Healing A Potential Spy
The night went by silent, the trees and rocks, bushes and roots played their silent game, dancing to a slow waltz of change. The white lacquer clock kept vigil over the sleeping siblings, a spark of awareness, the smallest touch of mind-stuffs, sat watching from each of them in addition to the clock. So five mystic eyes looked out and around the shifting valley, no mouse went unnoticed, no bird unseen, every worm was accounted for and all brushing of leaves was noted. Just outside the radius of influence from the clocks all sensing awareness an animal sat. Shrouded from all sight, mystic or otherwise. It was not insidious by nature; the creature's ability to stay hidden was as much habit as breathing to the ChimpaWelp. ChimpaWelp's are creatures of the stars and moon. Hestia, a mother of magic ChampaWelp are their creations. These children are born under a shroud of stardust and moonbeams. Casting illusions is as normal to it as winking or eatting. They can take flight on shooting stars and moon rays. This one's name is CharChai, Chai for short. He was one of her older children, the mother of magic made him her favorite. Chai went out on missions that required the ability to hide, the ability to be completely unseen, the ability to protect, and the ability to lie to either the protected or to the hunters. Right now Chai wasn't entirely sure who he was supposed to lie to today, Chai wasn't sure who or what he was sent to protect. He only knew that he was sent to watch and intervene if needed. His mother hadn't told him what to watch out for either, only that she trusted him to make the correct choice to advance her interests and that he would know the right things to do. So out of the circle of the clocks influence and past the range of visible for the small pieces of mind stuff left by the four sleeping siblings Chai watched as the night carried on. So he watched.
He noticed that the four slept deep and sound, so sure that nothing could hurt them, nor anything make it past their wards and the little white lacquer clock. Chai was tempted to try just to see what would happen. He had been at home for a longer time than normal. He was kept close at hand by his mother and his family. They told him it was a vacation, it was a holiday but he knew that he was being kept away from some events. He was made blind to the going ons of the Earthly realm, and unaware of any news. He was fed well and forced to sleep and read, and practice meditation. He had come to the valley in these woods straight away when he made it to Earth, not by any instruction but guided by his instincts. The luck of a wishing star and the all seeing moon as his guide brought him to this point and time. Under his breath he kept repeating the same nursery rhyme.
"Five little stars shine and shine some more,
One fell to the earth and then there were four.
Four little stars, happy as can be,
One fell to the earth and then there were three.
Three little stars in a sky so blue,
One fell to the earth and then there were two.
Two little stars, having lots of fun,
One fell to the earth and then there was one.
One little star, no to be outdone,
Fell to the earth and then there were none.
The moon came out—what a pretty sight!
He waved to the stars and he said goodnight." His mother taught it to him, repeating it as he grew up and now it was as much a part of him as his blood,his hearing,his sight. "Five little stars shine and shine some more, one fell to the Earth and then there were four….." He repeated again as he contemplated his next action. He could see the sleepers from this point but some of their bodies were blocked by rocks, bushes, or the bodies of others sleeping. Being sure to keep just out of the range of the clock's sight, Chai slinked and slithered around on all six of his feet, his long tail feeling the ground behind him and his long whiskers sensing the objects around him. He was a solid beam of darkness between the moon's light. His movements were deft and sure,his body cleaver and his steps were wise. One eye was on the ground and the other kept pace with the ticking of the watching clock. After the midnight star had passed over the camp and new ones took its place. Chai was now sitting on a rock from the northernmost point and watching all four sleep, their feet facing him, the white lacquer of the clock was sitting at their heads. The glass protecting its face reflected the full moon as it made its way down the last half of its arch for the night. It gave the glass a silver tint and the lacquer a ting of blue. Suddenly something caught the ChimpaWelp's eye. Something moved but he couldn't see what it was, it was large, much larger than anything he had accounted for that night. Not seeing what it was, frightened him. He cast out a net of illusion to give it form even if only a whisper in the air. As the illusion fell over the valley a dog took shape, its feet and legs were giant, where paw prints should have been only large foreboding pads of air thickened for a fraction of a second. The head of the dog was high in the air, the beast's ears were at least a meter apart and half way up the trunk of a mighty tree. The glamor split and Karen's Mastiff had eyes on Chai and the dog was headed his way. CharChai jumped into action and tried to hide behind the light but the spirit mastiff had one of the creature's six legs in its mouth. Spirit beings were capable of seeing even past illusion, or past a ChimpaWelp's ability to become invisible with the aid of stardust and moonbeams.
