Fic: The Book of the Bardo
Title: The Book of the Bardo
Characters: Sid, a little John, two OCs, and a bunch of cats.
Disclaimer: Knockin' on Heaven's Door is c. Laurabryannan
Rating: PG
A/N: How to explain this?
A very good friend of mine has been working on an original yaoi story named Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Laurabryannan is known for her Samurai Champloo fic, which are deathly hot and good and sad and happy and meaningful, and this fic is more of the same plus her very own. [Read Knockin' on Heaven's Door here!]
I found that I was inspired to write a fanfic for it, and asked Laura if she wouldn't mind...She said to go for it, so, erm, here it is.
Five minutes. Sid looked at his watch, staring up at the overpass. He rarely undertook such activities personally, preferring to help from a distance, but this one was going to be rather large. With any luck it would help change the underpinnings of society, from the construction of roads to the ways in which bodies were disposed of, but he remained a little wearily skeptical. The wheel turned, it was all one, the flickers of shapes around him were merely borrowing their moment of incarnation before burrowing back into the blessed darkness from which they'd all come. All parts of himself...parts of himself...
One little part of himself was squatting on the road next to a stray kitten. She had a scrap of her lunch in her hands. An open lunchbox lay next to her scrawny schoolgirl ankles. "Please," she was saying softly, when Sid managed to get his focus back on the here and now, "Please eat."
The cat was not pretty. It was scarred by many battles, and raised a lip in a little snarl. The cat's ribs showed, though, and Sid shook his head, eternally amused that people should choose such small battles to fight when the city teamed with equally starving, equally unhappy animals.
"See? It's good." She took a nibble, then held it out again. Sid studied the bit of food -- it was probably all she had for the day (ah, yes, it was), and his brow furrowed. What was she doing, giving her food away? She'd starve herself, for the sake of this cat. Except...
Ah yes, she was one of the fallen, taken for her moment of compassion to this cat. Sid could already see her spirit emerging, following the incessant droning of the Tibetan monks toward the pathway to the light. Everything was here, now, then, forever, and he turned to walk on.
"Please. I know it ain't much, cat, but you need to keep strong to keep fighting," she said steadily, and put the scrap down in front of the cat. Sid turned to look back, watching the cat sniff suspiciously and then take the morsel in its mouth. The girl smiled at it, and very gently reached out to touch a battle-torn ear.
No. Sid knew. He felt the tremor begin through his feet and sighed. No! It was her compassion that did him in, her perfect embodiment of The Way. It was ridiculous to be so rewarded, one of those completely meaningless acts of universal indifference that had Sid remembering his own upbringing in a city near this, so long ago.
In another second he was at her side, scooping up the cat in one arm, the girl in the other.
"What the -- GURU -- put me down --" The girl struggled, the cat struggled, but Sid held tight as he hurried away.
"We need to move out from under the overpass," he explained in a low voice, exerting a bit of his universal calm until the two in his arms slowed their struggles. "See. There's an earthquake coming. That overpass will fall, and you were right beneath it." In back of him he heard a roll of thunder from the earth itself as the plates shifted. Such an uncertain world they lived on, made so clear by the very construction of the planet itself. Sid began to feel the spirits crying out to him, asking direction. He sent out a spare thought and herded them toward the chanting. The Tibetans really were a god-send, sometimes, with their incessant and gentle directions.
O nobly-born, when thy body and mind were separating, thou must have experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations.
"Earthquake? Guru, why are you saving me? Go tell everyone -- go -- somehow -- save them all -- PLEASE --" Tears were in her eyes, and Sid felt a wash of understanding.
"I know...I know...It never ceases hurting," he said, and before he knew it he was placing a kiss to her hair. They were a few blocks away now, and finally he set her down. He stood still for a moment, watching the waves of his intervention ripple and touch different events...change the order of things. Not too much would alter, but from what he could see, none of it was ill. He frowned, seeing one particular ripple... "What's your name, child?"
"Priti," she said resignedly. "What's yours, Guru? Why me? Why not ..." Her eyes sought the bridge in the distance, widening in a stricken way as she saw it buckle.
"Ah. Shakyamuni," Sid said, and then frowned. Now that he'd come this far, he had to take the final step. He put his hand on her head and let the chanting of the monks swell in his mind -- they were a background noise to him, forever in his ears -- and let some of the oblivion seep into her.
