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ask-de-writer · 5 years ago

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 59 of 83 : World of Sea

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 59 of 83

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

written 2007

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story? Read from the beginning. PART 1 is here

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Chapter 22: The Search

Rage, grief and mortification warred in Captain Mord’s heart as he looked at the map-table where he had sent Kurin in such anger. The worst was that, even if the Grandalor’s sailors were a boarding party, Kurin had been right.

The law was as clear as his anger was deep. While it was believed that the Grandalor’s sailors were castaways, the Longin had been required to pick them up, if only to hold them for trial. At least some of them paid in blood for their treachery! But they got what they came for. We may never see her again… The thought trailed off into unbearable pain.

Bron’s arm was trailing. He had bruises, one on his back, between the shoulder blades and one on the inside of his elbow. It was not serious but if his attacker had used a knife instead of that silly, weighted sack of fish-leather, he would have been dead.

Other crewmen were beginning to tell their tales of the battle and they were slowly realizing the same things. The assailants had been too few to have any hope of taking a ship like the Longin. Also, none of their enemies had been armed with anything but a padded leather cosh. It was as if they were trying not to hurt anyone on the ship. Some fools were even trying to tie that Sea Hawk to the attack. It was just lost in the fog.

Then they began to hear, Kurin’s gone! The bastards had kidnaped her! But that made no sense. They could have simply killed her. They had already tried to do it once. It would have been far less risky.

Looking at the map-table clearly, Captain Mord saw what he has missed the first time. There in the tallow, written in Kurin’s neat handwriting, was a note.

“Captain: The Grandalor’s crew needs justice. Their rights under the second G. L. have been violated. I have gone to help them. Kurin”

First they tried to kill her, now this! No matter what excuse, they have stolen her! In anger, partly at himself and partly at Kurin for being so gullible, he wiped out the note before any other should notice it. Details aren’t important! Whatever ruse they used, they kidnapped Kurin! The Grandalor is guilty!

Captain Mord returned forward, where one of the boarders lay propped against the foremast. The man had been stabbed deeply but still lived. Feebly he extended a hand holding a folded tallow-slate, hinged shut to protect its message.

Weakly he said to the enraged Mord, “Captain, read this. It’s from my Captain. We were to be your hostages for Kurin’s return…” He slumped lax, dead from his wounds, the tallow-slate falling from his fingers with a small clatter onto the Longin’s deck.

Captain Mord kicked the tallow-slate away unread. “Toss this Grandalor trash over the side,” he ordered.

His crew looked at him aghast. Nobody moved. Mord became angrier and yelled, “Dump him! That’s an order!” At last, a few deck-hands took the man’s body and dragged him to the rail. An Orca began to sing. They dropped him in fear. One noticed the tallow-slate and picked it up as he retreated.

Captain Mord realized that nobody would touch the body since the whale had begun to sing and heaved it over the side himself. The whale’s song went on for another ten minutes.

When it was done, Captain Mord ordered, “Swab up this blood and straighten up the area.” His men did do that, though they had begun to whisper among themselves as they worked.

Kurin disentangled herself from the joyous hug that Tanlin was giving her and said, “I need to see your log first, then all of the sickbay documentation. I want to see all of the Purser’s accounts and look over Master Selked’s shop. After that, I am going to interview virtually everyone on board.”

Tanlin let her go, becoming brisk, now that there was a task at hand. “Oi’m glad. Wen do ye wont t’ begin?”

“If I can eat in here, I’ll begin now,” said Kurin. “I need to start with the beginning of the indenture trade. I have to know about that in detail if I am to save your ship from Scattering.”

Tanlin got up and went to the long shelf holding the Logs of the Grandalor. As she was going down the line, absently tapping the spines of the volumes with her left index finger, she said thoughtfully, “T’ere’s somet’in’ t’at ye’ll find wen ye get t’ t’e interviews. Oi didnae mention ‘t before because ‘t wa’nae important in t’e way t’at ye asked about. ‘T does bear on ‘ow t’is ship wad respond t’ a penalty o’ Scatterin’.

“Every person on t’is ship’s adopted. All o’ t’em are now named Grandalor, m’sel’ included. ‘T happened t’e morning after our flight began. T’ey knew t’at t’e ship wa’ implicated in murder an’ chose t’is way o’ tellin’ Barad an’ m’sel’ t’at t’ey wad nae abandon us.

“Oi joined t’em.” She swallowed past a hard lump in her throat and a tear glistened in the corner of her eye.

“Princamorn wa’ but a name t’ m’ an’ t’e Grandalor’s home. Oi dinnae wont t’ lose ‘t.”

