Journey to D'zeron Section 9: Salvation

Journey To D'zeron

realy short graphic novel script of this bit

9—In the morning, Harris terrified of everything. 4 panels

10—Jason convinces him to take a both in the lagoon. 4 panels [learns he has fur…since this is kids version they will both swim in shorts, ie underwear]

11—talks him into the water

12- does the baptism thing. 

13 –Lets Harris baptize him. 

14 they play in the water, and then sit on the rocks to dry off. 

15-harris starts freaking out again. sees dragon ferrat about to be killed.

16- Jason saves Marrysil gives her to Harris. 

102 harris arrives to rescue Jason old

              Wet, exhausted and somewhat dazed Harris stumbled across the sand and rocks up the beach.  Seeing a boat by the cliff he ran towards it. Jason lay on the beach asleep, wrapped in a blanket beside the cold remains of his fire. He looks so peaceful. Perhaps it was just a nightmare induced by my fears for him, and my shame for not being here. 

       Harris knelt beside him, shook him gently “Jason? I’m here! I came to help you. Wake up little brother.” Jason went on sleeping. Harris nudged again, noticing then how badly sunburned his arm was, as the blanket slipped down slightly exposing the pale skin beneath. the ine between red and white was distinct, as if Jason had not changed his position at all during the whole day. 

            “Jason, wake up.” No response. He rolled him over to his back, shaking him, poking him, slapping him lightly, screaming in frustration. No reaction, whatsoever. Harris stopped screaming, calmed himself, and lifted Jason, cradling him like a child. Jason lay limp in his arms, his breathing calm and even, his heart rate normal for a sleeping man. He seemed so peaceful. No sign of anything unusual, except that he wouldn’t awaken. Carefully, Harris, shook him harder slapped him harder. “Jason, c’mon, wake up!”  No response. 

          Tears ran down Harris’s face. he  knelt on the sand held Jason tight, shut his eyes and tried to think clearly, but without his implant, he felt like half his mind was gone, “OK Jason” He whispered, speaking outloud, to comfort himself “normally nightmares produce some physical symptoms of distress, disturbed sleep, increased heart rate and respiration. I think your dream-form has separated from your physical body. But your body is still alive, so that’s a good sign. You look so peaceful.” but on the inside Harris knew he wasn’t peaceful. “It’s like that magical sleep, Jason, that fairytale-enchantment sleep, It’ll take something different to wake you, like the handsome prince who has to kiss the princess to wake her with the magic of true love in that fairytale you told me in Jai-Ten.” He smiled down at his friend in bitter irony, remembering that conversation. “I might be prince of Spacers, Jason, and you might be Paragan. I do truly love you, but not in the right way for fairy-tale magic. You know I’d do it if I thought it might help.  

           I would have to believe. 

     Harris tried to believe. He knelt on the sand holding him in his arms, touched his soft childish features and long silky blond hair caressingly, trying to believe. He smiled slightly and hugged him. “I’m sorry little brother. You are beautiful in your own way, but you have too much muscle and beard stubble to be a princess. Kissing you that way seems horrifying, somehow” Maybe horrifying is what we need.

        He turned to the waterfall. Now, that’s horrifying. Carrying Jason into the lagoon at the bottom of the waterfall, Harris threw the small sleeping man into the water. He floated limply, sweet and innocent, pale hair fanning out around his face, the corners of his blanket swirling gracefully in the current. Splashing his face with water also had no effect. Jason slept peacefully.

           Fishing him out of the water, Harris splashed ashore trying to think of something else. Physical pain great enough to over ride the pain of his dreams would injure him too much, and in this place, without Sylvia, Harris had no way to heal him and no way to call for help. “I don’t want to hurt you, not even to save you. What can I do?” 

         He reviewed memories of other conversation with Jason, because those were the only thing he could remember cleary. Dreams are real in this place. “Maybe in D’zeron your butterfly girl could wake you, like a fairytale princess.” He looked up at the waterfall, the sheer stone cliffs surrounding it, 20 feet tall, and the boat at the top of the cliff. Two days journey on the river through the trees.” you might not be able to endure the dream that long, or you could die of thirst before we got to D’zeron, and I’d be alone alone in the forest in with emerging returned-memories as well as the river, daylight, sky, and whatever real nightmare might hide in Zair Thaleil. eeven if I could get up there to the boat, That seems less feasible than fairy tale magic.”

          [memory of Anton and Jason] If only I could dream travel, like Anton. Dreams. When Aissis rose D’neira would be at the portal. She could help. But it was daytime now. No one would be sleeping for several hours[exactly how long]

         “What should I do Jedi Jason? What would Jonathan do?” Jonathan dreamed with him, on earth, without a dream plane. They had to be physically touching, but they could share dreams. We have a dream bond. I can find him, even if he has separated from his physical form, I can fight whatever is holding him. I can bring him back. “D’zeron may not sleep in the daytime, little brother, but Spacers do”

           He carried Jason to the shade of the cliff, lying down on the beach holding him close, and willed himself to be asleep. 

detail this dream scene better

        *describe in more detail his passage and more sensually his search and connection to Jason In lucid dream he joins his dream to Jason’s, following the sound of his screams. Jason struggles hysterically to free himself from flaming vines while dream creatures like flaming serpents circle, taunting. Harris glares at the dream creatures, summoning all his strength “NO!” he yells “This is my brother, you cannot have him!! Leave him NOW!!!” 

           They laugh. A larger one emerges from the crowd, leaving the rest to continue torturing Jason “Oh look!” cries the creature, twisting it’s flame-serpent body around Harris “It’s Harris Jenzar, Has the fairytale-prince of spacers come to rescue our pretty little princess.” The serpent laughed evilly, forming into a human shape mere inches in front of him, “ Still believing in fairytales, son of Sen’tran? Still waiting for your prince, the son of Desmond Harris?” the voice and the face morphed into a strange caricature of Sen’tran “Will you never grow up, Harris? Took you long enough to get here Harris, Afraid of a few little fishes? if you took much longer we might have had to kill him. He gets boring after while[mock him at this point HOW is him boring]. Although, I must admit he is holding up quite well. Maybe we should play with him a bit longer, just for fun. Don’t worry, Harris, we haven’t really harmed him.” 

Notes for longer version of this dream ( it ought to be longer and more dramatic):

Harris treats the dream creatures as equals, with respect and understanding, gains their respect and empathy, They laugh about how, with not too much longer of torture, his mind would have been completely and irrecoverably gone, his body would have stopped functioning, and he would have both physically have dies and have been no longer fun to torture.”took you long enoug to get here, if you took any longer we might not have been able to give him back alive.” 

Quetz’l confesses his friendship with Sen’tan, makes Jokes about Sen’tran the mother of Jonathan, “ [ie they might Joke about Sen’tran being Jason’s grandmother]

they from then on refer to Jason as “son of Harris”, which quickly evolves into  “Harrison’” and treat him with respect, protect him like a child, 

apologies to Harris for their treatment of his “son” 

they faded anti-climactically into the forrest of the dreamplane as if they were never there, leaving Jason bound, still struggling, still hysterical

           Harris tears away the dream vines and Jason collapses into his arms crying hysterically. Harris holds him, kneeling on the ground beside him in the dream, until he’s calm “Time to wake up, Jason.” 

        Awakening, Harris found Jason crying out in his sleep. Harris shook him gently and Jason fell sobbing and screaming into his arms, clinging to him like a little child. ”Harris! you’re here! You came to help me. You’re really here.” 

           Harris held him like a child, comforting him until his sobs subsided into nervous laughter, and apologies. Pushing damp blond hair back from Jason’s face, Harris smiled “Hey little brother, that’s what I’m here for. Don’t worry; you’ll repay me soon enough.” and he handed him the letter from Sen’tran. It was soggy and wrinkled but still legible.

        Harris made Jason drink some water and eat some travel rations knowing Jason has been asleep a whole day, lying in the sun on the beach in summer sun. He’s sunburned, and hasn’t been able to eat or drink anything since the evening before. 

      It’s late afternoon by the time they get Jason awake and …umm….I need to sort out what else would have to be done. They would eat some simple Paragangian food Harris had brought, or that Jason had brought for him. Harris would be very concerned about Jason’s sunburn, so Jason would make some sort of natural remedy to treat it with. 

       They lie down together, clinging to each other like lost children, and sleep through the night, the deep and dreamless sleep of emotional and physical exhaustion.

102 XX from graphic novel script notes

Harris and Jason in the dream world

end scene. scene change picture= Harris watching in dream world Harris and the fire snakes. 

Harris runs forward: Let him go. NOW.

Quetzal says YOu fool, don’t you know we only did this to him so that you would come here?

Harris: No! I didn’t know. but it doesn’t matter. just let him go now. 

Jason: Harris, I’m sorry! I didn’t know. I should not have called you. be careful, he’ll do the same things to you. 

how did you get here?

Harris: sen’tran and ANton and fish and boats. I’ll tell you later, ok? lets jsut get out of here!

Jason. we can’t do that! first things first! 

Quetzal laughs: You silly fools, fools YOu’ll never find the way out of here.

Harris thinks, terrified. He’s right> there’s no way. 

Jason: WHy not? Sen’tran never would have helped harris come  unless he knew Harris would be ok, right Harris? 

Harris: right. He said Desmond told him to help me. Desmond had the curse of Pargan...he could see the future. DOn’t worry Jason. we’ll be fine soon enough.

Quetzal : well, I guess Our work is done guys, lets go, 

Have a nice jouney to D’zeron, boys. say Hello to Sen’tran for me. [all snakes fade into the darkness laughing. 

 

Jason is freed and falls into Harris’s arms sobbing. they awaken on the beach. 

harris: it’s ok. you’re awake now. 

Jason says: Harris. how did you get here? 

Harris pulls out the letter : Sen’tran told me to give you this. 

Harris hands Jason the scroll written by Sen’tran.

harris goes to sleep. 

