are the dead really silent?
Startled by a wolf other than myself or Solstice chasing him, the rabbit let out a squeal and dived into my long fur. He became a small brown lump among my silver and light cream. Feeling for the small animal I touched him gently with my white nose, comforting him in the way he often comforted my own child. My heart warmed to know there were so many around me I could stand for. So many souls that would look on me with shining eyes, voices that would whisper to me in kindness instead of scream at me in vain.
Psyche lifted herself to play with Solstice. Watching the two of them chase around my body lit a fire in my body. Their joy fueled me and burned away the darkness of the shadowed realm. Together the two of them were brighter than the sun in my eyes. Dances of life and love, running with the rhythms of the world was nothing compared to the correctness and joy I felt in this moment. A ball of growing energy, but with no notion of how to conserve it, Solstice quickly gave up her games of chase to sit beside me once again, snuggling her face between her rabbit’s brown fur and my soft pelt.
She lowered herself close to me, I could once again feel the breath catch in my throat as my heart raced in my chest. I did not know who exactly this woman was, but something in my screamed that I did. I looked at her and knew I could not let her be far from me. I could not let harm come to her. I needed her. My need warred with my belief. Every fiber of my being called for me to touch her, to claim her, but my soul knew she needed to remain free. I could ignore my need. I could try. For her safety, I could save her from myself.
For the second time I am called kind in contrast to the things I had done. My daughter’s mother dead at my feet, the flesh I had paid to steal my child, the seasons I had spent stalking a stranger. I had been called ‘demon spawn’, but I had been called kind.
“My kindness is in the eyes of those who perceive it. What one sees as just, another sees as cruelty.” I saved her, and I killed her. There was always a balance, something more to be seen.
“Will you come to the forest with us?” Solstice’s childish voice sounded and she stepped away from me, looking curiously at the wonderous woman we had come across. I did not stay in the shadows of the forest, trusting the life of my daughter in the paws of others. I look back at Psyche, unsure if I could trust being too distant from her.
lord; 5 falls; 41in/190lbs; Psyche’s fateXheartless; wandering ghost |