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ben-j-man · 6 years ago

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Secret War: Chapter 9

Link to chapter 1- http://ben-j-man.tumblr.com/post/180097372453/secret-war-chapter-1

I looked back up to Olinthre my eyes wide, and I could imagine my face being even paler than usual.

"Have you actually seen Taryst over the past few months?" I asked, "has he been even more recluse than normal."

"That's the thing," said Olinthre, "While he still never leaves his quarters he still talks openly to the investigation squads and me, his mannerisms are the same nothing has changed except for his decisions.

Clenching my teeth I shook my head, "you are aware, that while we are having this highly confidential conversation, this Karmen Kons could easily be listening in that Taryst could have feigned her disappearance to draw out anyone conspiring against him...Like us."

Olinthre shrugged, "I know, but I don't care, if she truly knew, something would have happened right after I talked to Vex earlier, for all I know she could be dead."

The corner of my mouth twitched in contempt, how typical of a soldier to think so simplistically.

Of course, Edracian had claimed earlier that this Karmen Kons had been injured by my colleagues during the Twilight bar incident, but it would be wise to take everything that deranged Inquisitor claims with a grain of salt.

I sighed and shrugged, placing the paper on a nearby cogitator, "for all our sakes I hope you're right, frig it."

I could easily see where this was leading. With this development perhaps I could "encourage" good Olinthre to go up to "Taryst's" condo and confront the rogue trader, the major taking me with him of course. From there I could get access to this mysterious door.

Finally, for the first time in a long time, it seemed luck was on my side for a change.

At least I hoped it was luck, this seemed to smack of something that Glaitis had cooked up behind the scenes, and perhaps she knew of my kidnapping and deal with Edracian, but she hadn't tried to stop me yet.

"So," I said, attempting to push the conversation where I wanted it to go, "what are we going to do now?"

Olinthre's square jaw set in determination, "we're going up there, and we're going to ask Taryst what the hell is going on."

I barely held back a smile; everything was all according to plan, yess.

"What, now?" asked Vex perplexed, "b-but don't we need a plan first?"

"You don't need to worry Vex," said Olinthre, "because you are staying right here, I can't have your death on my conscience if anything should happen."

"And make no mistake, something, will happen," I said with complete certainty.

Olinthre gave me a sidelong glare, a look which seemed to show his complete disbelief that someone so young could be so cynical.

He can think it's cynicism; I prefer to call it pragmatism.

Vex shook his head a slight smile on his face, "no I didn't expect that you would want me to come with you, I would very much get in the way."

"In fact," said Olinthre his attention still on me, "I am leaving my men here to protect you Vex."

My eyes widened in disbelief as did Vex's and the two so far silent Stormtroopers glanced at one another.

"But-!"

"No Attelus," interrupted Olinthre then he turned to the Stormtroopers, "Aithyre, Geron, Daveth, Rayle they have been good soldiers, no great soldiers I will not put their lives on the line for this crap, I won't, I just won't."

I opened my mouth to argue to say that if we went up there and if anything happened that Taryst would surely find out about their involvement and kill them anyway, that it was idiotic that we could use all the help we could get.

But I could tell that to argue was pointless Olinthre had that determined look again he would brook no argument.

Olinthre turned to me, "sorry Attelus it's just you and me I'm afraid."

My jaw clenched, "let's get this over and damn well done with then," I growled.

The major smiled down at me, "lets," and he began to walk to the door, but I stood still my attention to the floor, shoulders hunched and shaking as I started to work up the courage.

"Attelus?" Olinthre asked.

"I'm sorry!" I finally blurted out, "I'm sorry about what I did Vex, I had no right, I was a jerk and a complete frig head I'm sorry, I truly am."

Vex didn't reply for a while, I was already sweating the small space profusely with so many Cogitators stuffed in it made the place as hot as a furnace, but I was somehow sweating even worse now, my body glove's internal heat dampeners didn't seem to help at all.

"You were a jerk," agreed the young hacker and I let out a long sigh of relief, not realising that I had held my breath the whole time, "and no I don't forgive you."

My attention snapped straight to Vex, as much as it sucked to hear those words I knew that he had every right not to.

"I-I understand," I stammered and turned to leave.

"But!" exclaimed Vex causing me to stop in my tracks, "but I will forgive you on one condition."

I could not help sigh in relief and turn back to the hacker, "name it."

"Only if you let me punch you in the face as hard as I can."

My eyes widened, that was it? That was all? It was then I was reminded how young Vex was. Only someone of such youth would think that was enough retribution for such treatment.

I almost felt guilty, while I knew that a thin person could be just as powerful and robust fighter as much as someone twice their size, Vex was not at all trained, and I have been punched in the face many times in my life, I could not help suspect that Vex's would barely even hurt at all.

Swallowing I said, "h-how about three punches to the face Vex perhaps that would suffice more?"

Vex grinned, and I knew that grin well, it was one which I had also worn on many occasions it was when someone knew that they were being underestimated, "nope I think one'll do."

I frowned and nodded, scratching the back of my head "hmm, okay, fire away but do you mind if I close my eyes?"

Vex's grin widened, "why, are you scared?"

My reply was a brief nod, hell yes I was scared. Scared that if my were eyes open when Vex tried to punch, my self-defence instincts would take over and the poor kid would end up with a broken arm, or worse

Vex shrugged, "sure I don't see why not."

Closing my eyes I lent forward, giving Vex a clear shot. Then the punch came, with no fanfare or ceremony and he hit me right in my cheekbone with surprising strength. Sharp pain abruptly flared through my face, and I was sent sprawling to the floor so fast that I was barely able to stop myself from smashing my nose into the hard rockcrete.

He somehow had hit me harder than Edracian's mook did earlier.

Still, on the floor I turned back to Vex, my eyes wide with shock and clutching my face, that was going to leave one hell of a bruise.

But it indeed was the least I deserved.

Vex was smirking triumphantly down at me as one of Olinthre's men approached and abruptly pulled me back to my feet. Woozy I clung to the Stormtrooper.

Was I woozy? Woozy! How the hell could this kid hit so damned hard!

Vex grinned, "apology accepted Attelus Kaltos,"

I nodded still holding my face, "th-thanks."

"I bet you are wondering why it hurt so much, right?"

Yes, I thought but said nothing.

"Garrakson had taught me how to punch while you were in a coma," said Vex, "that was nice of him, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, real nice of him," I said sarcastically.

Both Olinthre and I exited Vex's office, only pausing briefly for the Major to order the Stormtroopers to stay put and tell some other, supposedly inspiring hold the line crap.

We walked on through the cavern of cogitators, me sulking silently while still holding my cheek and Olinthre studying Vex's print out intently.

As we entered the corridors and out of the deafening crashes of the serfs Olinthre said to me absently; "you really shouldn't keep touching your face like that Attelus, it won't help you at all."

My sidelong glare was the only reply which Olinthre got.

The major smiled, seemingly quite enjoying my suffering.

"Fine be that way, but I have to warn you Attelus if you were in the Imperial Guard and acted that way-"

"What would happen?"

Olinthre grinned, "well you would just have to sign up to find out wouldn't you?"

The corner of my mouth twitched then I turned my attention back forward.

"So Attelus how long have you worked as an Assassin for?" asked Olinthre out of the blue.

"Why?" I growled, quickly realising that this sounded allot like small talk.

"Why? Because I'm just interested that's all."

I Looked at him, trying to detect a reason behind this but came up with nil that was what it exactly seemed to be, small talk.

With a shrug I answered, "just made seven years now, how long have you worked for Taryst?"

Olinthre frowned he was still studying that sheet, "around ten years, hmmm."

"What is it?"

Olinthre suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked straight at me, "frig," he said, "that is one hell of a bruise you've got there Attelus."

I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Yeah, man, the kid got you good, yeah. It's all big and blue; we better see medicae Feuilt."

That was an act that much was blatant but why would he want to see Feuilt? And if we did this, it would just use up even more of my precious time.

I sighed, "yeah okay, maybe he'll bandage it or something."

The major smiled and we moved on.

"So what is your home planet?" asked Olinthre after a few moments of silence.

