As Mairi had carried Trev, so John carried Kyra. Her breathing was steady, her face tranquil. John laid her in her private quarters and took a moment to trace her curves with his eyes before quietly taking his exit.
Five days later:
John: How long is she going to sleep?
Rog: We’ve seen this before, after Kieran died. Took her almost two weeks to recover.
John: (looked lost in thought) I wouldn’t think the body would need such a long time to heal. Is this a Hynerian quirk?
Von: (laughing) Hynerian? Janus no. This is a Kyra thing. You see, what is healing is not the body, although I’m sure the body is recovering from the exertion. (Von paused)
Rog: (looked from Von to John)
John: (looked from Von to Rog)
Rog: Don’t look at me.
John: Okay, you got me. What is healing?
Von: Well, we’re not sure.
John: What?
Rog: We think we know, but we don’t really know. Her grandfather was, perhaps, the most famous Hynerian of our generation, a Zing Tao master of the ninth order, protégé to the Brandonian, Ji.
John: And this means?
Von: Her grandfather, Zeke, or Papa as she calls him, had a gift. He could swim in the current of the universal in ways the rest of us only dream about.
John: The universal?
Rog: Love.
John: (laughing) Love. Okay.
Von: Laugh if you like. But ask yourself this. Could you have done what you have seen Kyra do twice now?
John: (didn’t answer)
Von: Zeke believed that Kyra’s gift, her potential, put him to shame. He dedicated his later life to developing her abilities. Unfortunately, our little planet went south before he could finish the task. Kyra swims in waters me and you will never taste.
John: (leaned forward on his knees and looked at Rog)
Rog: (nods head)
John: Okay, so I ask you again, what is healing?
Von: As Kyra might say, if you would stop interrupting me, I’ll tell you what I know. (Von winked)
John: Sorry. I’m usually the one telling fairy tales, but please, continue.
Von: (sighs)
John: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean---
Von: Forget it. Most on Hynerian would have reacted the same. But then again, most have only heard tales of Ji and Zeke and the Zing Tao, and Kyra was not much more than a rumor. Anyway, what I believe is healing, according to Zeke, is neither body nor mind, but the education of the soul in the ways of the flow, the water, the universal, Love, whatever you want to call it.
John: (has a “you’re shiotting me” look on his face)
Rog: Dude, we shiott you not. And we aint’t shiooting you either (laughs)
Von: (laughs a little less than Rog and looks back at John) And we ain’t seen nothing yet.
28 comments:
Anyway, what I believe is healing, according to Zeke, is neither body nor mind, but the education of the soul in the ways of the flow, the water, the universal, Love, whatever you want to call it.
I love that. I actually believe it, too; have for a long time.
There's something purely magical about the accompanying image, too. I want to just sit and stare at it.
SJ, so do I as do Zeke and Kyra. The others, in time will come to believe it too. :-)
Thanks for the kind words on the image. I did this one a long time ago, absolutely loved it, but for whatever reason have never had a chapter suitable for it until now. I also have a blue rainyish version that I think we might see soon.
About two hours ago, I had no idea where we were going next in the story, then, like lightning, the next couple chapters struck in a matter of seconds, playing before my mind like a movie, one full of action, fast paced, and one full of emotion and fear and concern and hope. I've seen both so clearly, felt them so strongly, putting them to pen almost seems anticlimactic. :-D
Those moments when inspiration strikes like a bolt of lightning are like nectar from the gods to writers. When they strike, wonderful things are going to happen. I can't wait to see once you get it fully committed to the page.
The blue rainyish image sounds pretty.:-)
SJ, moments of inspiration are humbling. I can only speak for myself, but I never feel I can take any credit for them. They just happen. One moment nothing and then the next minute Bam! And then, there is the fear, the fear that one day the well will be dry, nada, nothing and the pen just sits, silently mocking hubris.
All I'll say about the next chapter or two is we are going to get introduced to a couple new characters, if you want to call them that. We will see Kyra in a way that will bring tears to our eyes (assuming I find the skill to convey what I see) and John and Rog will have a moment of crisis as the ship appears to come under siege. :-D
How do you like that for a trailer. :-D
*let me understand...they are trying to understand what the act of HEALING is?
Hey ~d, Kyra is healing in ways the rest of them don't, which is to say, her soul is healing from the horrific events of the "Kyra Incident". Von and Rog are trying to explain what little they know of this process to John, but none of them really understand it. :-)
It makes a terrific trailer, one that leaves you wanting more -- which is, of course, the hallmark of an effective trailer.
Inspiration can strike any time, anywhere, but it's the writer who takes it and runs with it. You're the one transmuting inspiration into the life you breathe into your characters, so IMHO, the credit is indeed yours. We all, of course, fear the dry well. When it goes dry, though, a spring erupts elsewhere.
I'm looking forward to the new characters and new circumstances.
SJ, confidence has a walk all of its own. We marvel at its truth and its untruth. Beauty transcends our ability to conceptualize it. Kyra is at that crisis. The skin of confidence, the falseness of it, will be ripped from her hide before its ready and it will hurt. Standing naked, her soul at the edge, wind whips and darkness approaches as distant voices speak in whispers that ride the winds of the unknown. She must hear in colors and see in sounds and dance to vibrations unseen and unfelt. Effort will betray her and thinking holds a dagger behind its back. Images, past, present, future flutter as hummingbird wings, each imprinting pieces of eight as a panorama of one. And cries will be uttered and cries will be rendered unto.
