Thursday 24th Jan
Fandom: StarCatchers
WordCount: 1,400
Title: Something Dawning
And Perseis led Mayim through the garden after dawn, with eir skirts like layers of velvet frost and eir hair caught up in a thousand shining clips. Water clung like crystal drops to every leaf and petal, and lances of early-morning sun reflected through the beads of water. Flowers stalked sunlight like feral things, the air heavy with ferocious scents of growth and unfurled leaves and wet earth.
Wise to the ways of wet grass, Mayim wore eir stoutest waterproof boots. The mid-teenling Princara wore knee-high bottle-green galoshes, trimmed incongrously around the rim with rhinestones that glittered like merry eyes just below the hems of eir skirts. Ey was the first person Mayim had ever seen who could frisk in such cumbersome footgear, and the front of the Princara's white dress was already streaked with clear sap from the fistful of vivid flowers ey clutched. It was a testament to the Princara's fondness for flowers that ey would so disregard the state of eir attire.
The Flower-Day Festival, which the Princara really was too old to be celebrating with such glee, involved trading blossoms for candies or kisses, or candies and kisses, depending upon the whim and age of the giver. Mayim told eirself ey was thankful to be too old for the kisses, and the Princara too young to want them.
Ey hoped.
"Eee!" Perseis bounced on eir toes, one arm extended to its full reach. The morning sun shredded through the leaves to land in drips and dapples on eir hair and shoulders, shining. "Mayim, look at this one! Oh, come lift me so I can reach!"
Mayim had taken to walking with eir hands folded at the small of eir back. Ey liked how dignified and adult it looked. Sometimes it allowed em to hide the clenching of eir fists or the way ey dug eir blunt-trimmed nails into eir palms when eir temper strained its bonds. Ey approached now and lifted the Princara by the waist. Perseis was still growing, but ey would never achieve even half of Mayim's height or bulk, and lifting em was like lifting a colt caught half-way between gangling and grace.
The flower Perseis reached for was a radiant ruby-and-amethyst angelscrown, the blossom caught at it's first curling flush of beauty, like a child's folded hands or a fledgling bird. Perseis dug thin fingers into the green-grey stem below the blossom and its attendance of mint-green young leaves. The stem parted with a soft snap, sending a cascade of dewdrops like a brief shower of rain, and Perseis wiggled as ey added the angelscrown to eir bouquet.
"Yay! Oh, it's perfect! I'm keeping this one. Mayim, you'll have to help me put it up in my hair."
"Anything you'd like," Mayim said. In a few years the Princara would more fully understand the benefits of a token of favour, ey'd begin to play at politics and court alliances and loyalty where and how ey had to; in a few years, but not yet. For now ey could be as spoiled and carefree as Mayim would tolerate, and could keep such a blossom on Flower-Day without a second thought.
Perseis twirled and bounced on eir toes. "Let's go down to the fountains!"
Mayim sighed and folded eir hands behind eir back. "Are you sure you have enough flowers, Persie? If you're as popular as you were last year-"
The Princara touched the tip of eir nose to the profusion of flowers ey held. "No, I've got all the best ones. I don't want two of the same an' I don't like the others today."
Mayim crouched by a ghole tree and dug eir fingers into the plush grass. Buried between the stems and blades was a host of yellow flowers smaller than a baby's fingernail, four tiny petals about a white center, and a faint pale smell, difficult to trace except by its absence.
"How about these? I've always liked them. I was told the angels used to wear garlands of them, sometimes."
Perseis wrinkled eir nose. Ey refused to go out-doors once the sun was high for fear of freckles. "I don't like them, they're whingy and small. We should pull them up. I'll tell the gardener!"
Mayim got tired, sometimes, of having to think about right-now and far-from-now at the same time. Sure, there was nothing wrong with a child not wanting a certain kind of flowers in eir garden, but there was also the principle of the thing. The Princara-the future Rhoma-getting into the habit of destroying anything ey didn't like.
"Persie," Mayim said. Faltered. Ey was so bloody tired of having to do this, even after ey'd instituted a three-life-lessons-a-day-tops rule for eirself, just so ey didn't go crazy. But tired was a long way from crazy. "Persie, come here?"
The Princara didn't notice anything amiss; not that ey was ignorant or imperceptive, but ey focused so closely on the things ey liked to focus on, rather than anything so esoteric as 'ought'. Ey frisked over and leaned both elbows on Mayim's shoulders as if eir back were a balcony railing somewhere high.
Mayim ran eir blunt-fingered hands softly over the flowers. They bent beneath the pressure then bobbed up unharmed. "Are you sure you want them all torn out? These have value too, aren't they pretty? It's not that you can't pick them, if you wanted to, but don't waste them. That's the only life the flower has."
