Spinning Fate's Threads

After they’d finished inhaling the rough equivalent of a battalion’s worth of food Tsuzuki and Abel wandered out into the grounds then on to the wilder places along the edges. They plopped themselves down on an outcropping overlooking the sea to watch the sun set. Abel had immediately liked this odd man sitting beside him, even though for some strange reason, 02 had started to fight him for control almost the instant they’d come into contact.



“I think you must remind Blaze of me. The way I was a thousand or so years ago at any rate,” Tsuzuki said thoughtfully, resting his chin on his knees and looking askance at Abel.



“What makes you say that?” Abel asked, stretching out his long legs in front of him and letting the sea breeze blow back the unbound parts of his hair.



“Because you remind me of me all those years ago. I had all of this power connected to darkness inside of me and most of the time it scared me out of my mind. So, I do know what you’re going through to a certain extent. Though with me it was because my father was a demon,” Tsuzuki said. “Blaze knew from minute one that I hated myself. I guess hated is a weak word for it but I don’t think there are words that could describe what I felt. I wasn’t normal, wasn’t wanted. I was this weird thing that wasn’t human, wasn’t a demon, wasn’t anything anyone had ever seen before. Everyone who remotely cared about me was gone. I had nothing and no one for so long. But somehow she just knew what to say and do to pull me out of those times when I would have happily found a way to die completely.”



“Why didn’t she adopt you as well?” Abel asked, stretching and resting his weight on his hands.



Tsuzuki laughed. “She didn’t have to. I married her grandson. Still so weird to watch her and Tatsumi together even after all this time.”



“Why?”



“Oh, gods! You should have seen them the first fifty years they knew each other. They fought every minute they were within a hundred meters of each other. She pushed all of his buttons at once most of the time and he pissed her off to the point she set fire to his office because she lost her temper. And no, we’ll never let her live that one down.”



Abel laughed and they fell silent for a while, watching the sun sink into the sea. After the first touch of real darkness, Abel tilted his head a little, listening to a far off sound.



“What is it?” Tsuzuki asked.



“I think I hear drums.”



Tsuzuki paused and listened for a moment as well before bouncing up and grabbing Abel by the hand, pulling him to his feet as well. “C’mon, it’s the Mothers.”



“Wha . . .” Abel said, stumbling a little as Tsuzuki dragged him along the dark path. “What do you mean the Mothers?”



“Abel, don’t you remember that you’re being adopted by one of the Queens of Earth? There are four others, all corresponding to the elements. They’re called the Mothers of the World.”





Wind blows

Fire burns

Water flows

And the Earth turns.



The sound of drums and music grew louder with each step along the path. After a few moments it seemed to Abel that they were moving even faster than before, his feet nearly leaving the ground as Tsuzuki pulled him along.



“Are we even supposed to be . . .”



“No one but family, technically. But since I’m an in-law and you’re being adopted tomorrow, I don’t think they’ll protest too much,” Tsuzuki said. They finally cleared the trees to the edge of a large clearing. What seemed to be a heat haze domed five women in the center of the circle.



“What . . .” Abel whispered to Tsuzuki.



“It’s a circle of protection.”



“Why would they need protection here?”



“It isn’t protection for them it’s protection for everyone and everything else.”