Slanted Determination

"You're a priest."

"What?" Mehkayo asked blankly as his head throbbed. He was finding it hard to focus, so figured he had to have misunderstood what the man had said. He was generally confused on all other counts while he was at it, but the man talking to him seemed important.

"You are a priest," the man repeated, stopping near him on the bed.

"I don't understand."

"There's a reason we say the gods give your sorron power, Mr. Sallen," the man returned. "It was a religion that developed with roots back in Norse mythology...before the time of Christianity."

Mehkayo nodded, realizing that Micah was sitting in a chair near him.

He was in the hospital.

Mehkayo rubbed at his temples a moment, shaking his head.

"It explains it, Kayo," Sierra muttered, moving to the foot of the bed. "It explains all of it."

"Of it?" the man asked, focusing on her. "What do you mean?"

"Wait a minute," Mehkayo muttered, shaking his head. "I can't be...a priest," he muttered, looking up. "I didn't do any schooling."

"Not that kind of priest," Sierra muttered, moving around to rub his leg and sit at the foot of the bed...the hospital bed.

Mehkayo looked around, noting that Corey was in a chair a ways off, watching quietly.

"How you feeling?" Micah asked.

"My head hurts...badly," Mehkayo returned. "Why...I..." he blinked a few times, then jumped at his friend, pulling him from the chair to look him over. "Micah! Are you okay? Are you all right? They didn't hurt you..."

"Kayo! Kayo," Micah tried to pull away, starting to laugh when Mehkayo started to grab his shirt. "Do not strip me," he noted.

Mehkayo stopped, his heart pounding as he studied his friend's eyes.

"I'm fine," Micah muttered, fixing his shirt. "Nothing happened."

Mehkayo's eyes landed on the large bruise on his throat, then frowned as he looked up.

"I'm fine," Micah repeated seriously, his eyes flicking to the other man. "Nothing actually happened."

Mehkayo nodded, re-gathering himself as he thought, then turned to look at the man in disbelief. "How can I be a priest if I'm a christian?"

"It's not that kind of priest," the man noted, moving around the bed. "You should probably sit down."

The officer sat tiredly, studying Micah over again. It had taken him a bit to realize why he was in the hospital at all, and remembering the events leading up to it... "How long was I out?"

"All night," Micah explained. "They're all dying to poke and prod at me, but I decided I'm not doing anything without my officer—I don't know about you, but the exams they want to do scare me."

Mehkayo grinned slightly at him, then started rubbing his neck. "I'm sorry."

"We want to train you," the man muttered quickly.

"Why don't you come back when I've had some time to talk to my friends?" Mehkayo snapped, turning to look at him in disbelief. "I'm glad you can explain to me what the hell just happened, but I really want to discuss personal matters and you make it hard to do."

"Damn hard," Micah muttered darkly.

Mehkayo focused on him.

"I'm...sorry," the man muttered, embarrassed as he started to back away. "It's just...I'll leave these here for you," he muttered, showing a pamphlet and a card. He set those on the small table, then darted out of the room.

"Wow," Mehkayo muttered as Corey moved to stand beside Sierra wordlessly. "He was like...normal."

"You can apologize later," Micah noted, rubbing at his throat.

"What happened?"

"After he took the phone?" Micah asked, meeting his friend's eyes again. "I tried to get to the doors, but he knew you'd said something to me...on the call back after you'd disappeared he had a minor freak out and probably would have..." he stopped. "I was at the top of the stairs," he muttered instead, looking away. "He shoved me against the door."

"Ah," Mehkayo nodded, looking down.

"He was...he's so fucking petty," Micah noted irritably, rising to his feet and moving to stand at the room's emergency exit. "It was stupid. He was apologizing to me until he got pissed at you, and then he just wanted to hurt you...it was...so pointless."

Mehkayo hesitated, glancing sidelong at Sierra, who was looking out the window herself. "How are you?" Mehkayo muttered quietly.

"Pissed," Micah noted. "It was all...stupidity."

Mehkayo nodded.

"He just wanted a ride home," Micah added, turning to meet Mehkayo's eyes. "That's all he wanted."

Mehkayo dropped his eyes.

"Talk about the king of pointless shit," Micah noted, moving to drop beside Mehkayo on the bed. "Gross stupidity and slanted determination...useless, hopeless, and fucking hapless."

"How'd you sleep?"

"Like a baby," Micah noted, staring at the chair he'd been in. "Mase is gonna have a hay-day when he finds that out."

Mehkayo didn't say anything, not sure what there was to say...and Sierra was trying really hard not to think.

"What's the etymology of hay-day?" Corey muttered, looking toward the far wall.

They all turned to look at him.

He looked around a moment, then grinned slightly guiltily. "Sorry."

"Why the hell would we know the etymology of anything?" Sierra asked him blankly.

Corey grinned at her. "You know everything, serraf."

She gave him an arch look.

"Um..." he patted down his pockets before pulling out a small chocolate bar and offering it to her with a smile.

Sierra took the thing from him, giving him a look as she started un-wrapping it.

