Part 114: Kabebonikka's Hospitality

Main story folder & table of contents: "Escape From Manitou Island" 
Previous chapter: "Part 113: Bitter Bargain" 

PART ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN:
Kabebonikka's Hospitality

TWO HANDS PRESSED against the ice wall, a small nose pressed between them. Winter Born stared in at the strange young man surrounded by flowers, the glowing crystals casting him in a soft orangy light. She didn't even notice the chill seeping through her skin; she was too focused on the eerie sight within the wall.

Charmian and the two GeeBees had gone some time ago; she figured they must be down the mountain by now, if Kabebonikka hadn't sent another Wendigo after them, that was. She couldn't be certain. After a short while the North Wind had raised his hand, and the ice door closing off the passageway from the cave had arisen, and he'd said that she had free run of the mountain. This had earned a puzzled look--Winter Born had pretty much expected to be confined to the cave while the manitou growled and threatened her--but she'd never been one to turn down an offer to explore. Seeing as she had no clue what else might lie within the mountain, she'd simply gone back to the first interesting thing she'd seen to get a better look. And she'd lost track of how much time she'd spent there, the sight was such an odd one. Her mind conjured up all sorts of stories to explain what she was looking at, but none of them seemed just right.

"I bet he came up here and became a hermit just like that man Charmian was with," she mused. "And stayed up here so long that he froze into the ice!...no...he would be old, then...I bet he lost his love up here, and so came looking for her, and he was going to give her all sorts of flowers!...no...who carries flowers up into the mountains when they're looking for somebody?...I bet the manitous of the flowers tricked him and lured him up here...no...why would they lure him into the mountains...?" She gnawed on her lip and furrowed her brow, perplexed; as creative as her mind was, it wasn't creative enough to come up with the most logical explanation, and that frustrated her.

She heard a soft shushing noise and tensed, but she could recognize the sound of Kabebonikka's white moccasins against the slippery floor. She saw his hazy reflection come into view behind her in the ice, and the two of them stared at the young man for a long while in silence.

"You wonder...?" the manitou murmured aloud.

Winter Born blinked, then bit her lip. She peered at him over her shoulder and saw the way that he raised an eyebrow. She was used to adults--aside from her mother--getting irritated whenever she asked questions about things that didn't concern her. So she hesitated until convincing herself that he'd just invited a question, then turned back to the ice wall.

"Who is he?" she asked, pressing her nose to it again.

She saw Kabebonikka's mouth twitch before his head tilted back slightly. "Zeegwun," he replied, simply.

Winter Born's eyes slowly widened. Suddenly, the young man inside the ice began to make sense...the flowers and all...she turned away from him to look at Kabebonikka again, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

"Spring--?" she blurted out, then turned fully around. "You mean--that's Spring--?"

Kabebonikka tucked his hands into his robe. "You seem surprised...you wondered why this land has been cold for so long? Well..." he nodded at the wall "...here is your answer."

"But--!" Winter Born clenched her fists. "How can you keep Spring locked away like that? Everything gets all messed up without Spring!"

"This is but only a part of him," Kabebonikka said, and Winter Born fell silent, confused. "Just as there is more than one of your Island," he said. "There are infinite numbers of that Island you live upon, and at any moment upon them, there may be infinite numbers of you, and your family, and your friends and even that fire-haired girl...each one of them just slightly different from the ones here. Zeegwun still visits where you live and where she lives...but he no longer visits here...because this is where I am in control now. Thus the Zeegwun who dwells here is also within my control." He smiled. "He has been encased in that ice for so many moons now that the people below can no longer count."

Winter Born's mouth fell open again. "But that's not fair! You have to let him out!" She turned back to the ice and started hitting her fists against it as hard as she could; it stung, but she tried to ignore it. "Zeegwun! Zeegwun! Come on out! Wake up and come out!"

"That ice has been there as long as the glacier itself," Kabebonikka said mildly as she pounded. "You are only a human, and nothing you do can free him."

"I don't care! That's terribly unfair of you! One would expect BETTER from a manitou!" Winter Born cried, and started kicking the ice wall until she stubbed her toe, at which point she yelped and hopped up and down a few times before gritting her teeth and resuming her battering.

Kabebonikka rolled his eyes. "You wish to end up like your friend then...?"

"I don't care if I break my foot! There's supposed to be an order to things and you don't just go messing it up! Everybody knows that!" She paused to try to catch her breath, and glared at him as hard as she dared over her shoulder. "You know--you're an even worse manitou in PERSON!" She cringed and ducked her head. "No offense!" And turned back and resumed battering.

