Tu Saves the Day

“I’ve grown rather partial to boiled eggs” said Goober starting in on his fifth one.

Tu looked across the table in disgust. The smell of sulphur, and the crack and crunch of the shell, was truly irritating.

“I need something more, the quiet here is getting on my nerves again.”

Goober took one of the eggs and spun it on the table it kept its momentum for a full minute before wobbling and toppling and sliding to the floor.

“Where would you like to go?” the aged Elvish gardener asked the young Sensei.

“Anywhere but here” he answered dolefully.

This repeating depression was becoming as predictable as the seasons, Goober thought.

“Very well” he said decidedly. His angular face softened and he whispered some words which were inaudible to Tu who now had his head in his hands.

“You’ve had a pretty rugged time Richard, if we go back into the present, you know …it's pretty fast, and, I am worried that with too much pressure again you’ll start drinking and Ill have to pick you up from the road - it's not a good look”, Goober added sincerely.“Richard? Why did you call me Richard just now?”

Goober paused and said casually, “Oh I just think of you more a Richard or a Ricky, than rather Brogan or Tu. Tu does not feel right as a name at all. Besides, what was your name again, before you came to the monastery?”

Tu fell silent. He could not relate to his life before the monastery, it was all a blur. It had felt, in one word, unsatisfactory. Nothing seemed to bring him joy except for the sun the wind and the trees. The city had little to offer - it was all too noisy, and he had not been able to find company that was relatable.

The thing was: Tu had faerie blood and it was this that made him restless. It's not something that you can find in the physical body, it is faerie blood that one carries from one life to the next, from origins and experiences - he just didn’t know it.

Goober would have liked to ask Puck his opinion on this, but Puck had taken himself off somewhere out of contact. And so Goober decided the time was right for a change -

“Hows about a trip to Faerie Land?” he said with all the cheer he could muster.

Tu was unresponsive - it was as though he had not heard him.

Ignoring this Goober continued: “I'm pretty sure you’ll like it there - it might be the getaway you’ve been needing.”

Tu knew that Goober was not one to be sarcastic or whimsical - he was a straight up type of guy - nevertheless he had thought this conversation was pretty empty and very possibly Goober was making fun of him.

“Sure” he replied, “why not? I’ve nothing else planned for tomorrow - let me get my diary out, and I’ll save the day.”

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series