deathsdoctor

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[Blissfully unaware of Admirals stalking the village in search of him, Trafalgar Law is taking a few hours away from nosing around the village and through the journals... though it’s still open – he likes to listen to the background noise from the book. Today he must attend to some of life’s tedious domestic necessities. Mainly cleaning the apartment, cooking dinner, and sitting down on the couch to alter some new shirts and sweaters to accommodate his wings.

Boring, but it’s not going to get done by itself.

Sword maintenance comes next on the list, and that’s when the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise as he sights down the blade looking for imperfections and fractures. It’s a loud day for the journals, what with the floods of new arrivals (and no voices of crew yet), but he’s got the uneasy feeling the fun’s about to visit him in turn. 8| ]

… it’s really going crazy out there…

[… a really uneasy feeling.]

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[Katara leans towards him as he speaks, her grip on the journal loosening slightly.

The moon is extremely significant in Water Tribe lore, and it only makes sense that the moon would light the way to the wise woman's home.]

I'm glad! Was the wise woman at home? What happened? Was she able to help her people?

[Because, no, Katara hasn't lost sight of that most important part.]

I'm getting to that, Katara. But yes, the wise old woman was at home.

[He smiles quietly]

So the girl climbed the glacier to the mouth of the cave, and then slowly, carefully made her way down to the woman. It felt like entering another world to her, like one of spirits. As she descended, she was met not with darkness, but patches of glowing phosphorescent light from surrounding plankton and shadows of giant fish and other creatures as they moved in the waters below. [Because of course there are giant fish and Sea Kings in these waters - it wouldn't be One Piece without them.]

And there she was, by the pool and her loom, wrapped in her furs. There were no oil lamps in her cave, but it was bright enough to see. The light was coming from the threads and the unfinished tapestry behind her. It was like someone had captured starlight, and moonbeams, and the lights that danced in the polar sky, and set them in cloth. A beautiful, awe inspiring, and terrifying light all at once.

And the old wise woman herself? She was as ancient as they said, white hair plaited with shell beads, and pearls, and bits of sea glass. She looked incredibly frail, wrapped in her pelts, until you looked in her eyes. And in her eyes, Katara? Was the knowledge of the ages, tempered by wisdom and the grief and tears of decisions past, and the strength to persevere. The girl felt if she made a single gesture, the ocean would stand aside for her.

And the old woman was watching her quietly. Finally she spoke to the girl.

"Why have you come all this way to find me?"

[There is something about the way that he says her name that makes her feel safe. Maybe it's because someone knows her in this place which is so far from home. Or maybe it's because of how kind he's been to her. Or maybe it carries the undertone of his promise, solid and firm. Regardless of what it is, there is something about the set of her shoulders that eases after he says her name, something that lifts, slightly, in the corner of her eyes.

Her face softens as she listens intently, transported to another world similar and so foreign to her own. Her eyes light up at the description of the wise woman. It sounds very much like someone that she would want to know, like someone that she would want to seek out to help her people. Katara is somehow confident that this woman will be able to help, just like the girl in the story. And she has a little smile on her face, because she's sure that this is going to be good.]

"Please tell me what's to come," asked the girl, "What path will save my people? I've come all this way, surely you must know how it can be done."

The old woman considered this quietly, her eyes unfathomable. For Katara, when you see the ages as this woman has, and know the consequences of seeing your life spelled out for you, beginning to end, the request takes on a perilous tone. Not many can handle such a revelation.

She has turned many away for this reason... but...

But the girl was brave, her need great, and her sacrifices something that would move even the cold and dead hearts of the creatures that lurked in the deep. And this was not for her. So the wise woman would show her the paths her life could take by her hand. And in doing so, devise a test of her own. For everything has a price and its burden. Such is life. And could the girl handle it?

"Come, I will show you the two paths I could weave."

The girl puzzled briefly over what 'I' meant, but she was already being lead over to the pool, where two images were forming.

One of a Princess.

The other of a Sea Witch.

