Kaze: Guardians

Dinner and a Song

Dinner consisted of mainly fish. Once we were done, I tried sacrificing my extra food to the gods by shoving it into the fire, but my comrades immediately stopped me.
     "What? Don't you guys sacrifice food to your gods?"
     "What have the gods ever done for us? It's not like our lives will get much worse if they get angry." Juno said, pushing the leftovers into a jar and setting it on a shelf in a cold room.
     I was astonished. These people... Maybe they just don't believe in the gods, I thought. More rebelliously, I explored the idea. Maybe the gods don't like them because they aren't strong champions. They won't win wars, so maybe... But, that was impossible! The gods love everyone, don't they? Well, don't they?
    
     Later, I sat up in my collection of blankets on the floor, pondering all I had learned today. Priestess Yara is a Guardian. Juno isn't, but he's so smart, he could've been. The little girl's name is Kasumi, and she's a Guardian, too. The old fisherman owns a hut that I sleep in now.
Light streamed through the thin grass that made up most of the roof thatching. I remembered my mom saying that the thinner a roof is, the better. That way, you could see the stars from under your roof. Even though you occasionally got a little wet. I remembered trying to drink the raindrops that landed on my face as a kid. I got soaked, and I came in shivering. Mom had given me some hot cocoa to drink as Jet joined us and we watched the storm together. Jet had pointed out the end of the storm, a bright white lining to the sheet of gray. Then the accident happened a few weeks later. My mom disappeared, and Jet started to treat me like his servant. I still don't know exactly what happened to her, and it was time now to find out. Why fight desperately for your destiny, when you can take control of it?!

     Down the hall, a door creaked, and Kasumi stepped out, pulling me out of my train of thought. She smiled apologetically and sat down to my right. "Hey, you doing okay?" She smiled and nodded. "That's good." A moment of silence followed. "You can't sleep." I ventured. She shook her head.
"Have you tried counting sheep?"
Yes, but no luck.
"Have you tried warm milk?"
They didn't have milk.
"A lullaby? There's no way you've tried singing a lullaby."
She shook her head. Bingo!
     "Okay. Let me think of something..." Her pigtails had been taken out, and her hair was way too long for her own good. It hung down to her knees, tangled and liberated from the binds that kept it under control. I noticed the way she looked at me. An admiration was set in her eyes that told me exactly what she thought of me. I was a hero, just by falling from the sky? I couldn't believe it. "I don't remember any decent lullabies, so can I just make one up based on what I know?"
     All she did was shrug and smile.
     "Okay." I cleared my throat. "Um..."
     "In the night light, do you see
     What you dream?
     All your troubles
    Are they all what they seem?
    Look around you, then you may
    Realize
     All the preachers, all with their lies!"
      I didn't stop singing until I had emptied my mind of any meaningful thoughts. I smiled at Kasumi. She suddenly got an idea. She pushed herself up and ran silently around the room with her eyes squeezed shut. I flinched when she bumped loudly into the kitchen table. "Keep it down! Other people can sleep; they're doing it right now!" She smiled and ducked back into a bedroom. I leaned back on the lump in the blankets I was using as a pillow and sighed. My hands folded behind my head, I gazed out of the thin grass roof. "Take control of your own destiny..." I whispered into the darkness. "What exactly is my destiny? What does it mean to have a destiny?" These questions and more taunted me with answers just out of reach as I entered a sleep as deep as death itself.
----------------------------------------------YAY ANOTHER BANNER SONG THING!!! This is the Lee Brotherton vs. Jun Senoue remix of Silver the Hedgehog's theme from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). I took a few lyrics from it to make a somewhat okay lullaby. I tried to make better lyrics, but eh. This works, right?