Intently, Kurin said, “I see. That makes a difference — to me at least,” she looked sharply at Tanlin, “if it was a voluntary thing.”

Tanlin was already fishing the necessary volume of the log from its shelf and looked back over her shoulder. “Twas. T’ey’d planned t’ do ‘t publicly, in t’e main square o’ t’e Gat’ering, ‘ad reserved ‘t, in fact, wen we ‘ad t’ flee. T’ey came t’ m’ first. Twas a total an’ welcome surprise. T’e only light in some very dark days.” She found the place that she was looking for in the book and gave it to Kurin.

Kurin settled cross-legged on Tanlin’s bunk with the book in her lap and began turning pages one at a time, glancing at each page and moving on. Tanlin watched as Kurin leafed through the volume of the log, almost twenty Gatherings old.

There was a scratching noise at the cabin’s window. Tanlin smiled to herself as it swung inward and Skye’s head poked into the cabin. The Wide Wing looked alertly about and stepped into the room. The bird turned about on the sill and used her beak to push the window closed and then hop-fluttered to the table in front of Tanlin, who chucked her under the beak and stroked her under a slightly raised wing.

Skye settled on the table and waited quietly. Kurin looked up with a smile and said, “Who’s trained who, here?”

Tanlin replied lightly but sort of seriously, “T’ey made m’ part o’ t’eir rookery flock an’ welcomed m’ t’ t’eir nest. Could Oi do less?”

Before there was any answer possible, Tahm returned with food, cups, utensils and trays. He set out the table, working nonchalantly around the sitting bird. Kurin put the log aside and came to the table.

“I take it that this happens a lot?” she said with a genuine smile.

It was Tahm who answered, “Every time that the Captain eats in. Sometimes it’s Skye, here. Sometimes it’s Thunderhead. I’m told that after the chicks are grown, it’ll be both of ‘em. Better behaved than many of the crew.”

The main course that he laid out was a Strong Skin roast. The bird looked sideways at Tanlin, who nodded. The bird promptly dove her beak into the edge of the roast and peeled off a strip. She began to bite it into bits which she swallowed quickly.

Kurin watched in fascination. “Better get yers w’ile ye still ‘ave a chance, Skye’s stoking up for ‘er chicks,” said Tanlin. She reached out, speared the roast with a chopstick and cut off slices with the knife that Kurin remembered from their first meeting. She piled the slices onto a tray along with a generous serving of red weed bread buns and seaweed salad. She handed the tray to Kurin and poured water into a cup.

“Sweet, sour or bitter flavor in yer woter?”

“Plain, please. Flavors for water? I never heard of any such thing.”

“Tis a Grandalor specialty. Barad told m’ t’at Kurti showed ‘t to ‘im shortly after she started t’ work as ‘is cabin-girl.”

“Now that puzzles me. I know what you told me at the Gathering but why would a skilled diver and stores clerk like Kurti stoop to becoming a cabin-girl?” Kurin asked around a mouth full of salad.

Tanlin considered for a moment and fed Skye a few more bits of roast before answering. “Oi wa’ still in m’ coma then. According t’ both Barad an’ Doctor Corin, she knew t’at she might die from ‘er lung parasite infection. Twas gettin’ worse in spite o’ t’e treatments. Doctor Corin wa’ just about t’ put ‘er on t’e invalid list. She wa’ in sickbay gettin’ a treatment wen she met Barad. ‘E’d come by t’ sickbay t’ look in on m’.

“‘E offered ‘er t’e light work job t’at ‘ad just come open, due t’ Chena’s untimely deat’. Kurti ‘ated bein’ useless. She jumped at t’e chance t’ avoid t’e invalid list an’ stay useful. T’ keep t’e seriousness o’ ‘er condition bein’ a matter o’ common gossip, Barad ordered ‘t kept secret. Barad could be considerate sometimes, even t’en.”

“I think that I see. The Barad that the fleet saw was something of a fiction?”

Tanlin leaned back nervously in her chair and gripped her right hand with her left. “Oi truly wish t’at Oi could say t’at but Oi promised ye t’e trut’. Tis a longish tale.

“Barad wa’ always a somew’at calculatin’ man. Once, long ago, Barad an’ Selked were married t’ twins from t’e Muline an’ by all accounts t’ey were ‘appy.

“An epidemic o’ fire cough swept t’e ship. Both Teralas, Selked’s wife, an’ Teralat, Barad’s wife, were among t’e nearly forty percent o’ t’e ship’s crew ‘oo died. Barad almost went mad wit’ grief, an’ dealt wit’ ‘t by calculatin’ almost everything. T’at’s ‘ow he became t’e Barad t’at you knew.

