Hinn Ch. 18-21

"And, depending on how it all falls out with the police and federal folks, there could easily be long-term bad blood," mentioned Jonathon.

"Well, it's getting on to lunchtime -- anyone hungry? I can whip up some burgers quick."

An Aside

Elsewhere...

"Lord! Lord! The stones have lit!"

The little brown man sighed before slowly opening his eyes. Some decades it just didn't seem to be worth the effort. His Ryunna was kneeling prostrate by his bed, quivering in -- what? Nervous energy, to be sure. Disturbing a Jinn Lord was always a risky proposition. Hopeful? Hrm. Yes, hopeful. She wanted more of his time. Again, he committed himself to provide the attention and care she deserved. Perhaps this time, he might be able to bring himself to follow through on the commitment.

Clearing his throat, he rasped, "Which stones, Ryunna?"

"All three, Lord! All three stones!"

He blinked. "No reflections or silly games -- they're glowing on their own?" His voice was rapidly clearing, returning to his ancient, melodic tenor as he used it for the first time in... well, too long, probably.

"Yes, Lord! I double-checked -- nothing else, just the stones are providing the light!"

"You did well to disturb my rest, Ryunna. Thank you for your continued excellent service."

She seemed to vibrate all the harder. He stood and stretched mightily. Patting her on the crown of her long, curly brown hair, he quirked a slight grin hearing her orgasm take her.

"Oh, thank you, Master! Thank you!" she whimpered.

Cleansing himself before dressing in a simple linen robe, he stepped out of his room and into the hallway. All but two of the endlessly patient guardians left their positions at the door, taking up station just off either shoulder as he strode towards the room with the stones.

Unsurprisingly, all three stones truly were lit. Willfulness. Samum. Freedom.

Hinn walked the planet again, unbound by genie chains.

"Well, well. Where did YOU come from, my tasty little morsel?"

Chapter 19

"Ray, I just got a message from Tongxin's site lead. She has the authority you specified, and would like to treat you to dinner."

"Offer them the meeting at the University, please, Amber. Coordinate with the Dean to get the room. Tell Tongxin we'll have the meeting first. After the meeting, we'll have reservations for dinner that they are welcome but not required to join us at, depending on how the meeting goes."

Amber typed on her phone, which beeped seconds after she finished. "A 5 PM meeting, followed by dinner sound reasonable, Ray?"

Getting a mental nod from Tauriz, Ray agreed. "Are they interested in pre-inspecting the meeting area?"

"No, they said they'll, and I quote, 'trust you to take appropriate measures'. She and her assistant will be attending."

"We don't have a Taiwanese restaurant in town. Would Bamboo, the southern-Chinese cuisine restaurant, be seen as appropriate or an insult, do you think, Jessica?"

"Knowing them, they'd probably prefer a good steak or European restaurant. They have plenty of oriental food specialists."

"OK, then Brombeck's. Can you call in a reservation for six-thirty, please, Amber? Figure out amongst yourselves how many will be attending, plus four -- the two of us and the two from Tongxin."

"I think Jessica might have a riot on her hands if anyone didn't get to attend at this point, Ray. I'll confirm with you in a minute," she said before googling the restaurant's phone number.

"Got a confirmation of interest from Boch. They can meet tomorrow morning, say 9 AM?"

"We're available. Do they wish to pre-inspect the room?"

"Yes, Ray, and they'll be taking you up on the offer to search each other. They're bringing three people for the meeting and a team of seven for boundary protection."

"Works. Please make a note that we should get coffee, light fruit, and pastries catered -- make sure there's enough for everyone including their boundary folks."

"Will do, Ray. And Tongxin is on board for meeting at five, dinner at six-thirty."

"Do you need a printer for the NDAs, Jessica?"

"We have a template for that, plus several copies preprinted. We'll have enough for all the visitors to sign."

"Fair enough. I'm glad to see things starting to move, but I'm sure I'll come to miss the relative peace."

"You're probably right, Ray," said Jessica.

Chapter 20

Jessica continued, "I'd suggest that you take a moment with Tauriz and make some planned breaks now before commitments happen. When and where would you like to take vacations? One in a month or two, another every three to six months after that, at least a week each time. Some will almost certainly need to be canceled or moved around, but having a stake in the sand helps keep you on the level, we've found."

