Libby excuses herself to speak with Tiko as she hands Diego the last sandwich. He is contentedly munching away when Wendy sits next to him, having completed the cleansing. “The Ga-hon-ga are gathering canoes to take us back across the West Bank. We should be leaving in a few minutes.”
“That’s fine. I’m finishing the last sandwich and will be ready to move soon.”
“Well, I can’t say this has been fun. But I learned a lot more about what Weather Guides can do, so thanks for the education.”
“Happy to have survived enough to be of help. And back at you, the breath thing was interesting.”
“So, are you saying if I have another supernatural mystery to investigate, you’d be willing to come along?”
“Sure, and vice versa. With Mom being the head of the Council, she’ll feel an obligation to stay in ABQ and send me when she would normally go herself. She’s one of the more powerful Guides and I know the military was sad to lose her when she fulfilled her residency contract. Plus, I think she enjoyed her work with them. I’ll see if I can loosen my military obligations and become more mobile if she agrees to pick up the slack. Oh, and good luck being on Council with her too.”
“Fair enough, let me know the results of your negotiation. Ready to head back to the motel? Sleep for a day, then homeward bound tomorrow.”
“Music to my ears.”
Gray will return in
-Touch Too Much-
coming Spring 2020
and look for more stories
set in the World of Touch of Gray
-Blood Song-
coming Fall 2020
WORLD OF TOUCH of GRAY
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Jo-gä-oh are general Indigenous nature spirits for the purpose of this story. There are several types. No offense is meant by tying them to nature first with a limited link to particular Indigenous tribes. They are found in the stories of the Haudenosaunee.
Ga-hon-ga are affiliated with streams and rocks. Oh-do-was dwell under the earth and guard against creatures. Gan-da-yah protect fruits, particularly strawberries, and other plants.
Élivágar is from Norse mythology. For this story, it is a venomous creature. Traditionally, Élivágar are ice waves or rivers that contain frozen venom.
There is no Potluck County in Pennsylvania. There are many creeks and streams that feed into the West Bank of the Susquehanna River, none of them named Tindeehanna or Quesahanough or anything else I mentioned.
Finnish disease heritage (FHD) is a real occurrence of almost 40 genetic diseases that are more prevalent in Finland. FHD is due to founder effect. However, I have taken great license in carrying this to the US as well as adding my made-up genetic blood disease to the list.
The Three Mile Island partial meltdown occurred in 1979. However, I am pretty sure that a mythological Norse entity did not awaken and escape upstream from the area. I think…
This story takes place in the mid-to-late 2010s. I am deliberately vague with the exact year as the calendars do not mesh. Leap Year is not observed on the GT, they have a different way from the Gregorian calendar to observe lunar astronomy. Between the 150 years since the GT inception and the two hundred years when both the Augustine and the Gregorian calendars were used by various people, the dates have been muddled.
CHARACTERS
Psycepts:
Wednesday (Wendy) Randolph – PsyWitch and Vodun Priestess, twin sister of Sully. Member of the Psycept Council of Albuquerque.
Diego Escudero – Weather Guide and son of Gloria Escudero, the head of the Psycept Council
Tiko MacGillivray – Bone Sage, oldest of the MacGillivray siblings (aka Brother Bone)
Libby MacGillivray – Blood Sage, specializes in blood analysis (aka one of the Sisters Wyrd)
Vito Mata – Asomatous and a member of the Psycept Council
Maddie - flora PsySapient
Police:
Sulien (Sully) Randolph – Detective Sergeant of the Psycept Police of Albuquerque, twin brother of Wendy
Sepulveda – officer of the Psycept police
Others:
Tewow – mentor to Kyle Ngo, a fauna PsySapient. Though he does not identify as Psycept, he is known for his animal magic
Sheriff Ulate – Sheriff of Potluck County, main contact for Wendy’s group
Deputy Peterson – deputy of Potluck County, secondary contact for Wendy’s group
Ranger Brunner – a forest ranger of Pennsylvania’s DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources)
Dr Rademacher – Medical Examiner for Potluck County and surrounding areas
Hogun – speaker of the Ga-hon-ga, one of the tribes of Jo-gä-oh.
PSYCEPT CATEGORIES
PsyMovers = able to manipulate objects
PsyKinetics = telekinetics
PsyPorters = transport objects
Weather Guides = move weather
PsySentients = mind perception
PsyPath = telepath or empath
PsyMemori (pl.), PsyMemore (sing.) = memory path
PsyWitch = body influencer
PreCog = precognition, prophecy
Variegated = miscellaneous; Seekers, Asomatous, etc
PsySapients = natural interpreter
Flora = plant, tree, flower
Fauna = animal
Terra = land and mineral
Touch Clairvoyant = tactile sensor
PsyChometrist = object reader
Bone Sage = reads bones
Blood Sage = reads blood
Mind Sage = reads memories
GEOGRAPHY
The Greater Tribal Council of the Americas (the GT) is divided into eleven conservatorships. Each conservatorship houses multiple tribes, the names of the conservatorship attempt to be as broad as possible. Encompasses much of central and western North America. 37 million
Southwestern Alliance Conservatorship (SWACon) – formed around four corners
Bosque region – from Rio Grande east, 750,00 inhabitants
Albuquerque is largest settlement, population 400,000
Approved region for Psycept residents, most live in PsyTown-ABQ
Puebloan and Apache tribes predominate
Chaco region – central area of SWACon, 650,000 inhabitants
Conservatorship central headquarters
Wir-Kiva SWACon municipal seat
Great Kiva sacred meeting place
Tsé Bit’a’í sacred landmark (Shiprock)
Navajo, Puebloans, and Zuni are major tribes
Mesa Verde region – northern border, 475,000 inhabitants
Mesa Verde area is regional seat
Ute and Puebloans are major tribes
Hohokam region – western area, 600,000 inhabitants
Kaibab Canyon (Grand Canyon) and Kaibab Forest here
SWACon military base seat
Hopi, Apache, Navajo, and