So how are your pillows? Need fluffing? :-)
They ALWAYS need fluffing. If you could take care of that now, I could lie back and contemplate the beautiful complexity of Kyra's crisis and anticipate how you're going to write it.:)
I like a woman that knows what she wants without hesitation--not an easy thing to find you know. Now, if you close your eyes, I could whisper the colors and complexity of a journey Kyra would not soon forget, to places seen not by Papa. Our baby is about to be on her own.
Question: Cotton or Silk?
Oh, I always know what I want. Figuring out sometimes how to obtain it is where I run into problems. LOL. What I very much want right now is to hear the whispered colors and complexities of the journey.
Fledgling baby is ready to be put out on her own? That's a momentous step.
Hmmm. Depending on what it is, nine times out of ten it's gonna be the silk.
Nothing feels quite like silk on soft skin. Nothing looks as elegant, and in the right cut, as seductive as silk which covers and hides without covering and hiding. Silk, light and heavy ushers imagination to a theatre for two, a private showing in the flickering light of fingers laced and tender words exchanged but not heard.
As for those warm whispers of color and complexity, well, that could be arraigned, but I would need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement first. :-D
Or, I could offer a one-time dispensation from the non-disclosure based on good behavior. You have been good haven't you?
Wonderful, full of anticipation for what we may learn next of Kyra, of Zeke, of the gift that they both shared, the insights, and the calm so welcome after the charge of the couple that preceeded it. The promise, to quote, that they've/we've seen nothing yet, through all the chapters that taught us of Papa, and that Kyra, when she wakes, will delight in ways not seen yet. There's very much a sense of everything heretofore having lead to what happens next, that this will be the time when Kyra will truly shine.
Sunshine, picture it this way. Kyra is standing at the entrance of a small, rickety hanging footbridge between two cliffs. She does not know if the bridge will support her weight, but she also knows if she stays where she is, she will never get to the other side, and, perhaps, be consumed in the approaching dark night of the soul. ;-)
Then again, I think we might just see that the choice is not wholly hers to make. Either way, the scene I have in mind is quite graphic and not pretty. We've never seen Kyra like this. Trust me on this one. :-)
Silk possesses all those qualities and more, it is true, rendering it beautiful and mysterious and highly prized.
I've been on good behavior, but my lips are sealed.:)
: )
Von is unable to explain the healing part. It is inexplicable as it is not a doctrine, but is an experience which is again of interior subjectivity. It is indefinable by its very natureas it is not within the grasp of interllect. It is an experience of dropping out of both mind & body & entering her being..
...like a dewdrop slipping into an ocean..it disappears as a dewdrop;nothing remains of it as a dewdrop..It dies but is yet reborn, not asa adewdrop but the ocean.
But there is nobody to say what has happened and there is no way to say it..no words are adequate enough...
Fingers may point at the moon but fingers are not moon...
Ah! my friend! it is so true.One moment it is like tabula raza, & the next we imprint upon it, not knowing what or how. That is writing.Happens with me as I write poetry... I have no idea what will emerge..or has emerged till I go back to see
Each line is a birth of its own...
"Each line a birth of its own . . ."
Mona, I love that line. I would love to tell you I know exactly what each line is going to say and how it will be written, but I literally watch in amazement as each line of prose pops from the ground like a seedling searching for light, whereas just a moment before the soil appeared to lay bear.
This story challenges me in that the experience of Kyra, what she knows and what Zeke knew is beyond what I know. So I wait patiently for them to enlighten me, to pull me up to their level. There are times in this story I feel I need to go away for a couple years, expand my own horizons, so that I might come back and take the story where it needs to go. Until then, since that is probably not going to happen, we all get to see me tap dance with language and situations that will remain vague, not on purpose, but vague because they are vague to me. But is this not life? Tell me who sees clearly? As my father would put it, "show me a man who knows what happens next." Of course, the fear is, nothing happens next. But I can promise you one thing, at least with this story, something is going to happen next. LOL
Like a drop of dew in the ocean. Very nice my brilliant friend. I see you think in images as I do. I wish we could plug our minds together, network them, so that you could see my movies and I could see yours. :-)
SJ, you know, I did ask for sealed lips, but now that I look at that promise in writing, I'm starting to have regrets on how that could be interpreted. :-D
I think we need further negotiations on the fine print. ;-)
Yes, the devil is in the details; i.e., the fine print. Further negotiations might be in order.:-)
I'm open to whatever you might proposed that is mutually beneficial, for the greater good of course. :-)
I am unable to type (or negotiate) at the moment. I am swooning over "open to whatever you might propose." To some women, such license is Nirvana. I'm one of them.:-)
SJ, wasn't much thinking about your typing prowess. ;-)
I could use a little Nirvana. Can you take me there? :-)
I'm not sure, but I can make you this promise -- when I find Nirvana, I'll send for you. How's that?:-)
I forgot to ask -- the image below the latest chapter, is that the blue rainyish image you mentioned? Whether it is or isn't, it's beautiful.
SJ, I'll hold you to that promise. As for the rainyish blue version, I haven't posted that one yet in the story. But we will see it soon I think. As always, thanks for your very kind words on image and story alike. :-)
Done deal.:-)
How do you create the images, or is that a trade secret? They ARE lovely.
I use as many as ten different programs. Apophysis, a freeware fractal program, however, accounts for most of the images used in the story. The story started with images and for a long, long time, the image moved the story forward, which is to say, I would create an image and the image would tell me what was going to happen next. Not so much now, as the story has a little more order, but the images still play a very important role. I do appreciate the kind words. More coffee on the way. :-)
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