Chapter Four

A rough hand shook him, bringing Mark awake. When he opened his eyes he saw Aughra's face staring down at him. "Time to go," she said. "Sleep later. Much work to do now."

"Aughra," he said, "do you think there is really any chance of me stopping that thing?"

"Don't know," she replied. "But must try. You like Thra?" She looked at him with a piercing gaze.

"I love Thra," he replied. "I'll do anything I can to save it but I just don't see what a loser like me can do. I'm not that powerful or that brilliant and that thing, whatever it is, seems extremely dangerous."

"You love Kira?" Aughra asked.

Mark was startled for a moment. "Yes," he replied softly. "How did you know?"

"Aughra knows many things," she said. "Aughra knows you love Thra, love Kira. Maybe love Aughra." Aughra hrumphed to herself. "Love is gift, great gift. Use it."

Mark quickly decided he would ask Aughra what she meant and have her explain it in detail once he had become fully awake and dressed. Those plans were disrupted when he began to remove his blanket and look for his clothes.

"Aughra," Mark said slowly. "What happened to my clothes?" Mark had a habit of sleeping with little on, placing his clothes on a nearby chair at night so he could don them in the morning. Last night he had left his clothes at the foot of his bed and a quick glance had told him that they were now no longer there.

"Clothes gone," Aughra replied.

"Gone?" Mark said, a slight note of panic starting to appear in his voice. "What happened to them?"

"Clothes burned," Aughra said, laughing slightly.

Mark sat up on the edge of the bed, draping the blanket over his legs. "Would you kindly tell me why they were burned?" Mark said, struggling to control his anger at learning all his clothes had been neatly disposed of while he slept.

"Clothes stank," Aughra said.

Mark thought about that for a moment. "'Well, I did fall in the swamp once," he said, "so I guess that might have caused them to smell a little."

"Swamp not smell so bad," Aughra said. "Other smells on clothes. "Must be where you come from that smells so bad. Almost make Aughra sick." Aughra made a disgusted look, then continued. "Aughra take them and burn. Now no more smell." She pointed to a small basin in one corner of the room. "Water there," she said. "You wash, maybe you smell better."

Mark admitted to himself that the smells of pollution, from cigarette smoke to car exhausts probably had permeated his clothes so he couldn't blame Aughra for getting rid of them, but still it had created a rather delicate situation.

"I'll wash," Mark said. "I like to keep myself clean and I was wondering how I would do that here." He hesitated a moment, expecting Aughra to take the hint and leave the room, allowing him to remove the blanket and wash. Aughra, however, just stood there, watching.

Mark knew that the blanket, which had been just barely large enough to provide him any warmth would definitely not be enough to go cover his body, especially if he stood up.

A few more minutes passed in the silent test of wills, and finally Mark stood, holding the blanket as strategically as he could. He walked to the basin, feeling Aughra's eyes on him as he did so. Once there he took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. He looked once at Aughra, shrugged his shoulders and finally let the blanket drop so he could devote his full attention to washing up.
Aughra looked at him carefully for a moment then made an odd sound under her breath and left the room. A few minutes later she returned with a pile of clothing that she placed on the bed.

"You wear these," she said, looking at Mark.

Mark used a cloth to dry himself off as he walked to the bed, embarrassed at his nakedness. He looked over the clothes and found that they consisted of a brownish top with some spiral designs woven into it, pants of a slightly different shade of brown, and sandals made of some leather-like material that felt quite soft to the touch.

"These are beautiful," he said, admiring the clothes. "But how can they be big enough to fit?"

"Podlings make these," Aughra said. "Bring them here just after dawn. While you slept in the village they measured your body, made clothes, then brought them to Aughra."

Mark began to feel somewhat ashamed. "I guess I smelled bad to them, too" he said.

"Clothes smell bad," Aughra said, then sniffed at him. "You not smell too bad, just clothes. You put these on, feel better , feel more like on belong on Thra."

She left and Mark dressed, enjoying the texture of the clothes and being pleasantly surprised at the nearly perfect fit. He liked the feel of the homespun against his skin and the softness of the shoes on his feet.

"At least my clothes look like they belong on this planet," he said to himself, "even if the person wearing them may not be around long enough to enjoy them fully."

He sighed to himself and stepped into the corridor, then outside the entrance. There were a few wisps of clouds in the sky, and the three suns were shining -brightly, making everywhere he looked seem vibrant and alive.

Aughra came out of the observatory, then closed the door behind her. She was carrying a small pouch and a few other things in her hands as she motioned for Mark to follow her. Soon they were descending a long path down the hill, a way that presented little difficulty; a far cry from Mark's ascent only the day before. Within a few minutes they were at the foot of the hill.