My brow furrowed, wondering where the hell this line of questioning was going, it was strange I don't think that anyone has ever actually asked where I came from before.

"E-Elbyra," I answered hesitantly, thinking that maybe I should not be giving out this information so freely.

Olinthre's eyes widened, "Ah! Elbyra! The small Agri world I know it actually."

My eyebrows raised in surprise, "really, have you been there?"

The major shook his head, "no, no actually I should re-phrase, I know of Elbyra, the way I found about the planet was because I once served alongside the Velrosian first regiment during my time in the guard."

I nodded, Elbyra was only recently taken in by the Imperium it would be just over three hundred years ago, as I could recall from school. We Elbyrans attempted to resist at first, in particular, the country of Maranger who have always been warlike but we were still a little primitive we where indeed a feudal world then and so it didn't take long before we where under the fold. It wasn't until twenty years ago that the entirety of Elbyra raised their first regiments of Imperial Guard, one drawn from each country on the large continent; Velrosia, Maranger, Galak Heim, Despasia, Terluin, Haellestein and Amarin.

"It was in my last year in the guard," said on Olinthre, "my regiment was fighting Orks on the planet Belfost, and the Velrosians were sent in to help us, the famous "first amongst equals" at first we all scoffed at the arrogance of the title but quickly I saw it was justified. They were good, one of the best regiments I have ever worked with actually, well disciplined, reliable and their general he was a hard bastard. Tathe was his name, and he had a son working inside the regiment as a commissar. His father forced him into the schola progenium when he was young, Delan Tathe he was an arrogant little punk, but very skilled with a blade, you remind me of him actually."

My jaw set slightly, "thanks," I said, it was kind of funny at how such a large galaxy could feel so small at times.

I smiled and said, "The Velrosian 1st have made a name for themselves over the last twenty years, my country seems to breed natural warriors. Around thousand years ago Olinthre, Velrosia fought the far larger and numerically advantageous invading Maranger to a standstill, a war which lasted over four decades before Velrosia was finally overwhelmed. But it was barely after a year of occupation when the Velrosian rebels led by the young and now legendary prince, Royd Antares they ousted Maranger and Royd slaying the corrupt Maranger king Voltarin in single combat."

"Although that great act of heroism would lead to events that no one could ever have foreseen. The legend of King Royd of Velrosia was a sad tale which ended in utter tragedy, but that still doesn't stop all Velrosian children wanting to be him growing up, myself included, of course, my love for sword mastery and hand to hand combat was in part, because of that legend."

And my father made me learn of course.

The corner of my mouth twitched slightly, wondering why I had just suddenly said all that information. It has been a long time since I talked about my homeworld.

Olinthre smiled and nodded as we walked out of the corridors and into the elevator lobby.

"And where are you from major?" I asked.

"Cadia," answered Olinthre simply.

My eyebrows raised in surprise, I knew of Cadia of course, the mighty fortress world which guards the only navigational route too and from the Eye of Terror. The Cadian Imperial Guard regiments were amongst the most well known and lauded in the whole of the Imperium so that Olinthre would know of and praise the Velrosian 1st so highly was indeed something to be proud of.

That's if the major was telling the truth of course.

Olinthre pushed the elevator call button and turned back to me.

"I served in the 266th regiment for a good ten years with Garrakson under my command as a sergeant."

That surprised me also; I had no idea that both Garrakson and Olinthre were from the same planet, let alone the very same regiment.

Olinthre shook his head, "that was the best decade of my life, don't get me wrong we all went through hell that's for sure but the brotherhood we shared, the friendships we developed Attelus war is a terrible, terrible thing but nothing else could ever bind comrades together so well."

"There is only war," I could not help intone under my breath.

Olinthre sighed sadly, "yes I can't disagree with you on that."

"It was hard to see your comrades slowly whittle away Attelus, to die off, sometimes one by one, sometimes even by the dozens. You must have an idea by now; your squad was much larger when you first started fighting in this complete and utter farce."

The major's face suddenly contorted in horrible rage while his eyes watered with barely contained tears, "but to have your entire regiment, the friends! The comrades who you have fought side by side for years on countless battlefields! To have them all slaughtered right in front of your eyes like they were cattle, you can't imagine what that is like!"

His sudden outburst made me flinch in fright, and I could only stand around like an idiot, not knowing what to say.

Olinthre sighed again, "I-I'm sorry for that Attelus, I didn't mean to-"

Olinthre was interrupted by the arrival of the elevator, and we slipped inside.

We went up a few floors before Olinthre finally said, "Taryst saved us from that hell hole Attelus, he saved Garrakson and me from being slaughtered just like the rest of our regiment and for that I truly respect him, and for that, I owe him everything. I was always prepared to die for the Emperor but not in that way, but not that way."

"And for that, I will always be ashamed; I am a coward Attelus I should have died in duty along with my comrades but yet here I am. Working as a soulless mercenary for an ugly and backstabbing corporation that really shouldn't exist, but now it's time to face up as you did with Vex, it's time to finally, truly face up to my mistakes."

I nodded, and that was all I was capable of.

I winced as Feuilt dabbed my sore cheek with a wet piece of cotton.

"Yeeep," he said, "young man you are going to have one frig of a bruise."

My jaw twitched, and I glared accusingly at the grinning Olinthre, really is that why we came up here so that Feuilt could state something, I already knew?

"Actually," said on the medicae, "you are lucky that you didn't break your zygomatic bone, that was one hell of a punch."

"Well, the person who threw it has been practising at the art non-stop over the last month," I growled and flinched again as more pain coursed through my face.

Feuilt's eyes widened, "what just so they could do this to you? What did you do to warrant such retribution?"

I frowned and furrowed my brow, bemused at the medicae's apparent ignorance.

"Well I guess it doesn't matter," sighed Feuilt, "just be careful, two injuries so quickly one after the other, just try, be, a, little, bit, less, clumsy next time."

He dabbed between each pause, and I could not help bristle slightly at being called clumsy, I wasn't clumsy, I was never clumsy.

"Alright," said the medicae as he got up and turned to a nearby draw pulling out a bandage, pulled off the adhesive tape then planted onto my face.

"Just wear that for the next few days," he said, "it will keep down the swelling and help prevent the bruising, I'll give you a few more if this one ever falls off."

"Thanks, doc," I said, sounding more grudging than intended.

Feuilt shrugged, "yes young man, just make sure you don't come back for any time soon, okay?"

I nodded and briefly played with the idea to tell Feuilt of the poison injected into my system but quickly declined the notion, Edracian could be watching me even now, and I didn't know what kind of poison it was. There were a few kinds that I could name off the top of my that would kill a man in a few hours, but here I was dealing with an assassin from the Venenum temple and their knowledge of poisons was unrivalled throughout the Imperium, it was very likely that Feuilt would have no clue what it was at all.

Feuilt nodded back then turned to Olinthre, "so major now will you tell me why you are here as well?"

Olinthre was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest and he pushed himself off.

"Yes I will Feuilt, something has come to my interest recently," Olinthre said, and he held up the print off of the retinal scans to the medicae.

My eyes widened, what was he doing? Why was he telling this to Feuilt?

Feuilt's brow furrowed in bemusement, "where are you getting at major?"

"This, my friend," said Olinthre, "is a print off from the records of people who have used their retinal ID to access Taryst's condo over the past month."

The medicae frowned deeply, still confused he slipped on a pair of spectacles and took the sheet, studying it intently.

"Yes it is," agreed Feuilt, "but what does this have to do with me?"

My eyes widened as it suddenly hit me, "because you've been going up there to treat Taryst's injured psyker!" I blurted out without thinking.

Both Feuilt's and Olinthre's attention snapped at me; their expressions were both amazed and confused.

"H-how did you know that?" stammered Feuilt.

I winced, internally cursing my idiocy then my face went bright red, and I scratched the back of my head, "uhm a lucky guess, I guess."

It was a terrible lie, I know.

But I barely held back a sigh of relief as Olinthre returned his suspicious gaze to the bemused medicae, "so you admit it then? As the records show, you have been visiting Taryst far more than normal over the last month."