[Jason. :you must be exhusted. I’ll let you rest. I don’t think I’’m going to want to go to sleep for awhile, however. 

103 Jason and Harris convo before swimming convo

Morning after Harris arrives convo.

I need to write the letter from Sen’tran to Jason. his letter would be reproduced in the book as a short chapter 

Harris would be physically exhausted from his journey. his muscles would be sore, it might be hard for him to move. he has never experienced this so he would not understand it and it would scare him. The tone of this conversation should change accordingly. some parts might need to be moved.

in Jai-ten, taking about Jonathan, Harris told Jason Exiles die young because they can’t live long without Paragangian medical care. Sen’tran won’t have talked about this in the letter, so Jason will be scared that Harris is going to die but afraid to ask, so this will  make Jason.

Jason would wake up for a time during the night while Harris sleeps and read over the letter from Sen’tran and maybe see the kitten and try to sort out what to do and how to feel. 

pov, it is inconsistent.

       They wake in the morning as the sun is rising, clothes and blankets still damp from the night before. [they might have actually gotten cleaned up a bit, since Jason treated his sunburn? Harris would go right to sleep and Jason stay up alone to treat the sunburn?]

      “I thought you weren’t coming, Harris. I would have gone up the river yesterday without you. I shouldn’t have doubted.”

        “No. I told you I wasn’t, and you believed me. I wasn’t coming. Even after Rhonda tried to get me sober and arranged transport. I’m stupid when I’m drunk.” 

       “You are,” Jason agreed, remembering his first breakfast in Jai-ten. “So Why are you here?” 

        “I had a dream. Those creatures, dancing around you, chanting. I smelled the fire and felt your fear. It was horrible, You were screaming. But I wasn’t thinking clearly. I didn’t believe it was real. You know how it is when you’re drunk.”

       “No,” replied Jason pointedly “I’ve never chosen to make myself stupid.”

      “Remind me not to next time, no matter what Sen’tran says, okay?” 

       “I will certainly do that.” 

       “Being drunk wasn’t fun anymore when I thought of you, so I let Sylvia get me sober, and I ate and went back to sleep and you were still there, screaming.”

      “I was. But how could you hear me? You’ve never been here. I couldn’t go back to Jai-ten. I tried. I tried everything but they were controlling my dream. Something about a barrier cast by [what would Quetzal call Allissa? destiny child?] You told me you’ve never walked the wind.”

      “I haven’t. I don’t eve know what wind is. But I heard you. You were calling me, so that might be an invitation to walk the Wind. Maybe that’s why I heard you.” He hesitated, staring at the pale young man, assessing him somehow.  “Jason?”

      “Yeah?”

         “I’m going to tell you a Spacer secret, something we never tell outsiders. I should tell you this. You need to know. You’re not a Spacer, but your father was Paragangian, so in one way you are Paragangian.” Jason frowned thoughtfully.

       “Jonathan isn’t Paragangian. His mother was Mexican.”

      “It takes more than a mother to have a child and more than birth to be Paragangian. When I lived on HomeStation Jonathan was Paragangian. He had an implant. Hey Jason, you want to know why I first watched StarWars?”

       He had wondered this.    

       Harris grinned. “Jonathan thought I would like it because I wanted to become a navigator and it reminded him of how we navigate. Anyhow, as I was saying, Spacers have a dream world too. Different than the Dream Plane of D’zeron and different than your Wind and different than on Earth.”

      “That’s not possible. There’s no dream field in space.” 

      “Right. That’s how it’s different. It’s not connected to a planetary field, like the dream field of Terran 8, or earth. It’s connected to people, to families mostly. We share dreams, like you and Jonathan. It’s a Paragangian genetic trait. That’s probably why you can dream.” 

         “Because Jonathan’s father was Paragangian?”[whose pov] that can’t be right.

         “The Planet Paragangia had a dream field and a dream plane like Terran 8. Maybe better. Dreaming was an intrinsic part of our culture. That’s why we don’t use written language. Before the Community Mind we used the dream plane for many things Terrans use writing for. Record keeping, education, religion, entertainment.”

           “So the Community Mind gradually replaced the dream plane?”

          “For most things. But just like you read books even though computers are better, some of us still dream.”

        Jason laughed. “Dreaming, the Retrotechnology of Spacers. You play with dreams. You said that once.”

        “Spacers families dream together.”  ***Harris should  clearify the distinction between Spacers and Paragangians. ] Like you do with Jonathan, except we don’t have to be sleeping in the same place. On the same ship or planet, we can dream together. Not as solid as normal dream; Just ghostly images, like a pre-alliance Earth movie. We aren’t really together, we can’t touch eachother, but we can see each other, and hear each other. That’s how I could hear you.”

       Harris paused. Jason was listening quietly without expression. “Jason, we have a dream-bond. Like brothers. I don’t know how, or why. But I heard you screaming. You called me and I heard you.”

        “You lied to me.” Jason replied slowly. “you said you didn’t know anything about dreaming.”

        “I didn’t lie, I just felt I couldn’t tell you. We don’t share this with outsiders. Jonathan is an exiled traitor, and you ally yourself with him. I wasn’t sure you were one of us. But you are now. You have to be. We have a dream bond. You’re my brother. Surely you understand?’

     “I don’t have secrets.” 

     “I’m sorry” Harris felt chastened. “I’m telling you everything now because you’re my brother. If we have a dream bond, it’s okay to speak to you of dream bonds, right?” 

      Jason nodded “Many cultures have secrets. HomeWorld LDS colony couldn’t tell me about sacred temple ceremonies which seal them together into eternal families. ***give example from Mexican Planet culture.  ** **** It’s ok. I don’t like secrets, but I can hold this secret for you. Teach me how Spacers learn to dream.”

      “We don’t learn it, we’re born with it. There’s a lot you don’t know about Spacers and Paragangia, Jason, and about why we’re here. There’s more at stake than you know. Alexandreil doesn’t know who you are. I’ll tell you later when I’m feeling better, okay little brother?” 

        Jason looked up expectant and childlike at the large, dark man sitting beside him on the beach of Kaar-Taal. “I guess so, Harris?” 

        Harris laughed and tousled his still-damp hair. The gesture seemed brotherly and loving, so Jason felt no offense this time. 

       Jason clambered to his feet. “Let’s go make breakfast and figure out where to go from here.” He wrapped the damp blanket like a toga, throwing one end over his shoulder, then reached down with both hands to help Harris to his feet. Harris rose stiffly, obviously in pain. “Poor Harris, your clothes are soaked, and you hate water. Come on, I’ll get some food ready while you change.”

        

XX from graphic novel 2013 script notes

     

chapter 3

opening picture =jason’s hands holding the letter from sentr’an which says. be advised that Harris control implant has been fully removed. when it was implanted ar age 4 3 days of memories were hidden. for the next three days those memories will vividly reemerge, durring which time Harris will periodically revert to the mentality of his 4 yr old self.

Harris asleep on the beach. pictures showing Jason doing camp tasks--gathering wood and food, etc.

returns to find Harris awake, hiding from the sun, under the cliff

Harris you’re awake. What are you doing? 

HIding from the sun. it scares me. It’s too close. 

no it’s not. it’s far away. 

come sit down by this tree. 

no, I don’t like the tree. there’s animals in them.

why are you afraid of animals? 

there are no animals in Paragangia. and because they are alive? 

Jason? alive? life scares you? 

no death scares me. there are too many things which are going to die. 

Just because it’s alive doesn’t mean it’s going to die, does it? 

It is Jason, look... that creature on your tree...it’s lilke sylvia only it’s an animal, and it’s going to die.

it’s not going to die . it is! see that larger animal, it’s going to eat the one with wings, isn’t it? 

NO!, it’s not, I won’t let that happen, Harris. Jason runs to the tree, 

grabbs the Rat pidion just as the cat punces,

cat scratches his chest and arm, and creature’s wing.  Jason takes creature to Harris. 

Here, she’s hurt, you can take care of her until her wing heals. 

Harris takes here. Wow, she’s soft, I’ve never held an animal before. e

Jason says. we’ll call her Marrisyl, for the Marrion jay, and for SYlvia, then when you miss them, you can think of her and not be lonely.

ENd of chapter.    

104 harris's memories returning

       Harris put on dry clothes ****[explain how Harris has dry clothes…he might be really insistant about privacy while he changes?] and sat down on the trunk of an old fallen tree near Jason’s campsite. He looked arround himself for the first time, taking in the sandy beach, littered near the shore with stranded crabs and seaweed, the ocean and the seabirds which skimmed it’s surface looking for a meal, calling to each other, squabbling over what they found along the beach. The cliff rose steeply into the forrest behind the beach, to the forest full of plants and creatures, terrifyingly unimaginable, their alien cries and whistles echoing down from the clear, bright orangish sky above. 

       Alien sounds and alien life asssailed him from every direction. He reached dizzily for a branch to steady himself. His vision blurred and darkened. He watched his body falling to the sand as if he were outside himself. Instinctively, he tried to call for help, but the place in his brain where help came from was gone. No implant connected him to ship, community and family; no Sen’tran, Sylvia, Marrion Jay; only a flood of strangely vivid memories. 

          “Harris? Harris! Are you okay?”

            His vision cleared. Jason was crouching over him in the sand, full of concern. 

           “Son of Paragan,” Harris mumbled, “I need to tell you something.” Struggling to sit up with Jason’s help, He leaned his back against the log. He tried to speak, couldn’t form words for a moment. His mind reached for help again and reeled under the flood of memories. He focused his full attention on Jason’s pale blue eyes. Such a strange color. So full of love and concern. Desmond’s eyes were darker.

         He remembered Jason when he first came to the Marrion Jay, a pale young man climbing walls nearly-naked, hanging upside down. Jason will help me. Jason can do things no Paragangian would ever dream of. Harris knew that reaching for help through his now-removed memory implant would always bring memories he wasn’t ready to face. He needed not to go there now.

