10-24-2018, 11:04 AM
Kali curled up on their cliffside, a small grey fox overlooking a big grey ocean - so much bigger than her it was hard to fathom. The sea at least was the same, tumultuous but unchanging, a steadiness to her moods and rhythms that still made sense. She stared out at the waves rolling in, and her breathing eased some, slow and deep now where it had been so shallow and frantic not long ago.
Nothing else made sense anymore. They’d spent less than a week on the Mountain, but the world below had moved so much faster, spinning and twirling into chaos and leaving the three of them behind. Maybe it was the way of fairy magic, playing tricks on visitors who didn’t belong where magic flowed so freely. It was a horrid trick, though, leaving confusion and devastation in its wake, tearing families apart. Tearing twins into different generations, leaving both reeling from the blow. And leaving Momma missing, somewhere out there in the great big world that seemed to care less and less about one little life.
Maybe there was no room for them here, in a world that had once felt so very much like home. When the land itself wasn’t safe, when time itself wasn’t safe, where did that leave any of them? If everything could be lost in an instant to the whims of fate and forces far greater than one tiny little fox of a girl, what could she possibly matter? What did any of her choices matter, when it could all be taken away so easily?
Khari? she asked softly, not sure if he was close enough to hear the sad little whisper. But hoping. He was never far out of reach, her sweet Khari, and he worried about her so. I need you. Can you come hold me? She did, needed his warmth pressed against her side, his wing settled over her and wrapped around her like a blanket, needed his soft grey eyes and the smile he pulled out just for her, even when the world was ending. Please?
Nothing else made sense anymore. They’d spent less than a week on the Mountain, but the world below had moved so much faster, spinning and twirling into chaos and leaving the three of them behind. Maybe it was the way of fairy magic, playing tricks on visitors who didn’t belong where magic flowed so freely. It was a horrid trick, though, leaving confusion and devastation in its wake, tearing families apart. Tearing twins into different generations, leaving both reeling from the blow. And leaving Momma missing, somewhere out there in the great big world that seemed to care less and less about one little life.
Maybe there was no room for them here, in a world that had once felt so very much like home. When the land itself wasn’t safe, when time itself wasn’t safe, where did that leave any of them? If everything could be lost in an instant to the whims of fate and forces far greater than one tiny little fox of a girl, what could she possibly matter? What did any of her choices matter, when it could all be taken away so easily?
Khari? she asked softly, not sure if he was close enough to hear the sad little whisper. But hoping. He was never far out of reach, her sweet Khari, and he worried about her so. I need you. Can you come hold me? She did, needed his warmth pressed against her side, his wing settled over her and wrapped around her like a blanket, needed his soft grey eyes and the smile he pulled out just for her, even when the world was ending. Please?