That late afternoon there were four figures on a particular building's roof in Koganei town. The sun was already painting the horizon a glowing yellow color, and they were sitting quietly, having a well-deserved break from the day's exertions. They were seated in four plastic chairs by the little rooftop garden the studio head had caused to be created.
"And that's our story," said the man wearing the small round shades and khaki-colored getup. He held a white scarf in his hands and looked pensively at it from time to time.
"It's hard to believe all of you were able to come here," replied the teenager seated across from him. She was dressed in a jacket and jeans, and her black hair was done up in a ponytail. There was a bean-sized blue apostrophe-shaped mark on her forehead. "And it's hard to believe Miya-sensei was able to call you."
"Well, as Taka-sensei told me," said another young girl, around sixteen years of age, seated to her left, "Father works in mysterious ways." She was garbed in a thick blue outfit and wore spats on her legs. She had a sort of hood pushed back on her nape, and a gas mask with two air bladders at its sides hung by its straps from her neck.
"Father, huh?" said Juna Ariyoshi, giving the girl a lopsided smile.
"What else would I call him?" asked the blue-clad one, Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, smiling back at her new-met companion.
"Well, I can't understand why he won't send us back," replied the fourth person, a man named Donald Curtis. His blue jacket shone with a velvety sheen in the late afternoon light.
The khaki-clad man seated across from Juna put the cheroot he had been holding in a hand to his lips, took a long drag from it, and expelled a large cloud of bluish smoke. It rose and disappeared into the chilly air.
"It's not that he won't send us back," he said finally. "It's that he can't send us back, for reasons which are unclear even to himself."
"Can't you just stay here?" Juna asked.
Nausicaä vigorously shook her head. "No. I need to be with my people. Who knows what might be happening to them now?"
The man with the sunglasses nodded. "I miss Gina," he said quietly. "And Fio. Plus somebody's got to keep those Mamma Aiuto creeps in line."
"Hey!" exclaimed Curtis. "I told you before, choose Gina or choose Fio! You can't have them both!"
"Yes I can. And you can have your friends the air pirates. Good luck trying to find a breath of fresh air when you're among them. I think you'll fit right in."
"Why you slovenly pig--" Curtis stood suddenly, overturning his chair, and held his fists up.
"Please!" said Nausicaä, holding out a pacifying hand. "This isn't the time to be fighting." She brought the hand to her mouth and coughed loudly.
Curtis subsided and lowered his arms. "Sorry, hime-sama." He righted his chair and sat back down. "I too miss my time."
Nausicaä sighed. Everyone else had been able to go back home. The funny little white kodama and dust motes had disappeared at daybreak. The two kids Mei and Satsuki and all the Totoro had taken the bizarre Nekobus back to the countryside. The witch Kiki and her friend Tombo had ridden her broom into a suspiciously dazzling cloud the morning after the party, saying that they had lots of fun and next time could they bring Ursula along? Sheeta and Pazu had taken off in their flyer and vanished into the horizon. Marco and Curtis' love interests Gina and Fio had taken ship with the tanuki, down the nearby river, and since nothing had been heard from them since then, everyone assumed they had been able to return to their respective worlds safely. Even the grim Mononoke-hime San and her consort Ashitaka had gone, riding the huge white wolf Moro into a nearby stand of trees, followed at length by the silent and regal Lady Eboshi. The studio staff had seen a bright flash, and they never emerged from it again. The mute bright-winged girl Angel and her two policemen saviors had ridden their convertible down the road going out of Koganei, and they too disappeared. The two teenagers Taku and Rikako and the youngster Chihiro had left with them. All that remained of that strange and wondrous gathering were two middle-aged aviators from the 1930s, one lonely Princess from a faraway land, and the new studio mascot Boo, a small pig whom Nausicaä had found stranded on an island during her journey to Japan, and whom she claimed could talk.
They had spent most of their time wandering about the building since that time, or ambling about on foot, exploring Koganei. The local residents were more than happy at their presence, and extended their help to the stranded trio by giving them places to stay and work to do. Marco, Curtis and Nausicaä had made a conscientious effort to stay out of the way of the staff, who were busy working on their new production based on Diana Wynne Jones' book Castle in the Air. But the days continued to run away, and they were getting really homesick. Among the three, the most well-adjusted to their new surroundings was Curtis, who had even taken trips to downtown Tokyo, accompanied by Sumi, a young and enthusiastic staffer. Marco didn't care much for the sights, preferring instead to either while away his time smoking, or helping Mr. Ikeda (the farmer in whose house he was billeted) with his numerous chores.
Nausicaä went hack-hack, and Juna glanced at her with concern. "You really should get that looked at," she said. The Princess had been coughing intermittently all the way back to the studio.
"I already told her that," Marco seconded. "But she's a very stubborn child, and won't listen to what I say."
"It doesn't matter," Nausicaä said. "None of your healers could do anything for me anyway."
"Oh?" asked Juna. "Why is that?"
"It's a long story." Juna somehow got the feeling the wind-rider was hiding something from her.