        “Jason,” he whispered, finally managing to push away the memories and focus all his attention on the pale young man, nearly naked, slightly sunburned, crouched beside him. “You will help me now. YOU will help me now. When I need help you will help me. Jason. I have no ship I have no community. No Sen’tran to give me a lecture I don’t want to hear. No Sylvia. I have only you. Jedi Jason.” 

       Kneeling beside him, Jason stared back silently. Harris was trying to sort out his own thoughts, not really addressing him; trying to convince himself of his current situation. “I will, Harris” he replied finally with a tone of practiced confidence he didn’t feel. “I’ll help you, like you helped me”  How can I help? With effort, he held back his tears.

         Harris looked up at him with eyes veined in grey like Jonathan’s eyes when Jonathan was in terrible pain. 

         “Harris your eyes are like Jonathan’s. Maybe you’re really Jonathan’s son.”

         The Paragangian laughed and his eyes cleared to their usual dark brown. “See? I told you Jonathan is Paragangian. It’s Paragangian genetic trait. We call it shattering, like the destruction of our planet. Paragangian mothers say our eyes shatter in pain or sadness because we remember the shattering of our world. It’s not true of course; our eyes did the same thing before the implosion, but it’s a nice myth to tell children.” 

        Harris sat up painfully. His space-black hand pushed pale blond hair away from Jason’s eyes. ***[Harris plays with Jason’s hair way too often in this section]He examined them thoughtfully. “Your eyes are the color of shattering. I’d never know if they shattered. It’s like you’re perminantly shattered.” Jason smiled. That fit how he was feeling. [***pov shift to Jason, fix that]

       Harris held out his hand. “Only a pure Paragangian has black skin, but the shattering passes to almost everyone with any Paragangian ancestry. the shattering and the dreaming ability.”

        “So Jonathan really was my father?”

        “What do you mean?”

        “His name is on my birth certificate, but my mother always told me my biological father died before I was born.” He paused, grinning hopefully. “I never entirely believed it. Maybe she declared him dead while they were separated, and didn’t want to change her story. I always thought Jonathan was really my father. So maybe he really was. Maybe that’s why I can dream. Maybe he came back for me when he realized nobody else could ever take his place.”

       “I have a different explanation for your dreaming.” Memories poured out into his mind again. “I used to hang out with Jonathan and your mom when she was painting the history on the station. They were inseperable. Everyone knew they were lovers. You could have been his son. Even Sen’tran thinks you are.” 

        Harris stopped, noticing Jason’s smile. I shouldn’t build his hopes, only to crush them later.

 

105 baptism old file

I think there is a more recent much more recent edit of this file but I cannot find it right now. I'l update when I find it. editing for baptism chapter.

pg 8 make Harris more modest about his fur, more reluctant to undress.

pg 10   improve Jason’s explanation of baptism and how he connects it to Harris.

pg 11     how/what does Jason know about Paragangian ceremonies ?

Introduction to swimming in the waterfall, which happens right before they get Marisyl

          Jason and Harris on the beach in the morning after Harris arrives in Kaar-taal. The forest rises thick and lush above the steep rocky cliff behind them. Harris sits in the middle of the beach as far away from the water as he can get without being any closer to the forest. He sets his Kayak on its edge, trying to make shade for himself. ****perhaps also tries other methods to build shelter, Jason would surely help him with this, it would give them a chance to work together on something.  He wraps his arms arround his head, trying to block out the sounds of the forrest and the sounds of the water, but the terror is rising within him and the memories returning was no less terrifying. Everytime he felt afraid his brain automatically reached to his commuity for help, and only found more memories. He tried to focus outside himself, as Sen’tran had instructed him, but the forest and the water terrified him, sent him back to seeking comfort, and finding ony memories.

           Jason knelt beside him, worried, put his arms arround him, tried to get him to look up “Harris, talk to me. What’s wrong? Sen’tran you have to focus on new things and things outside yourself, but if you wrap yourself up inside yourself, how can I help you? Listen, you have to talk to me Harris. I can’t read your mind, I don’t have a link or anything. Talk to me.”

        “There’s too much life here Jason. I can feel the patterns of it all. All the infinite options of all this life, and all of it is dying. every path of every living thing leads to only dying.”

       “Of course it does. That’s true everywhere. People die in Paragangia too, don’t they?”

       “I can’t go in there. I can’t walk though all that fighting for life and dying. I can’t listen to them screaming all the time, and I don’t want to hear the water any more. This place is horrible. I want to go home.” He cried like a little kid and pulled away, screaming “Leave me alone!”

         Jason held on. “Are you truly afraid of the forest?” ***he would know something more of Harris’s fears, from what he learned in the forest of jai ten]

         “We could die here Jason, we could really die. I can see it. The patterns lead more to death than life. Of course I’m scared. I don’t want to die. I don’t want you to die and leave me alone in this terrible place of death with no technology, completely cut off from my people and my ship.”  Then he became a four year old again, wailing, panicked, mindless.

        Jason judged the present and real fears to be less stressful than the reversions to childhood. They would have to be faced eventually anyhow. The water and the forest were not going to go away. The returned memories would fade in a few days. “Why do you fear death, Harris? Death is part of living. 

• • • • get Harris ok and talking about the forest for a minute befor Jason accidentally takes him back to the ship thoughts]

“…Of course there are paterns that lead to death, but you won’t choose that path. You’re a navagator. If you navigate a Ship Community into a star it would lead to death, but you would never choose that path.” oops. Too close to home, The panicked child showed in his eyes again. 

        Jason went on quickly, insistently “Listen to me now Harris. You’ve faced your fears with me before remember? We can do this.”

       “ Death itself I do not fear; death before my time is what I fear, Jason. And being here without you if you die. And if you die…”

         Jason could see the memories carrying him away again. “Harris! I won’t die. I’ll help you. We’re going to D’zeron. There’s really nothing to fear, and many wonders to learn about. I’ll help you find a way through this. Stay with me.”

        “When I try to navigate all I get is memories. When I think of home or family or anything I care about, anything but you, all I get is memories.”

         “talk to me”

         “People don’t die young in Paragangia, Jason. Almost never. That’s why the death of Desmond Harris was tragic. It wasn’t time for him to die.”

         He was calmer now. Good topic. Something theoretical, rational. He could talk rationally about the memories, and the dying, about his culture, without feeling it. “What do you mean ‘time’? If you die, doesn’t that mean it was your time? Do we have a pre-appointed time to die, but something goes wrong and we fail to live so long? Who apoints our time to die?

        “It is like that in Paragangia. Nobody appoints it. Our bodies don’t fail with age like yours.”

       “I know. That makes it impossible to know how old you are.” 

        “Twenty-five earth years. Paragangians don’t live forever. We die when our time comes. The time comes, and we know. We aren’t afraid. We just let go of life and choose to die. But I’m afraid. It’s not my time. I don’t want to die here.”

         “Twenty five? You’re only twenty five?” Jason stared at him incredulous. 

         Harris laughed “How old did you think I was?”

         Good distraction, thought Jason. He’s not thinking of the forest or the water, and he’s also not thinking of the Marrion Jay or Sylvia. 

       “I don’t know, Harris. I could never tell. I thought you were much older than me. You’ve been a navagator for a long time. DaraJeen seems about as old as my mom. You talk about being on the station with Mom and Jonathan. I thought you were around their age.” 

        “I was four when you were born, 10 when I became navigator of the Marrion Jay and 15 when I fell in love with DaraJeen.” 

       “So she’s almost old enough to be your mother.”

       “Paragangians don’t consider age when choosing a mate. Our bodies don’t age. She’s older than my mother. My mother was 16 when I was born. 

      “In many cultures age was not a consideration in choosing a mate. Jonathan was in his early 20’s and Sharra was, what, maybe 50?”  Harris was calmer now, and Jason still needed to understand so he could help. “So --you see patterns of life and death in the forrest.?

      “In StarWars, the Force the Jedi use to navigate, and to fight, is the combined life force of all the creatures, plants and everything that lives. That’s what I feel here.

       “You feel the life Force like a Jedi. Jedi Harris.”  

      Harris Grinned “Yeah, that’s what I do. I’m a Navagator. I find patterns, and choose the best path through them. I didn’t stop being a Navigator when I was seperated from the Marrion Jay. I didn’t start being a navigator when I got my implant. Navigation was part of my body and my soul from the moment I was conceived. It is what I am. I am the greatest navigator ever bred in the history of Paragangia; the last genetic child born before Vendantailian Paragan (###) decided we should have life-long family relationships for love, not just genetics. I’m a Jedi.”

         Jason smiled talking about Jedis doesn’t trigger memories. He watched that movie with Jonathan when he was less than 4. 

         “Jedi Harris, --twenty five year old Jedi Harris-- I still haven’t seen your movie. I’m sorry. We never had the time to watch it before we left, did we? This all happened rather suddenly.”

          Harris laughed. “Things happen in their own time”

          Jason “Like death?”

         “Like death, I suppose.” the young Paragangian exile agreed

          Jason “Then live, Harris. Maybe you will still live 425 years like Sen’tran Jenzar.”

         “426”

         “Whatever. Traveling to D’zeron isn’t as dangerous as you imagine but fear can make it Dangerous. When we fear we don’t choose the best path. Let go of your fear and feel the Force. Let the force guide you. Jedi-navigate your way through this forest, with all it’s life and death”

        Harris laughed “Well said, Jedi Master Jason. That’s not how I navigate the Marrion Jay.”

        “Perfect. So you can Jedi-navigate our path through the forest without triggering memories.”

        “I navigate by the pattern of all the masses and energy fields in space, and the patterns of the relationships between those patterns. But there’s something else, Jason. something not physical, greater than mass or energy or even life. It’s like a spirit-pattern above all the physical patterns. When I’m scared I can’t see it. It’s like you said; fear blinds me. But I still feel the life Force. Community leaders use the life Force to lead the community. That’s what Sen’tran does. I do it too, but only with passangers, not the whole Ship Community. The Center of Paragangia can feel the life Force of all of Paragangia. His implant links him to the Community Mind which is linked to every Community Mind and thus to the mind of every individual person. We rule by the Force, like Star Wars.” 

