Flashback The Four Letter Word (Solo)

[Kanri]

Time Stamp
90th Day of Spring, 510 AV
Location: The Unforgiving

No one knew his real name anymore. He went by a silly nickname, and everyone made fun of him. He called himself "Seeker".

Kanri believed people were quite able to call themselves whatever name they liked. It was a little weird, admittedly. It wasn't something most Inarta did. But Seeker wasn't most Inarta. He was different. He seemed to have trouble disguising the "right time" for things. Most Inarta were pretty loose about those sorts of things but even Seeker seemed more unaware than the rest. Seeker was fairly handsome, with sleek red hair that he kept neatly surrounding his face. He had the most stunning golden eyes as well. But he was also a very strange child. He was always loud when you wished he could be just a bit softer. But sometimes whispered when you couldn't hear him. He was happy at all the wrong moments but strangely depressed in others. He also loved to play games, all the time, yet not the same games as the other kids. He was sick and couldn't run very far without going into terrible bouts of coughing. However, as much as the other kids had all decided he was only worth their time to tease, Kanri liked Seeker. She like him and felt sorry for him.

Their relationship often seemed to consist of a series of business trades, but they were still great friends. He told her great stories and, in return she would play his strange word games, wait for him when he fell behind, and sometimes, she would buy him little things with her allowance. He seemed to have no clue how to spend his. He was awful with his money.

Their Yasi Class went hunting one Summer's day. It was raining, but their teacher insisted they go anyway. Kanri loved the rain and didn't mind getting wet but Seeker, sadly, wasn't so fortunate. He didn't mind getting wet, except that he got cold unusually easily, he coughed when he got cold, and his coughing fits were too bad for him to be able to do anything but sit and rest for a moment. But Kanri trailed behind the others with him down, into the Unforgiving. The teacher would periodically call the group to wait for him but for the most part, he was left to fend for himself. But Seeker was cheery, despite the gloomy weather and his constant coughing.

"Say Kanri," he said out of the blue. He hadn't spoken for most of their few hours on the trail yet. "How would you like to play a game?"

"You're going to make me play the game regardless of whether I want to or not. What do I get for it?" Kanri asked back.

He grinned devilishly. "I'm going to explain the instructions backwards. Fi uoy tnaw ot niw siht emag, irnaK, uoy tsum--"

"WHOA! No you're not! Just explain them normally please!" Kanri protested quickly, grabbing his shoulder before he could go on.

He gently clasped her hand and stared her in the eye. She blushed a little. He was so strange and hard to read, but he had random moments of being the most charming person Kanri had ever met. "Alright, little sparrow, I'll explain it forwards for your sake. If you want to win this game, Kanri, you must guess my four letter word. You must guess it before we are back in Wind Reach. In return, I'll tell you stories to help you guess the word."

Kanri quickly snatched her hand from him and walked on. She was being used. "Fine. Tell your stories."

[Kanri]

Seeker caught up and walked beside her. The group was really starting to get far away so she tried to hurry him along. He kept talking anyway. "Here's the catch; if you can't guess by the end of this trip, you have to kiss me," Seeker announced.

Kanri blushed again. What was with this guy? "No, absolutely not."

Seeker was suddenly apathetic towards her. "Fine. We won't play then. No stories for Kanri," he agreed, very passive-aggressively. He even walked in longer strides, ahead of her. He was taller than her, after all. The nerve of that kid!

Kanri quickened her pace a little bit to catch up. "I refuse to use my gender and body as a part in one of your games. It's not because I don't like you, Seeker. Really," Kanri tried to explain.

He shrugged her off. He looked pretty mad. "Sure it isn't. And Wind Eagles can't fly," he noted sarcastically. He had some interesting comparisons. She opened her mouth to protest. "Let me change my wording if it makes that much of a difference: If you lose, I get to kiss you. How does that sound?"

Kanri didn't want him to be by himself, in an effort to be mad at her. He had almost jumped off the End of the World last time he was alone. "How about slowing down? You're going to have a fit from walking this fast!" Kanri begged him first, stalling.

