On the Road Again

 

In the morning a newly-purchased transport left the town in a pleasant mood. It was an old local taxi, but the repulsars were in good condition and it trundled easily through the woodland with its few passengers. Leb sat in the driving seat, and in the back rode Ayleah, Niisi, and a pair of villagers who hadn't realized the cab was out of service. Leb had been very gracious with them and offered to take them around the lake, as their stop was on his way as well.

As the small company traversed above the northern shoreline of Norton Pond, they followed a road that slabbed slowly upward along the hillside. To the left rose an open forest of gentle hardwoods climbing beyond view. To the right however, the slope funneled down into a dark thicketed vale overtowered by tall pines. To Ayleah the sense of the place seemed more than visual. There was a pull to the obscured shoreline, quite a ways off through the dark trees. Though the cart moved along well enough and the pitch was not steep, the travel felt slightly difficult, like a drag of friction from their right. The pine needles covered more of the sun over there, but there was also a darkness about the place only detected by some sixth sense. Her training with Telon had sharpened this mysterious sense only a little, but the energy here felt so large and powerful that it was distracting even her.

Just as a small bit of fear crept in for that dark spring glen and the call it had, Ayleah remembered one of her lessons that previous year at the Sanctuary. It had been early on in the curriculum; a discussion about the duality of the world. The teacher had said we should not be afraid of the “darkness” because it is just as beautiful, and often more innocent than the “light”. The terms themselves were a polar construction imposed by reason onto what in reality was a beautiful swirling spectrum. Some places are very light, and others are very dark, but they meet in utter harmony and play with each other.

For it is certain that darkness is beautiful because it contains the most precious lights, and cradles them in velvety wonder. The darkness, when lit properly, has such incredible glamour, yet is often maligned and thus given to dis-appreciation and un-qualification. The light is equally beautiful, but it hides a secret for those who do not embrace both sides. It has always been the case that one cannot exist without the other- we only know light and dark because of their contrast and tension. Therefore if darkness is most beautiful due to the light it holds, then the inverse must also be true. The brightest light holds the most special darkness of all, and it too is plagued by the misfortunes that befall all darkness in a world biased towards the light.

We are not to blame, at least not in the direct way in which we blame. Life needs light, as a fact it looks to survival before perception. One can be blind to much of the world if overly-confident in sight. Life without care does not care for balance. It is up to us to move forward, and use perception to rediscover our care.

So Ayleah saw the darkness, and was afraid, but she acknowledged her feelings, and saw the darkness on its own terms. Then she felt secure, even held by its presence. She reached out to appreciate that place for the beauty it had, and it released her from its probing prejudice. Aside her in the transport, Niisi caught her eye and smiled.

“I'm glad you decided to come with us Ayleah. When we first met I thought you'd be a great addition to our crew.” From up front Leb gave a short laugh. “What 'crew' Niisi? We're just going back to the falls now. I have plenty of work at home that's been put off for this little excursion.”

“What Leb?” Niisi responded, “You've been the most supportive of this trip all along! I thought you actually wanted a bit more adventure in your life again.”

“Make no mistake, I did this for Jaen.” Leb's face was set, though he did not turn around. “We've always been such good friends, how could I say no? Plus, I figure whatever he and Sutton got up to won't work out for him too well. It'll be a good experience for him. I'm sure we'll all catch up in a few days back at the falls and see what he's learned.”

Niisi turned back to Ayleah. “What about you? Do you think you'll leave as soon as you can for the mountains?”

“I don't know...I'm still only hoping that I'll be able to find out where Telon was going. Once I do know though, I'll need to leave as soon as possible.”

“You really think something bad might have happened to him?” When they had met up again after Jaen and Sutton's departure from the group, Ayleah had divulged the real reason for her trip, and her concerns for the whereabouts of her scholarly mentor.

“There's just no reason the Sanctuary hadn't heard from him. He was supposed to return more than two weeks ago now, and I know that the head sages often receive messages from their mountain counterparts, so word would have been sent if the plans changed. But even though they seem concerned, they refuse to do anything concrete. I have to try and find out what happened myself. They have no excuse to stop me- classes aren't in session, and my mentor is missing. I can take care of myself well enough. Though,” she added, smiling back at Niisi, “I am glad I found some friends for at least a bit of the journey.”

Before long, they reached the top of the rise. The road led through a gentle saddle of land in the ridge that enclosed Norton Brook Reservoir. A smaller road marked by dual rock cairns turned off to the right and led back down toward the eastern shore. On one of the smaller rock piles they saw a familiar-looking figure. Jaen sat by the roadside looking the opposite of the bright sunlight that filtered though to the road junction. The dejection only grew when he saw who sat in the vehicle that drew closer. They stopped beside him as he stood, and he approached the driver's cab, opening his mouth to speak. Leb put up a hand to silence him and said: “In lieu of an apology to me, I suggest you make use of this time contemplating the lesson you may have learned here. Now get in, if you want. I only stopped anyway cause it was where these two were getting off.” he indicated the two villagers who had just unloaded from the old taxi. The two old friends connected, and Jaen climbed in beside Niisi. Leb steered the taxi back on course and they continued on their way under the placid sunlight, somehow glinting orange even through the high green canopy of the woods.

