Chasing the sun - for pippin
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junetideTitle: Chasing the sun
Gift for:pippin
By:snowynight
Gift type: fiction (word count: 1935)
Genre: fairy tale
Rating: General Audience
Warnings: none
Summary: How Aja and her friends bring the sun back.
Giftcreator's notes: Inspired by the prompt: fairy tales told by robots/goblins
Do you see the star?
When the star shines, It’s when the goddess Aja looks upon us, to spread her blessing to our people. Aja was once one of us, with machine oil in her blood and cold iron in her body. When she was a girl, our land was covered with darkness. Snow fell every day, slowing down our limbs, our heart. Frost formed on people’s bodies and slowly got into their gears so they went out of order very quickly. The everlasting wetness damped our springs and caused us to rust, condemning our lives. People whispered in the place of south there was a source of light and warmth called the sun in the sky, which would drive out the darkness and coldness. Aja listened to the whispers, thinking and planning.
One day Aja said, “I ‘ll bring the sun to our land.”
“How?” The people asked.
“I’ll run after it to tell it to come.”
“The sun is too fast for you.”
“I’ll throw a lasso at it to pull it back.”
“The sun ‘ll burn any lassoes.”
“I’ll ride the wind to get close to it. Then I’ll shepherd it back.”
The people saw that Aja made up her mind, so they didn’t say anything further and only blessed her journey.
Aja left the village and went south. It was so hot and bright that she needed time to adjust. There were a lot of differences too. The land was covered with green, and there were huge plants, not like where they lived that a bush was a most rare sight. Moreover, she couldn’t see the end of the place, not like the village. It was all very odd to her.
When Aja was on her way, she heard some strange sounds came from among the tall plants. Curious, she went inside to the sources of the sound and saw a mechanical bird weakly flapping its wings, only falling to the ground again. She went to the bird and asked, “How can I help you?”
“Please help me tighten the spring, so I can fly again.”
Aja did what she was told. The bird rose to mid-air and asked, “Where’re you going?”
“Do you know what the sun ‘s like?” Aja asked.
“It’s like an orange fire ball, bright and warm. Why do you ask?”
Aja said, “I ‘m going to catch the sun,”
“Will it be too hopeless?”
“It’s my purpose to live for.”
The bird was silent for a moment, then said, “Can I go with you? Right now I’m … free.”
“Sure,” Aja said. Then she asked, “I still haven’t known your name yet. Do you have a name?”
The bird paused for a minute, then it said, “Call me Fei.”
“All right.
That was how Fei joined Aja’s journey. On their way, Fei told her that it came from the west, where the trees were coral red and the sky emerald green. A Chinese skillful craftsman made it and right from its birth it stayed in the sky for three days, attracting a lot of applause. From its voice of longing Aja got that it must be the happiest days in Fei’s life. Fei was reluctant to talk about what happened next, and only said that it flew too far away before noticing its condition.
“I’ll help take care of you.”
“Thank you.”
When they continued their journey, they walked across a garden, where numerous red roses blossomed in and proudly showed off their metal petals. Aja was attracted by such beauty and came near them, only seeing that a gardener cut off one of the rose and threw it on the ground. Angry, Aja stopped the gardener and asked, “Why do you do that?”
“It didn’t fit the standard,” The gardener said without looking at her.
Aja carefully picked up the still whimpering rose. “But it’s beautiful!”
“See? It only had three thorns, instead of four. It was a reject.” The gardener pointed at the rose.
The rose said, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to stay here anyway. It’s boring.”
“Do you want to join my journey? I’m going to catch the sun,” Aja said.
“It’s such a stupid idea, but I definitely will go with you. Otherwise you’d be taken advantage of.” That was how the rose joined Aja and Fei.
“How should I call you?” Aja asked when they walked far away from the garden.
“Let me think. A rose like me deserves the most wonderful name. Cleoparta? Elizabeth? Catherine?...”
“Then I’ll call you Rose for now.” Then Aja asked, “Have you seen the sun? What’s the sun like?”
“Of course, I see everything. The sun is like me, only orange yellow and with thorns out of fire.”
Rose had a mean tongue and was highly cynical. She always had sarcastic and fun things to speak about everything, but one time when a traveller warned Aja of the dangers ahead, Rose stretched out her thorns and said, “I’ll protect you with them!”
“Thank you, Rose. I really appreciate it.” Aja said.
The petals of Rose grew redder.
When they walked to a village, a villager said, “I’ll give you a night of free shelter and oil if you can get rid of the snake in the swamp ahead of the village.”
“What’s the snake?”
The villager tell her many stories about the snake. It seemed that no one could agree on what it was like, but some children swore that they saw a mountain of snake swimming in the swamp.
“All right. I’ll help you.” Therefore Aja set out for the swamp with Rose complaining along how risky this was.
