The Dakini Hunt (Pt. 2) (IC)

[DukeVan Acker]

My tai chi practice on the beach was disturbed by rumbling deep underground. I froze. Maybe just a small earthquake, but more likely this was a taste of things to come. Dakini was reclaiming its privacy, whether I was ready or not. I packed my yukata into a small backpack and headed east along the coast.

Soon I came across the Guild's gazebo, flickering images of active Companions illuminating the interior. I glanced at my own intensely goofy portrait (alongside the exotic representations of Jie Cai and Qi Zhi), but didn't take time to reminisce. I had to make my way through that jungle path to Bai Xian, and I had never gone unaccompanied. There was a very good chance I would get lost.

It turns out I didn't. I knew exactly where I was at all times. However, I did lose the path through the dense undergrowth, so the end result was no different. After about a 30 minutes, I reemerged from the jungle about where I started and sighed.

Well, if I couldn't go through, I'd go around. I slipped out of my clothes, and shoved them unceremoniously into my waterproof pack. Reaching the edge of the water, I waded in. It wasn't deep, was quite warm, and I could follow the jungle-choked coast for quite easily. Minutes later I heard the sound of a trumpeting elephant, and I knew where I was. The entrance to Bai Xian house. And my next Dakini.

“Knocking, Splashing... how is the temperature of the sea today?”

Hovering nearby was another egg-shaped object. A vaguely paleolithic maternal image of a woman (in a dress?) beckoned from within. I drug myself to the shore, panting a little and plopped down on the soft sand. It was soft and cool, but I felt a little self-conscious. I unzipped my pack and pulled out my yukata and Camyo.

“Image recognition,” I mumbled to my eye.

Matriarchal Mahabire

Dakiini (Vajrayogini)

One of the eight heroines of the body Heruka in Tibetan Buddhism

“Open up to the new wave!” it intoned.

“Way ahead of you, Mahabire, that's why I was playing the Pet Shop Boys here last month,” I murmured to myself, tying my obi haphazardly and standing up for a quick snap.

I sat on the beach for about a half hour, listening to the waves and trying not to listen to the numerous frogs just out of sight. Bai Xian. It would be gone soon. Or at least inaccessible. I'd take one last tour. But not like like this; in my sandy yukata I felt somehow disrespectful. Opening my bag I pulled out my crumpled jacket and pants and changed before heading across the narrow metal bridge.

“Priestess Aleeri?” I shouted, my voice echoing. No answer. I hadn't really expected one. She likely had business elsewhere. I climbed the steep metal stairs up to the top of the house. The place was stripped and deserted, bu the view of Dakini Land was stunning, the central mountain jutting skywards majestically. I looked over the railing and down to the water below.

What would happen to Bai Xian's most popular 'guest”? Below the acolyte dorms and classrooms there was a 'secret' lab with a giant pool, and in that pool was a mysterious creature whose purpose there I had never questioned. It seemed unlikely he was being experimented on; that did not seem particularly Companion-like. Was he there for treatment? Was he hiding?

And was he even still there? I hopped downstairs to the platform closest to the water. It lapped gently against the side of the platform. Security was lax, and with a few key presses on a security pad, the wall slid slowly open, revealing individually lit stairs leading to a platform and a lit console. Was our friend still there? I peered into the dimly lit interior.

He was, looking not unhappy, a strange merman that looked more mer than man. It had raised itself halfway out of the water, and it gazed at me with its unblinking eyes. I wonder if it realized this would not longer be its home. I wondered how it felt about that. I waved nervously, and closed the door again. 

I'm sure it'd be fine. I could trust the Priestesses would know what to do. I crossed the bridge back to the the shore and took one long last look at Bai Xian. I would never see it again.