[Katara's eyes take on an enchanted gleam. Both options sound pretty good to this young girl. There's a part of her - of course there is - which has always dreamed of being a princess. And a Sea Witch? That sounds scary, but powerful and the other girl needed power to take care of her people. Katara could understand that. She could understand that very well.]

And she could help her people with either one?

Yes, Katara. She could. But are either of them wise choices in the end? Remember, there is a test.

[Now Law's focus turns inward just a bit... he knows well how this part of the tale goes...]

The girl first gazed at the Princess. For who wouldn't like to be a princess like in the tales of old? And at first, all looked to be good. The village was safe and prosperious. She was loved and taken care of. There was a Prince to cater to her every whim, and save her people. She wouldn't have to do anything.

And then. Then she looked deeper and saw that all was not what it seemed. She saw the price of it, Katara.

To be the Princess was to set aside herself, Katara. The girl who set out on the ice would never sit by while others needed help and let others do the sacrificing for her. The Princesses of the old tales were the ones who need the rescuing, and are not the rescuers. She saw a woman who was passive and had her decisions taken away from her, even though however well meaningly, and had no agency of her own. Dangerous, when you have no choice - for her and others. She saw this, and realized despite the outward trappings of comfort and care and safety, that in the end it was an empty life.

To live, you must hold true to yourself, or you'll be consumed by regret. She saw this, and shook her head, and turned to the next image...

[That's not how the story is supposed to go - if a princess can't still go out and do things, then what good is she? A sacrifice could be made to save her people, and Katara can understand that too... but somehow... somehow this wasn't the kind of sacrifice which felt right.

She shifts a little closer to him on the couch; the journal, still opened on her lap, still held with both hands, shifts a little to the side.]

What happened?

She saw the Sea Witch. The Sea Witch, beautiful and terrible in her power.

While the Princess was passive, the Sea Witch certainly wasn't. A fey creature, she answered to no one. She was strong and her word respected. She cared for her village and struck down any threat to her people. They were safe. And she was herself.

But. Again. There is always a price, Katara.

The Sea Witch was feared and misunderstood by everyone, including her people. She suffered terrible loneliness as a result and was forever seperate from them. For people fear what they do not know and cannot understand. While the Princess was loved, the Sea Witch came to crave the simple touch of human kindness, yet none was given to her. She would have to do terrible things for their safety.

The girl first thought that, yes, this was horrible, but it was a sacrifice she could bear for the greater good of her people. Then she looked deeper yet.

For her people to fear their protector wasn't right. To live in fear wasn't right. A people struck by fear were in much danger as from any calamity striking from the outside. For fear sickens the heart and twists, and breeds hatred and strife eventually. It gets in the mind, and festers and rots. And eventually, Katara? Her people wouldn't be her people anymore. And she would not let that be.

She shook her head. No.

[...that's a lot for a little girl to take in, and it takes a moment for that all to sink in. For the girl to be completely alone... that was scary and made her feel a little sick inside. Because - that wasn't the way it was supposed to go either. If you were finally, finally strong enough to save the people you loved, they shouldn't be scared of you - even if you had to do hard things.

And it was that fear - that the people should not have to live in fear - which made Katara agree with the girl's decision. That wouldn't be saving them at all.]

So what was she going to do?

She looked long moments at the waters, trying to come to grips with what she had seen. Surely these weren't the only ways? It couldn't be. To be a Princess or a Witch... was that what was only in store for her?

And then, something occured to her, something that the wise woman had emphasized. 'I'. But what had she meant by 'I'?

So the girl turns to the wise old woman. The air felt very heavy. There was a test, Katara, and here it comes in full force. She looks at the wise old woman, and begins to realize, that maybe, just maybe, there's been a third choice here all along.

Edited 2010-12-24 05:08 (UTC)

[And Katara reaches out, one hand actually leaving the journal, to loosely clasp on to his sleeve and tug it. Dramatic pauses are no fair.]

What happened?

[They are totally fair.]

So the girl turns to the wise woman and asked her, "Is that really what will be? Are my only choices to be a Princess or a Witch and nothing else?"