They waited until light when Aja saw that a long thing was climbing out of the swamp. She was just about to catch it when the thing screamed, “Don’t hurt me!” Aja took a light to it and saw that it was a pencil.
“Why’re you here?”
“I...”
“Because you’re useless,” Rose said.
Aja frowned, but the pencil only smiled weakly, “You’re right. I’m just useless.”
“Why don’t you join us? I’m going to catch the sun.”
“I really think you’re collecting strays,” Rose said.
“Sure, why not?” The pencil said.
“How should I call you?”
“I’ve no name.”
“Then I ‘ll call you Ken.”
“It’s all right for me.”
“Do you know what’s the sun like?”
“The sun is a mother who bears shadow which look like the marks left by me.”
That’s how Ken joined Aja and her companions.
Aja and her friends walked to a plain that was unusually silent. There were neither grasses nor signs of animals.
“I advise you no to go forward, lest you face an untimely end of your life.”
“Who are you?”
“I know! I hear about this! You’re a land mine,” Fey said.
“You are correct about my identity.”
“People just leave you here?” Aja asked.
“It is part of my function.”
“It must be lonely. Why don’t you go with me? I’m going to catch the sun.”
Rose rolled her eyes. Fey ‘s mouth was wide open. Ken turned to look at Aja.
“You must be mistaken. Do you not hear? I am a land mine.”
“Well, no one ‘s coming here again. You may as well come with me. Won’t you want to see something different?”
“...I have to accept your invitation then.”
“How should I call you?”
“You may call me Nuin.”
“Do you know What the sun is like, Nuin?”
“It’s very dangerous and deadly.”
That’s how Nuin joined Aja and her friends.
“Where should we go to catch the sun?” Aja asked.
“Go to the west. It’s where the sun set.” Fay said.
Rose said, “You don’t you should figure out this before you go? But west’s good, where the sun goes slower.”
“I heard that there was a mountain there tall enough to reach the sky. If we went there, we should be able to catch the sun.”
“Ken is right. The mountain there was so high that it acts as a barrier of the world. It’s where we should go.”
“All right. We’ll go west to the mountain.”
On their journey to the mountain they faced a lot of things, such as escaping from a monster circus, fixing the giant clockwork heart of a town, and having tea with a giant snake. Finally they reached the mountain. They started to climb up, but a rock blocked their road. Aja and her friends tried to push the stone, but it was too heavy.
Nuin said, “Although it is a huge obstacle, I believe that I have a way to remove it. I am born to explode, and with the force I should destroy the rock.”
“Will you die?” Rose asked.
“No, but you should keep away from me. It can be very dangerous.”
Aja hesitates, but finally she said, “All right. We will see each other again later.” Her voice light, but with a demand for promise.”
“I will.” Nuin promised.
Aja, Fay and Rose walked far away, and when they heard the sound of explosion, Ken was nervous enough that he bent his body around Aja and Rose. When it was quiet again, Aja and her friend ran to Nuin. There he looked pale and thinner but he said, “My mission is over.” The stone was gone.
“I would embrace you,” Rose said.
“Perhaps it is not a good idea.”
“Do you need to rest?”
“I am fine. please continue.”
When they climbed up to the mid level of the mountain, they found that they were in a maze formed by vines and tall plants. Aja was used to the dim light, but she wasn’t used to such a tangle of green.
Ken said, “I’ll leave a mark on each of the tree we passed by so we know which we crossed.”
“Great idea,” Aja said.
With Ken’s help, Aja and her friends walked through the maze.
When they walked through the maze, Rose commented, “It seemed so quiet. It was creepy.”
Then they heard a roar and a large animal pounced on Aja. Then the animal screamed and ran away. Aja discovered that Rose had stuck her thorn into the lion’s throat.
Rose looked pale, but she said, “Hey, I promised to protect you, right?”
“Thank you, Rose.” Aja said.
Finally they went to the place the sun set, but the sun was so high that Aja couldn’t reach it. Fey said, “Let me flew high.” But it still couldn’t reach the sun.
“Maybe you should carry me up, so I can help.” Ken said. “But together they were not tall enough.
“Bring me up then,” Rose said. But three of them together were still not enough.
Nuin said, “Bring me up then. You can hit the fringe of me so that the sun may hear us.”
“Is it safe?”
“As long as you don’t hit the centre.”
It works. The sun crouched and ask, “What are you doing here? I’ve not seen such things before.”
“I am here to bring you to our home in far North.”
“There? Why should I need to go? I’m going to west.”
“Because we need you there,” Aja said.
“So what? I hate the North.”
“You should go, because, …” Fay said , then he bit on the sun repeatedly.
“Hey, hey! All right, I give up. Step into my chariot. I want to return home as soon as possible.”
Therefore that’s how Aja and her friends brought the sun back.
Aja and her friends have many adventures thereafter, but it was enough for the night. Time to sleep now.
