Sleeping Soldiers III

Sanomina's voice was beautiful. It was something Elion slowly realized as she spoke. When she was excited it took on an almost musical tone, higher than usual, like when she described her first year in the Zalourasel school. If pressed to repeat her story, Elion would probably remember bits and pieces of it, just enough to prove he'd been paying attention. But mostly he just watched her. The way her entire face lit up whenever she smiled. Eyes, nose, even her ears lifted a bit every now and then. It made him mirror the smile; try to match her enthusiastic timbre. He kept reaching out to touch her simply because he couldn't stand not to.

During Sanomina's first years in Arumanoria Gardens, the two of them had found that they had more in common than a wicked smile and they have soon teamed up first professionally and later privately. She took her classes with Navarina of course but besides that Elion was mentoring her the same way Iryon and Iyara had been mentoring him during his first decade at Arumanoria.

Now they were sitting in the grass slope, in the mellow shadows of the large oak trees a bit away from Elion's house. It was just Sanomina and he and it felt perfect. A blanket spread out on the ground, picnic food on plates and wine in cups. The sun shone trough the leaves, in crisp and narrow greenish rays, painting patterns on the dark red blanket. Patterns which changed constantly in the soft breeze, altered like strange life forms.

Rounding off the work of the days like this had become a routine they both appreciated. A chance to wind down. A chance to go over and repeat certain important bits of Sanomina's education, shit-chat about other, less important or complicated parts and gossip some while they dined and the sun set behind the snow-capped mountains in the west, the shadows growing longer and less distinct and the patterns on the blanket slowly fading, melting away into the red. This eve was so much like every other one in a long necklace of wonderful days tied up next to each other like shiny pearls. Elion was almost suspecting it too good to be true, this last decade. Just like something wile was waiting behind some sheets in the calendar, ready to jump forward and scare the living daylights out of him.

Or was he just being paranoid? Was he just expecting the worst because he didn't really dare to be happy for real? That was something Iyara had urged him once, while he was moody after his break up from his disastrous affair with Nalizza. Iyara had urged him dare to rejoice in what he had, without worrying that it might get lost. Because what good would such concerns really do?

"You're not listening to me." Sanomina suddenly laughed. Elion covered her hand with his, realizing his mind had been drifting.
"Please don't stop!" He squeezed her fingers and threaded them through his own. "I like the way you talk about it. Zalourasel, how it was like. I keep comparing it to my own years down there. Amazing how little there is which have actually changed, even trough half a century."

"But your amazing mentor – this Gellavina... I would have loved to meet her."
"San, she died just a few years after I had left. And I had no idea... I so wished I could've gone down to say farewell."
"Life is like that sometimes," Sanomina replied soothingly. "We fail to be there for people we care about, because of other obligations. We may feel sad for a while but we shouldn't let it eat at us."  
"But she was more than a friend to me. She meant so much that I cannot describe it in words. When my mother died – even if I didn't know she was my mother back then – and I had to leave the village, I felt like I had lost everything. Everyone to care about. Then Gellavina was there, she became almost – family over the years. She was my only constant in a volatile world I felt I couldn't trust. "
"Elion you must stop blame yourself for not being there. After all Gellavina had so many students, I'm sure there were enough of them there to say farewell for her to not feel forgotten."

The blood left Elion's face at those words. She was right of course but her words made him feel like... the glass had broken. He had always imagined himself being as special for Gellavina as she had been for him. But now he realized he wasn't. He couldn't have been. He was just a kid who had come with the meltemi, insecure and anxious, to leave only two years later to follow the goddess Lia. To Gellavina he had probably been nothing but an insignificant chapter in the book of her life. He should have understood that earlier, but he had always refused to see, he had always felt that he could go back any day and everything would become as it had been earlier. Or at least he had thought so up to learning about Gellavina's death. Then he had started blaming himself for not having returned earlier instead. Now he realized that he could never had mattered that much to Gellavina. But instead of soothing him, Sanomina had made him feel despair.  

"Elion, did I say something wrong?" she tilted her head, eyes widening slightly.
"Forget it," he grunted and he felt ashamed as soon as he had uttered the words. He was a selfish prick. This beautiful girl deserved more than his grumpiness and he didn't give a shit. He just needed to feel important in someone's life.