Mehkayo and Micah grinned knowingly at each other, but decided to let it lie.

- -

People greeted Micah left and right as he moved into the office again, lining up the comments he wanted to make to Miss Judy when he saw her and trying to forget the exam he'd been put through. It wasn't as bad as he'd imagined it would be, but whatever they'd put on his throat over that bite-mark stung.

"You like being on the news, don't you?" someone teased from up the hall.

"Oh sure," Micah called back as he neared his office. "How would you like to be stuck in an employee lounge for hours on end with two level nine maniacs?"

"Holy shit, Ryan!" the guy returned. "You're insane!"

"I'm gettin' there," he agreed, pushing into his office with Mehkayo a few steps down the hall behind him. Sierra was getting them coffee.

"Hey, Core," Micah started, assuming the guy would already be in the office, but hesitating when the room didn't seem right. He looked around, focusing almost instantly on Judy, who was standing by his desk with her arms crossed.

"Corey's coming up behind," Mehkayo noted.

"Safe, huh?" Micah demanded of the woman, not acknowledging his friend.

She started to open her mouth.

"I was under the impression," he cut her off, "that the word safe didn't leave a lure in a room with two maniacs for fifteen hours, or whatever the fuck the official count was."

"Seventeen hours and thirty five minutes," Mehkayo noted. "But who was counting?"

"And oh," Micah added after glancing over his shoulder, tossing his jacket onto Sierra's chair. "Let's not forget just who I was stuck with."

Judy's expression clouded.

"And my officer was on the premise," Micah added, stopping near her with his arms crossed. "But he couldn't get to me because of your...security. The same security you insisted we had to have...that was at fault for my sudden hostage situation." He turned to look at Mehkayo as Corey entered the room hesitantly behind. "Hostage gives it all new layers of meaning, huh?" He turned back to the woman, "and let's not forget this," he muttered, rubbing at his throat as he studied her. "I'm not promising anything right now, but if I stay on this job, I'm not going anywhere I don't want to without my officer and...or...my sorron."

She looked out the window in thought a moment, then met his eyes. "I wasn't waiting here to let you bitch at me."

"Maybe you should think about doing that some time," Micah suggested, narrowing his eyes at her. "It implies that you know you made a mistake."

"I'm here to apologize," she snapped.

"Because you weren't at fault at all," he muttered, shifting away from her. "You need to leave."

"I never meant for you to get harmed in any way," she noted, starting for the doors. "I never expected anything like this to happen."

"Isn't that the point?" Micah asked, looking her over. "The idea entered my mind, and I'm just being paranoid, but when it happens it was an unforeseen possibility, a one in a million chance. You need to listen to more than yourself, Mrs. Rebbon. Entertain the notion that other people might have valid ideas some time...maybe then the stress of the world won't be on your shoulders alone."

She drew herself up and looked away from him before leaving the room wordlessly.

Micah dropped into his chair, folding forward to rest his chin on his arms...on his knees.

"You sit like that all the time," Corey muttered, scattering chocolate kisses over Sierra's keyboard negligently. "Is that comfortable?"

"It's gotta be fetal," Micah returned, studying the guy. "You trying to subvert my sorron?"

Corey stopped, focusing on him in mild disbelief.

"She's coming," Mehkayo noted.

"What?" Corey looked down the hall, seeing only the other office workers moving around doing their normal business.

"Can't you feel her?" Mehkayo asked, blinking between them both.

"I always feel her, Kayo," Micah muttered. "I don't know any more than that until she's within about ten feet of me."

"I...don't feel anything," Corey noted, looking around as he thought.

"She's...in the lobby," Mehkayo muttered, blinking as he realized he knew that...as well as the fact that Erin was in the next room over in deep contemplation. On top of that, there were other pin-pricks of light throughout the entire building.

He closed his eyes, focusing on that as names and faces flashed through his memory—power signatures. It was like smelling Sierra's perfume when you didn't realize she was the next isle over in the same store...

"I'd think you'd have had this power the entire time," Corey protested, studying him over with interest. "But you didn't used to feel her like that, did you?"

"No," Mehkayo agreed, moving to close the office door. "If she's to properly appreciate her chocolate, we have to act nonchalant."

Corey grinned, gathering up Micah's jacket and moving to organize his things in his makeshift personal space as Mehkayo tossed his jacket aside and logged onto his computer. Micah had straightened and was doing the same thing.

"Coffee," Sierra proclaimed, bouncing into the room. "And I was hungry, so I picked up bage..." she trailed off, spotting the candy and looking between her two friends an instant before focusing on the grin Corey was trying to conceal.

"That's making my stomach rumble," Mehkayo muttered, moving to relieve her of her burden.

She turned with a slight smile to study the candy obviously before turning to look at the three males pointedly.

"You hungry, Mike?" Mehkayo added easily.

"Mike?" Micah asked skeptically, accepting a cup from the guy and refusing the food. "I'm still nauseas."

Sierra smiled happily at Mehkayo, taking a cup from him and turning to study their student with a smile.