Priti's eyes went slack for a moment, and then her expression turned dazed. Sid put the cat into her arms, a cat that had turned docile by Sid's touch. "You fed a cat today. Priti, may your compassion continue to carry you far. Now, go back home. School is cancelled."
Dazed still, Priti turned, cat in her arms to walk away.
~
The years spun like the fragile webs of spiders as Sid walked through the world. There was much to accomplish, especially when his Western friends got on various jags and crusades and interventions -- they were much more likely to head off on grand adventures than he was. India, with all of its ridiculous beauty, held Sid bound fast. He did not forget Priti -- he could not. He watched her, a thread of a life that solidified into something more real than he'd felt in an age.
Priti became a scrappy girl, hyper-aware of the horrible pun of her name, which in local patois meant both pretty and love. Pretty she was not. She was too thin, too boyish, forever scraped and bruised by her incessant battles. She was truly his ex-wife's opposite in so many ways, but Sid had moved beyond a mere appreciation for the female form. Priti's light grew and grew...
As a teen, she turned her house into a haven for animals, heckling and shaming her community into aiding her. Soon, before her twenties had begun, she'd established an animal shelter and was studying veterinary medicine. In young womanhood she was lithe and spare with a strong face that was far too serious until she smiled. Sid blessed her progress; the city needed such a place like the parched Thar needed water. Somehow, bureaucracy untangled for her, animals found her, and people jealous of her success felt their envy melt away when they observed her compassion.
Sid felt just a little smug that he'd aided this girl. Clearly he'd been in the right to do so, she was an angel upon earth.
Then one day, Priti took on another doctor. Sid was simply grateful at first, on Priti's behalf. Priti needed a friend, and needed help for her practice much more than that. The new doctor was a lovely young woman who reminded him much more of his ex, from the fall of her long brown locks to the graceful flow of her sari as she bent to calm an unhappy animal.
A month later, peeking into the practice, Sid noticed that Priti seemed different. She was behaving...almost nervous, jumping whenever Tejal touched her, staring at her sideways with eyes wide. Sid almost smacked himself on the forehead when he finally figured it out. Of course... Of course. He should've known, a girl so seemingly pure and uninterested in the temptations of the Bardo had to have at least one weakness. Sid felt wryly amused that her weakness seemed to mirror his own. There was a certain form, a certain bend of the arm, jingle of ankle jewelry, that did it for him every time, and Tejal definitely had that in spades.
Sid didn't admit to himself that he was jealous. He was above that. Far above that.
~
...Sid knew he needed help when he found his gaze entering the little shared room that night. During the weeks leading up to this, many things had happened. The little touches had turned into a bashful kiss, the sweetness of which had stung him more than a thousand unwarranted deaths. The problem was that he couldn't stop watching, and for two weeks India shuffled on without him as he planted himself under a tree and let his consciousness linger on two women.
"Tejal...please," Priti said quietly, expression bright as she sat at the table, bowl of forgotten curry in front of her.
Tejal's eyes slid sideways, her own expression saucy. "No. You're too serious. You need to enjoy life more." Tejal's sari slid a little ways off her shoulder, down her arm. Priti reached out to straighten it, and somehow her hands found themselves lingering upon the skin, thumb feeling the wonder of a defined collarbone.
"It's my skin."
"So very soft."
"That isn't my softest part."
Sid shook his head at the blatant line, but found his mouth dry as he watched what followed. His stomach tensed, his body felt a surge of hormonal impulse that he swore he'd left behind a century ago. All of that and a dark sense of pain... Priti had grown up, and moved beyond him to a place where he couldn't go.
They traced each other's bodies with kisses, that night, Tejal's hair falling over Priti's body like a silken blanket. Softly, fumbling with each other, giggling, exploring, they worked out ways to give each other joy. Hearing Tejal's name on Priti's lips, Sid finally turned his gaze away, body sore from arousal, mind aching from distress. ... How long had it been? It would have been easy to meditate and distract himself...but instead Sid leaned against the comforting familiarity of the Bo tree and slid his hand into his loose pyjama. It had been a century since he'd done this... But in the end it was just like riding a bicycle.
~
"What's up? I hate to say it, but this really isn't like you at all, Sid."
