Dipper felt
shaken, and even sicker than before. His children were gone…
“W-what
happened while we were away?” Dipper asked, unable to stop the tears from
streaming down his face.
Bill had a
short talk with the Crauhlohs in the green uniform.
“Phofia was
the one to report the eggs missing,” Bill explained to Dipper and led him away
to one of the parlors. There they found Phofia, sitting on a couch and staring
blankly ahead.
“Phofia…”
Dipper approached her carefully and placed a hand on her knee. “What happened?”
“I…” she
swallowed audibly and fiddled with her hands. “It… happened after your call
announcing your return… I was only gone in so short time…” she opened her hand
and revealed a crumbled note. “I… I am so sad of it…”
Dipper took
the note and tried to smooth it out, but it was written in Cyonian, which
Dipper had yet to learn.
“The
culprit used a Yosungroyun…” Bill deduced as he took the note from Dipper. “A…
writing mechanism?”
“So like a
typewriter,” Dipper nodded. “What does it say?”
Bill got
quiet and crumbled up the letter before shoving it up his sleeve. “It’s not
important,” Bill said. “I will discuss the note further with the Aren Ristile.”
“Bill…
Please tell me,” Dipper begged, but Bill had already left. Dipper turned back
to Phofia, who still seemed almost traumatized. “Phofia, what did that letter
say?”
“It…” she
paused. “I should not tell you. Siheas Brhithel is right; it is not that
important-“
“It’s a note from the person who kidnapped my children!” Dipper shouted as
tears once more spilled from his eyes. “I deserve to know whatever was written
on that note!”
“I… yes,”
Phofia nodded and averted her eyes. “It said that… you did not deserve to be
called Ishilaheer, that your… esen, your… blood, would taint our race for
generations to come… It said some things about your ishinir that I dare not
repeat, and… then it said that if you were truly Ishilaheer, this predicament
would not exist, thus proving you unworthy.”
“What? What
does it mean that… if I were truly Ishilaheer? I can carry eggs, right?”
“I- I am
not in position to explain that,” Phofia ducked her head and rose from her
seat. “I must leave! Ask Siheas Brhithel if you truly must know.”
Dipper
watched Phofia leave the parlor in haste, before he left himself.
He found
Bill talking with one of the Aren Ristile.
“Phofia
told me what the note said,” Dipper announced to Bill.
“I did not
want you to hear that,” Bill sighed and paused his conversation with the Aren
Ristil. He turned to Dipper and embraced him. “We will find them. I promise.”
“And bring
the culprit to justice,” Dipper added.
“That…”
Bill swallowed. “This Aren Ristil was relaying to me Phofia testimony. Before
she checked on the eggs, someone was at the door.”
“Yes, I
remember,” Dipper nodded.
“It was
Tlummus, asking for me,” Bill continued.
“But… he
should have known we were still away. Why…? Y-you think…?”
“It is a
possibility,” Bill admitted and held on tighter to Dipper. “But Tlummus being
Xerex, it is impossible for him to be investigated without hard proof.”
“Then… it’s
over?” Dipper was starting to shake again. The thought that Tlummus was the one
who had taken their children… Dipper couldn’t stop imagining what horrible
things he might have done to them. “I-if Tlummus has them, they’re already…”
“No!” Bill
insisted. “Didn’t Phofia tell you? The note says that the eggs have been placed
somewhere, and that they are still intact; the kidnapper wishes for us to find
them before they… well, according to the note… we have a week, but I promise we
will find them!”
Dipper just
nodded, but he couldn’t bring himself to hope, and the sickening feeling in his
stomach only got worse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first
three days passed without any news. Dipper was beginning to feel so sick, he
could barely leave the bed. Bill had to attend his duties as Siheas, but he
spent every available moment he had by Dipper’s side.
It didn’t
help that Dipper also slept horrible; he had nightmares where he was surrounded
by darkness, only a faint, white thread illuminated his surroundings, and all
he could hear were small, distant voices forced to cry as they were too young
for words.
By the
fifth day, Dipper had given up whatever remaining hope he had left. Bill tried
his best to assure him they would find the eggs, but Dipper’s condition had
escalated to a point where every time he closed his eyes, he saw the black
void, the white thread, and heard the voices crying out.
Somehow,
Bill had managed to coax Dipper to the kitchen with the promise of homemade
breakfast. Dipper didn’t feel like eating, but he felt guilty that Bill had to
be so strong for the both of them, while he was only falling apart.