         “Is that why the water scares you? The life in the water?”

          “Water is full of life. So many Animals and plants live and die in the water; overwhelming life--little fish and huge screaming things bigger than a boat that jump and splash, and crabs and plants that wash up on the shore. But no. that’s not mostly what scares me. And ocean water has its own patterns. Currents and pressure and tides and all. and There’s just so much of it, and it’s always moving; acting and being acted upon as if it’s alive. But it’s not alive, Jason. It’s soulless and impersonal. But that isn’t what scares me either. The water itself scares me, I don’t know why. It just does. The look of it; the feel if it, the sound of it, the smell of it in the air. It’s so all-encompassing and unfamiliar. It makes me scared. Then I can’t see the spirit pattern and that scares me more. I feel blind and alone. Drowning in the water.” [the hydroponic garden?”]

         “You should be a Mormon Harris, since you feel the spirit.

         “Tell me about Mormons.” asked Harris with sincire curiosity

          Another good distraction. I know enough to keep him focused on this for a long time. Plus Mormon concepts will be quite useful in overcoming this fear.

       “Desmond Harris was a Mormon” added Harris.

       “Yeah, he was.” Even better. Harris is already obsessed with him.  “That’s why they gave me permission to do my field study there.” 

      “Your biological father.”

      “Just like you said, Momons say it’s hard to feel the Spirit when you feel afraid. Maybe it’s not exactly the same spirit, but similar.”

      “How would they heal the fear?” 

       Normally Jason made a point not to think too deeply about LDS beliefs, but anything that might help Harris was worth considering: What would they say?

       A children’s song came to mind. Jason frowned “I am a child of God.”  Why that one? And then he remembered sitting alone in a park with his guitar on Blue destiny, the Mexican planet, when even speaking English, even singing in English was not allowed, the song had helped him overcome his culture shock on Blue Destiny. he had sat there and played the song on his guitar and a little boy heard him, and sang along in Spanish.  It rings true; that’s exactly what they would say. They’d sing “I am a child of  God” and it would calm their fears. 

          But that wouldn’t work for Harris. Harris wouldn’t understand the doctrines that made this song so comforting and Jason couldn’t explain them. He was about to give up on the Mormon solution when remembered a scripture verse. [this might come with a memory about Rae when he first arrives on HomeWorld]

          “Harris. In the Bible, one of the books they study, it says “Perfect love casteth out fear.” Harris, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had, my brother, the only brother I’ve ever known, other than in dreams, and I love you. Please let me help you.” 

           Harris grinned “I love you too, little brother. Thanks for helping.” 

          “We can’t get you back to Paragangia until we get to D’zeron and We’re going to have to spend two days on the river before we reach D’zeron.  You’re going to have to make peace with the water. Water is our ally, not your enemy. The River Sh’harn will take us to D’zeron where you can call Sen’tran and go home. I’ll help you make peace with the water, Harris. I need you to do this now, for me, so I can help you.”

        Harris met his eyes very sincirely “I do not want peace with the water. I want to be safe, and dry. I want to go home.” his eyes shattered, and he began crying like a child.

        Jason stood, and began undressing. “That’s okay Harris. You don’t have to want it, but you are going to do this, brother, because I want you to live, so you can go home, just like you want to. The only way to contact the Marrion Jay is in D’zeron. Two days in a boat and I don’t want you to be afraid all that time. I don’t want you to feel blind and spiritless. It isn’t safe to travel through this forest blind and spiritless and doing so would put us both in danger. It’s bad enough your brain is scrambled I don’t want you spirit-scrambled too.  Let’s go swimming in the lagoon, so you can get used to feeling the water in a safe situation. Then it won’t be unfamiliar. I want you to enjoy the journey.”

         Harris stared at him resolutely “I felt the water yesterday. It was horrible. I paddled that Kayak in the daylight almost from the Island, I fought off sea monsters, and the water splashed and rolled, and then I had to step right down into that water and walk through waves to get to shore to wake you. I felt the water. It was horrible. I don’t want to feel any more water.”

          Jason stood before him, naked and unafraid. “Would you choose to spend two days on the water in terror, without your spirit pattern? You do want peace with the water, Harris. You just can’t see it now because you’re scared and blinded. Jedi-navigate your way past that fear, Harris. See the pattern of it. Fear makes you blind to the spirit, but you can still find the pattern if you look for it. ‘Perfect love casts out the fear’, remember? Maybe you can’t do it for yourself. Do it for me because I love you and I don’t want you to spend two days in terror.” Harris stared blankly at him. Jason shook his head, disbelieving. “Sen’tran said focusing on something new holds back the memories. This is something new. It will help. [talk about when Harris flew through trees with him and walked on the beach at Jai-Ten]…C’mon Harris. Undress, we’re going swimming.” 

Harris would argue a bit more. Jason would point out Harris needs to wash off the salt from the ocein water anyhow because it’s bad for his skin. 

• • • • • Harris should argue for his modesty a bit more than he does here , and there needs to be description of Paragangian clothing closures ####

He helped Harris pull his shirt off. Harris cooperated passively like a sleepy child.

 

         Jason stared in surprise for a moment, softly touching the Paragangian’s black chest with his fingertips “You have ….um…body hair?” 

       “No, Jedi Jason” Harris laughed loudly, and touched Jason’s chest, In imitation.  “Pale Alien bastards like you have body hair. Pure Paragangians like me have fur. Another secret Paragangian genetic trait, little brother. and I didn’t lie to you. you’ve never asked me if I had fur.”

          “Fur” Jason grinned, petting the thick soft fur on his friend’s arm with a sort of childlike wonder. “Your clothes cover all the fur. I had no idea. that’s why you wanted to be sure I didn’t watch you change earlier.”

          “We don’t show it. It is a private reminder of where we came from.”

           “I’m surprised you allow the fur to grow. Most Paragangians don’t even grow hair.” 

         “Life in Paragangia is much different than you imagine Jason. You would like us better if you had ever given us a chance.” 

         “I do like you, Harris.” He took Harris’s hands, helping him to his feet “and I like your fur, it’s very soft. It makes you seem more like a natural creature, less like advanced technology pretending to be human.” 

          Harris gave him an exaggerated grin “I thought my wildcat teeth did that.” ***they need to have talked about this before, so harris would Know Jason thought his teeth made him look like a wildcat.”

          “Those just make you look like a monster.  C’mon, undress so we can go swimming” Harris obeyed almost robotically, as if in a trance. 

        “Are all Paragangians afraid of water? Maybe it’s a natural aversion because of your fur. Cats don’t like water.”

       “I’m not a cat.”

       “If you evolved on a cold planet, wet fur could be instinctively perceived as a health risk, if you don’t have the right sort of fur for water. But you’ll be very safe here, Harris. Think about it. It’s very warm. You’ll dry quickly, even with fur, and the fresh clean water will wash away the salt from the ocean, so you’ll feel much better.” 

         With Jason’s arm arround his furry back, Harris allowed himself to be lead to the water’s edge. There he stopped, starring silently at the water, stood solidly unmoving and would not go forward.

         Jason left him there and waded into the water up to his waist. Kneeling down on the sand with clear fresh water up to his shoulders, he looked back at Harris, standing nervously at the water’s edge. [standing tall, dark and naked just short of the water’s edge,]

       “How old were you when you got your memory implant, Harris?” Jason could see the memories emerging behind Harris’s dark eyes even as he asked the question.

      “Four” Harris whispered, holding up four fingers.

       He sounds like a four year old when the lost memories return. 

      “Part of your brain is four again, right? You’re starting over, going back 21 years. You have to grow up all over again. I bet you were a really brave four-year-old, huh, Harris? Like Anton.” 

       Harris stared, down at the water a few inches in front of his toes In childlike horror. Harris had often seemed like a child, even when Jason believed him to be much older. The song echoed in his mind again, “I am a child of God/ and he has sent me here” He shook it away but it left in it’s wake something that might help; something that might appeal to the child-mind of Harris Jenzer.

        “Hey Harris, want me to tell you about something else Mormons do?” 

        “Sure” Harris grinned, arms wrapped around his furry chest in a gesture that reminded Jason of Mormon children praying. 

        “I’ll tell you about a ritual; a rite of passage for Mormon children.”

        “Okay” Harris listened with childlike enthusiasm.

        “Mormon’s believe that people make choices in life the way you choose a path to for your ship-community.****what was I going for there ?????   They call it free agency. When Mormon children are eight years old, they are old enough to be accountable for their choices. Are you old enough to be accountable for you choices, Harris Jenzar? 

         Harris pondered the question very seriously. “Yes,” he replied with solomn childlike reverance. Jason remembered Paragangians had community rituals which involved ritual questions and answers. *****how does Jason know that?? Harris was entering into a ritual, almost trancelike state. Jason could use this to get Harris into the water if he could ask the right questions.

       “Do you know what baptism is, Harris?”

         “No”

         “Mormon kids are baptized when they become accountable.” He hoped Harris didn’t know baptism meant being put under water. Judging his reaction, he didn’t. “it’s a rite of passage, which makes them become a member of them community, and also helps them be forgiven and healed from their wrong choices. and then they can receive the gift of the holy spirit, which is like your Spirit pattern. It talks to them and shows the right way. It heals them.”

        “Will it take away my fear?”

       “Baptism takes away all the bad choices they made and they are born again. They start a new life, just like you are starting a new life now, Harris. Would you like to be born again, receive the Holy Spirit, and be healed? 

       “Yes, I want the Holy Spirit”

       “Do you want to be baptized, Harris?”  

       “I want to be baptized, to receive the Holy Spirit and be born again born of the Spirit, not the body, because I am accountable for my actions, and In my bod I have made mistakes. I need healing. I need to feel the Spirit and be whole again. I can’t so this alone.” Harris replied, all child-like innocence and sincerity.