They sat at a smoke shop in Morocco, neutral territory, Islamic land. John looked as polished and cheerful as always, and Sid looked and felt like a mess. He took a long draw of the smoke, feeling from afar the tingles of relaxation ease through his corporeal body, trying to pin down his feelings. He offered the smoking spigot to John, who took it and puffed once before pausing to cough.
"Strong stuff..."
"It's simply tobacco."
"I've never known you to indulge..."
"I've fallen from The Way a bit lately." Sid scrubbed his eyes, scratched the fur that he'd allowed to grow on his body's chin. It was ridiculous.
"I can see that." John's voice was compassionate as always. "Care to tell me about it, since I've come all this way?"
Taking a deep breath, Sid told him about the little girl he'd saved, the one that grew up into a fine young woman...who loved another woman.
John's face was grave by the end of it. "Oh my. You've got it bad."
Sid's face dropped to his hands. "It was...she was so kind."
"On the upside, you won't have long to mourn, relatively speaking." John's arm went around Sid, and Sid found himself leaning on the other man's shoulder, his own body shaking as he remembered the pain of attachment, yet again, yet again.
"That's no upside at all," Sid grumbled, and sighed as John held him close. There was something to be said for heavenly beneficence -- John hugged very well.
"Want advice?"
"No."
"...Go talk to her. Have your moment. Enjoy being with her, if only for an hour or two. You've been holding yourself apart, I can tell..."
"But. I wouldn't have a chance."
John looked at him, one of those looks that made Sid shift a bit guiltily. "Honestly. Did you want one?"
~
Years passed. Many years. Sid watched the partnership closely and made sure that it wasn't disturbed by anyone. Homophobic parents were gently shown the beauty of their daughters' love, and social barriers were pushed ever so slightly awry so that the two could share a bliss that was rare for same-sex couples in India. That was his last gift -- his wedding present, more or less. It made him happy that Tejal and Priti were more than worth the meddling.
Sid kept John's words in mind, however, and chose a moment. The moment was truly a selfish one, Sid admitted to himself, but given the long span of years Priti had been blessed with, perhaps he could be forgiven.
She was in her seventies, bent by time, face worn and creased and set into comfortable lines. Tejal had been gone for a year, now -- much mourned, not forgotten. Sid appeared at the edge of Priti's vision, walked toward her and taking on a more and more corporeal form until he crouched to pick up a cat from the throng at her feet.
"Still feeding cats," Sid said with a smile, looking up at her. Priti's beauty still glowed from her eyes, and his heart caught in his throat.
She stared at him as if caught in a memory. "I think I remember you," she said slowly. "But you were from a childhood dream. The day that the bridge fell..."
Sid stood, covered by kittens. They'd never liked him as a young man, but now they swarmed around him as if to a warm patch of sun. "Sometimes there is a fine line between dreams and reality, Priti. I am honored to see you again. You have lived a fine life."
"Lived," Priti murmured, face creasing for a moment in distress. Then, gradually, her expression melted into acceptance, and she looked steadily at Sid again. "Guru. I am honored to see you, am I not?"
Ah, he'd been recognized. Sid smiled a little, lopsided. "Perhaps we'll just feel honored to be with each other, eh? Sit with me for a moment. It's...your time is near."
Priti nodded and found a bench, sighing as several cats vied for the pleasure of her lap. She petted them all, looking remarkably peaceful. "I've enjoyed this life. I've lived it well."
"You did. I am proud of you and all that you have done."
"Have you seen it all, Guru?" Priti chuckled. "What must you think of me..."
Sid shifted, smiling a little. "Ah, I think nothing but good." Sid leaned sideways and kissed her hair, as he had when she was a girl. His arm went around her and held her close...
The stroke was swift, and Sid made sure it was peaceful and painless. One more moment of clarity in her eyes, and Priti smiled at him.
"Thank you."
O nobly-born, the time hath now come for thee to seek the Path. Thy breathing is about to cease. Thy guru hath set thee face to face before with the Clear Light; and now thou art about to experience it in its Reality, and the naked, spotless intellect is like unto a transparent vacuum without circumference or centre.
At this moment, know thou thyself; and abide in that state. I, too, at this time, am setting thee face to face.
~
Sid denied that he would seek out the baby the morning it was born, but only until he heard the crying from the hospital and was there in a heartbeat.
It was a boy with Priti's eyes, and Sid cast his eyes wryly up to the heavens, cursing in eight different languages. He wasn't about to wait for another incarnation.
Perhaps John could provide some insight into THIS particular wrinkle.