Perseis leaned eir head against Mayim's. Eir perfume was cool and light against the lusher, more aggressive flower sweetness. "Don't you get tired of lecturing? It's only flowers." The Princara pressed a tiny kiss to eir guardian's temple. "Aile made me read Dinarto's The Ethics of Angels and Antioch's On Ethics and Theo's Modern Moral Quandaries and-"
Mayim laughed and stood, lifting the Princara with one arm around eir narrow ribcage, and headed for the tower-garden's lone doorway. "Enough! I get the point. I'll stop lecturing, for now at least. Though I don't know you could call that a lecture-"
Perseis leaned on Mayim's shoulder, careful not to crush eir flowers. Ey regarded Mayim's profile with what, over time, would become a collected and implacable measuring look. Ey dug one pointy elbow into Mayim's collarbone. "Mayim. Your outsides always match your insides. Have you noticed? Doesn't that get boring? I can always see your thoughts on your face."
Gods and angels. Ey's got no idea. I swear I'll grind my teeth to stubs, some days. "Mostly it's comfortable, Persie," Mayim said, and hefted the Princara. "You're awfully little. Are you sure you don't want to grow any more?"
Perseis wiggled, giggling, to be set down. "May~im! No fair, we can't all be hulking plough-horses like you! If my flowers get crushed it'll be all your fault and then you'll have to go pick more for me just like these because otherwise I'll be sad and lonely and won't get any candy or kisses!"
"No fear of that," Mayim said, and left a kiss against eir charge's glossy curls.
"Ah!" Perseis said, and eir tone of distress made Mayim draw away in alarm. Perseis's eyes were enormous, green and full of light. "You haven't gotten any flowers! Who'll kiss you?"
"Er," Mayim said, and set the Princara down, in the hopes that the scant increase in distance would prevent the Princara from noticing eir blush. "I wouldn't worry about that. Rea and the rest will look after me. Mostly I've got to follow you around, you know."
Perseis stamped one foot, the motion robbed of its force by the size of the galoshes and the sparkle of the rhinestones. "Mayim! That won't do at all. Lean down at once."
Bemused, Mayim obeyed, only to have Perseis grab a handful of hair to haul Mayim closer. Ey bumped eir mouth against Mayim's in quite the clumsiest kiss. "There! Now you're looked after." Ey grabbed Mayim's hand and dragged em along. "Come help me get ready! I want to wear the seafoam dress with all the ruffles."
A half-hour later, Rea wandered over and poked Mayim in the center of eir chest. "What's wrong with you? Looks like you've got a sunburn. And here I thought you spent all day indoors fanning pretty-cheeks when it's hot out."
"Shaddup," Mayim said.
END
WordCount: 1,400
Title: Something Dawning
And Perseis led Mayim through the garden after dawn, with eir skirts like layers of velvet frost and eir hair caught up in a thousand shining clips. Water clung like crystal drops to every leaf and petal, and lances of early-morning sun reflected through the beads of water. Flowers stalked sunlight like feral things, the air heavy with ferocious scents of growth and unfurled leaves and wet earth.
Wise to the ways of wet grass, Mayim wore eir stoutest waterproof boots. The mid-teenling Princara wore knee-high bottle-green galoshes, trimmed incongrously around the rim with rhinestones that glittered like merry eyes just below the hems of eir skirts. Ey was the first person Mayim had ever seen who could frisk in such cumbersome footgear, and the front of the Princara's white dress was already streaked with clear sap from the fistful of vivid flowers ey clutched. It was a testament to the Princara's fondness for flowers that ey would so disregard the state of eir attire.
The Flower-Day Festival, which the Princara really was too old to be celebrating with such glee, involved trading blossoms for candies or kisses, or candies and kisses, depending upon the whim and age of the giver. Mayim told eirself ey was thankful to be too old for the kisses, and the Princara too young to want them.
Ey hoped.
"Eee!" Perseis bounced on eir toes, one arm extended to its full reach. The morning sun shredded through the leaves to land in drips and dapples on eir hair and shoulders, shining. "Mayim, look at this one! Oh, come lift me so I can reach!"
Mayim had taken to walking with eir hands folded at the small of eir back. Ey liked how dignified and adult it looked. Sometimes it allowed em to hide the clenching of eir fists or the way ey dug eir blunt-trimmed nails into eir palms when eir temper strained its bonds. Ey approached now and lifted the Princara by the waist. Perseis was still growing, but ey would never achieve even half of Mayim's height or bulk, and lifting em was like lifting a colt caught half-way between gangling and grace.
The flower Perseis reached for was a radiant ruby-and-amethyst angelscrown, the blossom caught at it's first curling flush of beauty, like a child's folded hands or a fledgling bird. Perseis dug thin fingers into the green-grey stem below the blossom and its attendance of mint-green young leaves. The stem parted with a soft snap, sending a cascade of dewdrops like a brief shower of rain, and Perseis wiggled as ey added the angelscrown to eir bouquet.
"Yay! Oh, it's perfect! I'm keeping this one. Mayim, you'll have to help me put it up in my hair."
