The Emerging Part I: Dream
CHAPTER LXXIV

They leave the Gallery together, stealing once last glance at the armor of Oukton and Jtoon, and at the proud face engraved upon Uxxok’s statue.

Teqqc watches as a pyre of flame erupts on Uxxok’s body. She stands ten feet away, tears streaming her face. She stands in Uxxok’s home city of Rizq. In the central square where a funeral pyre always seems to be lit.

Not one citizen comes to comfort the distraught Teqqc, jaded by too many widows crying over a loved one. Teqqc keeps her eyes focused on the fire steadily rising, forever taking Uxxok’s aura away from her.

When the flames have burned out and the sun has set, Teqqc takes the ashes of her dear friend into a vase. She flashes to the edge of the Injhihato’s peninsula, on a cliff overlooking the sea.

She dumps the vase and uses her ire to force the ashes into an air current above her. She watches as the ashes are carried and then dropped into the sea. She wipes her face. She turns on her heels to witness the Spire. She flashes to the Chamber.

She replaces the Daijoks all sitting on the bench at the rear of the Chamber, their heads bowed low. She feels sadness in each of their auras. She smiles at the appropriate emotion.

She walks into the middles of the Chamber. Steps on a chunk of the demolished stone model of Munda Luna. She carefully steps over more of the dismantled stone. She approaches the Daijoks, determination in her heart.

“Meijenfier,” she says.

The Daijoks immediately look up at her at the sound of the name.

“What?” Vulcan demands.

“Meijenfier,” Teqqc repeats. “The woman that killed Firose, Oukton, Jtoon, and,” she chokes, “Uxxok. That is her name. I thought you would be interested to know.”

“How did you come to know her name?” Shark asks.

“I broke into her aura after I entrapped her, just before I struck my blade between her eyes,” Teqqc says matter-of-factly.

The Daijoks glance at one another and then focus on Teqqc.

“Uxxok taught you how?” Rhino asks highly interested.

“Yes, but I will not teach you how,” Teqqc says with a smirk. “But as usual, you four are missing the point. Meijenfier is what we need to focus on.”

“Why? What importance does that name have to us?” Vaiqon says, hoping the answer is not what he fears.

Teqqc glares at Vaiqon, sensing he has already answered his own question. She removes her glare to peer at Vulcan, Rhino, and Shark. “You have argued amongst yourselves that Ragefier was behind the attacks. You have argued there was no possible way he could have been. Well, that name is your proof. Meijenfier was Ragefier’s daughter.

“I peered into her aura to see she was trained by a dark master, Ragefier himself I believe. Her skills of sigo were quite impressive and as we all know, Ragefier was a sigo as well. Her skills were inbred within her blood as well as taught to her.

“I believe Ragefier orchestrated much of the slave trade and murders, but left Meijenfier to oversee all of them. So, Vaiqon, you can no longer hide the fact you are afraid of Ragefier nor try to defend him. Ragefier must be eliminated,” Teqqc concludes.

The Daijoks stare at Teqqc uneasily.

“How can we be sure-” Vaiqon starts before Teqqc bombards all four Daijoks with Meijenfier’s aura. They feel impossible sigo energy pulsing through them. They see the dark master. They see Ragefier’s face through the eyes of a little girl. They see training, they see blood, they see Uxxok’s final moments.

Teqqc breaks away from the Daijoks.

Vaiqon first appears distraught at the invasive Teqqc, but then smiles as a remnant of Teqqc’s own aura filters through his own aura. He smiles. He stands, making himself appear taller than he really is, “You are broken, Teqqc. You are fragile. Your emotions have made you brittle. Uxxok’s death has left you damaged beyond repair.”

Teqqc blinks at Vaiqon, unable to respond. She tries to wipe away the tears that suddenly flood from her eyes, but cannot and stops from trying to. She lets herself sob in front of the Daijoks, her fellow classmates, her Rniti brothers.

Vaiqon grabs Teqqc and holds her in a warm embrace. He speaks softly, calmly, to her, “You need to leave, Teqqc. Return to Lauin, rest. You have done more than enough. Focus on your Oqoponh duties. The cities the slave trade took many lives from will be vulnerable and will need your trustworthy hand to guide them.”

Teqqc sobs one last time, sniffs, and wipes her face with her sleeve. She breaks away from Vaiqon, “I had every intention to do just that Vaiqon. I just needed the push, thank you.” Teqqc flashes away in a deep purple light.

Vaiqon turns to face his fellow Daijoks. “Well, not exactly how I desired to rid Teqqc of our affairs, but it will do nonetheless,” Vaiqon says with a twinkle in his eye.