~
...
Characters: Sid, a little John, two OCs, and a bunch of cats.
Disclaimer: Knockin' on Heaven's Door is c. Laurabryannan
Rating: PG
A/N: How to explain this?
A very good friend of mine has been working on an original yaoi story named Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Laurabryannan is known for her Samurai Champloo fic, which are deathly hot and good and sad and happy and meaningful, and this fic is more of the same plus her very own. [Read Knockin' on Heaven's Door here!]
I found that I was inspired to write a fanfic for it, and asked Laura if she wouldn't mind...She said to go for it, so, erm, here it is.
Five minutes. Sid looked at his watch, staring up at the overpass. He rarely undertook such activities personally, preferring to help from a distance, but this one was going to be rather large. With any luck it would help change the underpinnings of society, from the construction of roads to the ways in which bodies were disposed of, but he remained a little wearily skeptical. The wheel turned, it was all one, the flickers of shapes around him were merely borrowing their moment of incarnation before burrowing back into the blessed darkness from which they'd all come. All parts of himself...parts of himself...
One little part of himself was squatting on the road next to a stray kitten. She had a scrap of her lunch in her hands. An open lunchbox lay next to her scrawny schoolgirl ankles. "Please," she was saying softly, when Sid managed to get his focus back on the here and now, "Please eat."
The cat was not pretty. It was scarred by many battles, and raised a lip in a little snarl. The cat's ribs showed, though, and Sid shook his head, eternally amused that people should choose such small battles to fight when the city teamed with equally starving, equally unhappy animals.
"See? It's good." She took a nibble, then held it out again. Sid studied the bit of food -- it was probably all she had for the day (ah, yes, it was), and his brow furrowed. What was she doing, giving her food away? She'd starve herself, for the sake of this cat. Except...
Ah yes, she was one of the fallen, taken for her moment of compassion to this cat. Sid could already see her spirit emerging, following the incessant droning of the Tibetan monks toward the pathway to the light. Everything was here, now, then, forever, and he turned to walk on.
"Please. I know it ain't much, cat, but you need to keep strong to keep fighting," she said steadily, and put the scrap down in front of the cat. Sid turned to look back, watching the cat sniff suspiciously and then take the morsel in its mouth. The girl smiled at it, and very gently reached out to touch a battle-torn ear.
No. Sid knew. He felt the tremor begin through his feet and sighed. No! It was her compassion that did him in, her perfect embodiment of The Way. It was ridiculous to be so rewarded, one of those completely meaningless acts of universal indifference that had Sid remembering his own upbringing in a city near this, so long ago.
In another second he was at her side, scooping up the cat in one arm, the girl in the other.
"What the -- GURU -- put me down --" The girl struggled, the cat struggled, but Sid held tight as he hurried away.
"We need to move out from under the overpass," he explained in a low voice, exerting a bit of his universal calm until the two in his arms slowed their struggles. "See. There's an earthquake coming. That overpass will fall, and you were right beneath it." In back of him he heard a roll of thunder from the earth itself as the plates shifted. Such an uncertain world they lived on, made so clear by the very construction of the planet itself. Sid began to feel the spirits crying out to him, asking direction. He sent out a spare thought and herded them toward the chanting. The Tibetans really were a god-send, sometimes, with their incessant and gentle directions.
O nobly-born, when thy body and mind were separating, thou must have experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations.
"Earthquake? Guru, why are you saving me? Go tell everyone -- go -- somehow -- save them all -- PLEASE --" Tears were in her eyes, and Sid felt a wash of understanding.
"I know...I know...It never ceases hurting," he said, and before he knew it he was placing a kiss to her hair. They were a few blocks away now, and finally he set her down. He stood still for a moment, watching the waves of his intervention ripple and touch different events...change the order of things. Not too much would alter, but from what he could see, none of it was ill. He frowned, seeing one particular ripple... "What's your name, child?"
"Priti," she said resignedly. "What's yours, Guru? Why me? Why not ..." Her eyes sought the bridge in the distance, widening in a stricken way as she saw it buckle.
"Ah. Shakyamuni," Sid said, and then frowned. Now that he'd come this far, he had to take the final step. He put his hand on her head and let the chanting of the monks swell in his mind -- they were a background noise to him, forever in his ears -- and let some of the oblivion seep into her.