She saw him raise an eyebrow in the reflection. Zeegwun, on the other hand, remained as asleep as ever. "Come on, Zeegwun!" Winter Born yelled, then she cupped her hands to the ice and put her mouth between them. "Zeegwun! Wake up!!" Her face screwed up and she summoned up every strange word she could remember so far. "ZEEGWUN! WAKE THE DAMN HELL PISS BITCH FRIGGING DUMBASS MORON BULLSHIT UP!!"

No response from Zeegwun, though she did see the North Wind's eyes go wide before an amused smirk spread across his face. Gritting her teeth again, she swung at the ice and struck it as hard as she could with her knuckles; as soon as her hand met it, she regretted the blow, feeling the shock go up her arm and the splitting throb starting in her hand--but she also just barely saw the eyes of Kabebonikka's reflection go wide, before her vision of him seemed to split in two, and she had to blink the tears from her own eyes just to figure out what had happened. She took in a shaky breath.

Zeegwun was still sound asleep...but there was now a nice new crack running up and down through the ice, slicing it cleanly in two at least several hand-breadths deep.

Winter Born stared at this for a moment or two, eyes wide, then gasped and hopped aside when Kabebonikka stepped forward. He leaned toward the wall to look the crack up and down, his blue eyes narrowing. Winter Born meekly tucked her sore hand inside her sleeve and chewed on her lip, shaking a little. The look on the manitou's face wasn't very pleasant...first she'd broken down his door, now she'd cracked his wall. Hadn't Charmian told her to keep herself out of trouble? A lot of good that promise was doing...

"Hm," Kabebonikka said at last, his eyes narrowing to slits. His head turned slightly and he looked at her, then stood up again; she kept her own head lowered, grimacing to herself. His sleeves rustled when he tucked his arms in them again.

"Interesting," he said, and they both stood in silence for a few moments. Winter Born had to struggle not to fidget; she was concentrating so hard that when he turned, she gasped and jumped in surprise. "Come," he said. "I wish to show you something." And he went walking off in the direction of the ice cave. Winter Born stared after his retreating figure for a moment before following.

When she reached the ice cavern, he was standing beside the far wall, where he'd presented the image of the great plain before. He gestured at her and she paused before reluctantly going toward him.

His mouth twitched again. "What, you think I bite...?" When she stopped a few paces away he waved at the wall and an image of the woods where they had stayed with the voyageurs appeared. Winter Born furrowed her brow and stepped forward to peek at it more closely.

"When you stopped here," Kabebonikka said, "do you recall at all just what you did, that set everyone else on edge...?"

"Huh--?" Winter Born asked, looking up at him, confused. In response the North Wind waved his hand and the woods were suddenly populated by numerous people--the voyageurs, Bouchard and Baptiste, Charmian, Thomas, herself, and all the rest, just as she remembered them. The voyageurs were laughing...Charmian had an awful look on her face...she, Thomas, Moon Wolf, Niskigwun, and Mani all showed their powers, with little result...then an awful voice filled the clearing, making Winter Born jump again.

"IT'S NOT TRICKS!! I DON'T LIE!! Mother and Father taught me NEVER to lie!"

Winter Born blinked and looked for the source of the screaming...her eyes grew wide when she saw herself standing in the clearing, fists clenched and teeth bared, and just as Charmian and Kabebonikka had already said, it looked like the northern lights were swirling around her. Her mouth fell open--she didn't remember that--!

"NOW do you believe me?" the Winter Born in the vision snarled. "NOW do you believe it's REAL?"

And Charmian ran forward, grabbed the other Winter Born's arm, and just like that the light faded and the clearing returned to normal. Winter-Born-in-the-wall blinked a few times and looked up at the older girl. "Ch...Charmian?" she asked. "What happened...?"

Kabebonikka waved his hand and the image vanished. It was replaced by a vision of the murky stream in the east, where she had tried to communicate with the insects beneath the fallen tree. She shivered and rubbed her arms when the huge mitchi manitou leapt out of the trees and attacked them, cutting the attempt off. Charmian had said that the manitou was in fact after her...

"Why are you showing me this...?" she murmured uneasily as the North Wind waved the images away.

He peered down at her from the corner of his eye. "So you mean to tell me that flame-haired girl honestly hasn't taught you a thing...?"