“Shortly after t’at, t’e Ca’tain died in ‘is sleep. A Coriolis storm wa’ comin’ an’ t’e crew needed command. T’ey took Barad’s orders an’ ‘e got t’e Grandalor t’rough safe, even t’ough t’e ship wa’ massively undermanned.

“‘E wa’ elected Ca’tain after t’e storm. At t’e Gat’ering t’at followed, ‘is election wa’ challenged by yer Ca’tain Mord. ‘E almost cost Barad both ‘is Ca’taincy an’ ‘is life. In t’e end, t’e Council up’eld Barad by only two votes. Even t’ose ‘oo voted in ‘is favor sponsored a resolution t’at t’ey did so only because t’e evidence against ‘im wa’ nae sufficient. T’at wa’ t’e origin o’ t’e grudge t’at ‘e ‘eld against Ca’tain Mord an’ t’e Naral fleet as a ‘ole.

“Barad rebuilt t’e crew by takin’ in t’e scupper sweepin’s o’ t’e fleet. T’e ones t’at naebody else wanted. T’e Grandalor became a refuge for t’ose wit’ nae ot’er place t’ go. Barad took t’em on a case by case basis an’ let t’em swim t’ Iren, if ‘e believed t’at a last chance would nae ‘elp.

TO BE CONTINUED

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#SEA DRAGON’S GIFT #Part 59 of 83 #World of Sea #Written by De Writer

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ramrodd · 8 years ago

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COMMENTARY:

Bruce, you know I love you and there are areas of disconnect between you and I in regards to Jesus. If Mike Mulvaney didn't exist, this may not be as pertinent in your ministry as you should now. This is what the overwhealming majority of white Evangelicals voted for. In the mind of someone as intimately, and appropriately, linked to over a generation of white Christian high school students,. You and James White seem to share the same opinion of recent presidential history. James White avoided a principled stand either for Clinton or Trump, but went Independent, instead. This was morally insufficient. It was like Martin Luther King refusing to ride with the Freedom.

I just want to make myself clear. I owe you a great deal, just in providing the intellectual rock against which to clarify my thinking with or without Mike Mulvaney in the mix. What I realized just this last week from one of your lectures was that I employ process theology, but not like anything you understand as "PROCESS theology", if you get my point. For me, Epitemology IS PROCESS theology" as Kurt Lewin defines "PROCESS". If you don't agree with his definition, or don't understand it, or refuse to accept it as the definition I employ when I say "PROCESS theology", communication pretty well fails.

"PROCESS theology" is natural law. Wicca is almost entirely natural law and the only thing missing is what Jesus does. How does that work? What is the content He brings to the table that focuses SOMETHING SPIRITUAL outside Himself and His patient/target. The Holy Spirit is one SOMETHING SPIRITUAL, but it appears from something I learned from N.T.Wright's course on Romans was that Paul believe EVIL was SOMETHING PHYSICAL. I think Paul is correct about there being SOMETHING PHYSICAL and I think Jesus uses that in His miracle work and the pericopes in Mark about the two step miracle with the blind man who saw trees and the man who never could hear and needed oral surgery to repair his palate in some way, What He does with all the spitting and clapping and what not is setting up the "PROCESS theology, not unlike putting the paddles on before commanding "CLEAR!" and then "WHAM" something happens, Well, I think He pulls the trigger somehow on a jolt of this SOMETHING PHYSICAL, which I associate with the Spirit of God that God unleashed to create an ecology perfect for sustaining life in various ways until The ONE finally stumbled upon Homo Sapien, where The ONE completes the CREATION STORY with the Cross and it is now up to us.

The difference between PROCESS and CONTENT is the difference with the actual chewing motion and whatever is being chewed, The Bible is intellectual chewing gun in the process of reading. The Gospel of Mark captures all the PROCESS Jesus uses to squirt a little Spirit of God. This is the LIVING SPIRIT I thing Paul observes as evil. The LIVING SPIRIT is blood thirsty and undomesticated. It was the LIVING SPIRIT sent to kill Moses. It shows up everywhere blood is connected with malevolent ritual, that being rituals carried out to envoke a collective emotional response. However, the Spirit of God also comes to Messiah sing-alongs and probably the Muslim ritual, praying as a renewable resource. All prayers and meditation is a renewable resource. It is PROCESS theology for method and hope. Hope is not a Method, but METHOD without Hope tends to generate Idolotry and Fascism.

And this is possibly the biggest difference between Mark and the other Synoptics, but the most in common with John, Their processes. In terms of PROCESS, Romans and Luke/Acts need to be understood in brace: they are pulling the same load. Matthew is written for a larger process associated with Islam and 19, but is based on the PROCESS in Mark which surfaced the CONTENT that Matthew connects with contemporary Jewish theology cited in both Hewbrew and Greek texts.