         He expressed the pattern more clearly than I did. Maybe he understands it better than I do. Harris is taking this far too seriously. I don’t have the authority to really do this. I don’t have the power to heal him. Jason decided not to continue.

      “Harris” he said seriously “I know you want to be baptized but I’m not a Mormon. I don’t have the Authority. I haven’t been baptized myself, so I can’t baptize you.” 

       “Why not? I will baptize you first. Then you can be healed. Perfect love casts out fear.” said Harris enthusiastically. 

          The Prophet Joseph Smith and his friend Oliver had done exactly as Harris suggested. Jason bit his lip, starring down into the water, trying to quickly think of a way to stop what he had set in motion. They had permission from angels. I don’t believe in Angels and I need him to overcome his fear of water. This is working; is there any harm?

        He shook his head to clear his thoughts. I’m not a Mormon. I don’t believe in Mormon mythology. There are no gods or angels to give or with hold authority. I’m helping Harris, not disrespecting Mormons. They’ll never know. Is there any harm if it helps?Other churches baptize. Mormon’s aren’t offended. I’ll create a new kind of baptism just for Harris. 

       Careful not to use the words of the real ritual, he continued. “Ok Harris, I’ll baptize you, but not as a Mormon, because I’m not a Mormon. When Mormon kids are baptized they become members of the Mormon church. But we can’t make each other members of the Mormon church, so what will we become?” 

       “Brothers” said Harris.

       “Perfect” He’s following his spirit pattern and he’s not afraid. He’ll navigate his way through. Harris will create the ritual he needs if I just keep asking the right questions.

       “They are baptized in the name of their God. In what name will you be baptized, Harris? 

      “Perfect Love” said Harris “that casts out fear.” 

      Jason grinned. That would be…well…perfect. “Are you sure you want to do this, Harris? It isn’t going to be easy.” 

      “I’m sure.”

      Jason grinned, shaking his head, and stood up

      Looking Harris straight in the eyes, he said very solomnly “Those who participate in the ritual of baptism must wear the color of purity. For Mormons, that color is white. For retrotechnologists like me, the least possible technology is the most pure. He theatrically examined himself, then looked at Harris. “For Paragangians, black is the color of purity. Are we well dressed for this ritual?”

      Harris grinned and nodded, childlike “We are, Jason.” 

      “Ok then.” Jason took a deep breath and unconsciously offered a silent prayer to no one in particular, losing his eyes, an bowing his head. “Before new life can have birth we must give death to the old life.” He intoned ceriminiously. 

        “True” Harris agreed “Life and death walk hand in hand” 

        Jason’s eyes sprung open and he stared at Harris waiting for the chills to pass. That wasn’t Mormon Doctrine, but it was something the people of HomeWorld colony often said. He wondered how Harris knew. He had known Desmond. Maybe Desmond said it.

      “You understand how Humans bury their dead, right Harris?

      “I understand.”

      “To baptize me, so I can baptize you, you will bury me beneath the surface of this water, that I may die from my old life, and I will rise from the water born again. Stand beside me. I will hold your hand with both of mine and you hold your other hand over my head...”  Why did they do that? Jason didn’t know, so he made something up “…as if you are holding hands with the creater of the whole universe, taking power from Him and giving it to me” Jason added. “Or taking my troubles and giving them to him to fix.”

       Harris nodded, smiling. “I connect you to his perfect love.” 

       “Right” Jason shook off the chills again and continued “Say my whole name and tell me that you baptize me to become your brother in the name of perfect love. Then lay me down entirely under the water, so my old self is dead and buried. My new self unborn and this water is the womb of perfect love. Bring me up out of the water, and I am born again, as your brother, in the name of perfect love.” He gestured for Harris to come forward

       Still mesmerized, Harris took one step forward into the water. the trance broke. “You tricked me!” Harris jumped back to the shore and sulked like a petulant four year old. It took all Jason’s strength to keep from laughing, but with effort he maintained his tone of ritual authority. “You have free agency, Harris Jenzar. You are accountable for the path you choose. This is the path you have chosen. You declared it to be your path. I witnessed the choice. TO this I testify. You have seen the pattern. Walk the path you chose. Baptize me, brother.”

        Harris grinned brilliantly and strode fearlessly into the water to where Jason stood solomly waiting. He held out one large, black hand and Jason grasp it between his. Harris  raised his other hand toward the sky and said. “Dr Jason Scott-Harris, son of Desmond Harris...” He paused “…and Jonathan Landon,” he added,  “I baptize you, my brother, in the name of Perfect Love which casts out fear.” He shoved Jason down under the water and brought him up again.

        Jason grinned so much his face hurt, and tears of joy streamed down his already wet face. “You did it Harris! Perfect love casteth out fear” and hugged him, so overwhelmed with joy and love that his vision blacked out and for a moment he and thought he might faint. 

       I’ve been baptized! The thought overwhelmed him. He didn’t understand why he felt so elated. There was more to his joy than just Harris overcoming fear, or declaring him a brother. He had witnesses several baptisms of children on Homeworld, and was never able to comprehended why the Mormons revered this simple cerimony so highly. Now he knew. He didn’t understand, but he knew. It left him wanting to really be baptized. Shaking his head, he banished that thought as quickly and completely as he could, regained his balance, and stood straight.

        “Your turn Harris” he said, regaining his ritual stance.

         He looked up at Harris standing close beside him, towering above him, seven feet tall. “Harris, you’re too much taller.  You should Kneel”

        Harris grinned and knelt before him in the water I kneel before you now, he thought silently grasping the hand of the son of Desmond Harris. Vendentailian Paragan the 199^th, true king of Paragangia. Jason raised his other hand above Harris’s head, and said ‘Jedi Harris Jenzar of the Marrion Jay, son of Sen’tran, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of Perfect Love which casts out fear.” He lowered him gently below the surface of the water, and brought him quickly out again reborn.  

       Harris grinned and hugged him. Jason wondered if Harris thought this was part of the ritual, because Jason had done it. I guess it is part of our ritual. 

      But it didn’t matter what anyone might think… Harris was in the water unafraid.

       I healed him. Through his faith in me, and in this improvised ritual; through perfect love which casteth out fear, I really did have the power to heal him.

       Jason felt a power beyond himself, guiding him, and was terrified. He shook his head to drive it away, it doesn’t matter how much this scares me, I will do what I have to do for Harris.  “Okay Harris. Now the water is life, not death. Joy not fear. Look!” He dove into the warm clear water and swam away, then swam back. “I’ll teach you to swim. You’ll be safe in the water if you know how to swim and there’ll be no reason to fear it.”  Harris agreed enthusiastically. Harris learned quickly and they spent several hours joyfully floating, swimming, splashing and playing water games. 

When they are done playing in the water, they get out and sit on some rocks by the water for awhile to dry. in the sun

106 marrisyl

         Tired and relaxed from playing in the water, they sat together on a small rock ledge near the water, drying in the summer sun. Almost midday thought Jason. We need to get moving  if we are going to begin our journey today. He looked at Harris, who sat looking down at the ground with his head on his hands. Sen’tran said the memories would continue returning for several days. Perhaps it would be better to wait till morning to go to D’zeron. Maybe it would be better to get Harris back to normal before introducing him to a new culture. Either way, He’d have to face the woods with all its life and death. Either way, he would have to face these memories. Maybe it would be better to get it over with quickly. Maybe he should ask Harris to tell him about the memories, although Sen’tran hadn’t suggested that.

      “I am all he has now” Jason thought . “He saved my life and I am bound to him like a dragon until the debt is paid.” The responsibility was overwhelming and Sen’tran’s advice had been minimal: “Keep him busy with new things. Let him face the memories as he must. Keep him going forward.”

       Maybe we can talk about it. Maybe Harris will know what will help. Maybe he sees his own patern, his own path through this, which I can help him walk.

       “Harris” he began, looking over at the tall black-furred man who sat uncharacteristically quiet, head in hands. “Harris, I’ve been thinking about what Sent’ran said in the letter about how you will recover your memories, and learn to live without your community”

        At the mention of his community Harris wrapped his arms arround his head and began crying, trembing as if in terrible pain. More strange memories filled his mind as he instinctively reached out for the community of the Marrion Jay, his community, his home, his family. Harris sunk to the ground crying:  “I want to go home. I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to go home.” He sat on the ground beneath the ledge, curled up in a ball wrapping his arms arround himself and started crying desperately like a lost child. 

    He is a lost child thought Jason, looking down helplessly from his perch on the rock ledge at the 7 foot tall paragangian huddled on the ground below. He felt he should just scoop him up in his arms like a tiny child and hold him, comfort him, make him feel safe. But Harris was much too big for that. Jason hopped down from the ledge and kneeled beside him, wrapping his arms arround dark furry shoulders, and Harris leaned against him, still crying.

        “I wish I could take you home Harris. But there’s no way to cross the ocean. When we get to D’zeron, we can contact the Marrion Jay and have them pick you up. That’s the best I can offer. Maybe D’neira will let them fly to D’zeron and pick you up. But Harrris, it’s ok, you’ll be ok. Sen’tran said in another day or two the memories will settle back and you’ll learn how to live without the implant. You’ll learn not to be afraid of the memories, just like you learned not to be afraid of the water. You’ll find new patterns and it won’t be frightning anymore. I’ll help you. We’ll find a way. I helped you with the water, I can help you with the memories and the forest too. Let me help you, Harris. Perfect love casts out fear.”

         Harris relaxed slightly. Jason didn’t know if his words were helping, wasn’t sure Harris was really listening, but it seems the sound of his voice and his physical presence gave Harris something to focus on that didn’t take his mind to the place of emerging memories and loss of everything else that had been his life for the last 20 years. So Jason kept talking, not knowing what to say.