Mark looked at Aughra and saw that the things she had carried had disappeared into a pouch she hung over her shoulder.

As he stood watching, he heard an odd-noise coming from behind some rocks. He prepared to run but saw that Aughra was standing unconcerned. In moments a strange animal appeared, looking only in the vaguest way like the horses he was familiar with from Earth. The animal was built much closer to the ground, had far more hair and a slightly shorter head. It moved close to Aughra then knelt down on the ground, allowing her to get onto its back. Jerkily the creature then rose, Aughra holding tightly to its long flowing mane.

Aughra looked at Mark. "You have long legs. You keep up with Aughra. " She urged the animal to begin its journey and soon they were moving at a brisk pace towards the Crystal Castle.

As they journeyed Aughra continued to tell him about numbers, symbols and about Thra and the wonders of life he would find. He was able to see the beauty of the world through the eyes of another, from someone that knew the world and loved it deeply. He was astonished at Aughra's depth of knowledge and understanding, but was also worried as it showed her just how ignorant he was of life here in this world. Sure, the movie had given him a lot of information, but that was a small drop in the bucket compared to the reality of actually being on the planet and seeing it close-up.

"Aughra, he said,"it's still hard or me to accept all of this as real."

"Accept it," she told him. "Accept your love of Thra and grow on it." They proceeded further, Mark marveling at the variety of plants he found everywhere he looked. Mark told Aughra about his life on earth, about his life there and how he just felt he never really belonged.

He also told her of the types of problems that faced the Earth. Finally, he even told her that he had attempted to take his own life but had failed.

"That wrong thing to do," Aughra said. "You have life for reason, even if you don't know what reason is." She looked into his eyes. "You not do that here, try to kill yourself?"

Mark returned her gaze. "No, Aughra," he replied. "Thra is already more of a home to me than Earth ever was. Even if I am an outsider in this world I will still love Thra and I'll do whatever I have to do to try and save it from the evil that followed me here,"

Mark thought for a few minutes before he spoke again. "Still," he said, "I realize that living here won't be easy. There's so much to learn about Thra and I guess I'll more or less be alone, but maybe that's how it should be. Sometimes I'm not sure I'm even a human being after at all. Maybe I'm part alien or part demon. I don't know.

Aughra looked at him and snorted. "You feel too sorry for yourself,"she said. "Podlings like you, Aughra likes you. You not bad person. Different, maybe, but different doesn't have to mean bad."

As Mark looked into the distance he saw two figures approaching over the crest of a small hill. "Is that Jen and Kira?" he asked Aughra.
"Yes," Aughra replied. "I send message to them to meet us here, go with us to castle."

A small ball of fur rolled and bounced closer and soon Fizzgig stood a few feet away, barking furiously at Mark. Jen and Kira arrived soon after and stood watching the human.

"This human," Aughra said, "Takes Thra as new home." Aughra looked at Mark. "He is friend," she said. "We go to castle, learn about new evil on Thra. Human says he is willing to die to save our home, You come with us, learn much, maybe even help."

Aughra watched Mark as he looked at Kira, unable to take his ayes away her. She was as beautiful to him in real life, perhaps even more so, then she had been in the movie. As he looked at her he remembered that he had vowed not to interfere between her and Jen for any reason at all. He would have to hide his feelings, so he let his eyes look down at the ground while he composed himself.

After telling Fizzgig to be quiet, Kira moved closer to Mark and looked up at him. "Hello" she said in her soft, warm voice. "My name is Kira."

Mark looked at her. "My name is Mark," he said. He was a tangle of emotions with love, duty, fear and ethics all fighting amongst themselves. He was unable to say more until Jan walked to Kira's side. "I'm Jen.," he said.

Mark looked at Jan and Kira and he could save the deep love between them as Kira held Jen's hand.

"I'm sorry for what has happened," Mark said. "The evil has come with me into your world, and now all of us are in danger."

"Can we fight it?" Jen asked Aughra as they all began moving once more towards the castle.

"Don't know.." Aughra said from atop her mount. "We look into Crystal, maybe see answer, know what to do."

As they walked Mark told Jan and Kira bout his feelings towards Thra, and how much he loved the planet. He asked them what had happened to them since the Urskeks left, and they told him how they had lived with the pod people and had begun to clean the Gelfling ruins, hoping to live there. Mark said little about himself, moving to other subjects whenever a question about his own life arose.

Finally Kira looked questioningly at him. "Why don't you tell us about yourself?" she said. "You hide yourself like some hunted animal."