While Bill
was preparing the food, a knock was heard on the front door. Bill sat breakfast
aside and rushed to the door, no doubt hoping it was good news about the eggs.
“AON EL PAM
SORMA!!” Dipper heard Bill shouted. He rose from his seat and ran out to the
front door, where he found Tlummus standing.
“Mri uru
kavo orhi iaiz sorma,” Tlummus practically spat. “Mri uru hiri cour otha kaa
imof iao imirira emkursum.”
“Laist?!”
Bill looked vaguely shocked, but mostly angry.
“Mez uru
laist shur heffaor asiens iao nath zem… zhuoz,” Tlummus gestured at Dipper. “Re
friee kavo resoden omiez ishinir.”
“MOUST
DERKLINE IAO!?!” Bill shrieked and looked like he was about to punch Tlummus.
“Bill!
Stop!” Dipper shouted and gave Tlummus a stern look. “Laist riheshir iao?”
Tlummus
looked surprised at Dipper’s words, or maybe he had simply thought that Dipper
really couldn’t speak Auldrinish so well yet, but he quickly schooled his face
back to an angry sneer.
“Otha
laheer ishinir,
Muru kavo
Ishilaheer.
Ishilesh
zess cheio,
Kavoet
Kethrar soilano.
Cusea
resode iaiz ishilesh,
Ish lizu
iaiz ishilesh,
Cour xesseh
laheeven suom erinmeer,
Uru iao
kavo Ishilaheer.”
Tlummus
chanted these words like an old rhyme he knew by heart. Dipper understood most
of the words, but he couldn’t make sense of what it meant.
“Zan iao
otha mri kavo uru Ishilaheer, dokaito mri kavo lizair pam ishilesh?” Dipper
asked in disbelief. “Mri zess zem anniyel ghuziro pam lirkam cour otha gostan
zhuoz neklado!” Dipper couldn’t keep it in anymore; he slapped Tlummus himself.
“COURSIS!!!”
Tlummus
looked stunned, but left with no further argument.
“What did
he mean, Bill?” Dipper asked, still crying his eyes out. “What did that rhyme
mean?!”
“It… he…”
Bill hesitated.
“I need to
know, Bill! I know you’re not telling me something!”
“… It is an
old proverb among my people. We believe the Ishilaheer have a psychic bond with
their eggs before they hatch and during the first few years; it is to help keep
them safe while they are at their most vulnerable. There have been many tests
suggesting that the strength of the bond is related to how much the Kethrar…
love their children.”
“And as a non-Crauhloh,
I don’t have that bond, right?” Dipper didn’t need to be told; he already knew.
“And if the bond’s strength is normally tide to how much the Kethrar loves and
cherishes their children… people would no doubt believe that no bond means-“
“Do not say
that!” Bill gently grabbed Dipper and embraced him. “I know you love our
children! A-and when we find them… you can show everyone!”
“Bill… we
are running out of time,” Dipper sobbed. “For all we know, our children are
already-“
“No!
They’re not!” Bill insisted. “We still have time!”
“Bill, I
keep hearing the sound of crying children whenever I close my eyes!” Dipper
cried.
“… What?”
Bill gave him a weird look; Dipper had known bringing it up would make Bill
think he was going insane, but he had to know.
“I can’t
handle it,” Dipper kept crying as he fell into Bill’s arms, holding onto him
like a lifeline.
“Have you
experienced anything else?” Bill asked, not sounding worried at all. It caused
Dipper to pause and give Bill his own weird look.
“I… I see a
glowing, white thread when I close my eyes…” Dipper responded carefully.
“Dipper!” Bill gave a joyous roar, picked
him up and spun him around. “That’s the bond! You have the bond!”
“H-how?!”
Dipper gasped as Bill finally sat him down. “I thought non-Crauhlohs couldn’t
have the bond.”
“It has
never been proven or disproven!” Bill laughed. “It was always only assumed! Oh,
this is wonderful!”
“This
means, we can use the bond to find our children?” Dipper asked.
“I shall
call the Aren Ristile,” Bill said. “I will have them bring a vehicle, then you
can use the bond to guide us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within
twenty minutes, the Aren Ristile had shown up in a flying vehicle. Dipper and
Bill had entered it, and Dipper closed his eyes and focused on the bond as hard
as he could. He didn’t know if it was intuition or what, but he could somehow
feel as they were getting closer, and he was able to give directions as the
bond twisted and turned to show where his children were hidden.