"Elion, you can't just expect everyone to treat you like the centre of the universe." Sanomina sounded suddenly so angered as she rose from the blanket and paced a few steps away, her peacock blue silk dress clinging to her body in a way which made it hard for him to conceal his basic emotions. Elion retreated slightly.
"I'm sorry, Sani."
"You'd better be. There's something about this place. Everyone here is so gifted in so many ways. So talented and clever. And still so childish and propertarian. About their own importance as well as about the people around them. They want everybody to pay attention to them and listen to them. To regard them as more important than they really are. I'm sorry, but as an outsider I keep seeing these things you probably have stopped regarding a long time ago. You know, even after slightly more than four years, I still feel like an outsider, or at least like the new girl in town."

"I know. I used... to be aware of that too. But I think you forget after a while. Start taking things the way they are as a matter of fact. Becoming used to them. Thanks for reminding me. "
"No problem," Sanomina made no move to sit down again though, she remained standing with her back slightly turned towards him, regarding the last rays of the sun making the mountain edge glow. The soft evening breeze blew trough strands of her hair making them look like stray threads of crystallized sunlight.

Elion sighed, called in his mind for the servants to come and get the picnic leftovers.
"Elion..."
"Sani, I'm not interested in being 'the centre of the universe' to people in general. Have never been. After all, I've been an outsider too for quite some time in my life. It's only recently I have started to feel included. I used to have quite hard to fit in here as well. My tempers clashed with people like Olimon, Inakhen... I came to be regarded as an acting out trouble-maker. And you know how first impression lasts, I had quite a hard time brushing those prejudices off me. But now there are some people I want to feel special for. Because they are special to me. And you are one of them, Sanomina."

The goddess didn't reply. But after a few heartbeats, she sat down again and took Elion's hand in hers as a wordless expression of affection. Her aura started to feel different to him and in response Elion bent down and kissed her lightly. He has a hard time not adding more passion. But he was her mentor; she was his disciple, at least for the time being. They were not supposed to be lovers. Perhaps in the future, when the present dependence wasn't there anymore. But now... They would have to be chaste. He let go of her.

"Elion... Do I?"
"What?"
"Do I – what is it you guys call it - turn you on?"
"I'm not particularly found of that expression. It's so... Well not really vulgar, but... I admit you have a certain effect on me, yes. Still I'm not ready to explore that at the moment. I don't want you to feel used."
"'Used'? I'm not afraid of being 'used' if that's what you call it. I'm not a virgin. I'm not a scared little girl who can't handle her emotions."

"But I'm supposed to be your mentor. Your guide. I'm not supposed to take advantage of the fact that you need me. If anyone finds out... "
"So that's what worries you. Others impression of you. Well, I can't blame you, this place is full of people gauging and judging each other, weighing other people's action. And if you're worried about their reaction, I won't push you. But Elion – whenever you are ready I will be."

***

Rhonia meets them at the JFK airport, a new glean in her sapphire eyes. A glean of excitement and adventure. Is she also rejoicing in the fact that 'something was finally happening'?  
"You're right, Elion, he's there," was the first thing she said after the mandatory pleasantries. "There was no mistaking it after your telepathic call. Its good old Olimon lying comatose in that hospital bed, his astral elsewhere. I just wonder who put him there and in that state."

"Iryon no doubt," Loradan scorns. "He doesn't dare to slay Olimon the way he finished off the remnants of the old board. Because then he'd know that we all would team up against him come hell or high water. He's keeping Lanineme, Sanomina and a handful more incarcerated somewhere, we know that. But there are still the rest of us out around. Alin at his hacienda in Mexico, Rennion in LA, Kinari in Perú and all the others. Cynical and disappointed has-beens who resent Iryon for disposing of the pantheon concept. If Iryon killed Olimon he knew we'd unite against him, and then we'd win. That's why he's doing all he can to keep us separated. And that's why he keeps the most powerful of us incapacitated."

"There's one more thing", Rhonia says as they start to walk in the direction of the parking and Rhonia's car. "Lokita was there".

****

The trio of magicians stood in front of the desk of Etienne Vassiliades. It wasn't a pleasant meeting and they were all posed rigidly still with their hands clasped on their backs. Vassiliades adjusted the three gold rings on his fingers. His chair was a high back leather as it sat on the wide rug with the image of the Adelphoi's symbol, the ankh with a yin/yang inside of its annulus. The windows behind him opened up upon the city of Tokyo as grey clouds hung over the city, promising rain.
"And how did the subject manage to escape?" Vassiliades asked as he steepled his fingers together.

