Survival 101 - (Joseph Stanley and Leaf)

Survival 101 - Joseph Stanley and Leaf
March 18th 2006
Blog Entry 10

The funerals had just ended when the SUV parked by the cemetery. They were moving the coffin down into the earth at that very moment. A small crowd of people surrounded the hole, crying, whimpering, asking how and why poor Joseph Stanley had to leave them so soon.

Miguel zipped his trench coat up to his neck and hid his hands in his pockets. Ryan did the same, closing his green coat and tucking the jersey shirt into his blue jeans. Alice's tears came as she wished, sobbing while holding onto Damien's arm. It took a while, less then an hour at least, until anyone had departed from the hole. The machines used to lower the coffin were still there, but the operators had probably taken a break or were just waiting for the rest of them to leave before finishing their job, because they were nowhere in sight.

Only now that they had found Stanley, there was not much they could do, or any information they could gain. Re-opening the coffin could have been an option, but one they did not want to consider yet. So they stared down at the closed lid, with its flowers and the family pictures that had been thrown. The coffin did not look like it had been very expensive.

They were about to turn on their heals when a new figure appeared at the other end of the cemetery. Through the tombstones, a man in his late forties seemed to be coming straight out of the wooden area surrounding them. His skin was tanned as the native American he was, his clothes torn and ragged over his shoulders. His hair, white, had been put into a pony tail. His face was serious, with a few red and green marks on them. The more he approached, the more he seemed like an hermit character out of a fantasy story.

He looked at them gravely, then down at the hole sadly, pinching his lips together and sighing heavily. Lowering himself, he picked up a dry flower, and as he looked at it, unbelievingly, its petals gained a bright blue color, opening up and back to life, its small leaves going from grey to green again like opening arms. The pack and Alice looked at each other with both amazement and surprise, looking at the man tossing the flower down with the rest of them, before turning on his heals and heading back the way he came from.

Alice moved forward, kneeling by the hole and taking a hold of the flower. It felt humid, alive, between her fingers. She inspected it carefully, standing back up as she did so. The flower really was alive again. With a smile, she decided she really liked that flower too. It was special, definitely held something now - whatever it was.

"Put it back", the man said, his very first words to the Urathas, "it doesn't belong to you."

She rose an eyebrow, about to argue with him, but thought better of it, letting it fall back into the hole with a sour smile. Once the hermit was satisfied, he turned back toward the forest to walk away, but it was Miguel who interrupted him, asking him who he was, if he knew Stanley at all. He confirmed he did, indeed, know Stanley, and finally asked them what their business was with him. When Ryan let him know that Stanley may have had information about their missing friend, the hermit seemed interested.

"You're not normal humans", he said then.

The group confirmed being Urathas... and the man, in return, introduced himself a Leaf, a rogue mage.

Of course, the flower trick had confirmed that, as if Leaf had intentionally decided to show his abilities in order to see the reactions of the strangers, which had been fascination, yes, but there had been no fear, per say. Normal humans would have asked a thousand questions, would have wanted to follow him back into the forest, would have wanted to try and learn the trick. This group of people had not shown any of these signs. Instead, they had analyzed, and realized long before they found out his name that he was not a regular human.

Ryan explained the situation to Leaf, from Mike's disappearance to the newspaper ordeal, which seemed to accentuate his curiosity that much more.

"Stanley would be the last person to use violence as a means of attack", Leaf confirmed. With this, he requested to be taken back to Mike's house so he could see signs the Urathas may have missed. Ryan accepted, much to the silent protests of his pack against carrying a mage with them.

Once they arrived at Mike's home, it only took Leaf a moment to confirm that, indeed, it had been the work of Mages, yes. But there was little traces left of anything. If he could see the newspaper in order to see what could cause Urathas to lose their memories of reading the section of the obituary, it would have been of great help. Miguel let them know he could get a copy, but they would need to wait for a while. It took about fifteen minutes before the Irraka returned from a neighbor's home with the said paper.

Leaf opened it, looked it up, found the section, and confirmed, "There is a seal here, I'm guessing this is what's been fizzling at your memories. But I can't read it... even less disactivate it." There was a moment of silence, followed by defeated groans from the group of Urathas, which was interrupted by the hermit, "but I have a friend who might be able to help with that, if you'd just let me find him."

"How long?", Ryan asked.

"It'll depend on how long it'll take Elation to find him", he let the alpha know. Questions rose as to what the name was about, but when Leaf looked up at the sky and the bird going in circles there, it became obvious he was speaking about his pet. There were no physical words exchanged, but once the bird flew into a random direction, Leaf glanced back at the pack, "She'll find him for us."

To be continued...