Chapter Forty-five


     Everyday Junseo ran a circuit taking him from his home on the upper terraces down past his father's clinic, through the business district, along the riverbank, across the bridge to the lower-town and back up along the embankment. He tried not to think about the friends he missed or the time he spent considering the going to the void at the bottom of the cliffs.

He also avoided looking directly at where the Moon Temple's spires once marked the hours with the steady march of their shadows along the cliffs. He knew he still needed to make his way along the winding paths to the temple but he wasn't ready to face his guilt head-on. The monks had sent messages welcoming him back to Ilidan and came by the house to thank him for his special services to their order, but he had yet to accept their open invitation to their practice courts.

His former crew of couriers also welcomed him back and were ready to re-instate him as their captain but he had to decline. "Let me be a second if you need one but I am not up to much more than that," he admitted.

"Well, if you change your mind, you know we will all back you," one of his former runners patted Junseo's back. "Let me know if you want to dust off one of your old birds. I have dibs on the first run with you and after that the rest of the crew are putting their names into a draw."

Junseo gave the young man a faint smile and then made his way to his favorite stonecutter's shop. He paused at the doorway worried the dissonance that plagued him in the capital might still envelope him but he sensed nothing other than a warn welcome. He waited politely for a young couple to make their selections for a house blessing stone before pulling back his hood.

"Oh. Welcome back friend. Are you looking for anything special today? I don't have many discards for you," The stone cutter came forward and pulled Junseo into a hug.

"I have a problem with some of my stones and I hoped you might show me how I might reshape a cracked quartz." Junseo blushed as he admitted his errand.

"Well, before you worked a cracked one let's get you working on sizing down a whole one. Can you come this evening? That way we can work without interruptions. Leave any of your broken stones at home. I don't want to have to double up the isolation tables." The man was so completely matter of fact about everything that Junseo no longer felt embarrassed about his mission. Working with whole, untuned stones, helped restore part of his innate sense. While nothing like the power of his tuned collection before the attack, the world no longer seemed completely washed out.

Only after he had worked with the stone cutter to reshape the fractured stones into beads for a belt, did he find the courage to explain to his grandmother what had happened.

He went to help her clean the family shrine and found more peace in this quiet labor. They had brought a picnic to share between themselves and their sedentary relatives. After he had taken a cooling drink of citrus flavor water, Junseo cleared his throat. "I guess you know my worst injuries were not visible."

"True. But you also collected some interesting looking scars while you were away," his grandmother chuckled a little as he self-consciously rolled his sleeves down. "Don't worry, lad, there are not many in these parts who can read the silver touches for what they are."

"Yes. I have been blessed by the dragon. It is so hard to be cut off from her but I might be starting to find my way back," Junseo paused before plunging into his story starting with the challenge at the invitational and ending when the full spectrum of crystal users managed to free him after the energy attack from the northern priestess. He paused for a while and tried to describe what the impact had been like and how he was slowly gaining strength.

"Are you sure this wasn't another of the usual palace plots to take out a member of the Lie family and you just got caught in the crossfire?" The old woman asked only to eliminate the possibility.

"Oh. There have been other plots and attempts but they have been material, not metaphysical. I can't be sure the priestess intended to do anything more than a probe to see what my affinity might be. That is why I let it run right through me. The dissonance around the palace is what threw all my stones out of balance at least that is how Rainbow Maker Mein explained it."

"You met a Palace Rainbow Maker?" his grandmother's voice squeaked. "He came looking for you?"

"He stopped in after the attack and helped with the isolation field and sorting out which mantras the boys should try," Junseo tried to act casually. "I know we were worried but he says I don't even have an affinity anymore. None at all. So, I guess the good news is I don't have try to mask anymore. Not when there is nothing to mask." His voice cracked with the last statement and he turned away.

"Nonsense. Can't you feel your energy coming back? Maybe not enough to tune a new pair of stones but the shine on the copper bracelet your friend gave you is getting brighter. You should start with the seasons and then do your stone mantras again. Oh, and practice at the Moon Temple would hurt either." One look at his grandmother told Junseo this was an order, not a suggestion.

The next morning Junseo shyly approached the Moon Temple's junior training master and explained that due to recent injuries he needed to keep to basic pattern work. "Son, you are welcome at whatever level you feel you need. Just ease back into the routines and let them help you heal," the man's obvious warmth and respect made it easier for Junseo to join the junior group.

When he looked around at the others, he realized he was probably not much older than the rest of the students so he relaxed into their pace. His body knew the moves but since he had been training at different levels, and in other forms, he had to pay close attention to the pattern. He sat out the sparring round but happily joined the closing salutations. As he finished his final bow, he felt a channel of energy open and for a split second it felt like he was standing next to the former master of the Moon Temple. "Thank you, friend," he whispered as he rubbed the tigers-eye on among his prayer-beads.


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