Jaen's Plot

 

A plan was discussed and plotted discreetly over the next two days. The village buzzed with excitement for the coming vote. One of the local (and most wealthy) merchants, a man named Din, was the favorite to win election. Not all cared to share a table with him, but there was general agreement that he had the influence and congeniality needed for the role.

On the dawn the poll was to open, business went as usual in the marketplace. Shop keepers opened their doors for the day, and traders trekked in from the woodlands with their goods. There was a quiet energy to the villagers' demeanors and conversation, and no-one noticed the tall hooded man standing casually to the side of the square.

As the bustle of the morning began to get underway, a messenger hurried directly across the square without stopping, and entered the township office with an envelope. The envelope contained the official ballot form that had been approved by a special electoral committee offsite. The form would be immediately copied and distributed to voters as they came in throughout the afternoon. Being a first for the town, the electoral process involved many local volunteers, and so the receiving clerk at the office did not question the identity of the tall messenger who delivered the form.

Two hours after the polls had opened, the buzz about the marketplace had changed from excitement to confusion, and an hour after that there was a downright uproar. Voters marched on the township office searching for answers, some visibly angry. Word had spread in the village center quickly as more people had cast their vote. Most were simply surprised to not see Din's name on the ballot, and wanted to know if anyone had heard a reason why. Those who had vocally supported Din's candidacy though suspected foul play, and assumed the culprits might be those closest to the electoral materials. The office was surrounded, and though the mob had no real cohesiveness, afternoon came with extreme tension.

It was only upon discovery of the original messenger that the mob gained a purpose. A young volunteer named Clade was found leaning against the hidden backside of a large tree near the edge of the village. He was only a bit dazed, but seemed to have suffered a blow to the head. By his account, he had been on his way to the township office that morning with the secure envelope when a tall cloaked person had wrestled him to this place and knocked him out. He hadn't seen what had happened to the envelope in the struggle, but was reassured when the townsfolk had told him the rest.

Sutton, in the intervening hours, had left the village entirely, and so the identity of the cloaked man remained a mystery. Jaen however, was relaxing under a pine overlooking the lake when they found him. He had been trying to take his mind off the proceedings, and not worry about the outcome of the vote. His and Sutton's plans to alter the ballot copy in his favor might not work to elect him, and that was fine. He would gain notoriety in the town from his name being so visible, and then he would run in the next election once he had spent some time with the people and proven himself here. Either way, the plan would-

-would work maybe, but he didn't get to finish that thought. A loud noise from his right turned his attention, and it became immediately clear he would not be spending any more time in this township.

To the office clerk's credit, she had remembered right away the upstart young gentleman who had come in a few days prior requesting to talk with the village council. She remembered he had left somewhat disgruntled, and had heard the council talking about how it seemed he had wanted them to elect him right then and there. Upon hearing this testimony, the louder members of the mob declared the fraud to in fact be the young stranger's fault. Indeed, there was general agreement among those present that no-one had heard of support for the stranger's name on the ballot. The polls were closed by popular demand, and the only thing left was to find this Jaen Bartlett.

That person in question was extremely lucky only one boat lay tied at the dock to which he led his pursuers. He was also lucky it was late enough in the afternoon that the townsfolk were contented enough with seeing him gone and did not seek to pursue him further. The loss of the stolen boat itself was deemed a reasonable price for ridding themselves of a potential nuisance and the owner was assured of reimbursement in any case. As he crossed the lake in haste, Jaen knew he could never set foot within eyesight of any of them again. He spent that night on the dark reedy shoreline, feeling humiliated for his efforts.

---

Back on the western shore, Ayleah watched the sunset. There was an easy path down from the old woman's house, through grassy tussocks to a rock on the water's edge. The land came more easily to the lake here than in the village center, and a hamlet of sorts clustered around a small grassy cove. The view across the water was broad enough to catch the evening light and, though she was facing east, Ayleah could see the orange and red glinting on subtle wavelets. On the far side, a campfire stirred, and she wondered at the surrounding population and the people living here. It felt good to be back in a rural town, but this place was again different from her home. The township stretched out and up into deep green forests; fertile rocky land that seemed to go on forever in its nooks and folds. In just the two days she had stayed with the old woman, she had learned a surprising amount about the use of local herbs. A different variety of plants grew here in the hills than she had studied before, and they had a variety of culinary and medicinal uses. Gaile was no lore-master, but knew enough about daily uses to be enlightening. She had extended a kind offer to Ayleah when the latter's efforts in the marketplace had been fruitless.

“I don't know that I recognize the name Battell, but it sounds like it's probably a surname, perhaps one from the mountains. What I can offer a poor traveler like yourself is a safe place to stay a few nights if you need, and I also have some pretty good maps of the region, if you'd like to take a look.”

Ayleah had gratefully accepted, and the maps had proven immensely useful. They gave her detail not shown on the limited ones she had from the Sanctuary about the foothill ranges. It seemed she was on a large island of hills a little distance separate from the main ranges. Niisi and Leb had suggested she accompany them to Bartlett Falls. They were sure someone there would be able to point her the right way, and the Falls lay at the absolute foot of the mountains as well.

Out over the placid lake the red escaped to the sky, turned purple, and fled to the west. The water darkened, and the township slept. They would remake the ballot, and vote again tomorrow.