Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/14/2066
Talk about a trial by fire… again.
It wasn't as big of a battle as we were expecting, so I'm thankful for that.
Our losses were surprisingly nonexistent. Okay there were injuries and exhaustion, spell Drain, Mana overdoses and Alan will probably lose a leg but that's the worst of it.
It was a chess game played with brute strength, illusion and more than a fair share of shenanigans but we are very definitely the victors here.
I'll tell you more tomorrow… after I have a few hours of unconsciousness in my husband's arms.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/15/2066
It's a really good thing we pretty much finished off our opposition yesterday 'cause we don't really have much left in us today.
I woke up with Jr. doing jumping jacks. It would seem releasing a lot of magical power around a developing child who's attuned to said magic is like feeding a two year old their weight in sugar and backing it up with 5 espressos. Yes, I would have been awake if there'd been an attack, but with the power of the statue released there really is no reason to try and control it.
Matt is also not getting much in the line of sleep a 10 month old can seriously raise enough alarms to keep an army awake. After everything he's been through, I don't think any one can blame him.
Okay, forgive me if I get some of this wrong some of it is second hand and piecing together what happened based on the degree of exhaustion people are still showing.
We got to the island and immediately started finalizing or battle plan. Let's face it, we all knew it was a trap and we knew that trying to survive a siege on the island would be foolhardy and just plain stupid. Thinking about it, it really makes me wonder what they thought of us that they'd expected us to take the positions they'd set for us.
Anyway, with Philip's people working as a unit working on a flanking maneuver, Case, Michael and my brothers worked on getting into position to rescue Matt's son. That left Nathan and me to provide a distraction.
We had been fully prepared to fake destroying the statue. Nathan had figured out the illusions and power levels required. He had even taken into consideration the affect that much power would have on our surroundings. He was about to start, I realized what had to be done.
I released the power from the statue. The affect was almost immediate and very profound. I can't really tell you much about it-I'll try and get a better description for alter.
All I know was, we were standing there, ready to begin the ruse, when I realized that a) the protectors' of the statue were the ones who would decide how it's power would be used-how balance would be maintained, b) we'd thought taking it to the island 10 years ago was all that needed to be done, but if we'd tipped the scales towards good-why was all of this happening?
Even as I thought about it I had the answer. We had accepted our roles as the statue's protectors but we hadn't really understood what had to be done.
It is done now, and there will be another hundred years for the statue to begin absorbing power again, who knows- perhaps our energy will remain with the statue after we are long gone. After the fight, we fed the statue-with our prayers, with our memories of Andy and with our hopes for a brighter future.
Aztec Calendar - Day sign for 11/16/2066
With the statue gone, the island population has started to dwindle. The odd thing is no one seems angry over what happened.
When I asked about it, Nathan assured me that everything was fine, more than fine. It's another one of those times I wish I could feel what's happening. The smile on his face seems so peaceful, and it's such a welcome change from the panicked looks from Matt or the accusatory ones I'm getting from Alan.
Everything has changed and he's trying to find someone to blame on it. It's easier than accepting that life happens.
Matt's priorities have changed: having children will do that for you. Now he's thinking about how to raise his son and protect him from well... the kind of things we've just finished dealing with: the kind of things that seem to rule my life.
Alan's leg is hurting and well, okay, I'm a little to blame for that since I was the one who shot him. I didn't mean to but he walked into the line of fire. That would have been bad enough but the pain caused him to release his attack spell a little early. So yeah… he's being a bit of a Diva.
Tonight Case brought me the best present ever: plane tickets home.
It really is over, or as over as anything really gets. We're going home and that alone is cause for celebration.
I was so focused on getting home and everything that went with it: seeing the Terror, sleeping in my own bed, or my own bed in our home away from home that I gave no thought to calendars Aztec or otherwise. It figures we'd return home on a new moon.
Now, as a medic I've always hated full moons-that's when you get the most interesting cases. Ask any medic, ER nurse or police officer, they'll all tell you it's when the freaks come out.
Since I've been learning about magic I've learned that the new moon can be almost as bad if not worse when it comes to magic, at least we got home before dark.
We got to SeaTac at about 16:10 local time. Case had made all the arrangements and I was surprised when he had us wait after picking up our luggage. The reason for waiting was a private plane arriving from Amazonia, the one booked by the Salish-Sidhe of Council Island.
Thankfully Jonathan was looking so much better than the last time I'd seen him. Together we headed home and I was pretty much isolated from the insanity that hit the city as night closed in, but I could hear it on the digital multiband, and in the dispatcher's voice.
