Shirley Meier's Blog, page 79

283 - They've Found Us

"Ili, Ili, shh. Shh." I patted his back. "Shh. Listen. We're safe in this stinky privy..." It wasn't so bad, really with the carefully dumped in lime and the ocean wind. "And the man you saw and thought was Joras isn't here." He looked at me with his eyes round, tears streaked. He wasn't learning the Arkan 'keep your tears in' very well, because of Gannara and all the foreigners we were

Chibi Ili with chibi Jia Klem!

Illi and Jia by ~BlueWingedCoyotehttp://bluewingedcoyote.deviantart.co...

282 - Ancestors, this isn't Funny

"Ili! Come out and play! Ili!" I groaned and rolled over. The sun was up. Well up, the reflected waves on our ceiling making my eyes ache. I checked Ili's bed. It was empty but had been made. He was being very, very good that way… better than I sometimes. If I had a really rough session with Zinchaer sometimes I just left it, or pulled the sheet roughly straight. Gan lay on his stomach,

281 - Letters, Loving and Harsh

[Via Rapid Post Arko to Haiu Menshir, to Gannara Melachiya, University patient c/o University Haiu Roru, wing-courier delivery:] Dear Gannara, Oh, thank All-Spirit you are alive and getting well! Why didn't you stay home? Your shadow-father and I are on the way, we'll be there two days after this letter, if the wind holds well. We will be coming by this new-fangled wing-thing, carried by

280 - A Unicorn and a Canary

"Kyriala, dear," Auntie Betiri said, an admiring note in her voice. "Wherever did you get such fine thread? And such a colour?" She looked down at the bed-pillow she was embroidering, the long, whispy strands of gold fine as hair. "It was a fessas on the road, Auntie." The snick of her scissors as she clipped Minis's hair short, the heavy hank of hair falling into her glove as she cut. "Oh.

279 - Scripture and Dreams

"… for the sins of the fathers flow through the bloodline, yea unto the tenth generation. Woe to the sons. We lament, oh Muunas. We lament. We are born into sin and cry to Thee to save us from ourselves and our blood. "I cry to thee, oh Celestialis. My tears are bitter in my mouth and are my sustenance. Ashes, ashes and misery is the world. Oh woe to the living, for all is death." 'The

278 - Touch

"We will begin this next session by beginning to re-teach you how to touch, Minis." "What? I know how to touch!" I got up from the chair and started pacing back and forth, suddenly nervous as a cat. I missed my cat. I missed the stupid white kitten that wouldn't leave me alone in the Marble Palace even when I was being a cruel idiya kid. "Well," Zinchaer said thoughtfully. "It

277 - The Cove

This little cove was completely private. It took a good long walk along the shore and more, to reach it. There were several milas of beaches held private to the University, with the patients and the long-term healers needing them. Then another walk before the cliffs started to rise and the beaches got more pebbly. The road became a path and one could go right down to the water and for a

276 - Tears like Acid

Dear Shadow Mama and Shadow Daddy,I'm sorry I didn't write to you earlier, but I couldn't really remember. I do now.Minis got me away from the Mahid and took me back to Yeoli. He's a good young man and hates what his father did to me. So he's been pushing for me to get my memory and my voice back and to see that I get home safe."Gannara… maybe you shouldn't laud me too much to your

275 - A Winged Thing

"…f you don't mind telling me, Gannara. Have you written to your shadow parents yet?" Initaeran's face wasn't judgmental, just her calm, quiet face. Gannara lay on the massage table, the head of it angled up so it was almost a seat rather than a flat table, a towel over his middle, looking up at the bright mobile twitching and dancing in the steady onshore wind. The open, roofed room was high