"Thank you for the concern and wisdom, Jessica." Conferring with Tauriz, they came up with a list. "In our preferred order, Israel and the Jordan rift valley. The Nazca desert, Peru. Haiti. Easter Island. Southern Spain or Northern Morocco near Gibraltar, whichever is easier. Australia or Canada, on the shield rock. And finally, Oklo, Gabon. If local weather or politics or whatever changes that order, we're fine with that. We'd need a few days of knocking around with reasonable supplies off the beaten track, and perhaps a few more days in urban conditions in Israel and Haiti and also near Gibraltar, we figure."

"Interesting list! Amber and Monica will have an itinerary put together soon, and we'll bounce it off you then."

Monica spoke up, "Respectfully, Ray? Might I suggest attending an Asatru convention -- there's one happening in a week, actually, down on Long Island? I suggest it as there are likely to be several practitioners of techniques such as I use, and some others that are fairly closely related. I've got time off scheduled to attend it, and would be glad to show you around and introduce you to some people who might be of interest."

"What's Asatru?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's like a religion, but we prefer to call it a fellowship. We follow the old Norse deities."

"Amber, Jessica? What do you think?"

"Well, I'm not Asatru," said Amber, "but I do know there are people with intriguing techniques in that fellowship, and Monica is tied in with them pretty well. There are others, including much more modern groups such as the chaos magi, or so-called syncretic beliefs like Wicca loosely based on ancient practices as seen through a modern sensibility, each of whom has some practitioners with techniques. The Catholic Church allegedly has a couple of holy orders which have groups with techniques, I've met one nun with pretty effective psychological healing techniques previously. It seems like most major, organized beliefs have some small fraction of their adherents who have techniques.

"So, it's a thin scattering of people all over the place, frankly."

"Are either of you in contact with practitioners of voudon, voodoo, or whatever their preferred terminology is, who also manifest techniques?'

"Yes, there's a very active group in Haiti and New York City, actually."

"That's one group we'd particularly like to discuss things with eventually -- hence the trip to Haiti."

"Good to know. At these other places, are you more interested in the place, or the people?"

"We're hoping the place still has some of the people we'd be interested in, not all of whom may have techniques. For instance, Dr. Alahim at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem would be good to get to talk to face to face -- he's always been careful about how he's handled ancient magics in his publications."

"Hrmm. OK. Let us do some research, make some calls, and we'll get back to you soon. If you want to visit the Long Island convention, you'll probably want to confirm soon. We could probably wangle invites even after the ticket sales close, but that might make more waves than it's worth."

"Good thought. Please put us down tentatively as attending -- the NSA's actions and their guest have a much higher priority in our minds, but if we can't do anything about either of those, or they're taken care of by then, we'll be glad to meet others. Would you call them, what, practitioners?"

"For the convention, Asatru, which translates as followers of the old gods. Which gods and what aspect or aspects of each god can differ quite a bit, however, leading to energetic discussion. Please be aware that some Asatru are practicing berserks, rage-empowered with greater strength and durability than most any other human. Thus there's a great emphasis on civility and guest rights -- I should spend a little time with you two discussing it if you go before we get there. Of course, at the same time, there are a lot of racist neo-Nazi groups that try to fit under the same label, either explicitly or subtly."

"That'd be good -- please do make the time for us if we manage to attend."

"And here I was half afraid we'd have to pry you out of your office, Ray -- look at you, setting goals and agendas, prioritizing and delegating. I'm glad to see it!"

"Thanks, Jessica. I guess I've never been a 'typical' academic, getting thrown around on a mat tends to help one focus on the present no matter how puzzling and fascinating the past may appear."

"Interesting! I can see that this will be an entertaining assignment."

"Your entertainment is our primary purpose, Jessica." Ray snarked to the surprised laughter of the group.

Pete stepped up, "Ray, Skepsi just called. They'll be in the area after 9 PM tonight, and they'd be glad to meet with you any time in the following twenty-four hours. They would like to inspect the area before the meeting and agree to the mutual pat-down."