Winter Born bristled. "She's taught me all sorts of things! And she'll teach me a lot more, too!"

"I see," Kabebonikka said. "And what has she taught you, exactly, about your power?"

"My...my power...?" Winter Born's insistence faded and she frowned a little, uncertain. She rubbed at her head. "Well..."

"You think you need to merely 'tag along' after her and you'll learn all you need to know of yourself?" There was a long pause before he said, "Have you had your vision yet, little winter girl?"

"No." Winter Born shook her head. "I'm not old enough yet. Mother says maybe next year! I'm going to fast for ten days, and have a big vision, and be the most powerful medicine woman on the Island!"

"Hm," Kabebonikka said, raising an eyebrow. "And then what?"

"Well..." Winter Born shrugged. "I'll help people, of course."

The Wintermaker got a rather sour look now. "That's the best you can come up with? 'Help people'?"

"Of course," Winter Born said with a frown. "What'd you expect me to do with it?"

"Rather a waste of a great deal of power," Kabebonikka sniffed. "That flame-haired girl hasn't taught you a thing of use yet, and at this rate, you'll never learn. Do you see how afraid everyone became when you first used your power? This is the potential you have inside you. You would truly waste all that, 'helping people'?"

"I don't want to scare people!" Winter Born gasped. She started to scowl. "Knowing you you'd find that FUN!"

"Of course," Kabebonikka said blandly.

Winter Born clenched her fists. "Why do you have to be so--well--MEAN? You know, people probably wouldn't tell such nasty stories about you all the time if you weren't! And why do you keep the place here frozen? Why do you keep Zeegwun locked up? What's the point?"

"You truly are sheltered," Kabebonikka said, pursing his lips. "Firstly, it's quite dull being a nice friendly Wind, like Little Brother Wabun and Little Brother-Sister Shawondassee. Do you ever hear of anyone holding them in respect? People fear the wabanos more than they do their namesake. There's more than one benefit to be had in being such a way."

"If you want everybody to hate you," Winter Born said shortly.

His mouth twitched. "Actually, it is sometimes better to be hated than liked." He shifted his arms. "What if I were to just take all my ice and leave this place right now, little winter girl...just up and go? And take all of the cold and the Wendigoes with me? Set Zeegwun free, let him do his thing, and head to the north and never come back. What if I decided to let it be spring and summer all the year? Or, at the most, if I just let a little bit of fluffy snow fall for a few moons, and then retreated?"

"At least that would be a whole lot better," Winter Born said. "Do you know how hard it is in winter? When you make it so cold and windy and stuff? The animals all hide, and the water freezes over, and the wigwams are so cold! Last winter a spark flew out of the fire and nearly landed on my head!" She grimaced and patted at her hair as if in memory. "Mother said I was born in winter...and it was so cold out there in the woods, Father was sure she would freeze! And everybody down in that camp isn't any better off...they all look so skinny and afraid...and you send WENDIGOES after them all the time! What kind of life is that? And you killed off that fellow who was helping us!" Her eyes watered up at the memory.

"His was not much of a life anymore as it is," Kabebonikka replied.

Winter Born's face screwed up. "THAT'S NOT UP TO YOU TO DECIDE!"

"You think it would be so much better if I made it easier on all of you," Kabebonikka interrupted, and she fell silent. "Took away the snow and cold and Wendigoes, and left all in peace. You should know right now. None of these people would be alive right now if not for me."

Winter Born opened her mouth to yell back, then actually realized what he'd said, then shut it. Her brow furrowed. "Huh...?" she asked again, confused. "What do you mean? All you do is make it harder for them...!"

"Exactly," Kabebonikka said. "And if Zeegwun were down there all the time, they would all be dead by now. You don't seem to realize something that even your flame-haired friend realized long ago, little winter girl, and this is that for every good thing, there must be a bad thing, otherwise everything may as well be over with. If I did not bother bringing this and any other place ice and snow and Wendigoes, you would all grow soft, and none of you would ever have any idea what to do with yourselves the moment a calamity arises. What do you do when winter starts to come to your Island--?"

"Duh! We store food and strengthen the wigwams!" Winter Born said, before shutting her mouth again, eyes growing.

