Pain and glory
From here.
Rae stepped through the door of Milliways into her rose-strewn living room, the bunches of red and white blossoms heavily scenting the air as the slanting rays of tawny-red sunlight foretold the coming dusk.
Without looking back, she closed the door behind her.
She waited on her balcony for the darkness to settle, smelling the florist-roses in the apartment behind her, and the rambling roses of Yolande's garden below her. She could see them in the dusk (or not-see, since this ability had nothing to do with her eyes) their moon-cast shadows shimmering, light and dark. She saw Con coming when he arrived at full-dark, and there was a feeling like the sound of him as he came up the stairs and through her apartment to join her on the balcony. She didn't hear him breathing, or moving at all, really, but she knew he was there.
He looked different, but she couldn't say exactly how.
She supposed she probably looked different to him, too. Perhaps pre-final-battle loin-girding was always visible, to some degree.
Rae reached out and rested a hand on his chest, where no heart beat. He took her hand - there was a slight fizzle when their skin met. Rae felt him flinch, but he didn't let go. Instead, he brought his other hand to hers. There was that same invisible spark, but he didn't flinch again.
"What is this?"
"Yolande gave it to me. She said it would help me draw on the source of my strength."
"Daylight."
"Yes. Does it... hurt you?"
"No."
It sounded to her like the 'no' of a kid who had just been tackled by the three biggest kids in the neighborhood during so-called touch football. They'd asked if the kid was hurt, and she had said no. Rae had been lying, then.
"Let me rephrase that."
There was a shiver in his breath, a muted laugh - really a rather human noise. "When you are little too hot, a little too cold, does it hurt?"
It certainly hurt when Old Mr. Temperature Control is too hot, is making me too hot, then suddenly decides to throw me into a wall. No. She deleted that thought. She still wasn't thinking about those ten seconds of her life.
"If you pick up something a little too heavy for you, does it hurt?" Con continued. "It is only a little pressure on the understood boundaries of yourself."
Sunshine liked that. Pressure on the understood boundaries of yourself. Like a mantra from a self-awareness class, probably something with yoga. Twist yourself into a pretzel, take a deep breath, and press on the understood boundaries of yourself...
She was raving, if only inwardly. Rae took a deep breath, and centered herself again. She looked at Con.
"Ready?" He asked.
Rae's inward smile almost touched her face. Was he joking? "Yes," she said.
"I have taken what you showed me, and... measured it. Between us I believe we shall attain our goal. I will need your assistance, in the way we travel. It will not be easy both to travel that way and to guard our presence from too-early detection."
Sunshine had done this before. It was old-hat by now, surely. Right. No. She closed her eyes and hurled herself into the alignment she'd found, quickly, to keep herself from thinking about what they were doing. She could feel the alignment strongly, beating through her left shoulder and away, westward. She saw again the looming things careening through the nowhere space, like the special effects creatures of the post-apocalyptic movie that is okay at first watch but gives you screaming nightmares later.
Rae wished it were a movie.
Or a book - a tale in safe black-and-white, with a beginning and an end, and a cover which you can close on it when you don't want to know any more.
But it wasn't either a book or a movie. Con's hand was still in hers. They were on her balcony, with the smell of roses around them. It was a beautiful night.
"Come," said Con, and they stepped forward together.
Continued here.
Rae stepped through the door of Milliways into her rose-strewn living room, the bunches of red and white blossoms heavily scenting the air as the slanting rays of tawny-red sunlight foretold the coming dusk.
Without looking back, she closed the door behind her.
She waited on her balcony for the darkness to settle, smelling the florist-roses in the apartment behind her, and the rambling roses of Yolande's garden below her. She could see them in the dusk (or not-see, since this ability had nothing to do with her eyes) their moon-cast shadows shimmering, light and dark. She saw Con coming when he arrived at full-dark, and there was a feeling like the sound of him as he came up the stairs and through her apartment to join her on the balcony. She didn't hear him breathing, or moving at all, really, but she knew he was there.
He looked different, but she couldn't say exactly how.
She supposed she probably looked different to him, too. Perhaps pre-final-battle loin-girding was always visible, to some degree.
Rae reached out and rested a hand on his chest, where no heart beat. He took her hand - there was a slight fizzle when their skin met. Rae felt him flinch, but he didn't let go. Instead, he brought his other hand to hers. There was that same invisible spark, but he didn't flinch again.
"What is this?"
"Yolande gave it to me. She said it would help me draw on the source of my strength."
"Daylight."
"Yes. Does it... hurt you?"
"No."
It sounded to her like the 'no' of a kid who had just been tackled by the three biggest kids in the neighborhood during so-called touch football. They'd asked if the kid was hurt, and she had said no. Rae had been lying, then.
"Let me rephrase that."
There was a shiver in his breath, a muted laugh - really a rather human noise. "When you are little too hot, a little too cold, does it hurt?"
It certainly hurt when Old Mr. Temperature Control is too hot, is making me too hot, then suddenly decides to throw me into a wall. No. She deleted that thought. She still wasn't thinking about those ten seconds of her life.
"If you pick up something a little too heavy for you, does it hurt?" Con continued. "It is only a little pressure on the understood boundaries of yourself."
Sunshine liked that. Pressure on the understood boundaries of yourself. Like a mantra from a self-awareness class, probably something with yoga. Twist yourself into a pretzel, take a deep breath, and press on the understood boundaries of yourself...
She was raving, if only inwardly. Rae took a deep breath, and centered herself again. She looked at Con.
"Ready?" He asked.
Rae's inward smile almost touched her face. Was he joking? "Yes," she said.
"I have taken what you showed me, and... measured it. Between us I believe we shall attain our goal. I will need your assistance, in the way we travel. It will not be easy both to travel that way and to guard our presence from too-early detection."
Sunshine had done this before. It was old-hat by now, surely. Right. No. She closed her eyes and hurled herself into the alignment she'd found, quickly, to keep herself from thinking about what they were doing. She could feel the alignment strongly, beating through her left shoulder and away, westward. She saw again the looming things careening through the nowhere space, like the special effects creatures of the post-apocalyptic movie that is okay at first watch but gives you screaming nightmares later.
Rae wished it were a movie.
Or a book - a tale in safe black-and-white, with a beginning and an end, and a cover which you can close on it when you don't want to know any more.
But it wasn't either a book or a movie. Con's hand was still in hers. They were on her balcony, with the smell of roses around them. It was a beautiful night.
"Come," said Con, and they stepped forward together.
Continued here.