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 Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:26 pm
The first thing she had needed was a setting worthy of the occasion. The general was not too hard to figure out...but the specific was what was called for. After all, it was a day that needed to be properly prepared and centered.
From the trees to the lake, they had always made nature their touchstone. Something that they could parlay and meet in accord in. A safe haven, a refuge.
So outside was the spot. But where?
It took several days of careful search before she decided. It was a small growve not on the lake, but near enough that the vantage point showed it. When the sun settled there, it spread gold and red across the placid surface. Beautiful.
The area itself needed work though. Dried and dead leaves, muck and time had worn at its beauty. She needed to bring that back to life, without making it too artificial.
Pulling her hair back, she began to work with a will, using sand and water to wash down the rocks, so that they could be used as seating. She pulled another few in to place that could serve as a table. She scrubbed these down as well, and then raked carefully the area, clearing the dead leaves from it. These she hauled out of sight, and then smoothed the dirt underneath her hand.
A path. It needed a path of some sort. Nothing too elaborate though...
She searched for the flat stones needed for several hours. Wide enough for the human foot to trod on safely, but not too large that they stole from the nature of the setting. She wanted nothing to detract from that.
When she finally hauled them in to place, she was perspiring heavily, her hair ragged and knotted, and her clothes torn and muddied. She sighed and kept going. Time was not on her side in this case. The pun almost made her laugh and groan both.
Removing the small laterns, she hung them where they twirled gently in the branches, dangling a small set of chimes there as well. They were of a medium pitch, neither too light nor too deep. Something that would enhance the sounds of water and sky, without overbearing them. A reminder of things that moved around them.
Then she set out the instruments she needed. The stone carved tea-set that her Uncle had sent her for her own birthday. She thought of noone better to share it with. Setting them aside reverently, she did not want to soil them by the dirt on herself. So she dipped briefly into the pond, relaxing her musles that were stiffening up. And then finished her settings.
Now all that was needed was the means to draw him there. . .
++++++++
Shiva crept quietly to the door that she knew Gee and Nika slept behind. Slipping an envelope under the door, she turned and retreated with silent haste. The name on the envelope was addressed to the one she wanted to read it. She trusted Gee to see Nika got it.
Under pouting branches we met
A childhood challenge
Where we sometimes fled
Her next destination was the tree where she had run to and Nika found her. She had decided on the means to lure him to the spot.
A treasure hunt, of sorts.
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 10:35 pm
It hadn't taken him long to figure the riddle out. When Green had handed him the unopened envelope he'd immediately recognised the writing and realised who the letter had came from.
Shiva. He smiled and looked towards the sky, letting his mind wander as his legs carried him towards the place he knew she would be. Her riddle had surprised him. The young man had simply assumed that nobody had known about his birthday. Gee had made a small cake, and he had celebrated with her and Bizzy, but he had wanted to spend some of the night with Shi. So, he'd been pleasantly surprised when he'd figured out where he was supposed to go.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:15 am
The tree had obviously not moved from its location, there hanging in the breeze was a small, brightly colored pouch swinging from the very branch they sat on.
It was bulky, but light, as if there were something inside that weighed little. Swinging in a rather teasing fashion, as if challenging the now adult Nika to scale these heights he had dominated as a youngling.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:41 pm
Nika hadn't spotted the brightly colored pouch immediately. The young man stood beneath the tree for countless minutes, wondering where Shi was or if he'd been wrong.
'Under pouting branches we met
A childhood challenge
Where we sometimes fled'
The words cycled through is mind and Nika turned every single one of them around in his head, looking for something he had missed. Anything.
He through his head back in frustration- and that was when he saw it, swinging from the branch he and Shi had sat on so long ago.
A smirk was hidden behind his mask as he spoke, 'Clever Shi.'
He was only slightly worried that the limbs would not hold him as he climbed. Bits of bark and leaves fell as he went and there was one sickeningly tense moment when he heard a crack.
He hurried upwards, planning on choosing the branches more carefully when he climbed back down.
Finally, he was there. He carefully manouvered himself into a sitting position on a branch that hung just below the branch the pouch hung from. His breathing was slightly irregular as he took the pouch from the limb and opened it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:34 pm
 Inside the bag was a shard of glass, and another hint.
A boyhood pasttime
whittling away the hours
where water lies as still as glass
where fish lie just below the surface
where plants grow, in painstaking labor
a truce with nature.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:52 pm
Nika examined the shard of glass carefully, holding in it in the palm of his hand. After a moment or two, he gently placed it back in the pouch and turned his attention to the hint.
He ran it over and over in his mind several times, looking at the clue as a whole. Inspiration struck and he looked at it as seperate pieces of a puzzle.
'Where plants grow, in painstaking labor,' he murmured, contemplating what it could mean. A forest? No. It just didn't... fit.