Kabebonikka's mouth twitched again. "Because you expect that something bad might befall you if you don't," he said, and she had to keep herself from nodding. "You expect food to run out--so you make sure to kill a little more game, pluck a few more berries. You expect times to be hard--so you store food under the ground. You expect the wind to start blowing--so you fortify your homes. You expect to freeze if you go out as you are--so you sew robes and mitts and hoods. You do a hundred things like this for the winter, and a hundred things for the summer, and a hundred things in between, 'just in case.' You toss tobacco on the water just in case a Lynx should pop up. You apologize when you pluck a plant just in case its manitou will be offended. You avoid places your mother told you to keep away from just in case something bad should be living there. If there were no nasty things to keep you prepared 'just in case'...then where would you be the next time something or somebody comes for that Island of yours...?"

Winter Born took in a breath. "The--the Island--?" she blurted out.

"Take a look at your flame-haired friend," the manitou replied. "Even she comes prepared now, in case she should have a repeat of her first time there. And take a look, it pays off...you would have everything in the world be right? And let everyone go weak, and useless, and practically helpless? Here's a bit of wisdom, little winter girl. It's the mean manitous who will teach you more, and strengthen you more, and help you more than any of the friendly ones." He tilted his head. "This land is not a friendly one. These people would have died if Zeegwun had continued to visit. I find their struggles rather amusing to watch...and it's true that one or two of them do get picked off here and there...but I would have thought you would find that better than the entire camp being wiped out, wouldn't you?"

Winter Born started gnawing on her lip. "What's this have to do with me, though?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

The corner of Kabebonikka's mouth twisted up. "Actually, it's exactly the same thing. I rather believe I know why your friend has failed to teach you so far. That medicine of yours seems like it could be quite a challenge, even for her. I sense that she's not quite right with it. Do you know what you reminded her of, when you lost your temper there--?" When Winter Born's brow furrowed, he gestured at the wall. She turned to look and saw what looked to be snakes of light forming, twisting and twining around something dark...as soon as she could make out what it was, she took in a shaky breath and hurriedly backed away from the wall, starting to shake. She whirled on Kabebonikka.

"That--that can't be true!!" she yelled, voice breaking. "Charmian would NEVER compare me to Ocryana!"

"Really?" Kabebonikka mused, rubbing his chin. "Then why is it that she's neglected to teach you your powers so far...?"

"She said she doesn't KNOW what she can teach me, that's why!" Winter Born cried. "I'm not like Ocryana at all! She tried hurting the Island and everything--I'd never do that!"

"I suggest you speak with your friend then," Kabebonikka replied, "and see just what she has to say about it." He lifted his hand and the image shifted into one of the glacial pass between the mountains; Winter Born blinked, then moved toward it again, peering up. She could make out the three tiny figures making their way back down, and let out a breath of relief.

"They're okay!" she exclaimed.

"Of course," Kabebonikka said. "I rather thought it would be fair to give them a head start before the fun begins." He smirked. "So to speak." He watched their progress himself for a few moments, Winter Born leaning forward to press her hands against the ice. "Would you care to see something even more interesting?" the North Wind asked; she bit her lip, looking up at him uncertainly.

"It doesn't involve Wendigoes, does it...?" she asked.

His blue eyes narrowed in amusement. "Actually, it does. But don't worry, because your friend isn't the only one I'm interested in at the moment." He waved. "Take a look."

Winter Born turned back to the wall. The image shifted, growing darker, and she had to squint to see; it was a moment or two before she could make out two dim forms moving along, clambering up the smaller mountain to the other side of the one she was within, the one which Charmian hadn't climbed. She pressed her nose to the ice.

"Little Wind!" she exclaimed. "And that big nasty manitou!" For there could be no mistake that that's who it was, both of them leaning into the wind as they climbed. The mitchi manitou seemed to be having relatively little trouble, though Little Wind stumbled quite a few times, nearly falling once or twice. Winter Born couldn't hear them but she could see the anger flash in the manitou's eyes.

She turned back to Kabebonikka. "THOSE are the ones chasing us!" she cried. "They've been doing all sorts of nasty things! The manitou killed off a bunch of the little forest people, and the little stone people, and that medicine man made us kill a Thunderbird!" She hurried toward him and grasped onto his robe. "You can't let them come up here and find out where we are! We'll never get west if they do!"

The North Wind raised an eyebrow. "You think I care much about the Pukwudjininees or the Animiki or whatnot...?" he asked, and Winter Born's tugging lessened, and she started gnawing on her lip, her eyes growing wet. He snorted. "Fortunately...today is your lucky day. Those two do not have the head start that I promised your friends...and seeing as I'm so dreadfully bored watching their descent, I think I might interfere with these two's ascent. I rather get the feeling they wouldn't be nearly as courteous as you and your friends were when you came up here, after all." He took a step back from the wall and pulled his hands from his sleeves. "Make no mistake, I don't do this out of any fondness for your cause."

