The Depths
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:48 am
"The depths... have I ever told you about the depths?"
(We nod in acknowledgement)
"I have huh? Sorry, I will be quiet now... I know how to keep quiet, thats how you survive out there... on the edges."
(He looks sad. We urge him to tell us again. Maybe something new will be revealed)
"Oh, I dont know... I dont know if there is anything about it I havent told you
yet. Are you sure the door is closed?
I dont want them to come in here... I really, really dont want that!"
(Does he mean the kitins?)
"I think I can hear the wind."
(We assure him that there is nothing that could possibly hurt him here. We are in the middle of Yrkanis after all)
"Oh... ok... shall I start then?"
(Please do)
"Well I was out walking I was... I was having myself a walk, trying to think of good poetry. You see, I was to write a poem for my beloved.
I can still remember her long dark hair, falling over her shoulders, framing her pretty little face... and the roots...
I was strolling outside of Yrkanis for a bit... and I watched the yubos play in the grass..."
(There is a hungry expression in his face as he mention the yubos)
"I believe I had walked pretty far when finally I had it. The poem was now perfect.
Every word of it reeked with beauty and would be a perfect testimony of my love to my beloved.
Then someone called me.
First I thought it was one of the bodocs... well, I didnt actually think it was a bodoc, that would be madness... talking bodocs..."
(He gives a nervous laughter at this)
"No, I thought it was one of the Kami, dressed up as a bodoc of course... in a clever attempt to trick me and mislead me.
Damned be the Kami I say. They will be the death of us all... them and their kitin friends.
However...
I decided to teach this one Kami a lesson and I ran after it, unsheathing my dagger. When I got to the spot it had been
standing it was gone... and the voice called me again.
It was getting quite dark now and being in the shadow of one of the roots didnt help. Looking up at the evening sky made
me think better thoughts than go chasing after bodocs... sorry, Kami..."
(He stops talking for a while, his jawmuscles still moving. He seems to be holding his breath)
"Im telling you I can hear the wind in here... make it stop."
(There are no windows and the door is tightly shut)
"The roots... I have always wondered if there are others, just like us, living up there... on the ones that go really high up.
And then I realised that I was standing rather near one of the edges of our beautiful land... and that the voice had not
been coming from the bodoc at all, but from the steep fall over the edge."
(Still the exact same story, no changes, every word is identical)
"I moved slowly towards the rift. A wind... a terrible wind blew up in my face and made me sway and lose my balance.
Not wanting to die I sat down carefully, as close to the howling abyss as I could and tried to hear what the voice had to say."
(This is the part where he starts singing)
"Sing us a song, said the voice.
What song? I asked.
Sing us a song of beauty, it replied.
All I have is a poem of love, I said. And even though the poem in itself is beautiful it is not about beauty...
So, sing us a song of love then.
I felt devastated. I still only have this poem, I said. It is about love, that is true, but it is still not a song and I do not know how to turn it into one.
So, let us hear your poem of love, it said in whisper.
But... but it is not for your ears. If I read this poem for you it will lose all its power... and... and I cant have that.
Sit here then. Sit here and talk for a while."
(He is somewhere else now, his eyes do not see this room... not anymore, but he stops singing)
"And we talked...
At one point I discovered that the grass, in wich I had sat down, was covered in snow. I took some in my hands and it melted away.
All this time I was looking down into the depths... and the depths spoke to me. They told me what to do.
They tried to lure my poem off from me. They told me what to do...
The darkness rushed up at me several times, threatening to pull me down into that deep, cold black...
I must have slumbered because I can distinctly remember the awakening. The earth next to me started to vibrate.
Something blue suddenly burst through the surface, spraying dirt and snow around it. It hovered above the ground for a few seconds
before it flew away with an amazing speed. I felt drunken... and I felt bereft. I tried to recall what I had said to voices but nothing came to me.
When I tried to focus my eyes on the world around me.."
(His eyes are focused now)
"I saw someone coming. A small figure walking towards me in a gentle manner. My love? No, firstly my love does not have pink hair... and those eyes... theyre huge. Disgusting.
The strong winds in my back I tried to rise. And I asked her who she was and what she was doing here...
She said something I couldnt make out. The wind was too loud in my ears.
You are here to steal my poem, I said
Then she stopped.
Everything stopped.
Everything... but my heart...
Time got moving again and there she was, dead on the ground, my dagger buried in her chest. I killed her."
(He always admits this... but there is more)
"I thought she was trying to steal my poem."
(Sobbing)
"I thought she was trying to... but the winds... I listened to them... to the depths... they told me. I tried to revive her, I promise. I even
cried for help... and the winds cried with me.
And I heard it. They sang my poem. In my dreams and in my conversation with the darkness I had let it slip. My poem was gone."
(Silence)
"The Karavan came. I managed to fight and kill one of them before they took me away. I dont know why I killed a Karavan member.
I just didnt have anything left to live for and if I had stayed at the edge, at least I couldve had heard my poem, my song...
forever. But they took me away... and they put me here."
(He sways back and forth, cursing under his breath)
"There now... Ive told you again... happy?"
(What about the poem? Can we hear it?)
"May the gingos gnaw on your bones... No!"
(We are not trying to steal it... are we?)
"I said no."
(We are... trying to... yes... but we already know of course)
"The winds... damned you..."