He could walk at that speed which was too slow for a run but too fast for a walk. It was so annoying. Thankfully, he slowed to a normal pace. But as soon as he did, he just started coughing like crazy. There was another reason she really didn't want to kiss him, though she had never gotten sick around him. She suspected it was one of those non-contagious sicknesses the healers talked about, yet they couldn't do much for him. She waited, worriedly, while he knelt down in the mud and grass. He sounded petching awful. The group kept moving ahead with no sign of slowing down. She came down beside him, unsure of how to help him.

"We need to keep moving, Seeker," Kanri suggested, trying to be supportive.

Seeker seemed to get control of his coughing and stood, walking beside her now. They did move at a slightly faster pace, catching up once the group realize they had fallen behind. No matter how weak the children, it wouldn't look good to have two Yasi go missing on a camping trip.

"So, what's your answer, Kanri?" Seeker asked, his voice louder than Kanri would have liked. It evoked the giggles of some of her nearest classmates.

"Alright, if it is that important to you," Kanri agreed reluctantly.

He burst out into laughter. He was having one of those off moments. But he had a warm laugh. It was almost pretty.

"What's funny?" Kanri asked suspiciously.

Regaining some of his composure, he answered, "You are, Kanri. You just make me feel so happy. Thank you!"

[Kanri]

The little class was broken into partners to hunt, with the teacher warning them all to be careful. He was going to track them each down periodically and told them not to stray too far from camp. Kanri, of course, partnered with Seeker and they crept off into the forest. Quickly, Seeker identified deer tracks. He seemed exceptionally good at that, perhaps because he saw hunting as a sort of game. So, they followed the tracks. Everything Kanri thought they had lost the trail, Seeker seemed to know exactly where to go.

“In the dawn of time, there were many great creatures. There bears, eagles, wolves, and whales and each of them argued that they were the greatest of them all. The bear argued it was the strongest, while the eagle claimed it was greatest because it flew. The wolves attributed their strength to their numbers, and the whales to their master of the ocean. There were the little creatures too, but none of them were regarded as great creatures. One among these many little ones was the mouse. The poor mice were eaten by basically everyone, and ate very little themselves. No one believed the mice to be very capable of anything.

“Then, came people. Humans, Inarta, and all other subraces. They took each of magnificent creatures and put each one in each own cage. The bear could not break free of the metal bars. The eagle could no longer fly. The wolves, separated, had no idea what to do. And the whale was unable to do anything, just flopping around. Even the small animals were trapped in their cages. The mouse knew it could squeeze through the bars, but the other animals were all so grumpy, he was afraid of what they would all do. But the mouse wanted its freedom and so, late one night, he daintily slipped out of his cage. He tiptoed very carefully across the floor and had almost reached the door when the wolf heard him and awakened. The wolf barked for the mouse to stop and free him too. This awakened the other animals and, soon enough, all were chirping, squawking, and growling at the mouse to free them as well.”

Seeker broke into a coughing fit. As she waited, Kanri looked at the trail they had been following. There was something else there, she realized, something besides the deer. The markings in the ground were different. They were too deep to be deer. Unless the dirt had been even more wet earlier. But the rain had only been getting stronger all day. And they were too… something. They had weird indentations. Kanri would have to do more some more track studying.

“Hey, do you know what these tracks are?” Kanri asked Seeker before he continued the story.

Seeker glanced down at them and shrugged. “I don’t know. It looks a little like boot prints. Someone else probably picked up the trail from here. Can I keep talking now?”

Kanri laughed and shook her head. That was all he cared about. “Go ahead but keep your eyes open.”

“You think I’m walking anywhere with my eyes closed?” he shouted back, almost angrily. He was trying to be sarcastic, but he sounded mad.

“Keep your voice down!” Kanri hissed at him.

He may not have realized his mistake but his voice dropped back to normal levels. “The mouse let all the animals out from their cages, on the condition that they respect the mouse when they ate him from then on. When all the animals were finally out, the mouse checked around corners and led them safely and sneakily back to the forest. The moment they were free, the cat pounced and killed the mouse. Thus, the strong take advantage of the weak and the weak fall prey to the whims and desires of the strong.”