       “When we get there you can go inside the temple it’s built of stone and very solid. Then you won’t feel the forrest. You can send a message to the Marrion Jay…

       Harris whimpered and tensed again. Jason immediately realized his mistake. Comforting, in this case, meant NOT mentioning things which would normally bring comfort, because that lead directly to the part of Harris’s brain which was hurting him. 

       I can tell him stories, thought Jason. Harris seemed to enjoy hearing about the LDS colony. Jason remembered a woman at a church meeting singing softly to calm a crying baby. I can sing him a song. That’s what Mormons do for little children to help them calm themselves. I don’t know if Paragangians sing to children, but music is patterns. Harris likes patterns.  He had that ability before his implant. Softly, Jason sang the first thing which came to mind:

         “I am a child of God And he has sent me here…”

          Realizing what the next line was he wondered if this was a bad choice, but he kept singing…

         “…has given me an earthly home with Parents kind and dear…

         Harris seemed calmer, listening quietly. He had parents before he had an implant. Harris relaxed one long black furry arm which had been tightly wrapped arround his own shoulder and put it losely arround Jason’s.

       like a giant baby monkey clinging to it’s parent  “…lead me guide me walk beside me help me find a way, teach me all that I must do to live with Him some day…” 

       Jason thought about the words as he sang, wondering what they would mean to Harris. The song had a feeling of childish optimism, and was a favorite of Mormons of all ages, everywhere. Jason had never paid attention to the words, though he had memorized it and learned to play it on his turtleshell guitar while on HomeWorld. He realized now that he had never understood it, but that didn’t matter. Harris was calm. The song had helped, just as acting out the baptism ritual had helped with the water. So he went on singing:

       …“I am a child of God and so my needs are great 

Help me to understand His words before it grows too late…”

        Jason thought of Sen’tran’s note and Harris’s memories. He decided this song really did seem right. It fit the pattern.

        ….Lead me guide me walk beside me help me find the way

Teach me all that I must do to live with Him some day….”

        Harris sat up, looking at Jason as he sang, smiling slightly now.

       “…I am a chiild of God rich blessing are in store

If I but learn to do his will I’ll live with him once more

Lead me guide me walk beside me Help me find the way

Teach me all that I must do to live with him some day...”

         Jason jumped to his feet as soon as he finished the song, holding his hands out to Harris, offering to help him up “C’mon Harris, it’s getting late, lets go get dressed and make lunch” remembering Harris’s concerns aboout dying, he decide for today they should eat the Paraganngian food that Rhonda had provided for them. Learning to gather food from the forrest was a chalenge Harris wasn’t ready for.

       A small winged creature soared down from the high cliff above them and circled low over their heads. It looked like the creature Anton had been fascinated with in Jai-Ten; the pet who was teasing his owner by stealing his book to get attention. Harris’s eyes followed it as it landed perching on a low branch in a group of trees near the waterfall. 

       “Look!” he cried, “It’s Kaar-taals version of Sylvia and it’s going to die.”

        Kaar-taal’s version of Sylvia. Jason watched at it searchingly. It perched on the branch, folded it’s wings over it’s back and began eating the seeds of a vine that hung about the tree. He didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t look dangerous, and the one in Jai-ten seemed tame. This one found them interesting and safe enough to fly quite close. But the most important, it reminded Harris of Sylvia. Maybe it could help fill that void in his memories. Jason saw hope instead of death. “It’s not going to die Harris” We can tame it, he thought, it will give Harris something new to focus on when the memories come flooding back. 

        “Look on the big branch above it” said Harris

         Jason looked and saw nothing.

         Then he saw it, a kitten stalking slowly nearer. Larger than a domestic house cat, but still fairly small. 

        He thought of dragons. the winged creature looked a bit like a tiny dragon. When a person saves the life of a dragon, the dragon will follow him until the debt is paid. 

       “It’s not going to die Harris” He yelled, as he ran towards the patch of woods as fast as he could.  He saw the young wildcat crouch, preparing to pounce. Jason pounced first, but the cat was closer and faster. 

       They tumbled to the sand together; man, cat and winged creature. The cat howled peircingly. Jason screamed back as the cat scratched its way free tearing several long cuts in Jason’s bare skin. The small winged creature whimpered softly. Jason jumped to his feet, shaking sand from his hair and skin, and gave his wounds a quick examination. Bleeding a little, but they would heal, he thought. He yelled an apology to the retreating kitten as he scooped up the winged creature and examined it. It lay passively whimpering in his hands, one wing damaged, and some blood on the soft red-brown fur along it’s back. Whatever cuts it might have were hidden beneath thick fur. It wrapped its fluffy prehensile tail arround Jason’s wrist, its dexterous toes tightly grasping his fingers. It looked up at him with wide, trusting orange eyes, and let out another sad whimpering cry. 

        Jason carried it back to where Harris still sat by the rock ledge, and crouched beside him. “Look Harris. She’s not going to die. She’s going to live. You have helped help her live.” He thrust the thin muscular body into Harris’s hands, unwrapping toes and tail with some dificulty from his own. It clung to Harris, and Harris received it with the wonder of a child. It cried, and he cradles it’s reddish furry body against his own black furry chest.     

         And now” Jason said “you have to keep on helping her live, because she’s not going to be able to get along on her own for awhile. She needs you. And when her wing heals, maybe she’ll fly after you like Sylvia” Harris look at the creature with childlike awe and then grinned up at Jason “Thanks Jason. I’ve never held an animal before.” Like Anton.

        “Let’s call her Marria Sylvia. She’ll give you something to take care of, like you used to take care of the Marrion Jay.” 

         Jason observed carefully Harris’s reaction. He flinched and his eyes shattered momentariy at the mention of his Ship Community, but he quickly refocused on his new friend. It was working.

        They cleaned their wounds and got dressed, ****add here details of how Jason shows Harris how to clean wounds, so Harris will have this information for Jason’s wonds when he fights the mother wildcat] then made lunch

       The creature’s name was quickly shortened to Marrisyl,[***show,not tell this] and after much discussion of Paragangian and human medical practices and Kaar-taalian dragon-Ferret anatomy, They made a splint of a tiny twigs and bound the broken wing, leaving the cuts on her back exposed, so she could lick them with her long pale-orange tongue. Harris carried her back to the tree she had been perching on and stood beside her there as she ate. When she had eaten as much as she wanted of the vine seeds she willingly stepped back into his hands. He held her up to his face, brushing her soft fur against his smooth black cheek and she reached down and grabbed onto the neckline of his shirt. Clinging to it like the branch she fell asleep snuggled against his neck. 

 [very inconclusive ending]

***** ***********

[Marsyl]  They work together to do firstaid on it, while jason teaches Harris aboutt eh forrest and foods and medicines and Harris connects his caretaking need to the squirrel which Jason names Maria sylvia, to help Harris connect it in his mind to the Marrion Jay and sylvia.

 Jason realizes that whatever Harris seems to miss Jason must find some replacement for it, like the way the memory implant replaces the memories of when it was planted. Jason focusing on Harris sets all his own fears aside, he had already figured out how to get the boat up the cliff alone with ropes, so he does that leaving Harris to take care of Maria Sylvia. Harris sits on the beach like a little child, over whelmed with confusing memories from when he was 4 years old, holding the tiny creature while Jason moves the boat. 

Even sen did not realize all the memories Harris would have to face. And Neither did Desmond, as each had planted memories for his own secret purposes. Sen would have planted his first. Harris’s implant would be placed right before the ceriomony, so Desmond would leave his hidden message with Harris before the implantation (which would be a rite of Passage for Harris and would also involve a cerimony to which Desmond would be invited, or perhaps even preside over) Desmond would order Sen right ofter the implant cerimony to remove the implant if Harris ever asked. 

  By then it is eveniing, and Jason decides they must camp on the beach a second night before Jason is ready to travel through the woods to the river, and they will have the fire that night, and then they will go to the dream plane and meet D’neira. 

107 Chathalen and D'neira talk love risktaking the barrier meeting with allissa etc.

In the morning, Chathalen asked D’neira about her meeting with Allissa. ***which has now been transferred to the other book, so this convo will be the only mention of it here now. a summery of that encounter needs to be added. …Serai also would have accompanied D’neira on that mission. 

*****(write this in narrative/dialog rather than just stating facts. figure out where/how they sleep and where/how they meet up in the morning etc) (make clear that Chathalen has not slept well the night before}

***needs more consistant POV, Chathalen

“Did you learn something about how to break the barrier, D’neira? I felt a change in it, late in the night, about an hour after the rising of Aisses” *** correct time if needed, and mention same time when she goes into the well****[need t correlate with files from book 2]

“No, I learned nothing new, and besides, I had already headed home by that time (????????). What did you notice, Chathalen? Perhaps it will help us understand.“

“I was observing from the dream plane. I cannot see Allissa there, but I can feel the barrier, if I stand just close enough but not too close. When I approach the barrier in the dream plane, there is a point at which I feel it before it sends me back*******(describe more vividly) ”

“Isn’t that a little risky, Chathalen son of Tersh? If you pass through that barrier there is sure to be something even more dangerous just a step beyond(******perhaps be more specific).” responded D’neira, obviously not pleased that he was doing this. Chathalen thought for a moment before responding

“I know there is risk in it D’neira, but what other chance do I have of helping find a way to remove the barrier? I need to understand it to be able to fight it. This thing was created of my power and my fear, and I am the only one who can observe it, because the barrier only appears when I approach it. I’m also the only one who can observe my own powers and feelings to understand how the barrier thinks and feels, so to speak. I have judged this risk to be one I am willing to take, for Allissa”

D’neira glared at him knowingly “You did not limit your observations to the dream plane last night, did you, son of Tersh?” she didn’t wait for a response, knowing this was true “why is it that adolescent boys throw away all reason when they think of the girl they are courting?”

Chathalen blushed in shame, embarrassed at her accusation, staring down at the floor. “I’m not courting, I’m trying to help correct mistakes I made in training her.” but his tone was so defensive and ashamed, and the circumstances so apparent that it was clearly more a confession than a defense. 