As soon as the fight broke out between the two creatures the clock's alarm sounded and the four bits of mind burst and vanished. Steven, David, Matt, and Karen were on their feet with expressions in their hands. Ready to fight, Karen saw Chai being thrust in the air, his five legs thrashing back and forth as the Mastiff's mouth bit down on the sixth leg, the ankle snapped. Chai screeched, howled and cursed the spirit dog. A stream of profanity in as many languages as one could imagine were strung through the air, Karen was holding a staff roughly two meters long and as five centimeters thick. An Fluorite crystal was embedded in the top, it was carved with several ruins combined, each overlapping. A bead of copper lined the valley that was beveled into the characters. Melted silver, gold, platinum, and titanium bands wrapped around the staff just under the inlaid crystal. Leather straps provided grips for my sister's hands in the middle of her staff. When she filled the wood,metal, crystal with her essence the crystal burst into deep purple flames. The expression was capable of breaking bones with a single strike and flaming balls of pure force shot out of the crystal and its end. She flew through the air, jumping down from the hills crest and landing next to her loyal spirit dog. The mastiff dropped its living chew toy at her feet. Chai froze in place when Karen pointed the lethal, fiery crystal end at his face. She promised him that if he tried to wink behind a moonbeam or to use stardust to blind her or her brothers that Chai would know what the fires of Aten did to nerves. Leaving them unharmed but feeling deeply and irreversibly burnt. "I'd take her at her warning, our sister isn't known for playing games." Steven said as he landed beside her, the mastiff laid down and put its head under Steven's hand. David and Matt plunged out of a thicket of smoke, having ported down with the aid of an expression. The little tube was painted black inside and gray on the out, it had been spinning in Mathew's hand as it stopped a small puff of gray smoke came out of the tube. "Karen isn't mean or rude but she never bluffs." They both added, Chai didn't move anything more than his eyes. The big spirit mastiff kept an oversized paw on the broken ankle on Chai's sixth leg. "So who are you and what are you doing here?" Karen asked the monkey-like creature who was much more intelligent than his appearance suggested.
Chai told his story, he gave them as much of the truth as he was capable of. His mother had bound him and all of her children to make sure that not all of the secrets from the Valley of Stars and Moon. It was her domain, she kept it here on Earth but like our property she had split it and hidden it away from human eyes. Her ability to harness the aspects of the moon and the star's powers gave her advantages that most practitioners of magic didn't possess. The magic of planets and stars and being a Goddess, all gave her an upper hand. She couldn't stand against us though, meaning that one of her children didn't stand a chance. Chai told them that he was sent with simple instructions. He was to watch and protect, what he had to protect wasn't told to him but he had to do what was in the best interest of his mother. "What are your mother's interests?" Steven demanded. "She collects power, and objects that perpetuate power, she and her friends have a project together" Chai continued to tell them what he was able to, the siblings understood the binding and didn't push him to tell what he wasn't permitted to say. "Can you ask your nice big doggy to get off my ankle, please?" Chai asked with as much of a smile as he was able. "Oh sorry, he's hyper protective." Karen hadn't realized that the mastiff was still guarding the six legged monkey-like being. The Bull Mastiff normally stays near the house and walks the grounds but with this mission Karen felt like his unique stalking and hunting ability always came in handy. Bringing him along cost nothing, no food was spent,no space, no supplies of any kind were needed to bring him along. Being able to walk in and out of the spirit world, his ability to become tangible at will and phase when he chooses made him formidable in many ways. The dog never offered a name so he's just called, Bull Mastiff, or just Mastiff. Chai was in pain and the four siblings dropped into their connection and debated healing him, it was decided that they had to earn his trust and healing him was the best way to go about it. So the healing was done.
"Chai, I'm sorry about your leg, he is very protective. Come here, I have a salve that will clear that right up." Karen pulled a small milk glass bottle from her satchel and explained to him. "Let me move you closer to the fire." David said as he picked him up. A little more conversation was had while Matt started twisting the tube and smoke surrounded the three of them, in no time flat the three stepped out onto the hills flat top, Chai was laid down near the fire. Karen and Steven took a moment, then joined the others by the fire. The milk glass was put to the fire with the cap off, the healing was faster when the mixture was warmed. Karen held it just close enough to the flames to heat the milky white glass, slowly the hard wax like substance inside. "This won't sting or hurt." Karen said as she scooped a healthy dose of the now liquid salve and applied it to Chai's ankle. Chai once again sang his little song. "Five little stars shine and shine some more,
One fell to the earth and then there were four.
Four little stars, happy as can be,
One fell to the earth and then there were three….." He trailed off as Karen applied the green goo to his wound, she sang something as well, soft and under her breath. It was a whisper of a song, "I was loved, but it faded, faded, leaving me. I woke with nothing more than the love I felt in a kisses shadow…." She rubbed in time with her song, a soft green glow, the color of healing spread through the salve. Soon strips of energy were drawn from the tips of grass, the leaves of flowers, and the branches of bushes and trees were sharing green light with the ground. All that energy trickled into the goo and through it too his sixth leg. "Oh that's warm, and it tingles!" Chai said, his eyes relaxed as the pain subsided. The abrasions on his skin closed and the swelling disappeared. Soon a soft thud could be heard as the joint and bone fell back in place and mended. "Don't move just yet, the synovial lining and the tendon are the last two things to heal, if you move too soon it might not align correctly and we'd have to start again." Karen instructed the monkey-like creature.