Kanri looked at him. He was crazy. “That’s a terrible moral!”

“It’s true. And you learn to live with it,” Seeker answered remorsefully. “Now, the word is…?”

“Um… mice?” Kanri asked, completely uncertain.

“Of course not! It’s a word with actual meaning,” Seeker exclaimed, sounding angry again.

“Don’t shout! Okay… how about ‘weak’?” Kanri tried again.

Seeker sighed. She was wrong. “Fine, I’ll tell you another story. But we should consider turning. I lost the path a few minutes back.”

[Kanri]

Kanri picked up the trail again. They only traveled a little ways farther before they found the little herd of deer. Kanri and Seeker picked a weaker one on the edge of the group. She realized he was right; the strong took advantage of the weak. It was fairly far away, as the deer had not panicked yet. Kanri and Seeker slowly approached. Kanri nocked an arrow and kept moving forward. She raised her bow and let her arrow fly. She had been aiming for the shoulder. It did not hit where she had wanted, instead landing at its feet and startling the herd. Seeker, on the other hand, neatly landed his arrow deep in its back thigh. The creature began limping but kept going. Kanri shot at the deer again, but sorely missed. She was often criticized for aiming too low, and the arrow fell short again. Seeker missed his second shot too. Their quarry escaped, being far faster than both of them, especially Seeker, who fell into another coughing fit.

When he had recovered, they started after the deer herd again. She figured they should put that poor beast out of its misery. He started telling her his next story.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who was locked in a high tower. She had lived there her whole life. She had the strange ability to sing magical songs. The wizard who kept her in the tower wanted to keep her there in order to study her. But she dreamed of seeing the world. So, she asked the wizard if he would let her go. He said he would, but only if she gave him her tongue. This poor girl was very naïve and agreed. While it was painful, she was determined to be free. He cut out her tongue and set her free into the world.

“She wandered the world and found it to be the most beautiful, enchanting place. She heard many girls singing and it made her sad, for she knew her singing was the most beautiful of them all. One day, she met a handsome young man and immediately fell in love. He was very kind and helped her to understand more about the world, tolerating her inability to talk. However, he was already engaged to another lady. The girl ran back to the wizard and begged him to help her, writing it on paper. He told her the world would only hurt her if she stayed out there without the ability to talk. No one accepted people who did not talk. Convinced that the wizard knew best, she packed up and lived in her cage, the tower. Out of her misery and sadness, she jumped from the tower and fell to the earth. But in death, her voice was returned to her and she was able to sing to her hearts content.”

He was really in the mood for telling depressing stories. Normally, he had wonderfully upbeat stories to tell but not today. She started thinking about things the stories had in common. Both of them had someone who died at the end. But both of them had people who were trapped… in a cage.

“Is the word ‘cage’?” Kanri asked, more certain now.
Seeker thought about this for a moment. “That is interesting. But no.”
“What about ‘dead’?” Kanri tried again.
“That’s depressing. No. But perhaps, it is the same thing…” Seeker commented.
Kanri didn’t understand his reasoning. “The same thing is the four letter word?”

He changed the subject. “Wind Reach… that’s a sort of cage, isn’t it. To me, and to you. I’m forced to stay here and watch myself fall prey to the whims of the strong. Someday, I’m getting out of here. That way I can see all sorts of other cities and places.”

“What? You can’t do that!” Kanri objected immediately.

“Why not? You could come with me. Then we would both be free,” Seeker said casually.

She only stared at him. It was sad. He felt like there was nothing he could do to stop himself from falling into the Dek caste. Yet he couldn’t leave, not right now. He was trapped in a cage. So trapped, he felt as though he ought to be dead. That’s probably why he had tried to jump off the End of the World a while back.

There was a sudden cry ahead of them in the forest. It sounded like one of the deer they were following. Kanri and Seeker both crouched down and got their bows more ready.