Mark looked at Kira, his eyes conveying the loneliness he felt within him. "If I were to tell you about myself," he said quietly,"I'm not sure that you would accept me. Perhaps you would but than again you might not and I'd not want to lose your friendship this soon."

"Why should we not like you?" Kira asked.

"I'm not from Thra," he answered. "And I've brought some kind of evil thing into this world after the two of you suffered so terribly getting one evil out already."

"He not want the one he love to hate him," Aughra said.

"Aughra," yelled Mark. He looked at Kira, then to Jen and back to Aughra. Then he ran ahead, walking alone, fighting tears of anger and loneliness, the tears winning the battle. Behind him Aughra told Jen and Kira of Mark's words to her, how he loved Kira out accepted her love for Jen and how he felt he would not want to have his feelings come between them.

"He guards his love," Aughra said. "He loneliest being Aughra ever see," she concluded.

Jen and Kira looked at each other, then ran to where Mark was walking. Jen took his left hand, Kira his right. "You can't help but love Kira," Jen said, smiling. "She's so, so-" he continued.

"Lovable?" Kira asked. "Beautiful? Graceful?"

Jen looked at her, a twinkle in his eyes. "So helpless," he said, laughing.

"Helpless?" Kira said, mocking indignity. "I'll show you how helpless I am." With that she released Mark's hand and chased Jen, quickly catching him and wrestling him to the ground. Soon she sat by Jen's side, laughing.

After a few moments the Gelfling rose and returned to Mark's side and once again took his hands. Aughra followed on her mount.
A little later Mark suddenly stopped, then stooped down and carefully placed his hand near the ground. In a moment he raised his hand and examined a small butterfly-like animal that he had found. It held onto his hand while he looked at it, then flew away, Mark watching its beautiful wings moving off into the distance.

Kira and Jen looked at Mark and smiled.

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Chapter Four

A rough hand shook him, bringing Mark awake. When he opened his eyes he saw Aughra's face staring down at him. "Time to go," she said. "Sleep later. Much work to do now."

"Aughra," he said, "do you think there is really any chance of me stopping that thing?"

"Don't know," she replied. "But must try. You like Thra?" She looked at him with a piercing gaze.

"I love Thra," he replied. "I'll do anything I can to save it but I just don't see what a loser like me can do. I'm not that powerful or that brilliant and that thing, whatever it is, seems extremely dangerous."

"You love Kira?" Aughra asked.

Mark was startled for a moment. "Yes," he replied softly. "How did you know?"

"Aughra knows many things," she said. "Aughra knows you love Thra, love Kira. Maybe love Aughra." Aughra hrumphed to herself. "Love is gift, great gift. Use it."

Mark quickly decided he would ask Aughra what she meant and have her explain it in detail once he had become fully awake and dressed. Those plans were disrupted when he began to remove his blanket and look for his clothes.

"Clothes gone," Aughra replied.

"Gone?" Mark said, a slight note of panic starting to appear in his voice. "What happened to them?"

"Clothes burned," Aughra said, laughing slightly.

Mark sat up on the edge of the bed, draping the blanket over his legs. "Would you kindly tell me why they were burned?" Mark said, struggling to control his anger at learning all his clothes had been neatly disposed of while he slept.

"Clothes stank," Aughra said.

Mark thought about that for a moment. "'Well, I did fall in the swamp once," he said, "so I guess that might have caused them to smell a little."

Mark admitted to himself that the smells of pollution, from cigarette smoke to car exhausts probably had permeated his clothes so he couldn't blame Aughra for getting rid of them, but still it had created a rather delicate situation.

"I'll wash," Mark said. "I like to keep myself clean and I was wondering how I would do that here." He hesitated a moment, expecting Aughra to take the hint and leave the room, allowing him to remove the blanket and wash. Aughra, however, just stood there, watching.

Mark knew that the blanket, which had been just barely large enough to provide him any warmth would definitely not be enough to go cover his body, especially if he stood up.

"You wear these," she said, looking at Mark.

"These are beautiful," he said, admiring the clothes. "But how can they be big enough to fit?"

"Podlings make these," Aughra said. "Bring them here just after dawn. While you slept in the village they measured your body, made clothes, then brought them to Aughra."

Mark began to feel somewhat ashamed. "I guess I smelled bad to them, too" he said.

"Clothes smell bad," Aughra said, then sniffed at him. "You not smell too bad, just clothes. You put these on, feel better , feel more like on belong on Thra."

She left and Mark dressed, enjoying the texture of the clothes and being pleasantly surprised at the nearly perfect fit. He liked the feel of the homespun against his skin and the softness of the shoes on his feet.