"Let's schedule them for a nine-thirty inspection at the University, followed by a ten PM meeting tonight if that is acceptable to them. Did they say how many they'd be sending?"

"Sounds like almost forty people, Ray. Two will be in the meeting, and the rest are physical boundary and similar."

"Interesting. The physical specialists bring the most warm bodies, the computer pros the least, and the financial/logistics group somewhere in the middle.

"Amber? Suggest you stop trying to find the president of the condo association. All these people won't fit here. Let's instead look for several local properties we could transform into a secure enclave with space for all five groups -- Tauriz and myself, you folks, and assuming they buy in the other three companies. Obviously, due to the uncertainty, we'll be waiting until sometime tomorrow to step in on the details, but having some options ready could be very helpful."

"Are you sure you wish to remain in this geographic area, Ray?"

"I want -- we want -- a home base, and this area has been very good to me over the years. Is this going to be the only place we'll want a physical presence? That I don't know, but having someplace we can hang our hats is important, I think. We think, sorry, Tauriz."

She smiled at Ray before going back to discussing something quietly with Hina.

"We'll have a prioritized list with strengths and weaknesses listed for after the meeting with Boch."

"Excellent. Let's plan on having a meeting at ten AM tomorrow with all the interested, friendly parties as long as at least one of the companies sign-on. If not, well, you folks seem to keep each other well informed as a matter of course."

"Now then -- hamburgers, or are we ordering out and risking NSA playing silly buggers?"

"I think hamburgers for lunch. Pete, why don't you and, hrmm, Amber head out to the grocery store. Keep an eye out to see what the police are doing, plus adding food and suchlike will be a good thing in the long haul. Plan on bulk quantities."

"Can do, boss. Let's go, Pete," Amber said, taking the lead. "Any major preferences, Ray, Tauriz?"

"No ginger-heavy dishes, otherwise a smattering of things you folks all enjoy. Similarly, beverages -- I've got a decent bar, but if you have specific tastes, by all means, pick up your preferred tipple."

"We don't typically plan on drinking much on the job, Ray."

"Can't be on the job 24 by 7, Jessica -- everyone needs downtime. I want to make sure you folks all have what you need to enjoy your downtime."

"OK, and thank you. Unless or until we get Skepsi onboard, we're currently planning on having people near you two all day and all night. They'll be intended as professional witnesses to describe any activity as and when needed in court, a tie into all the resources we can bring to bear as needed, and keeping communications open."

"You're welcome as long as we all agree there's a need. I've got a spare bedroom you're welcome to hot bunk in, for the immediate future and plenty of spare sheets and a washing machine."

"That being the case, I think I'll go take advantage of that room, so I'll be fresh later," said Jonathon.

"That works. Should we pick anything up for you from the steakhouse?"

"Yes please, a medium-rare porterhouse, mashed with sour cream, and a vegetable of some sort."

"We'll bring it back after the Tongxie dinner and drop off either Peter or Hina so they can get some rest."

"Works for me. Good afternoon, all."

Chapter 21

Ray waved as he headed into the kitchen. Pulling out his pair of cast iron frying pans, he started to set up for frying burgers. Tauriz came in and started to organize the bread, the few rolls he had on hand, and condiments and sides.

They snuggled into each other in Hinn. It was more enjoyable than even post-coital cuddling, something Ray hadn't thought could be topped before Tauriz showed him, and it was something they could do all the time. Unlike his human experience, the feeling didn't get numb, or complacent. Each moment was as fresh and as wonderful as the very first sensation he'd had of it. And yet, as ecstatic as both were, they were both able to function at a higher level than they had solo.

After a few minutes, Ray hollered, "Burgers are up!" As people entered the kitchen, he directed them to Tauriz' preparations and then passed one or more burgers to their preferred preparations. Tauriz took the time to make a couple, one for him and one for herself, following Ray's preferences for now. When Ray realized what she was doing, he queried why that.

"Because, my Master, it's one good combination. I'll branch out and try others later, but I wanted to experience what you've enjoyed first."

"As long as you're aware that I'd like you to try things and see what you can find that you yourself enjoy, regardless of my preferences, I guess that's fine."