"Well, he knocked Jasper to ground while he was securing his friend into the passenger side of the car. I was standing beside the passenger door and Tomoko was securing the emergency exit. The suspect was able to start up the car without need of a key and he was able to make a clean get away. The car was not the model equipped with a GPS, due to the challenge that many outside parties would also be able to track us," the Iranian mage named Rheza explained.

The Iranian looked slightly out of place with his black dress pants and loafers. He had tried to blend in with his image of the suit dressed Japanese, only to find that most of the people within the Adelphoi HQ were either dressed in a much more casual way or in oldstyle Asian outfits. Now he didn't know if he felt under- or overdressed, but he tried his best to hide his awkwardness. He had thrown off his tie as soon as they had arrived in the elevator though, trying to look a little bit less conformant.

Jasper rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into the pockets of his black black Armani Exchange jeans. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows over his finely toned cocoa-coloured muscles blistering with tatoos of Asian dragons and kanji lettering. The Indian was a new recruit, but he had been proven to be able to track anyone or anything in a matter of moments or hours. Tomoko had never understood how he been able to do it so quickly and secretly, but she assumed they all had their own special talents.

Tomoko finally preferred a less professional look of her black vinyl pants and a pink tank top with a Hello Kitty printed upon it. Her high heels made her almost as tall as Rheza, although she hardly reached to the collarbone of Jasper. She was the oldest and most experienced in the trio and she knew she was going to get the blame for their failure. Their 'subject' a Ganesh Wiswanathan, age 20, had been able to outsmart and then magically jump start their car in a mere seconds. Any hot wiring job even by a professional should have at least taken 30 seconds, which was more than enough time for them to apprehend the subject. His friend, Kiku Nayan had been eliminated with the dosage of their special blend that rendered his body useless for three hours at a time. Still yt was as if with a snap of his fingers the car had surged under Wiswanathan's power.

"What are your instructions sir?" Tomoko asked. At least she got the briefing and the other two followed like well-trained dogs. It was useful, Tomoko thought, to have a man always ready to take the fall when the mission didn't go according to plan.

Vassiliades seemed to have been deep in thought as he raised his head.
"My orders are for you to secure the subject and bring him in to head quarters. Make sure that the other lad is eliminated, no witnesses. Mr. Wiswanathan is not to be harmed."
"Yes sir." Tomoko bowed before she turned. Jasper gave a sweeping bow to Vassiliades and then followed behind Tomoko, Rhesa taking up the rear.

Now Vassiliades turned to the remaining person in the room, a black-clad, petite woman who had waited patiently in her chair while he dealt with his underlings.
"I hope they don't fail this time," he turned to Wang Hu La.
"No, they will not," Wang rose her carefully plucked brow slightly to augment her words. "Tomoko is powerful and  brilliant. Almost as valuable as Akiko you required from me last year. The old Japanese nature runs strong in her bloodstream. Those other clowns though..."
"Yes they are expendable, especially the Persian." Wang rolled her eyes.
"Tomoko though, I suppose she deserves knowing why this Wiswanathan is so important to us."
"You may tell her if you so like, that the boy has oracle powers. And as such he is valuable for our organization. We know that a Great Change is due, and for us to ride out the coming tempest we must know something about the future, something not ordinary magic can reveal. Thus we need an oracle. And Mr. Wiswanathan is our best chance in years."

"I get it. But then – why didn't you send Akiko after him?" Wang asked.
"Because Akiko is a bit... too near the truth about us, La. She need to be kept away from our deeper planning. And still I cannot waste her. So I sent her on the European Mission."
"I see," Wang nodded, knowing immediately what her superior was talking about.

***

Elion thought back at conversations he had had with Sanomina. She was such a luscious specimen of woman, and she possessed a wicked sense of humour that appealed to him. Her jokes and commentary were often very bawdy and sometimes inappropriate.

She had told him that she wasn't afraid of being 'used'. And honestly Elion thought that perhaps it was the other way around. Sanomina seemed preoccupied with sex in all its forms... which didn't deter Elion from her in the slightest way. As raunchy as she could be at times she knew a remarkable number of things about sex; as opposed to most men who brag and carry on the way she did who in truth knew very little. She exuded sexuality; if it were a tangible substance it would have been oozing from the pores of her flawless skin. And thus she had soon Elion in her net of desire. So if there was anyone who ought to feel used – it was undeniably him!