Gift for:
pippinBy:
snowynightGift type: fiction (word count: 1935)
Genre: fairy tale
Rating: General Audience
Warnings: none
Summary: How Aja and her friends bring the sun back.
Giftcreator's notes: Inspired by the prompt: fairy tales told by robots/goblins
Do you see the star?
When the star shines, It’s when the goddess Aja looks upon us, to spread her blessing to our people. Aja was once one of us, with machine oil in her blood and cold iron in her body. When she was a girl, our land was covered with darkness. Snow fell every day, slowing down our limbs, our heart. Frost formed on people’s bodies and slowly got into their gears so they went out of order very quickly. The everlasting wetness damped our springs and caused us to rust, condemning our lives. People whispered in the place of south there was a source of light and warmth called the sun in the sky, which would drive out the darkness and coldness. Aja listened to the whispers, thinking and planning.
One day Aja said, “I ‘ll bring the sun to our land.”
“How?” The people asked.
“I’ll run after it to tell it to come.”
“The sun is too fast for you.”
“I’ll throw a lasso at it to pull it back.”
“The sun ‘ll burn any lassoes.”
“I’ll ride the wind to get close to it. Then I’ll shepherd it back.”
The people saw that Aja made up her mind, so they didn’t say anything further and only blessed her journey.
Aja left the village and went south. It was so hot and bright that she needed time to adjust. There were a lot of differences too. The land was covered with green, and there were huge plants, not like where they lived that a bush was a most rare sight. Moreover, she couldn’t see the end of the place, not like the village. It was all very odd to her.
When Aja was on her way, she heard some strange sounds came from among the tall plants. Curious, she went inside to the sources of the sound and saw a mechanical bird weakly flapping its wings, only falling to the ground again. She went to the bird and asked, “How can I help you?”
“Please help me tighten the spring, so I can fly again.”
Aja did what she was told. The bird rose to mid-air and asked, “Where’re you going?”
“Do you know what the sun ‘s like?” Aja asked.
“It’s like an orange fire ball, bright and warm. Why do you ask?”
Aja said, “I ‘m going to catch the sun,”
“Will it be too hopeless?”
“It’s my purpose to live for.”
The bird was silent for a moment, then said, “Can I go with you? Right now I’m … free.”
“Sure,” Aja said. Then she asked, “I still haven’t known your name yet. Do you have a name?”
The bird paused for a minute, then it said, “Call me Fei.”
“All right.
That was how Fei joined Aja’s journey. On their way, Fei told her that it came from the west, where the trees were coral red and the sky emerald green. A Chinese skillful craftsman made it and right from its birth it stayed in the sky for three days, attracting a lot of applause. From its voice of longing Aja got that it must be the happiest days in Fei’s life. Fei was reluctant to talk about what happened next, and only said that it flew too far away before noticing its condition.
“I’ll help take care of you.”
“Thank you.”
When they continued their journey, they walked across a garden, where numerous red roses blossomed in and proudly showed off their metal petals. Aja was attracted by such beauty and came near them, only seeing that a gardener cut off one of the rose and threw it on the ground. Angry, Aja stopped the gardener and asked, “Why do you do that?”
“It didn’t fit the standard,” The gardener said without looking at her.
Aja carefully picked up the still whimpering rose. “But it’s beautiful!”
“See? It only had three thorns, instead of four. It was a reject.” The gardener pointed at the rose.
The rose said, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to stay here anyway. It’s boring.”
“Do you want to join my journey? I’m going to catch the sun,” Aja said.
“It’s such a stupid idea, but I definitely will go with you. Otherwise you’d be taken advantage of.” That was how the rose joined Aja and Fei.
“How should I call you?” Aja asked when they walked far away from the garden.
“Let me think. A rose like me deserves the most wonderful name. Cleoparta? Elizabeth? Catherine?...”
“Then I’ll call you Rose for now.” Then Aja asked, “Have you seen the sun? What’s the sun like?”
“Of course, I see everything. The sun is like me, only orange yellow and with thorns out of fire.”
Rose had a mean tongue and was highly cynical. She always had sarcastic and fun things to speak about everything, but one time when a traveller warned Aja of the dangers ahead, Rose stretched out her thorns and said, “I’ll protect you with them!”
“Thank you, Rose. I really appreciate it.” Aja said.
The petals of Rose grew redder.
When they walked to a village, a villager said, “I’ll give you a night of free shelter and oil if you can get rid of the snake in the swamp ahead of the village.”
“What’s the snake?”
The villager tell her many stories about the snake. It seemed that no one could agree on what it was like, but some children swore that they saw a mountain of snake swimming in the swamp.
“All right. I’ll help you.” Therefore Aja set out for the swamp with Rose complaining along how risky this was.
