Endless Change

 
One Solution
The Bizra separate themselves from us, moving from the beach deep into the meadow.

“How do we heal their nightmares, Yagrin, and stop the Krale?” asks Shazira.

“The Bizra have energy shields to protect themselves against the energies of violence,” says Nival from behind us.
“These shields protect them against energies that reach them from outside.”

We turn to see him visible again, in the form of the boy with dark eyes.

“But once violent energies entered them through the dreams of the transformed one, the energies are stuck within them.”
“The nightmares,” he continues, “are caused by the stuck energy.”

“Nival,” I ask, “can we teach them to release the energies?”

He thinks for a moment.
“They have to loosen their shields to release the energy.”

“They have powerful, sensitive hearts, full of compassion.”
“And find violence unthinkable.”

“They can’t imagine life among us, without their shields.”
“It’s their way to face the violence, and still show compassion to the victims.”

“They won’t listen to us if we ask them to dissolve those shields,” says Tzina.
Nival nods in agreement.

“Then we’ve failed,” says Shazira.

“Not yet,” says Balshown, and he removes the Sphere of Itarus from his pack.
“If we can’t help them, we have no choice but to kill them.”

“What?!” say Berek, Tzina, and Shazira together.

I thought I knew Balshown, but I would never have expected him to suggest this.

“That weapon will kill us all Balshown,” I tell him, “and scorch half the planet.”

“How do you know about the sphere, Yagrin?” asks Balshown.

“I told him,” says Nival.

“How do you know about it?” asks Balshown.

“I was a Jiku, hundreds of years ago.”

Balshown stares at Nival, wishing he could see the thoughts hiding behind the child’s body.

“The sphere could lay waste to the planet,” says Balshown, “but I’ll set it to hold its power within the land of the Bizra.”

“We can’t do this,” says Shazira.
“Wipe out an extraordinary, peaceful race?”
“They don’t mean to harm us.”

“But they are harming us,” says Balshown.
“What do you think Berek?”
“Should we continue to let the Krale attack and kill us?”

“Leave him alone, Balshown,” cries Shazira.
“He’s eleven years old.”
“This isn’t his decision!”

“Isn’t there another way?” asks Berek.
“I want to kill the Krale, not the Bizra.”

“One of the energy masters caused the nightmares,” says Shazira, glaring at Balshown.
“Can we blame the Bizra for that?”

We’re all quiet for a few seconds.

“The Bizra don’t know how to free themselves,” I tell the others.
“They are bound together, and nothing outside of them will help.”

“Do we follow Master Balshown’s plan?” asks Berek.

“There’s only one way to solve this without killing the Bizra,” I answer.
“I’ll become one of them, and my mind will be bound to their minds.”

Everyone is quiet.
No one seems to know what to say.

“Yagrin,” says Balshown turning toward me, “how will you help them?”
“You see what happened the last time an energy master became Bizra.”
“Maybe the nightmares will become even worse.”

“I can do this,” I tell Balshown and the others.
“But you’re not safe here.”

“Everyone should leave except Nival.”
“He doesn’t need protection.”

“I’m not going,” says Shazira.
“No,” says Tzina.
“I’m staying,” says Balshown.

“We started together,” says Berek, “and we’ll finish together.”

“We’ll flow back into the shape of the great birds,” says Shazira.
“That will keep us safe.”

I’m not convinced, but they won’t leave.

“When sunset comes and the the Bizra go to sleep,” I tell them, “change back into the Kishla.”
“And I’ll transform myself into a Bizra.”

Balshown and I find water to drink, and we sit together to eat.
Everyone seems restless.

Tzina takes me aside.
“Ina,” whispers Tzina to me, “spend some time alone with oodah.”

“What about you?” I ask.

“We were just together,” she says smiling, “at least in my head.”
“And I can feel some of your thoughts and feelings here within me.”

