Mmm, good Bible.

[birthmural]

Daimon had chosen the location ahead of time. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was sacred, perhaps more so than the Vatican. It was the place where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. It had also not been descrated.

Many months had passed since Daimon spoke before a group of people. His palms sweat and he wiped his brow. Silently, he asked God for the strength to not simply speak but to speak on behalf of the Lord.

When the time came, he walked up before the assembled, Bible in hand. While he was nervous, perhaps on the verge of a panic attack, his words were strong and passionate and grew surer the more he spoke.

“I recognize that the people on board this ship come from various walks of life. Some of you, perhaps, are not familiar with Christianity. If this is the case, you may ask whatever questions you have and offer me any comments or insights after I have spoken.” Daimon then gave what he called a “brief summary” of Christianity. It was, in fact, very lengthy and detailed and contained heavy praise of Jesus and the love of God. He then moved on to give a similarly “brief summary” of the context behind the Old Testament.

“Some of you are perhaps aware of the book of Job. Job was a prosperous man. He had seven sons and three daughters. He had herds of animals and acres of land. He was a devout worshipper of God. In the story, the Adversary speaks with God and tells him that Job only praises God because he has no reason to blame him. He says that if God takes away from Job all of his blessings, his animals, his land, even his children, then Job will curse God’s name. God answers that Job will retain his faith and permits the Adversary to strip away everything from Job save his health.”

“A series of disasters befall Job. He loses everything, his land, his herd, and even his children.” Daimon paused. “Job is distraught. Throwing himself upon the ground, he cries:

“‘Naked I came from the womb,
naked I shall return from whence I came.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.’

“The Adversary spoke with the Lord God again. He tells him that Job continues to praise God only because Job himself has not been afflicted. God allows the Adversary to take from Job his health.

“Robbed of his health, bereft of hope, Job laments. He cries out to God, begging for relief, begging for death, and questioning his justice. Each of Job’s friends berate him and encourage him to have faith but Job refuses. Job’s lament continues until God himself answers him. The Lord says:

“‘Brace yourself and stand up like a man;
I shall put questions to you, and you must answer.
Would you dare deny that I am just,
or put me in the wrong to prove yourself right?
Have you an arm like God’s arm;
can you thunder with a voice like his?
Deck yourself out, if you can, in pride and dignity,
array yourself in pomp and splendour.
Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look on all who are proud, and bring them low,
crush the wicked where they stand;
bury them in the earth together,
and shroud them in an unknown grave.
Then I in turn would acknowledge
that your own right hand could save you.’

“At these words, Job kneels and asks for forgiveness. The Lord grants it and Job prospers greater than ever before. He lives to see his grand children and his great grand children and his great great grandchildren. To the end of his days he sang the Lord’s praise.”

Daimon gazed into the eyes of the people before him. “You may ask, as I have, why the Lord would cause a blameless man such grief. You may, as I once did, come away with the sense that God is not just, that he is fickle and cares not for man but this could not be further from the truth. To ask why God could and does allow such horrible events to transpire to such good people would be folly, for it is as the Lord says: we cannot judge him. We cannot know why the Lord acts as he does, nor can we hope to know. We can only have, nay, we must have faith in his actions. For the Lord is greater than all of us. He sculpted us with his hands and breathed into us our souls. The Lord knows more than we can possibly imagine and has our best intentions in his heart, even if it seems to us that he has caused us nothing but misery.

“Why, you may ask, have I told you this story? ‘What meaning could it have on my life?’ And this, I shall tell you. Every one of us on this ship is lost. We have been stripped of our most precious comforts- our home, our friends, our family. We do not know what lies ahead of us. We may despair, we may weep, we may beg for the mercy and guidance of our Lord. On board this ship, even surrounded as we are by each other, we may still feel, as Job felt, alone and abandoned.

“But I tell you that this is not so. You are not alone. The Lord sees you. In your darkest hour, at the hardest time of your life, you must remember that you are loved. You must remember that there is hope, no matter how dire your future seems. Furthermore, I tell you that though you have listened to every word I said and still do not believe, I tell you this: you are still not alone. For though we come from different worlds, cultures, and beliefs, we stand before each other as equals. We stand here together and so I tell you: we are not alone.”

Comments

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara's face looked grim. "Then we fight, like we always do. Aang will do what he has to do, but I'll be there right alongside him. That doesn't change."