They waited until light when Aja saw that a long thing was climbing out of the swamp. She was just about to catch it when the thing screamed, “Don’t hurt me!” Aja took a light to it and saw that it was a pencil.
“Why’re you here?”
“I...”
“Because you’re useless,” Rose said.
Aja frowned, but the pencil only smiled weakly, “You’re right. I’m just useless.”
“Why don’t you join us? I’m going to catch the sun.”
“I really think you’re collecting strays,” Rose said.
“Sure, why not?” The pencil said.
“How should I call you?”
“I’ve no name.”
“Then I ‘ll call you Ken.”
“It’s all right for me.”
“Do you know what’s the sun like?”
“The sun is a mother who bears shadow which look like the marks left by me.”
That’s how Ken joined Aja and her companions.
Aja and her friends walked to a plain that was unusually silent. There were neither grasses nor signs of animals.
“I advise you no to go forward, lest you face an untimely end of your life.”
“Who are you?”
“I know! I hear about this! You’re a land mine,” Fey said.
“You are correct about my identity.”
“People just leave you here?” Aja asked.
“It is part of my function.”
“It must be lonely. Why don’t you go with me? I’m going to catch the sun.”
Rose rolled her eyes. Fey ‘s mouth was wide open. Ken turned to look at Aja.
“You must be mistaken. Do you not hear? I am a land mine.”
“Well, no one ‘s coming here again. You may as well come with me. Won’t you want to see something different?”
“...I have to accept your invitation then.”
“How should I call you?”
“You may call me Nuin.”
“Do you know What the sun is like, Nuin?”
“It’s very dangerous and deadly.”
That’s how Nuin joined Aja and her friends.
“Where should we go to catch the sun?” Aja asked.
“Go to the west. It’s where the sun set.” Fay said.
Rose said, “You don’t you should figure out this before you go? But west’s good, where the sun goes slower.”
“I heard that there was a mountain there tall enough to reach the sky. If we went there, we should be able to catch the sun.”
“Ken is right. The mountain there was so high that it acts as a barrier of the world. It’s where we should go.”
“All right. We’ll go west to the mountain.”
On their journey to the mountain they faced a lot of things, such as escaping from a monster circus, fixing the giant clockwork heart of a town, and having tea with a giant snake. Finally they reached the mountain. They started to climb up, but a rock blocked their road. Aja and her friends tried to push the stone, but it was too heavy.
Nuin said, “Although it is a huge obstacle, I believe that I have a way to remove it. I am born to explode, and with the force I should destroy the rock.”
“Will you die?” Rose asked.
“No, but you should keep away from me. It can be very dangerous.”
Aja hesitates, but finally she said, “All right. We will see each other again later.” Her voice light, but with a demand for promise.”
“I will.” Nuin promised.
Aja, Fay and Rose walked far away, and when they heard the sound of explosion, Ken was nervous enough that he bent his body around Aja and Rose. When it was quiet again, Aja and her friend ran to Nuin. There he looked pale and thinner but he said, “My mission is over.” The stone was gone.
“I would embrace you,” Rose said.
“Perhaps it is not a good idea.”
“Do you need to rest?”
“I am fine. please continue.”
When they climbed up to the mid level of the mountain, they found that they were in a maze formed by vines and tall plants. Aja was used to the dim light, but she wasn’t used to such a tangle of green.
Ken said, “I’ll leave a mark on each of the tree we passed by so we know which we crossed.”
“Great idea,” Aja said.
With Ken’s help, Aja and her friends walked through the maze.
When they walked through the maze, Rose commented, “It seemed so quiet. It was creepy.”
Then they heard a roar and a large animal pounced on Aja. Then the animal screamed and ran away. Aja discovered that Rose had stuck her thorn into the lion’s throat.
Rose looked pale, but she said, “Hey, I promised to protect you, right?”
“Thank you, Rose.” Aja said.
Finally they went to the place the sun set, but the sun was so high that Aja couldn’t reach it. Fey said, “Let me flew high.” But it still couldn’t reach the sun.
“Maybe you should carry me up, so I can help.” Ken said. “But together they were not tall enough.
“Bring me up then,” Rose said. But three of them together were still not enough.
Nuin said, “Bring me up then. You can hit the fringe of me so that the sun may hear us.”
“Is it safe?”
“As long as you don’t hit the centre.”
It works. The sun crouched and ask, “What are you doing here? I’ve not seen such things before.”
“I am here to bring you to our home in far North.”
“There? Why should I need to go? I’m going to west.”
“Because we need you there,” Aja said.
“So what? I hate the North.”
“You should go, because, …” Fay said , then he bit on the sun repeatedly.
“Hey, hey! All right, I give up. Step into my chariot. I want to return home as soon as possible.”
Therefore that’s how Aja and her friends brought the sun back.
Aja and her friends have many adventures thereafter, but it was enough for the night. Time to sleep now.
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