Priti's eyes went slack for a moment, and then her expression turned dazed. Sid put the cat into her arms, a cat that had turned docile by Sid's touch. "You fed a cat today. Priti, may your compassion continue to carry you far. Now, go back home. School is cancelled."
Dazed still, Priti turned, cat in her arms to walk away.
~
The years spun like the fragile webs of spiders as Sid walked through the world. There was much to accomplish, especially when his Western friends got on various jags and crusades and interventions -- they were much more likely to head off on grand adventures than he was. India, with all of its ridiculous beauty, held Sid bound fast. He did not forget Priti -- he could not. He watched her, a thread of a life that solidified into something more real than he'd felt in an age.
Priti became a scrappy girl, hyper-aware of the horrible pun of her name, which in local patois meant both pretty and love. Pretty she was not. She was too thin, too boyish, forever scraped and bruised by her incessant battles. She was truly his ex-wife's opposite in so many ways, but Sid had moved beyond a mere appreciation for the female form. Priti's light grew and grew...
As a teen, she turned her house into a haven for animals, heckling and shaming her community into aiding her. Soon, before her twenties had begun, she'd established an animal shelter and was studying veterinary medicine. In young womanhood she was lithe and spare with a strong face that was far too serious until she smiled. Sid blessed her progress; the city needed such a place like the parched Thar needed water. Somehow, bureaucracy untangled for her, animals found her, and people jealous of her success felt their envy melt away when they observed her compassion.
Sid felt just a little smug that he'd aided this girl. Clearly he'd been in the right to do so, she was an angel upon earth.
Then one day, Priti took on another doctor. Sid was simply grateful at first, on Priti's behalf. Priti needed a friend, and needed help for her practice much more than that. The new doctor was a lovely young woman who reminded him much more of his ex, from the fall of her long brown locks to the graceful flow of her sari as she bent to calm an unhappy animal.
A month later, peeking into the practice, Sid noticed that Priti seemed different. She was behaving...almost nervous, jumping whenever Tejal touched her, staring at her sideways with eyes wide. Sid almost smacked himself on the forehead when he finally figured it out. Of course... Of course. He should've known, a girl so seemingly pure and uninterested in the temptations of the Bardo had to have at least one weakness. Sid felt wryly amused that her weakness seemed to mirror his own. There was a certain form, a certain bend of the arm, jingle of ankle jewelry, that did it for him every time, and Tejal definitely had that in spades.
Sid didn't admit to himself that he was jealous. He was above that. Far above that.
~
...Sid knew he needed help when he found his gaze entering the little shared room that night. During the weeks leading up to this, many things had happened. The little touches had turned into a bashful kiss, the sweetness of which had stung him more than a thousand unwarranted deaths. The problem was that he couldn't stop watching, and for two weeks India shuffled on without him as he planted himself under a tree and let his consciousness linger on two women.
"Tejal...please," Priti said quietly, expression bright as she sat at the table, bowl of forgotten curry in front of her.
Tejal's eyes slid sideways, her own expression saucy. "No. You're too serious. You need to enjoy life more." Tejal's sari slid a little ways off her shoulder, down her arm. Priti reached out to straighten it, and somehow her hands found themselves lingering upon the skin, thumb feeling the wonder of a defined collarbone.
"It's my skin."
"So very soft."
"That isn't my softest part."
Sid shook his head at the blatant line, but found his mouth dry as he watched what followed. His stomach tensed, his body felt a surge of hormonal impulse that he swore he'd left behind a century ago. All of that and a dark sense of pain... Priti had grown up, and moved beyond him to a place where he couldn't go.
They traced each other's bodies with kisses, that night, Tejal's hair falling over Priti's body like a silken blanket. Softly, fumbling with each other, giggling, exploring, they worked out ways to give each other joy. Hearing Tejal's name on Priti's lips, Sid finally turned his gaze away, body sore from arousal, mind aching from distress. ... How long had it been? It would have been easy to meditate and distract himself...but instead Sid leaned against the comforting familiarity of the Bo tree and slid his hand into his loose pyjama. It had been a century since he'd done this... But in the end it was just like riding a bicycle.
~
"What's up? I hate to say it, but this really isn't like you at all, Sid."
They sat at a smoke shop in Morocco, neutral territory, Islamic land. John looked as polished and cheerful as always, and Sid looked and felt like a mess. He took a long draw of the smoke, feeling from afar the tingles of relaxation ease through his corporeal body, trying to pin down his feelings. He offered the smoking spigot to John, who took it and puffed once before pausing to cough.