It was Feuilt's turn to sigh, "yes, yes I do admit to it Olinthre as you know I go up once a week to give Taryst his weekly juvenant treatment, but..."

"But this time was different?" I asked and immediately regretted it as Olinthre's attention briefly snapped straight at me again, damn it! Why the hell did I always feel so inclined to finish people's sentences!

"But...Yes this was different, young man, Taryst took me through that large door in his quarters, in there he is keeping an extremely injured psyker, a woman by the name of Karmen Kons, he told me to treat her and to keep it a secret."

Olinthre looked at the medicae with extreme incredulity and said, "but! But! How! Not even I'm allowed through that frigging door and why wasn't I told what had happened to her!"

Feuilt raised his hands in a protective motion as it seemed for a second there that Olinthre would strike the medicae. "You must understand major, I was not informed of such information, but it does not end there."

"And what the hell does 'It does not end there,' mean?" yelled Olinthre.

The medicae didn't flinch facing down the angry ex-guardsman with admiral courage. "When I was first taken to her, she was unconscious due to head trauma, but I was ordered to keep her in a coma via a drug named Diporisan which needed to be injected every two days, that is why my retinal scan is logged in at every second day."

"I don't understand," I said interrupting anything that Olinthre was to say, "why didn't you give Taryst some syringes so he could do it himself?"

But what I was really thinking was why Taryst would want to keep his little psyker in a coma, and the reason why I asked such a small question was that I wanted to take Olinthre's thoughts away from it.

Perhaps the psyker had found something? Or did something wrong during the raid on the Twilight bar?

Feuilt shrugged, "I don't know, but I am guessing that he suspected no one but himself would be able to see the records so my visitations would not arouse suspicion."

That made my eyes widen, if this was such a secret then how did Edracian's spy find out? The spy who seemingly worked for Glaitis or was there someone else in Taryst's organisation?

"Well they have now," growled Olinthre.

Feuilt turned back to Olinthre, "so I am curious, how is it then you got your hands on those records major?"

"That is none of your business, medicae."

"Alright then," sighed Feuilt, "I don't know how you got your hands on that information but I can still tell Taryst that you have it, so do not intend to get angry at me again Olinthre!"

A wolfish, predatory grin spread across Olinthre's face, "well it doesn't matter if you do, medicae as the three of us are about to say a little hello to the good rogue trader right now, isn't that right Attelus?"

"Yes, that's right," I agreed and I paused as I realised, "wait, what do you mean 'us three'?" I asked.

"Because Attelus Kaltos, because good medicae Feuilt here will be accompanying us, isn't that right Feuilt?"

Feuilt's face grimaced in utter rage, but it was quickly gone, turning into a look of defeat, "yes, yes I will be accompanying you major."

Olinthre grinned that grin again, "good!" he said brightly, "let's go then, shall we?"

We silently rode the elevator up to Taryst's penthouse me standing with both Olinthre and Feuilt on my flanks.

Earlier on our walk from the medicae, I asked Feuilt with as much casual interest I could feign. If he had seen anything behind that door, anything of any importance, but the only answer I got was that the door actually led to an elevator that went down into an underground bunker that he hadn't been shown much of the shelter at all.

Perhaps he was lying, but I didn't want to push the medicae for more information with Olinthre around, the ex-guardsman's suspicion of me was high enough as it was already.

With the thought of the ex-guardsman, I could not help but steal a sidelong glance at Olinthre, my jaw twitching slightly.

Perhaps I should've pointed out the pure hypocrisy of Olinthre making poor Feuilt come with us, Feuilt who in all essence which had done nothing wrong he was just following orders.

But me being the complete coward I am my mouth kept shut not wishing to force any confrontation with Olinthre, I needed to stay on his right side him being my only real ally in this idiotic endeavour.

Well, how "true" Olinthre was as an ally has yet to be elaborated on I would be keeping an eye on the major after his tirade with poor Feuilt I was beginning to wonder about his mental health.

I then looked sidelong to the medicae who stood as emotionless as he was motionless, he hadn't complained at all about the dangerous position he was in, but as I had said earlier life was unfair and I couldn't help but respect the medicae for his apparent stoicism.

I sighed slightly and reached into the pocket of my flak jacket for a smoke while tapping the tip of my shoe against the floor, very much unlike the good medicae my nerves where really getting to me the entire ride I fidgeted in one way or another while wholly ignoring the annoyed looks from the Major and medicae.

The attempt at retrieving my Lhos was far harder than it should've been my shaking fingers fumbling to find the little ceramic case which caused me to curse a couple of times under my breath.

Finally, I managed to tug out the case and opened it with a flick of a thumb then began to search for my lighter.

"You aren't going to smoke that are you?" growled suddenly Olinthre at my back which made me flinch in fright.

"And I hope that you are aware of the dangers to your health of smoking Lho," said Feuilt, "or of the potential effects for both Olinthre and myself when you smoke in such close proximity to us in here-."

"Yeah, yeah," I interrupted while hurriedly slipping my away my Lho's, really not wanting to hear much more of the medicae's tirade.

"Are you a bit nervous Attelus?" asked Feuilt.

"Yeah just a little," I said, "we are about to confront the leader of huge multi-planet business franchise who has a huge army at his beckon call and may or may not already want us dead and may or may not has lost his mind, so I am a little bit nervous, yes."

Feuilt smiled, "I understand we all have our ways of dealing with our anxiety Attelus, you I see, deal by fidgeting and by displaying extreme sarcasm which is not uncommon for others your age and the smoking of lho of course."

I sighed again, "so are we a psychologist now as well?"

Feuilt smiled wider, "why I've dabbled although I doubt it would take a genius to figure that out."

"Of course you have," I said, "and what is your way of dealing with anxiety medicae?"

"My faith," he answered without hesitation.

My jaw set at the medicae's response, first frigging Olinthre now Feuilt both being idiotic believers in "faith", a smile spread across my face, and I looked up at the cameras looming over us and said;

"Whatever happens, happens."

Before either Olinthre or Feuilt could respond the elevator had stopped its ascent and again the automated voice announced in its atypical monotone "300th story; Master Taryst's living quarters restricted access retinal scan required."

Wordlessly Olinthre unslung his las gun approached the retinal scanner and placed his face into the machine while I still watched the cameras with great interest wondering whether Taryst was watching us ascend to usurp him.

I drew my auto pistol from my chest holster, racked the slide and turned to Feuilt, "stay behind us Feuilt."

The medicae's exterior of apathy was gone, his nod of reply very nervous.

"Employee 106; identified as Toron Olinthre," said the computer, "Access granted."

We all quickly stepped into the sides of the elevator in case of any immediate retaliatory gunfire from Taryst's bodyguards.

But there was nothing.

I glanced questionably at Olinthre who with a similar quizzical look nodded back and together with guns raised we slipped out of the elevator and into the corridor beyond.

What we saw as we stepped into that red, overly pretentious hallway made my jaw drop and Olinthre bark out in disbelief.

She stood at the end, kneeling over the corpses of both Taryst's bodyguards seemingly studying them intently.

"You!" roared the ex-guardsman, "how in the Emperor's name did you get up here?"

Elandria was suddenly on her feet, and she eyed each of us blankly, "I was allowed," she answered.

Both Olinthre and I had here wholly covered, but I could not help but feel a little unnerved, what was she doing here? Was this Glaitis making her move?

"Did you kill those men?" demanded Olinthre his tone betraying his nervousness.

Slowly, Elandria looked over her shoulder at the two dead men behind her as though only just realising they were there, "no," she answered, "they were both already dead when I arrived."

Scarily without a shadow of a doubt, I knew she was telling the truth, and that made me all the more nervous.

Suddenly, seeming from nowhere Elandria grinned her evil grin and her attention snapped straight to me.

"This is it Attelus Kaltos," she said.

"This is it for what El?" I asked.

"Finally we will see who is truly the better of us," Elandria said as she slowly almost theatrically drew Setsukia and Katrina.

I kept my pistol firmly trained on her, "I don't want to fight you Elandria."

