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The Books of Oyja II: Jash
Chapter 7 Showing the Way

“I’ll listen.” I replied, trying to keep the curiosity out of my voice. I wanted to come out of this unharmed. But, with a Fosh involved, it seemed very unlikely.

“You can call me Jash, Kiem, collection of minds, or anything else. It doesn’t change who I am or what I can do. Names have importance, but it’s not everything. I don’t care that you were originally called Carrie Minaz and are now called Oyja Tenju. But you have turned, and that is what concerns me.”

“How have I turned?” I asked. “All I have done is followed my path. That’s all I have done. I have only done what the universe has told me to do. All I have done is followed my destiny and Tas! What have I done wrong? What more is there to ask?”

“Can anyone say what destiny is? You can say it’s where you’re meant to go. But, truly, your path is divided into so many ways and, in different dimensions, you take so many different roads. How can you say which one you are on? No one can say!”

I picked up a blade of grass and held it up. “This is not what I am.” I then commanded it to become thin and full of many different blades. “This is what I am. I am something complicated, true, but I am something that is not under your command.”

“Do you think you should be under the Tenju’s command? Is that what you think?” Jash touched one of my lekku. “Do you think that the Tenju are right? All they do is meddle around with things better left alone. Time is nothing to fool around with and even the mightiest being cannot say that he commands it. What light have you followed? You have allowed yourself to let the Tenju break your will! You have become one of them! That is one thing you promised not to let happen to yourself!”

I pushed her hand away. “I’ve changed. I didn’t know what they truly were and now I do. I love being called one of them, of being one of their ranks! Do you know how good that feels?”

“Kiem remembers how it was. They teach you what to do but they only allow you to see what happens in Tenju Hell, nothing outside of it. Do you know what happens to people outside of Tenju Hell?”

“No!” I screamed, knowing I would only be seeing images of horror.

I watched a battle and suddenly it was gone. I saw a group of Gungans playing around and laughing and then they were gone. There was a wedding with a wonderful bride and then it was gone. I watched as thousands of things disappeared. I didn’t like it. “When the Tenju remove someone from time they, of course, have to erase his history and future.”

“Sometimes the past does remain. Sometimes a Tenju comes out and people recognize them. People from their past!” That was the hope of all the Tenju, I knew, but it hardly came true. Sometimes a Tenju would go to see their parents and they wouldn’t recognize them. That is why most Tenju never thought of leaving. They knew there was nothing for them outside of Tenju Hell.

“You know how little that happens. Not even Kiem has her own parents to remember her. I am so caught up that I have forgotten my beginning. I have forgotten where I have come from. Have you forgotten your origins?” Jash asked.

She was referring to the five murders I committed that fateful day. “None of them were family.” Jash looked at me and I sighed. “Okay, one was a guardian and the rest were business partners.” Jash cleared her throat. “Okay, they all had dealings with the spice trade. We were celebrating the most recent run.”

“But you had forgotten your love for them. You had forgotten the connections. The connections we have between people are the most important things in life, in any life. If you live alone, you live somewhere no one can touch you.”

“I don’t want anyone to touch me. I live to serve; I don’t live for love. Love relies on instincts and instincts are without thought. Those who don’t think have a lack of life.” I said. I didn’t want to think that I might be weak enough to love. I thought myself immune to it.

“You don’t love?” Jash questioned. “You have loved before, I know that. The past memory of Kiem knows that. You are just trying to hide behind a mask. Guess what. Masks don’t work. People will find out who you really are. Darth Vader was found out and behind him Anakin Skywalker became free once again. Anakin got free from his mask, get free from yours.”

“I don’t have a mask! What you see is what I am! Why do you assume I’m hiding behind anything!” I answered angrily. Jash walked close to me.

“I can see your mask. Each day you try to cover it anew. Each day you pretend. Even I pretend sometimes, but I know when to stop fooling myself. I can tell when the act is about to destroy me. The act is destroying you! Don’t you see? Pretending to not feel is different than the lack of feeling. Come back into the light!”

“I am in the light! It’s you who don’t see it! It’s all around us! You’re the one who is blind to it!”

“You look into the darkness and see light. I look into the darkness and see pain. I see what night really is, but you live for it. You don’t seem to see the evil it hides. Why are you avoiding the truth? You seemed to jump readily into the Tenju’s arms!”

“They were my saviors. They offered me another way out.”

“Another way out so you wouldn’t get blamed!”

“What way do you offer me?”

“I offer you the way to family and love.” Jash said and touched my arm. “I offer a way you have long since forgotten. The way of the hermit won’t lead you to your future. The life of the hermit is for the ones who have already reached their future.”

“What if I have already reached mine?”

“That, of course, is your choice.” Jash started to walk off. “But remember: my door is never closed for those in need.”

Author’s Note: Yipee! This chapter is done! I’m very glad for it. I almost wish for another battle scene. This has been made harder by the fact that I haven’t been able to work on it that often, I’ve been working on a science project. I have made an assumption that all Fosh are like Vergere, tricky. If you find any information that contradicts that please tell me.