“You gladly risk your life, Chathalen, and maybe feel like a hero” stated the matriarch, with some sympathy, yet also with stern chastening urgency. “Would Allissa want you to take that risk? If you die because she suddenly wanders too close, not knowing you are hiding near by, will you gladly accept as consequence the guilt she feels for killing you? If you kill yourself trying to be with her, do you really think knowing you wanted her enough to risk death would be any comfort to her knowing you were gone forever? Your life is not just your own now, Chathalen; you have publically chosen a mate. Even though you cannot be together, you know as well as I do that the choice is made and cannot be recalled. You have accepted a duty to this village, even though it wasn’t a duty you sought for yourself. Both of these responsibilities you took upon yourself by your own free choice. You must live up to them, Chathalen son of Tersh. It’s time you start considering what’s best for Allissa and D’zeron, not just your own adolescent passion.”

Chathalen stared broodingly at the ground, slouching in his chair as if he were too exhausted to hold himself up any longer. He kicked at the table leg in frustration. Her accusation stung, and felt unfair. He had considered others all his life; taken care of his father, taken care of Allissa, healed and taught and followed the rules and accepted at great sacrifice his call to become dream keeper. Even now his concern was more for Allissa than himself. ADolecent passion. Hadn’t he waited 5 years for Allissa to ome of age,  passing up several other offers, which should have been just as able to satisfy adolescent passion? He felt angry and insulted; wanted to leave, not face her censure, run from her wisdom and order, from her calm mature approach to every problem. He wanted to find his own way back to Allissa; felt in his youthful soul that the love he had for her --true love, not just adolescent passion, love he for which he set aside five years of adolescent passion-- was more powerful, more valuable than the old woman could possibly imagine; power beyond reason, beyond caution, beyond age and time and wisdom and tradition. Compared to his love for Allissa, nothing else seemed to have any real power or purpose at all. He sat silent for a while, considering the wisdom of her words. She waited silent. 

D’neira is Matriarch, he thought; after dealing with dreams and people for so long, she truly might have a better understanding than I. He had to admit that, though he was sure of his love, he couldn’t really say the same for his understanding; not at all. He had underestimated D’neira on the dream plane, and realized his mistake. More than likely he was also underestimating her wisdom as Matriarch. He glanced up at the old woman who was patiently waiting. She had been a mother to him since the fire. D’neira had practically raised him, though admittedly Allissa had done more than her share of the mothering as well.

He thought of his 14^th birthday when Allissa had combed his hair out for him before the meeting, one last time even though he was too old to let her do this for him. D’neira knew. she offered to do it for him, knowing Tersh wouldn’t help, but she didn’t question this small violation of the custom. She understood how much he wanted to share that one last small intimacy with Allissa before age and custom separated them for the next 5 years. Allissa didn’t even realize it would be the last time, until their marriage.

Chathalen knew the Matriarch understood the true power and value of his love for Allissa. And she was right; he would need more than passion to regain the privilege now of being with the woman he had wait for so many years. Protecting their world from whatever challenges were approaching was also his duty now. He knew that before he could have what he wanted, he must set aside his own feelings and do whatever necessary for the good of all.

The young man straightened, facing her directly, humbly now.

“I’m sorry D’neira, I’ll be more careful in the future. Perhaps I should never have taken this risk, but I did and still live. I may have learned something. We learn even from our mistakes, right? Let me tell you my observations, and you can help me make use of what I gained.” D’neira smiled at him slightly, accepting his apology, nodding for him to continue telling

***************part 2**********they discuss the barrier gap (Allissa went into well)

**********(tell the rest of his story, how he left the village, traveled near to where he knew she was staying, where he was when he felt the barrier, how it felt, how he based on this really believed that he would actually die if he passed it, based on what it does to his body and what he has learned as a healer)

 “I heard Jayden crying,” He continued “and then I saw a gap in the barrier, as if it faded out and vanished for a moment. There is no time on the dream plane, so I can’t say for sure whether it was a second or an hour, since the barrier is of the dream plane, but I felt it gone. I didn’t dare wait there, I didn’t want to risk what you had suggested: that the gap would close and catch me inside the field. So I went back home, and went to sleep, and dreamed, and at first I didn’t find the barrier ….or her either…, And then it returned, fading in like it had faded out in the waking, not like when she approaches or moves away”.. ??????????????????????figure out if he can see awake people in dreams? 

“Maybe she just moved out of range,” suggested D’neira 

Chathalen considered again. “I don’t think so. I have seen that happen, and this didn’t feel the same” D’neira maintained her stern countenance as she listened, shocked to realize the degree of risk her young apprentice had apparently taken. She wanted to chide him again, but held her tongue and allowed him to continue telling. “when she walks away. She comes back in a different place. This time, there was no motion whatsoever, just a gap in the barrier. And the transition was different, it’s hard to explain” 

*******(explain at this point how he experiences the barrier, both on the dream plane and in waking)

“Did you see her?”

“No” he said so sadly that D’neira almost regretted asking, “I couldn’t see her, even when the barrier was gone”

“Then I doubt it was really gone” said D’neira, again regretting having to bring the sorrow of his loneliness so painfully to his attention. ***reword this line***

 “We will find a way Chathalen” she said gently, giving  her young apprentice a hug before turning to other matters.  “I will talk to her again this morning, maybe she can tell us more about what you noticed. Maybe she learned something, maybe something she did caused the barrier to be changed for that time”

“Thank you D’neira” he said, sincerely grateful for her comforting and concern, but still thinking bitterly, “She doesn’t believe me. She’s only saying this to comfort me. But I know what I felt. The barrier was gone. I know it was. I wanted to run to Allissa, to hold her forever --but I didn’t dare. I feared it might return, as indeed it did.  I will continue to watch over Allissa. D’neira has advised against it but she has not forbidden it. I’ll be more careful, but I’ll still watch. Maybe this will happen again, maybe I can find a pattern to it, and we can find a time that is safe for us to be together. For a minute for a second, only in dream, all I want is to be with her again.” He knew his hope was founded on little evidence, but any hope at all was a blessing now.

(but when D’neira went to see Allissa that morning, Allissa was gone)

108 why are you not a mormon convo

35x3  why are you not a Mormon convo edited March 2010

from scraps campfire conversation on the beach nov 09

****move this to another time or integrate it into setting better…in boat, by waterfall, and Harris still sore from the day before…

         After lunch, they discussed plans for the journey, and decided to wait until the next day to leave the beach. maybe Harris would be a little more familiar with the sounds of the forest then. and they could try to talk through some of the memories, and dream alone to give Harris’s brain more time to heal and reorganize itself. In the morning, they would use the rope to haul the boat up the cliff, and Jason would Help Harris climb. 

         Jason left Harris on the beach for a little while and climbed up the cliff into the forest, bringing back various fruits nuts and leaves that he knew to be edible, because of shared dreams where Jonathan had shown him how they harvested food in D’zeron. He also brought back several things to offer Marrisyl, and a few of them she did consent to eat from Harris’s hand. Harris also consented to try a few fruits and seeds. ****would he be able to leave Harris alone at this point? what might he do to keep Harris ok while he’s gone? he could have set a task for him to make something. Perhaps flintnapping. How would Harris react to Jason’s climbing, and the food he gathered? @@@@@@@@@

        In early evening, Jason took Harris out in the boat by the waterfall and the talked together as they watched the dragonflies play in the rainbows of the setting sun.

        “Hey Jason, why are you not a Mormon? “

         “Why would I be a Mormon? my family isn’t Mormon.”

         “Your dad was a Mormon, and you went and lived with his people to learn about them. They let you in and shared secrets with you because you were one of their family. you know their rituals and their stories and songs. 

        “Jonathan is my father. Desmond died before I was born. I went to HomeWorld as an anthropologist, and learned about them as an anthropologist. You don’t have to become a Mormon to learn about Mormons. 

        ‘But you could, right? You could go back to your LDS people just like Desmond came back to his Paragangian people.”

       “Anybody can become a Mormon, Harris. you could become a Mormon. It’s not about being born to it, it’s about choosing to believe. HomeWorld is different; the planet itself is a closed colony and you have to get permission to go there. Not because they are Mormon, just because it’s a closed planet. There are Mormons all around on Earth, even in Kansas. and on Earth StationMexico. lots of Mormons on Blue Destiny, and. 

        “I thought you just said you’re not Mormon because your family isn’t.”

         “I meant I don’t believe it because I didn’t learn it when I was growing up.”

        “Can’t you learn to believe?”

         Jason laughed “Why do you want me to be a Mormon, Harris? Desmond left his Mormon people, his HomeWorld people, to go back to his Paragangian people when he didn’t even know he was Paragangian. He left because he didn’t believe it anymore. 

          “Don’t you want to believe it Jason?”

           “No. I wouldn’t be a very good Anthropologist if I believed all that; how could I be an objective observer If I thought what I believed was right and everything else was wrong?”

           “What if it’s true, Jason? What if you find Truth and reject it because you like anthropology better than Truth? you already think you’re right and everybody else wrong. What if you’re wrong? Why do you like anthropology better than Truth? Your mother isn’t an anthropologist.

           “Jonathan is.”

         “You choose not to believe because you want to be like Jonathan.”

        “Right. No –wait-- it’s not like that Harris. I wanted to be an anthropologist and study dreams before I met Jonathan. That was how I met Jonathan, remember.” 

        Harris looked up ***??up??? at him thoughtfully he loves Jonathan more than anything else. It wouldn’t matter what crimes I could prove against Jonathan, Jason loves Jonathan with more blind faith than a Mormon. No wonder it’s hard for him to think of Desmond as his father. He never met Desmond. But he loves me too. Maybe he will learn to love Desmond. 

((Add in here the story about Jason telling Harris about the history of the church…not typed yet))…slant it’s telling to Harris trying to convince Jason to love Desmond.