"Oh but you do," she laughed darkly, "you are just as interested as I am in seeing who is the superior one, I know it."

"Glaitis has ordered you to kill me hasn't she?" I asked.

"That is mamzel Glaitis Attelus Kaltos, and yes the master did order your death so I will not be holding back."

"Well I wouldn't have it any other way," I said and opened fire.

Almost faster than the eye could follow she dodged the bullet swaying sidewards and her somersault carried her lithe body out of the trajectory of both my next shots.

Olinthre had no time to react before she had crossed the distance between us and me in vain emptied my pistol at her acrobatic form.

She flew at me in a horrifically powerful butterfly kick which would have taken my head off if I hadn't managed just to duck underneath.

My sword was suddenly drawn I slashed horizontally, attempting to catch the young woman in mid-flight but she dodged; twisting out of harm's way with almost impossible grace.

She landed perfectly and followed on by pirouetting into a powerful hook kick which forced me into a back step, her heel barely missing my nose.

Elandria kept up her offence; thrusting forward Katrina at my guts, a thrust which I abruptly sidestepped and countered with a horizontal slash, an attack that she cartwheeled just out of range from but her dodge was also an attack as she attempted to shatter my jaw with her feet.

I swayed away and slid into a vertical slash which would have sliced her skull cleanly in two if she hadn't parried with Setsukia then countered by cutting with Katrina.

My dodge was a desperate leap back while simultaneously ejecting a knife from my sleeve and throwing it straight at her face at point blank range.

Elandria knocked my projectile out of mid-air with almost contemptuous ease and lunged forward, quickly making the distance while spinning into a vertical blow which was far too powerful for me to parry, so I instead sidestepped, sliding nimbly around her while cutting at her back.

Elandria leaned low, just under the blow and swept her leg out in an attempt to take my feet out from underneath me but I danced over the kick and stomped down at her.

She rolled out the way, across the carpet and into a feline-like crouch, her dead, drugged up eyes looking up at me under a furrowed brow.

"It looks as though your time in bed hasn't affected your speed, " she growled, getting back to her full height.

I grinned through my gasps that little skirmish would have lasted less than a second or two, but already it had worn me down a bit.

"Well that's me," I said, "the Autarch Speedyrificus."

Elandria raised an eyebrow, "what?"

"Nothing!" I replied quickly, wondering what the hell I had said as well.

Then without hesitation, Elandria was lunging at me again.

I slipped from the path of the slicing Katrina then weaved underneath the stabbing Setsukia.

My counter was a quick short slash, slashing up toward her ribs She spun sidewards out of the path of my attack. It was yet another fanciful dodge, but over the past six months, I'd like to think that I learnt a lot about Elandria's fighting style. I knew that her spins, her flips, her cartwheels and such were usually far to fast for me to take advantage of the openings they create and I knew they weren't just for show either. She used them to build momentum which added much more power to her strikes; it was a deadly mix of speed and power that made her such an exceedingly deadly enemy.

Elandria spun into a stroke with Setsukia, the blurring blade arcing in a decapitating cut that I kept clear of by backstepping. Against an offensive dual wielder with her speed I wasn't ready to risk a parry I didn't want to open myself to one of her next blows or even be potentially disarmed.

She flowed into a high front kick that I sidestepped; I would have loved to slice my sword straight into her leg then but again she proved to be far too quick.

Clenching my teeth I stepped into the offence, slashing out horizontally with my sword an attack which Elandria parried with Katrina and she flowed with the blow, turning her hips and augmenting my attack in an attempt push me off balance to impale myself on the tip of Setsukia.

I would have been surprised if not running on instinct, it was the type of defence I used, and so the appropriate counter had been drilled into me over and over again by my father a long time ago.

In the blink of an eye, I pulled my blade back reposting into a blindly fast overhead vertical slash that Elandria barely blocked with both her swords. A smile spread across my face at seeing the surprised look on her beautiful features; then I kicked out with my boot knife straight at her knee.

In hindsight it was foolish of me to think that she wouldn't have anticipated the attack, I had gained much knowledge of her style and so should she of me. I found that out the hard way as she suddenly slipped sideways pulling her blades from the block and just managing to dodge my crippling kick. Luckily my skill had prevented me from putting to much pressure on my sword otherwise I would have been overbalanced and open to her counter cut so with a desperate defence I knocked aside Katrina a mere millimetre before the short sword sliced through my guts.

Elandria's second attack was a thrust, the tip of Setsukia moving so fast straight at my face that the sword seemed to phase into reality and I leaned away. My dodge was quick enough to keep Setsukia from impaling my skull but not fast enough to prevent it from opening an ugly, gigantic gash across my cheek and tear off Feuilt's bandage.

Crying out as the horrific pain spread I leapt back, away from any follow on that Elandria could muster then fell into a defensive stance.

Elandria stood, her swords held limply at her sides grinning at me with that sinister grin of hers.

"You are slowing down," she stated.

I could barely respond with the lull in the combat my fatigue was back at full force, my heart was thudding through my chest at a mile a minute, and I couldn't stop gasping for breath if only I were at full strength if only I could breathe properly.

Elandria shrugged, "well you are weakened, but even at your best Attelus Kaltos I am sure that I would win."

"Dream, on," I managed and glanced briefly over my shoulder to check on Feuilt and Olinthre, who both stood frozen still with expressions of utter awe.

"I don't want to fight you Elandria," I said, turning back to her.

"Really, why did you try to shoot me then?"

My jaw twitched slightly, so I don't have to waste my frigging time fighting you, and I was aiming at your leg. Also, I thought but said nothing finding it hard to imagine of a convincing lie.

"So tell me El," I said in an attempt to change the subject, "did I save all those people at the Twilight bar?"

"Not this again," she growled.

My jaw set as sudden anger welled at the pit of my guts, "yes this again," I growled, "did I or didn't I? Now spit it out before I kill you."

Her face turned grim, "I am not telling you so if you by some miracle actually kill me you will miss out on it."

"There are no miracles, there is only men," I said, suddenly recalling the quote although could not quite remember from where it came.

She grinned again, "well if that is true then you are positively screwed."

I grinned back, "then I am positively screwed I guess, but really, I don't mind that it would be you who screwed me."

Elandria's face immediately turned a stark red, evident in contrast to her deathly pale skin.

I stepped forward looking her straight in the eyes, her drugged dead but somehow still beautiful brown eyes, "I-I don't want to fight you Elandria."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I don't want to fight you!" I yelled.

"Why don't you want to fight me?"

"Because I don't want to kill you!"

"Why don't you want to kill me?"

My reply caught in my throat why was she pushing this? Damn it! I turned my attention to the floor unable to keep eye contact with her any more.

"B-because I don't want you to die, Elandria."

"Why Attelus don't you want me to die then?" she said softly.

I glanced at her. Why, because you are so damn beautiful, it hurts every time I look at you?

"Just because!" I snapped.

It was pathetic! But I couldn't, I just couldn't talk properly; my heart leapt like it wanted to burst out of my chest, my throat had a massive lump in it, it was hard so, so hard.

It was strange going from one second fighting her, to this, me struggling to confess, well I had no real idea what I wanted to admit exactly.

She tilted her head slightly her pale face a mask of utter bemusement.

"Why Attelus, why?"

"Because Elandria," I sighed, "I don't want you to die, it's because I know what you have been through."

I paused trying to swallow back the lump in my throat, "and I know that you never had any choice in the matter, any choice to be what you wanted to be, to do what you wanted to do. That-that any real choice in your life was stolen from you when you were so young a-and you didn't deserve that Elandria, no one does, I-I want you to live so you could one day have your own life to escape this crap, too, too."

My left hand clenched into a tight ball while the right gripped my sword's hilt all the harder, "and that may be in your new life that I'd be able to be part of it, that I'd like to be by your side to help you through I-I."

I dropped my sword and kicked it away.

"W-what are you doing?" she demanded, her voice now high pitched almost scared, her expression of grim determination disappearing entirely into one of extreme uncertainty.

"Giving you a choice Elandria," I answered, feeling tears welling in my eyes, "you can kill me or let me pass, but either way I know now that you truly aren't the monster that you claim to be, your uncertainty now is proof of that."