Winter Born's brow furrowed. Kabebonikka turned around and stepped toward the middle of the cave, halting and looking up at the ceiling; Winter Born did the same, seeing nothing at first. Then, she thought that she could just barely see something open impossibly far above, but had no idea what it could be. The cave suddenly grew icy cold then, and she gasped and shivered, rubbing her arms and turning her attention back to Kabebonikka. His back was to her, but he was now holding his hands out somewhat at his sides, long bony fingers spread wide, and his long white hair slowly drifted up into the air around him. Winter Born's eyes widened and she started slowly creeping around him to get a better look. She paused when she was some distance off to his side, seeing how his mouth was open and he seemed to be talking to the top of the mountain, yet she couldn't hear him saying anything. His eyes were glowing even more brightly than before, and she could no longer see the pupils. She squinted at the darkened ceiling again, still unsure about what she was looking at.

Kabebonikka sucked in a breath and flung his hands upward. Winter Born squeaked and threw her own arms over her head when a gale arose out of nowhere, tearing at her hair and clothes and screaming around the cave. She managed to open one eye a sliver--it immediately teared up--to see the way that the wind whirled around Kabebonikka himself, making his robe flail and his hair whip around him as if it were a living thing. Her eye widened to see the ghastly grin he now wore, his teeth as pointed as knives, and his eyes flashing like sunlight on the lakes. He threw his hands upward again, and immediately the gale swooshed up at the ceiling and out of the cave, leaving a terrible ringing silence in Winter Born's ears. She winced and rubbed at them just to make sure that she hadn't gone deaf somehow.

Kabebonikka let out an odd harsh barking sound--like a laugh--and flung his hand at the opposite wall. Winter Born blinked, then saw motion from the first wall, and turned to look. She was still looking at Little Wind and the mitchi manitou...yet now a harsh wind was whipping around them, and their struggles to climb were only increased, the manitou halting completely and Little Wind even letting out a silent yell and nearly falling over the edge. She stared at them for a moment before dashing back to the wall to get a better look. The mitchi manitou appeared to be whistling angrily at the young wabano, who clutched at the frozen rock and struggled to pull himself up. Then both of them froze where they were, and glanced upward--at what, Winter Born couldn't tell.

She took in a breath and again pressed her nose to the ice. "Ohhh...what is it, what is it?" she asked, hopping up and down. "What are they looking at--?"

As if in answer, an immense shadow fell over the two; she saw their eyes widen, then the manitou turned and fled, Little Wind clambering up and fleeing after it. They disappeared from her range of vision, but a moment or so later, she saw the shape of a gigantic hand as something passed by and also vanished. Her mouth fell open and she took an involuntary step back.

"A Wendigo--!" She turned to look at the left wall where the entryway was, and saw that the vision had extended over there; she could see the two little shapes racing like mad down the slope of the glacier, stumbling and tripping every so often in their haste. The great shadow of the Wendigo never stopped looming over them--if anything, it seemed to be getting bigger and darker, and she could see the panic on Little Wind's face as he glanced over his shoulder and then ahead again. She put her fingers in her mouth and gnawed on them anxiously; even with as much as the two had done to them, she hated seeing them in such fear.

The two little shapes grew more distant, now running into view on the far wall which Kabebonikka still faced; Winter Born turned to watch. She could see the glacier spreading out ahead of them, leveling off as it stretched onward toward the invisible bay. The wall disappeared into shadow so she couldn't see what lay far ahead of them. They started dashing across this gently sloping expanse, and as if out of nowhere the Wendigo appeared, clambering after them on all fours, leaving footprints as big as large ponds behind it. It lifted its hand to either swipe them up or smash them into pulp, Winter Born didn't know which, and she gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, fearful of what she might see.

She heard Kabebonikka's robe rustle and heard him take a breath of his own. Then the mountain shook, just faintly.

Don't look don't look don't look--!

Winter Born's eye cracked open.

Then grew wider.

Then her mouth fell open again, and she lifted her head, staring at the giant fallen form of the Wendigo now sprawled out across the glacier, looking quite dead.

Continue:

Part 115: Over, Under, Around, Through  (13+) X'aaru, Winter Born, and Mishosha start off their separate ways... #1844778 by Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

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