The old woman closed her eyes and said, "Perhaps. I weave as Life moves me."

The air was so heavy the girl felt she couldn't breathe. She could hear the waves roaring in her ears, and feel the push and pull of the moon and sea as it guided the unceasing tides. The test was upon her at last.

She finally understood the meaning of 'I'.

"Then let me weave my own life. Let me build the path my life will take."

The wise old woman smiled.

[There is something about Katara that likes that question. It resonates within her, plucking out the beginnings of a melody to a song as yet unfamiliar. It feels her with a sense of satisfaction. Yes, this is right.

That sense is reflected on her face, and her eyes are wide when he stops. Again.]

So what happened?

[He has to breathe sometime, Katara.]

"Very well," the wise old woman said and cryptically at that, "But I warn you. What you weave can't be easily unwoven. That is the nature of the threads you are working."

This puzzled the girl, for she had not stopped to question what the threads were, or their nature. But once again, she had little time to think about it, for the old woman, wrapped in her pelts, guided her to the loom next to the pool, and then sat beside her.

In her old, powerful hand, she held those starlight strands. And then she handed them to the girl.

The girl's eyes flew wide as the pool before her began flashing with infinite possibilities. For what she held was not thread at all, but choices... her choices. And she knew right then that choices wove the fabric of destiny and fate.

You'd think things would be easy then, Katara. A pool that showed all possibilities and the thread to make them reality. But that was not the case. For then the girl began to understand their nature.

For woven within the thread themselves were unmovable, unalterable things. Some things no amount or lack of choices could change, because they were built into the very framework of the tapestry. And... and there were not only her threads in the tapestry, but those of all others within creation. Everyone's threads. And they would affect her own, many times in ways she did not intend. Her choices could go oh so awry, depending on how those threads wove together.

So she sat, choices in hand, looking lost as the wise old woman wove, just staring at the pool of water. For the wisdom and initial reluctance of the wise old woman was becoming clear... as was the test. There was no perfect path. Each choice made meant heartbreak and tears as well as happiness and joy. Such was the nature of life.

But how to choose, now that the power was in her grasp?

It was like staring upon a raging sea with no end in sight to the storm and no safe harbour certain to navigate to. For how was she going to get what she wanted, how was she going to save her people, if every choice could end in disaster?

But the old woman was a wise woman, and in the middle of weaving the threads of others, looked to the girl.

"It's very hard, I know. Both to weave the choice and live with it. That is the price of having control over your life.

Weave the choices you can live with. Make something you can be satisfied with. And with a little luck... the rest will fall into place."

[As Katara listens, her forehead furrows in concentration. This... is not an easy story by any means, and it reminds her a little bit of the root tea her Gran-Gran makes her drink when she starts getting sick. It's bitter when it goes down, but it makes her feel stronger when she's done drinking it.]

So what did the girl choose?

What do you think?

[Oh, that's not fair.]

It's your story!

[Chuckle.]

Well, what I think happened is the girl began weaving, and learned with every difficult choice she made. That with the wise old woman beside her, she gained her own formidable wisdom. And she learned to value her choices, and make the wise ones, even when they were very painful.

For the power she had been given was the one to dictate her own life. That's a power you and I have as well.

But eventually that girl gained enough wisdom to leave the loom, and to go out and do what needed to be done. She didn't need to see the mirror any more... she knew that sometimes not knowing what was to come was far better in the long run.

She became a wise leader. The choices she made, good or bad, were the ones she could live with - and in the end, was satisfied with. And though it was very hard, as all important things are... yes Katara, one day she saved her people. I'm not saying they didn't have it hard after that, but they made it through.

That's what I think.

[Katara listens and turns that over in her head before, eventually, nodding. She withdraws her hand from his sleeve in a natural motion to shift back in satisfaction.]

That's a good story. I liked it a lot.

You do? It's my favorite. I remember it when things get very hard and I'm not sure what to do.

Mmm. 'cause you want to make choices you can live with, right? Even if you don't know what will happen.

[See? She listens.]

Exactly.

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