Who are we?

JP with Omni and Lorem

Gonyaul was full aware that she didn’t acknowledge, or answer, any of his questions or concerns. ‘Why was she suddenly acting this way?’ He wondered, while simultaneously thinking it was his fault. He would have to come back to them.

When she jumped to her question, Gonyaul couldn’t help but feel a warning whispering in his mind. ‘Did she genuinely want to know, or was this something she was going to use for her Pillar’s agenda. Would he become an experiment like the Odsier? Could this cause a ripple effect of negative consequences for his family back home in Helias?’

Gonyaul signed the word Vaux and answered, “Vaux me. My people. Mean children of the void.” He thinks that is the best translation into common tongue.

Did the inquisition not know about them and this is why she was asking? He would have assumed they knew more than anyone else left in the world.

There was so much he could share and so much that he felt inadequate in sharing. How does one even start with such a loaded request.

“What you like know?” Maybe more specific questions would help him get a starting point.

“…so much.” She said with a mirthless laugh.

“But first I will tell you what I know of them…

They were a group of people who had natural ability to nullify magik. For centuries they acted as a balance between the people of faith and the magik weavers to live in harmony. They were eventually persecuted by the maleficium and the Sorcerer King had them hunted and killed.

It launched the inquisition and hundreds stood with the faithful of the Pillars. The first inquisitor was a Vaux.

That is the only official word I have about the Vaux. But I have discovered and deduced more for myself and I know not what is the truth and what has been planted in my head by magik and misunderstanding.”

She swallowed the tears that were forming.

“The Vaux I know come from Kru’ll. They speak a strange language unknown to all and use their hands to speak silently. They dress in loose garments that flow yet allow movement of a dancer. “

The floodgates gates failed.

“They are beautiful… inside and out. Kind, patient, full of childlike wonder and generous to a fault… so forgiving…”

She finally looked in his eyes.

“I love them. Want to be them… but I cannot.”

Of course when she said ‘they’, she meant him, Gonyaul, the only Vaux she knew.

“From other sources… I have come to understand… that the desperate and devoted Inquisition… used them to the last… to fight the maleficium. A mass genocide… A tragedy…”

She unsheathed her sword and laid it down gently between them.

“A sacrifice that was not theirs to give… A friend… a child… that they bled dry for the sake of my people… the faithful… a deep shame… a secret and a regret. Tell me what is the truth.”

Gonyaul was not expecting Voah’s vulnerability; however, he gratefully welcomed it. His own eyes began to water and his heart grew tenfold from her words and openness. Empathy poured down over his entire body from his expression, like a waterfall of healing.

He sat quietly until she was finished. The sword shocked him, the dots finally connecting in his mind; he had not suspected it to be one of the cautionary tale blades. He moved over to it and crouched down to get a better look. His hands hovered over the blade and then came to gently rest on the handle. He said something quietly between himself and the item in Vauxian and then leaned over and kissed the sword.

He then looked up to Voah with matching tears at this point. Yet, the difference was there was a smile on his face. It was an authentic and radiant smile, as if he knew something about the joy behind the blade that she did not know yet.

Gonyaul rose and moved next to her. He invited her into a warm embrace. It was obvious any negative interpretation he could have chosen in the moment was washed away.

They held each other till the sobs began to slow and their breathing moved slowly in time with their heartbeats. He whispered,

“You speak truth. But much I don’t know too. Not know Vaux was inquisitor. Much lost when all killing start. I think elders skewed teachings for survival when relocate to hide in jungle. But am learning better understanding as go. Like uncover truths to mystery.”

He pulled his head back and lifted her chin up gently to make eye contact. “tell you everything I do know. And will share the new things learn. Promise.” He leaned in and kissed her.