Legend of Closed Eyes

by aurakage

"Tell me another story," Cureia demanded, grabbing a hold on one of Sairieca's longer ears.

From nearby, Princess_Cathrinea sniffed indignantly, as if grabbing one's ear was perfectly rude. "In royal families," Princess_Cathrinea bragged, "One does not grab one's ear to get attention. One merely tells another what one wants. That is all."

Sairieca, rolling her ears, turned to Cureia. "One more story," she agreed.

Cureia cheered; Sairieca grinned. Why couldn't she have gotten Cureia instead of Princess_Cathrinea?

"Well, once upon a time-"

"WAIT! You have to tell me what the story is first - I might've heard it already," Cureia interrupted.

"Okay. Well, this story is about Aishas and Shoyrus."

"What kind of Shoyrus?"

"You'll find out. Anyway, this is a story, long time ago, when Aishas only had two ears."

"Really!"

"Really. Now, it all happened…in a time long ago…"

~*~*~*~

Kale, apprentice of Fenkif, the Aisha magician, stirred a large, bad-smelling broth in a giant cauldron.

"Sir," he called, "Am I almost finished?"

"How many times have I told you, Kale?" Fenkif said, sighing. "You stir until the potion becomes the color of the sky while it is snowing."

The old blue Aisha turned back to his paperwork, and Kale stared miserably down at the cauldron. Kale had never seen it snow before, but the soupy-stuff was turning gray. Just keep stirring until Fenkif checks on you again, Kale thought. Mind made up, he vigorously stirred the potion.

"KALE! The potion! It's orange!"

Fenkif, his eyes blazing, snatched the spoon from the confused White Aisha. Kale stared at the floor as Fenkif tried to fix the potion. Growling angrily, Fenkif threw the spoon at Kale's feet, breaking it in half and getting orange liquid on the Aisha's paw.

"Out! OUT!" Fenkif screamed. Kale was only to happy to oblige. Dodging flying cups of Cobrall poison, he made a mad dash back to his family's den.

~*~*~*~

"What have you done now, Kale?" Klenkru, the Aisha colony leader, asked with no apparent interest. He had adopted Kale as a little Aisha kitten. "I made Fenkif angry," Kale droned.

This conversation had become part of an evening's ritual. Klenkru looked up from a piece of paper he was studying.

"Kale. I want you to become a great magic Aisha, like all the rest of us, but how can you if you keep failing Fenkif?" Klenkru said in exasperation.

"Yes, sir. I will try not to fail again," Kale said, bowing his head respectfully.

Conversation over, Klenkru looked back to his paper. "Kale," he said after a minute, "Come look at this."

Kale walked over and peered at the paper. It had a picture of an Aisha on it, except it was somewhat different.

"What are those things coming out of its head?" Kale asked.

"Those are fourth ears," Klenkru explained.

Kale looked shocked. "With these, us Aishas could each have our own magical potential, even failures like you." Kale looked away sadly, but Klenkru continued. "Two more ears could sense magic power and learn about it, so even when an Aisha is not particularly concerned about magic, the ears could work on it by themselves - sense magic and gradually learn it. Somewhat like a teaching lesson that lasts all day, but you don't have to listen."

"That's pretty cool," Kale admitted.

"Yes," Klenkru agreed. "But, in order to get these new ears, all of the Aishas in my colony would have to drink the moonlight."

"The what?!"

"The moonlight. Moonlight proves to be the most powerful magic thing near our colony. So on the next full moon, I need you to direct the moonlight to our colony."

"And how do you expect me to do that?" Kale asked.

"I'm a failure in all magic, remember?" Klenkru looked steadily at the White Aisha.

"When I adopted you, I knew that someday you would help my colony and be able to lead it. You are a White Aisha - a pure white Aisha, which is very rare as it is. You were born white, without the help of KenLen Dye, and White Aishas have special magic powers. That's why I ordered you under the power of Fenkif. So I can only tell you that you have magic in your Speech - use it, talk to the moon, and persuade her to let us drink her moonlight.

~*~*~*~

"Huh. That's pretty strange," Dasklen, a Green Shoyru, said.