Elandria was shacking in utter terror now, and I could even see tears in her own eyes she had utterly no clue what to do, "Attelus..."

I closed my eyes, "just make the choice Elandria; I won't fight it either way."

"What the hell are you doing!" I heard Olinthre roar, "don't just give up you idiot!"

I ignored him and despite my eyes being closed the tears now flowed freely.

"I-I," stammered Elandria, "I don't understand, I-I just don't, why can't, why can't I do it? Why can't I kill you?"

Then I heard a clatter as she dropped her swords, "I-I can't."

My eyes opened, and I was greeted for the first time Elandria cry, and by the Emperor, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen as they weren't tears of sadness they were tears of joy, utter joy.

In all honesty, I had expected her to kill me that her years of brainwashing would win so to see her Elandria somehow overcoming it was so astonishing I could not help stand in shock, and awe and it filled me with such unbelievable hope if she could do it then why couldn't I?

Despite my self, I approached her, pulling her into an embrace she didn't fight only tightly embracing me back and sobbed raggedly into my chest

I held her all the more, and it was then I truly realised that I loved her and she truly loved me too, and the joy it brought was beyond description.

The single gunshot roared, reverberating the very corridor to the core and Elandria suddenly gasped her eyes widening with shock, and she collapsed so fast that I had no time to catch her. I just saw with dawning utterly numbing horror the huge ragged hole in her back.

My shock was so intense I never saw Taryst slip back through the curtains at the end of the corridor, a smoking gun in his grasp neither did I hear Olinthre scream the rogue trader's name and run after him nor Feuilt sprint up to try to help me with Elandria.

I fell to my knees and slowly pulled her into my arms, turning her limp form over so I could look into those big brown beautiful eyes, it seemed so unreal I couldn't begin to comprehend.

She smiled weakly and whispered; "you're so stupid."

"H-how?" I managed.

"Th-that you didn't believe Castella when she said you saved all those people," her voice was barely a whisper now, "because you did save those people Attelus, you did."

"Please don't talk El," I said wiping away my tears with a forearm, "t-try to save your strength."

"Thank you Attelus Kaltos," she said ignoring my plea, and she placed a soft hand against my cheek, "thank you for caring for me despite all I did, thank you for being the only one who-who."

She never got to finish her sentence as her hand fell away and she gasped one last time then died still cradled in my arms.

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yutikyis · 7 years ago

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Sea, Sky and Stone

It was a beautiful day. The sky was a sparkling clear blue dotted only by white fluffy cloud. From the tree that she was perched in she could see far to the horizon, the infinite expanses of blue ocean broken only by a single island in the distance. She’d come up here with a book she’d purchased with a trader, a basic overview of the aetheric magic of Eorzea. Most of it was too complex to understand without training but she at least enjoyed the concepts. The ability to make water dance and stones move and fire appear from nothing and to heal injuries like they were never there? What an amazing idea. Yet her attention had been drawn to the island, out there in the blue sea. Her Eorzea. When Yuti had been a kit she’d seen that island in the distance and had assumed it was the real one. After all the world couldn’t be that large a place and she knew Eorzea was close enough to travel to so it couldn’t be that far away. As she got older she realized it could be no such thing. Yet in her mind it was still her Eorzea. An embarrassing little secret held over from childhood. She planned to visit it someday but she wasn’t comfortable enough on a fishing boat to go out that far and no trader was going to indulge a young Miqo’te’s fantasy to see what was probably an uninhabited waste of time. Still. Still. It was fun to sit here and look out at the distance and dream. Eorzea was somewhere in that direction she knew. A land of kings and magic. Of endless wars against dragons and mysterious ancient civilizations. Supposedly there was a desert, like a beach that spread into the distance like the ocean. A forest that was alive. An entire city of pirates. She couldn’t even begin to think about how that must be like. Surely all the parrots would make a huge mess between the feathers and the droppings? Her thoughts were interrupted by a pebble thwipping lightly against her head. She yelped and almost went tumbling out of the branch she’d been sitting on. Fortunately she wasn’t that high above the ground and even a relatively graceless MIqo’te like her wasn’t about to be quite THAT clumsy. Stlll, it was a near save from embarrassment. Who...? “Hey! Yoohoo!” Oh. Him. Ehmi'a Futho. She could not stand Ehmi’a which was only fair as the boy couldn’t stand her either. Every time they ran into each other he seemed to make it his life’s goal to get a rise out of her. He’d started with teasing and had gradually moved up to hair pulling, pebble-throwing, and in one situation literal mud-slinging. It seemed to amuse him every time she stormed off in a huff. Plus that infuriating nickname. She had no idea why he’d started it but he seemed to take perverse delight in using it. “It is Y-Y-Yuti,” she said in an attempt at an unbothered voice, feeling the frustrating aggravation of her stammer more now than ever. It would be so much easier to deal with Ehmi if she could just tell him off instead of having to fight through her own speech. “A-and I’ll a-ask you t-” “Yeah, yeah, you’ll a-a-a-ask m-m-m-e and by the time you get through it we’ll both be old n’ grey,” the boy interrupted a toothy grin. He was of the make of most of the men on the island. Tall and broad compared to the average Miqo’te, with dark skin and muscles born from hard work helping his father, one of the village’s fishermen. He towered over her easily enough that even if she wanted to take her mother’s advice about bullies (”Punch ‘em in the face, ya stupid girl”) seriously it would be like hitting a tree. Not to mention that he was always surrounded by an entorage of other Miqo. Today it was two boys and a girl, all of whom giggled at his teasing. Yuti felt her cheeks grow red as she hopped down from the tree branch, tucking the book beneath her arm and giving the boy an annoyed glare. “What d-do you w-want?” she said tersely. Four words was easy enough to get out without getting interrupted. Ehmi responded by grinning at her, wrapping his arms behind his head, ears twitching in amusement. “Well, we’re bored and we saw ya sittin’ there, so we figured we’d come and bug ya. More interestin’ than starin’ at the fish. Barely,” he finished with another group guffaw. Yuti turned even redder and clasped her book tightly to her chest, which only seemed to make the group laugh more. “J-just go a-away, Ehmi,” she said softly. “I was reading.” Ehmi snorted and stepped forward quickly, and before she could stop him, had plucked the book from between her arms and was studying it curiously. “Why’re ya wastin’ your time with alla this nonsense? It’s a bunch of foreign junk. Ain’t gonna help you becoming a hunter.” Yuti felt a sudden twinge of panic as her book was stolen from her and she tried to reach for it, but the Miqo’te boy just lifted it above his head, out of her grasp. “I’m n-not going to be a hunter,” she huffed. “G-give it back!” Ehmi snorted “S’not what your mama says,” he teased back. “You want it back? Come and get it.” He waggled the book just back in reach and then yanked it back as she grabbed for it, forcing the girl to go after him. Yuti flailed at him, trying to reach up and grab for the book, but he blocked her every time. First by twisting and turning his body and holding it out of reach, and then by playfully holding his hand against her forehead, pushing her away as she tried to get close enough to hop up and snatch the book. Her face was growing redder and redder, tears coming to the corners of her eyes despite her best attempts to fight it off. It was humiliating. She knew what her mother would have done. She’d have hit him right in his smug face. Yuti couldn’t do that though. Not even if she wanted to. She didn’t have the muscle. She couldn’t even make the boy stand still. Ehmi skipped out of reach of her and pulled the book down, opening it and studying it curiously, his eyes dancing over the pages. “Seriously, Yoohoo, this is all a wastea time. Lookit this? Somethin’ about water?” He took the page and tore it out and Yuti let out a horrified squeak. “We got plentya water here, ya don’t need to be thinkin’ about somewhere else.” He crumpled the page into a ball and tossed it out into the sea. “Air? Plentya that too. Maybe ya’d enjoy us more if you paid attention to what was around ya.” There was a slight anger to the boy’s voice. Another page torn, balled up, and tossed away. It was a nightmare. Those were important pages. She didn’t even know if she’d read them yet. She felt the helplessness and frustration and anger building inside of her. “S-stop it...” she pleaded with him, balling her fists tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks now. The others were laughing, the sound ringing in her ears, seeming to fill her head. She wanted to run away but if she did they’d probably tear every single page out of the book. Only Ehmi wasn’t laughing now. If anything he looked annoyed and angry himself.