"Of course it's fine, silly Master," Tauriz teased. "I did decide to try things this way, after all!"

Ray chuckled as he started to clean up around the kitchen. He left everything out, waiting to cook for Amber and Pete when they returned.

He'd watched the action outside as Jessica's two staffers left. It seemed they were curious about the team's actions, but weren't interested in stopping them at this point. The two were followed by a dozen or so people to the grocery store, and others joined them in the store itself.

They'd had no problems finding the kinds of things they'd wanted and got a large number of bags. Ray called the condo's front desk and arranged with the building security officer on duty to bring out a cart so they could bring up all the bags at once. Hina, on hearing this, texted Pete and let him know where to go.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone helped bring in the groceries. Tauriz spotted a couple very small drones in the bags and disabled them before handing them over to Hina without comment. She took out a small metal tube from her suit coat and tucked them inside, "for later analysis," she said.

Ray fried up three more burgers, one for Pete and two for Amber. As they ate, Ray, Tauriz and Hina cleaned up the kitchen. Jessica was talking on her headset just about constantly, coordinating shifting the bulk of her workload to others and setting up other support structures she felt they'd likely need soon.

Ray then texted Sensei Cleveland, regretfully informing him that they would be very sporadic in their attendance at the dojo for a while. "Busy times, stuff's come up Darryl. Won't be regular at dojo, sorry. Will fix when we can."

Later Ray received an acknowledgement text from Darryl. "S'ok, I was getting tired of flipping you so often," he'd jokingly texted back. Ray promised that when things settled back down they'd be back.

Ray settled down on the couch with Tauriz cuddled up next to him. Monica came over and asked if it as a good time to talk techniques.

"Probably about as good as we're going to get for a while. Pull up a seat!"

Hearing this, Amber wandered over and Jessica wrapped up her call so she could listen in too.

"I'm not sure how it works for you two, but for us, we are trained to find peace and 'connect with ourselves'. From that, we are taught to recognize others, and eventually to reach out to them and connect like we can with our own selves.

"The berserk use similar training, except they seek rage rather than peace, leveraging oddities of human physiology to boost the process. The successful berserk feels the rage boil over, or a flood of rage comes to them from elsewhere. Some attribute this to connecting to themselves in times of strife, perhaps in the past, perhaps even in the future. Others attribute this to the gods, and still others as a connection to the struggle that is existence.

"The berserk typically cease their training when they become able to reach the place of rage reliably when they can start to manipulate what they term their wod, sometimes also called rage. This manipulation period is often termed the berserkergang. Others can go further, however, including a couple Teachers I can introduce you to if we can get to the convention. These are able to extend wod beyond themselves and affect the people, beings and/or physical objects around them."

Ray asked, "Are you trained in the peaceful form, or the berserk form?"

"Both actually, Ray. They can complement each other, if your training is careful to allow for both schools."

Tauriz responded, "In our tradition, it is rwh, the soul, which is the source of jawhar, sometimes called connections or essence. Rwh contains the tools which create, manipulate, and perhaps sometimes even absorb jawhar. Historically, few humans have all the tools needed, but with effort and assistance most could have the tools if they desired to put forth the effort. There were some beings that tested this aggressively, often to the detriment of those tested. Rwh cannot leave the body, typically -- there are exceptions -- whereas jawhar can be internal or external as needed.

"For humans, that's the basis of it. For those such as myself, there are other aspects. Each type of being created by the angelics with the exception of humans have access to a force, a power. We have what's known as samum. Samum is occasionally translated as the 'scorching fire.' As such, it is envisioned as a mostly destructive force, but even so properly harnessed it can create and augment. Clay is baked to create porcelain, for instance, or ore smelted to create metal. In each case the destruction is carefully directed. Thus it is with samum when creating.

"We, Ray and I, are literally embodied samum, wrapped in rwh and the combination is then covered with the soil of our mortal forms. It never leaves us until we are extinct, dead. It never quiets, it is always devouring all it may. And it is always seeking to expand. "

Ray commented, "It sounds like we have a lot of similarities in the theory behind our techniques."

Both Amber and Monica nodded.

"How is your understanding different, Amber? You said you're not Asatru, correct? What does that make you?"