..Hardwork; there was something... where plants grow? Hardwork and plants... A garden! That had to be it.
A boyhood pasttime? A truce with nature? Water and fish?
Satehl came to mind. He smirked. Nika had heard about the time Satehl had run off in search of fish for Cern's pond.
'A pond has water,' he spoke the words as if nobody had spoken them before, 'and fish, possibly.'
The young man was still unsure of where to go. Okay, so Cern had a pond, that didn't necessarily mean that Cern's pond was his next destination.
Even if the other teenager had created the thing when he'd been a boy... and he DID have a truce with nature. He was Terra, after all.
There! He had it.
A feeling of achievement flooded him and Nika placed the hint back in the pouch, pocketed it, momentarily forgetting about the piece of glass, and climbed back down the tree as carefully as he could.
Once on the ground, he headed for Cern's pond.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:33 pm
The pond area was relatively undisturbed. The long grasses swished gently in the wind, and the water trickled gently in the calmness.
Looking about, a glint of gold flashed tellingly against the pond itself. There, lying on the edge was clearly something meant to be found.
Picking it up, there was a slight rattling sound, as if there were something inside. . .tilting it ever so slightly, you can see that there is some parchment curled up inside.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:36 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:07 pm
He spotted it instantly. Nika hurried to the glint of gold and picked it up. The rattling sound surprised him as he'd spent a moment or two searching for the next clue and the young man used two fingers to carefully pull the piece of parchment out.
Nika was enjoying the scavenger hunt Shi had sent him on; it made him think and his mind was always wondering where he would be sent to next. A smile curled the corner of his eyes upwards as he uncurled the parchment and read it.
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:44 pm
The parchment read simply, in an azure blue ink
Try looking at things with a different perspective.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:48 pm
'Try looking at things with a different perspective?'
Nika stared at the newest hint, bewildered and at a complete loss as to what he should do next.
This was surpising a twist, but something he considered a pleasure. He'd thought it had been challenging before, and now, he was presented with a real thinker.
A smirk played across his face, hidden behind his mask.
She was so clever and he loved her for it...
...but he wasn't sure he would be able to figure out what the newest clue was getting at.
He worked everything over inside of his head; thouroughly considering everything he thought of and after a few long minutes he had not come to a conclusion.
He retrieved the dark blue pouch containing the last hint and the shard of glass from his pocket and placed the golden fish inside the pouch.
It was then that he realized he really had absolutely no idea what the piece of glass was for. As far as he could remember; Shi and he had never encountered glass during their adventures... and he wasn't sure what it could represent.
He took the piece of glass from the pouch, replaced the pouch back in his pocket and turned to examine the piece of glass. There didn't seem to be anything specail about... What if he turned it this way?
One false move caused the glass to slip and cut his hand. He gasped, more surprised than hurt, and the newest hint and the piece of glass fell to the ground.
He took a moment to examine his hand; the cut wasn't deep as the glass had barely grazed his flesh. It looked more like a long paper-cut.
Nika ignored the tiny stining pain and bent to carefully pick up the hint and the piece of glass. He paused and blinked in suprise, staring down at what he'd found. The glass had landed directly on the blue ink...
((I'll kick myself if that's not what he was supposed to do. XDD))
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:27 am
The newest hint had been nestled behind the old, the words so carefully formulated and spaced as to be obscured by the blue text. Only by filtering the blue out could one see the real message.
It was short. And blessedly unobscured.
Hungry yet? Meet me by the lake.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:39 am
Nika grinned, relieved that he wouldn't have to figure out another clue as he was having to think harder then he normally would, which was a good thing, he supposed.
'Actually,' he chuchkled, 'I'm starving.'
He picked the piece of glass and the piece of paper up of the ground, placed them in the blue pouch and hurried to meet Shi by the lake.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:34 pm
She waited patiently, dressed in the colors that suited her best, light lavendar and silver. It felt odd to be so...feminine. So unarmored and defenseless. On one level she squirmed as a child would. On another level, she felt almost as if some hungry part of her had come alive in this fake skin she wore.
There was a fluttering by her ear and she smiled up, waving her hand. *shoo* she said, knowing they would not hear. *You will ruin the surprise.* It was just then that she saw he was arriving. *oops too late.* Turning, she let her eyes grin at him. *Happy Birthday.*
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:58 pm
Nika approached Shi quietly, hurrying once she was in sight. She looked beautiful.
The lavender and the silver really do suit her well, he thought, the butterfly-like creature fluttering by her ear having caught his eyes and distracted him for a short moment.
After a short moment of studying the fluttering creature, he turned his attention back to the beautiful young lady in front of him and the corners of his eyes curled into a fond smile when he replied, 'Thank you, Shi. You look lovely.'
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