[Kanri]

As they came forward through the forest, Kanri saw a Kougara that had caught up to their quarry. She could even see Seeker’s arrow protruding from the side. Kanri lowered her bow and slowly began to back away. Neither of them were good enough shots to try taking on one those vicious things. It looked up, blood from the kill clinging around its snout.

Seeker looked at the Kougara and then started laughing. Kanri shot him a fierce look but he clearly couldn’t help himself. This was hardly a laughing moment! That stupid mental disability of him would be the death of him! And there would be no safety in trees or anything if it attacked. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him away. His laughing turned to coughing. He buckled over, hacking away. The Kougara sensed its advantage and, in a fluid motion, sprung towards them.

Kanri scrambled back before it could land on her, but cleanly caught Seeker with its claws. There was blood all over him now but Kanri let out a shout and fired an arrow into its shoulder. It was too close for her to miss. It gave out a little shriek and turned on her, leaving Seeker alone. She loosed another arrow into the beast, missing the head as she might have liked, and only skimming its ear. Kanri reached for her talonsword on her back and pulled it out, holding it in front of her with both hands. It was still a little heavy for her but her bow wasn’t good for close quarters fighting. The Kougara moved slunk toward her, teeth bared. It reminded of when she was little. She had been attacked by cougar then, hunting with her father. But this was different: Daddy wasn’t there to save her.

The Kougara was upon her before she could blink. She held tight to the sword and stabbed it into the beast as far as she could. She winced and ducked her head, trying to protect her face from those razor sharp, slashing claws. The feline whined and let out a gurgling sound as it fell on top of her. There was even more blood and Kanri could barely breathe from the weight of Kougara on top of her. She barely managed to wriggle out, her whole body red now. Her arms, legs, and head hurt immensely. The beast didn’t move. It was dead. She crawled over to where Seeker lay unconscious, puncture wounds in his shoulders and blood in his orange-ish hair.

“Hey! Is anybody there?” Kanri called into the woods, her voice shaking. The rain had picked up even more, though. It stung all her sliced up skin. “Please help!”

She tried to stand but felt too dizzy. However, the scent of blood would draw scavengers and other predators here quickly, if they didn’t move. They had to get going. But there was no way she could get both her and Seeker out of there. Not without worsening both of their injuries.

“Is anybody there? Please help!” Kanri yelled again.

She felt really dizzy now and let her body just collapse in the rain and blood. As she stared at the trees, she realized there were several signs of Kougara activity. Obvious ones. The Kougara was fairly young and inexperienced, it seemed. Kanri felt sick. She had been reprimanded for her carelessness before, when it came to tracking. She would get so side tracked so that she would get attacked by a different predator.

Suddenly, there were footsteps. Human footsteps. Kanri couldn’t muster the fight to sit up anymore. Her teacher appeared with the other students and, quickly realizing what had happened, had them brought back to Sanikas road and all the way back to Wind Reach. Kanri was barely conscious throughout most of it. She just remembered feeling dizzy and, eventually, feeling the grace of a bed under her. She promptly fell asleep.

[Kanri]

Kanri woke up early the next day, feeling much better. She spoke with the healers and they told her that her injuries were not bad, but she had gone into shock from all the blood. She had also snapped her bow, being tackled by the Kougara. But, if she took it easy, she would be absolutely healthy within the week. She then asked about Seeker.

They showed her. She found him lying there, in a bed a little ways from her own. He looked pale as a snow. The Healers were fairly certain he would be okay if he rested enough and kept his spirits up, though, so Kanri wasn't too worried. That is, until, he spoke.

He voice, usually filled with thick emotions and life, was dull and dreary. "Hello Kanri."

"Seeker, I'm sorry. I should have paid more attention! There were obvious markings and I should have seen them!" Kanri apologized quickly, sitting down on the bed next to him.

Seeker hardly looked at her. "Certainly. That's in the past, though. What will you do now?"

"I don't know. But the healers think you'll get better. When you do, I'll treat you to lunch one day! How about that?" Kanri offered. There wasn’t much that would really help him. What else could she offer after letting him get hurt like that?