Description
The Books of Oyja II: Jash
Chapter 7 Showing the Way

“I’ll listen.” I replied, trying to keep the curiosity out of my voice. I wanted to come out of this unharmed. But, with a Fosh involved, it seemed very unlikely.

“You can call me Jash, Kiem, collection of minds, or anything else. It doesn’t change who I am or what I can do. Names have importance, but it’s not everything. I don’t care that you were originally called Carrie Minaz and are now called Oyja Tenju. But you have turned, and that is what concerns me.”

“How have I turned?” I asked. “All I have done is followed my path. That’s all I have done. I have only done what the universe has told me to do. All I have done is followed my destiny and Tas! What have I done wrong? What more is there to ask?”

“Can anyone say what destiny is? You can say it’s where you’re meant to go. But, truly, your path is divided into so many ways and, in different dimensions, you take so many different roads. How can you say which one you are on? No one can say!”

I picked up a blade of grass and held it up. “This is not what I am.” I then commanded it to become thin and full of many different blades. “This is what I am. I am something complicated, true, but I am something that is not under your command.”

“Do you think you should be under the Tenju’s command? Is that what you think?” Jash touched one of my lekku. “Do you think that the Tenju are right? All they do is meddle around with things better left alone. Time is nothing to fool around with and even the mightiest being cannot say that he commands it. What light have you followed? You have allowed yourself to let the Tenju break your will! You have become one of them! That is one thing you promised not to let happen to yourself!”

I pushed her hand away. “I’ve changed. I didn’t know what they truly were and now I do. I love being called one of them, of being one of their ranks! Do you know how good that feels?”

“Kiem remembers how it was. They teach you what to do but they only allow you to see what happens in Tenju Hell, nothing outside of it. Do you know what happens to people outside of Tenju Hell?”

“No!” I screamed, knowing I would only be seeing images of horror.

I watched a battle and suddenly it was gone. I saw a group of Gungans playing around and laughing and then they were gone. There was a wedding with a wonderful bride and then it was gone. I watched as thousands of things disappeared. I didn’t like it. “When the Tenju remove someone from time they, of course, have to erase his history and future.”

“Sometimes the past does remain. Sometimes a Tenju comes out and people recognize them. People from their past!” That was the hope of all the Tenju, I knew, but it hardly came true. Sometimes a Tenju would go to see their parents and they wouldn’t recognize them. That is why most Tenju never thought of leaving. They knew there was nothing for them outside of Tenju Hell.

“You know how little that happens. Not even Kiem has her own parents to remember her. I am so caught up that I have forgotten my beginning. I have forgotten where I have come from. Have you forgotten your origins?” Jash asked.

She was referring to the five murders I committed that fateful day. “None of them were family.” Jash looked at me and I sighed. “Okay, one was a guardian and the rest were business partners.” Jash cleared her throat. “Okay, they all had dealings with the spice trade. We were celebrating the most recent run.”

“But you had forgotten your love for them. You had forgotten the connections. The connections we have between people are the most important things in life, in any life. If you live alone, you live somewhere no one can touch you.”

“I don’t want anyone to touch me. I live to serve; I don’t live for love. Love relies on instincts and instincts are without thought. Those who don’t think have a lack of life.” I said. I didn’t want to think that I might be weak enough to love. I thought myself immune to it.

“You don’t love?” Jash questioned. “You have loved before, I know that. The past memory of Kiem knows that. You are just trying to hide behind a mask. Guess what. Masks don’t work. People will find out who you really are. Darth Vader was found out and behind him Anakin Skywalker became free once again. Anakin got free from his mask, get free from yours.”

“I don’t have a mask! What you see is what I am! Why do you assume I’m hiding behind anything!” I answered angrily. Jash walked close to me.

“I can see your mask. Each day you try to cover it anew. Each day you pretend. Even I pretend sometimes, but I know when to stop fooling myself. I can tell when the act is about to destroy me. The act is destroying you! Don’t you see? Pretending to not feel is different than the lack of feeling. Come back into the light!”

“I am in the light! It’s you who don’t see it! It’s all around us! You’re the one who is blind to it!”

“You look into the darkness and see light. I look into the darkness and see pain. I see what night really is, but you live for it. You don’t seem to see the evil it hides. Why are you avoiding the truth? You seemed to jump readily into the Tenju’s arms!”

“They were my saviors. They offered me another way out.”

“Another way out so you wouldn’t get blamed!”

“What way do you offer me?”

“I offer you the way to family and love.” Jash said and touched my arm. “I offer a way you have long since forgotten. The way of the hermit won’t lead you to your future. The life of the hermit is for the ones who have already reached their future.”

“What if I have already reached mine?”

“That, of course, is your choice.” Jash started to walk off. “But remember: my door is never closed for those in need.”

Author’s Note: Yipee! This chapter is done! I’m very glad for it. I almost wish for another battle scene. This has been made harder by the fact that I haven’t been able to work on it that often, I’ve been working on a science project. I have made an assumption that all Fosh are like Vergere, tricky. If you find any information that contradicts that please tell me.