"Anything you'd like," Mayim said. In a few years the Princara would more fully understand the benefits of a token of favour, ey'd begin to play at politics and court alliances and loyalty where and how ey had to; in a few years, but not yet. For now ey could be as spoiled and carefree as Mayim would tolerate, and could keep such a blossom on Flower-Day without a second thought.
Perseis twirled and bounced on eir toes. "Let's go down to the fountains!"
Mayim sighed and folded eir hands behind eir back. "Are you sure you have enough flowers, Persie? If you're as popular as you were last year-"
The Princara touched the tip of eir nose to the profusion of flowers ey held. "No, I've got all the best ones. I don't want two of the same an' I don't like the others today."
Mayim crouched by a ghole tree and dug eir fingers into the plush grass. Buried between the stems and blades was a host of yellow flowers smaller than a baby's fingernail, four tiny petals about a white center, and a faint pale smell, difficult to trace except by its absence.
"How about these? I've always liked them. I was told the angels used to wear garlands of them, sometimes."
Perseis wrinkled eir nose. Ey refused to go out-doors once the sun was high for fear of freckles. "I don't like them, they're whingy and small. We should pull them up. I'll tell the gardener!"
Mayim got tired, sometimes, of having to think about right-now and far-from-now at the same time. Sure, there was nothing wrong with a child not wanting a certain kind of flowers in eir garden, but there was also the principle of the thing. The Princara-the future Rhoma-getting into the habit of destroying anything ey didn't like.
"Persie," Mayim said. Faltered. Ey was so bloody tired of having to do this, even after ey'd instituted a three-life-lessons-a-day-tops rule for eirself, just so ey didn't go crazy. But tired was a long way from crazy. "Persie, come here?"
The Princara didn't notice anything amiss; not that ey was ignorant or imperceptive, but ey focused so closely on the things ey liked to focus on, rather than anything so esoteric as 'ought'. Ey frisked over and leaned both elbows on Mayim's shoulders as if eir back were a balcony railing somewhere high.
Mayim ran eir blunt-fingered hands softly over the flowers. They bent beneath the pressure then bobbed up unharmed. "Are you sure you want them all torn out? These have value too, aren't they pretty? It's not that you can't pick them, if you wanted to, but don't waste them. That's the only life the flower has."
Perseis leaned eir head against Mayim's. Eir perfume was cool and light against the lusher, more aggressive flower sweetness. "Don't you get tired of lecturing? It's only flowers." The Princara pressed a tiny kiss to eir guardian's temple. "Aile made me read Dinarto's The Ethics of Angels and Antioch's On Ethics and Theo's Modern Moral Quandaries and-"
Mayim laughed and stood, lifting the Princara with one arm around eir narrow ribcage, and headed for the tower-garden's lone doorway. "Enough! I get the point. I'll stop lecturing, for now at least. Though I don't know you could call that a lecture-"
Perseis leaned on Mayim's shoulder, careful not to crush eir flowers. Ey regarded Mayim's profile with what, over time, would become a collected and implacable measuring look. Ey dug one pointy elbow into Mayim's collarbone. "Mayim. Your outsides always match your insides. Have you noticed? Doesn't that get boring? I can always see your thoughts on your face."
Gods and angels. Ey's got no idea. I swear I'll grind my teeth to stubs, some days. "Mostly it's comfortable, Persie," Mayim said, and hefted the Princara. "You're awfully little. Are you sure you don't want to grow any more?"
Perseis wiggled, giggling, to be set down. "May~im! No fair, we can't all be hulking plough-horses like you! If my flowers get crushed it'll be all your fault and then you'll have to go pick more for me just like these because otherwise I'll be sad and lonely and won't get any candy or kisses!"
"No fear of that," Mayim said, and left a kiss against eir charge's glossy curls.
"Ah!" Perseis said, and eir tone of distress made Mayim draw away in alarm. Perseis's eyes were enormous, green and full of light. "You haven't gotten any flowers! Who'll kiss you?"
"Er," Mayim said, and set the Princara down, in the hopes that the scant increase in distance would prevent the Princara from noticing eir blush. "I wouldn't worry about that. Rea and the rest will look after me. Mostly I've got to follow you around, you know."
Perseis stamped one foot, the motion robbed of its force by the size of the galoshes and the sparkle of the rhinestones. "Mayim! That won't do at all. Lean down at once."
Bemused, Mayim obeyed, only to have Perseis grab a handful of hair to haul Mayim closer. Ey bumped eir mouth against Mayim's in quite the clumsiest kiss. "There! Now you're looked after." Ey grabbed Mayim's hand and dragged em along. "Come help me get ready! I want to wear the seafoam dress with all the ruffles."
A half-hour later, Rea wandered over and poked Mayim in the center of eir chest. "What's wrong with you? Looks like you've got a sunburn. And here I thought you spent all day indoors fanning pretty-cheeks when it's hot out."
"Shaddup," Mayim said.
END