"Strong stuff..."
"It's simply tobacco."
"I've never known you to indulge..."
"I've fallen from The Way a bit lately." Sid scrubbed his eyes, scratched the fur that he'd allowed to grow on his body's chin. It was ridiculous.
"I can see that." John's voice was compassionate as always. "Care to tell me about it, since I've come all this way?"
Taking a deep breath, Sid told him about the little girl he'd saved, the one that grew up into a fine young woman...who loved another woman.
John's face was grave by the end of it. "Oh my. You've got it bad."
Sid's face dropped to his hands. "It was...she was so kind."
"On the upside, you won't have long to mourn, relatively speaking." John's arm went around Sid, and Sid found himself leaning on the other man's shoulder, his own body shaking as he remembered the pain of attachment, yet again, yet again.
"That's no upside at all," Sid grumbled, and sighed as John held him close. There was something to be said for heavenly beneficence -- John hugged very well.
"Want advice?"
"No."
"...Go talk to her. Have your moment. Enjoy being with her, if only for an hour or two. You've been holding yourself apart, I can tell..."
"But. I wouldn't have a chance."
John looked at him, one of those looks that made Sid shift a bit guiltily. "Honestly. Did you want one?"
~
Years passed. Many years. Sid watched the partnership closely and made sure that it wasn't disturbed by anyone. Homophobic parents were gently shown the beauty of their daughters' love, and social barriers were pushed ever so slightly awry so that the two could share a bliss that was rare for same-sex couples in India. That was his last gift -- his wedding present, more or less. It made him happy that Tejal and Priti were more than worth the meddling.
Sid kept John's words in mind, however, and chose a moment. The moment was truly a selfish one, Sid admitted to himself, but given the long span of years Priti had been blessed with, perhaps he could be forgiven.
She was in her seventies, bent by time, face worn and creased and set into comfortable lines. Tejal had been gone for a year, now -- much mourned, not forgotten. Sid appeared at the edge of Priti's vision, walked toward her and taking on a more and more corporeal form until he crouched to pick up a cat from the throng at her feet.
"Still feeding cats," Sid said with a smile, looking up at her. Priti's beauty still glowed from her eyes, and his heart caught in his throat.
She stared at him as if caught in a memory. "I think I remember you," she said slowly. "But you were from a childhood dream. The day that the bridge fell..."
Sid stood, covered by kittens. They'd never liked him as a young man, but now they swarmed around him as if to a warm patch of sun. "Sometimes there is a fine line between dreams and reality, Priti. I am honored to see you again. You have lived a fine life."
"Lived," Priti murmured, face creasing for a moment in distress. Then, gradually, her expression melted into acceptance, and she looked steadily at Sid again. "Guru. I am honored to see you, am I not?"
Ah, he'd been recognized. Sid smiled a little, lopsided. "Perhaps we'll just feel honored to be with each other, eh? Sit with me for a moment. It's...your time is near."
Priti nodded and found a bench, sighing as several cats vied for the pleasure of her lap. She petted them all, looking remarkably peaceful. "I've enjoyed this life. I've lived it well."
"You did. I am proud of you and all that you have done."
"Have you seen it all, Guru?" Priti chuckled. "What must you think of me..."
Sid shifted, smiling a little. "Ah, I think nothing but good." Sid leaned sideways and kissed her hair, as he had when she was a girl. His arm went around her and held her close...
The stroke was swift, and Sid made sure it was peaceful and painless. One more moment of clarity in her eyes, and Priti smiled at him.
"Thank you."
O nobly-born, the time hath now come for thee to seek the Path. Thy breathing is about to cease. Thy guru hath set thee face to face before with the Clear Light; and now thou art about to experience it in its Reality, and the naked, spotless intellect is like unto a transparent vacuum without circumference or centre.
At this moment, know thou thyself; and abide in that state. I, too, at this time, am setting thee face to face.
~
Sid denied that he would seek out the baby the morning it was born, but only until he heard the crying from the hospital and was there in a heartbeat.
It was a boy with Priti's eyes, and Sid cast his eyes wryly up to the heavens, cursing in eight different languages. He wasn't about to wait for another incarnation.
Perhaps John could provide some insight into THIS particular wrinkle.
~
...