I sense a disturbance in the Force...

The sound of water falling into the large pool from the falls above was probably the best noise John had heard in a long time, no, it was the best. After departing the Siang Tien Tang and walking into the forest he had found the perfect spot. The Shaman wasn't worried about someone coming across his Air Ship, the crystal in the rudder Zheng used would hide it from anyone walking by.

So John took a seat by the edge of the pool and took a breath or two while closing his eyes to the world around. He let the serenity of the clearing sooth his soul. He let the fresh air clean his lungs and the foulness of the streets of Midgar. He let sound of the rushing water take all his thoughts away leaving a blank slate in his mind.

He began to meditate and focus on the energies flowing around him, the natural magic that was everywhere here in the clearing. He could sense the trees and plants breath while the fish swam in the churning waters of the small pond. A small forest animal approached to drink while Father Sky above gave him warmth and Mother Earth sent him energy through the ground. He was part of the life of the clearing, connected to it all in through the Great Mystery.

But then something came creeping in...or someone. It wasn't an evil presence or a malevolent one. It was...kind of hard to explain. The animal who was drinking just a moment before sensed the presence a second after John and bolted from the small pond crashing through the brush.

The Shaman popped open one eye and looked over to see who had found him.

Raven hacked and slashed with his gunblade through the thick brush near the water falls. He had Serenity perched up on his shoulders as he made his way through the trees. He huffed and puffed random curses every so often, but made sure to keep them incoherent enough that Serenity couldn’t hear them. ”I’m gonna kill her.”

hack, slash, crash

Raven’s face was drenched in sweat and pulled down into a scowl. ”She is soooooooooooooooo grounded for life.”

bash, hack, swipe

Raven could hear Alivia’s giggling laugh could be heard from nearby as she rushed through the under brush, playing “Adventure!” and fighting imaginary monsters. Raven swore loud enough for Serenity to hear that time and she promptly covered her ears. Raven continued to hack and slash his way forward until he came to a small clearing. In the clearing was a large water fall crashing gently into a pond. But Raven didn’t notice that or the man sitting by the water’s edge. He was in to much of an angry rage to notice ”ALIVIA! If you don’t come out here by the count of three, you won’t get dessert at meal time FOR A WEEK!”

There was no response.

”ONE!”

Still no response.

”TWO!!!”

The hurried shuffling of feet could be heard as Alivia scrambled out into the open before her father. He gave her a stern look before pulling Serenity down into one arm and picking Alivia up in the other. Looking at Alivia he said, ”Listen, I didn’t mean to scream and yell, but you have to listen to me. You can’t just run off like that on your own, something could happen to you.”

Alivia, knowing she was in trouble, decided to play it cute. She leaned in and kissed Raven on the nose and said, ”I’m sooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwyyyyyyyyyy, Daddy. I won’t dowit again…”

Raven tried to keep his face as hard as stone. He tried to look as stern as he usually did around people, but he just could not do it with these two. He allowed a smirk to cross his face before he kissed each one on the forehead and turn to leave. But as he turned to leave, he was met with a shocking sight. Sitting by the pond, with one eye open, was a man. Raven smiled uneasily and said, ”He…hehe…Yeah… Sorry about that.” He lifted both of the girls higher up in the air and said, “Kids. What can ya do?”

John opened both eyes when he heard the strong male voice. He saw the girl and the way she was able to turn her father's anger with a smile. It was always grand to see the love between a father and a child, something John never knew form his young life.

The aura of the man was a mix of blue and pink, love and strength. The way he carried himself, his look, all said soldier to John. He could see the man being loyal, a stead fast friend like Wahkan, and just like his friend loyal to a fault which could lead to decisions no one wants to make. Choices with consequences that leave a souls scarred.

"It's all right, I was just resting."

He gave a small wave to the little girl and a nod as he continued.

"You are more than welcomes to stay and enjoy the falls, everyone should see them at least once."

Serenity and Alivia both looked to Raven with excited smiles when the man invited them to stay a while. Raven grimmaced. While a day of relaxing with the girls did have a certain appeal to it, Raven knew he was on a very tight schedual and that Alivia's little games had already set his schedual back even more. But as he looked at their faces, his will to leave fadded. He just couldn't say no to them. Even if the thought of allowing a stranger near them, Raven would allow them to stay.

Raven bent over and placed each of them on the ground and gave them a nod telling them that they could go a head and play. They both shot off straight for the water and began to splash each other in the crystal clear water. Raven stratched and unzipped his combat vest before pealing it off. No need for a bulley proof vest here. He rolled up his sleeves and splashed water in his face before sitting down in the grass and watching his kids.

He turned to the man. "The name is Raven. I hope you don't mind me asking, but why are you out here all alone? These woods can be a dangerous place sometimes, and it's best not to travel alone."

“I have never feared the woods or the creatures that inhabit it. Now for the real world, that’s another story.”

John watched the girls play in the water admiring their carefree attitude. What it was like to be young, to not have a care for anything. Of course he didn’t have that choice now following his path of Shamanism and all it required. Raven probably understood being a soldier and all, the finer focus it took to walk a warrior’s path in this age. Most of the time there was nothing but the path and no one to walk it with you.

