Behind the Curtain

“We would rather that you did not touch that”, the softly spoken voice pressed under their teeth.

Goober stepped back. He had opened the lid on a carved sandalwood box and was just about to lift the golden egg from it when a hand firmly pressed down on his.

“This was a memento from many centuries ago … brought to us by the great Jak - it was a gift from the Heavens legend has it,” the Sage said pointing to the sky, annoyingly, as if Goober thought the Heavens were up, and not lateral.

Goober had wanted to see how heavy this egg was, and to rattle it, to find if anything was inside it at all. It might have been one of those magic eggs that had another egg concealed inside. He sighed. When Puck had suggested a get-a-way he had pictured a sauna day spa and detox - not this silent retreat in the snowy mountains.

“Can I look behind that curtain?” he asked, behaving like a bored child.

“No, no you cannot go behind that curtain”, the Sensei said firmly. “That leads to a place only the initiates can enter … ”

“Ordinary?” Now Goober was offended - and it took a lot to offend the gentle giant.

“Let me put it another way: It is a private latrine. Ignore the silk curtains - you really do not want to see what is on the other side.”

"Oh great" - thought Goober to himself, another let down. He looked sideways at Puck who was speaking with a a lay monk holding a tray of candles.

“What time is dinner?” he asked.

“We have had already enjoyed our one meal of the day but there are a few pamphlets outside on the porch table displaying delivered goods that are available and local.”

Puck called out from behind him cheerfully “Uber Goober?”

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

Mini Break

“Well, hows about … you and me take a holiday - a mini break of sorts? …”

Goober eyed Puck suspiciously - the last ‘mini break’ was in some war zone, and the stress just thinking about it made his hives itch again.

“No”, reading his mind, Puck replied - “I was thinking more of a health resort - we could see what the humans are doing these days with detox and anti-tox.”

“What’s antitox?”

“Simply put, one is a flushing of toxins from your system and the other is not putting them in, in the first place.”

“Will they serve Elven cuisine?”
“I imagine not.”

Goober was a little deflated - mortals really lacked when it came to their cooking. With a sigh he consented, and then brightened up. “When do we leave?”

A very small sprite rushed by and kicked him in the calf from behind.

“I’ll just get the keys to the barn to Mercurio and we can go straight away.” Puck picked up the sprite by the scruff and turfed him out through the door ahead of him. 

“Best pack for the snow” he added.”


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

The Allergies

Goober was on the couch sipping tea, nursing his congested head.

“You really should see someone about those allergies of yours” Puck said with emphatic concern.

His old pal Goober had reconciled himself to living with snot and coughs and continual headaches - not to mention the anaphylaxis which annoyingly caused him to pass out once a day or more. It was fortunate that he, being an immortal being, was in no great danger from the symptoms themselves … however it did make ‘living’ exceedingly difficult - especially the closer he got to the mortal world, from which his maladies originated from.

His eyes were puffy and red rimmed. “OK, OK - I’m all yours - whatever you suggest, I’m up for” he said in exasperation with himself.

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

Diamond Collection

In the land of Faerie there is a law about magic tokens: and that is, that their powers can go in reverse at any time, unexpectedly.

The same diamond that gave growth and reckoning to Nathanius, was also quite fickle in its properties, and could equally cause chaos and harm to its holder. Puck had recognized this, when Needles had dropped it into Eve’s car, just before the collision.

Puck tossed it up into the air watching the rainbows spark here and there. He then lifted the lid of a rather large stone jar and clink, dropped it in. There it now sat amongst forty or so diamond nuggets of the same. His collection had grown pretty large this century.

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

Azlan Speaks about Listening & Looking

There is a deep magic that few recognise, where in this world, the material world, you can hear what is being said, and from this you may catch the genuine truth thereby.

Often times, if you look at a man or a woman, you may also see the truth about them, especially when their glamor falls away and dissolves in the light of a pure enquiry.

To see and hear plainly the truth of a situation, or state of a soul, the mind and heart can locate the other’s co-ordinates at that moment in time of questioning.

Also, too, one should themselves practice speaking plainly and honestly, using few words unembellished.

Attire yourself according to your own nature, and be comfortable in that.

If you speak falsely your ears will shift their co-ordinates, and discrimination will be skewed with the fancy and fantasy of a troubled mind. For we may easily become confused by our own deceptions.

Equally if we attempt to present ourselves as something we are not, we fail to be able to recognise others for who they are in that moment of time.

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

House of Glass

The house itself was not made of sugar, but of glass. Bricks of glass that had once live insects and small rodents inanimate, suspended within. It gave an eerie appearance to the hut from the outside, to see so many glassy eyes staring out from the glassy bricks; and trails of creatures seemingly crawling up the sides, yet suspended in their thick glassy containment.
Asquith loved to shock the world. At least that is how he saw it. He was a performer that ever sought out a terror-struck audience, one that would feed him the energetic rapture coming from that great surprise. Yet he took it further than most, drawing from those close enough to enter into his curved orbit, a measure of upset that they would carry away, whilst he retained greedily what happiness he had stole from them.

This is how most magicians of the evil variety work. They are vampires who trade the light for the darkness, compelling their audience to believe that they are far grander than they really are - exceptional to creation - all the while their facade magically covers their devilishly corrupted and failing interior.

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

The Magician

“The Magician", the fat man continued, “knows every evil sod from here to Hades”. He laughed. “That fur coach sounds to me a real easy association - he will know. Only my advice is, take him something. He won't warm to you if you go empty handed. It is important to trade. Oh, and be respectful."

“How do we find him?”

“Well, er, he looks like a child but is as old as my grandfather. He wears an emblem around his neck of a hawk eating a rabbit. His house is made of taffy sugar. Asquith is the name he goes by.

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