topics 446 and 251
Sometimes he dreamed about her, afterward. He could never remember the whole story when he woke, but sometimes he tried.
The Portal opened at the edge of a smooth yellow-brown surface, perfect for dancing, and she was by his side, as she had been for a time only measured in heart-beats, in dance-steps, in songs and tears and laughter, in drama and conflict and peace bought dear … A medley of moods and music …
In the dream he puts his hand to her waist to dance her away from the portal, across that smooth inviting ground. Then something makes him look again. White flakes have started to fall, drifting like petals at first, and as they touch the surface they show shadows, dips - the marks of perhaps a million footprints twirling away and back, marking the steps of dances without number, songs without end, covering the beach for as far as the eye can see.
She steps a little away from him, but looks back as she speaks,
“Do I have to go on alone from here?”
He watches her, knowing that her words now will set the quidelines for the future, and that she must decide whether this is a beginning or an ending. She looks out along the beach and shivers, taking another step.
“So much time has passed. Will it be the same here?” and again he has no answer for her.
…………
She touches his cheek, lightly, and he sees that her hand is as wrinkled as her face,
“You never really called me by name … and you never told me yours…”
“The name you called me was good enough - and didn’t I come when you called?”
“Oh, usually. Often enough, I suppose”
She has turned again and started to move away from him as they speak. The swirling snow is a busy white curtain now. It obscures her shape almost at once, but he can still see the nearest of her footprints in the snow-covered sand when he hears her calling,
“Where are you? Don’t leave me! How will we find each other now?”
Something holds him still at the mouth of the portal, but he calls to her,
“Don’t you have my Talisman? Where do you ..? What’s your summoning name?”
And the first wave of the in-coming tide floods over her footprints and those too are gone without trace …
Muse, “Sweet” the Singing Demon,
Fandom, BTVS
Words, Topic 446
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving 242
Topic 241 What is the sound of one hand clapping?
The Portal opened at the edge of a smooth yellow-brown surface, perfect for dancing, and she was by his side, as she had been for a time only measured in heart-beats, in dance-steps, in songs and tears and laughter, in drama and conflict and peace bought dear … A medley of moods and music …
In the dream he puts his hand to her waist to dance her away from the portal, across that smooth inviting ground. Then something makes him look again. White flakes have started to fall, drifting like petals at first, and as they touch the surface they show shadows, dips - the marks of perhaps a million footprints twirling away and back, marking the steps of dances without number, songs without end, covering the beach for as far as the eye can see.
She steps a little away from him, but looks back as she speaks,
“Do I have to go on alone from here?”
He watches her, knowing that her words now will set the quidelines for the future, and that she must decide whether this is a beginning or an ending. She looks out along the beach and shivers, taking another step.
“So much time has passed. Will it be the same here?” and again he has no answer for her.
…………
She touches his cheek, lightly, and he sees that her hand is as wrinkled as her face,
“You never really called me by name … and you never told me yours…”
“The name you called me was good enough - and didn’t I come when you called?”
“Oh, usually. Often enough, I suppose”
She has turned again and started to move away from him as they speak. The swirling snow is a busy white curtain now. It obscures her shape almost at once, but he can still see the nearest of her footprints in the snow-covered sand when he hears her calling,
“Where are you? Don’t leave me! How will we find each other now?”
Something holds him still at the mouth of the portal, but he calls to her,
“Don’t you have my Talisman? Where do you ..? What’s your summoning name?”
And the first wave of the in-coming tide floods over her footprints and those too are gone without trace …
Muse, “Sweet” the Singing Demon,
Fandom, BTVS
Words, Topic 446
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving 242
Topic 241 What is the sound of one hand clapping?