<center>'Hitasu...' It was fun, teaching the girl something she prbably didn't know. They kept their religon very quiet, and she was probably only the 5th or 6th outsider to see one of these boats in over a decade. But it didn't matter. Not all sailors had magick, as she called it, and that didn't stop them from sending their boats far and wide over the many oceans. He could send his faster because of the wind, but if he was tired, he just sent up the sail and sailed it like a regualr boat. But the boat was light, and cut through the sand quickly.
'So that's how you make your sand-boat move! You can control the wind in the sail...That's incredible! I didn't even know something like that even existed...' He grinned back at her, none of the cockyness that was there before in him now. "Very good. I can do that, and that's what makes those go faster then most, but you can use it like most boats too, with the hoisting of sails and catching the wind. The boats are lighter then those in the water, because since you don't see many trees in the desert, and most are warped, the wood is made of something that even I don't know of." He cut off explaining to rise up and pick up her bowl, plunging the eating utensils into the pan that he had asked for earlier, to let them soak for a few moments, sitting back down.
He felt different, and enjoyed the fact that he could smile without a smirk, and laugh with his eyes. He enjoyed sitting there with Monty curled behind his back, and Miroku and Niroku asleep on his lap. He let his eyes look over her strong legs as she streached them out, then looked away, listening to her story. 'Oh...well...um... Since I got stranded on the beach at 12 years old. I really haven't been keeping track of the years though, no way to really, so I have no idea how many years exactly... Hmm... It's been a lot longer than I thought, that's for sure... just seeing your boat reminded me of home, and I know I haven't thought about that in a long, long time. My father owned ships, and I used to read about them alot, so that's why I knew what yours was and what you were talking about...' He nodded silently, ignoring the small ringing that was telling him he was getting too relaxed.
She had started talking to him, and trusting, and because she had done that, he had begun to open to her, breaking open his mask bit by bit, until a new man stood out. It was a different Kei, the son of the Warrior-Maiden that had been covered long ago. 'Well...at least the sky is the same, right?' It was a weird thing to say, but Kei understood it. So many things had changed in his life, but the Moon and the stars never had, and every night he could find the patterns in the stars that showed the faces of the long past Guardians. "Hmm, it is." Silence fell for several seconds, and he watched the sky, at peace for the first ime in what felt like years. The crackle of the fire that seperated the two didn't feel like a barrier, but like a friend huddled inbetween them for warmth. Drunk almost with the night and the silver, he began talking quietly, in a tone he had never used on anybody before.
"My Grandmother used to tell me a story when I was little and pinning for my mother, who was in the Bandit Wars, as we call it now. She used to say that when the Warrior Sun went down the west to rejvenate for battle, the night sky was left open, and, the demons who were repled by the Sun could walk in saftey. So, one day, people went to complain to the Sun, Animals, Plants, and Humans, for the Sun could understand all. Annoyed by this problem, he went about to try and stop the demons from escaping all together. First, he used the spirits of dead to light the sky up, calling them stars. But even with all the souls, he couldn't light it up enough. So then he tried sending messangers, which were later called Shooting Stars because they were shot across the sky. But that didn't work either. "
"So one night, while he was sleeping, came a knock on the door of his home. It was a young girl, darkly skinned and mucled. Once awoken, he asked what he could do for the girl. Her name was Luna, and she explained that she had heard of his troubles, and could fix them, if only she granted him 3 things. He asked what they were, waiting before he promised. Pale skin, a silver bowl, and the finest silver from your own chest protector. He scuffed at her, and sent her away, but within a week, and having no sleep trying to figure out what to do, had his guards call for her. She came back, and added one more thing. The ability to transform. Luna was a tricky girl, and she angered the god by asking for a fourth thing, but he promised, cooking up a plan."
"The next night, a pale girl stepped up through the sky, walking much like the sun's pattern. But while the sun was bright and bold, she was quick and quiet, so in her hands she held a silver bowl, filled with the liquid silver from the sun gods own breastplate. As she walked up she sprinkled it on everything, casting the demons away because the silver was pure, and good, calling it back to her as the Sun God came nearer. The Sun God, so pleased with her work, highered her again, but she demanded her pay, the fourth wish. He granted it to her, making the bowl in which was her very own flesh and blood now wax and wan. In anger she attacked him, but he held her off until she saw her own folly, and called a truce with him."
"The Sun God, to help her when her Silver Bowl was nothing in her hands, then made the Guardians of the Desert, placing only those who deserve to be up there's soul in the sky, including all Guardians... And so we were sworn to help protect the desert, the place both the Sun god and the Moon Goddess loved, because of the heat in the day, and the ability to capture the silver long after others had given it up to the sun. So we were made, and because Cats are both creatures of the night and day, they were given to us. We all would make an oath, and prtect anything and everything in this desert."
He didn't even realize he had been telling the story until it was over, and he lay there for a few more moments, confused at why he had told this Atarah girl his tory, the tales of his people, and his trust... Finally he stood up, banking the the fire, and moving over to the boat. Rumaging around, he found a few blankets, and grabbed a few for her. The sand was a comfortable bed for him, but he didn't know about her. Taking a blanket for himself, he handed her her's, giving a sad smile before going back to the other side of the fire to lay on Monty's haunch, and curl next to the sleeping Miroku. Niroku, he discovered after looking around, had gone over to curl up next to Atarah. Hmm... Interesting. "Night," he murmered, still caught up in the beauty of the desert, his home, and the girl across the fire. Sense would return at daylight, he hoped.
[Sorry, my muse hit suddenly, and the story popped out. XDDD]</center>
