Post by Oren on May 28, 2010 23:18:18 GMT -6
My name is Kagi. This is the fifth and final journal in a short series accounting the lives of two young men, one being myself and the other being a man named Jiyuu.
It is the third week of spring and so much life is teeming out of the dead matter that has scattered the ground for the past few months. Jiyuu and Aisha are coming down from the mountain today. No one ever understands how their families manage the cold winters up on those icy slopes. We down in the valley barely survive ourselves. Its a true wonder that they are going to return. This is their first winter as husband and wife, and many doubt that they will actually return. There is a strange tradition in their family that denotes that they, as a newly-wed couple, must spend their first winter alone one the very crest of the mountain. If anyone in this land had the resources to climb that summit, I would already be at the top. Alas, their families are the only ones with the power and have already denied my request.
They made it! I can't believe it! I was working on the fence, fixing a few boards, when Jiyuu's voice shouting from behind me! He and Aisha both were there, walking calmly as if they hadn't just accomplished the impossible! Even more, Aisha is Pregnant! My fiancee Mika came over as soon as she heard! She and Aisha are the best of friends and none in the village are more happy than she and I that those two are safe! There will be a huge celebration tomorrow because of their safe return. For now, they are sleeping in my spare bedroom. Because they married just before winter, they have yet to build a house and I am more than willing to let them stay with me.
It's almost been a week. Jiyuu and Aisha are building a house a few miles away. the only thing that confuses me is that it's closer to the mountain than any other house. Was it that great up there? The land isn't even as fertile where they are currently, and the rocks are more plentiful than fall leaves! I don't know what fever has seized those two, but I don't like it. They are setting themselves up for disaster.
Aisha had a miscarriage last night... Jiyuu is crushed. They've both been weeping all morning. I myself have shed a decent amount of tears. Mika is in the kitchen right now making them lunch. I've been outside fixing fences. Their families were here this morning when we arrived. There seemed to have been some type of ceremony happening. I didn't get a good look because they stopped as soon as they noticed us. I've never seen those people looking so solemn and disheartened. I heard one of them whisper something about children of their family never dying and that Aisha had brought bad luck upon Jiyuu. I still can't believe this.
It's been two weeks since the miscarriage. Jiyuu is back working in the fields and Aisha is acting almost completely normal. Mika and I both know that those two are hurt so much more than they are letting on. The spark that was in Jiyuu's eyes has left. Same with Aisha. They seem devoid of any life. It's as if they are stuck in some routine that they can never end. I asked Jiyuu the other day if they were going to try for another one. He shook his head and said that cultural laws demanded that they don't. I still don't understand why he follows those stupid things. They put too much demand on he and Aisha. It isn't fair, to them or to their friends.
The day of my and Mika's wedding is finally here! After today we will be living together on my farm! I'm so happy I could float! In fact, I feel like I am floating! Oh! Here is Jiyuu! It's time for the ceremony!
After all of my preparation and hard work, after all the times I've been there for him, why did he have to leave?! His evil family came and took both him and Aisha away in the middle of the ceremony! Nothing I said could convince him to stay! Nothing!! What was so important that he had to miss my wedding?! I am his best friend! Couldn't he have told those snakes to wait?! Do I not mean more to him than that brood of vipers?! Those seclusive little worms are not fit to be compared with the dirt under my nails! Who do they think they are, disrupting a wedding ceremony? There should be nothing that couldn't have waited!
It's the beginning of harvest. Jiyuu and Aisha have been over to help bring in the crop every day, insisting that their own fields have been taken care of. I still don't understand them. I thought I knew them so well. Mika shares my concerns. She told me that when she asked Aisha about it she had smiled and said, "It's a secret." Jiyuu once promised me that he wouldn't become one of them, one like his family, but we keep seeing less and less of them. When we visit, they always seem paranoid and say that they should be the ones visiting us, not the other way around. I keep getting more and more worried that I am going to lose them altogether one day.
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
It is the third week of spring and so much life is teeming out of the dead matter that has scattered the ground for the past few months. Jiyuu and Aisha are coming down from the mountain today. No one ever understands how their families manage the cold winters up on those icy slopes. We down in the valley barely survive ourselves. Its a true wonder that they are going to return. This is their first winter as husband and wife, and many doubt that they will actually return. There is a strange tradition in their family that denotes that they, as a newly-wed couple, must spend their first winter alone one the very crest of the mountain. If anyone in this land had the resources to climb that summit, I would already be at the top. Alas, their families are the only ones with the power and have already denied my request.
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
They made it! I can't believe it! I was working on the fence, fixing a few boards, when Jiyuu's voice shouting from behind me! He and Aisha both were there, walking calmly as if they hadn't just accomplished the impossible! Even more, Aisha is Pregnant! My fiancee Mika came over as soon as she heard! She and Aisha are the best of friends and none in the village are more happy than she and I that those two are safe! There will be a huge celebration tomorrow because of their safe return. For now, they are sleeping in my spare bedroom. Because they married just before winter, they have yet to build a house and I am more than willing to let them stay with me.
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
It's almost been a week. Jiyuu and Aisha are building a house a few miles away. the only thing that confuses me is that it's closer to the mountain than any other house. Was it that great up there? The land isn't even as fertile where they are currently, and the rocks are more plentiful than fall leaves! I don't know what fever has seized those two, but I don't like it. They are setting themselves up for disaster.
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
Aisha had a miscarriage last night... Jiyuu is crushed. They've both been weeping all morning. I myself have shed a decent amount of tears. Mika is in the kitchen right now making them lunch. I've been outside fixing fences. Their families were here this morning when we arrived. There seemed to have been some type of ceremony happening. I didn't get a good look because they stopped as soon as they noticed us. I've never seen those people looking so solemn and disheartened. I heard one of them whisper something about children of their family never dying and that Aisha had brought bad luck upon Jiyuu. I still can't believe this.
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
It's been two weeks since the miscarriage. Jiyuu is back working in the fields and Aisha is acting almost completely normal. Mika and I both know that those two are hurt so much more than they are letting on. The spark that was in Jiyuu's eyes has left. Same with Aisha. They seem devoid of any life. It's as if they are stuck in some routine that they can never end. I asked Jiyuu the other day if they were going to try for another one. He shook his head and said that cultural laws demanded that they don't. I still don't understand why he follows those stupid things. They put too much demand on he and Aisha. It isn't fair, to them or to their friends.
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
The day of my and Mika's wedding is finally here! After today we will be living together on my farm! I'm so happy I could float! In fact, I feel like I am floating! Oh! Here is Jiyuu! It's time for the ceremony!
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
After all of my preparation and hard work, after all the times I've been there for him, why did he have to leave?! His evil family came and took both him and Aisha away in the middle of the ceremony! Nothing I said could convince him to stay! Nothing!! What was so important that he had to miss my wedding?! I am his best friend! Couldn't he have told those snakes to wait?! Do I not mean more to him than that brood of vipers?! Those seclusive little worms are not fit to be compared with the dirt under my nails! Who do they think they are, disrupting a wedding ceremony? There should be nothing that couldn't have waited!
|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|
It's the beginning of harvest. Jiyuu and Aisha have been over to help bring in the crop every day, insisting that their own fields have been taken care of. I still don't understand them. I thought I knew them so well. Mika shares my concerns. She told me that when she asked Aisha about it she had smiled and said, "It's a secret." Jiyuu once promised me that he wouldn't become one of them, one like his family, but we keep seeing less and less of them. When we visit, they always seem paranoid and say that they should be the ones visiting us, not the other way around. I keep getting more and more worried that I am going to lose them altogether one day.