(How it goes?... hahaha... well, it ends with "from the depths of my heart")
(Tell us again... please do)
(We nod in acknowledgement)
"I have huh? Sorry, I will be quiet now... I know how to keep quiet, thats how you survive out there... on the edges."
(He looks sad. We urge him to tell us again. Maybe something new will be revealed)
"Oh, I dont know... I dont know if there is anything about it I havent told you
yet. Are you sure the door is closed?
I dont want them to come in here... I really, really dont want that!"
(Does he mean the kitins?)
"I think I can hear the wind."
(We assure him that there is nothing that could possibly hurt him here. We are in the middle of Yrkanis after all)
"Oh... ok... shall I start then?"
(Please do)
"Well I was out walking I was... I was having myself a walk, trying to think of good poetry. You see, I was to write a poem for my beloved.
I can still remember her long dark hair, falling over her shoulders, framing her pretty little face... and the roots...
I was strolling outside of Yrkanis for a bit... and I watched the yubos play in the grass..."
(There is a hungry expression in his face as he mention the yubos)
"I believe I had walked pretty far when finally I had it. The poem was now perfect.
Every word of it reeked with beauty and would be a perfect testimony of my love to my beloved.
Then someone called me.
First I thought it was one of the bodocs... well, I didnt actually think it was a bodoc, that would be madness... talking bodocs..."
(He gives a nervous laughter at this)
"No, I thought it was one of the Kami, dressed up as a bodoc of course... in a clever attempt to trick me and mislead me.
Damned be the Kami I say. They will be the death of us all... them and their kitin friends.
However...
I decided to teach this one Kami a lesson and I ran after it, unsheathing my dagger. When I got to the spot it had been
standing it was gone... and the voice called me again.
It was getting quite dark now and being in the shadow of one of the roots didnt help. Looking up at the evening sky made
me think better thoughts than go chasing after bodocs... sorry, Kami..."
(He stops talking for a while, his jawmuscles still moving. He seems to be holding his breath)
"Im telling you I can hear the wind in here... make it stop."
(There are no windows and the door is tightly shut)
"The roots... I have always wondered if there are others, just like us, living up there... on the ones that go really high up.
And then I realised that I was standing rather near one of the edges of our beautiful land... and that the voice had not
been coming from the bodoc at all, but from the steep fall over the edge."
(Still the exact same story, no changes, every word is identical)
"I moved slowly towards the rift. A wind... a terrible wind blew up in my face and made me sway and lose my balance.
Not wanting to die I sat down carefully, as close to the howling abyss as I could and tried to hear what the voice had to say."
(This is the part where he starts singing)
"Sing us a song, said the voice.
What song? I asked.
Sing us a song of beauty, it replied.
All I have is a poem of love, I said. And even though the poem in itself is beautiful it is not about beauty...
So, sing us a song of love then.
I felt devastated. I still only have this poem, I said. It is about love, that is true, but it is still not a song and I do not know how to turn it into one.
So, let us hear your poem of love, it said in whisper.
But... but it is not for your ears. If I read this poem for you it will lose all its power... and... and I cant have that.
Sit here then. Sit here and talk for a while."
(He is somewhere else now, his eyes do not see this room... not anymore, but he stops singing)
"And we talked...
At one point I discovered that the grass, in wich I had sat down, was covered in snow. I took some in my hands and it melted away.
All this time I was looking down into the depths... and the depths spoke to me. They told me what to do.
They tried to lure my poem off from me. They told me what to do...
The darkness rushed up at me several times, threatening to pull me down into that deep, cold black...
I must have slumbered because I can distinctly remember the awakening. The earth next to me started to vibrate.
Something blue suddenly burst through the surface, spraying dirt and snow around it. It hovered above the ground for a few seconds
before it flew away with an amazing speed. I felt drunken... and I felt bereft. I tried to recall what I had said to voices but nothing came to me.
When I tried to focus my eyes on the world around me.."
(His eyes are focused now)
"I saw someone coming. A small figure walking towards me in a gentle manner. My love? No, firstly my love does not have pink hair... and those eyes... theyre huge. Disgusting.
The strong winds in my back I tried to rise. And I asked her who she was and what she was doing here...
She said something I couldnt make out. The wind was too loud in my ears.
You are here to steal my poem, I said
Then she stopped.
Everything stopped.
Everything... but my heart...
Time got moving again and there she was, dead on the ground, my dagger buried in her chest. I killed her."
(He always admits this... but there is more)
"I thought she was trying to steal my poem."
(Sobbing)
"I thought she was trying to... but the winds... I listened to them... to the depths... they told me. I tried to revive her, I promise. I even
cried for help... and the winds cried with me.
And I heard it. They sang my poem. In my dreams and in my conversation with the darkness I had let it slip. My poem was gone."
(Silence)
"The Karavan came. I managed to fight and kill one of them before they took me away. I dont know why I killed a Karavan member.
I just didnt have anything left to live for and if I had stayed at the edge, at least I couldve had heard my poem, my song...
forever. But they took me away... and they put me here."
(He sways back and forth, cursing under his breath)
"There now... Ive told you again... happy?"
(What about the poem? Can we hear it?)
"May the gingos gnaw on your bones... No!"
(We are not trying to steal it... are we?)
"I said no."
(We are... trying to... yes... but we already know of course)
"The winds... damned you..."
(How it goes?... hahaha... well, it ends with "from the depths of my heart")
(Tell us again... please do)