He grinned proudly at her, taking the cup and looking away.

"That's sweet, Corey," she muttered. "It's nice to know someone cares."

He almost blushed and nodded as he turned quickly back to his things.

"Not to break the moment," Mehkayo noted, "but things kinda lurched about an hour or two ago...and I'd really love it if you could explain to me what that nice man meant by priest."

Sierra giggled, gathering up one of her chocolates to eat before piling the rest neatly beside her keyboard. "It's a term...like maniac or sorron." She dropped into her chair and turned to look at Corey a moment. "We need to get him a desk."

"He's only here another...what? Three months, max?" Micah asked curiously. "He's done three months like that no problem."

"You're bad," Sierra informed him. "Come on, Corey. It's story time with your sorron."

He grinned, gathering up his coffee and sliding his chair over to sit beside her a Mehkayo sighed and rolled himself there and Micah moved a moment later to join the huddle.

"I suppose I should start with the power itself," she added, sliding down in her seat to consider her lessons. "It started as an anomaly in human development...at least, that's what's assumed. The religion itself developed as most of these things do, and the hierarchy of the clergy was based on their specific abilities. Once upon a time, I'd be the priestess I'm called, you'd be the priest we now know you are," she indicated Mehkayo, then Micah, "and you'd be a novice at some varying level...and you," she noted to Corey. "We'd have been schooled in the runes, the use of what powers we possessed, and the gods. Whoever of us," she indicated her officer again, "was more powerful would have more rank...and I just want to let you know that you've made things very sticky, blind-siding us all like that."

"I grew up with you," Mehkayo retorted. "I've always been able to do things I shouldn't—if you recall, we decided it was because we're so damn close."

She giggled at that, nodding as she thought. "The problem you will probably run into is belief," she added, studying Mehkayo over. "You have to believe in the gods before you can invoke them...and you invoked them."

He stared at her. "But...I'm...christian."

"Exactly," she agreed. "The marking is in your blood, but to...to say English words and have them responded to instantly...you believe in the gods."

"I believe in you," he countered, looking down. "I believe in you, and if you believe, there's something there. Something valid."

"I'm the luckiest damn woman alive," Sierra noted happily to Micah. "Not only do I have you, but him, and him," she indicated the other pair as well.

"You want me to bless you?" Micah returned sweetly.

She kicked his shin as Mehkayo elbowed him.

Micah sniggered. "What? She was begging for it..."

"I don't beg," she retorted.

Micah stopped, meeting her eyes.

The sorron grinned, meeting Mehkayo's eyes and studying him a long moment. "The power runs in about five percent of all population...and the power of the sorron is about two percent of that...and priests are one percent of that."

He stared at her.

"World wide, the power isn't so rare as to make you a god amongst mortals, but it does raise you above...even me."

"Nothing brings me above you," he muttered.

Sierra smiled happily at him, looking toward the ceiling a moment before shaking her head and looking back to the guys again. "Basically, he's a fucking strong sorron."

"And I believe in you...and you believe in the gods?" Mehkayo asked, considering it.

"Or maybe you believe in the gods. I do recall you saying something about sacrificing things to me."

He grinned a bit at that.

"Kayo, what did you say?" she asked quietly, leaning forward. "The sorrons who heard you said you were asking favors."

"I called on the gods," he muttered, looking down.

"How?"

"Like that," he returned, feeling the heat in his blood as he looked up to her. "I said that I call on the gods...and just said what I wanted."

She blinked at him.

"Ben retaliated," he noted. "Ben countered me, and that's what made me pass out."

"How could he counter a priest?" she breathed, looking toward the windows.

"Ben is strong," Micah muttered, rubbing at his throat. "He's a level nine...the full moon hurts him, remember? On the nights of no-moon he was probably as strong as you."

"I don't have enough answers," she muttered, pressing her fingertips to her temples. "I don't understand...we need to call Benet back."

"Benet?"

"The man you were rude to this morning," Sierra agreed distantly, snatching another candy and unwrapping it as she thought. "He'll be able to give us more answers...and help you."

"I don't think I need much help," Mehkayo muttered, feeling cold. The heat had dissipated. "Just maybe in refraining..."

"There's no reason to refrain," Sierra noted. "I know of no reason to refrain."

He grinned, meeting her eyes. "I'll do it all the same until they've crammed lessons down my throat, huh?"

She smiled slightly, then frowned and looked to Micah.

"Hm?"

"Are you...staying?" she asked quietly. "We don't know how hard this will affect your psyche...and your shrink already said he'd rather you quit. Are you gonna..."

"And what would I do if I did?" Micah returned, grinning slightly. "I know where I belong, here, Bambi. I belong at the extension of your arm."

"Poetic," Corey noted.

Micah studied the boy and smiled very slightly. "When you have your very own sorron you'll understand exactly what I mean."

"So Sierra can't be mine?" Corey pouted.

Sierra rolled her eyes.

"Mm-mm," Micah agreed, shaking his head in negation, "I don't share well."

- -

E/N: I updated this chapter on 10-09-08.