“Quit blubberin’ Yoohoo! You ain’t missin’ anything! You got everythin’ in this stupid book right here anyway. You got water, you got air and you got...” he reached the next page and tore it out. “Stone!”

It was too much for her to take. The helplessness and powerlessness. Seeing her precious book torn to pieces while Ehmi mocked her, while his friends laughed at her. None of them understood the wonderous things the books spoke of. She closed her eyes and fought the urge to scream. Nobody was going to help her. They were going to ruin her book. She couldn’t do anything. She... And she felt it. A tingle. A strange tingle that seemed to run through her entire body. Starting somewhere deep in her core and seeming to spread out through her limbs. A warm and comfortable feeling. She felt the energy as it danced through her limbs and into the earth beneath her. She felt the earth too. She’d never been aware of it before but the ground beneath her was alive. There was life in it too. A vast swell of life. The air, the ground, the sea, all of them were living beings. Ehmi was right. She did have stone. She could feel the stone beneath her. Feel its desire to move and shake and reshape itself. The island might seem immutable and unchanging but rather it changed every day. Pieces moved or crumbled or reshaped themselves. The island as it was today was not as it was a moon ago and it wasn’t how it would be in a sun. It *wanted* to change. It could change. With a little help. So she helped it. That was all it took. A little push. Ehmi was reaching for the next page and she wanted to stop him. The ground wanted to move. The two ideas were in unison... and so it happened. The stone beneath Ehmi’a’s feet suddenly shot upwards in a sudden swell, sending the boy flying into the air with a yelp, tumbling head over heels, over the small cliffside and into the ocean with a loud splash. The book slipped from his hand as he flew, falling to the ground with a tiny thump. The laughter stopped as Yuti’s eyes opened. The other three members of Ehmi’s little gang had stopped laughing. They stared at Yuti with wide and frightened eyes, their mouths hanging open, three near-identical expressions of shock. Ehmi was bobbing up and down in the ocean, his hair plastered to his face, utterly bewildered as he looked up. Yuti bent over and picked up her book, feeling her heart racing as she did so. Had she just...? “Yoohoo... w-what the Hells?!?” Ehmi called up at her as he paddled over to the cliff. One of his friend started to approach the cliff but stopped as Yuti made her own way over. It seemed like he didn’t want to risk being sent over either. The red-haired Miqo’te’s expression was nervous and excited at the same time.She held the book tightly to her chest as she looked down at Ehmi’a. “... The name is Yuti,” she said clearly and firmly and then turned and walked primly away, a happy little smile on her face. It was only once she was out of view of the quartet of confused Miqo’te that she began to run. Feeling the excitement and warmth and happiness flooding her, the sense of hope, of delight. For now that she knew what to look for she could feel it. Feel the aether around her. Feel the magic that permeated the world. She could feel her future spreading out before her.

#yuti kyis #balmung #ffxiv #character history

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goodrush · 7 years ago

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day 20

My dinner with slath was good! We caught up a ton and she really seems to be doing well. I love her dearly and she seems to have grown a lot as a person so I’m super happy for her. Hopefully she enjoys college, and hopefully I can see her again before she starts school, because she’s going to Scotland in a few weeks. Reminds me that I need to catch up with other people too. However, I had SUCH a cheat day with her foodwise. It was good, but so many carbs so late 😓. It’s in the past though so I have to look ahead.

Work the next day (Wednesday) was actually pretty busy! I had a training session and got started on a few new projects. L sent me what seemed like a passive aggressive email though about being impolite to our secretary? I wasn’t though, she told me to let her know when I’d be free and I was just finishing something up and gave her a shout like 3 minutes later. But I guess L thought I was gonna like let her marinate for an hour waiting for me even though she was leaving for the week? Which I would never do. So I guess that took me aback a little. Maybe he didn’t mean to be passive aggressive though. Who really knows. He seemed okay today.

After work that day I had the trader chat. So my BB trader coffee chat went okay but it was really short. Apparently he had to go to another meeting. I hope this doesn’t mean he didn’t like me. I thought we were having a good conversation and all and him cutting it off seemed abrupt enough that I think he was being genuine. So that’s okay. I also stayed really late after that for a Barry’s class at 9pm, and tbh it wasn’t as invigorating as the full body one. But I think that’s normal. I also got home at around midnight because I like walking everywhere. But it was a good walk.

Then today, work was kinda slow but L and I had a quick convo about this building company he wanted me to read about. We also had a meeting and one of R’s deals is moving forward! He seemed pretty happy. Also had a good convo with him and the CEOs assistant (my queen) about Newport (where I’m going for July 4, stay tuned for ridiculous family updates). They seem to like me as people now. I also had to tell R that I am indeed 18 and not 21. But they gave me tomorrow off, in addition to Monday and Wednesday. I’m p excited.

Also apparently my LA uncle (who got me the internship) is in my house rn. He’s nice but a bit of a leech off our family bc he doesn’t have a lot of money. So he repays us in like free shit/favors, which is great but somehow doesn’t always feel fair? Whatever. Hopefully everyone just stays civil throughout this weekend.

My club mentor rescheduled to next week, which is cool bc now I can go home relatively early. T and I also were gonna do tomorrow dinner but she rescheduled as well. But I do have a barre class tomorrow in the city that I want to go to. Maybe I will and have my mom come bc first class is free, and then we can get dinner. Might be fun.

I also talked to E the past couple days and he seems ok. He got a lil sad about not doing well in class today in Rome, which made me sad. I just want him to find inner confidence regardless of how stuff turns out sometimes. Like when one day is bad he’s like oh I’m not good at this at all. Which is untrue! And even if it were, he still loves it, which is what matters most. I want him to be able to acknowledge that a bad day is usually just that: one bad day. And then you learn from it and move on and it’s okay and it doesn’t change how far you’ve come. Hopefully he can get there, and I’ll do whatever I can to help too.

Also I did Flywheel today and I’m improving from my last class! Feeling good about it overall. And after that I went into a sephora to do my nightly skin routine with the samples. And I saw a rat dog. Stay scamming.

When I get home, I’m gonna presumably entertain my uncle, but after they I’ll send out some more emails to names that JW dropped me over dinner, submit my resume for an open house that J wanted to go to with me, and practice some digital interviews. This should also go into tomorrow as well. Mental productivity must happen today.

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potorgaret--inactive · 5 years ago

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Day 18 / Jan 18

Exo. 1-3

Exodus 1 opens with all the tribes of Israel growing rapidly and propering. In time, there was a new Pharoah in Egypt who didn't know the story of Joseph, and he thought of the Israelites as foreign invaders, so he made them into slaves. Then Pharoah told the Hebrew midwives to kill the child if it's male. The midwives stood strong and didn't do it. Pharoah gets pissed and orders normal Israelite people to drown their baby boys in the Nile.

On to Chap. 2, where a couple of Levi gave birth to a son, and then they had to drown him. His mother made a basket for the baby so that he would float and not drown. Eventually, this baby in a basket would end up in Pharoah's own backyard. One day, as Pharoah's daughter was out bathing, she happened on this poor helpless baby. She took pity on him and decided to raise him as her son. You guessed it, the kid was Moses himself.

In time, Moses grew up and was always a huge fan of justice. For example, when he saw an Egyptian beating his Hebrew slave, Moses looked left, then right, then killed the Egyptian and hid the body. Word got around and Pharoah was this close to outright killing him. Moses fled to land of Midian, which some say is south of Canaan, either on Sinai or on the Arabian Peninsula. When in Midian, he rested by a well and helped some random women get water from a cranky shepherd. These women, as it turns out, were the daughters of a priest in Midian, probably of Yahweh. When the daughters came home early, their father Reuel asked what was up and they said there was this Egyptian guy who helped them with the shepherd. Reuel tells his daughters to invite him for a meal. In time, Moses came to live with Reuel and got one of his daughters as wife. They had a son, Gershom. Then, Mean Pharoah Number 1 dies, and the Israelites sigh a collective sigh of relief. By the way, Reuel is also known as Jethro.

