You Need Walls for .. What?

There was a ripple of energy. A disturbance .. not so much like when someone actually bends energy to their will ... more like how a small pebble impacts the still surface of water.

I made my way from the herds to the Clan fires .. drawn to the epicenter out of curiosity and the vague implication on the wind this had something to do with me or to someone directly connected to me.

Well there was Mezoo appearing like a tightly coiled spring .. offering me blackwine before she talked my ear off.

aha

I told I could use some water .. she said if she were a man she would be getting a bota of paga .. interesting indeed. She crouched down next to me as she handed me the bowl of water and I told her I was there to listen .. but even as I tried to just tell her I was there to listen she spoke quickly without a breath.

"I have no wish to leave the plains or the Tribe. I want to be a good Haruspex
and perhaps one day .. but not anytime soon even if that means that I return to the verr herds."

huh?

Let us take Fonce and turn him upside down and shake him a few times and see what falls out of his eye sockets. Slow blink .. an attempt to keep my brain within my skull.

"Why .. would you need to leave the plains?" Suddenly a cold sharp edge flavored my tone. "Did Ayguili say something to you?" I was going to kill him. At the moment .. it did not seem such a daunting task .. killing the Ubar. I saw him as a man .. and as a man that just may have made Mezoo feel she might have to leave the plains. To say I felt a sudden surge of my temper .. was an understatement of epic proportions.

She told me instantly .. for Ayguili's sake ... that it was not he that had told her that it was important to be part of the First Fires .. and good at her Clan ... that she should go ... no it was only Kaeli .. and was it true?

Slow blink. Pieces of my brain were escaping all ready. "Kaeli .. said what ... to you exactly?"

"She said that in order for me to learn that I have to open my mind, that there is more than here that I have to experience."

"boskshit"

"When I told her I do not want to go to the walls she said those that are good do."

"Not sure what she is talking about.. but you do not need to pollute your mind with filthy dweller ways to be a good Tuchuk. And since when is she a judge of Spex?"

Mezoo told me that Kaeli kept insisting .. over and over ... despite Mezoo's attempts to tell her it was not the way of her family. None of them had been to the cities. No one in her Clan .. that she knew of ... believed it made you a better Haruspex.

I told her .. I had been to the city. It was not something that was my idea nor was it something that I wanted .. and I was a weaker Haruspex for it. I had wounds .. wounds that would leave me more experienced but wounds none the less. All we needed .. to be Tuchuk ... was right here on the plains. We lacked for nothing. Our ways have stood us well for thousands of generations. The older I got .. the more that idea was solidified .. no longer did I wish to hear the stories or the ways of dwellers. Somewhere in there .. I had learned a true hatred for them. A deep set horror for their ways and ideas. I used to tolerate them more. I used to have a vague curiosity .. enough to allow them to exist without me wanting to grind them all beneath my heel. But that had changed .. I can not tell you when it changed .. some time while I was gone. There are shadows .. little impressions left that haunt me at times but I have not had the chance to explore them. I have never felt that dwellers offered anything better than Tuchuk .. I never would have advocated Mezoo going to any city .. either for First Fires or for Clan. But I at least used to tolerate those that did.

I told Mezoo that I am all about people's unique beliefs .. but that to put them on another was wrong. Kaeli .. was wrong. Kaeli is entitled to her beliefs about what makes someone a good member of the First Fires. She is even entitled to her opinion on what makes a good Spex. But none of her opinions or beliefs had anything to do with Mezoo.

From Kaeli's words Mezoo had gotten the erroneous idea that all of the First Fires had been to the city. I told her there was no law that stated that those of the First Fires must experience the walls. That she had a chance for even clearer vision than I did .. having never done so. Her purity of sight was a gift .. that to throw that gift away for some misguided notion that going to the City would make her better ... was throwing our traditions .. our ways ... our beliefs back at the Sky in disrespect.

She asked me.. "Do I do a disservice to the Tribe that it is close minded
to stay here and remain pure and untainted from their ways?"

"Of course not. This is Kaeli's opinion. And a poor one if you want my own. But she is allowed to have hers .. just like I am allowed to have mine."

We spoke of Ayguili .. I told her I did not believe that the Ubar shared Kaeli's opinion. Not from the words I had heard him say .. his desire for a mate of pure blood. His value of Tuchuk ways. I expect Ayguili will defend Kaeli's right to have those opinions though.

Mezoo said .. if she had a regret ... let it be that she had never experienced the walls. I told her I did not believe it was something she would or could ever regret. I told her to set Kaeli's opinions aside .. having heard them ... they did not fit into Mezoo's beliefs therefore they were not necessary to learn ... or understand. She had given Kaeli's words thought .. that was enough. At this point .. Mezoo needed to let it go.

Mezoo asked me how she was to go about telling an Elder of the First Fires .. to shut up. I told Mezoo .. that was not how it should be handled. That she was to listen .. and to listen politely to what was being said .. what someone was attempting to teach her. But to keep in mind that just because there was something there to learn .. did not mean it was a good thing to learn. That we as free are capable of weighing ideas and using those that work for us and setting aside those that do not. Mezoo .. however ... should acknowledge those that took the time to speak to her out of respect to them and to the Ubar.

I told Mezoo it was not her responsibility to try to change Kaeli's beliefs or opinions. No more than it was Kaeli's responsibility to change Mezoo's.

I think Mezoo heard my words on walls. I think she understood that there is no need for them. To experience them .. or know them. I thank the Sky I am here .. on the plains where I belong. Where there are no walls .. save the ones inside me.

But those walls .. that is another subject entirely.