She walked up to the other Katara, her face set. "Now get out of my way."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"And what about the time after that? And that? How do you know the world will ever be any different?" the other-Katara hisses, mask leaning in. "How do you know more people won't die because you didn't do enough in the first place?!"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara closed her eyes, but she didn't waver. "Because there's a difference between what I can do and what will happen. I'm not going to blame myself for what I couldn't control. I have to do my best, and I have make sure I don't lose sight in what's important."

She looked up. "I will never, EVER turn my back on people who need me. So I'll do everything I can. You move out of the way."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

And as she looks up, the Other-Katara is... simply gone.

The stairs wait before her to continue downwards.

With a single step (that seems to span a thousand more, somehow, all at once), Katara steps—

into a city, the entire structure of it upside-down even though every room and surface is facing the right direction, with spires that stretch out from the ground (an endless ceiling overhead) down towards the sea of stars below. She stands in a building-size alcove with further stairs that lead down into the city proper, but from up here the graceful reverse struts and towers and connecting paths can be scene. It's all very disorienting—it's as if she just climbed out of a hole, except here the ground is up and the starry, moonless sky is down.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara was glad that the guardian was gone, but had to wonder what that deal was all about. Why show up looking like her in the first place, and really, why with the fire nation regalia in the first place? It was all so surreal.

In any case, she continued down the stairs, or at least thought she was until the one step she took brought her to the strange upside down city. She is definitely put off, but decided to continue down the stairs to see what that would change.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"You'll have to come to the central square," comes Roxie's voice again from nowhere in particular, whispery and faint.

Fortunately, the city is fairly straightly laid out, spiraling out from the center—the emptiness of the dry stone and metal might be a little disturbing along the way, but the walk brings her down broad avenues and cross-streets that don't take much effort to properly navigate.

One might wonder, though... just who lives in this place? Who could live like this, with an eternity stretched out underneath them?

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara heard the voice and followed the direxctions, not stopping to wonder how Roxie was still able to talk to her. Instead, she concentrated on getting to the central square. She wished could have taken her time, but she really did want to see what Roxie had to how her. The city had a stillness and a sort if absurdity about it, but that didnt prevent her from seeing its beauty.

She could also think about that other Katara encounter later. That had been a little too weird. She wondered if it was possible she would see other people she knew in her life here for some reason.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

As Katara finds the central square, she finds herself crossing a hanging bridge, below which the entire sky hangs like an endless ocean (http://z-e-r-o.up.seesaa.net/image/Hubble_Ultra_Deep_Field_Black_point_edit.jpg). It's simply beautiful, as bizarre as it is, and the starlight casts low shadows upwards.

And waiting for her is Roxie—sort of. Her hewn out of star-stuff, again, with the shining discs of her eyes. But she's taller—taller than Katara, even, and shapely. Adult, definitely. And solid, it seems, with the way she leans against an elegant fountain large enough to swallow up a whole city block.

"How have you liked it so far?" she asks, and there's a warm two-tone echo to her voice, chill and friendly all at once.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara greeted this "other" Roxie as if she were her friend: because really, she was in their world, and what was the point of being afraid about it? The landscape was beautiful but unfamiliar, and she was sure that what had just happened with the guardian was something she might have to think about more.

"I think I'm beginning to understand why Roxie is the way she is," Katara said. "I wondered why she contested what the preacher said before, but I think I know now. The job of a spiritual person isn't to just love their god and say he will solve everything: a god also gives you personal responsibility. The decision to go the path that's familiar, or to try something different, and see where it takes you."

Katara bowed. "I am honored to be here. I want to learn."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Good," the strange womanly version of Roxie says in that double voice. "You're in the middle of a dream right now,

Katara
child

. How about you try to make it yours instead of

mine
hers

?" The way the double-voice desyncs for particular words is strange...

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara blinked. Was this what Aang dealt with when he was in the spirit world? Not that she was surprised, although the double voice was a little off putting. But the words: what did they mean? She could actually make this her dream? Her heart rose a moment, thinking of what she would want to see in a dream.

"How can I do that?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"What would you like to see most?' Roxie asks, and she sits--on a bench that wasn't there before, but now that it is, it's as though it always was. "Focus on that. Try to picture it all in your head. Then you just need to make it happen outside instead of inside."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

That was easy. She closed her eyes and pictured them all: Sokka, Toph, Aang, Zuko, all of them at Fire Island that time they had to hide from her. She could see them all in her mind, and most of them laughing (not Zuko of course), sitting by a fire and coming up with stories of some of the things they'd seen in their perspective nations.

"Well not me, of course," Toph would have said, and Katara giggled aloud.