"Well, if you'll excuse me," said Curtis, getting up from his seat, "I still have to change. Sumi-san promised to take me tonight to a place called a 'disco.'"
"A disco?" Juna giggled. "Have fun, Mr. Curtis."
"Thank you."
"Hey, cowboy," interjected Marco. "Don't squander the money we got from selling our planes' machine guns."
"Of course I won't! I've got plenty left." The tall man made a little two-finger salute, smiled insouciantly, and walked to the nearby rooftop doorway and disappeared into it.
"You know, I think I'll go see if Ikeda-san needs any help," said Marco. "He usually goes to bed soon after sundown." He stood up, and the legs of his chair scraped on the concrete. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye, Porco," said Nausicaä. The man followed his friend down the stairs, and she was left alone with Juna on the rooftop.
Nausicaä stretched in her seat. "Shouldn't you go home? Your family might be looking for you."
Juna shrugged. "I'm sort of on vacation. My family's in another city."
"You mean you're all alone?"
"Now I am."
"Your story seems just as fantastic to me as mine probably seems to you," Nausicaä remarked. Juna had previously shared her own tale with them. "Say, would you like to come with me later?"
"Where to?" The college-level Kobe native cocked an eyebrow.
"Oh, nowhere in particular. At night I just like to fly sometimes and watch the lights of Tokyo. There's nothing human like it where I live."
"You won't mind?"
"Why should I?" asked Nausicaä, puzzled.
"Well, you seem like an awfully private person."
"That may be true," said the Princess, "but it's only because I've been out of sorts lately."
Juna considered for a moment, then smiled. "Sure, I'll come along."
------oOo------
Around eight that night, after a quiet meal in the studio canteen, the Avatar of Time was abroad again, roaming the black sky together with the ruler of the Valley of Wind.
"It's funny how our backgrounds are similar," said Arjuna to Nausicaä as she did a lazy slow roll around Mehve.
"How so?" queried the girl who could see the wind. She had left her mask off.
"Well, both of us have lots of people depending on us. And," Arjuna added somberly, "we both have an idea of what it's like... on the other side."
"From what Mr. Pagot told me," said Nausicaä thoughtfully, "so does he."
Arjuna paused just outboard of Mehve's left wingtip. "Sort of changes one's view of life, doesn't it?"
"Yeah." Nausicaä flashed a quick smile, pulled Mehve away a little from the figure shimmering in the darkness, and proceeded to do her own perfect slow roll around her companion.
"Showoff," said Arjuna, laughing as Nausicaä ended up flying below her. "Just what do you see when you look at all these lights, Nausicaä-hime?"
"They remind me of certain parts of the Forest of Corruption at night. Some of the fungi glow in the dark, you know." Arjuna saw the smile disappear from Nausicaä's face. "And they tell me that I'm a long way from home." The Princess shook her head. "Ah, what about you? What do you see?"
"I see a dying world," said Arjuna. "I see much that could have been good turned to the bad. I see people caught up in their own lives, uncaring of everything else around them."
"Be happy," Nausicaä told her. "Your world isn't dead yet, like mine is. You may still avoid what is to come."
"Ah, but yours is already experiencing rebirth, right?"
"So is yours. One process does not stop just because the other is happening. But, to tell you the truth, the new part of my world is useless to my people."
"Why?"
"We cannot live in it." Nausicaä's eyes took on a faraway look, and for a moment Arjuna could see the face of one who had suffered and lost much in her countenance. "I learned from the Crypt of Shuwa that our ancestors changed our bodies so we could withstand the toxicity of our environment better. Our new world is, in essence, too clean for us to live in. But perhaps future generations will be able to migrate there. Anyway, we continue to live, despite all that has happened to us."
Arjuna was quiet for a while. "You're not telling me something. If you're supposed to live in and tolerate more pollution than an ordinary human could--" she frowned and looked at the Princess with her bright red eyes "--how are you faring in this world?"
Nausicaä abruptly looked away. "Well, I guess it's time for us to return home. It's getting late." She banked Mehve away from Arjuna.
The Avatar caught up with her. Hime-sama?
Please, Miss Ariyoshi, sent Nausicaä, her voice a quiet whisper against the backdrop of the noisy wind. Don't ask me, because I won't answer you.
Why won't you tell me? I could be of some use to you.
No more answers were forthcoming from the girl on the glider, so the conversation languished and Arjuna excused herself and said she had to go back to Harajuku, since her friends were probably worrying about her at that point. She bade Nausicaä a last farewell, then dove away into the murk and disappeared into some clouds, lighting them up in a faint pink glow. The Princess watched her fly off, a beacon in the night that quickly vanished, to be replaced by the empty nothingness of the dark.
Nausicaä remained silent during the long glide back to the studio, and after she had executed a soundless landing on the roof she stepped off Mehve and gave vent to the coughing she had been suppressing for the whole flight. When she finished, she brought her gloved hand away from her mouth, and saw in the incidental light the flecks of blood on it.
Ohma, she thought as she gazed at the bright red spatter. I shall join you soon, my son.
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(Posted Sun, 13 Mar 2005 04:35)
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