The odd thing was, as near as I can figure Sunday some very strange things had happened but if anything, it was more like closing a door that had been left ajar: an odd surge of energy followed by… sanity.
I don't know if I can take this new Seattle.
I'm still trying to understand everything that has happened, I probably never will understand everything. Alan tried explaining it and I wasn't exactly sure I understood until Nathan added the missing piece, something I could understand.
"Like a battery…"
It seems that the nature of the statue, and granted Nathan had less than a day to study it, but you know my brother-he's couldn't not study it for as long as he possibly could, anyway from what he could figure it out was all about self sacrifice.
The essence, the life force and blood of those who had ruled had been poured into the statue to hold the energy until the time was right… until it was needed-like a battery… a rechargeable battery.
Hundreds of years of sacrifice: and I released it with no direction or knowledge of how it worked. Now I have to wonder if I've wasted it.
Sometimes I really wish I could stick with things I know, like emergency medicine. When Jonathan was hurt, I knew what to do and I knew the consequences of not doing it. It is something I will never have to second guess. When you can see the results, quantify what was done-it makes sense.
I just can't quantify what happened with the statue. To me it was like opening a fortune cookie with a blank piece of paper inside. I have no point of reference, I felt nothing… I can only look at patterns and see if there's a change, but that is going to take time and even then… I don't know what the normal trends are.
Time will tell.
I've been doing a lot more reflection that I'm used to. There were so many places things could have gone wrong, well, more wrong than they did. Jonathan's getting better and despite his complaining Alan's getting better.
Mom Walker, Trina and I have been helping Matt ease into the whole being a parent thing giving helpful 'mom' advice while Mario, Dad Walker and Case have been giving him 'fatherhood 101' classes.
My friends and family-they were there for me when this all came to a head. We wouldn't have made it through without Philip and his people. If it hadn't been for the blackout, and a small misunderstanding with a gang-I'd never have met him and he never would have given me his card…
Looking at him, I had to ask.
"So… regretting giving me that card yet?"
He knew immediately what I was talking about. I'm pretty sure he was expecting this talk for a while now.
"I regret a lot of things in my life Jess," he said, "That isn't one of them."
"Even after everything we just went through?"
"First, it's not the first time I've had to end a government conspiracy, even if this went deeper than the government. Second, they weren't going to stop. I couldn't let them get to my favorite niece. Or my sister. You guys are the only family I've got left."
That was sobering, well that and the fact that I keep forgetting that Philip has a much more… interesting… past than most of us.
I sighed.
"Why do I always seem to attract the deep conspiracies? Why can't I just find a nice group who worships chocolate and likes to spread the word?
"I'm guessing it has something to do with cosmic alignment and cereal box top fortunes. Mostly I think it's bad luck. I'm just glad I was here to keep you out of trouble. And Nathan. I still think he's a little mad, though. Glad he's on our side."
I had to agree with him on that. I really am glad Nathan's on our side, in our family. I had to laugh about the boxtops though-it's Tab's nick name for Nathan.
"Well, Tabs is pretty certain he got his PI license from saving cereal box tops... " I thought about it all for a moment then thumped the table as I made my decision. "That's it, I'm going to start the fluffy bunny cult and we shall worship chocolate by handing it out in an effort to convert people."
Philip chuckled.
"I'll join that cult. It would be a refreshing change. But seriously, Jess. Never doubt for a second that I will be here. Besides, Mom Walker would have my hide if I wasn't. You know, even after all these years, she still scares me a bit? It's refreshing in my line of work to have a little bit of fear."
"I don't doubt... like everyone I consider family... you are dependable to a fault... I'm just...... I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me."
"We all made our choices to stand next to you. You're no different, you know. You put your life at risk on that blasted bike of yours all the time. The difference is that the rest of us are used to this life. That's why it never occurred to me not to be here."
"So... you're saying there's a fundamental flaw in this family."
"There is. I just don't know what it is. But I plan to be around when one of us figures it out."
I had to smile at that. If anyone figures us out, it'll probably be Nathan, provided he doesn't get distracted by some new phenomenon."
Philip's right you know. No matter what we go through I know they'll be there for me. I hope they know the reverse is true too.
Although the Amazonian Ambassador asked us to meet him at the embassy, he did understand our reluctance to meet him there. Instead we will be debriefing at the Marshal's office.
This is going to take a while.
Copyright 2010 M.T. Decker