"We're back at Wind Reach. But you haven't guessed," Seeker noted, switching topics.

"No, but I was expecting to have more time. How about one more story?" Kanri asked, hopefully.

"Alright. I guess," Seeker agreed. He seemed to come back to life a little. "There was a boy who lived in a world that was upside-down. He didn't understand what people tried to tell him. He was so trapped in this world and there was no way to escape his... His imminent demise. He was going to fall and when he hit rock bottom, no one would be there to help him back up. One day, he met this beautiful young girl who was right-side-up, just like him. Yet she had learned to see the other way. She tried to help him, but he had gone too far. He would never learn."

Seeker broke into a timely bout of coughing. Kanri gave him some water, but it didn't help. He recovered again, but his voice was much hoarser.

"He loved this girl, but he would never tell her, because he wanted her to be unchained to him, a hopeless case. Instead, he went to find liberty on his own, liberty from the upside-down world."

Seeker began coughing again. Kanri felt so bad for him. He looked like he might actually die, he was so pale and sounded so weak. But when he was through again, he looked straight into her eyes. His eyes were still bright, alive, hopeful, and gentle. Those eyes made him look well-kept and fit.

"Love?" Kanri guessed. "Because the story says that that love will set him from, right?"

Seeker chuckled, a twinkle in his eye. "No, you're wrong again... I believe you owe me a kiss Kanri. Can we wait, though? It's almost an insult to take it lying down. How about when I can stand?"

Kanri laughed. He had such strange reasoning. She really didn’t mind that much anyway, she decided. He deserved it. "Alright, you win. What was the word? You better tell me, in case you die while I'm away," Kanri insisted jokingly.

"My little sparrow, death doesn't frighten me. But I will be fine," Seeker consoled her. He rolled over and closed his eyes. "Why don't you go get something to eat? I'm going to take a nap."

Kanri stood and left. When he didn’t want to answer a question, he didn’t. She had learned that long ago. She wasn't much in the mood for eating, hungry as she might be. She got a small bowl of rabbit soup and milk then promptly returned to the infirmary. A healer stopped her at the door.

“Your friend is dead. I’m sorry,” the healer explained bluntly.

Kanri froze. But it wasn’t too startling. He had looked so pale, earlier. He was sick all the time too. No surprise he hadn’t made it. The healers were basing their judgment of recovery on healthy Inartas, after all. The healer let her in to see him.

The blood had already all drained from his face, but he looked so peaceful, lying there. Almost more peaceful than when she had seen him alive. She just stood there for a while. She hardly knew what to think. Kanri figured she was supposed to be sad but she hardly felt anything at all. She just felt numb. He had never seen other cities. He had never gone traveling to somewhere people could accept him, even with his strange condition. His dreams, games, and stories were all dying with him.

She suddenly noticed his left forearm. It had been bandaged for a while. Kanri hadn’t thought anything of it but now it was unwrapped. There was something tattooed there. It was new. No wonder he was so bad with his money. She looked closer and realized, inscribed there, was the four-letter-word: Free.

Kanri felt herself withdraw even more. She just stared at his lifeless body for what seemed like an eternity. What was she even standing there for? What did she hope to achieve? There was no point now. She thanked the healer and left. It was early but she couldn’t think of anything else to do. She went to bed. She didn’t go to sleep for a long time.

“Seeker, now that you are dead, are you truly, finally free?”

[Phoenix]

Kanri

Award

Skill	XP Earned
Socialization	5
Hunting	3
Weapon (Sword)	2
Tracking	3
Leadership	1

•	Lores Earned
•	Seeker: Different than most
•	A game with Seeker
•	Hunting with Seeker
•	Hunting: Quiet is Key
•	Four Letter Word: Free
•	Wind Reach is a Cage
•	Kougara caught Seeker
•	Just one more Story

The Order of the Phoenix

Wow. This is one of the most touching stories that I have read in a while. Its rare to see a PC interacting with an NPC so well, and you did a great job. I was tearing up by the end, I won't lie. I loved this solo, Kanri, you did an amazing job.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.