"Yeah, I know," Kale agreed.

"How in the world are you supposed to talk to the moon?" Dasklen continued.

Kale sighed gloomily. "And Klenkru's so excited about it too. He said that I proved myself once, by talking to the weather and persuading it to obey me. And he said that it did. When was that?"

Dasklen stared at a small, dark gray cloud - a spot different from the other white clouds.

"Remember your birthday?" Dasklen asked. "Remember when we were going to camp out, and it was raining all day so Klenkru said we couldn't sleep outside because it was really wet? And you got so mad that you stomped right out there and yelled at the sky, told it to stop raining?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Kale said with a dreamy look in his eyes. "The ground was dry, too, so if we wanted to then we could've slept on the ground." Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Dasklen! I talked to the rain!"

Dasklen nodded approval. "And you know what? The next full moon is tonight, so you'll be able to get four ears in no time."

Kale grinned. "I'll show Fenkif. I'll become a real magic Aisha. Just watched me." Kale winked at Dasklen, and walked back to his den to await the night.

~*~*~*~

Deep shades of purple and black stained the light blue sky, smudging the sun last fading rays of the sun. Then moon, almost hesitantly, climbed into the sky and reached the point of the star-watching rock, where Kale was already waiting for its light to shine on him. There was no one awake - at least as far as Kale was concerned. He and Klenkru were the only Aishas that knew about the four ears - the others could wait. Silvery light danced upon the shrewd bushes that dotted the Aisha Colony - Dasklen had left for his distant Aerie. Kale held out a paw to the light and his already ivory coat turned sterling. Stars danced across the sky, and were singing a special sort of silent song.

"Moon," Kale whispered in amazement. Moon, moon, moon, the stars echoed. Kale took no notice of them. "Moon, please listen to me. My colony needs magic - new magic that our leader, Klenkru, believes will help us. He says your moonlight will give us magic beyond our imagining, because you are the closest of magic near to us."

Why do you ask such a wish, Kale? The moon whispered. The stars echoed.

"It will help our colony," Kale explained. "We will be stronger."

Is this really what you wish for? Is this really what the whole colony wants? The moon asked.

Klenkru said he had never talked about the four-ear project with the other Aishas. "Klenkru is the leader. He knows what's best," Kale said firmly.

This is not what you want, Kale of Klenkru's Colony. You want something more - not my magic. You want to be as powerful as Fenkif - he is good. How is it that he has magic, yet he has never drank moonlight?

"Fenkif is a magician. He isn't a real…magic…Aisha," Kale said, trying hard to say the words. Silver washed over white.

You dare to lie in front of me, Kale. The moon is the symbol of truth in your colony. But you talk in the ways of a selfish Aisha.

"Please! Just…grant us this one wish, Moon," Kale pleaded.

You wish to be known for your bravery. You can only see the power and magic in my light, not to goodness of it. Your wish will be granted, Kale of Klenkru. But your vision will be reduced - when you see light, it will be stronger than anything else in your eyes so that you will not see the darkness, as Klenkru has. He will not pass his foolishness to anyone, anymore. Go, Kale. Moonlight floods your colony.

So saying, Kale looked to the Moon in wonder - but he looked away. It was too bright - in fact, it hurt to look at anything now! Two stalks wavered at the top of his head - his new ears. Aishas will be blessed by magic, but cursed by sight, the Moon whispered icily. Kale walked back to his colony, closing his eyes against the intense light, and met Klenkru, who didn't like his idea at all. So now Aishas have four ears and are blessed by magic - but they can't see, because Klenkru's selfishness cursed their sight forever.

~*~*~*~

"The end," Sairieca said, stroking Cureia's wingtips.

"That's it?" Cureia groaned.

"Yep. Now go on back to Aurakage - it's going to be dark soon." Princess_Cathrinea sniffed daintily.

"That was a horrid story, Eldest Sairieca. It not only tells the evilness of the Ancient Aishas, it also explains an unfavorable curse which I do not like to speak about."

"You mean it's true?" Cureia said, peering eagerly at Sairieca. But the blue Aisha just grinned and shrugged. "It's for me to know, and you to find out," Sairieca said mysteriously.

The End