3.52 The Fool

Across the water in Anur, some of the aribu were already relaxing with full stomachs and tipsy minds before the main dishes were served. Hellias wasn't so bad, after all. There was an endless rotation of musicians on stage, too. No sooner did one step off stage, another stepped up to replace them. Each one seemed to pick the right melody for the mood. Inside the Crystal Temple the music had even stronger hypnotic powers. Amplified by the resonance of the crystal walls, it instilled excitement, love and laughter with ease, everyone was enjoying the energy, strangers were becoming friends. Under the influence of harmony and mostly unbeknownst to the aribu, barriers were dropping, true friendships were spawning, Phoenix Flames were catching light and buds of love were beginning to blossom amongst them.

         "Take one, any one" Mira offered the box of emerald tablets to Josh, her smile promised of fun. "Close your eyes!"

         Warming to the Lemurian traditions, Josh closed his eyes and reached in to the box, he ran his fingers over the polished stones. So far, everything about the Lemurians was magic and fun. He pulled out a tablet that felt special and studied it's image, unsure of it’s significance. It was a strange figure, a man and a dog, he didn't understand. "What do I do with it?"

         "You read it" Mira replied. "It's a Divination tool, it's like a window into your Phoenix Flight Path" she explained, without managing to explain at all. "Let me see." Josh handed her the tile. "The Fool!” She announced with a knowing smile.

         "What?" Josh snatched the tablet back, offended, looking at it again. "Flight Path? What do you mean... Is it suggesting that I'm a fool?"

         "No!" Mira smiled kindly, assuring. "It's not describing you as a fool personally, it's more like a window into a stage of your journey, or experience."

         "I’m flying towards being a fool?" Josh didn’t understand at all, it wasn't a good look through the window, his path in life was on the ground, it had signposts of success pointing down it, not foolishness.

         "What's a Phoenix Flight Path?" Bria wondered about the myth after hearing about Nel’s fateful journey here.

         "Your Spirit Calling, your Life Lessons…" Other voices offered other explanations.

         "You'll start to understand as time goes by" Zara assured without managing to assure him of anything at all.

         "My dearest friends…" The room hushed as Min took the stage, commanding their attention with very little effort at all. She scanned the room, the temple had never been so packed before, it was amazing to see all the aribu from Atlan amongst them, she couldn't help but smile. The refugees were radiating already, whistles and cheers erupted again when they saw her, Min was already a rock goddess in their eyes, she had won their hearts with her bold performance on the royal stage the moment she dared to walk across it with her fiery red hair and sparkling crystal dress.

         "Thank you all for coming here to celebrate with us in Anur. It is with great pleasure that we have the opportunity to host you all for our Solstice party. Please, give a hand for my band, Firelight!"

         The crowds whistled and cheered once again as the band assembled on stage, winding the energy even higher. Dena was noticing the attention they garnered, it was sensational, she was growing curious about the Lunies and their magical music. Looking back, the whole Farewell Celebration thing seemed to have been a big kidnapping job... They had prepared for this many guests, both here and in Mu, so it seemed. Had they? It was an ominous thought. Why else would they bring the Unicorn, why else would they have performed the shocking pregnancy performance... Why else expose the irresistible gods of Music... Offer an empty vessel and hospitality, if it wasn't to lure them to Lemuria? Why? Didn't they know how despised they were?

         Why were they so despised? She scanned the room with opening eyes, now she was starting to see new things. So many of the aribu had come to Lemuria... So many had malfunctioned... They were all glued to the stage now, again, even worse, they were almost all in love with some Lunie! Had they really been put under some kind of spell? If this Serpent Sorcery was real after all, how did it work? She noticed Nel was glued to the stage too, and elbowed her gently.

         "Do you think they're evil?"

         Nel was lost. "Who?"

         "The Lunies!"

         "Do you really believe that?"

         "Look around you! What are all the gens going to think when they wake up tomorrow morning? Don't you think perhaps this is a trap?"

         "A trap?" Nel wasn't sure if Dena was joking. She studied her face for a moment, her eyes were wide open, genuine fear had gripped the cool goddess of the Salon, for real. Feeling compassion, she reached for Dena's hand and squeezed it gently.

         "Do you see anything evil?"

         Dena scanned the room again. She had to admit, the Lunies seemed benign... The music began to play and it only gave her happy feelings, nothing made sense.

         "No, I don’t" she confessed, "but I didn't think Atalon was evil either. Now I'm beginning to wonder, that Dog Show was really cruel, and the thing about the dogons? That was a pretty cruel joke. I don't know who or what to believe anymore. I mean, did you hear what happened in Fina? No! No one heard! Obviously, Atalon doesn't care."

         "What about Fina?" Zara queried when the university town was brought up, having heard things about Fina from Neter's gruesome account.

         "Fina's history."

         "What happened?" Zara's heart sunk as a second account became imminent.

         "There was an epidemic!" Dena broke the news.

         "What?"

         Adon listened in from a neighboring table, his ears were burning.

         "An epidemic?" Bria echoed, horrified. "In Fina? But we were just there! Why weren't we told?"

         "You don't know shit!" Zara's anger unleashed. "Were you told about the Soloha? Or the Dogons?"

         Bria couldn't reply, Zara was right, they hadn't even been told about music, or even the truth about Lemuria.

         "You all need to learn the TRUTH!" Zara contested, her attitude towards the Lemurians had shifted to one of admiration and trust. The passionate fire she had felt at the podium in Mu flared up once again for what she now believed to be true. "I wouldn't be surprised if the so-called epidemic was just a coincidental PINEAL HARVEST!"

         Adon felt his heart pounding too now, he knew the truth about Fina in his gut, he had since joined those dots himself, now he could see that others were scratching their heads lover it, it wasn't good.

         Josh was also listening in, pictures were coming together for him too, that pineal agenda theory was becoming crystal clear. He picked up the emerald tablet and rubbed it's polished surface deep in thought, was it suggesting he had been a fool? Zara was perhaps right, there had been an awful lot of pineals to package and process, he had never really quantified the numbers but now that he thought about it, about the Soloha enterprise, it sent a chill down his spine. Was that what the Crystal program was really all about? Cultivating Soloha?

         Dena was still hung up on Zara's outspoken comment, what could she possibly know?

         "What truth?"

         Zara found herself in the spotlight once again, but now she was struggling for words to explain, she didn't know where to begin it was a long story. How could she explain without sounding insane? She knew how hard she had struggled to believe the story of their ancient time and dual realities herself, she still didn't believe it all. The big picture had helped so much in making sense of the nonsense, but how would she explain it to them now?

         "Um…"

         "If you decide to stick around you'll find out" Nel assured, stepping in to save her.

         Dena turned to Nel, now questioning her presence in the Crystal Temple. She was a Panther? There was no way she had been invited to the Farewell Celebration.

         "How did you get here? Were you sent to die like Zara too?"