[cityship]

Except one of them is missing. Aang isn't there, as part of the group.

There is also possibly someone peeking out from the side of the massive house there, watching her.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

The Roxie-figured has changed; the outline is more like herself again, more slender and shorter than how she was before, but still visibly more mature than normal. Late teens, maybe, and it's rather odd to see a figure hewn all out of darkness and glowing pricks of light wearing simple and normal black robes as she sits back from the fire, watching the scene unobtrusively.

"

See?
See?

" she asks, still in the double-voice.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara saw, and was happy to see the others, but with no Aang Katara felt a little sadder than she expected. Was she really so selfish, that she couldn't have everyone even in her dreams? She just really didn't get what was going on with her sometimes. Here she was, being gifted by being in Roxie's temple in the first place, and all she could think about was why wasn't Aang here?

But the back of her mind wouldn't let it go no matter what she thought. And, if only for a minute, Katara's sadness was reflected, and she swore she could feel him somewhere if she just concentrated hard enough. In one instant, it was as if she could tell him everything if she could just see him, just once.

"Aang," she whispered.

And suddenly Roxie appeared and Katara was brought back to reality. Her mind snapped to attention, and she was surprised to see her friend look so different.

"Roxie?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"If you're going to control a dream, you need

drive
passion

," Roxie says, head tilting, the shining discs that substitute for her eyes like this following the movement even though they hang a quarter-inch in front of her face.

The other dream-people haven't noticed her. Even with the vague attempt at blending in, given the robe, she simply doesn't fit the context enough.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Yes, you're right," Katara said, but she realized she couldn't do this anymore. Now, the only thing that was on her mind was seeing Aang again, and the backdrop changed again. Now came a time when Aang had just emerged from his spiritual coma and was just getting back to his feet. She remembered realizing that no matter what happened, Aang was not indestructible. He could be killed, and Katara had to do whatever she could to save him.

And so their dream world was in a strange flux: ember island, their beautiful hideaway, and now the Fire Nation capital, where she came face to face with the person that nearly killed Aang.

And at that point it was the first time anyone could say, on the ship, Katara's eyes were filled with hate.

[cityship]

He's always so light-footed.

But he's there, watching, hiding on the roof of one of the buildings.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie, or whatever the figure that's representing her is, stays silent, even though her seat repeatedly shifts as Katara's control of the dream fluxes. She's like an eye in the storm, perfectly composed in the softly-shifting changes.

But, still, a little influence creeps in: the sky changes, subtly, spidering patterns of brighter-than-life stars spanning from horizon to horizon, and a silver-lit moon hangs bright at the center of it all, beautiful and impossibly huge (http://i38.tinypic.com/bi788z.jpg), taking up what seems like half the sky.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

And somehow, the fight Katara was determined to enact, the attacks she were about to perform suddenly take pause. This moon brought Katara's power to a real advantage, and if this fight enacted was realer than the Sensoriums, she would have crushed Azula easily. No, what was happening now was she felt erself go quiet, for a moment, and it was as if something changed in the dream, something somehow shifted, and she felt a presence so familiar she couldn't move.

And then she turned and created a wave from a nearby Fire nation water fountain leading to the sewers to bring her into the city.

Was it possible?

[cityship]

The breeze had given him away. There's always a breeze.

And she likely sees a shadowy figure, being carried along by the breezes, hopping from building to building away from her, a brief flash of a bald head and an arrow.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie is gone... or is she?

The moon, still, watches silently from overhead.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

And Katara didn't just go after him peacefully: the buildings were literally flooding over now with the amount of power Katara was wielding now, yet the only thing she wanted, the only thing was to get to him. The moment she arrived on this ship she felt like there had been an air of him somehow, but she couldn't place it. Even if it was all in her head, even if it was part of the Roxie dreamscape, she wanted at least a glimpse of him, a reminder.

She needed this.

[jesushasayak.livejournal.com]

He's looking back too often. TRying to catch glimpses of her face, even as he runs away.

This is why he trips on a loose roof shingle, and goes sliding down the roof, staff clattering away, his forward momentum carrying him right off the roof and into freefall, even despite his attempts to backpedal.

He blows a massive gust before his hits the ground, sending him flying into the air again into a flip but ultimately lands unevenly, trips again, and goes flying head first into a fountain.

Smooth Aang. Real smooth.

"Ow."

Better grab him before he runs again, Katara, because he certainly will try. Something about the way he looks is ephemeral, as if he's just an afterimage, barely able to stay in one place more than a second.