On to Chapter 3! This is when the story of the Burning Bush happens.

One day, Moses was out with Jethro's flocks and he came to a mountain, Mt. Horeb. Then comes the Burning Bush story, which is fairly well known. Basically:

God appears to Moses in the form of a fire that doesn't burn the bush God tells Moses that Horeb is sacred ground He tells Moses that he's gonna free the Israelites from their slavery, and he's gonna bring them into Canaan, which has been inhabited by Canaanites Moses argues with God and asks him "What am I gonna say when they ask who this god is?" God drops a bit of etymology as tells Moses to tell the people "I AM has sent me to you" But of course, if Moses says the words "I AM", then that'll make it seem like Moses is God, which he definitely isn't God tells him to call him "HE IS/WILL BE", or in Hebrew "YHWH" Moses is also commanded to:

Tell the elders of Israel that God is gonna free them Go to Pharoah and tell him to let them go for 3 days to sacrifice to Yahweh Plunder the Egyptians (v. 22)

As with the beginning of Genesis, we're gonna have to talk about the nitty gritty. So let's go in order.

Moses' backstory of being saved in a basket in markedly similar to the story of Sargon of Akkad.

`My mother, the high priestess, conceived; in secret she bore me/ She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid/ She cast me into the river which rose over me`

Why is this important? Because it suggests that, like the rest of the Torah, Moses is a complete fabrication. He is most likely an ancestral figure with basis in folklore, much like Aneas to the Romans. Now, it's important to remember that much of the Bible was compiled from numerous different sources during the Babylonian Exile. The only major parts that weren't compliations are the original portions of the prophetic books. In said books, only the northern ones mention any story having to do with Moses or Egypt or the Exodus, and even those vary. This also comes back later in the subject of "Gerezim or Zion???", but we'll deal with that much later.

It becomes clear that 'Moses' is a literary invention from classic folktales of the Northern Kingdom and surrounding lands, which were later combined with Mesopotamian influences and ultimately frankenstein'd into Israel's origin story by the final redactors of the Torah in Babylon.

However, folk tales need some kind of basis in reality, and Moses' IRL version might have existed as a religious person somewhere in the Transjordan, perhaps even far south as Midian and Sinai, which brings us to Midian.

Midian is a place somewhere on the north tip of Arabia, across the Gulf of Aqaba. While the religion of the Midianites isn't known, it is suspected to be connected to the religion of the Moabites and Edomites. According Karel van der Toorn, "By the 14th century BC, before the cult of Yahweh had reached Israel, groups of Edomites and Midanites worshipped Yahweh as their god". Many say that Yahweh was originally associated with the southern lands of Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman. Some say that Midianite traders brought Yahweh to the north as a weather god, where he was later syncretized with El, the native Canaanite chief god. It is also worth noting that some say that the national god of the Edomites, Qos, has similarities to Yahweh. And speaking of Yahweh, on to the burning bush.

In this story, God tells Moses that before this moment, nobody knew God's true name, even though Abraham and others call God Yahweh several times in Genesis[1]. Additionally, the explanation of "I AM that I AM", or "HE IS" is likely a folk etymology made long after the original meaning was long forgotten, with the original meaning probably being in some southern language.

1: 14:22, 15:2, 15:7, 15:8, 16:2, 16:5, 16:11, 18:14, 18:19, 19:13, 19:14, 24:12, 24:40, 24:42, 24:44, 24:50, 24:51, 24:56, 26:22, 26:28, 26:29, 27:7, 27:20, 28:13, 28:16, 29:32, 29:33, 29:35, 30:24, 30:27, 30:30, 31:49, 32:9.

by the way, whenever I refer to the collective authors in the Documentary Hypothesis (J, E, P, D, R), I will say Mr. Red Pajamas. The breakdown being RED PJ

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts." Proverbs 21:2

#bible #reading #exodus #biblebriefly #religion

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elvisnanney659-blog · 6 years ago

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What To Know about Bee Removal GA And Bee Protecting Tools

It may help decelerate the dispersal of medications into the body. The staff there had shrunk the tiny bot down smaller than a paperclip, and given it the power to navigate via water, however there was an issue - it could not get back up into the air again. Also, in the strategy of checking up on the hive and taking the honey, some bees get squashed by the frames or stepped on. The hive was packed with bees and it was near unimaginable to get the honey out with out squashing plenty of them. We provide many alternative packages for hives of any measurement, which include kits that you need to use to keep your hive energetic for up to a year. We set up 3 to 5 honey bee hives usually on the roof tops of buildings, nonetheless on all types of property, care for and maintain them underneath contract. It didn't. Hopes for natural-course containment had been dashed, and hives proceed to disappear. When you see a pile of grass in a nook there's a mouse in your hive. See also the Innovations hyperlink in "Strategies and Details" for ideas. The positioning gives you opportunity to work together with a few of essentially the most profitable traders and learn from them about their trading strategies. Please name us (no emails please) during our business hours and we will likely be completely satisfied to assist our clients. Harvested and packaged domestically on the Coromandel with due care and a focus of the bees that gathered, the setting that produced and the consumer will find it irresistible. Despite the cutesy title (the e book was extra sensibly printed in Britain as "The opposite Hand") and the coy guide-flap description ("It's a really particular story and we do not wish to spoil it"), "Little Bee" will blow you away. This prompted me to take a look on the BEE scorecards I might find that belong to our Gupta adversaries. They typically have menswear particulars such as a collar, sleeves with cuffs or buttons alongside the front, but they will have feminine touches as nicely. Pure Hair Remover Are you able to Make a Homemade Hair Growth Inhibitor? Can My Child Eat Baked Goods With Honey? This may be dangerous, but upon getting handed this job to a professional you may be relaxation assured and safe too. You can do a extra thorough inspection each 6 weeks for pests and diseases. This retailer of sperms lasts her for the two or more years of egg-laying, a small amount being launched with every fertilized egg laid. Often I hang two. Basically, queen bees use their stingers only to kill rival queens which will emerge or be launched within the hive. Arnia’s cutting-edge remote hive monitoring system gives vital information on colony status direct to your cellphone, tablet or Pc. The original thought for the coiled liners got here from Dave Pehling of the Washington State College Extension Workplace, followed by several years of testing and refinement by Randy. A few years in the past I explored using Federal land for beekeeping. Whereas they will not use the terminology, the ARS, this is the stuff of biblical plagues. Has he/she changed his typical routine and does not act the same means around you anymore? Writer: Assume Tank A Honeymoon cruise is one of the best ways to start one’s married life with lot of fun and pleasure. One honeybee's stinger wound up in a pretty bizarre location: lodged within the back of a teen woman's throat, a current report of the case reveals. Rule of thumb is that if they don’t come again within 30 days, they don’t come back. And anti-inflamatory properties had been confirmed within the studies Prophylactic effectiveness of propolis for immunostimulation: a clinical pilot study and Propolis cinnamon and pure honey a few of its constituents down-regulate DNA synthesis and inflammatory cytokine manufacturing but induce TGF-beta1 production of human immune cells. We maintain complete control over the production of our bee pollen: from the place and how the bee pollen is collected, to how it is cleaned and stored. Each tournament options a collection of preliminary rounds for the History Bee for individual college students and the History Bowl for teams. No scientific examine supports any claim that bee pollen is efficient in opposition to any human disease. Gown up as a bee for an opportunity to win a birthday celebration on the Museum! The research further shows that a decline in green house space within a 600-metre radius around each rooftop ends in reducing species richness (range) and abundance. A 5-yr toxicological research (1991-1995). The compound eyes are made of a lot of small, repeating eye elements known as ommatidia. The other sort is the J-kind tools which might be adjusted to the fashion a particular particular person desires them to be. Align all the circles in order that they are even at the top and staple them at the highest. They're crucial to our meals rising. The three receptors include three rhodopsin-like pigments which have maximal absorbance at wavelengths of 350 nm, 440 nm, and 540 nm. Now is a good time to fix this. Bees without the advantage of instruction scored round 30% of the time. This was precisely the action taken when a swarm of bees disrupted the game between the San Diego Padres and the Houston Astros at Petco Park, San Diego, California, simply this July.