109 ch 3-4-5 from graphic novel 2013 script notes baptism marrisyl etc

chapter 3

opening picture =jason’s hands holding the letter from sentr’an which says. be advised that Harris control implant has been fully removed. when it was implanted ar age 4 3 days of memories were hidden. for the next three days those memories will vividly reemerge, durring which time Harris will periodically revert to the mentality of his 4 yr old self.

Harris asleep on the beach. pictures showing Jason doing camp tasks--gathering wood and food, etc.

returns to find Harris awake, hiding from the sun, under the cliff

Harris you’re awake. What are you doing? 

HIding from the sun. it scares me. It’s too close. 

no it’s not. it’s far away. 

come sit down by this tree. 

no, I don’t like the tree. there’s animals in them.

why are you afraid of animals? 

there are no animals in Paragangia. and because they are alive? 

Jason? alive? life scares you? 

no death scares me. there are too many things which are going to die. 

Just because it’s alive doesn’t mean it’s going to die, does it? 

It is Jason, look... that creature on your tree...it’s lilke sylvia only it’s an animal, and it’s going to die.

it’s not going to die . it is! see that larger animal, it’s going to eat the one with wings, isn’t it? 

NO!, it’s not, I won’t let that happen, Harris. Jason runs to the tree, 

grabbs the Rat pidion just as the cat punces,

cat scratches his chest and arm, and creature’s wing.  Jason takes creature to Harris. 

Here, she’s hurt, you can take care of her until her wing heals. 

Harris takes here. Wow, she’s soft, I’ve never held an animal before. e

Jason says. we’ll call her Marrisyl, for the Marrion jay, and for SYlvia, then when you miss them, you can think of her and not be lonely.

ENd of chapter.    

they bandage Marrisyls wing, and Jason’s scratches,

ok Harris lets go swimming to get cleaned off. we ahve blood all over us. and you still ahve salt on you from the ocean water. it’s not good for your skin. and then you can put on clean clothes

 

sen’tran has provided several days worth of Paragangian food for Harris to eat, so he doesn’t have to live on natural food until after he recovers from exile. jason encourages Harris to eat.

no we can’t you’re all scratched up and we gotta take care of Marrisyl. 

i”m fine. the water will be good for the scratches. and we can sit Marrisyl on the boat so nothing gets her while we are swimming. 

Harris hears a noise up in the tree. “what was that?”

 Jason: “I did’t see anything.” 

Harris.: I saw a little person up there. 

Jason says: Nobody lives in this part of the forest. Nobody travels more than a day outside the pillars of D’zeron.  

“She was there” Harris insisted stubbornly. “I saw her.” 

“This is just another excuse to avoid the water isn’t it? Why are you afraid of water? 

There no water on the Marrion Jay. 

So all spacers are afraid of water? asked Jason. [why did they not talk about this on the beach at Jai-ten?] 

No. But when I was little I accidently walked into a hydroponic garden on HomeStation when the sprinklers were on. Water got all over me. It was terrifying.”

How old were you? asked jason

I don’t know, three maybe.

How old are you now? asked Jason. 

“4” said Harris, perfectly serious. 

“no. NOW,” said Jason 

“I’m 26 now “Harris corrected himself

“26? You’re only 26? I thought you were old. Older than Jonathan at least.” 

Harris laughed . “Why would you think that? 

“Your dad is three hundred and you used to hang out with my parents before I was born. I thought you’d be about their age.”

“I was there when you were born.” said Harris “I was 5. Dad took me so we’d have a dream bond. you were really tiny and funny looking. Dad must have blocked it from my memory. I wonder why.

 Jason laughs. “All babies are tiny and funny looking Harris. Stop changing the subject. After 20 years it’s time you got over your fear of water, don’t you think?

Harris points to the forrest on the cliff “there she is again.” 

“Harris! There’s nothing there” he starts undoing Harris’’s shirt “this shirt is all salty from sea water. your skin must be also, it’s not good for your skin. I’ll help you with these so we can go get cleaned up. Sen’tran sent clean clothes for you. I can wash this for you later. 

Jason starts to take off Harris’s shirt. 

Jason blushed. “you have, um, alot of body hair?

Harris laughed. “No Jason. Terran’s like you have body hair.” he looked at Jason. “well, some Terrans have body Hair. Pure Paragangians Have fur everywhere but our faces and hands and feet.” 

Why do you hide your fur?

It’s personal. we don’t show it and we don’t talk about it. Like dreaming. But since you’re Desmond’s son and Desmond is Paragan, you’re one of us, right?” 

“Fur or not, you still need a bath, Harris. Salt dried on fur is probably worse than on Terran skin. 

“It is sort of ichy” confessed Harris, scratching his chest and shaking loose a small cloud of salt dust. “but not so much that I want to go in the water.”

[Jason thinks get’s the idea...maybe thinks of a song, since by this time he knows Harris likes songs, this reminds him of baptism.

Hey Harris, I spent a year on HomeWOrld where Desmond Harris Grew up, and I know alot about their rituals. would you like me to teach you one of their rituals? 

 When a new member joins them, they do something called baptism. ever heard of that? 

no. i don’t want to be a member of the church. But I’ve seen it a few times.

How? Everyone in the colony is LDS. 

“not till they turn 8.the age of accountability. It’s just like you getting an implant when you were 4. Hey Harris. Since I’m not LDS and You’re not Paragangian, we can make our own kind of Baptism, and become brothers, ok? 

OK, Jason “Harris Grinned “let’s’ Have a baptism”

Jason grinned back “are you sure? like LDS baptism, only for our own brother of the churchhood instead?”

RIght, lets become brothers, Jason.

Ok Harris. So I’ll babptize you first, and then yyou’ll do the exact same thing to me, right?

RIght. 

 

‘Ok, come one Harris” Jason stood up and ran into the water. 

Harris stopped at the waters edge , “what are you doing?”

 This is how they do it. The preist, which is me for now because I was the one who received the inspiration, that person stands in the water. 

oh, okay says Harris. 

“He says the ritual words and he dunks the other guy all the way into the water. Like burried in the water, as if you were dead, and buried in the ground. and then when you come up you are born again as a new person, in this case one who is my brother and is not afraid of water. Then you get to be the preist, and you get to baptize me.”

HEY, you tricked me. Harris started to back away slowly from the water. 

Nope. No Tricks, this is for real. I’ll baptize you just like I said and then You’ll be my brother and you won’t ever be afraid of the water again.”

Harris advances slowly back to the water’s edge, freezes there and looks down at the water like a terrified child. “I can’t. I’m scared. “

Do you want to be my brother, Harris?

“We already are brothers. We were born to be the Heir of Paragan.”

“I say we’re not, Harris. DO you want me to say we are? I’m not your brother until you do this. do you want me to agree to be your brother? that’s all you wanted ever since we met, right Harris 

Harris looks at him and smiles I do, Jason. you’re right. 

He walks into the water. to where Jason is standing. 

um..Harris? you’re too tall for me to dunk, you’ll have to knee;=l down ok? 

Harris Kneels. 

Harris Jenzar, in memory of our father Desmond Harris, who held the preisthood of God, I baptixze you to be unafraid and to be my brother. amen. and he submerges him into the water. 

harrris rises from the water dripping and joyfully unafraid. “that was awesome, now It’s your turn. 

jason thinks “oh no now I have to let myself be baprized, which I always feared. but for Harris, I have to be brave like he was. 

and Harris says “Jason Scott-Harris, my brother,  I baptize you to be my brother and also unafraid in the name of Desmond Harris. amen. and 

and as Jaosn went under the water and came back up he felt a peace and love he had never felt before. he huggged harris.
thank you. that really was awesome. I never undertood before why they did this, but now I finally understand. 

I am honpored to be your brother Harris. 

now, lets go get cleaned up since we are already wet, ok? 

and they pley in the lake and in the waterfall for half an hour. 

harris says. that was fun. I can’t even imagine how I was afraid of it before. I like the water now. thank you.

wait...I saw that person again, tight there, in the trees. I think it’s a girl.

Harris! really? it’s probably jsut the kitten. 

no, it’s a girl, really. I saw a girl in the trees there. .now she’s gone though. 

Jason says. what should we do now? 

Harris says. get a good night sleep without any dreaming, so we can be well rested to start our journey tomorrow. maybe we should have one of us stay up and watch so that person in the trees won’t attack while we sleep.

Harris. Really? I didn’t see anyhting. there’s nobody there. I’m sure. 

ok, but I know what I saw. 

that’s gonna be a problem, says jason. that’s not really sleeping. how about we snuuggle up together and sleep. we’ll be safe together. 

marrysil can watch for us okay. 

they lay down to sleep, and marrisyl starts cattering loudly. 

what’s that, marisyl? then they see the kitten. 

hey it’s the baby wildcat. he looks humgry. I guess we did steal his dinner, didn’t we? I’ll go catch him some fish before we sleep.

catches several fish. kitten eats some and carries a large one with him into the forrest. 

I guess he’s gone now. he shouldn’t get hungry again tonight. 

then they sleep till morning, safe in eachother’s arms 

end of chapter 4

chapter 5

jason wakes to the sound of Marrisyl’s frantic chattering. the kitten stands near staring at him

hey tere’s you again. hey there. are you hungry? shall we go fishsing for breakfast before Haarris wakes up? 

the kitten walks to the water. jason follows. catches fish, and the kitten is gone again before Harris wakes. 

jason says “harris is still asleep. he must have been really tired still. 

hey harris, wake up brother, ok? 

shakes him realy hard. ahhh what’s going on Jason. ? 

it’s morning. says jason. 

but I hate morning, the sun is shining. I don’t wnat to see it. I want to sleep. 

get up right now. 

but why jason? 

do you want to stay here on this beach forever? you like it that well? 

harris says no I hate it I want to go home. 

right says jason. and how are you getting home? 

I’m gonna call my dad from D’zeron. 

and how are we getting to D”zeron? 

OH. Yeah. right. ok jason. lets get that boat up to the river so I can go home. 

110 link to next section

Journey to D'zeron Section 10: The River