Makhi tells us about the past

Makhi has gotten pretty good at speaking English, and Batrie and I have been learning some of her language Anyway, we pieced together some history, and here’s what we’ve got so far:

The Golden Age of Otherworld

Legend tells of a time of great devastation, when the five dominions fought bitterly against each other. At last the great Peacock King united them.

The King appointed his most trusted and loyal supporters as the leaders of each dominion, guiding them to rule according to their truest gifts, strengths, and animal natures. Over time, the people of each dominion, and even the land itself, took on the qualities of their leaders.

The Five Dominions of Otherworld entered a golden age of peace and prosperity, with the leaders of each dominion sending the best and brightest to study in the halls of the great University in the King’s shining city.

How the Peacock King Was Betrayed

But nothing lasts forever. As time passed, one boy grew to believe that people should turn away from their animal natures and should only allow their human sides to grow and develop. He became a teacher at the University, and slowly, he developed a following. In secret, he met with his students, teaching them to turn away from their deepest core, to suppress the wildness that tied them to the land.

Together, this teacher, Shried, and his followers, rose up against the Peacock King and slay him while he slept.

How the Fiver Rulers Came to Leave Otherworld

The King’s closest adviser, the Priestess Arjuna, transformed into her Eagle form and carried the tragic news to the Five Rulers. The Five Rulers rushed from their dominions with their guards, but, unused to battle after so many years of peace, they were quickly defeated by Shried’s secret army.

Fearful that Shried’s army would assassinate the five rulers as well, Arjuna, along with the King’s loyal supporters, convinced the five rulers to retreat to the Forest Realm while Arjuna amassed an army. But as the rulers passed one by one through the portal to the Forest Realm, Arjuna betrayed Jarhu, the Bull, slitting his throat in a final embrace.  The other four rulers escaped through the portal to the Forest Realm, a legendary world of mountains, rain, and wind.

 

This website might be helpful

http://www.native-languages.org/chinook_words.htm

I came across this website. It might help us contact the spirits we need to reach.

Rabbit’s Box Found–Where is Raven?

Yay! Someone found the purple box that belonged to the rabbit. That must mean he is back in the Badger’s Woods. We need to figure out his name. Makhi says that in an old book she had back in the Otherworld, she remembers the name starts with an N and ends with an N. We need to start reordering the purple letters on the map each day till the rabbit’s totem appears.

Which reminds me–has anyone tried finding the Raven’s box? Given that he is a bird, I wonder if his box will be off the ground, maybe in a tree or something.

I heard one of you made contact with a spirit–the one calling herself the Sun spirit. Did you learn anything? What about the other spirits?

The Rabbit?

I saw Makhi today. She and Batrie have been traveling all over the place, trying to find some sign of the rabbit, but then when they got back, they thought they might have seen some signs in the Badger’s Woods that might indicate the rabbit is returning. Makes sense, after all-it is almost spring.

I wish we knew more about Ephra and the rabbit. I know they are married. All Makhi knows is that back in Otherworld, the raven and the badger didn’t get along. Only the bull was strong enough to unite them. I wonder if, after they got to our world, they fought. I mean, if Jarhu didn’t make the crossing, it would have just been the four of them–the rabbit, the badger (Ephra), the duck (Opati), and the raven. I wonder where the duck fits into all this.

Update and More Riddles

You probably noticed I haven’t been around school lately. I’ve been sick–all the kids in my house have been sick. even the real ones.

I looked in the clue box on the map and noticed all the clues have been stolen. You might want to take a look to see exactly what we are supposed to do to them back. A bunch of you are new to the AotWP–sorry it took me so long to get back to you.

Anyway, I heard some of you have figured out some of the riddles. That’s great! I found some more in my family mailbox when I came back to school today. Can you help me out? By the way, if anyone gets clues from the spirits, don’t forget to post them on the board in the downstairs hallway. Anyway, here’s the riddle I found:

Look no further than her door,

Anytime you need a helping hand, a friendly voice, a bit of sun.

Remind her how important she is to our little world—

All you have to do is tell her she’s number  __________.  

 

Riddles?