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isslibrary · 7 years ago

Text

New Books (December)

Sorted by Call Number / Author. Some awesome stuff on this list (I added commentary). Thanks to the Jacobs family for some of these donations, to Mr. Colvin for the art history suggestions, and to students who requested materials. Mrs. Wald, we now have the first three

Magic Treehouse

books in Spanish. As always, if you can't find something, ask me or Mrs. VanHorn and we'll help.

296.1 U

Understanding the Dead Sea scrolls : a reader from the Biblical archaeology review. 1st ed. New York : Random House, ℗♭1992. A sourcebook of articles by the world's leading Dead Sea Scroll authorities.

303.66 Z

Zinn, Howard, 1922-. Artists in times of war. New York : Seven Stories Press, c2003.

** Highly Recommended -- and it's short **

305.38 W

Question bridge : Black males in America. First edition. Question Bridge assembles a series of questions posed to black men, by and for other black men, along with the corresponding responses and portraits of the participants. The questions range from the comic to the sublimely philosophical: from "Am I the only one who has problems eating chicken, watermelon, and bananas in front of white people?" to "Why is it so difficult for black American men in this culture to be themselves, their essential selves, and remain who they truly are?" The answers tackle the issues that continue to surround black male identity today in a uniquely honest, no-holds-barred manner. While the ostensible subject is black men, the conversation that evolves in these pages is ultimately about the nature of living in a post-Obama, post-Ferguson, post-Voting Rights Act America. Question Bridge is about who we are and what we mean to one another. Most critically, it asks: how can we start to dismantle the myths and misconceptions that have evolved around race and gender in America--how can we reset the narrative about ourselves, just as #blacklivesmatter has reset the narrative of civil protest? The founding artists, along with contributions from Ambassador Andrew Young, Jesse Williams, Rashid Shabazz, and Delroy Lindo, will introduce and contextualize the body of the work and provide closing remarks on our current and future social climate.

** This project happened at the Birmingham Museum of Art and it is really interesting **

305.409 D

Doyle, Sady. Trainwreck : The women we love to hate, mock, and fear... and why. Brooklyn, NY : Melvillle House, 2016.

659.1 W

Wu, Tim, author. The attention merchants : the epic scramble to get inside our heads. First edition. "From Tim Wu, author of the award-winning The Master Switch and who coined the phrase "net neutrality"--a revelatory look at the rise of "attention harvesting," and its transformative effect on our society and our selves. Attention merchant: an industrial-scale harvester of human attention. A firm whose business model is the mass capture of attention for resale to advertisers. In nearly every moment of our waking lives, we face a barrage of advertising enticements, branding efforts, sponsored social media, commercials and other efforts to harvest our attention. Over the last century, few times or spaces have remained uncultivated by the "attention merchants," contributing to the distracted, unfocused tenor of our times. Tim Wu argues that this is not simply the byproduct of recent inventions but the end result of more than a century's growth and expansion in the industries that feed on human attention. From the pre-Madison Avenue birth of advertising to TV's golden age to our present age of radically individualized choices, the business model of "attention merchants" has always been the same. He describes the revolts that have risen against these relentless attempts to influence our consumption, from the remote control to FDA regulations to Apple's ad-blocking OS. But he makes clear that attention merchants grow ever-new heads, and their means of harvesting our attention have given rise to the defining industries of our time, changing our nature--cognitive, social, and otherwise--in ways unimaginable even a generation ago"--.

759.2 R

Riley, Bridget, 1931- artist. Bridget Riley : works 1981-2015.

770.92 K

Sherman, Cindy, photographer, interviewee. Cindy Sherman, Imitation of life.

** If you enjoy taking selfies you should really look at this **

811.6 C

Collins, Martha, 1940-. White papers. Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, c2012. White Papers is a series of untitled poems that explore race from a variety of personal, historical, and cultural perspectives, questioning what it means to be "white" in a multi-racial society.

811.6 J

Jones, Ashley M. Magic City Gospel : poems. Spartanburg, SC : Hub City Press, 2016.

811.6 R

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen : an American lyric. Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV--everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person's ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named 'post-race' society.

** Essential Reading **

891.71 B

Baratynsky, E. A., 1800-1844, author. A science not for the earth : selected poems and letters. First edition.

92 Goldman

92: Biographies are in the Biography Room

Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940. Living my life : abridged. Condensed ed. Anarchist, journalist, drama critic, advocate of birth control and free love, Emma Goldman was the most famous—and notorious—woman in the early twentieth century. This abridged version of her two-volume autobiography takes her from her birthplace in czarist Russia to the socialist enclaves of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Against a dramatic backdrop of political argument, show trials, imprisonment, and tempestuous romances, Goldman chronicles the epoch that she helped shape: the reform movements of the Progressive Era, the early years of and later disillusionment with Lenin’s Bolshevik experiment, and more. Sounding a call still heard today, Living My Life is a riveting account of political ferment and ideological turbulence.

** Howard Zinn suggested reading this so I got it-- we need more biographies about women, so let me know if you have ideas! **

92 Guevara

Resnick, Marvin D. The black beret: the life and meaning of Che Guevara. New York, : Ballantine Books, [1970, c1969].

92 Joyce

Anderson, Chester G. James Joyce : with 124 illustrations. A biography of the Irish genius relating details of his life to the substance of his books.

92 Wright

Wright, Richard, 1908-1960. American hunger. First edition. A continuation of Richard Wright's autobiography, "Black Boy.".

ES F Osb

ES Section/Español is in the Reading Room

Osborne, Mary Pope. El caballero del alba. Lyndhurst, NY : Lectorum Publications, 2002.

ES F Osb

Osborne, Mary Pope. Dinosaurios al atardecer. Lyndhurst, NY : Lectorum Publications, 2002.

ES F Osb

Osborne, Mary Pope. Una momia al amanecer. Lyndhurst, NY : Lectorum Publications, 2002.

F Bac

Backman, Fredrik, 1981- author. A man called Ove : a novel. First Washington Square Press trade paperback edition. "A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door"--Amazon.com.

F Bur

Burton, Jessie, 1982-. The miniaturist. First Harperluxe edition. Engaging the services of a miniaturist to furnish a cabinet-sized replica of her new home, 18-year-old Nella Oortman, the wife of an illustrious merchant trader, soon discovers that the artist's tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways.

F Pea

Pearson, Ridley. Dark Passage : Kingdom Keepers Book Six 6. New York, NY : Disney, 2013.

F Pea

Pearson, Ridley. Disney after Dark : Kingdom Keepers Book One 1. New York, NY : Disney, 2005.

F Pea

Pearson, Ridley. Disney at Dawn : Kingdom Keepers Book Two 2. New York, NY : Disney, 2008.

F Pea

Pearson, Ridley. Disney in Shadow : Kingdom Keepers Book Three 3. New York, NY : Disney, 2010.

F Pea

Pearson, Ridley. The Insider : Kingdom Keepers Book Seven 7. New York, NY : Disney, 2014.

F Pea

Pearson, Ridley. Power play. 1st ed. New York : Disney/Hyperion Books, c2011. For the five teens who modeled as Disney Hologram Imaging hosts, life is beginning to settle down when an intriguing video arrives to Philby's computer at school. It's a call for action: the Overtakers, a group of Disney villains, seem to be plotting to attempt a rescue of two of their leaders, both of whom the Disney Imagineers have hidden away somewhere following a violent encounter in Epcot. A staged attack by new Overtakers at Downtown Disney, startles the group. A dark cloud in the Kingdom Keeper era is unfolding, and with dissension in their own ranks, it's unclear if there's any chance of escape.

F She

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein. New York, NY : Signet Classics, 1965. The monster was supposed to be man's benefactor, but, scorned for his ugliness, he swears revenge on his creator and the human race.

SC Doy

Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Racine, Wis., : Whitman Pub. Co., [1965].

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