The Emerging Part I: Dream
CHAPTER XXXVIII

Fox has a baffled look on his face. He stands as he feels the bruise on his chest from where the pebble collided into him. He stands again as the air current trips him. He glares at Jtoon who conjures a water stream he whips at Fox. Fox then sees the whip slowing before him where he catches the stream and reverses the stream back towards Jtoon. Fox smiles widely as he realizes he is a fuhok zoltok.

“Well there goes the group,” Pork jokes, “we got a fuhok among us now. You couldn’t be an okit?”

“Why would I want to do that? All I’d get to do all day is play with rocks,” Fox picks up a rock from off the floor, “Look I’m doing it right now, How fun.”

“Hey be kind to the okits, they are just full of pebbles anyway. They do not know how to do anything but flex their muscles, launch rocks, and hope they hit their target,” Santhemum cracks. The others, mystified, laugh hysterically. Santhemum flushes.

Among the laughter, Fox sneaks out yet again, and unknowingly, a worried Hawk follows him. Hawk follows Fox through the very same hallway, the very same rooms, the very same doors that Hawk went through to replace Fox the night before, and they replace themselves in the Gallery of Rniti yet again.

“Hawk, could you possibly stop following me? I hate when people follow me.”

“How did you know I was there?”

“I don’t know Hawk. Remember, I thrive on darkness and surprise, I did live on the streets and had to resort to some very low tactics to obtain what I needed.”

“Well, that’s impressive, but why did you come here again Fox?”

“I wanted to look at my mother okay? I remembered something I saw on her statue that made me wonder something all day.”

“Which is?”

“What kind of zoltok she was. She was a fuhok, just like me.”

“How do you know?”

“I can tell by her cape, it is flowing smoothly like water; by her pose, calming and soothing like water to a burn; and because she is wearing a fuhok necklace.”

Hawk looks at the statue and notices that the statue is portraying a beautiful necklace bearing an easily recognizable ice carved jewel, “Wow, only the most revered fuhoks receive something like that.”

“I know. I hope I can join her one day, my statue right next to hers.”

“That would be something, Fox. You do know that you are the only one of us that has a relative honored in the Gallery, right?”

“Yeah, that is kind of why I don’t want anybody to see me admiring the statue. Can you imagine what Desert would say if he found out I am the son of one of the most honored Rniti?”

“I don’t want to. But I do wonder what your mother did to be the most honored Rniti.”

“I can’t tell you, so don’t ask. She never told any of us that she was a Rniti. She only ever implied that she once was very famous and popular. But we always thought she was just joking or telling us stories to go to sleep.”

“Well, Fox, if I were you, I’d try to tap into that lineage blood of yours, see what it does for you.”

“That’s an idea, Hawk. Come on, the others are probably worried about us, let’s go back.”

As Hawk and Fox turn to leave the Gallery, they are shocked to see Vaiqon standing behind them casually. They stop with wide-eyed looks etched onto their faces. Vaiqon smiles as he nods to his pupils.

“Fox, I see you have discovered your mother’s statue,” Vaiqon begins.

Fox can only nod as he looks at Vaiqon. Hawk closes his open mouth before Vaiqon believes his two pupils have become statues themselves.

“Well, Fox. What is it that you would like to know of your mother?” Vaiqon asks. “I know that she became rather recluse in her matron days and ceased nearly all contact with the Injhihato and the Rniti.”

Fox nods, “Yes, Vaiqon. My mother never said anything of her being a Rniti.”

“Ah, Fox. Your mother was more than just a Rniti. She was a Jayyojjek. One that was on the verge of becoming a Daijok should Shark have chosen so. But alas, she chose to leave the Rniti after her greatest trial.”

Fox stares at Vaiqon with interest filling his eyes. “Will you tell me more, Vaiqon?”

“Of course. I will tell you of her final battle. She saved a city from a ponodel, evko, and kezeh insurrection,” Vaiqon begins.

“My mother took on kezeh?!” Fox asks, astonished.

“Yes, the last we have seen or heard of kezeh since. So, in a way, she saved all of Munda Luna from the kezeh as well. She fought the last Rinv Kezeh and defeated him, defeating the entire army that was raised to attack Juwo Tukzek in the process.

“She knew the Rinv Kezeh was forced to command the army and she never discovered who or what called for such a vast army of creatures to attack a peaceful town, but she fought valiantly to save Juwo Tukzek.

“It was a vicious duel between her and the Rinv Kezeh. She allowed no one to accompany her as she gallantly strode into the heart of the enemy’s camp to do battle with the Rinv Kezeh.

“She suffered many injuries and wounds during the duel, but when she slew the Rinv Kezeh, all of the kezeh under its command collapsed and never rose again. The rest of the army fell victim to Juwo Tukzek’s charging guard.

“After the battle, your mother returned to the Injhihato to only inform us Daijoks that the insurrection had been dealt with and that we would never see her again from that day forward.

“We all asked what will become of her, but she merely gazed past us as if looking into the future,” Vaiqon concludes.

Fox looks at Vaiqon with tears glistening in his eyes. “You knew my mother well?”

“Yes,” Vaiqon says. “She was an extraordinary fighter, Rniti, and friend. I am saddened by her passing.”

“That was a year ago,” Fox says not unkindly.

“I know, Fox, you have asserted and confronted your feelings of your family being killed, but I have only recently learned of this tragic event after seeing it from your eyes,” Vaiqon says soothingly.

“You really never heard from her again?”

“I am afraid not, Fox.”

“So, you don’t know why she left the Rniti?”

“I believe that she renounced her kinship with the Rniti because she was pregnant with you, Fox. She had fallen in love with a farmer in Coas, your father. And I can only assume she was beginning a family and wanted to protect you. It seems her past finally caught up with her. Whatever enemy she made that day she saved Juwo Tukzok-”

“Please don’t finish that thought, Vaiqon,” Hawk says with concern for Fox in his eyes.

Hawk places a hand on Fox’s right shoulder and nods. Fox’s tears fall from his eyes in rivers as memories of his mother filter through his mind. Memories he thought he closed off forever.

He sees himself in his mother’s arms. He sees himself at his mother’s feet. He sees himself watching his mother and father embrace lovingly. He sees his younger brother and sister maturing. He sees his mother and father holding his younger brother and sister with love in their eyes as he stands in between them looking up at their faces.

He opens his eyes not realizing he closed them and says, “Hawk, can we go back to our bed chambers now?”

“I think that is best, Fox,” Vaiqon says solemnly.

Hawk leads Fox out of the Gallery as Vaiqon remains standing in front of the statue of Shadow. He stares at the eyes of the statue with a pensive expression on his face. A single tear falls from his face before the Gallery is illuminated in a blue flash as Vaiqon disappears.