“My name is John Greywolf, if you’re here to relax with your children I can fnd another spot..”

Raven leaned back on his elbows as he watched both of his daughters splash and play in the waters. Finally, a chance to relax with them and a total stranger who didn't seem to want to kill him. But when John introduced himself and offered to move to another spot, Raven shot up. "No, no, I couldn't ask you to do that. After all, we were the ones to interupt your rest. If you want, we can go somewhere else so you could get back to... whatever it was you were doing."

Raven quickly gathered up his vest and called both of his daughters out of the waters. At first they rose protests, but as soon as they met their father's gaze, they quickly dashed out of the waters and to his side. Hastily tossing his vest back on without even zipping it up, he pulled both of his daughters close to his side. Damn... I knew the R&R wouldn't last long. Was what Raven thought to himself as he turned to say goodbye to the nice man.

John saw the frustration in Raven's face and body movements, the displeasure at having to leave the falls wasn't to his liking. The Shaman knew that feeling all too well and it wasn't from being disturbed by the girls or Raven himself. It was like a kick to the head to have one's wish taken away and it was exactly that now. He didn't want to have the soldier leave so John held up his hand and spoke quickly.

"No, no, please, stay and enjoy the falls. There's more than enough relaxation to go around.

The two girls gasped and turned to their father. The looks on their faces left Raven only one choice as he smiled. A sudden idea came to John as looked to the girls.

"Say, would you two like to hear a story?"

Raven had already turned to walk away when John had told him that it wasn't a problem. He would walk the girls back to the Kestrel so he could go back to Balamb. So he could go back to work. He wasn't ready to go back to the stress of the real world just yet. The fact that he had gotten just this small impromtu vacation was a miracle. But he wasnt ready for what came out of the shaman's mouth next.

Before he could react, both of his girls had twisted away from his grasp and ran back to the man. They stared at him with wide eyes as Alivia gasped, "A... A stooooooooooooory?" Serenity on the other hand, just stared at him with big brown eyes, eager to hear what the man had to say next.

Raven turned around and raised an eye-brow at the two. He sighed in mock surrender before walking up behind them and saying, "Ok... fine, one story, but then we have to go straight back to the ship. No complaining."

As he sat down behind them, they both clambered on him and finally settled on his lap. All three of them looked at the shaman, awaiting the story he had to tell.

John smiled at the little ones and was pleasantly surprised they were so eager to hear a story from a complete stranger. Only problem was he wasn’t really ready to tell a story, and if he said he didn’t have one it just might drive the girls both to tears. Then, at that moment, a large brightly colored Butterfly floated across the small pond and the Shaman remembered an old story his teacher had told him long ago. Maybe the little ones would like to hear it?

"Would you like to hear the story about Butterflies?" John asked and when the girls nodded eagerly again he started leaning in close to them.

“One day the Great Spirit was resting, sitting, watching some children at play in a village. The children laughed and sang, yet as he watched them, the Great Spirit's heart was sad. He was thinking these children will grow old. their skin will become wrinkled. Their hair will turn gray. Their teeth will fall out. The young hunter's arm will fail. These lovely young girls will grow ugly. The playful puppies will become blind dogs. And those wonderful flowers--yellow and blue, red and purple--will fade. The leaves from the trees will fall and dry up. Already they are turning yellow. Thus the Great Spirit grew sadder and sadder. It was in the fall, and the thought of the coming winter, with its cold and lack of animals and green things made his heart heavy.”

“Yet it was still warm and the sun was shining. The Great Spirit watched the play of sunlight and shadow on the ground, the yellow leaves being carried here and there by the wind. He saw the blueness of the sky, the whiteness of some cornmeal ground by some women. Suddenly he smiled. All those colors, they ought to be preserved. I'll make something to gladden my heart, something for these children to look at and enjoy he said”

“The Great Spirit took out his bag and started gathering things: a spot of sunlight, and handful of blue from the sky, the whiteness from the cornmeal, the shadow of playing children, the blackness of a beautiful girl's hair, the yellow of the falling leaves, the green of the pine needles, the red, purple, and orange of the flowers around him. All these he put into his bag. As an afterthought, he put the songs of birds in, too.”

“Then he walked over to the grassy spot where the children were playing. Children, little children, this is for you, and he said giving them his bag. Open it; there's something nice inside for you, he told them.”

“The children opened the bag, and at once hundreds and hundreds of colored butterflies flew out, dancing around the children's heads, settling on their hair, fluttering up again to sip from this or that flower. And the children, enchanted, said that they had never seen anything so beautiful.”

“The butterflies began to sing, and the children listened smiling.”

“But then a songbird came flying, settling on the Great Spirit's shoulder, scolding him, saying, It's not right to give our songs to these new pretty things. You told us when you made us that every bird would have his own song. And now you've passed them all around. Isn't it enough that you gave your new playthings the colors of the rainbow?”

“You're right, said the Great Spirit. I made one song for each bird, and I shouldn't take what belongs to you.”

“So the Great Spirit took the songs away from the butterflies, and that's why they are silent. Yet the Great Spirit could never take the butterfly's beauty.”

When John was finished he looked to the girls and smiled noting the look in their eyes, even Raven looked a little surprised.