My practice for today was sorely and shockingly interupted about mid-afternoon. I had just made my second successful retrieveal of an apple from an adjacent shadow when there was a bright blue flash, a peel of thunder that sent Damon and myself roughly to the floor, and my mother vanished from the chair she had been reclining in.
As we picked ourselves up, our heads still ringing from the thunder, one of my mothers tentacles dropped the unconscious form of a young woman on the recliner, and then retreated. A couple of minutes later my mother re-appeared.
"What just happened?"
"She tried to use the Pattern to teleport into the tower. She'll be unconscious for a few hours, and have the mother of all hangovers for several hours after that. Hopefully she'll never be as stupid as to try and do it again."
"Who is she?"
"She's one of the three I retrieved from shadow, the night before I retrieved Damon and you. Her name is Kohaku Mori."
I must admit I was rather shocked at this revalation. I had not envisioned encountering any of them under these circumstances.
"Why did she do it ... surely she must have known that she couldn't get in here"
"We'll have to wait until she wakes up to find out why she did it. What's more interesting is why my brothers pattern tried to bounce her in her knowing what would happen."
"Sorry I don't understand .. you mean the Pattern is intelligent?"
"Not in the way you understand it.. sentient yes.. intelligent not necessarily. I can only surmise it had a reason for sending her here, although why it didn't just drop her on the roof.. argh I think I see.. if it had dropped her on the roof she wouldn't have had a means of contacting me or of getting off the roof, so she'd have likely starved or had to wait until I happened to notice she was there. I suppose it took the least consequential option, although I doubt she'll see it that way when she comes round. Perhaps you can be of assistance to her.. see if you can retireve some Paracetamol tablets and some Ibuprofen tablets. They're drugs that treat pain, such as headches, aches and pain, and inflamation, and come in packets of 24. You'll find them in a shadow of Earth."
"You'll find them in a shadow of Earth" indeed .. I did but it took me 3 hours to retrieve two little boxes, each containing two "strips" my mother called them of little objects contained in something called "Foil". Thankfully Kohaku still hadn't recovered by this point.
I sat by her and waited. My mother had said to offer her two of each tablet when she woke. Appartently she would need the relief they bought and would need to swallow them, probably with the aid of a glass of water. Perhaps another hour passed before she showed signs of rousing, and when she did she definately showed signs of being in distress. I was slightly taken aback however at the manner in which she aggressively questioned my mother about the task the serpent had set us.
Indeed other than the elements of the task the only thing she seemed interested in was learning how to use the Pattern to walk shadows. Perhaps we shall get time to become properly aquainted at a later date. For now I shall give her the personal space she seems to want and continue with my Logrus training.
There is now of course the possibilty that we will not need my mother to transport us to close to Carnelian, of if she does then perhaps with Kohaku's assistance we may gain entrance. The other possibility is that Kohaku will progress fast enough to be able to walk shadow and be able to take us with her. Onlly time will now tell.
So today has been a day of practice for both of us. I cannot gauge how she has progressed as I have nothing to compare it against, and indeed she has spent most of the day in her room. As to my own progress I am now getting the hang of sending the tentacles further afield to retrieve things, to the point of considering what should be my next step.
The past four days have been much the same for all of us. I spend my time either conversing with my mother or retrieving pointless knick knacks from shadow. Perhaps I should attempt to retrieve something of import but I have no real need of anything right now.
Damon spends his time in his room, playing with his gun, thinking we do not know what he does. I cannot think of why someone would want to kill themselves by pointing such an object at their head and pulling the trigger. Thankfully the properties of shadow are different here and the projectiles do not ignite.
Kohaku seems to have made substantial progress to the point where she asked my mother to transport her outside today so she could examine the properties of this shadow. I can't think that my mother deliberately didn't warn her about what happens when the Logrus contacts the Pattern, but when my mother retrieved her this afternoon she lapsed into unconsciousness for a few minutes and then suffered a re-occurance of the headache that occured when the Pattern initially sent her here.
I still don't know when or if she intends to leave and how and whether we are to go with her.
We were all set to go places today. Kohaku did indeed want to try Shadow walking, although I think she relucantly agreed to take Damon and I with her when my mother requested it. Perhaps she has not seen what these Demons can do or has much greater ability than she has so far demonstrated but given my recent experience I will take all the help I can get, even that from the self serving Damon.
So we set off with great fortitude, my mother placing us as ever at the base of the tower. Across the plain we walked Kohaku wielding the Pattern to what appeared to be little effect. After 20 minutes of so she stopped, and started looking about her, apparently puzzled as to what to do next. After standing still for more than a few seconds she turned smartly about and vanished. I'm not sure which of us, that is Damon and I were more surprised. He uttered some low grade profanity, and then as I summoned the Logrus asked what I was doing. I would have though he would have gotten used to the idea by now.
Where Kohaku had been standing there was a vast tear in shadow. Perhaps she made too great a change too fast, but she is now lost to us and I do not have the skill as yet to follow her. Instead I sent a tendril to alert my mother to our predicament and she returned us to the tower.
Wearing my armour today has reminded me of something else that my mother commented on when we we conjoined as Logrus and supplicant, and why the armour is made from purely organic materials, that I need to master the ability to shapeshift whilst wearing it, it becoming part of my adapted body. I shall have to give this further consideration and start with something much simpler such as a linen dress.
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