"At least my clothes look like they belong on this planet," he said to himself, "even if the person wearing them may not be around long enough to enjoy them fully."

He sighed to himself and stepped into the corridor, then outside the entrance. There were a few wisps of clouds in the sky, and the three suns were shining -brightly, making everywhere he looked seem vibrant and alive.

Mark looked at Aughra and saw that the things she had carried had disappeared into a pouch she hung over her shoulder.

Aughra looked at Mark. "You have long legs. You keep up with Aughra. " She urged the animal to begin its journey and soon they were moving at a brisk pace towards the Crystal Castle.

"Aughra, he said,"it's still hard or me to accept all of this as real."

"Accept it," she told him. "Accept your love of Thra and grow on it." They proceeded further, Mark marveling at the variety of plants he found everywhere he looked. Mark told Aughra about his life on earth, about his life there and how he just felt he never really belonged.

He also told her of the types of problems that faced the Earth. Finally, he even told her that he had attempted to take his own life but had failed.

"That wrong thing to do," Aughra said. "You have life for reason, even if you don't know what reason is." She looked into his eyes. "You not do that here, try to kill yourself?"

Mark returned her gaze. "No, Aughra," he replied. "Thra is already more of a home to me than Earth ever was. Even if I am an outsider in this world I will still love Thra and I'll do whatever I have to do to try and save it from the evil that followed me here,"

Aughra looked at him and snorted. "You feel too sorry for yourself,"she said. "Podlings like you, Aughra likes you. You not bad person. Different, maybe, but different doesn't have to mean bad."

As Mark looked into the distance he saw two figures approaching over the crest of a small hill. "Is that Jen and Kira?" he asked Aughra. "Yes," Aughra replied. "I send message to them to meet us here, go with us to castle."

A small ball of fur rolled and bounced closer and soon Fizzgig stood a few feet away, barking furiously at Mark. Jen and Kira arrived soon after and stood watching the human.

"This human," Aughra said, "Takes Thra as new home." Aughra looked at Mark. "He is friend," she said. "We go to castle, learn about new evil on Thra. Human says he is willing to die to save our home, You come with us, learn much, maybe even help."

After telling Fizzgig to be quiet, Kira moved closer to Mark and looked up at him. "Hello" she said in her soft, warm voice. "My name is Kira."

Mark looked at her. "My name is Mark," he said. He was a tangle of emotions with love, duty, fear and ethics all fighting amongst themselves. He was unable to say more until Jan walked to Kira's side. "I'm Jen.," he said.

Mark looked at Jan and Kira and he could save the deep love between them as Kira held Jen's hand.

"I'm sorry for what has happened," Mark said. "The evil has come with me into your world, and now all of us are in danger."

"Can we fight it?" Jen asked Aughra as they all began moving once more towards the castle.

"Don't know.." Aughra said from atop her mount. "We look into Crystal, maybe see answer, know what to do."

Finally Kira looked questioningly at him. "Why don't you tell us about yourself?" she said. "You hide yourself like some hunted animal."

Mark looked at Kira, his eyes conveying the loneliness he felt within him. "If I were to tell you about myself," he said quietly,"I'm not sure that you would accept me. Perhaps you would but than again you might not and I'd not want to lose your friendship this soon."

"Why should we not like you?" Kira asked.

"I'm not from Thra," he answered. "And I've brought some kind of evil thing into this world after the two of you suffered so terribly getting one evil out already."

"He not want the one he love to hate him," Aughra said.

"He guards his love," Aughra said. "He loneliest being Aughra ever see," she concluded.

Jen and Kira looked at each other, then ran to where Mark was walking. Jen took his left hand, Kira his right. "You can't help but love Kira," Jen said, smiling. "She's so, so-" he continued.

"Lovable?" Kira asked. "Beautiful? Graceful?"

Jen looked at her, a twinkle in his eyes. "So helpless," he said, laughing.

"Helpless?" Kira said, mocking indignity. "I'll show you how helpless I am." With that she released Mark's hand and chased Jen, quickly catching him and wrestling him to the ground. Soon she sat by Jen's side, laughing.

After a few moments the Gelfling rose and returned to Mark's side and once again took his hands. Aughra followed on her mount.

Kira and Jen looked at Mark and smiled. Main index page Dark Crystal main index page

As Mark looked into the distance he saw two figures approaching over the crest of a small hill. "Is that Jen and Kira?" he asked Aughra.
"Yes," Aughra replied. "I send message to them to meet us here, go with us to castle."

Kira and Jen looked at Mark and smiled.

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