snippet of 'stories thrice told'
[should be finished by next friday. *hopes*]
This is the story John’s mother tells him: Anantha, after the city was fled and hidden, went to Old Lands with the others. And with the others she turned herself into stardust, so that she would never die. But unlike the others, she did not leave to wander through the heavens until the ending of all things. Instead, she stayed, and watched the cities of men rise and fall and rise again, through bravery and malice and small acts of kindness.
She watched as all manner of men lived and bled and returned to dust, and she thought nothing of it. Nothing, that is, until the day she saw a young man with sun-bleached hair and a smile like the sun after storms, and eyes that reflected only the sky.
And she, who was older than human memory, who had locked away her heart for safe-keeping, she felt something give way within her at the sight of those eyes. Without thought or care, she cast away her immortal form and took the shape of a woman, so that she might speak with him. “What is your name?” she asked him, although she already knew it. “Robin,” he told her, and wondered at the thrill of joy he felt when he heard her voice.
And-
Here John’s mother stops, coughing, and John’s arm tightens around her waist.
"And they fell in love and got married and lived happily ever after," he says for her, the words muffled against her side.
"Well," she says once she has breath enough again. "They lived, that’s true."
This is the story John’s mother tells him: Anantha, after the city was fled and hidden, went to Old Lands with the others. And with the others she turned herself into stardust, so that she would never die. But unlike the others, she did not leave to wander through the heavens until the ending of all things. Instead, she stayed, and watched the cities of men rise and fall and rise again, through bravery and malice and small acts of kindness.
She watched as all manner of men lived and bled and returned to dust, and she thought nothing of it. Nothing, that is, until the day she saw a young man with sun-bleached hair and a smile like the sun after storms, and eyes that reflected only the sky.
And she, who was older than human memory, who had locked away her heart for safe-keeping, she felt something give way within her at the sight of those eyes. Without thought or care, she cast away her immortal form and took the shape of a woman, so that she might speak with him. “What is your name?” she asked him, although she already knew it. “Robin,” he told her, and wondered at the thrill of joy he felt when he heard her voice.
And-
Here John’s mother stops, coughing, and John’s arm tightens around her waist.
"And they fell in love and got married and lived happily ever after," he says for her, the words muffled against her side.
"Well," she says once she has breath enough again. "They lived, that’s true."