wheezed. "Crooked Tree...madwoman...tried to...get away sooner...Chakenapok..."
"Oh." Charmian blinked. "Actually...he's been taken care of. It's over."
Niskigwun blinked now, and his eyes widened. "It is...it is over...?" he blurted out in obvious dismay. When she nodded his face fell and his wings drooped. "Then I--missed all of it--?" he cried.
Charmian hastened to wave her hand, as he looked like he wanted to sink into the earth and never return. "It's all okay now," she said. "But you did help a lot! You did get Marten for us, and he helped--which means that you helped--and you did a lot of other things for us, too--"
"Still...I cannot believe that I missed it!" He sank in on himself in utter misery. "I was supposed to help protect the Island myself! How is it that I failed yet again...?"
"You didn't fail," Charmian insisted. "Geezhigo-Quae wouldn't want you back if you failed! And she's waiting for you right now! Don't say you didn't do anything when you helped the Island out a whole lot!"
Niskigwun stopped protesting, though his despondent look didn't lessen any. "Besides, I think you might still have a few things left here to do," Charmian added, and he sighed heavily, but didn't argue. "In the meantime, though, I have a couple more things I have to get out of the way," she added, looking around. "I think it would be best if Manabozho and I went alone." They all gave her an odd look, then glanced at each other and took a step back. Moon Wolf turned to face west and looked at her uncertainly.
"You truly do have plans to return here...?" he asked, as if reluctant to leave.
Charmian looked at him with some surprise, then offered a faint smile. "No doubt about it," she said. "You're going to stay at Cave of the Woods like before--?" When he nodded her smile grew. "Well, that's where I'll look you up the next time I stop by. So you'd better actually be there this time. And no throwing things at my head, either."
He blinked and flushed a little, then she saw his eyes soften. He turned away and started walking back the way they'd come, though he halted just before a curve in the trail and fiddled with one of his necklaces. Charmian opened her mouth, but he spoke before she could.
"Thank you." She blinked, puzzled, but he was immediately gone, as if he hadn't even been there. Her brow furrowed.
Thomas touched her arm, drawing her attention. "I'm going to go dig up Cloud...wherever he is," he murmured. "I'll try to head to the tribe...you do plan on stopping by there before you go...don't you?"
Charmian nodded. "Of course. I have to say goodbye to Stick, and all." She winced. "I never did go through with that initiation..." She sighed and rubbed her head. "I just never have enough time, in between all the saving the Island and stuff!"
Thomas's mouth twitched. "Well, whatever you do, don't be all day about it," he said, "since I'm probably going to have to make conversation with Silver Eagle Feather...and you've seen how that tends to work out." Charmian's face started to screw up and he turned away with a wave. "I'll see you there, then."
"Bye," Charmian waved. Niskigwun and Manabozho watched him go, then turned back to her. They looked at each other and then away again, scuffing their feet against the ground rather awkwardly.
Charmian sighed and crossed her arms as best as she could. "Don't tell me you two still can't stand each other...?"
"I have never had a thing against him," Niskigwun insisted. "It is merely his utter lack of respect which peeves me no end!"
Manabozho made a face at him. "And you use too many stupid words!"
Charmian rolled her eyes. "You know, you two are actually a lot more alike than you think!" When they both gawked at her she took the chance to start walking roughly northward. "We have something to take care of. But I hope I get to see you again before I go. Maybe at the Fairy Arch? I know you don't like hanging out with humans..."
Niskigwun blinked, then flushed and averted his eyes. "They...they are not so bad," he stammered, making her mouth twitch. "Though a few of their number could learn better how to act. Including a half few of their number!" He glared at Manabozho, who opened his mouth wide, yet Charmian didn't let him speak. She waved again.
"I'll be by there in not too long, I hope. So I'll--"
"Hold on," Niskigwun said, and gestured north. "Your dreamcatcher...you have retrieved it yet? Has it been repaired...?"
"Oh. Yeah--it's fine." She shrugged off her pack and dug in it to pull out the hoop. "Just about as good as new." Niskigwun took it and looked it over. "The Weavers are really nice; you should let Geezhigo-Quae know that Chibiabos is going to be taking care of the gateway down there, by the way, so there should be no worry about it." She paused and frowned a little when he put the hoop under his arm and started poking at his head. "Um...Niskigwun...? What are you doing?"
"I failed to arrive in the Borderlands in time," Niskigwun murmured. "It was my duty to protect this Island...yet it seems somehow that you are better suited for that than even I am."
Charmian frowned. "Niskigwun, that isn't true. You're a Turtle Spirit! Besides, I think you've really...improved...since we first met." She blushed a little, trying to think of some proper compliment. "What are you doing?" she asked again when he started plucking feathers from his headdress.
"Each of these I received for everything I have done to protect the Sky Mother and the Sky Tree," he said solemnly. "Yet I think at least a few are better deserved." He took the dreamcatcher and started winding the dangling leather cords around the feathers, tying them tight; Charmian stared as he affixed several of them, held up the dreamcatcher and turned it back and forth, and then handed it back. She received it in silence, wanting to tell him that it wasn't necessary...but the feathers looked so nice hanging from the hoop, shimmering in their different colors, and she could tell from the look on his face that he hadn't really intended them as trophies. Telling him so would only embarrass him, so she merely accepted the hoop and looked it over as he turned and started heading eastward again, his wings hunched.
"Thanks, Niskigwun," she called after him; "it looks a lot better now." And she noticed that he lifted his head and walked a little bit straighter, after she said it.
She and Manabozho were the only two left on the path.
He peered at her and his feathers twitched. "What was this you said needed to be done alone?" he asked, sounding a bit suspicious.
"I have to find something," Charmian said, and turned north, looking into the trees. "It might take a little bit. Do you think you could help me...?"
