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Miracles happen in the most unexpected of circumstances. Under the guise of the most inauspicious of occupations, under the least expected areas in our lives, they crop up. Sometimes they are an inconspicuous thing, unnoticed. Sometimes they are impossible to miss.

There is no more gentle or awesome of miracles than life. I was witness and inheritor of such a wonder. In creating life that would come blooming from the earth below our feet, life was created from an inanimate object that I carried as a child. Half afraid it was some elaborate joke, too frightened to not take it seriously, I bore the mask a short time...a week or two, and then it happened.

She's a small child, but definitely not delicate. Her tiny frame belies the strength that is inherent in her structure. Her Caribbean blue/green eyes are gorgeous, an aquamarine that shines with its own inner fire and serenity. She blinks shyly to me, asking softly if I am the one that will take care of her. There is no demand in that request, just a simple statement asking for information. Even if I said no, I do not think the _expression in her eyes would change, there's a depth of will there that may wound easily, but never breaks.

Like a chipped diamond. The fragments are as impervious as the whole.

What would it take to break diamond, I wonder?

I look in her eyes, and do not see the answer there.

*walks in, a bit worse for wear*

Shiva clutches nervously at Chae's hand, looking around wide eyed at everything. She had seen it before, but actually "seeing" it for the umpteenth time impressed her more. Sheltering her body half behind her guardian's she watched carefully.

*is holding his temples from the number of people talking* Hi hon! *wave* He agreed to wear a kilt. But we couldn't find a lightweight enough shirt.

clothes make my head hurt. *winces*

He says clothes make his head hurt.

Shiva watched Cern for a few moments, little expression in her eyes. Finally, decision made, she looked up at Chae, who released her hand obligingly. Leaving for a few moments, she came back quickly with a cup of green tea cupped in her hand. Appraising him, she knelt down and stared up into his face. *It might help if you put something in your stomache that you had a good chance of keeping there.* she notes, offering him the cup.

Now seemed hardly the time to be petulant. It was apparent to her he was in extremem discomfort.

*takes the cup slowly and sips* Thank you, Shiva. *pauses* You weren't...here, were you?

She watches him closely. *Would it matter if I was here?* she asked shrewdly

*chokes on the tea. smiles at Shiva and takes another sip. Urg...*



*I see* was all she answered, brushing imaginary dust from her knees.

*sighs* It would have been even more embarassing than it has been already.

*Why would you say that?* she answers.

*has turned beet red and retreated to mumbling*

Shiva's bright eyes squint slightly as she considers this behavior. Obviously something happened, and he was not the one that would tell her. It seemed to just make him less inclined to talk, not more.

She wasn't sure if she was still upset at him for using her to incite Io the other night. She had not liked feeling put in the middle, and had been carrying that indignation with her since the event.

His blatant misery had ameliorated that...somewhat. But now conversation seemed a bit stilted due to this event which seemed momentous, but less than revealed.

Taking the teacup back, she went to fetch more, coming back with another cup, as well as some toast lightly spread with jam.

*It's light, so you should be able to keep it down. It may help with the headache and moodiness as well, Cern.* she explains, setting the tray down.

*fights down a gag at the sight of the toast* I'm not hungry, Shiva, but thank you. *rubs his temple* I'm afraid I might uh...lose my meal. And I don't want to get your clothes dirty. *gives her a halfhearted grin* But the tea is wonderful and helps very much.

she slits her eyes thoughtfully, rubbing her hands together. Clasping her left hand carefully she looks down. *it's not good to keep an empty stomach too long. Try to work yourself up to eating something at least. It will help in the long run.* setting the unwanted foor aside, she made a note to put it out for the birds in the garden later.
"Is there anything else I can get for you?*

*shakes head* You could sit by me. I mean...not that you've been avoiding me. Much. I mean. Um. *clutches the teacup* You aren't mad at me, are you? You barely said two words the other day and oooooowwwwwww....stupid head.

She thinks for a moment, then shrugs and curls up next to him. *I didn't like that Io became upset when I showed her what you did. And judging by your reaction, you were not surprised at her response. It made me feel put in the middle of something that should have been between you both. Or at least...should have been between people who knew what was going on.*

She feels suddenly very old, and wonders at that. *It doesn't really seem all that important compared to everything else, in retrospect, I guess.*

*blushes* I meant it to show her that YOU were a good sport about it. And because well, I like Sad Sam and I thought you would too, and that all of us would have a laugh over it.

And then you were so quiet. *gulps down the tea*

*I was thinking.* She answers. *I didn't like how it felt, and I decided I didn't want to put myself in that kind of situation again. So I just sat and thought about how to not be in that kind of situation again. Best answer was not to do anything.*

...Shiva, dear, if that's your reaction to trouble you'll sit out a lot of things in life.

Sometimes you take the dive.

*Hm* She considers. *Emotional conflicts are messy. Sometimes it seems to me that it would be better to sit them out, or look at what's happening first. Don't you think?*

*looks at the mug in his hand, studying its contents before tilting his head and catching her eyes* I'd be afraid, very afraid, that by waiting, the moment will pass, and I'll sit there, wanting it back.

*Then there has to be a middle ground where the two meet.* she decides. *We'll just have to find it, no?* Curling up against his leg, she yawns.

*hesistantly puts his free hand on her shoulder, then her hair* I'm sorry I'm boring you. Sleep?

*Im not bored.* she answers, eyes tilting upwards. *But I think it's past my bed time. Im surprised Chae hasn't come to drag me off to sleep yet. Unless she already fell asleep too.*

She may have. ED is hanging over Cinderfae and is on caffiene.

And she yells at me for a bender.

*bender?* she inquires sleepily, putting her head against his knee.

Bender. Drinking waaaaaaaaaaaay too much at once. *shudders, then sets the cup down* You're just about passing out Shiva. Want me to get Chae?

She realized he had told her what had happened...or at least thinks he did, but doesn't say anything. She wanted to think a bit more first on it. *Hm. No. If you don't mind, I think I'll sleep here a bit. Do you mind?*

Only a bit. Shouldn't sleep on the floor. *picks her up and sets her by him* Why are you looking at me funny?

*No reason. Just thinking.* she says, putting her head against his shoulder. Yawning again she looks up *night Cern*

*pats her shoulder* Sleep well.

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

 
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

 
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
As tho’ to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

 
  This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle–
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

 
  There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me–
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads–you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.