“I know about Berek,” she says quietly.
“I should be mad at you for hiding this from me, but right now I’m so happy that he’s my brother.”

“And we’ll have more time together, soon.”
“I expect you to find a way back from being Bizra.”

Tzina wants to believe her words, but she is only pretending to believe the lie.
She hugs me tightly, until I gently pull myself away.

Then I take Shazira’s hand, and we walk down the beach to be alone together.
We lie quietly and just hold each other.

 
Endless Change
Shazira and I rejoin the others.

Only a thin sliver of the sun remains.
The Bizra will begin dreaming soon.

I’m convinced that I’ll find a way to help them, even though now, I have no idea what to do.
When the moment comes, I’ll know.

My thoughts start to spin in circles, and I begin to worry.
I take a few deep breaths and rub my belly with energy hands, and let the energy flow.

I look at the others.
They’re lost in their own thoughts, even Nival.

All except Shazira.
We’re still holding hands, and she’s looking at me to memorize every detail of me.

Soon, the darkness appears over the meadow and the rest of the land of the Bizra.
“It’s time Yagrin,” says Balshown.

“There’s no path back from the change to Bizra,” Shazira says, even for you!”
“You can’t find a path where there is none!”
“How will you come back to me?” she asks, eyes full of tears.

“I don’t know,” I tell her.
I squeeze her hand, and then move back from her, and flow myself into Bizra.

I’m disoriented for a few seconds.
More than with any other change.

The Bizra are so different from us.

When my head clears, I hear a beautiful song, and I think “this is Shazira.”
I can see her body still through these eyes, but there are so many other senses.

As I look around, the world is full of patterns of beauty.
I perceive the unique patterns of beauty in the physical world as a sort of music or song.

I extend my senses to touch a wide area around me.
These patterns of beauty form a complex, rich sound that I can only compare to a symphony, the symphony of beauty.

When I focus on a single object or person, it’s more like a song, a song of beauty.

I look at each of my friends, and I see their thoughts above their heads as visual dreams.
I see Balshown’s thoughts of the bomb, and I feel a deep revulsion.
Then I let that energy of revulsion move through me, and it exits harmlessly as an energy mist through my back.

The Bizra look something like cats, but the legends say that they’re physically capable of speech.
They just use other means to communicate.

I concentrate, and find that I can speak.

“Balshown, guard your thoughts.”
“It’s obvious what you’re thinking about.”
The sound of my voice reminds me of the voices of the Kishla.

Balshown and the others stare at me in wonder.
No one alive has heard a Bizra speak before.

There’s a loud buzzing sound.
There are a dozen Krale flying through the walls of darkness that cover the Bizra.

And all of my friends are still in their Jiku form.

Before I can react, dark lightning flies at Shazira.
Nival raises a black web to protect Shazira and the others, and the lightning disappears.

The Krale fly away and then start to circle back toward us.

“Yagrin,” says Balshown, “I can’t flow them, and I can’t change my own form.”
“But you’re Bizra now.”
“Maybe you can flow them.”

I reach out toward the Krale and try to change them.
Nothing happens.

I try to flow some nearby sand into a stone, and that works fine.

If I can’t flow them, then what can I do?
“They are only dreams,” says a voice in my head.

I reach out and imagine that the Krale that I see are an image that I dreamed into existence.
And then I change the dream into a mist.

The Krale disappear.
“Quickly,” I say, “change back into the Kishla so you’ll be safe.”

A moment later, I see that they have done so.
“Nival,” I say, “come with me.”

But there is no answer.
All is quiet, and Nival is nowhere to be seen.

I walk over to my pack and touch the black stone with my right front leg.
I wonder where Nival has gone.

I’m sure that I can help the Bizra.
But I don’t expect to find a way home.

“Wish me well,” I say to the others.

Shazira speaks.
“Let the energy of this world make you strong for our sake and the sake of the Bizra.”
“Let hope come when it’s needed, even when it seems that no hope is left in the world.”