Someone left some riddles in my family mailbox. I think this has something to do with the spirits I was mentioning before. Batrie says his grandfather sometimes “communes with the spirits” of his ancestors out in the woods. He says they are angry his people have been forgotten. The only way to appease them is to find them and address them by their original names in the Chinook language. Anyway, I thought I would post the riddles here in case you guys can help figure out what to do next:

1.

Come get your clue from me

Happily I will surrender

All you must do is find my name and

Determine the old ones’ word for my gender.

2.

Terrible the forest’s darkness,

Ever the rains falls down.

She waits for this to return.

Speak the name of the golden orb

Into her delicate ears, remind her–

Even the longest winter ends.

It kind of looks like her.

A drawing I did of Makhi.

Hidden information

I don’t know why, but Makhi thinks there might be some spirits around that school that can give us more information about how to open the portal. I’m going to check with her after school today and ask her what she means. Like, spirits of the old Clackamas tribe or something? Anyway, they wouldn’t be able to speak English either,  so I’m not sure how we would communicate with them. More later.

 

 

Fifteen members achieved–And more about Makhi

Today we reached a milestone–fifteen people have joined the Army. We need to get going on figuring out the names of the Badger and the Duck so that they can help us find the Raven and the Rabbit. Speaking of names, that brings me to language and that brings me to Makhi.

So, more about Makhi. Most of this comes from Batrie, of course, because Makhi doesn’t speak English. This isn’t like some stupid sci-fi show where you show up on a new planet and everyone speaks English. No, but get this–the language she speaks is the same one Batrie’s people used to speak. Again, this cannot be coincidence. I really do think that a long time ago some people from Otherworld came here and were the original members of the the Upper Chinooks. Batrie says his part of the tribe were the Clackamas, so that makes sense. We DO live in Clackamas County.

Anyway, the way Makhi tells it,  she can’t go home again unless we find all five of the stones of power–well, only 4–we have the red stone that belonged to Jarhu. By now all of you should know that Jarhu, the Bull, never made it through the portal. How did we get the red stone then? Well, it turns out, Makhi’s father was with Jarhu when he died. He saved the st9ne, then went into hiding. Makhi was born soon after, and all this time, her dad has been raising her to be this avenging warrior, or something, to reclaim his throne.

Frankly, I wouldn’t mind to much if Makhi had to stay here. She’s kind of cute, in a weird, beakish way. And also,  I hate when parents raise their kids just to fulfill their own expectations instead of getting a life themselves. I mean, what if Makhi didn’t want to be an avenging warrior. When I say this to Batrie, he just kind of looks at me like I’m an idiot. Now that I think of it, Batrie has been doing his grandfather’s bidding all his life. Between the two of them, Batrie and Makhi, I mean, they are basically being crushed by duty.

That’s one thing I don’t have to worry about, I guess. No one expects me to do one good thing.

Batrie’s relationship with Makhi

I’m glad Aaron asked for more info about Batrie and Makhi. I get so caught up trying to sort through what we need to do next, I forget to finish telling you what I learned back during Christmas Break.

Anyway–

Batrie had never met Makhi before that time in the woods that we both saw here appear from the hole in the world. But unlike me, Batrie had been expecting Makhi his whole life, so when she finally got there, it was like-woah. Or I should say, his people had been expecting her, but Batrie never really believed she would come. He thought it was just some crazy legend that his people kept alive, and his grandfather was the last one crazy enough to believe it.

You see, like more than a hundred and fifty years ago, the portal opened and these creatures, the ones we are looking for, appeared in the woods where Batrie’s people lived. If you can imagine it, this was when people were coming over the Oregon Trail. No one lived here really except for some trappers and Batrie’s people, the Upper Chinook tribe. When the creatures came from Otherworld, they sought help from Batrie’s people. Turns out Batrie’s people had long believed that every human had an animal self too. In fact, some people even thought Batrie’s people might have encountered creatures from Otherworld hundreds if not thousands of years earlier. Teacher says time is up, so I gotta go, but more later. Aaron, keep the questions coming and I’ll do my best to answer. I realize I didn’t even get to Makhi yet. Maybe next time.