Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey) Subject: [KQ] Maleiu [Shunned Center]: Clouding Men's Minds, Supplemental Message-ID: <1992Oct9.135056.10598@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:50:56 GMT ADMIN: Unaccountably, 'Raelf failed to attend to Maleiu in his post of a few days ago, "Clouding Men's Minds". Said post only showed up at my site about yesterday, so here is the Maleiu addition, for completeness...also since Hutch is suffering from news deaf-muteness right now. ((Maleiu. A slight fog here--dark and insidious.)) Something was twisting Maleiu's memories without him noticing. Maleiu stood before the tribe of Nariawah, and Loiu pronounced his sentence. "Thou shalt walk all the shores of the world before thou canst return to this tribe," he said. But his gaze was not on Maleiu. He was looking with his chief's benevolence to where Lyono stood giggling in Karu's embrace... In Fairyland, they walked through the Hall of Eyes, and the Kelsie explained how to focus in on a particular eye. Maleiu focused on Lyono, and saw...and saw her in Karu's embrace, in the throes of passion, declaiming her love for him in gasping shouts...and somehow, she looked up at him and sneered... In the Bazaar in Rameshan, being sold as slaves. Maleiu is bought by the servant of a Rameshander living in Generica, and later watches as the rest are bought by Juhlavi bes-Pelmaj. Mistletoe sighs in relief and leans back into Ornigan's arms, apparently glad not to be separated from the mage... On the docks of Generica, Maleiu watches as they debark from a ship, Mistletoe and Ornigan, hand in hand. He steps forward to declare his love, and Mistletoe turns and embraces Ornigan passionately, their lips locked in a kiss. Ornigan sees him and shrugs gloatingly. Later, Maleiu, alone with Mistletoe. "I love you," he says. "Don't make me laugh," she responds. "A soulless piece of meat like you? I don't believe that you have emotions. You're all muscle, all warrior, but no man. You're worthless," she sneers. Maleiu, at the end of his quest, returns to the village. "I have walked all the shores of the world, and thus I return to the tribe of Nariawah," he declaims. Nobody pays any attention. Lyono is still with Karu, and holds a child in her arms. Sacrilege for a priestess, but nobody notices. Nobody looks with the slightest interest on Maleiu, either. When he stops Loiu and presents himself, the chief shrugs him off. "Who cares what you did? You honestly thought that you could do that? I don't believe you did. Where is your proof? It hardly matters, though. Go or stay. Just stay away from my daughter." Wait, he said. How can I remember those things if they have not happened yet? Mistletoe has not come to Generica. And I have certainly not returned to Nariawah after walking all the shores of the world. And when I looked in the Hall of Eyes, I saw that Lyono was still devoted to me. And even if she was with Karu, so what? I love Mistletoe now, and perhaps she loves me, too. In the Bazaar in Rameshan, she was stricken when she found we were to be separated. He fought down the feeling of helplessness that had been rising in his gut, and replaced it with a warrior's courage. Out of the coner of his eye he saw a shadowy form like that of 'Raelf. Good, he thought. A warrior as skilled in the arts of magic as I am in physical combat, and perhaps more. The feeling of helplessness was gone now, and the black-skinned warrior walked with a light step, barely noticing the mind- twisting architecture surrounding him. -- ---Alfvaen(Canadian SF Quasi-Activist) "I'm a few bricks short of a load, but a full load always hurt my back." ---Barenaked Ladies Current Album--Enya:Watermark Current Read--Evelyn Waugh:The Loved One