One of the things I have been fascinated since 1990 is the PROCESS employed to put Mark together from a Roman centurion's point of view. If the Gospel of Mark was missing Mark 16:9 - 20, it would be the final report from Cornelius, a centurion in Caesarea during the reign of Caligula, "Little Boots" as you are wont to say, beating it into your student's conscousness in a gentle way that engages an exemplary model of classroom teaching in any educational system currently employed. This looks like a nice, white Christian charter school in Seattle. I didn't understand teachers or education until I got into college, so I look back at my high school teachers in a bit of wonder, because, in spite of being an ESTP, I now have a Masters in Organization Development and have a sketch book for a Ph.D. dissertation that I'll email you.

Kurt Lewin is very important to me. Reading his Kriegslandshaft the first time was like being back, sitting on a muddy trail in the Central Highlands in Vietnam. He is writting with the authority of experience which I share with him and virtually all combat vets. It's a been there, done that kind of thing. We weren't just sharing a walk with someone you know and like in a National Park somewhere.

We were walking throught the Valley of the Shadow of Death in response to Romans 11:22 in a military manner and it's an eternal experience: it’s a justification by compliance. The centurion in Matthew, Luke and Acts 10 recognized that in response to authority in Jesus and didn't need an operational manual to do His magic. And he, that centurion, described it in Mark and when both the odd ending of Mark and somewhere in John it is mentioned that there were many more pericopes they could have added from their intelligence dossier on Jesus, but they winnowed out the sort of repition you get in the Hadiths and then narrowed it down to essentials beginning with the Cross and working backwards and now we have the report to the Praetorium Guard and, when John Mark added the last editors note, it became the Gospel we now call Mark. Dan Wallace says somewhere that we have Christian manuscripts that reach almost a mile high. Look how tall a complete stack of the most reliable Hadith stands and that wasn't winnowed but it is narrowly focused on Mohammad, My guess is that the Q source was the original authograph and they had a stack of loose leaf spy reports from that period over a mile high to draw from, And they winnowen out and narrowed down to the Gospel of Mark. And sent it up the chain of command,

That's where Matthew starts, but Matthew (and it is, in fact, the very same publican Levi from Mark) has a different mission, where his PROCESS is to arrange CONTENT to make sense to contemporary Jews. Judaizing isn't an issue: it's the point.

But in terms of process THEOLOGY, The One has another PROCESS beginnig to flower around an unexpected PROPHET, Malala Yousafzai, It has to do with Sura 74:30 "Above it is 19" and Sura Maryham 19:1 - 33 aimed directly at Mary, Mother of Jesus as Co-Redemptrix. This is part of The One's SPIRITUAL process, that has been Khadiji's legacy for Muslim women unrealized until recently and the message is Come to JESUS just the way you are and come through the Co-Redemptrix and throught the gates of the 19th Amendment and that's what process THEOLOGY has revealed to me. Jesus uses a SPIRITUAL process to accomplish His miracles and it's like "USE THE FORCE, LUKE". But a cost of this knowledge will be to reveal the total moral fraud of the so-called budget Mike Dulvaney is presenting.

A place I part company with Besty DeVos is PROCESS: she believes her Creationist version of Jesus is the reason she is so rich, but it is the PROCESS of AmWay's networking marking that brings in the bucks. It is all natural law.

How do I know? The bible told me so.

Let me say this: President Trump may actually be engaged in a historic civics lesson courtsey of Trump University but Mike Mulvaney just pushes it beyond the realm of possibilty. If, on his 100th day, President Trump announces his Making America Great Agin American First Infrastructure Restoration Act and signs it for delivery to Congress, then gets up, goes to a barber chair in the middle of the Oval Office and gets his head shaved bald and promises keep it bald until America puts a Children's Hospital on the moon by 2025, and says "By the way, the last 99 days? it was all in quotation marks", then I'll become a believer.

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ask-de-writer · 6 years ago

Text

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : World of Sea : Part 59

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

written 2007

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

//////////////

///////////////////////

New to the story? Read from the beginning. PART 1 is here

///////////////////////

Chapter 22: The Search

Looking at the map-table clearly, Captain Mord saw what he has missed the first time. There in the tallow, written in Kurin’s neat handwriting, was a note.

“Captain: The Grandalor’s crew needs justice. Their rights under the second G. L. have been violated. I have gone to help them. Kurin”

Weakly he said to the enraged Mord, “Captain, read this. It’s from my Captain. We were to be your hostages for Kurin’s return. . .” He slumped lax, dead from his wounds, the tallow-slate falling from his fingers with a small clatter onto the Longin’s deck.