They tramped through the woods, off of the trails, for quite a while, swatting at the occasional mosquito and batting aside ferns and weeds, Charmian wincing every so often at her injured arm but trying to ignore it as best as she could. Many times they thought they had found the right spot, only for it to be a false alarm; at last, however, Charmian halted before something that fit the description she'd been given, and she wiped at her sweaty brow, gasping for breath; Manabozho came clambering up behind her, panting as well, and they stood staring at the twin trees which grew from a single base, a large rock resting at their bottom. Charmian looked at them for a moment, then climbed up the little hill they stood upon, and knelt down to start scraping at the bottom of the rock.
"Right here," she said. "This is where we have to bury him."
"Bury--?" Manabozho came up after her, and blinked at the items that she was already removing from her backpack. She first set Chakenapok's skull on the ground beside her, then his arm- and legbones, and his ribs and everything else she had found. Manabozho stared at them silently and she realized that she had never shown him this before.
"This is..." He reached out toward the skull, hesitated, then drew his hand back, his face going pale. Charmian picked it up instead and turned it toward him so he could see its teeth. She nodded.
"When Noko removed him," she said, setting the skull back down and starting to dig under the rock, "she disturbed his spirit, and called him away from the Spirit Road. He can't go back there. But since this is the place he was buried in...before he was moved to Cave of the Woods...I thought maybe, this is the place where he can find peace. Beside Wenonah."
Manabozho's head popped up and he stared at the rock. "Mother--?" He stood up and looked at the boulder for such a long time that Charmian picked up a stick and started gouging at the earth, keeping her bad arm pressed to her chest. The soil was moist, thankfully, probably due to Augwak's snowstorm; but there were lots of roots and pebbles in the way, and they impeded her efforts somewhat. She had worked up a sweat yet again by the time that something touched her arm and gently nudged her aside; she glanced up at Manabozho as he knelt down and stuck his hands in the earth and started digging, faster than she could. He didn't stop until he had dug a space under the rock big enough to house a rabbit or two, and then rubbed the back of his hand against his forehead, his own feathers drooping. Charmian peered into the hole, then up at him.
"I'm not like you," he said, almost in a mutter, not meeting her eyes. "I can't forget things so easily. I can't forget that he's the reason why I never met my mother. And that he would have destroyed this place, just because of me." He paused. "But he is my brother." He dug a few more handfuls of soil out of the ground, and reached for Chakenapok's skull, holding it up and looking at it with dark eyes.
Charmian stared at him for a moment, then reached up to turn the skull around so he could see the hole in it. "That was your brother," she said softly. "He did try to kill you...and to destroy this place...but he never meant to hurt Wenonah. I hope maybe that means a little something."
She saw Manabozho's eyes start to water. He blinked it away and bit the inside of his mouth, scowling a little, and stooped to carefully place the skull in the hole. He and Charmian placed the rest of the bones inside it one after another, until the entire skeleton rested beneath the rock; they then covered it back up with the loose soil and leaves and patted it into place, and Charmian rubbed at her forehead once more while Manabozho ran his finger over the boulder. She looked up to see that he was searing an image into the stone, and when he drew his hand back she frowned a little; it looked like a drawing of an arrowhead. He stood up and dusted at himself as she pondered over this a bit, chewing on her lip.
An arrowhead...? Arrowheads are made of flint sometimes...
She blinked, then suppressed a smile. "Let's get going, then," she said, making a face as she pushed herself up. Manabozho waited while she descended the little hill and they fell into step beside each other, heading southward again. "I think I'd better see Justin one more time before I leave..."
"Sometimes I think you get yourself hurt just so you can go over there," Manabozho grumbled.
Charmian gawked at him, then hit him with her good hand. "You're just like White Deer! My arm is practically ready to fall off and all you can do is act all bitchy!"
"Your arm is NOT ready to fall off, and I hardly think it's 'bitchy' if it's--"
A small noise made them both halt in their steps, skin prickling. They stood stock still for a moment or two, muscles tensed, when it came again--a tiny whimpering noise, back in the direction they'd just come from. They turned to look at each other, then back over their shoulders, their eyes as wide as moons. When the noise came again, louder this time, it was accompanied by a rustling noise as of leaves moving, and Charmian felt the hair on her neck stand on end.
"Was...was there anything back there when we left...?" she whispered.
Manabozho shook his head. "Nothing that I saw..." His face started to screw up. "Do you think..."
He didn't finish, and she didn't want him to. She had no clue what the weird noise could have been, but the thought of not finding out was worse than the thought of finding out. Chewing on her lip again, she turned and started tiptoeing back as silently as she could, Manabozho following a few paces behind, his feathers practically flattened against his head. As she drew closer to the conjoined trees, Charmian even thought she saw something move at their base, and this thought just filled her with even more dread.
Please don't tell me he's BACK! Not after everything we did! He can't be back...!
She edged toward the trees, then started up the little hillock. The whimpering noise came again, and this time she was certain that she saw some of the dead leaves at the rock's base shift just a little. She nearly went bolting back the way she'd come, but forced herself to continue. Nevertheless, she did pick up the stick that she'd been using to dig earlier, holding it aloft as she made her way toward the clump of moving leaves at the rock's edge. Manabozho stopped at the bottom of the hill and stared up at her with wide eyes.
"What is it?" he whispered.
She shook her head slowly. "Don't know...but going to find out!" She glanced at him nervously. "You might want to get ready, just in case!"
He tensed, then nodded and lifted his hand. Charmian turned back to the rock and reached down the stick to prod at the leaves. They rustled and murmured and her teeth started to chatter; she clenched them, steeled herself, and swept the leaves away as quickly as she could, aiming the stick at what lay beneath them.
Then her eyes goggled and her mouth fell open in disbelief.
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