They ended
up in a forested area, with the bond pointing to a cave with a collapsed
entrance. The Aren Ristile began talking amongst each other, discussing what
the best way to have the rocks covering the entrance removed, but Dipper didn’t
even hesitate; he jumped out of the vehicle, ran over to the entrance, and used
his hands to dig the rocks away.
“Dipper!”
Bill called and followed. “What are you doing!? You might cause further cave
in-“
“It’s a
false collapse!” Dipper shouted in return. “All the rocks are too small, none
of them match the color of the cave itself, and in fact the rest of the cave is
too solid and intact to have suffered a collapse!”
Bill seemed
to realize that Dipper was right, as he too began to help dig out the rocks; it
didn’t take much effort; it was like someone had just dumped a pile of rocks at
the entrance to discourage anyone from entering the cave.
As soon as
the entrance was cleared, Dipper ran inside and found the three eggs in the
back, sitting in a makeshift nest, along with a stone that seemed to emit some
slight heat; not enough to keep the eggs alive in the cold, damp cave, but
enough to lengthen the time it would take for the eggs to perish.
An Aren
Ristil entered the cave, carrying a basket with multiples of the heating rocks
underneath a blanket. Dipper and Bill placed the eggs in the basket, but Dipper
refused to let anyone else carry the basket back to the vehicle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They
stopped by a hospital so a Doctor could check on the eggs. They were told that
the eggs were fine; they just needed enough heat. After that small stop, Bill,
Dipper, and the eggs were all returned home.
The staff
were excited and relieved at the eggs’ safe return, especially Phofia who
insisted on getting a good look at the eggs herself to make sure they were
alright.
Bill and
Dipper retired to their bedroom, where they moved the eggs nest to their bed
and just lied beside them for a bit.
“I’m so
happy we found them,” Dipper cried. “I thought… Oh god, I was so scared…”
“Everything’s
gonna be fine now,” Bill assured him.
“What about
Tlummus?” Dipper asked. “What if tries to steal our eggs again? What if he just
decides to-“
“We’ll need
to keep a constant eye on the eggs from now on,” Bill said with a fierce look
in his eyes. “I promise you, we will somehow bring Tlummus to justice. And our
children are going to be fine. I’ll have extra security guarding our home
constantly until our children are safe. And I will remain by your side through
it all… e-except for…”
“What is
it, Bill?” Dipper asked, his voice full of worry.
“I have
arranged a meeting with the Council,” Bill explained. “I dare not tell you what
it is for, but… I will do everything within my power to have the Council
listen. Once this meeting is over, I will have no further obligations until our
children are born.”
Translations:
“Yosungroyun” = A machine used to typing
documents, commonly used to give all official papers a standard look
that anyone can recognize
“Aren Ristile” = The Crauhloh equivalent of police. Literally means The Hands of the Law
“Esen” = Blood
“Ishinir” = Eggs
“AON EL PAM SORMA!!” = GET OUT OF MY HOME!!
“Mri uru kavo orhi iaiz sorma” = I am not in your home
“Mri uru hiri cour otha kaa imof iao imirira emkursum.” = I am here to see if you finally understand
“Laist?!”= What?!
“Mez uru laist shur heffaor asiens iao nath zem… zhuoz,”= This is what happens when you mate with… those
“Re friee kavo resoden omiez ishinir.” = He cannot protect your eggs
“MOUST DERKLINE IAO!?!” = HOW DARE YOU!?!
“Laist riheshir iao?” = What do you mean?
“Otha laheer ishinir, = To carry eggs
Muru kavo Ishilaheer. Does not create Ishilaheer
Ishilesh zess cheio, Children will die
Kavoet Kethrar soilano. Without Kethrar’s courage
Cusea resode iaiz ishilesh, So protect your children
Ish lizu iaiz ishilesh, And love your children
Cour xesseh laheeven suom erinmeer, For if the bond gets cut
Uru iao kavo Ishilaheer.” You are not Ishilaheer
“Zan
iao otha mri kavo uru Ishilaheer, dokaito mri kavo lizair pam
ishilesh?” = Are you saying that I am not Ishilaheer, because I don’t
love my children?
“Mri zess zem anniyel ghuziro pam lirkam cour otha gostan zhuoz neklado!” = I would happily give my life to get them back!
“COURSIS!!!” = GET OUT!!!
Mathee's Blog 